Template:Did you know nominations/Michael Meinecke


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:53, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Michael Meinecke

 * ... that archaeologist Michael Meinecke received an Aga Khan Award for Architecture and excavated the palace of Harun al-Rashid at Ar-Raqqah in Syria?
 * ALT1:... that Michael Meinecke received an Aga Khan Award for Architecture for helping restore the 10th-century Fatimid Darb Qirmiz Quarter in Cairo?
 * ALT2:... that German archaeologist Michael Meinecke excavated the eighth-century palace of Harun al-Rashid at Ar-Raqqah in Syria?
 * Reviewed: She Must Be Seeing Things

Created by Rupert Clayton (talk). Self nominated at 07:59, 5 August 2014 (UTC).


 * Symbol question.svg QPQ done. Article is new and long enough. Inline sourced to valid sources, no copyvio/close paraphrasing issues detected allthough article is mainly based on another one-page article which isn't optimal. As for the hook, I prefer ALT 3 which solely focuses on Al Raqqah, since that city is currently in the news. I wonder though if the phrasing "eighth-century palace" should be qualified a bit. In the one source I can access it says "remnants of palaces", so I invite Rupert Clayton to comment on that. Otherwise good to go. Iselilja (talk) 22:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your comments, Iselilja. I like your suggested hook. From what I can find, the Syrian Antiquities Authorities partially excavated five of Harun al-Rashid's palaces. After that, the German Archaeological Institute sponsored the excavation of five additional palaces over ten seasons. I can't tell for sure how many of those excavations Meinecke directed. So perhaps we could add the word 'complex'?


 * ALT2:... that German archaeologist Michael Meinecke excavated the eighth-century palace complex of Harun al-Rashid at Ar-Raqqah in Syria?


 * Thoughts? Rupert Clayton (talk) 23:39, 31 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi, Rupert Clayton. Sorry I forgot this a bit. My concern was a bit whether these palaces are actually anything near palaces today, or whether they were more like ruins or "remnants" as the Leisten source says? It's a bit difficult for me to evaluate since I don't have access to your other source. So I wondered if we would have to say "remnants of the 8th century palace complex" or if including "remnants/ruins" is misleading/superfluos? (Sorry if I am nitpicking). Regards, Iselilja (talk) 18:56, 9 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi, Iselilja. It's now a lot more than seven days after I added this article, so I'm not sure it's still eligible for DYK. I'm happy to change the phrasing if it seems confusing. To me, "excavated" pretty much implies we are dealing with ruins, not intact buildings. But the following would be fine:


 * ALT3:... that German archaeologist Michael Meinecke excavated the ruins of the eighth-century palace complex of Harun al-Rashid at Ar-Raqqah in Syria?


 * As to "whether these palaces are actually anything near palaces today", well some of them apparently had walls remaining up to 2-3m high. Meinecke and others note that much of Ar-Raqqah has been covered by recent development. And since May 2013 ISIS has been in control of an increasing portion of the city (all of it since July 2014). I don't think it's known how badly these sites have been damaged by fighting during this time. Since President Obama's announcement on September 10 it seems that Ar-Raqqah is vulnerable to US bombing in the days to come. Rupert Clayton (talk) 22:35, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Rupert Clayton. Sorry for this back-and-forth and delay. English is not my first language, so I didn't get that "excavated" implied ruins. I think we can go with ALT2 then. And not to worry; the article will go to the main page; the seven days time limit is for nomination; not the reviewing process. And the hook is still news relevant (sadly).
 * Symbol confirmed.svg ALT2 OR ALT3 Regards, Iselilja (talk) 22:51, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks! ALT3 would avoid ambiguity, so I think that's best, especially for non-native speakers of English. Rupert Clayton (talk) 23:58, 16 September 2014 (UTC)