Well, this week I got good news : my book manuscript has been accepted for publication and the draft contract is in my hands. Hopefully in about 12 months I will have a book to wave around! The peer reviews were glowing, asking only for some prose edits and ironically the inclusion of some historiography that I cut in the belief it was too dissertationy. It is a huge relief though, to pass muster at a major academic press. Almost doesn't feel real, honestly.

Just wanted to let y'all know about the sub I mod: /r/DigitalHistory. Its focus is on all the nifty stuff that archives, libraries, museums, and other projects post online for free. We feature content with a historical slant--the type of material typically housed in library archives or special collections like this 1916 letter from polar explorer Ernest Shackleton to his wife Emily presented by the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University or like this audio of "Poor Lazarus," a 1959 recording of a prison work song sung at the Mississippi State Penitentiary posted online by the Association for Cultural Equity and the Alan Lomax Archive.

So if you know of any awesome digitized manuscript collections, newspaper archives, online exhibits, etc., please stop by and share your links!

I made a somewhat surprising discovery this week. I'm researching a private collection of papers that have not been seen by anyone before. This week, because of a random connection I made I was looking into the papers concerning the April 1940 invasion of Norway. Norway, as I'm sure many of you are aware, is a small nation, and history is quite close to a lot of people.

I discovered that my main character, a British agent working in Norway, was given command of a Lieutenant Linge from the Norwegian battalion. Lieutenant Linge is a very very famous Norwegian war hero. The Norwegian sabotage missions run out of the UK for the rest of the war were set up by him, and in popular parlance the company that carried out these missions were (and are still) called the Linge Company.

So what I've ostensibly found is the first official connection between British intelligence and this Norwegian military officer who would become extraordinarily influential only a few months later. It's really fascinating.

I received word yesterday that I've been accepted to present a paper at this year's Conference of the Canadian Historical Association at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences in May. Are there any other Canadian historians on here who will be attending? Anybody from related disciplines?

Well, ladies and gents, it's that time of year again. I'm sitting in an airport waiting to go to Mexico for another adventure-filled field season. I'm sure it'll be awesome. Once again, I don't know what my internet situation is going to look like. I'm sure I'll check in periodically though. Provided I don't get shot by Los Caballeros Templarios. Anyways, hopefully we'll have a few updates on the project blog over the course of the dig. I'll link any important updates here in the Friday threads if anybody's interested.

For those who are interested in such things, my latest article at Oxford's WWI Centenary project is now available.

In this, the first in an intended series, I offer a brief account of the founding of the British War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House, its employment of many leading British authors, and the first major public act of those authors as propagandists: the so-called Authors' Declaration of September, 1914. What does such a document reveal about the period's literary landscape? Who was included in the list of signatories -- and who was not? I can think of at least one way of finding out...

Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault?

Well, I know what the spec script for my next sitcom pilot is about.

Anyway, question for the readers: Do you think the AMA schedule is getting too cramped? For the last couple of weeks, we had nearly one AMA every other day, and I noticed that the last AMA I was on drew less posts than popular front-paged questions. Are you suffering from AMA fatigue?

I also wanted to point out to those not following it - This Sunday (SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY), Mike Duncan's excellent podcast Revolutions should be wrapping up their English Civil War chapter. King Charles II will return, the monarchy will be restored, and Mike will go on a two-week hiatus before coming back to narrate the American revolution. For people who haven't been following the podcast, this might be the moment to pick it up as you can listen to the English Civil War episodes as a complete story.

I just realized, looking through the casual history/HF books I got for Christmas, with highlights like The Years of Rice and Salt, The Taste of Conquest, and Cod, that I must have been hungry when I made my wish list.

I've got an offer to study History at my first choice university. I still have to get some hefty A level requirements to pass, but it feels good to have a foot in the door.

I'm posting here to let everybody know about a similar, history-oriented site - http://history.stackexchange.com/questions?sort=votes

The site doesn't have as many professional historians as /r/AskHistorians, so if some of you Historians could help them! Due to its system of upvotes and reputation, it might have some advantages over reddit. Namely, only users with some reputation can upvote questions.

I'm making this post because I think, since both communities have the same goals, it would be good to be aware of each other. I know this should probably be a meta discussion, but I don't know how to make meta-posts.

