Saturday, July 12, 2014
Monday, September 23, 2013
Head of Aphrodite Statue Unearthed in Turkey
From: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/head-of-aphrodite-statue-unearthed-in-turkey-130923.htm
A group of archaeologists has discovered a life-sized marble head of Aphrodite while uncovering an ancient pool-side mosaic in southern Turkey.
Buried under soil for hundreds of years, the goddess of love and beauty has some chipping on her nose and face. Researchers think her presence could shed light on the extent of the Roman Empire's wide cultural influence at the time of its peak.
Archaeologists found the sculpture while working at a site called Antiochia ad Cragum (Antioch on the cliffs), on the Mediterranean coast. The researchers believe the region, which is dotted with hidden inlets and coves, would have been a haven for Cilician pirates — the same group who kidnapped Julius Caesar and held him for ransom around 75 B.C.
But the pirates' reign ended when the Roman occupation of the area expanded. The city was officially established around the time of Emperor Nero and flourished during the height of the Roman Empire, researchers say.
The excavators had been looking for more parts of the largest Roman mosaic ever found in Turkey: a 1,600-square-foot (150 square meters) marble floor elaborately decorated with geometric designs, adorning a plaza outside a Roman bath. During fresh excavations this past summer, they found the statue head lying face-down. The researchers think the marble head was likely long separated from its body; traces of lime kilns have been found near the site, suggesting many statues and hunks of stone would have been burned to be reused in concrete. [See Photos of Goddess Statue and Magnificent Roman Mosaic]
Past scholars have argued that southern Turkey's culture was too insular to be greatly impacted by Rome's reach and that it was a peripheral part of the empire. But the presence of an Aphrodite sculpture suggests Greek and Roman influence had become mainstream in far-flung cities like Antiochia ad Cragum in the first and second centuries A.D., the excavation's director Michael Hoff, an art historian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said in a statement.
Hoff said Aphrodite's head is the first fragment of a monumental statue they have found at Antiochia ad Cragum over eight years of digging.
"We have niches where statues once were. We just didn't have any statues," Hoff said in a statement. "Finally, we have the head of a statue. It suggests something of how mainstream these people were who were living here, how much they were a part of the overall Greek and Roman traditions."
The researchers also found other traces of Roman influence, such as a second mosaic adorning a building that looks like it might be a temple.
"Everything about it is telling us it's a temple, but we don't have much in the way of to whom it was dedicated," Hoff said in a statement. "We're still analyzing the finds. But the architecture suggests heavily that it was a temple."
A group of archaeologists has discovered a life-sized marble head of Aphrodite while uncovering an ancient pool-side mosaic in southern Turkey.
Portraits of Michelangelo suggest he was nowhere near as beautiful as the works of art he produced.
DCI
Archaeologists found the sculpture while working at a site called Antiochia ad Cragum (Antioch on the cliffs), on the Mediterranean coast. The researchers believe the region, which is dotted with hidden inlets and coves, would have been a haven for Cilician pirates — the same group who kidnapped Julius Caesar and held him for ransom around 75 B.C.
VIDEO: Mythical Viking Sunstone is Real
But the pirates' reign ended when the Roman occupation of the area expanded. The city was officially established around the time of Emperor Nero and flourished during the height of the Roman Empire, researchers say.
The excavators had been looking for more parts of the largest Roman mosaic ever found in Turkey: a 1,600-square-foot (150 square meters) marble floor elaborately decorated with geometric designs, adorning a plaza outside a Roman bath. During fresh excavations this past summer, they found the statue head lying face-down. The researchers think the marble head was likely long separated from its body; traces of lime kilns have been found near the site, suggesting many statues and hunks of stone would have been burned to be reused in concrete. [See Photos of Goddess Statue and Magnificent Roman Mosaic]
Past scholars have argued that southern Turkey's culture was too insular to be greatly impacted by Rome's reach and that it was a peripheral part of the empire. But the presence of an Aphrodite sculpture suggests Greek and Roman influence had become mainstream in far-flung cities like Antiochia ad Cragum in the first and second centuries A.D., the excavation's director Michael Hoff, an art historian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said in a statement.
