A field school jointly presented by The Speaker's House and Ursinus College is planned between June 23 and August 1, 2008.

The course will be conducted at The Speaker's House, most notable as being the home of Frederick Muhlenberg (1750-1801), first Speaker of the House of Representatives. The site was occupied from 1764-2002 and, in addition to being the home of Muhlenberg, was the home of one of the first piano makers in America; the home of a pitcher for the Philadelphia A's; an Ursinus College dormitory; and, late in the 20th century, was divided into single apartments.

The Speaker's House Executive director, Allison Weiss, sent along this description of the project, submitted by writer Jan Feighner.

The Speaker's House is an extant 18th century structure, and it and two surrounding acres were purchased by the nonprofit The Speaker's House with the intent of creating an educational center and museum.

An archaeological team was hired in 2007 to provide architectural and artifactual evidence tracing the property's history. During their 10 days onsite, they discovered the foundations of long-suspected outer buildings on the property such as a barn, an 18th century bake oven, and Muhlenberg's general store, and recovered 12,000 artifacts.

The Speaker's House field school will include lectures about the history of the property and current theory in archaeology. It will involve rotating between the field and lab for an intense hands-on education. Students will expand sites discovered during last year's dig and excavate near structure foundations.

The course will feature all aspects of archaeological fieldwork from surveying, laying grids, and digging and sifting to cleaning, identifying, and categorizing artifacts. Tuition is $2160 for six transferable credits or internships and independent studies arranged through other academic institutions. Those not wishing to received credit can enroll for $1620. Enrollees may live in Ursinus dorms if desired. Other fees include tools and texts.

The principal field investigator for the project is Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon. Volunteers are welcomed at any time during the six-week course, but are asked to set a schedule in order to accommodate everyone.

Contact: The Speaker's House at (610) 489-2105, email Weiss at allison.weiss@speakershouse.org, or visit the website at http://www.speakershouse.org for more information and application. Application deadline is June 1.

• The Speaker's House
• Ursinus College
• More Field Schools in Focus
• Archaeology Digs 2008

The British Archaeological Jobs & Resource (BAJR) has just published the second issue of its fully-electronic archaeology journal, Past Horizons. Issue #2 includes a feature article on the archaeology of the Battle of Culloden.

Past Horizons, issue 2, May 2008

Also take a look at the BAJR's latest venture: Past Horizons TV, a combination of videos, music, and resources for and about archaeology and archaeologists wrapped up in an attractive Flash cover. Past Horizons TV is yet another inventive project to deliver archaeology news and information to the public, from BAJR's team of David Connolly and Maggie Struckmeier.

The new Indiana Jones movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes out on May 22, 2008.

I totally appreciate the Indiana Jones movies, even if they're not what you might call science. What the high-octane combination of adventure and fantasy does is fuel their viewers with a fascination for the past. Maybe not specifically the scientific archaeological past, but the historic past of the 1930s, the mythological past of legends and religion, and even, sometimes, a little science and culture. That's always good.

This year's movie is subtitled Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, something archaeologists know a little bit about. Crystal skulls are generally small (not more than a few couple inches in height) stylized replicas of human skulls, made of polished quartz, glass or resin. Although there is considerable debate about their origins outside of scientific archaeology, the earliest ones were likely made in Mexico in the 19th century, perhaps by (or for) the French antiquarian Eugène Boban. The history of the crystal skull art form is fascinating--and brought to us by Archaeology magazine this month in an online story called Legends of the Crystal Skull, written by Jane MacLaren Walsh.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be out on May 22, 2008. I'll be there!

• Legends of the Crystal Skull, Jane MacLaren Walsh in Archaeology magazine
• Indiana Jones official home page
• Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, Sean O'Hagen in The Observer

The take on crystal skulls by modern artist Damien Hirst (no relative of mine) is titled For the Love of God, and it is a platinum cast of a real human skull, and encrusted in diamonds. According to forensic archaeologists, the original owner of the skull was a 35-year old male probably of European origin. Radiocarbon analysis suggests that he lived some time between 1720 and 1810. The skull is part of Hirst's Beyond Belief exhibition at White Cube 3, in London.

On Saturday May 10th, 2008 (GMT 1800-2200), we are all invited to share in Pangea Day, to watch four hours of 24 short films selected from over 2500 entries submitted by people all over the world. Over 180 countries have scheduled events where people can go and attend in a group, from small local parties to enormous venues. The project includes inspirational speakers and live music as well as live broadcasts of events scheduled at Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. You can watch online, or even host your own event. Television coverage of the event is available in several countries, and you can also follow the activities on your mobile phone. The full program will be subtitled in Arabic, English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish.

This amazing project hopes to redefine the word "we", something all good anthropologists will find fascinating. See ya there!

• Pangea Day
• Where and how to attend

In the journal Science today, a research team led by archaeologists Tom Dillehay and Mario Pino report on the latest findings from Monte Verde, a preclovis site in Chile. In this latest report, the researchers provide evidence that the occupants of Monte Verde displayed a broad level understanding and use of a variety of seaweeds--lending support to the Pacific Coast Migration Model of the American colonization.

Monte Verde is the site that astonished the scientific community when it was published about a decade ago, because at 14,600 cal BP, the site proved to be older than Clovis, previously thought to be the original colonists of the Americas. Monte Verde was 10,000 miles south of the theoretical point of entry to the Americas at Beringia, and exhibited a totally different lifestyle than Clovis big game hunters.

