Over 40 million years ago the so-called Tethys Sea reached far south of the existing Mediterranean. This sea gradually retreated north depositing thick sediments of sandstone, limestone and shale, visible in three named rock formations which are visible in Wadi Al-Hitan. The oldest rocks are the Eocene Gehannam Formation, about 40-41 million years old, consisting of white marly limestone and gypseous clay and yielding many skeletons of whales, sirenians (sea-cows), shark teeth, turtles, and crocodilians. A middle layer, the Birket Qarun formation, of sandstone, clays and hard limestone, also yields whale skeletons. The youngest formation is the Qasr El-Sagha formation of late Eocene age, about 39 million years old. It is rich in marine invertebrate fauna, indicating a shallow marine environment. These formations were uplifted from the southwest, creating drainage systems, now buried beneath the sand, which emptied into the sea through mangrove-fringed estuaries and coastal lagoons when the coast was near what is now the Faiyum oasis, c. 37 million years ago. . . .
Three different species of Eocene whales have been identified with certainty at Wadi Al-Hitan. All are basilosaurids, the latest surviving group of archaeocete whales, and the group which are thought to have given rise to modern cetaceans.
http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/1186.pdf
Εμφάνιση αναρτήσεων με ετικέτα Αρχαιολογία. Εμφάνιση όλων των αναρτήσεων
Εμφάνιση αναρτήσεων με ετικέτα Αρχαιολογία. Εμφάνιση όλων των αναρτήσεων
Zominthos
The ancient Minoans are best known as seafarers, but excavations at the site of Zominthos, nestled in a plateau on Mt. Ida, Crete’s highest mountain, have shown that they were also highlanders. This important second-millennium B.C. site, located about 1,200 meters (nearly 4,000 feet) above sea level, lies on the ancient route between the palace at Knossos, the Minoans’ primary administrative center, and the sacred Ideon Cave, where many believe the legendary god Zeus was born and raised. Zominthos is the only mountaintop Minoan settlement ever to have been excavated and after just a handful of large-scale dig seasons is already yielding groundbreaking information.
http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/zominthos/
http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/zominthos/
Apocalypse Soon?
Apocalypse Soon?
of the Maya Long Count on December 21, 2012-shown here in glyphs on a composite image of the Maya site of Chichén Itzá-is thought by some to mark the end of the world as we know it. (Aaron Logan/flickr, STScI/NASA)
On December 21, 2012, thousands of pilgrims, many in organized "sacred tour" groups, will flock to Chichén Itzá, Tikal, and a multitude of other celebrated sites of ancient America. There they will wait for a sign from the ancient Maya marking the end of the world as we know it. Will it be a blow-up or a bliss-out? Doom or delight? That depends on which of the New Age prophets--an eclectic collection of self-appointed seers and mystics, with names such as "Valum Votan, closer of the cycle" and the "Cosmic Shaman of Galactic Structure"--one chooses to believe. In 2012, the grand odometer of Maya timekeeping known as the Long Count, an accumulation of various smaller time cycles, will revert to zero and a new cycle of 1,872,000 days (5,125.37 years) will begin. As the long-awaited "Y12" date nears, tales of what will happen are proliferating on the Internet, in print, and in movies: Hollywood's big-budget, effects-laden disaster epic, "2012," opens this November under the tagline "We Were Warned."
Many of the predictions begin in outer space. It's known that there is a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and that in 2012 the sun will align with the plane of the Galaxy for the first time in 26,000 years. Then, according to the doomsayers, the black hole will throw our solar system out of kilter. Lawrence E. Joseph, author of a book called Apocalypse 2012, says that supergiant flares will erupt on the sun's surface, propelling an extraordinary plume of solar particles earthward at the next peak of solar activity. Earth's magnetic field will reverse, producing dire consequences such as violent hurricanes and the loss of all electronic communication systems. And recent natural disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to the Indian Ocean tsunami? They are all related to this alignment, and the ancient Maya knew all about it. That's the bad news.
But there's also good news coming from Y12 visionaries. Some say that rather than cataclysm, we're due for a sudden, cosmically timed awakening; we will all join an enlightened collective consciousness that will resolve the world's problems. The winter solstice sun is "slowly moving toward the heart of the Galaxy," writes spiritualist and former software engineer John Major Jenkins. On December 21 (or 23, depending on how you align calendars), when the sun passes the "Great Rift," a dark streak in the Milky Way that Jenkins says represents the Maya "Womb of Creation," the world will be transformed. Then we will "reconnect with our cosmic heart," he writes.
Unwittingly, the ancient Maya provided fodder for all this cosmic rigmarole. Monuments, such as Stela 25 at Izapa, a peripheral, pre-Classic (ca. 400 B.C.) site located on Mexico's Pacific Coast, map out the galactic alignment that would mark the end of the Long Count. Stela 25, for example, is thought to depict a creation scene in which a bird deity is perched atop a cosmic tree. Jenkins thinks the tree represents a unique north-south alignment of the Milky Way--a message from the Maya of what the sky will look like when creation begins anew.
These head-turning forecasts are open to serious criticism on both cultural and scientific grounds. There is little evidence that the Maya cared much about the Milky Way. When they do refer to it, they usually imagine it as a road. The association of the Milky Way with a tree, despite the popularity it has acquired since the publication of the 1997 book Maya Cosmos by noted Maya scholars David Freidel and Linda Schele, and writer Joy Parker, emerges strictly from the study of contemporary cultures descended from the Maya.
From an astronomical perspective, the 26,000-year cycle that causes the realignment of the sun with the plane of the Milky Way was first described by Greek astronomer Hipparchus in 128 B.C. He observed a slight difference between the solar year (the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun) and the stellar or sidereal year (the time it takes the sun to realign with the stars). As a result, year to year, the path of the sun and the spots where it rises and sets will change with respect to the backdrop of the stars. This phenomenon, called precession, is caused by the gradual shift of the earth's axis of rotation. In practice, it means that the position of the sun at equinoxes and solstices, which mark the seasons, slowly changes with respect to the constellations of the zodiac. Maya skywatchers possessed a zodiac, so they could have noted the difference between stellar years and solar years, but there is no convincing evidence that they charted the precession, or how they might have done it.
As the end of the Long Count approaches, more and more books from self-appointed experts predicting doom or enlightenment have begun to appear. According to the Y12ers, based on their interpretation of monuments such as Stela 25, the Maya not only tracked the precession, but used it to predict what the sky would look like when the Long Count ends and a new cycle of creation begins. However, anyone who takes the trouble to look at the nighttime sky will discover that the Milky Way, a broad, luminous swath across the sky, looks surprisingly little like it is depicted in the desktop planetarium software often used to infer what ancient stargazers saw. For example, the galactic plane is very difficult to define even when the sun isn't in it, so solar-galactic alignment can't be pinned down visually to an accuracy any better than 300 years. Also, the "unique" north-south orientation of the Milky Way thought to be portrayed on Stela 25 actually occurs every year. And more important conceptually, there is no evidence that the Maya used sky maps as representational devices the way we do. Finally, there is no indication the Maya cared a whit about solar flares, sunspots, or magnetic fields. Pulling prophecy from monuments such as Stela 25 amounts to an exercise in cherry-picking data--often incomplete, vague, or inapplicable--to justify a nonsensical, pre-formed idea.
Most people familiar with the ancient Maya--even those who are not prophets of doom--know that they were obsessed with sophisticated timekeeping systems. And it is clear from their painted-bark books, or codices, that their astronomers had the capacity to predict celestial events, such as eclipses, accurately. So it is no surprise that mystically minded people feel free to attribute to the ancient Maya the power to see far into the future. But what does the cultural record actually tell us about the nature of Maya timekeeping and its relationship to their ideas about creation?
By the beginning of the Classic Period (ca. A.D. 200), Maya polities had mastered cultivation of the land, expanded their states, and begun to build great cities with exquisite monumental architecture. They were on the verge of establishing one of the great civilizations of the ancient world. A few hundred years earlier, Maya rulers had made a fundamental revision to their calendar that would connect the rise of Maya states with their own origin myths. They invented a mountain of a time cycle--the Long Count. A brilliant innovation, it transplanted the roots of Maya culture all the way back to creation itself. The Long Count was established with their existing base-20 counting system, with the day as the basic unit (see above). It consists of 13 cycles--corresponding to the levels of Maya heaven, each occupied by objects and deities associated with celestial bodies--called baktuns that make up a creation period of 5,125.37 seasonal years. At the end of one creation cycle, the count rolls over to the next Day Zero.
Texts carved on stelae prominently displayed at many Maya sites often open with a Long Count date, a series of five numbers (12.8.0.1.13, for example, corresponds to July 4, 1776) similar to the dateline in a newspaper. These time markers were a form of political and religious propaganda. Maya rulers used them to link culturally important but cosmically mundane events in their personal histories--coronation dates, marriage alliances, military victories, and the turning of smaller time cycles (for instance, 9.15.0.0.0, the inscription on Copán's Stela B, marks the end of a katun, or 20-year cycle)--with the history of their ancestor-gods who created the world. Thus, a stela's Long Count gave the ruler the power to proclaim the extraordinary longevity of his bloodline in concrete terms.
The beginning of the Long Count, which marks the last creation episode, took place in the Maya's mythic past. Day Zero fell on August 11, 3114 B.C. That date was denoted as 13.0.0.0.0, which is the same date we will see 13 baktuns later, when the Long Count rolls over from 12.19.19.17.19 on December 21, 2012, the next Day Zero (give or take a day). August 11 falls close to one of the two dates each year when the sun passes directly overhead in southern Maya latitudes--an event known to have been important in the Maya world. December 21 or 22 is the winter solstice (or solar "standstill"), which marks the day the sun reaches its most southerly position in the sky. So it is conceivable that the past and future zero days or creation events were deliberately linked to important positions in the sun cycle.
Why does the Long Count begin in 3114 B.C., well before any identifiably Maya culture had been established by the archaic communities that lived there? If we follow the example of how zero dates were set in other calendars around the world, such as the Christian, Roman, and Sanskrit ones, the choice was likely either an arbitrary date linked to some more recent event in Maya history, or itself a culturally and historically significant moment (similar to the way that the putative year of the birth of Christ roughly marks the beginning of the Christian calendar). But there was nothing special about the position of the Milky Way or the zodiac on that date, nor was anything significant happening in the sky. The Maya may simply have selected some date from which to look back to decide where their own creation date would fall. One possible date for this jumping off point is 7.6.0.0.0 (236 B.C.), which falls right around the time of the earliest Long Count inscriptions. That date also marks the end of a katun and bears the same Maya month and day names as the date of creation. It is amusing that the Y12 prophets are certain the world will end for all of us based on a date that may or may not have had historical significance to the Maya a few thousand years ago, who were themselves looking to a date a few thousand years before that. The ancient Maya might tell us: "Hey, get your own zero point!"
Though the Maya believed that successive creations were cyclic, there is no clear evidence of what they thought would happen on our 13.0.0.0.0. The same holds true for what happened last time the odometer of creation turned over. But a menacing scene does appear on the last page of the Dresden Codex, a Maya bark-paper book from the 14th century A.D., depicting destruction by flood. A sky caiman vomits water, which gushes from "sun" and "moon" glyphs attached to the beast's segmented body. Still more water pours out of a vessel held by an old-woman deity, who is suspended in the middle of the frame. And at the bottom, a male deity wields arrows and a spear. Verses from early colonial texts back up the flood story of creation. Curiously, contemporary prophets of doom haven't seized on the flood myth as a mode of destruction, though moviemakers certainly have. Among the vivid special effects in 2012 are tsunamis engulfing the Himalayas and tossing an aircraft carrier into the White House!
Monumental Maya inscriptions are fairly silent regarding events of the previous creation. Stela C at Quiriguá in Guatemala follows its 13.0.0.0.0 inscription with hieroglyphic statements that refer to the descent of deities (related to Cauac Sky, the extant ruler, of course), who create the first hearth by setting up three support stones (represented in the sky by parts of the constellation Orion). Concerning our 13.0.0.0.0, Monument 6 at Tortuguero in the Mexican state of Tabasco tells of the descent of some transcendent entity to earth. But just when the story might get even more interesting, the glyphs have eroded away, leaving the door open for the prophets to continue to speculate.
Must we read real history (and the future) in the Maya narratives? Or can we see them as frameworks for the cultural transmission of traditional rites of renewal, which take place at the turn of all time cycles, such as the appearance and disappearance of Venus, or the 52-year calendar round that combines the seasonal year with the Maya 260-day sacred calendar? Every year we participate in such rituals on New Year's Eve. We take account of ourselves by celebrating the end of our seasonal cycle--often with wretched excess--as the stroke of midnight approaches. Then we perform our acts of penance (New Year's resolutions) to purify ourselves as we contemplate a brighter future. A vast majority of those familiar with the Maya culture view their cycle-ending prophecies as lessons on how to restore balance to the world by promoting reciprocity with the gods, such as offering them debt payments in exchange for fertile crops. No wonder we are inspired by the Maya--they get to participate in their cosmology! But in that sense, the Y12ers are not so different from the ancient Maya in their desire to reconnect with the past and place their own existence in a broader context. Where the Maya tied themselves to their ancestor-gods by carving Long Count dates on their stelae, the Y12 prophets use Maya myth and math to invoke some sort of universal beneficent spirit or transcendent evil overmind.
There is also something about the Y12 hysteria that is particular to the English-speaking world--especially the United States. The idea that the world will end in cataclysm was firmly planted in Puritan New England. Evangelical and apocalyptic forms of worship were prominent in the colonies as early as the 1640s, when confessors openly proclaimed themselves ready for God to descend from the sky and pluck them up for judgment. Two centuries later, hundreds of Millerites (who would become the Seventh-day Adventists) anxiously awaited the "Blessed Hope," based on their leader William Miller's biblical calculations pinpointing the return of Christ on October 22, 1844. People climbed to their roofs to wait--and wait--for the Second Coming.
Today, American anticipation of a celestially signaled end of time has gone mainstream secular. Many of us remember Comet Kohoutek, the iceball sent to destroy the world in 1973, or the millennial cosmic reclamation project that attended Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997--an "alien mothership" that brought the suicides of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult in California. The celebrated cosmic convergence of Aztec calendar cycles in 1987 is another example of the American desire to get beamed with revelations from beyond.
