Monday, June 21, 2004

Book review corner Archaeologist of lost worlds

"What's this, Daddy?" my 6-year-old son asked me one morning, as we were mucking about in the backyard. He was holding a rusted, mud-and-clay spattered hunk of cast iron, heavy enough that he could barely hoist it waist-high with both hands.

I recognized it as the head of a mattock. But I told him it had to be a magical artifact dating back to an ancient, lost civilization that had flourished in what is now called "Berkeley" thousands upon thousands of years ago.

His eyes sparkled. It wasn't that he believed me. I'm not trustworthy on these matters. But a 6-year-old digging in the mud doesn't need much encouragement. Suddenly, his latent paleo-archeological inclinations blossomed. He found a little paintbrush to wipe the dust off half-buried bricks. He began a running commentary: A salamander under a rock became a Great Snake Demon. A broken hoe blade -- a fragment of the shield of the mighty warrior MegaMon.


We here at ArchaeoBlog will rarely delve into the mysteries of reviewing fiction; we'll leave that to book critics, whom we regularly ignore anyway, but there you have it. This particular review, however, caught our eye because it reveals what we believe is a fundamental truth about becoming an archaeologist or a scientist generally.

Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files TV series (which we love) and Millennium (which we also love and which will be released in DVD format in July 2004) was once asked to speak at some CSICOP event (CSICOP, in case you were wondering, is a skeptics organization which loves debunking pseudoscience). The fit, or misfit, is obvious, as Carter's series' regularly deal with the paranormal, government conspiracies, aliens, etc., which the CSICOP just as regularly goes after with great gusto. Carter relates1 that he was rather uncomfortable with this situation since he was talking to a crowd that stood against basically the entire concept of his flagship TV show. He finally decided his presence really was appropriate since -- and we believe this is true -- most scientists develop their interest in science from reading science fiction. Many of us got our initial sense of wonder at things unknown, of new technologies, or of phenomena as yet undiscovered, from reading science fiction. Sure, it's fiction. Sure, it's got elements of fantasy. Sure, things happen on the screen or in the pages of a book that don't (often) happen to real scientists, but science fiction often creates that spark of fascination with some aspect of science, as the author above notes.

To some, the business of doing real science is a let down and they drop it. But for others, that initial spark becomes the basis for a larger flame. We believe that becoming a scientist or an archaeologist requires a bit of obsession. Science isn't easy, it's a lot of often tedious work and attention to detail (often really trvial detail that people outside of the discipline have difficulty fathoming) that requires a certain weirdness on the part of the researcher. And that obsession with finding out something that no one else knew before, or discovering something that no one else found before even if it's not an entire lost civilization is often shocked into life by fantasy.

So we say, go enjoy The Lord of the Rings or Troy or even Tomb Raider. Recognize that most archaeologists don't rip down large statues at the entrance to a temple just to get at an artifact that will supposedly stop time, but if it gets you interested in Greek civilization or the bronze age, or ancient Egypt, go for it.

1. We believe we got this story from a book called The Real Science Behind the X-Files: Microbes, Meteorites, and Mutants by Anne Simon. She makes the point much better than we do.

Archaeologists plan search for lost Roanoke Settlement

The search for the settlement site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colonies of the 1580's, including the mysterious "Lost Colony," will resume later this year if plans now being made by archaeologists and historians are realized.

Feb. 7, First Colony Foundation, a non-profit incorporated in North Carolina in 2003, held an organizational meeting at the Sir Walter Raleigh Rooms at Wilson Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An initial board of directors was formed and bylaws were adopted. The board discussed developing and securing funding for a multi-year archaeological and historical research program. The First Colony Foundation will hold its first annual meeting June 26, at the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island.




The social implications of Stonehenge Stonehenge study tells pagans and historians it's good to talk

More understanding among all sides in the great Stonehenge debate might be made if the world was shown images of how the site is experienced by visitors today rather than only its imagined past, suggests new research sponsored by the ESRC. This research is published today as a part of Social Science Week.

