================================================================
explorator 12.13 July 19, 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, Nancy Hurley, Peter Ramsden,
Richard C. Griffiths, Kurt Theis,Bob Heuman, Rick Pettigrew,
and Ross W. Sargent for headses upses this week (as always
hoping I have left no one out).

... a bit of catching up in this issue ...
================================================================
EARLY HUMANS
================================================================
Latest study suggests there weren't that many Neanderthals and
they were 'poised' for extinction:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533223,00.html
http://www.livescience.com/culture/090716-neanderthal-population.html

Figuring out what homo heidelbergensis ate:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090714103526.htm
================================================================
AFRICA
================================================================
The Archaeology Channel has an audio interview with Fred Wendorf:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/audio/wendorfint.html

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
200,000 years b.p. flint tools from the Syrian desert:

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1489195.php/20000\
0-year-old_flint_tools_found_in_Syrian_desert_

Not sure if we've mentioned this Egyptian fortress find at Tell Dafna:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31913753/ns/technology_and_science-science/
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/14/egypt-fortress-city.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090715/981/tsc-archaeologists-unearth-largest-for\
tr.html

... or the impending dig in Sidon:

http://www.littleabout.com/news/23094,excavation-lebanon-aims-uncover-ancient-ru\
ins.html

Latest from the Dakhleh Oasis:

http://www.livescience.com/history/090715-amheida-excavation.html

Interview (in French) with Jean Yoyotte (see Obituaries):

http://www.histoire.presse.fr/content/homepage/article?id=4809

cf:

http://lexnews.free.fr/histoire.htm#yoyotte

Feature on the Herodium:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132453

Feature on Adam Zertal's thoughts on the 'feet' at Bidat al-Shaab:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1100766

Rethinking Arabian snake cults:

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090716/NATIONAL/707159822/-1/NEWS

By the rivers of Babylon ...:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443825291&pagename=JPost/JPArticl\
e/ShowFull

Road widening has damaged a Parthian site in Iran's Khuzestan Province:

http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:a-\
large-parthian-site-in-khuzestan-province-seriously-damaged-a-partly-destroyed&c\
atid=1

More on that most recent Second Temple quarry discovery:

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=32074
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443730536&pagename=JPost/JPArticl\
e/ShowFull
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31761755/ns/technology_and_science-science/

More on damage to Babylon:

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=1001328
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
A shrine to Jupiter Dolichenus has been found near Vindolanda:

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/ancient_shrine_found_at_hadrian_s_wall_fort_1_\
583823?referrerPath=/1.50001

Some major finds at Laodicea:

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=3.0.3538600291

A Roman ring from North Lincolnshire:

http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/news/1-800-year-old-ring/article-1156994-detai\
l/article.html

Nice video on some Roman items found years ago in private digs
in Brampton:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8150191.stm

Repairs to Colchester's Roman wall are to be completed soon:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/essex/8157187.stm

Feature on the ongoing digs at Pompeii:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2009-07-15-pompeii_N.htm

Digging will resume at Nikopolis ad Istrum:

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=105680

Latest 'evidence' for the Roman origins of the Arthur legend:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ancient-lance-pierces-hole-in-king-arthu\
r-legend,892613.shtml

Review of Francine Segan, *The Philosopher's Kitchen*:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090715/LIVING/707159982

Mary Beard reviews Frank McLynn, *Marcus Aurelius*:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n14/bear01_.html

More on high tech approaches to the Michigan Papyri:

http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-72253.html
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=7227
http://www.physorg.com/news166200717.html

More on that Etruscan 'cosmetic case':

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/a-2000-year-old-cream-belonging-to-an\
-aristocrat-discovered_100216985.html
http://www.andhranews.net/Technology/2009/July/12-year-cream-16818.asp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31855795/ns/technology_and_science-science/
================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
Turns out those dismembered/decapitated skeletons from Dorset
are Saxon, not Roman:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/8145252.stm

People were living in Cheddar Gorge (Somerset) some 14,700 years
b.p.:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8151524.stm

... and Silchester was a thriving city a century before the
Romans arrived:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/16/silchester-dig-british-city
http://u.tv/News/Silchester-dig-reveals-how-ancient-Britons-built-a-thriving-cit\
y/5dc988e4-1dcd-4207-8864-67f118514aeb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/8151385.stm

A Neolithic structure from the Isle of Man:

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Prehistoric-dwelling-unearthed-at-Isle.5452740.jp

Feature on Gristhorpe Man:

http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/Gristhorpe-Man-slowly-gives-up.5441\
651.jp?articlepage=1

Oetzi's tattoos were soot-based:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/17/iceman-tattoos.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17469-worlds-oldest-tattoos-were-made-of-s\
oot.html

Brief item on a Neolithic house find in Bulgaria:

http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/News/1807B12.htm

Remains of a medieval monastery from Bulgaria too:

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090718/981/tsc-archaeologists-discover-13th-centu\
ry.html