It is no coincidence that the Maya entered the modern mythos of creation and destruction in the early 1970s, around the time scholars began to make significant breakthroughs in deciphering Maya hieroglyphics. Repeating a trend started a century earlier with the mystical writing of Augustus Le Plongeon ('The Lure of Moo,' January/February 2007), pop-fringe literature such as Peter Tompkins's Secrets of the Mexican Pyramids, Frank Waters's Mexico Mystique, and Luis Arochi's The Pyramid of Kukulcan heralded secret knowledge of the future emerging from the Maya code. It was also about this time that promoting the idea of "shared beginnings," acquired by being at the right place at the right time, began to enter the tourism industry. Tourists, many with New Age spiritual leanings, flock to Chichén Itzá on the spring equinox, for example, to see a serpent effigy emerge in the shadows of El Castillo. Sacred tourism is already beginning to cash in on the 2012 myth. Star parties are planned for Copán and Tikal on the eve of the temporal turnover. And industrious entrepreneurs are already beginning to prepare 2012 survival kits, a Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012, and T-shirts bearing slogans such as "Doomsday 2012" and "Shift Happens." Not to mention the movie. This is just the beginning.
We live in a techno-immersed, materially oriented society that seems somewhat bewildered by where rational, empirical science might be taking us. This may be why the mystical, escapist explanations of a galactic endpoint, replete with precise mathematical, historical, and cosmic underpinnings (masquerading as science), have such wide appeal. In an age of anxiety we reach for the wisdom of ancestors--even other peoples' ancestors--that might have been lost in the drifting sands of time. Perhaps the only way we can take back control of our disordered world is to rediscover their lost knowledge and make use of it. And so we romanticize the ancient Maya.
But the glorious achievements of the Maya and other complex cultures of the ancient world are appealing enough on their own. We don't need to dress them up in Western or apocalyptic clothing. And the responsibility for educating the public about what we really know about the Maya and other extraordinary cultures--such as the ability of the Maya to follow the position of Venus to an accuracy of one day in 500 years with the naked eye--should fall squarely on the shoulders of those of us who spend our lives studying them. The Y12 hysteria could leave us asking whether we are doing our jobs, or whether the desire for cosmic connection and continuity is too strong for science and rationality to overcome.
Anthony Aveni is the Russell Colgate professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University and author of the new book, The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012.
of the Maya Long Count on December 21, 2012-shown here in glyphs on a composite image of the Maya site of Chichén Itzá-is thought by some to mark the end of the world as we know it. (Aaron Logan/flickr, STScI/NASA)
On December 21, 2012, thousands of pilgrims, many in organized "sacred tour" groups, will flock to Chichén Itzá, Tikal, and a multitude of other celebrated sites of ancient America. There they will wait for a sign from the ancient Maya marking the end of the world as we know it. Will it be a blow-up or a bliss-out? Doom or delight? That depends on which of the New Age prophets--an eclectic collection of self-appointed seers and mystics, with names such as "Valum Votan, closer of the cycle" and the "Cosmic Shaman of Galactic Structure"--one chooses to believe. In 2012, the grand odometer of Maya timekeeping known as the Long Count, an accumulation of various smaller time cycles, will revert to zero and a new cycle of 1,872,000 days (5,125.37 years) will begin. As the long-awaited "Y12" date nears, tales of what will happen are proliferating on the Internet, in print, and in movies: Hollywood's big-budget, effects-laden disaster epic, "2012," opens this November under the tagline "We Were Warned."
Many of the predictions begin in outer space. It's known that there is a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and that in 2012 the sun will align with the plane of the Galaxy for the first time in 26,000 years. Then, according to the doomsayers, the black hole will throw our solar system out of kilter. Lawrence E. Joseph, author of a book called Apocalypse 2012, says that supergiant flares will erupt on the sun's surface, propelling an extraordinary plume of solar particles earthward at the next peak of solar activity. Earth's magnetic field will reverse, producing dire consequences such as violent hurricanes and the loss of all electronic communication systems. And recent natural disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to the Indian Ocean tsunami? They are all related to this alignment, and the ancient Maya knew all about it. That's the bad news.
But there's also good news coming from Y12 visionaries. Some say that rather than cataclysm, we're due for a sudden, cosmically timed awakening; we will all join an enlightened collective consciousness that will resolve the world's problems. The winter solstice sun is "slowly moving toward the heart of the Galaxy," writes spiritualist and former software engineer John Major Jenkins. On December 21 (or 23, depending on how you align calendars), when the sun passes the "Great Rift," a dark streak in the Milky Way that Jenkins says represents the Maya "Womb of Creation," the world will be transformed. Then we will "reconnect with our cosmic heart," he writes.
Unwittingly, the ancient Maya provided fodder for all this cosmic rigmarole. Monuments, such as Stela 25 at Izapa, a peripheral, pre-Classic (ca. 400 B.C.) site located on Mexico's Pacific Coast, map out the galactic alignment that would mark the end of the Long Count. Stela 25, for example, is thought to depict a creation scene in which a bird deity is perched atop a cosmic tree. Jenkins thinks the tree represents a unique north-south alignment of the Milky Way--a message from the Maya of what the sky will look like when creation begins anew.
These head-turning forecasts are open to serious criticism on both cultural and scientific grounds. There is little evidence that the Maya cared much about the Milky Way. When they do refer to it, they usually imagine it as a road. The association of the Milky Way with a tree, despite the popularity it has acquired since the publication of the 1997 book Maya Cosmos by noted Maya scholars David Freidel and Linda Schele, and writer Joy Parker, emerges strictly from the study of contemporary cultures descended from the Maya.
From an astronomical perspective, the 26,000-year cycle that causes the realignment of the sun with the plane of the Milky Way was first described by Greek astronomer Hipparchus in 128 B.C. He observed a slight difference between the solar year (the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun) and the stellar or sidereal year (the time it takes the sun to realign with the stars). As a result, year to year, the path of the sun and the spots where it rises and sets will change with respect to the backdrop of the stars. This phenomenon, called precession, is caused by the gradual shift of the earth's axis of rotation. In practice, it means that the position of the sun at equinoxes and solstices, which mark the seasons, slowly changes with respect to the constellations of the zodiac. Maya skywatchers possessed a zodiac, so they could have noted the difference between stellar years and solar years, but there is no convincing evidence that they charted the precession, or how they might have done it.
As the end of the Long Count approaches, more and more books from self-appointed experts predicting doom or enlightenment have begun to appear. According to the Y12ers, based on their interpretation of monuments such as Stela 25, the Maya not only tracked the precession, but used it to predict what the sky would look like when the Long Count ends and a new cycle of creation begins. However, anyone who takes the trouble to look at the nighttime sky will discover that the Milky Way, a broad, luminous swath across the sky, looks surprisingly little like it is depicted in the desktop planetarium software often used to infer what ancient stargazers saw. For example, the galactic plane is very difficult to define even when the sun isn't in it, so solar-galactic alignment can't be pinned down visually to an accuracy any better than 300 years. Also, the "unique" north-south orientation of the Milky Way thought to be portrayed on Stela 25 actually occurs every year. And more important conceptually, there is no evidence that the Maya used sky maps as representational devices the way we do. Finally, there is no indication the Maya cared a whit about solar flares, sunspots, or magnetic fields. Pulling prophecy from monuments such as Stela 25 amounts to an exercise in cherry-picking data--often incomplete, vague, or inapplicable--to justify a nonsensical, pre-formed idea.
Most people familiar with the ancient Maya--even those who are not prophets of doom--know that they were obsessed with sophisticated timekeeping systems. And it is clear from their painted-bark books, or codices, that their astronomers had the capacity to predict celestial events, such as eclipses, accurately. So it is no surprise that mystically minded people feel free to attribute to the ancient Maya the power to see far into the future. But what does the cultural record actually tell us about the nature of Maya timekeeping and its relationship to their ideas about creation?
By the beginning of the Classic Period (ca. A.D. 200), Maya polities had mastered cultivation of the land, expanded their states, and begun to build great cities with exquisite monumental architecture. They were on the verge of establishing one of the great civilizations of the ancient world. A few hundred years earlier, Maya rulers had made a fundamental revision to their calendar that would connect the rise of Maya states with their own origin myths. They invented a mountain of a time cycle--the Long Count. A brilliant innovation, it transplanted the roots of Maya culture all the way back to creation itself. The Long Count was established with their existing base-20 counting system, with the day as the basic unit (see above). It consists of 13 cycles--corresponding to the levels of Maya heaven, each occupied by objects and deities associated with celestial bodies--called baktuns that make up a creation period of 5,125.37 seasonal years. At the end of one creation cycle, the count rolls over to the next Day Zero.
Texts carved on stelae prominently displayed at many Maya sites often open with a Long Count date, a series of five numbers (12.8.0.1.13, for example, corresponds to July 4, 1776) similar to the dateline in a newspaper. These time markers were a form of political and religious propaganda. Maya rulers used them to link culturally important but cosmically mundane events in their personal histories--coronation dates, marriage alliances, military victories, and the turning of smaller time cycles (for instance, 9.15.0.0.0, the inscription on Copán's Stela B, marks the end of a katun, or 20-year cycle)--with the history of their ancestor-gods who created the world. Thus, a stela's Long Count gave the ruler the power to proclaim the extraordinary longevity of his bloodline in concrete terms.
The beginning of the Long Count, which marks the last creation episode, took place in the Maya's mythic past. Day Zero fell on August 11, 3114 B.C. That date was denoted as 13.0.0.0.0, which is the same date we will see 13 baktuns later, when the Long Count rolls over from 12.19.19.17.19 on December 21, 2012, the next Day Zero (give or take a day). August 11 falls close to one of the two dates each year when the sun passes directly overhead in southern Maya latitudes--an event known to have been important in the Maya world. December 21 or 22 is the winter solstice (or solar "standstill"), which marks the day the sun reaches its most southerly position in the sky. So it is conceivable that the past and future zero days or creation events were deliberately linked to important positions in the sun cycle.
Why does the Long Count begin in 3114 B.C., well before any identifiably Maya culture had been established by the archaic communities that lived there? If we follow the example of how zero dates were set in other calendars around the world, such as the Christian, Roman, and Sanskrit ones, the choice was likely either an arbitrary date linked to some more recent event in Maya history, or itself a culturally and historically significant moment (similar to the way that the putative year of the birth of Christ roughly marks the beginning of the Christian calendar). But there was nothing special about the position of the Milky Way or the zodiac on that date, nor was anything significant happening in the sky. The Maya may simply have selected some date from which to look back to decide where their own creation date would fall. One possible date for this jumping off point is 7.6.0.0.0 (236 B.C.), which falls right around the time of the earliest Long Count inscriptions. That date also marks the end of a katun and bears the same Maya month and day names as the date of creation. It is amusing that the Y12 prophets are certain the world will end for all of us based on a date that may or may not have had historical significance to the Maya a few thousand years ago, who were themselves looking to a date a few thousand years before that. The ancient Maya might tell us: "Hey, get your own zero point!"
Though the Maya believed that successive creations were cyclic, there is no clear evidence of what they thought would happen on our 13.0.0.0.0. The same holds true for what happened last time the odometer of creation turned over. But a menacing scene does appear on the last page of the Dresden Codex, a Maya bark-paper book from the 14th century A.D., depicting destruction by flood. A sky caiman vomits water, which gushes from "sun" and "moon" glyphs attached to the beast's segmented body. Still more water pours out of a vessel held by an old-woman deity, who is suspended in the middle of the frame. And at the bottom, a male deity wields arrows and a spear. Verses from early colonial texts back up the flood story of creation. Curiously, contemporary prophets of doom haven't seized on the flood myth as a mode of destruction, though moviemakers certainly have. Among the vivid special effects in 2012 are tsunamis engulfing the Himalayas and tossing an aircraft carrier into the White House!
Monumental Maya inscriptions are fairly silent regarding events of the previous creation. Stela C at Quiriguá in Guatemala follows its 13.0.0.0.0 inscription with hieroglyphic statements that refer to the descent of deities (related to Cauac Sky, the extant ruler, of course), who create the first hearth by setting up three support stones (represented in the sky by parts of the constellation Orion). Concerning our 13.0.0.0.0, Monument 6 at Tortuguero in the Mexican state of Tabasco tells of the descent of some transcendent entity to earth. But just when the story might get even more interesting, the glyphs have eroded away, leaving the door open for the prophets to continue to speculate.
Must we read real history (and the future) in the Maya narratives? Or can we see them as frameworks for the cultural transmission of traditional rites of renewal, which take place at the turn of all time cycles, such as the appearance and disappearance of Venus, or the 52-year calendar round that combines the seasonal year with the Maya 260-day sacred calendar? Every year we participate in such rituals on New Year's Eve. We take account of ourselves by celebrating the end of our seasonal cycle--often with wretched excess--as the stroke of midnight approaches. Then we perform our acts of penance (New Year's resolutions) to purify ourselves as we contemplate a brighter future. A vast majority of those familiar with the Maya culture view their cycle-ending prophecies as lessons on how to restore balance to the world by promoting reciprocity with the gods, such as offering them debt payments in exchange for fertile crops. No wonder we are inspired by the Maya--they get to participate in their cosmology! But in that sense, the Y12ers are not so different from the ancient Maya in their desire to reconnect with the past and place their own existence in a broader context. Where the Maya tied themselves to their ancestor-gods by carving Long Count dates on their stelae, the Y12 prophets use Maya myth and math to invoke some sort of universal beneficent spirit or transcendent evil overmind.
There is also something about the Y12 hysteria that is particular to the English-speaking world--especially the United States. The idea that the world will end in cataclysm was firmly planted in Puritan New England. Evangelical and apocalyptic forms of worship were prominent in the colonies as early as the 1640s, when confessors openly proclaimed themselves ready for God to descend from the sky and pluck them up for judgment. Two centuries later, hundreds of Millerites (who would become the Seventh-day Adventists) anxiously awaited the "Blessed Hope," based on their leader William Miller's biblical calculations pinpointing the return of Christ on October 22, 1844. People climbed to their roofs to wait--and wait--for the Second Coming.
Today, American anticipation of a celestially signaled end of time has gone mainstream secular. Many of us remember Comet Kohoutek, the iceball sent to destroy the world in 1973, or the millennial cosmic reclamation project that attended Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997--an "alien mothership" that brought the suicides of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult in California. The celebrated cosmic convergence of Aztec calendar cycles in 1987 is another example of the American desire to get beamed with revelations from beyond.
It is no coincidence that the Maya entered the modern mythos of creation and destruction in the early 1970s, around the time scholars began to make significant breakthroughs in deciphering Maya hieroglyphics. Repeating a trend started a century earlier with the mystical writing of Augustus Le Plongeon ('The Lure of Moo,' January/February 2007), pop-fringe literature such as Peter Tompkins's Secrets of the Mexican Pyramids, Frank Waters's Mexico Mystique, and Luis Arochi's The Pyramid of Kukulcan heralded secret knowledge of the future emerging from the Maya code. It was also about this time that promoting the idea of "shared beginnings," acquired by being at the right place at the right time, began to enter the tourism industry. Tourists, many with New Age spiritual leanings, flock to Chichén Itzá on the spring equinox, for example, to see a serpent effigy emerge in the shadows of El Castillo. Sacred tourism is already beginning to cash in on the 2012 myth. Star parties are planned for Copán and Tikal on the eve of the temporal turnover. And industrious entrepreneurs are already beginning to prepare 2012 survival kits, a Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012, and T-shirts bearing slogans such as "Doomsday 2012" and "Shift Happens." Not to mention the movie. This is just the beginning.
