Archaeology

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  • Ponders over a revolver ..conditions lead to conjecture

    Everyone's Blog Posts - ArchaeoSeek
    Lee Chamberlain
    18 May 2013 | 11:03 pm
    Ask anyone they will tell you of how the Chesapeake played and integral role in the development of commerce. The first settlement in the United States of America at Jamestown, expansion north, south and west, the Chesapeake and its estuaries opened new territories. Shipping and industry sprang up all up and down and over of the Bay, truly a remarkable story. But there is another side of the coin so to speak, for instance the first slave ships arrived in 1619 at Jamestown opening one dark and bleak era for those who came not by choice but in chains. Evidence of human trafficking, the same as…

  • Mesopotamian Over-Kill? Desert Kites in Syria

    About.com Archaeology
    19 Jun 2013 | 1:30 am
    Archaeological excavations at a Mesopotamian site have provided indirect evidence that several herd animal species were hunted to near-extinction in the Levant between 4000 and 1000 BC. Scholars have long recognized that many species including hartebeest, Arabian oryx and ostrich disappeared from what is today Syria and Israel during the second millennium BC. Reasons for this disappearance of herd animals has been attributed to a variety of causes, including urban expansion, loss of habitat to sheep farming, and hunting. Investigations by Guy Bar-Oz (Haifa University) and associates at the…

  • Sangre Chronicle Eagle Nest Archeology exhibit to come to Eagle Nest June 18

    archaeology - Yahoo! News Search Results
    19 Jun 2013 | 4:16 am
    The public will have the chance to see and touch ancient artifacts and learn how archaeologists use them to gain information about the past during a New Mexico Archaeology Exhibit that will come to Eagle Nest next week.

  • Middle Kingdom Town Found in Egypt

    Archaeological News from Archaeology Magazine - Archaeology Magazine
    19 Jun 2013 | 2:10 pm
    QALIOUBIYA, EGYPT—A Middle Kingdom town dating from 2000 to 1700 B.C. has been discovered at the site of a Hyksos fort in the Tel El-Yahoud area of northern Egypt. Archaeologists with the Ministry of State for Antiquities unearthed houses and palaces, a mud-brick fortress, a necropolis with rock-hewn tombs, and a temple dedicated to the god Sotekh. Artifacts recovered from the site include lamps, amulets, pottery, scarabs, and faience floor tiles from the New Kingdom period. 

  • Was prehistoric rock art strategically placed to reveal a cosmological puzzle?

    ScienceDaily: Archaeology News
    19 Jun 2013 | 9:21 am
    Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries, according to one researcher, comes a single giant one -- all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples' cosmological world.
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    About.com Archaeology

  • Mesopotamian Over-Kill? Desert Kites in Syria

    19 Jun 2013 | 1:30 am
    Archaeological excavations at a Mesopotamian site have provided indirect evidence that several herd animal species were hunted to near-extinction in the Levant between 4000 and 1000 BC. Scholars have long recognized that many species including hartebeest, Arabian oryx and ostrich disappeared from what is today Syria and Israel during the second millennium BC. Reasons for this disappearance of herd animals has been attributed to a variety of causes, including urban expansion, loss of habitat to sheep farming, and hunting. Investigations by Guy Bar-Oz (Haifa University) and associates at the…

  • The Three Sisters

    17 Jun 2013 | 12:30 am
    The Three Sisters is (um, are?) the name of an ancient farming technique, in which beans, maize and squash were planted in the same place. The Three Sisters, photo by Abri le Roux...Read Full Post

  • The Ceramic Capital of China

    14 Jun 2013 | 1:08 am
    China is known for its long history of pottery making: archaeologists believe it is quite likely that pottery was invented in what is today China (or nearby) some 20,000 years ago. Even the word "china" means "high-fired ceramics" in English....Read Full Post

  • History of Bananas

    12 Jun 2013 | 1:45 am
    The earliest evidence for somebody cultivating banana trees identified so far is in Kuk Swamp, a site in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, where bananas have been growing for over 15,000 years, and people have been deliberately planting them for at least 7,000 years....Read Full Post

  • Ancient Road Systems

    10 Jun 2013 | 12:45 am
    Ancient road systems, the earliest of which date to the Neolithic, are feats of engineering that represent a wide range of uses and considerations.
 
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    archaeology - Yahoo! News Search Results

  • Sangre Chronicle Eagle Nest Archeology exhibit to come to Eagle Nest June 18

    19 Jun 2013 | 4:16 am
    The public will have the chance to see and touch ancient artifacts and learn how archaeologists use them to gain information about the past during a New Mexico Archaeology Exhibit that will come to Eagle Nest next week.

  • MSU archaeology group discovers historic artifacts

    18 Jun 2013 | 8:34 pm
    Underneath the bulk of MSU’s campus, there lies an array of history, begging to be discovered. Over the years, the MSU Campus Archaeology Program has found boiler buildings and old dormitories, as well as prehistoric artifacts dating back to 1500 B.C.

  • Art of archaeology

    18 Jun 2013 | 7:39 pm
    He processes thoughts through images, weaving visual narratives in imitation Hermès scarves, for instance, or locking in cultural history in a perfume bottle. Filipino multimedia artist Pio Abad, amo .....        

  • Today’s Scuttlebot: Holographic Employees and Laser Archaeology

    17 Jun 2013 | 2:34 pm
    The technology reporters and editors of The New York Times scour the Web for important and peculiar items. Monday's selections include the use of holograms of people to give instruction in airports around the world, and the discovery of an ancient Cambodian city in the jungle with airborne laser mapping.

  • Laser archaeology uncovers ancient city lost for over 1000 years

    17 Jun 2013 | 9:28 am
    Archaeology has long been a science that uses very basic tools to unearth and examine ancient artifacts, but in recent years it has taken a substantial leap into the 21st century, using lasers to find an ancient city in Honduras, … Continue reading →
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    Archaeological News from Archaeology Magazine - Archaeology Magazine

  • Middle Kingdom Town Found in Egypt

    19 Jun 2013 | 2:10 pm
    QALIOUBIYA, EGYPT—A Middle Kingdom town dating from 2000 to 1700 B.C. has been discovered at the site of a Hyksos fort in the Tel El-Yahoud area of northern Egypt. Archaeologists with the Ministry of State for Antiquities unearthed houses and palaces, a mud-brick fortress, a necropolis with rock-hewn tombs, and a temple dedicated to the god Sotekh. Artifacts recovered from the site include lamps, amulets, pottery, scarabs, and faience floor tiles from the New Kingdom period. 

