Here are some posts I enjoyed this week from around the web:
In the category of mysterious, weird archaeology: In Israel’s Golan Heights there is a 5,000 yr old burial mound surrounded by a giant wheel of labyrinth walls built of 40,000 tons of small basalt rocks. No one knows who built it and it seems to serve astronomical purposes also. It blended in so well that it wasn’t until aerial photography after the ’67 war that the overall pattern emerged. Tourists can climb into the burial mound and climb on the walls. Clearly it’s well protected…. Click here for “Prehistoric Structure in Golan Fuels Mystery” from Archaeology News Network
Whether you’re writing or reading historical fiction, you may find interesting this post by Marylee MacDonald on some of the pitfalls and delights of the research and selection from that research that goes into good historical novels. Marylee leads my critique group and from experience I know what a good editorial eye she has. I’m looking forward to the publication of her historical The Vermillion Sea. Click here for “Historic Fiction and Research” on Marylee MacDonald’s website.
Five things you can learn from a Roman skeleton. According to two University of London archaeologists in the Guardian: status as slave, whether they played certain sports, how they died, childhood diseases, where they came from. Quite intriguing, although I have to say, the talk Jacinda Power gave at ASU for some high school students on what a skeleton can tell you about itself was more intriguing. I am always fascinated by the tales old bones can tell. Click here for The Guardian “Five Things You Can Learn from a Roman Skeleton”