So Wyoming, that great bastion of civil liberties, recently passed a new piece of legislation that appears to prevent anyone from documenting "resource" data from public lands that are being leased for grazing, etc... that are outside of city or incorporated boundaries. The Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club  told Think Progress  that the obtuse language of the law impedes citizen science throughout the state: “We are deeply concerned that this poorly written and overly vague bill will prevent concerned citizens and students from undertaking valuable research projects on public lands, out of fear of accidentally running afoul of the new law (the scope of which no one clearly understands) and being criminally and civilly prosecuted.  There is no need for this new bill, and we can only conclude that it is an attempt by private landowners to scare people away from valid research efforts on public land.” What is your take? The bill is...

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar   Walt Disney World's  Disney Springs district is getting an aviation themed bar after a classic film series: Indiana Jones called the  Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar (Jock was Indy's pilot) The bar will be opening this fall located between  The Boathouse and Paradiso 37.   Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar will seat 150 guests and feature drinks like mojitos and small plate foods,   said a Disney Parks Blog post. "In the main room, guests will discover an expansive bar, aviation decor filling the room, vintage travel posters covering the walls and correspondence between Jock, Indy and their fellow adventurers on display. Guests can eat, drink and be merry outside as well, in Jocks’ old steamboat, now in permanent dry dock and aptly named 'Reggie," [after Jock's pet snake] and in nearby seating on the adjacent deck," said the blog.  The bar will serve cocktails, alongside a number of "themed small plates,"...

I received a link from the Society for American Archaeology today. It was for a survey for why I did not renew my membership for 2015. I had to be honest and tell them that I just could not afford it unless it is a year I can afford to attend a meeting. I have friends in other professions, some science based, and some in the finance industry. And their society fees are quite astronomical compared to the SAA fee's some are 3, 4 even five times as much as the SAA fee's, and the same goes for meeting fees. So I do understand that as societies go, the SAA is genuinely not out there gouging people. HOWEVER these other professions do not have a complete subculture that has a commercial component that includes the income demographics of archaeologists (and related professions) practicing CRM. Most of these other professions with these exceptionally high fee's *only* have...

  ShovelBums 16th Anniversary   ShovelBums just turned 16 Years this week.   16 Years?   16 Years?!?! ~6,000 days.  Nearly 17,000 active members.   ~32,000+ positions filled. WTF? Seriously? Tens of thousands of sites located, documented, tested, excavated. So many sites lost to history. Millions of artifacts and features cataloged.  Ungodly numbers of GPS points logged. Kilometers of maps made. Many more Kilometers of TP dropped in the blue lagoons and back filled STP's. A whole hell of a lot of liquor and ice tea (that for you Galen B) consumed. Drones rise in harmony with my beloved Kite Aerial Photography. Kindergartners born then are graduating college and starting their career. Great friends lost to time, space, and becoming what we study. New friends found. First trowels broken or lost after a lifetime of love and respect. First trowels sharpened at field school. Great people leave the profession. New people join the profession. Degrees...

Dr. Mamdouh El Damaty announced the discovery of the remains of the eastern gate of Tharw fortres in Sinai which served as the Egyptian army headquarters in the New Kingdom.   The discovery was made by the Egyptian team working at Tell Habwa in the east bank of the Suez Canal.   The discovery also include mid brick royal warehouse belong to "Ramses II and Thotmoses III" and 26th Dynasty cemetery most of the graves are mud brick and group tombs of contains human remains showing battles injuries.    The discovered part of the eastern gate of Tharw fortress are 3 fragments of limestone with inscriptions of Ramses II of 3 meters length and 1 meter width. The fort is on the famous Horus military road which was the way to secure the eastern Egyptian boarders.   The Egyptian Mission working at the site also uncovered royal warehouses made of mud brick that belonged to...

