Profile

Thylacine and Wolf Skulls

Helping Science Education

The ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon!
Although I am not an educator or an academic, science education is important to me. One of the reasons I blog is to try and explain the methods and techniques of anthropology - and related subjects - to people who do not know that much about the field. I have even started a second blog devoted to providing educational resources relating to evolution to teachers and students. So it is with great pleasure that I announce the following challange...

Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way.

A lot of us fell in love with science because of early experiences in school -- teachers who made science intriguing, exciting, maybe a little bit dangerous. But tightening budgets are making it harder and harder for public school teachers to provide the books, equipment, and field trips to make science come alive for kids.

DonorsChoose.org gives us a way to help teachers get the job done. A bunch of us at ScienceBlogs have set up Bloggers Challenges which will let us (and that includes you) contribute to worthy school projects in need of financial assistance. We'll be able to track our progress right on the DonorsChoose site. And -- because we like a little friendly competition -- we'll be updating you periodically as to which blogger's readers are getting his or her challenge closest to its goal.

You don't need to give a barrel of money to help the kids -- as little as $10 can help. You're joining forces with a bunch of other people, and all together, your small contributions can make a big difference.

Who's In:

Here are the ScienceBlogs bloggers who are participating with Bloggers Challenges:

A Blog Around the Clock (challenge here)
Adventures in Ethics and Science (challenge here)
Aetiology (challenge here)
Afarensis (challenge here)
Cognitive Daily (challenge here)
Evolgen (challenge here)
Gene Expression (challenge here)
Good Math, Bad Math (challenge here)
Island of Doubt (challenge here)
Mike the Mad Biologist (challenge here)
Neurotopia, version 2.0 (challenge here)
Pharyngula (challenge here)
Pure Pedantry (challenge here)
The Questionable Authority (challenge here)
The Scientific Activist (challenge here)
Stranger Fruit (challenge here)
Terra Sigillata (challenge here)
Uncertain Principles (challenge here)
The World's Fair (challenge here)


How It Works

Follow these links to the DonorsChoose website.

Pick a project from the slate the blogger has selected (or more than one).

Donate.

(If you're the loyal reader of multiple participating blogs and you don't want to play favorites, you can donate to multiple challenges!)

When Donors Choose sends you a confirmation email, forward it to:

sb.donorschoose.bonanza@gmail.com

This is your contest entry.

Sit back and watch the little donation thermometers inch towards 100 percent. Once the Challenge ends, we'll select winners at random.


Contest you say? What's that about?

Just in case you're on the fence about helping the kids, we thought we'd provide some incentives. They are:

Subscriptions to Seed magazine

ScienceBlogs mugs

What We Believe But Cannot Prove, edited by John Brockman

The Republican War on Science, by Chis Mooney

Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World, by Michael Chorost

Subscriptions to TIME magazine

Blogging in a Snap, by Julie Meloni

Galileo's Daughter, by Dava Sobel

The Scientific Renaissance: 1450-1630, by Marie Boas Hall

Paleoanthropology (1st ed) by Milford Wolpoff (gently used)


Administrative Details

The contest will run from June 15 to July 1. Email your entries by July 1! Prize notification will start by July 5.

Science Journals

Acta Anthropologica Sinica

Acta Geologica Hungarica

Acta Geologica Sinica

African Study Monographs

American Anthropologist

American Archaeology

American Antiquity

American Ethnologist

American Journal of Archaeology


American Journal of Human Genetics


American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin

American Scientist

Ampurias

Anatomischer Anzeiger - See Anatomischer Anzeiger.

Anatomy, Anthropology, Embryology, and Histology

Annales de Paléontologie

Annales de Paléontologie des Vertébrés

Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici

Annals and Magazine of Natural History

Annals of Anatomy

Annals of Eugenics

Annals of the South African Museum

Annals of the Transvaal Museum

Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institute

Annual Review of Anthropology

The Anthroglobe Journal

Anthropoetics

Anthropological Linguistics

Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History

Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska

Anthropological Quarterly

Anthropological Science

Anthropologie

Anthropologischer Anzeiger

Anthropology and Philosophy of Man

Anthropology Today

Anthropos

Anthropozoikum

Antiquity

Archaeologia Austriaca

Archaeological Science

Archaeology

Archaeology in Oceania

Archeologické rozhledy

Archaeometry

Archäologische Informationen

Archives de Biologie

Archives de l'Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

Archives de Morphologie Generale et Experimentale

Archiv für Anthropologie

Arctic Anthropology

Asian Perspectives

Assemblage

Athena Review

AURORA

Australasian Historical Archaeology

Australian Archaeology

AZTLAN

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

Bonner Jahrbücher

Biblical Archaeology Review

British Archaeology

Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine

Bulletin de Groupement International pour la Recherche Scientifique en Stomatologie

