I'm still hard at work on the archaeological excavation at Tel Ashkelon. Our dig is nearing its end, and we've started wrapping up some areas, though others continue to be productive. We've removed most of the Persian period walls and other occupation from the area I survey, and I have been spending a lot of time digging a bunch of destruction debris and smashed whole pottery vessels on a floor of a destroyed house, the remnants of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar II in 604 BC. The Iron Age buildings that were destroyed also have some strange angles and orientations, and we may have a winepress leading out into the street (which seems to be the way they did things back then, as we have seen the same thing in other areas of the site).

In one of our other areas, we've found a sewer system, which appears to be a large tank with drainage channels leading into it. Why are sewers so much fun to dig? It's true, they can smell sometimes, but they are just too much fun to dig in. It must be something about digging deep holes in soft dirt that is so satisfying, plus the shafts and cool stuff. Also you get a lot of valuable artifacts in sewer systems, because ain't nobody jumping in to fish anything out that they dropped by accident.

Another area may not have a 10 meter thick mudbrick wall after all, but rather a paleosol with Early Bronze pits cut into it. Those volunteers working there deserve some serious thanks, because they haven't found anything flashy, but they are answering some extremely important questions about the nature of the northern part of the site and the earliest occupation we have on the site.

Today we were backed up in another area, so I pulled a double shift to help out with some other staff members, and we will be digging tomorrow on our day off. I love working staff doubles, or staff special shifts, because we talk so much shop, everyone knows what they're doing, we joke around because we've known each other for so many years, and we feel like we're hardcore.

If you are interested, our excavation runs a blog and we update every day with some images of our work and findings. The URL is:

http://digashkelon.com/blog

I just started a new blog for my colonial, maritime, and pirate history pursuits. http://csphistorical.com/
I've had three major posts so far:

• Recommended Books on Pirate History
• Reflections on the Neyuheruke 300 Conference and Tuscarora Conflict
• A Sailor's Possessions

I hope you all enjoy. If you've enjoy my pirate content here on AskHistorians (which I know you all have, it's been voted such several times), you'll enjoy my posts. You can follow by email (just submit your email and click the button at the bottom of any of the posts) or follow @CSP_Historical on twitter.

One thing I really like about reading history widely is that it sometimes gives you nice little bits of comparative evidence. For example, observe. The top map is a simple population density map of Song era Sichuan. The bottom map is the percentage of people living in guest-house or panghu relationships, which is a form of labor bondage comparable in certain respects to slavery. What is nice is the neat inverse correlation between population density and the use of labor bondage, which can partially be explained by a stronger state presence in the Shu region, as the Song was generally anti-slavery, but also by the dynamics of demographics. In a labor rich environment, bondage is unnecessary and inefficient, while it is useful in the more land rich regions. It is a nice little visualization of my minimalist interpretation of Roman slavery.

Now the question raised then is why some frontiers produce slave labor systems and some do not.

I have a giant, 50 minute presentation worth 100% of my grade on Monday morning in a subject that is in no way related to history. Right now I am hooked on Rushforth's Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France, and can't stand to look at the powerpoint presentation any longer.

History, why do you have to be so much more interesting than everything else?

Last week was the 60th anniversary of the Einstein-Russell Manifesto against nuclear war. I looked at it again and found myself struck by this part in particular:

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.

"Remember your humanity, and forget the rest." What a line!

Hello, I am Fargo84, head admin of the World War II Wiki and I have come to this historical community to request help. The biggest problem we've faced is getting dedicated editors to stay with us and continue to edit. More often than not, we get a couple of people who make about five edits and leave. What we need are people who are willing to put in the hours to do real work for the sake of public knowledge. Thus, I've come here, the home of many fellow historians to place my request for help. Editing for the wiki is fairly straightforward and I am always available to help new users. Editing is not the only way to help out the wiki however, we also highly value people who are good community organizers or graphic artists. Any contribution is valuable. Got that old WWII American radio manual? Scan it and we'll add it to our collection. Have ideas? We'll add them. Anything is helpful. Thank you in advance to anyone who is willing to donate their time to help us and those who took the time to read this. Link:http://world-war-2.wikia.com/wiki/World_War_II_Wiki

I spotted shaft tomb figures in Sense8

Episode 5

http://i.imgur.com/Ofc848V.png

http://i.imgur.com/Vq4UQpj.png

http://i.imgur.com/cxru40R.png

http://i.imgur.com/xhqzhyh.png

Episode 9

http://i.imgur.com/uKOT06i.png

http://i.imgur.com/HZkTQgs.png

Also I came across a paper* by Phil Weigand I had not read before. In it he has an aerial photo of a site called La Providencia. "Great!", I thought, "This was one of the sites I couldn't find on Google Earth. Let me just open it up and place a push pin." Except that I couldn't. Because despite having a map that gave a general location of guachimonton sites and having this aerial photo, I couldn't find the site. The town in the photo doesn't exist in the area the map says the site should be. The roads and rivers just don't match up. And the hill next to the town I thought it was, doesn't have the same shape. And if you look at the photo the site is pretty clear, you should be able to see it on Google Earth. So frustrating.

