================================================================
explorator 12.11 July 5, 2009
================================================================
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,Donna Hurst, 'Duke Jason',
Edward Rockstein,Hernan Astudillo,John McMahon, Joseph Lauer,
Mata Kimasitayo,Mike Ruggeri,Colleen Morgan, Richard C. Griffiths,
Jim Lockmiller,Bob Heuman, Jona Lendering, Rick Pettigrew,
and Ross W. Sargent for headses upses this week (as always
hoping I have left no one out).

n.b.: after my debacle this a.m. with tech problems, I lost my
template that I usually use for Explorator; I had an old one
kicking around, but thought it best to remove the links to
blogs for now (many on that template were long out of date); they'll
return at some point in the near future. The dig blogs section
is still active.

n.b.2: I've tried to reconstruct what I lost this a.m., but
some links may have completely vanished into the ether. No offense
intended if I left out something you sent in!
================================================================
EARLY HUMANS
================================================================
A fossil from Myanmar is rekindling 'missing link' discussions:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090702/ap_on_sc/as_sci_myanmar_primate_fossil_4

The early-humans-with-a-taste-for-children story is still making
the rounds:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/5624301/First-Europeans-were-cannibals\
-with-taste-for-children.html
================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
A military town/garrison dating 26th Dynasty has been found in
Ismailiya:

http://drhawass.com/blog/press-release-fortified-garrison-town-discovered-northe\
astern-delta
http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/EgyptOnline/Culture/000002/0203000000000000001174.htm

Interviewish thing with Mark Lehner about his work around the
pyramids:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/science/stories/2009/06/28/sci_Egyptologist\
.ART_ART_06-28-09_G3_MNE9H7A.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/science/stories/2009/06/28/sci_Egyp\
tologist.ART_ART_06-28-09_G3_MNE9H7A.html?sid=101

The IAA and IDF are working together to protect sites:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246296530569&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti\
cle%2FShowFull
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/167179
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/167217
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=44167

Archaeologists have studied and restored Sassanid inscriptions found
on the Paikuli Tower:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=99355&sectionid=3510212

Recent finds from Persepolis (sorry ... only in Italian for some
reason):

http://www.sabatoseraonline.it/home_ssol.php?site=1&n=articles&category_id=15&ar\
ticle_id=118862&l=it

Iran's oldest intact Elamite jar burial is on the move:

http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=1:\
news-july-2009&id=51:elamite-jar-burial-transferred-to-haft-tappeh-museum

Recent finds from Siraf:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=99792&sectionid=351020108

More coverage of that intact Canaanite tomb from Bethlehem:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/23/tomb-found-bethlehem.html

Some nice photos from that cave/quarry from Jericho:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/photogalleries/underground-cave-\
israel-photos/index.html

... if you're curious what I think about claims about a Roman 'flag'
claimed to be inscribed therein:

http://rogueclassicism.com/2009/07/02/jericho-quarry-that-legionary-banner-not/


Gohar Tepe has a website (in German):

http://www.vaa.fak12.uni-muenchen.de/Gohar/index.html
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
One of the big stories this week was about the claimed identification
of bones belonging to St. Paul (maybe):

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4442169,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3371
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/29/st-paul-vatican-pope
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196439/Have-body-St-Paul.html
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=33944
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE55R22O20090628
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/28/world/AP-EU-Vatican-Pope.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062801356.\
html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090628/sc_nm/us_italy_saint_bone_1
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre55r22o-us-italy-saint-bone/

cf:
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1486637.php/No_proof_\
that_Vatican_bones_are_St_Pauls_says_Dutch_expert_

Also on the Pauline front, the oldest image of the saint has been
located after laser cleaning in the catacomb of St. Thecla:

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/News/Cronaca/?id=3.0.3477888218
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre55r0zw-us-italy-saint/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5675461/O\
ldest-image-of-St-Paul-discovered.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE55R0ZW20090628

