archaeology

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• 6/4/2023
  

  Recovering the Story of the Empress Messalina After a Roman Cancellation

  by Honor Cargill-Martin

  After the empress Valeria Messalina's fatal fall from favor with her husband Claudius, her name and image were stricken from public and private spheres, an episode that reveals the tightly-regulated dissemination of imperial women's images (and puts current "cancel culture" panic and whisper networks into perspective). 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/20/2023
  

  Discovery: Vast Network of Connected Mayan Cities in Guatemala

  The discovery, using LIDAR technology, of more than 400 settlements connected by more than 100 miles of highways suggests that the Mayan civilization was even more developed than previously believed. The discovery also raises major issues of preservation and public access to the site. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/30/2023
  

  Is Archaeology Due for a Sexual Revolution?

  What if the phallic objects of antiquity were less about ceremony or symbolism and had extremely... practical uses? Have Victorian attitudes toward sexuality suppressed discussion of ancient artifacts' use in sex? 

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• SOURCE: Vulture
  3/24/2023
  

  An Amateur Historian Helped Find Richard III's Remains Under a Parking Garage. Her Story Hits the Screen

  The Plantagenet King Richard III was portrayed as a villain by the Tudor dynasty that supplanted him in 1485 (including by Shakespeare). Philippa Langley came to question his bad reputation, and began investigations that led to the discovery of his remains

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/30/2023
  

  The Secrets of Bog People

  Scholars have released a comprehensive survey of bodies discovered in bogs, including a database of more than 1,000 bodies from 266 sites spanning approximately 7,000 years of northern European history.  

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/17/2023
  

  Parthenon Marbles' Fate Subject to Secret Talks

  The British Museum and Greek government officials have acknowledged secret talks over the last two years about the repatriation of marbles taken by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in the early 1800s. The resolution is not yet known. 

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• SOURCE: New York Review of Books
  1/5/2023
  

  Alphabet Politics: What Caused the Development of Writing?

  by Josephine Quinn

  Much remains unknown about the earliest development of written language; two new books make important contributions.   

• 
• 12/18/2022
  

  A Grisly but Significant Discovery at Red Bank Updates the History of the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign

  by Robin Baker

  Local volunteers excavating near the site of Fort Mercer in southern New Jersey discovered new evidence of the participation of Hessian mercenaries in a key battle in the British attempt to seize Philadelphia in 1777.

• 
• 11/13/2022
  

  A Hundred Years On, Tutankhamun's Alleged Curse Still Captivates

  by Gill Paul

  The fevered belief that visitors to Tutankhamun's tomb (and their families) were cursed became a media phenomenon in 1922, but popular culture from the Bible to Victorian serial stories and stage plays had already linked mummies and the supernatural. Today, curses persist alongside conspiracy theories to help ease the randomness of tragedy.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/1/2022
  

  Melting European Glaciers Yielding Artifacts Faster than Archaeologists Can Keep Up

  Artifacts trapped in glacial ice are valuable because they are preserved; for archaeologists, climate change means both glaciers and artifacts are at risk. 

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• SOURCE: ScienceNews
  10/13/2022
  

  Drone Photos Give New Insight into Mesopotamian City Structure

  Evidence of separate clusters of urbanization on islands separated by marshland suggests that ancient Lagash did not grow out from one administrative and ceremonial center but was a polycentric urban zone. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  10/4/2022
  

  What Will Nobel Recognition Mean for Ancient Human DNA Studies?

  by Mary Prendergast

  An archaeologist sees the recogntion of paleogenomics as a vital tool to reinvigorate the field's access to knowledge about early humans, but warns that the science needs to be accompanied by ethical self-reflection to respect the remains of indigenous people and avoid giving credence to pseudoscientific racism. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/1/2022
  

  New Archaeology of Lost Crops Shows the Reign of Corn Wasn't Inevitable

  The establishment of corn as the center of indigenous American agriculture was slow; researchers are considering how other crops could have come to dominate the American food system.

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  10/3/2022
  

  What Must Be Done with Native Remains in Texas's Big Bend Region?

  Byron Schroeder ran into difficulty tracking down the story of a commerical artifact digging operation on private land. Past participants were reticent because, in addition to artifacts, some had removed human remains. The story highlights the divides between academic and amateur archaeologists and the ethics of digs.

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• SOURCE: NBC News
  9/4/2022
  

  Search for Missing Native Artifacts Reveals Scandalous Handling of Human Remains by University of North Dakota

  “The best way I can describe how we have found things is in the most inhumane way possible,” Laine Lyons said. “Just completely disregarded that these were once people.” 

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• SOURCE: KVUE
  5/17/2022
  

  Discovery of Earliest Known Record of Mayan Calendar

  A fragment discovered at the Las Pinturas pyramid site in San Bartolo, Guatemala connects the ancient site to a calendar system used by indigenous Mayan people today. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/8/2022
  

  The Paradox of Sourness

  Of all the major taste categories, the relationship between human thriving and sensing sourness is the least understood. 

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• SOURCE: BBC
  1/10/2022
  

  Thank a Hungry Badger for Discovering a Vast Cache of Roman Coins

  The badger could not be reached for comment. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/3/2022
  

  Richard Leakey, Finder of Fossils Key to Story of Human Origins, Dies at 77

  Leakey's discoveries were foundational both to the study of human origins and the model of scientific investigation. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  11/13/2021
  

  Discovering the World's Oldest Figurative Paintings

  The Sulawesi pig is estimated to be 10,000 years older than the Lascaux cave drawings and shows that figurative art didn't originate exclusively in Europe.