Society for American Archaeology April 28, 2015 Dear SAA member, Last year a provision was added to the House version of the annual defense authorization bill (NDAA) that would have amended the National Historic Preservation Act to allow any federal land-managing agency to remove National Register-listed properties under its control from the Register, for reasons of national security. It would also have given agencies the ability to effectively veto the future listing of any other property located on federal land that was proposed for the Register. The adverse consequences of such a change to the NHPA would be enormous. This is especially true given the fact that a listing on the National Register does not preclude federal agencies from upgrading, adding to, or even demolishing historic structures for any reason, including national security. The Department of Defense, the National Park Service, and the ACHP all testified in strong opposition to the provision. In addition, a...

  You gotta love the internet.  My cousin   visited an active archaeology excavation in Downtown San Luis Obispo on Friday and posted the pictures over the weekend. I knew a company had posted on ShovelBums for work there a couple of months ago so I was guessing it was them. I threw the pic up on facebook and within an hour the crew was being tagged in it already.   Comments

  SAVE IOWA HISTORY! Restore Funding for the State Historical Society of Iowa Libraries and Archives. Keep physical records of Iowa history accessible to all.   Reorganization plans for the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) endanger the preservation of Iowa history contained in diaries, letters, photographs, maps, oral histories and other materials housed at the Society's two libraries in Des Moines and Iowa City.     Drastic reductions in operating hours and staff, the diversion of resources to unrelated activities, and recommendations to "streamline" the SHSI libraries threaten public access to the state's history.  Iowans risk being severed from their past.  On behalf of all Iowans and others interested in the history of the greater Midwest, we make the following requests of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the SHSI:  1) Guarantee accessibility to the  physical records  of Iowa's history at the State Historical Society of Iowa libraries and archives.   Maintain the operation of...

This blog was adapted from an original post by  Steven James Walker  that he wrote about an article that appeared on i09 (and other sites) about the "earliest" d2 die.  http://io9.com/5958203/is-this-the-oldest-d20-on-earth . My thoughts? They didn't need the die because they were living Dungeons and Dragons in real time!.  Steven James Walker writes: So this thing about a 3rd century BCE twenty sided die popped up in my feed. The article claims it to be oldest ever d20. Well, it isn't, but it is still pretty cool. The one that appeared on i09 and seems to be making the rounds today was acquired by the Met in 1910, and they have three of roughly the same antiquity (check the 'related objects' on this page:  http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/551072?&imgno=0&tabname=related-objects ). A (very quick) bit of sluthing has revealed very little research on these kinds of objects has been done, but a non-peer reviewed paper seems to have a pretty...

I always told my son. "Never bring a vacuum extension to a broadsword fight!" He didn't listen...        

    Ben Brotemarkle, FOR FLORIDA TODAY Many Florida towns were built around Seminole War forts. Some, such as Fort Pierce, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers, retain their fort names. Fort Shackleford was constructed in 1855 during the Third Seminole War. Archaeologists continue to search for its exact location. Archaeologist Dr. Annette Snapp is operations manager for the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum in Clewiston, and is leading the effort to find Fort Shackleford.Snapp will give a free presentation at 7 p.m. Fridayfor the Florida Historical Society Archaeological Institute at the Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science, 2201 Michigan Ave. in Cocoa. Seminole Indians moved to Florida in the 1700s to avoid the expanding American colonies. Runaway slaves found sanctuary here with the Seminoles. White settlers also began coming to the area after the American Revolution to take advantage of Spanish land grants. The First Seminole War started in 1816, when General Andrew Jackson began...

  Archaeologists in Egypt say they've discovered not one, but two beautifully decorated ancient tombs near the historic city of Luxor. The tombs, found earlier this month in the  Sheikh Abd el-Qurna  ('Tombs of the Nobles') archaeological site, are believed to date back to the  18th Dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom  (1543-1292 B.C.), according to a written statement from The American Research Center in Egypt. Both were covered in hieroglyphics and colorful murals on plaster depicting the tomb's owners, who are believed to be father and son. Both tombs contain debris and evidence of ancient looting and vandalism, according to the statement. The  tombs share a courtyard with the Tomb of Djehuty , which was commissioned by a  royal cupbearer for the pharaohs  Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III, Discovery reported. A god's doorkeeper and his wife.  The  first tomb , discovered on Mar. 2, belongs to an Amenhotep (doorkeeper to the Egyptian god Amun) surnamed...

