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WHAT'S NEW?
Random Roundup Archives
A clearinghouse of Random Roundup files
November 2009 |
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November 29, 2009
I think - therefore, I doodle!
'Hardwired' to create rock doodles; professor says ancient art was 'an instinct' Monday, November 09, 2009 PRESCOTT - Images pecked in stone hundreds to thousands of years ago could be for religious reasons, to mark territories or simple doodles such as those still made today by children and adults.
Toy Marble Museum Finds America's Oldest Santa at Toy Factory Site: Archeologists working in the heart of downtown Akron, Ohio found the oldest known figurine of a Santa discovery and he's dressed in blue. They found him among thousands of old marbles and penny toys found at an old toy factory that burned to the ground in 1904.
Canaanites the art collectors of their day. At the American Schools of Oriental Research meeting in New Orleans, Eric Cline of George Washington (D.C.) University and Assf Yasur-Landau of Israel's University of Haifa report the intriguing results this year from Tel Kabri, a vanquished Canaanite palace more than 3,500 years old.
Google Chief Announces Plan in Baghdad to Put Iraqi Artifacts Online By ROD NORDLAND Published: November 24, 2009 - Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, had just made a presentation inside the museum, announcing that his company would create a virtual copy of the museum’s collections at its own expense, and make images of four millenniums of archaeological treasures available online, free, by early next year.
Chair and chair alike? Dr Hawass recently announced that he is looking to raise $2,000,000 for his "Chair of Egyptology".
"Press Release- Alleged Finds in Western Desert Zahi Hiwass: "I need to inform the public that recent reports published in newspapers, news agencies and TV news announcing that “twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni have unearthed remains of the Persian army of Cambyses,” are unfounded and misleading. ..."
Iran asks UNESCO to help over dispute with Egypt Iran has asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to protect the remains of a vanished Persian army of the Achaemenid empire in Egypt.
The Virtual Museum has been realised through digital environments and 3-D images so as to give visibility to a few of the most remarkable artefacts included in the collections of the Museums involved in the project. To these artefacts have been linked thematic routes and touristic-cultural itineraries created on purpose.
One such example...
An unusual 4x4 cupholed "object" - suspected of being a board game of some description... Country: Bulgaria -- District: Kyustendil -- Absolute chronology: 4800-4700 BC (!!!???)
The kachinas: an alien intelligence, but not as we know it... For centuries, the Hopi of Arizona have been intimately liaising with beings from the Otherworld. The kachinas still visit the Hopi Mesas on an annual basis and their presence continues to set out the agenda of Hopi society.
Clay Haniwa forms (pictured above)were installed in the tumuli (burial mounds) that were built throughout Japan from the Fourth to the Sixth centuries. The Haniwa formed part of the rites used in farewelling the dead. Today, these Haniwa, made in the shape of buildings and possessions which do not exist now, and also in the form animals and even people, show us what things were like in those times.
Terra cotta clay figures show tomb as it once looked BY NAOHIKO IZUMINO, THE ASAHI SHIMBU 2009/11/25 - TAKASAKI, Gunma Prefecture -- Researchers and volunteers created nearly 6,000 terra cotta clay figures, or haniwa, and laid them out as they might have looked in the fifth century as part of a nine-year project to restore an ancient tomb to its original glory.
CIA’s Lost Magic Manual Resurfaces By Noah Shachtman November 24, 2009 - At the height of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency paid $3,000 to renowned magician John Mulholland to write a manual on misdirection, concealment, and stagecraft. All known copies of the document — and a related paper, on conveying hidden signals — were believed to be destroyed in 1973.
SAUDI ARABIA: Kingdom steps up hunt for 'witches' and 'black magicians' November 26, 2009 When the popular 46-year-old Lebanese psychic Ali Sibat went on-air and made his predictions about the future, the phone lines of the satellite television station Sheherazade used to be flooded with calls. But what the star psychic probably did not predict was that his claims to supernatural prowess would land him a death sentence.
