Stephen H. Lekson on influential mythologies
Friday October 31, 2003
Lekson quotes the most influential archaeologist of our day, Henry Jones, Jr., in his 1999 book The Chaco Meridian.
The Digital Michelangelo Project
Friday October 31, 2003
From Stanford University, a project to digitize the works of Michelangelo, creating 3D computer models for each statue, architectural setting, and map fragment. Although this isn't about ancient art, this ... Read More
Cavemen at the BBC
Friday October 31, 2003
The BBC has a new page on prehistoric peoples, which they, of course, call Cavemen: BBCi - Science - Cavemen
Grants.Gov: Science
Friday October 31, 2003
An electronic storefront to assist in getting Federal money out of the United States Government for that project you've always had in mind.
WAC Discussion List
Friday October 31, 2003
New email discussion list developed to discuss the World Archaeological Congress adn its various activities.
Looting Stymied in Guatemala
Thursday October 30, 2003
An article in the Tennesseean discusses how quick work by Vanderbilt University and the National Geographic Society have tracked down a 600-pound stela from a Maya site in Guatemala.
A ... Read More
Looting Stymied in Guatemala
Thursday October 30, 2003
An article in the Tennesseean discusses how quick work by Vanderbilt University and the National Geographic Society have tracked down a 600-pound stela from a Maya site in Guatemala.
A ... Read More
Looting Stymied in Guatemala
Thursday October 30, 2003
An article in the Tennesseean discusses how quick work by Vanderbilt University and the National Geographic Society have tracked down a 600-pound stela from a Maya site in Guatemala.
A ... Read More
Aurel Stein: Hero or Goat?
Thursday October 30, 2003
The BBC news targets one of archaeology's Achilles heels: archaeology's underpinnings were based on cultural artifacts stolen from a lot of countries. A critique of the early archaeologist/adventurer Aurel Stein ... Read More
Michael Goodchild on maintaining intellectual depth
Thursday October 30, 2003
Geographer Michael Goodchild reflects on the trouble with specialization. From an interview with Nadine Schuurman, published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 1998.
Yearning for Yemen
Thursday October 30, 2003
Archaeologist Juris Zarins from Southwest Missouri Stte discusses how modern times have affected his research: Conversations: A Yearning for Yemen
History of Medieval Cyprus
Thursday October 30, 2003
A feature article in the Cyprus Weekly by Barbara Lyssarides describes how the legal system worked on Cyprus during the Middle Ages.
Crime and Punishment in Mediaeval Cyprus
American Journeys
Thursday October 30, 2003
A fabulous collection of documents pertaining to the colonization of the American continents, from Eric the Red to George Catlin. From the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the ... Read More
Hierakonpolis, City of the Hawk
Thursday October 30, 2003
Renee Friedman discusses the history of the ancient city of Hierakonpolis this month in Archaeology magazine:
City of the Hawk
Tea Leoni on how she almost became an anthropologist - Archaeology
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Sometimes even anthropologists get a break... from an article in the San Jose Mercury News from December 1997.
Justin Kerr's Maya Rollouts
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Article in Archaeology magazine describes the career of Justin Kerr, whose Maya rollout images have graced the FAMSI pages: Picture Perfect
Linear B (Cambridge)
Wednesday October 29, 2003
From the Mycenaean Epigraphy Group at Cambridge University Classics department, a new page on Linear B celebrating the 50th anniversary of the decipherment by Chadwick and Ventris.
Bethsaida Findings
Wednesday October 29, 2003
An article in Haaretz describing recent research by Rami Arav at Bethsaida, called Judging by these remains, the Tanakhic description is anchored in reality
Lindesay on the Great Wall
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Archaeology magazine this month has an article by William Lindesay on the Great Wall of China, called In the Shadow of the Wall
William Least Heat-Moon on the lack of yesterdays on the road
Tuesday October 28, 2003
From his 1983 classic road trip, "Blue Highways"
Fort Edwards
Tuesday October 28, 2003
Eighteenth century home of Joseph Edwards, and a fort during the French and Indian Wars; this website is from the Fort Edwards Foundation, and it has a lot of information ... Read More
Spying and Conspiring
Tuesday October 28, 2003
Archaeological imperialism at its ugliest; our dark history as spies for our various western governments is discussed in this article in Khilafah called: Spying and conspiring
Ancient Ephesus
Tuesday October 28, 2003
From Umit Yoruk at the Kusadesi web site, a vast wealth of information on the ancient city of Ephesus.
