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explorator 8.06 June 5, 2005
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Editor's note: Most urls should be active for at least eight
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For your computer's protection, Explorator is sent in plain text
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Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Bill Kennedy, Adrian Murdoch, Dave
Sowdon, Francis Deblauwe, Donna Hurst, Glenn Meyer, Hernan
Astudillo, Gene Barkley, Joanne Conman, John McMahon, Joseph
Lauer, Malcolm G. Manford, Mata Kimasitayo, Michael Oberndorf,
Rochelle Altman, Richard C. Griffiths, Rick Pettigrew, Susan
Jaslow, Mike Ruggeri, W. Richard Frahm, and Yonatan Nadelman
for headses upses this week (as always hoping I have left no
one out).

nb. 1: last week I identified (for reasons unknown) a dispute
over some aboriginal artifacts as being in New Zealand; it
should have been Australia (thanks to Richard Palmer for the
correction)

nb. 2: One of the slowest weeks ever ...

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AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA
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Some cuneiform tablets and a royal seal were found in Syria:

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050602/2005060212.html

An unusual statue of Neferhotep I was found this week:

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=339407
http://tinyurl.com/cdaqr (La Tercera)

Brief/vague item on what was found at the Tekke (Cyprus) dig
this year:

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=20264&cat_id=1

Interesting (in the wake of the news from Cyprus a few weeks
back) that Iran has now found more evidence of its wine-making
past:

http://tinyurl.com/8mx4m (Daily Star)

Also from Iran comes news of a 2800 b.p. burial of a guy
sporting earrings:

http://www.payvand.com/news/05/may/1250.html

... and a burial of some Magi at Qom:

http://tinyurl.com/89lyh (Iranmania)

In what is possibly a major find (which hopefully we'll hear
more about) archaeologists have found a burial of a Bronze
Age 'lord' and his retainers near the place where that Nebra
Sky Disk was found:

http://tinyurl.com/cscbp (Mail and Guardian)

Somewhat vague item on the discovery of some 'Greco-Romanian'
warehouses in the Fayyoum:

http://tinyurl.com/bcbvn (EEDN)

They keep finding remains of a Roman harbour on Malta:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=188653

A find of some Celtic coins dating back to the time of Julius
Caesar:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8086469/
http://tinyurl.com/cbyjd (News24)
http://tinyurl.com/9qkbm (AP via Yahoo)

Records of Sakimori warriors were found in Japan's Saga
prefecture:

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050530/kyodo/d8adbrlg0.html

They exhumed king Sandile this week:

http://www.dispatch.co.za/2005/06/02/Easterncape/bdig.html
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THE AMERICAS
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Interesting ideas about child sacrifice among the Incas (possibly
a repeat):

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1379822.htm

... I note the original JAA article is online:

http://tinyurl.com/8yv5b

Geotimes has a good article on Maya salt production:

http://www.geotimes.org/june05/NN_mayasalt.html

A brief item in the Italian press (I haven't found this in an
English source, I don't think) on the discovery of some 6000
year old mummies in Chile:

http://www.basilicatanet.it/news/article.asp?id=336170

Looking beneath the Reno-Benteen battlefield site:

http://tinyurl.com/9fggw (Gazette)

A major site with various periods of occupation is being
excavated near Reno:

http://tinyurl.com/8rsru (Gazette-Journal)

A 6000-8000 b.p. site in Wisconsin:

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/local/index.php?ntid=41976

So they build a Heritage Research Center in Yellowstone
and, of course, find a burial:

http://tinyurl.com/duldb (Gazette)

More from that Port Angeles excavation:

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11787188.htm
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11787221.htm
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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Here's the closest we can come to 'on the DNA' front stories
this week (somewhat tangential to Explorator's purview):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4602739.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4559253.stm

... a bit closer is a piece on tracing the ancestry of corn:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104207

Humans probably weren't to blame for the demise of 'mega beasts'
in Australia:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4594793.stm

Islamic brassmakers in the 17th century were more advanced
than their European counterparts:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/lu-sib052505.php

A Parthian/Sassanid Dictionary is in the works:

http://heritage.chn.ir/en/news/?id=5275
http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=189793

Napoleon was apparently poisoned:

http://tinyurl.com/9bogs (AFP via Yahoo)

Some sober second thought (as we say up here in Canada) on the
POxy announcements of late:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/arts/design/30papy.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/31/features/hype.php
http://tinyurl.com/bya5t (Washington Post)

Dam development is threatening sites in Sudan:

http://tinyurl.com/eyqmp (NYT)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/30/news/sudan.php

Interesting piece on the activities of the Academie Francaise
(note in passing ... why do all major dictionary projects seem
to be reported on with the phrase "they have only reached P"?):

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/books/31acad.html

... and an interesting sidenote on their uniforms:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/books/31unif.htm

On the pigments used by Gutenberg in his Bible:

http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/boletim_dentro.php?id=3711 (Portuguese)

Songs from Shakespeare ... via Canada's Barenaked Ladies:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4678701

They won't be filming a movie version of the DaVinci Code in
Westminster Abbey:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050531/en_nm/religion_davinci_col

... but the new Indiana Jones movie seems to be a go:

http://586.typepad.com/hecklerspray/2005/05/indy_4_script_a.html

Touristy thing on Libya:

http://tinyurl.com/dqryl (Globe and Mail)

