Debitage: A Definition
Thursday November 30, 2006
Debitage is the collective term used by archaeologists to refer to the sharp-edged waste material left over when someone creates a stone tool (knaps flint). Debitage is also called chipping ... Read More
FAQ: Dogs in Archaeology
Wednesday November 29, 2006
Archaeology magazine has a short interview with archaeologist Darcy Morey on our best friend, the dog called Burying Man's Best Friend.
Burying Man's Best Friend, an interview with archaeologist Darcy Morey ... Read More
Quote of the Week: Clarence Darrow Hunching the World Along
Tuesday November 28, 2006
The objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one who ... Read More
CyArk: Digital Heritage Archaeology
Monday November 27, 2006
The CyArk project is an ambitious plan to place digital images--maps, plans, three-dimensional views--of world heritage sites in one place. Funded primarily by the Kacyra Family Foundation, CyArk currently has ... Read More
4SH 3.2: Neanderthal News
Friday November 24, 2006
Surely one of the most intensely scrutinized news topics of 2006 has been the Neanderthal, our nearest neighbor on the planet who may or may not have been closely related. ... Read More
Four Stone Hearth #3.1: Food for, uh, Thought
Wednesday November 22, 2006
Welcome to part 1 of the third edition of the anthropology Blog Carnival called Four Stone Hearth. Thursday is the annual American celebration of over-eating called Thanksgiving, and it seems ... Read More
Slashdot: Wikipedia Means the End of Archaeology!
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Slashdot earlier this month had a quote from technology lawyer Andy Updegrove about how Wikipedia is going to make archaeology unnecessary. Hah! Joke's on him: archaeology never has been necessary....
"Far ... Read More
Quote of the Week: Huxley on a Superior Kind of Dope
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Science and art are only too often a superior kind of dope, possessing this advantage over booze and morphia: that they can be indulged in with a good conscience and ... Read More
Visiting the Catacombs of Italy
Monday November 20, 2006
The Roman and early Christian catacombs in Italy are some of the most fascinating graveyards in the world. In the Catacombs of Italy, Martha Bakerjian, About's guide to Italy, gives ... Read More
The Lottery for Spending Winter Solstice at Newgrange
Sunday November 19, 2006
One exciting way to spend winter solstice would be standing inside the passage tomb of Newgrange in the Brú na Bóinne valley of Ireland when the sun rises. The passage ... Read More
Archaeology Dig 2007: Hippos-Sussita, Israel
Friday November 17, 2006
The eighth season of excavations at Hippos (Sussita) will be run by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa between July 1-26, 2007. The site is located ... Read More
TAC: The Monacan Indian Nation of Virginia
Thursday November 16, 2006
The latest video posting on The Archaeology Channel is a 1997 video about the historic Monacan Indian Nation called Reclaiming Our Heritage: The Monacan Indian Nation of Virginia.
What They Say About DNA (and Neanderthals)
Thursday November 16, 2006
The big story this week (for us archaeology geeks, anyway) is the latest news concerning the progress in sequencing Neanderthal DNA. It's a complex story, of which my contribution barely ... Read More
Sequencing of Neanderthal DNA Begins
Wednesday November 15, 2006
In a remarkable double publication today in both Science and Nature, researchers report on recent collaborative successes with developing the beginnings of a catalog of the nuclear DNA for Neanderthals. ... Read More
Quote of the Week: Bruce Trigger on Multiple Standpoints
Tuesday November 14, 2006
"Archaeologists can never be sure that a particular interpretation is correct, still less that it can never be improved. Yet today they are asking more questions than ever before, have ... Read More
Recent Readings: Boats, Color Names, and Counting Time
Monday November 13, 2006
To stay on top of archaeology, I read a lot, much more than I could ever report in this webpage. But just because I can't give everything the justice it ... Read More
Can I Dig for Free?
Sunday November 12, 2006
Faithful reader Danielle writes: "I am starting to reconsider my career course, and would like to find out more about archaeology. I enjoy having geographic mobility and not having to ... Read More
Archaeology Dig 2007: Tel Dor, Israel
Saturday November 11, 2006
The 2007 season of excavations at Tel Dor, Israel will be held between June 26 and July 28 next summer. Tel Dor was first excavated in the 1920s by John ... Read More
Maya Plazas and Festivals: A Photo Essay
Friday November 10, 2006
As I was reading up on Takeshi Inomata's study of the Maya festival and how the festivals affected and were affected by the shape and size of plazas, I got ... Read More
Four Stone Hearth: Second Edition
Thursday November 9, 2006
Afarensis has the editorial pulpit for the anthropology blog carnival called Four Stone Hearth this week, and he's collected quite a variety of interesting papers, both submitted and unearthed (you'll ... Read More
TFQA: Statistical Tools for the Archaeologist
Wednesday November 8, 2006
The statistical package developed by Arizona State University archaeologist Keith Kintigh over the past twenty or so years called Tools for Quantitative Archaeology includes much of what archaeologists have come ... Read More
Quote of the Week: Praetzellis on Too Much Fun
Tuesday November 7, 2006
"Most people enjoy the process of fieldwork more than just about anything else. It's the perfect combination of physical activity and mental work---problem solving. Not to mention the great company. ... Read More
Festivals and the Maya Plaza: Spectacle and Spectators
Monday November 6, 2006
Like many pre-modern societies, the Classic period Maya (AD 250-900 AD) used ritual and ceremony performed by the rulers or elites to appease gods, repeat historical events, and prepare for ... Read More
Where are 20th Century Ruins Preserved?
Sunday November 5, 2006
Dear Reader Sam, writes:
"I live in a community in Pennsylvania that is built around the ruins of a 20th Century Mansion called Whitemarsh Hall, originally designed by Horace Trumbauer. ... Read More
Proving Up and Settling Down (TAC)
Saturday November 4, 2006
The latest video at The Archaeological Channel is a 25-minute history of the settlement of Hell's Canyon and the Snake River, Idaho. Produced by the Idaho Power Company, "Proving Up ... Read More
Clifford Geertz [1926-2006]
Thursday November 2, 2006
The cultural anthropologist and ethnographer Clifford Geertz, who died yesterday at the age of 80, was an incredibly influential scientist to a generation of us, and whose writing and teaching ... Read More
The Red into Black: Roman Wall Paintings at Pompeii
Thursday November 2, 2006
For years, archaeologists and art historians have wondered why the wall paintings discovered at Pompeii and other Roman sites turned from a vivid red to black so quickly--within 20 years ... Read More
Archaeology Dig 2007: Holley Shelter (South Africa)
Wednesday November 1, 2006
Dr. Molly Clark of West Virginia Wesleyan College will hold field school excavations at Holley Shelter in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa between July 28-August 24, 2007. Holley Shelter ... Read More