Researchers replicate rare cuneiform tablets using 3-D scanning and printing
Slightly outside of TMA's geographical remit again, but thought this might be an interesting potential future use of technology in relation to rockart:
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Today's Assyriology scholars study Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform tablets with the help of digital photographs or handwritten copies of the texts, but ideally, they visit collections to see the tablets firsthand.
Technology could introduce a new way to connect researchers to these precious, unique artifacts by creating exact replicas.
Such an effort is under way at Cornell in the lab of Hod Lipson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who specializes in the burgeoning field of 3-D scanning and printing of everyday objects.
Natasha Gangjee '12, a student in Lipson's lab, worked with six cuneiform tablets to try and replicate them exactly using optical scanning and layer-by-layer printing technology. A former student of Lipson's, Evan Malone, made an initial prototype.
"If we can create very accurate reproductions, this would be a great help to us," said David I. Owen, the Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professor of Ancient Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.
Tablets can be copied using latex molds, but this runs the risk of damaging the original, Owen said. The most important recent technological development in the field was digital photography; this allowed millions of ancient artifacts to become instantly available to scholars everywhere. But it is nothing like the real thing.
"With a photograph you can see a lot and that's great, but oftentimes you can read even more if you can actually hold the tablet because of the angle of the light -- how it hits the signs can help you see it better," added Alexandra Kleinerman '03, a postdoctoral associate working with Owen.
The collaboration started because Owen and Lipson are neighbors and friends. Hearing Owen talk about his research got Lipson thinking about how 3-D printing could contribute to Owen's field. The challenge would be to find the right materials to color-match the tablets and give them an authentic feel, weight and texture.
Gangjee used a 3-D scanner in the lab to make files of each tablet. She then sent the files for fabrication at a ZCorp color 3-D printing service, averaging about $25 per tablet.
The first 3-D reproductions looked like the originals, but the smallest signs will require additional refinements before a completely accurate result is possible. Nevertheless, Lipson says they will continue with various techniques and may try using a CT scanner to improve performance.
Lipson thinks this is just one of a myriad of applications that these printers will bring to people's lives when they become more available to the general public.
"We are basically taking two existing technologies, scanning and 3-D printing, and trying to use them in a new way," Lipson said. "This will make tablet collections accessible to more scholars and students the world over."
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http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May11/cuneiformCollab.html
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Puzzling ancient rock carvings found in Sudan
Maybe not within the TMA remit geographically speaking, but still interesting:
"Some images date to 5,000 years ago, but no one is sure what they mean
An archaeological team in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan has discovered dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago and reveal scenes that scientists can't explain.
The team discovered 15 new rock art sites in an arid valley known as Wadi Abu Dom, some 18 miles from the Nile River. It's an arid valley that flows with water only during rainy periods. Many of the drawings were carved into the rock faces — no paint was used — of small stream beds known as "khors" that flow into the valley.
Some of the sites revealed just a single drawing while others have up to 30, said lead researcher Tim Karberg of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in Germany.
"We asked the local people about the rock art and they said that it would be very old, before their grandfathers," Karberg told LiveScience."
Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43049629/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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25,000-year-old cave paintings discovered in Spain
"Paintings depicting horses and human hands made by prehistoric humans around 25,000 years ago have been discovered in a cave in northern Spain, regional officials said on Wednesday.
The red paintings, found by chance by archaeologists looking for signs of ancient settlements, were made around the same time as the Altamira Cave paintings -- some of the world's best prehistoric paintings discovered in northern Spain in 1879.
"It was a chance finding," archaeologist Diego Garate told Reuters.
"Although they were difficult to spot because they are badly deteriorated, our experienced eye helped us to identify them."
Experts will further explore the caves for evidence of prehistoric utensils or tools, officials said.
The first homo sapiens arrived in small groups in northern Spain around 35,000 years ago.
They cohabited for a time with the last of the Neanderthals and then developed a significant culture known as the Upper Palaeolithic, producing stone blade tools and decorating cave walls."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/arts-us-spain-caves-idUKTRE7436P520110504
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New for 2011 - Bronze Age Hoard
"At the end of 2009, an exciting discovery was made on the Mount when parts of an axe-head, dagger and intact metal clasp were found. The British Museum has confirmed these dating back to the Bronze Age and this extraordinary find - evidence of life on the Mount for three millennia - will go on display in the castle this Spring."
http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/Plan-your-visit.aspx
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Henge Hopper timetable announced
"We are testing the timetables for the service, and for the first few weeks we will be making constant changes. Please check here each week for confirmation of the timetable that we will be operating each weekend."