Bulletin de la Société d'Etudes et de Recherche Préhistorique Les Eyzies

Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de l'Afrique du Nord

Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française

Bulletin de la Société Royal Belge d'Anthropologie et de Préhistoire

Bulletin de la Société Suisse d'Anthropologie

Bulletin du Musée d'Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie Brüssel

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris

Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History

Bulletin of Information on Computing and Anthropology

Bulletin of Primitive Technology

Bulletin of the National Science Museum

Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Canadian Journal of Archaeology

Canadian Society for Forensic Science Journal

Cave Archaeology and Paleontology Research Archive

Cell

Chinese Science Bulletin

Collegium Antropologicum

Comptes Rendus de l'Académie de Sciences

Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg

Cultural Anthropology

Cultural Resource Management

Current Anthropology

Current Archaeology

Current Opinions in Genetics

Current Research in the Pleistocene

Die Eiszeit

Die Umschau

Discover

Discovering Archaeology

Dizhi Xuebao - See Acta Geologica Sinica.

Environmental Archaeology

Eretz Israel

Ethos

Études Quaternaires

European Journal of Archaeology

European Journal of Cell Biology

Evolution and Human Behavior


Exploration du Parc National Albert

Field Methods

Folia Anatomica Japonica

Folia Primtolgica

Forensic Science International

Geologie en Mijnbouw - See Netherlands Journal of Geosciences.

Geology

Glasnik Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog drustva

Historical Archaeology

Homo

Human Biology

Human Evolution

Hrvatsko Prirodoslovno Drustvo u Zagrebu Glasnik

Imprimerie de Monaco

Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique Mémoire


International Journal of Primatology

Internet Archaeology

Israel Journal of Earth Science

Jahrbuch Akademie der Wissenschaften Tübingen

Journal Geologi dan Sumberdaya Mineral

Journal of Anatomy and Physiology

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

Journal of Anthropological Research

Journal of Anthropological Science

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Journal of Archaeological Research

Journal of Archaeological Science

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Journal of Ethnobiology

Journal of Evolution

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Journal of Experimental Biology

Journal of Field Archaeology

Journal of Forensic Sciences

Journal of Geophysical Research

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Latin American Anthropology

Journal of Linguistic Anthropology

Journal of Mammalian Evolution

Journal of Mammalogy

Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology

Journal of Molecular Evolution


Journal of Natural History - See Annals and Magazine of Natural History.


Journal of Sedimentary Research

Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems

Journal of Statistics Education

Journal of the American Oriental Society

Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon - See Anthropological Science.

Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society

Journal of World History

Journal of World Prehistory

Kexue Tongbao - See Chinese Science Bulletin.

Kirtlandia

Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam

Korrespondenzblatt des Deutschen Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte

l'Anthropologie

La Recherche

Latin American Antiquity

Les dossiers d'Archéologie

Lithic Technology

Man - See Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.


Mankind Quaterly

Maryland Essays in Human Biodiversity

Mathematical Anthropology and Cultural Theory

Mededeelungen, Dienst von den Mijnbouw in Nederlandisch-Indië

Medical Anthropology

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Mediterranean Prehistory Online

Mediterranean Studies Journal

Memoires de la Société Préhistorique Française


Memoirs of Museum Victoria

Memoirs of the National Museum of Melbourne

Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology

Mitteilungen der Anthropologischer Gesellschaft im Wein

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

Museum Anthropology

NAPA Bulletin

National Geographic Magazine

National Geographic Research and Exploration

Natural History

Natur und Museum

Nature

Near Eastern Archaeology

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

New Scientist

North American Archaeologist

Northeast Anthropology

Norwegian Archaeological Review

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

Palaeontologia Sinica

Palaeontologie Africana

PALAIOS

Palanth

Paleo

Paleontographica Italica

Paleontology Series

Paléorient

Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Praehistoriche Zeitschrift

Primates

Primatologie

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society


Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Publikasi Teknik Seri Paleontologi

Quartär

Quarterly Review of Biology

Quarterly Review of Science

Quaternary Geochronology - See Quaternary Science Reviews.

