================================================================explorator 16.22-23 September 22, 2013================================================================Editor's note: Most urls should be active for at least eighthours from the time of publication.For your computer's protection, Explorator is sent in plain textand NEVER has attachments (other than the odd youtube video).Be suspicious of any Explorator which arrives otherwise!!!n.b. It has come to my attention that several mail carriers arenow filtering mail with lots of links (like explorator) as spam.You might want to add Explorator to your address book or whateverto ensure it gets through.================================================================================================================================Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon,Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri,Bob Heuman, Stan Nadel, Rochelle Altman, Hernan Astudillo,Wilfried Zankl, Feral Boy, Walter Muzzy, Wendy van Duivenvoorde,Richard Campbell, Richard C. Griffiths, and Ross W. Sargent forheadses upses thisweek (as always hoping I have left no one out).... a giant double issue ... hopefully it doesn't get caught inyour ISP's filters ...================================================================EARLY HOMINIDS================================================================Early hominins apparently killed an elephant found in modern-day Kent:Latest study suggests Neanderthals made first bone tools:cf http://www.pnas.org/content/110/35/14186.full Pondering Neanderthal speech:On early humans’ fashion sense:Neanderthal diet was more diverse than previously thought:cf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618213003674 (abstract)Lucy has returned ‘home’:… but cf:================================================================AFRICA================================================================Suggestion that paleorivers may have helped migration across the Sahara:Concerns for monuments in Ghana:Ongoing concerns for antiquities in Libya:================================================================ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT================================================================Latest evidence suggests modern humans arrived in the Near East 42 000 years b.p.:cf http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0072931 Mit Rahina is the latest site which has undergone looting:Claims of looted Islamic artifacts showing up in a museum in Doha:… but Egypt’s culture minister says no Islamic items are missing:Egypt is demanding the return of some items up for auction in Israel:More items from the Mallawi Museum have been recovered:… but we’re hearing more about the damage in the museum:… and damage to a Coptic site in Minya:Feature on UPenn’s sphinx:Wondering about who broke the Cyrus Cylinder:The BM is puting a pile of Mesopotamian artifacts online:Polish archaeologists are back digging in Iraqi Kurdistan:Another arms-for-antiquities in Syria piece:A much-hyped ‘golden treasure’ from near Temple Mount: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171717 [English]Latest from the digs going on at Mt Zion:Recent finds from Magdala:Archaeologists in Israel think they may have found Dalmanutha:Feature on the ‘divine couple’ … especially in Israel:Adam Zertel’s interpretations of archaeological evidence don’t seemto be much accepted:Palestinian police seized some ‘machines to detect ruins’:On archaeology in Jerusalem:Nice feature on Masada:On why Samaria was a capital:On reconciling Orthodox beliefs with modern biblical interpretation:The Ancient Near East Today newsletter from ASOR is worth a look:Feature on Sukkot:A 700 years b.p. lion relief from Nimrod Fortress National Park:Concerns for Ottoman sites in Turkey:More on animal sacrifice powering Jerusalem’s economy:More on redating the First Dynasty:================================================================ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)================================================================Remains of a Mycenean palace near Sparta:A head of Aphrodite from Turkey:Hellenistic burials from Samsun:A Roman ‘castle’ and other items from Siirt:… and some rock cut tombs from another part of Turkey:Roman tombs from near Alexandria:Roman finds from a hospital site in Peterborough:A sacred well from Portsmouth:Some ancient Roman chainmail from Harzhorn:An intact Etruscan tomb from Tarquinia:A praetorium from the Crimea:A Roman theatre from Interamna Lirenas:Feature on Eleutherna:Australian archaeologists are heading back to Zagora:An early Christian find from Waterlooville:Interesting followup to a pot ‘find’ back in 2009:Researching the life of Pompeii’s slaves:Feature on a krater at the Boston MFA:Nice APOD of an analemma over the Temple of Apollo in Corinth:Chersonesos has UNESCO Heritage designation:Latest conservation work on Hadrian’s Wall:Ancient China’s view of Rome:Pondering Roman religion:That ‘Greeks Discovered America’ nuttiness has returned:cf: http://rogueclassicism.com/2013/09/21/did-the-ancient-greeks-discover-america/ The mafia might still be messing with Pompeii:Feature on Spartacus:Latest CSA newsletter:On ‘doping’ in ancient athletics:Paul Cartledge’s favourite history books:Review of Mary Beard, *Confronting the Classics*:Review of Tom Holland’s translation of Herodotus:-----Latest reviews from BMCR:Visit our blog:================================================================EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)================================================================Humans are off the hook again for European mammoth extinction:Bones from Kents Bank Cavern date to10 000 b.p.:Earliest complete Neolithic human figure from Cyprus:Turns out the Flag Fen boats are earlier than previously thought:Plenty of Stonehenge news this week … first, they found an ancient road/pathleading to it:… which confirm it was built on a ‘Solstice Axis”:… and the Druids lost the fight to prevent display of bones at Stonehenge:Meanwhile, a 4000 years b.p. stone circle turned up in Wilton:Another passage tomb find from Newgrange:Remains of an Iron Age horse emerges from a Norwegian glacier:Not sure if we mentioned this Iron Age village find from Scotland:A warrior grave from Colchester:Pictish remains from Rhynie:Vikings may have been buried with sacrificed slaves:Some Viking silver from an Irish field:Vikings made use of Irish weights:Latest finds from Mold:We’re getting details about Richard III’s impending reburial:… while the Plantagenet Alliance still thinks he should be buried in York:… and folks seek to restore his reputation:Meanwhile, a medieval church has been found in King’s Square:Medieval burials from Burdag:Remains of an Ottoman town in Hungary:17th century burials from Londonderry:Some stolen icons were returned to Cyprus:Feature on plans for Flodden and Bannockburn:… and a feature on Flodden:Feature on Ditchling and its craftsmen:Very interesting slideshow about some jewellery encrusted skeletons:Bulgaria takes on the tomb raiders:… while a museum theft ring was broken up in the UK:A Google Earth project for the ancient UK:Concerns for some Shetland sites:Funding for weavers’ cottages in Kidderminster:Saxon remains from Polesworth Abbey were reburied:An interior 3d map of the Leaning Tower of Pisa will help to maintain it:More on digitally reconstructing some Tudor tombs:-----Archaeology in Europe Blog:================================================================ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC================================================================The tomb of the most influential woman in the Tang Dynasty was found:A neolithic necropolis and other items from Guangfulin:I think we mentioned the search for Genghis Khan’s tomb continues:Interesting feature on the Buddhist cosmos:Seeking restoration of a pair of Bagan-era pagodas:… and a general feature on Bagan:The Humayan Tomb has been restored:Plans to study the Kurugala human remains:I think we mentioned these 60 burials along the Silk Road:Latest feature on the first Australians:Implications of the theft from Jakarta’s National Museum:Some looted artifacts were returned to Afghanistan:Surveying a megalithic site:Plans to study Ptolemy’s cited ports in India:Possible Sinhali Pakrit inscription from Delft:Earthquakes damaged some sites in Yunnan:-----East Asian Archaeology:Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog:New Zealand Archaeology eNews:================================================================NORTH AMERICA================================================================Clovis spearpoints were likely all-purpose tools:A possible 3000 -7000 b.p. site on the shore of James Bay:An ancient forest is emerging from a melting glacier in Alaska:Plenty of finds from the shore of the Puce River:Implications of a mass grave in a cave in Utah:A dugout canoe found by a seven-year-old diving in a lake in Ocala National Forest:Suggestion that a fire was the beginning of the end for Cahokia:Native remains found during construction at Diamond Point:An 1890 shipwreck from Lake Ontario:The New Acadia Project looks interesting:How slavery shaped some of the US’s elite colleges:The mystery over the authorship of a novel by a slave may have been solved:OpEd on baseball and the Civil War:OpEd on war crimes trial after the Civil War:A history of New York’s mayors:What Allegra di Bonaventura is up to:================================================================CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA================================================================Jaguar-man monolith from northern Peru:Not sure about these petroglyphs from northern Peru:Some Inca stone walls from Nazca:3000 years b.p. dwelling remains from Ecuador: http://www.panoramadiario.com/cultura/articulo/articulo/239/descubren-en-ecuador-la-casa-mas-antigua-de-la-amazonia/ (Spanish)Evidence from Uxual that the Maya decapitated and dismembered their enemies:A 16th century shipwreck off Punta Cana:Assorted finds during digs prior to subway construction in Rio:What Martti Parssinen is finding in(Message over 64 KB, truncated)