October 20 is National Archaeology Day

Today is National Archaeology Day.  At the website of the Archaeological Institute of America you can search for events in your community or region.

I'm marking the day by devoting all the posts today to articles I have saved from my print editions of Archaeology magazine.  I've been setting these aside for years, and it's time to get the material uploaded to the blog. 

I'd also like to put in a good word for a program called Passport in Time. 

Passport in Time (PIT) is a volunteer archaeology and historic preservation program of the USDA Forest Service. PIT volunteers work with professional FS archaeologists and historians on national forests throughout the U.S. on such diverse activities as archaeological survey and excavation, rock art restoration, archival research, historic structure restoration, oral history gathering, and analysis and curation of artifacts. The FS professional staff of archaeologists and historians will be your hosts, guides, and co-workers.

Over the years, volunteers have helped us stabilize ancient cliff dwellings in New Mexico, excavate a 10,000-year-old village site in Minnesota, restore a historic lookout tower in Oregon, clean vandalized rock art in Colorado, survey for sites in a rugged Montana wilderness, and excavate a 19th-century Chinese mining site in Hell's Canyon in Idaho.

I have participated in two Passport in Time projects in northern Minnesota and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  The top image shows the one of the squares that I and another person excavated as part of this larger project (photo taken during lunch break) -

Passport in Time projects require only enthusiasm, not prior experience.  Professional archaeologists are on hand to guide the process, and "old-timers" teach noobs the techniques.  It's not always digging - some projects include restoration of historic buildings or mapping of sites.

I set up my tent for free at a beautiful Forestry Service campsite overlooking a lake and enjoyed the sunsets each evening:

Alternatively one can stay at local motels etc (at one's own expense in that case).  The "season" is over now, so if you go to the "current projects" link at the Passport in Time website, it will be empty.  New ones will be posted in the late winter/early spring as projects are developed and approved, so check back at the website then (and apply early because many of them are oversubscribed).

The other volunteers you will encounter at the projects are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet, and the Forestry Service rewards the work by adding relevant educational experiences at each location.

Popular pages in medieval books

In well-thumbed old books, certain pages are more thumbed—and therefore dirtier—than others. What do those pages say about reading habits? Using a device that measures the optical density of a reflective surface, Kathryn Rudy of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland asked this question of fifteenth-century personal devotional prayer books—Books of Hours— from the Netherlands...

The most popular passages in these books tended to be prayers related to indulgences (time off in purgatory for forgiven sins) and health benefits, such as protection from plague or St. Anthony’s fire. Self-interest was the most common theme. In one manuscript that had been enhanced with custom illuminations, the owner primarily looked at pictures—in particular one that depicted the owner himself. "He really loved that image," says Rudy. 

One can't help but be reminded of The Name of the Rose.

From the September/October issue of Archaeology.

Artifacts from retreating glaciers

NORWAY: As glaciers recede, hundreds of artifacts are discovered each year. One of the latest finds was a men's tunic or coat that emerged from a glacier in Breheimen National Park. Dating to the 4th century A.D., the wool garment—made with an advanced technique called diamond twill—is one of very few known from this period in Europe. Without close attention, many of the artifacts that emerge from melting ice will be lost—decomposed or washed away—before they can be studied.

As reported in Archaeology (January/February 2012).  Some additional information at The Norway Post:

In total, seventeen textiles and garments have been received at the museum, including a leather shoe and several other pieces of clothing. However, the men’s coat is the first one that has been dated and preserved.

"The technique used is very advanced and makes the pattern look like small diamonds," Vedeler says. "It is well-used, and has a few tears that have been patched together." They will do further chemical analysis to determine its colour, and expect the finds to reveal more important information about clothing in Roman Norway.

Top image credit Vivian Wangen, Museum of Cultural History, UiO.  Second image: Kulturhistorisk Museum, via NRK, where there is a video (i norsk).

For more re treasures from retreating treasures, see my post in 2010.

The Achaemenid Empire (4th century B.C.)

By ensuring peace and promoting trade, the Achaemenids ushered in an unprecedented period of prosperity in a vast area half a millennium before Rome reached the apex of its power. At its peak, the empire covered three million square miles—more than that of either Rome or the Chinese Han Dynasty at their largest in the first century A.D.

