Archive for February, 2007
The Tomb of Jesus
Feb 26th
Carl Feagans mentions the Tomb of Jesus brouhaha. I plan to put up something on this, but I’m holding back for now as I’m waiting for a couple of email replies. I’ve sent one to Professor who produced the 600:1 claim. I’ve tried seeing the press conference to see how he gets that figure, but it’s not working for me. The way they present the data in the document pack suggests if you’re not expecting Jesus to be married to Mary Magdelene then the probability falls from 600:1 to around 4:1.
The problem is that the statistical analysis is presented as being so ham-fisted that I have to assume something is missing. For instance I can’t work out how Historical Bias = 4. This is only a summary so I’m only 64.56732% sure this is a spurious figure plucked from the air. There could be harder archaeological reasons for saying why this figure is justified from an analysis of more ossuaries. Alas, the pack given by Discovery, despite their claims doesn’t give you the evidence to judge for yourself.
You can download the pack without working your way through all the Flash navigation and read a couple of articles, a couple of maps More >
Thinking about Skype: Talkback?
Feb 26th
I’ve been thinking more about what I can do with Skype and podcasting. I’m wondering if a talkback section would be a good idea. For instance I’d like to do something on the Tomb of Jesus by the Discovery Channel. What I could do is open my Skype Voicemail so that people could record their opinions. Would there be interest in this?
Also would a direct phone number you can dial into the voicemail help? If I get such a number, the first would probably be based in the USA. Would there be a specific geographic location that would be the best place to site it in, or is everything beyond the local neighbourhood ‘long-distance’. I ask as there’s a number XXX-XXX-CLIO based in Washington DC which tempted me, but there’s no point buying it if a phone number on the coast is more expensive for the average caller than one based more centrally.
Introducing Clioaudio
Feb 25th
Clioaudio episode 1
Following Aydin’s advice I’ve tried to go with something simple, but the simpler you go the more likely it is that the name.com has been taken. I’ve settled on Clioaudio.I was wary of using Clio in the title, as I don’t want to cause confusion with Clioweb, Cliopatria, Spinning Clio and so on, but decided that Clio- was probably generic enough to avoid confusing one with the other.
This is the first pilot which is still a bit of a test file. I need to work on recording from phones and also on my esses. This is why I prefer to have someone else in front of the microphone. Oh, and my interview technique.
In the medium term I may be moving newsy posts to Clioaudio with the intention of getting syndicated on NewsNow.
Call for Mild Interest: Classics, Astronomy and Interdisciplinarity
Feb 24th
There might be a session Classics, Astronomy and Interdisciplinarity at the Classical Association conference next year. It’s being organised by Alexandra Smith at Cardiff University and I’m her glamorous assistant.
She’s obviously not one of life’s lucky people.
The aim of the session is to look at how you can integrate research from Classics, which is often qualitative, data and Astronomy, which is often quantative data, and combine the two meaningfully. We’re expected to provide three or four speakers, so if you have a vague commitment-free interest in talking about Astronomy and Classics then drop me a note in the comment box below and I’ll get in touch. I don’t have dates other than April 2008, or a venue other than Liverpool, England yet. I plan to talk if we need to bring the numbers up to three or not talk if it reduces the numbers to four.
This isn’t a proper Call for Papers as the session is not confirmed yet.
Alex herself will probably be talking about the dating of eclipses, which is something she’s working on a lot. What I’ve read is impressive, so I’ll make of point of visiting the AMPAH conference when she’s speaking.
More >Celebrating one year of blogging
Feb 20th
Christopher O’Brien is celebrating one year of blogging at Northstate Science. I have to admit I’ve only been reading it regularly for the past few months, but its a fascinating site. I like his recent posts on Apologetics Archaeology (Part One) (Part Two), but theres more there, like this part of a discussion on how heritage preservation works in the USA. Or how about this on Bone Fragments and Archaeology? If you’re bored of archaeology then there are entries on those pyramids instead.
