Monday, November 22, 2004

Port Angeles dig update Ancient village, graveyard torn apart by bridge project

In a makeshift morgue, handmade cedar boxes are stacked row upon row, each holding the ancient remains of the ancestors of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, all facing east toward the sunrise.

Ripped from what was to be their final resting place, the remains were put here for safekeeping until the tribe can find a place for their dead to rest once more.

The bones have been exhumed by contractors for the state Department of Transportation as it builds a marine facility needed for reconstruction of the Hood Canal Bridge.


Good long article with more information than has been published thus far. Interesting that the initial test excavations (apparently shovel tests) did not pick up anything.

Amazing the number of burials they're finding also. We are unsure of whether this was a common practice, burying people within the environs of a village for this area and period. We are also wondering whether this is to be a permanent installation or not. It seems as if it's only a staging area for construction of the new bridge and therefore be temporary, but the tone of the article indicates it's going to stay that way. Well, stay that way in human lifespan terms, not necessarily archaeological terms.

However, we object to this quote: Excavation has desecrated grave after grave. . . 'Desecration' seems far too value-laden and does not really belong in a newspaper article.

And on a related note Up to 700 graves may exist near Dancy Building, archaeologist says

Up to 700 undisturbed graves could be in the old City Cemetery on East Monroe Street, archaeologist John Keller estimated Friday.

Cameron County officials directed him to stop counting this week when he identified at least 38 graves in one trench under a county-owned parking lot across from the historic Dancy Building.

“Signs of more graves just jump out of the ground at you,” Keller said.


And more from the Pacific NW Tlingit site may get historical listing

The state Office of History and Archaeology plans to submit Indian Point for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It would be the first traditional cultural property in Alaska on the register.

The site, about 78 acres that is north of Juneau's state ferry terminal, is considered sacred by the Tlingits, according to Rosita Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, which prepared the application.

The land is associated with key events in the history of the Auk Kwaan, especially the Yaxte
Taan L'eineidi clan, the application says. Dwellings, subsistence sites and burial sites there date to A.D. 1100 to 1300, it said.


CPR for artifacts UMF breathes life into history

There is nothing remarkable about the outside of the University of Maine at Farmington's Archaeology Research Center -- just a plain white building on Quebec Street with a sprawling pile of bagged dirt out front. But step inside and you might just catch the faint scent of history being discovered.

This year, UMF's Archaeology Research Center (the UMF ARC) is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Specializing in consulting archaeology and cultural resource management, the UMF ARC's team of archaeologists and students excavate sites across Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Hired by state and federal agencies as well as private developers in compliance with the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, the UMF ARC consults on building projects to ensure that valuable Native American and Euroamerican archaeology sites are not jeopardized by road construction and land development.


Eh, not much of a pun. We'll let it slide Archaeologists dig up P.G. history (Quickie registration required)

A bottle from the late 1800s, a piece of pottery, and an 1880 Indian head penny -- no bones yet. But archaeologists in Penns Grove have uncovered a bit of borough history at the proposed Riverwalk site at the end of West Main Street.

As part of the last phase of the approval process for the Riverwalk project, archaeologists are combing the area along the Delaware River shoreline to be sure no historic items are being disturbed when new construction begins.

The site is proposed to become a major riverfront development dubbed the Riverwalk with retails stores and restaurants on the waterfront.


Perhaps the last 'Troy' movie update Hollywood's gift horse brings hordes back to Troy

Tourists descend on the sleepy Turkish town of Canakkale at all hours to gawp at the Hollywood star - a 12-tonne fibre-glass horse, held together with bolts, ropes and nails, which dominates the seafront.

It was a gift from Warner Brothers and a small consolation for the fact that Troy, the $200m blockbuster starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, was not made in Turkey.

Troy may have bombed at the box office but, in Turkey, the film has put Homer's "well-walled city" back on the tourist map.


Note that we have yet to post anything about Alexander (we think; if we did, we just lied so ignore that). Well, maybe we did. Perhaps it's just because Colin Farrell doesn't look as good in a skirt as Brad Pitt. That wouldn't stop us, of course, since Angelina Jolie is far better than anything from Troy.

Bit from the EEF

Al-Ahram Weekly has two relevant articles, news of new finds under Newsreel and the Tutankhamun autopsy on the front page:
-- The dyn 13 sarcophagus found in Dra'a Abul-Naga:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/717/eg1.htm
-- No DNA test for Tutankhamun after all:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/717/eg4.htm

For the Egyptian scientists involved in the autopsy, see
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o191124l.htm

The United Nations European Headquarters will get a pharaonic statue of the goddess Maat(?):
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o181124s.htm