Ancient Seeds, Modern Conflict
An institute’s renowned ancient seed collection, the complex history of archaeology in Turkey, and Erdogan’s government. The Smithsonian Magazine’s take on a complicated conflict.
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Weekly Posts
Powerful Bronze Age Women in Spain
When someone says they’ve found new archaeological evidence of powerful women in the Bronze Age, I certainly perk up. Iberian women, it turns out. With crowns.
Prehistoric Cuisine at Göbekli Tepe
Go to Neolithic Göbekli Tepe (11,600 years old), and you will find one of the most mysterious archaeological sites in Turkey. The huge T-shaped stone pillars carved with humans and fantastical animals form impressive circles. Evidence from the site reveals people gathered there seasonally in extraordinary numbers. One of the enduring questions about this remarkable place concerns how a hunter-gatherer culture could supply the food for the massive feasts that took place. What did they eat? There’s an intriguing new answer and it took some open mindedness and cooking to find.
Trojan War Humor from The New Yorker
The Trojan War gets a humorous treatment in the New Yorker Magazine with a spoof diary by “the guy who drove the Trojan Horse back from Troy.” For those who love Greek mythology and literature, and wish to put a smile on their faces.
1200 BCE: The Year the World Ended?
History is more than a series of dates, but sometimes the date itself accumulates its own history. So it is with 1200 BCE when nothing happened and yet history tells us the world ended. The entertaining story of how “1200 BCE” came to be.
Hybrid Creatures, Monsters, and Demons
Clearly, I’m a fan of the delightful hybrid creatures of the ancient Near East. Griffins appear (part lion, part eagle) in my fiction. I often point out the prevalence of griffins across the Mediterranean and Near East as portrayed on the architecture, seals, and other forms of art. I sometimes say in jest that given how often they are depicted, maybe they really lived on earth at some point.
But seriously, why are there so many hybrid creatures across the many cultures of the ancient world? Why do many versions of Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads, for example? I have wondered.
An interesting article offers an intriguing theory. Maybe I buy it, maybe not–but I’m having fun.
Bog Man’s Last Supper: the Archaeology of a Meal
A man’s last meal, 2400 years ago during the Iron Age in what is now Denmark, undergoes a fascinating analysis, but I also want to know the circumstances of his mysterious death. Culinary history meets murder mystery. Read on!
Çatalhöyük & Neolithic Air Pollution
Air pollution is a modern problem not an ancient one—or at least at first glance you’d think so. But maybe the lungs of the Neolithic inhabitants of Çatalhöyük would beg to differ.
The Egyptian Cartouche: Magic & Political Propaganda
Have you ever wondered where the pharaohs got the idea of representing power and identity with an Egyptian cartouche? The answer involves both magical rituals and propaganda, according to David Lightbody.
The Mystery of Sharks’ Teeth in the City of David
The archaeological mystery of the City of David and the sharks’ teeth. Grabbed you? I certainly took the bait and had fun.