revisits Shroud of Turin
A documentary on the Shroud of Turin suggests the cloth, a religious relic once
believed to be the burial shroud of Christ, might be authentic, and some archaeologists are
crying foul.
Experts have widely considered the 14-foot-long linen sheet, which has been kept since 1578
in a cathedral in Turin, Italy, a forgery since carbon-dating tests were performed in 1988.
Those tests placed its origin at A.D.1300.
But Secrets of the Dead: Shroud of Christ (PBS, tonight, 8 ET/PT, check local listings),
presents evidence that narrator Liev Schreiber says is "making it possible it was indeed the
shroud of Christ"
I didn't even know this was on last night and just happened to channel surf to it (errr,
only because Enterprise was a rerun). This is one of those things that will never die
because there will always be someone around to hype it up (note: I am on the side of it
being a medieval forgery). Nevertheless, here are some related links:
Original Nature paper describing the
C-14 tests that gave the medieval date.
Walter McCrone on the composition of image and
the supposed problems with the C-14 dating.
For those with subscriptions via universities or other institutions, two papers in The
Journal Of Archaeological Science regarding the C-14 dating:
href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WH8-45N4V66-2V-1&_cdi=6844&_
orig=search&_coverDate=01%2F05%2F1996&_sk=999769998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWz&_acct=C0000297
18&_version=1&_userid=582538&md5=ec31cc9c6470b9b40ab8c765a6dc558e&ie=f.pdf">Kouznetsov et
al.: Effects of fires and biofractionation. . .
href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WH8-45N4V66-30-1&_cdi=6844&_
orig=search&_coverDate=01%2F05%2F1996&_sk=999769998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWz&_acct=C0000297
18&_version=1&_userid=582538&md5=cb2571ddee68476aa8ccbe61ba21f211&ie=f.pdf">Jull, Donahue,
and Damon commenting on Kouznetsov et al.
Couple more from Radiocarbon on the fire/contamination issue:
Attempt to Affect the
Apparent 14C Age of Cotton by Scorching in a CO2 Environment
An Experiment to
Refute the Likelihood of Cellulose Carboxylation
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/nyregion/07mbrf.html?ex=1082001600&en=5f464ee6083d4c
ac&ei=5062">Metro Briefing (NYC)
TRENTON: STATE LANDMARKS PLANTATION SITE A five-acre site where archaeologists
unearthed evidence of a northern slave plantation that the Marquis de Lafayette and George
Washington visited has been granted state landmark status, officials said yesterday. Known
as the Beverwyck site, near Parsippany and Troy Hills, it was a parking lot scheduled for
expansion in the late 1990's when workers came across artifacts. Archaeologists eventually
found slave shackles, buttons from Revolutionary War-era uniforms and other items that tied
the site to a 2,000-acre mid-18th-century plantation known as Beverwyck. The Department of
Environmental Protection plans to recommend the property for federal landmark status as
well.Stacy Albin (NYT)
That's the whole article, it's down the page a bit.
News from Bangladesh
href="http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/04/07/d40407011616.htm">Govt to preserve Narsingdi
site
The government will preserve the archaeological site in Narsingdi where the
country's oldest road, dating back to 450 BC, was unearthed last month.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs Selima Rahman assured the excavators of this during her
visit there yesterday, when they asked her for immediate government steps to preserve the
site.
Selima hailed the excavation team of Jahangirnagar University (JU) Department of Archaeology
for its epoch-making work 'in quest of the country's root' and for unravelling further
evidences of the region's glorious past.
"This findings will help us know better our thousands of years-old history and make us proud
of our civilisation," Selima wrote in the visitors' book.
And still more from Bangladesh
href="http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/04/06/d40406011313.htm">Archaeological sites in
disarray
Country's archaeological sites are poorly maintained as the Department of
Archaeology under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs is limping due to fund crisis and
manpower shortage.
Important archaeological sites and monuments such as Mount of Raja Harishchandra in Savar
and Roelbari in Netrokona are left without conservation although digging was done there more
than 10 years ago.
The department also failed to conserve the largest bronze statue of Buddha found at Bhoj
Raja's house in Mainamati. Famous archaeological sites in the capital like Bara Katara and
Chhoto Katara and Sat Gombuj Mosque also lack proper maintenance.
Worship site
indicates people's rich spiritual life 7,400 years ago
A worship site discovered in the Gaomiao ashes in central China's Hunan province
indicates the people there enjoyed a rich spiritual life 7,400 years ago, making it the
oldest religious site discovered so far in China, according to archeologists.
