Archaeologist at Large: Blog

Raiders of the Faux Ark

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:58:33 GMT

Great article on fringe archaeology

Extract below

Noah's Ark. The Ark of the Covenant. The Garden of Eden. Sodom and Gomorrah. The Exodus. The Lost Tomb of Jesus. All have been "found" in the last 10 years, including one within the past six months. The discoverers: a former SWAT team member; an investigator of ghosts, telepathy, and parapsychology; a filmmaker who calls himself "The Naked Archeologist"; and others, none of whom has any professional training in archeology.

We are living in a time of exciting discoveries in biblical archeology. We are also living in a time of widespread biblical fraud, dubious science, and crackpot theorizing. Some of the highest-profile discoveries of the past several years are shadowed by accusations of forgery, such as the James Ossuary, which may or may not be the burial box of Jesus' brother, as well as other supposed Bible-era findings such as the Jehoash Tablet and a small ivory pomegranate said to be from the time of Solomon. Every year "scientific" expeditions embark to look for Noah's Ark, raising untold amounts of money from gullible believers who eagerly listen to tales spun by sincere amateurs or rapacious con men; it is not always easy to tell the two apart.

More @ http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/fauxark/

Blogging Archaeology and the Archaeology of Blogging

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:53:22 GMT

Interesting article @

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/blogs/

Happy New Year 2008

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:34:11 GMT

All the best to all my readers

Nigel

www.Pastpreservers.com

The pharaohs get a face-lift

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:23:17 GMT

I was writing a archaeological news review of 2007, when I came across teh following article

It presents a different perspective on the recent events in the Egyptian city of Luxor.

"I was tempted to think that nothing ever changes in Luxor. Temples and tombs survive; boats sail on the Nile; the fellahin, Egypt’s farmers, still irrigate their crops with rainwater from Ethiopia and Uganda; and the sun, the valley and nearby desert remain the defining facts of life, just as they were in the paintings in the pharaohs’ tombs. But I was wrong. Luxor is being transformed.

The city is cut into two distinctive halves by the Nile, which is broad and beautiful here. At the time of the pharaohs, the east bank was busy, a place for the living, while the west side was as quiet as the occupants of the tombs hidden in its Theban hills. And that’s the way it is today: the city, the airport, the train station and two big temples on one side; the tombs and temples, the Theban hills, some villages and farmland on the other.

Yet, in the couple of years since Dr Samir Farag became governor, Luxor has gone through enormous change. On the eastern side of the river, he has renovated the train station, demolished the restaurants and souvenir stalls that blocked the view of Luxor and Karnak temples, and rebuilt the souk. He is enlarging the airport and moving all “floating hotels” several miles upstream; he has opened a Nubian cultural centre, a branch of Cairo’s Mubarak Public Library . . . and all this is just the beginning. No wonder some inhabitants are quaking at the thought of what is to come"

Read it all at http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/egypt/article2036141.ece

Outcry as British Council quits Europe to woo Muslim world

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:15:20 GMT

I was a recent beneficary of this policy as the British Council in Cairo decided to sell off some books from their library, which has now been re-branded a learning centre persumebly because it does not have enough books to now qualify as a library!

The books were sold off at a rediculously cheap price of 1 pound for a hardback and 50p for a softback! I spent 50 pounds sterling and got a thousand pounds woth of books! A bonus for my Cairo library but a loss for the citizens of Cairo

Egyptians in Egyptology

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:19:37 GMT

An important development in cultural history during recent years has been the recognition of the long exclusion of Egyptians from their nation’s ancient past. For most of the two centuries or so that Egyptology has been a recognized field, ancient Egypt has been considered the intellectual property of the West. University syllabi presented ancient Egypt as one of the foundations of Western civilization, but one with little pertinence to the subsequent history of Egypt or the Middle East. Western collectors plundered the material riches of the ancient land for decades following Napoleon's epochal Egyptian expedition in 1798-1801, filling the galleries of European museums and adorning the shelves and walls of foreign homes, and doing so without compunction.

More @ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/876/cu2.htm

Egypt in Rose Parade

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:55:17 GMT

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/December_2007/0712065.html

THE CAIRO-LOS Angeles Friendship Committee will sponsor Egypt’s first float entry in the world-renowned Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA on New Year’s Day 2008.

Prize-winning designer Paul Rodriguez has created the concept for the 55-foot float. It will soar 27 feet high and feature an enthroned pharaoh and his consort looking onto an arrangement of sacred lotuses, and Horus, the falcon deity. The only object not covered with flowers will be Egypt’s premier archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, who will be waving to the bystanders.

Past Preserversprofile in Daily Star Egypt

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:09:06 GMT

A profile of my company Past Preservers appears in todays Daily Star Egypt

find it @ http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9869

Happy Reading!