The dark side of the internet In the 'deep web', Freenet software allows users complete anonymity as they share viruses, criminal contacts and child pornography "The darkweb"; "the deep web"; beneath "the surface web" – the metaphors alone make the internet feel suddenly more unfathomable and mysterious. Other terms circulate among those in the know: "darknet", "invisible web", "dark address space", "murky address space", "dirty address space". Not all these phrases mean the same thing.
Of the twelfth-century chroniclers who tackled the summoning up of spirits, William of Malmesbury had the most to say about it. He drew out the idea of the churchman trapped by inquiry into the dangerous knowledge of the east in his version of the legend of Sylvester II (or Gerbert of Aurillac as he was before coming to St Peter’s chair).
Villagers protect turtle they declare to be God - Andy Beckett - The Guardian, Thursday 26 November 2009 BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) – Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said on Tuesday.
10 Missing Pieces From the New Acropolis Museum A lecture took place on Wednesday 18th November at the National Museum of Ireland entitled ‘Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens’. Proffessor Dimitrios Pandermalis’s talk bewitched all those present, and as for me, before the end I was already planning a quick visit to the New Acropolis Museum.
Maltese Expert 'Discovers Hieroglyphs from Legendary Land of Yam' by Sean Williams 11/25/2009 - Could rocks in the Western Desert unlock one of Egypt's strangest legends? A Maltese explorer claims he may have solved one of Egypt's oldest mysteries. Mark Borda and Egyptian accomplice Mahmoud Marai, an adventure holiday planner, have discovered a large rock in the Western Desert, some 450 miles west of the Nile Valley - inscribed with a king's cartouche, royal images and hieroglyphs.
Video- Gilf Kebir is the most arid and desolate places on Earth, but thousands of years ago, the site had water and was inhabited by humans and animals.
History of Egyptian Medicine and Philosophy by Lynn Bellair - When medical knowledge past is considered, lack of aseptic technique, pain-killing drugs and antibiotics are an accepted part of our modern legend of these ancient healing practices. You will find that none of this is true when it comes to Ancient Egypt. These erroneous ideas were partially propagated through an over reliance on carved inscriptions and tomb art.
November 15, 2009
Doubts cast on Chessmen origins Calls have been made for the pieces to be returned to Lewis. New research has cast doubt on traditional theories about the historic Lewis Chessmen. The 93 pieces - currently split between museums in Edinburgh and London - were discovered on Lewis in 1831.
Palace of Japan's warrior queen discovered Archaeologists believe they have discovered the palace of Japan's "Boadicea" – the warrior Queen Himiko. By Julian Ryall in Tokyo Published: 2:24PM GMT 11 Nov 2009 - The building covering nearly 300 square metres was located close to the city of Sakurai and the former Japanese capital of Nara, 300 miles south-west of Tokyo.
3rd-century building fuels debate over lost country BY YOSHITO WATARI AND KAZUAKI OWAKI THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 2009/11/12 - The site of a third-century building in the Makimuku ruins strengthens the theory that Yamataikoku was in Kinai.(TADAHIKO ARAMOTO/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN) Ryuji Kuroda, an associate professor of Kobe University who specializes in the history of Japanese architecture, shows models of third-century buildings. (YOSHITO WATARI) See also: Queen Himiko and the mystery of Yamatai-koku
Spaniards Discover Forgotten Euphrates City (by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) - MADRID - They have renamed it the city recovered from the Euphrates and it is found in the Syrian enclave of Tall Qabr on the banks of the river that, with the Tigris, was the centre of the birth of civilisation in Mesopotamia.
