The Four Stone Hearth is up at Prancing Papio! This is the 93rd edition and there are some good articles to peruse (your’s truly included). The next FSH will be hosted by Anthropology in Practice in just under a fortnight, so gather your posts and submit. If you’d like to host the FSH, contact Martin Rundkvist. I think the June 23 slot is still open!

That means this biweekly tradition of gathering the best examples of anthropology blogging currently on the web has gone on for at least 180 weeks!

Unfortunately, participation has waxed and waned a bit over these few years. I only received four submissions and one of these wasn’t, strictly speaking, a post on anthropology. But I’m including it anyway. I’m willing to accept the responsibility for the low turn-out, and here’s why: The Four Stone Hearth blog carnival depends on us, the writers and bloggers to keep it going. The readers will be there. Some of us that host routinely get a thousand or more blog hits a day and have hundreds of unique subscribers (not me… but I’m working on it. some).

We anthro-bloggers need to rally up if we want to keep the Four Stone Hearth going. I propose using the comments section here to brainstorm ideas. Side-bar badges? Advertising? Link-Love? Get PZ Myers to submit?…

But, on to the posts! (all links to posts will open a new window or tab)

UV, You See? Black Light Reveals Secrets in Fossils (potentially: archaeology, bioarchaeology)

The first comes from GrrlScientist at Living the Scientific Life. GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist and the post isn’t directed to anthropology or archaeology, rather it is one that deals with paleontology. Still, this is a post that describes a real research application in the fields of paleontology and evolutionary biology that may have some methods relevant to archeology. I’ve never used UV light as a method, but, while reading the post, my brain was sorting out all sorts of possibilities. For instance, with in situ examination of burial sites -will clothing or textiles leave any traces? GrrlScientist describes: “A simple but powerful technique — UV illumination — has finally answered Microraptor gui’s critics as well as adding another simple but powerful technique to paleontologists’ methods for extracting as much information as possible from every specimen, even from “exhausted” fossils.”

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Sexual and Natural Selection: Why Humans Are Still Evolving (biological anthropology)

Raymond at The Prancing Papio gives us the next post. In it, Raymond briefly discuss a couple of blog articles that deal with the ever changing and evolving morphology of Homo and why this might be.

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RSVP – A Cultural Construct? [Updated] (cultural anthropology)

Next up is Krystal D’Costa at Anthropology in Practice. She discusses the concept of the RSVP, something I have a vague memory of from my own wedding oh-so-many-years-ago. It’s a very interesting read and provokes some thought about how we go about our day-to-day lives in our own culture. Anthropologists are so often interested in the cultures of others that we seem rarely to take a few moments to be critical of our own, so I really enjoyed this article.

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What are the “Hard Problems in Archaeology”? (archaeology)
and
Is ‘Religion’ One of the Hard Historical Archaeology Problems? (archaeology)

These next two were submitted by Alun Salt. The first is a brief article posing the title question and can be found on Publishing Archaeology and the second is Alun’s response. I find the question to be both provocative and a good one. And, I must admit, I only just started reading Alun’s response, but I’m eager to see his thoughts on this since it’s an area of specialization for me as a budding archaeologist.

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[update: last minute submission!]Taphonomy of hominid sites, or what geology can tell us about our origins (paleoanthropology)

This comes from David at Cryology and co. and he’s a geologist “dedicated to the study on rockglaciers and quaternary geology fo the south tyrolean central Alps” and his article is definitely relevant to paleoanthropology. Go check him out!

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Those are the submissions for this fortnight. What follows are posts I found from browsing the web this week or today that I thought would be of interest to anthropologists.

Carl Zimmer [Slate.com]. Yet Another “Missing Link” (paleoanthropology)
A brand-new Australopithecus fossil is fascinating and important. But it’s not one of our direct ancestors.

afarensis. Australopithecus sediba: Was the Embargo Broken (anthro-blogging)
If you’ve been blogging long, you’ve probably encountered a news embargo or two or at least know what it is. Here’s an interesting case discussed where a reporter did his own independent fact-finding rather than depend on embargoed press release -should he be held to the embargo. Afarensis discusses.