Lack of Posts

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:46:16 GMT

Sorry, Sorry

All I can say in my defence is that I have been focusing on developing my business Past Preservers

Please check out our updated website @ www.pastpreservers.com

and my company blog @ http://pastpreservers.blogspot.com/

More updates soon

I promise

Nigel

Treasure Hunters vs. Archaeology: Saving History for the Public

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:04:01 GMT

Glorifying treasure hunters and denigrating archaeologists is a poor apology for the destruction of our underwater heritage.

In a June 8 New York Times Op-Ed piece, Robert Kurson, author of the popular book Shadow Divers, attacks archaeologists as pirates, calling us a "new breed of raiders." By contrast, he praises treasure hunters: "Without them...many of these wrecks would stay lost forever. Without the lure of a big and romantic payoff, no one would even look." Moreover, Kurson paints archaeologists as ivory-tower academics and the treasure hunters as larger-than-life men-of-action: "it's a good bet that a grizzled, lifelong salvage diver has better real-life, tight-squeeze shipwreck experience than an archaeologist who writes up guidelines for this work from his office near the student union." This is a response from a grizzled lifelong archaeologist who has plenty of real-life, tight-squeeze experiences, as do many of my colleagues

Thought provoking article, continue reading @ http://www.huliq.com/29373/treasure-hunters-archaeology-saving-history-for-the-public

Touts fight push for hassle-free Egypt tourism

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:08:54 GMT

Interesting article

IT IS early morning and the alleyways of Nazlet al-Saman, the mini-suburb of horse and camel stables below the Giza plateau, look like the Wild West.

The sunlight, which is just beginning to cut through Cairo's haze, creates searchlights in the dust kicked up by hundreds of horses and camels being ridden, often at breakneck pace, by young, whooping Arab tourists.

Quietly and patiently, Saeed Abu Saleeb leads his three horses through the pandemonium, avoiding the four-wheeled-motorbikes and the honking Hummers.

Mr Abu Saleeb is an Egyptian tout, one of a small army of notorious, largely loathed, hawkers who scrape together a living offering rides around the pyramids for about $4 an hour.

To most people, he is an annoyance — he routinely gets the finger and a curt order to "f--- off". To his wife and three children he is the source of a meagre family income. To the Egyptian economy, he is one little cog in a giant machine of tips, bribes and kickbacks — the infamous baksheesh — that makes the nation tick.

More @ http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/touts-fight-push-for-hasslefree-egypt-tourism/2007/08/03/1185648146974.html

First A380 flight to be sold for charity - (Travel Daily News)

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:25:47 GMT

Good for them

Singapore Airlines – the first airline in the world to fly the new Airbus A380 – is preparing for the first commercial flight of the new double-decker jumbo jet, from Singapore to Sydney and return which will take place in October 2007. And in an unprecedented move, all proceeds from the sale of tickets on the first flight will be donated to charities.
In response to requests from people all over the world to be passengers on the first flight, Singapore Airlines will auction the seats on global online marketplace, eBay. Bids will be invited for seats on this history-making flight, and winning bidders will know that every dollar they pay will go to worthwhile charities. All customers will receive a personalised ceremonial certificate confirming they were part of the first-ever commercial A380 flight.
Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Chew Choon Seng, said the Airline wants to acknowledge the widespread interest in the entry into commercial service of this all-new airplane, and to use the opportunity to benefit worthwhile charities. “The first commercial A380 flight will be a moment in aviation history. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, on an aircraft that will mark a new chapter in air travel. And while we will celebrate the event, we also wish to remember the people who are less fortunate and can be assisted by the charities to which all the proceeds will go,” Mr Chew said.

YAM March 2003 - Collateral Damage

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:41:15 GMT

Collateral Damage
As a "fine arts officer" in World War II, Yale art professor Deane Keller helped to rescue Italian masterworks from the ravages of war. His efforts are documented in a remarkable collection of photographs in Sterling Memorial Library.

March 2003
by Catherine Roach '02

When the Allies invaded Italy in the summer of 1943, Yale art professor Deane Keller '23 was among the troops scrambling ashore in Naples. In civilian life, Keller taught painting and created portraits of Yale worthies that adorn dining halls to this day. As a young artist fresh from the Yale School of Fine Arts, Keller won the prestigious Prix de Rome, an award that sent him to study in Italy between 1923 and 1926. But 20 years later, he landed in Italy on a different mission. The artworks that Keller had emulated as a student suddenly became his to preserve. As a fine arts officer assigned to the U.S. Fifth Army, Keller was responsible for protecting Italian cultural treasures against the threats of combat and looting.

Interesting article

The stately wrecks of England | Art & Architecture | Guardian Unlimited Arts

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:04:06 GMT

Save England's Heritage

The stately Wrecks of England

English Heritage's 'basket cases' need huge amounts of money to repair them, but cannot recoup the cost
Maev Kennedy
Wednesday July 25, 2007
The Guardian

The 'cathedral-like' Joseph Bazalgette-designed Crossness Pumping Station in Bexley. Photograph: Alamy

The 16 stately wrecks of England were unveiled yesterday; the most important, most expensive and most intractable buildings at risk in the country.

