Downtempo remix of a reading of Pliny the Younger’s letter regarding the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Downtempo remix of a reading of Pliny the Younger’s letter...
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New Open Access Article- Millend Mill – Part 2: The Boulton...
New Open Access Article- Millend Mill – Part 2: The Boulton & Watt Engine House
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NY Times "Styles" Over Substance: Giving LA MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch More Than His Due
Jeffrey Deitch poolside at his Hollywood houseScreenshot from Jeffrey Deitch Takes Hollywood, a video on The Curve, LA MOCA's blogGuy Trebay's long Jeffrey Deitch-friendly piece, which landed inconguously on the front page of last week's NY Times "SundayStyles" section, hasn't...
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Tim Tebow Patents Kneeling
Jim West posted this nice satirical treatment of the notion of Tim Tebow patenting “Tebowing,” his characteristic kneeling pose:
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Open Access Journals: i-Medjat (papyrus électronique)
[First posted in AWOL 19 September 2009. Most recently updated 23 October 2012]
i-Medjat (electronic papyrus)
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i-Medjat (electronic papyrus)
i-Medjat est une nouvelle revue d'égyptologie éditée par l'Unité de Recherche-Action Guadeloupe (UNIRAG) et disponible, gratuitement, sous forme électronique. En égyptien ancien, le terme Medjat signifie "rouleau de papyrus".
i-Medjat is a recent egyptological journal edited by the Unité de Recherche-Action Guadeloupe (UNIRAG) and available for free in electronic form. In ancient egyptian, the word Medjat means "papyrus roll". Alain Anselin, founder of the ancient Egyptian lesson at the University of Antilles-Guyane, is the redactor in chief as well as the editor of this journal since its creation in 2008.
i-Medjat n°1
i-Medjat n°2
i-Medjat n°3
i-Medjat n°4
i-Medjat n°5
i-Medjat n°6
i-Medjat n°7
i-Medjat n°8
i-Medjat n°9
See the full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies
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Focus on UK Metal Detecting: Rejoicing Heard in the Hills and Valleys!
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This is pretty unbelievable, but in a thread called End Of Time Team the metal detectorists of Wales are applauding the announced demise of the TV programme. You know, all those blokes out there who with one voice claim to "only be in it fer th'istry" ("always wanted to be an archaeologist, but nevver 'ad the chance [me spelling let me down]"). This is the whole justification for PAS-partnering of this milieu to enable them to "engage" with the past. Anyway they are tickled pink that there will be one less archaeology programme for people to watch. On hearing the news, member "Proconsul" ("Administrator, Hero Member") proclaims:
Another time-worn mantra-compilation from the Taffish beep-beep boys was submitted by member "Rjm" ("Detector Guru, Superhero Member"). He writes (apparently not understanding one bit what he's on about):
Mr Rjm may "personally think" what he likes, the rest of us can reflect on what the real problem is with ten thousand self-interested artefact hunters week after week pulling as many collectable metal artefacts they can out of the archaeological sites and assemblages all over the country, keeping what they want, flogging off or discarding what they do not. If it was elephants, wild orchids or bats I do not expect too many (sane) people would be saying that the reason ecologists are unhappy about it is because they are jealous that killing them is in their area of expertise. I think most (sane) people would realise that this would look rather like a total misunderstanding of the concerns (and areas of activity) of ecologists. Again, where is the PAS when nonsense like this again emerges in the community of their artefact-hunting "partners"?
Finally, I would contest the statement that "detectorists do good". I would ask the question whether instead the PAS (I assume that's what hides behind that glib comment) is a necessary evil required in the circumstances by what, archaeologically, would be an even greater one?
This is pretty unbelievable, but in a thread called End Of Time Team the metal detectorists of Wales are applauding the announced demise of the TV programme. You know, all those blokes out there who with one voice claim to "only be in it fer th'istry" ("always wanted to be an archaeologist, but nevver 'ad the chance [me spelling let me down]"). This is the whole justification for PAS-partnering of this milieu to enable them to "engage" with the past. Anyway they are tickled pink that there will be one less archaeology programme for people to watch. On hearing the news, member "Proconsul" ("Administrator, Hero Member") proclaims: Hooray! All metal detectorists should be delighted at this news. The Time Team programme has been a consistent enemy of metal detecting and [Tony] Robinson and [Professor Mick] Aston have done everything they could to get our hobby banned, including giving 'evidence' against us in front of a Parliamentary committee. I for one am extremely happy that Channel 4 have finally come to their senses and binned this programme.Because the Time Team archaeologists were asked to give (and gave) an archaeological opinion? He is glad it is going because from time to time a less-than-wholly fawning opinion was expressed about artefact hunting from an archaeological point of view on an archaeology programme? Now it is gone, does he imagine that any who were persuaded by the message that there is a problem in current policies towards artefact hunting and collecting will now assume that since the problem has gone, that particular problem has too?
