Not much apparently going on today. We've got one item for now, and we'll try to get the weekly EEF news posted this afternoon.

The greatest French failure ever Lord Nelson's Battle of the Nile heroes rise again after 207 years

THE remains of sailors and soldiers who fought alongside Admiral Horatio Nelson in one of his most decisive naval victories over the French have been discovered off the north coast of Egypt.

The bodies were found on an island in Abu Qir bay, east of Alexandria, where Nelson inflicted a catastrophic defeat on Napoleon’s French fleet during the Battle of the Nile.

Paulo Gallo, an archaeologist, had been excavating the island for Greek and Roman artefacts when he discovered the remains of the 30 British sailors and soldiers, some dating to the 1798 battle and others to 1801, when Britain landed an expeditionary force in the area.

We mean that both literally and figuratively. While Napolean's overall plan of empire-building in Egypt was a colossal failure, it can be said to have started both the mania and serious scholarship that led to Egyptology as a singular discipline. The Description de l'Egypte, a 23-volume set on all things Egypt, continues to provide scholars with research topics. Many of the monuments and inscriptions it illustrated are now gone. See here for a nice presentation.

This discovery is a neat reminder of what Napolean's campaign wrought and also puts a human touch on that period in Egyptian/European history.

To our many faithful readers, as we approach our 20,000th visitor to ArchaeoBlog we wish to express the following thought to you all:

Click on this site like lab monkeys on crack.

Thank you.

Addendum

Just got this over the wire. In actuality, we don't really know what the purpose of the article is, nor its general source. It sounds like a great project though.

Critical Thinking in Geology and Archaeology: Interpreting Scanning Electron Microscope Images of a Lithic Tool

ABSTRACT

As co-instructors of an undergraduate course in Archaeological Geology, we have developed an in-class research project using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze and interpret physical traces of stages in the history of a unique lithic artifact. This exercise requires preliminary instruction on percussion and pressure flaking, geological materials suited for chipped stone tool manufacture, contextual archaeological analysis, theory of electron microscope use, and post-depositional surface processes, particularly those creating natural wear due to wind or water abrasion. With this background, students acquired four images of surface and edge locations of the study artifact using the SEM. We asked students to write a description of the analytical technique, a compilation of their observations and analytical data, and an interpretation of the artifact's history.

International cooperation = Good Iranians Take Part in Second Chicago University Eurasian Archaeology Conference

University of Chicago is holding its second Eurasian Archaeology Conference on April 15th and 16th 2005. Archaeologists from 12 countries around the world will be taking part in the conference, and three Iranian archaeologists will be having their papers presented in the conference publication.

The second University of Chicago Eurasian archaeology conference, 2005, focuses on the theme of social orders and social landscapes: interdisciplinary approaches to Eurasian Archaeology. Three Iranian archaeologists have sent in their papers, which will be published along others in the conference publication. The scientists are not taking part personally due to visa difficulties.

Well, too bad they won't be there, but it's a start.

Not to be confused with Djoser drivers Dozer drivers judge archaeological worth: Brown

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown has accused the Tasmanian Government of leaving the archaeological assessment of the historic Recherche Bay site to the bulldozer drivers who will be working in the area.

Brothers Robert and David Vernon own the land which was the first landing site of French explorer Bruni D'Entrecasteux.

They intend to log two-thirds of the property soon.

Golden past: Archaeologist reveals Garnet ghost town's past

When archaeologist Terri Wolfgram began digging into the Garnet ghost town's past, her boss didn't have high expectations for any remains she'd find.

"He said 'two weeks will probably do it, there's nothing out there,'" Wolfgram said to a handful of people Monday evening at Montana State University.

Excavation to start on HISD site

Long-awaited archaeological excavations on the Fourth Ward site where the Houston Independent School District wants to build a two-school campus could begin by this summer under a plan detailed at a public meeting Monday.

The work would include two months of archival research at the 13-acre site, with the digging starting possibly in June.

About 50 people turned out to learn about the timetable of an ongoing controversy over HISD's building plans.

CSI: Wolverhampton


Human remains have been found on wasteland in Wolverhampton.

The body was discovered by a passer-by, off Hilton Road in Lanesfield, at about 2040 BST on Monday evening.

Police have not yet determined if the body is that of a male or female and DNA samples are being taken to help identify the person.

The remains appear to have been there for some time, police say, and they are consulting with a forensic archaeologist to recover them.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "The immediate area has been cordoned off and preserved for forensic examination.

"The member of the public was clearly shocked and is being offered counselling."

Okay, it might not have anything to do with archaeology per se but it's got the right keyword. ANd that's the whole thing.

Ummmmmm. . . .no. Remains of Roman rabbit uncovered

The remains of a 2,000-year-old rabbit - found at an early Roman settlement at Lynford, Norfolk - may be the earliest example of rabbit remains in Britain.

The bones - which show evidence the animal had been butchered and buried - are similar to those of a small Spanish rabbit, common in Roman times.

It is thought rabbits were introduced to Britain following the Roman invasion in AD43.

The remains will be officially dated at the Natural History Museum in London.

Artist's conception of what the rabbit may have looked like:


Raiders of the Lost Genome update Genes to help tell 'story of everybody'

Indigenous people around the world will be asked to supply a cheek swab to help geneticists answer the question of how humanity spread from Africa.

The National Geographic Society and IBM hope to sample 100,000 people or more and look for ancient clues buried in living DNA to calculate who came from where and when.

For $US100, anyone who wants to can supply his or her own cheek swab for a personalised analysis and perhaps to contribute to the research.

Fight! Fight! Fury at plan for burial ground in shadow of the Devil's Hoofmarks

CONTROVERSIAL proposals to site a burial ground next to one of the most imposing neolithic stone circles in Scotland have caused a storm of protest.

The circle at Cothiemuir Wood, a tranquil wooded glade on the Castle Forbes estate near Keig in Aberdeenshire, is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular ancient sites in the north-east of Scotland.

Flanked by seven upright monoliths hewn from red granite, the 20-tonne basalt recumbent stone at its centre is one of the largest in Britain. The distinctive markings on its outer face are known as the "Devil’s Hoofmarks".

Furious locals fear that the site could be destroyed by plans by Native Woodland, an Edinburgh company, to develop a natural burial ground at Cothiemuir Hill within 15 yards of the ceremonial site, a scheduled ancient monument.

We're taking up a collection Ancient Cypriot copper mine for sale

A copper mine in Cyprus where the metal has been mined since Biblical times faces closure unless the Church ofCyprus can find a buyer, officials said on Wednesday.

The Skouriotissa mine, which produced copper ore at a site where there has been mining for some 4,000 years, suspended operationsin January, leaving its workers unpaid and with debts labour unions estimate at 14 million pounds.

Herod the Great, who in the Bible ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in an attempt to murder the infant Jesus, has been recordedamong those having rights to mine at the site in Cyprus's picturesque Troodos Mountains.

Early toolmakers cast off rock-banger image

They may look crude, but even some of the earliest stone tools were produced with skill and technical sophistication. The finding, based on an analysis of tools found at a 2.34-million-year-old site in Kenya, suggests that early toolmakers' abilities differed from place to place.

The earliest stone tools appear in the fossil record around 2.6 million years ago. This so-called Oldowan phase of toolmaking probably began with an early species of Homo and continued for 1.2 million years. Oldowan tools were simple, sharp-edged stone flakes that a fairly unintelligent hominid could have used for cutting meat. The assumption has been that they were made by mindless, random rock-banging.

Unfortunately, Geico does not have any clips or still photographs of their Caveman commercials available, and thus we are unable at this time to provide an instance of pure comic genius to this post.

Kennewick Man bill update Kennewick Man scientists lobby against bill

Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting legislation they say could block their efforts. They say a two-word amendment to a bill on American Indians would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.

Scientists fear the bill, if enacted, could end up overturning a federal appeals court ruling that allows them to study the 9,300-year-old bones.

Basically a rehashing of what we've posted here earlier.

Beer update 'Drinking beer in a blissful mood'

New study considers the importance of alcohol production in the ancient world

While the modern era has a fondness for the business lunch, the ancient world viewed the feast as an important arena of political action. Yet, new research in the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology suggests that the story of how the food and drink arrived to the table is just as critical to our understanding of the past as the social behaviors at the table.

