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80 REMEMBERED COLUMNS: Archaeologists Protest 'Glamorization' of Looting on TV
Archaeologists are mounting a campaign against two new cable TV shows that they say encourage and glamorize looting of American archaeological…
6 Field School
Pretty sure I’m going to be accepted into this cultural/archaeological field school I applied to! I’ve already heard back from the professor who’s read through and enjoyed my application. So excited.
Money to pay for it? Another question entirely.
1,100-year-old Mayan ruins found in North Georgia
Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the mountains of North Georgia believed to be at least 1,100 years old. According to Richard Thornton at Examiner.com, the ruins are reportedly what remains of a city built by Mayans fleeing wars, volcanic eruptions,…
(via lunarfossil)
23 Stop Spike TV from Looting our Collective Past!
This show, as advertised by Spike TV (http://aroundthenetworks.com/spike-tv-announces-unscripted-show-american-digger/), will follow a team “led by former professional wrestler-turned-modern- day relic hunter Ric Savage as they scour … battlefields and historic sites, in hopes of striking it rich by unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history.”
“American Diggers,” as described, encourages and glorifies looting and the antiquities trade at the expense of American history. Although the items pilfered by the team are acknowledged to have “great historical and cultural significance,” these items are sold for individual profit.
This is not okay!
Please, take a moment to sign this petition!
Archaeologists/Anthropologists….UNITE!This is a step backwards archaeological and anthropological ethics. This is the glorification of looting and site destruction. The proposition of “… unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history” is not okay, and will basically depict this man doing something archaeologists have spent decades trying to distinguish as separate from their profession, and are still trying to stop.
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One of the most salient discoveries of primitive art in America was found in Tequixquiac, called the Tequixquiac Bone, which had no purpose but to reflect the ideological sense of the artist who carved the piece of bone from a camelid around 22,000 years BCE.
Just wanted to mention how much I despise the use of the term ‘primitive’. That particular word is loaded with condescension and implies that the artist and their society were lesser than modern groups. It is definitely something to be wary of when describing art, artifacts, or architecture.
(via centuriespast)
89 Archaeological News: Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan
The first exhibition in the United States to provide a comprehensive overview of the nomadic culture of ancient Kazakhstan opens on 7 March, 2012 at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW).
Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan…
20 So you wanna visit a dig: How to drop in on an archaeological excavation…
Can’t really explain why I felt compelled to write this tonight, but I did, so there it is…
So, let’s say you’re a history buff.
And that museums are cool, and all, but you’re more of an outdoorsy person. You like to see the splendor and size and the reality of sites and you get shivers thinking about standing on a path where others have stood, thousands of years before you – of touching the same wall, of looking through the same window. You probably like to touch things, if they don’t seem too fragile. (You probably have a thing for buildings and architecture, too, but you always hated math too much to take that path in school.)
And let’s say that it happens to be June or July (or maybe even August – these are, after all, Field Season) and you happen to be somewhere really old and really, really interesting (like, say, a World Heritage Site).
And, away from the crowds, off to a back side, there seem to be a rather lot of people. Who are rather spread out all around the place – or maybe, actually, sort of in the place. And these people seem to be doing some sort of – are they digging? Squatting and staring at the ground? Shaking things? Holding long sticks up against rocks and taking pictures of each other? Maybe counting pebbles?
You’ve found yourself at an active archaeological excavation.
If you behave yourself, express interest, and flatter an expert or two – you might get to see some really cool stuff.
Read the rest at Matador Travel: So you wanna visit a dig: How to drop in on an archaeological excavation…
(It goes on to give just enough information to enable people to gate-crash excavations…)
So, other archaeologists out there - did I nail it or not? What would you add?
13 Archaeological News: Archaeologists Make Big Find at Aztec Temple in Mexico
MEXICO CITY – A total of 23 pre-Columbian stone plaques dating back approximately 550 years, with carvings illustrating such Aztec myths as the birth of the god of war Huitzilopochtli, were discovered by archaeologists in front of the Great Temple of Tinochtitlan in downtown Mexico City, the…
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Decorated stone pedestal/box discovered at the synagogue at Migdal possibly used as a menorah stand.
(via franzboas)
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