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4,000-Year-Old Game Board Carved into the Earth Shows How Nomads Had Fun

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A pattern of small holes cut into the floor of an ancient rock shelter in Azerbaijan shows that one...

Writing WARP

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Over the last few months, I’ve been hiding from a line in a minutes from an early June meeting of the Western Argolid Regional Project: Preliminary Report… “ideally ready for submission by Christmas.” I had volunteered to take the lead in writing it and to marshal the contributions from various other folks on the project including two case studies. Needless to say, this hasn’t happened.

What makes it worse is that I’ve been thinking a good bit about how archaeologists write and archaeological publishing more broadly. Just this weekend, for example, I re-read Rosemary Joyce’s “Writing historical archaeology” in the Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology (2006). I also read Rachel Opitz’s recent contribution to the Journal of Field Archaeology titled ““Publishing Archaeological Excavations at the Digital Turn” (which I blogged about here), Amara Thortons,  Archaeologists in Print: Publishing for the People (UCL 2018)  (blogged here) and thinking a bit about Ian Hodder’s well-known article from AntiquityWriting Archaeology: Site Reports in Context.” While these works all offer different angles on the archaeological writing and publishing, they did reinforce to me that archaeological writing and publishing are undergoing some pretty significant changes, but that these changes are also situated grounded in the goals of archaeological work. (In fact, I’m going to try to marshal some of my ideas on that in a paper that I’m giving at a conference at the University of Buffalo next year.) 

At the same time, I spent a few hours wrapping up the layout of volume two of the Epoiesen annual which should appear from The Digital Press before the end of the year. The Epoiesen annual is an interesting challenge because it is publishing a web publication in paper (and PDF form). Instead of thinking of the paper format as a degraded representation of a web version, I’ve tried to think of it as a transmedia opportunity to take something that was originally imagined in one media (i.e. the web) and reproduce in another. While we don’t take many risks in how we present Epoiesen on paper, the potential is certainly there and the very act of translating from one media to the next forces us to think about how entangled ideas and material are and how the paper (or even PDF version) of Epoiesen will offer readers a different experience than the online version.

Advertisement! You can get the first volume of Epoiesen at the low, low price of $6. SIX DOLLARS. That’s cheaper than a beer in New York City or about half the things on the Starbucks menu. 

A similar challenge will face my little press as we work on our next major project – a volume in collaboration with ASOR that presents a digital catalogue of votive figurines from Athienou on Cyprus. We will present these artifacts both through a traditional catalogue and high-resolution 3D scans presented both as a 3D PDF and through an online catalogue published by Open Context. It’ll be a big project full of challenges at the intersection of the paper codex and dynamic media.

While this might not seem immediately relevant to writing a preliminary report for WARP, it will push me a bit think about what kind of information is most appropriate for a print report and what kind of information is better to publish as data later on. 

IMG 3456

On top of that, I took a couple nice long walks with the dogs this weekend and those always give me a chance to think about big and small picture stuff. I started to think about the challenge of writing a preliminary report as a problem of definition. When is a project sufficiently complete for a preliminary report to offer provisional, but relatively secure, observations on method and results? On WARP, I get pretty anxious when I think of all the work we have left to do to make sense of our data; at the same time, I know that the artifact and main data collection phase of the project is over. What we have now is going to be the basis of both what we say in the final report and future analysis. Preliminary reports are hard to think about because of their liminal status. Archaeologists like to be authoritative in what they say about their work and analysis, and a preliminary report acknowledges that this is not the final word on the area and its material. 

Finally, there is a fear of the blank page. Fortunately, WARP has published a good bit already – here and there – so there is a kind of basis of already-written material upon which the preliminary report can draw. At the same time, there is the additional pressure of taking our analysis and presentation to the next level. This means more bibliography, more analysis, and more conclusions. This also means making sure that the voices of everyone on the project (and to be clear, folks will help me with this report!) will have space in the report even when we don’t all agree on how and what our analysis mean.  

Webcast: Between foreign hegemony and expansion to the West: Phoenician society and economy from the 10th until the 5th c., 12th December at 6:00pm and on 13th December at 9:00am.

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Between foreign hegemony and expansion to the West: Phoenician society and economy from the 10th until the 5th c.

This is the live stream of the Phoenicians Workshop presented at the JGU Mainz. More information see https://www.vorderasiatische-archaeologie.uni-mainz.de/phoenicians-workshop-12-12-14-12-2018

This live stream is available on 12th December at 6:00pm and on 13th December at 9:00am.
There will be some breaks between the presentations, so please wait until the live stream continues.
The stream contains two videos, the speaker and the presentation slides, so please watch it on a PC/Mac or in desktop mode on smartphones and tablets.

If there are some issues during the playback, try to reload this page.