"These are our basket cases," English Heritage's chief executive, Simon Thurley, admitted yesterday.

These are England's 16 most expensive historic wrecks. The total cost of repairs is probably more than £127m, but more serious is the £65m conservation deficit - the shortfall between the cost of the work and the commercial value of the building once restored.

£25m deficit
Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, Staffs
Redundant 19th and 20th century colliery, including 20 scheduled or listed structures, poor condition.

£5m deficit
No 1 Shed, RAF Cardington, Beds
Sole surviving airship hangar in Europe, Grade II*, very bad condition

Ditherington Flax Mill, Shrewsbury
18th century, first iron-framed building in the world and a complex of later mill buildings, Grade I, poor condition

Soho Foundry, Smethwick, West Mids
1795 foundry, landmark in industrial revolution, Grade II*, poor condition

£4m deficit
Birnbeck Pier, Weston-super-Mare
1862 pier, Grade II*, now disused apart from lifeboat station, very bad condition

£3m deficit
Crossness Pumping Station, Bexley
Joseph Bazalgette-designed sewage works, Grade I, poor condition

£2.5m deficit
Royal Insurance Building, Liverpool
1903 office block, Grade II*, poor condition

£2m deficit
Abbey Mills Pumping Station, E London
Bazalgette-designed, Grade II*, fair condition

Gunnersbury Park House, W London
Former Rothschild country house, Grade II*, fair condition

Tynemouth Station, Tyne & Wear
1882 railway station, Grade II*, bad condition

Old Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight
Remains of 12th century Cistercian abbey, scheduled ancient monument, poor condition

Astley Castle, Warks
13th century moated manor house, Grade II*, very bad condition

£1.5m deficit
Bank Hall, Chorley, Lancs
17th century country house, Grade II*, very bad condition

£1m deficit
Western Heights Fortifications, Dover
Government-owned 19th century fortifications above harbour, scheduled ancient monument, poor condition

Mausoleum, Castle Howard, N Yorks
18th century, Hawksmoor-designed tomb, Grade I, poor condition

Wicker Arch and Viaduct, S Yorks
1848 railway viaduct, decayed, Grade II*, poor condition

Save one now get involved

Talking about Egypt: Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:35:31 GMT

Zahi's on the hunt

Quote

Egypt: Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty

It is one of Egypts enduring mysteries. What happened to Nefertiti and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, the likely father of King Tut?

CPRE - 'Make England A National Park', says new CPRE President Bill Bryson

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:18:54 GMT

Bill Bryson does it again

Isn't he amazing

some quotes from the article:-

Something I have often wondered is why we don’t make the whole of England a National Park. In what way, after all, are the Yorkshire Dales superior to the Durham Dales? Why is the New Forest worthy of exalted status but glorious Dorset unworthy?

It is preposterous really to say that some parts are better or more important than others. It’s all lovely. And there’s not much of it. Of the surface area of the Earth, only a tiny fragment – 0.0174069 per cent, or so I gather – can call itself Great Britain. The fragment that is England is even tinier. So it’s rare and dangerously finite and every bit of it should be cherished.

I agree

Selling Egypt and the real estate boom

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:05:03 GMT

What is happening in Egypt?

In the sizzling July temperatures, something unmeteorological and very sinister is provoking Cairo's heat sensation.آ

Those behind it give it happy terms like Egypt's growing economy and real estate boom. After acquiring large swaths of cheap, mostly desert land from the state, Arab and Egyptian real estate companies are now reselling their purchases at staggering prices to the citizens of this country or at least some of them.

More @ http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8339

The rights to loot the Titanic

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:09:32 GMT

A sad day, this simply means more blunder

Premier Exhibitions, Inc. through its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively the "Company") today announced it has acquired Ownership Rights to the personal property on board the doomed ocean liner RMS Titanic from Liverpool and London Steamship Protection and Indemnity Association Limited (Liverpool and London).

At the time of Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage, Liverpool and London was the insurer of the personal property on board the ship. By virtue of the settlements it reached with the Titanic passengers and their families soon after the tragedy, Liverpool and London acquired via subrogation ownership rights to the personal property, which remained on the vessel. With the acquisition of these rights, the Company now has the lawful claim to ownership.

In 1994, a United States Federal Court declared RMS Titanic, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, as the Salvor-in-Possession of the Titanic. Thirteen years later, the Company remains Salvor-in-Possession and as such is the only company permitted by law to recover objects from the wreck site. The Company has conducted seven research and recovery expeditions and has recovered approximately 5,500 objects.

This new acquisition provides the Company the Ownership Rights to the important personal property still resting at the wreck site.

