Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Zapotec Monte Alban

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Zapotec Monte Alban Jan 14th 2012, 11:07 On the summit and shoulders of a very high, very steep hill in the middle of the semiarid Valley of Oaxaca, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, lies one of the most well-studied archaeological sites in the Americas. Known as Monte Albán, the site was the capital of the Zapotec culture from 500 BC to AD 700, reaching a peak population of over 16,500 between AD 300-500. The earliest Zapotec city was San Jose el Mogote, also in the Oaxaca Valley and founded about 1600-1400 BC; it was abandoned about 500 BC, when the capital city of Monte Albán was founded at the beginning of the Zapotec heyday. The Zapotecs built their new capital city in the middle of the valley of Oaxaca, between three populous valley arms and at the top of this steep hill. Building a city away from major population centers is called 'disembedded capital' by some archaeologists, and Monte Alban is one of very few disembedded capitals known in the ancient world. Monumental Architecture at Monte Alban The site of Monte Albán has several memorable extant architectural features, including pyramids, thousands of terraces, and long deep stone staircases. Also still to be seen today are Los Danzantes, over 300 stone monuments carved between 350-200 BC, carved with life-sized figures which appear to be portraits of slain war captives. Building J, interpreted by some scholars as an astronomical observatory, is a very odd structure indeed, with no right angles on the exterior--perhaps intended to represent an arrow--and a maze of narrow tunnels in the interior. The Zapotecs were farmers, and made distinctive pottery vessels; they traded with other civilizations in Mesoamerica included Teotihuacan and the Mixtec culture. They had a market system, for the distribution of goods into the cities, and like many Mesoamerican civilizations, built ball courts for playing ritual games wtih rubber balls. Monte Albán's Excavators and Visitors Excavations at Monte Albán have been conducted by Jorge Acosta, Alfonso Caso, and Ignacio Bernal, supplemented by surveys of the Valley of Oaxaca by Americans Kent Flannery, Richard Blanton, Stephen Kowalewski, Gary Feinman, Laura Finsten, and Linda Nicholas. Together these studies illuminate this strange yet familiar society. Today the site awes visitors, with its enormous rectangular green grassed plaza with pyramid platforms on the east and west sides. Massive pyramid structures mark the north and south sides of the plaza, and the mysterious Building J lies near the center. ----- Further Reading

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Copán

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Copán Jan 14th 2012, 11:07 Copán, called Xukpi by its residents, rises out of the mist of western Honduras, in a pocket of alluvial soil amid rugged topography. It is arguably one of the most important royal sites of the Maya civilization. Occupied between AD 400 and 800, Copán covers over 50 acres of temples, altars, stelae, ball courts, several plazas and the magnificent Hieroglyphic Stairway. The culture of Copán was rich in written documentation, today including detailed sculptural inscriptions, which is very rare in precolumbian sites. Sadly, many of the books--and there were books written by the Maya, called codices--were destroyed by the priests of the Spanish invasion. Explorers of Copán The reason we know so much of the inhabitants of the site of Copán is the result of five hundred years of exploration and study, beginning with Diego García de Palacio who visited the site in 1576. During the late 1830s, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood explored Copán, and their descriptions, and particularly Catherwood's illustrations, are still used today to better study the ruins. Stephens was a 30-year-old attorney and politician when a doctor suggested he take some time off to rest his voice from speech making. He made good use of his vacation, touring around the globe and writing books about his travels. One of his books, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, was published in 1843 with detailed drawings of the ruins at Copán, made by Catherwood with a camera lucida. These drawings captured the imaginations of scholars the world over; in the 1880s, Alfred Maudslay started the first excavations there, funded by Harvard's Peabody Museum. Since that time, many of the best archaeologists of our time have worked at Copán, including Sylvanus Morley, Gordon Willey, William Sanders and David Webster, William and Barbara Fash, and many others. Translating Copan Work by Linda Schele and others has concentrated on translating the written language, which efforts have resulted in the recreation of the dynastic history of the site. Sixteen rulers ran Copán between 426 and 820 AD. Probably the most well-known of the rulers at Copán was 18 Rabbit, the 13th ruler, under whom Copán reached its height. While the level of control held by the rulers of Copán over the surrounding regions is debated among Mayanists, there can be no doubt that the people were aware of the populations at Teotihuacan, over 1,200 kilometers away. Trade items found at the site include jade, marine shell, pottery, sting-ray spines and some small amounts of gold, brought from as far away as Costa Rica or perhaps even Colombia. Obsidian from Ixtepeque quarries in eastern Guatemala is abundant; and some argument has been made for the importance of Copán as a result of its location, on the far eastern frontier of Maya society. Daily Life at Copan Like all of the Maya, the people of Copán were agriculturalists, growing seed crops such as beans and corn, and root crops such as manioc and xanthosoma. Maya villages consisted of multiple buildings around a common plaza, and in the early centuries of the Maya civilizations these villages were self-supporting with a relatively high standard of living. Some researchers argue that the addition of the elite class, as at Copán, resulted in the impoverishment of the commoners. Copán and the Maya Collapse Much has been made of the so-called "Maya collapse," which occurred in the 9th century AD and resulted in the abandonment of the big central cities like Copán. But, recent research has shown that as Copán was being depopulated, sites in the Puuc Region such as Uxmal and Labina, as well as Chichen Itza were gaining population. David Webster argues that the "collapse" was merely a collapse of the ruling elites, probably as a reuslt of internal conflict, and that only the elite residences were abandoned, and not the entire city. Good, intensive archaeological work continues at Copán, and as a result, we have a rich history of the people and their times. Sources This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Maya Civilization and the Dictionary of Archaeology. A brief bibliography has been assembled and a page detailing the Rulers of Copán is also available.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Amelia Earhart's Fate