Another time-worn mantra-compilation from the Taffish beep-beep boys was submitted by member "Rjm" ("Detector Guru, Superhero Member"). He writes (apparently not understanding one bit what he's on about):
It always amazed me that they could rip the top 12" of topsoil off with a JCB digger without a second thought...... the very soil that we detect...... and then criticise detectorists for removing items out of context! If it wasn't for detectorists we wouldn't have the wonderful hoards and other finds in our museums. I personally think these so called academics don't like amateurs intruding into their sphere of so called expertise. I think detectorists have given the nation more than them and they don't like it. The good detectorists do far exceeds the odd bad incident. [...]Well, I suppose many will continued to be "amazed" by things they do not understand. The rest of us think that Britain has thrown millions of quid at an outreach Scheme to liaise with these people and explain simple things like the difference between surface evidence surveys and excavation and all that. It's not rocket science, but it seems the PAS has concluded that it's beyond their capabilities to explain that to their "metal detecting" partners over fifteen years of "outreach". Quite what they've done with the time and money apart from compiling a database of objects lost from the archaeological record is beyond the rest of us. In any case, quite a lot of the discussion on detecting forums these days is about the new generation of sensitive depth advantage machines and the advantages they give over those who do shallow detecting. The PAS would of course never create such a list (because their "partners" would not come out too well if they did), but I bet if the public were kept properly informed about what's happening out in the fields, a high proportion (perhaps a very high proportion) of the multiple-object Treasure finds made each year are coming from below ploughsoil levels, despite strenuous efforts of the pro-collecting lobby to suggest otherwise.
Mr Rjm may "personally think" what he likes, the rest of us can reflect on what the real problem is with ten thousand self-interested artefact hunters week after week pulling as many collectable metal artefacts they can out of the archaeological sites and assemblages all over the country, keeping what they want, flogging off or discarding what they do not. If it was elephants, wild orchids or bats I do not expect too many (sane) people would be saying that the reason ecologists are unhappy about it is because they are jealous that killing them is in their area of expertise. I think most (sane) people would realise that this would look rather like a total misunderstanding of the concerns (and areas of activity) of ecologists. Again, where is the PAS when nonsense like this again emerges in the community of their artefact-hunting "partners"?
Finally, I would contest the statement that "detectorists do good". I would ask the question whether instead the PAS (I assume that's what hides behind that glib comment) is a necessary evil required in the circumstances by what, archaeologically, would be an even greater one?
Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,
its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.
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" Southern Urals State University Students Association for the Advancement of Archaeological and Anthropological Studies"
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I missed this post when it was published, but Doug Smith has recently taken a look at the webpage of the so-called 'Southern Urals State University Students Association for the Advancement of Archaeological and Anthropological Studies'. Ostensibly this is a webpage of an academic institution in Russia which is now selling off surplus artefacts from its teaching collections to raise funds for "advancing archaeological and anthropological studies" through a house on a leafy street on an island in Washington State in the US. As Doug spotted, the artefacts they are selling are - to put it mildly - on the whole, if not wholly dubious-loooking (my favourite are the "Victorian Europe" ones)*. According to the website:
[* Even here, most of the artefacts do not look to me very likely to be as-described. The 1937 two-mark coin is probably original, but the hype not really worth paying for. Such a coin can be got here in Europe for about ten Euros in that condition, they are selling it for 70 dollars.]
I missed this post when it was published, but Doug Smith has recently taken a look at the webpage of the so-called 'Southern Urals State University Students Association for the Advancement of Archaeological and Anthropological Studies'. Ostensibly this is a webpage of an academic institution in Russia which is now selling off surplus artefacts from its teaching collections to raise funds for "advancing archaeological and anthropological studies" through a house on a leafy street on an island in Washington State in the US. As Doug spotted, the artefacts they are selling are - to put it mildly - on the whole, if not wholly dubious-loooking (my favourite are the "Victorian Europe" ones)*. According to the website:
the Roman artifacts were found principally in Romania (literally "land of the Romans"), Bulgaria, and Syria. The Sumerian artifacts were unearthed in both Turkey and Syria, which [...] constituted the majority of the sites of the ancient Sumerian civilizations [sic]. The Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection amassed in the mid-1960's, at the height of Soviet influence in Egypt. As well, additional specimens are occasionally acquired from other institutions and dealers in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.These people have been at it a long time, I recall being pointed at them by artefact collectors years ago in the pre-blog days as an example of "how [other] academics can be involved in the antiquities trade". I do not expect I was very polite about them in response, wherever that was. Anyway, buying antiquities from suppliers with goods like these seems to me to be a way of collecting which is not likely to be contributing very much to the erosion of the archaeological record. They give you a COA (Certficate of Authenticity) issed by the South Urals University (is in in Cyrillic?).