If you can stomach it read more @ http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CLW07918072007-1.htm

UK World Heritage to be protected

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:28:16 GMT

Public inquiries able to block insensitive building
· Unesco warns of sites hit by unsightly development

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
The Guardian

Britain's 24 world heritage sites are to be "buffered" from unsightly skyscrapers and intrusive home improvements such as stone cladding and satellite dishes, Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, will announce tomorrow.

The new laws will create "buffer zones" around the country's most treasured sites to prevent their being degraded by nearby high-rise buildings. More stringent powers will be given to public inquiries to block insensitive development, and the move will make it easier for controversial building schemes to be "called in" by ministers to protect world heritage sites

Story continues @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2026541,00.html

The Queen and reality TV!

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:10:01 GMT

Is the Queen the new Sharon Osborne?

Most reality TV distorts the facts, and now we've turned our monarch into Sha

Most reality TV distorts the facts, and now we've turned our monarch into Sharon Osbourne

Sarfraz Manzoor
The Guardian

The clamour that has engulfed the BBC after last week's misleading sequence featuring the Queen has focused on the damage suffered to the corporation. In an effort to convince the public that it still retains its integrity, the BBC has engaged in another round of self-flagellation: the director general has sent a stern email to employees warning of the dangers of losing the trust of the audience and an inquiry has been mounted into the affair. True, the bosses bear some responsibility, but the underlying reasons lie in how television has changed in the past decade.

Having worked on both sides of the camera as well as in the boardroom, I have concluded that most television is like an impatient child - noisy, easily bored and desperately seeking attention. This need to be noticed is driven by a desire for ratings, which prompts programme-makers to do everything and anything to lure viewers to stay tuned. You can see it everywhere, in eye-wateringly blunt programme titles, current affairs programmes which promise more than they deliver and the use of celebrities or dramatised reconstructions. The manic fear that the fickle viewer might turn over is largely driven by a sense that if a programme is not talked about, it has somehow failed.ron Osbourne

Sarfraz Manzoor
Tuesday July 17, 2007
The Guardian

continues @ http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2128191,00.html

Box of Tricks

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:02:18 GMT

Can you trust what you see on the telly?

From Blue Peter to Newsnight, it seems there's nothing we can trust on TV any more. Almost every day brings fresh scandals and promises to clean things up. Janine Gibson explains what went wrong - and why we should still care. Plus, Stephen Armstrong on the worst offenders

Janine Gibson and Stephen Armstrong

The Guardian

On Wife Swap, when they say they swap for a week, it's sometimes really only four days. On Countdown, when the guest in Dictionary Corner comes up with a seven-letter word, sometimes that's come down the earpiece from a man in the gallery. On Have I Got News for You, they see the questions in advance, because the point is to be funny, not good on current affairs. Ditto Never Mind The Buzzcocks. I've attended recordings of "as live" shows that have taken roughly four times as long as the transmission.

There's more. On "best of"-shows, the celebrity talking heads often haven't seen or heard of the stories they are recalling until they watch the tapes they've been sent. Sometimes, if you do one of those shows, you're asked to make a point or recount a fact simply to make a good link to someone else. Generally, if you see someone walking into a building and greeting someone, that's a reconstruction. Same if you see someone nodding in vehement agreement (remember the "tear" in Broadcast News? If you don't, then it's time you saw Broadcast News again). Ironically, the only genre of television on which there is no pressure to be honest or accurate is reality television. Ever since we discovered in 2005 - when they went on strike because of their lack of recognition - that there are such things as story editors and writers on reality shows, we have assumed that it is all made up.

So, in essence, you can't believe anything you see on television, and nor should you try. None of it is, in a strict sense, real: even the news, where things are contracted, elided, polished, summarised and otherwise interfered with to make the complex both easier to digest and more exciting.

Continues @ http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2128058,00.html

Leave Duchy Originals Alone

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 07:53:54 GMT

My favouite line of food

Laura Barton

From the Guardian website @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/When the organic pasty squared up against the Big Mac, it was never going to be pretty. In the wake of Prince Charles's recent tirade against the Big Mac, defenders of McDonald's have levelled that the burger in question contains less salt and fat and fewer calories than some of the products in the Prince's Duchy Originals range. One analysis of the brand's Organic Ginger Biscuits gasped that each biscuit is higher in calories than a two-finger KitKat.

Well, I give a two-fingered KitKat salute to them all. I like Duchy Originals. I like their oaten biscuits and their lemon curd, their vegetable crisps and mixed seed bread, and I like their beetroot and dill soup. I like especially the fact that Duchy embraces interesting flavours and textures, and more than anything that it attempts to make us connect food with where it came from.

What is disgusting about the Big Mac? Somewhere in the beef patty, Big Mac bun, pasteurised process American cheese, Big Mac sauce, lettuce, pickle slices and onions, sits an attitude to food that is worrying. Really, is it fair to compare the pasty with the Big Mac when the Big Mac is rarely eaten alone, it is super-sized, served with fries and cola? Recently, and in no way willingly, I found myself in a McDonald's in America, where it cost less to buy two apple pies than to buy one. This, I thought to myself, is insane.

