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explorator 7.05                                     May 30, 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, Croman mac Nessa, Dave
Sowdon, Donna Hurst, Francis Deblauwe, Glenn Meyer,  Adrian
Murdoch,  Hernan Astudillo, John McMahon, Kris Curry, Louis A. Okin
Mark Morgan, Aayko Eyma, Maurice O'Sullivan, Michael Oberndorf,
Richard C. Griffiths, Tony Jackson,  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 ...

... a slow week
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AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA
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An overview of the 'history of fire':

http://tinyurl.com/3f4uv (Independent)

Archaeologists who thought they were excavating a Dark Ages site
in northern Scotland are surprised to discover a Neolithic
ritual site (at least there was no stumbling involved):

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=610172004

Nubian Kingdom finds are reshaping ideas of the history of the
Nile Valley:

http://www.countrywatch.com/cw_wire.asp?vCOUNTRY=162&;UID=1087388
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=248239

Boston Magazine has a nice article (sans photo, alas) of an
Egyptian statue called 'the Nobleman':

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=375

A fragment of a Romano-Syrian lead coffin has been identified
and 'returned' to the Syrian National Museum:

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh/ART22122.html

For some reason there's a big resurgence of coverage of the
apparent discovery of the site of the Library of Alexandria, so
even though it's technically a repeat:

http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o270524d.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/international/middleeast/27egypt.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/books/review/23BARR01.html
http://tinyurl.com/255v8 (Toronto Star)
http://tinyurl.com/3yqsp (SF Chronicle)
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2004/05/26/474111-ap.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5069375/
http://tinyurl.com/34z4m (Chicago Tribune)
http://tinyurl.com/2mvn5 (Kathimerini)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4797891.html

Radio Nederland has a nice piece on the 'de Bloemert' excavation
which is a Roman site outside the empire:

http://www.rnw.nl/science/html/040524rf.html

Some Roman burials were excavated this week at Scunthorpe Airport:

http://tinyurl.com/yt9zq

... while a metal detectorist found a Roman ring:

http://tinyurl.com/3yjbh (This is Scunthorpe)

Here's a project we'll hopefully hear more about ... it's
documenting Roman sites (late Roman at this point) in Eritrea:

http://tinyurl.com/28ra4 (Innovations Report)

A few 2800 b.p. burials with early examples of Tamil Brahmi script
have been found in India:

http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/26/stories/2004052602871200.htm

Some 2000 b.p. storehouses have been unearthed in China's Shaanxi
province:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/30/content_1498127.htm
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THE AMERICAS
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Microbes in Mayan ruins may be contributing to their
deterioration from the inside out:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040528001845.htm
http://tinyurl.com/33xcy (Innovations Report)

Clark Erickson is challenging traditionally-held views of the
populations of the pre-Columbian Amazon:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/sasalum/newsltr/spring04/amazon.html

Utah's Nine Mile Canyon and its petroglyphs have been classified
as "threatened":

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05252004/utah/169503.asp
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595065637,00.html

... the National Trust's 'most threatened' list:

http://www.nationaltrust.org/11Most/2004/index.html

A petroglyph site in Nevada is similarly threatened, but public
response is somewhat different:

http://tinyurl.com/2nsq4 (Las Vegas Sun)

How an archaeologist views Montana:

http://www.fwp.state.mt.us/news/article_2960.aspx

A 2000 - 4000 b.p. burial site has been found in Indiana:

http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/149895-7212-093.html
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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On the DNA front ... plans are afoot to submit the remains
found in the shaft graves at Mycenae to DNA tests to determine
family relationships, origins, etc.:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1225001,00.html

More on ancient dogs:

http://tinyurl.com/29s57 (Tri Valley Herald)

It's Archeology Week in Perthshire:

http://www.perthshire.co.uk/index.asp?tm=49

A fire which destroyed much of the representative pieces of the
'Britart' movement has spawned a column in the Guardian about
assorted disasters which have destroyed cultural heritage:

http://tinyurl.com/yw8bv

(on the fire, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/arts/27FIRE.html)

Also in the Guardian is an interesting piece on William Blake's
biographer(s):

http://tinyurl.com/32nvo

Plenty of coverage of the restoration of David:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-David-Restored.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/25/arts/design/25DAVI.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040524/michelangelo.html

The Aksum obelisk still hasn't been returned from Italy:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200405280584.html

An eighteenth-century volcanic eruption in Iceland may have
contributed to a rise in the death rate in England at the time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3745749.stm

An upcoming auction leads to a nice article on Meissen Porcelain:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/arts/design/28ANTI.html

Plans to build the American Embassy on a 'sacrosanct', or at
least archaeologically-significant site in Skopje are causing
controversy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/international/europe/28EMBA.html

An interesting 'history of medicine' project focussing on the
'grammar of death' in Victorian times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/25/health/25deat.html

