belteshazzar

Archive for March 10th, 2010

The Oriental Institute Museum Archives Photographic Database is now available for public access. As of February 2010, there are more than 70,000 entries from our photo catalogue in the database, 35,000 of which have an image scanned and attached.

Click on the link that says ‘Oriental Institute Museum Photographic Database.’ At the login page, click the ‘Guest Account’ radio button and then click ‘Login.’ Use the left and right hand buttons on the screen to scroll through the database, or use the magnifying glass to search.

Thanks to Charles at AWOL.

Read the story at http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2010/03/oriental-institute-museum-photo.html

“Archaeologists excavating the tomb complex of China’s first emperor, famed for its ’terracotta army,’ have discovered a gate to the imperial tomb’s outer city, verifying historical accounts referring to four gates.

The People’s Daily Online says the north gate is huge, some 93 metres (about 280 feet) tall by seven (21 ft) metres and was built in the north facing wall of the tomb’s outer city, and is more than 400 metres (about 1,200 feet) from the east and west walls.Archaeologists excavating the tomb complex of China’s first emperor, famed for its ’terracotta army,’ have discovered a gate to the imperial tomb’s outer city, verifying historical accounts referring to four gates.”

Read the story at http://www.acagle.net/ArchaeoBlog/?p=8741

Syrian archaeologists working for Damascus Countryside Governorate has announced the unearthing of 5 archaeological graveyards in old Darya City near Damascus, dating back to the 3rd and 4th Century AD.

The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the roman and byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside archaeology director told local news and media.

Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.

Read the story at http://www.acagle.net/ArchaeoBlog/?p=8739

Add plumbing to the mysterious arts of the ancient Maya, investigators report. In a Journal of Archaeological Science study, anthropologist Kirk French and civil engineer Christopher Duffy of Penn State report on a conduit designed to deliver pressurized water to Palenque, an urban center in southern Mexico, more than 1,400 years ago.

“The ancient Maya are renowned as great builders, but are rarely regarded as great engineers. Their constructions, though often big and impressive, are generally considered unsophisticated,” say the study authors. However, they add, “(m)any Maya centers exhibit sophisticated facilities that captured, routed, stored, or otherwise manipulated water for various purposes.”

Read the story at http://www.acagle.net/ArchaeoBlog/?p=8737

Here is some information about an upcoming talk about modding commercial games to provide educational tools.

Shawn Graham, “Rolling your own: On Modding Commercial Games for Educational Goals”

Making modifications to existing commercial games is a strong and vibrant sub-culture in modern video gaming. Many publishers now provide tools to make this easier, as part of their marketing strategy. In this paper, I look at the nature and quality of the discussions that occur on the fan mod sites as a form of participatory history. I also reflect on some of my own forays into modding commercial games in my teaching of ancient history: what works, what hasn’t, and where I want to take things next.

Read the story at http://electricarchaeologist.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/the-games-the-thing/