Matasha Mazis @mattyhari@qoto.org

Happy #WinterSolstice!  The astronomical #winter starts today.
Therefore, a mosaic found in the Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra/Ravenna, depicting the dancing Genii of the four seasons. The Genius of #winter is wrapped in a heavy cloak. Dating 5th/6th c. AD.

#romanarchaeology #archaeology #solstice

Happy #followfriday! Down in the trenches and can't find your #Twitter contacts? Find other #Shovelbums with the #Academics of Mastodon #Archaeology List 🏺

https://stark1tty.github.io/Mastodon-Archaeology/

More disciplines here:

https://nathanlesage.github.io/academics-on-mastodon/

Please spread the word!
#Archaeologist #Archaeodons #Prehistory #AcademicChatter #PhD #Histodons #History @archaeodons @anthropology @academicchatter @phdlife @histodons

200 people and organizations now and counting. Take a look and find your tribe.

So I had a kind of thought-avanlanche in response to a tweet @FlintDibble posted over on the birdsite... and since I thought it might be of interest to #archaeology folks here, I'm stitching it together (with some minor edits for coherence and to fix typos) here:

Honestly, now that I think about it... it's totally unsurprising that the tinfoil-hat folks who are into #Atlantis would trust these old narratives more than modern research.

After all, one of the core unspoken assumptions that fuels most #Occult thinking is that older knowledge is "better".

As historian Wouter Hanegraaff notes, by Late Antiquity (if not before), "innumerable sources refer to the reigning idea that the most ancient 'barbarian' peoples possessed a pure and superior science and wisdom, derived not from reason but from direct mystical access to the divine and that all the important Greek philosophers up to and including Plato had received their 'philosophy'
from these sources" (Hanegraaff 2009, "The Pagan Who Came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic Orientalism", p. 34).

So yeah, the idea that the age of a source of knowledge somehow increases its purity is itself an ancient one -- and the idea still fuels occult thinking right up to the present day.

That's probably a big part of the reason why so many of these new-age tinfoil-hat types who are obsessed with some idea that Atlantis was a "lost global civilization" are quick to denigrate contemporary science-based archaeology -- their whole paradigm assumes that when a modern source of knowledge contradicts a more ancient one, the more ancient is *inherently* better by definition. And that notion is itself a product of millennia of tradition within Western occult thinking, so it ALSO has the value of age to "recommend" it.

And it's ALSO probably a big part of the reason why Graham Hancock's bullshit has been so rapidly embraced by the #Neofascist #FarRight: tinfoil-hat types who are already primed to accept the idea that ancient knowledge is "pure" and "better" than modern science are an ideal target audience for propaganda by said neo-fascists, because the latter can appeal to all sorts of "ancient" ideas to back their bullshit claims. (And their ideology is ALL ABOUT "purity", as they choose to define it.)

The fact that neo-fascists are supporting all kinds of nonsense based on some putatively "ancient" origin, up to and including dubious early colonial narratives, thus makes perfect sense. It's a convenient means for them to get more people to reject ALL non-aligned modern scholarship as "revisionist woke trash".

In other words, these "harmless" New Age conspiracy theories are in fact an ideal recruiting ground for the neo-fascists because adherents are already halfway down the road of rejecting undesired realities as it is, and because these occult-tinged conspiracy theories have hard-wired within them the idea that older knowledge is inherently more "pure" or "better" than new knowledge.

I've just discovered that @AidanOSullivan is here on Mastodon. He discovered and interpreted this site. He has a terrific feed on Irish and experimental archaeology, and is a must for following.

Stunning survival of a 700-year old #medieval #fishing #weir in a vast landscape of mudbanks and water channels in the Fergus estuary, Co. Clare, Ireland, 1.5km from the nearest dryland. Fish dropping down with the ebbing tide were guided into the point of the weir, where they were trapped by baskets and nets. At low tide each day fisherman came by boat to build & repair the weirs and remove the catch.
Lots more detail at https://www.ucd.ie/news/2011/02FEB11/180211-Secrets-of-Irish-medieval-fishing-site-will-be-lost-to-the-tide.html.
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Hello everyone! Looking forward to meeting more folks interested in space archaeology, talking about our project, and promoting social science approaches to improving life in space. For more info, check out our website, in the bio. We've also published five articles so far on crew-created visual displays, ISS cargo processes, population distributions in various modules, machine learning techniques for using ISS photos as data, and, finally, on our methodology.

I was just sent a copy of this glorious oral history of the San Diego Comic Convention, as it grew from a tiny comic con to the International Event it is now. Fascinating stuff from people who were there. Big thumbs up.

