Italians to the rescue

Mario and Luigi

ANoTD's chief Janjaweed operative Sam Geall brings us this story: Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni, renowned Italian archaeologists and Egyptologists, are being rushed into Sudan to help in last-ditch conservation efforts. Similar to our topic in yesterday's ANoTD brief on Iran's Sivand Dam, Sudan's Merowe hydro-electric dam threatens to flood swathes of fertile archaeological land, this time in ancient Nubia. The 69 year-old Italians twins are famous for uncovering Berenice Panchrysos, Upper Egypt's "city of gold."

Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni

Cyrus be dammed

A world of moisture?

Archaeologists are in a tizzy as Iran's Sivand Dam nears completion. The dam will flood the Tang-e Bolaghi gorge, home to 129 sites of interest to local scholars and diggers. An old Persian imperial highway that connected Persepolis to the city of Pasargadae, where the emperor Cyrus the Great is buried, also ran through the gorge. Pasargadae lies only 3 miles from the gorge and eventual floodplain. Experts fear that increasing humidity as a result of the flooding will damage the site.

Tang-e-Bolaghi

Jesus unearthed, collective bargaining in Egypt

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Canadian TV will delve deep into the soft gooey matter of religious sensitivities when the Discovery Channel airs the The Lost Tomb of Jesus, an exploration of the supposed tomb of Jesus. The godless Canucks are presenting their evidence in the New York Public Library today. Visit the documentary website here.

The petty bourgeoisie

Not too far from the eventual site of Jesus' tomb, workers at the construction projects of Rameses III are reported to have engaged in the first ever example of industrial action. Denied their rations, the proles staged a walk-out strike. It was, indeed, successful to a degree; some of the workers even rose to high-up positions in the contemporary government.

Not the first people?

Anthropologists reveal today in Science magazine that the so-called Clovis people, who are thought to have populated the Americas 11,500 years ago, were not the first inhabitants of the continent. You can read a crisp and exact analysis of the findings here, the science of which is beyond my capacity to explain. Hail the erudite!

Anarcho-structuralists and the bones of the matter

ANoTD's chief anthropology correspondent / sleuth / KGB hitman Sam Geall digs up this piece on semi-celebrity full-anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. Famous at Yale for his eight hour beer-drinking sessions with students, the perfect yellow of his teeth, and the storming controversy around his dismissal, Graeber came to the sunnier climes of London recently to deliver LSE's annual Malinowski Lecture. His topic: a strangely structural reading of today's mythic detectives, spies and coppers.

In other news:

A group of Australian aborigines arrived in the UK this week to reclaim the bones of their ancestors, which were used in experiments and measurements in the 19th century (that era of beautiful Victorian science). Authorities have agreed to release the bones, but only after they can make a few more teency weency measurements themselves.

An Indus Valley civilisation era settlement has been found in the north Indian state of Haryana.

News - 16.02.07

ANotD’s anthropology correspondent/grand dragon/dark lord Sam Geall approves this report on the ancient existence of Hobbits:

In archaeology news today:

Beer, chips and chile-pepper salsa: a 3,000 year-old repast

Open-air Mayan statues... just chillin’ in Russia.