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/
Very old artworks provide a fascinating glimpse of ancient life, but not without limitations: They typically portray the lifestyles of the rich and famous (rulers, royals, generals, and priests), abandoning the masses to the mists of history.
That’s why the recent discovery of a 1,300-year-old mural at Calakmul, Mexico, is so significant. It is the only known pre-Columbian artwork depicting ordinary Maya engaged in everyday activities, rather than serving the wealthy.
Read the story at http://www.acagle.net/ArchaeoBlog/?p=8731
Unearthed tombs on Crete reveal a dynasty of priestesses reigned on the isle during the “Dark Ages” of ancient Greece.
In an Archaeology magazine report, writer Eti Bonn-Muller details the results from last summer’s excavation of the tombs of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna on Crete, where a team found the burials of a high priestess of Zeus and three acolytes this summer.
“People then may have considered them sorceresses, or intermediaries with the gods,” Bonn-Muller says. Led by archaeologist Nicholas Stampolidis, the team dates the four burials to 2,800 years ago.
Read the story at http://www.acagle.net/ArchaeoBlog/?p=8723
In Australia we are not lucky enough to have our own version of Time Team, but we get the UK version and it is well worth a watch, I am no archaeologist but I am always a little worried that they are always doing things just a little TOO fast and probably destroying some evidence that would be useful. None the less it gets archaeology on TV and packaged in a way that makes it accessible to just about anyone.
Read the story at http://www.topix.net/science/archaeology/2010/03/time-team-america?fromrss=1
An Israeli professor of biblical studies has apparently been able to identify Khirbet Qeiyafa as teh biblical Neta’im as mentioned in the book of Chronicles. I’m always sceptical on these sorts of findings as I am of the opinion that the Bible stores are written so far after the fact that their actual inspiration can usually not be pinned down to a specific. I’m not a scholar though, this story is interesting none-the less. – “Has another mystery in the history of Israel been solved? Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Bible Studies at the University of Haifa has identified Khirbet Qeiyafa as “Neta’im”, which is mentioned in the book of Chronicles. “The inhabitants of Neta’im were potters who worked in the king’s service and inhabited an important administrative center near the border with the Philistines,” explains Prof. Galil.”
Read the story at http://www.topix.net/science/archaeology/2010/03/khirbet-qeiyafa-identified-as-biblical-netaim?fromrss=1
Nebuchadnezzar III (Saddam Hussein) … just kidding … but that is what he tried to call himself as he tried to link himself to previous Babylonian kings. This site has a really interesting video about the ruins of Babylon, in particular the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II which had a lot of reconstruction work performed on it by the deposed ruler, much to the ire of archaeologists. He even build one of his own palaces (which looks pretty nice actually) built next to the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar II’s palace, on top of other archaeological evidence. I found it particularly interesting to see such a good quality video of the remains and the observations of the impacts that war has had on such monumental ruins. I hope to visit one day, but i might leave it for a couple of years yet 
