Category Archives: Uncategorized

Community Funded Ancient Greek?

Tim Parkin just sent this in (tip o’ the pileus and all that) … from Neokosmos:

Community involvement will save dwindling programs like Ancient Greek says Professor K.O Chong-Gossard.
The University of Melbourne Ancient Greek professor says although class number are dwindling, Ancient Greek is still necessary and relevant to our society when you factor in community interest.
“[Class sizes are] still small for university standards,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“I think that we have a lot of support outside of the university to keep the programs going and I think that the future of classics in Australia will be where university programs tap into the community to continue”.
With universities feeling the pinch from a lack of funding from the Federal government, smaller classes will be the first to go in an attempt to make higher education more profitable.
The Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victory has been running small ancient classes for a couple of years and cater to the non-university crowd.
Yet, while community involvement is paramount, professor Chong-Gossard sees industry involvement as a new way of tapping into the higher education program.
The American born professor sees a vast array of students from different faculties pick up the subject that later on creates lasting connections.
“I have students who had done double degrees in things like biochemistry, economics, the law and they always say that they love coming to ancient Greek and Latin classes because they feel human, they get tired from doing numbers and memorise formulas and they really enjoy being able to talk about the Iliad, it is something beautiful for a change and to socialise with the class,” he says.
Critical thinking is a major part of learning an ancient language, and invariably affects how someone tackles a problem whether it be in business or medicine, says Professor Chong-Gossard.
“We offer not only this ability to read carefully and read critically as opposed to reading quickly and uncritically but also the opportunity to engage with things that are interesting and it does open up the mind,” he says.
He believes many businessmen in have been prepared for their jobs by learning Ancient Greek not only for the sake of knowing a vast vocabulary but also for tackling problems critically and talking “intelligently about something that has more than one point of view”. [...]

An interesting idea which might actually work in certain locales; not sure if we want to set a precedent, though, for whether a program survives or not based on community funding (come to the Classics bake sale!).

Laudator Temporis Act | Iphigenia among the Taurians

Iphigenia among the Taurians

Roger Pearse | Scribonius Largus – an authorial table of contents

Scribonius Largus – an authorial table of contents

Laudator Temporis Acti | Two More Greek Auto-Antonyms

Two More Greek Auto-Antonyms

Explorator 16.03

I’m posting this here for now because Yahoo isn’t letting me send it out; I await email from

technical support:

 

================================================================

explorator 16.03                                     May 5, 2013

================================================================
Editor’s note: Most urls should be active for at least eight
hours from the time of publication.

For your computer’s protection, Explorator is sent in plain text
and NEVER has attachments. Be suspicious of any Explorator which
arrives otherwise!!! (youtube videos might appear as attachments)

================================================================
================================================================
Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon,Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,
John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri,
Jona Lendering, June Samaras, Magnus Fiskesjo, A Landreau,
Margaret L. Laird, Bob Heuman, Rochelle Altman, Richard Campbell,
Bob Heuman,Richard C. Griffiths,and Ross W. Sargent for headses
upses this week (as always hoping I have left no one out).

Happy Easter to our Orthodox readers …

================================================================
EARLY HOMINIDS
================================================================
Lucy’s returning home after her five-year sojourn in the US:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201305030071.html
http://www.thv11.com/news/article/263179/288/Lucy-fossil-returns-home-in-Ethiopia

The aquatic ape theory makes a comeback:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316128/Early-human-ancestors-aquatic-apes-Living-water-helped-evolve-big-brains-walk-upright.html

An OpEd on Neanderthals:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/opinion/global/Who-Are-You-Calling-a-Neanderthal.html

More coverage of floresiensis:

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/article01041.html
================================================================
AFRICA
================================================================
Pondering the success of the Kerma Kingdom:

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=9930

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-riddle-ancient-nile-kingdom-longevity.html
================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Some Neolithic petroglyphs from Aydin (Turkey):

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ancient-paintings-discovered-in-aydin.aspx?pageID=238&nID=46107&NewsCatID=375

Ongoing concerns for the pyramids at Dashur (we may have mentioned this one):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/28/pyramid-tomb-dahshur-egypt-archaeology

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/27/egyptians-seize-pyramid-sites-for-use-as-cemeteries/

Protesting against looting in Egypt:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rally-looting-ancient-egyptian-necropolis-19068430

More on those Egyptian leather chariot bits:

http://alumnews.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2013/05/02/salima-ikram-uncovers-ancient-egyptian-leather/

http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/ancient-egypt-chariot-486726

The ‘Gabriel Stone’ is going on display:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62304

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h0rE8MLCey-5CT3SNOeo-a5N4FDQ

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=311728

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/i-am-gabriel-stone-goes-on-display-at-israel-museum.premium-1.518550

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/30/jerusalem-museum-unveils-ancient-hebrew-stone/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/2013/04/30/fd9e787c-b192-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

… and there might be a second ‘Gabriel Stone’:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10034147/Second-Gabriel-Stone-may-exist-says-scholar.html

William Jessup was talking about Tell es-Safi/Gath (includes a video):

http://gath.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/lecture-on-safi-at-william-jessup-university-online/

The Naked Archaeologist accuses Yuval Goren of “caterpillaging” and “Bulldozer
Archaeology”:

http://www.simchajtv.com/bulldozer-archaeology/

… and he doesn’t accept Goren’s explanation:

http://www.simchajtv.com/goren-defends-bulldozer-archaeology/

Big bucks for some Achaemenid glass at Bonham’s:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62352#.UYYxx0qnD8k

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318350/2-500-year-old-kind-glass-bowl-ancient-Persian-Empire-sells-500-000–times-estimate.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

… while Egypt was suggesting there were some purloined antiquities there:

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/70497/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypt-challenges-a-UK-auctioneer-over–stolen-anti.aspx

A 1300 years B.C./B.C.E burial chamber from Oman:

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/millennia-old-burial-chamber-found-in-oman-1.1175535

A 19th century Jewish cemetery from Izmir:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/construction-reveals-jewish-cemetery.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45936&NewsCatID=375

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/05/01/3125546/

A 300 year b.p. purloined Syriac manuscript was recovered in Turkey’s Van
province:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/priceless-300-year-old-religious-manuscript-in-syriac-discovered-in-eastern-province.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45874&NewsCatID=375

The Turkish Prime Minister is complaining (again) that archaeology is getting in the way of construction:

http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/erdogan-039-s-quot-pots-and-pans-quot-blocking-progress-or-making-history-/archeology-artefacts-turkey-neolithic-prints/c3s11628/#.UYY6OUqnD8l