The taxes gathered from conquered peoples allowed the Achaemenids to create monumental cities, build dependable roads stretch­ing from Anatolia to Afghanistan, and construct caravan stops to protect and encourage merchants, as well as to ensure royal couriers could travel quickly across long dis­tances. The Royal Road, from Sardis in today’s Turkey to Susa in today’s Iran, provided regular way stations through territory “free from danger,” says the fifth-century b.c. Greek historian Herodotus.

From the September/October 2011 issue of Archaeology [online is not fulltext], via the author's website. [which is fulltext with photos].

And this from the Wikipedia entry:

In 480 BCE, it is estimated that 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire or about 44% of the world's population at the time, making it the largest empire by population percentage.

Dogs as food in early America

Whether by habit, preference, or necessity, dogs have been a part of many cultures' diets... Excavations at the site of Porden Point, Devon Island, Canada, have revealed that the people of the Thule culture (ancestors of the modern Inuit) were using dogs both for work and food from the 12th to 15th centuries. The Aztecs, whose ancestors were called the Chichimec, or "Dog People," are known to have bred a hairless dog they called a Xoloitzcuintle to serve at royal feasts. And at Halliday, a site near Cahokia, the mound center north of modern-day St. Louis, which was the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico from A.D. 1050 to 1400, butchered dog bones have been found in great quantities, suggesting they formed a significant part of the diet of the Mississipian culture...

The study shows that that the Olmec dogs only ate maize, whereas humans ate a diverse range of foods. Perhaps the dogs were being deliberately fattened up to make them a more valuable form of tribute...

"Unlike in the Old World, where you have many different domesticated animals, in the New World, dogs are one of the only domestic animals that can provide a ready source of animal protein," says anthropologist Robert Rosenswig of the University at Albany...

Rosenswig believes there may have been a change in the use of dogs at approximately 1400 B.C. Prior to this, dogs were buried along with humans—one dog burial that he excavated at the Cuauhtémoc site about six miles from the Guatemalan border contained grave offerings similar to those in human burials, including a pot that looks like a dog's bowl. After this point, all known dog remains indicate that they were consumed as food, since the bones are only found in garbage middens, not in graves with people.

From the September/October issue of Archaeology, which has several more articles on the history of dogs and humans.

Sticky rice used as a building material

The secret ingredient that gives ancient Chinese mortar its legendary strength is sticky rice. An analysis of samples from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) city wall in Nanjing showed why the rice is such an effective additive to lime mortars. Amylopectin, the rice compund in the mortar, provides mechanical strength and stability, and inhibits the growth of calcium carbonate crystals, resulting in a more compact and resilient binding material. Chinese scientists re-created the mortar and determined that it is ideal for restoring ancient structures. (Wikimedia Commons)

A curious anecdote from the September/October 2010 issue of Archaeology.

A shaman's "aarnguat"

This artifact of ancient Inuit culture was excavated in the Hudson Bay area during a repatriation.

The first unusual thing we noticed were holes in the figurine’s head, chest, and pelvis. We were uncertain why these modifications, carefully created using a bow drill, had been made to an otherwise typical Inuit female figurine, so we examined the associated skeleton. We discovered skeletal abnormalities in locations corresponding with the holes in the figurine, the most obvious being a jaw lesion that was probably cancerous. While we can’t determine what kind of cancer the woman may have had, lung and salivary gland cancer (once known as Eskimoma because it is common in Inuit populations) are possibilities. The chest and pelvic perforations may relate to these soft tissue cancers or other skeletal problems. For instance, her pelvis was asymmetrical, suggesting misaligned bones that could have produced chronic pain in the buttocks.

Traditional Inuit religion conceived of everything—people, animals, objects, and places—as possessing an inua, or resident soul, and Inuit shamans sometimes made figurines called aarnguat (“object with powers”) to host an inua. We believe that this aarnguat was specifically made for the woman’s inua so that it could act as a proxy for her during a shamanic “surgery,” represented by the three drilled holes, to remove her illnesses. It is the first definitive archaeological evidence for shamanistic healing in the Canadian Arctic. 

From the September/October 2010 issue of Archaeology.

