January 2015 Archeology - Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Classics

[Aisling]

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

Interesting study of Dark Age Nichoria is the subject of a talk at the AIASCA shindig this weekend:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/uoc-nrd010515.php

Parasites at a Celtic site at Novartis:
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-parasite-eggs-celtic-period.html

Interesting amulet with a palindromic inscription from Cyprus:
http://www.livescience.com/49239-ancient-amulet-palindrome-inscription.html

… related: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/01/2015/hellenistic-period-agora-investigated-at-nea-paphos

Badly-spun (by the headline folks) orichalcum ingots found on a shipwreck off Sicily:
http://eu.greekreporter.com/2015/01/10/divers-discover-metal-linked-to-mythical-island-of-atlantis-in-ancient-greek-shipwreck/

This week, the spins on ‘Why Homer Matters’ suggest he didn’t really exist:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/06/more-reasons-why-the-greek-poet-homer-may-never-have-existed/
cf: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/books/review/why-homer-matters-by-adam-nicolson.html

Plans for a major dig at Ribchester Roman fort:
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11702572.Secrets_of_Ribchester___s_Roman_fort_could_be_unearthed_in_major_2015_dig/

Much being made about the alignment of Hardknott Fort:
http://www.livescience.com/49315-roman-fort-solstice-sun.html

A Roman ring from near Cirencester:
http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/11705203.Ancient_Roman_ring_found_near_Cirencester/

Were Amazons giants?:
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2015/01/were-ancient-amazons-giants.html

We’ll be hearing about the bones from Amphipolis soon:
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_07/01/2015_546021

Feature on the Azoria Project:
http://dukemagazine.duke.edu/article/ghost-cities-of-greece

The third season of the dig at the Kition-Pervolia necropolis has concluded:
http://incyprus.philenews.com/en-gb/local-news/4422/43892/necropolis-excavation-completed

… and we’re hearing from the Amathus dig too:
http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/12/31/new-light-shed-on-amathus-construct/

A bust in northern Greece:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/01/08/greek-man-arrested-for-hiding-antiquities/

Feature on some of the coins in the Frome Hoard:
http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Et-tu-Boris-Frome-hoard-resemblance/story-25822341-detail/story.html

So the BM’s loan to the Hermitage is still getting press attention:
http://www.twincities.com/nation/ci_27211409/museum-visitors-see-new-meaning-borrowed-statue?source=rss

… and Greece is dragging its feet now on a loan to the BM:
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Greece-balks-on-art-loan-after-Parthenon-Marbles-row/36768

… and the BM is making a big deal out of the loan of the Belevdere Torso from the Vatican Museums:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/08/belvedere-torso-british-museum-body-exhibition

… and is considering other Elgin/Parthenon loans (but apparently not to Greece):
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/elgin-marbles-british-museum-considers-more-overseas-loans-9961266.html

Latest theory about where Boudica fought:
http://www.dunstabletoday.co.uk/news/local-news/thousands-of-britons-killed-on-this-field-1-6514015

Honours for Nancy de Grummond:
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2015/01/11/campus-notes/21523705/

You can go into the Erechtheion now:
http://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/2014/12/inside-erechtheion-of-acropolis.html

More on people returning stuff to Pompeii:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2891390/Pompeii-ruins-restored-THIEVES-People-stole-artefacts-bringing-pieces-droves.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

More on Amphipolis virtual recreations:
http://www.livescience.com/49282-amphipolis-tomb-virtual-models-online.html

More on Roman concrete:
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/52/18484.abstract.html?etoc

Review of Adrienne Mayor, *The Amazons*:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-amazons-by-adrienne-mayor-1420239418

Reviewish/interviewish thing with Edith Hall about *Introducing the Greeks*:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/a-and-e/arts/review-britain-s-leading-ancient-scholar-re-introduces-those-greeks/article/422177

Interesting feature on incuse coins:
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-twenty-five-century-old-mystery-uncovered.html

[Aisling]

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

A Roman head of Silenus … from a Danish island (!):
http://sciencenordic.com/roman-drunkard-found-danish-island

Plenty of coverage of a recreation of kottabos:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2911510/The-ancient-Greek-DRINKING-GAME-Expert-reveals-play-kottabos-revellers-fling-wine-centre-room.html

… meanwhile, Etruscan scholars were drinking something ‘etruscan’ at the AIA thing:
http://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/2015/01/etruscan_scholars_gather_in_ne.html

A very interesting study of some Roman women on Trajan’s column:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530044.800-romes-military-women-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|magcontents#.VLvFqnbIs2c

When Alexander met Thalestris:
http://www.historytoday.com/adrienne-mayor/when-alexander-met-thalestris

On Greek nudity:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/museums/11352482/The-ancient-Greeks-knew-it-wasnt-rude-to-be-nude.html

The wreck dubbed the ‘Asterix’ is returning to Guernsey:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-30852076

Pondering ancient beauty standards:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30746985

Plans to excavate Exeter’s Roman baths:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-30081921

Plans for an Alexander statue in downtown Athens:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/01/15/alexander-the-great-statue-to-be-placed-in-downtown-athens/

What Linda Fabrizio is up to:
http://www.gcnews.com/news/2015-01-16/School/High_School_Latin_teacher_contributes_to_Latin_tex.html

Suggestion that ancient Greek medical types came up with the mediterranean diet:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2911715/Ancient-Greek-doctors-invented-Mediterranean-diet-Hippocratic-physicians-used-rich-flavours-food-treat-patients.html

Much coverage of the recovery of the head of a statue of Hermes in Turkey:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/art-and-culture/2015/01/17/Turkey-police-recover-millennia-old-sculpture-of-god-Hermes-.html

… but:
http://phdiva.blogspot.ca/2015/01/introducing-master-of-miami-vice-hermes.html

Feature on ancient Greek beasties:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150113-bizarre-beasts-of-ancient-greece

More on the BM’s Elgin/Parthenon marbles loan to the Hermitage:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/opinion/11351473/british-museum-statue-loan-hermitage.html

… and as might be expected, the Elgin/Parthenon marbles gained mention in Greek electioneering:
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=75747

… and there was an issue with a new school textbook, apparently:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2910654/Greece-censors-schoolbook-Elgin-Marbles-Education-minister-orders-book-withdrawn-monstrous-chapter-transportation-sculptures.html

Awaiting/hyping news from Amphipolis which might appear later today (a couple days early):
http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Amphipolis-may-reveal-Alexander-the-Greats-DNA

Athens plans to reopen the old Acropolis Museum:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/01/17/greek-culture-ministry-plans-to-reopen-old-acropolis-museum/

Review of Adrian Goldsworthy, *Augustus*:
http://www.bgdailynews.com/features/augustus-is-interesting-to-a-general-audience/article_1338cd2a-9550-501b-bf06-7f2c8a4d3cef.html

More on the Greek Dark Ages:
http://www.newsrecord.org/news/previous-research-on-greek-dark-ages-revisited-for-clarity/article_e5621dd4-9c6b-11e4-b7fd-c3b65ad240b5.html

More on who Homer was or wasn’t:
http://www.newser.com/story/200859/homer-wasnt-a-person-historian.html

More on Roman fort alignment:
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-physics-professor-roman-fort-england.html
cf: http://www.philica.com/display_article.php?article_id=442

[Aisling]

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

As promised, we were given the osteological details from Amphipolis:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11355324/Mystery-of-Greeces-Alexander-the-Great-era-tomb-deepens-with-body-discoveries.html

… and the speculation about whose tomb it is continues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/arts/design/alexander-the-greats-legacy-stirred-up-by-excavation.html?_r=0

Plenty of coverage of a breakthrough in reading Herculaneum papyri:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150122114405.htm

… and plenty of coverage of the find of painted numbers at the Colosseum:
http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/red-seat-numbers-found-on-romes-colosseum-150123.htm

Nice feature (hype?) on the Antikythera shipwreck:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/exploring-titanic-ancient-world-180953977/?no-ist

Possibly more evidence of a Roman road in Wigan:
http://www.leighreporter.co.uk/news/local/campaigner-finds-further-evidence-of-roman-road-1-7065384

Folks are trying to make sense of the collecting history of P. Obbink:
http://www.livescience.com/49543-sappho-new-poems-discovery.html

The Lego Pompeii is getting attention:
http://theconversation.com/lego-pompeii-creates-less-pomp-and-more-yay-in-the-museum-36059

Another piece pondering the Elgin/Parthenon marbles:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/20/robert-fulford-the-marble-mouth-debate-over-who-really-owns-ancient-athens-classics/

… and there was a candlelight vigil:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/01/19/greeks-hold-candlelight-vigil-for-parthenon-marbles/

The Department of Antiquities on Cyprus is marking its 80th anniversary:
http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/01/18/reinvesting-in-our-past-80th-anniversary-of-the-antiquities-department/

Arguing over the Colosseum restoration:
http://www.iltempo.it/roma-capitale/cronaca/2015/01/18/i-restauratori-bocciano-il-colosseo-1.1369168

… and something about Bill Gates buying Pompeii or something:
http://leggo.it/NEWS/ITALIA/necropoli_pompei_bill_gates/notizie/1132006.shtml

Apparently the Greeks invented wet t-shirt competitions:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/01/20/ancient-greeks-invented-wet-t-shirt-competitions

… and obviously didn’t have a problem with nude statuary:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11388545

What Wayne Hankey is up to:
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/3900/Univ-of-Dallas-to-Celebrate-in-%E2%80%98Spirit-of-St-Thomas-Aquinas%E2%80%99-with-Annual-Lecture.aspx

Feature on the Antikythera Mechanism:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decoding-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-180953979/

Review(s) of *Why Homer Matters*:
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/books/excerpt-why-homer-matters-1.9837466
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2015/0123/Why-Homer-Matters-calls-the-ancient-poet-a-guide-to-life

Review(ish) of Adrienne Mayor, *Amazons*:
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/01/pale-riders-adrienne-mayors-amazons-shows-how-myth-developed

More on playing Kottabos:
http://news.yahoo.com/recreate-sloppy-ancient-greek-drinking-game-203345501.html