[* Even here, most of the artefacts do not look to me very likely to be as-described. The 1937 two-mark coin is probably original, but the hype not really worth paying for. Such a coin can be got here in Europe for about ten Euros in that condition, they are selling it for 70 dollars.]
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UK Treasure Rewards to Fall Victim of Government Cuts?
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MORE than 110,000 people took to the streets yesterday in a mass protest against Government cuts. Campaigners chanted, sang and waved placards and balloons as they marched in Glasgow, London and Belfast to call for an end to austerity measures. The A Future That Works march called for changes in economic policies and gave out the message that austerity is simply failing, the Government is making life desperately hard for millions of people because of pay cuts for workers, while the rich are given tax cuts (Lauren Crooks, 'Thousands join protests across UK in bid to stop Con-Dem cuts and protect their future', The Daily Record and Sunday Mail 21st October 2012).
This has a portable antiquities context too. regular followers of the antiquitist blogosphere will be aware that the austerity measures in European states such as Greece, Spain and Italy have been prompting the leading pro-collecting lobbyists in the US to predict that the end of state custodianship of the archaeological heritage will be coming to an end. For example, one analyst, based on information from MSN and Fox News sees the future of Europe and its cultural heritage in entirely black, if not apocalyptic tones:
Greece: Greek voters deal blow to parties that have govern..., The Collapse of Cultural Property Nationalism, Say your prayers': Attempts to form new Greek gove..., Greeks withdraw $894 million in a day: Is this beg..., Facing Reality, Greek Archaeologists Out of Touch, Greece Mandates High Judge As Caretaker PM Ahead ..., Greece warns of going broke as tax proceeds dry up..., Wall Street prepares for Greece exit from Eurozone..., Italy: State Control Collapsing, Bad laws - Failed policies, Spain: Spain Feels the Pain, The New Cultural Reality.
Of course these people are expecting that this will mean that lots of stuff will be soon coming onto the open market instead of being housed in public collections funded from the public purse. Perhaps they are also hoping that as the cuts bite into citizens' disposable income and more and more collectable objects enter the market instead of going to public collections, prices will drop and there will be profits to be made in markets outside the zone directly afected by the crises.
But where is this, when the crisis is even cutting into the employment figures and threatening standards of living even in the US?
The fact that the crisis is even prompting political unrest in the United Kingdpom leads us to consider whether the public purse really can afford the burden of administering the paying out of hundreds of thousands of pounds (perhaps millions, I have never seen a proper estimate of the overall costs) as a result of the Treasure Act in England, Wales and Scotland. Can the state afford to have increasing numbers of people out there ripping these treasures from the security of the archaeological context (in many cases) and then demanding their reward? What is the point of accumulating more and more gold and silver in museums which can barely afford the insurance and costs of the security even now?
To what extent is the current situation sustainable, not only from the point of view of archaeological resource conservation, but also in terms of the sheer costs of the artefact-hoiking free-for-all that exists in the UK at the moment?
Why are US antiquitist doom-and-gloom analysts ignoring the very real costs for the UK of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and Treasure legislation? If in their opinion, other nations are to give up the 'expendable luxury' of protecting their heritage in the way they think fit, why not the British Isles?
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| March in Glasgow City centre |
This has a portable antiquities context too. regular followers of the antiquitist blogosphere will be aware that the austerity measures in European states such as Greece, Spain and Italy have been prompting the leading pro-collecting lobbyists in the US to predict that the end of state custodianship of the archaeological heritage will be coming to an end. For example, one analyst, based on information from MSN and Fox News sees the future of Europe and its cultural heritage in entirely black, if not apocalyptic tones:
Greece: Greek voters deal blow to parties that have govern..., The Collapse of Cultural Property Nationalism, Say your prayers': Attempts to form new Greek gove..., Greeks withdraw $894 million in a day: Is this beg..., Facing Reality, Greek Archaeologists Out of Touch, Greece Mandates High Judge As Caretaker PM Ahead ..., Greece warns of going broke as tax proceeds dry up..., Wall Street prepares for Greece exit from Eurozone..., Italy: State Control Collapsing, Bad laws - Failed policies, Spain: Spain Feels the Pain, The New Cultural Reality.
Of course these people are expecting that this will mean that lots of stuff will be soon coming onto the open market instead of being housed in public collections funded from the public purse. Perhaps they are also hoping that as the cuts bite into citizens' disposable income and more and more collectable objects enter the market instead of going to public collections, prices will drop and there will be profits to be made in markets outside the zone directly afected by the crises.
But where is this, when the crisis is even cutting into the employment figures and threatening standards of living even in the US?