Colin Renfrew Calls It Looting
Monday October 27, 2003
IN a speech to the University of Pennsyvlania Museum, Cambridge University archaeologist Colin Renfrew accused museums and private collectors of indirectly supporting looters around the world:
Scholar accuses museums of ... Read More
Oscar Wilde on our duty to history
Monday October 27, 2003
Ah, Oscar Wilde: at least he clearly believed in modern historians... from his 1891 book called "The Critic as Artist".
Herman Melville on the Textbook of Tyrants
Monday October 27, 2003
A comment on the past from the writer of Moby Dick, taken from his 1850 book called White-Jacket.
Sikait
Monday October 27, 2003
American-Dutch research in the Egyptian Eastern Desert have included among other things, excavations in Sikait, the only large-scale emerald mine of the Roman empire, and potentially used as early as ... Read More
Manual for Sampling Pollen, Starch, and MacroFloral Samples
Monday October 27, 2003
From Paleoresearch Institute, a commercial laboratory conducting pollen and phytolith analyses among others, a manual on how to correctly sample for such research.
The Great Michigan Hoax
Sunday October 26, 2003
From the Grand Rapids Press, an interview with Michigan State Archaeologist John Halsey on a local hoax purporting to explain the ancient settlement of Michigan:
Archaeology's great hoax
Confucius on diligence
Sunday October 26, 2003
A few words from a very wise man.
John Pohl's Mesoamerica
Sunday October 26, 2003
Another great page from FAMSI, this one an introduction to the archaeology, geography, history, and writing of central America.
Grahame Clark on wasting one's life
Sunday October 26, 2003
From Clark's 1993 book called A Path to Prehistory, as cited in Brian Fagan's 2003 book called "Grahame Clark: An Intellectual Biography of an Archaeologist".
The History of the Maya Codices
Sunday October 26, 2003
From FAMSI, another fabulous website, this one by Randa Marhenke on the history of the Maya Codices, and including downloadable pdf files of the codices themselves.
Stephen Dedalus (James Joyce) on how he feels about history
Saturday October 25, 2003
From James Joyce's bizarre and wonderful classic novel Ulysses.
Jeremy Sabloff on archaeology's role models
Saturday October 25, 2003
From Sabloff's article "Communication and the future of archaeology", published in American Anthropologist in 1999.
Ancient Synagogue Found in Albania
Saturday October 25, 2003
From Science Daily, a report from Hebrew University of Jerusalem investigations at a site in the city o fSaranda, Albania, which identified a 5th-6th century synagogue. Remnants Of Ancient Synagogue ... Read More
African-American Archaeology.
Saturday October 25, 2003
A new email discussion list for the Archaeology of the African Diaspora in the New World.
Membership is open to anyone having a serious interest in researching and interpreting the ... Read More
2.6 MYA Site Found
Friday October 24, 2003
According to an article by John Noble Wilford in the NYT, researchers in Ethiopia have found a site with both stone tools and fossilized animal bone in the Afar region ... Read More
Nathan Light on the mental prison of modern myths
Friday October 24, 2003
Archaeologist Nathan Light, from a 1999 article in the now-defunct Discovering Archaeology called Tabloid Archaeology: Is television trivializing science?
Military Road Found in NY
Friday October 24, 2003
Evidence suggesting intact bits of an 18th century Military road through upstate New York is reported in this article in Newsday:
Old road with a bloody past is subject ... Read More
Ancient Faces?
Friday October 24, 2003
This falls in the category of "too weird to ignore", archaeologist Pietro Gaietto claims to have found a piece of portable art with a face carved into it, that "would ... Read More
Non-Human Use of Fire?