So, a few days ago I took delivery of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria, by Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked. Joseph Naveh, sadly, passed away only in 2011, and as far as I'm aware this book is the last project he worked on before his death. But like everything else of his that I've read, this is incredible work on all fronts.

To summarise, these are 30 parchment documents in Aramaic script, along with 18 'sticks' or 'rods' which we think are essentially debt-records (which also have Aramaic script on them). All are known or believed to come from Bactria (which is located in what is now northern Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics), and all of them come from the late Achaemenid Empire and Alexander the Great's reign (c.350s-324 BC). We know the period because regnal years are used on the documents themselves to date them for bureaucratic purposes, and also because of some of the stylistic features of the Aramaic. The documents fall in the reigns of three or four kings, with the uncertainty being whether you count Bessus/Artaxerxes V or not as a King.

These are super important for a number of reasons. As with papyrus, parchment rarely preserves well when it comes to periods from this far back. The fact that the backbone of the Achaemenid administration was conducted in Aramaic, and on parchment or papyrus, therefore means we actually know far more about the overall workings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 300-400 years earlier (which was conducted mostly in Akkadian cuneiform and on clay tablets). So this is a key insight into an area of Achaemenid bureaucracy that isn't Persia/Elam or Mesopotamia where we can rely on hardier clay-written evidence. It also represents a primary source on the existence of Alexander the Great, as one of the documents is specifically dated to Year 7 of King Alexander, ʔlksndrs mlkʔ as he appears on the document. Perhaps another two could conceivably date to his reign, but the date has not survived. On a more onomastic and cultural level, the documents also contain over 60 different identifiable Old Persian personal names, many of which are not famous names like that of Alexander or Darius III. A lot of these names have elements referring to Bactria itself, but we also can't tell the difference between Persian personal names and Bactrian personal names in this period (the two spoke very closely related languages but otherwise formed distinct cultures). These documents also represent our only direct glimpse into the administrative workings of Achaemenid controlled Bactria.

In terms of actual content, a number of them are very boring; the rods/sticks are all mostly just names and dedications, and a number of the parchment documents are supply lists. But even those supply lists are an enormous trove of information in their own right. And it's very much worth spending the time to extract that information.

So what information can we get out of these sources? There are still many areas of dispute- Aramaic transcription is not always an easy business, as is interpreting what all the names are. There is a rather hilarious problem with one document- we're unsure whether a word refers to sand or vinegar due to both being written the same in Aramaic script of this era, despite them being pronounced differently. But some conclusions are relatively solid. Ten of the documents represent private correspondence of someone who appears to be the satrap of Bactria. Local governors under the (probable) satrap, Akhvamazda, could expect to have to build walls, dig ditches, roof houses, collect taxes, send off grain, and clear the sand from a particular building. Old Persian loanwords had infiltrated the Aramaic written in Bactria, and the scribes writing the Aramaic were not native Aramaic speakers but instead Iranians who had been schooled elsewhere judging by their names. Camel caravans were a serious deal, and their owners/leaders were quite able to petition high level officials if they felt mistreated. The Achaemenid administration distinguished between ordinary flour, fine flour, and 'finest' flour when it came to rations. It also distinguished between sheltered cows/grazing cows and sheltered sheep/grazing sheep. Cheese, to some extent, was something one could expect to eat in Bactria. Wine was often distinguished by where it came from, i.e wine of Arachosia, or wine of Chistakana (we don't know where that is though). Barley-supplier was a particular administrative rank, and the place where this was archived (likely the capital of Bactria, Bactra) was a hub where flour rations (along with others) were distributed to various petty magistrates to give to their underlings/servants/charges. The Achaemenid administration seems to have remained totally unchanged across this period of transition, nor did they seem to have any particular difficulty considering Alexander their king in sequence with the others before him.

The most interesting incident described in one of the documents to me involves the satrap and a recurring governor of his, Bagavant. Bagavant had been ordered to build a wall and ditch around a town called Nikhshapaya. But, he reported that there was a heavy swarm of locusts, just as the crop was ripening. If the wall was built, there would be almost nobody to do anything about the impending disaster and the area might starve. However, Bagavant did not have the authority to release the soldiers under his command from their task; he was asking permission to re-task them to instead try to damage the locusts themselves and gather the harvest at that exact moment. The satrap, by the way, agreed to all of this so we can possibly presume the crisis was dealt with.