The fact that the crisis is even prompting political unrest in the United Kingdpom leads us to consider whether the public purse really can afford the burden of administering the paying out of hundreds of thousands of pounds (perhaps millions, I have never seen a proper estimate of the overall costs) as a result of the Treasure Act in England, Wales and Scotland. Can the state afford to have increasing numbers of people out there ripping these treasures from the security of the archaeological context (in many cases) and then demanding their reward? What is the point of accumulating more and more gold and silver in museums which can barely afford the insurance and costs of the security even now?
To what extent is the current situation sustainable, not only from the point of view of archaeological resource conservation, but also in terms of the sheer costs of the artefact-hoiking free-for-all that exists in the UK at the moment?
Why are US antiquitist doom-and-gloom analysts ignoring the very real costs for the UK of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and Treasure legislation? If in their opinion, other nations are to give up the 'expendable luxury' of protecting their heritage in the way they think fit, why not the British Isles?
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Ur Digitization Project: Item of the Month, October 2012
Artifact of the month
Spotlight on Field Number U.8226 (Museum Number B16730)
Silver Garment Pin
This beautiful pin was found in PG165, a ‘non-royal’ grave in the Royal Cemetery area of Ur. More than 1800 graves were found in this area but only 16 were designated royal; these graves had particular characteristics, most notably a tomb chamber built in stone or brick with broad entryway that had multiple burials or signs of ritual with many offerings outside. Not all of the royal tombs fit exactly in the mold, and many of the private graves were quite richly endowed. The area was used as a cemetery for a long period of time and many of the people buried here were quite wealthy, whether royal or not. We simply don’t know the connection of the people to political status, but their ability to take to the grave many objects of clear value and craftsmanship says something about their economic status.
The pin was used to fasten a garment. Pins like it are particularly common in graves of the Royal Cemetery area, though the material they are made of and the design might differ somewhat. Some have fluted heads, while others, like this one, have plain heads. But the head of this pin is made of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone imported to Mesopotamia from a great distance, coming all the way from Afghanistan. Furthermore, the pin is made of silver and adorned with gold.
Pins like this are typically found at the shoulder of bodies in graves. This one was found a bit lower, just above the waist. In direct association with it were found seven beads, four of carnelian and three of lapis, as well as a lapis cylinder seal. These items were almost certainly fastened to the pin originally, on a string threaded through the hole in the upper portion about 2 cm below the lapis head. Thus, the artifact not only functioned as a fastener, it also held the identification of the person, the seal that was used to ‘sign’ clay documents and sealed commodities. Some seals carried cuneiform writing so that we know the actual name of the person carrying it. In this case, however, as is quite common, the seal bore only imagery—a scene of heroes and heraldically crossed animals.
Roll-out in plaster of cylinder seal U.8228, which likely hung from the silver pin B16730.
Button-like toggles were known in antiquity, but buttons in general are a relatively late development; thus, garment pins were common throughout the ancient world. Even the Romans had what is known as a fibula, which looks much like a large safety pin. Many fibulae were designed to clasp together, probably because straight pins were wont to loosen and fall out. Perhaps the beads and seal in the ancient Mesopotamian straight pin shown here could be wrapped around the pointed end after it had pierced the material, holding it fast.
As you can see, reconstructing the find in its original context is very important for interpretation. The Ur Digitization Project, in its efforts to reunite items like this with their field data, is establishing important connections. The seven beads mentioned in the notes with the pin are not stored with the object in the museum and we aren’t even sure which museum they are in. We hope eventually to find out and connect the beads back to the pin itself in virtual context. The cylinder seal is in the Iraq Museum but we hope to eventually include more information on it as well. The field photo of the roll-out is shown above, but modern photos of the seal and its roll-out would be helpful. Once all the objects are securely located and have been carefully examined, they can be digitally reunited so that anyone can see them together for a better understanding of their usage in the ancient context.
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Building Better Search
Have you ever searched for ‘Buddhism’ only to find records which contain exactly ‘Buddhism’ and not ‘Buddhist’, ‘Buddha’, or related concepts like ‘Maitreya‘ or ‘Bodhisattva‘? Frustrating, no?
Problem
Like many museum’s online collections, the Penn Museum’s first online collection site (launched in January) worked like the previous example and matched the terms a user searched for against the terms used in a catalog record. This type of search works quite well when either:
- All records are fully described, using the same terms that a user is likely to search for (e.g. using both ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Buddhist’)
- Users know how the collection is cataloged and can align their searches to accommodate our terminology (e.g. knowing to search for ‘Maitreya’ and not ‘Budai‘)
Unfortunately these conditions are almost never true. Some of our catalog records are very complete with vivid, detailed descriptions but much of the collection is minimally cataloged. Nor can users be expected to know off-hand how our 330,000 object records have been described over the last 125 years. Over the last six months we have worked to exploit existing data to improve our online search without re-cataloging all 330,000 records to meet the previous two conditions for running a successful search.
