I Really Don't Know What To Say...

I ran Blogger's spellcheck feature on the Friday Archaeology Blogging below, the first time I have ever used it (I didn't realize that it existed, as regular readers here probably already guessed). Anyway, it didn't recognize the word "blog."

Friday Archaeology Blogging
Actually appearing on a Friday, this time!


Dorset bone disc

So, I though maybe I'd look at something a wee bit closer to home this time. Inuit stories speak of a people they encountered when they first began to spread across the Eastern Arctic in about A.D. 1000, a people the Inuit referred to as the Tuuniit, or "giants." In all likelihood, these large but gentle and even timid people were members of what archaeologists have termed the "Dorset" culture. This culture occupied the Eastern Arctic from c. 500 B.C. until the early years of the second millennium A.D. They hunted seals on the ice, and lived in rectangular longhouses.


Remains of a Tuuniit longhouse

Some of the most striking pieces of Tuuniit material culture are the driftwood masks that have been found at Dorset sites. These are generally interpreted as having a ritualistic or shamanistic purpose (someday I'm going to do a Friday Archaeology Blogging on the tendency of archaeologists to label anything we don't immediately understand as a "ritual object", but today is not that day). Other art objects, such as the bone disc shown above, are also associated with the Tuuniit. Oddly for a culture that had perfected ways of hunting in winter despite the abnormally cold climate of that time, the Tuuniit do not seem to have knowledge of the bow, either as a projectile weapon or a means of drilling holes. This is particularly strange given that both the predecessors of the Tuuniit and the people who came after them made ample use of that tool.


Driftwood mask

In about A.D. 1000 , the temperature in the Arctic increased, and the effects of this warming eventually spelled the end of the Dorset culture. First of all, it must have played merry hell with the sea ice, with a commensurate disruption of seal hunting. Secondly, it increased the prevalence of game animals, and that brought other people into the region. The Thule culture, ancestors of the modern Inuit, arrived from Alaska, and even the Vikings got in on it, settling in Greenland and Newfoundland. It is tempting, and probably even correct, to identify the "Skraelings" encountered by early Viking settlers with the Tuuniit, as the Skraelings shared, according to some Norse legends, the qualities of size and gentleness (although it must also be pointed out that "Skraeling" may have been a generic term for all the peoples the Vikings encountered on this side of the pond). The newcomers from both directions were more technologically advanced than the Tuuniit, particularly in the area of boats, and by about A.D. 1500, the Tuuniit were gone, essentially squeezed out of their original territory, although there is some speculation that isolated communities of them survived until the early 20th century.

Anyway, a fairly basic and general Friday Archaeology Blogging this week, and I'll confess that part of the reason I wanted to blog about the Dorset/Tuuniit people was as an excuse to put up that gorgeous picture of the driftwood mask. Back to Romans next week, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a shot of the sort of terrain in which the Tuuniit lived and prospered for 1500 years.


Bylot Island, where the mask shown above was found

Lack of Surprise Here, Folks

West Edmonton Mall waterpark slapped with cleanup order
Last Updated: Thursday, October 26, 2006 | 3:55 PM MT
CBC News

Health authorities have issued a cleanup order for West Edmonton Mall's waterpark, citing filth and a lack of ongoing maintenance.

It is hard to imagine the depths of misanthropy to which one can be dragged on the occasion of a visit to West Edmonton Mall (aka The West Edmonton Grand Mal). I live about 20 minute's walk from the place, and I probably don't visit it more than once or twice a year (generally around 5:00 p.m. on December 24th). There's just something about a crowded, noisy, 5.3-million-square-foot space with stale, recycled, air and over-stressed people trying to keep track of squalling kids while making their way through some of the most gawd-awful kitschy interior decoration (I mean, for fuck's sake, a full-size fiberglass replica of the Santa Maria?!?!?) you will ever see anywhere (see, I'm not even at the mall, and hatred of the human race is already kicking in). Take that charming package and put it in the middle of crime-ridden suburban Hell surrounded by a particularly nasty parking lot, and you've pretty much got WEM. At least they're not in the dolphin-enslavement business anymore, having switched over to sea lions after all the dolphins died. And the roller-coaster hasn't killed anybody since 1986, so I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies.

