… from the mailbag:
We, as Etruscologists, would very much appreciate it if you would post the following correction, since it is our understanding that Archaeology, the magazine published by the Archaeological Institute of America, does not intend to print a correction.
The November/December 2010 issue of Archaeology featured an article on the Etruscans with the Louvre terracotta sarcophagus on the cover flipped in its orientation. In the article itself, two more photographs were also misoriented: the Pyrgi inscription on p. 39 and the Etruscan mirror on p. 43.
Far too many people think the Etruscans are mysterious; and Archaeology has certainly deepened the mystery by implying that the Etruscans dined reclining on their right elbows and eating with their left hands — which, of course, seems eminently logical, since their language is written from right to left.
In short, we are saddened to say that Archaeology must be used with caution as a scholarly source of information.
Please feel free to circulate this notice.
Sincerely,
Jocelyn Penny Small, Rutgers University
Richard De Puma, University of Iowa
Ingrid Edlund-Berry, University of Texas – Austin
Ili Nagy, University of Puget Sound
P. Gregory Warden, Southern Methodist University
rogueclassicism 