Breaking news everyone has seen by now King Herod's tomb may have been found

An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found remnants of the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem, on a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert where the biblical monarch built a palace.

Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer said the tomb was found at Herodium, a site where he has been exploring since the 1970s.

Netzer said a team of researchers found pieces of a limestone sarcophagus believed to belong to the ancient king. Although there were no bones in the container, he said the sarcophagus' location and ornate appearance indicated it is Herod's.

No inscriptions saying who, exactly, was in the tomb, so it's not quite a done deal. I shall withhold judgment until then. Updates are sure to follow.

Native American DNA found in UK

DNA testing has uncovered British descendents of Native Americans brought to the UK centuries ago as slaves, translators or tribal representatives.

Genetic analysis turned up two white British women with a DNA signature characteristic of American Indians.

An Oxford scientist said it was extremely unusual to find these DNA lineages in Britons with no previous knowledge of Native American ancestry.

Not nearly as exciting as the headline seems to suggest. Cool nonetheless.

Rome museum unveils restored bronze horse

A bronze horse, possibly the work of the Parthenon sculptor, went on display Friday at a Rome museum after a decades-long restoration.

The horse was returned to the Capitoline Museums following a $680,000 restoration that began in the late 1970s, museum director Anna Mura Sommella said.

Leaning on its hind legs with its head held back, as if preparing to break into a wild dash, the horse is one of the few surviving bronze equestrian statues from Greek times — and could be the most ancient, Mura Sommella said.

Long article in the New Yorker on the Antikythera Mechanism.

Neanderthal update
Climate Change, Not Humans, Trounced Neanderthals

Neanderthals disappeared from Earth more than 20,000 years ago, but figuring out why continues to challenge anthropologists. One team of scientists, however, now says they have evidence to back climate change as the main culprit.

The Iberian Peninsula, better known as present-day Spain and Portugal, was one of the last Neanderthal refuges. Many scientists have thought that out-hunting by Homo sapiens and interbreeding with them brought Neanderthals to their demise, but climate change has also been proposed.

Francisco Jiménez-Espejo, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Granada in Spain, says a lack of evidence has left climate change weakly supported—until now. “We put data behind the theory,” he said, filling in a large gap in European climate records when Neanderthals faded out of existence.

I haven't been following this one too closely so no pithy comments.

Breaking news: ArchaeoBlog staff never 'get any'

I can see what a large portion of ArchaeoBlog readers are thinking at this very minute: "Tell us something we don't know. They're a bunch of dweebs blogging about an arcane and esoteric subject; you were expecting James Bond in tweed? Puh-leeeeze."

Not to quibble with that sentiment or its supposed outcome, but that's the general thrust (heh) of this article that's been making the rounds of the blogosphere:

Unlike the world of newsprint, there are no rules out there in the blogosphere and that makes it a very confusing place for the consumer. I have no objection to reading my Sunday Times on the Internet because I know the content has been through the same process as the print edition. I do, however, object to some anonymous, scrofulous nerd pumping meaningless drivel into cyberspace at all hours of the day and night simply because he can’t find a girl to sleep with him.

Really a silly column that simply oozes ignorance from every pore, but I am not here to go over it point by point, just to send off the link (Hmmmm, I wonder if he'll note the irony in getting several thousand more readers because it's being massively linked to from. . . . blogs?).

The best blogs IMO, at least for information gathering purposes, are those written by people who have a particular area of interest that they know well and can (and are willing to) spend the time to go into more detail on certain issues. Journalists are mostly generalists and one can't expect them to know all the ins and outs of every topic they write about. They have to write something on a deadline and then go on to something else. A good blogger can spend a few days looking into a topic, correct or clarify whatever it was the journo wrote, and the reader will know more in the end (and hopefully be able to follow links to source documents that all good bloggers supply).
Besides, journos and the entities they publish from have agendas -- not necessarily political -- that can bias their reporting in whatever direction. All the "multi-tiered detailed editorial layers" won't weed that stuff out if everyone is on the same page, opinion-wise. We're not journalists and we don't play them on the Internets. But then, journalists aren't usually lawyers or architects or historians or paleoanthropologists either, but that doesn't stop them from writing about it.