Located at west Hunan's Hongjiang city, the Gaomiao ashes is one of the well-preserved sites
of the Neolithic age.
The provincial archaeological institution organized an excavation at the 15,000-sq-m
historical site from February to March, and discovered sites built for worship together with
a number of utensils used in the worship, like white gallipots and ivory engravings.
More from Iraq Controversy
revisits Shroud of Turin
A documentary on the Shroud of Turin suggests the cloth, a religious relic once
believed to be the burial shroud of Christ, might be authentic, and some archaeologists are
crying foul.
Experts have widely considered the 14-foot-long linen sheet, which has been kept since 1578
in a cathedral in Turin, Italy, a forgery since carbon-dating tests were performed in 1988.
Those tests placed its origin at A.D.1300.
But Secrets of the Dead: Shroud of Christ (PBS, tonight, 8 ET/PT, check local listings),
presents evidence that narrator Liev Schreiber says is "making it possible it was indeed the
shroud of Christ"
I didn't even know this was on last night and just happened to channel surf to it (errr,
only because Enterprise was a rerun). This is one of those things that will never die
because there will always be someone around to hype it up (note: I am on the side of it
being a medieval forgery). Nevertheless, here are some related links:
Original Nature paper describing the
C-14 tests that gave the medieval date.
Walter McCrone on the composition of image and
the supposed problems with the C-14 dating.
For those with subscriptions via universities or other institutions, two papers in The
Journal Of Archaeological Science regarding the C-14 dating:
href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WH8-45N4V66-2V-1&_cdi=6844&_
orig=search&_coverDate=01%2F05%2F1996&_sk=999769998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWz&_acct=C0000297
18&_version=1&_userid=582538&md5=ec31cc9c6470b9b40ab8c765a6dc558e&ie=f.pdf">Kouznetsov et
al.: Effects of fires and biofractionation. . .
href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WH8-45N4V66-30-1&_cdi=6844&_
orig=search&_coverDate=01%2F05%2F1996&_sk=999769998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWz&_acct=C0000297
18&_version=1&_userid=582538&md5=cb2571ddee68476aa8ccbe61ba21f211&ie=f.pdf">Jull, Donahue,
and Damon commenting on Kouznetsov et al.
Couple more from Radiocarbon on the fire/contamination issue:
Attempt to Affect the
Apparent 14C Age of Cotton by Scorching in a CO2 Environment
An Experiment to
Refute the Likelihood of Cellulose Carboxylation
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/nyregion/07mbrf.html?ex=1082001600&en=5f464ee6083d4c
ac&ei=5062">Metro Briefing (NYC)
TRENTON: STATE LANDMARKS PLANTATION SITE A five-acre site where archaeologists
unearthed evidence of a northern slave plantation that the Marquis de Lafayette and George
Washington visited has been granted state landmark status, officials said yesterday. Known
as the Beverwyck site, near Parsippany and Troy Hills, it was a parking lot scheduled for
expansion in the late 1990's when workers came across artifacts. Archaeologists eventually
found slave shackles, buttons from Revolutionary War-era uniforms and other items that tied
the site to a 2,000-acre mid-18th-century plantation known as Beverwyck. The Department of
Environmental Protection plans to recommend the property for federal landmark status as
well.Stacy Albin (NYT)
That's the whole article, it's down the page a bit.
News from Bangladesh
href="http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/04/07/d40407011616.htm">Govt to preserve Narsingdi
site
The government will preserve the archaeological site in Narsingdi where the
country's oldest road, dating back to 450 BC, was unearthed last month.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs Selima Rahman assured the excavators of this during her
visit there yesterday, when they asked her for immediate government steps to preserve the
site.
Selima hailed the excavation team of Jahangirnagar University (JU) Department of Archaeology
for its epoch-making work 'in quest of the country's root' and for unravelling further
evidences of the region's glorious past.
"This findings will help us know better our thousands of years-old history and make us proud
of our civilisation," Selima wrote in the visitors' book.
And still more from Bangladesh
href="http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/04/06/d40406011313.htm">Archaeological sites in
disarray
Country's archaeological sites are poorly maintained as the Department of
Archaeology under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs is limping due to fund crisis and
manpower shortage.
Important archaeological sites and monuments such as Mount of Raja Harishchandra in Savar
and Roelbari in Netrokona are left without conservation although digging was done there more
than 10 years ago.
