ciancelt - Tumblr blog

[ciancelt]

[ciancelt]

[ciancelt]

Me walking with my big boy forearm crutches.

[ciancelt]

Stela

Mexico. Teotihuacan. 3rd to 7th century AD

Stone sculpture of the sort illustrated here is rare at the central Mexico site of Teotihuacan, although it is depicted in the murals that adorn many of the city walls. In the murals, disks similar to the present example functioned as ballcourt markers or were placed on domestic altars set on top of miniature temples in the apartment compounds that were the focus of domestic life. The markers may have stood for a particular social or religious affiliation. This monolithic sculpture is topped by a feathered disk with central emblems relating to Tlaloc, the “rain/storm god”: the three circles, the upper jaw, and the “mustache,” with three smaller circles in a triangular arrangement below them. Overall, the sculpture anticipates the tall, feathered standards that were placed in front of temple stairs in later times.

The Met

[ciancelt]

Ancient navigation 130000 years ago

It was a few years ago that a Greek-American archaeological team made a startling discovery – they found the oldest indications of seafaring and navigation in the world, in an area called Plakia on Crete Island in Greece.  It is an incredibly important discovery that is given little attention, despite the fact that it reached the top ten discoveries of 2010. Their research is forcing scholars to rethink the maritime capabilities of early human and pre-human cultures.

Read More…

[ciancelt]

Ancient university nalanda and its revival in the modern day

Nalanda University was an ancient centre of learning in India, and among the first great universities in recorded history. It was also the first ever residential university in the world, accommodating up to 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers in dormitories.  

Read More…

[ciancelt]

One of the Lingsberg Runestones (U240) in Vallentuna, Sweden. Erected by a Norse family in the early 11th century to commemorate a father and grandfather who had died, perhaps abroad in England, where the stones record that they had some land. Similar runestones all over Scandinavia span the height of Viking activity (8th through 11th centuries), memorializing relatives who died abroad, most of them in Russia on trading expeditions or even in the service of the Byzantine Emperors as members of their famed Varangian Guard. Some runestones can even be found in Greece and in the Hagia Sophia, there is a marble slab upon which a bored Viking even inscribed some graffiti.

[ciancelt]

Archaeologists uncover 'best preserved' Bronze Age houses

An archaeological dig in Cambridgeshire has unearthed the “best preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found in Britain”, experts say. Large circular wooden houses built on stilts above water, dating between 1200-800 BC, were uncovered at Must Farm quarry in Whittlesey, East Anglia.

The roof of one of the round houses was charred, suggesting a fire forced the inhabitants out of the settlement to leave their belongings behind in haste. The hamlet is then thought to have collapsed into the water below before being buried in silt.

Archaeologists say the find is unique due to the near-perfect preservation of organic material such as wood and textile. Pots with meals inside and finely woven clothing were found, as well as “exotic” glass beads from a necklace, hinting at a sophistication not usually associated with the Bronze Age. Read more.

[ciancelt]

“

Poland, 19th C. Egg decorated with micrographic text from the Song of Songs. Handwritten in ink. From the 18th century, and perhaps even earlier, hollow eggs on which sacred texts had been written in micrography were used to decorate European sukkahs. Not all the texts related directly to the holiday of Sukkot, the Festival of Booths: this example has Song of Songs 1-4:7 inscribed in miniscule letters. At times feathers were added to the hanging egg, so that it looked like a bird in flight.”

[ciancelt]

Roman cavalry helmet, 100-250 AD.

[ciancelt]

King Tut’s Mask Back on Display after Restoration

Egypt has put the restored gold mask of Tutankhamun back on display in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo after a team of German and Egyptian experts removed glue applied in a botched repair when the mask’s beard fell off.

The beard fell off in August 2014 after an accident concerning the repair of the mask’s lighting display. In an attempt to quickly repair it, the museum staff hastily glued the beard using epoxy, which left a visible crust on the mask 

The restoration of the mask was a 2 month long project which included a 3D scan of the mask as well as warming it to allow the glue to be removed. The methods which were implemented to properly repair the beard were decided by a joint scientific committee.

The funerary mask of Tutankhamun was one of thousands of items recovered by Howard Carter during the discovery and excavation of the pharaoh’s tomb in 1922. The mask itself is 11 kg of solid gold and is richly decorated with Lapis Lazuli and other precious stones. The mask is one of the top attractions in the museum.

[ciancelt]

Gulf of Marseilles, seen from L’Estaque

Paul Cézanne, 1885, oil on canvas, 73 x 100.3 cm.

[ciancelt]

[ciancelt]

Intact, Packed Etruscan Tomb Found

An intact Etruscan tomb, complete with sarcophagi, a full array of grave goods and a mysterious marble head, has has been brought to light in the Umbria region of Italy, in what promises to be one of the most important archaeological findings in recent history.

Dated to the end of the 4th century B.C., the burial site was found by a farmer who opened a void in the earth while working with his plow in a field near Città della Pieve, a small town some 30 miles southwest of Perugia.

“It was a totally unexpected discovery. The area is away from the sites visited by tomb robbers and indeed the burial is undisturbed,” Clarita Natalini of the archaeological superintendency of Umbria, told Discovery News. 

Finding an undisturbed Etruscan tomb is an extremely rare event that has the potential to reveal more about one of the ancient world’s most fascinating and mysterious cultures. Read more.

[ciancelt]

Why did Neanderthals look different than us? New research points to an intriguing difference

An academic from the University of York has played a key role in our understanding of why modern humans evolved flatter faces and Neanderthals developed more protruding features.

The study, which included collaboration with the Natural History Museum, New York University and institutions in Spain, reveals how the development of facial bone structure creates this intriguing difference.

The findings have been published in Nature Communications and the paper explains that after birth there is a gradual increase in the layering of bone deposits in the face for both species.

While in Neanderthals bone deposits continue through teenage years, in modern humans this is counterbalanced by bone removal, resulting in a flatter face. Read more.