Addendum: Actually, you don't have to be a professional (i.e., paid) in a field of inquiry to rate expertise enough to blog. I'm thinking of things like ShaveBlog, written,coincidentally, by a journalist. Greenberg isn't in the shaving industry -- of course, if he was you'd have to suspect his motives on one or another product -- but how many dead tree (or broadcast) publications would give the space to detailed consideration of the shaving scuttle?

Non-archaeological post -- update
Going back to this old post on my Genesis speakers that needed fixing. . . well, they still do, but that's not what I am posting about. I had mentioned some of the cool speakers from the '70s, and there was one whose name I couldn't remember. Well, I finally found out what it was: The Ohm Loudspeaker. Specifically, their Walsh series (if that link works).

I don't remember much about them. Apparently, they took a lot of power which, back then, required a substantial bit of money spent on the amp. It wasn't something I paid a lot of attention to since it was way out of my budget anyhow. But, there you go.

The Death of a Concentration: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Biologists, or Do We?

I don't think it is possible to study human evolution without taking cultural evolution into account and that means cultural (or social, or sociocultural or whatever you wish to label it) anthropology and archaeology. It goes without saying that understanding things like the fate of the Neanderthals, or the peopling of the Pacific or North America can't be understood without the other subfields of anthropology - even given the powerful insights that genetics and molecular biology can bring to bear on the subject.

It's a comment on another comment regarding Harvard's decision to create a new life sciences curriculum that left the biologica anthro division sort of orphaned. Most of the links relate to the place of bioanth within the broader anthropological curriculum.

North American anthropology has always been something of a mutt, combining what in other parts of the world had been distinct disciplines. Stocking, I think, explained the American situation as arising from us having what seemed to be holdover stone age peoples (Amerindians) right here to study as cultural anthropologists; hence, in a very real sense cultural anthropologists and archaeologists were studying the same thing: Native Americans. This was unlike the European situation where the ancient cultures were all extinct. How true this is, I shall not comment further, since I only studied this subject very superficially.

Nevertheless, the three (I say three, some say more) subdisciplines -- sociocultural, bioanth, and archaeology -- have always coexisted somewhat shakily. Sociocult has always had the upper hand, and the other two have mostly been hangers-on. That's where I think Stocking has a good point: US scholars see themselves as primarily sociocults (with some exception given to bioanth) working with inferior data. You see this all over archaeology; I'd wager every initial Archy 101 lecture begins with something like "But we only have a very small and imperfect set of data to work with. . . ."

The Washington archy program in the 1980s and early 1990s tended towards more discomfort with sociocult (admission: I was quite comfortable with that). This was mostly due to RC Dunnell who tended to view archy as having its own unique data, to which theories designed for living people were imperfectly used, rather than the reverse.

Does 'Anthropology' still have meaning? My opinion: I think they really ought to split, with sociocult moving over to sociology, archaeology moving over to either history or (my favored) geology/geography, and bioanth setting up shop in either zoology or some division of genetics/evolution. Yeah, many will complain, saying Anthropology is so special because it is such a holistic discipline and it is necessary to combine purely biological knowledge with culture in order to fully understand, blah blah blah. Specialization happens though; bioanths and archeologists need to see themselves as something other than sociocults working with inferior data.

Nepalese shepherd leads archaeologists to art treasures

A shepherd in a remote region of Nepal bordering Tibet has been instrumental in the discovery of an extraordinary art treasure that lay hidden for centuries: a collection of 55 exquisite cave paintings depicting the life of the Buddha.

The 12th-century paintings - a large central mural flanked by smaller panels - were found last month in a partly collapsed cave last month in Mustang, a kingdom long forbidden to foreigners in the high Himalayas, 150 miles north-west of Kathmandu. "Finding the cave was almost like a miracle," said Italian art conservator Luigi Fieni, a member of the team of Italian, American and Nepalese art conservators, conservation architects and archaeologists. They used ice axes to cut their way to the cave, at 3,400 metres.