Improving people's diets is not simply a matter of acquainting them with the "traffic light" code of nutritional ratings - with Ronald McDonald, Colonel Sanders and their clan, the last thing we need is another simplistic, cartoon-coloured system to help us choose our meals. The issue here is not purely about the content of the food, it is also about food production and origin, the environmental impact of industrialised farming, and our attitude to what eating really is. And anyway, a Duchy Original pasty is hand crimped - hand crimped! - at a bakery in Launceston, Cornwall. Beat that Ronald, you clown-headed fool.

Dr Zahi Interview

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:05:25 GMT

Gimme Back My Mask!

During a discussion of the recently identified mummy of queen Hatshepsut on the July 9 edition of the Charlie Rose Show, Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, again called out the Saint Louis Art Museum for its refusal to return the Ka-Nefer-Nefer mask to Egypt.

Hawass contends that the ornate funereal mask, which depicts a woman of the Nineteenth Dynasty, was illegally removed from Egypt after its discovery in 1952. The history of the mask was the subject of "Out of Egypt," a Riverfront Times feature story published early last year.

Cairo, Sin City?

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:52:13 GMT

Worried by violence in popular Lebanon, Arab tourists are heading to Egypt instead, and causing waves as they ignore Islamic customs adhered to at home. Cairo - As the sun set on another day of "Arab Season," Amr Khouli leaned on the cushions of his boat as it moved to the gentle waves of the Nile.

This time of year, Mr. Khouli spends days on his faluka, one of the many motorboats that cart tourists up and down the wide river that cuts through this city, catering to a growing number of Arab tourists who have passed up violent Lebanon and opted for safer Egypt for summertime holidays.

In 2006, 13 percent more Arab tourists came to Egypt and stayed 12 percent longer than the year before. This season is shaping up to be another banner year because of the Lebanese instability, says Hala el-Khatib, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism.

But while Khouli welcomes the influx of money that comes with the uptick in tourism, many Egyptians complain that Arabs coming from nearby countries, such as religiously strict Saudi Arabia and Libya, are using Cairo as their own city of sin.

More @ http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=11890_0_1_0_M

Changes in Luxor

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:50:56 GMT

The Pharaohs get a face-lift

I was tempted to think that nothing ever changes in Luxor. Temples and tombs survive; boats sail on the Nile; the fellahin, Egypt's farmers, still irrigate their crops with rainwater from Ethiopia and Uganda; and the sun, the valley and nearby desert remain the defining facts of life, just as they were in the paintings in the pharaohs' tombs. But I was wrong. Luxor is being transformed.

More @ http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=4062&section=9

The end of the Luxor?

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:37:00 GMT

This is so sad! I love this hotel!

The Las Vegas Strip is undergoing a bit of an image change - the idea is a shift away from the exotic, foreign themes of the past to the lap of luxury for the future. Perhaps the most iconic of the theme-based casinos is the Luxor, but it is making a move to become less Egyptian.

The Luxor will soon unveil details of its new makeover, and the changes will take the property as far away from Egypt as possible. The building and its famous beam of light will stay, but research shows that customers don't care as much as they used to about exotic themes at any of the hotels in Las Vegas.

When the Luxor opened in 1993 it was a stunning achievement, and for most of the 90's, hotel companies tried to out-do one another with themed concepts from all over the globe.

Some of them, like the Treasure Island, became huge successes, while others, like the Desert Kingdom, never quite got off the ground. But now, the times are different, and customers are looking for a different kind of luxury in Las Vegas.

Full details of the Luxor makeover won't be unveiled until Thursday, but many of the changes have already happened, with the Egyptian-themed RA nightclub being replaced by the soon-to-open LAX.

The Egyptian themed restaurants, shops and shows are almost all gone; there was even some thought given to losing the Luxor name and simply calling it The Pyramid.

More on this @ http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-luxor13jul13,1,56295.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

Transatlantic Voyage

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:35:03 GMT

Trans-Atlantic voyage

Set out to prove prehistoric trips

A German botanist and former schoolteacher who wants to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a reed boat to prove that ancient mariners could have performed such a feat isn't taking any chances: He'll be equipped with GPS and e-mail.

Dominique Gorlitz, 41, of Chemnitz, Germany, departed from Manhattan yesterday - after spending months on the Jersey City waterfront building the vessel - bound for the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic and Spain, in an effort to replicate ocean voyages that he believes were taking place 12,000 years before Christopher Columbus reached the New World.

More on this @ http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1184221102264920.xml&coll=3

More @ http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/an-intrepid-voyage-but-will-it-float

and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071101799.html

Extreme Restoration

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 19:15:39 GMT

By Megan Lane
BBC News Magazine

Blown apart by the IRA and its ruins painstakingly dismantled piece by piece to make way for the Gherkin, this historic building ends an epic journey to Estonia on Friday - and starts another.