We live in a techno-immersed, materially oriented society that seems somewhat bewildered by where rational, empirical science might be taking us. This may be why the mystical, escapist explanations of a galactic endpoint, replete with precise mathematical, historical, and cosmic underpinnings (masquerading as science), have such wide appeal. In an age of anxiety we reach for the wisdom of ancestors--even other peoples' ancestors--that might have been lost in the drifting sands of time. Perhaps the only way we can take back control of our disordered world is to rediscover their lost knowledge and make use of it. And so we romanticize the ancient Maya.
But the glorious achievements of the Maya and other complex cultures of the ancient world are appealing enough on their own. We don't need to dress them up in Western or apocalyptic clothing. And the responsibility for educating the public about what we really know about the Maya and other extraordinary cultures--such as the ability of the Maya to follow the position of Venus to an accuracy of one day in 500 years with the naked eye--should fall squarely on the shoulders of those of us who spend our lives studying them. The Y12 hysteria could leave us asking whether we are doing our jobs, or whether the desire for cosmic connection and continuity is too strong for science and rationality to overcome.
Anthony Aveni is the Russell Colgate professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University and author of the new book, The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012.
Capena
Capena was a small town, situated in the Tiber valley some 35 km to the north of Rome. It was a significant regional centre during the Etruscan and Roman periods, which is documented by over a millennium's worth of archaeological evidence, ranging from the early Iron Age to late Antiquity. During last year's season, the team uncovered a late Roman building complex, including thermal structures, which represent the final phase of occupation at Capena. Owing to the high level of preservation, this represents one of the most significant examples of late Roman urban living in the area, and seems to form part of a continuous use of the site, which will be explored during future seasons.
Stobi
For more than a century the ancient city of Stobi - the capital of Macedonia Secunda - has been attracting scientist from all over the World to reveal its secrets. The first historiography records that mention Stobi are provided by the Roman historian Titus Livy, and concern the victory of the Macedonian king Philip V over Dardanians in the vicinity of Stobi. In A.D. 69 Empreror Vespasian granted Stobi the rank of municipium and the right to mint its own coins. The salt trading and the good strategic position between two rivers, on the cross-road of Via Axia and branches of Via Diagonalis and Via Egnatia, brought to the city a long-lasting prosperity from first to third century A.D. In 267/69 Stobi suffered from the raids of Goths and Herules, but was rebuilt after their devastating attacks. In the fourth century A.D. the city became the seat of mighty bishops, and in the fifth century – the capital city of Macedonia Secunda. It was devastated several times by the raids of Huns, Ostrogoths, Avars and Slavs, but an earthquake in A.D. 518 marked the end of the urban living in Stobi. By now only 15% of the territory of Stobi has been excavated. Season 2010 envisions excavations in three sectors: the theater (built in second century A.D.), the Western Necropolis (first century B.C. - fourth century A.D.) and an ancient Roman temple
Helike
Ancient Helike is on the southwest shore of the Gulf of Corinth near Aigion, about 170 km west of Athens. In searching for the famous Classical city of Helike, destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 373 B.C., we discovered(a)the remains of Classical buildings preserving evidence of destruction by tsunami buried under lagoonal sediments(b)a well preserved Early Bronze Age town with large rectilinear buildings including a corridor house, flanking cobbled streets and with intact contents(c)remains of an extensive late Classical-early Hellenistic town including a large complex building of Dye-works(d)a long section of the major Roman road between Corinth and Patras(e)occupation layers rich in pottery of the Mycenaean and Geometric periods(f)late Classical-Hellenistic,Roman and late Byzantine cemeteries(g)remains of an extensive Roman town.
Aramus is an Urartian fortress
Aramus, located on a hilltop about 1500 m above sea level, is an Urartian fortress occupied in the first millennium B.C. A cuneiform inscription found nearby indicates that there may be a connection between the site and the city of Darani, which was conquered by the Urartian King Argishti I in the eighth century B.C. This project will shed light on the development and decline of the Urartu kingdom in relation to the preceding and following social and political structures in the region.
Seated high above the modern city of Jerusalem is the ancient site of Ramat Rahel
Seated high above the modern city of Jerusalem is the ancient site of Ramat Rahel. Over the last fifty years many have realized that this seemingly natural hill holds within it many secrets that only the archaeological spade can reveal. Excavation carried out at this hill had uncovered the story of a palatial center surrounded by a garden and built at the time of the kings of Judah and during the time the return from exile. Another story embedded within its soil relates to a Jewish community that lived here during the days of the Second Temple until its destruction in the great rebellion (ca. 70 C.E.). Last but not least, the site reveals the story of a Christian monastery and a church built half way between the two holy cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. All of these stories were however forgotten. If it were not for the work of hundreds of people from all over the world who voluntarily gave of their time and money to unearth these stories, we would never have known them. The more material evidence we recover, the more we realize that there are still many secrets awaiting us.
Porolissum is the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in all of Romania.
Porolissum is among the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in all of Romania. Established in C.E. 106 by the Roman emperor Trajan, Porolissum helped defend the main northwestern passageway through the Carpathian Mountains into the province of Dacia. By the early third century, Porolissum had blossomed into a proper city with standard Roman features such as an amphitheater, temples and a forum. The population stood at 20,000. Due to the tremendous costs involved in maintaining an army in this portion of the Empire and the growing need to shift troops to the East, Aurelian withdrew from Dacia in C.E. 271. The post-Roman period of Porolissum is poorly understood. The city was inhabited steadily through to C.E. 375/425. Following a sharp demographic decline, the city enjoyed another prosperous moment between the sixth and eleventh centuries.
Khorasan - Η Χώρα του Ανατέλλοντος Ηλίου (στο ΒΑ Ιράν) - Αρχαία Παρθία
History
Greater Khorasan has witnessed the rise and fall of many dynasties and governments in its territory throughout history. Various tribes of the Arabs, Turks, Kurds [2] Mongols, Turkemen and Afghans brought changes to the region time and time again.
Ancient geographers of Iran divided Iran ("Iran-Shahr") into eight segments of which the most flourishing and largest was the territory of Greater Khorasan. Esfarayen, among other cities of the province, was one of the focal points for residence of the Aryan tribes after entering Iran.
The famous Parthian empire was based near Merv in Khorasan for many years. In Arsacides (Parthians) time, Esfarayen was one of the important villages of Neyshabour.
During the Sassanid dynasty the province was governed by an Spahbod (Lieutenant General) called "Padgoosban" and four margraves, each commander of one of the four parts of the province.
Khorassan was divided into four parts during the Islamic Conquest of Iran and each section was named after the four large cities, such as Neyshabour, Merv, Herat, and Balkh.
In the year 651, the army of Islamic Arabs invaded Khorasan. The territory remained in the hands of the Abbasid clan until 820, followed by the rule of the Iranian Taherid clan in the year 896 and the Samanid dynasty in 900.
Sultan Mohmud Qaznavi conquered Khorasan in 994 and in the year 1037 Toqrol, the first of the Seljuqian rulers conquered Neyshabour.
Mahmud Qaznavi retaliated against the invaders several times, and finally the Qaznavi Turks defeated Sultan Sanjar. But there was more to come, as in 1157 Khorasan was conquered by The Khwarazmids and because of simultaneous attacks by the Mongols, Khorasan was annexed to the territories of the Mongol Ilkhanate.
In the 14th century, a flag of independence was hoisted by the Sarbedaran movement in Sabzevar, and in 1468, Khorasan came into the hands of Amir Teimoor Goorkani (Tamerlane) and the city of Herat was declared as capital.
In 1507, Khorassan was occupied by Uzbek tribes. After the death of Nadir Shah Afshar in 1747, Khorasan was occupied by the Afghans.
During the Qajar period, Britain supported the Afghans to protect their East India Company. Herat was thus separated from Persia, and Nasser-al-Din Shah was unable to defeat the British to take back Herat. Finally, the Paris Treaty was concluded in 1903 and Iran was compelled not to challenge the British for Herat and other parts of what is today Afghanistan.
Finally Khorasan was divided into two parts: the eastern part, which was the most densely populated region came under British occupation, and the other western section remained part of Iran.
Khorasan was the largest province of Iran until it was divided into three provinces on September 29, 2004. The provinces approved by the parliament of Iran (on May 18, 2004) and the Council of Guardians (on May 29, 2004) were Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, and South Khorasan.
.
Greater Khorasan is one of the regions of Greater Iran. Before being conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BC, it was part of the Achaemenid and Median Persian Empire. In 1st century AD, the eastern regions of Greater Khorasan fell into the hands of the Kushan empire. The Kushans introduced a high grade Buddhist culture (though they were also Zoroastrians) to these regions and from there Buddhism began to spread through Khorasanian monks to China and even to Japan. Numerous Kushanian fire temples and Buddhist temples and buried cities with treasures in the northern and central areas of Khurasan (nowadays mainly Afghanistan) have been found. However the western parts of Greater Khorasan remained predominantly Zoroastrian as one of the three great fire-temples of the Sassanids "Azar-burzin Mehr" is situated in the western regions of Khorasan, near Sabzevar in Iran. The boundary was pushed to the west towards the Persian Empire by the emigrating Kushans. The boundary kept changing until the demise of the Kushan Empire where Sassanids took control of the entire region by conquering and merging with the Kushans (Kushano-Sassanian civilization). In Sassanid era, Persian empire was divided into four quarters, "Xwawaran" meaning west, apAxtar meaning north, Nīmrūz meaning south and Xurasan (Khorasan) meaning east. The Eastern regions saw again some conflict with Hephthalites who became new ruler of entire Khorasan but also for a short time of the entire Iranian plateau, but the borders remained much stable afterwards until the Muslim invasion.
Being the eastern parts of the Sassanid empire and further away from Arabia, Khorasan quarter was conquered in the later stages of Muslim invasions. In fact the last Sassanid king of Persia, Yazdgerd III, moved the throne to Khorasan following the Arab invasion in the western parts of the empire. After the assassination of the king, Khorasan was conquered by the Islamic troops in 647. Like other provinces of Persia it became one of the provinces of Umayad dynasty.
The village of Meyamei.The first liberal movement against the Arab invasions was led by Abu Muslim Khorasani between 747 and 750. He helped the Abbasids come to power but was later killed by Al-Mansur, an Abbasid Caliph. The first independent kingdom from Arab rule was established in Khorasan by Tahir Phoshanji in 821. But it seems that it was more a matter of political and territorial gain. In fact Tahir had helped the Caliph subdue other nationalistic movements in other parts of Persia such as Maziar's movement in Tabaristan.
The first dynasty in Khorasan, after the introduction of Islam, was the Saffarid dynasty (861-1003)[6]. Other major dynasties in Khorasan were Samanids[7] (875-999), Ghaznavids[8] (962-1187), Ghurids (1149-1212), Seljukids (1037-1194), Khwarezmids (1077-1231) and Timurids (1370-1506). It should be mentioned that some of these dynasties were not Persian by ethnicity, nonetheless they were the advocates of Persian language and were praised by the poets as the kings of Iran.
Among them, the periods of Ghaznavids of Ghazni and Timurids of Herat are considered as one of the most brilliant eras of Khorasan's history. During these periods, there was a great cultural awakening. Many famous Persian poets, scientists and scholars lived in this period. Numerous valuable works in Persian literature were written. Nishapur, Herat, Ghazni and Merv were the centers of all these cultural developments. Some eastern Khorasani regions were then parts of the Moghul Empire, while the Safavids conquered the western regions. For Moghuls, Khorasan was always a region with great economic and cultural importance.
Greater Khorasan has witnessed the rise and fall of many dynasties and governments in its territory throughout history. Various tribes of the Arabs, Turks, Kurds [2] Mongols, Turkemen and Afghans brought changes to the region time and time again.
Ancient geographers of Iran divided Iran ("Iran-Shahr") into eight segments of which the most flourishing and largest was the territory of Greater Khorasan. Esfarayen, among other cities of the province, was one of the focal points for residence of the Aryan tribes after entering Iran.
The famous Parthian empire was based near Merv in Khorasan for many years. In Arsacides (Parthians) time, Esfarayen was one of the important villages of Neyshabour.
During the Sassanid dynasty the province was governed by an Spahbod (Lieutenant General) called "Padgoosban" and four margraves, each commander of one of the four parts of the province.
Khorassan was divided into four parts during the Islamic Conquest of Iran and each section was named after the four large cities, such as Neyshabour, Merv, Herat, and Balkh.
In the year 651, the army of Islamic Arabs invaded Khorasan. The territory remained in the hands of the Abbasid clan until 820, followed by the rule of the Iranian Taherid clan in the year 896 and the Samanid dynasty in 900.
Sultan Mohmud Qaznavi conquered Khorasan in 994 and in the year 1037 Toqrol, the first of the Seljuqian rulers conquered Neyshabour.
Mahmud Qaznavi retaliated against the invaders several times, and finally the Qaznavi Turks defeated Sultan Sanjar. But there was more to come, as in 1157 Khorasan was conquered by The Khwarazmids and because of simultaneous attacks by the Mongols, Khorasan was annexed to the territories of the Mongol Ilkhanate.
In the 14th century, a flag of independence was hoisted by the Sarbedaran movement in Sabzevar, and in 1468, Khorasan came into the hands of Amir Teimoor Goorkani (Tamerlane) and the city of Herat was declared as capital.
In 1507, Khorassan was occupied by Uzbek tribes. After the death of Nadir Shah Afshar in 1747, Khorasan was occupied by the Afghans.
During the Qajar period, Britain supported the Afghans to protect their East India Company. Herat was thus separated from Persia, and Nasser-al-Din Shah was unable to defeat the British to take back Herat. Finally, the Paris Treaty was concluded in 1903 and Iran was compelled not to challenge the British for Herat and other parts of what is today Afghanistan.
Finally Khorasan was divided into two parts: the eastern part, which was the most densely populated region came under British occupation, and the other western section remained part of Iran.
Khorasan was the largest province of Iran until it was divided into three provinces on September 29, 2004. The provinces approved by the parliament of Iran (on May 18, 2004) and the Council of Guardians (on May 29, 2004) were Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, and South Khorasan.
.
