Actor Harrison Ford has been elected to the board of ARCHAEOLOGY’s parent organization, the Archaeological Institute of America.

Tree-ring data indicates that an El Nino was occurring in 1520, and may have eased Ferdinand Magellan’s trip across the Pacific Ocean, according to a new study summarized in Science.

A water main made of a log bored through its center, sheeted in metal, and coated with creosote, was uncovered during road construction in northern Michigan, right behind a fire house. “I’d always heard about wooden water mains, and how firemen used to dig a hole in the ground and then poke a hole in the pipe with a pick head ax,” said Fire captain Bob Adrian. The pipe will go on display at the station.

Turkey’s ancient Anatolian city of Aizanoi will soon open to the tourist trade. The city became wealthy under the Romans, and is known for its temple of Zeus, bath houses, gymnasium, dam, column-lined avenues, necropolis, and sacred cave dedicated to the goddess Meter Steunene.

Tourism at Delphi, however, is still going strong. Writer Chris Welsch tells of his visit to the Oracle and his hike along the pilgrims’ path, and he offers tips for planning a visit to this ancient Greek city.

The Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum in western Pennsylvania reopens this week after being closed for a year for renovations.

Portuguese archaeologists will probably help with the study of a sixteenth-century wreck discovered off the coast of Namibia last month. “We have every interest in cooperating with local authorities to save an artifact that is ours – not in a material sense, but in a sentimental sense,” said Joao Pedro Cunha Ribeiro, deputy director of Lisbon’s architectural and archaeological heritage management agency.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, May 16, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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