The department also failed to conserve the largest bronze statue of Buddha found at Bhoj
Raja's house in Mainamati. Famous archaeological sites in the capital like Bara Katara and
Chhoto Katara and Sat Gombuj Mosque also lack proper maintenance.
Worship site
indicates people's rich spiritual life 7,400 years ago
A worship site discovered in the Gaomiao ashes in central China's Hunan province
indicates the people there enjoyed a rich spiritual life 7,400 years ago, making it the
oldest religious site discovered so far in China, according to archeologists.
Located at west Hunan's Hongjiang city, the Gaomiao ashes is one of the well-preserved sites
of the Neolithic age.
The provincial archaeological institution organized an excavation at the 15,000-sq-m
historical site from February to March, and discovered sites built for worship together with
a number of utensils used in the worship, like white gallipots and ivory engravings.
More from Iraq Cracks in ruined vault of Iraq's ancient Ctesiphon
palace
CTESIPHON, Iraq: Long deserted by tourists, the ruined vault of Iraq's ancient
Ctesiphon palace, which boasts the highest single-span brick arch in the world, is
developing worrisome cracks although experts say it is unlikely to collapse.
Located on the northeast bank of the Tigris River, 30 kilometers (20 miles)south of Baghdad,
Ctesiphon was founded on the site of an older town, Opis, in the second century BC by
Parthian King Mithridates.
The site was once one of the most popular tourist destinations in a country which is the
cradle of many civilizations.
"There were busloads of tourists coming. Today we hardly get 100 visitors a week," said
Wadeeh Kherdeb, custodian of the site for the past 15 years, who remembers such illustrious
sightseers as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the late King Hussein of Jordan. The rare
visitors today are soldiers, Iranian pilgrims or Indian travelers.
Now this is cool
href="http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=66490009">Paleo
ntologists Use Computer to "Morph" Deformed Fossils Back to Their Original Shapes
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's bad enough that fossils, buried deep in layers of rock for
thousands or millions of years, may be damaged or missing pieces, but what really challenges
paleontologists, according to University at Buffalo researchers, is the amount of
deformation that most fossils exhibit.
That's why Tammy Dunlavey, a master's degree candidate in the Department of Geology in the
UB College of Arts and Sciences, and her colleagues are working on a computational method to
morph fossils back to their original shapes by calculating and excising the deformation.
"Our goal is to develop computer programs that can reliably solve the deformation problem,"
noted Dunlavey, who on April 1 presented research on a new suite of "retrodeformation"
programs at a Geological Society of America meeting (North-Central section) in St. Louis.
Nottinghamshire man tries to improve TV reception with mobile antenna
Uncovering the secrets of one historic village
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have started a survey at King's Clip-stone in an attempt to
unearth the secrets of the site's past.
The historical site is one of three in Notting-hamshire where work began this week in a
major £100,000 archaeological survey — with Annesley motte and bailey and Worksop castle
also the focus of hi-tech investigations.
The surveys will help to reveal the precise location of mediaeval walls and hearths, helping
experts piece together answers to questions about the buildings' histories.
They hope to uncover for the first time how and what they were constructed from, how long
they were used for and the size and layout of the buildings.
Says project manager Ursilla Spence: "The potential of this survey to help us get a much
more complete picture of the history of Sherwood Forest and north Nottinghamshire is
immense.
Archaeology work draws to a
close
Excavation work by archaeologists at the Canons Marsh area of Bristol is about
to finish.
Members of Cotswold Archaeology have been working on the site in the city centre for eight
months. They have dug six trenches.
The team has found remains of a medieval building, as well as streets and lanes linking the
building to the waterfront and Canons Marsh.
href="http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues04/apr04/phenomena.html">Towering
Mysteries
Who built them and why? An amateur archaeologist tries to get to the bottom of
some astonishing structures in Tibet and Sichuan Province, China
Martine "Frederique" Darragon set out from New York City for the hinterlands of western
China and Tibet in 1998 to pursue an interest in the endangered snow leopard when she fell
under the spell of another elusive phenomenon: old stone towers, some vaguely star-shaped
and some more than 100 feet tall, scattered across the foothills of the Himalayas. Yet when
she asked local residents about the towers—Who built them? When? Why?—nobody seemed to have
a clue. What she had stumbled upon was rare indeed: a riddle in plain sight.
RICH, VIBRANT COMMUNITY
LIFE OF RURAL MAYA DESCRIBED BY BU ARCHAEOLOGIST
Two thousand years ago, a trek through present-day Central America would have
rewarded the traveler with a look at the Maya civilization in full flower — from the bustle
of activity and architectural wonders of urban centers to the quieter pace and more
utilitarian structures of rural communities. For today’s traveler, the voices of Maya’s
well-studied urban centers remain vibrant. The voices of rural Maya, however, remain silent,
largely unfound.
