Archaeology Odyssey

See the following articles in Archaeology Odyssey: “Bought on the Market: A Gallery,” AO 02:02 and “The Golden Bowl,” in Field Notes, AO 02:02.

Archaeology, May/June 2001, p. 6.

There are some courageous exceptions; see Avner Raban, “Stop the Charade: It’s Time to Sell Artifacts,” BAR 23:03.

See Linda C. Eneix, “The Twin Temples of Gozo,” Destinations, AO 04:04.

For the story on how the obelisk was transported to Alexandria and, much later, to New York’s Central Park, see Past Perfect, AO 04:02.

The base-10 system was not the only number system used in ancient Mesopotamia. Grain and bread, among other things, tended to be counted in groups of 60 (in a sexagesimal number system). Other groupings were also used.

Hershel Shanks, “How Forgers Reduce Site Looting,” sidebar to “Fake! The Many Facets of the Forger’s Art,” BAR 23:02.

In making arrows, Paleolithic people had difficulty turning irregular pieces of wood into straight, smooth arrow shafts. One way to do this was to force the shafts repeatedly through cylindrical holes drilled in pieces of bone, which compressed and straightened the wood. These tools are called arrow-straighteners.

The theory that Neandertals were occasional cannibals first appeared in the mid-19th century. It was given some impetus by the 1899-1906 excavations at Krapina, in Croatia, where broken and burned human bones were found with animal remains. More recently, the excavator of a damaged Neandertal skull found in Guattari Cave, south of Rome, suggested that the brain had been extracted and eaten in a religious ceremony. There remains much disagreement about these interpretations of the evidence.