More coverage of Heracleion:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/ancient-sunken-egyptian-city-reveals-1-200-old-201729650.html

http://www.perthnow.com.au/technology/ancient-underwater-city-revealed/story-fnhod58u-1226633499568

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7JQeLfFzhQ

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/heracleion-photos-lost-egyptian-city_n_3178208.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316147/Heracleion-3D-map-raises-real-life-Atlantis-deep.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10880304

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
A 1700 years b.p. Roman cemetery from Leicester:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22404032

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered-130503.htm

http://www.latintimes.com/articles/3528/20130503/ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered-beneath-parking-lot-leicester-england.htm

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/03/18037962-ancient-roman-cemetery-unearthed-remains-of-13-found?lite

http://www.livescience.com/29294-ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130503094130.htm

Moles have dug up some Roman artifacts at Epiacum Roman Fort:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-22363936

Evidence is emerging for Caesar being in Germany:

http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/cms/karwansaray/home/staff/readmore-general/8-ancient-warfare/ancient-warfare-blog/194-caesar-in-germania.html

A nice late Roman coin hoard from Norfolk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22346772

Fears over tree planting near Castleshaw’s Roman Fort:

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/80032/trees-row-takes-root-at-roman-site

Thessaloniki’s ‘Pompeii’ has been saved from relocation (we may

have had this already):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxdHCxtj8YiW8wojCOf1BU3vD7Hw?docId=CNG.dee249b2ecaee64df05f75980ec7a02b.6b1

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62287#.UYY-s0qnD8k

What David Soren is up to:

http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2013/05/ua-professor-forever-a-performer

Interview with Candida Moss about her lack-of-martyrdom tome:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/notre-dame-professor-tackles-myth-christian-martyrdom-151620492.html

Pondering the changing perceptions of the ancient world:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/04iht-melikian04.html?pagewanted=all

A Macedonian antiquities smuggling ring is broken up:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/macedonian-police-arrest-17-for-suspected-membership-of-antiquities-looting-gang/2013/05/01/83c6b6d4-b26b-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

Funding for the Vindolanda Trust:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-22410641

Bob Kaster has been inducted to the AAAS:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2013/04/30/33463/

Interesting feature on Athens’ National Archaeological Museum during WWII:

http://www.lifo.gr/mag/features/3728

OpEd on why people should know Plutarch:

http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/9254-why-plutarch-matters

Reviving Roman Pantomime:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130502/ENT/305020013/Binghamton-U-student-revives-lost-art-ancient-Roman-pantomime

Latest CSA newsletter:

http://csanet.org/newsletter/#spring13

Audio of the Ovationes and presidential address from the latest CAMWS meeting:

http://www.camws.org/News/index.php

Review of Aldo Schiavone’s *Spartacus*:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/may/09/pinning-down-spartacus/

More on the Qatar nude statue kerfuffle:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/30/180081353/qatar-covers-nude-statues-greeks-take-them-back

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10024654/Naked-Olympians-The-Greeks-are-right-to-stop-Qatari-cover-up.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/qatar-returns-statues-to-greece-after-row-over-nudity-8594642.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/28/qatar-returns-statues-greece-nudity
—–
Latest reviews from BMCR:

http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/recent.html

Visit our blog:

http://rogueclassicism.com/
================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
200 years b.p. remains of a British soldier from a beach in the Netherlands:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22340193

Archaeologists are going to be poking around some Derbyshire gardens:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-22407674

Rethinking the purpose of those Viking sun-compasses:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-errors-viking-sun-compass-hint.html

Carbon tests for a skeleton in the hopes it will confirm it belonged to someone

in the Battle of Lewes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-22357869

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10386263.Ancient_Sussex_bones_may_be_warrior/

More digging is planned at that Richard III site:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-archaeologists-richard-iii-site.html

… while his reconstructed head is going on tour:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22322756

Feature on cannibalism in Europe:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Europes-Hypocritical-History-of-Cannibalism-204752351.html

Some bronze axes from the Vale of Glamorgan have been declared treasure:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-22397280

Big bucks for a gold Iron Age bracelet at auction:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318473/3-000-year-old-Iron-age-solid-gold-bracelet-sells-500-000-auction.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Plans to build a full-size replica of the Mayflower:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22358276

A major Viking exhibition (including a ship!) is coming to the British Museum:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/british-museum-to-display-largest-viking-ship-ever-discovered-following-135m-building-revamp-8595275.html

Oldest evidence of atmospheric pollution in Europe:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430092325.htm

The lengthy process of preserving the Mary Rose continues:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-22337881

Where Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote (maybe):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22311399

Vague item on plenty of finds from various periods made during dam construction in Portugal:

http://theportugalnews.com/news/dam-digs-archeological-finds-dating-millions-of-years/28260

Trying to keep the ‘later found’ bits associated with the Staffordshire Hoard with the
rest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-22359844

More on early use of fertilizer in Sweden:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316570/How-mans-green-fingered-First-fertilisers-5-000-year-old-gardens.html?ico=sciencetech%5Eheadlines

Review of Grehan and Mace, *The Battle of Hastings 1066*:

http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2013/05/battle-hastings-uncomfortable-truth

—–
Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://archaeology-in-europe.blogspot.com/

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Research suggests agriculture in China is some 12 000 years older (!) than previously

thought:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-agriculture-china-years.html

A pile of burials dating to 5000 – 6000 years b.p. in Northern Vietnam:

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20130105-24317.html

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/05/2013/140-ancient-burials-unearthed-in-northern-vietnam

The Indus Civilization might not have been so peaceful after all:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-indus-civilization-discoveries-harappa-archaeology-science/

The Met is returning some sculptures to Cambodia:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62353#.UYZSbUqnD8k

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/design/the-met-to-return-statues-to-cambodia.html

Some bronze heads looted from a Beijing palace in 1860 are being returned:

http://weibo.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/04/28/la-france-rend-a-la-chine-deux-bronzes-pilles-en-1860/

http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2013/04/29/Bronze-heads-looted-from-Beijing-palace-to-be-returned/UPI-81181367256687/

More on deliberate migration to Australia:

http://www.nature.com/news/first-australians-may-have-been-migrants-rather-than-drifters-1.12865
—–
East Asian Archaeology:

http://eastasiablog.wordpress.com/

Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog:

http://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
As might be expected, news of possible cannibalism at Jamestown dominated the

archaeological news this week:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Starving-Settlers-in-Jamestown-Colony-Resorted-to-Eating-A-Child-205472161.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22362831

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-scholars-cannibalism-jamestown-settlement.html

http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/smithsonian-and-preservation-virginia-reveal-startling-survival-story-historic-jamestown

