#space archaeologist

[turtleblogatlast]

Love the thought of Leo and Mikey teaming up their mystic abilities to prank archeologists and historians

Leo makes a portal then within that, Mikey opens a very very small time portal of his own

They toss something in and excitedly wait for the results of the dig-site right where Leo had set his portal to

Cue mass confusion as the archeologists wonder what the hell a 1000+ year old Lou Jitsu figurine is doing in the ruins of an ancient city all the while Mikey and Leo laugh themselves unconscious

[movie-robotnik-positivity]

Sonic 3 will be centered around a goverment conspiracy. The previous movie established that Longclaw's tribe once lived on Earth and built several structures. SA2's story includes an Egypt-like location....

Just saying...what if the owls built the pyramids?

[evilhorse]

Planetary preview

RIP John Cassaday

[boygirlctommy]

is anyone else here in archaeology youtube have you guys heard about the crucifixion of flint dibble

[catsafarithewriter]

After the fortnight from hell, I finally had a free day and I've made belated progress on TBF 😅 I'm already so excited for when I'll be able to share the first case, it's gonna be so much fun!

[klumpypotamus]

Daily O’Brien - 03/10 Miles “The Mummy” O’Brien

[https-sally]

hatsune miku, tw: discussion of religion

is this miku ?

[v2 miku art]

no. it isnt.

its a representation of miku, it isnt miku herself. 

[clip art of a pringles can with 3 pringles on the side]

that image is miku about as much as this one is a pringles can. meaning it isnt, its just a representation of one.

what is miku ?

“a vocaloid” you might say, “a voice bank” maybe, “an anime character” no. “an icon” ? yes, she is.

miku is an idea, she only exists because we, as a collective, agree so. she has no physical body, yet she exists. not as a real human person of flesh and bone, but as a concept. every depiction of her is just an interpretation of the idea of “hatsune miku”.

shes a bit like money

[photo of a one (1) euro coin]

this coin has a value of one (1) euro only because we as a society have agreed it has. in the same way this 

[v4 miku art]

only “is miku” because we have agreed that is so.

i was raised catholic christian. not very strictly or overly religiously, but that is the religion and idea of god i am most familiar with.

i think god exists, but not as an actual being, but as an idea. the act of believing in god creates god, the act of believing in god is god. very similar to miku. she exists only through our belief that she does.

people put up shrines for their gods, they turn to them in times of worry when they need comfort, and they believe in their gods. so isnt hatsune miku a god ? does a god need world creating and destroying power ? does miku have world creating power ? do the countless people shes saved count as worlds made ? if the world only exists through the perception of those within it, doesnt that mean every person is their own world ? doesnt that mean miku has created countless worlds ? has saved countless worlds ?

i jokingly say i follow mikuism when someone asks me what region im part of, but could i not say so genuinely ? 

[ "any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy." This definition would exclude religions that do not engage in worship. It implies that there are two important components to religion: one's belief and worship in a deity or deities.]

im not reading all that, BUT does that not mean miku can literally be a god ?

does that not mean miku is a god ?

[the-nettle-knight]

What really bothers me about the whole "museums are in crisis" thing is that it's not about stolen artefacts. We absolutely should repatriate what was stolen, but those artefacts are a tiny proportion of what is in museums. This is all about British artefacts, because every single cm of this island has been inhabited. A big site can produce thousands or even tend of thousands of artefacts. These are two separate issues and saying "just return everything" isn't actually helping anything or even valid in this case

[cremepuf]

The movies I haven’t seen in the tags

[xomoosexo]

Got nothing to do about how I came in the fandom but everything with DNF :

My last fandom with real persons had a ship really popular. Except the persons were OK at first then very unconfortable with it as people were too upfront about it (and needed to say stop, which people didn't heed 'till it became unbearable for everyone and the ccs cut contact). So coming through the DSMP then dteam, I was very cautious about DNF bc I feared a repetition

Fool that I was, I didn't realize how insane they are about each other

😭😭😭 wait now I'm interested in what the other fandom was

[vsholmes]

FUGITIVES COVER REVEAL

​It’s finally here! The fifth and penultimate book in the Stars Edge: Nel Bently Books is available for preorder, and you can check out the amazing cover below, plus find a glimpse of the first chapter.

Fugitives will hit shelves August 12th.

PREORDER NOW!