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Amelia Earhart's Fate Jan 14th 2012, 11:07 The records ended in early 1942, with the bones being held for government by Hoodless. Needless to say, we immediately launched a search for them, with the aid of the Fiji Museum. At this writing, we’ve not located either the bones or the shoe, bottle, and sextant box. And a comparison of Gallagher’s description of the sextant box with such boxes in historical collections around the world has produced only one with similar features. Interestingly, however, that one--now in the Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida--belonged to Fred Noonan. If we can’t find the bones in Fiji, we thought, perhaps we can find some on Nikumaroro. Unfortunately, Gallagher left no map--or at least we haven’t found one--showing where on the southeast end of the island the bones were discovered. But the Seven Site is near the southeast end, and we began to wonder about those colonial-era artifacts on it, and the water tank, and a hole in the ground. Did the debris represent stuff left during Gallagher’s search? Had the tank been set up to supply the searchers? Gallagher had written that the original discoverers of the skull had buried it, and he was poised to excavate it. Did the hole in the ground represent where the skull had been buried, and then dug up? Might there be teeth--excellent reservoirs of mitochondrial DNA, left in the hole? So in 2001 we attacked the Seven Site, clearing a lot of Scaevola and very, very carefully re-excavating the hole. We found no teeth, but nearby we did find a whole series of locations where there had been fires, associated with Frigate Bird, reef fish, and Green Sea Turtle bones. And we found some clusters of giant clam (Tridacna) shells, and a few artifacts. It’s clear that someone spent time at the Seven Site cooking birds, fish, and at least one sea turtle. Someone also hauled at least thirty or forty Tridacna clams up to the site, probably from nearby clam beds, and opened some of them in odd ways. Island people typically sneak up on giant clams while they’re sitting with their shells open, siphoning microscopic food particles out of the water, and quickly slice the adductor muscle that allows them to close their shells. With the clam immobilized, the harvester can then cut out the meat or safely bring the open shell ashore with the meat aboard. The clams at the Seven Site, however, had been brought ashore closed, and then someone had tried to pry some of them open by jamming a sharp piece of metal (which we found) through the hinge. When this didn’t work, they’d taken the clam in one hand and used the other to smash it open with a coral rock. The way you open an oyster in the eastern U.S. is by jamming an implement through the hinge. Was whoever tried to open Tridacna at the Seven Site more familiar with eastern U.S. oysters than with giant Pacific clams? Most of the artifacts found so far at the Seven Site are probably of colonial origin, or associated with the Coast Guard (M-1 rounds, for example), but a few may be something else. There's the little metal implement that someone tried to use to open the clams--a pointed chunk of ferrous metal, perhaps a piece of a hatch from the Norwich City, a 1929 shipwreck that lies on the reef off the northwest end of the island. There are three pieces of glass--one piece of plate glass, one fragment of a drinking glass, one fragment of a fishing float--found together in a cluster, as though they’d been in a bag or pocket, perhaps picked up on the beach and held for use in cutting things. There are two littleâ€"things--made of aluminum, punctured with wood screws, with scalloped edges. They look like perhaps clips of some kind, but several other uses have been suggested, and we really just don’t know. And there’s a lot of corrugated iron that someone spread over much of the site at some time in the past--all reduced to rust now. What on earth, we wonder, is that all about? Ric Gillespie speculates that whoever camped there dragged it in to catch water; I think he’s nuts, and speculate that Gallagher had it brought in to cover up the area he inspected to impede vegetation growth. We estimate that we cleared and inspected only perhaps twenty percent of the Seven Site in 2001. We found five fire areas, and excavated only three of them. We need to do more work at the site, and until we do, we’re reserving judgment, but it certainly looks like we may have found the site where Gallagher and the colonists found the bones--a place near the southeast end of the island, associated with fire, bird, and turtle bones. Perhaps--just perhaps--more archaeology at the site will tell us whether the human bones were Earhart’s.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Middle Paleolithic Timeline

