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explorator 6.52                                  April 25, 2004
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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!!!
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Thanks to Arthur Shippee,  Bill Kennedy, Dave Sowdon, Glenn Meyer,
Gene Barkley, Jim Phelps, J.M. Pasch, John Hill, Donna Hurst, Adrian
Murdoch,  Hernan Astudillo, John McMahon, John McChesney-Young,
Joseph Lauer, Keith Armstrong, Louis A. Okin, Michael Oberndorf,
Richard C. Griffiths, Bob Heuman, Sally Winchester, Steve Rankin,
Susan Jaslow, Thomas F. McGinnis, Tony Jackson, Mike Ruggeri,
W. Richard Frahm, and Yonatan Nadelman for headses
upses this week (as always hoping I have left no one out).

Have you visited our blog yet?

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

If you're using an (ahem) old or clunky browser, try accessing
it via Bloglines:

http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=21809

editor's note: folks who are reluctant to register to some
of these online sources should visit http://bugmenot.com/ and
type in the url of the newspaper in question. They will provide
you (usually) with a useable user name and password. For the
record, though, I've never had any problems with any of the
sites used in Explorator ...
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================================================================
AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA
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Those beads from Blombos Cave get the John Noble Wilford
treatment this week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/science/20NECK.html

cf: http://tinyurl.com/2dcjn (Mercury)

A pile of artifacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur have been
rediscovered in a storage room in the British Museum:

http://tinyurl.com/3y8ru (Independent)

On NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' this week there was an interview
with Bruce Feiler who did a sort of guided tour of various
sites in Iraq:

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1846102

A British Museum loan of a cylinder seal to Iran is causing a
big time controversy:

http://tinyurl.com/342uu (San Diego Union Tribune)

More coverage of the planned expedition to find wrecked triremes
off Mt. Athos:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/science/20SHIP.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/516023.html

Lots of excitement over the discovery of a Ptolemaic stele from
the time of Ptolemy III Euergetes which is trilingual (like the
Rosetta stone):

http://tinyurl.com/2aawf (IOL)
http://www.asahi.com/english/vox/TKY200404240124.html
http://www.lesoir.be/rubriques/sens/page_5328_210909.shtml
(not sure if the photo here is of the stele that was found)

Plenty of coverage of the discovery of a piece of a torq which
seems to be connected (tenuously) to Boudicca:

http://tinyurl.com/2kbw4 (Telegraph)
http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/140649-3151-065.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/23/world/main613497.shtml
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-neck22.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=513627
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2805676
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/3642233.stm

Some Roman mosaics have been discovered in Besancon ... all
coverage appears to be in French:

http://regions.france3.fr/semiStatic/390-NIL-NIL-316802.html
http://cultureetloisirs.france2.fr/archeologie/1125037-fr.php

This might be a repeat ... archaeologists have discovered what
may be the Etruscan city of Chamars:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040419/chamars.html

A Roman coin die from the time of Tiberius has been found at
Windisch (Vindonissa):

http://tinyurl.com/3xejy (article in Italian)

A marble head of Marcus Aurelius has been found in Petra:

http://tinyurl.com/23nre (AFP via Yahoo ... photo)
http://tinyurl.com/3arq3 (Daily Star)
http://tinyurl.com/2pjwn (Expatica)
http://tinyurl.com/3e3uj (Sunday Times)

Roman artifacts have been found in India:

http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=042104091359

Interesting piece on Kampyr-Tepe (Uzbekistan) and its
archaeological remains:

http://tinyurl.com/3yyam (BBC)

Petroglyphs from South Korea are shedding light on the origins
of whaling:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3638853.stm

Bones found in Wales might be from the first Corgi to be kept as
a pet by some royal type:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4798993/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3646319.stm
http://tinyurl.com/yq7q9 (AP via Yahoo)

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THE AMERICAS
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Mayan monuments have been found at the ceremonial ball court at
Cancuen:

http://tinyurl.com/2vwkg (AP via Yahoo ... slideshow!)
http://tinyurl.com/29ldo (AP via New York Times)
http://tinyurl.com/2e6sj (National Geographic)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/04/23/mayan.remains.ap/

The Alvarez del Toro mound is causing excitement/rethinking:

http://www.jsonline.com/alive/news/apr04/223112.asp

An ancient dugout canoe has been found in Idaho:

http://tinyurl.com/2lyhs (AP via Yahoo)

A Federal Appeals Court has declined the suggestion to reconsider
its decision on Kennewick Man:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4787844/
http://tinyurl.com/35c89 (Washington Post)
http://tinyurl.com/2tnd2 (AP via Yahoo)

Alternatives to currency in colonial Delaware:

http://www.delmarvanow.com/deweybeach/stories/20040414/230703.html

A "renegade" census taker apparently recorded a number of
slave names:

http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/national/30-473605.html

Updates on what's going on at that Port Angeles graving yard
site:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4770506/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4770507/

Another Nazca-lines-are-threatened piece:

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040419-093630-7670r.htm

A high school class learning about archaeology actually came
across an arrowhead/spearpoint:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4765246/

I'm always confused as to where I should put news from Hawaii ...
in any event, there's a big survey going on at the Coco Palms
Resort, in anticipation of the hotel being torn down:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4806471/
cf: http://www.coco-palms.com/articles/0003torndown.htm

Plans to create San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park
have stalled:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4795338/

On Robert Bringhurst's studies of Haida oral literature:

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/042204/thi_homeric.shtml
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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Very interesting piece on Timbuktu and the medieval manuscripts
we seem to be everywhere there:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/arts/24TIMB.html

There's such a thing as 'Byzantine Chant' (about which I was
unaware):

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/arts/music/20INST.html

Zahi Hawass' column in Al-Ahram:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/687/her2.htm

Did Leonardo invent the car?:

http://tinyurl.com/2dor3 (Reuters via Yahoo)

On hair throughout history:

http://tinyurl.com/2d9pk (Toronto Star)

On one scholar's theory about a pre-Mesopotamian Bronze
Age literate society:

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues04/may04/iran.html

This might be a repeat ... Al Ahram has a piece on the Siwa
Oasis throughout history:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/687/her1.htm

Interesting but brief item on the media coverage of the Passion:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/arts/19ARTS.html

The Smithsonian/National Museum of American History is closing
its Numismatic Hall:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/world/8451706.htm

Interesting high tech developments (for tourists) at Verulamium:

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART21158.html

Iraqi curators got to see a head which comes from a piece in their
museum:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11635

An update on the gold mining operation threatening the Alburna
Maior site (Romania):

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8485941.htm?1c

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that Scotland was moving to
remove 'historical status' from a number of monuments; if you'd
like to sign a petition about same:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/662257278

The Dick and Jane Hamlet:

http://www.elite.net/~lkfaunt/DJHamlet.html

A bit out of our designated time period, but of interest to many,
no doubt, will be the report of the discovery of Antoine de. St.
Exupery's plane:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3606903.stm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/07/world/main610771.shtml
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MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
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Archaeology 57.2 (May/June 2004):

http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=curiss/index
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ON THE WEB
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Mark Goodacre, "The Passion, Pornography and Polemic: In Defense
of The Passion of the Christ":

http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Goodacre_Passion_Defense.htm

Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman, "Early Paper Money:
History and the Marketplace"
 
http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/articles/apr04/papermoney0404.htm

"How the West Was Faked" (on phoney gold assay bars):

http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/tvb1/

Archaeology at Venable Lane (Virginia):

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~ensp482/venable_lane/home.html

Vitrum: Glass Between Art and Science in the Roman World:

http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/vitrum/

The British Library's "Turning the Pages" digitisation project:

http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation3.html
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CRIME BEAT
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Here's an interesting tactic ... issue a list of Latin American
artifacts which are at risk of being stolen (scroll past the
piece on the Passion coverage):

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/arts/19ARTS.html

A brief item from NPR's 'All Things Considered' on the recovering
looted artifacts from Iraq:

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1842826

A somewhat bizarre violation of sepulchre case:

http://tinyurl.com/2opnr (Reuters)
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BOOK REVIEWS
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Jonathan Kirsch, *God Against the Gods: The History of the War
Between Monotheism and Polytheism*:

http://www.jrep.com/Books/Article-0.html
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=12131

Lisa Jardine, *The Curious Life of Robert Hooke*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/books/review/25HIRST.html

Robert Chernow, *Alexander Hamilton*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/books/review/25BROOKST.html
(first chapter available)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/books/22MASL.html

A pair of books on textiles in historical contexts:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,1201813,00.html

Seamus Heaney, *Burial at Thebes*:

http://www.oxfordstudent.com/2004-04-22/ox2/3
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PERFORMANCES
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Antigone Falun Gong:

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?issue=04-23-04&;storyID=18725

Medea:

http://tinyurl.com/2ryv8
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DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
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Or at least in the same spirit ... common sense has prevailed
in regards to a textbook which claimed that Arabs preceded
Columus to North America:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040416-120208-4455r.htm
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EXHIBITIONS
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The Grandeur of Rome: Prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi
(1720-1778):

http://tinyurl.com/3c6uz (Art Daily)

Cleopatra nello specchio dell’arte occidentale:

http://www.swissinfo.org/sit/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&;sid=4837685
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CLASSICIST'S CORNER
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More Socrates Cafe coverage:

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=36635
http://tinyurl.com/2whg2 (scroll down a bit)

In case you missed it, Elaine Fantham was on NPR defending the
study of Latin:

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1841234

Classics is alive and well in Florida universities:

http://tinyurl.com/2myeu (Palm Beach Post)

A piece on William Aylward:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/9647.html

Interesting ... the DAI shares a birthday with Rome:

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1441_A_1176466_1_A,00.html

The latest salvo in the Elgin/Parthenon Marbles dispute:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2802664

A lecture on ancient Greek music:

http://tinyurl.com/2nsks (Towerlight)

Peter Jones in the Spectator:

http://tinyurl.com/2sljv

Akropolis News in Classical Greek (it has returned!):
http://www.akwn.net/

Radio Finland's Nuntii Latini
[best accessed via rogueclassicism on Sundays]

Radio Bremen's Der Monatsrückblick - auf Latein
http://www.radiobremen.de/online/latein/

Weather in Latin:
http://latin.wunderground.com/
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REPEATS
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Analyzing the Medici:

http://web.latercera.cl/articulo/0,5819,3255_5726_74522405,00.html
(in Spanish)
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OTHER SOURCES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
================================================================
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/

Francis Deblauwe's 'Iraq War and Archaeology' site:
http://cctr.umkc.edu/user/fdeblauwe/iraq.html

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/AncientAmericaand

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

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

Phluzein (blog):
http://www.binref.com/phluzein/

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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10:04:47 AM