We here at ArchaeoBlog are only too happy to puncture what we see as negative stereotypes associated with archaeology and archaeologists generally. Now, while some may see figures such as Indiana Jones and Lara Croft as negative in the sense that they do not accurately portray what archaeologists really do, nevertheless, we believe smart, capable, and rather attractive action figures on celluloid make for good PR for the discipline and probably has added more butts to seats in Archaeology 101 than a hundred Discovery Channel documentaries.
Thus, it is with some trepidation that we post this picture which may possibly cause grief and panic in the halls of archaeology departments everywhere, when we see what is really beneath that bomber jacket and fedora:
Probably Photoshopped, but who cares, it's funny.
HT to rtb at The Perfect World.
On to the news:
Fight! Fight! Prehistoric Knives Suggest Humans Competed
A recent excavation of 400,000-year-old stone tools in Britain suggests that two groups of early humans could have competed with each other for food and turf.
In the past, anthropologists have argued that only one group of ancient humans lived in Britain, and that these hominids created and used both axes and flake knives, which were made by flaking off small particles from a larger rock, or by breaking off a large flake that was then used as the tool.
We blogged this some time ago, but this provides a bit more detail.
Ancient remains found in shop
A TEAM OF archaeologists began work at premises in Arbroath’s Shore yesterday following the discovery of ancient human remains.
Workers converting a flat into an ice cream parlour adjacent to Marco’s chip shop unearthed part of a skeleton at the weekend.
A police forensic expert quickly identified the bones as being antiquated and Historic Scotland was brought in.
A spokeswoman for Historic Scotland explained yesterday, “We have contractors from AOC Archaeology investigating the find at the moment.
“From initial inspection we suspect that the remains are from the first millennium AD or medieval period.”
It is anticipated that the archaeologists will complete their investigation and removal of the skeleton by the end of this week.
That's the whole thing. There's a picture at the web site though.
Seems to be a slow news day.