Quaternary Research

Quaternary Science Reviews

Radiocarbon

Records of the South Australia Museum

Revue Anthropologique

Revue d'Anthropologie

Revue de l'École d'Anthropologie

Richerche de Morfologia

Rivista di Anthropologia

Russian Anthropological Journal

Sarawak Museum Journal

Scanning Microscopy

Science

Scientia Sinica

Scientific American

Social Anthropology

South African Archaeological Bulletin

South African Journal of Science

Tebiwa

Theoretical Anthropology

The Platform

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society - See Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.

Transactions of the Philological Society

Transactions of the Royal Society of London

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa

Ulster Journal of Archaeology

Verhandlungen der Naturforschers Gesellshaft in Basel

Vertebrata PalAsiatica

Vijesti geoloski zavoda

Weterschappelijke Mededeelungen, Dienst von den Mijnbouw in Nederlandisch-Indië

World Archaeology

Yearbook of Physical Anthropology - See American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Zeitschrift für Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte

Zeitschrift für Archaologie

Zeitschrift für Inductive Abstammungs und Vererbungslehre

Zeitschrift für Ethnologie

Zeitschrift für Morpholohie und Anthropologie

Tree-Ring Bulletin

American Museum Novitiates

Mankind

Annals of Human Biology

American Scientist

Reviews in Anthropology

American Naturalist

Africa

Texas Memorial Museum Bulletins

Ethnobiology

Proceedings of the International Congress of Ethnobiology

Research Monographs on Human Population Biology

Antiquity

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics

National Geographic Society Research Reports

BioScience

Scientific Monthly

Tennessee Anthropologist

Ecological Monographs

Texas Journal of Science

Michigan Archaeologist

Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Sciences

Missouri Archaeologist

Proceedings of the International Congess of Primatology

Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico


Southeastern Archaeology

West Virginia Archaeologist

Wisconsin Archaeologist

Mol. Biol. Evol.

Dialectical Anthropology

Systematic Zoology

Evolution

Genet. Res. Camb.

Paleobiology

Annals of the New York Academy of Science

Primate Biology

OSSA

Integrative and Comparitive Biology

Ecological Monographs

Heredity

Advanced Ecological Research


Ecology

Theretical Population Biology

Amer. Zool.

Biol. Lec. Mar. Biol. Woods Hole

Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol

Behavioral Genetics

Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard.

Great Basin Nat.

Adv. Hum. Genet.

Geoscience and Man

Genetica

Annu. Rev. Entomol.

J. Embryol. Exp. Morph.

Trends Biochem. Sciences

Microbiology Reviews

Annu. Rev. Genet.

Syst. Bot.

Cognition

J. Homosexuality

Theoret. Appl. Genet.

Botanical Review

American Journal of Botany

International Journal of Plant Sciences

IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation

IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Evolutionary Computation

Applied Soft Computing



Free Content Journals (via Snail's Tales)

Biological Procedures Online
Open Access

Genome Research
Free access to back issues six months after print publication.

Quaternary Science Review

Molecular Biology and Evolution
Free access to back issues six months after print publication.

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica


Animal Biodiversity and Conservation


American Journal of Archaeology (Download entire issues as pdf files, but the print function is disabled.)

BioMed Central journals


Journal of Cave and Karst Studies

Journal of Tropical Biology (Revista de Biologia Tropical)


Palaeontologia Electronica

Plosbiology


Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science up to 2003

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy


Raffles Bulletin of Zoology

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Zoological Studies
Biological Bulletin All back content more than a year old is freely available online.

Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America

Carnets de Géologie (Notebooks on Geology)

Current Science Published by the Current Science Association in collaboration with the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Florida Entomologist Claims to be "the first journal to put its contents on the Internet in PDF format".

Journal of Biology

Journal of Biological Research The scientific annals of the School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Journal of Statistics Education

The Malacological Society of London E-Bulletin Mostly mollusk related news, book reviews, etc.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Free access to back issues six months after print publication.

Tentacle The annual newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Mollusc Specialist Group. Tentacle publishes mollusk related news, new records and brief research notes.

