Please note: Always make backups. Make backups of your backups. Do not rely on so-called "IT professionals" to safeguard your data and applications.
Update: An archaeological bodice-ripper? Reader Connie Gotsch comments below (somewhere) and includes a link to a portion of her enovel involving archaeological site looters Snap Me a Future
he man she loves, Benjamin Keith Andrews, and the man who loves her, Charlie Pearson, encourage her to do just that. She takes a safe assignment covering the arts for The Mesa Vista Times.
But someone is stealing ancient pottery from area Indian ruins…
While pursuing her love of photography, Shelby stumbles up a freshly looted site and, outraged, begins to gather facts. Even after a politically powerful man in the community threatens to kill Benjamin Keith if she releases the story, she is determined to expose the truth.
With the looter’s knife to her head, can Shelby overcome her paralyzing fear? As his hostage, can she think fast enough to save herself and the man she loves? Or will another weapon shatter her life forever?
First chapter is online free.
Egypt seeks the return of 5 icons from museums
Egypt announced Wednesday that it was launching a campaign for the return of five of its most precious artifacts from museums abroad, including the Rosetta Stone in London and the graceful bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.
Zahi Hawass, the country's chief archaeologist, said UNESCO had agreed to mediate in its claims for artifacts currently at the British Museum, the Louvre in Paris, two German museums and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.
Several countries have waged uphill battles to get back pieces they contend were looted by Western museums. Most notably, Greece has been seeking for decades the return of the Parthenon's Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.
A new regular column is now appearing in Cairo Magazine on the
archaeological scene in Egypt. Here's a link to the first column about
the funds raised by the Tut tour of the US.
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1117&format=html
Press reports: "The Great Pyramid may still contain Khufu's intact
pharaonic tomb. Discovery of mysterious doors suggests possibility
of hidden treasures"
http://snipurl.com/g96b (DailyStar)
"In October 2005, a robot built by the University of Singapore will return
to the queen's chamber to see what lies behind the second and third doors. "
Press report: "The Edwin Smith Papyrus"
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2005/07/the_edwin_smith_1.html
"The earliest known historical text on surgery is the Edwin Smith papyrus.
Dating to 1600 BC, it is, in fact, the oldest known medical document. The
practical material in the Edwin Smith papyrus stands in stark contrast to
the magical incantations in another celebrated Egyptian medical text, the
Ebers Papyrus."
Press report: "Save Sinai".
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/751/hr1.htm
Article about archaeological sites in the Sinai.
Zahi Hawass' Dig Days column this time is digging in the basement of the Cairo Museum:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/751/hr2.htm
Online Master's thesis: Sharon Elleana Murray, The Gaze of the Beholder:
How National Identity in Nineteenth-Century England Was Reinforced by the
Collection and Display of Ancient Egyptian Material Culture, Department of
Art History, The Florida State University, 2004. vii, 89 pp., ills. -
pdf-files: 2.3 MB
http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11152004-210811/
"This thesis explores how the British Museum, David Roberts and Francis
Frith asserted English identity throughout first part of the
nineteenth-century. I argue that they did this through the collection and
display of ancient Egyptian imagery. For each example, I apply the concept
of the gaze. The gaze, as an art historical term, defines the visual
dialogue between the viewer and the subject."
Gerald O. Dobek, "Ancient Egyptian Astronomy", 83 pp.
A somewhat elementary look at the topic, with a critical eye
on all kind of "alignment" theories. In PDF, 2.19 MB.
http://www.nmc.edu/science-math/Astronomy/AST109%20Class%20Page/Egypt.pdf
End of EEF news
News from Fiji Settlement probably first in Fiji, say archaeologists
ARCHAEOLOGISTS yesterday said they have unearthed the first human settlement on the South Pacific island of Fiji, a find believed to be about 3,000 years old.
The researchers found 16 human skeletons at a burial site at Bourewa, on the southwest of the main island of Viti Levu, said Patrick Nunn, professor of geography at the University of the South Pacific, located in the Fiji capital, Suva.
He said abundant evidence at the site suggested that Bourewa was the first human settlement on the 340-island archipelago.
Perfect subject for archaeologists: Historic Nevada saloons more than watering holes
An archaeologist says Virginia City saloons were more than roudy outposts where thirsty 19th century miners went to wet their whistles.
In a new book, "Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City," Kelly Dixon says the watering holes were important social gathering places for the community during the Comstock Lode's mining heyday.
Nothing much in the way of description of the actual research. Dixon's web site is here. We'll see if we can get her to post something or send us a link to accessible articles.