They're looking for the tomb of Suleiman I in Hungary:

http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=6737

Picnickers at Culloden Battlefield are apparently causing offence:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8150288.stm

Praising British archaeology:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/17/in-praise-of-british-archaeo\
logy

Review of Christopher Kelly, *The End of Empire*:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/entertainment/books_literature/article/BEND19_2\
0090715-181212/280110/
================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
They're beginning to find more terracotta warriors at X'ian:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Tech+and+Science/Story/STIStory_404811\
.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/17/content_11723792.htm

Some Qing Dynasty "cheat sheets" have been found:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5834418/Ancient-Chinese-che\
at-sheets-discovered.html

A 3rd century B.C. megalithic burial site near Truvannamalai (Tamil Nadu):

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/17/stories/2009071751690300.htm

Nice Astronomy Picture of the Day of an eclipse (etc.) over the
Great Wall:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090718.html
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
A 3000 years b.p. campsite from Lisbon (Conn.):

http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-fea-lisbonartifacjul12,0,68\
52979.story
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x488834511/Rare-Indian-artifacts-found-on-Li\
sbon-property

Interesting finds at Fort Lipantitlan:

http://www.kiiitv.com/news/local/50976812.html

An Irish immigrant village is being excavated in Maryland:

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Irish-immigrant-village-unearthed-in-Maryland-\
50635617.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bal-md.co.dig13jul13,\
0,2786177.story

The Archaeology Channel has an audio interview with Fred Wendorf:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/audio/wendorfint.html

Skepticism about the DNA results from those Paisley Cave coprolites:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/325/5937/148-c

cf:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/325/5937/148-b

Slavery records from the Virgin Islands:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20090717/CB.Virgin.Islands.Slavery\
.Records/

More on the Chimney Rock site:

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Features/Outdoors/2009/07/10/Intact_archaeolog\
ical_site_offers_some_timely_lessons/
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Mexico has done a survey of underwater sites in Banco Chincorro:

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=339313&CategoryId=14091

Some video coverage of that 'mass sacrifice' of women from Peru
mentioned last month:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31891125#31891125
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1049287/Peru-mummies-%27were-human-sacrifices

cf.:

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/602611.html (Spanish)

A 16th century shipwreck off the coast of Santa Catarina:

http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/materia/10754/noticias/nau-do-seculo-16-e-descobert\
a.htm(Portuguese)

... and an 18th century one off the Dominican:

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=42708911063

Tools and some ceramics from Sinaloa:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=32112

A Chimu burial in the citadel of Chan Chan (Peru):

http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=88nCvOZoO5c=
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/277468,remains-of-sacrificed-woman-found\
-in-indigenous-citadel-in-peru.html
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20090714193424725C2\
86683

Not sure if we've mentioned this Inca Road find before:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=31999

More hype for the impending (hopefully) discovery of an Aztec
king's tomb in Mexico's Templio Mayor:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090713-aztec-king-tomb.html

More on Zapotec uses for thighbones:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090715-zapotec-thighbones-femurs\
.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/fm-fmc070809.php

More on Maize and the rise of Andean civilizations:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/07/08/maize-may-have-fueled-ancient-\
andean-civilization.html
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
What it's like on an underwater dig:

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articles/2009/07/16//news/local/doc4a5c7cbed2eab06\
0274792.txt

Latest ship reconstruction ... a bireme sailing from Izmir to
Marseilles:

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/12048006.asp

Raman spectroscopy could be useful:

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/55788/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lxluxsJhlU

Testing the efficacy of cannon balls v. warships:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715101505.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090715/sc_livescience/cannonballsreallycou\
ldsinkshipsstudyfinds

Suggestion that the Vinland Map is not a forgery:

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE56G58320090717
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090717/sc_nm/us_science_map_america_2

Pondering a Titian timpano:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/11/titian-portraits-women-exhibi\
tion-love

... and a mystery about a Matisse:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/arts/design/17vogel.html

Pre-landing ideas about the moon:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/movies/19strau.html

A "rubbish remover" doing his job came across a barrell full of
Mexican artifacts:

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_trash_worth_16g_rubbish_g\
uy_finds_a_little_treasure_trove.html

Some 10 000 years b.p. seeds from the Arctic apparently weren't
that old after all:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8142000/8142037.stm

A library closes because of the Internet (?):

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/at-92nd-street-y-even-homer-must-bo\
w-to-wireless-internet/

Dunno if any Explorator readers will be interested to know that
Spinal Tap visited Stonehenge (no drummers were harmed):

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/07/12/spinaltap-stonehenge-visit.html

Review of Margaret MacMillan, *Dangerous Games*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Kennedy-t.html

Review of Richard Holmes, *The Age of Wonder*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Benfey-t.html

Review of Collin Ellard, *You Are Here*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/books/review/Lehrer-t.html

Review of assorted historical novels:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/books/review/Benfey-t.html

More on the claim that Galileo discovered Neptune:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/10/vatican_galileo_cryptogram_neptune_disco\
very/
================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Rhodes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-writing-competition/5849295/Just-back-a\
cropolis-now.html

Albania:

http://www.balkantravellers.com/en/read/article/1342

Syria:

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLQ65906120090717

Haarlem:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/travel/19dayout.html

Some English pubs:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/travel/19pubs.html

Ohio Trail:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/tourism/48067157.html
================================================================
DIG BLOGS
================================================================
[please send in suggestions! current digs only please!]

