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#archaeology

19 posts17 participants0 posts today

I’ve gone down a rabbit hole on the Five Star Armband “五星出东方利中国”护膊

zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%9

and wonder how the last part of the associated text (四夷服單于降與天無極) was reconstructed. According to this rather handwavy article by collating other textile fragments but does anyone have a ref to a more detailed account?

web.archive.org/web/2020080702

zh.wikipedia.org“五星出东方利中国”护膊 - 维基百科,自由的百科全书

Open Context has been getting overwhelmed by bots. Again. Huge range of IP addresses, many, many user-agent strings that look like human controlled browsers, but all accessing random pages of content.

If I'm blocking your IP address and you want #opendata in #archaeology I apologize.

If anyone knows mitigation strategies, please let me know. It's one more form of bullshit that makes the political and cultural calamities feel even more overwhelming.

New paper on the telegraph line is out! It’s a #microhistory of Strangways Springs//Pangki Warruna, exploring its evolution from a #pastoral property to a #telegraph station to a #railway stop, and how these transitions shaped innovation in #Australia 🤩📝

We also highlight the importance of #water in creating and sustaining these innovations (as is the case for technologies of today like #AI 😉).

link.springer.com/article/10.1

SpringerLinkWool, Wires and Water: Technological Transitions at Strangways Springs - International Journal of Historical ArchaeologyThe Strangways Springs artesian mound spring complex in South Australia reveals a layered history in which resources, technology, labor, and culture are significant and changing variables. The site exists in Arabana country, and for thousands of years provided a location for human shelter, artesian waters, and life sustaining resources. The arrival of sheep stations in the “Far North” of South Australia represented a significant rupture and the creation of a new kind of economy based on wool. The establishment of an overland telegraph repeater station brought the latest technological developments to this remote frontier, which had the information of the world available instantly. Other developments such as the railway and wool scouring further secured the importance of locations like Strangways Springs in the continent's colonial infrastructure. This microhistory uses archaeology, archival research, and photography to explore these technological transitions and their impacts at Strangways Springs in the nineteenth century, providing important insights into the sociotechnical nexus that characterized emerging colonial worlds and new forms of modernity in settler Australia.

Left: The southern boundary of the prehistoric Huccaby Ring. This was cleared all around last year. Princetown with North Hessary Tor and TV mast on the horizon. Right: The nineteenth century Brimpts Leat that cuts across Huccaby Ring. We cleared most of this today and a few volunteers are still tidying up. Laughter Tor is on the horizon to the right.

Open letter from over 250 archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals calling on the World Archaeological Congress to join the Palestinian-led academic boycott of Israel in response to "Israel's crimes against Palestinians, including its genocide in Gaza and its underlying apartheid regime" and "targeted destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage":
drive.google.com/file/d/1hcOph

Sign here (before 18 March):
docs.google.com/forms/d/1_DsVR

Google DocsWAC open letter Feb 18_2025.pdf
Replied in thread

@fabianegli @maltimore

In #archaeology we love *analytical* machine learning applications, like the ones that can search through aerial photographs for something we're interested in, or make a charred scroll legible.

But we mostly hate *generative* applications, like LLMs and prompt-based image generators. Because they debase scientific knowledge with their hallucinations, and undermine skilled writing and painting.

Roman 'voodoo doll' from Eining: Hand-modeled clay figurines with puncture holes are commonly referred to as 'voodoo dolls'. Archaeological and epigraphic evidence indicates that these figurines were pierced with nails or needles by individuals attempting to influence or harm a person.

Dating 2nd/3rd century AD.

On display at Archäologische Staatssammlung München

📷 me

Continued thread

While chalcedony & chert are both composed of cryptocrystalline quartz colored by minerals, chalcedony is denser because it has less pore space. When thermally altering chalcedony, you have to go more slowly than with chert to allow any trapped water molecules time to escape. Chalcedony, being denser, is often harder than chert, making better scraper & knives, though it can be harder to flintknap. #archaeology #lithics

The most popular forms of chalcedony are banded & lace agates. Chalcedony can be almost any color, w/ or w/o mottling & banding, & can have fossils in the matrix. It is waxy looking & can be shiny or dull. Red carnelian is a chalcedony. A backlight test is the quickest way to tell chalcedony from chert. Except for thin flakes & edges, light doesn't shine through chert but does with chalcedony. There can be denser spots; light can only penetrate so far. #archaeology #lithics