Jan Assman received an honourary degree from Yale this week:

http://www.yale.edu/opa/campus/2004_commencement/citations.html

In typically Canadian fashion, the ROM has adhered to the BM's
'no sketching' demands in regards to the Eternal Egypt exhibition,
causing much confusion:

http://tinyurl.com/2jaaa (Toronto Star)
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MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
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New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
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ON THE WEB
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Coins of the UK:

http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/pics/index.html

The Cincinnati Post has a piece on assorted websites devoted to
various aspects of ancient Egypt designed to coincide/complement
assorted television programs:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/05/26/sites052604.html
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CRIME BEAT
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An 'artifact amnesty' program in assorted western U.S. States
hopes to recover plenty of stuff:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595064780,00.html
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05212004/utah/168415.asp

Remember those artifacts found in a flooded basement of Iraq's
secret police building? Their fate remains uncertain:

http://tinyurl.com/2kmfo (LA Times)

The authenticity of some purloined petroglyphs from Nevada is
being questioned:

http://tinyurl.com/2gj2c (Las Vegas Sun)

A fragment of a Roman statue stolen from the Amphiaraeion sanctuary
in Greece was returned this week:

http://tinyurl.com/2lr2v (Kathimerini)
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BOOK REVIEWS
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Marilyn Yalom, *Birth of the Chess Queen*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/books/review/23SCHILLI.html

Robert Whitaker, *The Mapmaker's Wife*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/books/review/23BARR01.html

Christopher Philips, *Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day
Journey of Discovery Through World Philosophy*:

http://tinyurl.com/2cxkh (Charlotte Observer)

Ben Macintyre, *The Man Who Would be King: First American in
Afghanistan*:

http://tinyurl.com/2opt3 (Miami Herald)

Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, *The Rule of Four* (fiction
set at Princeton incorporating the Hypnerotomachia):

http://tinyurl.com/2c84p (Star-Ledger)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/books/26BOOK.html
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PERFORMANCES
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Antigone:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/theater/reviews/27ANTI.html

Antigone (different production):

http://tinyurl.com/yqz9t (FT)

Oedipus at Colonus (interesting troupe):

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2004-05-26/feature.html
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EXHIBITIONS
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Painters of Reality:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/arts/design/28KIMM.html

Unveiling Ancient Mystery: Etruscan Treasures

http://www.news-star.com/stories/053004/New_82.shtml
http://www.news-star.com/stories/053004/New_83.shtml

A couple Mayan exhibitions:

http://www.economist.co.uk/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2685685
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CLASSICIST'S CORNER
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A new Classics blog hit the ewaves in the past couple of weeks;
this one's called Blogographos and is aimed at promoting discussion
of assorted matters Classical:

http://www.blogographos.com/

Just a few items related to Troy this week ... the first is a
call for more familiarity with Classics on the part of Hollywood
types:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/weekinreview/23webe.html

Classicist Jack Mitchell (Stanford) wrote a letter to the editor
of the Globe and Mail about their review of Troy:

http://tinyurl.com/2z5o2

... while the same newspaper had a Troy-and-Iraq editorial:

http://tinyurl.com/3bkb6

... but there was a different spin on the movie's 'message'
from Beliefnet:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/146/story_14658_1.html

The Toronto Star had someone go to the CAC and ask their
opinion:

http://tinyurl.com/32ydx

In anticipation of the forthcoming Alexander flick, a
Macedonian site takes issue with Robin Lane Fox:

http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=3280

... while the hype begins to build for the Alexander flick too:

http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=15878

... and that AP piece on the upcoming Rome series keeps popping
up (I swear I've seen this at least a hundred times now over the
past month):

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/entertainment/2591593

... and who does all the costumes for these ancient flicks:

http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2004/may/25rang.htm

The New York Times has a nice profile of Father Foster:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/29/international/europe/29fpro.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/522431.html

On the Classical origins of Yale's cheer:

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/98_05/old_yale.html

An account of Yale's first student might be of interest as well:

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/current/old_yale.html

In case you missed it, as a publicity stunt sort of thing, MSN
has translated the first five books of the Iliad into
'Messengerspeak':

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/25/arts/25ARTS.html (scroll down)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040525/asp/foreign/story_3289252.asp
http://tinyurl.com/23482 (Reuters)

... you can see what it looks like at:

http://entertainment.msn.co.uk/films/troy/trimtroy/Default.asp

"Dactylic Hexameter and the Literary Rights Question":

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=40595

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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OBITUARIES
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Martin Plamondon (Lewis and Clark Cartographer)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/29/national/29PLAM.html
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REPEATS
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'New' Raphael found:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/24/arts/24ARTS.html

Temple Wall in danger of collapse:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/05/26/sites052604.html

Forma Urbis Romae project:

http://tinyurl.com/2t7zr (Philly Inquirer)
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OTHER SOURCES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
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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/MIKERUGGERISANCIENT

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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8:57:27 AM