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explorator 21.21 September 16, 2018
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If you're having problems getting 'the whole issue', read Explorator
online at:

https://exploratornews.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon, Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,
John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri, Hernan
Astudillo, Richard Campbell, Barbara Saylor Rodgers, Bob Heuman, David
Critchley, Don Buck, Richard Miller, Richard C. Griffiths, and Ross W.
Sargent for headses upses this week (as always hoping I have left no
one out).

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EARLY HOMINIDS
================================================================
Remember that 70 000 years bp 'hashtag' from Blombos Cave? It's now
being touted as the oldest drawing made by humans:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/c-dot091018.php
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uotw-mgd091118.php
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-piece-silcrete-blombos-cave-predates.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180912133531.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/science/
oldest-drawing-ever-found.html
https://www.livescience.com/63565-worlds-oldest-drawing.html
http://sciencenordic.com/archaeologists-find-world%E2%80%99s-oldest-draw
ing
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-this-the-worlds-oldest-hashtag-153677160
1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/12/archaeologists-just-fo
und-oldest-drawing-its-year-old-hashtag/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45501205
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/oldest-drawing-ev
er-south-africa-blombos-cave-art-hashtag-rock-ochre-a8534696.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/12/earliest-known-drawing-f
ound-on-rock-in-south-african-cave
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/12/first-ever-drawing-man-hasht
ag-shows-early-humans-capable-abstract/
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-73-000-year-old-abstract-ar
t-found-in-south-africa-s-blombos-cave-1.6468244
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/09/12/earliest-drawing-
human-history-discovered-africa/1279611002/
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-earliest-human-drawing-
20180914-story.html
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-crisscrossed-lines-called-worlds-o
ldest-drawing
https://globalnews.ca/news/4444358/worlds-oldest-drawing-south-africa/
https://www.dw.com/en/oldest-known-drawing-a-hashtag-found-in-south-afri
ca/a-45469721
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/the-oldest-drawing-in-the-world-
was-done-with-an-ocher-crayon/
http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06657-x
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=27003
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/12/647178335/researchers-discover-ancient-ha
shtag
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/south-african-cave-stone-may-bear-wo
rlds-oldest-drawing
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/news-ancient-humans-a
rt-hashtag-ochre-south-africa-archaeology/
https://www.archaeology.org/news/6962-180912-blombos-cave-ochre

A 70 000 years bp site in Armenia:

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/947296/

Otzi's tattoos are getting attention again:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-otzi-icemans-tattoos-reve
al-about-copper-age-medical-practices-180970244/
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AFRICA
================================================================
Humans arrived on Madagascar earlier than previously thought and did
bad things to megafauna:

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-ancient-bird-bones-redate-human.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/zsol-abb091218.php
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180912144434.htm
https://www.livescience.com/63568-humans-killed-elephant-birds-madagasca
r.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45495400
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/new-find-clears-madagascars-first
-settlers-wiping-out-worlds-largest-bird
http://www.archaeology.org/news/6967-180913-madagascar-elephant-birds
================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
All the Egyptian artifacts at the Brazil Museum were destroyed, alas:

https://dailynewsegypt.com/2018/09/09/all-700-egyptian-relics-in-brazils
-national-museum-destroyed-antiquities-ministry/

More on the 800 Middle Kingdom burials from that necropolis at Lisht:

https://www.newsweek.com/ancient-egypt-800-tombs-discovered-massive-grav
e-site-lurking-between-two-1119616
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/archaeologists-unearth-more-than
-800-tombs-at-ancient-egyptian-city-of-the-dead/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/news-800-egyptian-tom
bs-lisht-middle-kingdom-parcak-archaeology/

More on the tomb of Mehu opening to the public:

https://www.egyptindependent.com/ancient-egyptian-tomb-to-open-for-touri
sts-78-years-after-discovery/
https://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/egypt-opens-4000-year-old-tomb-giz
a-public-its-discovery-1941-1183960
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/egypt-tomb-mehu-africa/index.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45533234

Evidence from a 13 000 years bp Natufian cave suggests beer-making may
have predated cereal cultivation:

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-evidence-hypothesis-beer-cultivate-cereals
..html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/e-apt091218.php
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180912111907.htm
https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/12/crafting-beer-lead-cereal-cultivati
on/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/13000-year-old-brewery-discovered-in-israe
l-the-oldest-in-the-world/
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Archaeologists-uncover-13000-year-old-
brewery-in-the-Carmel-567145
https://www.jns.org/archeological-evidence-finds-ancient-israel-made-cra
ft-beer/
https://www.dw.com/en/an-early-beer-archaeologists-tap-ground-at-worlds-
oldest-brewery/a-45480731
https://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-beer-
brewery
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/traces-13000-year-old-beer-fou
nd-israel-180970282/
http://www.archaeology.org/news/6963-180912israel-beer-brewing

.... and just to confuse matters, that 14 000 years bp bread from Jordan
story returned as well:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2018/9/14-000-year-old-bread-fo
und-in-jordan-539848

Earleist convent in Israel at Horvat Hani?:

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-earliest-convent-i
n-israel-built-on-site-of-miraculous-birth-1.6464875

That underwater church find in Iznik may be where the Council of Nicaea
was held:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/was-council-of-nicaea-church-just-found-un
der-a-lake

Excavating a Seljuk-era bazaar in Alanya Castle:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/only-seljuk-era-bazaar-in-anatolia-bein
g-unearthed-136856

Medieval finds from Gabala:

https://www.azernews.az/culture/137440.html

More on the Al Ain mosque find:

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/connecting-the-dots-how-a-1-0
00-year-old-mosque-uncovered-in-al-ain-anchors-the-uae-to-a-greater-flow
-of-human-history-1.770075

Feature on the Aramaic DSS:

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/dead-sea-sc
rolls/aramaic-dead-sea-scrolls/

Feature on cuneiform fakes:

http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/06/Spot-Fake-Cueiform-Tablets
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Plenty of excitement over the find of a hoard of gold coins in a
theatre at Como:

https://www.livescience.com/63542-ancient-gold-coins-italian-cinema.html
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/lifestyle/arts/2018/09/10/bonisoli-hails
-roman-coins-discovery_f08a35dd-3ed3-4025-818f-5c4068081164.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/10/cache-ancient-roman-gold
-was-found-by-crew-building-luxury-apartments/
https://www.newsweek.com/priceless-5th-century-gold-coins-mint-condition
-unearthed-under-italian-1113125
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/09/europe/roman-gold-coins-italy-theater-trn
d/index.html
http://www.euronews.com/2018/09/09/hundreds-of-roman-gold-coins-discover
ed-in-italian-theatre
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-09-09/imperial-gold-coins-dis
covered-video
https://pickle.nine.com.au/2018/09/10/09/33/roman-coins-found-jug-como-i
taly-theatre
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-14/hundreds-of-roman-coins-found-in-s
oapstone-jar-under-theatre/10248988
https://abcnews.go.com/International/hundreds-gold-coins-dating-romes-im
perial-era-found/story?id=57720521
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/09/11/300-rare-gold-
coins-found-italy-under-cressoni-theater/1264502002/
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/646445359/hundreds-of-roman-gold-coins-fo
und-in-theater-basement
http://www.archaeology.org/news/6955-180910-italy-imperial-coins

Protocycladic finds from Kythnos:

https://neoskosmos.com/en/121227/protocycladic-archaeological-discovery-
on-kythnos-island-sheds-light-on-era/