NEWS: Long-lost Van Gogh Painting Unveiled in Amsterdam
Hoff said Aphrodite's head is the first fragment of a monumental statue they have found at Antiochia ad Cragum over eight years of digging.
"We have niches where statues once were. We just didn't have any statues," Hoff said in a statement. "Finally, we have the head of a statue. It suggests something of how mainstream these people were who were living here, how much they were a part of the overall Greek and Roman traditions."
The researchers also found other traces of Roman influence, such as a second mosaic adorning a building that looks like it might be a temple.
"Everything about it is telling us it's a temple, but we don't have much in the way of to whom it was dedicated," Hoff said in a statement. "We're still analyzing the finds. But the architecture suggests heavily that it was a temple."
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Never get involved in a land war in Asia
and never agree to transcribe 20 hours of meetings from an Australian business meeting.
That's what I've been doing for the last 4 days...utter nightmare. Could NOT understand their accents. Making it worse were the bad audio levels and the fact that a lot of the people preesnt insisted on talking over each other from all around the room except in front of the microphone... I will never transcribe ANYTHING every again.
Anyway, so sorry to be MIA from my blogs.
That's what I've been doing for the last 4 days...utter nightmare. Could NOT understand their accents. Making it worse were the bad audio levels and the fact that a lot of the people preesnt insisted on talking over each other from all around the room except in front of the microphone... I will never transcribe ANYTHING every again.
Anyway, so sorry to be MIA from my blogs.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Why We Must Keep Reaching For The Stars
This is actually from July 24 of last year, but it's interesting.
From NPR: Why We Must Keep Reaching For The Stars
Field Log, Imperial Archeological Expedition IV-V, May 21, 2750 CE: Spent the better part of the day bringing artifacts up from the mud-caves. It's hard to believe what we are finding. It's impossible really. Lifan-Alfred says she has deciphered a good portion of the documents. They speak of rockets and journeys into space. There are even detailed accounts of trips to the moon, seven of them! Some of the technology described in the documents matches closely with the artifacts we are finding. These stories, they could be true. We are on the verge of these kinds of capabilities now ourselves. And if they are true then the real question is why?
Why did they stop?
This week marks the passing of two heroic milestones, each one carrying a whiff of sadness with it. Yesterday Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space, died at far too early an age. Ride was 61 and a tireless advocate for space exploration, as well as women's role in science, technology and education.
Last Friday, the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing came and went without much fanfare.
With each passing year it gets harder to imagine that we once walked on the moon. For my kids the Apollo moon program might as well be World War II or the era of Chicago gangsters. It's history, pure and simple. Even Sally Ride's ground-breaking flight occurred three decades ago, in an era when a space shuttle launch was a big deal. Now, of course, even the shuttle program is history.
A few days ago I was talking to a young researcher who has begun work in the industrial archeology of space flight. He was doing work on nuclear rocket test sites from the 1950s. It's remarkable, he told me, how much information is already lost from these projects. You might think everything was carefully documented in books and monographs. The reality, however, is much messier. Capabilities and competence fade once programs get shut down. It's a stark reminder of the strange territory we find ourselves in relative to the high frontier of space.
We are crossing a gap now. We have no national launch capacity for sending humans into space. That absence serves as a metaphor for the national space program as a whole. The administration's decision to help build a private space enterprise is absolutely the right way to go, as is its intention to redirect our long-term efforts to deep-space missions like Mars exploration and trips to the asteroids. But both of these decisions only make sense if the gap in manned-flight capability is crossed quickly.
There should be a sense of urgency about getting these new space ventures up and running because we can forget. Left long enough to inertia, we will forget. If we cannot find the will to follow our heros into space, then Armstrong and Ride could become nothing more dusty names in dusty stories.
Some great-great grandchild of ours might say to their own kids, "Yes, they say we traveled in space once. But that was a long time ago."
Soon enough it could simply be forgotten, a topic not for engineers but for archeologists
From NPR: Why We Must Keep Reaching For The Stars
Field Log, Imperial Archeological Expedition IV-V, May 21, 2750 CE: Spent the better part of the day bringing artifacts up from the mud-caves. It's hard to believe what we are finding. It's impossible really. Lifan-Alfred says she has deciphered a good portion of the documents. They speak of rockets and journeys into space. There are even detailed accounts of trips to the moon, seven of them! Some of the technology described in the documents matches closely with the artifacts we are finding. These stories, they could be true. We are on the verge of these kinds of capabilities now ourselves. And if they are true then the real question is why?
Why did they stop?
This week marks the passing of two heroic milestones, each one carrying a whiff of sadness with it. Yesterday Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space, died at far too early an age. Ride was 61 and a tireless advocate for space exploration, as well as women's role in science, technology and education.
Last Friday, the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing came and went without much fanfare.
With each passing year it gets harder to imagine that we once walked on the moon. For my kids the Apollo moon program might as well be World War II or the era of Chicago gangsters. It's history, pure and simple. Even Sally Ride's ground-breaking flight occurred three decades ago, in an era when a space shuttle launch was a big deal. Now, of course, even the shuttle program is history.
A few days ago I was talking to a young researcher who has begun work in the industrial archeology of space flight. He was doing work on nuclear rocket test sites from the 1950s. It's remarkable, he told me, how much information is already lost from these projects. You might think everything was carefully documented in books and monographs. The reality, however, is much messier. Capabilities and competence fade once programs get shut down. It's a stark reminder of the strange territory we find ourselves in relative to the high frontier of space.
We are crossing a gap now. We have no national launch capacity for sending humans into space. That absence serves as a metaphor for the national space program as a whole. The administration's decision to help build a private space enterprise is absolutely the right way to go, as is its intention to redirect our long-term efforts to deep-space missions like Mars exploration and trips to the asteroids. But both of these decisions only make sense if the gap in manned-flight capability is crossed quickly.
There should be a sense of urgency about getting these new space ventures up and running because we can forget. Left long enough to inertia, we will forget. If we cannot find the will to follow our heros into space, then Armstrong and Ride could become nothing more dusty names in dusty stories.
Some great-great grandchild of ours might say to their own kids, "Yes, they say we traveled in space once. But that was a long time ago."
Soon enough it could simply be forgotten, a topic not for engineers but for archeologists
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Skulls Found In Mexico May Have Belonged To Human Sacrifice Victims, Archaeologists Say
From HuffPost: Skulls Found In Mexico May Have Belonged To Human Sacrifice Victims, Archaeologists Say
An artifact depicting Tlaloc, a Pre-Columbian water god, was found at the human sacrifice site at Lake Xaltocan, Archaeologists have unearthed a trove of skulls in Mexico that may have once belonged to human sacrifice victims. The skulls, which date between A.D. 600 and 850, may also shatter existing notions about the ancient culture of the area.
The find, described in the January issue of the journal Latin American Antiquity, was located in an otherwise empty field that once held a vast lake, but was miles from the nearest major city of the day, said study co-author Christopher Morehart, an archaeologist at Georgia State University.
"It's absolutely remarkable to think about this little nothing on the landscape having potentially evidence of the largest mass human sacrifice in ancient Meso-America," Morehart said.
Middle of nowhere
Morehart and his colleagues were using satellite imagery to map ancient canals, irrigation channels and lakes that used to surround the kingdom of Teotihuacan (home to the Pyramid of the Sun), about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Mexico City. The vast ancient kingdom flourished from around A.D 200 to 650, though who built it remains a mystery. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]
In a now drained lake called Lake Xaltocan, around which was essentially rural farmland at the time, Morehart stumbled upon a site with evidence of looting.
