Hedgehog
Middle Kingdom, XII-XIII Dynasty, 1938-1700 B.C.E. Egypt
Now located in the Brooklyn Museum
When food is scarce, hedgehogs retreat into underground dens for long periods, only to re-emerge in times of abundance. The Egyptians associated this behavior with rebirth and thus wore amulets in the form of hedgehogs or left figures such as this one in tombs.
Cahokia Mounds – Largest Archaeological Site in North America
Preserving the remains of an ancient Native American city near Collinsville, Illinois, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. Covering more than 2,000 acres, Cahokia is the most sophisticated prehistoric Nativecivilization north of Mexico.
Best known for large, man-made earthen structures, the city of Cahokia was inhabited from about A.D. 700 to 1400. Built by ancient peoples known as the Mound Builders, Cahokia’s original population was thought to have been only about 1,000 until about the 11th century when it expanded to tens of thousands.
At its peak from 1,100 to 1,200 A.D., the city covered nearly six square miles and boasted a population of as many as 100,000 people. Houses were arranged in rows around open plazas. Agricultural fields and a number of smaller villages surrounded and supplied the city. The Cahokians were known to have traded with other tribes as far away as Minnesota.
Reaching Back 2,000 Years to Unravel a Curse
A vegetable seller named Babylas was the target of an alarming curse nearly 2,000 years ago. Written on a lead tablet found in Antioch, one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, the curse calls on the gods to tie up the hapless greengrocer, then “drown and chill” his soul.
The curse is described in the German journal Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik by Alexander Hollmann, a classicist at the University of Washington who studies Greek and Roman magic.
The curse was written on both sides of the tablet. One side calls upon the god Iao to bind Babylas; the other side addresses multiple gods and calls for the tablet to be thrown down and “killed” in a well — followed, in the same way, by Babylas.
Yeah, About That Whole “Mayan Doomsday Calendar” Thing …
I think we might need to push the conspiracy theory back a few years, thanks to the discovery of a Guatemalan inscription that represents the oldest Mayan calendar found to date. How many years are the Doomsdayers off? Oh, maybe 7,000?
The ring number (a Mayan method of calculating astronomical dates, which is stunningly complex) and the lunar charts shown in the black-and-white paintings shown above point to dates almost seven millennia in the future from their A.D. 800 origin. They are accompanied by images of mayan scribes and subjects, as shown below.
That puts any Mayan future predictions a bit beyond December 2012. But we already knew that was BS, right? Yet some still need convincing. University of Texas archaeologist David Stuart had this to say about the Mayan calendar, whose repeating nature is misconstrued as predicting an apocalypse:
“The Mayan calendar is going to keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future. Numbers we can’t even wrap our heads around.”
The Mayans kept these accurate calendars in order to coordinate religious festivals and royal events, especially to appeal to their gods for things like harvests and weather. In fact, at the time the Guatemalan paintings were made, they were locked in a deadly drought, and were perhaps charting dates for future appeals to a higher power.
Whatever the case, the idea that Mayans were concerned about the end of the world is total bunk. They were more concerned about the end of their civilization, as are many today. Says expedition leader William Saturno:
“We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”
(↬ National Geographic, photos ©Tyrone Turner and National Geographic)
“Anthropologists working in the south of France believe they have discovered the oldest example of cave art on a 1.5 metric ton block limestone.
The carvings date back to 37,000 years ago in the areas of Abri Castanet and Abri Blanchard - both sites where some of the earliest examples of mankind living in the European continent have been discovered.
Those of a weak disposition look away now, as one painting, showing a circle with an attachment, is believed to depict a lady’s sexual organs.”
Click Through To Read More!
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the appeal of American treasure hunters who were forced earlier this year to surrender $500 million in silver and gold coins they recovered from the wreck of a Spanish warship 3,000 feet deep in international waters.
…
A priceless piece of Peru’s cultural heritage was put up for sale last week at Sotheby’s Auction House in New York, where it fetched $212,500.
The object in question was a gold Sicán funeral mask, dating from somewhere between 950 and 1250 A.D., with its origins in the Pomac Forest region of…
For similar news stories visit http://culturalsecurity.net/newssummary.htm
The reality of factory farming. If it’s not good enough for your eyes, is it good enough for your stomach?
I wish every single one of these fucking cunts in these gifs the slowest and most painful deaths imaginable.
