I am settling back into a normal work rythm after the winter break, though with more incentive to settle in quickly and efficiently this time - I have a deliciously large project on my desk.

In addition and as usual, this time of year is also interesting in regards to finishing stuff (such as the bookkeeping and tax stuff) and preparing stuff (such as fixing event dates for the coming months, and preparing for the big taxes thingie).

Finally, there's catching up to do - some catching up on the news, some on emails, and some on - you guessed it - interesting (or possibly interesting) links. So here you go:

Doug has summed up the archaeology blog carnival responses for December. It's a long post, and I was thrilled to be in there almost at the top. (I read all the way through it, though - it is worth it.) I'll post my reply to the January question one of the next days - once I have managed to look at my blog stats a bit...

If you are in the US and thinking of getting started in a conservation career, here's a grant to help.

There's a new book out, called "Clothing the Clergy" - it does sound interesting, but I have not been able to check it out yet.

If you are a language freak or just plain interested in the relation between languages, here is the graphic for you - and the blog posting that might then also be worth a closer look.

In case you are more interested in typology, you can play the kerning game here.

And as a final link for today, even though we're far away from Easter still, here's a post about the bioarchaeology of crucifiction.

I hope you had a good start into 2014, with friends, family or loved ones.

A lot of people I know have had to struggle in 2013 - things going wrong, and especially health troubles seem to have been around more than usual. I've heard similar things from all around, from people I don't know too well, so much that it seems to become one of the themes of 2013. So here's my wish for you for 2014:

I wish for you to receive lots of good news this year and little of bad news, and find more friends than you will lose. I wish that you will have joy, and peace, and a bit of spice in your life.

I hope that you will be healthy and that you appreciate your health if you are; and that your loved ones are healthy too, and able to share their life and their joy with you a while longer. I wish that whenever things look bleak and bad, you will still be able to think of something positive, and look forward to better times, and never lose your hope. I hope that you will find the time, or take the time, to do things that make you happy, and to spend time with people that make you happy.

May 2014 bring us all joy, wealth, and happiness.

It's Friday, December 20 - the last weekend before Xmas or Jule or whatever you wish to call it. I, for now, will call these coming two weeks "holidays" and have my traditional blog hiatus over the festive season.

The next two weeks will be time spent with friends and family, enjoying good food, good company, and good times. There will be cookies and coffee and tea and chocolate and festive meals, there will be walks outside enjoying the fresh air and hours spent at a gaming table inside, too.

2013 was a good year for me, one that I enjoy looking back on - and I wish 2014 to be even better. I hope that your last year was also a good one, and that you can go into the next year with someone close to you.

I will see you on the flip side - regular blogging will resume on January 7, 2014. May we all have good times until then (and after that as well)!

Here you go, have a random-ish link dump!

Things are stirring regarding copyright and distribution issues of papers on academia.edu.

Heritage Daily posts about the Archaeology of Star Wars.

A French café charges extra if you are rude.

I have posted a link to the Portable Antiquities Scheme before; here's a blog with critical thoughts about metal detecting and private collecting of artefacts.

Renaissance paintings go modern photographs - beautiful "re-enactments" done to challenge xenophobia.

Why owls do not a good pet make.

And finally, Rudolphus the Red-Nosed as Gregorian Choral.

This week is the week of parties and getting together with friends and colleagues and former colleagues to eat and drink and enjoy the season. The Most Patient Husband of them all has time off already, so I sneak in some work (a few last things need doing before the holidays) and join him some in relaxing and just hanging out. A few days more, and it will be family time for us, and we're both looking forward to that.

The weather is not very christmassy, too warm and snowless, but I don't really mind. We're having the presents all lined up, the cookies have all been baked, and it's nice to have a gingerbread and a cup of coffee and just relax.

And in the spirit of things you always do before Xmas or Jul or however you want to call it, here's Arkikon's Julekort 2013. (Arkikon is a Norwegian company specialising in graphical reconstructions, so their season's greetings are worth seeing - if you go on their homepage, you can also have a look at those of years past.)

Plus the obligatory music bit - this year in German, brought to me by a friend's blog entry, and an incredible earworm:

It's time for a little textile conference stuff - exciting things are coming up!


First of all, NESAT. The next one is taking place in Hallstatt, and the preliminary programme is online. Also, the proceedings from last NESAT are now out and available from Verlag Marie Leidorf.As usual, you should also be able to get them via your book dealer of choice.

The CTR Copenhagen also has a few conference announcements on their website, including a conference about traditional textile crafts early in 2014.

If you have been in thorough contact with textile crafts, especially tablet weaving, chances are high that you have read at least one book by Peter Collingwood. Sadly, he died a few years ago (here's an obituary). The Early Textiles Study Group, where he was a member until his death, now has a CfP out for a conference about Crafting Textiles from the Bronze Age to AD 1600: A tribute to Peter Collingwood. The conference will take place in London 10 to 11 October 2014, the CfP is open until January 31, 2014. Here is the conference website, in case you would like to be part of this.

This weekend, a friend told me about research into historic sleep patterns - seems like not only do we modern people sleep less than we would need to as a basic tendency, but also differently.

Research points at two sleep phases, with a time of quiet-ish activity in between, being the usual thing a few centuries ago, before electric lights were common and turned the night into day. Are you curious instead of sleepy now?

Here's an article on a website called slumberwise, BBC newsmag tells us about the myth of the eight-hour sleep, and some guy I've never heard of before gave it a try.

This, I think, is very cool - and a brilliant example on how things change, and stuff will seem strange to our modern western culture is what was so normal it wasn't even worth mentioning a few hundred years ago.