Quantcast
Channel: Maia Atlantis: Ancient World Blogs
Viewing all 136795 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Relatives/duplicates in ADMIXTURE

October 18, 2012, 10:50 am
$
0
0
The presence of relatives in a dataset tends to throw ADMIXTURE out, but this does not always happen. In particular, I've noticed that at low K, relatives do not appear to form their own hyper-specific clusters. A good example of this is the Yunusbayev et al. Armenians_Y sample (N=16) that happens to include what appears to be a common individual (or a twin?) with my own own Armenian_D sample from the Dodecad Project. This was discovered the last time I ran ADMIXTURE, so I henceforth began using a subset of 15 Armenians (Armenians_15_Y) from that dataset whenever I also included my Dodecad sample.

In my current ongoing analysis of the world dataset, I included two versions of the Sakilli, Paniya, and Malayan samples, from Behar et al. and Chaubey et al. I believe that HarrappaDNA Project has previously identified that some of these are not exactly the same individuals, so I wanted to see what the ancestry of all these individuals was, to help me decide which ones to keep.

Here are the K=5 ancestral proportions of the Behar et al. Sakilli:


GSM536813 10.2 7.8 2.2  0 79.9
GSM536814  8.5 9.3 2.1  0 80.0
GSM536815  9.7 7.9 3.6  0 78.8
GSM536816  8.8 8.7 2.1  0 80.4

and of the Chaubey et al. Sakilli:

SAKD60 10.2 7.8 2.2  0 79.9
SAKD72  9.7 7.9 3.6  0 78.8
SAKD75  8.8 8.7 2.1  0 80.4
SAKD64  8.5 9.4 2.1  0 80.0

These appear to be the same individuals, which was confirmed by IBD analysis.

The Malayan individuals also appear to be the same:

GSM536915 0.3 15.5 2.7  0 81.6
GSM536812 3.3 16.6 2.8  0 77.3

A382 0.3 15.5 2.7  0 81.6
MLYA383 3.3 16.6 2.8  0 77.3

But, as noticed by HAP, the Paniya individuals are not the same:

GSM536916 5.1 11.2 2.2 0.0 81.6
GSM536806 0.4 69.7 0.0 4.3 25.6
GSM536807 0.0 79.7 0.0 2.4 18.0
GSM536808 0.0 77.5 0.5 1.7 20.3

2953   D36 5.1 11.2 2.2 0.0 81.6
2954 PNYD9 0.0 19.8 2.5 0.6 77.1
2955 PNYD3 0.0 21.2 1.5 0.0 77.3
2956 PNYD1 0.0 21.7 2.7 0.3 75.2

As I move forward in my "world" analysis, I've decided to drop GSM536916 and the Chaubey et al. versions of Sakilli and Malayan. Thus, PANIYA will refer to the Southeast Asian-like individuals of the Behar et al. set, and Paniya_Ch to the South Asian-like individuals of the Chaubey et al. set, with one copy of the duplicated individual removed.
↧
Search

New Open Access Issue of the Society for Archaeological Sciences...

October 18, 2012, 11:28 am
↧
↧

The Dawkins Scale

October 18, 2012, 11:41 am
$
0
0

The blog Unreasonable Faith asked where readers are on the Dawkins Scale:

I just finished teaching a class on the first half of David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, and one of the things I mentioned as a nice feature of that work’s essentially three-way dialogue is that it highlights that matters such as the existence and nature of God are not a linear spectrum. Where on the above is there room for the modern-day scientific polytheist who thinks there might be (as Dawkins acknowledges that there could be) entities that emerged through evolutionary processes within a universe and became so powerful as to be “godlike”? Where on the above would one place a Deist, or a pantheist, or a panentheist?

I’d be interested in hearing from readers who resonate with the scale and feel that they can pick a number with little or no hesitation. But I am also curious how many feel, as I do, that the linear scale is part of the problem of the contemporary discussion about religion, and needs to be replaced with a different sort of scale with multiple axes, reflecting whether and to what extent there is an ultimate reality at all, whether it is knowable, whether analogy with human beings is appropriate, and other relevant considerations. Because where one fits on the scale may depend on which idea or model of God is in question, and in some cases, the term “theist” might not be felt to be the best fit for that viewpoint.

