MONTREAL -- The scientific puzzle pieces are fitting together to form a definitive picture of the origin of corn, says a Duke University plant geneticist who has proposed that the world's most important food crop originated in an ancient cross between two grasses.
Mary Eubanks described the latest evidence that corn, or maize, originated as a cross between teosinte and gamagrass, or Tripsacum, in a talk Friday, April 2, 2004, at a symposium on maize held at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (www.saa.org) in Montreal. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
This is fascinating and important. THe origin of maize has been controversial for quite a while, although in the late 1980s the tide of opinion shifted towards teosinte as the sole wild ancestor. This was partially helped by the popularization of
MNA's Archaeology Day a big hit with all ages
There was never a dull moment at the Museum of Northern Arizona's Archaeology Day on Saturday, March 27. The museum has been hosting this event since 1984 and really knows how to bring the wonderful world of archaeology alive for the public.
During the day-long celebration, almost 300 people of all ages meandered around exhibits and booths, set up both indoor and outside. The event was timed to honor March as Arizona Archaeology Awareness Month.
"It was a remarkable team effort," said Dianna Van Sanford, MNA's volunteer and docent coordinator. "There were more than 22 volunteers, and that doesn't include speakers. They worked very well together. The parking lot kept refilling and kids were enjoying educational activities throughout the entire museum. A lot of people were saying that it felt very much like the old days, especially internally. Everyone chipped in -- sort of like the MNA family together again. It was a really meaningful event."
Revenge of the archaeology nerds Photo mosaic of Revenge planned
MOREHEAD CITY -- A picture could be worth a thousand words to state underwater archaeologists working with the remains of what is believed to be the sunken flagship of the pirate Blackbeard.
This week, divers with the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project will double as shutterbugs in an attempt to document the wreckage in a photo mosaic.
"What we're trying to get here is a good, accurate overall image of the site," said Chris Southerly, project archaeologist.
There has never been a good, comprehensive image of the site made, though the QAR project did do some still-frame work from a video shot in 1997, Southerly said.
Archaeologists will be able to compare the photo mosaic not only with that video, but also with drawings and any future photographs taken, to see what geological changes are occurring over the years from storms and everyday currents, Southerly said.
It's never too late Shining new light on our past
A budding archaeologist has discovered a century-old trove of information about Florida's ancient history.
She is a middle-aged ex-florist with a passion for archaeology. He was a pioneering 19th-century scientist, whose innovative methods and brash ways created devoted followers and bitter enemies.
No one could have figured that the disparate lives of Phyllis Kolianos and Frank Hamilton Cushing would ever intersect. But 100 years after Cushing's untimely death, their tales became joined by the discovery of a manuscript that had been lost for a century.
Kolianos announced in March that she had found the document, shining new light on the archaeology of Southwest Florida and rehabilitating the reputation of the enigmatic anthropologist.
In case you were interested in later Egyptian Dynastic history, Chris Bennet has a large section of his website to the Ptolemies, that is, the successors to Alexander in Egypt.
Internet publishing debateAccess to the literature: the debate continues, is the journal Nature's entry into the continuing debate on how to best integrate web-based publishing with the traditional methods of peer-review and distribution of academic papers. (Subsribers only, unfortunately)
This debate has profound implications for science. The traditional publishing regime, it seems to me, works sufficiently well to separate the wheat from the chaff of scientific work through editorial and peer review. However, it is expensive and time consuming. Ideally, of course, the Internet promises to cut the cost of distribution dramatically and lessen the lag time between submission and publication. OTOH, as we all know, the Internet generally isn't known for producing a great deal of accurate or well-argued information. The major question in Internet publishing is: Who will act as gatekeepers? And correspondingly, how needed are gatekeepers?
From Egypt's Al-Ahram OnlinePresentation of arms
The military glory of the Ancient Egyptians will soon be revealed at Luxor Museum's new extension. Nevine El-Aref toured its halls and watched inspectors putting the artefacts in place
In the early days of Ancient Egypt, warriors used only simple equipment to make war on foreign tribes. Wooden arrows, knives and bone boomerangs served their purposes quite efficiently. For a long time there was little need to improve weaponry.