Vanished Persian army said found in desert 50,000 soldiers believed buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C. - Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni - Hundreds of bleached bones and skulls found in the desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert may be the remains of the long lost Cambyses' army, according to Italian researchers. By Rossella Lorenz U updated 11:11 a.m. ET, Mon., Nov . 9, 2009. The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers
7 tales of cities lost or found Ancient cities can be elusive, but some aren't gone for good - By John Roach, contributor - The Lost City of Z, a fabled metropolis of unimagined riches deep in the Amazon rain forest, has eluded explorers for centuries
The Search for Ghengis Khan in Mongolia Ambivalence greets efforts to find the great Khan's tomb -Joshua Kucera 11/09/09 Part 1 of a Series According to legend, when Genghis Khan died in 1227 in what is now northern China, his lieutenants wanted to keep the death a secret from the Mongols’ enemies. So as the party accompanying his body made its way back to Mongolia, they killed every person they saw on the way - more than 20,000 - so news of the death wouldn’t spread.
First Inhabitants Of Canary Islands Were Berbers, Genetic Analysis Reveals ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2009) — A team of Spanish and Portuguese researchers has carried out molecular genetic analysis of the Y chromosome (transmitted only by males) of the aboriginal population of the Canary Islands (pictured above) to determine their origin and the extent to which they have survived in the current population.
UK scholars linked to 'stolen' bowls of Babylon Suppressed report reveals archaeological treasures were dug up after Gulf war - A secret report on the chequered history of priceless Aramaic bowls loaned to a leading university has exposed an apparent attempt to cover up UK academic connections to a potentially deadly trade in stolen Iraqi antiquities
Aramaic incantation bowls (pictured above) date to the 7th and 8th centuries AD. They are hemispherical or flat-based pottery bowls with Aramaic inscriptions written in ink on their inner surfaces. Each inscription, usually spiralling out from the centre, records a magical incantation intended to ward off malevolent spirits.
Did cavemen play chess? (pdf) Alan Dewey speculates upon the iconic mysteries of chess and other board games...
Of course - so do we!
Staunton Chessmen
Dewy and Mark vs. Martin & MasonsMore Staunton controversy... (pdf) "The article by Mr. Martin on your site about the links between the freemasons, was soundly disproven by Mr. Michael Mark in the Chess Collectors magazine a few years ago. Also, more recently it has come to light that the symbols used in (chess) theory books from 1820 show a remarkable similarity to the so called Staunton pattern pieces.
Mr. Jon Crumiller offers this... " manipulation of the pieces in the previous diagram. (above) All the bases are taken from the pawn in the 1820 book and the piece symbols from the same source."
The Men of Staunton - or are they? By Barry Martin - Chess Magazine Oct, 1994. A critical look at the background story behind the development of the Staunton pieces and the alleged designer(s).
1820 or The Kirkwall Scroll?
Masonic Implications
and a 15th Century Provenance
Priceless Scroll Carbon Dated by Kath Gourlay - The results of radio carbon dating carried out on a rare wall hanging has shocked members of a Masonic Lodge in the Orkney Islands who have been told that their document is a medieval treasure worth several million pounds.
However Brydon is not convinced that the scroll is 15th Century. "Its usual to date these kind of things stylistically" he says "and the small copy we have hanging in the Rosslyn Museum is a perfect example of 18th Century naïve art - unique, because of the symbolism and in Masonic terms its indeed priceless."
Detail - including "coronet" icon
Contact with the University of Oxford Research laboratory which did the radio-carbon dating adds to the mystery by supporting both dates.
"We analysed material from the Kirkwall Scroll on two separate occasions" says a spokesman from the Archaeology and History of Art department which carried out the work. "You have to allow a certain margin of error in calibrating carbon content and the first sample taken from the outside edge of the material was possibly 18th or early 19th Century. The second piece which came from the central panel produced a much older date - 15th or Early 16th Century.More coronets - The Kirkwall Scroll, Cox-Forbes
and "who all else?"
vs.
Gaston Maspero and Egyptian Foreshadowing
Fig. 291 - Bes with "lotus" coronet
Cox-Forbes Theory?
The Cox-Forbes theory is a theory on the evolution of chess put forward by Captain Hiram Cox and extended by Professor Duncan Forbes.
