Archaeology news for October 15-November 1

[jeweledeyes]

Hi everyone, so sorry I have been AWOL the last month. And as DW's reading page only goes back 2 weeks, I was only able to catch up on the news from Nov. 1 on, apart from some stuff I'd bookmarked elsewhere throughout October. So here is a somewhat patchy version of the back news items for the second half of October:

Firstly, steorra shared an article from The Guardian following up on one of the previously posted articles about an "ancient" statue of Buddha carved from meteorite. According to The Guardian, there is now some doubt about the antiquity of this carving: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/oct/24/nazi-buddha-statue-space-fake

Study suggests that Alexandria was built to align with rising sun on birthday of Alexander the Great
http://www.livescience.com/23994-ancient-city-alexandria-sun.html

Cat discovers 2,000-year-old Roman catacomb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/18/cat-2000-year-old-roman-catacomb

Breakthrough in world's oldest undeciphered writing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19964786

Lost Tomb of Nebamun Found?
http://www.kv64.info/2012/10/lost-tomb-of-nebamun-found.html
(Here is the research paper on it, if anyone speaks German:
http://www.dainst.org/sites/default/files/media/abteilungen/kairo/projekte/rundbrief_2011.pdf)

Forensic Science Demonstrates Accuracy of Roman-Era Mummy Portraits
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/10/27/modern-science-unravels-ancient-mummy-mysteries/
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/10/28/68-Early-Egyptians-were-as-talented-in-painting-as-architecture.html

And an animated "Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome"
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-glimpse-of-teenage-life-in-ancient-rome-ray-laurence

Updates for November 2-15 coming right up!

Comments

[archersangel]

Study suggests that Alexandria was built to align with rising sun on birthday of Alexander the Great

makes sense.

[jeweledeyes]

I agree. The fact that Cleopatra named her son Alexander Helios then makes me wonder if Alexander was associated with the sun back in classical times, although that's just speculation.

pardon the info dump

[archersangel]

well alexander was supposed to be the the father of ptolemy, cleopatra's several-times great grandfather, so that's probably why he had that name. and the gods of the sun and the moon were twins (in greek & roman myth anyway) helios & selene were the personification of the sun & moon, but were more likely titans (who came before the greek gods) alexander helios' twin sister was named cleopatra selene.
i recommend cleopatra: last queen of egypt by joyce tyldesley to find out more.

Re: pardon the info dump

[jeweledeyes]

Yeah, I was just speculating as to whether there might have been a doubly-nuanced cultural connotation to it. I was probably overthinking it, though; if you focus too much on coincidences, that's how you wind up with



lol

I think my mom has Joyce Tyldesley's book, I need to read it! I have been halfheartedly reading Stacy Schiff's biography since around June and I'm not really loving it (in case the 6-month-reading-time wasn't an indication of that XD)