↧

rolloff analysis of Lezgins as Sardinian+Burusho

October 18, 2012, 11:41 am
$
0
0
I have carried out rolloff analysis of Lezgins, a Northeast Caucasian population that is of particular interest due to it being modal for the "Dagestan" component whose long-distance relationships with Western Europe and South Asia have triggered a great deal of followup investigation on my part.

The Lezgins are also interesting for other reasons: they may be one of the populations related to the Kura-Araxes culture; they possess a high frequency of Y-haplogroup R1b, so they may be related to the migration that brought this haplogroup into Europe from West Asia.

In my previous analysis of the French using the same reference populations, I speculated that their signal of admixture may involve admixture between a Sardinian-like and a West Asian population in Asia itself circa 7,000 years ago, followed by a later expansion into Europe. And, in my analysis of Lithuanians and Ukrainians, I discovered a somewhat less "old" signal of admixture involving South Asian+North European references with a mean value of 5.5-6.3ky for the various population pairs.

The exponential fit for the Lezgins can be seen below:

The admixture time estimate is 198.773 +/- 70.649 generations or 5,760 +/- 2,050 years. This is not very precise, but seems consistent with the two phenomena described above. It also seems to contrast with the much younger signal for Armenians.
↧

There’s Always Next Year…

October 18, 2012, 12:13 pm
$
0
0

Thanks to the Maya Long Count calendar, the year 2012 has become something of a pop culture phenomenon.  You’ve probably seen plenty of TV, movie, and internet references to the upcoming “end of the world” on December 21st or December 23rd (it depends).  It’s a real bummer because the hope of “next year” is the only thing that has sustained me as a lifelong Seattle sports fan; once the Mariners win a World Series, then the world can end!

But, seriously, Maya scholars are not worried about 2012 being Earth’s last year.  I’m neither a Maya scholar nor Maya descendant, so most of what I know about Maya calculations of time comes from popular sources like books, magazines, and documentaries.  In other words, despite being an anthropologist, I make no claims of being a Maya expert.

Here’s what I’ve learned: The Ancient Maya constructed elaborate calendars to mark the passage of time – everything from the length of a human pregnancy to the age of the universe.  Time was extremely important in Maya daily life and cosmology (the November/December issue of Archaeology Magazine – and final issue if the world does end this year – has a great summary of Maya calendars).  The Long Count calendar counts the number of days since the mythological date of Maya creation, and includes 1,872,000-day cycles called bak’tuns.  There are few known glyphs covering the 13th (current) bak’tun, but it is calculated to end on December 21st (or 23rd), 2012.

Obviously, most of us aren’t fearful about units of time coming to an end.  For example, seasons, decades, and centuries all end and new ones begin, usually without mass hysteria (Y2K was one recent exception).  It’s important to remember that the Long Count calendar marks the passage of time from a mythological date of creation.  This date is ritually significant, but we now know that time didn’t actually begin on August 11, 3114 BC (Maya date), October 23, 4004 BC (Ussher date), or any other date based on religious speculation.  Therefore, as Stephen Jay Gould wrote about Millennium panic in the year 2000, 2012 is an observance of a “precisely arbitrary countdown.”  Most of the end-of-the-world stuff comes from outside of the Maya world.  A recent AP article noted: “Such apocalyptic visions have been common for more than 1,000 years in Western, Christian thinking, and are not native to Maya thought.”

Modern Maya are excited about this year’s potential to spur interest in ancient Mesoamerica and archaeological tourism.  Guatemala has a great Bak’tun Route ad campaign which focuses on 2012 as a beginning, not an end.  Modern Guatemalan Maya communities still have “Daykeepers” who keep track of time: “’The world is going to die on December 23rd,’ says Christenson [Brigham Young University anthropologist], explaining that the Maya believe the world dies each day when the sun sets, or when crops are harvested.  ‘The world is constantly dying,’ he says, ‘and the role of the Daykeeper is to make sure they get things going again.’”