Part of the problem is the immense damage that WEM has done to what I'll call the social fabric of Edmonton. A downtown core that's empty after 5:00 in the evening, and the terrible suburban sprawl to the south and west (oh yeah, and the north as well; parts east of Edmonton have Refinery Row, along with some of the worst cancer rates in Canada) of the city are direct results of the mall's malign influence. Whyte Avenue and, to a lesser extent, 124th Street, have been trying hard to stand in for places people actually go to socialize, but the former is still victimized by out-of-control drinking and ham-fisted policing, while the latter still has a ways to go before it becomes a magnet for people looking to have a pleasant time.

So, to wrap this rant up, I felt a very definitely evil glee when I read that Capital Health had descended on the place and declared it a cesspool.

Friday Archaeology Blogging

Now appearing pretty much on any day that isn't a Friday, it seems...

Anyway, one of the things that happened to me during the last month or so, during the recent silence on this site, is that my 16-year-old cat Claudia passed away (peacefully, quietly, and at home, which is about as much as one can hope for). So, this particular edition of Friday Archaeology Blogging is going to be a brief and general survey of ancient pets, particularly cats. And, by "pets" I mean animals domesticated for reasons of comfort and companionship, rather than food, hunting, protection, vermin control, etc.

The Egyptians and Earlier

The Egyptians' attitude towards cats is well known; they viewed them as sacred, and our first written records of cats come from that civilization. Indeed, cats were often mummified by the Egyptians (as were many, many other animals), and cat mummies are found in many Egyptian tombs, suggesting at least some sort of emotional bond between the deceased person and his or her animals.


Egyptian cat mummies

We even have an early mention of a named cat from Egypt. A cat found in a tomb near Thebes, dating to about 1450 B.C., seems to have been named "The Pleasant One."


Tomb painting from the tomb in which The Pleasant One was found

However, actual "pet-ification" of cats may predate the Egyptians by millenia, as suggested by the recent discovery of a neolithic burial on Cyprus which dates to roughly 8,000 B.C.



Now, there is no evidence here beyond the circumstantial to indicate that the cat buried in this case was a pet. However, the inclusion of the animal in a tomb is evidence that it was at the very least of value to the deceased person, and I can't help but see this as a stepping stone to the kind of master-pet relationship that became common later on.

The Romans


A bird (a duck?) portrayed on a 2nd century A.D. mosaic from Italica, in what is now Andalucia.

The Romans do not seem to have held cats in quite the same esteem as the Egyptians. Cat footprints are found on ancient Roman terracotta roof tiles, indicating that somebody's cat had gone for a walk while the tile was drying in the sun, but there is little evidence for cats as pets. However, the Romans did keep other pets, as shown by a poem of Catullus, written in the mid-first century B.C., lamenting the death of a bird (Latin text here):

CATVLLI CARMEN III (adapted from a translation by Walter Sullivan [JTK)

Mourn, oh Cupids and Venuses,
and all people of charm and refinement:
the sparrow of my girlfriend has died,
the sparrow, delight of my girl,
whom she loved more than her own eyes.
For it was honey-sweet and it knew its
mistress as well as a girl knows her mother,
nor would it move itself from her lap,
but jumping around hither and thither,
he used to chirp continually to his mistress alone:
now he embarks on that gloomy journey
from which, they say, no one ever returns.
Curses on you, evil shadows of Orcus,
you who devour all beautiful things,
so lovely a sparrow have you taken away from me.
O evil deed! o miserable little sparrow!
Now because of you my girl's swollen little eyes
are red from weeping.

I would note, concerning this poem, that there is debate about the actual meaning of the poem. I have heard it argued, implausibly in my humble opinion, that the bird here represents the poet's relationship with the girl, a relationship which has now ended (the logic being that the sparrow was a sacred bird of Venus, goddess of love, and that furthermore we know that Catullus did break up with his girlfriend, and that it was extremely traumatic for him). This seems to me to be a clear case of reading too much into a piece of literature.

Pre-Incan Peoples of Peru

To jump briefly and illogically across the pond, I thought I'd end by mentioning this. According to the article, archaeologists in Peru have been excavating an actual dog cemetery, approximately 600 to 1,000 years old, wherein the animals were often buried with blankets and treats. Care taken to ensure an animal's comfort in the next life again speaks quite clearly to the animals status, at least in part, as pets.