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Middle Paleolithic Timeline Jan 14th 2012, 11:07 The Middle Paleolithic period (ca 200,000 to 45,000 years ago or so) is the period during which Archaic humans including Homo sapiens neanderthalensis appeared and flourished all over the world. Handaxes continued in use, but a new kind of stone tool kit was created--called the Mousterian, it included purposefully prepared cores and specialized flake tools. The living method in the Middle Paleolithic for both Homo sapiens and our Neanderthal cousins included scavenging, but there is also clear evidence of hunting and gathering activities. Deliberate human burials, with some evidence (if somewhat controversial) of ritual behavior are found at a handful of sites such as La Ferrassie and Shanidar Cave. By 55,000 years ago, archaic humans were tending to their elderly, in evidence at sites such as La Chapelle aux Saintes. Some evidence for cannibalism is also found in places such as Krapina and Blombos Cave. Early Modern Humans in South Africa The Middle Paleolithic ends with the gradual disappearance of the Neanderthal and the ascendancy of Homo sapiens sapiens, about 40,000-45,000 years ago. That didn't happen overnight, however. The beginnings of modern human behaviors are mapped out in the Howiesons Poort/Stillbay Industries of southern Africa beginning perhaps as long ago as 77,000 years and leaving Africa along a Southern Dispersal Route. Middle Stone Age and the Aterian A handful of sites seem to suggest that the dates for the change to the Upper Paleolithic are way out of whack. The Aterian, a stone tool industry long thought to have been dated to the Upper Paleolithic, is now recognized as Middle Stone Age, dated perhaps as long ago as 90,000 years ago. One Aterian site showing early Upper Paleolithic-type behavior but dated much earlier is at Grottes des Pigeons in Morocco, where shell beads dated 82,000 years old have been discovered. Another problematic site is Pinnacle Point South Africa, where red ochre use has been documented at ca 165,000 years ago. Only time will tell if these dates continue to be held up. And Neanderthal hung on, too; the latest known Neanderthal site is Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar, about 25,000 years ago. Finally, the debate still is unsettled about the Flores individuals who may represent a separate species, Homo floresiensis, dated to the Middle Paleolithic but extending well into the UP. Homo Neanderthalensis Sites Neanderthals 400,000-30,000 years ago. Europe: Atapuerca (Spain), Swanscomb (England), Ortvale Klde (Georgia), Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar), St. Cesaire, La Ferrassie, Orgnac 3 (France), Vindija Cave (Croatia), Abric Romaní (Catalonia). Middle East: Kebara Cave (Israel), Shanidar Cave, (Iraq) Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey) Homo sapiens Sites Early Modern Human 200,000-present (arguably) Africa: Pinnacle Point, (South Africa), Bouri (Ethiopia), Omo Kibish (Ethiopia) Aterian: Grottes des Pigeons, Dar es-Soltan, Rhafas Cave (Morocco); Uan Tabu (Libya) Howiesons Poort: Border Cave, Klasies River Cave, Rose Cottage Cave, Boomplaas Cave, Blombos Cave, Sibudu Cave (all in South Africa) Asia: Niah Cave (Borneo), Jwalapuram (India), Denisova Cave (Siberia) Middle East: Skhul Cave, Qafzeh Cave (both Israel) Australia: Lake Mungo and Devil's Lair Flores Man Indonesia: Flores man--so far the only known site is Liang Bua cave on Flores Island)

