Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter September 2018

SEPTEMBER -2018Dear Member:There are no signs of fall yet where I am on the coast of the Olympic Peninsula as I’m sure there are no signsof it yet in Florida, but September brings the beginning of a new season for Time Sifters. This year wewelcome some new board members, I am turning over the reins to a new president (I will remain as VicePresident), and we are introducing a new program in conjunction with the Osher Lifelong Learning Instituteat Ringling College: a day-long, In-Depth Series on the Dead Sea Scrolls led by Dr. Steven Derfler.For our monthly meetings, we have put together a mix of top-notch speakers with archaeological expertiseon the old world and the new, sharing new research, cutting-edge technologies, exciting discoveries, andarchaeology in the pursuit of social justice. It all starts this month with Dr. Davide Tanasi discussing his useof 3D Digital Imaging, using case studies from the island of Sicily with a focus on World Heritage sites.Two things to note on the Calendar - November’s meeting will be on the 14th, the second Wednesday of themonth, so as not to interfere with Thanksgiving plans. And our Holiday Party will be on November 27th.Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss a thing.Thank you for being a member of Time Sifters. It has been my honor to serve as your president.Sherry Svekis, President [email protected] 19, 6:00 PM Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota Virtualizing World Heritage Sites in Sicily Dr. Davide Tanasi of Digital Humanities with the Assistant Professor Dept. of History, University of Center for Virtualization and South Florida where he has also Applied Spatial Technologies (CVAST) founded the Institute for Digital University of South Florida Exploration (IDEx), a research center for the application of 3DThe use of 3D Digital Imaging Sicily with a focus on World Heritage Digital Imaging to archaeology andtechniques for documentation, sites, such as the Roman Villa cultural heritage study. Sicilian byinterpretation and dissemination del Casale at Piazza Armerina. birth, Dr. Tanasi is a specialist inof cultural heritage has become an The production of 3D content has the archaeology of the centralimperative for those who are dealing provided important tools to facilitate Mediterranean region, where hewith endangered sites, neglected and support the daily work of has directed archaeological field-collections, and non-accessible museum departments. works since 1998, especially inartifacts in certain parts of the Dr. Tanasi is Assistant Professor Crete, Sicily and Malta.world. Also the virtualization anddigital sharing of well-known andaccessible archaeological collectionshas also proved to be a successfulin triggering the interest of bothlocal and global audiences formuseums.In this talk, Dr. Tanasi will discusscase studies from the island of

Notes from a Time Sifter By Evelyn Mangie, Time Sifters Board MemberThe Great American Sport - FootballIt is September, and everyone is Japan adopted the idea and created ball and passed it to a team-mateready for the great American Kamari during the Heian Period while dodging another and laugh-sport, football. This is a game (794-1185 C.E.). Their playing ing.” Julius Caesar is said toplayed by two teams on a specific field was a forty-two-foot square have been a player, and Romanarea where opposing teams defend court and they used a ball that generals used the game to maintaineach end of the playing field. had been stuffed with barley grains the physical fitness of the soldiers.Points are won by the team that until it held its shape. The point They introduced the game wherevercan kick or carry a ball across a of Kamari was not to gain points they went throughout the hugeline that is defended by the opposing but to keep the ball in the air for Roman Empire and records showteam. It is a popular sport that as long as they could. It was a that Roman soldiers sometimeshas been played around the world skill sport of the elite and a form played against the native Britsfor centuries, but American football is of entertainment for the upper (expertfootball.com). The game’sonly one form of this popular class (Ronan, Tokyo Times, 2011). popularity faded after the fall ofgame. the Empire but was revived during theThe earliest evidence for such a The game, in one form or another, Middle Ages as guyoco del calciogame comes from China around was played early in the West also. Florentino, shortened to calcio which3000 B.C.E. when it was probably In ancient Greece around 2000 is still the name of Italian football.done as a military exercise. The B.C.E., young men played an ancient This was a violent 15th centuryfirst written evidence for it as a game they called episkyros with a game played by aristocrats andgame is in a 3rd century B.C.E ball made of hair wrapped in linen even popes. There were 27 playerspolitical book from the Han Dynasty and sewn together with string. who punched, kicked, tackled or(202 B.C.E.-220 C.E.). They called Women sometimes played the wrestled opposition players to gettheir game Tsu’ Chu or cuju. During game also, but separately from the ball. If a player had to leavethe Tang Dynasty (618-907), the the men. Not many details are the field, there were no substitutes,Chinese even created a female available but in ancient Greece, even for injuries, and the winning where the love of sport was a part italymagazine.com Health and Fitness History of the culture, the game seems to team was usually the team withversion of cuju, called baida in be a test of skill rather than the fewest incapacitated players.which up to ten young women competition. We know much more It was such a vicious game that inwould take turns trying to score about the Roman branch of the a 1574, on a visit to Venice, thewhile judges decided points based game called harpastum. There, French King Henry III remarkedon style and skill. By the time of the playing field had firmthe Song Dynasty (960-1279), boundaries with a white Yale Bulldogs, 1895cuju had become a spectator line that split thesport, played and watched by rectangular field in half. Notes continued on page 3 ...both the elite and peasants. The Each team of five to 10ball was made of animal skin players tried to keep astuffed with either hair or feathers, small hard ball on theirand the goal was a single elevated own half of the fieldhole in a net that was stretched while the opponentsbetween two posts in the middle tried to steal it away toof the rectangular playing field. their side. They seldomThere were 12 to 16 players on kicked the ball buteach team who tried to score used trickery and otherpoints by bumping or kicking the tactics to steal the ball.ball through the hole using any Atheneaus of Naucratis, apart of their bodies except their 3rd century historian,hands. Versions of both cuju and described the fun: “He seized thebaida are still played today.

