Welcome

Chesstories

2007

Nov. 30, 2008

The thrill of victory at the 2008 Chess Olympiad !!

We honor the Gold Medal winning-teams of Armenia (Open) and Georgia (Women) (photo left) of the 2008 Chess Olympiad held in Dresden, Germany, which concluded on November 25, 2008. The Armenian Team, composed of GM Levon Aronian (2757), GM Vladimir Akopian (2679), GM Gabriel Sargissian (2642), GM Tigran L. Petrosian (2629), and GM Artashes Minasian (2541), repeated their 2006 Gold Medal performance. The Georgian Women's Team, composed of GM Maia Chiburdanidze (2489)(center figure, left photo), IM Nana Dzagnidze (2503), IM Lela Javakhishvili (2473), IM Maia Lomineishvili (2437) and IM Sopiko Khukhashvili (2409), celebrated their Gold Medal performance with the legendary Chiburdanidze earning an individual Gold medal for her performance on Board 1. Chiburdanidze also won a prize for the best Performance Rating. The Chess Goddess revealed her keen sense of irony and poetic justice by shutting out the much-vaunted Russian Open and Women's Teams of Team medals. The Russian teams entered this Olympiad both ranked number 1.  The Russian Open Team finished in 5th place overall; the Russian Women's Team finished in 4th place overall. 

We also take this opportunity to congratulate the hard-fighting American Open and Women's Teams (USA Women's Team photo above) who both earned Team Bronze Medals for the USA - against all odds. These are only the 3rd and 4th Olympiad medals won by U.S. Chess Olympiad Teams:  The 2006 U.S. Open Team won a Bronze Medal in 2006 and the U.S. Women's Team (anchored by GM Susan Polgar on Board 1) won a Silver Medal in 2004.  USA's IM Anna Zatonskih (red dress) won an individual Gold Medal for her Board 2 performance, and WGM Rusudan Goletiani (grey dress) earned an individual Silver Medal for her Board 3 performance.  Wrap-up coverage at Chessvibes.com

Iron Age stele reveals early evidence of belief in the soul By William Harms - A funerary monument recovered in southeastern Turkey reveals that people who lived in Zincirli, an important Iron Age city, believed the soul was separate from the body. They also believed the soul lived in the slab.

Discoveries Made 70 Years Ago Reveal Mystery:  Why did the makers of these 12,000 year old stone tools leave them behind? Eyota, Minn: In the late 1930s, Adolph Schumann was plowing a corn field on his family’s Olmsted County farm when he hit a rock...

15,000 Year Old Pottery Found in Amur River Region:  The oldest evidence of pottery making yet discovered, the Russian archaeologists who uncovered the camp site claim the ancient people who inhabited the encampment were "Russian tribes."  Shades of Star Trek's Ensign Chekov, who claimed everything was invented and/or discovered by Mother Russia...

Meanwhile...

Buddha Relic? 

A one thousand year-old miniature pagoda, recently unearthed in the Changgan Temple ruins in Nanjing in China, is believed to contain a part of Buddha’s skull.  More coverage.

Nov. 23, 2008

Sifting through China - a small universe unto itself!

Record find of oracle bones in Shaanxi
By Ma Lie (China Daily) Updated: 2008-11-12 07:10 XI'AN -- Archaeologists in Shaanxi province have unearthed more than 1,100 oracle bone characters, shedding new light on the number of such inscriptions in existence.

New archaeological discovery rewrites earliest Chinese characters dating JINAN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Inscribed animal bones and jade pieces unearthed in Changle County of eastern Shandong Province are earliest examples of Chinese characters dating back 4,500 years ago, the latest archaeological studies show.

More oracle bones Photos by Gary L. Todd, Ph.D., Professor of History, Sias International University, Xinzheng, China.

Longmen Grottoes consists of over 100,000 Buddhist images carved in caves during the Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty, & Tang Dynasty, c. 500-900 AD. Highlight is the Grand Buddha Niche, of which the central figure represents Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. It was commissioned by China's only female emperor, Wu Zetian, and supposedly is based on her physical features. Photos by Gary L. Todd, Ph.D., Professor of History, Sias International University, Xinzheng, China.

Ancient China: Lack Of Rainfall Could Have Contributed To Social Upheaval And Fall Of Dynasties ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2008) — Chinese history is replete with the rise and fall of dynasties, but researchers now have identified a natural phenomenon that may have been the last straw for some of them: a weakening of the summer Asian Monsoons.