Edit: Actually, I think I found it. I had marked a possible ballcourt before I saw this paper. I rotated Google Earth to orientate the ballcourt with the image from the paper. As a result, the field walls also aligned with the picture and so did the little river. I should have known that I could not rely on Phil to make sure "top" was north.

*For anyone who reads this paper, please note that at the time Phil did not know that El Grillo and Ixtepete are Epiclassic sites and not Classic period sites. His suggestion of a "political and social frontier of pronounced dimensions." is not entirely true. There are few guachimonton sites in the Atemajac Valley which does suggest some kind of boundary.

Any Canadian listeners of CBC radio? Particularly, Ideas? I just finished listening to the second part of 'The Myth of the Secular' and it was quite fascinating. I was wondering if anyone on this sub had any thoughts.

Also if anyone had any thoughts on the recent episodes on the war of 1812 or the one about Roman perceptions of humor.

I've always wanted to ask historians more for personal opinions rather than specific fact, things like "what one thing made you laugh while reading the history books, which people who haven't read that book probably wouldn't know?"

Hello I've only been to this subreddit for about a week and so many of the threads are mind blowingly interesting.

I've only got a small question that i would like to ask.

For a long time i've had a small interest in naval armies, especially the IJN so i'm just curious if there are any recommendations for books that talk about the naval strategies and detailed information about the ships used etc.

Sorry if the question is vague, i'm new to history and i'm not quite sure myself where to start.

Hey guys, I lurk on this sub quite frequently and I think this Free-For-All Friday is a good opportunity to post something here. I love history, but obviously I'm not nearly as knowledgable and historically literate as most members of this sub..which is why I want you guys to recommend me some books I should read and where to get started. I've read a few historical books before, and found them all very interesting, but usually they were gifts or I stumbled upon them in a bookstore. As an Egyptian, I would like to start reading about Ancient Egypt and the pharaonic era, but I don't really know where to start. Ancient Egypt was part of the curriculum in my school, but you must know that the Egyptian school system is terrible and the history of my beautiful country is often neglected and not adequately portrayed in school books. Of course, I don't wish to stop there. I would like to read about similar cultures (the Maya civilisation, Mesopotamia etc..) before I continue into more recent history.

So, if you could just help me find out where I should start, what books to read, where and what to look for that'd be great. Thanks in advance.

Dan Carlin pronounces Macedonia as Mack-uh-donia. Or Mack-uh-donians. Is this correct in any way?

Hey everyone! I started looking into the idea of wet shaving with a cut throat razor especially as Sweeney Todd is most known for using them for torture, I know that Sweeney Todd was a fictional "penny dreadful" series within a Victorian newspaper but it got me wondering whether there's any accounts of real life Victorian barbers using cut throat razors to kill their customers?

Shaving obviously comes under the umbrella term of "male grooming", but I was wondering if anyone knew whether the use of "grooming" in a sexual context comes from male grooming? If it isn't then when did people start to associate it with a perverse act?

Hopefully my queries have answers if not then don't worry but enjoy your weekends! :)

I am a concept artist/designer, and I love history. I've begun developing a story idea that takes places during the time of the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilization and would love to gather some resources. If you know or come aross anything related to the time period/setting or even have any suggestions please send them my way I greatly appreciated!

If anyone is interested in seeing artwork I can link as well but keep in mind it will not adhere completely to historical accuracy. Thanks!

I'm about halfway through Longitude by Dava Sobel about the discoveries that led sailors to be able to tell their longitude while at sea. Super interesting book!

Here's a question that I don't think merits it's own thread. It's recent US HISTORY:

Why, in 1995, did Bill Clinton refrain from sending the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Senate? People from his administration even helped draft it!!

I'm interested in reading about war reparations, anyone have any good suggestions where to start?

What smaller naval weapons during WW2 were the best and worst? I mean guns like the 40mm bofors, pom pom guns and Japanese 25mm AA guns.

What is the first historically recorded battle and what year did it occur in?....

Prompted by u/JFVarlet's excellent repudiation of Ed Herman's denial of Srebenica in r/badhistory, I've been re-reading Bruce Sharp's accusations against Noam Chomsky. Not sure how I feel about them. Wonder if there are any Cambodia experts on here?

http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/chomsky.htm