So, despite the end of the 13th bak’tun, I still have time to learn more about ancient Mesoamerica and, hopefully, enough time to see my Mariners win a World Series.  There’s always next year…

- Jay Fancher.  Originally posted at anthropologynow.wordpress.com


Filed under: Archaeology Tagged: 2012, bak'tun, maya, Maya Long Count Calendar
↧
↧

Neandertal-modern hybrid babies and their heads

October 18, 2012, 12:49 pm
$
0
0
A discussion in the comments of Gene Expression got me thinking about a potential scenario for modern-Neandertal interbreeding dynamics. That discussion dealt with difficulties in childbirth arising from population differences in birth canal/head size.

The main idea is simple, and I will rephrase it as follows: offspring of a big man and small woman will tend to have bigger heads relative to the size of the woman's birth canal. On the other hand, offspring of a small man and big woman will not have that problem.

We have some information about differences between Neandertals and modern humans. The former were shorter and more "lateral" skeletally, while UP modern humans appear to have been more linear and taller. Headwise, modern humans had more globular head shapes, while Neandertals more linear ones, with no major differences in brain size between the two species.

If the above are correct, then male Neandertal-female modern human pairings would have a potential problem. Birth is a complex process, but at the end of the day, the most important factor is probably whether the diameter of the head can "fit" in the birth canal: the more it does not fit, the more likely it would seem that a mishap for both mother and offspring would occur.

Combine elongated Neandertal heads with narrow modern human pelves, and you have a potential problem. I am not 100% sure that modern humans and Neandertals differed in pelvis shape, although it would be a reasonable consequence of their overall build, but the same pattern would occur if they did not, simply on account of their different head shapes.

An additional factor involves sexual dimorphism, since male babies tend to be larger than female ones, and so any problems associated with "parental mismatch" might be particularly troublesome for male births.

So, all in all, we have 4 different cases:

  1. Male H. n + Female H. s. => Male hybrid
  2. Male H. n + Female H. s. => Female hybrid
  3. Male H. s + Female H. n. => Male hybrid
  4. Male H. s + Female H. n. => Female hybrid


It would appear, on the basis of the preceding discussion, that 1-2 would be more troublesome than 3-4, and 1 most troublesome of all. On the other hand, 4 seems to be the most advantageous case.

The most interesting thing about modern-Neandertal admixture is that it seems to have left no traces in uniparental markers, and, indeed, the lack of mtDNA lineages of Neandertal origin has been used to argue against the plausibility of estimated Neandertal admixture percentages. 

If my reasoning is correct, then case #4 is particularly worrying, since female hybrids with Neandertal mtDNA ought to be the most easy to bear, and would also be the ones who would contribute Neandertal mtDNA in a mixed population.

On the other hand, case #1 would explain the lack of Neandertal Y-chromosomes, since crossings between male Neandertals and female modern humans that produce male offspring might be particular troublesome, and they would also be the ones to introduce Neandertal Y-chromosomes in the population.

Of course, we don't know enough about the dynamics of the admixture process; it might be possible that other factors influence the abundance of the four cases, both biological and cultural. For example, if modern humans had a behavioral advantage, then modern males may contribute most admixture, and this would make the worrying case #4 even more difficult to explain. On the other hand, how did the admixture take place? bride-stealing vs. rape would result in potential offspring being raised in different groups (father's vs. mother's), and there may also have been unknown cultural taboos involving admixture and offpsring produced from it.

In any case, this brief excursus may be useful for anyone thinking of writing some palaeo-fiction set in the Upper Paleolithic, and I'd love to hear from people who have data at hand that might be pertinent to the above discussion.
↧

New Open Access Article- The Changing Face of Storage at the...

October 18, 2012, 12:53 pm
↧

Late Roman gold coin hoard found

October 18, 2012, 1:13 pm
$
0
0

A valuable trove of Roman gold coins is found by a metal detectorist in Hertfordshire.

The stash – found on private land north of St Albans – is believed to be one of the largest Roman gold coin hoards discovered in the UK.

