ArchLab News

Some time has passed...

2007-01-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

It was recently brought to my attention that this little blog hadn't been updated in, well, a long time.
So here's the update!
It's 2007 now (what?!) and my time here is drawing to a close *sniff*. Ellen, our Assistant Curator, is off in Bonn for the semester, leaving me and Adam to tend to the lab. We have our new freshman, Molly, spending more time here and getting a chance to see how things run (it's rather slow right now so unfortunately there isn't much to see...).
In antiquities news, we have new stuff! Why not head over to the main site and check it out?
We have a stunning Apulian Hydria, a very sexy Babylonian plaque, a wooden figure from an Egyptian tomb model and a variety of smaller items such as bowls and pottery bits and pieces. Photos of the larger items are already up, and the smaller items will be up soon!

Long Overdue

2006-03-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

So it's been a fair bit since the last update. Put the blame squarely on schedules, breaks and a rather frustrating series of events that were the result of a server-wide security modification. Luckily, we are back up and running as of today, so the updates will be coming at a more steady rate. We have lots of new artifacts to add to our galleries.
Current updates:
Fr. Fulco's new and improved CV (for inquiring minds)
Publication list (for adventures in reading)

More to come shortly!

Event change!

2006-01-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

Due to the fact that we all forgot Monday was a holiday and therefor no work was done, the Faculty & Staff Open House has been moved to next Friday, Jan. 27. Same time, same place! :)

-The Management

Events and such

2006-01-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year and Merry first week of school to everybody! Yes, it's been much too long without a proper update...but that will be no more due to my lovely new schedule this semester. Here's a quick list of some of our upcoming department events:

Jan. 20- Faculty/Staff Open House 4pm
Feb. 16- Indiana Jones Marathon Time TBD
March 16- Roman Feast! Time and location TBD
April 8- 3rd Annual Symposium

Keep an eye out for our annual Dionysus Festival and for the new Olympic Games!

Also, there will be some new photos in the next coming days/weeks as there are several of some of our newer artifacts that never quite made it to the website :)

New items

2005-10-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hooray for new acquisitions! We have 3 new items to add to our collection...and hopefully our website depending on how quickly things get processed/catalogued/photographed.
*ahem*
We have: a silver fibula, another key ring, and a cute little clay vessel that looks like it could have been used for an ink pot (initial speculation based on odd dark coloration)
Next update won't be til later next week, as this weekend+Monday and Tuesday is mid-semester break!

(posted by Annelise)

Explore Clifford!

2005-10-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Check out the newly-created page dedicated to our favorite cat mummy, Clifford! It's full of fun x-rays so you can take a look inside Clifford and see beneath the layers of linen and resin.
Take a peek!

New Photos!

2005-10-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

2 new images have been added to the New Kingdom Gallery and our Course Offerings section has gotten a bit of a face lift.
Enjoy!

(posted by Annelise)

Links!

2005-10-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

At long last, there are links!
Both the carnelian beads and a look at some of our newer glass vials can be found here!

In other event news, we have our Student Open House (caps indicate importance) on Thursday! It's at 4:30pm at the Archaeology Center, with free food and free tours! Bring your friends! Bring your family! Heck, you can even bring Grandma. This is a great opportunity for anyone who is even remotely interested in archaeology, ancient history or just wants to see what is behind our many closed doors :)

(posted by Annelise)

Shameless propaganda

2005-09-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been a short bit since I last updated, but I place the blame squarely on class schedules, homework and a crazy amount of running around in preparation for our Faculty & Staff open house. It all went off beautifully, and although we didn't quite get the same turnout as last year, we definitely had a higher-ranking turnout. All sorts of administrators as well as professors and university staff came and experienced the magic and wonder that is the Archaeology Center. Father Lawton even made it! Suddenly 2 years of flyering, invitations and endless plugs for our event came to fruition.
In other news, specifically artifact news (the fun sort!), our lovely Roman beads are up and displayed (link to photos will be up shortly...our camera is currently possessed by a lesser demon) and our collection of Roman glass (link also pending) is growing as we have a shiny new addition coming in!

(posted by Annelise)

The Weather Hates Us

2005-09-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Minor crisis in the lab: The insane humidity fluxuations over the summer as well as the current high temperatures and humidity in UHall have started to take a very serious toll on some of our pieces. More notably, one of the Babylonian pieces which was in danger of completely flaking apart. We did the best we could, but it looks nothing like the piece we originally got *sigh* There are several other pieces, various small pots and unfired things, that are also flaking. Not quite on the scale of the little Babylonian one, but enough to notice. It's really just one of those things we can't keep up with. We have 4 de-humidifiers in the main museum, as well as a new supply of little silica gel dessicants in every case in there and in the stone room. These little gels are made to handle much larger cases and last for a pretty crazy long time...but in the period of about a week and a half, they've turned bright pink...which means they've absorbed all the moisture they can hold. A WEEK AND A HALF!! Good news: the crisis has been handled so far...now we just have to wait and see what happens next.

On a more exciting and shiny note, we have new items! We have a cute little jug that was listed as being Roman, but is pretty clearly Middle Bronze in design. We are also thrilled to have gotten 2 strings of Roman beads (carnelian and glass+gold leaf) as well as a fun Byzantine ring and a particularly cool coin of Vespasian with a pig on the back...which was minted as a way of lording the Roman capture of Judah over it's kosher inhabitants.

(posted by Annelise)

The Official Beginning

2005-08-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ah, the official first day of the semester. So much has already happened and the day isn't even over! Last week we were able to complete the long-awaited photo shoot of the lovely sarcophagus located in the Archaeology Library . We got some fabulous pictures with amazing quality...so amazing, in fact, that you can clearly read all the glyphs on the front and sides of the sarcophagus! We also had some new arrivals to the museum, most notably a small collection of small Roman glass jars and vials. Photos will be taken very soon of these amazing objects because they are just too cool not to be photographed and shared.
Stay tuned for the schedule of upcoming department and lab events!

New additions

2005-08-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

We have all sorts of new things happening this week! Several shiny new Egyptian faience amulets and ushabtis are coming our way and should be in sometime this week, which will make for lovely additions to our already amzing Egyptian case in the annex. I swear I will have a photo of our other newish item, a cute little Early Babylonian terra cotta plaque of Humbaba (God of the Cedar Forest, victim of the Gilgamesh/Enkidu glory days and namesake of our lab fishy). We have our new polarized filters for the camera, so decent photos can be taken!
There has also been some re-organizing of the library. Nothing major, but there are 2 new small units that now hold the National Geographic collection and have made more space for the ever-expanding other sections.

(Posted by Annelise)

Behold!

2005-08-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the inaugural post of the LMU Archaeology Lab/Museum News site! Here you will find links and details about all the exciting goings-on in the lab, from new pieces to lab and department events to updates on the main site. Sure, it's a wee bit plain at the moment, but we're still building up the site to it's full potential. Keep checking back! New things happen daily :)

(posted by Annelise)