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Cuzco, Peru

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Cuzco, Peru Jan 14th 2012, 11:07 Definition: The modern day city of Cuzco, Peru is located in the Andes Mountains of Peru was founded, according to legend, by Manco Capac, the founder of the Inca civilization. Unlike many ancient capitals, Cuzco was primarily a governmental and religious capital, with few residential structures. Cuzco was the Inca capital city, from the mid 15th century up until it was conquered by the Spanish in 1532. The most important archaeological structure in Cuzco is probably the one called the Coricancha (or Qorikancha), also called Golden Enclosure or the Temple of the Sun. According to legend, the Coricancha was built by the first Inca emperor, but certainly it was expanded in 1438 by Pachacuti, who built Machu Picchu. In the sixteenth century, the Spanish built a church and convent on its massive foundations. The Inca part of Cusco is still visible, in its many plazas and temples as well as massive remnant earth-quake proof walls. For a closer look at Inca architecture, see the Walking Tour of Machu Picchu. Archaeologists and others associated with the past of Cuzco include Bernabe Cobo, John H. Rowe, Graziano Gasparini, Luise Margolies, R. Tom Zuideman, Susan A. Niles, and John Hyslop. Sources This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Inca Empire and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Kuznar, Lawrence A.1999 The Inca Empire: Detailing the complexities of core/periphery interactions. In World-Systems Theory in Practice: Leadership, production, and exchange. P. N. Kardulias, ed. Pp. 224-240. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Morris, Craig 1976 Master design of the Inca. Natural History 85(10):58-66. Protzen, J. P. 1985 Inca Quarrying and Stonecutting. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 44:161-182. Alternate Spellings: Qosqo, Cusco

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Cultural Evolution

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Cultural Evolution Jan 13th 2012, 11:07 Definition: Cultural evolution as a theory in anthropology was developed in the 19th century, and it was an outgrowth of Darwinian evolution. Cultural evolution presumes that over time, cultural change such as the rise of social inequalities or emergence of agriculture occurs as a result of humans adapting to some noncultural stimulus, such as climate change or population growth. However, unlike Darwinian evolution, cultural evolution was considered directional, that is, as human populations transform themselves, their culture becomes progressively complex. The theory of cultural evolution was applied to archaeological studies by British archaeologists A.H.L. Fox Pitt-Rivers and V.G. Childe in the early 20th century. Americans were slow to follow until Leslie White's study of cultural ecology in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the theory of cultural evolution is an (often unstated) underpinning for other, more complex explanations for cultural change, and for the most part archaeologists believe that social changes are not only driven by biology or a strict adaptation to change, but by a complex web of social, environmental, and biological factors. Sources Bentley, R. Alexander, Carl Lipo, Herbert D.G. Maschner, and Ben Marler. 2008. Darwinian Archaeologies. Pp. 109-132 in Handbook of Archaeological Theories, R.A. Bentley, H.D.G. Maschner, and C. Chippendale, eds. Altamira Press, Lanham, Maryland. Feinman, Gary. 2000. Cultural Evolutionary Approaches and Archaeology: Past, Present and Future. Pp. 1-12 in Cultural Evolution: Contemporary Viewpoints, G. Feinman and L. Manzanilla, eds. Kluwer/Academic Press, London. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: AnYang

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AnYang Jan 13th 2012, 11:07 The modern city of AnYang, China, lies in the northern province of Henan. For centuries, its secret past lay hidden beneath the city streets, but in 1899, hundreds of oracle bones, ornately carved tortoise shells and ox scapulas, were found, according to legend, by a doctor in search of "dragon bones" for an ill city administrator. Full scale excavations at AnYang began in 1928, and what has been revealed in the following decades is a major capital city of the Shang Dynasty (1554 B.C. to 1045 B.C.). AnYang was the last capital of the Shang Dynasty, and easily the most important Bronze Age site in east Asia. Since 1928, Chinese archaeologists have unearthed extensive architectural foundations, tombs, chariots, thousands of bronze vessels, almost uncountable ceramics, and about 150,000 oracle bones. The oracle bones attest to a rich written language, primarily used for divination. The occupation at AnYang includes the remains of over 50 stamp-earth foundations of temples and palaces, the largest of which measures some 230 x 130 ft. Residential and workshop areas within the city contain evidence of carving, particularly of jade; bronze casting; pottery making; and bone working. This was a sophisticated Bronze Age culture, driven by millet agriculture. The AnYang Project George "Rip" Rapp Jr. was kind enough to share information concerning his investigations at AnYang, part of a cooperative project between the now-defunct Archaeometry Lab of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This project, begun in 1997 and funded by the National Science Foundation, The Luce Foundation, and the Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation, involved extensive archaeological survey, including the use of core drilling, excavation, geoarchaeology, and various specialized studies in palynology, paleoethnobotany, paleopathology, DNA, and ceramic petrography. The AnYang project had a strong focus on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of human societies and landscapes during the prehistoric and early historic periods in the AnYang region; it involves both intensive and extensive archaeological survey, geoarchaeology, and various specialized studies in archaeological sciences. Three seasons of field work were undertaken at AnYang (two in 1997, one in 1998). The fieldwork relocated many sites discovered in the 1960's and discovered dozens of new sites. Intensive survey in the spring of 1998 led to the discovery of the Huayuanzhuang site north of the Huan River. It measures up to 150 hectares in size, and is dated to the middle Shang, immediately before Yinxu--the late Shang capital, 2 miles south. This site may have been a political center during the period of middle Shang, possibly a capital city. In the spring they focused on survey methods and understanding the stratigraphy in the very large area of AnYang--indeed it may be the world's largest Bronze Age site. The 1998 fall season fell in October/November with an international symposium in late October 75th anniversary of the first scientific excavation in AnYang.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Guide to the Olmec Civilization

