Not quite the end of the line

Regular readers may know I have an ongoing problem, chiefly that this site keeps running out of bandwidth and I have to upgrade the account. Renewal time comes up in a couple of months. The combination of me reaching towards the end of my funds (I’m a self-funded student) and cutting Google Ads from the [...]

Read Full Post »

In Oxford today

I’m in Oxford today checking a few things. I find Oxford a terrific place to work in. With the one card I can use the Bodleian, Ratcliffe Science Library and the Sackler library with no hassles. If time and weather permits I may try and get a better photo of Oxford Castle.

Read Full Post »

A small squeak of annoyance

Vecchi strumenti. Photo by -Zelig-.
Recently I’ve been working on a solution to a problem on calendars in South Italy and Sicily. A few cities have calendars which start in the autumn. The assumption is that this is connected to the autumnal equinox, but I’m not so certain. The autumnal equinox makes great sense if you [...]

Read Full Post »

Seen Elsewhere

Peter Chalk, Exeter University. Photo by Ollid.
The call for papers for TAG 2006, X TAG, has gone out. There are two immediate calls, one for sessions and another for a plenary session X Factor. I’ve no plans to take part but I might make a daytrip if there’s a good day.
Martin Rundkvist has a touching [...]

Read Full Post »

It’s the cultural high point of the year

Above is Daz Sampson’s Teenage Life, the UK entry for Eurovision 2006. It could be a classic this year. Finland have sent Lordi, Germany have sent their best entry since Stefan Raab (inventor of wok racing) with Texas Lightning. Iceland’s entry Congratulations by Silvia Night included a line which may, or may not be, “The [...]

Read Full Post »

Who had the greatest political influence in the ancient Greek world?

I’m at Blogographos again.
Comments on the previous post tend to suggest that I made a mistake in leaving out someone who had a political impact on ancient Greece. I think that’s a reasonable conclusion, but how many big politicians or generals would you put up if you have just four spaces? I’m still thinking just [...]

Read Full Post »

Is reality the second best option?

A British Puma flies over Visoko. Photo by Torbein.
I wasn’t too surprised by some of the responses to the Bosnian Pyramid posts, though the quantity was high. One reason for not writing more on it was the sheer number of visitors. I’ve had to pay for increased bandwidth which I can’t really afford to do [...]

Read Full Post »

(Not quite a) Virtual Dig

Ever wanted to go on an archaeological dig but not had the time or opportunity? This this is the next best thing. Possibly. It’s an opportunity to join Prof. Henry Jones Jr. on an investigation of the Pharoah’s tomb. Possibly in a pyramid.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mind elsewhere

I’m caught up in something at the moment so there may not be a post for a little while. There’s one in the bank for tomorrow, which explains part of the problem. There’s also a lot of interesting stuff I’d like to read at other people’s sites.
History Carnival 31 takes a trip into the past. [...]

Read Full Post »

Calçoene - the Brazilian Stonehenge?

Photo AFP/SECAM.
A loose translation of the news story at O Globo greatly assisted by Google because my Portuguese is awful.
Archaeologists have discovered in a remote region of Amapá what seems to be the biggest astronomical observatory in pre-Columbian Brazil. The observatory is formed by 127 granite megaliths, some up to 3 metres tall, distributed at [...]

Read Full Post »