Abstract
This paper discusses the science of paleoseismology, and archaeological evidence as a relatively new investigative source. The paper explains that archaeology was put into a more scientific framework only in 1928 by Sir Arthur Evans who, based on evidence of a destruction layer, established the tradition of regarding earthquake horizons as benchmarks in archaeological stratigraphy and chronology. The paper adds that some archaeologist have gone as far as blaming major earthquakes for the destruction of several major constructions, even putting the blame for the collapse and disappearance of ancient civilizations. After discussing pertinent topics such as the identification of paleoseismic phenomena, the paper concludes that the study of ancient earthquakes can also warn geologists about a presently tectonically quiet region and a potential future return of activity.

From the Paper
"The main contribution that seismic archaeology can offer to active tectonics is the localization, dating and evaluation of seismic events. The relationship between qualitative data (the description of effects) and quantitative data (magnitude, depth) is still approximate.
Archaeologists need to interpret and place material and written clues into a wider temporal context in the appropriate socio-economic framework of the sampled region. In other words, to establish the extent and magnitude of a certain destructive episode, i.e. working within a rigorous scientific outline, the archaeological study has to look beyond the often scant written record of the event. Local patterns of destruction and damage, filtered through historical parameters, can point to a more precise description of an ancient earthquake."

Tags:earthquake, prediction, history, ancient, record, seismology, seismogram, prehistoric

Abstract
In "Dimensions of Imperial Control: The Vijayanagara Capital," Carla Sinopoli and Kathleen Morrison confront this difficulty in archaeological investigation, attempting a more cautious and evidence-based analysis of the sites of power in and around the capital city of the Vijayanagara empire. They begin their assessment, rightly, with a basic ideological assumption about the nature of archaeology of ancient empires: overarching models that describe imperial control and loci of power that are relatively useless.

From the Paper
"Archaeology can be a frustrating discipline. The scholars who form the ranks of the world's archaeological institutions spend lifetimes sifting through scant clues to reconstruct the intimate details of civilizations long gone. Mistakes are easily made. Evidence is easily misinterpreted. It takes years of pointed training to develop the practical and intellectual skills to draw some meaningful conclusions regarding the characteristics of the ancient world. It's somewhat akin to trying to solve a murder mystery with only the briefest of clues that happened thousands of years prior. (In fact, Bob Brier--a famous Egyptologist--did just that, working to solve what he concluded was the murder of Tutankhamen)."

Tags:archaeology, vijayanagara, control

Abstract
This paper looks at specific fossil and archaeological evidence and specimens as possible sources for ancient Greek myths. It explores specific fossil bed sites and their relationship to the ancient world, as well as possible theories of how the ancients must have come across and created legends for various species of pre-historic creatures. The paper includes photographs.

From the Paper
"The ancient scholar Pausanias described some of these bones as "enormous but apparently human" when he visited the sanctuary of Askiepios, a rich fossil bed. Many fossils were claimed by the ancients to be the bones of local heroes, since many of these heroes were said to be of extraordinary height and stature. When these bones were found, they would be reburied in a ceremonial fashion and placed inside large coffins. These sites were then lost to the local's knowledge; so later in time Greeks would dig up large coffins with bones in them and then reclaim to have found the buried remains of local heroes."

Tags:dinosaur, cyclops, bones

Abstract
This paper provides a brief discussion of Greek history and Cretan art. The paper examines the phenomenon of looters and theft from Greek archaeological sites. The on-going battle against looting and smuggling antiquities is described, including an overview of international laws.

From the Paper
"Looters can be dated as far back as 134 B.C. when the Romans originally stole from the Greeks. Only during the last century did countries such as Greece become concerned about their cultures, since the high prices of the artifacts have lead to more of their treasures being stolen. In the 1960's, the popularity of marble statues encouraged thieves to loot the Aegean Islands for statues produced by the Cycladic culture during the Bronze Age. The looters destroyed over 12,000 graves in the course of their thefts. While many of these statues are in private collections, few have been recovered by archaeologists."

Tags:looters, cretan, art, smuggling, antiquities, customs, arthur, evans, knossos, phaestos

Abstract
The paper goes through all parts of the dig, including the methodology, previous research, budget and early history of the Effingham County (the County of Excavation) in Georgia. The paper relates that the excavation would be concentrated historically and culturally on the Salzburgs and early Native American tribes of the county.

Tags:anthropology, georgia, excavation

Abstract
The paper introduces archaeology, and explains that the concept of dating is central to the science of archaeology. Two broad categories of dating, relative and absolute, are introduced, and four major specific types of dating are presented to the reader; stratigraphy, dendrochronology, obsidian hydration dating, and radiocarbon dating. Each of the four methods are discussed in great detail, each with a closing paragraph devoted to the underlying problems with that particular method. For example, the section on stratigraphy begins with a brief history of the method itself, and introduces such concepts as the law of superposition, temporal sequences of data within stratified deposits, context evaluation, and determining age through the relative position of superimposed artifacts. The negatives of stratigraphy are then discussed, and include deformation, overlapping and reverse stratigraphy, and the method is evaluated on the whole. This format is then applied to the other three types of dating discussed. Finally, a concluding paragraph states that although the four types of dating discussed are infinitely valuable to archaeologists all over the world, there are still problems associated with each that need to be accounted for when using them to address the age of fossilized remains and other artifacts.