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Guide to the Olmec Civilization Jan 13th 2012, 11:07 Olmec Capitals There are four main regions or zones that have been associated with Olmec by the use of iconography, architecture and settlement plan, including San Lorenzo de Tenochtitlan, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros. Within each of these zones, there were three or four different levels of hamlets of different sizes. At the center of the zone was a fairly dense center with plazas and pyramids and kingly residences. Outside of the center were a somewhat sparser collection of hamlets and farmsteads, each at least economically and culturally tied to the center. Olmec Kings and Rituals Although we don't know any of the Olmec king names, we do know that the rituals associated with king included an emphasis on the sun, and reference to solar equinoxes were built into platform and plaza configurations. Sun glyph iconography is seen on many locations, and there is an undeniable importance of sunflower in dietary and ritual contexts. The ballgame played an important role in Olmec culture, as it does in many central American societies, and, like those other societies, it may have included human sacrifice. The colossal heads are often sculpted with headgear, thought to represent ball player wear; animal effigies exist of jaguars dressed as ball players. It is possible that women also played in the games, as there are figurines from La Venta which are females wearing helmets. Olmec Landscape The Olmec farms and hamlets and centers were situated on and next to a diverse set of landforms, including floodplain lowlands, coastal plains, plateau uplands, and volcanic highlands. But the large Olmec capitals were based on high places in the floodplains of big rivers such as Coatzacoalcos and Tabasco. The Olmec coped with recurring floods by building their residences and storage structures on artificially raised earth platforms, or by rebuilding on old sites, creating 'tell' formations. Many of the earliest Olmec sites are likely buried deep within the floodplains. The Olmec were clearly interested in color and color schemes of the environment. For example, the plaza at La Venta has a striking appearance of brown soil embedded with tiny bits of shattered greenstone. And there are several blue-green serpentine mosaic pavements tiled with clays and sands in a rainbow of different colors. A common sacrificial object was a jadeite offering covered with red cinnabar. Olmec Diet and Subsistence By 5000 BC, the Olmec relied on domestic maize, sunflower, and manioc, later domesticating beans. They also gathered corozo palm nuts, squash, and chili. There is some possibility that the Olmec were the first to use chocolate. The main source of animal protein was domesticated dog, but that was supplemented with white tailed deer, migratory birds, fish, turtles, and coastal shellfish. White tailed-deer in particular was specifically associated with ritual feasting. About.com's Guide to the Olmec Olmec Timeline and Definition You are here--->Subsistence and Settlement Important Facts Issues, Archaeological Sites and Bibliography

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Archaeology: Panama's Golden Chiefdoms

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Panama's Golden Chiefdoms Jan 12th 2012, 08:31 The January 12th issue of National Geographic magazine features a story on recent excavations at the Gran Cocl� site of El Cano, one of the chiefdoms of central Panama. We know a lot about central Panama's chiefs largely to the efforts of Gaspar de Espinosa, a 16th century Spanish conquistador who visited the region beginning in 1516. Espinosa described powerful chiefs who ruled competing polities and held elaborate burial rituals. The personal treasures of a chief include a seahorse pendant about three inches tall, ear ornaments, part of a breastplate, a necklace, and plaques. All were buried in a bag studded with the surrounding stone beads, which scattered as the fibers decayed. Artifacts courtesy National Heritage Office (DNPH), National Institute of Culture (INAC), Panama; Photographed at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Photo �David Coventry/National Geographic. But as the National Geographic coverage shows, that's not all we know. Excavations at Gran Cocl� sites have been conducted for a century or so now, and remarkable finds at burials have included what Howard Carter would have called amazing things: gobs of gold artifacts, ceramic pots, stingray spines, shark teeth, and ivory, bone, quartz and emeralds buried with important individuals. The most recent excavations, led by Julia Mayo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and supported by the National Geographic Society, have unearthed several new elite burials. Julia Mayo's excavations at El Ca�o are featured in the January 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine The National Geographic coverage has, as usual, amazing photographs of the excavations, artifacts and monuments of the region, but I of course had to find out what I could from the literature about what other things archaeologists have discovered about the Central Panama sites of Gran Cocl�. One tidbit I discovered were some 1940-era experiments that proved that all that glitters is not necessarily 24-karat gold... Guide to Gran Cocl� Chiefdoms Online Version of The Golden Chiefs of Panama.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Otzi the Iceman

