Word: burials
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...tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen created a sensation from the moment it was uncovered in 1922. One of the few royal burial chambers that survived the centuries relatively intact, it was by far the richest--filled with gold, ivory and carved wooden treasures, including what may be the world's most famous funerary mask. But there was also something troubling about the way King Tut was buried--hints and omissions that suggested foul play...
Whoever is right, it's clear that when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb 80 years ago, he found a grave like no other. As Pharaonic burial sites go, Tut's was slapdash. Not only did its modest size suggest it had been intended for a nonroyal, but it was also hastily decorated, with wall paintings marred by splashes of paint nobody ever cleaned up. Some of the elaborate artifacts that so captivated the world appear to have been obtained from a funerary warehouse, since close examination reveals that other people's names were erased from them...
...free to anyone with Internet access, contains personal data on the deceased, a photograph of the tombstone and a copy of the inscription (along with a translation into Czech) for each documented grave. English, German and Russian translations may follow. Other sections of the site explain things like Jewish burial practices and the significance of the religious symbols carved into the stones. Haidler's project is unique in the Czech Republic, both for its digital presentation and for its effort to preserve an aspect of Jewish culture that is prey to natural erosion and vandalism. Though he now has backing...
Have archaeologists discovered the skeleton of John the Baptist? Don't send for your color slides yet, but it's possible. Last year scholars combing a graveyard at the Qumran site in the West Bank, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, turned up an elaborate burial mound and some bones, which they theorized belonged to the Teacher of Righteousness--the leader of the Essene sect thought to have assembled the scrolls. The Teacher has long been felt by some scholars to be John the Baptist, since John's Messianic Judaism and stress on immersion were strikingly similar to Essene...
Finally, there's a cosmic dimension to these bugs. So-called exobiologists and astrobiologists, who speculate about life beyond Earth, have long assumed that liquid water is a minimum requirement for existence. But if that water can range from frigid to boiling, and if burial underground isn't a problem, then it's not crazy to think that life exists in the permafrost beneath the surface of Mars, or in the ice-capped ocean that may encircle Jupiter's moon Europa, or in the seas that may exist on Saturn's moon Titan. Indeed, NASA considers extremophiles so relevant...