Sunday Round Up: Top Archaeology and Anthropology News 1/23/2011

Archaeology	Anthropology
Sue Alcock From Brown University Discusses Petra at University of Texas As stated by the University of Texas 'Archaeologist Susan Alcock will deliver a talk titled "Putting Petra in Landscape Mode: Alternative Archaeologies at a World Wonder," as part of the fourth annual William J. Battle Lecture Series. Alcock, director of Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, is Joukowsky family professor in archaeology and professor of classics at Brown University. Read more: Sue Alcock From Brown University Discusses Petra at University of Texas
Chinchorro Mummies On Display in Santiago A group of Chinchorro mummies are on display in 2008 in the cultural centre of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. Switzerland has returned four mummies to Chile, including two of them among the world's oldest, after their private owner agreed to their restitution. Read more: Chinchorro Mummies On Display in Santiago Military Archaeology in Russia ww2 Simple Machines for Detachment 14th exploratory season in the "Valley" was going to be easy, but effective. Thanks to colleagues from Demyansk, under the leadership of Anatoly S. Pavlov, as well as in advance to visit the area scout and an experienced search engine Vadim Antonov, found a mysterious unaccounted dumping of Soviet soldiers being in combat strewn ditch full profile. Why mysterious? Will become clear later... New Colonial Fort Discovered in St. Augustine Only miles form where I live, there's always archaeological digs going on in St. Augustine, one of my favorite cities on earth. Of course, the greatest attractions for tourists, historians, and archaeologists alike in St. Augustine are the Castillo De San Marco and Fort Matanzas. Imagine my surprise to hear that a new colonial fort may be uncovered in the next few weeks, as archaeologist Carl Halbirt and a team of volunteers is uncovering the remains. Read more:New Colonial Fort Discovered in St. Augustine Following Johns Hopkins Egyptologist Betsy Bryan at Mut Temple Johns Hopkins Egyptologist Betsy Bryan and her team of students, artists, conservators and photographers have returned to their investigation of Mut Temple, focusing their attention on the area south of the temple’s Sacred Lake. Bryan and her crew are resuming their excavation in Luxor, Egypt, and are sharing their work via “Hopkins in Egypt Today,” their popular digital diary offering a virtual window into day-to-day life on an archaeological dig. New posts will appear through the end of January at www.jhu.edu/egypttoday. Read more: Following Johns Hopkins Egyptologist Betsy Bryan at Mut Temple Destruction of Arizona's Heritage: Rock Art Vandalism The defacing of rock art sites in Arizona has become a distressing and persistent reality, which must be addressed swiftly. To promote public awareness and debate about the preservation of rock art sites, a panel of archaeologists will discuss a variety of topics, including recent vandalism at Keyhole Sink; debates over rock art conservation models; Native American concerns about the destruction of cultural heritage; and stewardship of archaeological sites. Read more: Destruction of Arizona's Heritage: Rock Art Vandalism Saddleworth's Archaeology Collection on Display The historical collection of a WWI officer from Saddleworth has gone on display, showing how ordinary people helped progress modern archaeology. 'The Story of Francis Buckley' at Gallery Oldham gathers together many of its titular archaeologist's treasures. Born in 1881, the former barrister became an expert on subjects such as English glass and Stone Age flints. Senior curator Dinah Winch said Francis "amassed the most amazing collection" in his lifetime. Read more: Saddleworth's Archaeology Collection on Display	Finding Would Reveal Contact between Humans and Gomphotheres in North America Mexican Archaeologists discovered 3 Clovis projectile heads associated to remains of gomphotheres with an age of at least 12,000 years, in the northern region of the Mexican state of Sonora. The finding is relevant because these are the first evidences in North America of this extinct animal linked to the human species. The finding opens the possibility of the coexistence of humankind with gomphotheres, animals similar to mammoths, but smaller, in this region of America, which contrasts with theories that declare that this species disappeared 30,000 years ago in this region of America and did not coexist with humans. Read More: Finding Would Reveal Contact between Humans and Gomphotheres in North America Smart Drug Dealers Know Their Target Audience’ Thomas "Biggie" Zenon and Miguel "G" Guzman were drug dealers. Specifically, they sold weed and high-grade cocaine. "Who in this city uses those kinds of drugs?" they asked themselves. White folks, they decided. College students and graduates with a higher-than-average median income who hate Rudy Giuliani but love Lady Bunny, spicy foreign foods, and movies in the original Swedish. Aha! Village Voice readers! Read More: Smart Drug Dealers Know Their Target Audience’ Neoliberalism alive and well Acknowledging that there are different kinds of "capital" -- e.g. cultural -- anthropologist David Harvey denotes that the principal property is that of circulation, the analogy being to life blood. As the ideal, he speaks of 3 percent compound growth and 50-year cycles -- but which is limited for finite resources. We can assume we are here talking mainly about "money" and wealth or the equivalent, even if only as bookkeeping or computer entries. Read More: Neoliberalism alive and well A mother struggles to see past herself “Lucy” is a rare event in the theater – a play told from the point of view of an autistic girl who, at 13, is getting to know her mother, a gifted and frustrated anthropologist once solely focused on advancing her career. It’s an idea that makes Lucy into a modern missing link, and suddenly her name has resonance with another Lucy, the almost 4-foot-tall hominid skeleton from 3 million years ago. Through this comparison with hominid Lucy, Vivian’s daughter becomes a modern miracle – someone worthy of a mother’s love. Read More: A mother struggles to see past herself Scientists model ancient bog woman's face German researchers have shed light on life during the Iron Age after examining the ancient remains of a woman found in a bog in what is now Lower Saxony. The body dates back to the pre-Roman era, more than 2,600 years ago. A team of experts presented their findings on Thursday in Hannover, including facial simulations of the bog woman dubbed “Moora.” Archaeologists first began studying the find six years ago, according to news magazine Der Spiegel. Read More: Scientists model ancient bog woman's face

Archeologists discover ancient ruins along Tanzanian coastal area Tanzanian archaeologists and historical experts have announced the discovery of dozens of ancient ruins along the coastal area, dating back to as far as the 13th century. The new finds will shed new light on life as it was then, the identity of coastal dwellers, and possible trade with other seafaring nations across the oceans, in particular the Gulf area. It is believed from initial assessment that Arabic traders, and also the Portuguese in later centuries, had made landfall in what is now Tanzania and established settlements able to provide water and food to the ships and also trade for commodities in demand back then. Read More: Archeologists discover ancient ruins along Tanzanian coastal area

Professionals Explain Rock Art Etiquette At Gold Butte Meeting Around 1,500 years ago, a group of people lived and survived on the land presently called the Virgin Valley. People today know this because they left behind phenomenal petyroglyphs, commonly known as rock art, on sandstone. Although archaeologists gather theories as to exactly who these people were or what these markings mean, the truth is no one knows for sure who they were, where they went or why they documented their lives on stone. Read More: Professionals Explain Rock Art Etiquette At Gold Butte Meeting