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Otzi the Iceman Jan 12th 2012, 11:07 Otzi the Iceman is one of those amazing discoveries that continues, even decades after the original find, to surprise us with new bits of information. The glossary entry includes a summary, and you'll find some news stories, a bibliography, and even an extended joke in the Bulwer-Lytton style. 1. Otzi the Iceman (definition) Gerbil This entry is a summary of everything known about Otzi that's been published to date: where he was born, where he lived, how tall he was, what he weighed, what he ate, what he did for a living, what his clothes were like, how old he was, and what killed him. We don't know why he was killed--but science suggests that somebody didn't like him very much at all. 2. Moss and the Iceman Studies of the Iceman's innards revealed a surprising variety of mosses, from different climate regimes suggesting that Otzi was a local man who knew and traveled the Alpine region widely 3. Death of an Iceman Using multislice computed tomography, a research team from the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich discovered a 13-mm tear in an artery in the Iceman's chest, and have pinpointed what they think led to the Iceman's death. 4. Otzi's Clothing A summary and links to detailed news stories about the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry used to examine Otzi's clothes. 5. Bibliography of Otzi the Iceman A list of the journal articles and books written about Otzi to date. 6. A Bulwer-Lytton-like Take on the Iceman T.R. Talbott won a dishonorable mention in the 1997 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest (where WWW means "Wretched Writers Welcome"). He (or she, I was never able to contact him or her) took as his/her text the Iceman--and every time I read it I laugh out loud.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Shi Huangdi's Tomb (China)

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Shi Huangdi's Tomb (China) Jan 12th 2012, 11:07 Definition: The emperor Shi Huangdi [246-210 BC] was the Tiger of Qin, the first emperor of China, who unified the warring tribes into one group. The founder of the Qin Dynasty, Shi Huangdi ruled China between 221 and 210 BC. He was even the subject of the recent film by Zhang Yimou called "Hero". In 1974, workmen discovered the tomb of Shi Huangdi near the city of Xi'an in the modern Shensi province. Among the treasures found there is a marvelous army of terracotta (fired clay) soldiers and horses, consisting of nearly 8,000 life size individual sculpted statues. See the Photo Essay on Terracotta Soldiers Shi Huangdi and Recent Discoveries Investigations reported in Minerva (vol 16, iss 2) in 2005 indicate that archaeologists opening another section of Qin's tomb have found a life-size model of a wetland, complete with 40 bronze sculptured aquatic birds, cranes, swans, and geese. A new technique was developed that reveals the vivid colors of the terracotta soldiers, including classic Chinese purple. Chinese or Han Purple is based on copper silicate, and it has been found on objects used in the Zhou dynasty (1046-221 BC), centuries before the emperor Qin's rule. Read more about Chinese Purple Most recently, pollen studies conducted on a warrior and a horse sculpture revealed that they were built in different kilns: the horse was constructed near the tomb while the warrior was built farther away. Read more about Pollen and the Terracotta Army Sources Biography of Qin Shi Huangdi Try the Shi Huangdi Trivia Quiz Goho, Alexandra. 2003. The March of History: Terra-cotta warriors show their true colors. Science News 164(22):340. Hu, Ya-Qin, et al. 2007 What can pollen grains from the Terracotta Army tell us? Journal of Archaeological Science 34:1153-1157. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Also Known As: Qin's Tomb, the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Alternate Spellings: Ch’in Shih-huang-ti, Shihuangdi