The other major story (which could/should have been filed under
ANE) concerns the rerevealing of the Lod Mosaic:

http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1574\
&module_id=#as
http://www.antiquities.org.il/LOd_live_stream_eng.asp
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132154
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/01/ancient-roman-floor-mosai_n_223717.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivajcK7cUGARiQw2qcUaOcMOvtZQD9\
95LO0G1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ml-israel-ancient-mosaic,1,2\
927764.story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31686995/ns/technology_and_science-science/
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Lod_mosaic_to_be_r\
e-exposed_1-Jul-2009.htm

Bulgarian archaeologists/speleologists have found a "second Peperikon":

http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2009-07-01&article=27969
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=105236

Recent finds at the Villa of the Mysteries:

http://www.torresette.it/legginews.asp?idnotizia=6439
http://www.agi.it/ultime-notizie-page/200906301719-cro-rom1083-archeologia_nuovi\
_ambienti_scoperti_a_pompei

Concerns for the preservation of Colchester Roman Circus:

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/4466736.Builder_backs_preservation_of_Roman_C\
ircus/

Roman road in Huddersfield:

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2009/07/04/roman-road-d\
iscovery-is-missing-link-in-huddersfield-history-86081-24071033/

Digging has resumed at Arbeia Roman Fort:

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Unearthing-more-of-Arbeia39s-secrets.5375893.\
jp

A Roman well from Chester:

http://www.chestereveningleader.co.uk/news/Roman-well-unearthed-on-Chester.54238\
52.jp

An Etruscan necropolis from Foggia:

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=3.0.3501111349

On the DNA front, there is apparently no connection between the
Etruscans and modern
day Tuscans:

http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/89111.html
http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-07-03_103376095.html

Some usually-closed monuments in Rome are going to be open this summer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/arts/design/04forum.html

Identifying the hands behind ancient inscriptions:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17405-computer-reveals-stone-tablet-handwr\
iting-in-a-flash.html

Review of Adrian Goldsworthy, *How Rome Fell*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/books/review/Tracy-t.html

Review of Sarah Ruden's Aeneid translation:

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=31&a=405\
797

Review of David Watkin, *The Roman Forum*:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/articl\
e6615580.ece?&EMC-Bltn=JLZFYA
================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
A Neolithic site from Bulgaria:

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=105092

another:

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=105276

A possible 15th-century knight burial from Stirling Castle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8124109.stm

Folks might be disappointed to learn that the medieval Scots fought
in urine-dyed shirts and not tartans:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/scotland/5675615/Scots-fough\
t-in-bright-yellow-war-shirts-not-Braveheart-kilts.html


More (better) coverage of those Bronze Age/Neolithic remains at
Loughbrickland:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/co-down-dig-reveals-a-prehist\
oric-mystery-14361986.html

Controversy over Toledo's Jewish cemetery:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/europe/02toledo.html

Review of Norman Stone, *World War One*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/books/review/Andelman-t.html

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Some digs relating to the Indus civilization are suspended to
to (in)security concerns:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\06\29\story_29-6-2009_pg13_5

Road construction threatens sites in Afghanistan:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/439144/1/.html

An ancient bath near Ngempon Temple:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/30/ancient-structure-unearthed-semara\
ng.html

An interview with Iravatham Mahadevan about Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions:

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20090717261407000.htm

I think we've had this earliest rice cultivation evidence in Viet Nam
before:

http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-66719.html

Some 3000 y.b.p. child burials from Viet Nam:

http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-66752.html

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
Tracking the Anasazi:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30chaco.html

An update on that dig at the Macon County Airport:

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090628/NEWS01/90628034\
6

What they're finding at the Chesterfield site:

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2009/07/03/breaking_news/doc4a4e13c15bf22863\
652239.txt
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907040347

Update on the De Luna shipwreck excavation:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090630/NEWS01/906300315
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/30/Students-excavate-450-year-old-ship/UPI-8\
5601246380296/
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1120714.html

Digging an already dug miner's camp in California:

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_12743367?source=rss

A Lewis and Clark murder mystery:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5587897/Lewis-and-Cla\
rk-in-murder-mystery-200-years-after-their-final-expedition.html

