Archeological updates…

• From Yemen: The American archeological mission has started its second season of archaeological excavation in Masnaat Mariya in Ans district of Dhamar governorate. Masnaat Mariya is one of the largest pre-Islamic archaeological site is in Yemen. The name means “Mary’s Fortress,” which much have had great significance to the early Christian community there.

• The Guardian gives us The Dustbin of History, an interesting reflection on the usefulness of the ancient Egyptian garbage dump at Oxyrhynchus (City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish). In the trash heap were half a million papyrus fragments — much of them account ledgers, grocery lists, and small-talk correspondence, but also “a treasure trove of lost classics and non-canonical gospels.”