John Hawks. What if anything, is Australopithecus sediba?
When new fossil hominids are in the news, John Hawks should be your first stop for the facts.

Anthropology.net. Australopithecus sediba (UW88-50) of Malapa, South Africa. (paleoanthropology)
Okay.. the last one for A. sediba. I promise. But there are some cool photos and an slightly different perspective on the story. Nothing shocking… just a different angle.

Time Travelling. Interesting Philippine Tarsier Facts (primatology, primate evolution)
bonvito is one of the new additions to my blog roll (as is Krystal D’Costa above). His blog’s subtitle reads, “[t]he purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences,” which is a quote by Ruth Benedict (author of The Sword and the Chrysanthemum). This is a really cool, quick post of facts about tarsiers that anyone interested in primatology or hominid evolution will like.

Abnormal Interests. New Esarhaddon Vassal Treaty Found in Turkey(archaeology)
Duane always has the most interesting posts on ancient writing, particuarly of the Near East (and not so ancient writing of Mark Twain).

Sexy Archaeology. Scientists ponder NAGPRA lawsuit. (archaeology)
“Scientists are considering a lawsuit against a new rule that would help repatriate thousands of Native American remains to tribes across the nation.” Go! Read the rest!

Fagan Talk. Mt Toba — the 73,000 year-old cataclysm(archaeology)
If you’re an archaeologist, you probably have a couple of Brian Fagan’s books. Did you know he blogs? “Mt. Toba vanished into space at a critical moment in human history, when Homo sapiens, anatomically modern humans, ourselves, were flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa.” Check out the rest of the post -its short but interesting.

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Thanks for dropping in and leave a comment, especially with suggestions and discussions on making 4SH a more prominent experience among the anthrosphere. The next host will be Sexy Archaeology on April 28, 2010. So get writing! I’m already putting something together.

Be sure to check out the 77th edition of the Four Stone Hearth, a blog carnival for anthropology bloggers. Some of the very best in anthropology blogging can be found there every other Wednesday. Somehow I keep forgetting to send in my own entries, so if you’re ever hosting the FSH, feel free to knick whatever you like from A Hot Cup of Joe. Today, the Four Stone Hearth #77 is hosted at A Place Odyssey. Go. Read. Enjoy.

Tomorrow is the day for the Four Stone Hearth: My birthday edition!

That’s right, I pass another annual milestone and will celebrate by sharing some wonderful anthropology writing around the net. If you have a blog post of interest to the anthropology (archaeology, ethnology, linguistics, physical anthropology / bioarchaeology) then shoot me the link. If you stumble across a good post, shoot me the link! But do it quick!

Tomorrow morning at 10:00 am the Four Stone Hearth, the number for which eludes me at the moment, goes live!

And check back here for the best in anthropology writing on the blogosphere in a fortnight!

The first Four Stone Hearth of 2009 is up at Testimony of the Spade!

I’ve been negligent about submitting to it of late, but go check out some good anthropology and archaeology writing by anthro-bloggers who are actually writing on their blogs!

Welcome to the 49th edition of the Four Stone Hearth, a blog carnival that specializes in anthropology in the widest (American) sense of that word. Here, anthropology is the study of humankind, throughout all times and places, focusing primarily on four lines of research:

• archaeology
• socio-cultural anthropology
• bio-physical anthropology
• linguistic anthropology

Each one of these subfields is a stone in our hearth.

I’ve hosted the FSH several times, but this will be the first time hosted at my new domain. If you haven’t noticed, A Hot Cup of Joe is no longer at WordPress (or blogspot, if you remember my first home). Here’s this edition’s roundup of great blogging on Anthropology:

Aardvarchaeology
First up is Aardvarchaeology where Martin Rundkvist has a Book Review: Alsdorf, auf den Spuren. In this review, which is a fascinating read, Martin discusses Dietrich Alsdorf’s book, Auf den Spuren des “Elbe-Kommandos” Rammjäger (2001). The topic is the Sonderkommandos who flew German planes which the used to “hunt” (jäger is “hunter”) Allied bombers they would then ram into. Visit the link, read the review, and see how it all relates to archaeology!

