Detritus of Empire

Wandering unsupervised in various real and imaginary places. Detritus reflects my interests in robotics, travel, history and the odder aspects of the world around me.

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Saturday, December 10, 2011

A Million Mummified Cats

There was an occasion early in Belzoni's career in Egypt when a local wanted to sell him some falcon mummies. Several sealed clay jars ...

Friday, December 9, 2011

Belzoni as Indiana Jones?

The character of Indiana Jones is certainly a composite. One antecedent is often said to be Allan Quatermain as he appears in King Soloman...

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Legacy of Belzoni

If you were to ask a serious archaeologist about Belzoni you would get at best a mixed review. Certainly his techniques were not ideal. Th...

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Belzoni and the Obelisk

As I have previously mentioned, obelisks appear to have a particular appeal to Imperialists abroad in the land of the Pharoahs. On Belzo...

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Great Belzoni

It is the rare and fortunate man who by sheer accident finds himself doing a job for which he is uniquely qualified. In 1816 Belzoni was ...

Monday, December 5, 2011

Young Belzoni

One would not expect from his humble origins that Giovanni Battista Belzoni would attain lasting renown-as the Great Belzoni-for his acc...

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Original Tomb Raider

In the current generation we have seen a radical change in the image of archaeologists. Formerly they were seen as tweedy intellectuals. P...

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About Me

Tacitus: Having over the many years of my medical career seen too many hard working folks post pone retirement and tip over shortly after their farewell party I have adopted a Carpe Diem policy. Retire at 60. And don't let 'em throw you a party. Its working so far.

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