Greater Khorasan is one of the regions of Greater Iran. Before being conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BC, it was part of the Achaemenid and Median Persian Empire. In 1st century AD, the eastern regions of Greater Khorasan fell into the hands of the Kushan empire. The Kushans introduced a high grade Buddhist culture (though they were also Zoroastrians) to these regions and from there Buddhism began to spread through Khorasanian monks to China and even to Japan. Numerous Kushanian fire temples and Buddhist temples and buried cities with treasures in the northern and central areas of Khurasan (nowadays mainly Afghanistan) have been found. However the western parts of Greater Khorasan remained predominantly Zoroastrian as one of the three great fire-temples of the Sassanids "Azar-burzin Mehr" is situated in the western regions of Khorasan, near Sabzevar in Iran. The boundary was pushed to the west towards the Persian Empire by the emigrating Kushans. The boundary kept changing until the demise of the Kushan Empire where Sassanids took control of the entire region by conquering and merging with the Kushans (Kushano-Sassanian civilization). In Sassanid era, Persian empire was divided into four quarters, "Xwawaran" meaning west, apAxtar meaning north, Nīmrūz meaning south and Xurasan (Khorasan) meaning east. The Eastern regions saw again some conflict with Hephthalites who became new ruler of entire Khorasan but also for a short time of the entire Iranian plateau, but the borders remained much stable afterwards until the Muslim invasion.
Being the eastern parts of the Sassanid empire and further away from Arabia, Khorasan quarter was conquered in the later stages of Muslim invasions. In fact the last Sassanid king of Persia, Yazdgerd III, moved the throne to Khorasan following the Arab invasion in the western parts of the empire. After the assassination of the king, Khorasan was conquered by the Islamic troops in 647. Like other provinces of Persia it became one of the provinces of Umayad dynasty.
The village of Meyamei.The first liberal movement against the Arab invasions was led by Abu Muslim Khorasani between 747 and 750. He helped the Abbasids come to power but was later killed by Al-Mansur, an Abbasid Caliph. The first independent kingdom from Arab rule was established in Khorasan by Tahir Phoshanji in 821. But it seems that it was more a matter of political and territorial gain. In fact Tahir had helped the Caliph subdue other nationalistic movements in other parts of Persia such as Maziar's movement in Tabaristan.
The first dynasty in Khorasan, after the introduction of Islam, was the Saffarid dynasty (861-1003)[6]. Other major dynasties in Khorasan were Samanids[7] (875-999), Ghaznavids[8] (962-1187), Ghurids (1149-1212), Seljukids (1037-1194), Khwarezmids (1077-1231) and Timurids (1370-1506). It should be mentioned that some of these dynasties were not Persian by ethnicity, nonetheless they were the advocates of Persian language and were praised by the poets as the kings of Iran.
Among them, the periods of Ghaznavids of Ghazni and Timurids of Herat are considered as one of the most brilliant eras of Khorasan's history. During these periods, there was a great cultural awakening. Many famous Persian poets, scientists and scholars lived in this period. Numerous valuable works in Persian literature were written. Nishapur, Herat, Ghazni and Merv were the centers of all these cultural developments. Some eastern Khorasani regions were then parts of the Moghul Empire, while the Safavids conquered the western regions. For Moghuls, Khorasan was always a region with great economic and cultural importance.
Online Book Reviews
http://www.ajaonline.org/index.php?ptype=breview
.
Camarina, Maresha Excavations Final Report II, and Tanagréennes d'Alexandrie
By Marcella Pisani, Adit Erlich and Amos Kloner, and Dominique Kassab Tezör
Reviewed by Jaime Pugliese Uhlenbrock
Download PDF
Archives, Ancestors, Practices: Archaeology in the Light of Its History
By Nathan Schlanger and Jan Nordbladh
Reviewed by Alicia J.M. Colson
Download PDF
Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 B.C.-A.D. 1000
By Barry Cunliffe
Reviewed by Janet E. Levy
Download PDF
Le ceramica in archeologia: Antiche tecniche di lavorazione e moderni metodi di indagine
By Ninina Cuomo di Caprio
Reviewed by Daniele Malfitana
Download PDF
Egyptology Today
By Richard H. Wilkinson
Reviewed by Kei Yamamoto
Download PDF
Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey
By Richard S. Hess
Reviewed by Carol Meyers
Download PDF
A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World. Vol. 1
By Yves Duhoux and Anna Morpurgo Davies
Reviewed by John G. Younger
Download PDF
La Coroplastie Chypriote Archaïque: Identitiés Culturelles at Politique l'époque des Royaumes
By Sabine Fourrier
Reviewed by Jan-Marc Henke
Download PDF
Uplands of Ancient Sicily and Calabria: The Archaeology of Landscape Ritual
By Matthew Fitzjohn
Reviewed by Jeanette M. Cooper
Download PDF
Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods
By Andrew Lear and Eva Cantarella
Reviewed by James Robson
Download PDF
Il Papiro di Artemidoro (P. Artemid.)
By Claudio Gallazzi, Bärbel Kramer, and Salvatore Settis
Reviewed by Arthur Verhoogt
Download PDF
The Coins and the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Economy of Palestine
By Jane Derose Evans
Reviewed by Liane Houghtalin
Download PDF
.
Camarina, Maresha Excavations Final Report II, and Tanagréennes d'Alexandrie
By Marcella Pisani, Adit Erlich and Amos Kloner, and Dominique Kassab Tezör
Reviewed by Jaime Pugliese Uhlenbrock
Download PDF
Archives, Ancestors, Practices: Archaeology in the Light of Its History
By Nathan Schlanger and Jan Nordbladh
Reviewed by Alicia J.M. Colson
Download PDF
Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 B.C.-A.D. 1000
By Barry Cunliffe
Reviewed by Janet E. Levy
Download PDF
Le ceramica in archeologia: Antiche tecniche di lavorazione e moderni metodi di indagine
By Ninina Cuomo di Caprio
Reviewed by Daniele Malfitana
Download PDF
Egyptology Today
By Richard H. Wilkinson
Reviewed by Kei Yamamoto
Download PDF
Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey
By Richard S. Hess
Reviewed by Carol Meyers
Download PDF
A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World. Vol. 1
By Yves Duhoux and Anna Morpurgo Davies
Reviewed by John G. Younger
Download PDF
La Coroplastie Chypriote Archaïque: Identitiés Culturelles at Politique l'époque des Royaumes
By Sabine Fourrier
Reviewed by Jan-Marc Henke
Download PDF
Uplands of Ancient Sicily and Calabria: The Archaeology of Landscape Ritual
By Matthew Fitzjohn
Reviewed by Jeanette M. Cooper
Download PDF
Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods
By Andrew Lear and Eva Cantarella
Reviewed by James Robson
Download PDF
Il Papiro di Artemidoro (P. Artemid.)
By Claudio Gallazzi, Bärbel Kramer, and Salvatore Settis
Reviewed by Arthur Verhoogt
Download PDF
The Coins and the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Economy of Palestine
By Jane Derose Evans
Reviewed by Liane Houghtalin
Download PDF
American Journal of Archaeology - Museums
American Journal of Archaeology
.
Zhixin Jason Sun: (Posted July 2009)
The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta
November 16, 2008-April 19, 2009
Download PDF :
http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1133_Sun.pdf
.
Maria José Strazzulla: (Posted April 2009)
War and Peace: Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City
Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Rome
Ongoing
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1132_Strazzulla.pdf
H.A. Shapiro: (Posted January 2009)
Homer: Der Mythos von Troia in Dichtung und Kunst
Antikenmuseum Basel
March 16-August 17, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1131_Shapiro.pdf
Esther Pasztory: (Posted October 2008)
Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
March 3-September 1, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1124_Pasztory.pdf
Douglas W. Sanford: (Posted October 2008)
The New Natalie P. and Alan M. Vorhees Archaearium
Jamestown, Virginia
Opened May 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1124_Sanford.pdf
Robert B. Koehl: (Posted July 2008)
From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C.
Onassis Cultural Center, New York
March 13-September 13, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1123_Koehl.pdf
Annalisa Marzano: (Posted April 2008)
Ancient Gardens from Babylon to Rome
Boboli Gardens of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence
May 8-October 28, 2007
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1122_Marzano.pdf
Victor Cunrui Xiong: (Posted April 2007)
Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907–1125)
Asia Society and Museum, New York
October 5-December 31, 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1112_OnlineMuseumRv.pdf
Rosemary A. Joyce: (Posted April 2006)
Seeing Power: Masterpieces of Early Classic Maya "High Culture"
Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and other venues, organized by Virginia Fields and Dorie Reents-Budet.
September 10, 2005-January 31, 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1102_Joyce.pdf
Victor Cunrui Xiong: (Posted January 2005)
China: Dawn of a Golden Age
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
October 12, 2004-January 23, 2005
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJAonline_China_Dawn_of_a_Golden_Age.pdf
.
Zhixin Jason Sun: (Posted July 2009)
The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta
November 16, 2008-April 19, 2009
Download PDF :
http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1133_Sun.pdf
.
Maria José Strazzulla: (Posted April 2009)
War and Peace: Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City
Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Rome
Ongoing
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1132_Strazzulla.pdf
H.A. Shapiro: (Posted January 2009)
Homer: Der Mythos von Troia in Dichtung und Kunst
Antikenmuseum Basel
March 16-August 17, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1131_Shapiro.pdf
Esther Pasztory: (Posted October 2008)
Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
March 3-September 1, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1124_Pasztory.pdf
Douglas W. Sanford: (Posted October 2008)
The New Natalie P. and Alan M. Vorhees Archaearium
Jamestown, Virginia
Opened May 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1124_Sanford.pdf
Robert B. Koehl: (Posted July 2008)
From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C.
Onassis Cultural Center, New York
March 13-September 13, 2008
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1123_Koehl.pdf
Annalisa Marzano: (Posted April 2008)
Ancient Gardens from Babylon to Rome
Boboli Gardens of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence
May 8-October 28, 2007
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1122_Marzano.pdf
Victor Cunrui Xiong: (Posted April 2007)
Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907–1125)
Asia Society and Museum, New York
October 5-December 31, 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1112_OnlineMuseumRv.pdf
Rosemary A. Joyce: (Posted April 2006)
Seeing Power: Masterpieces of Early Classic Maya "High Culture"
Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and other venues, organized by Virginia Fields and Dorie Reents-Budet.
September 10, 2005-January 31, 2006
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJA1102_Joyce.pdf
Victor Cunrui Xiong: (Posted January 2005)
China: Dawn of a Golden Age
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
October 12, 2004-January 23, 2005
Download PDF : http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/museum_reviews/AJAonline_China_Dawn_of_a_Golden_Age.pdf
The Gold of Kush
Letter from Sudan: The Gold of Kush
.
A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America :
When frequent ARCHAEOLOGY contributor Andrew Lawler reported on the construction of Sudan's massive Merowe Dam on the Nile River at Hamdab, some 220 miles north of the capital Khartoum ("Damming Sudan," November/December 2006), innumerable ancient sites were about to be flooded. The disastrous situation also posed a humanitarian crisis, as those in the water's path were systematically forced from their homes. The following year, University of Chicago archaeologist Geoff Emberling joined an international salvage effort to document sites before they disappeared...
.
Sudanese workmen clear the surface of Al-Widay, a second-millennium cemetery, now flooded by the construction of a massive dam. (Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) I remember standing in the warm late afternoon sun on a barren hilltop in the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan in March 2008. The orange sand stretched away to the green fields and palm trees lining the Nile River in the distance. My colleagues and I had just completed a successful second dig season and we were packing finds and taking our final notes. I went for one last visit to the ancient cemetery where we had been excavating burials of people who lived on the outskirts of the early Kingdom of Kush (roughly 1700-1500 B.C.). The graves and a nearby gold-mining site, littered with ancient grinding stones, had told us a great deal about these people, including something about their kingdom's relationship with Egypt, hundreds of miles to the north.
.
After making an exploratory trip to Sudan in the winter of 2006, we recognized how our excavations could contribute to the emerging picture of Kush as a powerful kingdom rather than a remote Egyptian outpost, as was once thought. But we were in a race against time. The construction of the Merowe Dam, some 25 miles downstream from where we were to work, was about to flood the Fourth Cataract, a 100-mile-long stretch of the Nile that passes through a narrow valley with islands and rapids. The area had scarcely been documented before archaeological salvage work by teams from Sudan, Poland, England, Germany, and the United States started about 10 years ago. So we joined an international effort to recover what we could before the dam was completed. Over the past decade, work by these teams in the dam area had suggested that the influence of Kush may even have reached beyond the Fourth Cataract, perhaps as many as 750 miles along the Nile--making it a worthy rival to Egypt indeed.
.
In just two excavation seasons--roughly 16 weeks--we gleaned a remarkable amount of information. Our excavations showed that the power of Kush rested in part on its ability to extract gold from the sands and gravels of the Nile Valley. We also unearthed evidence that has begun to illuminate the connection between Kerma (the capital of Kush) and the distant and peripheral Fourth Cataract, some 130 miles as the crow flies, across particularly harsh desert terrain.
.
A Sudanese prospector (left) shows archaeologist Geoff Emberling a modern balance for weighing gold. (Bruce Williams) Kush had been mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts and depicted in artistic representations as both a trade partner and enemy of the Egyptian state, beginning around 2000 B.C. In later periods, gold from Kush was sent as tribute to the pharaohs, as in the painted scenes from the walls of the tomb of Huy, the Egyptian governor of Kush during the New Kingdom (ca. 1330 B.C.).
.
The Kushites, like other people from Nubia, a culturally diverse region that spans what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were known to the Egyptians as excellent archers and even served in the Egyptian army. Excavations at Kerma by American archaeologist George Reisner in the 1910s had revealed a town, which we now know was walled, surrounding a monumental mud-brick temple. In a royal cemetery to the east, four massive grave tumuli contained as many as several hundred human sacrificial victims. The remains were surrounded by thousands of cattle skulls, important symbols of wealth to many contemporaneous sub-Saharan people. Reisner originally proposed that Kerma was an Egyptian outpost because of the statuary and scarab seals found there.
.
Excavations over the past 35 years at Kerma, and over the past 10 years in the Fourth Cataract, began to suggest that the early Kingdom of Kush was larger than previously believed, and that its raids into Egypt in about 1650 B.C. were a serious threat to the capital at Thebes. Compared with other civilizations of the region, such as Mesopotamia, early Kush controlled a vast area and was able to amass significant military power. Yet Kush seemed to lack some of the characteristics of other civilizations: it had only one city of any size (Kerma), did not leave any trace of writing, and did not make extensive use of administrative tools such as seals. Only in the kingdom's latest period were inscribed Egyptian scarab seals used in administrative contexts in the region of the capital.
.
The expedition was a significant departure for me professionally. I had been trained in Mesopotamian archaeology and had directed excavations in Syria. More recently, I had supervised the installation of an exhibition at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, where I am the museum director, on ancient Nubia. I was fascinated by the beauty of the region's craft traditions, especially its extraordinary handmade pottery, which can be eggshell thin and beautifully burnished, or made in shapes imitating natural forms such as gourds, or covered with geometric designs. I was inspired to learn more about the people who made it.
.