  • Maya City Discovered in Mexico

    19 Jun 2013 | 2:07 pm
    CAMPECHE, MEXICO—A large Maya city dubbed Chactún, or Red Stone, has been discovered in the jungles of Mexico’s Central Lowlands, in an area once used by loggers, but only recently explored by archaeologists equipped with aerial photographs and images created with LIDAR. The size of the city and its pyramids, palaces, ball courts, and plazas suggest that it was a long-term seat of government some 1,400 years ago. “It is one of the largest sites in the Central Lowlands, comparable in its extent and the magnitude of its buildings with Becan, Nadzcaan, and El Palmar in Campeche,”…

  • Medieval Crusaders Carried Common Parasites

    19 Jun 2013 | 1:09 pm
    PAPHOS, CYPRUS—An analysis of fecal material recovered from a latrine in a medieval crusader castle shows that its occupants may have carried heavy loads of parasites, including whipworms and giant roundworms. Such parasites are spread by ingestion, suggesting that personal hygiene and sanitation were poor during the soldiers’ time on the island. “In these circumstances [it] is quite likely that medieval soldiers with a heavy parasite load would have been at increased risk of death from starvation during famine episodes such as long sieges or expeditions when supplies ran out. This is…

  • Iran’s Bam Citadel Taken Off “Heritage in Danger” List

    19 Jun 2013 | 1:05 pm
    PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA—Iran’s ancient citadel of Bam has been removed from the list of “World Heritage in Danger” at the annual session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization committee. Bam was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in 2003, but the “remains of the desert citadel, which reached its apogee from the seventh to eleventh centuries, had been sufficiently stabilized and its management was sound enough for the site to be declared safe,” read a statement issued by UNESCO. The Silk Road building was once the largest adobe structure in…

  • Powhatan’s Seat of Power to be Preserved

    18 Jun 2013 | 1:22 pm
    GLOUCESTER, VIRGINIA—Fifty-seven acres of private land in Virginia thought to be the site of Werowocomoco, home to the great leader Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas, will be preserved. Powhatan ruled a population of 15,000 to 20,000 people in the early seventeenth century, when Jamestown was founded some 15 miles away. Landowner Lynn Ripley found arrowheads, spear tips, pipe stems, pottery shards, and pieces of copper while walking her dog. Using the writings of Captain John Smith and historic maps, archaeologists have concluded that she discovered Werowocomoco, and to date, only about…
 
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    ScienceDaily: Archaeology News

  • Was prehistoric rock art strategically placed to reveal a cosmological puzzle?

    19 Jun 2013 | 9:21 am
    Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries, according to one researcher, comes a single giant one -- all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples' cosmological world.

  • Medieval leprosy genomes shed light on disease's history

    13 Jun 2013 | 11:26 am
    Scientists have reconstructed a dozen medieval and modern leprosy genomes -- suggesting a European origin for the North American leprosy strains found in armadillos and humans, and a common ancestor of all leprosy bacteria within the last 4000 years.

  • Mysterious monument found beneath the Sea of Galilee

    10 Jun 2013 | 8:30 am
    Scientists have discovered a mysterious monument beneath the waves of the Sea of Galilee. The site resembles early burial sites in Europe and was likely built in the early Bronze Age.

  • Bone tumor in 120,000-year-old Neandertal discovered

    5 Jun 2013 | 4:01 pm
    The first-known definitive case of a benign bone tumor has been discovered in the rib of a young Neandertal who lived about 120,000 years ago in what is now present-day Croatia. The bone fragment, which comes from the famous archaeological cave site of Krapina, contains by far the earliest bone tumor ever identified in the archaeological record.

  • Discovery of oldest primate skeleton helps chart early evolution of humans, apes

    5 Jun 2013 | 10:35 am
    An international team of researchers has announced the discovery of the world's oldest known fossil primate skeleton, an animal that lived about 55 million years ago and was even smaller than today's smallest primate, the pygmy mouse lemur. This new fossil illuminates a pivotal event in primate and human evolution: the divergence between the lineage leading to modern monkeys, apes, and humans and the branch leading to living tarsiers--small, nocturnal tree-dwelling primates.
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    ScienceBlogs

  • 5 Facts You Probably Don’t Know About the Cosmic Microwave Background [Starts With A Bang]

    Ethan
    19 Jun 2013 | 5:36 pm
    “Science cannot tell theology how to construct a doctrine of creation, but you can’t construct a doctrine of creation without taking account of the age of the universe and the evolutionary character of cosmic history.” -John Polkinghorne Out there in space, whether we look with our eyes or with a telescope — a far more powerful version of our eyes — we find that the Universe is full of stars, galaxies, clusters, and luminous objects everywhere we look. Image credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo of http://www.deepskycolors.com/. But if we look in different wavelengths of…

  • The Ocean is the Dog. Atmospheric Temperature is the Tail. [Greg Laden's Blog]

    Greg Laden
    19 Jun 2013 | 4:45 pm
    Let me ‘splain. If you want to know exactly where your dog is, you could put at GPS sensor in the middle of it’s body, perhaps near the pancreas. It would give you an average position for your dog, and would be most accurate most of the time. If you put the GPS sensor on the tip of the dog’s tail, and used that to estimate where your dog is, you would be nearly wrong much of the time, even if over the long term this would be a good estimate for where your dog has been. More importantly, if you wanted to measure the movement of your dog, the GPS sensor in the middle of the…

  • SkepchickCON 2013 at CONvergence [Greg Laden's Blog]

    Greg Laden
    19 Jun 2013 | 3:19 pm
    CONvergence is the world’s largest fan run science fiction and fantasy convention held in Bloomington, MN on or around July 4th every year. An informal subset of the activities that occur at this huge gathering of people wearing costumes and stuff is a set of panels organized by Skepchick, focusing on various aspects of skepticism and science. I’ll be on a few of the panels this year, as usual. Below is the poster for the SkepchicCON at CONvergence. Also, donations are needed to help fund this worthy effort. Click here to find out more and donate.

  • Why you sound so stupid when you say “global warming has stopped” [Greg Laden's Blog]

    Greg Laden
    19 Jun 2013 | 3:06 pm
    Science is good at seeing things that you can’t really see. For example, science can provide an accurate three dimensional model of a critically important molecule even though no one has ever directly seen what this molecule looks like. That three dimensional model of the molecule can be used to understand things such as a) how life works and b) how to address some important disease. Science can measure the exact proportions of each of several elements that are invisible that make up the air. We can sense the air but we can’t see Nitrogen vs. Oxygen vs. CO2 in the air, while Science can.