Well much like /u/snickeringshadow I am also on my way back out to the field this weekend. This time however it will be analysis and maybe some site mapping - I'll be down through March! However we are in an apartment in Cuzco so I will be able to answer questions and check in much as I do now. Looking forward to more Southern Hemisphere shenanigans!

Hooray I am so happy this is here. Have been waiting ages to ask. How did soldiers get bodies off no man's land during war? Were the bodies just left there? How common was it to retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers? Did this change over time, for example was it more common to send home bodies for burial in the Vietnam war than World War Two? Thank you and hooray again.

Started reading Herbert Bix's biography on Hirohito. I'm enjoying it as a break from my usual reading.

I'm wondering if anyone can speak to how well received it is by academics.

I was just curious about the ability to get papers published, or to submit papers for consideration to get my name out there.

Background on me: I'm a current second year (22 years old) student in Secondary Education and Social Studies, with a major in History. My goal is to begin Master's work soon after graduation, and have my PhD by 37. I have written several larger papers for professors that have done very well, and I've had several verbal recommendations from professors in my history department for my continued writing and research.

I guess I was just curious about how I would potentially go about submitting papers or ideas for consideration to historical magazines, websites, anywhere that would take writing I guess. Given my situation and my current level of schooling, not sure if this is even a possibility, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

I've had a question on my mind this week and this is just the perfect place to post it.

Will we consider what has happened with the invention and extremely widespread adoption of smartphones and the internet that has occurred over the last few decades as a revolution akin to the, say, Neolithic revolution when looking back from the future? I know that it could be argued that te Neolithic revolution had an infinitely larger impact on humans as a species, but the way in which the above technologies are revolutionizing life as we know it is literally incredible. Will we consider this a technological revolution of sorts?

Thanks, friends

What were the weaknesses of the Roman army?

I'm looking for anyone knowledgeable about the state of German exports to British empire nations circa 1910-1914, specifically in regards to electrical transmission equipment. I know they were starting to export equipment and insulators prior to the war, but I don't know how active their electrical equipment industry was in such activity.

I was thinking about St. George and the icons of him on a horse slaying the dragon. I've learned from reddit that the dragon is a metaphor for vices and sloth. Here is one version of the imagery: http://i.imgur.com/ZLFRQhC.jpg

Which metaphor is considered to be the first recorded metaphor in literature or recorded history?

I admit that much of my interest in history has been sparked by games like the Total War series, etc. In particular, I've loved the Europa Barbarorum mod for the original Rome Total War. Basically it sets out to be as historically accurate as possible/is reasonable for the game. Everything from the units to the buildings to faction specific traits for characters have long detailed descriptions, etc.. You have units yelling out, for the most part, in their appropriate language in battle even, and the soundtracks for the various factions even are meant to be inspired by what is known about the music those various peoples had.

What I was wondering was if any of our resident historians, especially those specializing in the time period, have heard of it or even played it, and what they think of it. To myself, someone with a casual interest in history, it appears incredibly well researched and I've learned a metric crapton from it.

Don't know if this apply to the subreddit rules or it belongs here, so anyway What is humanity's most repeated mistake? And why do we keep making it?

I was wondering if there is a good book or other media that would give a good overview of the apartheid era in South Africa? And similar for the beginnings of the Sri Lankan Civil War. I was also wondering in terms of answering questions, I'm by no means a historian but if I come across something I can contribute to (i.e. something I find in a book I've read), would it be alright to answer if I summarise what is said and I can provide the sources? I also wanted to thank everyone for making this such a great and fascinating sub.

I'm currently reading Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings by Jean Manco. It is blowing my mind because she makes a lot of use of genetic data from human remains to back up the archeology.

Most interesting is her claim that the Bell Beaker people were Indo-European and spoke PIE dialects that became the Celtic and Italic languages. I have normally seen the Bell Beaker culture described as a non-IE culture that originated in Iberia. Manco uses genetic data from Bell Beaker burials and by showing similarities between the distinctive Bell Beaker pottery and the pottery of the Corded Ware and Yamnya cultures to argue that the Bell Beaker culture originated in the lower Danube valley and very quickly spread up the Danube and along the coast of southern Europe.

Why is there still a large French-speaking population in Quebec but less so in Louisiana, and next to none elsewhere in what was once New France?

Also, how is the book Europe: A History by Norman Davies typically regarded among historians?