I’m honestly tearing up looking at how these beautiful creatures are so cruelly treated.
*burst out into tears* how could you treat these beautiful things like they dont have a soul??!? I hope they come back in their second life and show you how they felt. You are so heartless.
**Mode Note- I rarely blog about anything not relating to anthropology, archaeology, history, art, social science politics, and the like but as a Vegan and human being with a heart, I share this with you. I cannot even begin to convey my disgust, my anguish, my broken heart, or my tears the way these images do. While I may have lost my lunch, these poor creatures lost their lives. Animal cruelty is a reality, and together we can stand up, give a voice, share our humanity, and just maybe end actions like this!
Chinese archaeologists have unearthed a collection of 37 stone artifacts at three new localities near the Liuhuaishan, an important early Paleolithic site in the Bose Basin.
Philistine pottery. TIL that a lot of scholars today believe the Philistines may have been Mycenaean in origin, and that, although they adopted Canaanite and Aramaic, their original language seems to have been Indo-European.
Statue of a worshiper from the Early Dynastic Era of the ancient city of Ur in Southern Iraq. The Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
Um. No. “Inca bones” are just one of many different types of ossicles—tiny pseudo-bones that form within cranial sutures. They have jack and squat to do with being “Inca.” They’re under some genetic influence, but they seem to be much more related to environmental factors like cranial modification.
On a related note, WTF is up with this “news” story.
[Note: what follows are my own thoughts on this issue, which cannot be held as a representative for the sentiments of all anthropologists, historians and archaeologists.]
So this spring, SpikeTV debuted a new television program called “American Digger”. The show follows former pro-wrester Ric Savage and his business of self-proclaimed treasure hunting. The premise is quite simple: Savage and his team of relic hunters go to well-known historic areas in the United States, knock on doors until one property owner grants them permission to dig on their land (with money incentive, usually promising the landowner ~20% of whatever profit they make), and then they scour the earth with metal detectors, shovels, jackhammers, even bulldozers. The discovery of an artifact is usually immediately accompanied with the question “What’s it worth?”. When the day is done and Savage believes he’s found enough artifacts, he takes them to the local collector’s store, where he sells the artifacts. The profits usually amount to several thousand dollars, and Savage’s team celebrating over stacks of bills and patting themselves on the backs for continuing to “preserve America’s history”.
What these men are doing is far from preserving America’s history. If anything, they are destroying it and putting it in grave danger.
I hesitate to make the argument that what these men are doing is “looting”, as they (as far as I know, and as far as the show suggests) are digging only on private property. Additionally, if there were preservation laws against their specific actions, I’m sure they would be held accountable by this point. But are they encouraging looting? Absolutely. They are teaching Americans that anyone with a shovel and a metal detector can go out anywhere they so desire and search for their own “buried treasure”. Out of the several episodes I watched, never once did they emphasize the importance of respecting official historic sites and preservation laws. Perhaps they believe this is common sense, but I highly doubt that all viewers would be aware such “common sense”. Federal land, battlefields, and even Native American burial grounds are now even more at risk than before.
Perhaps what is most disturbing is the methods they use to uncover artifacts. Simply put, archaeologists don’t break their backs delicately scraping away at the soil with their trowels because it’s fun. They don’t map soil topography with excruciating detail because they enjoy drawing and coloring. In proper excavations, context is everything. In many instances, context is more important than the artifacts themselves in providing information about the past.
In a show like American Digger, context doesn’t really exist, unless it helps lead them to more artifacts. The methodology is “dig until you hit something”. They fail to realize that they are destroying vital information as they carelessly rip up the soil. Worst of all, by broadcasting it on national television, they are encouraging millions of other people to do the same. And every time it happens, a chance for archaeologists to study that place in detail and uncover vital information is destroyed.
Savage and his partners continuously emphasize the importance of their work in “preserving American history”. If they truly gave a damn about American history, they would not being doing the things they do. More importantly, they wouldn’t be encouraging so many others to do the same.
I suppose there is a silver lining to all of this- perhaps the show will become the catalyst for a larger discussion about the ethics of relic hunting, private ownership, and how capitalism plays into our interest and understandings of the past. I believe these are all topics and issues that need to be confronted anyways. But for now, all I can do is continue to cringe at this television program, and hope that enough other people see the problems with it too that something changes.
