Here are some posts I enjoyed this week:
The return of a Byzantine mosaic, stolen by a Turkish art dealer after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, to a church on Cyprus is to be celebrated. But it also reveals one of the many layers of complications and bad history that makes settling the outstanding conflict in Cyprus very hard to do. If you have not traveled to Cyprus, by the way, I highly recommend it. So much is packed onto this one island in the way of history with impressive buildings, castles, fortresses, churches and ruins from Neolithic, Bronze Age, Classical, Roman, Byzantine, Crusaders, Medieval, several good museums, and incredibly dramatic and beautiful natural settings of beaches and mountains, not to mention delicious, inexpensive food and wine. There’s a very easy to access government sponsored website with historically interesting bed and breakfasts to stay. So, while tensions exist and visiting the Turkish controlled part of the island is a pain (not insurmountable though), most of Cyprus is just plain fun. And now you’ll be able to see one more mosaic back where it belongs (if you head to the northern part). Click here for Archaeology News Network “Priceless looted Kanakaria mosaic returned to Cyprus”
Mass child sacrifice in Peru from 550 years ago. Archaeologists have uncovered skeletons of 140 children. Lesions on breastbones indicate their hearts were probably extracted. Preserved footprints of the children show how they were marched to their deaths. DNA studies are ongoing to determine if the children were related and what parts of the Chimu empire they came from. So what compelled the Chimu to kill so many children? Apparently, it was a time of great flooding and the children all were buried facing the sea. So flood control? This is so horrible to think about it boggles my mind. How does a culture work up to this? Click here for Archaeology News Network “Archaeologists find ancient mass child sacrifice in Peru”
Blackbeard’s Pirate Book Club?? Well, maybe the scraps found on board the wreckage of his ship of Captain Edward Cooke’s A Voyage to the South Sea were just used to fire his cannon, since that’s where they were found, but it might be that this book, immensely popular in the day, got a good read first. Waste not, want not, and all. Not a very pirate-like image, pirate curled up with a good book, is it, but it works for a lot of the pirates, fictional and historical, I’ve come across in my reading. Click here for Archaeology Magazine “The Pirate Book Club”