BHR-10
Brit-Am Historical Reports
31 July 2009 10 Av 5769
Contents:
1. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 12.13
2. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 12.14
3. Stone Vessel with 'Priestly Inscription' Uncovered In Jerusalem
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1. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 12.13
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
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explorator 12.13 July 19, 2009
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
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... or the impending dig in Sidon:
http://www.littleabout.com/news/23094,excavation-lebanon-aims-uncover-ancient-ruins.html
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/JPArticle/ShowFull
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/JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31761755/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
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Latest 'evidence' for the Roman origins of the Arthur legend:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ancient-lance-pierces-hole-in-king-arthur-legend,892613.shtml
Mary Beard reviews Frank McLynn, *Marcus Aurelius*:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n14/bear01_.html
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EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
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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
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
Review of Christopher Kelly, *The End of Empire*:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/entertainment/books_literature/article/BEND19_20090715-181212/280110/
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NORTH AMERICA
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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
Slavery records from the Virgin Islands:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20090717/CB.Virgin.Islands.Slavery.Records/
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CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
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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)
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
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OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
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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
Pre-landing ideas about the moon:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/movies/19strau.html
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TOURISTY THINGS
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Rhodes:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-writing-competition/5849295/Just-back-acropolis-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
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DIG BLOGS
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Dhiban (Jordan):
http://dhiban.wordpress.com/
Gabii Project:
http://lapisgabinus.blogspot.com/
Tel Dan:
http://teldan.wordpress.com/
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EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
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Dutch New York:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/nyregion/19artwe.html
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
2. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 12.14
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
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explorator 12.14 July 26, 2009
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EARLY HUMANS
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Scientific American has a feature on Neanderthals:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=inside-this-issue-neandertals
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
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A Parthian tower find from Azerbaijan:
http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59:a-parthian-tower-discovered-in-ardebil-near-arran-border&catid=1
That road-widening-destroys-a-Parthian-site story from last week
has a few more details this week ... it may have been the lost
Partho-Sassanian city of Azem which was damaged:
http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57:recently-destroyed-archaeological-site-in-khuzestan-province-believed-to-be-the-lost-partho-sasanian-city-of-azem&catid=1
Two-part radio broadcast on the Elah Fortress:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132486 (article about same)
http://wejew.com/media/5015/Hot_Biblical_Rocks_on_INRs_Yishai_Fleisher_Show_for_June_6_Part_1_of_2/
http://wejew.com/media/5014/Hot_Biblical_Rocks_on_INRs_Yishai_Fleisher_Show_for_June_6_Part_2_of_2/
cf.: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/Player.htm#0%231152
Feature on Phoenician (mostly) 'business models':
http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=7887
Assorted disciplines (Egyptology, Assyriology, Classics, inter
alia) are threatened at Israeli universities:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1102024
Brief item on Haifa U.'s underwater did at Urla:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132523
Latest on developments in/around Temple Mount:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443861841&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3750984,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3748929,00.html
Review of Desmond Seward, *Jerusalem's Traitor*:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1248277872353&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
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ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
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Brief item on the discovery of the 'largest' Roman garrison in Syria:
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1491831.php/Archaeologists_discover_Mideasts_%26quotlargest_Roman_garrison%26quot_in_Syria_
A Bronze Age (it appears) settlement from Cyprus:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=acPPTPmfqVBE
http://www.grreporter.info/statiaen.php?mysid=2349&t=25&SESID=i00oedpr7sp3qi2kajqtvqeld7
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EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
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Searching for unrecorded ancient trees in the UK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/8160881.stm
The joys of mudlarking along the Thames:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8161000/8161223.stm
Can't remember if we've mentioned that those headless burials from
Dorset date from Saxon times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6718631.ece