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences
Evolutionary Biolog

Journal of Genetics

Genetics

Transitions

I will be picking a new Site of the Week for Transitions soon. Be sure to check out my new blog at ScienceBlogs

ScienceBlogs

ScienceBlogs is an effort of Seed Media, publishers of Seed Magazine. The goal is to get some of the best and brightest science bloggers to all blog in the same place. Below is a list of the people posting at ScienceBlogs:


Pharyngula
Chris Mooney
Aetiology
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Stranger Fruit
Evolgen
Cognitive Daily
Adventures in Ethics and Science
Deltoid
Gene Expressions
Living the Scientific Life
No Se Nada Commentary
Uncertain Principles

Quite a collection...what they didn't count on was a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin would catch wind of it and use his tree climbing abilities to climb a tree and scamper in through an open window...

The past year, or so, has been interesting and I have made many friends while writing this blog. I hope you will visit me at my new blog.
Especially because I am one of the few who does not have a Ph.D in the group so venturing out into the savanah to play with the big boys is going to be quite an experience (I hope I don't meet any leopards [those of you who don't get that joke should read the works of C.K. Brain]).

Afarensis Goes to Seed: Part II

As mentioned previously, I have been asked to join a new blog effort created by Seed Media. Future posts of mine can be found at: afarensis:Anthropology, Evolution and Science

My most recent post is on Redating the Vindija Fossils
I may occasionally put up a post here, but for the most part my blog home will be at the above address (and at Transitions, of course). Please look for me there and update your links and blogroll accordingly!

People from the Bog

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4589638.stm

 

From BBC News comes this story about bog people:

 

“Archaeologists have unveiled two Iron Age "bog bodies" which were found in the Republic of Ireland.

The bodies, which are both male and have been dated to more than 2,000 years old, probably belong to the victims of a ritual sacrifice.

In common with other bog bodies, they show signs of having been tortured before their deaths. “

*snip*

“Clonycavan man was a young male no more than 5ft 2in tall (1.6m). Beneath his hair, which retains its unusual "raised" style, was a massive wound caused by heavy cutting object that smashed open his skull.

Chemical analysis of the hair showed that Clonycavan man's diet was rich in vegetables in the months leading up to his death, suggesting he died in summer.

It also revealed that he had been using a type of Iron Age hair gel; a vegetable plant oil mixed with a resin that had probably come from south-western France or Spain.”

*snip*

“Old Croghan man was also young - probably in his early to mid 20s - but much taller than his counterpart from 25 miles away. Scientists worked out from the length of his arms that he would have stood around 6ft 6in tall (2.0m).

He had been horrifically tortured before death. His nipples had been cut and he had been stabbed in the ribs. A cut on his arm suggested he had tried to defend himself during the attack that ended his life. “

Other Stories on the subject:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16556771&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=murdered-2-500-years-ago-name_page.html

 

 

 

Excavations in the Cyclades

Photo from the Museum of Cycladic Art

Archaeologists are to begin new excavations on the Greek island of Keros in April 2006. From ABC News:

British and Greek archaeologists are preparing a major excavation on a tiny Greek island to try to explain why it produced history's largest collection of Cycladic flat-faced marble figurines.

*snip*

Now experts are seeking insight into the island's possible role as a major religious center of the enigmatic Cycladic civilization some 4,500 years ago.

*snip*

"What is particularly impressive is not just the bulk of the finds, which is larger than the total from the rest of the Cyclades, but also that they were intentionally broken during ancient times," Sotirakopoulou said. "Therefore, this is a very important, a unique site."

The Cycladic culture a network of small, sometimes fortified farming and fishing settlements that traded with mainland Greece, Crete and Asia Minor is best known for its elegant artwork: mostly naked, elongated figures with their arms folded under their chest. The seafaring civilization was eclipsed in the second millennium B.C. by Crete and Mycenaean Greece.

*snip*

"The prevailing explanation is that this was a sacred repository, a sort of pan-Cycladic sanctuary where people left objects within the framework of rituals which included their intentional smashing," said Sotirakopoulou.

From the "Dean" of Classical Studies:

"We hope the forthcoming excavations will clarify further the nature of the occupation and activities at Dhaskalio and Kavos," Renfrew (that would be Colin Renfrew - afarensis) said.

"It is clear Kavos was an important site where high prestige artifacts were deliberately broken and left. It is possible, but not yet certain, these were ritual actions relating to ceremonies in honor of the dead."

Fascinating stuff.