================================================================
explorator 11.16 August 10, 2008
================================================================
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!!!
================================================================
================================================================
Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon, Diana Wright,
Donna Hurst, Edward Rockstein, Rick Heli, Hernan Astudillo,
John McMahon, Mike Ruggeri, Rochelle Altman, Tim Parkin,
Ross W. Sargent, Toke Lindegaard Knudsen, and W. Richard Frahm
for headses upses this week (as always hoping I have left no one out).
================================================================
EARLY HUMANS
================================================================
Different journalists seem to be spinning this Neanderthal DNA
(and how much is shared with modern humans, if any) in different
ways:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-neanderthal-murder-mystery-888276.\
html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080807/tsc-us-anthropology-genetic-germany-e123fe\
f.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807130824.htm
http://www.france24.com/en/20080807-first-neanderthal-genome-sequenced-anthropol\
ogy-research
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/07/neanderthal-dna.html

How early hominids might have fared at the Olympics:

http://tinyurl.com/6zgx6o
================================================================
AFRICA
================================================================
DNA is shedding light on when animal herding methods arrived in
southern Africa:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804190635.htm
http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/618166.html
================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Remains of a Byzantine olive oil press in northern Israel:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/08/Byzantine_olive_press_found_in_Israel/UPI\
-72561218220633/
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0808/S00097.htm
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331213268&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti\
cle%2FShowFull
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127106

Canaanite soldier burial in Sidon:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24141145-23109,00.html
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=94781

Humans were using milk some 2000 years earlier than previously
thought:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080806-prehistoric-dairy.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/0\
8/06/scidairy106.xml
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2008/5845.html
http://www.livescience.com/history/080806-milk-history.html

They're going to do some DNA testing on those fetuses found in
Tut's tomb:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/egypt_tutankhamun_dc
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/06/africa/ME-Egypt-King-Tuts-Fetuses.php
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-06-tut-fetuses_N.htm
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aNyqi_ylSNPA&refer=canada
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/06/content_9000723.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/06/tut-children.html
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUrpC3Kol6I-ebbUlLTwpNw4dhIwD92CVIJ00
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJjHl1AZHMawBftGQReGni_B8_-g
http://tinyurl.com/5plofc
http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?afid=1&aid=26056598
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080806/sc_nm/egypt_tutankhamun_dc_1
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/l6662418-egypt-tutankhamun/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7546041.stm

Results of the 2008 excavations at Tel Kabri:

http://digkabri.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/preliminary-results-of-the-2008-season-\
at-tel-kabri/

Recent finds at Ephesus:

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=111785

An overview of the excavations at Sardis:

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=110758

I think we've had this Jericho-bones-and-TB story before:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218104249114&pagename=JPArticle/Show\
Full

More coverage of Gedaliah's seal:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/archaeology.brings.biblical.history.to.lif\
e/21144.htm
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71386
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127048

Egyptology News Blog:

http://egyptology.blogspot.com/

Egyptology Blog:

http://www.egyptologyblog.co.uk/

Dr Leen Ritmeyer's Blog:

http://blog.ritmeyer.com/

Paleojudaica:

http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/

Persepolis Fortification Archives:

http://persepolistablets.blogspot.com/

Archaeologist at Large:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/ArchaeologyinEgypt/
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Quite a bit of press for the discovery of a Thracian chariot in a
tomb in Bulgaria:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1830563,00.html
http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/1098055,CST-NWS-chariot08.article
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/251808.php
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_sc/sci_bulgaria_ancient_chariot_4
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=nw20080806123015\
589C395782
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/223795,bulgarian-archaeologists-unearth-\
thracian-carriage.html
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYFRNauWODhgpDRjZfG9KdQoX7ewD92DDRAO0
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/07/bulgaria-chariot.html

French archaeologists have found remains of a large city in
Afghanistan which may have been 'founded' by Alexander:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/252026.php
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/112318/Archaeologists-uncover-ancient-city-in-Afghan\
istan
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=nw20080808072546864C\
322942
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5933277.html

Brief mention of a Dacian necropolis find:

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/roundup/2008/\
08/04/roundup-st-03

Recent finds at Ephesus:

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=111785

An overview of the excavations at Sardis:

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=110758

Brief item on some finds at Cannae:

http://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/GdM_dallapuglia_NOTIZIA_PROV_01.asp?IDNot\
izia=208386&IDCategoria=292

Roman villa at Caserta:

http://www.interno18.it/attualita/3602/ritrovata-una-villa-romana-di-epoca-imper\
iale

