Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom June 11-17

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

Ruins of a monumental building have been found in Petra, Jordan. Despite having been explored since 1812, Petra revealed something new via satellite imagery. Pottery shards on the surface indicate this huge platform and building may date to the early stage of Petra, that is 2^nd C BC rather than the century or two later of the buildings visitors now see when they go to Petra. So, not only a major public building but also one from a period with as yet very little documentation.

I loved climbing up and around Petra. I know very little about the Nabataeans who lived there, but I found myself wishing I did and could write fiction set in this evocative setting. Click here for National Geographic “Massive New Monument Found in Petra”

Here’s a great list of 21 historical novels “you probably haven’t read but should” from BookBub. The ones I’ve read on this list are excellent, so I’m thinking this has some good ideas for summer reading. Click here for BookBub blog “Historical Fiction You Probably Haven’t Read” 

Add this site on Crete and its new museum to places I have to visit. But in the meantime, I loved the extended video they’ve made. It’s the lower of the two in this article (the first is evocative and lovely but all in Greek). This site, Eleftherna, has rich Mycenaean and Geometric period finds. The video first shows the dig in action and you get to see what kinds of things they found, how they record their finds and then clean and preserve them. The second part is a piece of experimental archaeology done up with some drama for the filming of it. They reconstruct a pyre like that of Patroclus in Bk 23 of the Iliad based on the finds they have made—apparently a lot of pyre remains. The narrator reads from the Iliad as you see them construct and then fire this pyre, pour wine on it, gather the bones and cover it with earth, all with the proper ritual dignity and a handsome Achilles (compliments of the Greek archaeology students). Afterwards you get a glimpse of some of the information they gained when you’re shown different ivory sculptures found in pyres and the temperatures that produce different colors in the ivory. If you want to see the Iliad in action (slightly modest scale—no 12 Trojan boys or the dogs or horses tossed onto the pyre and the “body” is some other bone source discretely covered) and you enjoy seeing how archaeology at its most exciting looks, then this is worth the watching. The museum they’ve built at the site for the finds sounds smart and enticing. Click here for “Eleutherna, An Exemplary Museum to Open in Crete”