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Ideologies in Archaeology

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Ideologies in Archaeology Jan 12th 2012, 11:07 Bernbeck R, and McGuire RH, editors. 2011. Ideologies in Archaeology. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 311 p. in 14 chapters; 99 additional pages of bibliography, contributor biographies and an index. ISBN 978-0-8165-2673-4 (alkaline paper) The Inner Struggle of Archaeology Ideologies in Archaeology is an incredibly important book, if you want to understand the inherent but understated inner struggle that is part and parcel of studying and writing about the past. The book is an edited collection of articles which describe aspects of a philosophy of archaeology that has been bubbling among some scholars for some time now: arguably since V.G. Childe's day of the 1920s and 30s, when Marxism, with its condemnation of how states control and manipulate the lives of ordinary people first became part of academic discourse. Overall, Ideologies in Archaeology attacks the notion in two main branches. Interestingly, the articles aren't necessarily grouped in this way, so it's probably just me using my classificatory mind (which is a small joke directed at Randy McGuire, who I have long admired, and which joke you will understand after you've read the book). In the first and most prominent branch, the authors collectively argue that by writing about the past, by making "sense" and telling "coherent" stories based on ruins from ancient peoples, archaeologists often fall into the trap of communicating our own unstated beliefs about how the world works and thickly laying them on past peoples. That's dangerous, because we don't live or write in a vacuum: as we do that, we are impacting present day peoples, the descendants of those cultures who have their own belief systems about the past: our re-creating past lives in our own image privileges that re-creation above memory and local history. So, when we say "archaeological evidence shows this" and don't add "local history shows this" or more to the point, share the stage with local historians, we are tacitly privileging our interpretations of the past. That is inescapably true: or rather, it has a dose of reality not often recognized and not especially sweet tasting. The other part of the story, is one that I have to admit I have an easier time with: identifying evidence for the workings of state control in the past. How, say, the Iron Age elites at Hochdorf used gold trappings of a burial to promote the notion of elite superiority, even if the trappings weren't as fancy as they appeared. This part includes "interpellation", or how the state creates ideologies that people buy into. I'm an American--that is a state-created identity that includes a range of beliefs about the world that feeds back into supporting the American state. Also, inescapably true. Book Chapters After an introduction that I needed to read both before the other articles and after I finished all the articles, the book is organized into two main sections: Complex Relations: Archaeologists' Ideologies and Those of Their Subjects, and Ideological Dimensions of Archaeological Discourse. Complex Relations includes "A conceptual history of ideology and its place in archaeology" by Reinhard Bernbeck and Randall H. McGuire, which supplies the historical background for the philosophies presented in the book. Other chapters include one from Susan Kus and Victor Raharijaona on how Malagasy people deal with and produce their own "propagandy"; Matthew Cochran and Paul Mullins on "Shoppertainment" and consumer culture; Uzi Baram on the broader considerations of heritage tourism; Susan Pollock on imperial ideologies in Akkad; and Bettina Arnold on the illusion of power in early Iron Age Europe. Ideological Dimensions of Archaeological Discourse includes Kathleen Sterling, who argues that the concept of "human nature" that we apply to hunter-gatherers is a power trip; Susan Alt on scales of explanations of mound building over time; Christopher N. Matthews and Kurt A. Jordan on how the incessant 'secularism' of science impacted the repatriation movement; Ruth M. Van Dyke on the unequal privileging of memory; Louann Wurst and Sue Novinger on the intersection of archaeology and education, how archaeology could impart the lessons learned into education but haven't as yet; Vicente Lull, Rafael Mico, Cristina Rihuete Herrada, and Robert Risch argue that we need to get out of our comfort zone; and finally, Jean-Paul Demoule asks whether archaeology can change society. Ideologies and Archaeology has an extensive bibliography, biographies of the contributors and an index. Bottom Line A quote to keep from Bernbeck and McGuire and cited by Demoule closes the book: "Archaeologists have hitherto only interpreted ideologies in various ways: the point is to criticise them in order to change the world." Seriously. I'm wondering if Ideologies and Archaeology will change my life: I'm not sure, but it's certainly given me food for thought. We simply can't see the past without our modern spectacles, but it would be very useful to recognize the level of our short-sightedness. Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Anthropology Definitions