This is kind of an update to a story posted earlier.

Interesting non-archaeology article Why we should give up on race

Identity is fluid. One of us used to describe herself as "English" (erasing her Gypsy grandparent), the other as "British Jew" (or did he say Jewish?), but our shared whiteness was then always unspoken.

Today complex identifiers such as "black English" or "Brummie Punjabi British" or "British Sikh" speak both of a new ease and pleasure in difference, and of a political demand that racism become history. The confidence of the voices claiming these new multiple identities tells us change - not without fierce opposition - is happening.

For social and cultural analysts, this diversity points to the intensely political and social construction of the word race. Think of the ways in which we are asked to define our "race or ethnicity" in the census return or the doctor's surgery, when skin colour, geographical ancestry and nationality are offered as options.

We here at ArchaeoBlog welcome comments from you, our faithful readers, and occasionally we like to share some of the copious email we get to our Contact address. Thus, we have decided to take a sample of some of our fan mail, comments, and questions straight from the mail bag and respond to them here. Just to show that we indeed care deeply what our readers think.

First up:

From: "MIKE"
Subject: URGENT BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PLEASE

Sir,
Compliment of the day and how is life general with
you? Of course it is my humble wish to solicit and
crave your indulgence to make this project request for
a joint business transaction which I hope will not
come to you as a surprise, hence I plead for your
pardon.
I am mike igbo, the manager of headquarter first
bank of Nig. Plc. Lagos. I have an urgent and
confidential business proposal for you. . .

Well, thanks Mike, we appreciate the offer. However, our bank manager -- Vinny the Weasel -- prefers to keep our account on deposit in Sal Miniccio's back room vault at the Pizza Emporium. But we'll forward your request to, oh, about a hundred of our friends.

Next:

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Subject: Real-time alert for hot stock feature

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We thank you, Trent, for that informative bit of information. This, too, we will forward to many of our friends and colleagues.

From: "Lileas Dotson"
RE: CIALLlS VAL1UM V'lAGRA

Hello,


them the twenty thousand pieces that are ultimately to come to yo
vigorously that the council was relieved by Captain Blood's own a
was no watch above the Spaniards' decks.
these islands. Palomas, which is some ten miles in length, is
favour. But sink me now if I'd rot myself in rum on account of
is that in this engagement with the fort M. de Rivarol, who's a
The commission must be cancelled.
man. The fact is he looked no more than the thirty-three years h
he had considered nothing. But he made a quick recovery. To my

in the presence of Mallard, the Commandant, and the other officer
Was it any one else's fault that you ran your ship La Foudre

account myself that were I capable of anything but deference to


Have a nice day.

Hello, Lileas. We are guessing this is an attempt to translate some bit of Linear A script, probably from the late 16th or early 15th century BC, judging by the subject matter. We find your grammatical interpretation interesting, but probably flawed in its overemphasis on the present participular avuncular mode, which Evans, in his later years, discussed but largely discarded. Still, we find your attempt intriguing and urge you to continue your valliant efforts.

And finally:

From: "pamella lawrence"
RE: Give your partner more pleasure

I've been using your product for 4 months now. I've increased my
length from 2"
to nearly 6" . Your product has saved my sex life." -Matt, FL

Poor bastard.

Well, that's all from the mailbag. We continue to enjoy hearing from you and urge all of our faithful readers to keep sending those cards and letters.

Congratulations Archaeologist reveals passion for America's origin

Nearly 10 years after leading the pioneering dig that unearthed the lost remains of Jamestown, archaeologist William M. Kelso was named 2005 Virginian of the Year by the Virginia Press Association.

With the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement just two years away, the former Williamsburg high school history teacher, who lives on the island, says the full impact of the celebrated excavation has yet to be felt.

Text of an interview with Kelso. Good, if short, read.

And in related news: Colonial body armor unearthed

Yet another place more people should know about Obelisk points to ancient Ethiopian glory

In northern Ethiopia, in the once-great city of Axum, final preparations are under way for the return of one of Africa's most remarkable archaeological treasures.

The Axum obelisk, a 1,700-year-old stone monolith, measuring 24-metres (78 feet) high and weighing 180 tons, is returning home after more than six decades adorning a square in the Italian capital, Rome.

It was looted by Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 during Italy's brief occupation of Ethiopia and has been a bone of contention between the two countries ever since.

Read the whole thing.

New method for dating ancient earthquakes through cave evidence developed by Israeli researchers

A new method for dating destructive past earthquakes, based on evidence remaining in caves has been developed by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Geological Survey of Israel.

Using this method, they discovered for the first time evidence of earthquakes that can be documented some distance from the Syrian-African rift that runs from Syria through Lebanon, Israel and Jordan and down into Africa. This rift caused great shifts in the topography of the region in prehistoric times.

Stay off the archaeological monument! New enemy menaces Hadrian’s Wall

HADRIAN’S WALL has survived barbarian invaders, smugglers and the 2,000-year march of history. Now its very survival has come under threat — from an army of walkers.

The erosion of the World Heritage Site is becoming so severe that the Roman wall could be placed on the World Heritage “in danger” list, experts told The Times yesterday.

Some 400,000 people have marched across the Hadrian’s Wall Path Trail since it was opened 18 months ago. They are banned from walking on the wall itself, yet many do so. One day last winter 800 Dutch bankers walked across the wall.

New methods help find and preserve ancient wrecks

A new search is under way to find the wreckage of an ancient Persian fleet on the seabed off the coast of Greece. In cooperation with the Center for Maritime Research that has found over 30 wrecks within five years, the Ephorate of Coastal Antiquities, with the help of American and Canadian experts, will resume their search in June in the areas of Kili and Artemisio, off Evia’s northern tip.

Despite the ephorate’s modest budget (this year’s is unchanged from last year’s at 400,000 euros), exploration will be expanded to cover the seabed off the coast of Inousses island in a pilot program on the 3D imaging of an ancient wreck.

Archaeological maritime exploration has contributed to the development of technology for preserving wrecks found in the sea and to methods of preserving antiquities.

Web site alert Nordic Underwater Archaeology "If you like history and scuba diving, this is for you. Learn about maritime archaeology worldwide, from a north European perspective."

Has a lot of links to short articles on various wrecks, with an emphasis on those in European waters. Very link rich. Definitely worthwhile to anyone wanting to do a bit of research in that area.

Kennewick Bill update Kennewick Man scientists protest bill (Reg req'd, use BugMeNot.com)

Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting legislation they say could block their efforts. They say a two-word amendment to a bill on American Indians would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.

Scientists fear the bill, if enacted, could end up overturning a federal appeals court ruling that allows them to study the 9,300-year-old bones.

Not much new here from what was posted earlier. Apparently, Senator Cantwell (D-WA) has arrived at the same conclusion we have: "even if the bill is signed into law, tribes "will still have to prove a cultural connection" to an archaeological find before being allowed to claim it."

The lawyers for the Kennewick scientists -- Alan Schneider to be exact here -- seem to imply that this change will mean tirbes can claim remains without demonstrating cultural connection. We're attempting to contact them for more info.

News from the evolutionary tree Does the case for 'Toumai' as ancient human stand up?

IS A FOSSIL creature that grabbed headlines three years ago really the earliest known ancestor of modern humans? Or does it belong elsewhere on the evolutionary tree?

The answer has been hotly debated, but now two studies argue that it does indeed belong on the human branch.

In 2002, scientists announced finding jaw fragments, some isolated teeth and a skull of a creature nicknamed "Toumai" in Chad. At some six million to seven million years old, the fossils came from about the time of a major split in the evolutionary tree, with one branch leading eventually to humans and the other branch leading to chimpanzees.

High-tech hide and seek

If Ho-Chunk Nation archeologists' studies are accurate, Beloit residents may at any time be treading on sacred ground.

On Friday, archaeology specialists from the American Indian tribe and Beloit College faculty scanned areas of the campus, looking for burial or effigy mounds that may no longer be visible.

Using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), operators Bill Kingswan and William Quackenbush from the Ho-Chunk Heritage Preservation Cultural Resources roved over the ground, pushing a contraption which transmitted any radio waves indicating irregularities in the soil into a computer system in a nearby van.