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ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
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DNA suggests folks arrived in Australia from Africa via a coastal
route:
http://www.physorg.com/news167423399.html
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/24/2635149.htm?topic=ancient
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NORTH AMERICA
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An 8-year-old came across a prehistoric ax in her back yard near
Annapolis:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/can/2009/07/24-16/Around-Crownsville-Backyard-find-is-a-2000-to-3000-year-old-ax.html
What it's like being Minnesota's state archaeologist:
http://www.finance-commerce.com/article.cfm/2009/07/22/For-Minnesotas-state-archaeologist-its-another-day-another-crisis-Twoperson-state-archaeology-office
Followup on that Mexican-artifacts-in-the-trash story:
http://www.newsday.com/mexico-expert-eyes-artifacts-found-in-ny-trash-1.1323800
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CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
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Interesting claim of evidence the Maya practiced forest conservation:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090722150825.htm
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1725302/scientists_determine_that_ancient_maya_practiced_forest_conservation/index.html?source=r_science
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-78667.html
http://www.physorg.com/news167411824.html
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OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
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I really have no idea where I should categorize this one ... the
Italian prime minister is in hot water over some tapes made by
a prostitute, not for the obvious reasons, but for a quote about
a hitherto unknown Phoenician site under one of his villas in
Sardinia:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/24/silvio-berlusconi-tapes-archaeological-tombs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8168085.stm
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=3.0.3579736495
A shy Englishman beat Galileo 'to the moon':
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6725572.ece
http://news.skymania.com/2009/07/17th-century-mission-to-moon.html
Feature on Noah Webster:
http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2008_09/old_yale.html
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DIG DIARIES/BLOGS
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New this week:
Apollonia Arsuf (Israel):
http://apollonia-arsuf.blogspot.com/
Ongoing:
Dhiban (Jordan):
http://dhiban.wordpress.com/
Gabii Project:
http://lapisgabinus.blogspot.com/
Tel Kabri:
http://digkabri.wordpress.com/2009-dig-blog/
Tel Dan:
http://teldan.wordpress.com/
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TOURISTY THINGS
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Mormon Trail:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/travel/escapes/24amer.html
3. Stone Vessel with 'Priestly Inscription' Uncovered In Jerusalem
by Hana Levi Julian and Gil Ronen
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132655
Extract:
(IsraelNN.com) A rare 2,000-year-old ritual vessel made of limestone and inscribed with 10 lines of text has been discovered in an excavation near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is an unprecedented find, according to Dr. Shimon Gibson, the archaeologist who heads the University of North Carolina team conducting the dig.
"Such stone vessels were used in connection with maintaining ritual purity related to Temple worship, and they are found in abundance in areas where the priests lived," Gibson reported. "We have found a dozen or more on our site over the past three years. However, to have ten lines of text is unprecedented. One normally might find a single name inscribed, or a line or two, but this is the first text of this length ever found on such a vessel," he said.
Initially, Gibson thought the inscription was written solely in Aramaic. However, a group of experts consulting on the matter was not convinced; they say there is a possibility that the text contains the sacred name of G-d and is deliberately cryptic.
"Stephen Pfann, of the University of the Holy Land, is leaving open the possibility that it is Hebrew. He has also suggested that the text might have had meaning within a closed circle of priests, similar to texts at Qumran," said Dr. James D. Tabor, co-director of the dig.
At least 30 people per week "sacrificed their own money, time, and hard labor to advance this important effort," according to Gibson, who said the results "have been simply astounding, the finds quite spectacular, and the whole area has been transformed."
He added that the excavation site was in ancient times "precisely at the center of Herodian/2nd Temple Jerusalem...we have extraordinarily well preserved ruins from the 2nd Temple period, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE."
This time around, structures from the First and Second Temple periods were discovered, including a mikvah (ritual pool) left almost completely intact, a vault, and a room with two ovens. Buildings from the Byzantine and early Islamic periods were also uncovered, as well multiple coins, intact lamps, ceramic and glass vessels, bits of jewelry and similar items.
Tekhelet snails found?
Also uncovered were at least half a dozen Murex snail shells with holes drilled through them. "Prior to our excavation one or two such shells had been found in all of Jerusalem," Gibson said. "That so many would be found at our site further supports our supposition that we are in a priestly residential area."
Murex snails were cultivated in ancient times at sites along the Mediterranean Sea, and a royal blue dye was extracted from them. "According to some experts this blue color was used for the priestly garments, as well as the tzitzit or threaded tassels worn by all pious Jews of the period," he explained in his report, referring to the Biblical tekhelet -- the thread of blue that G-d commanded male Jews to include in the ritual fringes on the corners of their garments.
"Speak to the Children of Israel and bid them that they make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each corner a thread of blue (tekhelet). And it shall be for you as a fringe, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of G-d, and do them..." (Numbers 15:38-15:39)
Such fringes are worn by observant Jews to this day, although in most of them, the thread of blue is no longer included, since the precise technology for making the dye has been lost. However, in recent times rabbis have overseen a modern recreation of the tekhelet technique and some Jews have begun using tekhelet in their fringes again.
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