Thursday October 23, 2003
Okay, maybe the story got garbled in translation, but what it says on the Discovery Channel website is that archaeologist Helena Cave Penny has found an archaeological site in Wiltshire ... Read More
Robert L. Bettinger, on the cost of doing business
Thursday October 23, 2003
Archaeologist Robert L. Bettinger, from a paper he gave at the SAA meetings in 1998.
13,000 BP Skeleton Found off Texas
Thursday October 23, 2003
A news article in the Star Telegram reports that US Fish and Wildlife Service workers found a human skeleton off the Gulf Coast of Texas with a c14 date of ... Read More
5th Century Chapel Found
Wednesday October 22, 2003
News article in the Telegraph reports on Bristol University's excavations at a Roman villa in Bradford that turns out to include a 5th century chapel Telegraph Unearthed: a luxury ... Read More
John Guare on Amnesia and History - Archaeology
Wednesday October 22, 2003
Playwright John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation), from a 1990 interview in the International Herald Tribune.
Looting in Asia
Wednesday October 22, 2003
The online version of Time has a lengthy article on the problem of looting in Asia---although why the writer thinks archaeologists joke about looting is beyond me.
Stealing Beauty
Pompeii: Buried in Ages
Wednesday October 22, 2003
Arguably the best known archaeological site in the world--and one of the best documented on the web.
Susan Sontag on vanishing beauty
Tuesday October 21, 2003
Writer Susan Sontag, in her essay "Melancholy Objects" comments on the past
New Scientist on Laser Imaging at Stonehenge
Tuesday October 21, 2003
A New Scientist article has a picture of the images from Wessex Archaeology, taken at Stonehenge and reported to show axeheads.
Calusa Investigations
Tuesday October 21, 2003
An article in the Herald Tribune discusses John Worth's investigations into Calusa period sites in Florida:
Mysteries of the Calusa
NPS investigations at Monocacy to Begin
Tuesday October 21, 2003
Excavations at Monocacy National Battlefield are set to begin this week, in a suspected slave community dated to the late 18th-early 19th centuries, according to this article in the Washington ... Read More
Baghdad Looting Update
Tuesday October 21, 2003
This week, an interview with the lead investigator into the looting at the Baghdad museum appears in Archaeology magazine's online features:
A Conversation with Matthew F. Bogdanos
Patrick Henry on the lamp guiding his feet
Monday October 20, 2003
From a 1775 speech to the Virginia convention, Patrick Henry knows what the light of knowledge looks like.
Bone, Boats, and Bison
Monday October 20, 2003
A review of E. James Dixon's Bones, Boats, and Bison, in which he discusses the latest concepts of how the Americas were first colonized.
Palenque Slab Found
Monday October 20, 2003
Article in China Daily reports on the discovery of a carved stone stele at Palenque: 1,200 year-old slab from Mayan ruins site in southern Mexico
Why be an Archaeologist?
Monday October 20, 2003
This NYT article is the result of an interview with Craig Morris, co-curator of the new American Museum of Natural History's exhibit on Petra, discussing why he likes being an ... Read More
Chaco Mystery Solved?
Monday October 20, 2003
One of the most interesting questions at Chaco has always been---how the heck did they feed everybody? Research from Linda Cordell suggests that some of the corn might have been ... Read More
Carl Sagan, on the loss of the library at Alexandria
Sunday October 19, 2003
A quote from Carl Sagan's Cosmos on the lesson we should learn from the burning of the Library at Alexandria.
Karen Olsen Bruhns, Customs Agent
Sunday October 19, 2003
Karen Olsen Bruhns, archaeologist at San Franscisco State University, discusses her second job as a United States custom agent tracking illegally imported archaeological treasures.
Miami Stone Circle to be Buried
Sunday October 19, 2003
Archaeologists plan to bury the Miami Stone Circle until they can figure out a way to make it safely open to the public, according to this story in the Miami ... Read More
Three Gorges: Baiheliang
Sunday October 19, 2003
An article in China News reports on the investigations at Baiheliang, a Tang Dynasty site recorded before the reservoir at Three Gorges was filled:
Baiheliang: Ancient Hydrologic Station
B. S. Johnson on the Future of Architecture
Saturday October 18, 2003
A quote from Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, Ankh-Morpor's most acclaimed architect, quoted in that rascal Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms.