Mammoth update Mammoth's remains found at homes' construction site

The remarkably well-preserved remnants of an estimated half-million-year-old mammoth — including both tusks — were discovered at a new housing development in Southern California.

An onsite paleontologist found the remains, which include 50 percent to 70 percent of the Ice Age creature, as crews cleared away hillsides to prepare for building, Mayor Pro Tem Clint Harper said.

Paleontologist Mark Roeder estimated the mammoth was about 12 feet tall, Harper said.

Roeder believed it was not a pygmy or imperial mammoth, but he had not yet determined its exact type, Harper said.

Duh Clues to climate's future may lay in past

Climate change could have drastic consequences.

Just ask the ancient Egyptians.

Harvey Weiss, professor of archaeology at Yale University, says climate change was a fact of life for earlier civilizations. From pharaohs to the medieval Vikings, swift and sometimes violent changes in weather patterns sparked mass migrations and technological innovations like irrigation.

"Those episodes proved to be the single most important stimulus for the major transformations in human history," said Weiss, who digs through the traces of vanished empires for evidence of these climatic events.

As the article indicates further on, this scenario might be a wee bit simplistic. But there is obviously some merit to it (i.e., that climate change has caused cultural changes as well).

Here's a few items. We'll have some more later.

Coming to theaters soon: Pleistocene Park Woolly Mammoth Resurrection, "Jurassic Park" Planned

A team of Japanese genetic scientists aims to bring woolly mammoths back to life and create a Jurassic Park-style refuge for resurrected species. The effort has garnered new attention as a frozen mammoth is drawing crowds at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan (see photo).

The team of scientists, which is not associated with the exhibit, wants to do more than just put a carcass on display. They aim to revive the Ice Age plant-eaters, 10,000 years after they went extinct.

Their plan: to retrieve sperm from a mammoth frozen in tundra, use it to impregnate an elephant, and then raise the offspring in a safari park in the Siberian wild.

We're dubious of the effort at this time. As noted, DNA is difficult to preserve for that long. If and until we have the technology to assemble complete DNA strands out of myriad fragments, we think this will be sci-fi.

We're rather less concerned with the so-called "ethical implications" since we as a species appear to have no difficulty breeding stuff like this:



First International Conference Of Islamic Archaeology Starts

Turkish State Minister Besir Atalay said on Friday, ''the Islamic archaeology has constituted an era of its own in the history of the humanity of 15 centuries.''

The First International Conference of Islamic Archaeology hosted by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Research Center For Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) started in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Islamic archaeology is an area most people are unfamiliar with, notably us. It tends to be out of the Western evolutionary line (mostly, history of science notably excluded from this) and, like Medieval or Crusader archaeology, too recent in time to be of much general interest.

Archaeological pun we hadn't heard before Archaeologists get to the hearth of the matter

HEARTHS from buildings which once would have stood on Huntingdon's market square are being unearthed.

The hearths have been found by archaeologists working on the Cambridgeshire County Council site at the rear of Walden House where a major redevelopment scheme is taking place.

Archaeologists from the county have moved across the site and are building up a picture of the Market Hill and George Street area in medieval times, with discoveries including pits, domestic hearths and ovens which were once part of backyards and kitchens of homes.

We figure we can hear this one, oh, maybe another 4,000 times before it gets as tiring as "Archaeologists dig something-or-other".

And speaking of puns that have outlived their usefullness. . . Dig into some archaeology on the Net

If going to see "Petra: Lost City of Stone" at Calvin College has inspired you to learn a little more about archaeology or if you are a teacher and want to use Petra as a way to get students interested in past civilizations, then you might want to take a look at www.anth.ucsb.edu/videos.

The UC-Stanta Barbara Web site dedicated to anthropology has a list of films and descriptions about archaeological activities. There also are reviews of these films and information about obtaining copies.

Newly-discovered Mamallapuram temple fascinates archaeologists

The temple discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), a few hundred metres to the south of the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, near Chennai, must have been as big or even bigger than the Shore Temple, said archaeologists conducting the excavation there. The ASI had discovered massive remains of a temple on the shore, close to the Shore Temple during the excavations it had conducted in February and March.

While continuing the excavation, it discovered a subsidiary shrine adjacent to the remains of a square garbha graham (sanctum sanctorum) of the newly- discovered temple.

Dunno, looks kinda dull really:



This seems like good news State archaeologist pleased with developer's plans

The state's archaeologist is satisfied with a developer's plans to preserve ancient Indian burial sites known as the Glass Mounds that date back 18-hundred years.
State archaeologist Nick Fielder met with officials of Southern Land Company this week after receiving a call from a concerned resident about the future of the mounds.

But Fielder said he was pleased with the company's plans regarding future use of the land.

12,000-year-old Animal Bones Found in Mazandaran Caves

Archaeologists have found 1000 pieces of animal bones dating to 12,000 years ago in Gomishan Cave of the northern province of Mazandaran. A great part of these bones belong to foxes, but it is not yet clear why they have been hunted.

The bones belong to large hoofed and herbivorous animals hunted by cavemen some 12,000 years ago.

Way cool non-archaeological news Nearly 100 fossilised dinosaur eggs unearthed in China

Nearly 100 fossilised dinosaur eggs dating back to the Jurassic and cretaceous periods have been unearthed in Central China's Hubei province.

The eggs were discovered by workers when they removed a rock during construction of the expressway running through Jinyin mountain in Yunxi county of the province.

Among the first group of 14 fossilised dinosaur eggs discovered at the construction site, 11 were interlocked. The eggs were pale blue and buried four metres deep, said Wu Xianzhu, a researcher with the Hubei Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology said.

Local archaeologists confirmed the site, which covers 5,000 square metres, to be an important region full of fossilised dinosaur eggs and ordered stoppage of construction works.

Archaeologists have started an excavation work in the region.

Technically, of course, that would be 'paleontologists'. That's the whole thing.

It's construction season, let's start finding stuff Artifacts delay highway project

Discovery of a campsite used by ancient hunters has delayed work on a stretch of the Heartland Expressway for at least a year.

The site, along a creek bed between Buffalo Gap and Maverick Junction, was found last year during a routine cultural-resources survey that preceded construction of the Heartland Expressway. Archaeologists estimated the site at 9,000 to 12,000 years old.

More on compassionate H. erecti A Paleopuzzle: Chomping With No Chompers

The toothless skull of an early human ancestor discovered in the Caucasus may attest to evolution's oldest known example of compassion for the elderly and handicapped, scientists report today.

Other experts agreed that the discovery was significant, but cautioned that it might be a stretch to interpret the fossil as evidence of compassion.

The well-preserved skull, found in Georgia, belonged to a male Homo erectus about 40 years old. All his teeth, except the left canine, were missing. Regrowth of bone indicated that the man had been toothless for at least two years before he died at what was then an old age. (The discoverers call him the "old man.")

Sargent Artifacts To Be Displayed

Hundreds of rare artifacts collected by the late archaeologist Howard Sargent will be displayed Saturday in Manchester.

The artifacts were sold to Mark Humpal, a dealer from Cornish, N.H., by Sargent's widow.

The Sargent Museum of Archaeology has been trying to raise money to buy the collection. The collection includes tools and arrowheads Sargent excavated from American Indian sites in the Merrimack and Pemigewasset River valleys.

Humpal said he hopes a donor steps forward to buy the collection for the museum.

That's the whole thing.

More mummy scanning Mummies Undergo CT Scans at Calif. Museum

This much experts know: One was a priest from a wealthy family. Another was a young girl who sang during religious rituals. A third was a child, buried in a finely carved wooden coffin.

But there is much more to learn about the six Egyptian mummies that were wrapped and buried in strips of resin-encrusted linen thousands of years ago to protect them from the elements.

DIgging up the past

A DEFINITIVE guide to the archaeology and historical development of St Albans is to be published this month.

Alban's Buried Towns is co-authored by Rosalind Niblett, the district council's archaeologist, and Isobel Thompson who has the same role for Herts County Council.

It will be launched at Verulamium Museum on April 20 by Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, and Professor Martin Biddle, St Albans Abbey's archaeologist.

