Vidi
If you’ve not seen this before then this is the latest installment of Vidi, which is a series of posts to things I’ve seen recently, compiled into one post rather than half-a-dozen all using the title ‘Seen Elsewhere’ posted during the week. Four Stone Hearth is a carnival, which includes archaeology among other things, and the inaugural edition went online at Anthropology.net. Another regular source of top classics posts can be found at Rogue Classicism. Another carnival coming up is the History Carnival at Holocaust Controversies on November 1. You can find previous Vidi (or should that be videram?) listed here.
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Egyptian News
The big news at the start of the week was the discovery of the tombs of Egyptian dentists following the arrest of some looters. You won’t catch me admitting that I visit Foxnews, even if they do have a couple of nice photos. It’s been commented on by Dorothy King the PhDiva and Mutnodjmet. Via Egyptology News are more stories with video.
Luxor News has a tale of Disaster at the Temple of Seti I. In one of the driest countries in the world the problem is water damage.
Recent geological work would suggest that finding tombs will get easier.
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Other News
From California via the Hall of Ma’at is a story on the removal of ancient remains of native burials.
“The politics are interesting and are such that it behooves me not to say too much,” said Adrian Praetzellis, a Sonoma State anthropologist who studies American Indian remains.
Also via Ma’at is this story from the International Herald Tribune: Chinese quandary: Art or plunder? Predicatably archaeologists are at loggerheads with auction houses.
According to some estimates, as many as 400,000 tombs in China have been looted in the last 25 years, although it is unclear how many artifacts have been stolen, and experts disagree on whether the pillaging has accelerated. In one particularly high-profile case in 2000, customs agents seized a 10th-century marble relief panel that had been chiseled out of a tomb in northeast China and was headed for sale at Christie’s in New York.
In an auction house on the other side of the Atlantic some silver with a tarnished reputation went on display. Mary Beard reported on this at A Don’s Life. Rupert Redesdale also has an opinion online at the Graun.
Dorothy King adds her thoughts on Christian relics on eBay.
From Pompeii is another other story which is best described by Cyranocyrano “It’s got archaeology, it’s got sex, it’s got interior decorating! Something for everybody!” Ioannis Georganas has the details of the reopening of a Pompeii brothel at Mediterranean Archaeology. Or at least the reopening of the building. I don’t think anyone’s being accused of experimental archaeology here.
Ioannis also spotted the discovery of Two Hellenistic-era mausoleums unearthed in western Turkey.
K. Kris Hirst of About Archaeology spotted the Horse Corral story and put it into context much better than I would have. In Kazakhstan it’s possible that evidence of earlier domestication of horses has been found. Afarensis has a different take on it.
Duane Smith at Abnormal Interests notes the most recent finds of Mexican Footprints.
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In a story which comes around every few years, Harrison Ford may be back as Indiana Jones. However, Irene at The Rock Chronicles says Indiana Jones lied to us all!
Professions of yore is a subject Steve Muhlberger tackles at Muhlberger’s Early History, which I’ve finally found the feed for. He finds out what a Bodger is.
The OUPblog also has some Totally Weird and Wonderful Words. You can now find the correct definition of arseverse which isn’t a strange cosmological theory proposing that the world is a load of rubbish.
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More Egypt
The Foot Blog has a story with photos on Mummification and Ancient Foot Prosthetics.
Troels Myrup invites you to Meet Ta-Bast, a three thousand year old mummy. I won’t mention the title of another post he’s written on a very odd subject because it would give away the punchline.
Martin Stower at the Hall of Ma’at points to two volumes of Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh at Google Books. Volume I and Volume II.
Miland at the World History Blog asks Where Did Queen Nefertiti Come From?
Tim Radford of the Grauniad asks How can the jewels of the past survive the pressures of modern tourism? In it he looks at the Theban Mapping Project.
The Ancient Egypt Blog is a translation of the Arabic Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. The latest entry is on Demotic documents.
Aydin Orstan‘s Beer Review this week is Pyramid Apricot.