Beneath Sydney
Saturday October 18, 2003
Excavations in downtown Sydney, Australia revealed evidence of the 1820s maritime occupations:
Houses beneath houses as another Sydney is revealed
Guardian's Stonehenge Story
Saturday October 18, 2003
A bit more on the laser show at Stonehenge is reported in the Guardian:
Lasers reveal Stonehenge's 'art gallery'
Rock Art found at Stonehenge
Saturday October 18, 2003
A BBC News story reports that lasers have been used to identify two previously unknown rock carvings at Stonehenge. Lasers uncover Stonehenge secrets
Çatalhöyük: Urban Life in Neolithic Anatolia
Saturday October 18, 2003
Çatalhöyük is one of the earliest urban centers in the world; and Ian Hodder's study of its shrines has included the most forward-thinking and vital work in archaeology today.
Near Eastern Archaeology
Saturday October 18, 2003
From the American Museum of Natural History, a website on the ancient city of Petra, designed in conjunction with an exhibit.
A Maya elder on the importance of knowing your past - Archaeology
Friday October 17, 2003
A Maya elder, speaking of the need to maintain Mayan ethnicity in the face of the conflict in Guatemala. Quoted in a 1997 article in Cultural Survival Quarterly by Victor ... Read More
Remains, a poem by David Mason
Friday October 17, 2003
Poet David Mason reflects on the safety he finds in death
Fort Hood Excavations to be Led by Mercyhurst
Thursday October 16, 2003
A news story in NEPA News (Northeastern Pennyslvania) reports that Mercyhurst College just won a big fat contract from Fort Hood in Texas to spend a year excavating a ... Read More
A Guide to Graduate Schools in Archaeology: FAQ
Thursday October 16, 2003
The Guide to Graduate Schools in Archaeology generated a collection of excellent questions. So, here are the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and the Relatively Coherent Answers (RCA)
Steamboat Excavations
Wednesday October 15, 2003
The Star-Telegram has a story about an underwater investigations by the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M on a mid-19th century steam boat sunk ... Read More
Walt Kelly on the view behind us - Archaeology
Wednesday October 15, 2003
Quote of the day from the creator of Pogo, from the book Impollutable Pogo published in 1970.
A Guide to Graduate Schools in Archaeology
Wednesday October 15, 2003
Whether you're looking for a graduate school, a contact to explain some esoteric culture or time period, or just a way to keep up with academic archaeology today, the About.com ... Read More
Space, Society, and Six Degrees of.. Whom?
Wednesday October 15, 2003
An article from Space.com reports on an interesting project from members of the space scientific community which is of interest to public scientists everywhere. The group is trying to make ... Read More
Camille Paglia on voyages to the past - Archaeology
Tuesday October 14, 2003
From Paglia's 1999 article in the Wall Street Journal stating that archaeology is unfairly maligned.
IgNobel from Hot Air
Tuesday October 14, 2003
Ah, here it is: the IgNobel Home Page, from the Annals of Improbable Research, highlinghting this year's winners.
The Ig Nobel Web Page
Ozymandias
Tuesday October 14, 2003
A poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley on the frailness of political power expressed as an archaeological site.
Acheulian Site in India
Tuesday October 14, 2003
Report in New Scientist on Michael Petraglia's investigations at 1.7 million year old site in the southwest Indian state of Kamataka. The title is Early Humans Smart but Forgetful, something ... Read More
Alice Beck Kehoe on tolerance for ambiguity. - Archaeology
Monday October 13, 2003
A quote from Kehoe's 1998 book, the Land of Prehistory.
IgNobel Prizes on CNN
Monday October 13, 2003
CNN has a story on the IgNobel prizes, given out at Harvard in early October:
'IgNobels' honor founder of dead people club
Rock Markings in Northumberland
Monday October 13, 2003
BBC news report describes findings in Northumberland of several deeply incised marks in stone that they can't identify to culture, suggesting possible recent fakes, but pretty darn good ones.