The Latest Findings at Monte Verde

This latest work reports on soil samples recovered from a couple of structures at the site, and in those samples they've identified a considerable quantity and variety of different forms of seaweed, that prove that the Monte Verdeans were there year-round and had a strong grasp of the different seaweeds available and where to find them.

Now, believe it or not, seaweed is an interesting thing to find at Monte Verde, because it seems to fit the Pacific Coast Migration model very well indeed, in that the people who lived at Monte Verde had a very detailed knowledge of seaweed. In brief, the PCM model argues that one pathway into the Americas used by the original human colonists was along the Pacific coast. Today's findings also support the version of the PCM model called the Kelp Highway Hypothesis, that the colonists followed the coastlines relying heavily on the kelp forest that is found edging the Pacific rim everywhere (except the tropics).

Seaweed and Monte Verde

Archaeologist Jon Erlandson, lead author of the paper on the Kelp Highway Hypothesis, commented on the Science paper:

"As you know, the presence of early people at Monte Verde (near the Pacific Coast) was instrumental in a broader acceptance of the coastal migration theory. I read the paper a few days ago and thought it was a significant piece. I'm impressed with the diversity of seaweeds they found--sort of a seaweed garnish for the 'kelp highway' hypothesis and coastal migration theory. I thought they were rightfully cautious about what this might tell us about the peopling of the Americas, but it seems to imply a deep knowledge of marine ecosystems. Many edible seaweeds were dried, traded, or stored by ethnographic peoples of the Pacific Rim."

Photo Essay of Monte Verde

What isn't discussed in the paper, but is on everybody's mind, is what about the earlier possible site located beneath Monte Verde's 14,000 year old occupation? Dillehay says there are plans to reopen the investigation there in a few years.

The Science paper had a number of terrific photos of the site and vicinity, and with Dillehay's permission, I've built a photo essay on the new findings.

• Dillehay, Tom D., et al. 2008 Monte Verde: Seaweed, Food, Medicine, and the Peopling of South America. Science 32(5877):0784-786.
• Balter, Michael. 2008. Ancient Algae Suggest Sea Route for First Americans. Science 320(5877):729
• Monte Verde II: A Photo Essay.
• A bibliography of Monte Verde
• The Pacific Coast Migration Model
• The Kelp Highway Hypothesis

A new paper in Nature this week realigns--or rather, primarily reaffirms--paleo-anthropological understanding of how our stream of ancient relatives fits together. I must admit, it's beyond me, but fortunately, it's not beyond Kambiz Kamrani, who gives us the lowdown on his weblog today:

A cladistic analysis of 17 hominid skulls, from Kambiz Kamrani on Anthropology.net.

Maybe it's a result of my youthful stint as a secretary in a university geography department, but I am flat out fascinated by the history of roads and road systems. So often they are tied to empire building, to trade, to cultural contact; all fascinating bits of the ancient past, as far as I'm concerned.

Over the years I've spent here at About.com, I've compiled information on several of the most interesting in our collective histories. Here are a handful of the specific ways in which some past cultures moved along the countryside.

Ancient Roads and Transportation Networks

• Abbot's Way (England)
• Silk Road (across Asia)
• Achaemenid Royal Road of Cyrus the Great (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Palestine)
• Roman Roads (Viae Publicae) (throughout Europe)
• Sweet Track (England)
• The Inca Road (Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina)
• Inca Ceque System (Peru)
• Nazca Lines (Peru)
• Corlea Trackway (Ireland)
• Roman Aqueduct of Nimes (France)
• Cana-Abomey Road (Benin)

Have a good trip!

A new exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology opened last month, called Surviving: The Body of Evidence. Surviving is the first in a year-long series of planned events celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, born February 12, 1809, called the Year of Evolution.

Surviving: The Body of Evidence is an interactive exhibition that uses a variety of multimedia displays to examine the process of evolution and its profound impact on the human body, its limitations and capabilities. Included in the displays are touchable casts of our human ancestors, a gallery of evolution researchers, and a larger-than-life-sized model of a woman, to illustrate the way evolution has left its mark on our bodies.

An interactive website for the Surviving program provides videos and activities illustrating evolution's mechanics, such as how wisdom teeth are an evolutionary leftover, and the difference between the visual acuities of dogs, humans and chimpanzees.

The Year of Evolution will include museum displays and a series of different events throughout the year, including special lectures, teach-ins and panel discussions.

Surviving: The Body of Evidence runs through May 3, 2009, and after that begins a multi-city national tour.

• Year of Evolution, calendar of upcoming events
• Surviving: The Body of Evidence, a preview and background on the exhibition
• Interactive Website, Surviving: The Body of Evidence

One of our original hominin ancestors, Paranthropus boisei (aka Nutcracker Man, lived between 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago throughout what were then savannas in eastern Africa), has gotten an image makeover.

It turns out that despite P. boisei's over-sized teeth and strong jaw musculature (hence 'Nutcracker Man', and thought to be evidence of a very crunchy and difficult-to-chew diet), they were fruit eaters. But, you know what, in my long experience as a public archaeologist (gesundheit to you, too), I've rarely seen a clearer explanation in a news story than you'll find in the original academic paper you can find online at PLoS One. And it's open access, and you can even read the comments from one of the peer reviewers.

How great is that?

Sources

Ungar, Peter S., Frederick E. Grine, and Mark F. Teaford 2008 Dental Microwear and Diet of the Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Paranthropus boisei. PLoS ONE 3(4):e2044.

The Archaeology Channel's annual Film Festival this year will be held 20-24 May 2008 in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, USA. On their website this week is a preview of the films to be shown--an eclectic collection indeed.

TAC International Film Festival Preview