An archaeologist unearths the remains of a giant humanoid. Soon, evidence is uncovered that reveals the creature to be the offspring of a human woman and a fallen angel — the beginning of a lineage whose terror is about to be reborn into the modern world. Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) stars.
We hate it when that happens. Out there in the field, excavating a nice 2x2, getting a good sample of beer jar and bread mold ceramics, a few identifiable mammal bones, and feeling pretty pleased with yourself for recognizing what appears to be a hearth, and the next thing you know you're running for your life from, say, the rotting, animated remains of Ra-Hetep-Heres that you happened to resurrect by accidentally reciting the reanimation spell from the Book of the Hereafter. Then for the next few days it's fight with mummy, run for your life, fight with mummy some more, run for your life, recover the Sword of Amun-Ra from the lost Temple of Aten, run for your life, find the Book of the Dead, read the correct verse while simulataneously holding said mummy captive in the Pool of the Spirits and running him through with the Sword of Amun-Ra thus sending him back to the netherworld.
And don't even get us started on the warm beer we have to deal with.
Anyway, it's got pyramids and at least one 42-foot tall mummy. We suggest stocking up on (cold) beer and pretzels and just having a go at it if you wish.
Note to television executives everywhere: You know, being a world famous blog read by tens of people a day, you really ought to consider sending us previews of these things a week or so in advance so we could properly review them. Why should Mark Rose have all the fun?
Zahi Hawass in the news again The king of Egyptology
Beyond Egypt’s political demonstrations and suicide bombings lies a country where history lives outside classrooms. A country that draws inspiration — and money — from its past to fuel its present.
And while tourism is good for the economy, too many tourists can destroy the very monuments they flock to see, warns Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s top archaeologist and the person who led the CT scan on King Tutankhamun’s mummy.
“Egypt’s monuments can finish in a 100 years if we don’t control the tourists now, and I mean NOW. Think, no more pyramids, no more sphinx, no more temples. All our ancient treasures lost to the future.”
Lost
Archaeologists working at the Laforak Cemetery in Savadkuh of Mazandaran Province recently discovered the remains of three skeletons with dolichocephalic skulls, anthropologist Farzad Foruzanfar announced on Tuesday.
Of the fifteen graves excavated in the 2800-year old cemetery, three were different, in that they contained three skeletons with dolichocephalic (long-headed) skulls which were covered with a layer of earthenware, and their walls were reinforced by earthenware, too, he added.
Experts have surmised that the three people belonged to a non-indigenous nation, since the inhabitants of Mazandaran at that time were a round-headed nation, he added.
Archaeologists find 'Britain's oldest shoe'
Archaeologists excavating a quarry in Somerset claim to have found Britain's oldest shoe, believed to be 2,000 years old.
They said the shoe, which was found at Whitehall Quarry, near Wellington, was the equivalent to a modern size 9 or 10, and was so well preserved that the stitching and lace holes were visible in the leather.
It was taken to a specialist conservation centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and was expected to go on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
We doubt it Egypt's "King Tut Curse" Caused by Tomb Toxins?
Stories of "the mummy's curse" or "King Tut's curse" excited the world after the discovery in 1922 of the ancient pharaoh's tomb in Egypt. Lord Carnarvon, a British sponsor of archaeology in Egypt, died shortly after attending the tomb's opening, inspiring speculation that supernatural forces were at work.
In recent years a scientific mummy's-curse theory was offered for Carnarvon's death. Was he killed by exposure to ancient, toxic pathogens from the sealed tomb? Did they prove too much for his immune system, which was weakened by a chronic illness he had experienced before he went to Egypt?
Kind of a misleading headline since the article pretty much does away with the notion. Generally speaking, the most physically deleterious factors we've experienced in the field have to do with either bad food or too much alcohol. And, you know, stabbing yourself in the knee with your trowel. . . .