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/01/smithsonian-new-evidence-shows-jamestown-colonists-ate-14-year-old-girls-brains/  (headline!)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/skeleton-of-teenage-girl-confirms-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony/2013/05/01/5af5b474-b1dc-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story_1.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23481-scarred-skull-reveals-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/opinion/consuming-colonists.html

More Tequesta people remains from along the Miami River:

http://wlrn.org/post/more-evidence-tequesta-civilization-unearthed-near-miami-river

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/30/3373505/archaeological-dig-on-miami-river.html

Archaeologists have located the site of Carr’s Fort in Georgia:

http://www.thecoastalsource.com/2013/04/30/archaeologists-discover-revolutionary-war-fort/

Logging equipment damages a site in California:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-halted-archaeological-site.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/02/5388345/forestry-protections-increased.html

Concerns for shipwrecks off Nova Scotia:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nova-scotia-shipwrecks-swallowed-by-sea-ignored-by-government/article11717862/

Interesting research into Stonewall Jackson’s moonlit death:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-celestial-sleuths-moon-death-stonewall.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0502/How-astronomy-solved-a-Civil-War-mystery

http://news.discovery.com/history/us-history/stonewall-jackson-death-mystery-130502.htm

Some interesting letters from Bradford:

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/04/28/living/century-old-letters-written-in-bradford-feature-lots-of-names/
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Studying petroglyphs in northern Argentina:

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62162#.UYZbokqnD8k

A bunch of mysterious orbs beneath a pyramid at Teotihuacan (an offshoot

of last week’s coverage):

http://gizmodo.com/archaeologists-uncover-hundreds-of-mysterious-orbs-in-a-486026749

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2318151/Mystery-glowing-orbs-discovered-Temple-Feathered-Serpent-Mexico.html

More on the origins of the Maya:

http://scienceblog.com/62643/archaeologists-unearth-new-information-on-origins-of-maya-civilization/

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829156.000-earliest-mayan-monuments-unearthed-in-guatemala.html

—–
Mike Ruggeri’s Ancient Americas Breaking News:

http://goo.gl/1VdeA

Ancient MesoAmerica News:

http://ancient-mesoamerica-news-updates.blogspot.com/
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the history of smoking:

http://www.historytoday.com/stephen-coleman/background-smoking-growth-social-habit

Pondering/dismissing the Toba supervolcano-near-human-extinction theory:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22355515

Another feature on the Vatican Library’s digitization project:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/02/digitizing_history_82000manuscript_collection_vatican_library_goes_online.html

Possibly the earliest European depiction of Native Americans turns up in a Vatican fresco:

http://news.yahoo.com/native-americans-hid-vatican-more-500-years-190637615.html

Assorted ancient sites from satellite photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317119/Machu-Picchu-Stonehenge-Worlds-incredible-ancient-ruins-seen-space.html

On how humans have affected the earth:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23460-humans-indelible-stamp-on-earth-clear-5000-years-ago.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news

On coffee and history:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/24/178625554/how-coffee-influenced-the-course-of-history?sc=17&f=

Turkey and Gemany are arguing over antiquities:

http://www.dw.de/archaeology-strains-german-turkish-relations/a-16772755

Interesting online exhibit … Lowell Thomas and WWI in Palestine:

http://library.marist.edu/archives/LTtravelogues

Feature on Franck Goddio:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2070493/Marine-Indiana-Jones-Frank-Goddio-started-life-as-financial-advisor.html

A manuscript which once belonged to Montaigne:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-manuscript-discovery-montaignes-library.html

More on recordings of Alexander Graham Bell:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-alexander-graham-bell-voice-scientists.html
================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Fortress Tzuba:

http://www.haaretz.com/travel-in-israel/beyond-masada/beyond-masada-a-short-climb-up-to-fortress-tzuba.premium-1.518203

Hadrianic Athens:

http://www.oyetimes.com/lifestyle/travel/41348-greece-hadrian-s-athens
================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Looting Matters:

http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/

Illicit Cultural Property:

http://illicit-cultural-property.blogspot.com/

SAFE:

http://www.savingantiquities.org/blog/
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Latest issue of the e-Sylum:

http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v16n17.html

… and the one which will appear later today:

http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v16n18.html

The outcome of that fake dekadrachm dispute:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/23/56949.htm
——
Ancient Coin Collecting:

http://ancientcoincollecting.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coins:

http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/

Coin Week:

http://www.coinweek.com/
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Last Days of Pompeii:

http://enjoy.ohio.com/art-review-the-last-days-of-pompeii-at-cleveland-museum-of-art-1.393181

Echoes of Egypt:

http://www.theday.com/article/20130505/ENT16/305059990/1044

Samurai:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/samurai-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston.html?ref=design

Discovering Medicine in the Golden Age of Islam:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-debt-islam-medics-amazing.html

The lowest museum on earth is in the Jordan Valley:

http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/04/jordan-valley-boasts-the-lowest-museum-on-earth/

Feature on art collecting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/arts/artsspecial/As-Money-Props-Up-Art-World-Prospects-Are-Mixed.html?ref=arts

Feature on the AADLA Spring Show:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/art-and-antique-dealers-league-of-america-spring-show-nyc.html?ref=design

Assorted arts items of interest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/rooms-with-a-view-of-british-history.html?ref=design

================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Lohengrin:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/arts/02iht-loomis02.html

—-
Check out our Twitter hashtag for Ancient Drama reviews:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23ancientdrama

… and for Sword and Sandal flicks:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23swordandsandal

================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Kathryn Bosher:

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2013/04/29/campus/memorial-service-commemorates-classics-professor-kathryn-bosher-enthusiasm-research-teaching/

Helen Jacquet-Gordon:

http://oihistory.blogspot.ca/2013/04/helen-jacquet-gordon-7-february-1918-26.html

Henry Hope Reed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/henry-hope-reed-architecture-historian-dies-at-97.html?ref=design
================================================================
AUDIO/VIDEO NEWS
================================================================
Audio News from Archaeologica:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/MP3/audnews20130428.mp3

================================================================
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
================================================================
Frontiers of the European Iron Age (September 20-22):

http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/iron_age/2013/index.html

PaleoAmerican Odyssey (October 17-19):

http://www.paleoamericanodyssey.com/
================================================================
GENERAL ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS BLOGS
================================================================
Archaeology Magazine News Page:

http://www.archaeology.org/news/

About.com Archaeology:

http://archaeology.about.com/

Ancient Digger:

http://www.ancientdigger.com/

Archaeology Briefs:

http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/

Past Horizons:

http://www.pasthorizons.com/

Stonepages:

http://www.stonepages.com/news/

Taygete Atlantis excavations blogs aggregator:

http://planet.atlantides.org/taygete/

Time Machine:

http://heatherpringle.wordpress.com/
================================================================
PODCASTS/VODCASTS
================================================================
Archaeosoup:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Archaeos0up?feature=watch

