How to make battleship curves

“Fig. 16.9. Seriation diagrams were once constructed by hand (literally). Frequencies of temporal types were converted to percentages, then drawn on individual strips, which were then moved up or down until they approximated a series of battleship-shaped curves (Ford, 1962: fig.8). This tedious and subjective procedure has since been replaced by computer programs.”

David Hurst Thomas 1988, Addressing Variability in the Pooled Radiocarbon Record of St. Catherines Island, in ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS AMERICAN MUSEUMOF NATURAL HISTORY NO. 88

Retracing artillery officer and bookstore owner Henry Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery

A master of logistics, bookseller turned artillerist. Henry Knox fought in the American Revolution at Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth. His most epic achievement was a six week midwinter slog through New York and Massachusetts to bring 59 cannons to the heights of Boston, thereby forcing the British to retreat from the city.

In the 1920s, a series of plaques were set up along the route. Now, one man is walking the trail:

“Dave Fagerberg hiked all the way from Ticonderoga to Mechanicville, following the route Col. Henry Knox used in winter 1775-76…

“Fagerberg is planning a return trip East and will resume his march from Mechanicville to Boston on August 23rd.

“The main purpose of walking historic trails is to create more public awareness,” said Fagerberg, an avid French & Indian War re-enactor.

“Many people don’t know what is right in their own backyard. My ultimate goal is to have the Knox Trail become a national historic trail.”

Article here

More information and the location of the plaques can be found here.

Fake artifacts in real museum

Thousands of artifacts at the Jibaozhai Museum may be fakes. Maybe it makes more sense to pay people to make fake artifacts than to pay them to loot real real artifacts from archaeological sites?

“Museums in China have long played a key role in reinforcing social segmentation, influencing the economy, protecting cultural heritage and enhancing nationalism. In 1977, following Chairman Mao’s death, there were only around 300 museums. Now there are thousands, and so the fight to provide originals has ironically led to the creation of false artefacts.”

From Heritage Daily

Historic Preservation … on the Moon!

I’m a week or two late with this news, but here it is:

“Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Space Subcommittee, proposed legislation on Tuesday, along with Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex), to establish the National Historical Park on the moon under the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act. The designation would protect the site where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first touched down on the lunar surface in July 1969.”

The Department of the Interior and NASA would be jointly in charge of protecting the artifacts remaining on the surface of the moon from the Apollo 11 through Apollo 17 missions, which ended in 1973, while the Smithsonian Institute would help ensure an accurate cataloging of the items, which include flags, a memorial to fallen astronauts, lunar landers, a golf ball and a moon car.”

Rest at International Business Times

In case you were worried about the United States attempting to claim sovereignty over the moon, the act would apply only to the artifacts on the moon, not the land itself. The actual bill is pretty short, and you can read it here, where you can see that the park would be composed of:

“(1) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 11 mission, which landed on the lunar surface July 20, 1969, at Mare Tranquillitatis;

(2) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 12 mission, which landed on the lunar surface November 19, 1969, at Oceanus Procellarum;

(3) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 13 mission, which had an instrumentality crash land on the lunar surface April 14, 1970;

(4) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 14 mission, which landed on the lunar surface February 5, 1971, at Fra Mauro;

(5) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 15 mission, which landed on the lunar surface July 30, 1971, at Hadley-Apennines;

(6) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 16 mission, which landed on the lunar surface April 21, 1972, at Descartes; and

(7) the artifacts on the surface of the Moon associated with the Apollo 17 mission, which landed on the lunar surface December 11, 1972, at Taurus-Littrow.”

Moon photo courtesy of NASA:

Ghosts of Mussels Past

“Is it good or bad to be able to see ghosts? I’ve been wondering about this since I recently realized that I’ve been seeing ghosts ever since I began to study freshwater mussels about 30 years ago.”

Read the rest, by David Strayer, here.

Mysterious Rotating Egyptian Statues are in America, too

Abigail Beecher – Our (Hip) History Teacher

“History class is
Getting bigger and bigger
They come from miles
Cause they really dig her”

A lot of Freddy Cannon’s songs have a geographical bent: Palisades Park (New Jersey, and his biggest hit), Tallahassee Lassie (his first hit, supposedly written by his mom), Okefenoke, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, and Boston (My Home Town). This one, however, is about cars, surfboards, and that one hip teacher. Central High could be anywhere in America.

Giant Mets Baseball Created by artist Charles Fazzino

Crematory, Wapanucket Locus #2

Another example from Wapanucket.

Burial # 2, Locus #6, Wapanucket

A great example of archaeological illustration from the pre-computer graphics days. Crisp, clear, and informative. From Wapanucket: An Archaeological Report by Maurice Robbins, 1980.