SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

The Observer’s Science Editor has an update on the latest developments in Hobbit research – and how they might have been the first species out of Africa than the homo erectus. Of course, the usual caveats apply: future research will probably confirm or refute this hypothesis.

photo credit: Rosino

How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race
The Observer, 21 February 2010
Read the rest of this entry »

Ahem. It seems I am enjoying my Christmas holiday a little too much and it’s a little difficult to sit at a computer for any period of time this month. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers of SEAArch, I’ll resume news-blogging in the new year.

I’ve written briefly about digital storage and preservation before because it’s been a personal concern of mine for some time. The Digging Digitally weblog has recently pointed to a meeting by the Library of Congress entitled “Designing Storage Architectures for Digital Preservation”. With the presentations by various practitioners and industry leaders uploaded online. Check them out here.

sorry for the lack of updates folks, I’ve decided to take an extended break for what is already a holiday week here in Malaysia. That, and an unexpected resort stay doesn’t help too! I’ll be back posting archaeology news and announcements on Monday.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslim readers out there!
Noel

A literature foundation in Surakarta has announced the digitizing a quarter of the 6,000 ancient manuscripts and books in their possession – with the entire collection to be completed by the end of the year. The founder of this initiative, John Paterson, was in the news last week when he said that he was returning the scripts in his possession to the city of Solo for safekeeping. I certainly hope that such a digitalised collection will be made open access for everyone to access and study.

Thousands of Ancient Scripts Digitalized
Tempo Interaktif, 27 May 2009
Read the rest of this entry »

Remember last year’s study about the Gallus gallus and how they proved the Polynesians crossed over into the Americas? A new study published this week seems to contradict that claim.

Chicken Bone Spurs Debate Over Americas’ First Visitors
National Geographic, 28 July 2008
Read the rest of this entry »

The upcoming World Rock Art course scheduled to be held at the end of the year in Malaysia is offering a discounted rate for early registrants of ₤675 (including accommodation, lunches and refreshments) if you register before 1 August. The amount is still quite steep for those of us in Asia, so Barry Lewis, the project officer at Trent & Peak Archaeology of the University of Nottingham has asked all interested parties to email him so that he can get an idea of the level of interest – the more people who are interested in the course, the lower the cost will go. So, email him at Barry.Lewis@nottingham.ac.uk

You can download a copy of the flyer here, or by clicking on the picture.

Related books:
- Introduction to Rock Art Research
- Handbook of Rock Art Research
- Rock art and posterity: Conserving, managing and recording rock art : proceedings of symposium M, “Conservation and site management” and symposium E, “Recording … Darwin in 1988 (Occasional AURA publication)
- World Rock Art (Conservation and Cultural Heritage Series)