The Book and the Spade:

http://www.radioscribe.com/bknspade.htm
================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a free weekly newsletter bringing you the latest
news of archaeological finds, historical research and the like.
Various on-line news and magazine sources are scoured for news of
the ‘ancient world’ (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history up to World War II or so is fair
game) and every Sunday they are delivered to your mailbox free of
charge!
================================================================
Useful Addresses
================================================================
Past issues of Explorator are available on the web via our
Yahoo site:

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To subscribe to Explorator, send a blank email message to:

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================================================================
Explorator is Copyright (c) 2013 David Meadows. Feel free to
distribute these listings via email to your pals, students,
teachers, etc., but please include this copyright notice. These
links are not to be posted to any website by any means (whether
by direct posting or snagging from a usenet group or some other
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is only right that I be made aware of public fora which are
making use of content gathered in Explorator. Thanks!
================================================================

================================================================
explorator 16.03                                     May 5, 2013
================================================================
Editor’s note: Most urls should be active for at least eight
hours from the time of publication.

For your computer’s protection, Explorator is sent in plain text
and NEVER has attachments. Be suspicious of any Explorator which
arrives otherwise!!! (youtube videos might appear as attachments)

================================================================
================================================================
Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon,Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,
John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri,
Jona Lendering, June Samaras, Magnus Fiskesjo, A Landreau,
Margaret L. Laird, Bob Heuman, Rochelle Altman, Richard Campbell,
Bob Heuman,Richard C. Griffiths,and Ross W. Sargent for headses
upses this week (as always hoping I have left no one out).

Happy Easter to our Orthodox readers …

================================================================
EARLY HOMINIDS
================================================================
Lucy’s returning home after her five-year sojourn in the US:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201305030071.html

http://www.thv11.com/news/article/263179/288/Lucy-fossil-returns-home-in-Ethiopia

The aquatic ape theory makes a comeback:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316128/Early-human-ancestors-aquatic-apes-Living-water-helped-evolve-big-brains-walk-upright.html

An OpEd on Neanderthals:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/opinion/global/Who-Are-You-Calling-a-Neanderthal.html

More coverage of floresiensis:

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/article01041.html

================================================================
AFRICA
================================================================
Pondering the success of the Kerma Kingdom:

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=9930

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-riddle-ancient-nile-kingdom-longevity.html

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Some Neolithic petroglyphs from Aydin (Turkey):

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ancient-paintings-discovered-in-aydin.aspx?pageID=238&nID=46107&NewsCatID=375

Ongoing concerns for the pyramids at Dashur (we may have mentioned this one):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/28/pyramid-tomb-dahshur-egypt-archaeology

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/27/egyptians-seize-pyramid-sites-for-use-as-cemeteries/

Protesting against looting in Egypt:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rally-looting-ancient-egyptian-necropolis-19068430

More on those Egyptian leather chariot bits:

http://alumnews.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2013/05/02/salima-ikram-uncovers-ancient-egyptian-leather/

http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/ancient-egypt-chariot-486726

The ‘Gabriel Stone’ is going on display:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62304

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h0rE8MLCey-5CT3SNOeo-a5N4FDQ

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=311728

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/i-am-gabriel-stone-goes-on-display-at-israel-museum.premium-1.518550

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/30/jerusalem-museum-unveils-ancient-hebrew-stone/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/2013/04/30/fd9e787c-b192-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

… and there might be a second ‘Gabriel Stone’:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10034147/Second-Gabriel-Stone-may-exist-says-scholar.html

William Jessup was talking about Tell es-Safi/Gath (includes a video):

http://gath.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/lecture-on-safi-at-william-jessup-university-online/

The Naked Archaeologist accuses Yuval Goren of “caterpillaging” and “Bulldozer
Archaeology”:

http://www.simchajtv.com/bulldozer-archaeology/

… and he doesn’t accept Goren’s explanation:

http://www.simchajtv.com/goren-defends-bulldozer-archaeology/

Big bucks for some Achaemenid glass at Bonham’s:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62352#.UYYxx0qnD8k

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318350/2-500-year-old-kind-glass-bowl-ancient-Persian-Empire-sells-500-000–times-estimate.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

… while Egypt was suggesting there were some purloined antiquities there:

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/70497/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypt-challenges-a-UK-auctioneer-over–stolen-anti.aspx

A 1300 years B.C./B.C.E burial chamber from Oman:

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/millennia-old-burial-chamber-found-in-oman-1.1175535

A 19th century Jewish cemetery from Izmir:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/construction-reveals-jewish-cemetery.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45936&NewsCatID=375

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/05/01/3125546/

A 300 year b.p. purloined Syriac manuscript was recovered in Turkey’s Van
province:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/priceless-300-year-old-religious-manuscript-in-syriac-discovered-in-eastern-province.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45874&NewsCatID=375

The Turkish Prime Minister is complaining (again) that archaeology is getting in the way of construction:

http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/erdogan-039-s-quot-pots-and-pans-quot-blocking-progress-or-making-history-/archeology-artefacts-turkey-neolithic-prints/c3s11628/#.UYY6OUqnD8l

More coverage of Heracleion:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/ancient-sunken-egyptian-city-reveals-1-200-old-201729650.html

http://www.perthnow.com.au/technology/ancient-underwater-city-revealed/story-fnhod58u-1226633499568

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/heracleion-photos-lost-egyptian-city_n_3178208.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316147/Heracleion-3D-map-raises-real-life-Atlantis-deep.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10880304

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
A 1700 years b.p. Roman cemetery from Leicester:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22404032

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered-130503.htm

http://www.latintimes.com/articles/3528/20130503/ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered-beneath-parking-lot-leicester-england.htm

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/03/18037962-ancient-roman-cemetery-unearthed-remains-of-13-found?lite

http://www.livescience.com/29294-ancient-roman-cemetery-discovered.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130503094130.htm

Moles have dug up some Roman artifacts at Epiacum Roman Fort:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-22363936

Evidence is emerging for Caesar being in Germany:

http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/cms/karwansaray/home/staff/readmore-general/8-ancient-warfare/ancient-warfare-blog/194-caesar-in-germania.html

A nice late Roman coin hoard from Norfolk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22346772

Fears over tree planting near Castleshaw’s Roman Fort:

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/80032/trees-row-takes-root-at-roman-site

Thessaloniki’s ‘Pompeii’ has been saved from relocation (we may

have had this already):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxdHCxtj8YiW8wojCOf1BU3vD7Hw?docId=CNG.dee249b2ecaee64df05f75980ec7a02b.6b1