ABOUT FUGITIVES

Queer archaeological science fiction with a side of horror and romance. 👩‍🚀 Lesbian POV 👩‍🚀 LGBTQIA supporting cast 👩‍🚀 Snark, Science, and Sex 👩‍🚀 Action-Adventure 👩‍🚀 Lovers-to-enemies 👩‍🚀 Space-horror

The body count is rising, and so is Nel's temper. Archaeologist Dr. Nel Bently has spent her life avoiding clingy exes, but she never dreamed she’d be escaping across the stars. Now she and a fleet of refugees are hunted at every turn by the only woman she ever made the mistake of loving. And Nel, used to outrunning everything, just lost a leg. ​ Facing her life’s new trajectory is hard enough, but when Nel starts hearing the deadly signal they tracked on Earth, she is forced to team up with the two men who were once her greatest enemies. Then, a grisly discovery on an abandoned hauler sheds horrific light on the voices in Nel’s head–and what, exactly, Lin is after. Their hold is full of bodies, their plans are full of holes, and bad-tempered Dr. Nel Bently, avoidant-extraordinaire, is sick of running.

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER

[sapphicautistic]

In the 1980s in France, musicologists and archaeologists Iégor Reznikoff and Michel Dauvois used their voices to explore caves with notable Paleolithic wall paintings. By singing simple notes and whistling, they mapped their perceptions of the caves’ acoustics. They found that paintings were often located in places that were particularly resonant. Animal paintings were common in resonant chambers and in places along the walls that produced strong reverberation. As they crawled through narrow tunnels, they discovered painted red dots exactly located in the most resonant places. The entrances to these tunnels were also marked with paintings. Resonant recesses in walls were especially heavily ornamented.

In a 2017 study, a dozen acousticians, archaeologists, and musicians measured the sonic qualities of cave interiors in northern Spain. The team, led by acoustic scientist Bruno Fazenda, used speakers, computers, and microphone arrays to measure the behavior of precisely calibrated tones within the cave. The caves they studied contain wall art spanning much of the Paleolithic, dating from about forty thousand years to fifteen thousand years ago. The art includes handprints, abstract points and lines, and a bestiary of Paleolithic animals including birds, fish, horses, bovids, reindeer, bear, ibex, cetaceans, and humanlike figures. From hundreds of standardized measurements, the team found that painted red dots and lines, the oldest wall markings, are associated with parts of the cave where low frequencies resonate and sonic clarity is high due to modest reverberation. These would have been excellent places for speech and more complex forms of music, not muddied by excessive reverberation. Animal paintings and handprints were also likely to be in places where clarity is high and overall reverberation is low but with a good low-frequency response. These are the qualities that we seek now in modern performance spaces.

Sounds Wild and Broken, David George Haskell

[evilhorse]

Planetary #19

RIP John Cassaday

[blueiscoool]

Bronze Statues and Coins Found at Ancient Sacred Bath in Tuscany

Archaeological excavations at the Bagno Grande sanctuary in San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany, Italy, have uncovered a wealth of artifacts that highlight the Etruscan-Roman heritage of this ancient thermal site.

Dating back to the 3rd century BCE, the sanctuary was originally constructed by the Etruscans and later developed by the Romans into the renowned spa complex, Balnea Clusinae. Revered for its therapeutic hot springs, the site attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire, including Caesar Augustus.

The recent excavation, spanning June to October 2024, focused on the sacred temenos, a walled enclosure surrounding the sanctuary, and revealed the remnants of a central temple built around a thermal water basin. Within this sacred space, archaeologists unearthed an array of votive offerings and artifacts remarkably preserved by thermal waters and clay.

Among the most notable finds are four bronze statues, votive limbs, and heads, inscribed with dedications. A striking bronze torso, bisected from neck to genitals, was dedicated by a man named Gaius Roscius to the “Hot Spring.” Researchers suggest this statue symbolizes the healing of specific ailments. Other discoveries include a child statue portraying an augur priest holding a pentagonal ball, likely used in divination rituals, and elegant votive heads inscribed in Latin.

Inscriptions in both Etruscan and Latin were uncovered, including dedications to the Nymphs and the thermal spring, referred to as “Flere Havens” in Etruscan, and oaths to Fortuna and the Genius of the Emperor.

The sacred basin contained a diverse range of offerings, including oil lamps, glass unguent jars, painted terracotta anatomical votives, and coins—more than 10,000 spanning the Roman Republic to the Empire. Precious metals, such as a gold crown and ring, Roman aurei, and fragments of amber and gemstones, were also uncovered. Notably, the presence of preserved eggs, some with intact yolks, suggests rites symbolizing rebirth and regeneration.

Decorative elements such as pinecones, branches, and bronze serpents—one nearly a meter long and thought to represent the Agathodaimon, a protective spirit—emphasize the connection between the rejuvenating waters and nature’s generative power.

