February 2012 Archeology - Miscellaneous

[Aisling]

Data mining courtesy of: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/messages

Archaeo News Podcast 207:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/01/2012/archaeo-news-podcast-207

 Thomas Edison's recordings of Otto von Bismarck have been brought 'back to life':
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/science/bismarcks-voice-among-restored-edison-recordings.html
 
Some British papers are commenting on the Seven Wonders:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096657/Britons-blunders-Seven-Wonders---say-theyve-places-longer-exist.html

Dickens' character names were apparently derived from real people:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/01/charles-dickens-real-character-names

Shakespeare's talent was more in the grammar he used than the words, we are told:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-shakespeare-skill-grammar-words.html

Latest on the Odyssey Marine dispute with Spain over the Black Swan:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/01/treasure-trove-galleon-returned-spain
 
Funding for a 'DNA data matrix' of ancient domestic animals:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/tcd-gre020312.php

... while all modern horses trace back, apparently, to a single ancestor:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-mtdna-modern-horses-ancestor-years.html

A volcanic origin for the Little Ice Age:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075
 
... and how climate change has affected cultures in history:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/30/climate-change-has-helped-bring-down-cultures/

A copy of the Mona Lisa in Spain turns out to be possibly the earliest copy thereof:
http://news.yahoo.com/real-time-copy-mona-lisa-reveals-leonardo-185500837.html

Review of Toby Lester, *DaVinci's Ghost*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/books/review/da-vincis-ghost-examines-one-of-the-artists-most-famous-images.html

... which has led to news reports about the Vitruvian Man, of course:
http://news.yahoo.com/did-leonardo-da-vinci-copy-famous-vitruvian-man-145205550.html
 
Review of *Kama Sutra*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/books/the-kama-sutra-newly-translated.html

[Aisling]

Data mining courtesy of: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/messages

Time Team appears to be falling apart:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2097965/Veteran-quits-Cambridge-beauty-joins-TVs-Time-Team.html
 
Marking Dickens' 200th birthday:
http://news.discovery.com/history/dickens-anniversary-bigpic-120207.html

... and we might as well mention this Dickens theme park:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/magazine/dickens-world.html

Interesting 'monastical' class at UPenn:
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/11/2149091/penn-class-teaches-students-how.html

All about paleofeces:
http://io9.com/5883873/paleofeces-inside-the-archaeology-of-poop

I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't know the 'Ponytail Shape Equation' was a 'thing':
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre81918v-us-hair-rapunzel/

Germany has returned to Prague a Gregor Mendel manuscript:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-prague-modern-genetics-founder-mendel.html

A seventeenth century pastoral novel:
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2012/02/17th_century_pastoral_novel.php

Interesting potential for poking around Antarctica (read last paragraph):
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-08/science/31037082_1_lake-vostok-antarctic-lake-subglacial-lake

Some 'historical' Barbies (seriously?):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2098756/Jocelyne-Grivaud-recreates-iconic-images-Barbie-dolls.html

William Danker has died:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/rev-frederick-william-danker-dies-renowned-bible-scholar-taught-and/article_09364329-9b28-549c-aa6d-be43d44cacde.html

…as has Robert Hecht:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/9075390/Robert-Hecht.html

On a lighter note: Mayan 'calendar' worries?
http://www.gocomics.com/theargylesweater/2012/02/07

[Aisling]

Data mining courtesy of: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/messages

Latest video news from the Archaeology Channel:
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/

Archaeo News Podcast 208:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2012/archaeo-news-podcast-208

A pile of Newton's theological texts are going online:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-israeli-library-uploads-newton-theological.html
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-library-uploads-newtons-theological-texts-181458861.html

... as have letters from Elizabeth Barrett-Browning:
http://web.wellesley.edu/web/Dept/LT/Collections/SpecColl/Browning

National Geographic has a lengthy feature on the Apostles:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/apostles/todhunter-text

A Mary Lincoln painting turns out to be a fake:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/arts/design/portrait-of-mary-todd-lincoln-is-deemed-a-hoax.html

Scientists unlock the ancient secrets of Chang Shan:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-scientists-molecular-secrets-year-old-chinese.html

More on Leonardo and his Vitruvian Man:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-lester/vitruvian-man-history_b_1273707.html#s683898&title=Zodiac_man

Tristram P. Coffin has died:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/books/tristram-p-coffin-folklorist-dies-at-89.html

… as has David Switzer:
http://www.mayhewfuneralhomes.com/?menuitem=330&siteid=50&action=1&value=12&obituaries_action=2&obituaryid=115111

… and Berhard Kapitan:
http://wedigboats.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/obituary-for-gerhard-kapitan-in-english/

… as well as Robert Hecht:
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/139196319.html

[Aisling]

Data mining courtesy of: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/messages

Audio News from Archaeologica (a couple weeks' worth):
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/MP3/audnews12feb12.mp3
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/MP3/audnews19feb12.mp3

Nice oped on why the world has to save the cultural assets of Egypt and Greece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/feb/20/ancient-assets-greece-egypt-eurozone

Folks might be interested in signing an online petition aimed at protesting Spike TV's 'American Diggers' program, which pretty much glorifies the looting of sites:
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-spike-tv-from-looting-our-collective-past

Caravaggio's Medusa is definitely by Caravaggio:
http://www.france24.com/en/20120224-x-ray-scientists-authenticate-caravaggio-painting

... the reasons for which authentication are somewhat confusing considering the Prado's copy of the Mona Lisa seems to have the 'same' technique(?):
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Mona-Lisas-secrets-revealed/25699

Quite a bit of coverage of the transfer of gold from Odyssey Marine to Spain:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17158436
 
Feature on dendrochronology:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-tree-ring-science-modern-age.html

Latest (interesting) art forgery case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/arts/design/authenticity-of-trove-of-pollocks-and-rothkos-goes-to-court.html

The Ghent Altarpiece is now the subject of an interactive website:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/restored-ghent-altarpiece-gets-own-interactive-web-site/

Interesting essay on fact checking:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/books/review/the-lifespan-of-a-fact-by-john-dagata-and-jim-fingal.html

Folks might want a heads up on this claim of a 1st century fragment of the Gospel of Mark (much skepticism amongst scholars, but you know how the press loves these things):
http://global.christianpost.com/news/bible-scholars-skeptical-of-1st-century-gospel-fragment-discovery-70231/

Some coverage of International Mother Language Day:
http://www.aina.org/ata/20120221140507.htm
 
A history of organ transplants:
http://www.history.com/news/2012/02/21/organ-transplants-a-brief-history/

Russian scientists have grown an arctic plant from a 32 000 years b.p. fruit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/science/new-life-from-an-arctic-flower-that-died-32000-years-ago.html
 
Another mathematical explanation for something not immediately thought of as mathematical:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-classical-musical-compositions-adhere-power.html

A. Trevor Hodge has died:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Carleton+professor+Trevor+Hodge+combined+drama+brilliance/6210371/story.html

…. as has Brian Shefton:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/22/brian-shefton-obituary