But if you read just one entry then make it this one on Zooarchaeology and Family Living.
Is everyone entitled to a private life or only politicians?
Feb 18th
Black teenager Cameron Day was today found “youthful and foolish” in a trial following allegations of possessing Class-A drugs. Mr Day, an unemployed man from Brixton sought to clear the air on the steps of the Old Bailey:
“I’m gratified to find that the court accepted my plea that this was a private matter and that the intrusion into what was a personal affair was utterly unwarranted. I now plan to return to my family and would ask the media to respect my privacy.”
Mr Day refused to clarify allegations that he had experimented with drugs whilst temporarily a janitor at Eton.
“It is a matter of record that I was briefly at Eton, where I had a normal Eton experience. This is completely irrelevant to the important issue of what I plan to do about the drugs problem should I become Prime Minister DJ at the Ministry of Sound. Further like any other working class man I reserve the right to become leader of a poltical party at some time in the future and thus have a right to a private life before I do so.”
Prominent MPs have all rallied to Mr Day’s offence. Mr Corkscrew, the Member of Parliament for Amalgamated More >
Roman Camps and Orientations
Feb 17th
A follow-up to The Orientation of Roman Camps and Forts. This is an application of the Binomial Distribution test that I’m using in my own work applied to the data from the original paper, which is why you may have the impression you’ve already read this recently. My analysis may not be correct, so I’m putting it up on iScience and submitting that to Carnival of Mathematics and Tangled Bank to see if people think the maths is wrong. I’m also putting it up on Revise and Dissent where it will get submitted to the History Carnival and Four Stone Hearth to see if it’s intelligible and sounds reasonable to Historians and Archaeologists.
Roman Camps and their Orientations reconsidered.There is currently a debate in the pages of the Oxford Journal of Archaeology on the orientations of Roman camps and forts. Richardson (2005:514-426) argues that the orientation of these camps is non-random and relied on some form of astronomical observation. He presents data which he argues supports his case. Recently Peterson (2007:103-108) has argued this relies on a flawed use of the Chi-squared test. I accept Peterson’s findings that Chi-squared is not a useful method. However examining the camps as a binomial distribution would More >
Reburial in the UK
Feb 14th
There was a story recently in the Guardian about Pagans demanding bones for reburial. It’s been covered by Afarensis, Dienekes, and PhDiva. There’s greater discussion of the issues at Aardvarchaeology and Cronaca. I’ve been waiting for the response from Pagan blogs before posting. Fortunately, Letter from Hardscrabble Creek, the Wild Hunt and Obbyoss. This last blog I found via The Stroppy Rabbit who has more links on the topic. I’ve been looking for an excuse to link to that site for a while and this post on the furore is perfect.
I agree with Martin as far as “I don’t think neo-paganism is any more silly than Christianity or Islam…” but I don’t think it’s always “really, really, really silly“. Sometimes I think it’s just mistaken or over-imaginative.
The element that disturbs me and gets the full three sillies is that the Council of British Druid Orders has appropriated my heritage and is telling me what I can or cannot do with my ancestors. I haven’t given them permission to speak for my ancestors. What gives them the right to seize and destroy the material evidence of my origins? This is a self-appointed elite which seeks to dominate the indigenous peoples of Britain for their own personal benefit. More >
Then Why Are There Still Humans?
Feb 12th
Original image by vj_pdx.
I’m busy today, so I don’t have time to put together the Darwin Day post that I’d like to. In the meantime here’s another Creationism card. I’m starting to get an idea of how a game would work, so tentatively there might be more cards up and a working game for the next Darwin Day.
One reason I’m slightly rushed is that I spent time catching up on Origins Revisited, a Radio 4 series looking at the updated evidence for Human evolution. You can listen to all three programmes via the archive.
Roman Security
Feb 11th
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG9iIdXXN0s]
A clip from the sitcom Chelmsford 123.