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62287#.UYY-s0qnD8k

What David Soren is up to:

http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2013/05/ua-professor-forever-a-performer

Interview with Candida Moss about her lack-of-martyrdom tome:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/notre-dame-professor-tackles-myth-christian-martyrdom-151620492.html

Pondering the changing perceptions of the ancient world:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/04iht-melikian04.html?pagewanted=all

A Macedonian antiquities smuggling ring is broken up:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/macedonian-police-arrest-17-for-suspected-membership-of-antiquities-looting-gang/2013/05/01/83c6b6d4-b26b-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

Funding for the Vindolanda Trust:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-22410641

Bob Kaster has been inducted to the AAAS:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2013/04/30/33463/

Interesting feature on Athens’ National Archaeological Museum during WWII:

http://www.lifo.gr/mag/features/3728

OpEd on why people should know Plutarch:

http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/9254-why-plutarch-matters

Reviving Roman Pantomime:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130502/ENT/305020013/Binghamton-U-student-revives-lost-art-ancient-Roman-pantomime

Latest CSA newsletter:

http://csanet.org/newsletter/#spring13

Audio of the Ovationes and presidential address from the latest CAMWS meeting:

http://www.camws.org/News/index.php

Review of Aldo Schiavone’s *Spartacus*:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/may/09/pinning-down-spartacus/

More on the Qatar nude statue kerfuffle:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/30/180081353/qatar-covers-nude-statues-greeks-take-them-back

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10024654/Naked-Olympians-The-Greeks-are-right-to-stop-Qatari-cover-up.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/qatar-returns-statues-to-greece-after-row-over-nudity-8594642.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/28/qatar-returns-statues-greece-nudity

—–
Latest reviews from BMCR:

http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/recent.html

Visit our blog:

http://rogueclassicism.com/

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
200 years b.p. remains of a British soldier from a beach in the Netherlands:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22340193

Archaeologists are going to be poking around some Derbyshire gardens:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-22407674

Rethinking the purpose of those Viking sun-compasses:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-errors-viking-sun-compass-hint.html

Carbon tests for a skeleton in the hopes it will confirm it belonged to someone

in the Battle of Lewes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-22357869

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10386263.Ancient_Sussex_bones_may_be_warrior/

More digging is planned at that Richard III site:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-archaeologists-richard-iii-site.html

… while his reconstructed head is going on tour:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22322756

Feature on cannibalism in Europe:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Europes-Hypocritical-History-of-Cannibalism-204752351.html

Some bronze axes from the Vale of Glamorgan have been declared treasure:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-22397280

Big bucks for a gold Iron Age bracelet at auction:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318473/3-000-year-old-Iron-age-solid-gold-bracelet-sells-500-000-auction.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Plans to build a full-size replica of the Mayflower:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22358276

A major Viking exhibition (including a ship!) is coming to the British Museum:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/british-museum-to-display-largest-viking-ship-ever-discovered-following-135m-building-revamp-8595275.html

Oldest evidence of atmospheric pollution in Europe:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430092325.htm

The lengthy process of preserving the Mary Rose continues:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-22337881

Where Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote (maybe):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22311399

Vague item on plenty of finds from various periods made during dam construction in Portugal:

http://theportugalnews.com/news/dam-digs-archeological-finds-dating-millions-of-years/28260

Trying to keep the ‘later found’ bits associated with the Staffordshire Hoard with the
rest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-22359844

More on early use of fertilizer in Sweden:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316570/How-mans-green-fingered-First-fertilisers-5-000-year-old-gardens.html?ico=sciencetech%5Eheadlines

Review of Grehan and Mace, *The Battle of Hastings 1066*:

http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2013/05/battle-hastings-uncomfortable-truth

—–
Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://archaeology-in-europe.blogspot.com/

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Research suggests agriculture in China is some 12 000 years older (!) than previously

thought:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-agriculture-china-years.html

A pile of burials dating to 5000 – 6000 years b.p. in Northern Vietnam:

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20130105-24317.html

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/05/2013/140-ancient-burials-unearthed-in-northern-vietnam

The Indus Civilization might not have been so peaceful after all:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-indus-civilization-discoveries-harappa-archaeology-science/

The Met is returning some sculptures to Cambodia:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62353#.UYZSbUqnD8k

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/design/the-met-to-return-statues-to-cambodia.html

Some bronze heads looted from a Beijing palace in 1860 are being returned:

http://weibo.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/04/28/la-france-rend-a-la-chine-deux-bronzes-pilles-en-1860/

http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2013/04/29/Bronze-heads-looted-from-Beijing-palace-to-be-returned/UPI-81181367256687/

More on deliberate migration to Australia:

http://www.nature.com/news/first-australians-may-have-been-migrants-rather-than-drifters-1.12865

—–
East Asian Archaeology:

http://eastasiablog.wordpress.com/

Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog:

http://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
As might be expected, news of possible cannibalism at Jamestown dominated the

archaeological news this week:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Starving-Settlers-in-Jamestown-Colony-Resorted-to-Eating-A-Child-205472161.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22362831

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-scholars-cannibalism-jamestown-settlement.html

http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/smithsonian-and-preservation-virginia-reveal-startling-survival-story-historic-jamestown

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/01/smithsonian-new-evidence-shows-jamestown-colonists-ate-14-year-old-girls-brains/  (headline!)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/skeleton-of-teenage-girl-confirms-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony/2013/05/01/5af5b474-b1dc-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story_1.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23481-scarred-skull-reveals-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/opinion/consuming-colonists.html

More Tequesta people remains from along the Miami River:

http://wlrn.org/post/more-evidence-tequesta-civilization-unearthed-near-miami-river

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/30/3373505/archaeological-dig-on-miami-river.html

Archaeologists have located the site of Carr’s Fort in Georgia:

http://www.thecoastalsource.com/2013/04/30/archaeologists-discover-revolutionary-war-fort/

Logging equipment damages a site in California:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-halted-archaeological-site.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/02/5388345/forestry-protections-increased.html

Concerns for shipwrecks off Nova Scotia:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nova-scotia-shipwrecks-swallowed-by-sea-ignored-by-government/article11717862/

Interesting research into Stonewall Jackson’s moonlit death:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-celestial-sleuths-moon-death-stonewall.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0502/How-astronomy-solved-a-Civil-War-mystery

http://news.discovery.com/history/us-history/stonewall-jackson-death-mystery-130502.htm

Some interesting letters from Bradford:

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/04/28/living/century-old-letters-written-in-bradford-feature-lots-of-names/

================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Studying petroglyphs in northern Argentina:

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62162#.UYZbokqnD8k

A bunch of mysterious orbs beneath a pyramid at Teotihuacan (an offshoot

of last week’s coverage):

http://gizmodo.com/archaeologists-uncover-hundreds-of-mysterious-orbs-in-a-486026749

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2318151/Mystery-glowing-orbs-discovered-Temple-Feathered-Serpent-Mexico.html

More on the origins of the Maya:

http://scienceblog.com/62643/archaeologists-unearth-new-information-on-origins-of-maya-civilization/

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829156.000-earliest-mayan-monuments-unearthed-in-guatemala.html

—–
Mike Ruggeri’s Ancient Americas Breaking News:

http://goo.gl/1VdeA

Ancient MesoAmerica News:

http://ancient-mesoamerica-news-updates.blogspot.com/

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the history of smoking:

http://www.historytoday.com/stephen-coleman/background-smoking-growth-social-habit

Pondering/dismissing the Toba supervolcano-near-human-extinction theory:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22355515

Another feature on the Vatican Library’s digitization project:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/02/digitizing_history_82000manuscript_collection_vatican_library_goes_online.html

Possibly the earliest European depiction of Native Americans turns up in a Vatican fresco:

http://news.yahoo.com/native-americans-hid-vatican-more-500-years-190637615.html

Assorted ancient sites from satellite photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317119/Machu-Picchu-Stonehenge-Worlds-incredible-ancient-ruins-seen-space.html

On how humans have affected the earth:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23460-humans-indelible-stamp-on-earth-clear-5000-years-ago.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news

On coffee and history:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/24/178625554/how-coffee-influenced-the-course-of-history?sc=17&f=

Turkey and Gemany are arguing over antiquities:

http://www.dw.de/archaeology-strains-german-turkish-relations/a-16772755

Interesting online exhibit … Lowell Thomas and WWI in Palestine:

http://library.marist.edu/archives/LTtravelogues

Feature on Franck Goddio:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2070493/Marine-Indiana-Jones-Frank-Goddio-started-life-as-financial-advisor.html

A manuscript which once belonged to Montaigne:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-manuscript-discovery-montaignes-library.html

More on recordings of Alexander Graham Bell:

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-alexander-graham-bell-voice-scientists.html

================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Fortress Tzuba:

http://www.haaretz.com/travel-in-israel/beyond-masada/beyond-masada-a-short-climb-up-to-fortress-tzuba.premium-1.518203

Hadrianic Athens:

http://www.oyetimes.com/lifestyle/travel/41348-greece-hadrian-s-athens

================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Looting Matters:

http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/

Illicit Cultural Property:

http://illicit-cultural-property.blogspot.com/

SAFE:

http://www.savingantiquities.org/blog/

================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Latest issue of the e-Sylum:

http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v16n17.html

… and the one which will appear later today:

http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v16n18.html

The outcome of that fake dekadrachm dispute:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/23/56949.htm

——
Ancient Coin Collecting:

http://ancientcoincollecting.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coins:

http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/

Coin Week:

http://www.coinweek.com/

================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Last Days of Pompeii:

http://enjoy.ohio.com/art-review-the-last-days-of-pompeii-at-cleveland-museum-of-art-1.393181

Echoes of Egypt:

http://www.theday.com/article/20130505/ENT16/305059990/1044

Samurai:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/samurai-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston.html?ref=design

Discovering Medicine in the Golden Age of Islam:

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-debt-islam-medics-amazing.html

The lowest museum on earth is in the Jordan Valley:

http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/04/jordan-valley-boasts-the-lowest-museum-on-earth/

Feature on art collecting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/arts/artsspecial/As-Money-Props-Up-Art-World-Prospects-Are-Mixed.html?ref=arts

Feature on the AADLA Spring Show:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/art-and-antique-dealers-league-of-america-spring-show-nyc.html?ref=design

Assorted arts items of interest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/rooms-with-a-view-of-british-history.html?ref=design

================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Lohengrin:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/arts/02iht-loomis02.html

—-
Check out our Twitter hashtag for Ancient Drama reviews:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23ancientdrama

… and for Sword and Sandal flicks:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23swordandsandal

================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Kathryn Bosher:

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2013/04/29/campus/memorial-service-commemorates-classics-professor-kathryn-bosher-enthusiasm-research-teaching/

Helen Jacquet-Gordon:

http://oihistory.blogspot.ca/2013/04/helen-jacquet-gordon-7-february-1918-26.html

Henry Hope Reed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/arts/design/henry-hope-reed-architecture-historian-dies-at-97.html?ref=design

================================================================
AUDIO/VIDEO NEWS
================================================================
Audio News from Archaeologica:


================================================================
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
================================================================
Frontiers of the European Iron Age (September 20-22):

http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/iron_age/2013/index.html

PaleoAmerican Odyssey (October 17-19):

http://www.paleoamericanodyssey.com/

================================================================
GENERAL ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS BLOGS
================================================================
Archaeology Magazine News Page:

http://www.archaeology.org/news/

About.com Archaeology:

http://archaeology.about.com/

Ancient Digger:

http://www.ancientdigger.com/

Archaeology Briefs:

http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/

Past Horizons:

http://www.pasthorizons.com/

Stonepages:

http://www.stonepages.com/news/

Taygete Atlantis excavations blogs aggregator:

http://planet.atlantides.org/taygete/

Time Machine:

http://heatherpringle.wordpress.com/

================================================================
PODCASTS/VODCASTS
================================================================
Archaeosoup:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Archaeos0up?feature=watch

The Book and the Spade:

http://www.radioscribe.com/bknspade.htm

================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a free weekly newsletter bringing you the latest
news of archaeological finds, historical research and the like.
Various on-line news and magazine sources are scoured for news of
the ‘ancient world’ (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history up to World War II or so is fair
game) and every Sunday they are delivered to your mailbox free of
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Past issues of Explorator are available on the web via our
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To subscribe to Explorator, send a blank email message to:

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================================================================
Explorator is Copyright (c) 2013 David Meadows. Feel free to
distribute these listings via email to your pals, students,
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This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iv nonas maias

ante diem iv nonas maias

ED: Third Summer School in Greek Metrics and RhythmicsI

seen on the Classicists list:

SUMMER SCHOOL IN GREEK METRICS AND RHYTHMICS
www.uniurb.it/summerschool-gmr

In the week 2-6 September 2013 will take place in Urbino a Summer School in Greek Metrics and Rhythmic organized by the CISGA (Centro Internazionale di Studi sulla Cultura Greca Antica), the Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione e Discipline Umanistiche (DiSCUm) dell’Università di Urbino ‘Carlo Bo’, in cooperation with the Ente Regionale per il Diritto allo Studio Universitario diUrbino (E.R.S.U.) and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Soprintendenza per i Beni Storici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici delle Marche).