The 'Here is Where' project is interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/nyregion/30forgotten.html

Another copy of the Declaration of Independence has turned up:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/02/declaration-of-independence-copy

Some Independence Day musings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/03duval.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/03freedman.html

Some Revolutionary War graves are threatened by development:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/49875837.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc\
:aUU

Have they found the remains of 'vagabond poet' Everett Ruess?:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/49753927.html
http://www.abc4.com/content/news/state/story/Finding-Everett-Ruess/v4I86IfpTU295\
x7iVSTugg.cspx?rss=1451
http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-sports/ci_12742215?source=rss

Rhode Island contemplates a shorter official name:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/us/30rename.html

The farming tradition in Queen's:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/nyregion/28about.html?_r=1

Interesting Victorian mansion on Staten Island:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/realestate/28habi.html

Latest video at the Archaeology Channel concerns the excavation of
the Austria:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/

That hunting-site-in-Lake-Huron story still has legs:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/49467082.html
http://www.physorg.com/news165753727.html
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
The Inca thrived in a period of warming:

http://www.livinginperu.com/features-808-environment-opportunity-knocks-again-an\
des

A pile of Chinchorro child mummies reveal evidence of arsenic poisoning:

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090715&filename=news&sec_id\
=50&sid=29
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
Interesting collection of features about mistaken beliefs about
the ancient world:

http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/common-errors/

For Copernicus fans:

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/06/hbc-90005136

High tech methods to monitor monuments and the like:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090619130016.htm

... and high tech methods to analyze archaeological remains
and detect fakes:

http://www.physorg.com/wire-news/7824083/computer-recognises-archaeological-mate\
rial-and-fake-van-goghs.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163529.htm

Hype for the SPLASH project:

http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1001892

Darwin's effects on lycanthropy:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090616080135.htm

... and some photomanipulation he was involved in:

http://www.physorg.com/news165738728.html

Interesting stuff from the Oxford Etymologist:

http://blog.oup.com/2009/07/gleanings-8/

Feature on Timbrel Vaulting:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/lost_knowledge_timbrel_vaulting.html?CM\
P=OTC-0D6B48984890

The Optical Telegraph:

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/20/the-chappe-optical-t.html

Feature on Robert Ballard:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106246285

The Spanish flu's viral dynasty:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090630/hl_afp/healthfluuspandemic_20090630111426
http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/materia/10705/divulgacao-cientifica/gripe-secular.h\
tm

A new self-portrait of Michelangelo?:

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Descubierto/nuevo/autorretrato/Miguel/Ang\
el/Vaticano/elppgl/20090702elpepucul_5/Tes

Suggestion that the Vatican should learn from that Galileo business:

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5614dl-us-pope-science/

How the other half (or tenth) lived:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/books/review/Gross-t.html

Not ancient at all, but a very interesting bit of papercraft:

http://tokyobling.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/a-paper-craft-castle-on-the-ocean/

The link between Robert the Bruce and the Declaration of Independence:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/05/declaration-independence-arbroath-words\
miths

On what chemistry tells us about the ancients:

http://www.physorg.com/news165586600.html

Latest UNESCO Heritage site news:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/5687781
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/439135/1/.html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090628/tsc-unesco-adds-more-european-sites-to-h-c2\
ff8aa.html
http://www.france24.com/en/20090628-unesco-adds-more-european-sites-world-herita\
ge-list
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/534

This year's Bulwer-Lytton contest results:

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2009.htm

Review of Benedict Gummer, *The Scourging Angel*:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5648116/The-Scourging-Angel\
-by-Benedict-Gummer-review.html

Brief reviews of assorted non-fiction items:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/books/review/Tracy-t.html

More on (moron?) claims that DaVinci faked the Shroud of Turin:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/TV-review-The-Da-Vinci.5421056.jp
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2510088/New-documentary-will-make-grou\
ndbreaking-claim-about-Turin-Shroud.html
================================================================
DIG DIARIES/BLOGS
================================================================
[please send in suggestions! current digs only please!]