Artifact conservation update Engineers Help To Save And Reconstruct The Past

Each time an ancient vase disintegrates, a ceramic tile crumbles or a painting cracks and fades, another link with our past is lost and we understand just a little less about where we came from and, ultimately, who we are.

When the last artisan dies and an ancient technology is lost, we're similarly impoverished, says Pamela Vandiver, an internationally recognized expert in artifact preservation and, now, a professor at The University of Arizona.

Vandiver came to UA last year to start a program in Heritage Conservation Science (HCS) that trains students to stabilize, preserve and better understand ancient artifacts and how they were created and used.

Anthropologist employs skills of detection

Most museums have fakes in their collections. This is a reality to which they don't want to bring attention. Jane MacLaren Walsh, however, loves to turn the material legacy of the past over and over in her strong hands. As an art detective, it's both her research and her reverie.

She fingers a tube of jade as narrow as a drinking straw and wonders about its maker, the artist who worked 3,500 years ago.

Then she thinks of the other craftsmen who, roughly 200 years ago, created forgeries of such antiquities so convincing that today they nestle in the world's finest museums.

Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor

A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias.

According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.

"Marble from the first century CE was very rare in this area and is found only in royal palaces. Who knows, perhaps Salome danced for the king on this very floor," Hirschfeld said, referring to the New Testament story of the daughter of Herodias, Antipas' wife, who demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter in exchange for the dance.

And now. . . .the weekly EEF news

Egypt Online has two press reports about new museums:
-- "Saqqara gets new museum"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o030425j.htm
Mid May the new Amheteb Museum will be opened, and "will house about 2000 pieces, including artifacts and statues that were unearthed since the start of excavations in the Saqqara area last century."
-- "New Museum for North Sinai"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o070425z8.htm
"The Al-Arish National Museum for North Sinai history ... will contain over 300 antiquities taken from eight other national museums."

Also Al Ahram Weekly has museum news, namely a press report about the planned Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM):
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/737/eg6.htm
"The GEM will be situated on the Giza plateau...... The museum's grand staircase will follow a chronological route through the collections, culminating in a view of the Pyramids from the uppermost floor.... The collections themselves will be organised thematically...Other displays will focus on kingship and the state, religious practices during the Amarna period and on the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians, their sports, games, music, arts and crafts as well as their cultural and social practices..... It will also house a fully-computerised information centre for Egyptologists and a training centre where short courses on Egyptology will be given to museum curators and conservationists. "

Egypt Today has two follow-up press reports without new material:
--"Unravelling the Mystery of the Boy King's Murder"
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4857
"We found out that for the blow to the back of the head, there is no indication that this is murder. It is a mummification hole," Hawass explains. "Also, there is no evidence at all of a crush to the chest, as people [have] said." The report noted a fracture of the left thighbone, which appeared to be different from the breaks believed to have been caused by Carter's team.
Scientists reached their conclusion after detecting two layers of embalming liquid inside the bone. The break could have happened during embalment, or within days of Tutankhamen's death."

-- "Ramsis II has a New Home"
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4842
"A place that the king can call home has been the subject of debate for years. Should he move back to Meet Raheena, his original home? Or find more sumptuous new digs at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) planned for the Giza Plateau?"

Janet Richards, Society and Death in Ancient Egypt: Mortuary Landscapes of the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge University Press, March 2005). Hardback, 262 pp. ISBN-10: 0521840333 / ISBN-13: 9780521840330. GBP 45.00. Info at:
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521840333

Online Master's Thesis: Ellen Salter-Pedersen, The Myth of Eternal Preservation: Patterns of Damage in Egyptian Mummies, The Department of Geography and Anthropology, The Louisiana State University, 2004. vi, 81 pp.
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03252004-165820/
"This thesis examines published reports on Egyptian mummies from museums in the United States, Europe, and Egypt for the presence of osteological fractures, dislocations and other related damage ... The results do show relationships between the cause of the postmortem damage and the geographic locations, historic periods, and social class. Conversely, no relationship is observed between the postmortem damage and antemortem pathologies, amulets, and protective casings."

Online version of: Lennart Berg, The salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples, in: Monumentum, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 25-56 (1978) - pdf-file: 4.0 MB
English version:
http://www.international.icomos.org/monumentum/vol17/vol17_2.pdf

"The salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples in southern Egypt constitutes an outstanding example of a grand ancient monument handed down to posterity ...
It was not until last year [1976], however, that a publication appeared giving a description covering the whole of this operation. It was VBB who published their Concluding Report on the Salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples, a richly illustrated volume of more than 200 pages. The article endeavours to present the contents of this book in a concentrated form ...."

Online version of: Roel J. Jansen, Martin Poulus, Henk Venema, Jaap Stoker, High-Resolution Spiral CT of Egyptian Scarabs, in: Radiographics, vol. 22, pp. 63-66 (2002)
HTML: http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/22/1/63
pdf (230 KB): http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/reprint/22/1/63.pdf
"In this article, we discuss the scarab and describe visualization of hieroglyphs on the undersurfaces of scarabs with high-resolution spiral CT."

End of EEF news

Web site alert Francis Deblauwe sends along this link to his Iraq War and Archaeology web site:

Archaeology, antiquities smuggling, nationalism, colonialism, politics and related issues have always been closely intertwined in the Land Between the Two Rivers. This site serves to explore, expand and encourage the study of and dialogue about these issues.

Archaeology Society Digs Up County’s Past

Beneath Kosciusko County lies the past.

Ice Age mastodons. Early man. Indian artifacts. And old-time settlers.

The Kosciusko County Archaeology Society hopes to eventually dig it up and preserve it for the future.

Ancient, caring Vikings Revealed: The softer, caring side of the marauding Viking

FAR from their marauding, pillaging stereotypes, Viking warriors were homemakers who couldn’t wait to ship their wives over to settle the lands they had conquered, new research reveals.

Scientists studying Scots of Viking ancestry in Shetland and Orkney have discovered that there must have been far more Viking women in the Dark Ages settlements than originally thought.

However, it appears that Viking wives refused to go deeper into Scotland, with little evidence they made it as far as the Western Isles.

And ancient caring Homo erecti Early hominid 'cared for elderly'

Ancient hominids from the Caucasus may have fed and cared for their elderly, a new fossil find has indicated.

The 1.77 million-year-old specimen, which is described in Nature magazine, was completely toothless and well over 40; a grand old age at the time.

This may suggest that the creature lived in a complex society which was capable of showing compassion.

And more from the BBC Medieval works found at LNG site

Archaeologists working on the site of a natural gas terminal in Pembrokeshire have uncovered what they believe may be a medieval metal works.

The team was working at the site of the controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Milford Haven when they found the works, which may date from 800AD.

Experts said little was known about this period, and the find could be a sign of early industrialisation.

News from medicine Importance of alcohol production in the ancient world, study

While the modern era has a fondness for the business lunch, the ancient world viewed the feast as an important arena of political action. Yet, new research in the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology suggests that the story of how the food and drink arrived to the table is just as critical to our understanding of the past as the social behaviors at the table.

Since alcoholic beverages were liberally consumed at many of these feasts (often occurring over several days), a sponsor often faced the daunting problem of assembling prodigious amounts of alcohol in the weeks preceding a feast. In this paper, researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara, consider certain traditional methods for making maize beer, barley and emmer wheat beer, rice beer, agave wine, and grape wine from a variety of regions around the world.

Earliest evidence of domestic herding in the Negev Desert revealed

Although layers of dung accumulated by herds of sheep and goat sheltering in the caves of the Near East have long been an annoyance for archaeologists working on the prehistoric remains that lie beneath them, these layers in fact provide a rich source of new data on ancient shepherds and their environment. In the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology, new research in the Negev Desert, Israel, reveals the archaeological potential of ancient desert dung that documents, among other things, the earliest direct evidence for the infiltration of domestic herd animals into the desert at around 5000 BC, and the presence of shepherds at different times in history.

Research Team Recreates Ancient Underwater Concrete Technology

A University of Colorado at Boulder professor and his colleagues have taken a page from the writings of an ancient Roman architect and built an underwater concrete pier in the manner of those set in the Mediterranean Sea 2,000 years ago.

