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explorator 7.01                                      May 2, 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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Happy birthday to Explorator! We're now into Volume Seven!

Thanks to everyone for their continued support, and especially
to our 'heads up correspondents' who make Explorator the best
freebie newsletter around!

Thanks to Arthur Shippee,  Bill Kennedy, Charles Jones, Charles
Le Quesne, Dave Sowdon, Francis Deblauwe, Glenn Meyer, John
Huizinga, Hernan Astudillo, Gene Barkley, John McMahon,
Louis A. Okin, Jennifer Wees, Mary Reed, Tim Parkin, Tony Jackson,
W. Richard Frahm, Rick Pettigrew, Richard C. Griffiths, Stan Nadel,
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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A site in Israel suggests humans had the controlled use of fire
there some 790,000 years b.p.:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4863378/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3670017.stm
http://tinyurl.com/2wwzy (SciAm)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040426/040426-16.html
(I'm sure the pun in the headline was unintentional)
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994944
http://tinyurl.com/386bp (Globe and Mail)
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,297704,00.html

Neanderthals apparently matured more quickly than modern
humans:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4855079/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3663865.stm
http://www.nature.com/nature/links/040429/040429-9.html
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994937
http://tinyurl.com/3coqk (AFP via Yahoo)
http://tinyurl.com/36kow (National Geographic)

Plenty of coverage this week of a major cache of mummies (many
from Ptolemaic times) just outside Cairo:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837894/
http://www.newscientist.com/news/print.jsp?id=ns99994926
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,9402688,00.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/27/1082831573716.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/27/1082831567305.html
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9800

As part of the ongoing return of Western scholars to Iran, the
University of Chicago has returned a pile of cuneiform tablets
to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization:

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.tablets.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1206736,00.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/042804_ns_tablets.html (video!)
http://tinyurl.com/2f6q4 (Chicago Tribune)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/science/29tabl.html
http://tinyurl.com/2cxfo (Reuters via Yahoo)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uoc-uoc042704.php

Recent research suggests that Majan was what is now referred to
as Oman:

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=55374&;pn=local

A Roman 'mouse' Helmet was up for auction this week:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2848837 (pre)
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2851676 (post)

A Roman tileworks site has been found in Surrey:

http://tinyurl.com/yq33k (icSurrey)

A brief item from Adnkronos about the discovery of a major
Gallo-Roman burial ground:

http://tinyurl.com/2gqer (in Italian)
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THE AMERICAS
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If you can read Portuguese, this is an account from a Brazilian
news agency documenting the discovery of site which shows
evidence of some sort of ritual fight at Atacama:

http://tinyurl.com/2eool

The rebuilding/restoration of the T.R.R. Cobb house in Athens,
Georgia is causing controversy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/national/28ATHE.html

By contrast, they're struggling to save what remains of a Civil
War battlefield in Franklin, Tennessee:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/realestate/30CIVI.html

Interesting suggestion about why the Hunley sank:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41900-2004Apr25.html

They're excavating an Underground Railroad site in Oswego:

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=17515&;SecID=83

A chatty piece about a survey of a site on the Kenai Peninsula
(Alaska):

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837670/

That 250 year old canoe that was discovered in South Carolina a
couple of years ago is going to be excavated:

http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/3251039/detail.html

Recently-found bones in Arizona may be from a prehistoric ancestor
of the Hopi people:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0427bones27.html

The legal wrangling over Kennewick Man might continue:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/8532656.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2cuzn (LA Times)
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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On the DNA front, an arrow purportedly made from one of Captain
Cook's bones wasn't:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4863202/
http://tinyurl.com/22tjy (Reuters via Yahoo)

A follow-up letter to the editor about that Tibuktu manuscript
story we mentioned last week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/opinion/L29TIMB.html

The NEH has given a pile of grants to preserve humanities
collections around the US:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/arts/29ARTS.html (scroll down)

Interesting item about identity badges in the 1600's:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uow-hri043004.php

Glasgow's Mitchell Library plans to make more out of its
possession of one of the few remaining complete copies of
Audobon's Birds:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=460672004

The Financial Times has a touristy sort of thing on Alexandria:

http://tinyurl.com/39zg7

Another piece on the Siwa oasis (with a bit of a more modern
slant):

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BLA631730.htm

On the power/effect of myth on auction prices:

http://www.iht.com/articles/517214.html

They're worried about the preservation of the Mona Lisa:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3660143.stm
http://tinyurl.com/26lny (National Geographic)

The DaVinci Code is still ruffling feathers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/books/27CODE.html