  • CNBC stands for Could Not Be Correct? [Greg Laden's Blog]

    Greg Laden
    19 Jun 2013 | 12:49 pm
    … or Climate Noobs Bork Climate-science? … or Can’t News Be Correct? (add your own below) The thing is, CNBC, which is supposed to be a news station, is fueling public misunderstanding of climate science. This is bad journalism, and virtually criminal given the importance of climate change and the need for good science based policy related to climate change. We are long past the point where we can tolerate false balance, astro-turfing, and rating mongering. We need to have a good public understanding of climate science, we need it now, and we need “news”…
 
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    Everyone's Blog Posts - ArchaeoSeek

  • The June edition of the Video News from TAC, online and on TV

    Rick Pettigrew
    17 Jun 2013 | 9:00 am
    Friends and colleagues: The latest installment of the Video News from TAC features the following stories: * Mochican iconography comes to life in this film, which portrays a ceremony of sacrifice carried out by the Moche culture in coastal Peru between A.D. 100 and 800. Each part of the ceremony is shown, beginning with the battle of great warriors. * On the Micronesian island of Kosrae lies the site of Menke. Oral history says a temple existed in that area, where people worshiped the goddess Sinlaku. Is it 1300 years old, one of the oldest temples in the Pacific, as expected? Dr. Felicia…

  • Brought to you by the Archaeology Legacy Institute

    Rick Pettigrew
    1 Jun 2013 | 1:24 pm
    Did You Know...in ancient times before the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Walls of Jericho were ever built, Native Americans lived in West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley.  Watch “Secrets of the Valley:Prehistory of the Kanawha” on TAC: http://bit.ly/19axKPI Join the Cultural Resource Analysts Team as they excavate a history-rich site near the Marmet Locks.  Layer by layer, they introduce us to the first inhabitants of the Valley from the hunting-gathering clans of the Paleo-Indians to the Archaic people, the Woodland Mound Builders, and the Late Prehistoric farmers.  Learn what makes the…

  • Ponders over a revolver ..conditions lead to conjecture

    Lee Chamberlain
    18 May 2013 | 11:03 pm
    Ask anyone they will tell you of how the Chesapeake played and integral role in the development of commerce. The first settlement in the United States of America at Jamestown, expansion north, south and west, the Chesapeake and its estuaries opened new territories. Shipping and industry sprang up all up and down and over of the Bay, truly a remarkable story. But there is another side of the coin so to speak, for instance the first slave ships arrived in 1619 at Jamestown opening one dark and bleak era for those who came not by choice but in chains. Evidence of human trafficking, the same as…

  • Brought to you by Archaeological Legacy Institute:

    Rick Pettigrew
    18 May 2013 | 1:51 pm
    Did You Know That...Pompeii is well known for its rich archaeological record sealed by volcanic deposits in A.D. 79. But what was the history of the city and its inhabitants before this date? Find out by watching this great film "The Anglo-American Project in Pompeii" available to stream on TAC: http://bit.ly/159o5cF The Anglo-American Project in Pompeii (AAPP), sponsored by the University of Bradford in England, is answering this question through scholarly research and at the same time is training future archaeologists and historians in the latest scientific field techniques. This video…

  • The May edition of the Video News from TAC, online and on TV

    Rick Pettigrew
    16 May 2013 | 2:25 pm
    Friends and colleagues: The latest installment of the Video News from TAC features the following stories:   * In the 1970s, near the Greek village of Aidonia, a mule fell into a hole.  Upon rescuing the animal, villagers discovered a rare golden treasure buried amidst a group of skeletons.  They tried to keep it a secret.  This is the story of the plunder of Mycenaean tombs and the recovery of precious cultural heritage.    * Aided by a hurricane, a project in Florida finds an ancient Native American town where Hernando de Soto and his army encamped and which later became one of the…
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    Archaeolog

  • Ruin Memories: A Portfolio

    ruinmemories
    24 May 2013 | 12:20 pm
    Modernity is rarely associated with ruins. In our everyday comprehension ruins rather bring to mind ancient and enchanted monumental structures; an archaeological dream world featuring celebrities such as Machu Picchu, Pompeii and Angkor Wat. Yet never have so many ruins been produced; so many things been victimized and made redundant, so many sites been abandoned. Closed shopping malls, abandoned military sites, industrial wastelands, derelict mining towns, empty apartment houses, withering capitalist and communist monuments. A ghostly word of decaying modern debris mostly left out of…

  • Archaeology through the Lens of Sherlock Holmes

    Dawid Kobiałka
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:00 pm
    There is always something to learn from Sherlock Holmes. It is a good sign that an archaeologist has been often identified with the private detective: The Sherlock Holmes type detective has become a common association with archaeology. Although the detective has been associated with other disciplines too […], the link with archaeology is nevertheless extremely close. As has often been pointed out […], both archaeology and (forensic) criminology draw, in parts, on seemingly incontrovertible material evidence, which is carefully documented and taken to provide significant clues as that what…

  • Archaeological Description and Doubt

    Christopher Witmore
    31 Mar 2013 | 2:29 pm
    I wrote this paper for a session at the 2011 Meeting of the American Association of Anthropology in Montreal called Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Anthropology: What is the status of our descriptions? It is about time I posted it here. (Note 1) Archaeological description is rather peculiar. As we work at describing old things it is often the case that we simultaneously participate in their utter oblivion. Excavation, in particular, has often been taken, not only as synonymous with destruction, but also as a kind of unrepeatable experiment, if experiment is even the right metaphor.

  • Double Vision: Imagines, Simulacra, Replicas

    Alfredo Gonzalez Ruibal
    22 Feb 2013 | 2:20 pm
    A session at the US TAG 2013, Chicago Co-organizers: Alicia Jiménez (alicia.jimenez(at)stanford.edu) and Alfredo González-Ruibal (alfredo.gonzalez-ruibal(at)incipit.csic.es) Archaeology leans heavily on typologies and similarities. Narratives about cultural change, the spreading of ideas and diasporas are often linked to things that look alike but belong to different chronological or geographical frames. Material connections between “centers” and “peripheries” are commonly traced by looking at provincial copies of models irradiated from the metropolis. And yet, despite the…

  • Against Gandalf the Grey: an Archaeology of the Surface

    Dawid Kobiałka
    12 Feb 2013 | 12:06 pm
    Archaeology has been for many years identified with its own method, that of excavation. It is the way the public sees archaeology and many archaeologists think of themselves too (e.g. Holtorf 2007). However, Rodney Harrison recently pointed out the crucial role of the surface in archaeological thinking (Harrison 2011, in press). Metaphors are never just metaphors, so to speak. They shape and drive our thinking. A metaphor of archaeology-as-excavation is one of such tropes. It presupposes the idea of a distant and buried in the soil past (e.g. Thomas 2004). Harrison claims that there are…
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    SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

  • Southeast Asia & Pacific Bioarchaeology newsletter

    noelbynature
    19 Jun 2013 | 5:53 pm
    Kate Domett from James Cook University has a site up about the bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. You can check out and subscribe to their newsletter here.