Dwarf Figurine, 550-850 CE, of Maya-Mexico culture, now locted at The Walters Art Museum
Dwarfs were important members of royal Maya courts. They are portrayed serving food, playing musical instruments, holding sacred objects for the ruler, and as diviners and scribes. Their elevated social roles were steeped in cosmology and religious mythology, especially that of the maize god, who was assisted by a dwarf when the deity set the Three Stones of the cosmic hearth at the beginning of Creation. The Classic Maya viewed dwarfs as the living embodiment of the maize god’s supernatural helpers, who continued their sacred duty in the regal court. Maya peoples today believe that earlier creations were populated by a race of dwarfs who now reside inside the earth, living below the ruins of the ancient cities. The ornate turban worn by this dwarf is typical of the courtly garb of key individuals serving the ruler. This so-called spangled turban headdress is especially connected to gods and humans associated with Creation and scribal duties. A curious feature of this dwarf is what may be a halved cacao pod held in his right hand. His cheeks are covered with what appears to be a thin, woven fabric; this recalls other figurines, many of which are dwarfs, with an unidentifiable material plastered to the lower half of their face. These features suggest the depiction of a formal rite. The graceful rendering of this figure and the exceptional attention to detail reveal the work of a master artist.
“Two studies led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and National Geographic’s Genographic Project reveal new information about the migration patterns of the first humans to settle the Americas. The studies identify the historical relationships among various groups of Native American and First Nations peoples and present the first clear evidence of the genetic impact of the groups’ cultural practices.
For many of these populations, this is the first time their genetics have been analyzed on a population scale. One study, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, focuses on the Haida and Tlingit communities of southeastern Alaska. The other study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,considers the genetic histories of three groups that live in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
Easter Island head.
“Those statues which are the most photographed are standing in the quarry. They’re buried up to mid-torso level. So it’s understandable that the general public didn’t have a clue that those statues had bodies”
Jo Anne Van Tilburg, director of the Easter Island Statue Project
NINE MILE CANYON, Carbon County — The crew members were down on all fours, working with hand tools in the dirt, as the double-tanker truck rolled by on the single-lane road just a few feet away.
Their trowels loosened up the hard soil, which was carried to a sifting screen where small artifacts…
“We rarely, rarely get to excavate in the canyon,” said Jody Patterson, principal investigator for Montgomery Archaeology Consultants Inc.
“Being able to look at some of these sites — being able to excavate — we’re finding out stuff we had no idea existed out here, in places where we didn’t know they would be,” he said.
The pit house Patterson’s crew is excavating is the first of its kind to be found so far up Nine Mile Canyon, he said. It’s also the first to be found with a burnt roof, which means the site could provide “a snapshot of daily life” once it’s completely unearthed, Patterson said.
“It’s extremely exciting,” he said.
Tens of thousands join Bahrain protest against unity plans with Saudi Arabia
MANAMA, Bahrain — Tens of thousands of protesters chanting “Bahrain is not for sale” jammed a major highway Friday to denounce proposals for closer unity between the unrest-torn Gulf kingdom and neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The rally’s large turnout — demonstrators stretched for more than five kilometers (three miles) along a main highway — underscored the strong backlash to efforts by Bahrain’s rulers to integrate key policies such as defense and foreign affairs with their powerful Saudi neighbor.
Riyadh has aided Bahrain’s embattled Sunni monarchy with troops and money during the island nation’s 15-month uprising.
Leaders for Bahrain’s majority Shiites call the unity proposal a sellout of the country’s independence and an effort to give Saudi security forces a stronger hand in crackdowns in the strategic island kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Gulf Arab leaders earlier this week delayed any decisions on seeking greater unity among members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. Some members, such as the United Arab Emirates, also have raised questions about whether closer GCC cooperation would give too much power to Saudi Arabia.
(More)
Turns out the Easter Island heads have bodies, too! Archeologists discovered bodies beneath the 887 stoic faces after 12 years excavating and studying the statues.
“They’re buried up to mid-torso level. So it’s understandable that the general public didn’t have a clue that those statues had bodies,” Jo Anne Van Tilburg, director of the Easter Island Statue Project, told Fox News this week.
While experts have known for some time that much of the stone figures has been partially buried due to centuries of exposure to the elements, “this is the first time that one has been excavated in such a way that the documentation was complete and scientific,” said Van Tilburg.