However, when the eastern Hyksos invaded Egypt and took control of the Delta, the role of the armed forces in Egyptian society changed. The Theban Pharaohs of the 17th and 18th dynasties adopted new weapons and military strategies as a prerequisite for liberating the country and re- establishing control. Thus the Egyptian military spirit was born. The army turned more and more professional, the nobility taking on the role of officers, fighting among the charioteers and king's men.
Dig Days:The Pyramid builders at Giza
We have been excavating the tombs of the "Pyramid builders" at Giza since 1990. They have provided us with important information about the workmen who constructed the Pyramids. Through this discovery we have learnt about their lives, diet and their daily work schedule. For the first time archaeologists learnt important facts about the men and women who dedicated their lives to building the magnificent Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. I have decided to share this information with you in a series of articles for Al-Ahram Weekly prior to publication in a special volume. In this, and the forthcoming articles, I will take you into the Great Pyramid Age.
One of the biggest falsehoods about the Great Pyramid of Khufu is that it was built by slaves. The discovery of the tombs of the Pyramid builders on the Giza Plateau has finally and conclusively put this theory to rest. We now know with certainty that the Pyramids were built by Egyptian men and women -- not slaves! Slavery, while it existed in Ancient Egypt, was not an important part of the economy, especially in the Old Kingdom, and, moreover, it is important to examine the meaning of the word "slavery". We think of slavery as the ownership of a person. In my opinion, in Ancient Egypt the word "slavery" meant a person who worked for another, like the modern term "servant".
The construction of Pyramids was a national project. The massive monument symbolised the might and power of the royal house. In Ancient Egypt, it was essential for the Pharaoh to build a tomb to ensure his rebirth as a god in the afterlife and thus magically maintain the right order of the universe. Every household from Upper to Lower Egypt participated in the construction of the Pharaoh's tomb (pyramid). Every family helped by sending food, materials and manpower. From hieroglyphic inscriptions and graffiti we infer that skilled builders and craftsmen probably worked year-round at the Pyramid construction site. Peasant farmers from the surrounding villages and provinces rotated in and out of the labour force.
Digging into ancient Egypt
When Bill Needle draws a loaf of bread or a royal falcon, he's not just doodling. He's creating hieroglyphics, the picture script of ancient Egyptian priests.
"I am one of 11 Egyptologists in the United States that can read hieroglyphics," he said, a smile of pride etched on his face.
The Cape Girardeau resident and retired Southeast Missouri State University art professor has built his reputation creating personalized hieroglyphic name drawings in brown ink on white paper at arts and crafts shows across the country.
"A lot of people know me as an artist around town," he said. But Needle said he is also a serious scholar who is as interested in the history of ancient Egypt as the artwork.
I swear there are more than 11. . . . .
Treasure alert!Byzantine gold hoard found near Abusir
The Hungarian team working in Abusir, 45 kilometers west of Alexandria, has uncovered a gold cache including five gold coins and a bracelet dating back to the Byzantine age (4th century AD).
The items were unearthed in the area of Tap Osiris, Which is an ancient site built on the shores of Mariut Lake.
Antiquities Market updateAntiquities dealer plans to return loot to Egypt
One of the world's leading antiquities galleries has agreed to return two limestone monuments smuggled out of Egypt in the mid-1990s. A lawyer for the dealer, Phoenix Ancient Art, which operates galleries in Geneva and New York, said he expected the steles to be turned over to Egypt next week.
.
The owners of Phoenix Ancient Art, Ali and Hicham Aboutaam, said their father, Sleiman Aboutaam, who died in 1998, had bought the three steles and never said who the seller was. The brothers said they were unaware that the steles, subject of articles in The New York Times in February, had been looted.
That's actually the entire story right there. No real need to click.
Cool web site of the dayKV 57, King Horemheb's tomb is now up at OsirisNet. Both explanation and pictures.
Horemheb, of non-royal origin, began his military career during the reign of Akhenatun. A brilliant soldier, he ascended quickly in the hierarchy and became a General, then General-in-chief. His military career continued under the reign of Tutankhamun, during whom it is extremely probable that he exercised the reality of power. In the confusion of the post-Amarna period, and under the reign of a child-king, it is very probable that the cohesion of the country and the stability of its borders rested largely on him.
Nevertheless, he was unable to seize power for himself at the death of Tutankhamun, and had to let the old man Ay ascend to the throne for a few years.
With this ones death, Horemheb was finally able to take up the Double-crown.