Best of 2017 Roundup

There’s been a lot in the news this year – not all of it great (mostly the gameshow antics coming out of the US) – but there have been some great discoveries this year that will reinforce your love of the world and all the history in it. One thing I noticed while going back over my posts from this year is that I apparently only started regular weekly roundups in July. The routine has turned out to be a good one, and there’s lots to look back on and enjoy again.

This “Best of” list has nothing to do with clicks, likes, celebrity, or star-power. Rather it’s a selection of the stories from this past year that I found particularly endearing. Enjoy!

THE CONSTRUCTIVE:

My ongoing love of very old votive objects – particularly Venus figurines – was well fed this year with this discovery from Turkey.

The seat of the ancient kingdom of Rheged has been identified in Scotland.

The ongoing construction of Metro Line C in Rome has yielded some fantastic finds, including the barracks of the Praetorian Guard.

New evidence suggests that Greek theatres had moveable sets.

Evidence that Phoenicians manufactured disposable figures of gods makes for an all new dimension to this commercial, seafaring people.

What is being called “Little Pompeii” has been discovered near Lyon in France.

The USS Indianapolis has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Philippines.

Connections between the Viking and Arab worlds are becoming more clear following the identification of Arab text on Viking silk.

A possible inscription by the mysterious Sea Peoples is being translated from Luwian.

One of many stories of repatriation this year, marble from the Nemi ships is being returned to Italy.

Previously classified documents regarding President John F. Kennedy have been released and are being reviewed.

Better late than never, Ovid’s exile has been overturned.

Excavations have identified Caesar’s original landing site in Britain.

Archaeologists are releasing images of the items discovered in the Griffin Warrior tomb at Pylos.

And my person favourite of the year: wolves have been seen around Rome again for the first time in decades.

THE DESTRUCTIVE:

It seems like a long time ago, but ISIS/ISIL/Daesh destroyed much of the ancient site of Palmyra, including the famous Tetrapylon back in January.

Also from January is a rather appalling story of plans to build a freeway under Stonehenge. Paving paradise and putting up a parking lot seems positively ideal in comparison.

A live cannon ball discovered in Quebec City during routine construction dates back to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in the 1700s.

THE WEIRD:

The history of citrus fruit is ever changing, most recently due to the work of archaeobotanist Dafna Langgut.

A watercolour painting of a bird has been discovered in Antarctica.

A triceratops was discovered during construction work in Denver, Colorado.

What appears to be a figure with a feathered headdress was unearthed in Siberia.

Possibly the oldest original manuscript of the 100 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade has been saved from auction after France declared it a national treasure.

The oldest known compound eye has been identified from a fossil more than 500 million years old.

The Roundup #87

This is my second last roundup of the year, because 2017 can go die in a fire. But archaeology was fun!

From Archaeology.org:

Military structures from the Bronze Age have been identified in Syria.

A mid-eighth century tomb has been discovered in Mongolia.

An extremely well-preserved 1,500 year old monastery has been discovered in Israel.

A basalt door with a menorah relief has been identified in Tiberias after it was reused in later building construction.

Sweden has repatriated 2,500 year old textiles to Peru after they were removed and donated to the Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum in 1935.

Artifacts are being recovered from the Clapham Coffeehouse under St. John’s College in Cambridge.

Marble objects have been repatriated to Lebanon by the Met in New York City.

From the New York Times:

Considered possibly the oldest original manuscript of The 100 Days of Sodom by the Marquis De Sade, this scroll was saved from auction when France declared it a national treasure.

In the ongoing hilarity that is Rome’s attempt to build its Metro Line C, wonderful things are being pulled from the earth detailing the history of this mighty city.

From The Long Now Foundation:

What appears to be the oldest evidence of timekeeping by human beings, a 10,000 year old lunar calendar has been identified in Scotland.

The Roundup #86

Admittedly, the weirdest thing that happened this week was that the Roman city council voted to overturn Ovid’s banishment some 2,000 years after it was first enacted by the Roman Princeps Augustus. I’m sure the council has slightly more pressing matters of local government to attend to, but why not add a showcase piece to the agenda?

So, without further ado, here’s this week’s (properly numbered) roundup. Enjoy!

From the Guardian:

Underwater archaeology at Lechaion, the main harbour of Corinth in Greece, is yielding new understanding of Roman engineering techniques. Archaeology.org reports on it here.

From National Geographic:

A map from 1587 by cartographer Urbano Monte has been reassembled and digitized.

From the CBC:

A newly opened pair of tombs near Luxor are designed to bolster Egypt’s ailing tourism industry. The Associated Press also reports on it here.

From Archaeology.org:

12,000 year old fish hooks have been found associated with a burial in Indonesia.

A large cache of bronze items have been discovered in Shaanxi Province in China.

Archaeological work being done in Albania as a result of infrastructure developments in the country is revealing a dense collage of history.

A bronze age burial has been discovered near Loch Ness in Scotland.

Evidence of New Zealand’s violent past has been exposed following the identification of 12 burials of British soldiers who died during the Northern Wars in the 19th century.

Ongoing research into pre-contact Maori is being done by analyzing obsidian tools.

An interesting assemblage of items have been discovered at a burial site in the Aswan area of Egypt.

Rock art has been discovered on Kisar, a tiny island near Indonesia.

From the Smithsonian:

Medieval palimpsests are revealing new information about knowledge exchange between East and West.

Possibly the oldest preserved eye in the world, some 500 million years old, is being studied by archaeologists from the University of Cologne.