A Time Sifters Book Review Prepared by Smitty SmithSubmerged History:Underwater Archaeology in FloridaBy: Roger C. Smith Chapter Two – Mysteries of theTime Sifters Board member Ancient Aquifers: Archaeology inRob Bopp, was looking through Florida’s Rivers and Springs isthe Selby Library when he ran written by Dr. Jessi Halliganacross a new book titled who will speak to Time Sifters on“Submerged History – Underwater March 20, 2019 about her workArchaeology in Florida” by at the Page-Ladson Site.Roger C. Smith. This heavily Other chapters allow the readerillustrated book has 14 chapters to explore drowned prehistoricwritten by top archaeologists who waterfront neighborhoods, paddlestudy Florida's sunken heritage in into the past on ancient canoes,unique underwater sites. swim across wrecked SpanishChapter One – Secrets of the galleons and slave ships, recordSprings: Florida’s Prehistoric Time the contents of a Civil War troopCapsules tells about our local transport, and study water-treasures “Warm Mineral logged artifacts in the laboratory.Springs and Little Salt Springs”. This is an excellent book andThe chapter describes the sites, has a ton of information abouthow and when they were discovered underwater Florida. We highlyand what has been found in them. recommend it if you are interest-On page 16 there is even a photo ed in Florida’s prehistory andof Steve Koski the president of history.Warm Mineral Springs ArchaeologySociety.… Football Continued from Page 2that calcio was “too small to be standardize rules and the first Walter Camp, a famous rugbya real war and too cruel to be a “Football Association” was player at Yale in the 1880s. Hegame.” formed. Both soccer and rugby created new rules that turned quickly became the major enter- English rugby into AmericanOther Europeans adopted tainment for the working class. footballsome variety of calcio but The game’s popularity brought In 1892, the Allegheny Athleticwithout the extreme violence. both soccer and rugby to the Association paid a player (WilliamBritain forbid the game until Western Hemisphere, and athletic Pudge Heffelfinger) to play againstthe 17th century when locals clubs and colleges sponsored the Pittsburgh Athletic club andbegan playing a milder version on competitive games. Americans professional football was born (ProLondon’s streets. It eventually formed their own version of rugby Football Hall of Fame) as only oneappeared in public schools as in 1869 after the Rutgers- evolution of a very ancient pastime.soccer and rugby, and soon Princeton game used rules slight-gained public popularity. Officials ly different from the English.met in Cambridge in 1848 to Rules were further changed byOfficers: Board of Directors Copyright © 2018Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, President Time SiftersArchaeologySociety,Inc.,Sherry Svekis, Vice President Directors: Steven Derfler All rights reserved.Bernice Jones, Secretary Robert Bopp Evelyn Mangie We send newsletters to peopleLaura Harrison, Treasurer Dorothy Cascio Sharon McConnell who have attended or expressedKaren Jensen, Membership Glenn Cooper interestin our lecturesand given us their email address.

Membership Speakers & Events CalendarLifetime: $250 All to be held at 6:00 PMIndividual: $25 Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236Family: $35Sustaining: $50 September 19Student: $10 Virtualizing World Heritage Sites in Sicily Dr. Davide TanasiPay online at:WWW.TimeSifters.org October 17Or mail checks to: The Bronze Age Archaeology of Seyitömer MoundTime Sifters, Inc. in TurkeyPO Box 5283 Dr. Laura HarrisonSarasota, FL. 34277 November 14 The Rosewood Massacre Dr. Edward González-Tennant Time Sifters Archaeology Society A Chapter of the Florida Anthropological Society http://timesifters.org/Time Sifters Archaeology SocietyP. O. Box 5283, Sarasota, FL 34277