"Kindred Spirits" sculpture in Cork, Ireland to honor Choctaw who helped Irish settlers during famine   16 years after the Choctaw and other "civilized" tribes had endured the Trail of Tears and been forcefully relocated to Oklahoma the great potato famine of was spreading in Ireland. While numerous crops were grown in great quantity in Ireland, Britain had earmarked all of them for export as they were "money crops". The consumables that remained were priced to high for the local Irish Catholic farmers who could only afford the domesticated and easy to grow Irish Lumper that the poor had become dependent on. In the United Stated and its territories relief efforts were engaged in by numerous agencies to collect money and supplies to help out the famine victims in Ireland. A group of Choctaw people in Scullyville, Oklahoma area had heard of the plight of Irish and a number of Choctaw gathered on March 23, 1847 to collect funds to...

Easter Island and "Keister Island" Somehow in my years I have missed the Keister Island humor. I don't really consider that a fail in life ;-)  

Chief Luther Standing Bear (Ota Kte - "Plenty Kill" or "Mochunozhin")  Chief Luther Standing Bear (Ota Kte)  (December 1868-February 20, 1939) was  an Oglala Lakota chief  holds a fascinating place in relation to the Native American sphere. He was born into a period of time where he could still be immersed in the oral traditions and his native culture. But he was also educated at the  Carlisle Indian Industrial School, traveled with the Buffalo Bill Wild West show, lived on the reservation, worked and taught school ($300 month) at the Rosebud agency in South Dakota, met King Edward VII of England and went on to write important books from the perspective of a Native American who understood how to communicate to the encroaching populations. His works helped to develop an appreciation for what Native American culture could offer other and helped to created popular support for helping to bring about positive changes to government policies towards Indians. Here are...

Photoshop turns 25 The ubiquitous Gorilla in the digital room Photoshop just turned 25 years old!  The original concept for photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll while Tom was a student at the University of Michigan.  The original name for the program was "Display" which Thomas had created on his Mac.  John worked at Industrial Light and Magic and convinced Tom to turn it into a full fledged program. They originally tried the name ImagePro(*), but it was already taken so they settled on Photoshop. The software was originally released only with a scanner manufactured by BarneyScan (about 200 units were sold). Soon after the program was demoed to Adobe and Apple and in 1990 was released as a Mac only program. For scale, around this time if you wanted to have a photo professionally retouched with the high-end systems it could easily cost up to $300/hr. Flash forward 25 years and put...

"Pi. It might not be rational, but it is fun!" We counted down the last 53 seconds and then yelled "Pi". The kids loved it, they are going to be happy geeks.

Pi Day Pi Day - 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m!   The one day of year I can really show math my appreciation!  Since we all have a bit of geek in us don't forget to observe the BIG Pi day today: 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m.     Can recall what Pi is off the top of your head?    LEARN ABOUT PI   Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Pi is a constant number, meaning that for all circles of any size, Pi will be the same.The diameter of a circle is the distance from edge to edge, measuring straight through the center. The circumference of a circle is the distance around. HISTORY OF PI By measuring circular objects, it has always turned out that a circle is a little more than 3 times its width around. In the Old Testament of the Bible (1 Kings 7:23), a circular pool...

                                At my daughters grade school concert the other night I was running herd on my son and two of his buddies, then we were joined by my other, very tired son.  Unfortunately he lost the fine point Sharpie I had given him so as a last resort I gave him my new fresh fat sharpie.  Well I was also recording the concert with my camera on a tripod and paying attention to that with my youngest on my lap...his head was bobbing he was so tired then he looked at me and said "I am tired, I want to go"...and I had to fight not to be laughing out loud....  

Because I feel it is important for archaeologist and anthropologists to be well read. I give to you "An analysis of the forces required to drag sheep"   An-analysis-of-the-forces-required-to-drag-sheep.pdf