Mystery ... Read More
Iron Age Warrior Found in Norfolk
Monday October 13, 2003
EDP24 News reports on excavations at an Iron Age site near Mildenhall has found, along with buildings, pottery and flint tools, the remnants of a muscular chap thought maybe to ... Read More
Charles Austin Beard on seeing stars
Sunday October 12, 2003
Historian Charles Austin Beard on four lessons of history.
Heinrich Härke and Bettina Arnold on dealing with political influence in archaeology
Sunday October 12, 2003
From Heinrich Harke's 1998 article in Current Anthropology called "Archaeologists and Migrations: A Problem of Attitude?" and a response by Bettina Arnold.
Prehistoric Footpaths in Costa Rica
Sunday October 12, 2003
Science Daily News reports on Payson Sheets' latest expeditions to Costa Rice, this time using NASA archaeologists and remote sensing specialists to identify ancient footpaths.
Prehistoric Footpaths In Costa Rica Indicate ... Read More
World Archaeological Congress 4
Sunday October 12, 2003
A trip to South Africa makes a convincing argument that we should all try to get to more World Archaeological Congresses
Risk Conversion
Sunday October 12, 2003
Brian Kenny, editor of the not-for-profit archaeological newsletter and website on southwestern archaeology called SWAnet, makes a plea for support.
HIttite-Egyptian Correspondence Tablet Found
Sunday October 12, 2003
Article in the Al-Ahram reports the find of a Hittite tablet message sent from King Hattusli II to Ramses II and is thought to be part of diplomatic correspondence during ... Read More
Charles Austin Beard describing Hari Seldon
Saturday October 11, 2003
Historian Charles Austin Beard may have been an intellectual source for Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. Here's some of the evidence.
Medieval Kootwijk
Saturday October 11, 2003
A small 6th-11th century settlement in what is now the Netherlands provides a window into the early Medieval farming communities of the Lowlands.
Goryeo Dynasty Shipwreck
Saturday October 11, 2003
A story in the Korea Herald reports on the underwater archaeological investigations of an 11th century vessel containing 667 sets of celadon dishes belonging to the Goryeo Dynasty
Goryeo celadon ... Read More
A. J. Toynbee on using history well - Archaeology
Saturday October 11, 2003
Form an NBC television broadcast in 1955.
Joseph Ransdell on the new conception of science
Saturday October 11, 2003
A quote of the week from the September Forum Archive.
Ayodhya Again
Saturday October 11, 2003
According to a report in the India Times, the Archaeological Survey of India wants to make some editing changes to its report on the highly controversial Ayodhya excavations. What sounds ... Read More
Charles Baudelaire on the Pleasure We Derive
Friday October 10, 2003
French poet Charles Baudelaire on the qualities we like about the past.
History of Chemical Warfare
Friday October 10, 2003
New article from John Noble Wilford at the NYT on the ancient history of chemical warfare: From Hydra Venom to Anthrax Myth
Bassett on the new media
Thursday October 9, 2003
Anthropologist Keith Bassett, from "Postmodernism and the crisis of the intellectual".
Pictographic Right-Handedness
Thursday October 9, 2003
Article in the NYT called Ancient Righties reports on arguments from the University of Montpelier on the handedness of ancient cave painters.
IAA may sell artifacts
Thursday October 9, 2003
According to a recent article in Ha'aretz, the Israeli Antiquities Authority is actually considering selling some artifacts on the open marke to support their budget. If they do it, this ... Read More
Iron Age Site in Finland
Wednesday October 8, 2003
A new press release from the Sámi Museum Siida reports on a new site found in Inari, Finland last week by writer Seppo Saraspää :
Siida - Late Iron Age silver ... Read More
J. G. Ballard on his fears for the future
Wednesday October 8, 2003
A quote from the classical science fiction writer J. G. Ballard, on what he thought the future held in 1930.
Celebrating 50 Years of DNA Research
Wednesday October 8, 2003
A special set of webpages on the New Scientist website compiled recent stories on DNA research, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson & Crick's discovery: DNA: 50 Year Anniversary
SAA Award for Excellence in Public Education
Tuesday October 7, 2003
The Society for American Archaeology is seeking nominations for archaeologists, educators, and institutions for their important contributions to Outstanding Achievement in the Sharing of Archaeological Knowledge and Issues with the ... Read More
Paul Bahn on Being an Archaeologist
Tuesday October 7, 2003
A funnier quote from Pleistocene cave art research Bahn, on what it takes to be a real archaeologist.
