The archaeological community has seen a rather large shift over the past two weeks. A contest to select seven new Wonders of the World has come to a conclusion, and not much of the ancient world made the list.

The original Seven Wonders of the World (sometimes referred to as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World): (Source)

• The Great Pyramid at Giza
• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• The Statue of Zeus at Olympus
• The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
• The Colossus of Rhodes
• The Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria

The new Seven Wonders of the World (Source)

• Chichen Itza
• Christ Redeemer (statue)
• The Great Wall of China
• Machu Pichu
• The ancient city of Petra
• The Roman Colosseum
• The Taj Mahal

The new list was created by internet surfers voting on a list of sites, so naturally it’s raised some complaints from various groups, including UNESCO, the arm of the United Nations in charge of protecting world heritage (lower-case) sites. Some point out this was a popularity contest more than it was a consideration of each site’s merit as an actual marvel like the original seven.

I imagine both lists are going to end up living side by side once the dust completely settles.

When I was working on my thesis on relations between Olympic hosting countries and indigenous people, one of the most disturbing things I learned was that Australia has a hard time tracing its past. It wasn’t uncommon for a long time for Australians to tear down old buildings so they could build ones that better suited the area. It didn’t occur to them they were destroying history; they were just trying to modernize.

A native Texan, I couldn’t wrap my mind around that. Half my home state is a historic landmark of one sort or another. Old buildings are refurbished and repurposed, and you’d better be ready to be run out of town if you expect to tear down anything.

Then the hubbub started around Tara in Ireland. Tara has a strong role in Irish lore as the burial ground of kings. In some Celtic circles, Tara is set aflame by an Otherworlder at Samhain (Halloween) because it’s one of the places where the veil between our world and the other world is the weakest. It’s been sacred ground. Then the government decided to build a road through the area that would require the hill to be razed. I think the preservation society that was fighting to preserve the hill ended up losing, but the road still isn’t built due to some other issues.

Now, it appears that in the need to build more roads through the English countryside (and because the upkeep on it has become a challenge in light of preparing for hosting the Olympics), there is a movement afoot to revoke Stonehenge’s World Heritage Site status. Stonehenge isn’t in danger of being torn down, thankfully, but its upkeep is becoming less and less important.

The more we modernize, I guess these are going to become issues for countries all over the world. How do you preserve history while keeping up with the times? (Or maybe hosting the Olympics isn’t such a great idea? And that’s coming from a girl who loves the spirit of the Olympic Games and has the Beijing mascots hanging from her cell phone.)

I love following fictional archaeologists. I’ve always enjoyed playing Tomb Raider. I hated missing episodes of Relic Hunter. The last Indiana Jones movie is one of my favorite ways to pass a rainy afternoon.

Last year, I spent a good portion of the dig season following the adventures of real-life archaeologists as KV 63 was excavated.

I’d never be able to convince myself to do anything more volunteer on a dig (and I really need to find myself doing that at some point), but I do love the idea of archaeology. You get to poke around where people lived. If you’re really lucky, you find something, however small, that tells you something about how those people lived. Even better, you find something that leaves you wondering about the originating culture. It’s a mystery, a puzzle to be solved. And I love a good puzzle!

While some people do get to chase their dreams of being a professional archaeologist, many are left unable to land so much as a research position. Some of them change professions. Others become unlicensed archaeologists, turning into the mercenary tomb raiders fiction loves to show off for us.

It’s just fascinating. Some people are content to be amateur archaeologists. Some people leave you wondering what they were taught in their archaeology courses. My museum science-trained self can’t help but wonder what goes through the minds of these “tomb raiders” as they’re unearthing and selling these artifacts off the grid.

I recently read that a slab toppled into the Square Tower House at Mesa Verde. Apparently, it demolished one wall of the kiva, and the archaeologist reporting it was unexpectedly blase about that.

For those unaware, the kiva is considered the heart of a Pueblo. It is where rituals, both societal and religious, are held. It is the most sacred place in the community. There are very strict rules for your conduct within the kiva.

It hurt to hear that a kiva had been violated like this, but to hear someone who should know better talk about it the way one would talk about a change in the weather was just painful.

With the summer solstice roughly a month away, it’s interesting to note how many articles are starting to surface about ancient observatories.

I’ve always had a weakness for astronomy and ancient cultures, but it wasn’t until I got to Astronomy my freshman year of college that I was exposed to archaeoastronomy. My professor was a cosmologist, so we often got a bit of archaeology and anthropology mingled into our lectures. It was incredible! These people developed an incredibly advanced understanding of the universe around them without a single inch of what we would consider technology. I just think that’s fascinating!
Links to some ancient observatory information

• Brazil- Monolithic Astronomy
• Andean Observatory

I can’t throw pottery to save my soul. Even the ways of the coil pot, so popular among the elementary school crowd, elude me.

I have, however, been known to enjoy sifting and sorting th rough pottery shards. One of my favorite activities in elementary school was when we were creating pottery just to break it and create shards! I thought that was great! I worked extra hours in my Collections Management class in grad school working to sort the shards assigned to my team because it was so much fun!

Part of the fun in working with these shards is that you can imagine the artisans who created it, what they had to work with. You can think about the people who used the pottery before it was destroyed. It’s a very imagination-evoking bit of busy work. I had never given any thought to how the pottery was prepared or fired, but this article really intrigued me. I’ve been fascinated with the Hopi since I was a child, and these pieces are absolutely beautiful.

I think I’m going to be daydreaming in pottery shards for a few days!