Abu el-Haj controversy, continued “Postmodernizing” Archaeology at Barnard

So stands the El-Haj bid for tenure at Barnard College, where the distinguished Ruth Benedict once taught anthropology to young Margaret Mead. The pity is that this process should have gained such momentum in the first place. If Barnard had simply insisted on hiring faculty who – whatever their political opinions – employ evidence to support the ideas they publish, it would not now have to explain why the college is considering granting tenure to a professor who regards the extensively documented history of the Israelite and Judean kingdoms as a mere politically motivated invention.

That's an opinion piece, but it has some other links, such as this NY Sun article, which itself contains a link to this review of the book by Jacob Lassner in Middle East Quarterly.

Actually, reading that Lassner review leaves me a bit disappointed. He never really gets into any sort of detail on where he thinks she fails methodologically or factually.

But check out the other links.

Archaeologist opens tomb of Egyptian vizier

No one who has ever visited Egypt -- seen the sands and pyramids, gotten lost in the chaos of the cities -- would ask what attracts archaeologist Penny Minturn to the country.

"The people are kind and friendly and the antiquities are incredible," she said.

And, being from Arizona, she has an affinity for the desert.

Dr. Minturn will discuss her recent trip to the Middle Cemetery in Abydos, Egypt at 1 p.m. Friday in room 301 at Gila Community College.

By their artifacts, you shall know them
Archaeological dig sheds some light on the lives led in a turn-of-the-century tenant house
[Turn of the century? Why, that was just 7 years ago!]

Joelle Browning was digging for history when a piece of the distant past reached out to her from under a foot of dirt.

It was a ceramic doll's arm, not much longer than a matchstick. She took it by the hand.

Carefully rubbing the dirt away, Browning could discern four tiny fingers. It appeared to have been made without a thumb.

She held the relic in her palm, one hand from the past touching one hand from the present.

Moments like that are why Browning chose to become an archaeologist.

Treasure! Treasures found inside Bolivian pyramid

Archaeologists have uncovered the 1,300-year-old skeleton of a ruler or priest of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization, together with precious jewels inside a much-looted pyramid in western Bolivia.

The bones are “in very good condition” and belong to either ”a ruler or a priest,” Roger Angel Cossio, the Bolivian archaeologist who made the discovery, told Reuters on Wednesday.

He said the tomb — containing a diadem and a fist-sized carved pendant of solid gold — survived centuries of looting by Spanish invaders and unscrupulous raiders who depleted Tiwanaku of many precious treasures.

Whoa.

Archaeologists Find Ancient Audio Recording

Archaeologists working in south central Ohio have found what may be the earliest audio recording ever discovered. The recording is etched into the surface of a large clay ceremonial burial pot, uncovered near the Newark earthworks, a location that was once the center of the thriving Hopewell culture. The pot has been tentatively dated to about 250 A.D.

Sorry, not reposting their "artist's conception" photo.

The idea of possibly finding an ancient recording on a wheel-thrown pot has been kicking around for a while -- even made an episode of The X-Files -- but I'd wager the odds of it actually happening and someone finding it are probably about 1 to Avogadro's number.

Blog Survey
This hath been posted to a number of blogs and I was considering making up a survey anyway so Please take my blog reader survey!

It's for BlogAds, which we don't use here at ArchaeoBlog (though we are considering setting up a PayPal account to recoup some of the wages and productivity lost by posting at work hosting costs, if anyone has an opinion on that), but at least the beginning of the survey gives some good demographic data. So please, at least fill out the first couple of pages honestly, and then feel free to tell them your favorite beverage is a liver and whey shake.


"Thank you for your support."

Loch Ness monster found!

US researchers carrying out a sonar survey of Loch Ness have been amazed to find a common toad crawling in the mud 324ft (98m) down.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been attempting to unravel the mysteries of the loch.