New this week:

Dhiban (Jordan):

http://dhiban.wordpress.com/

Ongoing:

Whitehall Roman Villa:

http://www.whitehallvilla.co.uk/

Mount Lykaion:

http://mountlykaion.wordpress.com/

Roman Binchester:

http://binchester.blogspot.com/

Gabii Project:

http://lapisgabinus.blogspot.com/

Tel Kabri:

http://digkabri.wordpress.com/2009-dig-blog/

Pyla-Koutsopetria (three blogs in one! twitter too!):

http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/wcaraher/PKAPBlogAggregator.html

Grand Pre:

http://grandpre2009.wordpress.com/

Ongoing/about to commence:

Norton Community Archaeological Group:

http://nortoncommarch.wordpress.com/

Tel Dan:

http://teldan.wordpress.com/

Hopkins in Egypt Today:

http://www.jhu.edu/egypttoday/index.html
================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Vandals damaged a Cornish castle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/8125493.stm

All of a sudden the focus is on looting in Libya, it seems:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2009-07-04-looter-libya_N\
.htm

The guy who stole 'The Scream' was sentenced:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/man-sentenced-for-involvement-in-sc\
ream-heist

Latest features on the search for items looted from Iraq:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/10644a84-665d-11de-a034-00144feabdc0.html
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/660493
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
A fourth-century Roman coin hoard from Bridlington:

http://www.bridlingtonfreepress.co.uk/news/Metaldetecting-group-digs-up-Roman.54\
17613.jp

An Iron Age coin find has been declared treasure:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/8133440.stm

10 weirdest currencies:

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/10-weirdest-currencies-1278.php

Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum:

http://www.sylloge-nummorum-graecorum.org/

Historical Medals:

http://www.historicalartmedals.com/
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Mannahatta/Manhattan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/arts/design/04manhatta.html

Dead Sea Scrolls:

http://www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/special/deadseascrolls.php

Exploring Dutch Legacy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/arts/design/03antiques-fr.html

Spanish Armour:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/arts/design/04spanish.html

Baroque in London:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/arts/design/03antiques-fr.html

Napoleon:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062800733.\
html

A mummy has returned to a museum in Belfast:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8123849.stm

New director at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/arts/design/29museum.html

The Cleveland Museum of Art's returns to Italy were revealed
this week:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/italy-unveils-antiquities-returned\
-by-us-museum-187221.html
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2009/07/02/italy-cleveland.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieF6zwJhG7nYx0bFa6CN2UH2soNQD9\
96B52G0
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/cleveland-museum-returns-works-to-i\
taly/?scp=1&sq=cleveland&st=cse

Nice response to criticisms of the DSS exhibition in Toronto:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/07/02/ed-morga\
n-dead-sea-cranks.aspx

They're building an archaeological museum in Sidon:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=10363\
0

The latest incipient repatriation dispute seems to be between
Germany and Iraq over a gold vaseish thing discovered at an
auction:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/275498,german-iraqi-dispute-mounts-over-\
4500-year-old-gold-vase.html

China is sending some experts to the US to help restore some Tang Dynasty
reliefs at the University of Pennsylvania:

http://en.ce.cn/National/culture/200907/05/t20090705_19464630.shtml

Not a lot of action at Christie's latest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/arts/design/01auction.html

The new Acropolis Museum is a success:

http://www.grreporter.info/statiaen.php?mysid=2269&t=31&SESID=4jj4rk5hhmfgm7a90d\
pnu4qbu2

... and they're on the verge of appointing a director:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/ell_1KathiLev&xml/&aspKath/ell.asp&fdate=\
02/07/2009


More Elgin/Parthenon Marbles opinions:

http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95110.php
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106027165&ft=1&f=1008
http://api.npr.org/templates/xanadu/view/api/transcript.php?id=106027165
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jun/30/parthenon-marbles-greece-acro\
polis
================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Midsummer Night's Dream:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/theater/reviews/02dream.html

Appalachian Strings:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/travel/escapes/03Fiddle.html


Maybe Wagner isn't so difficult after all:

http://www.physorg.com/news165670303.html
================================================================
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