More: http://www.stonehenge-avebury-bus.org.uk/timetable
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Moon watch to be held at ancient stone circle
A SPRING "Moonwatch" is being held at the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton on Saturday.
The Moonwatch 2011 is being held by Chipping Norton Amateur Astronomy Group at the ancient stone circle from midday.
There will be displays of telescopes, astronomers to talk to, a display of model rockets by the Black Knights Rocket Society and a children's drawing competition.
At sunset there will be a talk by George Lambrick, head of the Rollright Trust, about the ancient monuments, a short talk about the night sky and , if conditions allow, an evening of star, Moon and planet observing through a wide range of powerful telescopes until midnight.
For further information visit cnaag.com or phone 07900 858 690.
http://www.cotswoldjournal.co.uk/news/9003919.Moon_watch_to_be_held_at_ancient_stone_circle/
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Ancient Caithness site 'occupied for 1,000 years'
"The site of one of Scotland's most important mainland broch settlements may have been home to early people for up to 1,000 years, evidence suggests.
Archaeologists and volunteers have uncovered what could be the remains of walls dating back to 700 to 500 BC at Nybster in Caithness.
Andy Heald, of AOC Archaeology, said further investigations would need to be made to confirm the structure's age.
Evidence of possible Pictish and medieval occupation has been recorded.
A key feature of the site are the remains of a massive stone wall roundhouse, known as a broch.
Caithness has more brochs per square mile than any other part of Scotland, according to Highland Council."
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13237076
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New site summary - MOD HQ, Durrington, Wiltshire
(I don't know how much of this is repeated/old news, but here goes!)
Page updated: 14/04/2011
"Excavations at the site of the former MOD Headquarters at Durrington have revealed deposits dating to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (Late Glacial) c. 12,000BC and evidence of human activity from the late Neolithic (2550-2200 BC) through to the modern period, with the main focus of activity dating from the Late Iron Age c.100BC to Romano-British period (AD43-410). The site is located within an archaeologically rich landscape just 1km north of the Neolithic Durrington Walls henge and between the Romano-British settlements at Figheldean and at the Packway enclosure to the north and south respectively.
Two monumental Neolithic posthole alignments, which appeared to follow the contours of high ground, contained Grooved Ware pottery. Potentially contemporary with these alignments was a natural swallow hole or sink hole 25m across which had been consolidated with a flint pebble surface which created a metalled platform covered with flint knapping debris and a broken late Neolithic flint axehead or chisel. In the Iron Age, the site comprised a number of paddocks and small fields, formed by shallow gullies and ditches."
Full story: http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/wiltshire/mod-hq-durrington
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A Henge Revealed: Recent work at Marden Henge
12 Apr 2011 19:30
Lecture Hall - Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum
A lecture by Jim Leary, English Heritage. The summer of 2010 saw excavations at one of the largest Neolithic Henge monuments in Britain: Marden. It is located in the heart of the Vale of Pewsey between Stonehenge and Avebury and although it does not have any surviving stone settings, its sheer size is astounding.
The excavation was the culmination of a two-year multi-disciplinary project and provided evidence for a now demolished mound – said to be the second largest in Wiltshire after Silbury Hill. More remarkable, however, was the discovery of an extraordinarily well-preserved Neolithic building – undoubtedly one of the best preserved in Britain outside Orkney. This lecture will discuss the findings from the project, and explore some reasons of why it was constructed and what it could have been used for.
A lecture in the Salisbury Museum Archaeology Lectures (SMAL) series. SMAL lectures are held on the second Tuesday of each month from September to April.
Booking: No booking necessary, payable on the door
Cost: Museum members £2.00; non-Members £3.50; payable on the door
http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/what-s-on/lectures/165-a-henge-revealed-recent-work-at-marden-henge.html
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Earliest evidence for magic mushroom use in Europe
"EUROPEANS may have used magic mushrooms to liven up religious rituals 6000 years ago. So suggests a cave mural in Spain, which may depict fungi with hallucinogenic properties - the oldest evidence of their use in Europe.