Efforts are underway to preserve these extraordinary finds. The National Archaeological Museum of San Casciano dei Bagni is being established in the Archpriest’s Palace to house the artifacts, while a thermal archaeological park is planned around Bagno Grande to promote cultural tourism.

By Dario Radley.

[city-of-ladies]

"Here’s what we know about Julia Felix: she lived in Pompeii from at least 62 CE. She was possibly illegitimate but was definitely not a member of the social and cultural elite. She worked for a living setting up and running a very interesting business and, by 79 CE, she had planned to shift her focus from managing a business to owning property. We know all these things because twentieth-century excavations at her business uncovered an advert, carved in stone and attached to the external wall of her huge building. It reads:

"To rent for the period of five years from the thirteenth day of next August to the thirteenth day of the sixth August, the Venus Bath fitted for the nogentium, shops with living quarters over the shops, apartments on the second floor located in the building of Julia Felix, daughter of Spurius. At the end of five years, the agreement is terminated."

This find illuminated the building it was attached to, bringing what otherwise looked like a very large anonymous domestic house into dazzling focus. With this description of the purpose of each room written by the owner herself, archaeologists and historians could see the site through a whole new lens and they realised that they had discovered a Roman entertainment space for the working middle classes. It is, so far, a completely unique find and it is magnificent. It offers us, as modern viewers, two amazing things: a little glimpse into the lives of the commercial classes of the Roman Empire who are so often completely and utterly invisible, and a brutal reminder that so much of what we ‘know’ about Roman women in the Roman world comes from rules concerning only the most elite.

We’ll do that second part first, because it’s the least fun. Roman written and legal sources are pretty universal in their agreement that although women could own property, they could not control it; they had no legal rights, could not make contracts and were to be treated as minors by the legal system for their entire lives. In order to buy or sell property women required a male guardian to oversee and sign off on any transactions. This is a basic truism of women in the Roman Empire, repeated ad nauseum by sources both ancient and modern including me, and it is undermined by Julia Felix’s rental notice. 

The rental ad makes it pretty clear that Julia Felix is the owner-operator of a business complex including public baths, shops and apartments (there’s more too, as we’ll see), and she doesn’t seem to require anyone else to help her rent it out. She names her father – sort of; ‘Spurius’ might just mean that she is illegitimate – but this is effectively a surname, a personal identifier to differentiate her from other Julia Felixes in the area. It doesn’t mean her father was involved. Furthermore, the use of her father’s name as an identifier suggests that Julia didn’t have a husband and was either unmarried or widowed in 79 CE. The strong implication of her advert is that Julia Felix was an independent lady, a honey making money and a momma profiting dollars who could truthfully throw her hands up to Destiny’s Child.

We will never know if Julia escaped the flames and choking ash of 79 CE, fleeing as it swallowed her business and her home, but one discovery, made on 28 January 1952, suggests that she didn’t. The archaeologists, led by Amedeo Maiuri, uncovered on that day the skeleton of a woman who had fallen while running across the garden during the disaster. It’s clear this fallen woman was well off, because she was wearing a lot of gold jewellery. She carried four gold half-hoop earrings and wore four gold rings. Two of these rings were particularly expensive; both contained a red carnelian gem, one carved with a figure of Mercury, the other with an eagle. Around her neck she wore a necklace of gold filigree, dotted with ten pearls and hung with a green pendant. Someone stole both the necklace and earrings from the Pompeii Antiquarium in 1975 and no one, somehow, had ever bothered to photograph them so all we have are descriptions but the rings that survive are fine and expensive. The woman who wore them – was wearing them when she died – had real money to buy these objects and the woman who wore them did'nt leave Pompei in time.

 Moreover, when she was found it was clear that at the moment of her death she was heading not towards the street or towards safety, but towards the shrine to Isis in the garden where all the most valuable possessions were kept. The valuable possessions that Julia Felix grafted for and maybe couldn’t bear to leave behind. There’s no way to tell whether this skeleton is Julia Felix, whether these bones once stood and looked at the plots of land Julia bought and made plans, or whether they belong to a looter or a chancer or someone just caught out. But it’s nice to pretend that Julia Felix, who shaped the city’s roads around her dream and offered respite and luxury to workers and made a tonne of money doing it, died and was buried with the place that still bears her name."

A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire, Emma Southon

[txttletale]

while i'm talking about steven moffat misogyny moments i gotta say that river song the archaeologist was so interesting and river song the sexy femme fatale space assassin was so fucking boring