How did the Red Baron die?
Tuesday October 7, 2003
New in ScienCentral, an article on studies about the famous Luftwaffe pilot known as the Red Baron of WWI (not to mention Charles Schultz's Snoopy) fame:
The Red Baron's Last Bullet
Remote Sensing Techniques
Tuesday October 7, 2003
A story in the Economist this week talks about remote sensing techniques used in archaeology these days: What lies beneath
Paul G. Bahn on classifying Paleolithic art
Monday October 6, 2003
A quote from cave art researcher Paul Bahn.
Pompeii Investigations
Monday October 6, 2003
From the Discovery Channel, news concernign the latest excavations by Naples Oriental University at Pompeii: Older Layers Of Pompeii Unearthed
Anglo-Saxon Warrior Queen
Monday October 6, 2003
The Discovery Channel has an article this week on the Time Team excavations in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Lincolnshire. Locals are calling one of the more unusual burials "Xena", always ... Read More
Catherine Morland on the torment of reading history
Sunday October 5, 2003
One of Jane Austen's deliciously airhead characters on how she feels about history.
African Burial Ground
Sunday October 5, 2003
Article in Newsday describes a reburial ceremony for remains from the African burial site:
NY African burial site remains make final journey
Archimedes Text Uncovered
Sunday October 5, 2003
An article in ScienCentral reports investigations at the Walters Museum that seem to have found a book written by the 3rd century BC mathemetician Archimedes hidden beneath a medieval text.
Mystery ... Read More
Three Gorges Finding
Sunday October 5, 2003
From China News, a story on plank and stone roads, part of an ancient transportation network revealed during the Three Gorges project:
Ancient Cliff Roads of the Three Gorges
Arioti and Oxby on false oppositions
Saturday October 4, 2003
Who says you can't gather food and hunt at the same time?
100 Most Endangered World Monuments
Saturday October 4, 2003
Report from Archaeology magazine on the release of the new list from World Monuments Fund of the 100 most endangered momuments: 2004 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites Announced
A Lesson in Applied Archaeology
Saturday October 4, 2003
An interview with Clark Erickson on his work studying ancient agricultural fields in the Lake Titicaca region of Peru and Bolivia; and how local farmers are trying the old ways. ... Read More
IgNoble Prize: Murphy's Law
Friday October 3, 2003
New Scientist has an article about the origins of Murphy's Law, honored at the annual Ig Noble Prize celebrations at Harvard. Murphy's Law Honoured - 50 years late. The latest ... Read More
Anonymous on archaeology's greatest contribution
Friday October 3, 2003
A joke from an archaeologist who prefers to remain anonymous.
Earliest Modern Humans
Friday October 3, 2003
Here's a more sedate discussion of Trinkhaus's work: Earliest European modern humans found
Excavations Banned in Southern Egypt
Friday October 3, 2003
According to a story in the Taipei Times, Zahi Hawass has banned foreign excavations in southern Egypt for the next decade. Egypt bans new excavations by foreign scholars
Seeing the Light
Friday October 3, 2003
Your guide posts her ideas on how peer review might work on the Internet.
Anonymous critics at Raiders of the Lost Ark
Thursday October 2, 2003
A shriek of horror from momentarily unhinged movie-goer archaeologists at a first viewing of the first Indiana Jones movie.
Chasing the Baghdad Loot
Thursday October 2, 2003
Interview by Radio Netherlands with Iraqi archaeologist Selma al-Radi discusses the reality of the situation concerning artifacts looted from the museums in Iraq.
Chasing the Baghdad loot
Adams on the importance of subsistence
Wednesday October 1, 2003
A quote from Douglas Adams, the late very lamented science fiction writer of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Repatriation Movement in the UK
Wednesday October 1, 2003
Article in the Observer describes recent efforts by aboriginal peoples to retrieve skeletal materials stored in the Duckworth Museum at Cambridge University.
Scientists fight to save ancestral bone bank