The Selva Pascuala mural, in a cave near the town of Villar del Humo, is dominated by a bull. But it is a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects that interests Brian Akers at Pasco-Hernando Community College in New Port Richey, Florida, and Gaston Guzman at the Ecological Institute of Xalapa in Mexico. They believe that the objects are the fungi Psilocybe hispanica, a local species with hallucinogenic properties.
Like the objects depicted in the mural, P. hispanica has a bell-shaped cap topped with a dome, and lacks an annulus - a ring around the stalk. "Its stalks also vary from straight to sinuous, as they do in the mural," says Akers.
This isn't the oldest prehistoric painting thought to depict magic mushrooms, though. An Algerian mural that may show the species Psilocybe mairei is 7000 to 9000 years old."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928025.400-earliest-evidence-for-magic-mushroom-use-in-europe.html
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Iron Age treasure goes on display
A hoard of Iron Age treasure which was unearthed by a novice metal-detecting enthusiast is being displayed at the National Museum of Scotland.
The four gold neck ornaments, known as torcs, date back to the 1st and 3rd century BC and were found by David Booth just six inches beneath the surface of a Stirlingshire field in September 2009. The treasure trove was allocated to the national collection in Chambers Street, Edinburgh - netting Mr Booth £462,000.
>> more: http://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/news/scottish-headlines/iron_age_treasure_goes_on_display_1_1525777
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UK nominates 11 sites for Unesco world heritage status
Britain is nominating a judicious mixture of natural, built and industrial sites, including the slate industry of north Wales with its spectacular shale heaps still bearing witness to the days when Welsh slate roofed half the world, the Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, Scotland's beautiful Flow Country, the endlessly repainted Forth railway bridge which had the longest single cantilever span in the world when built in 1890, Gorham's cave complex in Gibraltar, and Cresswell Crags, the limestone gorge honeycombed with caves which has some of the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain and the country's only known Ice Age rock art.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/mar/22/uk-nominations-world-heritage-status
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Time Travellers' Workshop: Avebury, the early years
Discover the secrets of the first farmers with Archaeologist Dr Nick Snashall and Museum Curator Dr Ros Cleal as they investigate Earlier Neolithic Avebury. The day includes a field visit to West Kennet Long Barrow and draws on finds from Windmill Hill. Tickets include lunch, refreshments and parking for non-members of the National Trust or English Heritage.
Date: Sunday, 03 April 2011
Time: 10am - 4pm
Price: All Tickets £35 (£30 if booking 3+ Time Travellers' Workshops)
More Information: The visitor services team, 01672 539250, [email protected]
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-events-find_event.htm?propertyID=316&Period=Three+months
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Interim Links of Noltland report launched
"The interim report on the ongoing excavations at the Links of Notland, in Westray, has been published by Historic Scotland.
Shifting Sands: Links of Noltland, Westray presents an interim account of the excavation findings so far. It documents some of the most remarkable discoveries, including the Westray Wife and the "Cattle Skull Building" with its foundation deposit of skulls built into the walls.
The Links of Noltland site lies on the exposed coastline of Westray and was buried beneath sand dunes until recently. With the rapid onset of erosion, the prehistoric remains were exposed and at extreme risk of being lost forever. A major programme of fieldwork, commissioned by Historic Scotland, is now being undertaken by EASE Archaeology. Discoveries include a Neolithic farmstead, field walls, cultivation remains and artefact-rich middens, together with six Bronze Age buildings and a contemporary cemetery.
Written by Hazel Moore and Graeme Wilson, the archaeologists in charge of the dig, the report also describes the Bronze Age remains, which represent the largest and most complete settlement of this date in Orkney.
The report provides an up-to-date statement on the archaeological discoveries, together with specialist analysis of artefacts recovered during the excavation.
Shifting Sands: Links of Noltland costs £12.95."
http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/?p=203
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Hands on History: Ancient Britain
"Hands on History helps you discover history on your doorstep - from ancient Britain to the history of the high street. Watch ep 2 of A History of Ancient Britain on Wed 16 Feb and have a look at our events and downloads."