The theory states that a four-handed dice-chess game (Chaturaji) was played in India in approximately 3000 BC; due to the results of certain rules or the difficulty in getting enough players the game evolved into a two-handed game (Chaturanga). Due to religious and legal objections to gambling the dice were dropped from the game, making it a game purely of skill.
The theory was mostly based on evidence in the Indian text Purana, but more recent study of the work has shown the evidence to be weaker than previously thought. Also the work is now assigned a more conservative date of 500 BC rather than the earlier 3000 BC. As a result the theory is now rejected by most chess historians.
Some additional facts to consider...
Llywelyn's Coronet (Welsh: Talaith Llywelyn) is a lost treasure of Welsh history. It is recorded that Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Lord of Aberffraw had deposited this crown (Welsh: Talaith) and other items (such as the Cross of Neith) with the monks at Cymer Abbey for safekeeping at the start of his final campaign in 1282. He was killed later that year. It was seized alongside other holy artifacts in 1284 from the ruins of the defeated Kingdom of Gwynedd. Thereafter it was taken to London and presented at the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey by King Edward I of England as a token of the complete annihilation of the independent Welsh state.[1]
The Cross of Neith (Welsh Y Groes Naid or Y Groes Nawdd) was a sacred relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross which had been kept at Aberconwy by the kings and princes of Gwynedd, members of the Aberffraw dynasty who established the Principality of Wales.
Famous Masons from Around the World Many sites list famous people, claiming them to be Freemasons. While most are true, many are pure speculation or even falsification. It is attempted within this page to produce an authentic list of well known personalities and where possible give references for even more information.
Famous British Masons A long list of British Masons - beginning with the Antiquarian, Elias Ashmole.
Drummers herald Ashmolean reopening 3:51pm Thursday 5th November 2009 -
These Japanese drummers entertained hundreds of guests at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, which opens to the public following a £61m renovation on Saturday.
November 1, 2009
It Ain't Over... !!
Day of the Dead inspires different O.C. fests Nov 1, 2009 - By Richard Chang THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - "As he has for the past seven years, Andres Diaz de Leon brought his son Andy to the Bowers Museum on Sunday to celebrate Mexican music, culture and El Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.
"Official Ritual" - The correct application of the action of the moveable images (representing the motion of The Ruling Angels over the Servient Squares) is called The Playe or Raying of the Chequers of the Tablets. By G. H. Frater D.D.C.F. (The Great Pumpkin speaks? "Oh, good grief Charlie Brown...")
Exeter Chess Club: Chess Quotes:
"...In some places words have been replaced by symbols which, like amulets from a witch's bag, have the power to consume the living spirit of chess. The notorious "!!" can never approximate the human emotions which accompany an "excellent move" or a "great idea"...
- Tigran PETROSIANKing of Halloween Campaigns for New April Fool's Holiday "We Need Fun Now More Than Ever." The idea is to dress up like a jester of what ever you're a fool for. For instance, if you love women you dress like one; or if you're a fool for food you dress like a burger. A banker might want to wear a suit covered with money. There are certainly no limits to what people are fools for.”
Rough Music, Rough Dance, Rough Play (Long read!) pdf Misrule and Morris Dance - by Norman Stanfield May 2008.
Tudor Festivals... April - All Fool's Day. The Jesters, or Lords of Misrule of the Tudor court took charge for the day and their activities included different forms of dancing and odd suggestions for couples. November - The Day of the Dead, All Souls Day or All Hallow's Day ( Halloween ) was celebrated with revels, dance and bonfires
HALLOWE'EN
"The ghosts of all things, past parade,
Emerging from the mist and shade
That hid them from our gaze,
And full of song and ringing mirth,
In one glad moment of rebirth,
Again they walk the ways of earth,
As in the ancient days."
(--J.K. BANGS in Harper's Weekly, Nov. 5, 1910.)15 Scary Spooky Halloween Quotes to Chill You Right Through to Your Bones
"One need not be a chamber to be haunted. One need not be a house. The brain has corridors surpassing material place." - Emily Dickinson
China View seems to have an strong fascination with Western Halloween activities and our annual frolic with the "undead".