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Myrtle at Romans Go Home! has a post on the fortification of Athens.
Nicholas at Nestor’s Cup discovers what many have suspected for a long time, that if you want expert opinion on something you should ask Old Women.
Bazz (Oi! Thump!) has Friday Archaeology Blogging, this week a Dorset Bone Disc, which doesn’t come from anywhere near Dorset. Expect more discoveries from the North as global warming makes Nunavut the only tolerable place to be in the summer.
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Coinage
News is that the Ashmolean Museum has launched a new coin database. Roman Provincial Coinage Online is now one of the largest collections of images and related inscriptions from the ancient world. It’s searchable by iconography, place, and time. (via Rogue Classicism)
RandomAlex has blogged her thoughts on ancient Greek coinage.
Finally Archaeological Dialogues has an issue available without subscription on ancient coinage.
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David Meadows at Rogue Classicism has information on Hallowe’en misinformation.
Henrik Karl of the Recent Finds Weblog has found a push for humanities weblogs of a sort.
Culture Kitchen has news on the Origin of Agriculture.
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(Mis)Communication
From RandomAlex comes thoughts on Nobel Prizes and historical writing “I find it quite amazing, and highly admirable, that historical writing is able to win this prize.”
In contrast there’s Will Klinger’s notes on Lewis Binford at Nomadic Thoughts: “By burying his meaning in complicated prose Binford forces the reader to consciously deconstruct his argument by reading slowly and rereading even more slowly.” In contrast Klinger’s prose is very clear, but I think that’s a good thing.
Lorenz at Antropologi.info asks if reading is such a good idea after all, and in the context discussed, Academic Presentations, I agree. Then again I cannot read and talk at the same time anyway.
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It was the Earth’s birthday earlier this week and I forgot to mention it. Fortunately the Axis of Evel Knievel was paying attention.
They’re Digging In Sigtuna and Martin Rundkvist has been watching them. They’re finding bodies among other things.
Aydin Örstan at Snail’s Tales has some great photos showing why when you cut primary forest down it doesn’t regenerate. Handy if you’re trying think of how ancient viewed forests and you’re only familiar with managed forests.
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Reviews
Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, reviewed by Carl Feagans.
English Civil War by Diane Purkiss, reviewed by Natalie Bennett.
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts by Brian Sykes, reviewed at The Genealogue.
Basal-looped spearheads: typlogy, chronology, context and use by Richard Davis, reviewed by Brendan O’Connor at the Prehistoric Society.
Greece: Splendours of an Ancient Civilization by Furio Durando, Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece by Patricia F. O’Grady, and Finding People in Early Greece by Carol G. Thomas are all reviewed at This Greek Life.
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N.S. Gill at About Ancient History has comments and links on one of my favourite lunatics, Pythagoras.
Intute has launched its Internet Archaeologist Training Suite. (via Archaeology in Europe)
The Open University has launched Openlearn with education material from all sorts of courses, like this one on War Memorials.
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New (to me) blogs
The Women of Archaeology is a Livejournal community of women with a common interest which eludes me.
The Stroppy Rabbit is blogging on her MA research into reburial and repatriation.
Dear Miss Griffis is a weekly blog of letters from Harold Wigmore McGill, a Canadian doctor, to Emma Griffis dating from and describing the Great War.
Ancient Transportation by Kristian Minck looks like it’s going to be excellent. Roman transportation can be overlooked, but that’s a shame. Did you know it was cheaper to ship in grain from Egypt to Rome than overland from Italian farms? This blog examines why.
Fish on a Camel is been going for ages, but I’ve only just found it. It’s shows what archaeology can be like when it’s your job.
Archaeology in Botswana is so new there’s only one entry on it. Hopefully there’ll be more soon.
Windows Live Spaces has an Archaeologist at Large.
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology East Carolina University Project Journal is a journal of a field school in Maritime Archaeology. (via Afarensis)
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The cover image is from the Stock Exchange. If you want to conjugate Latin verbs then you can with Verbix.
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