How the Pyramids Weren't Built: Nano-Biorobots

Magnetically controlled bacteria doing the heavy lifting. Work being done at the NanoRobotics Laboratory of the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Other coverage I've seen of this plays on the old slave labor ideas derived from antique folklore and early Hollywood films, and not so much with the known work gangs.

h/t IEEE Spectrum

Historical Archaeology Field School - East Tennessee - June 2010

I am going to be assisting with this course and investigation, so a head's up. Please contact Dr. Sampeck if you are interested in taking the course. The deadline is coming up (April 1), but you still have time.

2010 ISU Field School in Historical Archaeology
Cherokee Towns in the Time of Spanish Contact

May 31– June 25, 2010

Explore the early history of East Tennessee. Learn techniques of survey, excavation, and artifact analysis in this six credit archaeological field school.


PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Eastern Tennessee may have been visited by Hernando DeSoto in 1540 and Juan Pardo in 1567 as part of the Spanish colonization of the New World. Even though this colonial encounter was brief, it had profound effects for the indigenous inhabitants of this region, the ancestors of some of today's Cherokee. This project will explore the natural and cultural landscape of East Tennessee in the early historic period to better understand what the Spanish referred to as the “Chiscas.” The 2010 season will be devoted to survey, mapping, excavation, and artifact analysis of contact‐period (Qualla phase) sites in the Nolichuckey valley in the vicinity of the modern settlements of Greeneville, Telford, and Jonesboro, Tennessee. Lectures will include discussion and analysis of the Spanish chronicles related to DeSoto's and Pardo's explorations, other sources concerning Cherokee history, and examples of Cherokee archaeology. This project is carried out in close collaboration with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and is funded in part by the ECBI Tribal Historic Preservation Office


COURSE CREDIT
This course earns six undergraduate or graduate credits from Illinois State University. Students can usually transfer these hours toward a graduate or undergraduate degree program. Students should inquire about credit transferability with their degree‐granting institution. All students are required to keep a journal documenting field and lab work. Students will also contribute to the field school blog. The course will culminate in a public presentation of student research to the community of Cherokee, North Carolina.


COSTS (subject to change)
Room and Board: $1300.00
Includes lodging, local transportation, excursions, and weekday lunches.
Students are responsible for all other meals.
Tuition & Fees (6 Credit hours)
ISU students: see tuition schedule
NON‐ISU students: $2041.00
Incidental Fee (supplies, field trips)
ALL STUDENTS: $75


TO APPLY
Please send a letter or email to Dr. Sampeck at the address below. In your letter, indicate why you would like to take the course and include the names and phone numbers of two references.

APPLICATION DEADLINE
April 1, 2010

Please direct all inquiries to :
DR. KATHRYN SAMPECK (Project Director)
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Campus Box 4660
Schroeder Hall 335
Normal, IL 61790
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
Phone: 309‐438‐8668
Fax: 309‐438‐5378
E‐mail: ksampec@ilstu.edu

Weird Archaeology 101: Neat Video on the Acambaro Figurines

A classic of weird pseudoarchaeology.

From the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Enjoy.