  • Applications open for the 2013 German-Cambodian Conservation School

    noelbynature
    19 Jun 2013 | 6:43 am
    An opportunity for museum professionals in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to get training in museum conservation techniques. Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Phnom Penh In co-operation with the German Archaeological Institute, the German Apsara Conservation Project and the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, the GCCS organizes 6-weeks-courses for two participants per course in restoration and conservation of archaeological objects. During the first 5 weeks, the participants get to know the basics in bronze, iron and ceramic…

  • Cambodian PM, UNESCO chief talk renovation of Preah Vihear temple

    noelbynature
    18 Jun 2013 | 5:22 pm
    photo: William Brehm Cambodian PM, UNESCO chief talk renovation of Preah Vihear temple Xinhua, 17 June 2013 Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should not hesitate to renovate Preah Vihear temple because the temple is not relevant to territorial dispute with Thailand. The premier made the remarks during a meeting with Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, the Prime Minister’s spokesman Eang Sophallet told reporters after the meeting. “The UNESCO should…

  • Feature on Vietnamese underwater archaeology

    noelbynature
    18 Jun 2013 | 7:08 am
    Tuoi Tre News has a three-part feature on underwater archaeology in Vietnam. Tuoi Tre News 20130616 ‘Cemetery’ of ancient shipwrecks in Quang Ngai Tuoi Tre News, 11 June 2013 Drying up the sea to find shipwrecked antiques Tuoi Tre News, 13 June 2013 Aquatic archaeology in Vietnam inadequate Tupi Tre News, 16 June 2013 The waters off the central region of Vietnam are located on the ancient ‘Ceramic Road’ – formerly a trade route linking the Orient and the Occident. It is estimated that dozens of ships carrying ceramic wares wrecked in the area. The area has long been a place where…

  • Rock art found in Surat Thani

    noelbynature
    17 Jun 2013 | 7:19 am
    Reports of a newly-discovered rock art site in Surat Thani depicting deer. Prehistoric cliff paintings found in Surat Thani Pattaya Mail, 15 June 2013 Park rangers in Surat Thani are securing a recently discovered site of prehistoric paintings on a cliff in Phanom district, estimated to be thousands of years old. Deer-like animals and an unknown image were portrayed in the paintings. The site is 200 meters up a cliff after a 2 kilometers walk from Ban Song Phi Nong in Mu 5, Khlong Sok sub-district, Phanom district. Full story here. 9.1382389 99.32174829999997
 
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    Publishing Archaeology

  • I now have an agent!

    Michael E. Smith
    18 Jun 2013 | 4:24 pm
    I have written a book for a popular audience, and it has been a long and interesting process. I'll probably write about it in detail when things have moved farther along. For now, I am very pleased to have signed a contract with an agent. The book is about two projects I directed near Cuernavaca, Mexico. It tells the story of the residents of these sites (Aztec provincial peoples), and also about how archaeology gets done: everything from screening dirt and identifying faunal remains to my random sampling disaster involving broken glass, beans, and peso coins, to getting excavation permits to…

  • When our concepts fossilize, or, How to keep archaeology down on the farm

    Michael E. Smith
    11 May 2013 | 3:05 pm
    Cuexcomate, an Aztec communityI’ve been struggling with the problem of relating some of my archaeological findings to social issues in the world today. In this case, my focus is on the concept of “community.” I have two reasons for exploring how Aztec communities (whose remains I have excavated) are similar or different from modern communities. One reason is public communication. I am writing a book about Aztec communities intended for a popular, non-specialist audience, and I want readers to see connections between communities today and the contexts I am describing in the book. The…

  • New in the journals

    Michael E. Smith
    3 May 2013 | 1:12 pm
    I am catching up on my on-line journal reading today, and a couple of things caught my eye.(1) Make your arguments and reasoning clear and explicit.The current issue of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory is a theme issue of papers on evolutionary archaeology, each of which contains a "logicist diagram." These diagrams show the relationships between what the issue co-editors (Valentine Roux and Marie-Agnès Courty) call the two components of research: data and inferences:"Highlighting these two components and proposing their reading under the form of a diagram allow a rapid…

  • Keeping archaeology safre from vampires, dung, and twisted animal bladders

    Michael E. Smith
    27 Apr 2013 | 10:36 am
    Vampires:  I just had a journal insist that my co-authors and I tone down some of our wording in a paper. Jason Ur, Gary Feinman and I will publish a paper in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research taking contemporary geographers and others to task for promoting the VERY incorrect opinion of Jane Jacobs that cities preceded agriculture in prehistory. I blogged about this some time ago, and I thought it was a settled issue (duh!). But then Peter Taylor published a paper in that journal touting Jacobs's ideas again. So we fired off a critique, which we are now revising…

  • Quality control in archaeological publishing

    Michael E. Smith
    1 Apr 2013 | 9:48 pm
    I've been digging out some buried reading matter, and only now got around to reading the September, 2012 issue of the SAA Archaeological Record. I found the very interesting paper, "What I Learned from my Experience as Editor of American Antiquity (2009-2012)" by Alison Rautman. Alison makes a number of useful points, and her paper is well worth reading (if you haven't already). Here I want to focus on the question of quality controlThe paper is divided into sections,with each subheader starting out, "What I learned about....." (writing, publication, reviewing, etc.). The first section is…
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    Middle Savagery

  • In 2013, I Circumnavigated the Earth

    colleenmorgan
    11 Jun 2013 | 9:38 am
    I was walking through the courtyard of King’s Manor, the exquisite old brick building that houses the York Archaeology department and I had one of those strangely self-aware moments. The courtyard is light fragmented–the morning-wet pebbles covering the ground reflected the white cut-out geometry of the sunshine. The buildings surrounding the courtyard have been cut up and re-built so many times that it made me smile at the jigsaw facade. While I was chatting to professors at the reception the night before, I would steal glances at it over my glass of wine; I ached to draw an…