CU-Boulder history Professor Robert Hohlfelder, an internationally known underwater archaeologist, said scholars have long been in awe of the engineering feats of the early Romans. A former co-director of the international Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project, he said the research effort was spurred by the stunning hydraulic concrete efforts undertaken at Caesarea Harbor in present-day Israel and elsewhere in the Mediterranean before the time of Christ.

First intensive investigation of early agriculture in Liangchengzhen suggests rice was prevalent

Archaeologists from the University of Toronto, the Field Museum, and Shandong University announce the results of the first intensive investigation of early agriculture in Liangchengzhen, Shandong in Northern China. The results are published in the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology. Several thousand crop and weed seeds were recovered by the team at the 4000 year-old Liangchengzhen site, a regional political center in Shandong.

Prior to the investigation, Longshan agriculture was thought to have been millet-based, with rice having little importance. However, nearly half the grains collected in the study were from rice while the remainder was from fox-tail millet. According to radiocarbon dating, the grains removed from the pit date to 2000 B.C.

Update to NAGPRA issue, S. 536:

We've corresponded with the author of the article, who provided a link or two, plus some digging of our own. This bill (or the section involving the change to NAGPRA) was apparently sponsored by former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell before leaving office. See here for the references to the bill, specifically:
Amends the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act with respect to the definition of Native American.

SAA's (SOciety for American Archaeology) position seems to be that they are/were against this for procedural reasons. See here (5 Oct 2004):

Because NAGPRA is a compromise law formulated
through an open, deliberative process
involving all the concerned parties, SAA is
opposed to changes in this important
legislation being made without a full and
open hearing. SAA is not opposed to the
substance of this proposed amendment, which
affirms the Society's position that the
definition of "Native American" was intended
to include tribes, peoples, and cultures
that were once indigenous to the United
States as well as those presently recognized
as indigenous, but we are strongly opposed
to the process through which this amendment
is being put forward.

We are unsure as to how this squares with SAA's previous arguments regarding Kennewick and court decisions associated with it. For example, on 3 Sep 2002, SAA generally agreed with Judge Jelderk's decision that, in cases where cultural affiliation to any existing tribe cannot be maintained (generally, we assume, due to great age), repatriation cannot be implemented.

On further review, however, it seems SAA is more concerned with the portion of the decision (and the plaintiff's -- i.e., the scientists' -- case) that designates the Kennewick remains in particular as "non-Native American":

. . .SAA disagrees with a key element of the plaintiffs' argument: that Kennewick Man was not Native American according to NAGPRA. SAA believes strongly that the remains are indeed Native American, which is defined in the law as "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States."

(From FAQs on the SAA's Amicus Curiae Brief in the Kennewick Case, June 2001)

Also see here for the SAA's distinction:

Although SAA agrees that Kennewick Man is Native American, we believe that the Secretary's decision on cultural affiliation is fundamentally flawed in its understanding of the term "cultural affiliation" and in its assessment of the evidence presented for cultural affiliation.

Hence, it seems that the SAA at least is comfortable applying the term "Native American" to any set of remains found that date to pre-contact times, but that in order for repatriation to occur, cultural affiliation must be demonstrated.

We are unclear as to how this new implementation will change things. It appears as if the previous rulings regarding Kennewick -- that he is not "Native American" -- preclude NAGPRA from coming into effect in the first place, even before any sort of "cultural affiliation" can be demonstrated. That is, if it's old enough, NAGPRA doesn't apply, and nothing happens. Defining anything pre-Columbian as "Native American" would automatically bring NAGPRA into account, and force any parties interested in repatriation to demonstrate cultural affiliation.

So, it may not have precisely the far-reaching consequences we thought.

Funny how we post a couple days about a PORN story and the hit rate goes up by about 50%.

Now we know where the minds of archaeologists really are. . . . .

Kennewick Man update Another bone of contention over Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man is poised to tell his secrets.

Almost nine years after the 9,300-year-old remains were found on the banks of the Columbia River and a fierce legal battle, federal courts agreed unequivocally scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man.

However, U.S. Sen. John McCain has colluded with those who want to stifle the stories of similar old bones and the light they can shed on the earliest Americans and where they came from. The Arizona Republican, who is chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, supported a sweeping policy change in Senate Bill 536, which is billed erroneously as a technical corrections bill.

Real money quote: "In response to the federal court ruling, the Indian Affairs Committee approved SB 536, which would insert two seemingly innocuous words into the repatriation law. It would read: "... is, or was, indigenous. ... " That means modern tribes could claim remains with no discernible link to them except that they were found in an area where the tribes lived."

This simply throws out any requirement for establishing ancestor-descendant relationships between modern tribes and ancient remains for the purposes of repatriation. But, since this story is really an opinion piece, we'll look into this a bit more to see if this is really the case.

Head north! Found - Ancient Tools: April is Alaska Archaeology Month

Last summer Petersburg Ranger District timber sale administrator Ted Sandhofer and forester Bryan Rice responded to a fire caused by a neglectful camper. As Sandhofer was grubbing up the duff and humus he noticed rocks rattling about his feet. He soon realized the rocks were actually stone tools that were resting on a flat-topped boulder. Apparently the three tools were left on the boulder centuries ago and hidden beneath a thick layer of duff.

Duff?


CSI: Leith


Mystery of bones find at church

MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of six bodies dating back to the 16th century in the grounds of a historic church in Leith.

Archaeologists uncovered four skeletons and the remains of at least another two bodies during construction work on the 19th-century St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Constitution Street.

Carbon dating by scientists has revealed the bodies date back to around the time of the Siege of Leith from 1559 to 1560, which involved French, English and Scots forces.

Chicks rule Female population predominant in 5000-year-old Burnt City

Anthropological studies indicate that females constituted about sixty percent of the population of the 5000-year-old Burnt City, director of a team of anthropologists working on the ancient Iranian city said on Monday.

“We have excavated 208 graves in the cemetery of the Burnt City within seven phases carried out over the past years. 113 of the graves belonged to the female,” Farzad Foruzanfar added.

Odyssey suspends Sussex wreck search for two weeks

Odyssey Marine Exploration is suspending its operations at the shipwreck site believed to be HMS Sussex for 15 days.

The Spanish government wants to review the archaeological methods and administrative issues relating to the project and to discuss protocols for the exploration and protection of Spanish shipwrecks that Odyssey finds in the area or elsewhere throughout the world, the company said.

Oldest Iranian Stylus Discovered in Fars Province

The oldest Iranian Stylus, dating to the Middle Elamite era, 1550-1000 BC, which were used for inscribing mud tablets, has been discovered from Bondul Tepe, Fars province.

Bondul Tepe is one of Fars' major archaeological sites where architectural remains, clay and metal objects have been discovered, revealing information about the economic and social conditions of the people living in the area from the fourth millennium BC to the Achaemenid era, and Islamic period.

Archeologists dig up ancient casting centre

Archeologists claim to have found the country’s largest Bronze Age metallurgy centre, estimated to be 3,500 years old.

The site, located at the Den Citadel in Phu My Hamlet, Tu Lap Commune, Me Linh District, in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, has yielded many discoveries which indicate that the site is the largest centre of bronze casting in Viet Nam to have been discovered so far, said Lam Thi My Dung, director of the Museum of Anthropology.

Fight! Fight! Group wants judge to reconsider decision to dissolve Graves Museum

Several Broward County Archaeology Society members are asking a federal judge to reconsider his decision to give away the Graves Museum's collection of dinosaur bones and artifacts.

They also want to keep the board that ran the Dania Beach museum intact.

Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Hyman approved a trustee's plan to donate the collection, valued at $1.9 million, to Broward Community College and Florida State University.

Porn update

We here at ArchaeoBlog are committed to exploring every facet of a story, no matter how mundane or trivial. Especially if it has something to do with naked, writhing, sweaty. . .errrrr, never mind. What we mean is, especially if it has something to do with the first glimmers of self-awareness in our Neolithic forebears. Consequently, our far-flung staff has searched the digital archives and brought to you these important images of the recent discovery of. . .'ancient human sexuality' figurines we reported on yesterday. These are, apparently, the male part of the series.