It's the ultimate flat-pack. Fifty numbered crates with arches, staircases, marble columns, panelled telephone booths, plaster sea monsters and even Britannia in all her glory.

Awaiting shipment to Estonia

All of which can be pieced together to restore the Baltic Exchange, one of the finest examples of Edwardian architecture until it was rocked by the IRA bomb that killed three in April 1992.

The Portland stone and granite facade was taken down and stored in the hope the building might be rebuilt.

But it was too badly damaged. Its Grade II* listed status - one down from St Paul's - was removed and the grandiose trading hall painstakingly dismantled, numbered and photographed at a cost of £4m.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6230390.stm

Africa, its time to return what was stolen

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:11:11 GMT

Who owns the past? There are efforts by some Kenyans to reinvent themselves and find value and meaning in a cosmopolitan world.

In an effort to make peace with the past in Africa, there has been a call for repatriation of materials held in some of the largest museums in the world. In one of the most interesting debates going on in the world of heritage, the controversy pits mainly African, Asian and Middle East institutions against some of the most prestigious museums in Europe and America.

The debate is centred on materials that include human remains, art, jewellery and objects that are and have been held in the museums for a long time.

Some of the articles are of great prestige and interest - the Egyptian mummies - while others are of outstanding monetary value such as gold pieces taken by the British in Kumasi in the then Gold Coast, present day Ghana, in 1874.

Africa is making great efforts to reinvent itself. It wants to understand and own her past and the material remains that are part of her long history of political aggression that has resulted in deprivation of cultural objects.

More @ http://allafrica.com/stories/200706261066.html

US Hands back artefacts to Peru

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:40:43 GMT

The US has handed over more than 400 Incan and pre-Columbian artefacts to the government of Peru.

The items, which are believed to be worth millions of dollars, had been stolen from several Andean nations.

They include a cape made from macaw and parrot feathers, gold and silver jewellery and a clay vessel believed to be more than 3,500 years old.

The artefacts had been stolen from South America by grave robbers and came into the US via the black market.

rom macaw and parrot feathers, gold and silver jewellery and a clay vessel believed to be more than 3,500 years old.

The artefacts had been stolen from South America by grave robbers and came into the US via the black market.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6751167.stm

Kenya Repatriation

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:38:05 GMT

For the last 22 years, a village along Kenya's picturesque coast has blamed its ill fortune on the theft of two memorial wooden statues known as vigango.

Earlier this week, Chalani village in Kilifi District was the scene of joyous celebration as villagers received two vigango which had been repatriated from the United States.

Chalani villager danced as the vigango were returned to the graves

Vigango are wooden statues which are considered sacred by Kenya's Mijikenda ethnic group and erected on the graves of revered elders.

Hundreds of vigango have reportedly been stolen and exported to Europe and the US, where they are sold to private collectors hungry for ethnic African art.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6231134.stm

Human Remains

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:30:57 GMT

A Couple of interesting articles about the care of human remains

Give back their bones

The White House visit by President Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam on Friday was to take place just a few miles from the resting place of some of his countrymen.

When American GI's returned from the Vietnam War, some tried to smuggle home the skulls of Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers. The graffiti-covered skulls served as ashtrays, candle holders and trophies. Six skulls were seized by the Customs Service. They remain in limbo, relegated to a drawer on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

At a time when President George W. Bush plans to chastise the Vietnamese leader about human rights abuses, a question confronts his own administration: Should we return the Vietnamese trophy skulls?

More @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/22/opinion/edandrews.php

Doubling-up the dead

'Double-decker graves" was the recent headline over the story that Britain's Ministry of Justice would now permit managers of overcrowded cemeteries to inter the remains of dead people on top of those already in the ground. By digging up long-buried caskets, then deepening the holes, room would be created for the newly deceased. Their names could then be added to the already existing grave stones.

More @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/22/opinion/edcarroll.php

The original story in the British press can be found @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/ngrave106.xml

Peter Ucko

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:10:28 GMT

Maverick archaeologist who oversaw a revolution in the structure and outlook of his profession

Published: 21 June 2007

Peter John Ucko, archaeologist: born London 27 July 1938; Lecturer in Anthropology, University College London 1962-72, Director, Institute of Archaeology and Professor of Comparative Archaeology 1996-2006 (Emeritus); Principal, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1972-81; Professor of Archaeology, Southampton University 1981-96; died London 14 June 2007.

More @ http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2686806.ece

And more at the World Archaeological Congress site @ http://worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/peter_ucko.php

News from the new Indiana Jones film

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:58:14 GMT

The first picture from the set of Indiana Jones has been released, as filming on the fourth adventure begins.

Shot by director Steven Spielberg, the photo shows star Harrison Ford wearing his character's trademark fedora hat for the first time in 18 years.

The original Indiana Jones trilogy, a tribute to Saturday morning B-movies, made more than $1.1bn (£560m) at the box office in the 1980s.