  • Participate, Make, Share – My 2013 Commencement Speech

    colleenmorgan
    25 May 2013 | 4:40 pm
    Me and my amazing mother, Elizabeth Kelly. I chose to be the graduate student speaker at the UC Berkeley 2013 commencement ceremony. It was a difficult audience to write for–I probably should have just copied Neil Gaiman’s keynote from last year and called it a day. I’m a little ambivalent about how the speech turned out, but people seemed to enjoy it. Anyway, here it is: In the years before I had the opportunity to stand in front of you in these fancy robes, I was one of the graduate student volunteers that helped out during commencement. After grading exams, teaching,…

  • The “Tomb Raider Temple” – Ta Prohm at Angkor Wat

    colleenmorgan
    17 Apr 2013 | 9:58 pm
    What have you seen? It’s a common question in Siem Reap, home to the many hostels and hotels that feed tourists to the Angkor Wat temple complex. Sunburnt tourists trade stories while cooling off in the bar with a can of cold, cheap Angkor beer–the famous temple on the label collecting beads of condensation. A list generally follows the question. Oh, I’ve seen Bayon, Angkor, Banteay Srey, the waterfall and the Tomb Raider temple.  Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft at Ta Prohm. In his 2002 article for the International Journal of Heritage Studies, Tim Winter  outlines the…

  • Sunrise in Bangkok

    colleenmorgan
    1 Apr 2013 | 9:20 pm
    Sunrise in Bangkok and a woman is dumping a large sack of charcoal into a square metal box on wheels. She carefully arranges the charcoal into two stacks, stashes the half-empty sack next to a light post, and lights one of the stacks with a neon green lighter. A great plume of gray-blue smoke puffs into the pink sky. Sunrise in Bangkok and there are dogs, three, four dogs trotting along the side of the road, breathing heavily. One sees another dog under a car, runs over to shove its nose into the sleeping dog’s pink, exposed paw. The paw withdraws into the shade under the car. Sunrise…

  • Post-Apocalyptic Foodways: the Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence

    colleenmorgan
    18 Mar 2013 | 5:58 am
    Starvation, by Gwen Boul. Popular television and movies like The Walking Dead, I Am Legend and other post-apocalyptic dramas are usually framed in the modern day or near-future, with the characters battling the odds to stay alive in radically changed living conditions. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road followed characters walking through a nightmare landscape, where people turned to scavenging, brutality, and cannibalism to survive. But how do humans actually cope with extreme conditions of scarcity and stress? Shanti Morell-Hart’s article, Foodways and Resilience under Apocalyptic…
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    Looting Matters

  • Images of the Bothmer fragments

    David Gill
    19 Jun 2013 | 1:11 am
    In March LM noted that Christos Tsirogiannis had linked fragments of an Attic red-figured cup from the Bothmer bequest to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to fragments in Rome attributed to the Euaion painter. It was not stated how Bothmer had acquired the fragments. Tsirogiannis has pointed out to me that the MMA has removed the relevant image from its website. What is the reason? The MMA has a responsibility to publish the full collecting histories of the fragments along with their images in case further connections can be made.

  • The Art Loss Register and Antiquities

    David Gill
    7 Jun 2013 | 11:26 pm
    One year ago LM posted a piece on the Art Loss Register and Christie's. I wonder if the ALR read it. The question is why the ALR did not appear to have spotted that Christie's was offering material identified from the Medici Dossier and the Becchina and Schinousa Archives. But perhaps they had. The use of an unacknowledged antiquity linked to Robin Symes (via the Schinousa Archive) as the cover image for the Christie's sale catalogue suggests that the problem of toxic antiquities continues to fester. What positive actions will the ALR take to reassure potential buyers?

  • Recently surfaced antiquities on the market

    David Gill
    7 Jun 2013 | 3:21 pm
    The results of the Christie's Rockefeller Centre sale are now available. Readers will know some of the items identified from the Becchina, Medici, and Schinousa archives by Cambridge University researcher Christos Tsirogiannis went under the hammer. Lot 540: Euboean black-figured amphora. Sold: $15,000. Estimate: $15,000-$20,000. [LM] Lot 543: East Greek bronze warrior. Unsold. Estimate: $30,000-$50,000. [LM] Lot 546: Attic black-figured column-krater, attributed to the Bucci painter. Sold: $37,500. Estimate: $35,000-$55,000. [LM] Lot 600: Gnathian bell-krater. Unsold. Estimate:…

  • The Apollo from the Schinousa Archive

    David Gill
    6 Jun 2013 | 5:27 am
    Apollo from the Schinousa photographic archive Cambridge-based researcher, Christos Tsirogianns, has shared an image of a fragmentary marble Apollo with me. It had featured in the Schinousa archive. This photographic archive records the material that passed through the hands of a London-based dealer. If material from this archive resurfaces on the market, it would be reasonable to see the full collecting history indicated. But such information would no doubt be provided by rigorous due diligence searches.

  • An East Greek Bronze Warrior from the Medici Dossier

    David Gill
    1 Jun 2013 | 2:30 pm
    Cambridge University researcher Christos Tsirogiannis has reminded me of some of the images from the Medici Dossier that have been published in Greece. One shows a series of small bronzes lined up on shelving, some with sale tags attached. The image includes a small bronze of a running warrior. It is clear that one of the legs has been damaged. This bronze appears to be close to the one due to be auctioned at Christie's Rockefeller Centre on June 6, 2013 (lot 543). The collecting history is: Thétis Foundation, Geneva, acquired prior to 1987; sold at Sotheby's, London, 23 May 1991, lot 77. So…
 
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    Testimony of the spade

  • Need Swedish museums more volunteers?

    Magnus Reuterdahl
    11 Jun 2013 | 3:34 am
    The annual political event Almedalen, on the island Gotland in Sweden, is just around the corner. During the first week of July politicians and lobby-organisations meet on common ground to discuss current events – and this year I’m in Cultural Heritage is of course part if that and so are questions regarding museums, archives and libraries. A few months ago I was elected to the board of DIK – the creative union; that includes communicators, archaeologists, museum employees, antiquarians, librarians, speech pathologist etc. One of the debates this year concerns volunteers in…

  • A visit to Hästholmen a villa forensis in Östergötland, Sweden

    Magnus Reuterdahl
    1 Jun 2013 | 2:54 am
    I’ve been lazy when it comes to archaeology blogging lately, partly due to lots and lots of work. The other day I was asked to meet up with some folks from Jönköping County administrative board to tell a little on Hästholmen, as they were visiting on their annual staff day. This gave me a good reason for some blogging Hästholmen is a small town, ca 500 residents, by lake Vettern. It’s interesting out of many aspects, but lets start during the middle ages. Hästholmen is named in several historic documents, the oldest dated back to 1300 AD. It was never a town but it was what…