An ancient Peruvian dog

I suppose the point here is that people have been domesticating animals for "non-utilitarian" purposes for a heck of a long time, and pretty much globally (I actually couldn't find much evidence at all for cultures that didn't have pets). Long may we continue to do so.


Ancient Egyptian wall-painting

Fear Not!!!!

Friday Archaeology Blogging is in the works, and should be up later on today. The spirit was willing this weekend, but Blogger was weak...

In Which A Mr. Peter MacKay, Esq., Of Pictou, Nova Scotia, Makes Tie Domi's 'List'

Good article here about MacKay's latest bout of petulance. The best line:

Stephen Harper cannot have a man child holding Canadian diplomacy in his hands.

Of course, as we all know, this is just a horrible plot by desperate Liberals to steer attention away from the blinding brilliance that is Stephen Harper and co.

Hello, All!

Apologies for the long silence from these parts! However, things should be somewhat back to normal now, although daily posting may be too much to expect. Anyway, expect more here soon, especially given the impending elections, leadership conventions, etc.

And indeed, Rev., there is a Friday Archaeology Blogging in the works, although it will probably not go up until tomorrow evening!

Friday Archaeology Blogging

Friday Archaeology Blogging is like a fine wine; it's a lot better if you let it age awhile before uncorking it. Anyway...

Neanderthals' 'last rock refuge'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News, Gibraltar

Our evolutionary cousin the Neanderthal may have survived in Europe much longer than previously thought.

A study in Nature magazine suggests the species may have lived in Gorham's Cave on Gibraltar up to 24,000 years ago.



Ah, Homo Sapiens Neandertalensis, long thought to be a genetic ancestor of modern human beings, but now believed (probably correctly) to have been another distinct species of human. The main debate about Neanderthals these days revolves around what happened to them, and it is this that makes the Gorham's Cave discovery so important. 24,000 years ago is roughly 5,000 to 10,000 years later than the previously accepted date for the end of the Neanderthals. There have been a number of theories as to what happened to Neanderthal Man:

• Destroyed by modern humans. This one's unlikely, or at least unlikely to have been the main reason for the end of the Neanderthals. Without doubt, Neanderthals and "modern" humans did come into contact, and some of that contact was probably violent, but there's nothing to suggest that the two species tried to wipe each other out all across the map. Nor were the Neanderthals "accidentally" wiped out by (this is the theory that "modern" humans were so superior at hunting the the Neanderthals couldn't compete, and that the species died out as a result); all the evidence indicates that Neanderthals were excellent hunters.
  
  
• Died out as a species due to interbreeding with "modern" humans. Again, this is unlikely to have been the main cause. Genetically, we do carry Neanderthal traits (for example, some people have a slight bump on the very base of their skulls, right at the back of their heads, and this speaks of a Neanderthal somewhere way back on the family tree), but probably not enough to indicate a full-scale merger of the two species.
  
  
• Climate change. This is the mostly likely scenario. Severe climate change occurred about 30,000 years ago, and temperatures dropped again roughly 24,000 years ago. It's entirely possible that isolated pockets of Neanderthals survived the first drop-off, but succumbed to the second one. So why did Neanderthals die out while modern humans survived? Good question. Presumably, "modern" humans had either the numbers or the traits (or both) to survive, while the Neanderthals did not.

A Neanderthal skull found in 1848 at Forbes Quarry, Gibraltar.

A couple of final thoughts on Neanderthals:

• It is of course, entire possible that Neanderthals held out in places even later than they did at Gorham's Cave. However, it is highly unlikely that they survived long enough to have fought a battle against Alexander the Great's Admiral Nearchos off the coast of Arabia in 325 B.C. (Arrian, Indica 24). A few modern scholars have tried to argue that Nearchos' opponents were Neanderthals, but since the only description of this mysterious Arabian tribe is that they were hairy and apparently quite primitive, it's a bit of a stretch. Far more likely is that Nearchos simply encountered a group of neolithic Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
  
  
• My own pet theory about Neanderthals is that they represent the folkloric roots of the mythical race that became modern fantasy literature's dwarves. Neanderthals were short, broad, probably hirsute, and lived primarily in caves. In addition, the geographical range of Neanderthal Man overlaps somewhat with the areas where folktales and legends about dwarves first appeared. I am well aware that this is possibly a very silly theory (the geographical element, in particular, is not perfect), but the old folktales had to come from somewhere, and there is no reason why they could not have been inspired by early humans' memories of Neanderthal Man.