Background
Since the 1980s a core component of the Penn Museum’s various collections management systems has been a hierarchical controlled vocabulary, in Questor Systems’s Argus it was called the Lexicon, in KE Software’s EMu, it is called the Thesaurus but in both cases, it is a set terms organized into a hierarchy that facilitate object cataloging and searching within the collections management system. The Penn Museum’s thesaurus contains approximately 67,000 terms and controls the data entered in fields like Object Name, Provenience, Material, Culture, Technique, Maker, Culture Area, Subject, and Function. The content and structure of the thesaurus allow curators, collections managers and museum staff to catalog an object with a Provenience of ‘Cincinnati’ and then be able to find that object by searching for ‘United States’ or ‘Ohio’ or ‘Porkopolis‘ because of the hierarchical relationship between the terms.
How terms are organized in the thesaurus
Over the last twenty years, this structure has become so ingrained in how museum staff catalog objects that the use of discipline specific terms and limited object level cataloging (why enter ‘United States, Ohio, Cincinnati’ at the object level when you can enter ‘Cincinnati’ and let the thesaurus work for you?) presented huge barriers for online discovery because traditional online discovery requires that all metadata exist at the item level. We quickly discovered that users were unable to find objects they knew we had because their queries didn’t match the object level metadata. However we found that many of the search terms did exist in the thesaurus.
What if we use the content and structure of the thesaurus to improve the quality of our search engine?
After experimenting with Apache Solr, we found that it is possible to use the thesaurus and Solr to replicate the functionality of the collections management system in online searches (searching for “United States” will now find objects that are cataloged as “Cincinnati”).
How
One of my favorite things about EMu is that they provide a set of APIs. Using the API we are able to export the thesaurus content and structure into Solr and then create two text files that are used by the Solr SynonymFilterFactory to index catalog records and expand searches.
The first text file (index.txt) is used to analyze and index catalog records. Each row in this text file contains a term from the thesaurus and its primary key in the thesaurus table.
Qing Dynasty=>68250
If a catalog record contains the term ‘Qing Dynasty’, Solr associates the value ’68250′ with the record in addition to the text value ‘Qing Dynasty’.
The second text file (query.txt) is used by Solr to expand a searches. Each row in this file contains a term (Qing Dynasty), any alternate spellings (Ch’ing Dynasty, 大清) , the broader term (Chinese Dynasty) and the primary key for the term (68250).
Qing Dynasty,Ch’ing Dynasty,大清, Chinese Dynasty=>68250
When someone searches the online collection for “Chinese Dynasty”, their search term is passed to query.txt. Each time Solr finds ‘Chinese Dynasty’ on the left side of the => operator it uses the value on the right side of the => as a search term. So if the query.txt file looked like this:
Qing Dynasty,Ch’ing Dynasty,大清, Chinese Dynasty=>68250
Qin Dynasty,Chinese Dynasty=>68528
Shang Dynasty,Chinese Dynasty=>68524
Han Dynasty,汉朝, Han Ch’ao,Chinese Dynasty=>68503
Then when a user searches for “Chinese Dynasty” in the Period field, the Solr query looks like
and it will return all records that use the term “Chinese Dynasty” or any of its narrower terms in the Period field.
Results
Whether this kind of search is useful is still an open question (or if users even recognize that it is happening) but it was worth trying, certainly our staff has found it quite useful since they run these types of queries all the time within EMu. This is a work in progress and there are improvements that we are planning to make but this is was a large step toward programatically improving resource discovery without re-cataloging the entire collection.
Sample searches
“Greek god” vessel - Note that none of the records contain the terms ‘Vessel’ or ‘Greek god’ but do contain representations of both
“Behavioral Control Device” - See Chenhall’s Nomenclature
“North America” basket -woven - Baskets from “North America” that are NOT woven (the minus (-) is the NOT operator and can be used to exclude items from your query)
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Exporting Hoikery: UK Detectorists, "Let's go and Loot Brazil"
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On the UK and European Metal Detecting Forum they are discussing the possibilities of going to loot archaeological sites in Brazil at the Christmas break. London resident rogargaro15 (Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:31 am) is going and invites people to join him:
Just who do these people think they are? Just because British law is so pathetically inadequate to save anything much less imposing than Stonehenge from being bulldozed or looted away does not mean that this gives Brits a licence to loot and destroy sites all over the world with the same gay abandon as they treat the archaeological heritage at home, on the grounds that the unenlightened natives are so ignorant that they will not stop them. That is neo-colonialism at its worst - I thought the Brits at least would have that behind them. Obviously however from the responses the invitation got colonial attitudes are still thriving in certain circles of British society.
Vignette: Brazilian border guards, look out for this man if he leaves the country carrying a metal detector and a big bag (click here to enlarge image).
