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Home » Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom February 15-20

Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom February 15-20

Here are some posts I enjoyed from around the web this week:

Aleppo (before war); a candidate for oldest city, photo by Bernard Gagnon
Aleppo (before war); a candidate for oldest city, photo by Bernard Gagnon

Interesting to think about which city is the oldest in the world and in what region. Click here for The Guardian “What’s the Oldest City in the World” 

Sometimes an archaeological find begs the imagination to supply the story behind the find. In this case, for me it is two Greek Neolithic paired burials of a man and woman in tight embrace with nearby arrowheads. A last embrace in the heat of war? There are times when I so want a magic time machine to let me observe while remaining invisible! Oh well, we’ll have to depend on the processes of historical fiction. Click here for “Embracing Couple found in Neolithic Greek Grave” Archaeology News Network.

 

Camarasaurus supremus, a sauropod in its environment (but not hallucinating) drawing by Dmitry Bogdanov
Camarasaurus supremus, a sauropod in its environment (but not hallucinating) drawing by Dmitry Bogdanov

Caught in amber: fossilized grass w/ a fungus similar to ergot that has hallucinogenic properties & is used to make LSD. Fr the age of dinosaurs, so imagine a tripping giant sauropod. This has got the scientists intrigued at the age of this grass & fungus symbiosis. I’m having fun imagining this world in action.  Click here for “Amber fossil links earliest grasses, dinosaurs and fungus used to produce LSD” Archaeology News Network

 

Turkey to establish an archaeological institute—Anatolian Institute of Turkey. Much of the funding to come from EU and the leadership is coming from the city of Gaziantep—a beautiful place in Turkey near many interesting sites. Currently there are 117 Turkish and 36 foreign excavations and 82 Turkish surface surveys and 14 foreign surveys being conducted in Turkey at this time—that’s a lot of Turkish archaeology. Good time for Turkey to organize this.Click here for “Turkey to Create National Institute of Archaeology” Archaeology News Network 

Price of BloodWindow into Patricia Bracewell’s research for her 10th C Anglo-Saxon novels in a post on Wisteria Leigh’s blog: “Novelists LOVE the research. We swoon over it, bathe in it, and struggle to tear ourselves away from it long enough to write our books.” Click here for Guest post by Patricia Bracewell on Bookworms Dinner 

One of the “mystery” cults of the Roman Empire was Mithras. The soldiers took it to Britain, but what exactly they took is open to a lot of guessing. A discussion of this odd cult (men only, bulls sacrificed, lower classes only) by Adam Haviaras on English Historical Fiction Authors. Click here for Adam Haviaras on English History Authors 

Crocus, photo by Meneerke bloem, Wikimedia Commons
Crocus, photo by Meneerke bloem, Wikimedia Commons

A history of saffron—one of the most expensive commodities of the ancient and medieval worlds. From that pretty crocus flower one can only harvest 3 stigma of saffron. This is an ancient luxury—Minoan girls are depicted on a fresco harvesting saffron—and Anna Belfrage has the low down from many periods and localities. Click here for “The Secrets Within Crocuses” by Anna Belfrage on English Historical Fiction Authors 

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