Broken, scoop-shaped grindstones litter Hosh el-Guruf, an ancient gold-mining site. They are valuable even today to locals, who use them to grind perfumes and spices. (Courtesy Carol Meyer) Our team of about a dozen archaeologists and students traveled to the Fourth Cataract in the winter of 2007 and again in 2008, planning to work in a "concession" assigned to us by the Sudanese authorities, an area that stretched 10 miles along the right bank of the Nile and included a large island called Shirri. The group included codirector Bruce Williams, who has published nine massive volumes on the Oriental Institute's previous contribution to salvage archaeology in Nubia--the Aswan High Dam project of the 1960s--as well as students from the University of Chicago, New York University, and the University of Michigan.
.
It turned out, however, that our concession was within the territory of the Manasir, one of three tribal groups living in the Fourth Cataract. The Manasir were actively resisting the Sudanese government's plans for resettling people living in the region, and refused to allow archaeologists to work in their territory. So we had to move to a backup plan, which was to work within the large concession of a Polish team from the Gdansk Archaeological Museum led by Henryk Paner (whom I came to call "Papa Henryk," not for his age, but because he was so knowledgeable about the area and so generous with that knowledge). The team had been working there for almost 10 years, documenting well over 1,000 sites and excavating sites of all periods. However, the researchers knew there were sites they would not have a chance to excavate, and so they allowed us to work within their concession.
.
As a Mesopotamian archaeologist, I was used to working on settlements--the large mounds called "tells" that mark ancient villages and cities. It turned out that the Gdansk team had a settlement site to offer us near the village of Hosh el-Guruf, and we went to inspect it together. By Mesopotamian standards, it was not much to look at--a small, mounded, and remarkably rocky four acres, with a scatter of pottery that extended over 25 more. I knew from visiting other sites in the Fourth Cataract that it was a remarkably dense accumulation of cultural material by Sudanese standards, and we were happy to start working there in 2007.
.
After a few days of collecting pottery from the surface of the site, we began digging. Unlike Mesopotamian tells, where excavation trenches can reach a depth of 30 feet or more, Sudanese sites generally do not have deep deposits of cultural material. At Hosh el-Guruf, we dug no more than two feet before we hit the bedrock, and most of our trenches were even shallower.
.
Tiny gold beads were found in another burial. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) We found that the site had three major occupations, in between which it had been abandoned: the later Neolithic period (ca. 4000-3000 B.C.), the early Kingdom of Kush (ca. 1700-1500 B.C.), and a smaller occupation during the early part of the Napatan period (ca. 750-600 B.C.). While we still don't have a clear understanding of the Fourth Cataract during the Neolithic period, it is possible that the people were pastoralists and were sedentary only part of the year. The Napatan period, on the other hand, marked the rise of a later dynasty of Kush that began building pyramids for elite burials and ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty. The most interesting single discovery from our surface collections was a clay seal impression of a Napatan queen, which suggested some level of royal contact with inhabitants of the site in that period.
.
We began digging trenches where we had unearthed concentrations of Kerma-period ceramics during our surface collections. Rather than the stratified remains of buildings, we excavated mostly jumbled potsherds of different periods all mixed together, and almost nothing that was clearly left in place. We may have had a fragment of one building--three stones in a kind of curving alignment--and that looked pretty good after three weeks of digging.
.
Yet we were fortunate to have on the team another expert from the Oriental Institute with long experience working in the area: Carol Meyer, who had directed excavations on a Roman-period gold-mining site called Bir Umm Fawakhir in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. She and Bruce Williams pointed out that there was an interesting pattern across the surface of the site--an unusually large number of big grinding stones, all broken but each originally about three feet long and several hundred pounds. As Carol looked more closely, she found that there were also clusters of smaller handheld stones used for bashing and grinding. The grinding stones were not the kind that would have been used by a family to grind grain; we unearthed fewer, much smaller stones for that purpose. Rather, they were the type discovered at sites in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and Sudan, where gold was mined. Those stones were thought to be remnants of ancient Egyptian gold mines of the New Kingdom (about 1550-1150 B.C.), but here we were amazed to have the first clear evidence that they were not Egyptian in origin, but had been used earlier by the Kingdom of Kush.
.
This well-worn Kerma beaker, unearthed from a burial at Al-Widay, features a distinctive ash band below the rim. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) We were also lucky to have a geologist with us, James Harrell of the University of Toledo, who works on archaeological projects in Egypt and Sudan and specializes in identifying quarries. He suggested that the most likely source of gold here was Nile River gravels, worn off the bedrock formations in the middle Nile Valley and deposited across the site during the annual floods. Support for this interpretation of the site came from the widespread knowledge of gold-mining techniques among the people living in the area today. Although gold mining is not a formal industry, we met many who knew how to mine and pan for gold in the Fourth Cataract.
.
As we developed the gold-working hypothesis at Hosh el-Guruf, some members of our team began excavating a contemporaneous cemetery site at Al-Widay, next to the village where we were staying, which was a two-hour drive from the nearest paved road. The villagers not only worked for the excavation, but provided fresh bread daily, delivered water for washing and cooking, and showed us genuine hospitality.
.
The cemetery at Al-Widay was interesting in part because it presumably contained the burials of the people who mined the gold at Hosh el-Guruf. When we returned to complete the excavation of more than 100 burials in the cemetery in the winter of 2008, we found the graves were simple pits with piles of stones on top of them. Each of the dead was buried with a standard set of three vessels--cup, bowl, and incense pot--and sometimes with additional pots and beads made of locally available carnelian, ostrich egg shell, or faience. This pattern turned out to be fairly typical of Kerma-period sites throughout the Fourth Cataract.
.
One thing that was striking about the cemetery was the scarcity of gold--for a community that was connected to gold mining, those who lived there did not appear to have kept much of what they found. There was one burial with 101 tiny gold beads, made from a gold sheet that was rolled and cut into small rings; another contained a single gold bead. A number of the graves had been plundered in antiquity, perhaps by people looking for gold, but others were unlooted, and there was still very little gold in those burials. In fact, very little gold has been found in any of the Fourth Cataract excavations.
.
Inscribed with the name of an Egyptian army officer, this glazed steatite scarab seal may have been dropped in battle. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) At the same time, there were clearly imported items in the cemetery, such as Egyptian ceramics, scarabs, and some distinctive, polished, black-topped redware vessels with a gray band that were likely made in Kerma itself. One particularly interesting find was a scarab inscribed with the name of an Egyptian army officer, Nebsumenu, found in the burial of a young girl. We do not know how the scarab ended up in this remote area, but its presence raises questions about the connections between cultures at this time. One possibility is that Nebsumenu dropped his seal in battle or in flight from the fortress in which he served. The seal would have become part of the spoils taken by the army of Kush back to Kerma. It could then have been sent by the king of Kush as a gift to a local leader in the Fourth Cataract. Another possibility is that Nebsumenu lost his seal to the Medjay, a well-known band of nomads, whose routes would have taken them to the Fourth Cataract region. In this scenario, the scarab would have been a symbol of success in battle.
.
Our research seems to have illuminated two ends of an exchange network: gold moving from the Fourth Cataract to Kerma, and a small number of objects moving from Kerma to the Fourth Cataract. It appears to have been an unequal exchange: those at the center of the kingdom were hoarding wealth, while those at the periphery were exploited. But without direct evidence that the gold was moving from this site to Kerma, it remains a hypothesis that attests to the abundance of information that still lies beneath the rocky earth.
.
As I stood on that hilltop, I thought about the way many of the burials had been disturbed in antiquity, apparently by looters in search of gold jewelry. In our two seasons, we carefully excavated the looters' holes first, and then investigated what remained of each original burial. At the bottom of each robbed grave, we found a stone not bigger than my fist.
.
I imagined, at the time, that the looters ended their violation of the tombs by placing a stone at the bottom of their pits, as if to keep the spirit of the dead in its place. As I stood there, I decided that this might not be such a bad idea. So I placed a stone in each of the excavated burial pits, to honor a sense of close connection with the past, and as a sort of offering to help the dead rest in peace.
.
When we left Al-Widay, we dreaded the day that the dam would be completed, the area inundated, and our hosts forced (finally) to move away. And so it has happened. Our entire excavation area, so scarcely documented, is now under water.
.
Geoff Emberling is the museum director of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.
.
A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America :
When frequent ARCHAEOLOGY contributor Andrew Lawler reported on the construction of Sudan's massive Merowe Dam on the Nile River at Hamdab, some 220 miles north of the capital Khartoum ("Damming Sudan," November/December 2006), innumerable ancient sites were about to be flooded. The disastrous situation also posed a humanitarian crisis, as those in the water's path were systematically forced from their homes. The following year, University of Chicago archaeologist Geoff Emberling joined an international salvage effort to document sites before they disappeared...
.
Sudanese workmen clear the surface of Al-Widay, a second-millennium cemetery, now flooded by the construction of a massive dam. (Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) I remember standing in the warm late afternoon sun on a barren hilltop in the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan in March 2008. The orange sand stretched away to the green fields and palm trees lining the Nile River in the distance. My colleagues and I had just completed a successful second dig season and we were packing finds and taking our final notes. I went for one last visit to the ancient cemetery where we had been excavating burials of people who lived on the outskirts of the early Kingdom of Kush (roughly 1700-1500 B.C.). The graves and a nearby gold-mining site, littered with ancient grinding stones, had told us a great deal about these people, including something about their kingdom's relationship with Egypt, hundreds of miles to the north.
.
After making an exploratory trip to Sudan in the winter of 2006, we recognized how our excavations could contribute to the emerging picture of Kush as a powerful kingdom rather than a remote Egyptian outpost, as was once thought. But we were in a race against time. The construction of the Merowe Dam, some 25 miles downstream from where we were to work, was about to flood the Fourth Cataract, a 100-mile-long stretch of the Nile that passes through a narrow valley with islands and rapids. The area had scarcely been documented before archaeological salvage work by teams from Sudan, Poland, England, Germany, and the United States started about 10 years ago. So we joined an international effort to recover what we could before the dam was completed. Over the past decade, work by these teams in the dam area had suggested that the influence of Kush may even have reached beyond the Fourth Cataract, perhaps as many as 750 miles along the Nile--making it a worthy rival to Egypt indeed.
.
In just two excavation seasons--roughly 16 weeks--we gleaned a remarkable amount of information. Our excavations showed that the power of Kush rested in part on its ability to extract gold from the sands and gravels of the Nile Valley. We also unearthed evidence that has begun to illuminate the connection between Kerma (the capital of Kush) and the distant and peripheral Fourth Cataract, some 130 miles as the crow flies, across particularly harsh desert terrain.
.
A Sudanese prospector (left) shows archaeologist Geoff Emberling a modern balance for weighing gold. (Bruce Williams) Kush had been mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts and depicted in artistic representations as both a trade partner and enemy of the Egyptian state, beginning around 2000 B.C. In later periods, gold from Kush was sent as tribute to the pharaohs, as in the painted scenes from the walls of the tomb of Huy, the Egyptian governor of Kush during the New Kingdom (ca. 1330 B.C.).
.
The Kushites, like other people from Nubia, a culturally diverse region that spans what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were known to the Egyptians as excellent archers and even served in the Egyptian army. Excavations at Kerma by American archaeologist George Reisner in the 1910s had revealed a town, which we now know was walled, surrounding a monumental mud-brick temple. In a royal cemetery to the east, four massive grave tumuli contained as many as several hundred human sacrificial victims. The remains were surrounded by thousands of cattle skulls, important symbols of wealth to many contemporaneous sub-Saharan people. Reisner originally proposed that Kerma was an Egyptian outpost because of the statuary and scarab seals found there.
.
Excavations over the past 35 years at Kerma, and over the past 10 years in the Fourth Cataract, began to suggest that the early Kingdom of Kush was larger than previously believed, and that its raids into Egypt in about 1650 B.C. were a serious threat to the capital at Thebes. Compared with other civilizations of the region, such as Mesopotamia, early Kush controlled a vast area and was able to amass significant military power. Yet Kush seemed to lack some of the characteristics of other civilizations: it had only one city of any size (Kerma), did not leave any trace of writing, and did not make extensive use of administrative tools such as seals. Only in the kingdom's latest period were inscribed Egyptian scarab seals used in administrative contexts in the region of the capital.
.
The expedition was a significant departure for me professionally. I had been trained in Mesopotamian archaeology and had directed excavations in Syria. More recently, I had supervised the installation of an exhibition at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, where I am the museum director, on ancient Nubia. I was fascinated by the beauty of the region's craft traditions, especially its extraordinary handmade pottery, which can be eggshell thin and beautifully burnished, or made in shapes imitating natural forms such as gourds, or covered with geometric designs. I was inspired to learn more about the people who made it.
.
Broken, scoop-shaped grindstones litter Hosh el-Guruf, an ancient gold-mining site. They are valuable even today to locals, who use them to grind perfumes and spices. (Courtesy Carol Meyer) Our team of about a dozen archaeologists and students traveled to the Fourth Cataract in the winter of 2007 and again in 2008, planning to work in a "concession" assigned to us by the Sudanese authorities, an area that stretched 10 miles along the right bank of the Nile and included a large island called Shirri. The group included codirector Bruce Williams, who has published nine massive volumes on the Oriental Institute's previous contribution to salvage archaeology in Nubia--the Aswan High Dam project of the 1960s--as well as students from the University of Chicago, New York University, and the University of Michigan.
.
It turned out, however, that our concession was within the territory of the Manasir, one of three tribal groups living in the Fourth Cataract. The Manasir were actively resisting the Sudanese government's plans for resettling people living in the region, and refused to allow archaeologists to work in their territory. So we had to move to a backup plan, which was to work within the large concession of a Polish team from the Gdansk Archaeological Museum led by Henryk Paner (whom I came to call "Papa Henryk," not for his age, but because he was so knowledgeable about the area and so generous with that knowledge). The team had been working there for almost 10 years, documenting well over 1,000 sites and excavating sites of all periods. However, the researchers knew there were sites they would not have a chance to excavate, and so they allowed us to work within their concession.
.
As a Mesopotamian archaeologist, I was used to working on settlements--the large mounds called "tells" that mark ancient villages and cities. It turned out that the Gdansk team had a settlement site to offer us near the village of Hosh el-Guruf, and we went to inspect it together. By Mesopotamian standards, it was not much to look at--a small, mounded, and remarkably rocky four acres, with a scatter of pottery that extended over 25 more. I knew from visiting other sites in the Fourth Cataract that it was a remarkably dense accumulation of cultural material by Sudanese standards, and we were happy to start working there in 2007.
.
After a few days of collecting pottery from the surface of the site, we began digging. Unlike Mesopotamian tells, where excavation trenches can reach a depth of 30 feet or more, Sudanese sites generally do not have deep deposits of cultural material. At Hosh el-Guruf, we dug no more than two feet before we hit the bedrock, and most of our trenches were even shallower.
.