From the Paper
"Archaeology is the study of past human cultures, and archaeologists must uncover and interpret material remains in order to reconstruct past ways of life. To understand the purposes of these remains, Archaeologists have the task of constructing a chronology of prehistory, using various dating methods. "Without knowing the age of materials, little can be said about the activity that made them part of the site (David L. Webster, Susan Toby Evans & William T. Sanders, 1993: 128)." Dating is defined as the placement in time of events relative to one another or to any established scale of temporal measurement (Jeffrey S. Dean, 1981: 375). Dating methods used by Archaeologist incorporate the scientific method and have the advantages of objectification, application to isolated cultural sequences, and an expanded span of human prehistory for which an absolute chronology can be built (Keith Brannigan, 1974: 100-101). Scientific methods of dating are invaluable for the prehistoric periods and have revolutionized the archaeologists' ideas about the absolute chronology of the prehistoric culture sequence (Brannigan, 1974: 101), yet each of these scientific methods has many difficulties. Dating techniques fall into two categories relative and absolute and include the following: seriation, ceramic dating, potassium argon dating, thermoluminescence dating, archaeomagnetic dating, fission track dating, stratigraphy, dendrochronology, obsidian hydration dating, and radiocarbon dating. This paper will discuss the latter four methods, with an emphasis on the shortcomings of each."

Tags:absolute, age, archaeology, artifacts, chronology, cultures, dating, endrochronology, fossils, history, human, hydration, measurement, obsidian, past, prehistoric, radiocarbon, relative, remains, stratigraphy, temporal, time

Abstract
The paper relates that in our globalized mass media culture, almost everything exists as a commodity or has a price, and this general rule applies not only to material things but to abstractions such as "history" and the "past". The paper asserts that this is particularly the case in our era of mass tourism, when the desire of the general public from many countries - almost always affluent publics with disposable income - to experience the past in large numbers can produce significant economic benefits for countries possessing marketable historical sites.

From the Paper
"In our globalized mass media culture, almost everything exists as a commodity or has a price. This general rule applies not only to material things but to abstractions such as "history" and the "past". This is particularly the case in our era of mass tourism, when the desire of the general public from many countries - almost always affluent publics with disposable income - to experience the past in large numbers can produce significant economic benefits for countries possessing marketable..."

Tags:past, history, marketing

Abstract
This paper assesses Michael S. Nassaney's article, "An Epistemological Inquiry into Some Archaeological and Historical Interpretations of 17th Century Nation American-European Relations" showing that objective interpretations are based on the current society. According to the paper, Nassaney's article discusses the archaeological records of the Narragansett Native American tribe. His thesis states "I will show that 'objective' interpretations of the archaeological record are ideologically charged while serving to empower those with access to the record".

Tags:nativeamericans, archaeology, objective

Abstract
This paper discusses how the use of archaeological and historical data as a tool of the state has a long and illustrious history and how in many cases it seems possible that the archaeological record exists partly in an attempt to influence the nationalism of the future. It examines the different ways in which archeology interacts with national/political perception such as a tool of the state either in substantiating claims to land or power, or in promoting a specific style of government or nationalism in general. It analyzes how archeology is dependent upon and biased by its surroundings in many ways and how at the same time, modern culture depends upon archeology to be its memory of the past and to provide it with the assumptions and biases it needs to function.

From the Paper
"Because of the power of the past to reinvent the future, some states may resort to forcing the past into the molds they desire. Consider, for a minute, our previous two imaginary nations. What if it turned out that Nation A had in fact completely and intentionally misinterpreted the ruins in those hills, and had in fact planted occasional pieces of data? What if the ruins actually existed to a third, expired race of people? Nation A's use of these ruins to create the foundation for war, despite all contrary evidence, would make them a prime example of the second sort of relationship that may exist between archeology and the nation/society. Sometimes, archeology is just a puppet of the state. For example, there is a great deal of evidence that archeological departments in Nazi Germany creatively "made up" a great deal of evidence supporting the supremacy of the Aryan race. By giving themselves (illusory) archeological evidence of the past greatness of their militant people, they invoked a new martial spirit among their modern community. Yet the Nazis have not been alone in such revisionism."

Tags:history, government, nationalism, culture

Abstract
This research examines archaeological evidence associated with the story of Noah's Ark told in Genesis. It explains how the Genesis story of Noah's Ark, which describes a great flood that destroys all life and civilization except for an extended family and the extended family of livestock in its care, is premised on the idea that the family patriarch, Noah, received instructions from God to build a gigantic boat, or ark. The paper looks at alternative version of the story and archaeological evidence of its occurrence through history.

From the Paper
"Articulation of alternative visions of Noah in the modern period has occurred in a climate of contentiousness. That is because the absence of definitive archaeological confirmation of the ancient texts runs up against a widespread insistence in Judaeo-Christian culture on the historicity of the Noah story. The extent of contentiousness was manifest especially in 1997, when a credentialed Australian geologist, Ian Plimer, was ejected from a creationist lecture when ark explorer Allen Roberts refused to answer questions about geologic time. Plimer later sued Roberts for science fraud on the theory of "the dangers inherent in letting fundamentalists go unchallenged" (Scott 9). Plimer lost on the legal issue, which resulted in his bankruptcy, but won on substantive argument and PR grounds, reflected in a host of contributions to Plimer's legal fund."

Tags:bible, flood, gilgamesh, geology