The 159 coins date to the end of the 4th Century during the final years of Roman rule in Britain. After AD 408 no more coin supplies reached the country.

The value of the hoard has not yet been assessed.

A team from St Albans City and District Council museums’ service investigated the site at the beginning of October to confirm the find.

Read all about it on www.bbc.co.uk

See on Scoop.it – Archaeology News

↧
Search

Verbal Artistry in Vergil: Allusion in Aeneid 1.498-504

October 18, 2012, 1:52 pm
$
0
0

As Dido enters the temple of Juno in Aeneid 1 she is likened in a simile to Diana (Artemis):

Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi
exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae
hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades; illa pharetram               500
fert umero, gradiensque deas supereminet omnis:
(Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus):
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.

Dido is like Diana leading the hunt as she proceeds carrying her quiver (pharetram), towering above the other goddesses. One cannot help but recall here the description of Venus disguised as a Tyrian huntress earlier in Book 1; for instance, she too carried a quiver (virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram, 336). She there presents herself as one of Dido’s subjects: she dwells in the Punic realms (Punica regna, 338; cf. regnis futuris, 504). Aeneas suspects from the beginning that she is a goddess (dea certe, 328), even thinking she might be Diana (an Phoebi soror?, 329). Diana in the simile is followed by Nymphs (Oreades, 500), while Aeneas previously thought Venus might be a nymph (an nympharum sanguinis una?, 329).

The irony is rich: Venus, an immortal, is likened in appearance within the poem to a mortal; Dido, a mortal, is likened by Vergil in a simile to an immortal, the same goddess for whom Aeneas had mistaken Venus; Venus-as-mortal is on a hunt; Dido-as-immortal is on a hunt; Venus presents herself as a  subject of Dido, though we know that Dido is and will be shown to be subject to Venus. The picture of Dido as chaste maiden strikes an odd note when one remembers what happens in the poem, just as the earlier picture of Venus did. Thus Dido is drawn into a symbolic connection to Venus, only for the dark irony of the connection to be exploited later.


↧
↧

Heritage Matters

October 18, 2012, 2:12 pm
$
0
0
I attended the Heritage Debate at Magdalene College, Cambridge last night. It was a good reminder of the importance of the value of heritage to our society as well as to the economy. Dame Fiona Reynolds of the National Trust was particularly good at reminding us of the need to see heritage in a wider, indeed holistic, setting. James Berresford of VisitEngland was pragmatic about the type of heritage sites that attract visitors (though he was also very positive about working with the voluntary sector).

More interesting were the related informal conversations. One in particular revolved around the Crosby Garrett helmet and its inclusion in Bronze! at the Royal Academy. Here is a major piece of Roman heritage that has lost its context, and, if it was indeed found in Cumbria, it is unable to be displayed alongside other Roman finds in Carlisle.  It is a pity that some publicly funded bodies have not spoken out strongly about heritage asset stripping.

Bookmark and Share so Your Real Friends Know that You Know
↧

DCSB opening keynote: "A View on Digital Classics Collaboration"

October 18, 2012, 3:00 pm
$
0
0

Dr Gabriel Bodard (King’s College London) will be giving the opening keynote of the Digital Classicist Berlin Seminar series entitled “A View on Digital Classics Collaboration: from a cacophony of epigraphic databases to a citizens’ web of inscriptions”.

Date: Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Time: 17:00-18:30

Venue: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Wiegandhaus, Podbielskiallee 69-71, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem.

A more detailed map of the DAI and surrounding areas can be downloaded from here.

(image of the funerary inscription for Marcus Aurelius Zenon, IAph2007)

Abstract

This paper will discuss the history of public epigraphic databases, including the Packard Greek Inscriptions database, the Epigraphische Datenbank Heidelberg and Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss-Slaby, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches to online collections, especially with reference to scale, usability, technical standards, openness and transparency, collaboration and discoverability through metadata. Some consideration of user reactions to these databases will lead to the conclusion that the Digital Humanities perspectives discussed above do not reflect well the desires and apparent needs of normal epigraphic scholars. Does this disjunction of priorities suggest that we should reconsider the aims of electronic publication, or attempt to educate academics as to the importance of standards and metadata? The paper will close with a suggestion for an approach drawing from the papyrological community that might combine these two facets, building scale without sacrificing quality, and harnessing the epigraphic scholarly community to build a more powerful and interoperable epigraphic corpus.