Of course, now that we've got the word 'porn' on the site we'll no doubt be getting Google hits for people searching for the kinds of things we've heard about, but of course, never actually seen, on the Web since, you know, we are totally committed to all things archaeological.

Come to think of it, that might increase our hit rate dramatically. . . .hmmmmmmm. . . .no.

HT to CalGal at ThePerfectWorld.

And in other, far less titillating news. . . .

Ancient stone stele discovered in Beijing

A 300-year-old, 40-ton stone stele, which is a flat stone with carvings on it, has been discovered in Beijing.

The stone was carved with two articles written by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in both the Chinese and Manchurian languages.

All the characters and decorations on the stele are well preserved.

Fragments of ancient empire

The archaeological season has begun at the Roman site of Vindolanda, bringing in volunteers from all over the world.

Pressed down in the clay, almost completely covered by the dirt, lies an object. Could be a piece of Roman pottery, perhaps some glass. To the untrained eye it could just be a piece of ordinary rubble.

"It is ordinary rubble," says archaeologist Andrew Birley, loading it into a wheelbarrow, which will then be dumped by the side. Unlike me Andrew does have a trained eye. Indeed he has two.

Ruins offer window on Roman culture

Helmut Ziegert returned to the coast of Libya last year to follow up on a tantalizing discovery.

In September 2000, his colleague Marliese Wendowski was excavating what she thought was a large farmhouse when, 12 feet deep in the sandy soil, she came across a floor covered with a stunning glass-and-stone mosaic of an exhausted gladiator staring at a slain opponent.

The discovery had come too late in that expedition to pursue further, so the University of Hamburg archaeologists reburied the mosaic.

Experts Find 41 Saltworks Used by Mayans

Underwater archaeologists have discovered 41 new seaside salt production works used by the ancient Mayans in Central America.

The discovery at Punta Ycacos Lagoon in what is now Belize provides evidence of extensive salt production to serve the large Mayan cities on the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula, reports researcher Heather McKillop of Louisiana State University.

Her findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Four salt works had previously been known in that area. The discovery of 41 new works, along with the remains of wooden buildings from the era of A.D. 600 to 900, indicates salt was mass-produced and stored before shipment upriver, she reported.

Ceramic pottery was used for boiling water to produce the salt, she wrote, and a canoe paddle was also found, indicating that the salt was transported inland by canoe.

The research was supported by a grant from Louisiana State University.

That's the whole thing.

More news from the wires. . .

SAA award II Mesoamerican book wins archaeology book award

Aztec child raising, how to play the Maya ball game and the calorie counts for a forager's diet are a few of the special features found in "Ancient Mexico & Central America, Archaeology and Culture History," by Susan Toby Evans, winner of the Society of American Archaeology's 2005 Book Award.

The SAA's Book Award is given to a book that "has had, or is expected to have, a major impact on the direction and character of archaeological research."

This beautiful book, published by Thames & Hudson, covers Central America from the southern most portion of the American Southwest to the beginning of South America and is intended as an entry and resource for those interested in the archaeology and cultures of this area and as a textbook for undergraduate students.

Fight! Fight! III Archaeologist stirs storm with ‘ancient city’ claim

A professor of archaeology at the Jahangirnagar University has stirred a controversy with misleading claims about and unauthorised excavation at an archaeological site.

Professor Sufi Mustafizur Rahman, who led the excavation of an 18 by 16 metre area at Owari-Bateshwar in Belabo upazila of Narsingdi, claimed in April 2004 that the excavation had led to the discovery of a road, a citadel and a raft of artefacts that dated back to 450BC.

Sufi told the media that his findings indicated to the oldest civilisation to have been discovered so far, and would redefine the history of eastern India and substantiate the theory of the Brahmaputra civilisation.

Lost city habitational site. . .found Iron Age habitational site found at Adichanallur

In an important discovery, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Chennai Circle, has located the habitational site of the Iron Age people who were buried in big urns at Adichanallur, 24 km from Tirunelveli town in Tamil Nadu. Although several urn burial sites such as at Amirthamangalam and Perumbair, both near Chengalpattu, have been discovered in the State, this is the first time the place where these people lived has been found.

The site discovered now is on the north and north-western slopes of the urn-burial mound at Adichanallur. It is a few hundred metres away from the burial fields.

Obviously he didn't die of heart disease then King Tut Liked Red Wine

Ancient Egyptians believed in properly equipping a body for the afterlife, and not just through mummification. A new study reveals that King Tutankhamun eased his arduous journey with a stash of red wine.

Spanish scientists have developed the first technique that can determine the color of wine used in ancient jars. They analyzed residues from a jar found in the tomb of King Tut and found that it contained wine made with red grapes.

Olmec pottery update Olmec People, Olmec Art

The Olmec, a complex society that arose in the lowlands of Mexico's Gulf Coast about 1200 B.C. have often been called Mesoamerica's first civilization. As such, the Olmec, best known for their enigmatic giant stone heads, figuratively stand at the head of the array of later Mesoamerican civilizations--Toltec, Maya, Aztec, and others.

Archaeologists have, since the nineteenth century, identified "cultures" or "people" or "folk" in the past based on recurring groupings of artifact types, building methods, funerary rituals, and artistic styles. This is convenient for discussing finds, especially in terms of geographical distribution or changes over the course of time. But in using this approach, there is a risk of identifying pots with people--that the appearance of a particular type of pot or tool or burial custom in an area means that people from elsewhere have brought that with them. The "movement" of pots can equally be explained as from trade, from the spread of manufacturing techniques, and the like, as from the movement of people.

More info on the recent work we've been blogging on the sourcing of Olmec pottery.

Project to uncover ancient village


In partnership with the Southeast Utah Group National Park Service, Crow Canyon will begin excavating one of the best-preserved archaeological landscapes in the Mesa Verde region - the Goodman Point Ruins Group Unit of Hovenweep National Monument.

The two-phase research project is set to begin Monday. Senior research archaeologist Kristin Kuckelman, joined by two assistants, will begin creating a detailed map of the 142-acre site, and then they will plot digging areas.

[CENSORED] Archaeologist finds 'oldest porn statue'

Stone-age figurines depicting what could be the oldest pornographic scene in the world have been unearthed in Germany.

Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the 7,200-year-old remnants of a man having intercourse with a woman.

The extraordinary find, at an archaeological dig in Saxony, shatters the belief that sex was a taboo subject in that era.

Until now, the oldest representations of sexual scenes were frescos from about 2,000 years ago.

Not to worry, we only briefly considered posting an artists' conception of said statues.

We didn't even look for one either. Honest.

Way cool non-archaeological news First Confirmed Picture of a Planet Beyond the Solar System

After a few close calls, astronomers have finally obtained the first photograph of a planet beyond our solar system, SPACE.com has learned.

And this time they say they're sure. Though some doubt lingers about the mass of the object.

The planet is thought to be one to two times as massive as Jupiter, according to the scientists who imaged it. It orbits a star similar to a young version of our Sun.

(HT LoriK at The Perfect World)

Tsunami update Temple traces in tsunami zone

The Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed traces of two more temples of the Pallava era near the Shore Temple in Mamallapuram, 55 km from here.

The discovery strengthens the hypothesis about Seven Pagodas having once stood in this ancient port town of the Pallavas. The December 26 tsunami had brought to view rock structures with carved figures, which had first kindled hopes of cracking the mystery.

An ASI team along with Indian Navy divers had stumbled upon the “wall-like structures” and “step-like structures” in February.

"They're heeeeeere. . . ." Couple files lawsuit after they say land sold to them was cemetery

A Charleston couple has filed a lawsuit claiming a woman hired contractors to bulldoze graves on the three-acre property to make way for a home she eventually sold them.

But Olivia Palmer's attorney Charlie Condon, the state's former attorney general, said his client denies disturbing any graves on the property and questioned why William Baker brought the remains of a body to a meeting with authorities.

This doesn't make a lot of sense. They bought the property with headstones all over the place and claim they didn't know it was a cemetery?

Fight! Fight! Archaeologists dispute claim that undersea wreck is that of Blackbeard's ship

Three archaeologists are disputing the state's claim that an undersea wreck found near Beaufort is the flagship of the pirate Blackbeard.

