The Scotsman has an interesting preview of an upcoming lecture by Colin Renfrew.  The article is entitled, “Cemetery Looting Robs Archaeologists of DNA Link to Past,” but I think the more interesting discussion is about other subjects.  For instance:

A greater puzzle is why, after Homo sapiens dispersed from Africa about 60,000 years ago, pockets of human culture developed in different ways at different rates. Urban civilisations developed independently in six or seven locations, thousands of years apart, with no contact between the different groups, from Sumerian culture in 4,000BC, to West African in AD1,000.
“It’s one of the great unanswered problems of the human story,” Lord Renfrew says. “Why did societies working independently in different parts of the world come up with civilisations, including cities, which are in some ways quite similar?
“For a long time, archaeologists assumed there was a diffusion of cultures from one area to another. There was even a theory that everything emerged from ancient Egypt, and wise people from there went over the world and built their pyramids in Mesoamerica. But as we get a much better understanding of the archaeological record, it is clear that there wasn’t sailing over great distances until the time of the Conquistadores and early colonists, although the Polynesians did make some amazing voyages in their canoes.”

You can read the whole here. The lecture is in Scotland on Monday.

HT: Joe Lauer

Readers may find this of interest:

Dear Friends and Colleagues, We are writing to inform you of a new session being proposed for the 2008 ASOR annual meeting in Boston that will focus on the archaeology of Judaism and Christianity in the Roman and Byzantine periods.  The session chairs are seeking papers that present architectural, art historic, inscriptional, or any type of material discussion of synagogues, churches, necropoleis, and/or their associated communities in either Palestine or the Diaspora.  We are also looking for papers that address material evidence for cultural and religious communication among Jews, Christians, and their neighbors.  Reports on field seasons are also encouraged where relevant. This new session has not yet been accepted for the 2008 ASOR annual meeting.  Before it is proposed, we would like to demonstrate the interest in such a session to the Program Committee by assembling a list of possible presenters.  If you are interested in submitting an abstract for this session, please notify us before January 31 by emailing [email protected].  We do not necessarily need abstracts or paper titles by then — only a stated interest and intent to submit an abstract. Please feel free to forward this message to colleagues, students, and others who may be interested in taking part in the proposed session.  Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Steve Werlin and Carrie Duncan