When the team investigated, they discovered lines of human skulls with just one or two vertebra attached. To date, more than 150 skulls have been discovered there. The site also contained a shrine with incense burners, water-deity figurines and agricultural pottery, such as corncob depictions, suggesting a ritual purpose tied to local farming. [See images from the grisly excavation]
Carbon dating suggested that the skulls were at least 1,100 years old, and the few dozen analyzed so far are mostly from men, Morehart told LiveScience. The researchers did not release photos of the skulls because the sacrifice victims may have historic ties to modern-day indigenous cultures.
The findings shake up existing notions of the culture of the day, because the site is not associated with Teotihuacan or other regional powers, said Destiny Crider, an archaeologist at Luther College in Iowa, who was not involved in the study.
Human sacrifice was practiced throughout the region, both at Teotihuacan and in the later Aztec Empire, but most of those rituals happened at great pyramids within cities and were tied to state powers.
By contrast, "this one is a big event in a little place," Crider said.
The shrines and the fact that sacrifice victims were mostly male suggest they were carefully chosen, not simply the result of indiscriminate slaughter of a whole village, Crider told LiveScience.
Many researchers believe that massive drought caused the fall of Teotihuacan and ushered in a period of warfare and political infighting as smaller regional powers sprang up, Morehart said.
Those tumultuous times could have spurred innovative — and bloody — practices, Crider said.
"Maybe they needed to intensify their activities because everything was changing," she said. "When things are uncertain you try new strategies."
An artifact depicting Tlaloc, a Pre-Columbian water god, was found at the human sacrifice site at Lake Xaltocan, Archaeologists have unearthed a trove of skulls in Mexico that may have once belonged to human sacrifice victims. The skulls, which date between A.D. 600 and 850, may also shatter existing notions about the ancient culture of the area.
The find, described in the January issue of the journal Latin American Antiquity, was located in an otherwise empty field that once held a vast lake, but was miles from the nearest major city of the day, said study co-author Christopher Morehart, an archaeologist at Georgia State University.
"It's absolutely remarkable to think about this little nothing on the landscape having potentially evidence of the largest mass human sacrifice in ancient Meso-America," Morehart said.
Middle of nowhere
Morehart and his colleagues were using satellite imagery to map ancient canals, irrigation channels and lakes that used to surround the kingdom of Teotihuacan (home to the Pyramid of the Sun), about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Mexico City. The vast ancient kingdom flourished from around A.D 200 to 650, though who built it remains a mystery. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]
In a now drained lake called Lake Xaltocan, around which was essentially rural farmland at the time, Morehart stumbled upon a site with evidence of looting.
When the team investigated, they discovered lines of human skulls with just one or two vertebra attached. To date, more than 150 skulls have been discovered there. The site also contained a shrine with incense burners, water-deity figurines and agricultural pottery, such as corncob depictions, suggesting a ritual purpose tied to local farming. [See images from the grisly excavation]
Carbon dating suggested that the skulls were at least 1,100 years old, and the few dozen analyzed so far are mostly from men, Morehart told LiveScience. The researchers did not release photos of the skulls because the sacrifice victims may have historic ties to modern-day indigenous cultures.
The findings shake up existing notions of the culture of the day, because the site is not associated with Teotihuacan or other regional powers, said Destiny Crider, an archaeologist at Luther College in Iowa, who was not involved in the study.
Human sacrifice was practiced throughout the region, both at Teotihuacan and in the later Aztec Empire, but most of those rituals happened at great pyramids within cities and were tied to state powers.
By contrast, "this one is a big event in a little place," Crider said.
The shrines and the fact that sacrifice victims were mostly male suggest they were carefully chosen, not simply the result of indiscriminate slaughter of a whole village, Crider told LiveScience.
Many researchers believe that massive drought caused the fall of Teotihuacan and ushered in a period of warfare and political infighting as smaller regional powers sprang up, Morehart said.
