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explorator 7.38                                 January 16, 2005
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Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Bill Kennedy, Adrian Murdoch, Charles
Jones, Dave Sowdon, Francis Deblauwe, Donna Hurst, Glenn Meyer,
Hernan Astudillo, James Thiele, Joan Griffith, John McMahon,
John McChesney-Young, Joseph Lauer, Louis A. Okin, ma'at, Tom
Wukitsch, Michael Oberndorf, Rochelle Altman, Sally Winchester,
Terrence Lockyer, Susan Jaslow, Trevor Watkins, W. Richard
Frahm, and Yonatan Nadelman for headses upses this week (as
always hoping I have left no one out).
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AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA
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Some prehistoric petroglyphs have been found in Northern
England:

http://tinyurl.com/5gz5t (oxymoronic headline)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4173985.stm

The Johns Hopkins dig in Egypt (and accompanying 'dig diary')
is about to resume:

http://www.jhu.edu/~neareast/egypttoday.html

... while on the subject, we can also mention Archaeology
Magazine's 'Interactive Dig' at Hierakonopolis:

http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/index.html

A Parthian era (and beyond)'circular city' has been found in
Iran:

http://www.chn.ir/english/eshownews.asp?no=4529

A seal has been found which lends some corroboration to the
Behistun monument:

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=148096

The 'winged man' relief at Pasargadae is threatened by various
natural phenomena:

http://tinyurl.com/5qszs (Teheran Times)

A second century Roman mausoleum has been found in Sarno:

http://tinyurl.com/5owgs (adnkronos ... Italian)
http://tinyurl.com/6a7a8 (culturalweb ... Italian)

A mosaic depicting a grape harvest has been found on the site
of Trajan's baths/on the Oppian hill:

http://tinyurl.com/6dsm4 (adnkronos ... Italian)
http://www.basilicatanet.it/news/article.asp?id=295371 (Italian)

A major Neolithic stone tool-making site has been found in
China's Guangxi Zhuang region:

http://news.newkerala.com/world-news/?action=fullnews&;id=58544

"Highest grade" tombs from the Western Zhou dynasty have been
found:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/117733.htm

Has Leonardo's 'secret workshop' been found?:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/15/arts/design/15leon.html
http://tinyurl.com/43vmd (Telegraph)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=600036
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THE AMERICAS
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The mystery of what kind of 'plague ants' contributed to the
demise of some early Spanish colonies may have been solved:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/science/earth/11ANTS.html

Road construction in Corpus Christi has been delayed due to
the discovery of a native American burial ground:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2992361

What to do about Tepotzotlan:

http://tinyurl.com/6pk2k (La Tercera ... Spanish)

Last week we mentioned an article in the Boston Globe which
suggested complex societies might have lived in the rainforest
of Amazonia ... there's actually quite a bit more to the story:

http://tinyurl.com/5fw5g (Boston Globe)
http://tinyurl.com/4ddsf (nice page on the Terra Preta project)
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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On the DNA front, one in five Scots has a blood tie to Iraq:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050115/17/fac6n.html

A scholar has identified Hipparchus' star map as being part of
the 'Farnese Atlas':

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/farnese/ (good photos and more)
http://tinyurl.com/3tlvl (CNN)
http://tinyurl.com/6353o (Eurekalert)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-11-atlas_x.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6sh9d (Reuters)
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/1195.html
http://tinyurl.com/5nkcd (Kathimerini)
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15907
http://tinyurl.com/6ohag (Reuters via Yahoo)

The popularity of the DaVinci Code has brought (too many)
tourists to Rosslyn Chapel:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/31122.html

Zahi Hawass apparently was criticized for moving Tut's body a
couple of weeks ago (among other things):

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3383

... at his website, ZH comments on Omar Sharif and Gilgamesh:

http://www.zahihawass.com/wc_omar_sharif.htm

On various aspects of the 'classical revival' in the 19th
century:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/magazine.cfm?id=32922005

Questions the librarians at the New York Historical society
deal with:

http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?talk/050117ta_talk_mead

On Ruskin and Turner and Victorian 'censorship':

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/arts/design/13rusk.html

Creswell Crags is getting a pile of lottery funding:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lottery/story/0,7369,1386729,00.html