In the first major challenge to the claim, two East Carolina University professors and the state of Michigan's underwater archaeologist said there is no conclusive evidence to justify identifying the wreckage as the Queen Anne's Revenge. They said state officials and researchers have studied the wreck with preconceived notions of its identity, and that pressure to capitalize on the Blackbeard connection caused alternative theories to be overlooked.

ArchaeoBlog: We put the "Arrrrrrr. . ." in archaeology.

Although *ahem* to be honest, we rather preferred these pirate representations. But, you know, this is a family blog.

Congratulations! Winter honored by Archaeology Society

Eugene C. Winter Jr., has been selected as the 2005 recipient of the Society for American Archaeology's Crabtree Award. Winter grew up in Tewksbury and is a member of the Tewksbury Historical Society. He has served since the Society's inception as a member of the Executive Board and has made numerous presentations to the Society based on research he has done.
The award was established in 1985 by The Society of American Archaeology. It recognizes an individual who has had little if any formal training in archaeology and little if any wage or salary as an archaeologist. He will be presented with annual award on Friday, April 1 at the Annual Business Meeting to be held at the Salt Place Convention center, salt Lake City, Utah. The Tewksbury Historical Society is very proud of Mr. Winter and is extremely happy to have his active participation in our Society. No one is more deserving of this award for all he has done for our Society and for the other organizations Mr. Winter is a member.

Read more about Don Crabtree here.

Fight! Fight! II Fresh bid to halt Cattle Market scheme

LEADING archaeologists are hoping the Deputy Prime Minister will intervene and delay plans for an £85million shopping development.

Tim Schadla-Hall, secretary of the Parliamentary Archaeology Group, has written to John Prescott regarding potential finds beneath the Cattle Market site in Bury St Edmunds.

Duncan McAndrew, an expert in medieval archaeology, is now compiling a dossier of evidence to support his letter.

Saqqara tomb update door reveals hidden tomb

Archaeologists have uncovered three coffins and a remarkably well-preserved mummy in a 2,500-year old tomb discovered by accident, after opening a secret door hidden behind a statue in a separate burial chamber, said Egypt's chief archaeologist.

The Australian team was exploring a much older tomb, dating back 4,200 years, belonging to a man thought to have been a tutor to the 6th Dynasty King Pepi II, when they moved a pair of statues and discovered the door, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top antiquities official.

Inside, they found a tomb from the 26th Dynasty with three intricate coffins, each with a mummy.

More later.

Homo hobbitus update Breaking the Hobbit

Yet another skirmish has erupted over the "hobbit," as researchers quarrel over who broke the bones of Homo floresiensis—a diminutive new species of human found on the Indonesian island of Flores last year.

Late last month the 18,000-year-old bones were returned to their official home, the Center for Archaeology in Jakarta, after being borrowed by Indonesia’s most prominent paleoanthropologist Teuku Jacob of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta (Science, 4 March, p. 1386). Archaeologist Michael Morwood of the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, Australia, leader of the team that discovered the bones, says the left side of the pelvis--which he calls one of the hominid’s most distinctive features--was "smashed," perhaps during transport.

The pelvi in question:



Hat tip to GregD at the new BioScans blog. Visit it often.

Only after visiting here, of course.

First up for our April 1 edition, we have a fascinating report from Eugene Cruz-Uribe on recent events in Egypt (posted with permission):

News From Egypt (an April 1 Report)

The on-going saga of the reconstruction of Hibis temple in Kharga Oasis has
undergone a new twist this year. Following up on last years' report that
Osman Ahmed Osman ("The Arab Contractors") have persevered in their
efforts, Zahi Hawass has allowed work to go forward. A British firm Cintec
International ("The Orthopedic Surgeons for the Construction Industry"
http://www.cintec.com/ - would I make this up?) has been awarded a major
subcontract to consolidate the walls and perhaps remove the roof. Mohammed
Mustafa, government overseer of construction in Upper Egypt and the deserts
was quoted as saying "This is a major advance in construction
efforts. Because it was a government contract the bidding was fierce and a
fine firm was chosen from a large field of international bidders." Eugene
Cruz-Uribe (Demotic enthusiast, devotee of the god Seth, and a fan of all
things related to Hibis temple) has been hired as a consultant for
Cintec. In an exclusive interview he noted "I hope this project lasts long
enough so that I can afford to buy two books from Brill this year instead
of one." Cintec work is scheduled to begin in May 2005.

An update to the rumors mentioned in last year's report concerning Zahi
Hawass in line for the job of Ministry of Culture. Not true at
all!!!! The international press reported recently that Zahi Hawass is in
line to become the new curator of the Turin Museum's Egyptian
Collection. Word on the street is that major portions of the Turin
collection would then be placed on a traveling exhibition to Egypt while
the Turin Museum undergoes renovation. "I think it would be a great
opportunity for a fun exhibition," said Mohammed Mustafa, curator of
traveling exhibits in Egypt. The exhibit is scheduled to begin sometime
after 2008 with venues in Sohag and Asyut already confirmed.

The news of Hawass' possibly going to Turin sparked rumors of a bidding war
for his services. The Berlin Museum, the Louvre, the British Museum, and
the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art are supposedly all secretly attempting to
get Hawass on retainer. A recent speaking engagement at the University of
Pennsylvania fueled speculation that he may return to his alma Mater. "It
would be nice to have Zahi back in the fold among friends," David
Silverman, professor at Pennsylvania, was heard to say.

This past year saw a major development in Aswan. A recent rededication of
the refurbished tourist stairs at the Aswan quarry was attended by
President Mubarek. As part of the ceremonies the recently unexcavated
quarrying tools were placed on display. President Mubarek was quoted as
saying: "They look like rocks."

The press was buzzing following Mubarek's appearance at the Aswan
rededication. Farouk Hosni, Minster of Culture, was scheduled to attend,
but at the last minute pleaded with his friend to go in his stead. At a
press conference Mubarek would only note that Minister Hosni's absence was
due to a complete coiffure - ensemble collapse. "He was very upset about
his purple hair color not matching the rest of his ensemble."

Zahi Hawass held his 50th press conference this past week relating to the
CAT-Scan performed on the mummy of King Tut. He reported that Tutankamun's
mummy was meticulously examined and they have determined that indeed he was
dead. They also noted that Tutankhamun was 19 when he died, but he was
waiting for a copy of his birth certificate from the Cairo Records Office
before being absolutely certain. When questioned if there was any truth to
the rumor that Michael Jackson was the reincarnation of Tutankamun, Hawass
simply stated that "King Tut would never wear that much black, though he
was known to have worn his pajamas to court."

There was a little known controversy concerning the payment to the firm
which conducted the CAT-Scan of Tut's mummy. Since the scan was considered
to be a medical procedure, Mohammed Mustafa, chief financial officer for
the Ministry of Health, submitted a claim to Blue Dog and Blue Pony (a
subsidiary of the American health insurance company, Blue Cross / Blue
Shield). The claims department rejected the request noting that King Tut
first came into their records as dried fish and thus was not eligible for
medical services. Mustafa is appealing the decision.

The Spanish expedition in Luxor was pleased with the new exhibition in the
Luxor Museum where the "full frontal" palette of the king was placed on
display in an enclosed niche. Mable Johnson, the one American tourist to
visit Egypt this year, was quoted as saying: "The ancient Egyptians were so
clever. They got the front side of the king to look so life like. But why
didn't they put the backside of the king on the back of the
board?" Mohammed Mustafa, curator of the museum, was speechless at the
comment.

There is no news about the new Museum of the Ages (a.k.a. the New Cairo
Museum) on the Giza plateau, but a government committee is looking into it.
There was a short reference in the press about a tiff between German House
in Luxor and the Supreme Council. Rumors have it that it was over seating
arrangements at a fund raiser for on going excavations. More to come on
that.

A recent appeal was made by the Theban Mapping Project to solicit the
general public's input on the future of the Valley of the Kings. A special
web site and questionnaire were sometimes available. When questioned on
why there was not a separate questionnaire for Egyptologists to give
professional feedback, Ilka Schacht, database coordinator, said "Oops."

