Seen Elsewhere

A Romano-Punic tomb in Marsala

Iraq’s top cultural official resigns Disturbing news from Iraq. Donny George has quit his post and left the country, claiming interference from Shi’a Muslims following Moqtada al-Sadr. The BBC has more coverage including the news that George would be welcomed back.

Partial Abecedaries from Gezer An abecedary is where someone starts writing the alphabet out a, b… etc and gets to the end. A partial abecedary is one where they don’t. They interesting material if you want to study the spread of literacy. Duane Smith has a nice example with some helpful comments.

Phoenician tombs found in Sicily Ioannis at Mediterranean Archaeology catches a news story on more Punic tombs found at Birgi in the western-most part of Sicily near Marsala. It could be fascinating material when it gets published. I’m not making a lot of sense of the tombs there at the moment, but there is a lot to be discovered. Sicilian Phoenician archaeology will be a big growth area in the next few years.

Earth is no longer a planet? Me at i-Science working out that it might not be just Pluto that’s been demoted.