Amazonian Queen Melanippe depicted in a mosaic

Newly discovered Byzantine mosaics show Amazons hunting, a rare scene in Amazon iconography, which usually depicts the warriors fighting battles. Here Queen Melanippe (whose name is written above her) attacks a lion with her lance. (Pasquale Sorrentino) 

I rather like the goofy-looking horse.   From an article about Byzantine mosaics in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Archaeology.

The importance of the King's nipples

Seven years ago, not far from Dublin in the town of Clonycavan, County Meath, and near Croghan Hill, County Offaly, two bog bodies were found within three months of each other. Clonycavan Man had been severed in half by a peat-cutting machine, but scientists from Archaeological Development Services, who were hired by the peat company, were able to recover his body from the torso up. His skull had been split open, likely by a stone ax, and the bridge of his nose was also struck, probably with the same weapon...

Examining the details of both men’s lives and deaths has led Kelly to suggest a new way of looking at the meaning of eight well-preserved Irish bog bodies. “I believe these men were failed kings or failed candidates for kingship who were killed and placed in bogs that formed important tribal boundaries. Both Clonycavan and Old Croghan men’s nipples were pinched and cut. “Sucking a king’s nipples was a gesture of submission in ancient Ireland,” says Kelly. “Cutting them would have made him incapable of kingship.”

More details at Archaeology (May/June 2010).   That particular issue has seven additional articles about bog bodies.

Andean Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus)

Wow.

Photo credit Joe Brown, via フリンジ削除.

Lots of useful "lifehacks"

99 of them listed and illustrated at Joel Zimmerman, via BoingBoing.

If there is an electoral tie...

The map shows how it could theoretically happen, and the video below explores the nightmarish scenarios that could follow.  Both via The Dish.

YouTube link.

Shrapnel

Ronald Brown stepped on a land mine while on a mission in France in August 1944. The blast peppered his left leg with red-hot fragments and he was forced to crawl two miles to safety. 

But because of medical conditions of the day it was thought safer to leave shrapnel in his body. He survived the war but only ever told his family the basic story and said the accident had left him with a 'bad knee'...

But when he died last week aged 94 his family had him cremated and were stunned when staff handed them back a big bag of shrapnel. The bag contained a whopping 6oz of bomb shrapnel that he had been carrying around for 60 years.

Approaching Lake Vostok - fifth update

Ever since I learned the Russians were drilling into Lake Vostok, I've had a vague sense of unease that the procedure would be screwed up and the lake would be contaminated in the process.  I am now a little more reassured after reading an account cited at Wired about the precautions being taken:

Lake Vostok, which has been sealed off from the world for 14 million years, is about to be penetrated by a Russian drill bit.

The lake, which lies four kilometres below the icy surface of Antarctica, is unique in that it's been completely isolated from the other 150 subglacial lakes on the continent for such a long time. It's also oligotropic, meaning that it's supersaturated with oxygen -- levels of the element are 50 times higher than those found in most typical freshwater lakes.

"Once the lake is reached, the water pressure will push the working body and the drilling fluid upwards in the borehole, and then freeze again." The next season, the team will bore into that frozen water to recover a sample whose contents can then be analysed.

The drill bit currently sits less than 100 metres above the lake. Once it reaches 20-30 metres, the mechanical drill bit will be replaced with a thermal lance that's equipped with a camera...

The conditions in Lake Vostok are very similar to the conditions on Europa and Enceladus, so could also strengthen the case for extraterrestrial life.

More at the link and at New Scientist.  I have a family member who studies extremophiles and will be most interested in the results of the probe, but personally I like this Reddit comment: "What's 14 million years of divergent evolution in a lightless, freezing, high oxygen environment going to look like? I don't know, but I kinda hope it eats people."

Image from the images page of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments website (lots more information there).

Update January 28: A report at BBC indicates that "time is running out" for the Russian team because "With the Antarctic summer almost over, temperatures will soon begin to plummet; they can go as low as -80C." The drillers are within about 50m of the water, but are progressing slowly and will need to terminate operations by February 6. Details at the link.

Update February 11, 2011:  Drilling has been halted.

Update February 1, 2012:  The Washington Post now says that penetration is imminent:

If microbes are found in Vostok, the discovery would have particular significance for astrobiology, the search for life beyond Earth. That’s because Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus have deep ice crusts that scientists think cover large amounts of liquid water warmed by sources other than the sun — just like Vostok...
Because of the stakes involved, the Russian effort has drawn criticism for its extensive use of kerosene, Freon and other chemicals to enable the drilling and to keep the borehole open during the long winter...

