Best of the past

January 13, 2011 5:29 AM

This year's archaeology awards do provide a great opportunity to learn ancient secrets. There is lost treasure, forgotten murders, a mysterious Anchorite condemmed to a life of confinement and the forbidden spaces at the heart one of the holiest temples in stone age Europe.
posted by BadMiker (12 comments total)

But do they tell us about that skull in Martha's kitchen?
posted by oddman at 5:50 AM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

That is fascinating! Thanks, BadMiker.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 6:10 AM on January 13, 2011

The "lost treasure" link is as far as I've gotten so far, and I'm already blown away. Really, really good stuff here.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:28 AM on January 13, 2011

AAAAAAAAAAArrrgh!!! the interface! It burns!
posted by Xoebe at 8:10 AM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I have to come back later, the links won't load for me and I am desperately curious about them.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 8:14 AM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Aquaman's Website Axiom: The better the information, the worse the interface.
posted by Aquaman at 8:36 AM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

The pages load slow for me too. Content is fascinating though.
posted by shinyshiny at 8:46 AM on January 13, 2011

Distant cousins of mine have a house right next to the Ness of Brodgar site. It's one of the most amazing landscapes I have visited, even without the neolithic temple.

All they had before the discovery was some lame ring of standing stones, like you can find just about anywhere.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:04 AM on January 13, 2011

About the website interface - it's annoying, but it's really the transitional step into the e-mag business for paper magazines. The challenge for publishers is to find a way to easily move and maintain that look and feel of the magazine with minimal extra work. It ain't perfect, but it might make the difference in keeping the magazines available, on budget and able to provide freelance writers an income stream.

Having said that.. I love this post. I think I'd probably have fallen over and not been nearly as thoughtful as the horde guy.

I know the Brits have a fairly proscribed Treasure Act in place to determine value and reward - I have to wonder just how much a once in a life time find as that horde yielded.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:39 AM on January 13, 2011

The interface was loading just fine for me in Chrome, and I liked being able to move the page around by moving my mouse.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:20 AM on January 13, 2011

Great post.
posted by festivemanb at 2:49 PM on January 13, 2011

I don't think "metal detectorist" is a real word.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:25 PM on January 14, 2011