On the UK and European Metal Detecting Forum they are discussing the possibilities of going to loot archaeological sites in Brazil at the Christmas break. London resident rogargaro15 (Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:31 am) is going and invites people to join him: hey guys, near christmas i will be going to brazil do some metal detecting, it's not too bad there, it's not very old, but is the same age as usa is. you can find easily some stuff from the 1700s and the best is that metal detecting is very rare there, meaning that most places are undiscovered yet, filled with treasures =) and other, there are almost no laws against metal detecting, as some people there dont even know what it is. lolSo, basically this guy is proposing to take a metal detector to hoik metal artefacts out of the pre-independence and colonial sites of the region? To take away pieces of Brazil's early past? And they think they'll probably get away with it because the ignorant brown-skinned folk over there are so stupid they "dont even know what it is ("lol")" to have people from abroad loot archaeological sites for collectables. Not yet. Why, the native are so brown-skinned-ignorant they say that there are "almost" no laws against metal detecting. Says who? I can see on the Brazilian legislation on the UNESCO database at least one hurdle to the plan. What does "almost no laws" mean? In any case, is it really just the "law" which is important in such things? A lot of things which are not right in the eyes of most people are legal (or not illegal).
Just who do these people think they are? Just because British law is so pathetically inadequate to save anything much less imposing than Stonehenge from being bulldozed or looted away does not mean that this gives Brits a licence to loot and destroy sites all over the world with the same gay abandon as they treat the archaeological heritage at home, on the grounds that the unenlightened natives are so ignorant that they will not stop them. That is neo-colonialism at its worst - I thought the Brits at least would have that behind them. Obviously however from the responses the invitation got colonial attitudes are still thriving in certain circles of British society.
Vignette: Brazilian border guards, look out for this man if he leaves the country carrying a metal detector and a big bag (click here to enlarge image).
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Free issue of Journal of Muslims in Europe
Journal of Muslims in Europe is a new journal published by Brill.
Free access to full text content of the first issue is currently available at:
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22117954
ISSN: 2211-792X
E-ISSN: 2211-7954
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The Valleys Bite Back
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Among the members of the "Detecting Wales" forum, this blog clearly has a number of avid readers. One of their posts currently begins:
Among the members of the "Detecting Wales" forum, this blog clearly has a number of avid readers. One of their posts currently begins:
"In one of Paul Barfords most recent articles, Mr Barford starts off my ridiculing the valley's and pretty much anyone else that has picked up a metal detector"...starts a post by "Tafflaff" ("Rob" somebody) which then goes on to make much of the fact that there are typos in my text. Like most in his milieu, Tafflaff has difficulty seeing beyond the form to the content. No, Mr Tafflaff, in that post, I am not just criticising detectorists, but their attitudes - and in particular their attitudes to archaeology and archaeological conservation, even though the majority of British archaeologists are aligned with them and willingly treat them as "partners".
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Iraq: Antiquity Smugglers Arrested
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In Iraq, al-Zaman news reported on Monday that in the southern Province of Dhiqar, Interior Ministry forces in coordination with the Iraqi army have arrested two smugglers and confiscated 64 archaeological pieces (including several statues) as well as 114 bronze coins from different periods in Iraq’s ancient history:
In Iraq, al-Zaman news reported on Monday that in the southern Province of Dhiqar, Interior Ministry forces in coordination with the Iraqi army have arrested two smugglers and confiscated 64 archaeological pieces (including several statues) as well as 114 bronze coins from different periods in Iraq’s ancient history:
The province of Dhiqar holds some of the most archaeologically precious excavation mounds in Iraq. Its historical treasures have turned it into a hub for smugglers and illegal diggers. Many of its mounds, some dating to the Sumerian civilization that flourished in southern Iraq more than 5000 years ago, are being ruined by illegal excavators who do not have the proper training or tools. Digging up relics from the Mesopotamian era and selling them on the open market has become a lucrative trade since the 2003-U.S. invasion of Iraq. [...] Illegal excavation is taking place almost everywhere in Iraq due to the country’s rich buried history.Al Arabiya, 'Iraq’s rich history tempts relic smugglers', October 23, 2012.
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An Eyes Only Portable Antiquities Database
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The aim of the UK-based "Lithic Share Project (International Lithics and Artefacts Database)" is simple. "Creating A Global Database Of Lithics and Artefacts" serves to provide a platform that allows the sharing of lithics and associated prehistoric artefacts from around the world. In doing so, its unnamed authors hope that it will "create an unprecedented and comprehensive resource to assist study in this field". Societies, organisations, museums and private collectors may all contribute to the database by uploading images and details, "thus providing public access to items that may otherwise have been unavailable for study" (ie not available on t'internet).
