quidquid:

From the Archaeology Museum in Orvieto

LOOK AT THE PUDGEY OWL

Linguists Alwin Kloekhorst and Alexander Lubotsky from Leiden University made a great discovery this summer. They deciphered a few dozen inscriptions on pot shards found in Daskyleion (North-West Turkey) as Phrygian and Lydian, and thus proved the presence of the Phrygians and Lydians in that area.

Way cool.

Munich, Museum antiker Kleinkunst

White-ground classical funerary lekythos with inner compartment for a token amount of oil (found in a grave at Oropos, near the Attic/Boeotian border) 

The messenger god Hermes, bearded but youthful, sits on the rocky shores of the river Styx. He wears his travelling hat and cloak, but is bare foot. Holding his caduceus in his left hand, he beckons with his right to a woman who wears a heavy mantle over a lighter chiton and adjusts a ‘crown’ on her head. She stands on the ground, already enveloped by the rocks. In the background, behind the rocks, a shaft-like tomb on a stepped base has been decked with ribbons. 

artpedia:

The Pergamon Altar, c. 200-150 B.C. Pergamon Museum, Berlin

the things I would do to see this in person

quidquid:

The first ever Etruscan pyramids have been located underneath a wine cellar in the city of Orvieto in central Italy, according to a team of U.S. and Italian archaeologists.

Carved into the rock of the tufa plateau —a sedimentary area that is a result of volcanic activity — on which the city stands, the subterranean structures were largely filled. Only the top-most modern layer was visible.

iheartchaos:

Thanks to the volcanic ash that destroyed the city of Pompeii nearly overnight, modern archaeologists have been given a very preserved look at the lives of the people of ancient Rome, and that includes some of the lewd graffiti that in other places has long since been washed away.

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egyptologifs:

False doors in Ancient Egypt evolved from “palace façades” of mastabas in the Early Dynastic Period. From the beginning, these niches were paneled—and served as locales for the living to make offerings to the deceased. As time progressed, door jambs were added, hence the term “false door”. Eventually, inscriptions were carved into these tomb features—occasionally alongside an image of the deceased receiving gifts. 

Pictured above are two Old Kingdom doors. The top image features Ptahsepses’ (5th Dyn.) false door from Saqqara. It is a particularly stunning example, and contains a lengthy listing of Ptahsepses’ titles; which, unsurprisingly, includes “High Priest of Ptah”.  Below, we have a traditional archetype of a false door belonging to a minor official. It also dates to the Old Kingdom (but 6th Dyn.), and belonged to a scribe and supervisor of priests, Neferseshemkhufu. 

ancientart:

The Kailashnatha Temple, the oldest temple in Kanchipuram, India. The temple is devoted to Lord Shiva, and dates to the early 8th century.

iheartchaos:

Thanks to the volcanic ash that destroyed the city of Pompeii nearly overnight, modern archaeologists have been given a very preserved look at the lives of the people of ancient Rome, and that includes some of the lewd graffiti that in other places has long since been washed away.

Read More

I spent my summer working at an Etruscan Sanctuary site in Tuscany called Poggio Colla.  Last year I was a field school student and this year I was the assistant trench supervisor.  The site of Poggio Colla dates from the 7th c BCE to the 2nd c BCE (when the Romans rolled in and did their Roman thing) and includes an ‘arx’ or acropolis, probable burial areas, quarry, and kiln area, but the focus of the excavation has been on the arx.  Three trenches were opened this year on the arx and one on the NW slope.  Nothing really sexy was found… lots of pithoi, seeds, tile, bronze lumps, and stamped/decorated bucchero…. oh and lots of walls.

What I did all summer was this: dig really fast with the maddock when the supervisors needed to move fast (I did this a lot and have the shoulders to prove it), run the total station (I started the summer being its bitch and now it is mine), organizing on site photos (for finds and stuff), helping the students and making sure they don’t dig holes or puncture scarps, and helping the supervisors with all sorts of things.

All in all, it was another damn good summer and I hope I’ll be able to go back again next year.