Claim that Cleopatra's mummy is in Paris:

http://allaboutegypt.org/2008/08/is-the-mummy-of-cleopatra-buried-in-paris/

The usual cheating-at-the-ancient-Olympics piece:

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Olympics/idUSL655603720080808

Metal detectorists came across a Roman ring at Dunnington:

http://www.pocklingtonpost.co.uk/news/Roman-ring-is-unearthed-in.4341055.jp

The BAS has made available a free ebook on the ancient Olympics:

http://www.bib-arch.org/olympics/

More coverage of evidence for embalming Greece:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080804/sc_livescience/greekmummyfoundinlea\
dcoffin
http://www.livescience.com/history/080804-greek-embalming.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730155631.htm

More on the Antikythera Mechanism:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731143422.htm

Pompeii state of emergency:

http://www.france24.com/en/20080801-archeologu-italy-pompei-site-emergency-state

Recent reviews from BMCR:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/recent.html

Recent reviews from Scholia:

http://www.classics.ukzn.ac.za/reviews/2008.htm

Visit our blog:

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

Blegen Library News:

http://blegen.blogspot.com/

Mediterranean Archaeology:

http://medarch.blogspot.com/
================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
A metal detectorist found a very nice gold Anglo-Saxon cross:

http://tinyurl.com/6zzelp (DM)
http://tinyurl.com/5jzqcm (Telegraph)

More/better coverage of that Iron Age burial mentioned last week ...
it appears to have Roman connections:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080808-british-warrior.html

Rethinking the Picts:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-about-the-picts-886098.html

Castell Aberlleiniog has been 'saved':

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7541373.stm

Remains of the theatre where some of Shakespeare's earlier plays
were presented may have been found:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4466781.ece
http://tinyurl.com/5hdo83 (AFP)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7544616.stm
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iD0LW5lL8cgD06UGf6x4C-CGDQUg
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/21489/theatre-where-shakespeares-wo\
rk-premiered
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_sc/britain_finding_shakespeare_3
http://www.france24.com/en/20080806-united-kingdom-shakespeare-theatre-archeolog\
y-london
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/07/DDDV1268ND.DTL
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/theater/07arts-FIRSTSHAKESP_BRF.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/weekinreview/10isherwood.html

Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog/index.html
================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Another ancient temple becomes part of that Thai-Cambodia dispute:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/060808_News/06Aug2008_news97.php

Carbon dating of a 'european' skull from New Zealand predates
Cook's arrival (?):

http://tinyurl.com/5nq3s5 (Telegraph)

More (somewhat late) coverage of those early oil paintings from
Afghanistan:

http://www.france24.com/en/20080802-behind-afghanistans-dynamited-buddhas-archae\
ology-art

Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog:

http://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
Some (possibly very old) bones from Thayer (Mo.):

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/26299019.html

Finds from various periods in rock shelters along the Potomac:

http://www.gazette.net/stories/08062008/potonew211252_32456.shtml

Overviewish sort of thing on shipwrecks in the Great Lakes:

http://tinyurl.com/6x6my3

Update on the restoration of St. John the Divine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/nyregion/20nave.html

The oil boom threatens some Anasazi sites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/us/02artifacts.html
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Last year we were learning the secrets of Maya blue ... now it's
Maya green:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article4473373.ece

Some Toltec burials:

http://ancient-mesoamerica-news-updates.blogspot.com/2008/08/ancient-mesoamerica\
-news-updates-2008.html

What rock art in Peru tells us:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804111634.htm
http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cfm?_rss=1&fuseaction=readrelease&releaseid=53\
1328

Mike Ruggeri's Ancient Americas Breaking News:

http://web.mac.com/michaelruggeri

Ancient MesoAmerica News:

http://ancient-mesoamerica-news-updates.blogspot.com/
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
I don't follow this one at all ... ancient craft traditions are
helping develop computer networks or something like that:

http://www.physorg.com/news137258418.html
http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_87272_en.html
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/19831/53/

Pondering August:

http://www.slate.com/id/2196776/

... and gout:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Nicholson-t.html

... and the survival of Hebrew:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/world/middleeast/08hebrew.html

Building the hype for the Oxford carbon testing of the Shroud of
Turin:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/science/2008/0807/1217984176474.html

... and for that Phoenician-boat-circumnavigation-of-Africa thing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7550162.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7550871.stm (video)

On the importance of whaling, once upon a time:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/nyregion/03towns.html

Berlusconi messed with a Tiepolo painting:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/05/europe/italy.php