Compare and contrast, kiddies!

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy etc. etc...

We got tagged. Twice. Once by The Rev. over at Kevin's Woodshed, and once by Annamarie at Verbena-19 (duly added to the "Blogs I Like" list). And so, here goes!

A book that changed my life

Wheelock's Latin (6th Edition). This book not only changed my life, it is still changing it. You see, one of the reasons that there hasn't been much action around here the last couple of weeks is that I have been busy teaching Latin 101 to 30-odd eager students, using the aforementioned as a textbook. It's great fun, and I hope the kiddies are learning (their first actual thing for marks is on Friday, so I suppose we'll know then), but it's quite tiring and requires a lot of work. Anyway, Wheelock's Latin has been the standard North American Latin text for about fifty years now, and it's really quite good at it.

A book I've read more than once

Far too many to count, in this category. However, I'll select one, and I thought I'd go with a graphic novel (that's a comic book for big people). Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan is one that I've come back to a number of times. It's basically Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail set in a near-future, sci-fi sort of world. It's wildly and darkly funny, and the art's good too!

What book would you take to a desert island?

Probably Lord of the Rings. A classic, and big enough to help me get through a lot of hours waiting for rescue!

A book that made me laugh

Plug time!! If you have not read the works of Terry Pratchett (and really, pick any of them), then you have been missing out. Dry in the same way Douglas Adams was, Pratchett manages to avoid Adams' cynicism, for the most part, while staying uproariaously funny. I would, if I had to pick one of his books, recommend Guards! Guards!

A book that made me cry

Euripides' The Trojan Women. It's actually a play (which I've both seen performed and read), and as an anti-war screed it's impressive in its ferocity and emotional depth. And, unfortunately, all to apropos today.

A book I wish had been written

The part of Vergil's Aeneid that he didn't manage to get written before he died. Actually, Vergil didn't want any of the work published at all, and asked that it be destroyed after he died. Fortunately for posterity, his friends went against his wishes.

A book I wish had never been written

Beyond the obvious suspects, I would have to say about 90% of the crap that festered on the Self-Help shelf in the bookstore I used to work at. Utter garbage, designed to bilk already unhappy people out of their money while doing nothing for their state of mind. I was actually at a local Chapter's yesterday (big bookstore chain here in Canada, for those of you not from these parts), and was disgusted and nauseated to see that they'd actually renamed the Self-Help section. It is now called the "Success Library." Think about that for a minute.

Books I am currently reading

For fun, Shadowmarch by Tad Williams. Good, honest, swords-and-sorcery fantasy from an author who's skilled and experienced in the genre. Professionally, Il Princeps e il Suo Impero: Studi di Storia Amministrativa e Finanziaria Romana by Elio Lo Cascio. It's all about the economy and monetary policy of the Roman Empire, which, dry though it may sound, is actually quite interesting, and my specialty besides.

Books I've been meaning to read

I've had a copy of The Rules of the Game, the autobiography of former top soccer referee Pierluigi Collina, sitting around my bedroom for some time now, and I just haven't had time to get to it. I'm looking forward to it, though!

What turned me on to fiction

Having The Hobbit read to me when I was little. Simple as that!

Final thoughts

I know people who have never read a book that was not assigned to them by a teacher/professor (and contrary to what one might expect, most of these people are not young, x-box-playing, cell-phone-jabbering tyros, either), and I think that's kind of a waste, myself.

Ok, and now to spread the wealth! Five completely random victims...

1. Ceej, who runs both marathons and Ceej-try-2-keep-up.
2. Paige, over at Paige From My Book.
3. The mysterious She who posts at Falling Into You...
4. Alfonso, who brings us Today's Word (it's "penchant").
5. Kristykay, who blogs at spacebeer.

Quick Update

We're into the busy time now, as term is lurking right around the corner, so Friday Archaeology Blogging will be along at some point this weekend. In the meantime, here are a couple of notes:

• We have a lovely right-up over at Harper Valley, on account of having won Round 5 of Scout's "Famous Stupid People" contest! Many thanks to Scout, and if you're not familiar with Harper Valley, you should be!
  
