Hastings to Afghanistan: 1000 Years of British Battle Kits

From battle axes to iPads.

2100-Year-Old Royal Tomb Discovered in China

Liu Fei must have looked snazzy in his jade burial suit.

Can You Dig It: Archaeological Discoveries in Northern Iraq

For once here's some good news out of Iraq.  Check out some fascinating discoveries including statues and the remains of a temple dedicated to the ancient god Haldi.  More here.

Meet Naia the 12,000-Year-Old Teenager

She is the oldest complete skeleton ever found in the New World.

The Cat's Meow: Egypt in 3600 BC

Wow:

The skeletons of six cats, including four kittens, found in an Egyptian cemetery may push back the date of cat domestication in Egypt by nearly 2,000 years.

A Tale of Two Gifts

A rock vs. a tree.  

Love and Loss in 16th-Century Korea

The excavation of a Korean tomb from 1586 yields a remarkable (and remarkably moving) find.

Forgotten History: the Philanthropist and the Queen

Interesting stuff here:

She is regarded as the ancient world’s equivalent to the Mona Lisa and this weekend the 3,400–year old bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti will be the centrepiece of a grand exhibition in Berlin’s Neues Museum, celebrating her discovery by German archaeologists exactly a century ago.

The delicately featured and priceless bust of the wife of the ancient Egyptian Sun King Akhenaten has been one of the highlights of Berlin’s museum collection since it was first put on display in the city in 1923.

It was unearthed by the famous German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, at Amarna in 1912. He became a household name in Germany but few know the story of the wealthy Jewish patron and philanthropist who not only funded the excavation work that led to the bust’s discovery but also donated Nefertiti and scores of other ancient Egyptian artefacts he owned to Berlin’s museums. Organisers of the centenary celebrations are hoping to change that.

Yes, please meet James Simon, who was written out of the history books after the rise of the Nazis in 1933.

Egypt's Long History of Pro- & Anti-Pyramid Thought

Some background on the current Salafist idea of blowing up the "un-Islamic" pyramids.  It sounds all too much like the Taliban blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas.  Are these nuts capable of nothing but hate and destruction?  Ugh.

Destroying UNESCO-Listed Shrines in Timbuktu

Remember the Bamiyan Buddhas?  The same kind of thing is happening all over again.  It's infuriating.  Are these guys capable only of destroying?  They'd turn the world into a wasteland devoid of all beauty and culture if they could, probably.  Screw these guys.

SpaceArchaeology.Org Harshes on "Prometheus"

Their review might be summed up by this assertion about Noomi Rapace's character: "she was personally responsible for everyone’s deaths by being the worst xenoarchaeologist ever."  Oh, snap!  My own review is here.  I just found this take-no-prisoners review.

Rock On: Afghan Stone Carvers Defy the Taliban

Back to the Bamiyan valley (aka the scene of the crime).  Here's a great quote:

"During this course we realised we had much more ability for working with stone than we could have imagined, and we understood we can do so much more," said Jawed Mohammadi, a 20-year-old history student at the university, who used the week to chisel out a human face. "The buddhas were destroyed, but maybe we can build them again."

More of this, please.

Ave atque Vale, Sydney Wignall

This brief bio reads like one heck of a thriller.  Someone make a movie!  Blurb:

Sydney Wignall, who has died aged 89, was an adventurer who, in 1955, led the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition with the intention of climbing Gurla Mandhata, at 25,355ft the highest peak in Chinese-occupied Tibet; in his book Spy on the Roof of the World (1997), he recounted how he was captured by the Red Army and held in jail accused of being a CIA spy.

I just put that book on my to-read list.  Goodness, is it just me or do the Brits really publish some smashing obits?  Wignall then became a marine archaeologist excavating shipwrecks from the Spanish Armada.  Wow, what a glorious bad@$$!

Ancient Bread Stamps!

Here's a cool new find from Israel: an ancient bread stamp marked with a menorah.  You might love this preserved example from Pompeii.  Other bread stamps have been found that date from ancient Egypt.  Hey, labeling/branding your product is soooooooo not a new idea.

Read: "Lords of the Sea" and the Story of the World's First Dominant Navy

Before the Roman navy made the Mediterranean Sea their lake and before the British navy ruled the waves around the globe, the Athenian navy underpinned a maritime empire.  I'm checking out Lords of the Sea by archaeologist John R. Hale (Penguin, 2010).  Does it have anything at all to do with my own schoolwork?  Nope!  And I don't care.  Triremes are cool.  They're even cooler when some crazy history buffs and archaeologists re-create one and sail it around!

Putin's Stunt Was Just a Stunt

I'm shocked -- shocked! -- to find that gambling  propagandizing is going on here!  Well, DUH.  In other news, water is wet, fire is hot, and coffee is the elixir of life.

History: The Incas and Writing

Hmmmm.  String theory!

Putin Takes Up Underwater Archaeology

See Vlad's latest publicity stunt.  Come on, after his previous manly-man stunts, I was half-expecting him to wrestle sharks or something.  Sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!  I'm disappointed, Vlad, very disappointed.

Nerd Notes: Warrior Scholars of World War II

Meet Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) and some of his remarkable peers in this captivating obituary. I am utterly charmed.  Leigh Fermor, by the way, managed to kidnap a Nazi general on Crete and quote the Roman poet Horace in almost the same breath.  Hail and farewell, sir!  Ave atque vale!

Awesome: Lunar Eclipse Over the Acropolis

Beautiful.