#JohnMastodon is proof that things *CAN* go viral here on Mastodon, but the key is that *YOU* are the algorithm. The reason that the John Mastodon meme showed up on other people's timelines is because so many users boosted the posts.

The lesson here is: please don't just favourite something if you really enjoyed it; BOOST it so that other people can enjoy it, too! This is the only reason why I bother to create as large a social graph as I can on Mastodon—to act as an amplifier. You can, too!❤️😉

Day 18 #ArtAdventCalendar
#raku #pottery #vase

Raku, a historic firing technique that originated during the 1500s in Japan. It involves placing molten hot vases in a reduction bin with organic combustible materials. Once the lid is placed on the bin, the fire uses all the remaining oxygen, which creates unique one of a kind effects.

Raku roughly translates as 'happiness in the accident', however the details of each firing are carefully planned.

#art #MastodonArt #Archaeology #MastoArt

Ukraine’s museums keep watch over priceless gold in bid to halt Russian looters https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/18/ukraine-museums-scythian-gold-russian-looters-putin?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#ukraine
#archaeology
#ArchaeologicalSites
#museums
#WarLooting

Finding the new Twitter "Promotion of alternative social platforms policy" deeply amusing

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/social-platforms-policy

I guess I'm technically in violation since my Twitter profile links to my personally hosted https://fedi.simonwillison.net/ Mastodon, but presumably if I ran a different ActivityPub server like https://jointakahe.org/ I'd be fine

How about if I fork Mastodon and rename it to Simonodon and run that instead?

In very exciting news, our book is coming out soon 🥳
It’s on the Roman kings and we explore the history through the source material that survives - later written accounts and what is suggested by the archaeology.
Like our podcast, the book is written to be both accessible in terms of how we talk about ideas as well as with plenty of references. That way, you can follow up on the ideas and key details that interest you ☺️
It’s coming out in late January, and pre-orders are most welcome. They’ll help our indie publisher and us!
You can pre-order here: https://highlands-press.com/product/rex/
#AncientRome #Kings #Rex #Book #History @histodons @bookstodon

Brass mail and tortoiseshell cuirass, 17th century (philippines).
When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived to Philippines, they brought with them plate armor and morrión style helmets.
Philippines, has a modest amount of metals. However, the Muslim warriors of Mindanao through piracy made possible the creation of uniques metal armor.

#historia #archaeology
#arqueologo #historiamilitar #militaryhistory #war #conflictarchaeology #histodons #histodon @histodons @militaryhistory

These are two sides of a #Byzantine earring that was found in Tharros #Sardinia, and is dated to the 6th-7th century.
The earring is made of gold with an amethyst bead and white pearls.

#AncientJewelry
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© The Trustees of the British Museum, 1856,1223.1746

#Russia has turned off the power to #Ukraine, so we are bringing light.

President Zelensky has called on the international community to support the urgent purchase of 50 million LED light bulbs for Ukrainian homes.

We have mobilised €30 million to cover roughly 30 million LED bulbs. These are 88% more efficient and could save the equivalent to the annual output of one nuclear power plant.

Together, we can help protect the people of Ukraine from freezing temperatures and blackouts this winter.

#TombTuesday Tomb of a Sogdian community leader & his wife, who lived in 6thc China, illustrating their Zoroastrian beliefs (the Sogdians were an Iranian people who played a major role in trade along the Silk Road). [Detail from Façade of Sarcophagus of Shi Jun (Wirkak) and Wiyusi: Bird-Man Creature Tending Sacred Fire. Xi’an, 579–80 CE. Shaanxi History Museum, China.
Image courtesy of Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.] https://sogdians.si.edu/shi-juns-sarcophagus/

A charming #Roman enamelled fibula (a decorative pin for fastening garments/a brooch) in the form of a #frog. Animal-shaped brooches were common in Roman time and popular in the north-western provinces of the empire, yet they rarely have the form of #frogs. It has been suggested that frogs had an apotropaic value (i. e. to avert evil), but there is no evidence for this. Found in Ladenburg, dating 2nd century AD. On display at Lobdengau Museum Ladenburg.

#RomanArchaeology #archaeology

Apparently it’s #InternationalMountainDay so here are a few photos of the Usambara Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot and ecological refugium in northeastern Tanzania. We are now exploring the archaeology of the region.

I had the honour of interviewing Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson about their beautiful and brilliant Pinocchio last night. It's on Netflix. If you get the chance to see it on the big screen, you must.