  
• On a less happy note, I e-mailed Mark Bonokoski about the homeless man's dog being stolen, and he e-mailed me back to let me know that Trouble had still not been restored to its rightful owner. Not good.
  

There's doins' a-transpirin'

The usual BBTM (Better Bloggers Than Me) crew has good, if scary and depressing, stuff about the federal Tories basically creating a slushfund for the Bush Whitehouse. Check out Cathie from Canada and Creekside, and prepare to be appalled.

Breaking News: Sun Columnist Being A Twit!!

Yup, in the wake of Ted Morton's execrable attempt to revive legal gay-bashing, some people are pissed:

No compromise
By Paul Stanway

The rights and freedoms of Albertans suffered a double blow yesterday, as the opposition parties torpedoed a bill to protect the rights of those among us who don't want to be actively involved in gay marriage.

So, I guess we're all going to have to get gay married, or something?

A private member's bill sponsored by Foothills-Rocky View Tory MLA Ted Morton died as a result of the time-wasting tactics of opposition MLAs. Morton's bill would have offered some protection to those who continue to oppose gay marriage, and it forbid the punishment of anyone who refuses to officiate at a same-sex wedding.

No, it forbid the punishment of public employees, paid out of the public purse, who refused to do their goddamn jobs. Religious leaders who don't want to perform same-sex weddings, or any other wedding for that matter, don't have to as it stands now.

Anyway, Stanway blathers on at length on the theme of "We're dooooooooooomed", and I don't particularly feel like going over it at length, but I do want to say one thing about the whole issue. Ted Morton is in a no-lose situation here. Because his bill lost, he can now portray himself as the guy who stood up for rights of "normal" Albertans and was cruelly beaten down by the mean ol' opposition parties. What's sad about the whole thing is that are people out there who will fall for that shit.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Laugh-out-loud stuff, via Bartcop:

SARASOTA -- In the words of the schoolchildren who watched that day, it is a simple thing to describe memories of watching President Bush learn about the 9-11 terror attacks: happy and sad.

It was supposed to be a day of celebration -- with the nation's leader there to congratulate the classroom of second-graders for improving their reading scores -- and it was, until a man stepped forward and whispered something into the president's ear.

The best part of the article? This:

"His face just sort of turned red,'' said Tyler Radkey, who had a front-row seat that morning. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom.''

Short Friday Archaeology Blogging

I don't have much to say about this beyond, "Hooray"! Unlike the finds I mentioned last week, there doesn't seem to be any doubt whatsoever about the identification and significance of this site.

Long-lost Jacques Cartier settlement rediscovered at Quebec City
Kevin Dougherty, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 19, 2006

QUEBEC -- An archeologist called in to look for anything interesting in the path of a development commemorating Samuel de Champlain's 1608 founding of Quebec City has stumbled on an even older site.

Archeologist Yves Chretien has uncovered Jacques Cartier's long-lost 1541-1543 settlement.


A rather fanciful depiction of Jacques Cartier learning the word "Canada."

As the article goes on to point out, this is the second-oldest European site found north of Mexico, after the Viking settlement at Ainse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

"Morally Disgraceful" is Right!

Welfare payments called 'morally disgraceful'
Last Updated: Thursday, August 24, 2006 | 11:19 AM MT
CBC News

After successive federal surpluses, it's a moral outrage that Canadians on welfare are receiving some of the lowest payments in 20 years, says a national poverty group.

And guess who the main culprit is!! Could it be, oh I don't know, Alberta? Yes, yes it could.

Single employable person:
N.B. - $3,427
N.L. - $8,198

Person with disability:
Alta. - $7,851
Ont. - $12,057

Lone parent with one child:
Alta. - $12,326
N.L. - $16,181

Couple with two children:
N.B. - $17,567
P.E.I. - $21,213

That's appalling, particularly the amount given to people with disabilities. The main problem here is the strange notion, particularly prevalent in Alberta, that being as rich as Croesus has somehow removed any moral obligation on our part to be compassionate or generous. And of course, the situation was not helped when Klein dumped the entire provincial debt squarely onto the shoulders of the people least able to handle it.

Alberta Welfare Minister Mike Cardinal said Thursday that plenty of jobs are available in the province and there is no reason for able-bodied people to remain on assistance.

However, he conceded that welfare rates may have to be reviewed for people with disabilities who can't work.