Recent events have made traditional stories about a tsunami
hitting Poompuhar (India) rather more real:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6826956/
http://tinyurl.com/6grf9 (CNN)

A dispute over some Maori heads appears to be reaching a
conclusion:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4162581.stm

Commentary on the above:

http://tinyurl.com/6aodk (Guardian)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1439927,00.html

... and some aboriginal skulls are returning home:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4171535.stm

... but all isn't rosy in the repatriation world:

http://tinyurl.com/5bsvu (Herald Sun)

Hawaiian society apparently developed rather quickly:

http://tinyurl.com/6udyn (Yahoo)

Did Shakespeare have syphilis? (piece in the time-honoured
tradition of 'constructing' biography from disconnected
excerpts of non-personal writing):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050111091800.htm

We've had this story before, but it's resurfaced for some
reason ... it's very dangerous to be an archaeologist digging
in Laos' Plain of Jars:

http://tinyurl.com/6rq86 (AFP via Yahoo)

Natural disasters and their effects on political history:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0111/p01s04-wogi.html

A lost portrait of Mary Seacole has been found:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4163431.stm

Interesting item on the Warwick Vase and its 'spawn':

http://tinyurl.com/52p27 (The Age)
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MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
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British School of Archaeology in Iraq Newsletter (Nov. 2004):

http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/iraq/newnews14.htm

Archaeology Odyssey (Jan./Feb. 2005):

http://www.bib-arch.org/bswb_AO/indexAO.html

Biblical Archaeology Review (Jan./Feb. 2005):

http://www.bib-arch.org/bswb_BAR/indexBAR.html

This article (originally from Skeptical Inquirer) on the
James Ossuary was 'everywhere' this week:

http://www.livescience.com/history/reason_ossuary_050112.html
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ON THE WEB
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Zahi Hawass (I'm skipping the non-information intro):

http://www.zahihawass.com/home.htm
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NEW ONLINE BOOKS
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Robert Morstein-Marx, *Hegemony to Empire: The Development of the
Roman Imperium in the East from 148 to 62 B.C.*:

http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1x0nb0dk/

Jane Harrison, *Ancient Art and Ritual*:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/aar/index.htm
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CRIME BEAT
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A flood of coverage on the revelation that U.S. troops encamped
in Babylon have damaged it (duh):

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6828568/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391042,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391000,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391085,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391093,00.html
http://tinyurl.com/5f6on (Reuters)
http://tinyurl.com/3shbe (Boston Globe)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1282582.htm
http://tinyurl.com/4swgp (Chronicle)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=414947
http://tinyurl.com/5hjxw (Islam Online)
http://tinyurl.com/46qne (NYT)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/527479.html
http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050115-112523-7957r.htm

... here's the British Museum's report on same:

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/iraqcrisis/index.html
(link to a Word document)

They're still looking for a pile of items looted from Kuwait:

http://tinyurl.com/5yyld (Telegraph)

Looting continues in Afghanistan:

http://tinyurl.com/3mr9c (Al-Jazeera)

... but there's some hope:

http://tinyurl.com/44zno (AFP via Yahoo)

... and, of course, there are still problems in Iraq:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4277978

Is there a connection between the price of Egyptian antiquities
and smuggling?:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/725/hr1.htm

Christie's is apparently going to be selling a stolen painting:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6826281/

A major theft from the Westfries Museum (Hoorn):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4162753.stm
http://tinyurl.com/4etpy (Expatica)

Giacomo Medici "duped" a pile of museums:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=412209
http://tinyurl.com/6ytod (Reuters)
http://tinyurl.com/5mjha (Reuters via Yahoo)

A pile of artifacts from various periods and various
continents were recovered in a major bust in Italy this week:

http://tinyurl.com/64wwv (AFP via Yahoo)

The FBI has just put together a task force to deal with art
theft:

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/10652637.htm
http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_013230655.html

Trying to sell a 200 b.p. Hawaiian skull on eBay brings a fine:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/14/skull_vendor_deal/
http://tinyurl.com/46fe2 (Mercury)

Here's something to keep an eye on ... Iran is establishing
an antiquities market:

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=148765
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BOOK REVIEWS
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Jared Diamond, *Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
Succeed*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/books/11kaku.html

Marjorie Garber, *Shakespeare After All*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/books/11garb.html

Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/31036.html

Ingrid Rowland, *Scarith of Scornello*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/books/review/16WILLSL.html

A couple of books about Leonardo:

http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?critics/050117crbo_books

Paul Cartledge, *Alexander the Great*:

http://washingtontimes.com/books/20050115-095705-3978r.htm

David Durham, *Pride of Carthage*:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0111/p15s02-bogn.html

Adam Hochschild, *Bury the Chain: Prophets, Slaves, and Rebels
in the First Human Rights Crusade*:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0111/p15s01-bogn.html

Jonathan Kirsch, *God Against the Gods: The History of the War
Between Monotheism and Polytheism*:

http://tinyurl.com/47val (JPost)

C.A. Tripp, *The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln*:

http://tinyurl.com/6ym75 (Vanity Fair)
===============================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
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On why 'pet projects' like Alexander are almost guaranteed to
flop:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/movies/11love.html

On getting the costumes right in historical epics like
Alexander and The Passion:

http://www.variety.com/ac2005_article/VR1117916046?nav=look

Some reviews of Alexander:

http://www.felixonline.co.uk/2002-04/article.php?aid=2124

Lynn Redgrave won't be in Hecuba for a while:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4170467.stm
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DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
================================================================
I was wondering how long it would take for this to hit the
web ... some folks are connecting the recent tsunami to
Atlantis:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb196092.htm

... oh, wait ... Atlantis was between Spain and Morocco:

http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=45057&;src=0

Oh oh ... the Kensington Runestone is in the news again:

http://www.geotimes.org/current/NN_MNrunestone.html
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EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Alexander the Great: Treasures from an Epic Era of Hellenism:

http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/alex_exh.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/arts/design/14alex.html

Ancient Manuscripts of Timbuktu:

http://tinyurl.com/6xp46

Buddha in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:

http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/english/buddha_e.htm

Dead Sea Scrolls:

http://tinyurl.com/48olg (Christian News)

Leonardo Da Vinci: A Curious Genius:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6813534/

Marco Magrini:

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2964

Reubens:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/arts/design/14kimm.html
(slide show)
http://tinyurl.com/3j5ug (New York Daily News)

A German Dream: Masterpieces of Romanticism:

http://tinyurl.com/5tt82 (Guardian)

Relics of the Passion:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6825375/

The British Museum is going to lend the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran
for two years:

http://www.payvand.com/news/05/jan/1118.html

The Fueardent Cameo has resurfaced:

http://tinyurl.com/6zt5f (Business Wire)

Museums are branching out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/10/arts/design/10muse.html

Athens' National Museum is about to reopen:

http://tinyurl.com/4kv3f (CBC)
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CLASSICIST'S CORNER
================================================================
Carmela Vircillo Franklin is the new director of the AAR:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/05/01/AAR_director.html

The U.S. as Croesus?:

http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10646.shtml

A Latin teacher on Jeopardy:

http://tinyurl.com/5zv5e (Eagle Gazette)

Robin Lane Fox weighs in on the Brad and Jennifer thing:

http://tinyurl.com/6tr83

Ward Jones lectures:

http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=4198

Reviving 'dead languages' in Lancaster, PA:

http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/4/11163

Pondering Alexander:

http://tinyurl.com/4hdgn (Something Jewish)

Have you visited our Classics blog yet?

http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/
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OBITUARIES
================================================================
Frank Vandiver (Civil War historian):

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/15/obituaries/15vandiver.html

Arthur Rosenblatt (Museum designer):

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/nyregion/12rosenblatt.html
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REPEATS
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Examining Tut Again:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/725/fr2.htm
http://tinyurl.com/52dps

Fake Crystal Skulls:

http://tinyurl.com/4wlqu (icWales)

James Ossuary, Ivory Pomegranate 'fakes' etc.:

http://www.cathnews.com/news/501/61.php
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5306
http://tinyurl.com/3mnh8 (Macleans)

Mozart's Skull:

http://reason.com/0501/artifact.shtml

Oetzi Murdered:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050103/oetzi.html

Roman Circus in Colchester:

http://www.camulos.com/circus.htm
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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/

Egyptology News (blog):
http://www.egyptology.blogspot.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

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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::Sunday, January 16, 2005 10:05:58 AM::