The fourth film, co-starring John Hurt, is due for release on 22 May 2008.

Other names lined up for the action blockbuster include Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent and Shia LaBeouf, who is rumoured to be playing Indiana's son.

Little else is known about the film.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6229544.stm

Sold down the river

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:47:50 GMT

The Thames Gateway is a place of rich history and eerie beauty. But 120,000 homes are being plonked down on it as if it were a cultureless wasteland, says Tristram Hunt

Monday June 18, 2007
The Guardian

A journey east along the A13 is not an uplifting experience. Passing outer London's lorry depots, storage units, and defunct factories, all the detritus of late-20th-century, post-industrial urban life is laid before you. The vast carcass of Dagenham's mothballed Ford motor plant is a particularly sorry sight.

But once you skirt the retail jungle of Lakeside Thurrock, a sharp turn south brings you to a hidden gem of English history. Marooned between a power station and cruise terminal, Tilbury Fort is an icon of our island story. First laid out by Henry VIII and then redesigned by Charles II (in whose honour the sumptuous Water Gate entry was designed), this is the spot where Elizabeth I rallied her troops to resist the Spanish Armada in 1588. "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman," she famously declared, "but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too."

Sold down the river | Conservation | Guardian Unlimited Environment

Exclusively English?

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:23:38 GMT

Exclusively English?

This very interesting piece from the IPPR website @ http://www.ippr.org/

by Rick Muir, Research Fellow.
OpenDemocracy - 02 June 2007

The debate over an English parliament in OurKingdom is further evidence that English national identity is on the rise. A recent ippr report found that whereas in 1992 over 60% of English people chose ‘British’ as the best way to describe themselves, this had fallen to below half by 2005 while those choosing ‘English’ as the best way to describe themselves rising from 31% to 40% over the same period.

This stronger sense of English national identity is clear in sport, with the now ubiquitous flag of St George. It is evident in politics with a growing clamour for new English institutional arrangements to match those in place in Scotland and Wales. But what are the social implications of the rise of English national identity? Public attitudes data shows that Englishness is associated with more ethnic exclusive attitudes than Britishness. Thus the 2001 General Household Survey found that whereas 52% of white respondents described themselves as English, just 11% of black and minority ethnic respondents did so, with 51% of them choosing British to describe themselves. This is in contrast to Scotland. There, black and ethnic minority respondents are much more likely to favour Scottishness over Britishness.

The data also shows that those who feel English are more likely to admit to racial prejudice than those who feel British. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with feeling English – it is a deeply felt national identity which deserves recognition like any other in the UK. But national identities can and should also be civic, pluralist and open to all citizens. Will advocating a civic Britishness as Gordon Brown and others want leave English national sentiment to take an increasingly ugly form? Billy Bragg and David Blunkett have argued that progressives need to start articulating a civic English identity open to all who live here. This is I think an increasingly important task. Two positive signs: the multi-ethnic and multi-racial make up of the English sports teams and their fans; the way Scottish national identity has become more civic and less ethnic as its popularity has grown. But there is a job of work to do if we are to prevent the rise of English national sentiment getting mixed up with a growth in all-too-familiar prejudices.

Rick Muir is a Research Fellow in ippr's Power & Democracy Team.

Cracks threaten Rome's majesty

Sun, 20 May 2007 14:36:11 GMT

The Emperor Augustus said he found Rome a city of brick - and he left it a city of marble.

But 2,000 years on, the cracks in his legacy are beginning to show.

The Forum, the Colosseum and the palaces of the Palatine Hill still stand as proud testament to the Roman builders' genius. Yet today they are betrayed by monumental neglect.

The problem of course is money.

It costs millions to protect the treasures of Ancient Rome.

Not to mention the funds needed to safeguard the newly discovered ruins, which in Rome they find practically every week. The budget from the Italian Culture Ministry doesn't even begin to cover it.

No Bridge!

Sat, 19 May 2007 13:43:52 GMT

Security Considerations Behind Egypt's Rejection Of Saudi Arabia-Egypt Bridge

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is quoted by the official Egyptian daily Al-Masa as saying that he rejected the idea of a bridge connecting Saudi Arabia with Egypt, at Sharm Al-Sheikh, for security reasons. He was concerned that the bridge would serve terrorists who could threaten the safety of Sharm Al-Sheikh, which is Egypt’s principal tourism attraction and a major source of its foreign exchange.

Pyramids made of concrete??

Sat, 19 May 2007 12:07:43 GMT

The Surprising Truth Behind the Construction of the Great Pyramids

"This is not my day job." So begins Michel Barsoum as he recounts his foray into the mysteries of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. As a well respected researcher in the field of ceramics, Barsoum never expected his career to take him down a path of history, archaeology, and "political" science, with materials research mixed in.