↧

Public Archeology Day at De Soto National Memorial

October 18, 2012, 3:12 pm
$
0
0
National Park Service
National Archaeology Day
Saturday, October 20, 2012 - 10:00am - 1:00pm
↧

Pompey at the University of Florida

October 18, 2012, 5:33 pm
$
0
0
Gainesville Society and Eta Sigma Phi
Exhibition
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
↧
↧

My heart is in the East

October 18, 2012, 6:41 pm
$
0
0

The great medieval Jewish poet and apologist Judah Halevi (c. 1075–1141) wrote the following poem sometime after AD 1099.

לִבִּי בְמִזְרָח, וְאָנֹכִי בְּסוֹף מֵעֲרָב —
אֵיךְ אֶטְעֲמָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹכַל וְאֵיךְ יֶעֱרַב?
אֵיכָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נְדָרַי וֶאֱסָרַי, בְּעוֹד
צִיּוֹן בְּחֶבֶל אֱדוֹם וַאְנִי בְּכֶבֶל עֲרָב?
יֵקֵל בְּעֵינֵי עֲזֹב כָּל טוּב סְפָרַד, כְּמוֹ
יֵקֵר בְּעֵינַי רְאוֹת עַפְרוֹת דְּבִיר נֶחָרָב.

For those of you who don’t read Hebrew, here’s the translation given in T. Carmi, ed., The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse (London, Penguin: 2006):

My heart is in the East and I am at the edge of the West.
Then how can I taste what I eat, how can I enjoy it?
How can I fulfill my vows and my pledges, while
Zion is in the domain of Edom, and I am in the bonds of Arabia?
It would be easy for me to leave behind all the good things of Spain;
it would be glorious to see the dust of the ruined Shrine.

Zion, Edom, Arabia. That is, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Brothers enmeshed in conflict, with the joyous vision of Psalm 133 a distant hope.

My heart, too, with prayers and tears, is in the East.

Κύριε ἐλέησον

↧

What has Jesus’ Wife to do with Christopher Rollston?

October 18, 2012, 7:30 pm
$
0
0

Having referred in my previous post on this subject to an “obituary” for (the Gospel of) Jesus' Wife, I am running out of possible humorous references. I can still offer a further update at some point that utilizes the Dead Parrot Sketch, once it becomes absolutely clear whether the Gospel of Jesus' Wife is nailed to its perch. As for the title of this post, read on to find a link about who connects Mrs. Jesus and Christopher Rollston, and to learn (to no one's surprise) that there is no real connection, other than of the sort made in my ridiculously sensationalist headline.

Among those who've posted updates about the Gospel of Jesus' Wife are Mark Goodacre, Bob Cargill, and Tommy Wasserman. Loren Rosson has responded to Hershel Shanks' piece, while James Tabor agrees with Shanks.

On a related note, Alin Suciu reblogged a post at Faces and Voices about an authentic fragment among the Rylands Papyri, of the Gospel of Mary. And Timo Paananen posted a review of Klauck's Apocryphal Gospels.

On another topic I've blogged about several times recently (and which Simcha Jacobovici has tried to connect to the topic of the authenticity of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife – to which see Joel Watts' response), Fred Clark has mentioned the case of Christopher Rollston in a post on how evangelicals pick and choose in seemingly bizarre and inconsistent ways which issues to ignore and which to focus on. And last but not at all least, Thom Stark has posted a series of letters from students of Rollston's to the administration at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, as well as some statements from that administration which seem not to bring clarity to what is going on, or why.

