Roman Bioarchaeology Carnival LXXIV

Welp, seems like summer vacation, plus Forbes blogging, plus the beginning of the fall academic semester collided and made it impossible for me to stick to a monthly Roman bioarch blogging schedule.  So here's the carnival of links for July and August... (And if you want news faster, these all come through the feed at my Facebook page for Powered by Osteons.)

Italy

• 26 August - Pompei, Scoperta Rara Sepoltura Infantile (ArtsBlog.it). A baby tomb was found at the necropolis of Porta Nola in Pompeii.  I haven't followed up to see if there's news coverage of their press conference in English or not.  Here's a blog post on the discoveries this season at Porta Nola.

• 6 August - Bones of the Victims at Roman Herculaneum (Heritage Daily). A generalist piece on the bones found at Herculaneum decades ago and what bones can tell us about ancient Romans' lives. There's also a new documentary on Herculaneum coming out Sept 10 - Mummies Alive, Hero of Herculaneum.

• 23 July - DNA Study Pinpoints When the Ancient Greeks Colonized Sicily and Italy (Forbes). I cover an article on the DNA of Magna Graecia; the study uses modern people rather than ancient remains but may give bioarchaeologists a starting point for hypotheses about ancient colonization.

• 22 July - The Six Weirdest Ancient Roman Ideas about the Human Body (Forbes).  I collected some rather interesting quotes from Pliny on how the Romans thought the human body worked and put them in listicle form.

• 22 July - Mary Beard Presents New BBC One Landmark Documentary with Unprecedented Access to Ancient Site of Pompeii (BBC). The title says it all.  When I grow up, I want to be Mary Beard.

• 15 July - Not All Strange Burials are Vampires or Zombies (Forbes). A recent article in PLOS summarizes the "irregular" burials in Britain and continental Europe from about the 1st-5th centuries AD (so, really, in the Roman Empire). 

Greece and Macedonia

Philip II's knee... or is it? (From Bartsiokas et al. paper.)

• 20 July - Twisted Knee Might Identify Alexander the Great's Father, but Some Are Skeptical (Forbes).  So remember in May when some Greek bioarchaeologists identified Philip II based on bones in one of the chambers of the Vergina tomb?  Well, there's another article out, and these Greek bioarchaeologists have also identified Philip II... in a completely different chamber of the Vergina tomb.

Egypt

• 26 August - Unusual Use of Blue Pigment Found in Ancient Mummy Portraits (Science Daily). Egyptian mummy portraits, which date to the Roman period, are truly fascinating, and this discovery is great.  I would like to someday be known by a moniker similar to that of the lead researcher, who is an "expert on the color blue."

Turkey

• 24 August - Roman-Era Mass Grave Discovered in Farmer's Field in Turkey (Forbes). I wrote a very brief post based on Turkish news coverage of this. I haven't seen any additional details as mentioned would be forthcoming.

• 5 August - Tomb of Phrygian King to Shed Light on History (Hurriyet Daily News). Brian Rose and others are excavating a tomb at Gordion of a possible Phrygian king from the 8th century BC.

Syria

• 20 August - Archaeologists Respond to the Murder of Khaled al-Asaad at Ancient Palmyra (Forbes). Among the destruction of artifacts and architecture by ISIS at Palmyra came news of the murder of archaeologist al-Asaad, who worked to protect Palmyra, including its Roman era remains. I wrote a post collecting some of the early reactions by archaeologists.

Iran

Parthian necropolis found in Iran. (From Iran Front Page)

• 7 July - Parthian Necropolis Unearthed in Northern Iran (Iran Front Page). This article reports 15 "catacombs," but they might be referring to 15 chamber tombs instead.  Not sure.

Israel

• 5 July - Ancient Jewish Necropolis Named World Heritage Site (Times of Israel). Burial here took place mostly in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, after Jewish revolts against Rome, but there are reportedly loads of Greek and Roman artworks here.

Lebanon

• 27 June - Workers Uncover Roman Burial Site, Antiquities in Sidon (The Daily Star).  Unfortunately, this is subscriber-only, so I'm not sure quite what was found.