The aim of the UK-based "Lithic Share Project (International Lithics and Artefacts Database)" is simple. "Creating A Global Database Of Lithics and Artefacts" serves to provide a platform that allows the sharing of lithics and associated prehistoric artefacts from around the world. In doing so, its unnamed authors hope that it will "create an unprecedented and comprehensive resource to assist study in this field". Societies, organisations, museums and private collectors may all contribute to the database by uploading images and details, "thus providing public access to items that may otherwise have been unavailable for study" (ie not available on t'internet).
The project helps safeguard the known provenance of lithics, ensuring that this valuable data remains protected, even if ownership changes. [...] Of course, the accuracy of a given provenance for contributed lithics cannot always be guaranteed, so a rating system has been introduced to indicate the reliability of the details provided. These will be indicated as Known, Most Probable and Unknown. Please see the Database menu for more details.How about other collectors of dugup antiquities doing a bit of "safeguarding the known provenance" of objects in their collection?
Hat-tip to Nigel Swift for the link.
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Avoiding-the-Dodgy
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""Buyers Beware: Surfacing Medici Material" warns David Gill. That's not so much a problem, it's the stuff foisted on the market by less noticeable dealers - like ("Greasy" Luigi Tagliatele and Kostas ("the Snake") Souvlaki in the 1970s - that are the bane of the responsible collector. You see, they never worked out how to operate a Kodak Snappie camera, so there are now no surviving photos of what passed through their filthy thieving hands. While collectors and auction houses can check if objects are like any in the archives of convicted dodgy dealer Medici, its not so easy with the other guys whose record-keeping was less meticulous. I guress that just leaves healthy scepticism towards the sales-spiel of dealers, and proper (responsible) collecting history verification to 'spot-the-dodgy'.
""Buyers Beware: Surfacing Medici Material" warns David Gill. That's not so much a problem, it's the stuff foisted on the market by less noticeable dealers - like ("Greasy" Luigi Tagliatele and Kostas ("the Snake") Souvlaki in the 1970s - that are the bane of the responsible collector. You see, they never worked out how to operate a Kodak Snappie camera, so there are now no surviving photos of what passed through their filthy thieving hands. While collectors and auction houses can check if objects are like any in the archives of convicted dodgy dealer Medici, its not so easy with the other guys whose record-keeping was less meticulous. I guress that just leaves healthy scepticism towards the sales-spiel of dealers, and proper (responsible) collecting history verification to 'spot-the-dodgy'.
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Viminacium
Explaining the gate of the legionary base
The ancient city of Viminacium is situated at the place where the river Mlava empties itself into the Danube. This means that here, three important roads came together: the road upstream along the Danube to Pannonia and the Adriatic Sea, the road downstream to Moesia and the Black Sea, and the road along the Mlava to Naissus and the Aegean Sea.
It comes as no surprise that in Roman times, a legion, VII Claudia, occupied the city, while subunits of IIII Flavia and V Macedonica must have been stationed here as well. It would seem that Trajan used this place as his headquarters for the invasion of Dacia.
Today, there’s a big quarry, which is slowly “eating” the ruins. As is customary, the organization that destroys an archaeological site, has to pay for the excavation, and this means that Viminacium is now being excavated at a truly grand scale. It measures 450 hectares. A necropolis has already been investigated: there were no less than 13,000 tombs.
If you visit the place today, you can see the remains of an amphitheater (currently excavated with some American help), the northern gate of the legionary base, a bathhouse, and a mausoleum. Now this was really something! The pretty large tomb was the final resting place of a young man, and an older woman has been buried close to him, in a separate tomb within the enclosure. It has been assumed that these were the tombs of one of the sons of Decius, Herennius, and of Herennia Etruscilla. If this identification is correct, it’s the first time that archaeologists have found the actual physical remains of a Roman emperor.
The so-called “Mona Lisa”
If you visit the place, a guide can show two underground tombs, both Christian, with very special paintings. You must not be claustrophobic, because the very low corridor is deep underground. Nevertheless, this visit is certainly recommended, if only because here you can see a beautiful portrait of a woman, called the Mona Lisa.
Viminacium is, from Belgrade, an easy drive to the east. It takes about an hour an a half. There are many road signs and you cannot possibly miss the place. The finds from the necropolis, and other finds as well, are now in the three room museum of nearby Požarevac. We found it closed, perhaps because it was lunch time, but when we stayed in the garden to admire the nice tombs, someone arrived and opened the door. (If there’s one thing I learned during my visit to Serbia, it’s how very kind the Serbians are.)
Generally speaking, I think Viminacium is going to be a very, very important site, comparable to Xanten, Carnuntum, or Aquincum. There’s already a hotel for visiting scholars and scientists, and I expect this to become a real meeting place for visitors from all countries. I am really looking forward to returning to Viminacium every now and then, every time seeing how new things have been excavated.
The official website is here, my webpage is there.