Those tumultuous times could have spurred innovative — and bloody — practices, Crider said.
"Maybe they needed to intensify their activities because everything was changing," she said. "When things are uncertain you try new strategies."
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wilton resident Joseph W. Zarzynski co-authors book "Documentary Filmmaking for Archaeologists"
The Saratogan: Wilton resident Joseph W. Zarzynski co-authors book "Documentary Filmmaking for Archaeologists"
WILTON — Joseph W. Zarzynski of Wilton has co-authored a new book, “Documentary Filmmaking for Archaeologists,” published by Left Coast Press of California.
Zarzynski, an underwater archaeologist and founder of the group Bateaux Below, wrote the book with Peter Pepe, president of Pepe Productions, a Glens Falls video production company.
Previously, they collaborated on producing three feature-length, award-winning documentaries about historic shipwrecks as well as creating several “mini-docs” for screening in museums, art galleries and visitors centers.
Two of their documentaries were about French and Indian War (1755-1763) shipwrecks in Lake George, and the third video production was about a Confederate privateer shipwreck lost off St. Augustine, Fla., in 1861.
Pepe and Zarzynski have also taught several documentary film-making workshops at archaeology conferences around the country.
Their new book is a guide for archaeologists and other social scientists on the step-by-step process of making a documentary so that these scientists are better prepared to work with professional documentary film-makers.
Many accounts told by Pepe and Zarzynski cite interesting anecdotes from the production of their documentaries, “The Lost Radeau: North America’s Oldest Intact Warship” (2005), “Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet of 1758” (2010) and “Search for the Jefferson Davis: Trader, Slaver, Raider” (2011).
“Peter Pepe and Joseph W. Zarzynski have done a tremendous service in writing this first-ever guide to archaeological film-making,” said James P. Delgado, host of National Geographic’s “The Sea Hunters” series (2001-2006). “This is a must-have book for every archaeologist who wants to reach a wide audience through the power of film.”
The 230-page book is available in paperback ($32.95), hardcover ($89) and eBook ($32.95) from Left Coast Press.
WILTON — Joseph W. Zarzynski of Wilton has co-authored a new book, “Documentary Filmmaking for Archaeologists,” published by Left Coast Press of California.
Zarzynski, an underwater archaeologist and founder of the group Bateaux Below, wrote the book with Peter Pepe, president of Pepe Productions, a Glens Falls video production company.
Previously, they collaborated on producing three feature-length, award-winning documentaries about historic shipwrecks as well as creating several “mini-docs” for screening in museums, art galleries and visitors centers.
Two of their documentaries were about French and Indian War (1755-1763) shipwrecks in Lake George, and the third video production was about a Confederate privateer shipwreck lost off St. Augustine, Fla., in 1861.
Pepe and Zarzynski have also taught several documentary film-making workshops at archaeology conferences around the country.
Their new book is a guide for archaeologists and other social scientists on the step-by-step process of making a documentary so that these scientists are better prepared to work with professional documentary film-makers.
Many accounts told by Pepe and Zarzynski cite interesting anecdotes from the production of their documentaries, “The Lost Radeau: North America’s Oldest Intact Warship” (2005), “Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet of 1758” (2010) and “Search for the Jefferson Davis: Trader, Slaver, Raider” (2011).
“Peter Pepe and Joseph W. Zarzynski have done a tremendous service in writing this first-ever guide to archaeological film-making,” said James P. Delgado, host of National Geographic’s “The Sea Hunters” series (2001-2006). “This is a must-have book for every archaeologist who wants to reach a wide audience through the power of film.”
The 230-page book is available in paperback ($32.95), hardcover ($89) and eBook ($32.95) from Left Coast Press.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
OMG!
Never realized I hadn't posted in over 2 weeks!
Sorry, folks
Things have just gotten away from me the last week and a half...posting should be back on schedule starting this weekend.
Sorry, folks
Things have just gotten away from me the last week and a half...posting should be back on schedule starting this weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)