The tooth in Bob Mierendorf's hand looked small, like a splinter of white gravel encased in a clear, plastic cylinder.
But then, salmon aren't loved for their tusks.
Mierendorf, a National Park Service archeologist based in Marblemount, and his team spent days last summer sifting dirt to find the salmon tooth and other very old bones.
The find was like many others Mierendorf has made in the park during his 18 years there, a happy accident followed by weeks sifting dirt over a mesh screen.
Port Angeles update What's left at the graving yard site? Tribe's waterfront activity ebbs
A simple weather-worn tarp held down by beach cobbles covers remnants of one of the Klallam longhouses discovered at the former graving yard site.
``This is the fallen wall of a 700- to 800-year-old big house that was naturally burnt,'' said Lower Elwha Klallam tribal member Carmen Charles while working at the 22.5-acre waterfront site on Wednesday.
``They are scientifically done with this and told us if we want to preserve it that we would have to find a curator.
Good question: What is next? The project is cancelled so there's no more money to continue with the salvage operations. Either the tribes or some enterprising academic will need to write a grant for more money. Or they could just leave it all sit.
Following news courtesy of the EEF
"Egypt restores ancient mural from US":
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o211224n.htm
Recovery of a mural from Helwan that was on auction.
Press report: "Mataria's living legend"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/722/hr1.htm
"Thousands of pilgrims converge on the site of the Tree of the Holy Virgin each Christmas." The article briefly makes a link between the many trees connected with the Madonna in Coptic folklore, and the ancient Egyptian tree goddeses.
[Next two items submitted by Michael Tilgner]
Press report: "Field Museum to use X-ray machine to scan priceless specimens"
URL: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/122104_ap_ns_xray.html
"Researchers will also use the X-ray to determine whether the mummies of two gazelles, two falcons and a cat have animals inside."
Another report on this topic:
URL: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-mummy21.html
Articles about the recent crisis of the IFAO, including an interview with Bernard Mathieu:
URL: http://egyptologienews.free.fr/articles.htm
petition with more than 130 signatures - pdf-file: 80 KB
URL: http://www.bubastis.be/actu/images/petition.pdf
Bob Brier and Michael Zimmerman, "The Remains of Queen Weret", in: Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2000, pp 23-26. Text in English. In HTML.
http://snipurl.com/bkct
"The skeletal remains of Queen Weret of the Twelfth Dynasty (circa 1880 B.C.) were examined. Preliminary conclusions about age at death, health, and related factors are discussed."
Two overview articles in English:
-- "Scarabs" by Robert Bianchi (3 pages, in PDF, 55kB):
http://www.oup.com/us/pdf/ancient.egypt/scarabs.pdf
-- "[AE] Medicine" by Robert Ritner (4 pages, in PDF, 61kB):
http://www.oup.com/us/pdf/ancient.egypt/medicine.pdf
These are promotional samples from 'The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt' (2001).
End of EEF news