New this week:

Signal Hill (Newfoundland):

http://signalhillarchaeology.wordpress.com/

Ongoing:

Dhiban (Jordan):

http://dhiban.wordpress.com/

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/

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
================================================================
A Rome court has upheld the conviction of Giacomo Medici:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/07/15/italian_art_dealers_\
looting_conviction_upheld/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/07/dealer-in-looted-antiquit\
ies-loses-appeal-has-links-to-embattled-exgetty-curator.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieF6zwJhG7nYx0bFa6CN2UH2soNQD9\
9F07CO0
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/conviction-for-dealer-of-stolen-ant\
iquities-is-upheld/

A Florida couple has returned some mosaic pieces they took from
Caesarea National Park:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132460
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1101159

Latest twist in the Utah antiquities case:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-artifacts-threat14-2009jul1\
4,0,3872470.story

... while sites in Canada near the US border are apparently at
a higher risk for looting:

http://www.canada.com/Historical+sites+near+border+risk+looting/1788679/story.ht\
ml

Tombaroli in Albania:

http://www.balkantravellers.com/en/read/article/1339
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
A major coin hoard found near Warwickshire has been declared
treasure:

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/07/17/metal-detector-\
unearths-a-pot-of-roman-coins-65233-24173954/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1200126/Treasure-trove-silver-Roman-coin\
s-worth-thousands-buried-field.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/roman-silver-haul-declared-tre\
asure-trove-1749387.html

A machine-made Oban (among other items) is coming to auction:

http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=6994

The earliest Roman coin ever found in Britain:

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/news/090718-roman

Early Medieval Coin Finds:

http://www-cm.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/emc/

Roman Provincial Coinage online:

http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/

High tech tools to clean a huge hoard of Roman coins found over
20 years ago in Libya:

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-07-14_114383620.html

Review of *Greek and Roman Coins from the du Chastel Collection*:

http://digitalhn.blogspot.com/2009/07/greek-and-roman-coins-from-du-chastel.html
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
An Antiquity of Imagination:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/19/portraits-marble-venetian-renais\
sance-sculptors/

Italian Renaissance Drawings:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/15/british-museum-renaissance-dr\
awings-exhibition

Carvers and Collectors:

http://www.huliq.com/13/83463/getty-center-exhibits-carvers-and-collectors

Japanese Mandalas:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/arts/design/17mandalas.html

Chinese Ceramics at the BM:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/arts/18iht-melik18.html

Yixing Pottery:

http://media-newswire.com/release_1094602.html

Dutch New York:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/nyregion/19artwe.html

Interesting exhibition of Lord Carnarvon/Tut-related stuff:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31946548/ns/technology_and_science-science/

A copy of the Magna Carta has returned to Lincoln for a new
exhibition:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/8157469.stm

Reviewish sort of thing of Ford's Theater Museum:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/arts/design/15museum.html

The National Portrait Gallery is battling with Wikipedia:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8156268.stm

More on the "furor" over the DSS exhibition in Toronto:

http://www.forward.com/articles/109593/
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443820292&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti\
cle%2FShowFull
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/bait+switch/1779030/story.html

cf. this OpEd piece:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-y\
ou-wont-find-any-lessons-in-unity-in-the-dead-sea-scrolls-1741943.html

Recent changes at the Met:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/arts/design/10vogel.html

More players in the London antiques fair game:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/arts/design/17antiques.html

Gothic items coming to auction:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/arts/design/10antiques.html

Results of Old Master auctions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/arts/11iht-melik11.html

Review of Michael Gross, *Rogues' Gallery*:

http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1779104
================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
The Europeans:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/theater/reviews/10europeans.html

This seems to be the category for this NPR piece on Church Music:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89775986

... and this feature on Josquin des Prez:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106422142

... and some Bastille Day music:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106488903
================================================================
ON THE WEB
================================================================
Images from the History of Medicine:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/ihm/

Medieval Dictionaries:

http://actuhistoire.blogspot.com/2009/06/dictionnaires-medievaux.html

Digitized Maps:

http://portal.digmap.eu/

... the above were pointed to by the Actualites de L'histoire blog:

http://actuhistoire.blogspot.com/
================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Kenneth M. Stampp:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-kenneth-stampp19-2009jul19,0,540976\
6.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/arts/15stampp.html

Jean Yoyotte:

http://www.ouest-france.fr/ofdernmin_-L-egyptologue-francais-mondialement-connu-\
Jean-Yoyotte-est-decede_-1000319_actu.Htm

Martin Hengel:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/5811664/Professor\
-Martin-Hengel.html
================================================================
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) 2009 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!
================================================================


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]