The courses are intended to provide a scholarly introduction to the study of metrics and rhythmics, musical culture in the ancient world, the principal issues connecting metrics to editing and textual criticism as well as the knowledge and skills necessary for confronting independently and critically the metrical and rhythmical interpretation of any text of ancient Greek poetry.

The course will consist of a number of traditional lessons, evening lectures, workshops with written test, and a final panel discussion, amounting to 36 hoursdistributed into 5 days. Italian and English will be the official languages spoken during the course.
The lessons will deal with the following themes:
– general principles and history of the discipline
– basic concepts of prosody
– meters of recited poetry and recitative
– lyric meters
– structures of versification
– transmission and critical tradition of poetic texts
– basic concepts of ancient music
Workshops will apply and investigate in depth themes dealt with in the lessons. The evening
lectures, particularly concerned with archaeology and history of ancient
music, are intended to implement the topics dealt with in the lessons.
The final panel discussion will confront specific themes chosen and proposed to the participants by the scholarly experts.

For further information please contact to:
Segreteria Organizzativa (M.rs Mercede Amaranti)
Summer School di Metrica e Ritmica Greca
Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione e Discipline Umanistiche (DiSCUm)
via Saffi, 15 (piano D)
61029 Urbino
Italy
Telephone number: +39 0722 305763; +39 0722 303550
E-mail: mercede.amaranti AT uniurb.it, liana.lomiento AT uniurb.it

On the Roman Diet

Interesting item from the Independent in the last couple of days … here’s the incipit:

Whatever your Classics teacher said to wake up slackers at the back of the class, the Roman diet in ancient times was not always a blow-out of tender larks’ tongues and roasted flamingo followed by a medicinal visit to the vomitorium.

Standard fare came from whatever was available in the larder or by handing over a few sestertii coins at their equivalent of our local chippy or burger bar.

“Baked dormice and roast parrot were occasionally found on the menu,” says Mark Grant, who has spent a lifetime researching the everyday food of the Roman Empire. “But only a few wealthy and bored Romans indulged in such excesses, and even then only on high days and holidays.

“This gave moralists and satirists something to moan about. It was headline stuff which they wrote about at great length. Reading these accounts today is a bit like eating a TV snack while watching Heston Blumenthal on the telly, concocting something extraordinary out of jellyfish that we’d never dream of cooking at home.”

That’s one of the reasons why Life and Death: Pompeii and Herculaneum, the sell-out exhibition at the British Museum, is so absorbing. It’s a snapshot in time, when Mount Vesuvius erupted AD79. Clouds of ash poured down from the sky, engulfing thousands of citizens in a tremendous blast of heat, fixing them at the moment of death.

Grant, 52, author of Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens, says: “The gold bracelet in the form of a coiled snake or the marble sculpture of the god Pan having sex with a she-goat are show-stoppers. But I go straight to the culina, or kitchen, with its equipment such as a colander or the pottery bottle for fish sauce. There are frescos showing a panel of fish, or a loaf of bread and two figs. [...]

… by the way, I’ve reread that intro a thousand times and still am not sure if the journalist believes in the ‘vomitory’ interpretation of Roman banquets … just in case you’re keeping score at home, here be the comparanda

Nuntii Latini (YLE)

The latest headlines:

Napolitano iterum praesidens Italiae

Moderatores Italiae politici praesidentem Giorgio Napolitano appellaverunt, ut ad crisim politicam solvendam candidatus praesidentatus esse dignaretur. Cum ille annuisset, delegatis parlamentariis sexto suffragio tandem contigit, ut praesidentem eligerent.

Napolitano, qui primus est praesidens Italiae iterum electus, ex mille septem (1007) votis septingenta duodequadraginta (738) accepit. Praesidens Napolitano, octoginta septem annos natus, anno bis millesimo sexto (2006) undecimus praesidens rei publicae Italiae in septem annos electus est. Iusiurandum praesidentiale eodem anno Idibus Maiis (15.5.) iuravit. Est primus praesidens Italiae, quod factionis communisticae membrum fuerat. Anno bis millesimo quinto (2005) senator in totam vitam nominatus est.

Alia: Iuvenis suspectus facinoris Bostoniensis captus est … Ictus territorum in Canada impeditus …An delator sit iudicibus tradendus

Classical Words of the Day

Latinitweets:

Pop Classics | Plebs: Saturnalia

Plebs: Saturnalia

CFP: Practicing Pantomime Project

An interesting project call seen on the Classicists list:

CLASSICISTS WANTED

for practice-based study of ancient dance

University of Oxford

We are looking for individuals with a background in classics or ancient history to participate in a research project involving the reconstruction of Roman tragic pantomime.

We are giving professional dancers 3 hours to create a dance piece based on a selection of source materials (images, text, music, and costume items) which will be provided. You will be working with a dancer to interpret the material and offer basic explanations of terms, themes, or characters in the piece. No specific knowledge of ancient dance is required. You will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about your experience at the end of the workshop.

You will be reimbursed for your time (£30) and travel expenses (up to £20).

This is an exciting opportunity to work creatively with dance practitioners on a collaboration between the Classics and Anthropology faculties. Please visit www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/TORCH/ancientdance for more details (*website goes live from May 1).

At this stage, workshop sessions are scheduled for May 14, May 17, May 27 & June 15, and there may also be additional future sessions. If you are interested in participating in the study or would like more information, please contact a member of the research team:

helen.slaney AT st-hildas.ox.ac.uk

sophie.bocksberger AT classics.ox.ac.uk

Parthenon/Elgin Marbles Debate

… seems to be about to heat up again. From Greek Reporter:

Deputy Minister of Culture Kostas Tzavaras is setting up a special committee to push for return of the marbles stolen from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, a British diplomat, more than 200 years and now housed in in the British Museum which has refused to return them.

The committee consists of Christofors Argyropoulos, the President of the Melina Mercouri Foundation, the Director-General of Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture and a diplomat that represents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The committee objects to make the state claim this national goal on a constant basis. We are now in position to overcome all of Britain’s objections to return the sculptures in their natural place from where they have been detached, because the argument that there is no space to put them does not exist anymore after the foundation and function of the Acropolis Museum,” Tzavaras said.

“We remain fixed in our position to claim a national goal that is introduced for the first time since the late Melina Mercouri as Minister of Culture of Greece in 1982 and we shape once again the request against the bothersome detachment of the monument’s parts under the argument that now the museum exists and after the placement of the sculptures back to their positions, the visitors will have the opportunity to see this as the original artworks ensemble,” Tzavaras added.

