This week at Forbes: Tarim mummies, Synagogue mosaics, 'Diggers' returns, Philip II Part II, Roman medical ideas, DNA of Magna Graecia, and Napoleonic mass grave

Whew, it was a busy week!  Here's what I wrote:

• DNA Reveals These Red-Haired Chinese Mummies Come from Europe and Asia.  I was a bit surprised how well this article did, since the Tarim mummies are not exactly a new find, but I forget sometimes that not everyone knows about interesting skeletons from around the world.

• Unique Mosaics Found in Ancient Israeli Synagogue May Depict Alexander the Great and Samson. Last spring, we at UWF were treated to some lectures by archaeologist Jodi Magness from my alma mater of UNC, so I took the opportunity afforded by a press release to write about her latest mosaic finds.

• 'Diggers' Returns for a New Season with Better Collaboration with Archaeologists.  I remembered the controversy over this show from back in 2012, so when we got an email from the SAA president about the return of the show, I decided to talk to the archaeologists featured in the first episode about their experience with the new-and-improved show.

• Twisted Knee Might Identify Alexander the Great's Father, but Some Are Skeptical.  Another paper is out identifying Philip II's remains... except the two articles don't agree on which skeleton is his.  I kind of think the answer might be somewhere in between, since the bones are commingled, but I'd like to see a full, complete analysis of all the bones first.

• The Six Weirdest Ancient Roman Ideas about the Human Body.  My awesome grad student Andrea and I are perusing the Latin literature trying to find neat epigrams for the manuscript I'm writing (a pop-sci book about what Roman bioarch can teach us), and I put up this post based on some of that research.

• DNA Study Pinpoints When the Ancient Greeks Colonized Sicily and Italy.  A new and intriguing paper on using modern DNA to work backward to when and where Magna Graecia was first colonized by Greeks.

• Skeletons of Napoleon's Soldiers Discovered in Mass Grave Show Signs of Starvation.  And finally this week, I wrote about a couple new biochemical studies by anthro students at UCF about Napoleon's soldiers, who died in Vilnius in 1812. 

I'm writing up a post on Iceland to run on Monday... when I leave for Iceland!  I might get around to one more post while I'm in Reykjavik, but expect very little from me as I attempt to actually go on vacation for once.