Pieces of St. Mary’s are returned for a visit in a temporary exhibit
They are mostly just bits and pieces of things — rocks, broken pottery, fragments of old tools — all collected in St. Mary’s County.
But the items included in the County Archaeology Collections Exhibit, or CACE, at Lexington Park library since early February each tell a story about St. Mary’s, according to Patricia Samford of Lexington Park. Samford is director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab in St. Leonard, where the items are normally stored. Read more.
Xochipilli, Aztec god of flowers
learned about this guy in a seminar today. he is wearing a skin suit
Racetracks in Arizona – it’s not what you think
The talk is titled “Recent Advances in Central Arizona Racetrack Research,” but it doesn’t involve horses.
Instead, during the free lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at Arizona State University’s Deer Valley Rock Art Center, Will G. Russell will talk about linear ground features that were built in central Arizona in the mid-13th century.
Russell, a doctoral student in ASU’s archaeology program, notes that over time, scores more of these ground features were built, but the vast majority were placed atop Perry Mesa. Read more.
the removal of long-dead hman bodies from view in museums for reburial is based on a warped notion of respect.
“No one disputes that the bodies of the dead should be treated with respect and in a dignified manner. And no one disputes that bodies of indigenous people have often been removed from their place of burial in ways that resemble theft.”
“For a body that was not stolen from an indigenous group the relevant question becomes: “Are any of the things we are doing to this body showing a lack of respect?” We can only answer this question based on our own understanding of respect. It is easy to come up with examples of actions that show a lack of respect, such as playing football with a skull. But none of these examples relate even remotely to the kinds of scientific exploration archaeologists perform, or to what goes on in modern museums.”
“What, then, about a stolen indigenous body? Here we again need to distinguish between identified and anonymous bodies. Descendants may have a strong claim to have their “grandmother” repatriated, but it is much less obvious that a culturally affiliated group’s claim for repatriation of an anonymous body is of the same strength.”
complete article posted in the new scientist
egypt releases ilustrated list of 54 objects missing from egyptian museum
“The website of Egypt’s Supreme Council on Antiquities (which still lists Zahi Hawassas its “secretary general”) has now posted a link to what it says is the final list, with (mostly grainy) photographs, of 54 objects missing from the Egyptian Museum, which was looted on Jan. 28, during the people’s uprising in Tahrir Square.”
“Until now, the only other authoritative illustrated list was the much shorter one compiled, from the fragmentary information available, by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn’s list included photos of three possible candidates for the missing Amarna princess, now blurrily documented in the photo above.”posted in the blog culturegrrl
The Venetians and the Fourth Crusade
I just finished a pretty interesting book on the Fourth Crusade, called “the greatest crime in humanity” by noted medieval historian Steven Runciman. The Fourth Crusade of 1202 stands out among the many other crusades because even though the plan was to counter the Muslim presence in the Holy Lands, the result was implausibly different - the attack eventually conquered other Christians.
What accounted for such a pivot? It seems as if it all came down to a bad contract with the Venetians. The Christian army didn’t willingly set out to attack other Christians, and when these backwards campaigns started many people did defect. However, the whole of the army was indebted to the Venetians past their accountability, and we see many powerful individuals of the age making compromises.
Led by one of the most enigmatic characters in history, Enrico Dandolo (a blind man of about ninety), the Venetians had agreed to ship the Christian army to Egypt and the Holy Land in exchange for a substantial fee. This deal would put a stop to all Venetian trade and commerce, one of the pillars of the Mediterranean age, and dedicate all resources in Venice to ship building and preparations for crusading soldiers from France and Germany. For nearly two years no trade was conducted and the entire Venetian workforce was set to preparations for the Christian Crusade.
Dandolo had risked the entire economy of Venice on the deal. And when it came time to collect, the Christians, were not able to make payment and were more or less held hostage in the Venetian lagoon. Dandolo needed to get something out of it and he shrewdly worked his way into justifying an attack on the neighboring Venetian rival and Christian city of Zara. After that, he set his eyes on an even bigger Christian city, Constantinople.
Most ancient cities, like Rome for example, tended to peak in sophistication and wealth and then either decay or get conquered by barbarians, etc. Constantinople was the exception. The Byzantine (they considered themselves Roman) inhabitants of the city benefited from lucrative trading positions between the Mediterranean and the East. It had been growing in affluence for nearly a thousand years since its founding, the longest unimpeded period of the age by far.
Such a sustained accumulation of wealth have lead some historians have to claim that it contained more riches than the sum of all the cities in the history of the world. While this may or may not be an exaggeration, we can still get an idea of the opulence through the magnificent church of Hagia Sophia, built in 537 and in only 5 years (by comparison, the duomo of Florence took nearly 250 years).
In the end, the Christians completely destroyed the city, taking the majority of riches off to Venice (such as the four horses seen on top of St. Mark’s). The whole Crusade became a debacle, people tried to come to terms with it, and ended up half justifying it in odd ways. It also set the stage for the great schism that still exists between the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Catholic Church. Even recently, Pope John Paul II had issued an apology for the Fourth Crusade. The Byzantine Empire would never recover. The only real winner in the whole episode was the Venetians, who resumed trading with Constantinople’s securities under their umbrella as well.
It is an amazing example of how even the clearest, most contagious ideas of an age, such as that of a Crusade, can be so easily influenced by bad business. The Crusades in general were all subject to the incentives of enigmatic individuals. Even the best intentioned may execute poorly and be forced to act against their principles. A pretty common theme in history.
Tamil-Brahmi script found at Pattanam in Kerala
The Tamil-Brahmi script with the letters “a ma na,” meaning Jaina, found at Pattanam in Kerala. The letters are followed by two megalithic graffiti symbols which could not be identified.
CHENNAI: A Tamil-Brahmi script on a pot rim, reading “a ma na”, meaning a Jaina, has been found at Pattanam in Ernakulam district, Kerala, establishing that Jainism was prevalent on the west coast at least from second century CE (Common Era). The script can be dated to circa second century CE. The three Tamil-Brahmi letters are followed by two symbols generally called Megalithic graffiti and these two symbols could not be identified. This is the third Tamil-Brahmi script to be found in the Pattanam excavations. Read more.
A Growing Use of Private Art in Public Spaces
THE exhibition that opens at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on May 21 is certain to be a dazzler: “The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde” will have 40 works by Picasso, 60 by Matisse and many by favorites like Bonnard and Cézanne. Picasso’s “Gertrude Stein” will be there, with his “Boy Leading a Horse.” So will Matisse’s wildly colorful “Woman With a Hat,” which was derided by critics when revealed in 1905 but was soon purchased by the Steins for what would become their pioneering collection of modern art….
Sappho
(flourished 610 – c. 570 BC, Lesbos, Asia Minor)
Greek lyric poet. Although legends about her abound, little is known of her life. She was born on the island of Lesbos and became the leader of a thiasos, an informal female community, whose purpose was the education of young women, especially for marriage. The principal themes of her poetry are personal and reflect the activities and atmosphere of the thiasos. Her writing, mostly vernacular and not formally literary, is concise, direct, picturesque, and various. It includes nuptial songs and an expression of her love for other women, which produced the word lesbian (from the island’s name). Though she was much admired in antiquity, most of her work was lost by the early Middle Ages; only an ode to Aphrodite — 28 lines long — is complete.
(Source: answers.com)