Tiny gold beads were found in another burial. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) We found that the site had three major occupations, in between which it had been abandoned: the later Neolithic period (ca. 4000-3000 B.C.), the early Kingdom of Kush (ca. 1700-1500 B.C.), and a smaller occupation during the early part of the Napatan period (ca. 750-600 B.C.). While we still don't have a clear understanding of the Fourth Cataract during the Neolithic period, it is possible that the people were pastoralists and were sedentary only part of the year. The Napatan period, on the other hand, marked the rise of a later dynasty of Kush that began building pyramids for elite burials and ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty. The most interesting single discovery from our surface collections was a clay seal impression of a Napatan queen, which suggested some level of royal contact with inhabitants of the site in that period.
.
We began digging trenches where we had unearthed concentrations of Kerma-period ceramics during our surface collections. Rather than the stratified remains of buildings, we excavated mostly jumbled potsherds of different periods all mixed together, and almost nothing that was clearly left in place. We may have had a fragment of one building--three stones in a kind of curving alignment--and that looked pretty good after three weeks of digging.
.
Yet we were fortunate to have on the team another expert from the Oriental Institute with long experience working in the area: Carol Meyer, who had directed excavations on a Roman-period gold-mining site called Bir Umm Fawakhir in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. She and Bruce Williams pointed out that there was an interesting pattern across the surface of the site--an unusually large number of big grinding stones, all broken but each originally about three feet long and several hundred pounds. As Carol looked more closely, she found that there were also clusters of smaller handheld stones used for bashing and grinding. The grinding stones were not the kind that would have been used by a family to grind grain; we unearthed fewer, much smaller stones for that purpose. Rather, they were the type discovered at sites in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and Sudan, where gold was mined. Those stones were thought to be remnants of ancient Egyptian gold mines of the New Kingdom (about 1550-1150 B.C.), but here we were amazed to have the first clear evidence that they were not Egyptian in origin, but had been used earlier by the Kingdom of Kush.
.
This well-worn Kerma beaker, unearthed from a burial at Al-Widay, features a distinctive ash band below the rim. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) We were also lucky to have a geologist with us, James Harrell of the University of Toledo, who works on archaeological projects in Egypt and Sudan and specializes in identifying quarries. He suggested that the most likely source of gold here was Nile River gravels, worn off the bedrock formations in the middle Nile Valley and deposited across the site during the annual floods. Support for this interpretation of the site came from the widespread knowledge of gold-mining techniques among the people living in the area today. Although gold mining is not a formal industry, we met many who knew how to mine and pan for gold in the Fourth Cataract.
.
As we developed the gold-working hypothesis at Hosh el-Guruf, some members of our team began excavating a contemporaneous cemetery site at Al-Widay, next to the village where we were staying, which was a two-hour drive from the nearest paved road. The villagers not only worked for the excavation, but provided fresh bread daily, delivered water for washing and cooking, and showed us genuine hospitality.
.
The cemetery at Al-Widay was interesting in part because it presumably contained the burials of the people who mined the gold at Hosh el-Guruf. When we returned to complete the excavation of more than 100 burials in the cemetery in the winter of 2008, we found the graves were simple pits with piles of stones on top of them. Each of the dead was buried with a standard set of three vessels--cup, bowl, and incense pot--and sometimes with additional pots and beads made of locally available carnelian, ostrich egg shell, or faience. This pattern turned out to be fairly typical of Kerma-period sites throughout the Fourth Cataract.
.
One thing that was striking about the cemetery was the scarcity of gold--for a community that was connected to gold mining, those who lived there did not appear to have kept much of what they found. There was one burial with 101 tiny gold beads, made from a gold sheet that was rolled and cut into small rings; another contained a single gold bead. A number of the graves had been plundered in antiquity, perhaps by people looking for gold, but others were unlooted, and there was still very little gold in those burials. In fact, very little gold has been found in any of the Fourth Cataract excavations.
.
Inscribed with the name of an Egyptian army officer, this glazed steatite scarab seal may have been dropped in battle. (Courtesy Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition) At the same time, there were clearly imported items in the cemetery, such as Egyptian ceramics, scarabs, and some distinctive, polished, black-topped redware vessels with a gray band that were likely made in Kerma itself. One particularly interesting find was a scarab inscribed with the name of an Egyptian army officer, Nebsumenu, found in the burial of a young girl. We do not know how the scarab ended up in this remote area, but its presence raises questions about the connections between cultures at this time. One possibility is that Nebsumenu dropped his seal in battle or in flight from the fortress in which he served. The seal would have become part of the spoils taken by the army of Kush back to Kerma. It could then have been sent by the king of Kush as a gift to a local leader in the Fourth Cataract. Another possibility is that Nebsumenu lost his seal to the Medjay, a well-known band of nomads, whose routes would have taken them to the Fourth Cataract region. In this scenario, the scarab would have been a symbol of success in battle.
.
Our research seems to have illuminated two ends of an exchange network: gold moving from the Fourth Cataract to Kerma, and a small number of objects moving from Kerma to the Fourth Cataract. It appears to have been an unequal exchange: those at the center of the kingdom were hoarding wealth, while those at the periphery were exploited. But without direct evidence that the gold was moving from this site to Kerma, it remains a hypothesis that attests to the abundance of information that still lies beneath the rocky earth.
.
As I stood on that hilltop, I thought about the way many of the burials had been disturbed in antiquity, apparently by looters in search of gold jewelry. In our two seasons, we carefully excavated the looters' holes first, and then investigated what remained of each original burial. At the bottom of each robbed grave, we found a stone not bigger than my fist.
.
I imagined, at the time, that the looters ended their violation of the tombs by placing a stone at the bottom of their pits, as if to keep the spirit of the dead in its place. As I stood there, I decided that this might not be such a bad idea. So I placed a stone in each of the excavated burial pits, to honor a sense of close connection with the past, and as a sort of offering to help the dead rest in peace.
.
When we left Al-Widay, we dreaded the day that the dam would be completed, the area inundated, and our hosts forced (finally) to move away. And so it has happened. Our entire excavation area, so scarcely documented, is now under water.
.
Geoff Emberling is the museum director of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.
Francois Vase
.
The François Vase, a milestone in the development of Greek pottery, is a large volute krater decorated in the black-figure style which stands at 66cm in height. Dated at circa 570/560 B.C.E. it was found in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb in the necropolis of Fonte Rotella near Chiusi and named after its discoverer Alessandro François; it is now in the Museo Archeologico at Florence. It bears the inscriptions "Ergotimos mepoiesen" and "Kleitias megraphsen", meaning "Ergotimos made me" and "Kleitias painted me", respectively - early evidence that the roles of potter and painter had become separate at this date. It depicts over 200 figures, many with identifying inscriptions, representing a number of mythological themes. It is a topic of scholary debate whether an overarching programme was intended. In 1900 a museum guard threw a stool at the case that contained the vase and smashed it into 638 pieces. It had been restored by 1902 by Pietro Zei, and a second reconstruction took place in 1973 incorporating previously missing pieces.
Contents :
1 The pictures on the pot
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links
//
The uppermost frieze, on the neck of the krater, depicts on side A[1] the Calydonian Boar Hunt, including the heroes Meleager, Peleus, and Atalanta. The scene is flanked by two sphinxes which are separated from it by a band of lotus blossoms and palmettes. On the other side of the vessel, this zone features the dance of Athenian youths led by Theseus who is playing the lyre, standing opposite Ariadne and her nurse.
The second band on side A shows the chariot race which is part of the funeral games for Patroclus, instituted by his friend[2] Achilles, in the last year of the Trojan War. Here, Achilles is standing in front of a bronze tripod, which would have been one of the prizes, while the participants include the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus. On side B, the painted scene depicts a battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs. The most famous of these conflicts took place at the wedding party of Pirithous and Hippodamia, which is probably depicted here, as the hero Theseus is found among the combatants, a friend of Pirithous who himself was not a Lapith, but said to be among the wedding guests. The scene also includes the demise of the Lapith hero Caeneus.
The third frieze on both sides, the highest and also most prominent one because of its location on the top of the body vessel, depicts the procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Because of its large number of figures, the procession is a suitable topic to decorate the long band. The end of the procession shows Peleus between an altar and the house where Thetis can be seen sitting inside. He is greeting his teacher, the centaur Chiron, who is heading the procession together with the divine messenger Iris, followed by many other deities.
The fourth frieze on side A depicts Achilles’ ambush on Troilus outside the gates of Troy, side B shows the return of Hephaestus to Olympus. Hephaestus, sitting on a mule, is led to the Olympian gods by Dionysus, followed by a group of silens and nymphs.
The fifth frieze shows sphinxes and griffins flanking lotus blossom and palmettes ornaments and panthers and lions attacking bulls, a boar, and a deer.
On the foot of the vessel, there is on both sides a depiction of the battle between the Pygmies and the cranes.
The handles are decorated as well, showing on their outer sides the so-called Mistress of Animals above a vignette showing Ajax carrying the dead Achilles. The fields on the inner sides of the handles above the rim of the pot each feature a Gorgon in motion.
Notes :
^ So-called because it depicts the culmination of the procession shown on the vessel’s main frieze, the top band on the body, which is also the highest of all.
^ For the exact nature of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, see the article on Achilles and Patroclus.
.
References
Antonio Minto: Il Vaso François, Florence 1960
Mauro Cristofani et al.: Materiali per servire alla storia del Vaso François (Bollettino d'arte, Serie speciale 1), Rome 1981
John D. Beazley: The Development of Attic Black-Figure, 2nd rev. ed., Berkeley 1986, 24-34
Thomas H. Carpenter: Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook, London 1991
.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: François vase
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze
The François Vase, a milestone in the development of Greek pottery, is a large volute krater decorated in the black-figure style which stands at 66cm in height. Dated at circa 570/560 B.C.E. it was found in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb in the necropolis of Fonte Rotella near Chiusi and named after its discoverer Alessandro François; it is now in the Museo Archeologico at Florence. It bears the inscriptions "Ergotimos mepoiesen" and "Kleitias megraphsen", meaning "Ergotimos made me" and "Kleitias painted me", respectively - early evidence that the roles of potter and painter had become separate at this date. It depicts over 200 figures, many with identifying inscriptions, representing a number of mythological themes. It is a topic of scholary debate whether an overarching programme was intended. In 1900 a museum guard threw a stool at the case that contained the vase and smashed it into 638 pieces. It had been restored by 1902 by Pietro Zei, and a second reconstruction took place in 1973 incorporating previously missing pieces.
Contents :
1 The pictures on the pot
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links
//
The uppermost frieze, on the neck of the krater, depicts on side A[1] the Calydonian Boar Hunt, including the heroes Meleager, Peleus, and Atalanta. The scene is flanked by two sphinxes which are separated from it by a band of lotus blossoms and palmettes. On the other side of the vessel, this zone features the dance of Athenian youths led by Theseus who is playing the lyre, standing opposite Ariadne and her nurse.
The second band on side A shows the chariot race which is part of the funeral games for Patroclus, instituted by his friend[2] Achilles, in the last year of the Trojan War. Here, Achilles is standing in front of a bronze tripod, which would have been one of the prizes, while the participants include the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus. On side B, the painted scene depicts a battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs. The most famous of these conflicts took place at the wedding party of Pirithous and Hippodamia, which is probably depicted here, as the hero Theseus is found among the combatants, a friend of Pirithous who himself was not a Lapith, but said to be among the wedding guests. The scene also includes the demise of the Lapith hero Caeneus.
The third frieze on both sides, the highest and also most prominent one because of its location on the top of the body vessel, depicts the procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Because of its large number of figures, the procession is a suitable topic to decorate the long band. The end of the procession shows Peleus between an altar and the house where Thetis can be seen sitting inside. He is greeting his teacher, the centaur Chiron, who is heading the procession together with the divine messenger Iris, followed by many other deities.
The fourth frieze on side A depicts Achilles’ ambush on Troilus outside the gates of Troy, side B shows the return of Hephaestus to Olympus. Hephaestus, sitting on a mule, is led to the Olympian gods by Dionysus, followed by a group of silens and nymphs.
The fifth frieze shows sphinxes and griffins flanking lotus blossom and palmettes ornaments and panthers and lions attacking bulls, a boar, and a deer.
On the foot of the vessel, there is on both sides a depiction of the battle between the Pygmies and the cranes.
The handles are decorated as well, showing on their outer sides the so-called Mistress of Animals above a vignette showing Ajax carrying the dead Achilles. The fields on the inner sides of the handles above the rim of the pot each feature a Gorgon in motion.
Notes :
^ So-called because it depicts the culmination of the procession shown on the vessel’s main frieze, the top band on the body, which is also the highest of all.
^ For the exact nature of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, see the article on Achilles and Patroclus.
.
References
Antonio Minto: Il Vaso François, Florence 1960
Mauro Cristofani et al.: Materiali per servire alla storia del Vaso François (Bollettino d'arte, Serie speciale 1), Rome 1981
John D. Beazley: The Development of Attic Black-Figure, 2nd rev. ed., Berkeley 1986, 24-34
Thomas H. Carpenter: Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook, London 1991
.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: François vase
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze
Ο αρχαιότερος εν Ελλάδι πλήρως σωζόμενος ανθρώπινος σκελετός - Σπήλαιο Φράγχθι
.
http://www.phys.uoa.gr/~nektar/history/historia_abstract.htm :
Νεότερη Παλαιολιθική Εποχή
Σε αυτή την περίοδο εμφανίστηκε μια ανεπτυγμένη τεχνική κατασκευής λεπίδων και κατεργασίας πυρήνων πυριτόλιθου. Μια θέση με πολύ μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον και σε αυτή τη φάση είναι η (33000 π.Χ.) θέση «Κοκκινόπηλος» του ποταμού Λούρου (Ήπειρος) στην οποία παρουσιάζεται μια πολύ πρώιμη λιθοτεχνία ειδικών λεπίδων (800 εργαλεία και απολεπίσματα). Η μεταβατική Μεσολιθική Εποχή αντιπροσωπεύεται από τη θέση «Σιδάρι» στην Κέρκυρα.
7592 π.Χ. Απόλυτη ραδιοχρονολόγηση σκελετού άντρα ο οποίος ήταν περίπου 25 ετών, είχε ύψος 1,58 μέτρα και πέθανε από χτύπημα στο κεφάλι. Βρέθηκε θαμμένος σε αβαθές κοίλωμα στο σπήλαιο Φράγχθι της Ερμιονίδας. Ο αρχαιότερος πλήρης ανθρώπινος σκελετός που ανακαλύφθηκε στην Αιγαιίδα. Στο σπήλαιο εντοπίστηκαν επίσης πάρα πολλά εργαλεία και οστά ζώων, κυρίως ελαφιών και ψαριών, καθώς επίσης και λείψανα που ανήκαν σε βραχύσωμους άντρες και γυναίκες με διαδεδομένη αναιμία και αρθριτικές παραμορφώσεις
.
http://www.ermionida.info/gr-html/fragthi.html :
Tο σπήλαιο Φράγχθι βρίσκεται στον κόλπο της Κοιλάδας στην Αργολίδα και είναι ένα ασβεστολιθικό κοίλωμα μήκους περίπου 150μ και μέγιστου πλάτους περίπου 45μ. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος του καλύπτεται σήμερα από τεράστιους ογκόλιθους που αποσπάστηκαν σε διάφορες φάσεις από την οροφή του. Στο πίσω μέρος της σπηλιάς υπάρχει μικρή λίμνη με υφάλμυρο νερό.