  • HBO Vikings

    Magnus Reuterdahl
    20 Feb 2013 | 7:16 am
    There’s a new TV-show from HBO waiting to hit the shores of Normandy, Scotland, England, Ireland Russia, Spain, America etc etc… Beware the Vikings are at it again! HBO presents Vikings! I guess this won’t really have to much with archaeology or historic correctness but who cares this is just for fun – and I still haven’t seen any horns on the helms Magnus Reuterdahl

  • Ancient times along the Swedish east coast – An archaeological seminar in Blankaholm

    Magnus Reuterdahl
    20 Feb 2013 | 4:54 am
    As I check my back-log I see that I need to blog more about archaeology, but it seems that time just haven’t been there. During the coming weekend there will be time for archaeology though as it is time for the 5th annual archaeological seminar in Blankaholm – much thanks to Michael Dahlin. The schedule holds 14 interesting seminars and it’s always fun to meet other archaeologists and archeo-buffs. Michael Dahlin – On rhombic axes, from the late Bronze Age and their contexts in Kalmar County. Gustaf Wollentz – On the future within the cultural heritage sector Emelie Svenman –…

  • Osteo-doctoral day for Ylva Telldahl

    Magnus Reuterdahl
    10 Dec 2012 | 3:48 am
    Ylva Telldahl will do her doctoral defence for her thesis on December 19 at Stockholm University föreläsningssalen, Botaniska institutionen, Lilla Frescativägen 5 at 13:00. Her thesis is called: Working animals and skeletal lesions. Paleopathology of cattle and horse in Iron Age and medieval Öland, Sweden. Ylva has concentrated on the relationship between animal husbandry practices and the associated pathological conditions using methods such as osteometric analysis, conventional radiographic and bone mineral study, as well as incorporated molecular analysis. The material used was…
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    Theoretical Structural Archaeology

  • Hadrian's Timber Wall; Reverse engineering a Roman rampart in Google SketchUp

    Geoff Carter
    19 Jun 2013 | 3:47 pm
    Caesar’s account of the war in Gaul contain over forty references to ramparts, some native, but mostly those built of timber with a ditch in front constructed by his army in the field. [1] I have argued that the three lines of double postholes with a ditch in front to the north of Hadrian Wall represent such a rampart. Recently, I have been trying out Google SketchUp as tool to explore the engineering of this structure, and express structural ideas visually.  In a previous article I have discussed the issues of visual representations of the past, as distinct from models and diagrams.

  • Professor Wallace-Hadrill interviewed about Herculaneum at Ideas Roadshow

    Geoff Carter
    6 Jun 2013 | 6:31 pm
    Theoretical structural archaeology is about understanding the evidence of ancient built environments, and previously I have written about the importance of those sites ‘frozen in time’ by some disaster preserving buildings and content in situ. For the Roman world, Herculaneum and Pompeii give us that unique insight, a level of detail, unimaginable in conventional archaeology, which has become central to our understanding of the period.  While we are familiar with plaster body castes, dramatic reconstructions, and looming clouds of volcanic death, quite what this really means to…

  • Hadrian’s bridging of the North Tyne

    Geoff Carter
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:55 pm
    Previously, I have discussed the evidence for a temporary timber and earth rampart with associated infrastructure which necessarily predated and facilitated the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in stone, it follows that there was probably a temporary bridge where it crossed the North Tyne at Chollerford, [Chesters]. In addition, unlike a timber bridge built on piles, the construction of a Stone bridge also requires significant temporary works, which are evident from the air. In the context of Hadrian’s Wall there are two aspects to the crossing of the river; A carriageway for road…

  • Hadrian's Ghost Wall

    Geoff Carter
    28 Mar 2013 | 2:24 pm
    The key to understanding Hadrian’s Wall is that the Romans built a temporary frontier of wood in the East, and wood and earth in the West, to protect them while they constructed the permanent stone frontier. It follows that there would also be temporary forts and other structures amounting to a whole ghost timber and earth version of Hadrian’s Wall. Understanding the Timber Wall. The construction of a temporary Timber Wall is covered extensively elsewhere [eg; here / free download]  It explains and contextualises the rest of the evidence including; The precise pattern…

  • Red Nose Archaeology

    Geoff Carter
    15 Mar 2013 | 1:35 pm
    Today is red nose day - for Comic Relief a charity event organised by British comedians. Archaeology is one those subjects traditionally associated with drinking, it was one of the few compensations for low wages, poor working conditions, and zero career prospects, although quite why well paid academics should be red noses has never been fully explained.  Perhaps it helps you make sense of post-processualism and why projecting your own conception of what a dead person’s conception of things that only the dead person has seen is archaeology. In New Archaeology, unlike necromancy, which…
 
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    Stone Pages Archaeo News

  • Rare Greek Neanderthal site found

    7 Jun 2013 | 12:52 am
    Until recently, evidence of Neanderthal settlement on the Greek peninsular had been very scarce. Now new excavations at the Kalamakia Middle Paleolithic Cave site, in southern Greece, have been yielding...

  • Bahrain preserves its heritage

    7 Jun 2013 | 12:51 am
    Recent excavations in Bahrain have uncovered the remains of a settlement once inhabited by the enigmatic Dilmun civilization. This ancient civilization, said to date to the third millennium BCE, was...

  • The origins of the spear

    7 Jun 2013 | 12:50 am
    It has proved quite a challenge to identify the stage at which early man transitioned from short range (and dangerous) hunting by stabbing with a spear, and took the more...

  • Iron in ancient Egyptian relics came from space

    3 Jun 2013 | 12:44 am
    After carefully analysing a 5,000-year-old iron bead from Egypt, a team of specialists reached the conclusion that it is made from a meteorite. The iron bead is shaped like a...