This page will update once the webcast begins

2000-year-old Germanic cemetery discovered in western Poland

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Polish archaeologists have discovered dozens of iron and bronze artefacts including a sword and decorative buckles in a nearly 2000 years old Germanic cemetery, archaeologist Krzysztof Socha from the Kostrzyn Fortress Museum reported to PAP. Credit: Krzysztof Socha/Muzeum Twierdzy KostrzynThe cemetery is located in Gorzów poviat (county), though archaeologists have not revealed the exact location of the newly discovered cemetery to...

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Researchers suggest 'Little Foot' is an entirely new species of early human

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Several teams of researchers have announced that the skeletal remains of a hominin believed to have...

Open Access Journal: Clara Rhodos: Studi e materiali pubblicati a cura dell' Istituto Storico-Archeologico di Rodi

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[First posted in AWOL 22 September 2014, updated 10 DEcember 2018]

Clara Rhodos: Studi e materiali pubblicati a cura dell' Istituto Storico-Archeologico di Rodi
Στη σειρά Clara Rhodos, που αποτελείται από δέκα τόμους και εκδόθηκε από το 1928 έως το 1941, παρουσιάζονται οι έρευνες και οι ανασκαφές στα Δωδεκάνησα, κυρίως στη Ρόδο, την Κω, τη Χάλκη και τη Νίσυρο, κατά τη διάρκεια της Ιταλοκρατίας. Η σειρά αποτελεί έκδοση του ινστιτούτου FERT, που συστήθηκε από τους Ιταλούς αρχαιολόγους το 1927. Μετά την ενσωμάτωση της Δωδεκανήσου στην Ελλάδα το 1948, οι δικαιοδοσίες του FERT μεταβιβάστηκαν στην Ελληνική Αρχαιολογική Υπηρεσία, και συγκεκριμένα στο Αρχαιολογικό και Ιστορικό Ίδρυμα Ρόδου, το οποίο το 2003 μετονομάστηκε σε Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών Σπουδών.

De Lingua Sabina: A Reappraisal of the Sabine Glosses

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De Lingua Sabina: A Reappraisal of the Sabine Glosses
Citation
Burman, A. C.(2018). De Lingua Sabina: A Reappraisal of the Sabine Glosses (Doctoral thesis). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.18502
Abstract
This thesis offers a reappraisal of the Sabine glosses through the analysis of thirty-nine words, all glossed explicitly as Sabine in ancient sources ranging from the first century BCE to the sixth century CE. The study of the Sabine glosses found in ancient grammarians and antiquarians goes back to the beginnings of Italic scholarship. Over time, two positions on the Sabine glosses have crystallised: (a) the Sabine glosses are evidence of a personal obsession of the Republican author Varro, in whose work many Sabine glosses survive, and (b) the Sabine glosses are true remnants of a single language of which little or no epigraphic evidence has survived. By using the neogrammarian observation that sound-change is regular and exceptionless, it is possible to ascertain whether or not the Sabine glosses are likely to be from the same language. This thesis finds that the sound-changes undergone by the Sabine glosses show no broad agreement. The developments are characteristic of different languages – Latin, Faliscan and various Sabellic languages – and many changes are mutually exclusive. This consequently throws doubt on the assertion that the Sabine glosses are all taken from one language. Instead, the glosses should be seen as part of a discourse of the relationships between Romans, Sabines and Sabellic-speaking peoples. During the Republic, Sabines were central to Roman myth, historiography and political rhetoric. As the Sabines were a distinct people in the Roman foundation myths, but were largely Romanised in the Republican present, they became a convenient bridge between Rome and the Sabellic-speaking peoples of Central and Southern Italy, to whom Greek and Roman writers ascribed myths tracing origin back to the Sabines. This continued into the Empire, when emperors such as Claudius and Vespasian utilised their (supposed) Sabine heritage to gain ideological capital. In light of this, the phenomenon of Sabine glosses cannot be seen as one man’s interest, but as a means of reflecting on Rome’s relations with Sabellic-speaking Italy.
Keywords
antiquarianism, glosses, Italic languages, history of linguistics, Paulus-Festus, Sabine, Sabellic languages, Varro, Verrius Flaccus
Sponsorship
AHRC Faculty of Classics, Cambridge
Identifiers
Rights
No Creative Commons licence (All rights reserved)

South African skeleton shows humans learnt to walk upright in the trees

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The analysis of the world’s most complete skeleton of an early human ancestor, conducted by a research collaboration involving the University of Liverpool, offers conclusive evidence that human ancestors became efficient upright walkers while they were still substantially tree dwelling animals. Professor Ronald Clarke with Little Foot [Credit: University of Liverpool]The first bones of the 3.67 million old skeleton, specimen StW 573...