...the lake is part of a complex system in which ice sheets bring in meltwater at their bottoms and later carry refrozen water elsewhere. She said that although the lake has not “felt the wind” in 20 million to 30 million years, the water in it is not as ancient — in the 100,000s to low millions of years old. The only ancient water present, she said, is probably in the sediment at the bottom...

Vostok, which is about the size of New Jersey, is the world’s third-largest lake by volume of water. Priscu said the gas in the lake makes it like a can of carbonated soda: Open it under high pressure, and it will spurt out.

He said the doomsday scenario for the Russian breakthrough would be if the suddenly released water pushed its way past machinery to block it and shot up the borehole, which is six to eight inches in diameter at the top. The result, he said, could be an enormous geyser that could empty a quarter of the lake. Priscu said he didn’t expect that to happen, but if it did, the sudden addition of substantial water vapor to the antarctic atmosphere could change the continent’s weather in unpredictable ways.

See also "Ice volcanoes on a moon of Saturn."


Fourth update February 2:  An anonymous reader found this headline today:

Russian scientists seeking Lake Vostok lost...

I thought it was from The Onion, but it comes from FOX News, where the story begins thusly...

A group of Russian scientists plumbing the frozen Antarctic in search of a lake buried in ice for tens of millions of years have failed to respond to increasingly anxious U.S. colleagues -- and as the days creep by, the fate of the team remains unknown.

"No word from the ice for 5 days," Dr. John Priscu professor of Ecology at Montana State University, told FoxNews.com via email...

I suppose that means the creature is loose.  Stay tuned.


Fifth update October 19, 2012: Initial microbiology results underwhelming.

A first analysis of the ice that froze onto the drillbit used in last February’s landmark drilling to a pristine Antarctic lake shows no native microbes came up with the lake water, according to Sergey Bulat of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russia). The very uppermost layer of Lake Vostok appears to be “lifeless” so far, says Bulat, but that doesn’t mean the rest of it is.

Bulat reported what he calls his team’s “very preliminary results” on Tuesday, at the 12th European Workshop on Astrobiology (ENEA 2012), in Stockholm, Sweden, at the AlbaNova University Center.

Bulat and his colleagues counted the microbes present in the ice sample and checked their genetic makeup to figure out the phylotypes. They counted fewer than 10 microbes/ml — about the same magnitude they would expect to find in the background in their clean room. And three of the four phylotypes they identified matched contaminants from the drilling oil, with the fourth unknown but also most likely from the lubricant.

They will nextbe testing "cleaner" water from deeper below the borehole (in May 2013).

Propagating jacks-in-the-pulpit

After we moved into our home 12 years ago, we spent the better part of three summers grubbing out invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn, and were delighted to see in subsequent years the emergence of native wildflowers, including Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit).

At first there were just a couple small plants, but they are perennials, so each year they got larger as they became better established.  Some of the older plants now reach as high as my thigh, with leaves as large as dinner plates.

The plants can be easily propagated by planting the seeds that appear on the spadix in the fall.  If you don't harvest them, they get eaten quickly by the woodland creatures, which

is a little surprising, since the plant is poisonous to humans because of its oxalic acid content.

We now have so many large Jacks that this year I decided to offer some mature ones to a friend, who arrived armed with a shovel and trowel to dig up the bulb.

We used the fallen stems as markers of where to dig, but were twice puzzled to find no apparent  bulb in the ground.  There was no ground disturbance to suggest they had been unearthed by rodents, and we were almost ready to give up in frustration when we noticed that the bottom end of the stem was slightly elongated.

That was the entire bulb (I guess technically a "corm.") While digging we had been looking for tulip-sized bulbs, but these large, lush plants were supported by a relatively tiny root system less than an inch under the surface.

I don't know how well these will transplant.  They were moved with care to the new location and the hope is that a full-size plant will emerge next spring.  I'll try to append a followup note next year.

Addendum May 2013:   I've received word that the transplanted Jacks emerged and appear healthy, so the process described above seems to work.

An interesting footnote.  This plant has been called "the banner of the women's movement," for reasons delineated in my 2009 post.