  • Early Palaeolithic sites in Northern China

    3 Jun 2013 | 12:44 am
    The Danjiangkou area is a pivotal region for human migration and cultural communication between south and north China. The discovery of hominid fossils and abundant Palaeolithic sites highlight its significant...
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    Archaeology News from Past Horizons

  • Appalachian rock art reveals a conceptual universe

    Past Horizons
    19 Jun 2013 | 11:40 am
    It is likely some of the most widespread and oldest art in the United States. Pieces of rock art dot the Appalachian Mountains, and research by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, anthropology professor Jan Simek finds each engraving or drawing is strategically placed to reveal a cosmological puzzle. Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries comes a single giant one—all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples’ cosmological world. The research led by Simek, president emeritus of the UT system and a distinguished…

  • Extensive Maya city discovered in Campeche

    Past Horizons
    19 Jun 2013 | 4:47 am
    A team led by archaeologist Ivan Sprajc, has announced the discovery of an ancient Maya city called Chactún, “Red Stone” or “Piedra Grande” . Located in the southeast area of Campeche, it represents one of the largest sites of the Mexican Central Lowlands. Discovered a few weeks ago, the archaeologists believe that the city was at the centre of a vast region between 600 and 900 AD. The extent of the site measures more than 22 hectares, and contains a number of monuments, with at least a dozen of them bearing inscriptions. Stele 1 in the western complex. Image: INAH…

  • Stuff Matters

    Past Horizons
    18 Jun 2013 | 12:00 am
    Concrete dome of the Pantheon. This article titled “Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik – review” was written by Robin McKie, for The Observer on Monday 17th June 2013 08.01 UTC In 1961, Oxford archaeologists uncovered a pit at the site of General Gnaeus Julius Agricola’s headquarters at Inchtuthil in Scotland. Unsavoury Caledonians had made his troops’ position untenable. So the Romans decided to quit their empire’s northernmost outpost, though not before going to extraordinary efforts to ensure they left nothing behind that could aid their enemies. They…

  • For Its Latest Beer, a Craft Brewer Chooses an Unlikely Pairing

    Past Horizons
    17 Jun 2013 | 11:08 pm
    See on Scoop.it – Archaeology News With help from a University of Chicago group, a craft beer maker has been working for more than year to replicate a 5,000-year-old Sumerian beer. The beer was full of bacteria, warm and slightly sour. By contemporary standards, it would have been a spoiled batch here at Great Lakes Brewing Company, a craft beer maker based in Ohio, where machinery churns out bottle after bottle of dark porters and pale ales. But lately, Great Lakes has been trying to imitate a bygone era. Enlisting the help of archaeologists at the University of Chicago, the company…

  • Unchecked looting guts Egypt’s heritage, with one ancient site ‘70 percent gone’

    Past Horizons
    16 Jun 2013 | 12:33 pm
    A wispy-haired mummy’s head, bleached skulls, and arm and leg bones are piled outside looted tombs. A mummified hand with leathery-skinned fingers pokes from the sand. Ancient burial wrappings from mummified bodies — torn apart to find priceless jewelry — unravel across the desert like brown ribbon, or tangle near broken bits of wooden coffins still brightly painted after nearly 3,000 years underground. With bones scattered everywhere, this 500-acre plot looks like the aftermath of a massacre rather than an ancient burial ground. “You see dogs playing with human bones, children…
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    The Archaeology News Network

  • Lost medieval city found in Cambodia

    15 Jun 2013 | 11:00 am
    A lost medieval city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1,200 years ago has been discovered by archaeologists using revolutionary airborne laser technology, a report said. Post holes on an old temple site [Credit: Nick Moir] In what it called a world exclusive, the Sydney Morning Herald said the city, Mahendraparvata, included temples hidden by jungle for centuries, many of which have not been looted. A... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Byzantine basilica comes to life in Bursa

    15 Jun 2013 | 10:30 am
    Excavations to unearth a 1500-year-old Byzantine basilica in Bursa (Greek Prousa) will begin this month it was announced by the local governor. The 1500 year old Byzantine basilica at Bursa [Credit: AA/Hurriyet] Harput, who was investigating the area where the historical basilica was discovered in the Derecik Village of the Büyükorhan neighborhood, gathered information from the authorities. The basilica was used for worship in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Sixteenth-century crucifix possibly by Michelangelo

    15 Jun 2013 | 10:00 am
    A recently donated wooden crucifix tentatively attributed to Michelangelo has sparked controversy in the art world. The crucifix attributed to Michelangelo [Credit: ANSA] The 44-centimeter wooden sculpture portrays Christ on the cross and was created by a Florentine Renaissance artist, possibly the great Michelangelo Buonarroti himself. The work was donated to Paris's Louvre museum by Canadian collectors Peter Silverman and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Third season dig begins in Maryport

    15 Jun 2013 | 9:30 am
    Archaeologists hope that Maryport will reveal more of its Roman secrets this summer. The third year of excavations at Camp Farm began this week, led by Newcastle University’s Professor Ian Haynes and site director Tony Wilmott. Excavations on site at Maryport set to resume again this summer [Credit: Newcastle University] The Temples Project is the start of a new phase in the five year excavation which will take the team back to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • 3,500-year-old house unearthed in central Turkey

    15 Jun 2013 | 9:00 am
    The remains of a house dating back 3,500 years have been uncovered during excavations in the central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale's Karakeçili district. Japanese archaeologist Kimiyashi Matsumura explains the recent finds to Turkish officials [Credit: HaberMonitor] Headed by Kimiyashi Matsumura, a Japanese archaeology professor at Kırşehir University, the excavations have been unearthing antiquities and ancient settlements... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    The Mathisen Corollary

  • Cosmography of the Local Universe

    David Warner Mathisen
    16 Jun 2013 | 6:42 am
    Above is an astounding video of the "Cosmography of the Local Universe," created by a team of scientists including astrophysicist and cosmologist Professor Helene Curtois, who narrates the video.Pay close attention beginning at about 01:57 as the video takes you towards the tiny blue dot representing, not the earth, but the entire Milky Way galaxy during a "zoomed-in" view on our local region of the "local universe."  To paraphrase Professor Curtois, the enormity of what we are seeing is almost "overwhelming."The effect is reminiscent of the famous 1977 video "Powers of Ten," which seeks…

  • Matariki

    David Warner Mathisen
    14 Jun 2013 | 11:00 pm
    Special thanks to Main Man who contacted me all the way from 37 degrees South latitude with this outstanding infographic on Matariki, the Maori new year, published in the New Zealand Herald.As you can see from the article, Matariki is the Maori name for the beautiful Pleiades, discussed in these previous blog posts, which all contain some discussion of how to find them in the sky (see here, here, and here).The Herald infographic explains, "The reappearance of Matariki in the eastern sky before sunrise marks the beginning of the new year."  The phenomena of a star or group of stars…

  • Comet Tempel 1 and the Deep Impact mission of 2005

    David Warner Mathisen
    10 Jun 2013 | 12:54 am
    (image above: Wikimedia commons).Comet Tempel 1 is a short-period comet with an orbital period of approximately 5.5 years and a perihelion of about 1.5 AUs (an AU or "astronomical unit" is a unit that is roughly the mean earth-sun distance, and the perihelion of 1.5 AUs means that Comet Tempel 1's orbit takes it further from the sun than the orbit of Mars but not as far as Jupiter).  The comet was discovered in April of 1867 by Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel, of France, who was looking for comets at the time (see this discussion of the comet's history from the NASA webpage). As that…