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Anthropology Definitions Jan 11th 2012, 11:07 The study of anthropology is the study of human beings: their culture, their behavior, their beliefs, their ways of surviving. Here is a collection of other definitions of anthropology from anthropologists.-Kris Hirst Anthropology Definitions [Anthropology] is less a subject matter than a bond between subject matters. It is in part history, part literature; in part natural science, part social science; it strives to study men both from within and without; it represents both a manner of looking at man and a vision of man-the most scientific of the humanities, the most humanist of sciences.-Eric Wolf, Anthropology, 1964. Anthropology has traditionally attempted to stake out a compromise position on this central issue by regarding itself as both the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences. That compromise has always looked peculiar to those outside anthropology, but today it looks increasingly precarious to those within the discipline.-James William Lett. 1997. Science Reason and Anthropology: The Principles of Rational Inquiry. Rowman and Littlefield, 1997. Anthropology is the study of humankind. Of all the disciplines that examine aspects of human existence and accomplishments, only Anthropology explores the entire panorama of the human experience from human origins to contemporary forms of culture and social life.-University of Florida Anthropology is Answering Questions Anthropologists attempt to answer the question: "how can one explain the diversity of human cultures that are currently found on earth and how have they evolved?" Given that we will have to change rather rapidly within the next generation or two this is a very pertinent question for anthropologists.-Michael Scullin Anthropology is the study of human diversity around the world. Anthropologists look at cross-cultural differences in social institutions, cultural beliefs, and communication styles. They often seek to promote understanding between groups by "translating" each culture to the other, for instance by spelling out common, taken-for-granted assumptions.-University of North Texas Anthropology seeks to uncover principles of behavior that apply to all human communities. To an anthropologist, diversity itself-seen in body shapes and sizes, customs, clothing, speech, religion, and worldview-provides a frame of reference for understanding any single aspect of life in any given community.-American Anthropological Association Anthropology is the study of people. In this discipline, people are considered in all their biological and cultural diversities, in the present as well as in the prehistoric past, and wherever people have existed. Students are introduced to the interaction between people and their environments to develop an appreciation of human adaptations past and present. Portland Community College Anthropology explores what it means to be human. Anthropology is the scientific study of humankind in all the cultures of the world, both past and present.-Western Washington University The Human Experience of Anthropology Anthropology is the study of humans in all areas and in all periods of time.-Triton College Anthropology is the only discipline that can access evidence about the entire human experience on this planet.-Michael Brian Schiffer Anthropology is the study of human culture and biology in the past and present.-Western Kentucky University Anthropology is, at once, both easy to define and difficult to describe; its subject matter is both exotic (marriage practices among Australian aborigines) and commonplace (the structure of the human hand); its focus both sweeping and microscopic. Anthropologists may study the language of a tribe of Brazilian Native Americans, the social life of apes in an African rain forest, or the remains of a long-vanished civilization in their own backyard - but there is always a common thread linking these vastly different projects, and always the common goal of advancing our understanding of who we are and how we came to be that way. In a sense, we all "do" anthropology because it is rooted in a universal human characteristic -- curiosity about ourselves and other people, living and dead, here and across the globe.- University of Louisville Anthropology is devoted to the study of human beings and human societies as they exist across time and space. It is distinct from other social sciences in that it gives central attention to the full time span of human history, and to the full range of human societies and cultures, including those located in historically marginalized parts of the world. It is therefore especially attuned to questions of social, cultural, and biological diversity, to issues of power, identity, and inequality, and to the understanding of dynamic processes of social, historical, ecological, and biological change over time.- Stanford University Anthropology department website (now moved) More Definitions This feature is part of the Guide to Field Definitions of Archaeology and Related Disciplines.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Maya Lady Xoc

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Maya Lady Xoc Jan 11th 2012, 11:07 "Lady Xoc and the Vision Serpent," Lintel 25 from Yaxchilan. Stone carving (replica), Maya (circa AD 725), Chiapas State, Mexico John Weinstein, © The Field Museum This Maya carving of ruler Lady Xoc depicts her experience of a supernatural vision after performing a sacrifice of her own blood. Like many ancient American rulers, Maya elite like Lady Xoc, acted not only as political rulers of their community, but also the spiritual ones. Maya Civilization Archaeology of Mexico Courtly Ritual of the Maya, National Gallery of Art Ancient Americas at the Field Museum

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: The Narmer Palette

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The Narmer Palette Jan 10th 2012, 11:07 Definition: The Egyptian dynastic civilization began over 5,000 years ago with the unification of the Upper and Lower Egypt by the legendary King Menes, also called Narmer. Numerous later Egyptian writings claim Narmer as the conqueror of all the societies along the length of the Nile River; but some scholarly doubt persists. During the 1897/1898 field season, British archaeologist J. E. Quibell was excavating the pre-dynastic capital of Hierakonpolis when he found one of the most famous artifacts of the protodynastic period of Egypt, called the Narmer Palette, believed by many to illustrate this historic event. Description of the Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, a shield-shaped slab of gray schist some 64 centimeters (25 inches) long, is in the shape of a cosmetic palette, a type of object made by Egyptians for at least 10 centuries before the date of the Narmer palette. What makes this particular palette of importance is that is larger than most palettes, and it is elaborately carved on both sides with images and words. In addition to the carvings illustrating Narmer's battles, the images include symbols of a cattle cult, and drawings that are typical of later Egyptian forms of decoration. The Narmer palette may not be a representation of the unification battle of 5,000 years ago; but its extensive decorations will continue to intrigue historians and archaeologists for years to come. Sources Wengrove, David 2001 Rethinking "cattle cults" in early Egypt: towards a prehistoric perspective on the Narmer Palette. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11(1):91-104. Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 2000 What a King Is This: Narmer and the Concept of the Ruler. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 86:23-32. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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