 

↧
Search

Crosby Garrett Helmet Keeps Coming Up

October 18, 2012, 8:08 pm
$
0
0

After a lengthy silence, David Gill posted some remarks on the Cambridge Heritage Debate on his blog. I was struck by the mention of an object which because of the uncertainties surrounding the circumstances of its discovery, and its subsequent fate, has featured quite prominently on these pages. The topic was one of those discussed:
One in particular revolved around the Crosby Garrett helmet and its inclusion in Bronze! at the Royal Academy. Here is a major piece of Roman heritage that has lost its context, and, if it was indeed found in Cumbria, it is unable to be displayed alongside other Roman finds in Carlisle. It is a pity that some publicly funded bodies have not spoken out strongly about heritage asset stripping.
It is a pity that British archaeologists are keeping quiet too. But the topic has not disappeared from the public consciousness, almost every day there is currently a search on my blog for information on this ill-fated object - some of them from very intriguing locations.

Meanwhile the results of the investigations a few months ago on the site of the discovery are still being suppressed. Why are they being kept from the public? In whose interests is the substitution of rumour for the lack of further public information?
↧

Focus on UK Metal Detecting: Sandridge, Striking "Hidden History"

October 18, 2012, 8:41 pm
↧
↧

Procopi Engages New Lawyer

October 18, 2012, 10:15 pm
$
0
0
.
It is being widely reported in the US press that Eric Procopi, fossil importer, has now engaged Georges Lederman (specializing in the representation of international art law clients) to conduct his case in New York.

 See (for example): Ben Rooney, 'Feds bust black market in dinosaur fossils', CNNMoney, October 17, 2012.  

This text (and its clones) cites what purport to be the dealer's words, voicing a typical mantra of the collectables milieu: 
Prokopi sounded defiant in an email sent when Mongolian authorities made an attempt to reclaim the Tyrannosaurus skeleton before it was sold by Heritage Auctions in May. "If [the Mongolian president] only wants to take the skeleton and try to put an end to the black market, he will have a fight and will only drive the black market deeper underground," Prokopi allegedly wrote.
I am not sure what the difference would be in conservation terms between a "deep underground" black market from any market in illicitly-obtained goods right out in the open which nobody does anything about.  Maybe somebody would like to explain that.

Now look where else this story is:
Ben Rooney, 'Feds bust black market in dinosaur fossils', Houston Style Magazine, 17th October 2012. 
Style? Surely "commercial palaeontologists" sell specimens to other palaeontologists, not as home-decoration geegaw trophies?  But then we might take a look at the gentleman's website: ("the little boy, now a man, continued to travel the world digging up fossils and diving for them") and facebook page]. Lots of mentions on both of how "cool" everything is, not a peep about the ethics and legal aspects - not even the coral (CITES). Why? Do they consider this is not a major concern of potential customers over in the US?

Then we have a local newspaper: Morgan Watkins, 'Gainesville dinosaur fossil dealer arrested on federal charges', Ocala (Star-Banner) 17th October 2012. [based largely on the ICE press release - but just look at the depth of ignorance displayed by the comments, including MORE comments on Creationism...].

Mr Procopi was reportedly released from custody with the bail set at 100 000 dollars.

↧

The Multiple Meanings of Water: archaeological and geological approaches to the BA Cultures

October 18, 2012, 10:53 pm
$
0
0
October 31, 2012 - 8:54 AM - Lecture in English Dr Walter L. Friedrich and Dr Annette Højen Sørensen, The University of Aarhus
↧

“Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men” exhibition opens at the Museum of London

October 18, 2012, 11:19 pm
$
0
0

Surgery is a dangerous practice, requiring detailed knowledge of human anatomy. The best tool for learning has always been a real body. But finding enough ‘subjects’ for dissection has never been easy. In the early 19th century, a huge demand for fresh bodies fuelled the gruesome practice of body snatching.

Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men explores the murky world of the resurrection men and the ambitious surgeon-anatomist they supplied with fresh corpses.

At the heart of the exhibition is an excavation undertaken in 2006 by Museum of London Archaeology which uncovered a forgotten burial ground, in use between 1825¬ and 1841, at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. What they found was both extraordinary and unexpected.

 See on www.artdaily.com

See on Scoop.it – Archaeology News

↧
Viewing all 136795 articles
Browse latest View live
Search