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Saturday doled out presidential M&Ms and dried fruit mixes to more than 2,000 trick-or-treaters, marking their Halloween at a White House event partly aimed at honoring military families.
The Animal World Celebrates Halloween! (PHOTOS) Huffington Post
Smashed Pumpkins Alert!
Volcanoes Played Pivotal Role In Ancient Ice Age, Mass Extinction - ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2009) Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago.
Sassanid site bulldozed in southwestern Iran - Tehran, Oct. 28 (Mehr News Agency) -- Part of a Sassanid tepe was destroyed last week near Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan. The destruction was carried out by the Mehrab Housing Company for construction of a high-rise apartment complex, Khuzestan Cultural Heritage Lovers Society (Taryana) announced on Monday.
Burial Jars Dating Back to Third Century Found in Palmyra - by H. Sabbagh, October 28, 2009 - The Syrian-Japanese Archaeological Expedition uncovered 13 individual graves during their work at the private burial chamber number 129 located near the Northern defensive wall of the ancient city of Palmyra.
Penn Museum show casts new light on ancient Iraq Oct 23, 2009 3:11pm BST By Jon Hurdle PHILADELPHIA, Oct 23 (Reuters Life) - A flattened human head draped with gold and lapis lazuli jewelry lies in a glass case at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, its teeth the only recognizable feature.
At Ur, Ritual Deaths That Were Anything but Serene - from the New York Times (Registration Required) A new examination of skulls from the royal cemetery at Ur, discovered in Iraq almost a century ago, appears to support a more grisly interpretation than before of human sacrifices associated with elite burials in ancient Mesopotamia, archaeologists say. Palace attendants, as part of royal mortuary ritual, were not dosed with poison to meet a rather serene death. Instead, a sharp instrument, a pike perhaps, was driven into their heads.
Uncanny Archaeology- October 27, 2009 - A look at the archaeology of Halloween, witches and witchcraft, creatures of the night, and ancient curses and magic - "Uncanny archaeology springs from many roots. Today, Halloween--once All Hallows Eve, now All Saints Day--is a time for children to trick-or-treat costumed as super heroes, the latest characters invented by corporate marketing departments, or more traditionally as witches or ghosts. But some Halloween traditions are related to an ancient Celtic harvest festival, Samhain, and Celtic rituals, not all of them pleasant."
An American Witch Bottle - "Uncanny Archaeology" by Marshall J. Becker -- " Evidence for the practice of "white witchcraft" in colonial Pennsylvania -- The Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 are well known. ... But this long tradition of magic and ritual rarely has been recorded. Even more scarce are artifacts that provide tangible evidence for the existence of witchcraft practices.
See also: Witch Bottle Discovered; Made to Ward Off Evil Spirits? October 29, 2009—In time for Halloween, a beer bottle-turned-talisman against malicious spirits has been found buried near a former pub in England, archaeologists say.
Video These are contemporary Witch working tools of Mal Corvus Corone, a male Solitary Pellar Practioner in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom
Maronia Cave, home of the mythological Cyclops Polyphemus Polyphemus' cave, also known as Maronia cave, is situated 25 kilometers east of Komotini, near the historical settlement of Maronia, in a limestone hill with steep, and at times sheer, corridors.
Secret tunnels and ancient mysteries - Although nearly 200 years have elapsed since the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I, there is still much more to learn about it. Nevine El-Aref looks at the latest revelations
Malawi could be the cradle of humankind - Oct 23, 2009 - by Mabvuto Banda - Karonga, Malawi (Reuters) – The latest discovery of pre-historic tools and remains of hominids in Malawi's remote northern district of Karonga provides further proof that the area could be the cradle of humankind, a leading German researcher said.