But the project, co-directed by Dr Jenny Blain of Sheffield Hallam University and Dr Robert Wallis of Richmond University, London, admits this would undermine the very potent and almost universal need for Stonehenge to remain 'essentially preserved', shrouded in mystery, and the ancient guardian of a hidden past.

. . .

Dr Blain said: ''Stonehenge is the centre of an on-going struggle between travellers, pagans, 'Druids', members of the 'alternative' community, English Heritage, landowners and the police. The situation there spotlights differences between, on one hand, heritage concerns about preservation for future generations, and on the other, the demands of pagans and others who want open access for everyone.''


Also on Stonehenge Stonehenge's 'band of brothers'

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered the remains of a "band of brothers" whom they believe helped to transport giant bluestones from the Preseli mountains in west Wales to build Stonehenge more than 4000 years ago.

They have been dubbed the Boscombe Bowmen after the location of their grave a few kilometres from Britain's most famous prehistoric monument.

The first direct evidence that people from Wales accompanied the stones on their epic journey to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire was found by workmen laying a water pipe.

They uncovered a single grave containing the bones of three adults, a teenager and three young children not far from that of the fabulously wealthy "Amesbury Archer" discovered two years ago.


Jerk. Outrage over destruction of Celtic fort

Heritage experts today condemned the destruction of part of a 3,000-year-old Celtic fort in Co Kerry.

The 700 metres of earthen works that surrounded the ancient Dun Mor Fort on the Dingle Peninsula were levelled at the weekend by an excavating machine. An entrance and a standing stone with an ogham (Celtic writing) inscription were also removed.

Heritage Ireland spokeswoman Isobel Smyth said it was a dreadful act.

“This is a very important site and we want to see an investigation carried out,” she said.

The 80 acre Dun More fort overlooks the Blasket Islands and the Skelligs. The Ogham stone which was removed contained an inscription to Dhuibne, a deity of the Corca Dhuibne tribe which lived in the area from around 1,000 BC to 600 AD.


Lara Croft: Tomb . . .Recorder? Qing tombs: recorders of Chinese history

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has decided to invest 18 million yuan (about 2.2million US dollars) in the renovation of structures in the Eastern Qing Tombs, a move experts said would help better introduce the imperial graveyard to world.

Located in Zunhua City of China's northern Hebei Province, the Eastern Qing Tombs was the grandest and most intact imperial graveyard.

Covering 2,500 square kilometers, the grave group took about 150 years to construct, and was finished in 1908. Five emperors ofthe Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) together with 15 empresses were buried here, among whom the most well-known ones are emperors Kangxi and Qianlong, who pushed forward the economy of Qing Dynasty to its peak.


More on shipwrecks Veloso Defends Underwater Archaeology Contract

The export and auctioning of archaeological spoils from a sunken Portuguese galleon in Mozambican waters was "the last resort", according to former cooperation minister Jacinto Veloso, who is now chairman of the board of the company Patrimonio Internacional.

This company (which is 80 per cent owned by the Mozambican state) signed a controversial contract with the government and with the private company Arqueonautas Worldwide, which allowed Arqueonautas to take 125 porcelain items and 12 gold objects from the 16th century galleon, and auction them in Holland last month.

Interviewed in Friday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax", Veloso said it was only the impossibility of preserving all the underwater archaeological finds in Mozambique which had led to the contracting of a private company to remove the treasures that had lain at the bottom of the sea for centuries.

"I am absolutely against exporting all that has been found, but I am in favour of selling off goods when there is no other way of financing the research. That's what happened in this case", said Veloso.


Not really archaeology, but kind of cool The Roodee is building towards a Roman invasion

CONSTRUCTION of a Roman fort and amphitheatre began on Tuesday as Chester Racecourse prepares for its fourth annual Roman Festival.

The two-day extravaganza - which is expected to attract tens of thousands of people to the city - is held over the weekend of June 26-27 and is a celebration of Britain's oldest racecourse and the city's origins as the 2,000-year-old fortress Deva.

Gates open on both days at 11.30am, with a huge amount of Roman entertainment lined up.