Quest for the Shaman

Oh joy, oh rapture--a new book by Miranda Aldhouse-Green, with lots of pictures and GREAT cover art!

This means I can put aside Caesar in Gaul and Rome, which is not nearly so interesting. Why? Here is the second sentence of the book:

To think of texts as events is certainly in line with
various historicist tendencies in the filed of Classics in general, but it is also an approach that has come to be seen as particularly appropriate to this work.

Are you asleep yet?

Miranda Green is much more interesting, and so are Shamans. Of course, the first part of the book deals with far more ancient people than the Iron Age Celts, but we'll get there.

Archaeology News

I think I deserve points simply for spelling archaeology correctly.

Interesting news on that front. In Kashmir, CNN-IBN reports that the remains of a previously unknown civilization dating back 2000 years has been reburied and unanalyzed due to lack of funds. The artifacts and ruins were discovered only a year ago. Story

In Egypt, Reuters and other news outlets tell us that after a 50-year court battle, bulldozers have begun razing mud-brink homes in the Theban hills. The homes sit over an ancient necropolis. The 3,500 families (which is maybe 15,000-20,000 people—a guess?) who lived in those homes will be resettled. The description of the pagaentry accompanying the demolition sounds like it could have been scripted by Kurt Vonegut. Story

Meanwhile, the tiny island of Gozo (Malta) debates whether to allow extensive tourist resorts to expand along its coast so that more tourists can impact the local economy while frolicking among the ancient stones of Gganitja. Ggantija is well worth visiting—but go now, before they decide to build a theme park there.