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explorator 21.38 January 13, 2019
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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,
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
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Studying Little Foot's inner ear:

https://phys.org/news/2019-01-foot-ear-movement-behaviour.amp
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/detailed-scans-ancient-human-skull-reveal-structure-brain-and-inner-ear-180971199/
http://www.archaeology.org/news/7294-190110-little-foot-ears

Stone tools on Mt Kenya are prompting a search for 'skeletons':

https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Search-on-for-early-man-skeletons-in-Mt-Kenya-begins/1056-4902808-cqstit/index.html
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AFRICA
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It looks like they're using LiDAR at the site of Kweneng (but are afraid
to
use the term):

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/08/laser-technology-shines-light-on-south-african-lost-city-of-kweneng
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
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A hieroglyphic inscription from Saudi Arabia with Ramses III connections:

http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/63386/Hieroglyphic-inscriptions-discovered-in-Saudi-Arabia

A New Kingdom 'urban villa' from Tell Edfu featuring an ancestral shrine
(inter alia):

https://phys.org/news/2019-01-ancient-urban-villa-shrine-ancestor.html

A project to document inscriptions in various languages in the Sinai:

http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/63246/Min-of-Antiquities-launched-second-phase-of-documenting-inscriptions-in

Vague item on finds from various periods (up to 8000 years bp) at a site
in Kurdistan:

http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/07012019

I think we mentioned this possible Persian military base site at Tel
Keisan:

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-archaeologists-may-have-found-2-500-year-old-persian-military-base-in-northern-israe-1.6765220
cf:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/7265-181223-israel-acre-persian-encampment

More strange headlines about the Ark of the Covenant:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/biblical-site-tied-to-ark-of-the-covenant-unearthed-at-convent-in-central-israel/
https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2019/01/discovered-in-israel-a-biblical-shrine-for-the-ark-of-the-covenant/

Remains of a medievalish era water system in Nushabad:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/431762/Centuries-old-water-supply-system-discovered-in-Iran

Feature on analyzing old 'spy satellite' images to find and compare sites:

https://www.livescience.com/64404-unbending-classified-spy-satellite-photos.html

Feature on technology used at the site of Thaj (Saudi Arabia):

https://eos.org/articles/magnetic-surveying-reveals-hidden-ancient-buildings-and-streets

Feature on an Islamic site in Israel (paywalled):

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-1-200-year-old-islamic-period-town-found-in-israel-but-you-will-never-see-it-1.6810206

Feature on restoring Palmyra artifacts in the Damascus Museum:

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-antiquities/archaeologists-restore-ancient-palmyra-artefacts-in-damascus-museum-idUKKCN1P41NZ
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-antiquities/archaeologists-restore-ancient-palmyra-artifacts-in-damascus-museum-idUSKCN1P41NR
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/archaeologists-restore-ancient-palmyra-artefacts-in-damascus-museum-140441
https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/01/10/archaeologists-restore-ancient-artefacts-in-damascus/

Hyping an upcoming heritage conference in Jordan:

https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2019/01/in-jordan-antiquities-sites-enlist-nearby-communities-as-partners/

More concerns for sites in Yemen:

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/06/682532244/yemens-loss-of-antiquities-is-robbing-them-of-their-future
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ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Plenty of attention for the excavation of a Roman burial ground in Great
Wheltenham featuring plenty of decapitations:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-46763020
https://www.livescience.com/64462-decapitated-skeletons-roman-cemetery.html
https://www.livescience.com/64460-roman-cemetery-decapitation-photos.html
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/decapitated-skeletons-found-at-dig-in-suffolk-village-1-5842252
https://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/decapitated-skeletons-found-at-roman-burial-ground-in-great-whelnetham-9058557/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/01/08/newly-discovered-burial-ground-shows-superstitious-romans-decapitated/
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-whole-bunch-of-decapitated-roman-era-skeletons-have-been-unearthed-in-england
https://www.thedailybeast.com/englands-strange-case-of-decapitated-bodies
https://www.archaeology.org/news/7284-190107-england-roman-cemetery

A section of Roman road found in Lancashire:

https://www.lep.co.uk/news/roman-road-remains-under-cuerden-site-are-the-most-significant-find-in-lancashire-for-50-years-1-9533302
https://www.archaeology.org/news/7297-190111-england-roman-road

'Luxury Quarters' and a brothel from Plovdiv:

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2019/01/11/6-luxury-quarters-with-brothel-like-pompeiis-lupanar-formed-heart-of-roman-city-philipopolis-in-bulgarias-plovdiv-archaeologists-reveal/

Finds from various periods (latest found seem Roman) from the Nebet Tepe
site in Plovdiv:

https://sofiaglobe.com/2019/01/07/archaeology-traces-of-buildings-dating-back-more-than-2000-years-found-at-plovdivs-nebet-tepe-site/

Photos of those Roman remains found near the Mercury Theatre in Colcester:

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/17336255.last-chance-to-glimpse-at-roman-remains/
https://www.archaeology.org/news/7287-190108-england-roman-colchester

Feature on an 1800 years bp ancient Greek 'homework lesson' from Egypt:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/egyptian-schoolboys-1800-year-old-lesson-go-display-180971234/
https://www.livescience.com/64458-ancient-egyptian-homework.html

.... and a feature on learning ancient Greek in a more modern context:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/14/greek-to-me

A very interesting statue restoration piece:

https://hyperallergic.com/479203/college-basketballer-poses-to-lend-an-ancient-roman-statue-an-arm/
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/01/08/NC-basketball-player-lends-arm-to-restore-statue/1161546985232/

Feature on the conservation of the Drunken Satyr at the Getty:

http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-introduction-to-the-drunken-satyr-a-rare-roman-bronze-being-studied-and-conserved-at-the-getty-villa/

Plans to repair a (possibly) Roman bridge in Gaziantep:

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/01/09/2000-year-old-roman-bridge-to-be-repaired-in-southern-turkeys-gaziantep

In case you didn't read/hear about the racist incidents at the SCS a week
or so ago:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2019/01/racist-comments-at-classics-prof
https://www.chronicle.com/article/After-Racist-Incidents-Mire-a/245430

.... and Dan-el Peralta did respond:

https://medium.com/@danelpadillaperalta/some-thoughts-on-aia-scs-2019-d6a480a1812a
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/01/08/targeted-classicist-speaks-out

.... some reflecting:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/After-Racist-Incidents-Mire-a/245430

Feature on Juvenal:

https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-juvenal-the-true-satirist-of-rome-106156

Some classical reception in tapestry form:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomteicholz/2019/01/10/woven-women-helen-and-dido-tapestries-at-the-norton-simon/#1d14c1be29c5

Feature on Roman London:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/what-did-the-romans-ever-do-for-london/

The Owl's Legacy looks interesting:

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-owls-legacy-chris-marker/Content?oid=66225776

On Trump, Game of Thrones, and Hadrian's Wall:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/08/an-ancient-border-wall-inspired-game-thrones-barrier-trumps-meme-does-it-hold-any-lessons/?utm_term=.12f2e9388b32

Snow in Athens:

https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/una-rareza-la-acropolis-de-atenas-quedo-cubierta-bajo-nieve-201918162020

Review/interview with Stephanie Frampton about her *Roman Letters* book:

http://news.mit.edu/2019/empire-letters-writing-technology-stephanie-frampton-0108
https://phys.org/news/2019-01-technology-classical.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/miot-hwt010819.php

Interview with Edward Watts about his *Mortal Republic*: