We have just noticed (really!) that the one-year anniversary of ArchaeoBlog is rapidly approaching -- January 22. And we haven't even finished unpacking all the boxes from our former gig as the research arm of the International Brotherhood of Bricklayers. Trust us, freelancing is definitely the way to go.
Thus, we give you, our loyal readers, ample opportunity to plan a spectacular extravaganza for us. Don't bother going overboard on the champagne though, since after the first bottle you can't taste anything anyway. We'll probably just have a modest commemoration with a few close friends and colleagues. We had Milton DeLugg and his Band With A Thug at the Halloween party so we'll probably invite them back for an encore. Dancing girls are entirely appropriate so long as they dress in sufficiently accurate outfits common to one era and culture (and we'll check!).
Update
Fascinating article A rain forest debate: Could it have been home to complex societies?
High along bluffs overlooking the confluence of the mighty Negro and Solomes rivers, super-sized eggplants, papayas and cassava spring from the ground.
Their exuberance defies a long-held belief about the Amazon. For much of the last half-century, archeologists have viewed the South American rain forest as a ''counterfeit paradise" whose inhospitable environment precluded the development of complex societies.
But new research suggests that prehistoric people found ways to overcome the jungle's natural limitations and thrive in large numbers.
The secret, say the theory's proponents, is in the ground beneath their feet. The highly fertile soil called terra preta do indio, Portuguese for Indian black earth, was either intentionally created by these pre-Columbian people or is the accidental byproduct of their presence.
This has been simmering for quite a while, the idea that much of the rainforest we see today is of fairly recent origin.