I've Heard of Cave Milk and I've Heard of Milk of Magnesia...

But I have to admit I've never heard of the Caves of Magnesia.

I know. I know! This is way bigger than the original and is thus pixellating a bit. But after I had tried embiggening it I thought it resembled nothing so much as a Turner painting, and so I couldn't resist leaving it this way. 

From the news ticker comes this [sadly rather] detail-light teaser about what's been found in the 200-plus caves in the Greek region of Magnesia [which I think is down the Pelloponnesus from Amnesia]. Here's the most intriguing bit

The most important finding was obtained in the “Cyclops” cave, where a systematic research has taken place. Part of a human sculpt of a female person aged 65-70 years-old intrigued the archaeologists who were surprised by her age, given that the average life expectancy was much lower.

That's right. No mention in the article of how they estimated the subject's age, much less any reference to the age of the archaeological sites. Still, you have to admit that a cave named after the Cyclops has got to be pretty kewl.
     Bonus treat, if you're visiting soon [in real time] after I post this, you might still catch a couple of program notes toward the bottom of the greekreporter.com's web page. 
     I especially like the story about the Cretan 'Mammoths' [and no, I don't mean intellectually challenged pachyderms]. True, they're the same genus as the hairy behemoths they conjured up in Quest for fire, however I can't stop smiling about the oxymoron that resulted when the English connotation was lost [obviously, I think] in translation. Seriously. Think about it. A dwarf mammoth? 

It's worth clicking here to see a very informative article
[written for grown-ups] about this Dumbo-sized creature.

     Gotta go do weekend-y evening things. 
     Still thinking about how to put Paul Pettitt's latest pettifoggery to rest, and how best to approach the latest mind-bending contradictions I've found in the Wonderwerk Cave saga [see here, here, here and here]. [Maybe it's only a saga to me. But even if it's not all that dramatic, at least when it's over and done with the whole edifice of million year old shrimp on the barbie will be sagging a bit under the strain of reality.]
  

Show your support for this blog. Remember that when you purchase from Amazon by clicking any of the links on the right, you'll be getting great discounts and supporting the Subversive Archaeologist's field activities at the same time!