In a little known press release, Kent Weeks, professor at AUC and excavator
of KV 5, had to step back on several comments made in a television
production aired this past year, "The Great Biblical Plagues and How They
Tie Into My Excavations in KV 5." The show quoted Weeks as saying that
Amenherkhepishef was the eldest son of Ramesses the Great and he was killed
by the last of the ten Biblical Plagues to strike Egypt. "Comments by
several of my colleagues that there is doubt that the Exodus ever took
place throws a monkey wrench into the chronology of things," he was quoted
several of my colleagues that there is doubt that the Exodus ever took
place throws a monkey wrench into the chronology of things," he was quoted
as saying. Despite this, plans for a fund raising tour in September (run
by Ancient World Tours http://www.ancient.co.uk/) are still on. "Maybe we
will find proof of the Exodus in our on-going excavations," Weeks might
have said.

The big news of the year, of course, is the new Tutankhamun exhibition
planned to begin this year. It opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art this summer. A large number of Tutankhamun artifacts and lesser known
items belonging to some lesser known New Kingdom kings were to be
included. "Not the gold mask and all that glittery stuff," said Zahi
Hawass at the press conference. "Instead we are going to bring a lot of
really nice stuff that people seldom see." Hawass confirmed that one of
the items to be on display was the spare wheel for Tutankhamun's
chariot. "We found it in the trunk and it had never been used." Hawass
indicated that the discovery showed the ancient Egyptians obviously paid
close attention to highway safety concerns. Mohammed Mustafa, curator of
traveling exhibits and liaison with the "Make a Lot of Money" Partnerships
Ltd., (the exclusive handlers for the Tut show) promised the American
public that ticket prices would be reasonable (around $50 US = about 2
Euros at the current exchange rate) and coupons would be available for
school groups. "If President Bush comes to the opening, I am sure we can
get him a complimentary ticket," Mustafa noted.

That's all the news for today, April 1, 2005.

We might also note that our ongoing project to locate the Sphinx's nose has passed yeat another year without success.

Online article alert The new issue of PalArch is online with one paper of Egyptological interest and several book reviews.

Boston University chemists probe secrets in ancient textile dyes from China, Peru

Although searching for 3,000-year-old mummy textiles in tombs under the blazing sun of a western Chinese desert may seem more Indiana Jones than analytical chemist, two Boston University researchers recently did just that. Traveling along the ancient Silk Road in Xinjiang Province on their quest, they found the ancient fabrics – and hit upon a research adventure that combined chemistry, archaeology, anthropology, botany, and art.

The chemists, Richard Laursen, a professor in the Boston University Department of Chemistry, and Xian Zhang, a chemistry graduate student, have refined a technique that helps archaeologists and anthropologists identify the plant species that ancient people used to make fabric dyes. Their technique has not only provided researchers with a new, more powerful tool for analyzing previously known dye types, it also has led to the discovery of at least one never-before described dye. In addition, the BU chemists have started a catalogue of plant sample characteristics for use by dye researchers around the world.

And now, news from the EEF

Press report: "CT Scans Of Ancient Egyptian Mummies"
http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=13127
"On April 7, 2005 at 11 a.m. at the Bowers Museum, a team of radiologists and curators will onduct computed tomography (CT) scans of six ancient Egyptian mummies from the renowned ollections of the British Museum. (...) This is the largest collection of CT scans ever erformed on Egyptian mummies utilizing the newest, state of the art technology."

Press report: "Curse of mummy to be uncovered by medical check-up"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1545317,00.html
"Scientists have taken samples of tissue from more than 1,000 mummies to build a medical map revealing the way that disease has evolved over 5,000 years. Egyptologists at the KNH entre for biomedical Egyptology at Manchester University have been charting the evolution of schistosomiasis, more commonly known as bilharzia, from antiquity to the modern day."

Press report: "Italian lab to protect papyrus at Egyptian museum"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o270325c.htm

Press report: "Book Feature: This was the man who found Tutankhamen"
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050322-092156-5493r
Excerpted from the book, 'The Queen, Rupert & Me', by Desmond Zwar. "For the past 36 years journalist and author Desmond Zwar has shared a great secret: that it was not archaeologist Howard Carter who was responsible for the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb, but a humble ritish corporal whose very presence on the site had to be kept confidential; who in the last days of the dig took a photograph that changed history."

Press report: "Converting a Roman tourist resort into a museum"
http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/4/1.asp
"The SCA is collaborating with a Polish team to transform the archaeological city of Marina into an 'archaeological site museum'. It is the first Roman resort [3th c AD] uncovered in the north of Egypt.

Press report: "Sohag police unearth mummy"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o300325l.htm
A stray find in the field.

Press report: "A prey to progress? The overall plan for the development of the historic core of Old Cairo is still not apparent. "
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/736/he1.htm

The column of Dr Hawass is about the Parisian exhibition "Pharaon":
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/736/he2.htm

[Submitted by Augustin Barahona (barahona@egiptologia.net)]
Dear colleagues:
It's a pleasure for me to announce that the Bulletin of the IFAO - BIAFO- is now on line at this URL:
http://www.ifao.egnet.net/doc/PubEnLigne/BIFAO

* Robert Ritner, "Implicit Models of Cross Cultural Interaction: A Question
of Noses, Soap and Prejudice", Ch 34 from: Life in a Multi-Cultural
Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond (SAOC 51),
pp. 283-290. In PDF (56kB):
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/SAOC/51/Chapter34.pdf
About the Greek evaluation of Egypt during the Hellenistic
period, and Greek-Egyptian interaction during this era.

* Chris Reintges, "The syntax and semantics of the Coptic cleft
constructions", LxWP4/03 (University of Sussex Working
Papers in Linguistics and English Language). In PDF (207 kB):
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/linguistics/documents/reintges-cleft.pdf

[Next four items submitted by Michael Tilgner]

Online version of: Bernd Fitzner, Kurt Heinrichs, Dennis La Bouchardiere, Weathering damage on Pharaonic sandstone monuments in Luxor - Egypt, in: Building and Environment, vol. 38, pp. 1089-1103 (2003)
http://www.stone.rwth-aachen.de/luxor.pdf
"The Pharaonic stone monuments ... have suffered weathering damage. In the year 2000 an Egyptian-German research co-operation was started aiming at the systematic investigation of stone weathering on the historical monuments in Upper Egypt as a contribution to monument preservation ... First results on the petrographical properties of these sandstones and their state of weathering damage on the Pharaonic temples in Luxor are presented."

Online version of: Alvaro Figueiredo, The Lisbon Mummy Project: The employment of non-destructive methods in mummy studies, 12 pp. (2005) - pdf-file: 226 KB
http://tinyurl.com/4kdc6
"The Lisbon Mummy Project will have a multidisciplinary approach in the study of the human and animal mummies, and their associated artefacts, and will employ non-destructive analytical methods."

Online version of: B. Stern, C. Heron, L. Corr, M. Serpico, J. Bourriau, Compositional variations in aged and heated Pistacia resin found in Late Bronze Age Canaanite amphorae and bowls from Amarna, Egypt, in:
Archaeometry, vol. 45, pp. 457-469 (2003) - pdf-file: 225 KB
http://www.brad.ac.uk/staff/bstern/molecular/Stern%20et%20al.%202003.pdf
"This study examines resinous deposits from the interior surfaces of sherds of imported Canaanite amphorae and locally produced bowls from the 18th Dynasty site of Tell el- Amarna, Egypt."

Online version of: Eva Panagiotakopulu, Pharaonic Egypt and the origins of plague, in: Journal of Biogeography, vol. 31, pp. 269-275 (2004) - pdf-file: 200 KB
http://scarab.msu.montana.edu/Ento500/Panagiotakopulu_2004.pdf
"Coexistence of the Nile rat, humans and ectoparasites in urban centres in combination with trade with Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean, together with the Nile floods and the introduction of the black rat, circle Egypt as the most probable place of origin of bubonic plague as an epidemic disease ... It is unfortunate that archaeologists working in Egypt have rarely sieved their sediments to recover small mammal bones and even more rarely have they been identified." [Press reports and abstract about this were in EEFNEWS 302.]

End of EEF news