A team of archaeologists from Boston University have spent the past four years gathering and
analyzing items left behind by Maya living in rural Xibun, a community in the Sibun River
Valley of central Belize. With the researchers’ coaxing, the Xibun artifacts are providing a
story of life among rural Maya during the civilization’s Late Classic Period (600 – 900
A.D.).
Archaeoastronomy news
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3592631.stm">Ancient builders followed stars
Many Bronze Age monuments in Europe and Africa were erected with the Sun and
other stars in mind, says Dr Michael Hoskin, a UK historian of astronomy.
In one survey of 2,000 tombs he has shown how many were built to face the rising Sun - a
symbol of the afterlife.
A second study of stone structures in Menorca reveals they were set up to view the
constellation of Centaurus.
The Cambridge University researcher has discussed his work at the 2004 National Astronomy
Meeting in Milton Keyes.
Kind of a trivial story actually. More detail
href="http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994849">here. Archaeoastronomy
has its share of fruitcakes, but there's an awful lot of interesting stuff going on in this
field. Expect more good work in the future.
Computer technology
to provide virtual tour of a mummy
Computer technology has found the gentle way to raise the dead - by introducing
the virtual mummy. Nesperennub was a temple priest who died at about 35 nearly 3,000 years
ago in Egypt. In preparation for eternal life, priests extracted his brain and his eyes,
eviscerated his organs and embalmed his body with herbs, cedar oil and naphthalene.
Then they wrapped him in bandages soaked with beeswax to keep out moisture and corruption,
and buried him at Thebes on the west bank of the Nile, with a resin bowl accidentally stuck
to his head.
I couldn't resist cutting off the quote at the resin bowl part. That's just too funny. But
the story is a good one. This is another application of remote sensing, albeit on a smaller
scale. What a glorious day it will be when things (mummies, deposits) don't have to get torn
apart to see how they're put together. A hundred years from now, I firmly believe
archaeologists will be shaking their heads at all the destruction we engaged in.
Update: More info at the
href="http://www.sgi.com/newsroom/press_releases/2002/march/mummy.html">SGI press release
website. They're a bit more generous in their assessment of the resin bowl:
Most intriguingly, researchers have identified for the first time a mysterious,
caplike object on Nesperennub's head as a ceramic bowl. This has never before been seen and
raises new questions about ancient Egyptian burial rituals.
Yeah, they were often slipshod.
">Cracks in ruined vault of Iraq's ancient Ctesiphon
palace
CTESIPHON, Iraq: Long deserted by tourists, the ruined vault of Iraq's ancient
Ctesiphon palace, which boasts the highest single-span brick arch in the world, is
developing worrisome cracks although experts say it is unlikely to collapse.
Located on the northeast bank of the Tigris River, 30 kilometers (20 miles)south of Baghdad,
Ctesiphon was founded on the site of an older town, Opis, in the second century BC by
Parthian King Mithridates.
The site was once one of the most popular tourist destinations in a country which is the
cradle of many civilizations.
"There were busloads of tourists coming. Today we hardly get 100 visitors a week," said
Wadeeh Kherdeb, custodian of the site for the past 15 years, who remembers such illustrious
sightseers as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the late King Hussein of Jordan. The rare
visitors today are soldiers, Iranian pilgrims or Indian travelers.
Now this is cool
href="http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=66490009">Paleo
ntologists Use Computer to "Morph" Deformed Fossils Back to Their Original Shapes
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's bad enough that fossils, buried deep in layers of rock for
thousands or millions of years, may be damaged or missing pieces, but what really challenges
paleontologists, according to University at Buffalo researchers, is the amount of
deformation that most fossils exhibit.
That's why Tammy Dunlavey, a master's degree candidate in the Department of Geology in the
UB College of Arts and Sciences, and her colleagues are working on a computational method to
morph fossils back to their original shapes by calculating and excising the deformation.
"Our goal is to develop computer programs that can reliably solve the deformation problem,"
noted Dunlavey, who on April 1 presented research on a new suite of "retrodeformation"
programs at a Geological Society of America meeting (North-Central section) in St. Louis.
Nottinghamshire man tries to improve TV reception with mobile antenna
Uncovering the secrets of one historic village
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have started a survey at King's Clip-stone in an attempt to
unearth the secrets of the site's past.
