654

Troy

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Turkey

Penn’s Prof. Brian Rose takes us to Troy, the site he has excavated for the past 20 years

644

Deciphering the Ancient Maya

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Maya

Simon Martin on cracking the all-important Maya code

645

City of Sweyhat

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Syria

How did the city of Sweyhat thrive in the Mesopotamian outback?

646

Santuary of Zeus on Mt. Lycaion, the

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Greece

David Gilman Romano reports on Zeus’ cultic site, with its mountain-top ash alter, famed throughout Ancient Greek

647

Digging in the Middle Mekong Basin

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Laos

Until recently, the Middle Mekong Basin has been terra incognita, archaeologically speaking. Now, a team is revealing its past.

648

Reinventing Penn Museum

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, USA

Richard Hodges The Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology, considers the Museum’s future

642

A Brief History of Penn

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, USA

Introducing Penn Museum, then and now

643

Copan

July 7, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Features, Maya

Excavations beneath Copán have unearthed unexpected information about this powerful Maya site.

636

World’s oldest use of oil paint found in Afghanistan

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, Afghanistan

The Buddhas of Bamiyan have revealed oil paints being used to decorate associated caves in the mid 7th century AD

637

Migration period Lapita settlement found in Fiji

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, Fiji

Though huge distances separate the islands of Fiji from the nearest continents, the Lapita people made the 3,000km journey around 1100BC

638

Caesar’s bust and an ancient Iranian gold cup

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, France

Archaeologists make a surprise find on the bed of the River Rhône

My old trowel.

Women’s Equality in Ancient Greece

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, Greece

Finds from Mycenae are altering our view of the role of women in ancient Greek society

My old trowel.

Ancient Greek calculator reconstructed

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, Greece

Modern techniques are being used to recreate a 2,000 year old scientific instrument discovered in the wreck of a Roman ship

First Americans chewed seaweed

July 6, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, News, Chile

Cuds of masticated seaweed, dating from 14,220 and 13,980 have been found in hearths at Monte Verde settlement in southern Chile

649

Native American Voices on Identity, Art, and Culture

July 4, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Books, USA

The University Museum’s North American collections are justly famous and owe much of their existence to Louis Shotridge, a Tlingit elder from Southeast Alaska, as well as many anthropologists and curators – among them the redoubtable Frederica de Laguna. To pioneers like Shotridge and de Laguna, the objects they collected had a greater significance than [...]

651

The Ancient Maya

July 4, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Books, Maya

The Maya civilization of Mesoamerica encompassed the entirety of what are now the countries of Guatemala and Belize and large parts of adjoining Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. The romantic vision of mysterious jungle-shrouded ruins and glyphic texts that withstand decipherment is dispelled by the most recent sixth edition of The Ancient Maya. The book [...]

650

Akhenaten Tutankhamun

July 4, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Books, Egypt

There is no shortage of books on Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and the Amarna period. However, many try to focus on some aspect of the personality of Akhenaten, on his unusual physiognomy or his heresy, while others are concerned with the cause of death of Tutankhamun. This book, by three well respected scholars from the University of [...]

652

The Maya Vase Conservation Project

July 4, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Books, Maya

Classic Maya ceramics are among the most intriguing and valuable sources to reconstruct Ancient Maya society and life. No books have survived from the Classic times (AD 300-900), and many public stone monuments are eroded or only provide limited information. Ceramics, on the other hand, paint an intricate picture of Classic Maya royal courts, warfare, [...]

653

Archaeology Matters: Archaeology in the Modern World

July 4, 2008 Filed Under: Issue 30, Books

Jeremy Sabloff, the former Director of Penn Museum, wants to make archaeology more relevant to the contemporary world. ‘Action archaeology’ turns out to mean the many different ways in which archaeology can make a difference now. Take the famous Tucson Garbage Project, which began in the 1970s and has since gone national and international. It [...]