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New Open Access Journal: Archaeology in Jordan (AIJ)

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Archaeology in Jordan (AIJ)
Archaeology in Jordan (AIJ) is a new, biannual open access (OA) newsletter published online by ACOR aimed at raising scholarly awareness of archaeological and cultural resource management projects being carried out in Jordan and to make this information accessible to a wider audience.
This ACOR publication, initiated in 2018, provides continuity with the “Archaeology in Jordan” Newsletter edited by ACOR staff and affiliates and published in the American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) by the Archaeological Institute of America between 1991 to 2016. All 22 past editions are now open access through links on our past issues page or through AJA online.
For further information and queries regarding submissions to Archaeology in Jordan please write to acor@acorjordan.org

Open Access Journal: The Levantine Review: The Journal of Near Eastern and Mediterranean Studies at Boston College

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The Levantine Review: The Journal of Near Eastern and Mediterranean Studies at Boston College
ISSN: 2164-6678
The Levantine Review
The Editorial Board of The Levantine Review invites submissions for its forthcoming issues.  A peer-reviewed electronic journal, The Levantine Review publishes scholarship (in English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Syriac, and Levantine vernaculars) on the history, cultures, religions, politics, and the intellectual, philological, and literary traditions of the contemporary Levant and Near East.   Authors are welcome to contact the editors prior to submitting manuscripts for consideration.




2012



Vol 1, No 2 (2012)

Monument Vandekerckhove zoekt projectleider archeologie

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Monument Vandekerckhove NV is momenteel op zoek naar een projectleider archeologie (m/v). Hij/zij zal instaan voor de planning en organisatie van de archeologische sitesen dit van bestelling tot eindrapportage. Kandidaten beschikken over een masterdiploma archeologie en hebben voldoende terreinervaring om een erkenningsaanvraag te kunnen indienen.  Ze hebben ook ervaring met archeologienota’s, en een goede kennis van de Code van Goede Praktijk. Je vindt de volledige vacature op www.monument.be.

1. A Copto-Arabic Codex at Iviron Monastery: A Trivial Text out of Context -2. Coptic Liturgical books in Bohairic dialect

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December 11, 2018 18.00 - Emmanouel Georgoudakis Philatelic and Postal Museum /Nikos Kouremenos Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna

Hunter-Gatherer DNA Recovered From Chewed Pitch

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Sweden birch bark pitchUPPSALA, SWEDEN—Science Magazine reports that human genetic material has been recovered from 8,000-year-old pieces of birch bark pitch that were unearthed in western Sweden in the 1980s. Birch bark pitch, derived from resin, was heated and chewed to make it pliable, and used as a fastener by hunter-gatherer toolmakers. It also may have just been chewed, like gum. A team led by Natalija Kashuba, who was then a student at the University of Oslo, ground samples from three wads of the hardened resin into powder. They then detected human DNA in all three samples, from three different individuals—two female and one male. Based on the size of the tooth marks and signs of tooth wear evident in the resin, the chewers are all thought to have been between five and 18 years old. The DNA analysis also suggests the chewers were from a group known as Scandinavian hunter-gatherers, who lived in Sweden and Norway. For more on archaeology in Sweden, go to “Hoards of the Vikings.”

Mosaic Fragment Returned to Turkey

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Turkey Zeugma mosaicGAZIANTEP, TURKEY—BBC News reports that Bowling Green State University has handed over pieces of the “Gypsy Girl” mosaic to Turkey, where they have been put on display in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum with other fragments from a larger artwork. The 2,000-year-old image fragments, which depict a girl’s eyes, nose, hair, and hat, are thought to have been looted from the ancient city of Zeugma and smuggled out of Turkey in the early 1960s. The university purchased the mosaic fragment from an art dealer in 1965. To read in-depth about excavations at Zeugma and the mosaics found there, go to “Zeugma After the Flood.”

4,000-Year-Old Game Board Identified in Azerbaijan

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Azerbaijan board gameNEW YORK, NEW YORK—According to a Live Science report, Walter Crist of the American Museum of Natural History has identified a collection of pits carved into a rock shelter in Azerbaijan as a 4,000-year-old game board. Known as “58 Holes,” or “Hounds and Jackals,” copies of the game have also been found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV, and at other sites dating to around the second millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia and Anatolia. This set of pits is located in Gobustan National Park, which is known for its ancient rock art. Scholars think the game was played in a manner similar to backgammon, with counters moved around the board. “It is two rows in the middle and holes that arch around outside,” Crist said of its layout, “and it’s always the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth holes that are marked in some way.” A larger hole at the top is thought to be the goal, or endpoint, of the game. To read about an excavation of far more modern games, go to “The Video Game Graveyard.”


The Roman Army A to Z: via decumana

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via decumana (f. pl. viae decumanae)

Rear road into the fortress, passing through the porta decumana. In the retentura. DMC 18. [Johnson 1983]

The Roman Army A to Z: via praetoria

The Roman Army A to Z: via principalis

Call for Papers

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“Inscriptions and the Epigraphic Habit”

The 3rd North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy

Iron Age chariot burial found in East Yorkshire

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Archaeologists have made an "unparalleled" discovery in East Yorkshire of a chariot buried with two horses, which look as if they "were leaping upwards out of the grave." The chariot with its ponies [Credit: David Keys]The pair had been carefully positioned in the Iron Age grave at Pocklington with their back legs bent and hooves just off the ground - ready to spring into the next life. The chariot - with a man aged in his late 40...

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