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  • Great Balls of Floury Fire November 21, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient
    Great Balls of Floury Fire

    Food is dangerous at the best of times. But a thoughtful note by J van Leuven in an archaeological journal (Antiquity) from 1979 should prove of interest to all bizarrists as it suggests that food, more particularly grain, had the potential to bring powerful Mycenaean city states, including Knossos, to their knees. Now if this […]

    The Buddha in Viking Sweden August 20, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
    The Buddha in Viking Sweden

                    Beachcombing thought that today he would revisit a classic anomalous archaeological find: the Helgö Buddha. Knowing though his personal weaknesses, he first did some deep breathing exercises before the mirror repeating a score of times: ‘be nice about the Vikings’, ‘be nice about the Vikings’, ‘be nice […]

    Genocide on the Isle of Wight? July 13, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
    Genocide on the Isle of Wight?

                Beachcombing has noted before the refusal of archaeologists to face up to some of the bloodier customs of our ancestors. And what better example of this than the way that most archaeologists looking away on coming across any evidence of mass killings or human sacrifice in Dark Age Britain? Indeed, despite there being […]

    Mad Coin-Burying Halliday July 4, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Modern
    Mad Coin-Burying Halliday

                Beachcombing has noted, over the years, with great and punctilious interest, objects and people that archaeologists and historians have found in places where they almost certainly should not have been. Buddha statues in Viking Denmark, Viking weapons in pre Colonial Minnesota, American Indians in Europe… Some of these may be […]

    The return of Mayan-style human sacrifice June 25, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
    The return of Mayan-style human sacrifice

                        Beachcombing loves the way that some of the best historical stories hide behind the most oblique academic titles. Take, for example, Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina, ‘Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons’ (Latin […]

    American Pilot Purloins World’s Last Roman Eagle? June 21, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient
    American Pilot Purloins World's Last Roman Eagle?

                          Ahhh… Beachcombing comes running back to the classics, diving into their sparkling clean waters – leaving his rather dirty mark on those tranquil, traced surfaces. Now Roman Eagles. Each legion had one carried by the aquilifer. The troops would defend their eagle to the […]

    Review: Curiosities of British Archaeology June 17, 2010

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval, Prehistoric
    Review: Curiosities of British Archaeology

                        Beachcombing has long looked for books that fit his stated mission: ‘the outlandish, the anomalous and the curious from the last five thousand years’. But he has almost invariably been disappointed by just how few books pass muster and also at the poverty or lunacy of those few […]