So get on with it, then.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

Rogue animal activists stole Mike Costello's dog
By MARK BONOKOSKI

Detectives in 14 Division have launched a police investigation into a rogue animal rights group that stole a homeless man's dog and then wrote an anonymous and caustically worded letter bragging about its exploits.

The article's fairly depressing. What these idiots have essentially managed to do, in one fell swoop, is to do absolutely nothing, and I mean zero, for the protection of animals, to deal a nasty PR blow to legitimate animal-rights and animal protection groups (most of whom are working hard to get the guy's dog back for him), and to further fuck up the life of a completely innocent person who has enough worries as it is. Well done, assholes.

On Haircuts, The Classification Of

Via Sadly, No!, we have a link to a Kathleen Parker article on the whole Republican-candidate-calling-a-brown-person-a-"macaca" affair. While Parker's article is actually vaguely reasonable for a Townhall columnist, there was one passage which caught my attention:

According to one version, Allen was trying to say ``mohawk,'' referring to Sidarth's hairstyle, which is also the subject of much debate. Is it a mohawk, or is it a mullet?

I think we may be able to help, here:


MULLET!


MOHAWK!


MULLET!!


MOHAWK!!


MULLET!!!


MOHAWK!!!


Neither.

Sorry righties, if you're going to get your boy off the hook, you're going to have to do better than that.

UPDATE: Wow! I'm honoured!!

Spreading The Mirth

Originally seen over at donkey o.d. (if all you can see is a large white rectangle, click on it):



Yes, I do know what "schadenfreude" means, thank you very much.

Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work

The always excellent Allison at Creekside has posted a piece about Canada Pension Plan money being invested in companies involved in the arms trade. It's important, and she's provided an e-mail address for the CPP Investment Board. Anyway, go read the article.

Friday Archaeology Blogging

Well, a couple of things this week. It seems the past month or so has produced a couple of finds that could be filed under the "famous lost sites" category. I'll deal with the most recent one first:

Ancient Welsh city found
14/8/2006

Caer Caradoc at Mynydd y Gaer, Glamorgan, is one of the most important locations in all of ancient British history. It is the fabled fortress city of King Caradoc 1, son of Arch, who fought the Romans from 42-51AD.

Caradoc had some success against the Romans, fighting a guerrilla campaign for a number of years before he was betrayed by the queen of a neighbouring tribe, and arrested. Unusually, his life was spared by the emperor Claudius, and by all accounts he lived out his life with his family in Italy. He is sadly overlooked as a historical figure, with most of the credit for opposing the Romans in Britain going to Boudicca, whose revolt happened more than a decade later.


Caradoc

I would point out here that so far, the site has only been identified from aerial photographs, so hopefully they're intending to get in there and dig. Apparently, they're basing the identification of the site as Caradoc's city on toponomy and ancient records, so excavation is going to be necessary to confirm it.

Moving along then, to another "famous" discovery:

Augustus' birthplace believed found
Posted 7/20/2006 5:51 PM ET

ROME (AP) — A team of archaeologists announced Wednesday they have uncovered part of what they believe is the birthplace of Rome's first emperor Augustus.


Augustus

This one's a bit more dubious. What they've found, in fact, is part of fairly elegant house on the Palatine Hill, in Rome. There is, so far, no evidence whatsoever that Augustus was actually born there; in fact, there is some debate over whether he was born in Rome at all (the other possibility is Velitrae). However, a house on the Palatine that survived the Great Fire of July 19, A.D. 64 and the subsequent rebuilding is in itself an interesting find, whether the future emperor was born there or not.

Lastly, in a bit of follow-up news, in an earlier "Friday Archaeology Blogging", I described the site of a purported pyramid in Bosnia as "unquestionably something, and a pretty damned impressive something at that." Not so, apparently:

Bosnia "Pyramid" Is Not Human-Made, U.K. Expert Says
Sean Markey
for National Geographic News

June 13, 2006
A war of words continues to rage over the alleged discovery of an ancient pyramid in Bosnia.

.
.
.

Speaking at a press conference in Sarajevo, Anthony Harding [President of the European Association of Archaeologists] told reporters the pyramid-shaped hill was a natural phenomenon.

"My opinion and the opinion of my colleagues is what we saw was entirely geological in nature," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

So, basically, it's a hill, and I'm an idiot... :)