An Indonesian Pompeii?

Popular Archaeology magazine reports on the discovery of whole communities on Sumbawa (Indonesia) that were buried by the infamous eruption of the Tambora volcano in 1815

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Gertrude Bell and Iraq

This article from the Jerusalem Post looks at the life and legacy of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) both as an adventurer and explorer, as well her role as a "political officer" in Basra in 1916 and involvement in the creation of the modern Iraqi state in 1920

School of Museology to be established in Egypt: online article

Egypt's museums have been in the news following the looting that took place in major institutions and at archaeological sites during the country's recent political upheavals.

"The lack of trained museum personnel is indeed the overarching problem in Egypt's path towards the creation of a new effective museum system" says Ramadan Badri Hussein, supervisor of the office of the MSA's Minister for Archaeological Affairs.

As part of an ongoing programme of initiatives, a School of Museology is shortly to be established at the Casdagli Palace in Cairo.

Read more in Nevine El-Aref's report for the al-Ahram Weekly Online

Antiquities : is it possible to "collect" them with a clear conscience?

Article from the Huffington Post on the legality of collecting "antiquities" and the problems faced by museums where items in their collection, or that they wish to acquire, are of dubious provenance

Jerusalem: archaeology and rival histories

Article from the online edition of the Smithsonian Magazine explores the complex history of the Temple Mount and the fraught nature of archaeology on the site as "ancient history inflames modern-day political tensions"

History tourism

Article from Time Magazine on how plans to develop the ancient Egyptian sites at Luxor and expand its tourist infrastructure are uprooting local residents and are possibly damaging to the archaeological remains themselves. Will the reconstructed "Avenue of the Sphinxes" be anything more than "Vegas on the Nile"?