To judge by the press coverage, the biggest news of the week
was the suggestion that Mel Gibson is considering telling the
tale of Boudicca:

http://tinyurl.com/2pfay (The Australian)
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1205574,00.html
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/28/160522.shtml
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=15798

... he might have competition, though:

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=a616947c4d522d44
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MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
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New Zealand Archaeology e-News:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
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ON THE WEB
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Celtic Coin Index:

http://www.writer2001.com/cciwriter2001/index.htm

History of Chinese Imperial Food:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/25995.htm

Hacinebi Archaeological Excavations:

http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/anthropology/stein/index.html

Handbook of Biblical Numismatics:

http://www.amuseum.org/book/page0.html
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NEW ONLINE BOOKS
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ON  THE ARCHAEOLOGY CHANNEL
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Louisiana's Historic Places (an interesting video put together
by some grade schoolers):

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/
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CRIME BEAT
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Vandals have damaged Peru's "12-cornered Inca stone":

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

The Art Newspaper has a very interesting interview with John
Russell about the current state of things in Iraq:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11640

An Egyptian antiquities thief has received a sentence of
35 years (!):

http://tinyurl.com/3g5l8 (al Jazeerah)
http://tinyurl.com/2moy4 (Herald-Sun)

The internet is apparently driving looting of Native American
sites:

http://tinyurl.com/2xrss (Tucson Citizen)

A number of Roman 'tombstones' were stolen in Wales this week:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3661061.stm

A pile of purloined pre-Columbian artifacts were recovered this
week:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58202-2004Apr30.html
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BOOK REVIEWS
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Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, *Five for Silver* (Byzantine fiction):

http://print.google.com/print/doc?articleid=yk6VOeQfaFJ
(scroll down a bit)

Mordechi Gichon, *Napoleon in the Holy Land*:

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/27jew.htm
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PERFORMANCES
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Spartacus Returns:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3500864.stm
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DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
================================================================
Haven't had one of these in a while ... a groups is going in
search of Noah's Ark:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4838007/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3664093.stm
http://tinyurl.com/yvmjs (National Geographic (!))

... and, alas, it appears we will be hearing much more about
Robert Sarmast's claims about Atlantis being near Cyprus:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/30/1083224588854.html
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=14071&;cat_id=1
http://tinyurl.com/yrdxc (Guardian)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1098162.htm
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EXHIBITIONS
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The Marvels of Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics From the
Corcoran Gallery of Art Collection:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30ANTI.html

Dangerous Liaisons (18th century fashion and furniture):

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30MUSC.html

An Enduring Vision: 17th- to 20th-Century Japanese Painting
From the Gitter-Yelen Collection:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30GLUE.html

In Stabiano:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837660/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48019-2004Apr27.html
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/247-04262004-289530.html

Discover Troy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3667029.stm

Mummy: The Inside Story:

http://tinyurl.com/328pf (Art Daily)
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CLASSICIST'S CORNER
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Twenty things we owe the Greeks:

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=475892004

Latin is alive and well in Buffalo:

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040426/1034672.asp

Heinrich Schliemann's love of swimming apparently contributed to
his demise:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2863490

A quickie Latin course is offered in Rome to allow tourists to
read inscriptions:

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040429-090103-7472r.htm

A piece in the Korea Herald opens, "Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was
perhaps the greatest philosopher of the last century, and yet
he is unknown in Korea":

http://tinyurl.com/357zk

Some coverage of Stanford's Forma Urbis digitization project:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3659501.stm

The CincyPost had a nice interview with Brian Rose all about
Troy:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/04/30/troy043004.html
cf: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uoc-brr042704.php

Speaking of Troy ... there's a new documentary about it
coming out this week:

http://tinyurl.com/yru9z (National Geographic press release)

ClassCon in 'Operation Homecoming':

http://tinyurl.com/2oz72 (VOA)

One I missed last week ... Stanley Burstein is among the
recipients of a Wang Family Award at Cal State:

http://www.calstate.edu/pa/news/2004/wang04.shtml
(scroll down a bit)

Socrates Cafes continue to get news coverage:

http://tinyurl.com/2eh7d (LA Monitor)

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
================================================================
Mayan Stone from Cancuen:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0429/p16s02-woam.html

Old Corgis:

http://www.cp.org/english/online/full/science/040421/g042102A.html
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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

================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a weekly newsletter representing the fruits of
the labours of 'media research division' of The Atrium. Various
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ancient world (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history  prior to about 1700 or so is fair
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9:25:58 AM