The historical site is one of three in Notting-hamshire where work began this week in a
major £100,000 archaeological survey — with Annesley motte and bailey and Worksop castle
also the focus of hi-tech investigations.
The surveys will help to reveal the precise location of mediaeval walls and hearths, helping
experts piece together answers to questions about the buildings' histories.
They hope to uncover for the first time how and what they were constructed from, how long
they were used for and the size and layout of the buildings.
Says project manager Ursilla Spence: "The potential of this survey to help us get a much
more complete picture of the history of Sherwood Forest and north Nottinghamshire is
immense.
Archaeology work draws to a
close
Excavation work by archaeologists at the Canons Marsh area of Bristol is about
to finish.
Members of Cotswold Archaeology have been working on the site in the city centre for eight
months. They have dug six trenches.
The team has found remains of a medieval building, as well as streets and lanes linking the
building to the waterfront and Canons Marsh.
href="http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues04/apr04/phenomena.html">Towering
Mysteries
Who built them and why? An amateur archaeologist tries to get to the bottom of
some astonishing structures in Tibet and Sichuan Province, China
Martine "Frederique" Darragon set out from New York City for the hinterlands of western
China and Tibet in 1998 to pursue an interest in the endangered snow leopard when she fell
under the spell of another elusive phenomenon: old stone towers, some vaguely star-shaped
and some more than 100 feet tall, scattered across the foothills of the Himalayas. Yet when
she asked local residents about the towers—Who built them? When? Why?—nobody seemed to have
a clue. What she had stumbled upon was rare indeed: a riddle in plain sight.
RICH, VIBRANT COMMUNITY
LIFE OF RURAL MAYA DESCRIBED BY BU ARCHAEOLOGIST
Two thousand years ago, a trek through present-day Central America would have
rewarded the traveler with a look at the Maya civilization in full flower — from the bustle
of activity and architectural wonders of urban centers to the quieter pace and more
utilitarian structures of rural communities. For today’s traveler, the voices of Maya’s
well-studied urban centers remain vibrant. The voices of rural Maya, however, remain silent,
largely unfound.
A team of archaeologists from Boston University have spent the past four years gathering and
analyzing items left behind by Maya living in rural Xibun, a community in the Sibun River
Valley of central Belize. With the researchers’ coaxing, the Xibun artifacts are providing a
story of life among rural Maya during the civilization’s Late Classic Period (600 – 900
A.D.).
Archaeoastronomy news
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3592631.stm">Ancient builders followed stars
Many Bronze Age monuments in Europe and Africa were erected with the Sun and
other stars in mind, says Dr Michael Hoskin, a UK historian of astronomy.
In one survey of 2,000 tombs he has shown how many were built to face the rising Sun - a
symbol of the afterlife.
A second study of stone structures in Menorca reveals they were set up to view the
constellation of Centaurus.
The Cambridge University researcher has discussed his work at the 2004 National Astronomy
Meeting in Milton Keyes.
Kind of a trivial story actually. More detail
href="http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994849">here. Archaeoastronomy
has its share of fruitcakes, but there's an awful lot of interesting stuff going on in this
field. Expect more good work in the future.
Computer technology
to provide virtual tour of a mummy
Computer technology has found the gentle way to raise the dead - by introducing
the virtual mummy. Nesperennub was a temple priest who died at about 35 nearly 3,000 years
ago in Egypt. In preparation for eternal life, priests extracted his brain and his eyes,
eviscerated his organs and embalmed his body with herbs, cedar oil and naphthalene.
Then they wrapped him in bandages soaked with beeswax to keep out moisture and corruption,
and buried him at Thebes on the west bank of the Nile, with a resin bowl accidentally stuck
to his head.
I couldn't resist cutting off the quote at the resin bowl part. That's just too funny. But
the story is a good one. This is another application of remote sensing, albeit on a smaller
scale. What a glorious day it will be when things (mummies, deposits) don't have to get torn
apart to see how they're put together. A hundred years from now, I firmly believe
archaeologists will be shaking their heads at all the destruction we engaged in.
Update: More info at the
href="http://www.sgi.com/newsroom/press_releases/2002/march/mummy.html">SGI press release
website. They're a bit more generous in their assessment of the resin bowl:
Most intriguingly, researchers have identified for the first time a mysterious,
caplike object on Nesperennub's head as a ceramic bowl. This has never before been seen and
raises new questions about ancient Egyptian burial rituals.
Yeah, they were often slipshod.