The Roundup #70

Nothing like a migraine, incessant job applications, and a fight between an (alleged) wife-beater and a (pretty well confirmed) megalomaniac to distract one from the schedules of the weekend.

So here I am a day late (but hopefully not a dollar short), with this week’s roundup. Enjoy!

From the Independent:

Fans of trigonometry and the Pythagorean Theorum will be delighted to learn that they are nearly a thousand years older than previously believed.

From Archaeology.org:

New research suggests that the walls of Engaruka in Tanzania may have functioned as part of a water system, rather than a way to combat soil erosion.

At least three different clay recipes were used to create the famous terracotta army of Qin Shi-huang Di in Xian, China.

Repair work is underway on the Solar Ship of Pharaoh Khufu, after one of the ship’s beams was damaged during excavation.

From the Smithsonian:

Metallic ink has been identified on scrolls found in Italy following the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE.

From the Guardian:

“This is why we can’t have nice things”; an aborted photo-op with a rare sarcophagus has left the artefact broken nearly in half.

The Roundup #68

The US President is threatening nuclear war with North Korea and military action in Venezuela. On the upside, Ghana launched its first satellite this week, the Perseid meteor shower hits its peak this weekend, and various sports seasons are upon us. So if the world doesn’t end in the next few weeks, we can enjoy innovation, beauty, and athletes.

In the meantime, here’s this week’s roundup. Enjoy!

From Archaeology.org:

In light of an upcoming solar eclipse in the Northern Hemisphere this Monday, petroglyphs in New Mexico have been discovered that depict another eclipse from 1097.

A colossal statue from the Iron Age has been discovered in Turkey.

DNA work on Medieval manuscripts is yielding new information about the animals used for the manuscript pages and even if those pages were frequently kissed by humans.

A review of a Third Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh has researchers wondering if, rather than just being tall, Sa-Nakht suffered from gigantism.

From Aleteia:

A 1,200 year old wine press has been discovered in the Negev desert of Israel that was once used by a Roman army unit. However, the math doesn’t seem to add up here so read with caution.

From the CBC:

A replica of the RMS Titanic is being built as a tourist destination in Daying, China.

The Roundup #46

It’s been a strange month but, having returned from a much needed holiday in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. And it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, so here goes this month’s roundup. Enjoy!

From Archaeology.org:

Archaeologists are examining temples built hundreds of years ago to determine how to design future earthquake proofing.

Another delightful discovery out of the Galilee this season; this time it’s a rock-cut kiln from the Roman period.

Things I didn’t know: Hong Kong has not be subjected to any serious archaeological work in its harbour. The discovery of an anchor and cannon from a site near Basalt Island is the first such work to be undertaken.

An Etruscan tomb near Vulci has yielded enigmatic silver hands as part of its cache.

And speaking of Etruscans, the Danish museum Ny Carlesbeg Glyptotek is repatriating artefacts originally from the Sabine necropolis at Colle del Forno.

From a Swedish shipwreck, archaeologists may have discovered the stinkiest cheese ever, having been buried in mud for 340 years.

The earliest known evidence of tobacco cultivation has been discovered in Utah.

And evidence from the Solomon Islands suggests that early Polynesian tattoo artists used obsidian tools to imbed the ink in skin.

From Biblical Archaeology:

An in memoriam for Jim Robinson reviews the discovery and later release of the Nag Hammadi codices discovered in Egypt in 1945.

From the CBC:

Plans to raise Roald Amundsen’s ship, the Maud, from the seabed at Cambridge Bay are now underway.

The Roundup #42

Posting this on time for a change! Go me!

Here’s this week’s roundup. Enjoy!

From Archaeology.org:

Tiny text on the famous Antikythera Mechanism has been deciphered by archaeologists from Cardiff University.

A cache of coins has been discovered at the site of an agricultural estate in Israel that has existed for two millenia.

Excavations are underway at training trenches in Ireland where soldiers were prepared for life in the trenches of World War One.

A feature on the Code of Hammurabi, considered the first written law code in history. I’m particularly interested in this after getting a behind-the-scenes look at a full scale copy of the stone during the Mesopotamia exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2013.

Another feature on cuneiform script, with particular interest on the inscriptions from the Bisitun Pass in Iran that acted as a kind of cuneiform Rosetta Stone, written in Persian, Akkadian, and Elamite.

And yet another cuneiform feature, this one on the Stela of the Vultures, detailing warfare nearly 4,000 years ago.

And – yes, you guessed it – still another piece on cuneiform, this article directed at a series of tablets detailing some of the medical knowledge of the 6th century BCE.

From the Guardian:

Perhaps the biggest bit of news this week, archaeologists have discovered a massive structure near the ancient Nabataean city of Petra famous for its monumental sculpture carved into the living rock. The Smithsonian has also reported on it, as have several other agencies.

Fragments of manuscripts reused as book binding materials are currently being studied using x-ray technology in an attempt to identify the texts.

The Roundup #34

And finally! Here we are with the news from this past week, bringing me up to date on my posts, and you up to date on the world of archaeology. It’s a rocky, papery kind of week, so enjoy!

From Archaeology.org:

Archaeologists are working to make the entire corpus of Northern Thai manuscripts (from 1410 to the 1950s) available digitally.

A New Kingdom necropolis of rock cut tombs has been discovered near Aswan in Egypt.

The oldest known quarry in the Levant has been discovered near Jerusalem.

And the Onassis Centre in New York is curating an exhibit with newly discovered Greek art from around Mount Olympus.