However, MIT said it did not expect to come across the amphibian so far down.

Unmarked graves found under Wal-Mart construction site

More than 50 graves dating to the early 1800s have been found under a Wal-Mart construction site in Granite Falls.
An anonymous call led to the discovery. Town manager Linda Story says a former state archaeologist visited the site before a company removed the unmarked graves to a local cemetery.

The graves remain marked as unknown.

Naked People at ArchaeoBlog The light switch is a girl's best friend

Archaeology? Well, nothing so far. What else is at that link. . . .

ANOTHER day, another telly programme about the importance of appearance. We're so vain, we probably think these shows are about us, don't we, don't we?

Hmmmmm. . . .maybe a commentary on modern vs. ancient adornment? The roots of superficiality? Venus Figurines as a slap in the face for modern fashion models?

We've had what not to wear, how to look ten years younger and now stylist Gok Wan is back with How To Look Good Naked to tell us that even when we're in our most intimate state, we can't just let it all hang out.

There we are at the Naked People part at least. Have to admit, I find it difficult not to agree with the general sentiment.

But why does everyone have to look gorgeous all the time? Or, let's get real, because these shows are really aimed at one gender: why do women worry so much about their looks? Is no one allowed to be an old bag anymore?

Actually, two genders, women and gay men.

How to look good naked? What's wrong with just turning out the lights?

There's some old saying about that I am unable to recall exactly at the moment, but I'm not going to spend much time thinking about it. Have we gotten to the archaeology yet?

They had more important things to bother about in Jamestown, the first British settlement in America. Half the colonists died there within months of arrival in the New World, 400 years ago this week. This Time Team special was a kind of exchange holiday for the archaeology show, whose wonderfully unlikely Phil Harding - possibly the only man alive who still says "Stone the crows!" without irony - went over to check out excavations on the Virginia site.

Aha! There we go. Archaeology at last. But. . .Stone The Crows?

Egypt politely asks for loan of its artifacts

Egypt said Sunday it would seek the temporary return of some of its most precious artifacts from museums abroad, including the Rosetta Stone and a bust of Nefertiti.

The country's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the Foreign Ministry would send letters this week to France, Germany, the U.S. and Great Britain requesting that the ancient artifacts be loaned to Egypt.

Hawass has previously demanded the permanent return of many of the artifacts, claiming some of them were taken illegally.

This time, the country is requesting museums loan the artifacts so they can be exhibited at either the 2011 opening of the Egyptian Museum near the Great Pyramids at Giza, or the Atum museum in 2010.

That's the whole thing. I would wager. . . .well, who knows. One doubts that any country would trust. . . .hmmmm. I had several thoughts at once on this. On the one hand, at first blush I would doubt any country would send over something really significant like the Rosetta stone or Nefertiti's head and expect it would ever come back. OTOH, who knows, it might be a bit of kabuki theater designed to allow countries to give the stuff back without really acknowledging that they either had it illegally or that they were, in fact, giving it back. Should be interesting to see what the response is.

Authors share more than state’s archaeology

We all can use some pointers on how to age with enthusiasm and grace. Lacey octogenarian Ruth Kirk, a naturalist writer, photographer and newlywed, is someone I look to for inspiration on the topic.

Author of more than 30 books on subjects such as Mount Rainier, the Olympic rain forest, snow and Death Valley, Kirk just finished “Archeology in Washington,” a richly detailed account of major archaeological sites that span the state, from American Indian fishing villages to fur-trading forts such as Fort Nisqually.

As she’s inclined to do, Kirk collaborated with someone to write this book. That someone is Richard A. Daugherty, 86, noted archaeologist and professor emeritus at Washington State University. He also happens to be Kirk’s husband.

Also note this: And Croes still is looking for a few students to fill out the summer field archeology class at Qwu?gwes. For more about that, go to www.library.spscc.ctc.edu/crm/FieldSchool2007.pdf.