#archaeologist

[goetiiavacuum]

adam and eve apple. quote translates to “I am your half”

[metis-metis]

Nothing is quite as tragically funny to me as how finds are treated on site vs in a museum setting.

In a trench on a dig site: oh look another undecorated pottery sherd. The hundredth from this trench today! *holds with bare hands, covered in mud* nice, where’s the cassetto? YEET! I’ll clean that with a worn out plastic toothbrush in a bucket of water later. Another sherd? Oh damn, it’s from the wrong SO layer - into the spoils heap you go :(

The same pottery sherd, in a museum: so we need to sign this sherd out to examine it in a temperature controlled room. I’m going to wear powder free gloves and hold it with two hands no more than an inch above the padded surface of this table because I’d rather die than have any harm befall this sherd.

Or, in other words:

No hate to either museum-based archaeologists or field archaeologists. I have done both.

Also this is not to say I condone this. This is just a representation of the absolute whiplash my mostly-museum based arse got upon seeing how things were done on my first dig.

[tmblrisstillshit]

Wondercroft by Stjepan Sejic

[satoshy12]

Professor Fenton of Gotham University.

Cutest Dani with Papa Professor/Teacher Danny, who is teaching history at Gotham University. (As he can just meet historical people in the ghost zone.) +

After the years did go by, Danny was able to do better with his enemies; he was a teacher! Ghost Writer and Clockworks fault + small but of Mr. Lancer, and in the Zone he was able to meet historical figures pretty easily. + That was how Danny became the youngest professor in the US with his master's thesis in history.

And then he became a professor in Gotham; his students weren't sure how to feel about a teacher their age or younger. But ironically, he was the best teacher they ever had at the university! So people had no problem.

And Danny showing off his baby girl, Dani, is fun for him too! Hey, the job makes sure his daughter Dani can go to the university for free in the future. And his students really like Dani! + Adult Danny and Ellie Look i had before me. (Manhwa:" male lead's little lion daughter)

And Cassandra Cain was a pretty good person who spent time with Dani. When she visits the University for Tim, she found Dani.. And kind of forgot she wanted to visit Tim. + Wayne Manor Tim:" I fear my professor will become my brother-in-law." +Extra+ Archaeologists:" I dreamed and worked my whole life to find a book handwritten by Shakespeare!" Professor! Danny: " I have like 3 of them and gave 1 to my teacher for an A+ in history and English for the rest of the year. Man, Mr. Lancer did cry for like 2 weeks after that."

+ And to the Archaeologist's horror, it's really an original one. They found Mr. Lancer of Amity Park, who proudly showed them the book. So many historians and Archaeologist don't leave Danny alone; they know he has a lot of things like that but no idea where he hides them!

[ochipi]

The Indiana Jones stereotype portrays archaeologists as know-it-alls. These are a few instances of archaeologists being clueless.

Are you natural soil yet?

Are you colluvium?

What is alluvium again?

Is this bone?

Is this human bone?

Was this a campfire bbq or a cremation burial?

A single posthole on an empty field… are we going pre-medieval or post-medieval?

Where are we actually?

The inability to read modern handwriting, including your own

[ancienthistoryart]

Glass pomegranate. Greek, Hellenistic period, 2nd c.BC. Phoenix Museum.

[opashoo]

OCtober 2023: Shou, the Hidden Right Hand

A disillusioned fortune teller, scholar, and mystic, studied in old poems and proverbs. Their absent-minded demeanor belies a dangerous cunning and supernatural foresight with which they have cut down empires. Agent to a mysterious benefactor known only as "The Director".

Shou is nonbinary transfem (they/them)

The non-english text is in Caravan, a conlang I've been working on for about two years now. It reads from right to left:

"Hafii tokshj an, sa ejvo sheta-yjramea no / an im hafigaa eta shehn lumateh mu goro hjkkj."

There are monsters in the mountain, and we would seek shelter [from them] but / we will not find rest in the valleys.

EDIT: So I'm really indecisive and decided I really liked a dark background and no white outline, so I've replaced the original with that version. The original is below.

[absolutewonderwoman]

TW: Violence

The Story of Khaled al-Asaad and the importance of Cultural Preservation.

Hearing Khaled al-Asaad’s story about five years ago when I first started down my archaeology path changed my entire outlook on the discipline.

al-Asaad was the director of antiquities at the ruins of Palmyra (UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Syria for 40 years, before his retirement in 2003. Even after his retirement, he continued to work with antiquities and museums until his death. In 2015, at age 81, he was taken hostage by Islamic State (IS) militants. He was publicly beheaded, his body hung from a lamp post. He was executed for refusing to cooperate and disclose the location of priceless artifacts. According to a BBC report on the potential retrieval of his body in 2021, three of his sons and his son-in-law, all archaeologists, brought artifacts from the museum in a nearby town, Tadmor, to Damascus to protect them. Asaad refused to leave his home, reportedly saying “I am from Palmyra, and I will stay here even if they kill me.” (article 2021). The BBC quotes UNESCO’s Director General, Irina Bokova: “His work will live on far beyond the reach of these extremists. […] They murdered.a great man, but they will never silence history.” (article 2015)

al-Asaad devoted his entire life to this site and its protection, and was willing to die to protect it. After 10 years, efforts to re-establish the site as a visiting destination and for future archaeological research are underway. (article 2025)

al-Asaad is an inspiration to archaeologists and archaeology students around the world. 10 years later, his story is still being told. I think about him often, I see his legacy everywhere. I thought of him with emergency archaeology efforts at the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022. I have been thinking of him a lot recently, with continued disregard for cultural heritage and international law in Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and throughout the genocide in Gaza. The destruction of cultural heritage is erasure of history, it’s used to control narratives and erase what doesn’t fit within them. It is used to attempt to erase human existence and cultural continuity. This post was inspired by a CBC report on attempts to preserve books and manuscripts on the history of the Palestinian people and Gaza city.

Archaeologists and other cultural preservationists frequently put themselves in harms way to document and protect cultural heritage for the betterment of humanity. In an age of repression and violence, it’s essential to think about people like Khaled al-Asaad and the lengths they are willing to go to to protect material and cultural history.