The January 22, 2010 episode of the public radio program “This American Life” is about “Stories of filling in the blank.” The program’s second act is the story of two underwater archaeologsts:
Act Two. He Shapes Ship Shapes by the Sea Shore.
Fred van Doorninck and George Bass were unlikely candidates for pioneering underwater Byzantine archaeology—Fred hates water, and George found the Byzantine era boring. But that’s exactly what they did, when they devoted 50 years to uncovering the mysteries of a shipwreck. Along the way they changed how we think about a thousand years of history. Planet Money’s Adam Davidson tells the story. (12 minutes)
Listen to the whole program, at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1336
Month: January 2010
Riddles of the Sphinx
For 45 centuries, the Great Sphinx has cast its enigmatic gaze over Egypt’s Giza Plateau. The biggest and oldest statue in a land of colossal ancient monuments, its scale is staggering: The mighty head towers as tall as the White House, while its body is nearly the length of a football field. This strange half-human, half-lion image has inspired countless fantastic theories about its origins. How was it built, and who or what does it represent? Searching for clues, NOVA’s expert team of archeologists carries out eye-opening experiments that reveal the techniques and incredible labor that was invested in the carving of this gigantic sculpture. The team also unearths new discoveries about the people who built the Sphinx and why they created such a haunting and stupendous image.
Explore the Giza Plateau in striking panoramas, read an interview with Egyptologist Mark Lehner describing the lives of the pyramid-builders, and more on the program’s companion website.
Watch the program online beginning January 20.
For more information and to view clips visit www.providencepictures.com
Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG-US) 2010
The Location of Theory
Friday, April 30th to Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Brown University, Providence, RI
http://proteus.brown.edu/tag2010
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Call for Papers and Participation
Deadline: February 15, 2010
We are now accepting submissions of papers, performances, exhibits, or other forms of participation for ‘The Location of Theory’, the third annual meeting of the Theoretical Archaeological Group in North America, at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
We request that each proposal be submitted as a single electronic pdf document to tag2010@brown.edu , and include the name(s) and up-to-date contact information for the author(s) as well as an abstract (250 words maximum).
If you are considering submitting an abstract, for a paper or other form of participation, please first check the list of our already accepted conference sessions (http://proteus.brown.edu/tag2010/7981 ). If you believe the subject of your contribution fits within one of these, please send your abstract directly to the session organizers. Otherwise, papers and abstracts not submitted for specific sessions may be grouped into new sessions, or forwarded to appropriate session organizers.
The deadline for individual papers or other forms of participation is 15th February 2010.
More information is available at http://proteus.brown.edu/tag2010 .
The Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art has opened a “mini-gallery”, titled “Gods, Heroes, and Mortals in Ancient Greece and Rome”, that features a few of the pieces from the Museum’s ancient art collection. The Museum’s main Greek and Roman galleries are closed for renovation until Fall 2010. For more information, visit http://www.risdmuseum.org/collection.aspx?Type=Ancient-Art&id=15192
In response to a recent discussion on Language Log on naming people after gods, one visitor wondered about how “Artemis” came to be a men’s name. His post cites “the Brown University archaeologist/chancellor Artemis Joukowsky”. For the full text of his post, and the full discussion, visit http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1949#comments .