9,000-Year History Of Chinese Fermented Beverages ScienceDaily (Dec. 24, 2004) — PHILADELPHIA -- Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed, and preserved, in pottery jars from the Neolithic village of Jiahu in Northern China have revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit was being produced as early as 9,000 years ago, approximately the same time that barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East

Dead tell a tale China doesn't care to listen to:  The Loulan Beauty is one of more than 200 remarkably well-preserved mummies discovered in the western deserts here over the last few decades. The ancient bodies have become protagonists in a very contemporary political dispute over who should control the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Real life large bronze horse unearthed in Hubei:  WATCH VIDEO  Source: CCTV.com:  11-19-2008 09:47  An excavation of a tomb has unearthed the largest bronze horse ever discovered in an ancient ruin. The discovery was made in Xiangfan, in Central China's Hubei province.

"Treasures of Dunhuang" exhibit in Paris

An exhibition named "Treasures of Dunhuang--One Thousand Years of Buddhist art--from 4th to 14th Century" held by China's Gansu provincial government, Chinese Culture Center and Guimet Museum, opens to media on Wednesday. The exhibition will open to the public on Nov. 21, 2008 and end on Feb. 28,2009.(Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

Nov. 16, 2008

What would the post-Thanksgiving
season be without leftover Turkey?

Gobeklitepe - the site that stunned archaeologists

Stunning video presentations in German...
Gobeklitepe Turkey Video 1
Gobeklitepe Turkey Video 1

Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple? Smithsonian Magazine, November 2008 by Andrew Curry - Predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years, Turkey's stunning Gobekli Tepe upends the conventional view of the rise of civilization.

The World's First Temple Archaelology: Volume 61 Number 6, November/December 2008 by Sandra Scham
Turkey's 12,000-year-old stone circles were the spiritual center of a nomadic people.

Diary of an Excavation by Haldun Ayd?ngün
"Two gigantic T-shaped stone blocks faced one another at a distance of two metres in the centre of a circular chamber with a diameter of five or six metres. The weight of the stones is an estimated 20 tons, and they will probably measure four metres in height when the lower sections have been uncovered."

Gobekli Tepe - Paradise Regained? One of the most important archæological digs in the world, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey has revolutionised our understanding of hunter-gatherer culture. But could it also be the site of the Garden of Eden?

The "Tau" and Ancient Board Games

Vulture Symbolism

Nov. 9, 2008

What would Thanksgiving be without a little Turkey?

Archaeologists from Mainz University uncover ancient governor's palace in Turkey - Within the scope of an international rescue excavation project, a team of four archaeologists specialized in Middle Eastern affairs have unearthed parts of a Neo-Assyrian governor's palace dating back to 900-700 B.C.

Bodrum - Ruins of an ancient Temple of Athena have been found in the popular resort town of Bodrum in western Turkey.

8,000-year-old Mound To Shed Light On History
Eskisehir - The 8,000-year-old Kanlitas Mound, one of the oldest settlements situated in central Turkey, could shed light on rural-urban transition, a professor said on Friday

Ancient City Waits To Be Unearthed In Western Turkey Saruhanli - An ancient city in western Turkey, discovered by smugglers of ancient artifacts at an illegal excavation six years ago and recovered with soil by officials, now waits to be unearthed.

Turkeys don't fly - but here is a magical resource on Turkish carpets that might convince a few people that "flying carpets" are more real than fantasy!

Star Crossed - Further Thoughts on the Design Sources of Caucasian Rugs by Sophia Gates - The Salon du Tapis d'Orient is a moderated discussion group in the manner of the 19th century salon devoted to oriental rugs and textiles and all aspects of their appreciation.

FROM THE SITE: "First, regardless of how one wants to interpret the imagery - the iconography - and regardless of who may have woven them - it's immediately apparent that they present a number of ideas to the eye: an eclectic design pool - dragons, cloudbands, leaf and floral designs, animals - seemingly representing a touch of China here, a taste of Persia there, and so forth - in a certain brilliantly colored, high-key - in the sense of color "value" - high being on the light end as opposed the dark and mysterious, as one would see in Baluches for example; and angular, boldly drawn, geometricized shapes."

Catal Huyuk The Temple City of Prehistoric Anatolia
By Willian Carl Eichman - Gnosis Magazine Spring 1990 "Academic studies are not gnosis, but can be used to help chart the way through the wilderness of the spiritual process."

(Click for larger view)

Female Shaman Burial

Israel Finds Woman Healer's 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton in Cave - By Alisa Odenheimer - Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The skeleton of a female healer dating back 12,000 years was discovered in a cave in northern Israel, along with grave offerings including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard, and a human foot.

More on the Female Shaman Burial