As a distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, his daily routine consists mainly of teaching students about ceramics, or performing research on a new class of materials, the so-called MAX Phases, that he and his colleagues discovered in the 1990s. These modern ceramics are machinable, thermal-shock resistant, and are better conductors of heat and electricity than many metals-making them potential candidates for use in nuclear power plants, the automotive industry, jet engines, and a range of other high-demand systems.

Then Barsoum received an unexpected phone call from Michael Carrell, a friend of a retired colleague of Barsoum, who called to chat with the Egyptian-born Barsoum about how much he knew of the mysteries surrounding the building of the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The widely accepted theory-that the pyramids were crafted of carved-out giant limestone blocks that workers carried up ramps-had not only not been embraced by everyone, but as important had quite a number of holes.

Contested History

Sat, 19 May 2007 12:02:48 GMT

Poland Plans To Remove Communist Memorials

Poland's ruling conservative party plans to introduce a law that would remove public symbols of the 40-year communist era, Polish Radio said Friday.

The ruling Law and Justice party of President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the Polish people deserve to get rid of symbols that remind them of the totalitarian regime that ruled the country from the end of World War II to the fall of communism in 1989.

In a commentary on the law, still to be approved by parliament, Polish Radio said it is aimed at dislodging all monuments, obelisks, statues and plagues honoring Communist rule in Poland.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Marks its 90th Anniversary

Sat, 19 May 2007 12:01:12 GMT

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates its 90th anniversary on 21 May 2007.

The Commission was established by Royal Charter. Its duties are to mark and maintain the graves of the forces of the Commonwealth who died in the two world wars, to build and maintain memorials to the dead whose graves are unknown, and to keep records and registers of the casualties.

Today, the Commission commemorates 1.7 million men and women buried in 23,000 sites in 149 countries. The Canadian Agency of the Commission is responsible for the commemoration of 19,000 war dead in 3,300 cemeteries and on five Memorials in North America. Mr. David Stacey, Secretary-General of the Canadian Agency, states: "The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is extremely proud of its work within North America during the last 90 years and we will commemorate in perpetuity the Fallen of the First and Second World Wars."

"Canada's New Government applauds the tremendous care and service provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission," stated the Honourable Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs. "I have had the opportunity on several occasions to visit cemeteries and memorials maintained by the Commission and I have been touched by the beauty and serenity of the final resting places of our Canadian heroes."

The Commission is highlighting its cemeteries and memorials in a 90th anniversary commemorative book. Remembered, published by Merrill Publishers. The book, available to the general public, features 200 colour and black and white photographs taken by renowned photographer Brian Harris with a foreword by Ian Hislop. It is the first major illustrated history of its kind in almost fifty years.

Visit the Canadian Agency's website for further details concerning our North American responsibilities at www.cwgc-canadianagency.ca or visit the Commission's main website regarding its worldwide tasks at www.cwgc.org.

Home for archaeology to cost 1m

Sat, 19 May 2007 11:19:33 GMT

A new centre for archaeology in Essex has been approved by the county council at a cost of just over £1m.

The county field archaeology unit's new building has been designed to encourage participation in studies by the public, Essex County Council said.

The new unit will be built at Great Notley Country Park, near Braintree, and will unite Essex's archaeologists with the existing Discovery Centre.

"Sounds like some kind of archaeozoo"

See more @

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Essex | Home for archaeology to cost £1m

Our Relationship with the Animal World

Sat, 12 May 2007 11:48:49 GMT

A couple of stories interested me recently about our relationships with the animal world and our assumptions about their abilities and life

* Chimps found using spears:
Chimps in Senegal were reported making sharpened
sticks to hunt other, small primates.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070222_chimp-spears.htm

* Birds found to plan future meals:
Western scrub jays seem to be acquainted with the
concept of diet planning, scientists report.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070221_scrub-jay.htm

Pyramids in Danger, Again!

Wed, 02 May 2007 14:08:11 GMT

Pyramids of Giza in peril

These monuments of ancient Egypt have withstood the ravages of sand and time for four millennia, but now the modern woes of traffic, tourists, pollution – and too much camel dung – are taking their toll

GIZA, EGYPT

They have survived sandstorms and desert stillness, the fury of kings and the ravages of time, but the legendary Pyramids of Giza are endangered now and the agent of their peril is a gloomy Egyptian stable-owner by the name of Hesham el-Ghabri.

Or so you might think.

"They forbid us to ride around the pyramids," grouses the owner of the TWA Stable ("Camel and Horse Riding"), one of countless such tourist-dependent operations clustered in the shadows of the brooding Sphinx and the three celebrated Pyramids of Giza. "They accuse of us being terrorists. They say we are going to bomb the pyramids."

"They" are high officials at Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities “ the government body responsible for administering the Pyramids of Giza along with the rest of this country's innumerable ancient monuments “ and they have not actually accused el-Ghabri and his ilk of being terrorists, although perhaps they might as well have.

Oh the poor camel traders!!

Read on @ http://www.thestar.com/News/article/208677