  • Two very disturbing developments

    David Warner Mathisen
    6 Jun 2013 | 12:13 am
    Recently, disturbing news involving genetics has been making headlines in the US.On May 29, the US Department of Agriculture announced that test results of wheat plants growing on an Oregon farm confirmed the presence of genetically-engineered wheat, despite the fact that genetically-engineered wheat is not approved for human consumption.Here is a link to the USDA's press release on the discovery.This discovery is disturbing in that it reveals the clear possibility that genetically-modified wheat has already entered the food supply, unbeknownst to farmers, regulators, or consumers.  Most…

  • Asteroid 1998 QE2 and its newly-discovered asteroid moon

    David Warner Mathisen
    2 Jun 2013 | 12:52 am
    Earth was recently visited by a large asteroid, first discovered in 1998 and ironically given the name Asteroid QE2.  As this page from the NASA website explains, the asteroid made its closest approach to earth (until it returns in another 200 years) on May 31 at 1:59 in the afternoon, Pacific time (4:59 pm Eastern / 2059 UTC).  Its approach only brought it to a distance of 3.6 million miles away -- about 15 times the distance of the earth and the moon, according to NASA.One of the most remarkable aspects of this flyby was the discovery based on radar imagery, captured on the…
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    Doug's Archaeology

  • Academic Archaeology Jobs in UK- 4REF is King/Queen

    Doug Rocks-Macqueen
    19 Jun 2013 | 4:38 am
    I have been seeing a very disturbing (in my opinion) trend in job postings for Archaeology Academic jobs in the UK. Here is a new job posting (warning, link my not work when job closes) and the first requirement under essential criteria: ‘PhD in Archaeology or cognate discipline at the time of application’ OK not disturbing but number 2 requirement is: ‘Publication record of at least four REF-returnable outputs since 2008, or equivalent commensurate with stage of career.’ This requirement has been popping up more and more in academic job postings for archaeologists.

  • Is it Legal to Collect Arrowheads on Federal Land?

    Doug Rocks-Macqueen
    3 Jun 2013 | 1:29 pm
    Spend some time on an arrowhead collecting forum and you will eventually be told that it is legal to hunt arrowheads on Federal land in the US (as opposed to all other forms of collecting/looting that is illegal). Supposedly this loophole is the Carter loophole, named after the former president. Apparently Carter liked to collected arrowheads so an exception was made to archaeology laws. Recently there was some discussion on the NMAC listserve about this loophole that has been very enlightening: FYI, the so-called “Arrowhead Exception” was allegedly included in ARPA due to…

  • Trowelblazers

    Doug Rocks-Macqueen
    17 May 2013 | 10:04 am
    I have been traveling so there has been a complete lack of blogging here lately. However, I would like to take a quick moment to recommend a tumblr blog to you- trowelblazers. http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/ “Awesome trowel-wielding women: WE SALUTE YOU!” It covers awesome women in the fields of archaeology, palaeontology, and geology. It’s a great blog to follow if you have the chance.    

  • Devastation in 2 Pictures

    Doug Rocks-Macqueen
    5 May 2013 | 4:59 am
    This is not a long post, just a link and this sentence- “The two images below show the same archaeological site, the ancient city of Apamea, in Syria, firstly as captured by Google Earth on 20th July 2011, and then on 4th April 2012.”

  • Less Archaeology Work- Duh! but still interesting to see the numbers

    Doug Rocks-Macqueen
    2 May 2013 | 4:07 am
    As work on the Profiling the Profession is progressing I have had to look at a variety of different data sources. One source I have looked at is planning applications for construction in England. Raw number of applications do not capture the nuances of work for archaeologists. For example, building a single house will not have the same impact on archaeology as lets say a highway. That being said, if that house was in the middle of a cemetery that could be potentially generate more work than lets say a shopping center with no archaeology in the area. Basically, raw planning applications…
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    Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire

  • Illegal Gambling and Money Laundering Prompt Forfeiture Complaint for Artwork

    19 Jun 2013 | 2:56 pm
    Prosecutors have filed a complaint in federal district court in Oklahoma City to forfeit artwork and other property allegedly connected with illegal gambling and money laundering.Court papers filed on June 7, 2013 reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probed an enterprise based in Panama City, Panama, which allegedly conducted illegal internet gaming in the United States. Prosecutors claim that nine pieces of unspecified artwork seized by authorities in April are connected with the millions of dollars generated from the operation.An FBI affidavit describes the alleged racket…

  • Museum of Fine Arts Curator Offers Due Diligence Model, Saying "Ignorance is No Excuse"

    13 Jun 2013 | 11:14 am
    The Weary Herakles has long been a poster child for the problems surrounding undocumented antiquities. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) acquired a partial interest in the top half of the statue in 1981 and then a full interest in 2004 under cloudy circumstances. Archaeologists in Turkey excavated the bottom half of the sculpture in 1980. But the dubious provenance surrounding the MFA's top portion of the Weary Herakles is that it belonged to the antiquities dealer's mother, who reluctantly accepted the sculpture from a German art dealer in repayment of a debt. The mother later died, and…

  • Statues From New York's Met Museum Repatriated to Cambodia

    11 Jun 2013 | 5:58 pm
    Video source: AFPThis post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2010-2013 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com©2010-2013 Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC, 20 W. Park St., Ste. 207, Lebanon, NH 03766. Content is general information only, not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed. Links…

  • Want to Learn More About Cultural Property Law?

    7 Jun 2013 | 8:43 am
    Spend a week studying cultural property law with Plymouth State University's summer program. This intensive course will take place from July 15 through 20. The class includes a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Plymouth State University The course examines the international, national, and state legal frameworks for the protection and movement of cultural property. It is taught by this blog author.Topics for discussion include the 1954 Hague Convention, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the ICOM Code of Ethics, the National Stolen Property Act, and the Cultural Property Implementation…

  • Black or White? Carved Rhino Horns Sold at Auction, Targeted for Forfeiture

    4 Jun 2013 | 4:21 pm
    Carved rhinoceros horns sold at auction are now the subject of a federal forfeiture complaint. The U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey recently filed papers in federal district court claiming that the carved horn cups are legally banned objects subject to seizure and forfeiture.Prosecutors allege in U.S. v. Two Black Rhinocerso (Diceros Bicornis) Horn Carvings that I.M. Gallery in Beverly Hills, California sold the horns to an overseas buyer for $220,000. They claim the objects are subject to forfeiture under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Lacey Act, which…
 
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