Neuroanthropology
Next is a set of posts from all three of the bloggers at Neuroanthropology, a collaborative weblog that “encourage[s] exchanges among anthropology, philosophy, social theory, and the brain sciences.”

• Is Evolutionary Psychology Really Rational Choice Theory?, by Greg Downey
• Foxy Evolution, by Daniel Lende
• Learning Evolution, by Paul Mason

A Very Remote Period Indeed
The only other submission I received this edition was from Julien Riel-Salvatore titled, Surveying Surveys. Julien is back from the field and, we’re all happy to see, blogging again! His post this edition is a review of a set of three reports of separate archaeological sites of the same general period. What’s interesting is the methods each site employs to obtain knowledge of the past. Read how Julien compares and contrasts their methods and get some insight into the process of surveying a site.

A Hot Cup of Joe
I’m going to add my own submission since it was a short carnival. A few days ago I posted The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Reviewing and Ethnography. I typically write about archaeology, but I subscribe to the Binfordian view that archaeology is anthropology and it’s necessary to understand ethnography and cultural anthropology to truly reveal the Truth of past cultures. In this essay, I review Ruth Benedict’s famous ethnography as well as two other essays praising and criticizing her.

You’ve Been Stoned!
If your blog post falls under this list, its because I noticed it and thought it would fit well with this edition of the Four Stone Hearth. Hope you don’t mind the link love!

• Neanderthals, Brain Size and Maturation [Afarensis]
  Peopling Of The Americas: Eva de Naharon, A 13,600 Year Old Skeleton Found Near Tulum, Mexico [Anthropology.net]
• Ometepe Archaeological Project: Field Work in Focus [About.com:Archaeology]

That’s it for this edition of the Four Stone Hearth. If you’re an anthropology blogger and want to participate, see below. If you’re an anthropologist or a student of anthropology that doesn’t have your own blog but interested in sharing your thoughts in anthropology, drop me a line (cfeagans@ahotcupofjoe.com). I’m interested in having the occasional guest-blogger and it can be a one-time thing or regular.

The next Four Stone Hearth, #50, is in two weeks at Yann Klimentidis’s Weblog. See you there!

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Four Stone Hearth is published bi-weekly, Wednesdays in odd-number weeks. If you would like to host the carnival, please write to Martin Rundkvist.

If you would like to submit content to the next issue of the carnival, please write to the keeper of the blog in question or to Martin. You are encouraged to submit other bloggers’ work as well as your own.

The Four Stone Hearth is tomorrow and I’d like to have it posted on time, so if you have any late submissions please get them to me no later than 11pm CST to cfeagans@ahotcupofjoe.net

The next edition of the Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival will be hosted here at A Hot Cup of Joe on Sept. 10th, 2008. Please send your submissions to cfeagans@ahotcupofjoe.net by Tuesday, Sept. 9th.

The Fourth Stone Hearth is a blog carnival that specializes in anthropology in the widest (American) sense of that word. Here, anthropology is the study of humankind, throughout all times and places, focusing primarily on four lines of research:

• archaeology
• socio-cultural anthropology
• bio-physical anthropology
• linguistic anthropology

Each one of these subfields is a stone in our hearth.

As always, if you’re an blogger and would like to host the Four Stone Hearth, send an email to Martin Rundkvist.

You need not be a blogger that specializes in anthropology to host or participate, but the posts submitted should relate to some aspect of anthropology.

Find it here at Archaeoporn! He was good enough to slip me in at the last minute. Next up is Afarensis on March 12th and I get the honors after that on March 26th.

The King Has Left The Building

Apparently Maya elites and royalty weren’t the only ones building temples and pyramids. And the mystery of the blue pigment used in Maya pottery and murals has been solved.

Mayanists, archaeologists that specialize in the study of Maya culture in Mesoamerica, have long believed that temples were built by and for royalty. And, at first glance, this assumption would seem intuitive. Monumental architecture is a costly undertaking in both resources and manpower. The people used to erect monumental architecture such as the pyramid temples of sites in Belize and Guatemala wouldn’t have been available, for instance, for farming. They would have been dedicated to moving rock, earth, gravel, and lumber used for fuel in the hot fires needed to create lime for plaster.