.
Oι ανασκαφές στη σπηλιά διενεργήθηκαν από το 1967 έως το 1976 από διεθνή ομάδα αρχαιολόγων, διαφόρων ειδικών και ντόπιων εργατών με επικεφαλής τον καθηγητή Τόμας Τζάκομπσεν. Τομές ανοίχτηκαν στο μπροστινό τμήμα της σπηλιάς καθώς επίσης και έξω από τη σπηλιά κατά μήκος της παραλίας. Οι ανασκαφές αποκάλυψαν μία σπάνια για την Ευρώπη ακολουθία ανθρώπινης κατοίκησης από την Ανώτερη Παλαιολιθική μέχρι το τέλος της Νεολιθικής περιόδου (περίπου 25.000-3.000 π.Χ.).
.
H Κοιλάδα είναι ένα χωριό ψαράδων και ναυτικών. Τι σχέση όμως είχαν με τη θάλασσα οι προϊστορικοί κάτοικοι της περιοχής; Αυτό είναι το θέμα που η έκθεση αυτή θα εξερευνήσει με ένα ταξίδι στα βάθη του παρελθόντος. Οδηγοί μας σ΄ αυτό το ταξίδι θα είναι από τη μια πλευρά οι αλλαγές του τοπίου στην περιοχή, όπως πιστοποιήθηκαν από υποθαλάσσιες γεωφυσικές έρευνες στον κόλπο της Κοιλάδας και από την άλλη κάποια από τα... σκουπίδια που άφησαν πίσω τους οι αρχαίοι κάτοικοι της σπηλιάς, όπως τα χιλιάδες ψαροκόκαλα, κοχύλια, και εργαλεία από οψιανό. Τα περισσότερα από αυτά τα ευρήματα είναι μικρού μεγέθους και βρέθηκαν κατά το κοσκίνισμα του ανασκαμμένου χώματος με το ξερό κόσκινο και το νεροκόσκινο.
.
http://istorikhermionida.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/%CF%83%CF%80%CE%AE%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CF%86%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%B3%CF%87%CE%B8%CE%B9-franchthi-cave/
.
http://www.phys.uoa.gr/~nektar/history/historia_abstract.htm :
Νεότερη Παλαιολιθική Εποχή
Σε αυτή την περίοδο εμφανίστηκε μια ανεπτυγμένη τεχνική κατασκευής λεπίδων και κατεργασίας πυρήνων πυριτόλιθου. Μια θέση με πολύ μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον και σε αυτή τη φάση είναι η (33000 π.Χ.) θέση «Κοκκινόπηλος» του ποταμού Λούρου (Ήπειρος) στην οποία παρουσιάζεται μια πολύ πρώιμη λιθοτεχνία ειδικών λεπίδων (800 εργαλεία και απολεπίσματα). Η μεταβατική Μεσολιθική Εποχή αντιπροσωπεύεται από τη θέση «Σιδάρι» στην Κέρκυρα.
7592 π.Χ. Απόλυτη ραδιοχρονολόγηση σκελετού άντρα ο οποίος ήταν περίπου 25 ετών, είχε ύψος 1,58 μέτρα και πέθανε από χτύπημα στο κεφάλι. Βρέθηκε θαμμένος σε αβαθές κοίλωμα στο σπήλαιο Φράγχθι της Ερμιονίδας. Ο αρχαιότερος πλήρης ανθρώπινος σκελετός που ανακαλύφθηκε στην Αιγαιίδα. Στο σπήλαιο εντοπίστηκαν επίσης πάρα πολλά εργαλεία και οστά ζώων, κυρίως ελαφιών και ψαριών, καθώς επίσης και λείψανα που ανήκαν σε βραχύσωμους άντρες και γυναίκες με διαδεδομένη αναιμία και αρθριτικές παραμορφώσεις
.
http://www.ermionida.info/gr-html/fragthi.html :
Tο σπήλαιο Φράγχθι βρίσκεται στον κόλπο της Κοιλάδας στην Αργολίδα και είναι ένα ασβεστολιθικό κοίλωμα μήκους περίπου 150μ και μέγιστου πλάτους περίπου 45μ. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος του καλύπτεται σήμερα από τεράστιους ογκόλιθους που αποσπάστηκαν σε διάφορες φάσεις από την οροφή του. Στο πίσω μέρος της σπηλιάς υπάρχει μικρή λίμνη με υφάλμυρο νερό.
.
Oι ανασκαφές στη σπηλιά διενεργήθηκαν από το 1967 έως το 1976 από διεθνή ομάδα αρχαιολόγων, διαφόρων ειδικών και ντόπιων εργατών με επικεφαλής τον καθηγητή Τόμας Τζάκομπσεν. Τομές ανοίχτηκαν στο μπροστινό τμήμα της σπηλιάς καθώς επίσης και έξω από τη σπηλιά κατά μήκος της παραλίας. Οι ανασκαφές αποκάλυψαν μία σπάνια για την Ευρώπη ακολουθία ανθρώπινης κατοίκησης από την Ανώτερη Παλαιολιθική μέχρι το τέλος της Νεολιθικής περιόδου (περίπου 25.000-3.000 π.Χ.).
.
H Κοιλάδα είναι ένα χωριό ψαράδων και ναυτικών. Τι σχέση όμως είχαν με τη θάλασσα οι προϊστορικοί κάτοικοι της περιοχής; Αυτό είναι το θέμα που η έκθεση αυτή θα εξερευνήσει με ένα ταξίδι στα βάθη του παρελθόντος. Οδηγοί μας σ΄ αυτό το ταξίδι θα είναι από τη μια πλευρά οι αλλαγές του τοπίου στην περιοχή, όπως πιστοποιήθηκαν από υποθαλάσσιες γεωφυσικές έρευνες στον κόλπο της Κοιλάδας και από την άλλη κάποια από τα... σκουπίδια που άφησαν πίσω τους οι αρχαίοι κάτοικοι της σπηλιάς, όπως τα χιλιάδες ψαροκόκαλα, κοχύλια, και εργαλεία από οψιανό. Τα περισσότερα από αυτά τα ευρήματα είναι μικρού μεγέθους και βρέθηκαν κατά το κοσκίνισμα του ανασκαμμένου χώματος με το ξερό κόσκινο και το νεροκόσκινο.
.
http://istorikhermionida.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/%CF%83%CF%80%CE%AE%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CF%86%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%B3%CF%87%CE%B8%CE%B9-franchthi-cave/
.
Ο Πήλινος Στρατός
..
Σημαντικότατη αρχαιολογική τοποθεσία της Κίνας κοντά στην αρχαία πρωτεύουσα Τσανγκ-αν,στην επαρχία Σενσί.
Πρόκειται για τον χώρο ταφής του πρώτου ανώτατου αυτοκράτορα,ΣΙΧ ΧΟΥΑΝΓΚ-ΤΙ του Τσιν(http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/interesting-documentary/first-emperor.html),ο οποίος ενοποίησε την αυτοκρατορία,άρχισε την κατασκευή του Σινικού Τείχους και προετοίμασε για τον θάνατο του ένα τεράστιο ταφικό σύμπλεγμα έκτασης 50 τετραγωνικών χιλιομέτρων.
Τον Μάρτιο του 1974,-2100 χρόνια μετά τον θάνατο του-,ήρθαν στο φως 6.000 στρατιώτες και άλογα σε φυσικό μέγεθος από τερακότα,κανένα όμοιο με το άλλο.
(Ανασκαφές Σιαν : έτσι ονομάζονται οι τέσσερεις θάλαμοι που έχουν βρεθεί έως σήμερα)
Βρέθηκαν επίσης πραγματικά άρματα,σιδερένια γεωργικά εργαλεία,χάλκινα και δερμάτινα χαλινάρια,αντικείμενα από μετάξι,λινό,ιάδη και οστά,και όπλα -τόξα,βέλη,λόγχες,σπαθιά χυμένα από ένα ασυνήθιστο κράμα από 13 στοιχεία,το οποίο είναι ακόμη και σήμερα στιλπνό και κοφτερό-.
..
Ο από τερακότα στρατός είναι σε διάταξη :
σε σχηματισμό με εμπροσθοφυλακή από τοξότες και βαλλιστροφόρους,
εξωτερικούς στοίχους τοξοτών,
ομάδες πεζικάριων και αρμάτων και
μία οπισθοφυλακή σιδερόφρακτη.
..
Σε τρείς γειτονικούς θαλάμους :
ο ένας περιείχε περισσότερες από 1400 μορφές που αντιπροσώπευαν μία μικρότερη συμπληρωματική δύναμη αρμάτων και ιππέων,
ο δεύτερος περιείχε 68 αγάλματα που πιθανώς αντιπροσωπεύουν μία διοικητική ομάδα επιλέκτων,ενώ,
ο τρίτος ήταν άδειος.
..
Αυτή η θαμμένη πήλινη σωματοφυλακή βλέπει προς τα ανατολικά,έτοιμη για μάχη,
σε απόσταση 3/4 του μιλίου περίπου από τον εξωτερικό τοίχο του κυρίως τάφου,
φυλάσσοντάς τον από τους εχθρούς του ηγεμόνα.
..
Δυτικά του μαυσωλείου αποκαλύφθηκαν τα αρχαιότερα και μεγαλύτερα ορειχάλκινα αντικείμενα που βρέθηκαν ποτέ στην Κίνα -ορισμένα άρματα στο μισό μέγεθος των κανονικών,καθένα από τα οποία έφερε σκίαστρο,έναν δικαστικό αξιωματούχο,και συρόταν από τέσσερα άλογα με χρυσά και αργυρά στολίδια στο κεφάλι-.
..
Σε δορυφορικούς λάκκους βρέθηκε :
ένας υπόγειος στάυλος γεμάτος με σκελετούς αλόγων,
ένα νεκροταφείο στρατηγών,
70 ατομικοί τάφοι και άλλα ταχνήματα.
..
Ο τάφος του αυτοκράτορα δεν έχει ακόμη ανασκαφεί,θεωρείται όμως ότι είναι ασύλητος.
Βρίσκεται μέσα από έναν εσωτερικό τοίχο και κάτω από έναν τετράπλευρο πυραμοειδή γήλοφο.
Στο εσωτερικό του,φημολογείται ότι,υπάρχει ένα τεράστιο υπόγειο ανάκτορο.
..
Ο κινέζος ιστορικός Σου-μα Τσιέν,145-85 π.Χ.,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Qian
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/smc/index.htm
έγραψε :
"Οι εργάτες -7000.000 σε πάνω από 36 χρόνια-έσκαψαν διαμέσου τριών υπόγειων ρυακιών,τα οποία απέκλεισαν με ορείχαλκο...Έκτισαν υποδείγματα ανακτόρων,περιπτέρων,..Εγκατέστησαν βαλλίστρες κατά των εισβολέων...Οι διάφοροι υδάτινοι δρόμοι της αυτοκρατορίας,οι ποταμοί Γιανγκτσε και Κίτρινος ποταμός,ακόμη και αυτός ο μεγάλος ωκεανός,κατασκευάστηκαν από ΥΔΡΑΡΓΥΡΟ κατά τρόπο που να κυλούν και να κυκλοφορούν...Με λαμπερά μαργαριτάρια αναπαραστάθηκαν οι αστερισμοί...Οι λάμπες τροφοδοτήθηκαν με λάδι φάλαινας,έτσι ώστε να καίνε αιώνια..."
..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Dynasty
http://www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/75232.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=441
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/trad/sld_qin.htm#Excavation%20of%20Qin%20Shih%20Huangdi's%20Tomb
..
Σημαντικότατη αρχαιολογική τοποθεσία της Κίνας κοντά στην αρχαία πρωτεύουσα Τσανγκ-αν,στην επαρχία Σενσί.
Πρόκειται για τον χώρο ταφής του πρώτου ανώτατου αυτοκράτορα,ΣΙΧ ΧΟΥΑΝΓΚ-ΤΙ του Τσιν(http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/interesting-documentary/first-emperor.html),ο οποίος ενοποίησε την αυτοκρατορία,άρχισε την κατασκευή του Σινικού Τείχους και προετοίμασε για τον θάνατο του ένα τεράστιο ταφικό σύμπλεγμα έκτασης 50 τετραγωνικών χιλιομέτρων.
Τον Μάρτιο του 1974,-2100 χρόνια μετά τον θάνατο του-,ήρθαν στο φως 6.000 στρατιώτες και άλογα σε φυσικό μέγεθος από τερακότα,κανένα όμοιο με το άλλο.
(Ανασκαφές Σιαν : έτσι ονομάζονται οι τέσσερεις θάλαμοι που έχουν βρεθεί έως σήμερα)
Βρέθηκαν επίσης πραγματικά άρματα,σιδερένια γεωργικά εργαλεία,χάλκινα και δερμάτινα χαλινάρια,αντικείμενα από μετάξι,λινό,ιάδη και οστά,και όπλα -τόξα,βέλη,λόγχες,σπαθιά χυμένα από ένα ασυνήθιστο κράμα από 13 στοιχεία,το οποίο είναι ακόμη και σήμερα στιλπνό και κοφτερό-.
..
Ο από τερακότα στρατός είναι σε διάταξη :
σε σχηματισμό με εμπροσθοφυλακή από τοξότες και βαλλιστροφόρους,
εξωτερικούς στοίχους τοξοτών,
ομάδες πεζικάριων και αρμάτων και
μία οπισθοφυλακή σιδερόφρακτη.
..
Σε τρείς γειτονικούς θαλάμους :
ο ένας περιείχε περισσότερες από 1400 μορφές που αντιπροσώπευαν μία μικρότερη συμπληρωματική δύναμη αρμάτων και ιππέων,
ο δεύτερος περιείχε 68 αγάλματα που πιθανώς αντιπροσωπεύουν μία διοικητική ομάδα επιλέκτων,ενώ,
ο τρίτος ήταν άδειος.
..
Αυτή η θαμμένη πήλινη σωματοφυλακή βλέπει προς τα ανατολικά,έτοιμη για μάχη,
σε απόσταση 3/4 του μιλίου περίπου από τον εξωτερικό τοίχο του κυρίως τάφου,
φυλάσσοντάς τον από τους εχθρούς του ηγεμόνα.
