Archaeology
Category archives for Archaeology
Micro-Evolution In Greenland: Inuit Diet, Weight, and Stature
Posted by Greg Laden on September 18, 2015 
There is a new paper in Science linking genetic variation in people living in Greenland with long term selection for managing a marine-oriented diet, affecting stature, weight, and probably, physiological processing of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The vast majority of the variation we seen in stature (height) among humans is not genetic. That is…
The Hydraulic Hypothesis and the End of Civilization
Posted by Greg Laden on March 2, 2015 
OK, I admit the title of this post is possibly a bit extreme but I could not resist the symmetry. Here, I refer to both ends of civilization, the start and the finish. I’d like to talk about a recent review published in Science, titled “Systems integration for global sustainability” written by my colleague Peter…
Greenpeace names names
Posted by Greg Laden on January 20, 2015 
You’ll recall that a while back, Greenpeace activists entered a restricted zone in Peru, where the Nasca Lines are preserved, and messed with that important archaeological site. I wrote about it here. At the time, the individuals who had carried out this unthinkable act managed to drift off into obscurity, and Greenpeace seemed unwilling to…
The archaeology of some Polish vampires
Posted by Greg Laden on December 3, 2014 
Apotropaic magic is designed to ward off or control evil. In vampire fiction, as well as in real life in cultures that include a belief in vampires, apotropaic objects might be crucifixes, cloves of garlic, etc. Apotropaic methods are known to have been used in burials. In the photograph above, a sickle blade has been…
Did you ever wonder how you are going to die?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 7, 2014 
I’m thinking it will be the food you eat that gets you. Here’s why. Humans eat a wide variety of foods; as a species, the diversity of species we eat is greater than any other animal by a very large margin, with the only quirky exception being the animals that we take along with us,…
Being a Voyeur of Religion, Politely
Posted by Greg Laden on April 10, 2014 
This is a post I wrote elsewhere, a while ago, and just realized was never put on this blog, so here it is. I thought of this post and the topic because of the recent data of the Ms Jesus Scroll, which does indeed appear to be old. But they are still arguing about it,…
Women in Prehistory: Who Made the Paleolithic Hand Impressions?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 25, 2014 
Dean Snow was one of my two advisors in undergraduate school. I have fond memories of all six months of college. But that’s another story. Anyway, several years ago, Dean got wind of the research showing that humans exhibit sexual dimorphism in the ratios of the middle digits of the hand. It is believed that…
Climate Science Deniers Are Annoying Because
Posted by Greg Laden on March 25, 2014 
It is very hard for me to view the world without my Anthropological glasses, since I’ve been one kind of Anthropologist or another since I was 13 years old. Thinking about climate science deniers, I realized what makes them annoying to me. Let me tell you what I mean. When Archaeologists (a kind of Anthropologist,…
Stratigraphy and Site Formation
Posted by Greg Laden on August 30, 2013 From Time Team America: Fort James, South Dakota In 1865, a unit of cavalry soldiers thought they had volunteered to fight in the Civil War. Instead, they found themselves sent west to keep the peace between incoming pioneer settlers and the Sioux Indians in what is now South Dakota. Upon their arrival, the soldiers built…
Archaeology Conservation in the Grand Canyon
Posted by Greg Laden on August 30, 2013 The National Park Service (NPS) and the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) excavated nine archaeological sites along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon during three years of fieldwork. The NPS/MNA excavation project was the first major archaeological excavation to occur along the river corridor in Grand Canyon in nearly 40 years. The NPS has…