Monday December 21, 2009
Today is solstice, the shortest day in the northern hemisphere, the longest day in the southern hemisphere, and one of those dates precisely marked by many different prehistoric astronomical observatories, because it marks the start of winter (or summer, depending on which hemisphere you are in).
Winter Solstice 2006 at Stonehenge. Photo by Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images
Known solstice observatories include Newgrange (Ireland), Chankillo (Peru), Building J at Monte Alban (Mexico), and of course many others, but of course you probably already know that solstice celebrated by the makers of Stonehenge. I love this photograph of the winter 2006 solstice at Stonehenge, from the photo essay on Stonehenge solstices. Happy solstice day!
Sunday December 20, 2009
You may quibble as to whether the end of the decade happens next week, or not until the end of 2010, but as for me, I think it is high time to look back and reflect on the amazing archaeological discoveries over the past ten years.
The Blue Marble - NASA's Photo of the Earth from Outer Space. Photo by NASA's Visible Earth
Many of the stories I chose for the top ten overthrew long-prevailing theories concerning human evolution and human migrations around our big blue marble. Others include a startlingly complex civilization discovered in Peru and a slab of serpentine appears to present information about the ancient roots of language in Mesoamerica. A man who was pulled out of a melting glacier in the Alps provided an astoundingly clear window into life as it was lived 5,000 years ago. It's truly been an amazing ten years.
Take a look at the new photo essay of my nominations for the top ten stories of the first decade of the 21st century, and feel free to post your opinions.
Monday December 14, 2009
The Inca Trail, that famous steep trek to Machu Picchu, is only a tiny sliver of the Inca Road System, one of the Inca Empire's finest achievements.
Tunnel on the Inca Road. Photo by maskirby
Stretching an estimated 40,000 kilometers along the length of the Inca Empire in the modern countries of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Argentina, the Inca Road crossed a wide range of environments. Crossing mountains, rivers, deserts, beaches, rivers required bridges, tunnels, cut stairs, terraces, and fountains, not to mention roadside inns called tampu. Can you blame me? I had to build a photo essay of this fabulous engineering feat.
Wednesday December 9, 2009
I am happy to announce that my first book, The Archaeologist's Book of Quotations, has just been published by the Left Coast Press.
The book contains over 300 quotations from articles and books by archaeologists over the past 200 years, as well as from movies and music and comics and other bits of pop culture, presented in chapters on fieldwork and ethics and whether archaeology is a science or not.
I had a blast putting it together: hope you like it too.