..
Δυτικά του μαυσωλείου αποκαλύφθηκαν τα αρχαιότερα και μεγαλύτερα ορειχάλκινα αντικείμενα που βρέθηκαν ποτέ στην Κίνα -ορισμένα άρματα στο μισό μέγεθος των κανονικών,καθένα από τα οποία έφερε σκίαστρο,έναν δικαστικό αξιωματούχο,και συρόταν από τέσσερα άλογα με χρυσά και αργυρά στολίδια στο κεφάλι-.
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Σε δορυφορικούς λάκκους βρέθηκε :
ένας υπόγειος στάυλος γεμάτος με σκελετούς αλόγων,
ένα νεκροταφείο στρατηγών,
70 ατομικοί τάφοι και άλλα ταχνήματα.
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Ο τάφος του αυτοκράτορα δεν έχει ακόμη ανασκαφεί,θεωρείται όμως ότι είναι ασύλητος.
Βρίσκεται μέσα από έναν εσωτερικό τοίχο και κάτω από έναν τετράπλευρο πυραμοειδή γήλοφο.
Στο εσωτερικό του,φημολογείται ότι,υπάρχει ένα τεράστιο υπόγειο ανάκτορο.
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Ο κινέζος ιστορικός Σου-μα Τσιέν,145-85 π.Χ.,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Qian
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/smc/index.htm
έγραψε :
"Οι εργάτες -7000.000 σε πάνω από 36 χρόνια-έσκαψαν διαμέσου τριών υπόγειων ρυακιών,τα οποία απέκλεισαν με ορείχαλκο...Έκτισαν υποδείγματα ανακτόρων,περιπτέρων,..Εγκατέστησαν βαλλίστρες κατά των εισβολέων...Οι διάφοροι υδάτινοι δρόμοι της αυτοκρατορίας,οι ποταμοί Γιανγκτσε και Κίτρινος ποταμός,ακόμη και αυτός ο μεγάλος ωκεανός,κατασκευάστηκαν από ΥΔΡΑΡΓΥΡΟ κατά τρόπο που να κυλούν και να κυκλοφορούν...Με λαμπερά μαργαριτάρια αναπαραστάθηκαν οι αστερισμοί...Οι λάμπες τροφοδοτήθηκαν με λάδι φάλαινας,έτσι ώστε να καίνε αιώνια..."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Dynasty
http://www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/75232.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=441
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/trad/sld_qin.htm#Excavation%20of%20Qin%20Shih%20Huangdi's%20Tomb
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ΜυκηναΪκή Φιλολογία,Chadwich John,1920-1998
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Ελληνιστής φιλόλογος,πρωτοπόρος στη μυκηναϊκή φιλολογία.
Εργάστηκε στη συντακτική επιτροπή του Λατινικού Λεξικού της Οξφόρδης.
Έκτακτος καθηγητής -1966-87- των Κλασσικών Γλωσσών στο πανεπιστήμιο του Καίμπριτζ.
Δίδαξε ως επισκέπτης καθηγητής στο Institute for the research into humanities στο Μάντισον του Ουϊσκόνσιν,ΗΠΑ,1964,και στο πανεπιστήμιο British Columbia,Βανκούβερ,Καναδάς,1974.
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Τον Ιούνιο του 1952 άκουσε μία εκπομπή στο BBCτου Μ.Βέντρις για την αποκρυπταγράφηση της ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗΣ Β'.Ο Τσάντγουικ εφάρμοσε τα αποτελέσματα του Βέντρις σε δείγματα μυκηναϊκών κειμένων και κατόπιν ήλθε σε επαφή μαζί του.Από τότε συνεργάστηκαν.
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Άρθρα πάνω στην αποκρυπτογράφηση μυκηναϊκών κειμένων είναι :
EVIDENCE FOR GREEK DIALECT IN THE MYCENAEAN ARCHIVES,(Journal of Hellenic Studies,1953)
DOCUMENTS IN MYCENAEAN GREEK,1956,είναι το βιβλίο που τον καταξίωσε.
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Το 1976 θα ταράξει για μία φορά ακόμη τα νερά της ελληνικής φιλολογίας με την θεωρία του για τουςΔΩΡΙΕΙΣ και τη θέση τους στον μυκηναΪκό κόσμο :
WHO WERE THE DORIANS,(La Parola del Passato,31/103-117)
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Τα κυριότερα άρθρα και βιβλία του είναι :
THE MYCENAEAN GREEK VOCABULARY,1963,σε συνεργασία με τον L.Baumbach
THE DECIPHERMENT OF LINEAR B,1967,σε συνεργασία με τους J.T.Killen,J.P.Oliver,
THE KNOSSOS TABLETS IV.A TRASLITERATION,1971,
THE MYCENAEAN WORLD,1976,σε συνεργασία με τους L.Godart,J.T.Killer,J.P.Oliver,A.Sacconi,I.Sakellarakis,
CORPUS OF MYCENAEAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM KNOSSOS,1986
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http://books.google.gr/books?id=hsw7AAAAIAAJ&dq=chadwick+john&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=FuA29JHZZl&sig=uvr6nXF4AdZf9zK0r4Dz1DYN9y0&hl=el&ei=iO25Sr6nNZHymQPGz4lQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false
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http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Chadwick%2C%20John%20White%2C%201840-1904%22
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John Chadwick (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar most famous for his role in deciphering Linear B, along with Michael Ventris.
Contents[hide]
1 Early life and education
2 Family
3 Publications
4 See also
//
[edit] Early life and education
He was born in East Sheen, London and educated at St Paul's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and he served as an officer the Royal Navy's Special Branch during the Second World War.
After the war he was on the staff of the Oxford Classical Dictionary before beginning a Classics lectureship at Cambridge in 1952. That year he began working with Ventris on the progressive decipherment of Linear B, the two writing Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1956 following a controversial first paper three years earlier. Chadwick's philological ideas were applied to Ventris' initial theory that Linear B was an early form of Greek rather than another Mediterranean language.
After Ventris' death Chadwick became the figurehead of the Linear B work, writing the accessible popular book The Decipherment of Linear B in 1958 and revising Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1978.
He retired in 1984, by which time he had become the fourth (and last) Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics at Cambridge. He continued his scholarship until his death, being an active member of several international societies and writing numerous popular and academic articles.
[edit] Family
He married Joan Hill in 1947 and they had one son.
[edit] Publications
Chadwick, John (1958). The Decipherment of Linear B. Second edition (1990). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-39830-4.
Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.
Ventris, Michael and Chadwick, John (1956). Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Second edition (1974). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-08558-6.
[edit] See also
Linear B, Mycenaean Greek, Mycenaean Greece
Michael Ventris
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chadwick"
..
Ελληνιστής φιλόλογος,πρωτοπόρος στη μυκηναϊκή φιλολογία.
Εργάστηκε στη συντακτική επιτροπή του Λατινικού Λεξικού της Οξφόρδης.
Έκτακτος καθηγητής -1966-87- των Κλασσικών Γλωσσών στο πανεπιστήμιο του Καίμπριτζ.
Δίδαξε ως επισκέπτης καθηγητής στο Institute for the research into humanities στο Μάντισον του Ουϊσκόνσιν,ΗΠΑ,1964,και στο πανεπιστήμιο British Columbia,Βανκούβερ,Καναδάς,1974.
..
Τον Ιούνιο του 1952 άκουσε μία εκπομπή στο BBCτου Μ.Βέντρις για την αποκρυπταγράφηση της ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗΣ Β'.Ο Τσάντγουικ εφάρμοσε τα αποτελέσματα του Βέντρις σε δείγματα μυκηναϊκών κειμένων και κατόπιν ήλθε σε επαφή μαζί του.Από τότε συνεργάστηκαν.
..
Άρθρα πάνω στην αποκρυπτογράφηση μυκηναϊκών κειμένων είναι :
EVIDENCE FOR GREEK DIALECT IN THE MYCENAEAN ARCHIVES,(Journal of Hellenic Studies,1953)
DOCUMENTS IN MYCENAEAN GREEK,1956,είναι το βιβλίο που τον καταξίωσε.
..
Το 1976 θα ταράξει για μία φορά ακόμη τα νερά της ελληνικής φιλολογίας με την θεωρία του για τουςΔΩΡΙΕΙΣ και τη θέση τους στον μυκηναΪκό κόσμο :
WHO WERE THE DORIANS,(La Parola del Passato,31/103-117)
..
Τα κυριότερα άρθρα και βιβλία του είναι :
THE MYCENAEAN GREEK VOCABULARY,1963,σε συνεργασία με τον L.Baumbach
THE DECIPHERMENT OF LINEAR B,1967,σε συνεργασία με τους J.T.Killen,J.P.Oliver,
THE KNOSSOS TABLETS IV.A TRASLITERATION,1971,
THE MYCENAEAN WORLD,1976,σε συνεργασία με τους L.Godart,J.T.Killer,J.P.Oliver,A.Sacconi,I.Sakellarakis,
CORPUS OF MYCENAEAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM KNOSSOS,1986
..
http://books.google.gr/books?id=hsw7AAAAIAAJ&dq=chadwick+john&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=FuA29JHZZl&sig=uvr6nXF4AdZf9zK0r4Dz1DYN9y0&hl=el&ei=iO25Sr6nNZHymQPGz4lQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false
..
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Chadwick%2C%20John%20White%2C%201840-1904%22
..
John Chadwick (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar most famous for his role in deciphering Linear B, along with Michael Ventris.
Contents[hide]
1 Early life and education
2 Family
3 Publications
4 See also
//
[edit] Early life and education
He was born in East Sheen, London and educated at St Paul's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and he served as an officer the Royal Navy's Special Branch during the Second World War.
After the war he was on the staff of the Oxford Classical Dictionary before beginning a Classics lectureship at Cambridge in 1952. That year he began working with Ventris on the progressive decipherment of Linear B, the two writing Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1956 following a controversial first paper three years earlier. Chadwick's philological ideas were applied to Ventris' initial theory that Linear B was an early form of Greek rather than another Mediterranean language.
After Ventris' death Chadwick became the figurehead of the Linear B work, writing the accessible popular book The Decipherment of Linear B in 1958 and revising Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1978.
He retired in 1984, by which time he had become the fourth (and last) Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics at Cambridge. He continued his scholarship until his death, being an active member of several international societies and writing numerous popular and academic articles.
[edit] Family
He married Joan Hill in 1947 and they had one son.
[edit] Publications
Chadwick, John (1958). The Decipherment of Linear B. Second edition (1990). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-39830-4.
Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.
Ventris, Michael and Chadwick, John (1956). Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Second edition (1974). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-08558-6.
[edit] See also
Linear B, Mycenaean Greek, Mycenaean Greece
Michael Ventris
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chadwick"
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Βραχογραφίες 'LES TROIS FRERES''
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Σπήλαιο στη νότια Γαλλία,το οποίο ανακαλύφθηκε το 1914 και περιλαμβάνει μία σημαντική ομάδα μνημειωδών βραχογραφιών και αναγλύφων της Ανώτερης Παλαιολιθικής -περίπου 40.000-10.000 π.Χ.-,που ανήκουν στην Γαλλο-κανταβρική Σχολή :
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/216955/Franco-Cantabrian-art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Cantabrian_region
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Η πλειονότητα των παραστάσεων ζώων και μορφών,που είναι κατά το ήμισυ άνθρωποι και κατά το ήμισυ ζώα,βρέθηκε στις παρυφές ενός εσώτατου χώρου που ονομάστηκε ΙΕΡΟ.
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Μοναδική είναι η ζωγραφική απεικόνιση με τα εγχάρακτα περιγράμματα μιας μορφής κατά το ήμισυ άνθρωπος και κατά το ήμισυ ελάφι που πιθανώς απεικονίζει κάποιο 'ΜΕΓΑΛΟ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ',το οποίο δεσπόζει επάνω από μορφές ζώων και χορευτών.
..........................................................
Πηγή : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois_Fr%C3%A8res
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer_(cave_art)
Η εικόνα του ''ΜΑΓΟΥ'' :
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/63/4763-004-824529EB.jpg
http://www.mask-and-more-masks.com/The-Shaman-of-Trois-Freres.html
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The Cave of the Trois-Frères is one of the famous caves in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. It is located in Montesquieu-Avantès, in the Ariège département.
One of these, called "The Sorcerer" is as familiar as any art in the more famous cave of Lascaux. The cave also contained two finely modelled bison. The cave is part of a single cave-complex with the Tuc d'Audoubert, both galleries formed by the Volp River.
The cave art appears to date to approximately 13,000 BC.
The cave is named for the three sons of comte Bégouen who discovered it in 1910. (In French: trois frères means "three brothers".) The drawings of the cave were made famous in the publications of the Abbé Henri Breuil.
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http://donsmaps.com/cavepaintings3.html
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Σπήλαιο στη νότια Γαλλία,το οποίο ανακαλύφθηκε το 1914 και περιλαμβάνει μία σημαντική ομάδα μνημειωδών βραχογραφιών και αναγλύφων της Ανώτερης Παλαιολιθικής -περίπου 40.000-10.000 π.Χ.-,που ανήκουν στην Γαλλο-κανταβρική Σχολή :
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/216955/Franco-Cantabrian-art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Cantabrian_region
..
Η πλειονότητα των παραστάσεων ζώων και μορφών,που είναι κατά το ήμισυ άνθρωποι και κατά το ήμισυ ζώα,βρέθηκε στις παρυφές ενός εσώτατου χώρου που ονομάστηκε ΙΕΡΟ.
..
Μοναδική είναι η ζωγραφική απεικόνιση με τα εγχάρακτα περιγράμματα μιας μορφής κατά το ήμισυ άνθρωπος και κατά το ήμισυ ελάφι που πιθανώς απεικονίζει κάποιο 'ΜΕΓΑΛΟ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ',το οποίο δεσπόζει επάνω από μορφές ζώων και χορευτών.
..........................................................
Πηγή : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois_Fr%C3%A8res
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer_(cave_art)
Η εικόνα του ''ΜΑΓΟΥ'' :
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/63/4763-004-824529EB.jpg
http://www.mask-and-more-masks.com/The-Shaman-of-Trois-Freres.html
..
The Cave of the Trois-Frères is one of the famous caves in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. It is located in Montesquieu-Avantès, in the Ariège département.
One of these, called "The Sorcerer" is as familiar as any art in the more famous cave of Lascaux. The cave also contained two finely modelled bison. The cave is part of a single cave-complex with the Tuc d'Audoubert, both galleries formed by the Volp River.
The cave art appears to date to approximately 13,000 BC.
The cave is named for the three sons of comte Bégouen who discovered it in 1910. (In French: trois frères means "three brothers".) The drawings of the cave were made famous in the publications of the Abbé Henri Breuil.
..
http://donsmaps.com/cavepaintings3.html
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