What archaeologist Lisa Lucero, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began to wonder is what would royals at Yalbac need with six temples. What Lucero noted over the last five years of working the Yalbac site in central Belize is that there are a variety of construction techniques and materials used in the temples there and, by examining the fill, mortar and other features, she’s willing to suggest that several groups may have created temples: royals, nobles, priests, and even commoners.

The broader implication is that a kind of religious freedom may have existed among the Maya in which they were able to worship different gods. Says Lucero, “the Maya could choose which temples to worship in and support; they had a voice in who succeeded politically.”

Lucero’s paper on the subject is published in the most recent issue of Latin American Antiquity with the title, “Classic Maya Temples, Politics, and the Voice of the People.” I’m eager to read it once I finally make over to the university library (UTA doesn’t carry the current version in electronic format) to see just how it is she’s able to infer non-Royal involvement in construction through fill and mortar.

Don’t Step On Maya Blue Suede Shoes

At the bottom of the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá is a 14 foot layer of Maya Blue, a nearly indestructible pigment that is found on Maya pottery, murals, rubber artifacts, wood, copal incense, etc. So named because of its color and origin, the pigment has long been a marvel and a mystery to Mayanists. It resists corrosion, biodegredation, weathering, and solvents and can withstand the test of time with an uncanny vividness. This stable pigment results from a chemical bond between indigo and palygorskite, a type of clay.

What Mayanists couldn’t figure out is how, precisely the Maya created the pigment and why so much of it resided in a 14 foot layer at the bottom of the cenote. To bond the indigo and palygorskite, the two substances need to be heated. As it turns out, the Maya burned a mixture of copal incense, palygorskite and parts of the indigo plant, creating the blue pigment. Sacrifices, ranging from pottery to people, were then painted blue and tossed in the cenote.

But how do we know that sacrifices were painted blue? And why paint them blue to begin with?

Scenes on pottery and murals depict the sacrifices as blue in color, whether they be objects or people. The sacrifices were painted before being plunged into the waters of the cenote or being put on the altar for the removal of a still-beating heart. The components of Maya Blue, the indigo plant, the clay, and the copal incense, were each important items of medicinal importance to the Maya:

… what we have here are three healing elements that were combined with fire during the ritual at the edge of the Sacred Cenote. The result created Maya Blue, symbolic of the healing power of water in an agricultural community.”

Rain was critical to the ancient Maya of northern Yucatan. From January through mid-May there is little rain – so little that the dry season could be described as a seasonal drought. “The offering of three healing elements thus fed Chaak and symbolically brought him into the ritual in the form a bright blue color that hopefully would bring rainfall and allow the corn to grow again,”

And how did the pigment arrive at the bottom of the Sacred Cenote to form a 14 foot layer of Maya Blue?

While it’s one of the most durable pigments known, it still has a tendency to wash off the items it’s painted on. Hundreds of blue-painted people and countless items of pottery and other artifacts sacrificed to gods like Chaak over the centuries of Maya influence at Chichén Itzá allowed for a precipitate of the pigment to fall off the sacrifices and collect at the bottom.

You’ll be able to read more about the Maya Blue research in the next issue of the Journal Antiquity where the researchers have a paper about to be published.

For me, insights into the beliefs and motivations of ancient peoples is the payoff for research conducted by Lisa Lucero in the first news item above and the anthropologists at Wheaton College and The Field Museum in the second item. My research interests lie in ancient beliefs, cult practices, rituals, and religion and what motivated people of antiquity to adhere to these beliefs and practices. But the Maya Blue research also highlights the importance of continuing to conduct research on museum collections, particularly as new techniques and insights are developed and applied to these items. In this case, The Field Museum was able to analyze a three-footed pottery bowl recovered from the Sacred Cenote in 1904 and kept in the museum since 1934. With a scanning electron microscope, the researchers were able to identify signatures for palygorskite and indigo in the bowl. Further analysis might reveal which parts of the indigo plant were specifically used, although leaves are the most likely.

Further Reading:

Royals weren’t only builders of Maya temples, archaeologist finds
Archaeologists let looters do some of the work
Centuries-old Maya Blue mystery finally solved