Ranking artworks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/arts/design/04pica.html

They're commemorating the find of the Venus of Willendorf:

http://tinyurl.com/6hysuk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_sc/sci_austria_voluptuous_venus

In the wake of the 'pardon' of the Knights Templar, some group is
trying to claim its assets:

http://tinyurl.com/5uxtxq (Telegraph)

Haven't heard from/about the Flat Earth types for a while:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7540427.stm

British historians are apparently the best:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4\
386358.ece

Review of Simon Critchley, *The Book of Dead Philosophers*:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/09/philosophy.history

Review of Ammon Shea, *Reading the OED*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Baker-t.html

Review of Stanley Plumly, *Posthumous Keats*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/books/08book.html

Review of Tom Vanderbilt, *Traffic*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/books/review/Roach-t.html

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Lives of the Week:

http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/

Arts and Letters Daily:

http://aldaily.com/

Past Preservers:

http://pastpreservers.blogspot.com/
================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Sicily:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/7/story.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10525447

Vermont:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/08vermont.html
================================================================
DIG DIARIES/BLOGS
================================================================
[please send in suggestions! current digs only please!]

Tel Kadesh:

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/kelseymuseum.digdiary/read_our_blog

Tel Dan:

http://teldan.wordpress.com/

Hopkins in Egypt Today:

http://www.jhu.edu/egypttoday/index.html
================================================================
GENERAL MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
================================================================
About.com Archaeology:

http://archaeology.about.com/

Archaeorama:

http://blogs.discovery.com/news_archaeorama/

Archaeoblog:

http://archaeoblog.blogspot.com/

Archaeology Briefs:

http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/
================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
A multinational team of smugglers who worked in Romania are
going to trial:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/251753.php

... while another arrest has been made in a Picasso (and others)
theft in Brazil a few months ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/design/08arts-ASECONDARRES_BRF.html

Some manuscripts are missing from Calcutta's National Library:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7542622.stm

Predictions of an increase in Nazi-loot art claims:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=adyb.XZjyNeY&refer=muse

Egypt has recovered a purloined bit of statuary from the Netherlands:

http://www.pr-inside.com/egypt-gets-3000-year-old-statue-back-r736875.htm

I think we mentioned this Caravaggio-theft-from-the-Ukraine before:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/arts/design/06arts-ACARAVAGGIOI_BRF.html

Looting Matters:

http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Ancient Coin Collecting:

http://ancientcoincollecting.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coins:

http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Livia:

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Altro/?id=1.0.2391860943

Bernini:

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=25436
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=98f99e0c-78f5-441f-89e9-d7099b\
0d5d63
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/design/08bern.html

Hadrian:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/articl\
e4470548.ece

Durer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/design/08dure.html

Society of the Dilettanti:

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=25451

Dead Sea Scrolls:

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=262024

DaVinci:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7544819.stm

Royal books:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7543242.stm

Lure of the East:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/02/arts/MELIK2.php

Kenya is the latest to claim things from the British Museum:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10525103
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/kenya-tells-museums-give-our-hist\
ory-back-883777.html

Italy is going to tear down some bits of the Ara Pacis museum:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a8KrBSUmaUGI&refer=muse

Due to loss of funding, Fort Ticonderoga is considering selling
some artifacts:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_en_bu/fort_ticonderoga_finances
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fort-Ticonderoga-Finances.html
================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Radamisto:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/arts/music/04figa.html

Othello:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/theater/reviews/09shake.html
================================================================
ON THE WEB
================================================================
Book Trade Labels:

http://sevenroads.org/Bookish.html
================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Pierre Beres ("Tenacious" book collector):

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/world/europe/03beres.html
================================================================
DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
================================================================
Jesus apparently played cricket (sounds more like hockey to me):

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/08/08/1218139059829.html
================================================================
PODCASTS
================================================================
The Book and the Spade:

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

The Dig:

http://www.thedigradio.com/

Stone Pages Archaeology News:

http://news.stonepages.com/

Archaeologica Audio News:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/AudioNews.asp
================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a weekly newsletter representing the fruits of
the labours of 'media research division' of The Atrium. Various
on-line news and magazine sources are scoured for news of the
ancient world (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history prior to about 1700 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:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/

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

Explorator-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to:

Explorator-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

To send a 'heads up' to the editor or contact him for other
reasons:

rogueclassicist@...
================================================================
Explorator is Copyright (c) 2008 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
email source) without my express written permission. I think it
is only right that I be made aware of public fora which are
making use of content gathered in Explorator. Thanks!
================================================================