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Cambodia and Sotheby’s clash over Koh Ker statues
Regular readers would be familiar with the ongoing case between Sotheby’s and the Cambodia on the sale of statues from Koh Ker. This NPR is a timely update of recent events.
Cambodia Vs. Sotheby’s In A Battle Over Antiquities
NPR, 23 October 2012
The governments of Cambodia and the United States are locked in a legal battle with the auction house Sotheby’s over a thousand-year-old statue. The two governments say the statue was looted from a temple of the ancient Khmer empire. Sotheby’s says this can’t be proved, and a court in New York will decide on the matter soon.
The case could affect how collectors and museums acquire artifacts, and how governments recover lost national treasures.
Full story here.
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News: Archaeologists Unearth and Reopen the Achaemenid Sewage System at Persepolis
Archaeologists Unearth and Reopen the Achaemenid Sewage System at Persepolis
The News Section of the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)
Tuesday, 10 July 2012 18:51
Go to the chronicle of news on Persepolis
See also the chronicle of news on the Persepolis Fortification Archive![]()
The News Section of the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)
Tuesday, 10 July 2012 18:51
LONDON, (CAIS) -- Iranian Archaeologists have begun work on unearthing the Persepolis swage system, which in ancient times diverted rainwater from the platform to prevent flooding, reported the Persian service of ISNA on Tuesday.According to the news, apart from the sewage system, archaeologists have identified three water and irrigation systems at Persepolis, which circulated water over the platform. The sewage system, which is one of the most complex systems in the ancient world, diverted excess water flowing down from Mount Rahamt, away from the platform.The Achaemenid engineers constructed and implemented the sewage system inside the platform before construction of the citadel. The oldest sewage system at Persepolis is dated to the reign of Darius the Great (r. 550-486 BCE).Archaeologists believe that by unearthing and re-opening the ancient waterways and the sewage systems, they will be able to resolve the flood issue that Persepolis has been suffering from, particularly in the past few years.Last year archaeologists warned the authorities that if no necessary measures were taken immediately to resolve the flood issue at Persepolis, the ancient edifice will cease to exit within 10 years.
Go to the chronicle of news on Persepolis
See also the chronicle of news on the Persepolis Fortification Archive
See linked data for Persepolis via awld.js
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News: Humanities Day 2012: Oriental Institute’s Persian artifacts are subject of ongoing lawsuit
Humanities Day 2012: Oriental Institute’s Persian artifacts are subject of ongoing lawsuit
Americans attempting to get redress from the Islamic Republic of Iran want to take possession of the artifacts, currently on loan at the Oriental Institute.
For nearly 10 years, a lawsuit against the state of Iran has turned the Oriental Institute into a battleground over 2,500-year-old Persian artifacts.
This past Saturday, Professor Matthew Stolper, head of the Institute’s Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, gave an update on what he called a “salvage excavation” and revealed the innovative technology that might decide the artifacts’ future.
More than just “pieces of dirt that someone poked with sticks a very long time ago,” the archive is “the largest, the most complex, the best dated source of information from within the Persian Empire at its zenith,” Stolper said.
The tens of thousands of fragments, pieces of old administrative records excavated from Persepolis ruins in the 1930s, have been a treasure chest for understanding Persian language, religion, daily life and politics. “This loan was an extraordinary thing—an extraordinary act of trust,” Stolper said, since the Institute has been allowed to keep the artifacts on loan from Iran during the pending law suit.
“A completely unique discovery is sent off to an American research institute and it is sent intact—it is sent as if they knew it was all one thing. This is almost without precedent in the annals of cultural study,” Stolper said.
If the plaintiffs, Americans who lost relatives in 1997 terrorist attacks in Israel, win, the tablets may be sold and dispersed. If they lose, then Iran may demand the artifacts’ immediate return, according to Stolper. The plaintiffs were already awarded redress money that Iran refused to pay, so the plaintiffs are seeking this Iranian property in the U.S. as an alternative form of payment.
Stolper took a moment to remind the audience that the plaintiffs had lost their loved ones in a terrorist attack and reacted within the legal channels granted by the judicial system. “There’s a tendency to say [about the lawsuit], ‘What a terrible barbaric thing,”” Stolper said. “The plaintiffs are not greedy barbarians. They are seeking redress.”
The Institute has responded with innovative steps to preserve the artifacts, digitally and on the Internet. By publicly sharing infrared and photo-edited images of the tablets, alongside intensive linguistic analysis, the Institute is pushing archaeological record-keeping into the 21st century. “Sometimes the images are more useful than the original objects,” Stolper said.
Stolper left his audience and future generations, he hopes, with a challenge. “If I can’t convince you it’s something you should be excited about, at least I can convince you it’s something one can be excited about,” he said.
See also the chronicle of news on Persepolis
See linked data for Persepolis via awld.js
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