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem x kalendas maias

ante diem x kalendas maias

  • 178 A.D. — martyrdom of Epipodias at Lyons
  • 202 A.D. — martyrdom of Leonidas in Alexandria
  • 248 A.D. — second day of celebrations for Rome’s 1000th anniversary
  • ca 250 A.D. — martyrdom of Helimenas at Babylon

TOC | Mouseion

In the latest Mouseion:

  • Elephants, Alexander and the Indian Campaign
    Michael B. Charles
  • The Rules of Gift-Exchange: Catullus 12, 13, & 14
    Aven McMaster
  • Temples and Priests of Sol in the City of Rome
    Steven Hijmans
  • Dogs, Vines, and the Invention of Wine (Hecataeus 1 F 15 FGrHist)
    R. Drew Griffith

+ Varia and Book Reviews.

Abstracts available (and full text, if you have access) via Project Muse:

Mike Anderson’s Ancient History Blog | Dissecting Rome’s First Triumvirate – Part I

Dissecting Rome’s First Triumvirate – Part I

Hamas Threat to Roman Temple?

I’m never certain about stories such as this from this part of the world … from Arutz Sheva:

Israeli news outlets have ignored the imminent razing of an ancient Roman archaeological site by Hamas in Gaza, according to Israel Media Watch (IMW).

The terror group is building a military training site for terrorist purposes. To this end, it is partially destroying the ancient Anthedon Harbor—which includes the ruins of a Roman temple and archaeological remains from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras, and has been nominated as a World Heritage site.

UN Watch has protested the silence of UNESCO on the matter, and IMW is asking why Israeli media is silent, too.

No Hebrew language Israeli news outlet reported the item at all, said IMW.

IMW explained that the news has ramifications for the security of Israel’s southern border, but also has value-related and cultural ramifications relating to Hamas’ global image and status.

It estimates that giving the story publicity, addressing questions to the Israeli government and a loud public protest could have stopped Hamas’s move.

“By remaining silent, Israeli media is guilty of journalistic malfeasance and becomes a de facto partner in the destruction by Hamas, and the threat the base poses to Israel.

UN Watch, an independent Geneva-based monitoring group, has sent a letter to UNESCO, calling on the international body to take immediate action to stop Hamas from bulldozing the harbor.

… not sure why Israeli media should be singled out on this if it is true; shouldn’t all media should be all over this? In any event, here’s UNESCO’s description of the site

Sourcing Roman Glass

Interesting item from Chemistry World … in medias res:

[...]
Different antimony ores have slightly different antimony isotope ratios and researchers in Belgium and the UK have developed an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method to detect and quantify these tiny differences. By analysing samples of Roman glass, the team hope to uncover clues about how the glass was made and the geographical provenance of the raw materials.

Initial results suggest antimony ores from at least two locations were used to make the Roman glass being analysed. ‘We hope to be able to geographically localise these sources and, thus, reveal information as to the origin of antimony used for thousands of years in the art of making glass,’ says Frank Vanhaecke from Ghent University, who led the research. By performing isotope analysis on a series of elements found in glass the team ultimately want to reveal the origin of various starting materials and reconstruct the entire glass manufacturing process and associated trade routes. [...]

… if you’d like to read a techy abstract of the research: Isotopic analysis of antimony using multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry for provenance determination of Roman glass, in the  Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry …

I suspect an offshoot of this will be that we learn that a pile of the Roman glass we have is of modern production …

Theoreti.ca | Digital Classics Symposium in Buffalo

Digital Classics Symposium in Buffalo

Latin for Addicts | The Vocative Case: Declension

The Vocative Case: Declension

N.S. Gill | Cerealia

Cerealia

Laudator Temporis Acti | The Proverb Nulla Dies Sine Linea

The Proverb Nulla Dies Sine Linea

Blogging Pompeii: Sad news: Death of Annamaria Ciarallo

Sad news: Death of Annamaria Ciarallo

CFP: Calpurnius Flaccus’ Declamations

Seen on the Classicists’ list:

CALPURNIUS FLACCUS’ DECLAMATIONS, CALL FOR PAPERS,
PARIS, FEBRUARY 13-14th 2014
https://sites.google.com/site/readingromandeclamation/home

Speakers include:
Michael Winterbottom, Oxford
Christopher van den Berg, Amherst
Lewis Sussman, Florida
Catherine Schneider, Strasbourg
Andra Balbo, Torino
and
Danielle Van Mal-Maeder, Lausanne
as well as
Sylvie Franchet d’Espèrey, Paris IV (as chairs)

Abstracts of no more than 300 words for 30 min papers in English or
French should be sent to :
roman.declamation AT gmail.com

by the deadline of 30th May 2013.

PROJECT: READING ROMAN DECLAMATION

Recently scholars have lavished their attention on controversiae and suasoriae and have allowed
these genres to leave their corners of neglect. Naturally, when placed into its socio-historical
context the body of declamations that has come
down to us (Seneca the Elder, Ps.-Quintilian and Calpurnius Flaccus) echoes its cultural, social and
literary background. These texts are not independent and have to be read within their contexts,
but at the same time they also constitute a genre on their own, the rhetorical and literary
framework of which remains not yet fully explored. What are the poetics of declamatio?

As a genre situated at the cross-road of rhetoric and fiction, declamatio offers a kind of freedom
and ability to experiment new forms of discourse, and calls for both a technical and literary
analysis. If one places the literariness of declamatio into the spotlight, it becomes possible to study
it as a realm of genuine literary creation with its own theoretical underpinning – rather than simply
reading it as a gratuitous practice mimicking the practice of real
orators.

For this project, we are holding three events, focussing on one author at a time (Seneca the Elder
2012, Montpellier; Quintilian 2013, Sao Paulo). This call of papers is for the final event in the series
concentrating on the oeuvre of Calpurnius Flaccus.

Organising committee:
Martin Dinter (KCL and University of Sao Paulo (FAPESP))
Charles Guerin (Monpellier and Institut universitaire de France)
Marcos Martinho (University of Sao Paulo)

Guest post: Contemplating the end(s) of scholarship (HUMANITIES TODAY)

Reblogged from Title under construction:

Click to visit the original post

“Well-manned flower of holy Athens”: Aristarchus claims that the song is dithyrambic because it includes the story of Cassandra and he entitles it “Cassandra”, and he says that Callimachus made a mistake in classing it among the Paeans, not understanding that the refrain is common to dithyrambs also; similarly Dionysius of Phaselis. (P.Oxy. 2368, col. i)

You`ve just read a fragment of an ancient Greek scholarly commentary on the poems of Bacchylides, conserved on the scraps of a 2nd century AD papyrus.

Read more… 674 more words

[This seems worth reblogging (I don't think I've ever made use of that facility in Wordpress) ... dm]
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