... and Aphrodisias:

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20050530072058778

Cashing in on cultural stuff at the mouth of the Amazon:

http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/boletim_dentro.php?id=3794
(Portuguese)

Interesting piece on David Roberts' travels in Egypt:

http://tinyurl.com/cjt2q

China is celebrating/commemorating Zheng He's voyages:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4593717.stm

Some interesting eye candy:

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ga&id=99&aid=3191

... more:

http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Solar-Analemma.htm

The Scots diet was apparently healthier in the fifteenth
century:

http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=610862005

An unsigned painting by de la Tour was identified this week:

http://tinyurl.com/93wok (AP via Yahoo)

The Telegraph has an interview with Umberto Eco:

http://tinyurl.com/d7b9g
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MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
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Biblical Archaeology Review (May/June 2005):

http://www.bib-arch.org/bswb_BAR/indexBAR.html

Best of Sicily:

http://www.bestofsicily.com/magazine.htm
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ON THE WEB
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Digital History:

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

Engines of Our Ingenuity:

http://www.uh.edu/engines/

Monticello Explorer:

http://explorer.monticello.org/index.html

Southern Gold Society:

http://www.southerngoldsociety.org/

Soprintendenza Archeologica Bologna (has some dig diary type
things):

http://www.archeobo.arti.beniculturali.it/
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ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY CHANNEL
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Voices from Shiloh's Mound:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/
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CRIME BEAT
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More on the Marion True case:

http://tinyurl.com/cgh47 (Age)

A couple of "foreign" smugglers were caught in China this week:

http://tinyurl.com/cnqrw (China Daily)

Neil MacGregor has an editorialish thing in the Art Newspaper on
the looting of the Baghdad Museum and what should be done:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11804

cf: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050603-121944-8610r.htm

Another government attempts to deal with looters:

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=47693

Police nabbed some guys smuggling Jiroft artifacts (may be a
repeat):

http://tinyurl.com/7sykx (Iranmania)
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BOOK REVIEWS
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Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence, *Pompeii: The Living City*:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1635119,00.html

A couple books on the fall of the Roman Empire:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1635117,00.html

Tom Standage, *A History of the World in Six Glasses*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/books/30masl.html

James Shapiro, *1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare*:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1635094,00.html

Atallah Mansour, *Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence
in the Holy Land Under Muslim and Jewish Rule*:

http://tinyurl.com/cwfn6 (JPost)
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DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
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Robert Sarmast is trying to raise funds for his Atlantis
thing:

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=20186&cat_id=1
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EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
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Genghis Khan and His Heirs:

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=190256

Hype for the upcoming Tut exhibition:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8099820/site/newsweek/

Iranian Manuscript Painting:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/03/features/melik4.php

Digitally Reconstructing the Otto Ege Manuscripts:

http://library.usask.ca/ege/general.html

A bunch of old atlases will be coming to auction at Sotheby's
in the fall:

http://tinyurl.com/cx3gp (BBC)

The Dumas Brothel Museum:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/national/30butte.html
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CLASSICIST'S CORNER
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Review of 'Shadow of Rome' (PS2):

http://www.netjak.com/review.php/911

'Roman' gladiators in action:

http://tinyurl.com/clwmy (Peterborough Today)

Benefits of Latin:

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11812584.htm

Another church loses its Latin mass:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/national/31latin.html

Please visit our blog:

http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/

Please visit Classics Central (our incipient forum ... 'grand
opening' next week):

http://s9.invisionfree.com/Classics_Central/
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REPEATS
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First People in America:

http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/boletim_dentro.php?id=3755 (Portuguese)

First Hominids in Europe:

http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/boletim_dentro.php?id=3740 (Portuguese)

Food from Pompeii:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050530/trattoria.html

Archimedes Palimpsest:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050530/archimedes.html

Time Magazine article on finds from Bulgaria:

http://tinyurl.com/cuwa4
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OTHER SOURCES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
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About.com Ancient History (blog):
http://ancienthistory.about.com/

About.com Archaeology (blog):
http://archaeology.about.com/mbody.htm

Archaeologica:
http://www.archaeologica.org/NewsPage.htm

Archaeology in Europe (blog):
http://archaeology.eu.com/weblog/

Archaeology Magazine's Newsbriefs:
http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=0305/newsbriefs/index

Bible and Interpretation Breaking News:
http://www.bibleinterp.com/news.htm

CBA Newsfeed:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/newsfeed/index.html

CBA Archaeoblog:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/archaeoblog/

Classics in Contemporary Culture (blog):
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mhooker/ccc.html

Cronaca (blog):
http://www.cronaca.com/

Egyptology News (blog):
http://www.egyptology.blogspot.com/

Francis Deblauwe's 'Iraq War and Archaeology' site:
http://iwa.univie.ac.at/

Maritime Underwater Archaeological News:
http://www.munarchaeology.com/munarchaeology/news/main.htm

Megalithic Portal
http://www.megalithic.co.uk

Michael Ruggeri's Ancient America and Mesoamerica News:
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/MIKERUGGERISANCIENT

Mirabilis.ca (blog):
http://www.mirabilis.ca

Paleojudaica (blog):
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com

Stone Pages Archaeo News:
http://www.stonepages.com/news/

Texas A&M Anthropology News Site:
http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.html

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