German Archaeologist: Beneath Every Footstep in Syria is an Ancient Civilization - By H. Sabbagh / Kh. Aridi October 25, 2009 - Syria, the land of civilizations and history, is rife with ancient monuments that tell the stories of the many peoples and civilizations that lived in it, whose stories endured in the face of time to tell humanity about their greatness.
Two Mural Paintings Portraying Heaven and Hell Discovered in Syria By Manal Ismael - October 11, 2009 13:42 Archaeological discoveries: Two mural paintings portraying Heaven and Hell were discovered at al-Marqab Citadel in Tartous, Director-General of Ruins and Museums Bassam Jamous said to Syrian al-Thawra Daily on Saturday
Many `matuto` paintings found in Kaimana - October 26, 2009 Jayapura (ANTARA News) - Many "matuto" paintings, as a kind of scratches from the pre-historic rock arts, were found in a number of villages which belong to Kaimana District, Provinice of Papua Barat, a local official has said. "The other pre-historic paintings which were scratched at the niche surfaces are in the motifs of lizard, fish, tortoise, crocodile, cuscus, snake, bird and sea horse which belong to the fauna group... In the geometrical motif, there are the pictures of sun, direction mark, rectangular and circle. The pictures of man`s cultural objects include those on the shapes of boat, boomerang, spear, rock axe, sago hammer and mask."
Timewarp: How your brain creates the fourth dimension - When we look back at scary situations, they often seem to have occurred in slow motion. Eagleman wanted to know whether the brain's clock actually accelerates - making external events appear abnormally slow in comparison with the brain's workings - or whether the slo-mo is just an artefact of our memory.
Archaeologists Excavating Bistun's Khosrow Palace October 20, 2009 - LONDON, (CAIS) -- A team of Iranian archaeologists has recently begun the sixth season of archaeological research at the palace of the Sasanian emperor Khosrow II, Parviz (r. 590–628 CE) in the Bistun region of Kermanshah Province.
There are some things that bring the ancient Egyptians closer to us, and some that make them seem further away. Their religious beliefs, for instance, can be dauntingly arcane. And hieroglyphics, too, are hard to parse. But when Djehutynakht, a governor in Middle Kingdom Egypt, informs us that he has no wish to spend eternity eating his own excrement, I think we can all relate.
Letter from Sudan: The Gold of Kush - Volume 62 Number 6, November/December 2009 - by Geoff Emberling - As dam waters rise, archaeologists salvage the remains of a great kingdom -- 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.
New secrets revealed at ancient Chan Chan - The discovery of 17 wooden statues (pictured above) at Chan Chan are enough to change our understanding of the Chan Chan urban centre. Embedded in the walls of the later Ñain An complex, also known as Bandelier, the figures are thought to have bid farewell to the deceased leaders.
Teenage warriors' discovered in terracotta army
(Xinhua) Updated: 2009-10-13 13:45 XI'AN: Beardless warriors had been discovered among China's terracotta army, providing evidence of the youthful ages of some soldiers when the army was created more than 2,000 years ago.
Monsters and the Moral Imagination - October 25, 2009 - By Stephen T. Asma - "Monsters are on the rise. People can't seem to get enough of vampires lately, and zombies have a new lease on life."
Time Space and History in African Divination and Board Games - (pdf) by Wim van Binsbergen
Mali: Sand divination - African fractals - "With a Malian colleague I visited a sand diviner in his village along the Guinea road some years ago. It was an interesting experience. The man was introduced to me as a ‘marabout’ or muslim holy man. My colleague was visiting him to find some information out about his future as he was worried about government reorganisation. I was exploring to find more information about sand divination used by the Bambara in Mali when I found the following excerpt from a book."
A few festive treats ...
Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing - Video - Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.
Ghostly 'dance of a sea dragon' Video - By Matt Walker - Editor, Earth News-- "One of the most elegant courtship rituals in the animal kingdom has been captured on film by a BBC crew. The dance of the weedy sea dragon takes place every year in the shallow seas off the coast of Australia."
Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' Video - Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed) "i dont know why but he sounds like kermit D frog, still an amazing use of his teachings."