Loads more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/handsonhistory/
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Legislation forces archaeologists to rebury finds
Bones and skulls from ancient settlements will be reburied and lost to science under controversial legislation that threatens to cripple archeological research
Human remains from Stonehenge and other ancient settlements will be reburied and lost to science under legislation that threatens to cripple research into the history of humans in Britain, a group of leading archaeologists says today.
In a letter addressed to the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, and printed in the Guardian today, 40 archaeology professors write of their "deep and widespread concern" about the issue.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/04/archaeologists-forced-to-rebury-finds?cat=science&type=article
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History highlights on the BBC
Martin Davidson, the BBC's commissioning editor for history, reveals what we can expect to see on TV in the year ahead.
... This year Neil Oliver delves further into the distant past while remaining closer to home when he presents landmark series A History of Ancient Britain. His epic quest through thousands of years of ancient history tells the story of how Britain and its people came to be. He journeys from the glacial wasteland of Ice Age mammoth hunters, through the glories of the Stone Age, to the magnificence of international Bronze Age society ...
http://www.historyextra.com/blog/history-highlights-bbc
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Hundreds turn out for winter solstice at Stonehenge
SNOW and ice failed to keep people away from Stonehenge today as they gathered to see the sun rise on the winter solstice.
More than 2,000 people came together at the stones, which were surrounded by a thick blanket of snow.
The winter morning mist obscured the actual sunrise - which took place at 8.09am - but an eclectic mix of people celebrated the ancient festival.
Among the Druids, hippies and sun worshippers were those just curious to experience the spiritual event at the site, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire.
Serving soldier of 15 years Lance Corporal Paul Thomas, who fought in Iraq, was ''knighted'' with a sword by Druid protester King Arthur Pendragon.
Formerly known as John Rothwell, King Arthur changed his name by deed poll.
Formerly of Winchester, Arthur stood as a parliamentary candidate for the city in 2005 and in Salisbury during this year's general election.
This morning, he also performed a handfasting - a Pagan marriage ceremony - inside the stones.
As well as the traditional Druid and Pagan ceremonies, a spontaneous snowball fight erupted as people enjoyed the cold weather.
The shortest day of the year often falls on December 21, but this year the Druid and Pagan community marked the first day of winter today because the modern calendar of 365 days a year - with an extra day every four years - does not correspond exactly to the solar year of 365.2422 days.
During the winter solstice the sun is closer to the horizon than at any other time in the year, meaning shorter days and longer nights.
The day after the winter solstice marks the beginning of lengthening days, leading up to the summer solstice in June.
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8752033.Hundreds_turn_out_for_winter_solstice_at_Stonehenge/?ref=twt
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Winter solstice: See the light on the darkest day
Ancient monuments become giant cameras, catching sunlight in a moment of mystery and wonder.
It is time to pray for the return of the sun. In this deep midwinter, we can start to imagine what the winter solstice meant to the ancient inhabitants of Britain who built Stonehenge and Maeshowe, and who aligned these mysterious buildings to receive the remote rays of the sun on the darkest day of the year.
This is the holiest time of the year – if you happen to share the beliefs of these ancient pagans, which, in fact, are obscure because they left no writings or even much in the way of figurative art. But the winter solstice must have been deeply important to them because on this day, and this day only, sunlight creates startling effects at Britain's late neolithic and early bronze age monuments. Most astonishingly of all, it enters the long narrow entrance passage of the burial mound of Maeshowe on Orkney's Mainland island and glows on the back wall of the inner chamber. The building becomes a giant camera, catching sunlight in a moment of mystery and wonder.
The architecture of Maeshowe is one of the marvels of these islands. Inside the earthen mound is a profoundly impressive chamber made of massive blocks of stone arranged in powerful lintels neatly layered, perforated by accurately rectangular openings. There is a precision to the stone construction and its plan, with symmetrical side chambers. When later Viking warriors broke into the chamber they wrote runic inscriptions on its stones, adding to the strange atmosphere. But it is at the winter solstice that Maeshowe consummates its mystery with the astronomical spectacle of the sun piercing its dark sanctum of death.
Light in darkness, life in death, the moment when the sun begins its return journey towards midsummer. Truly the pagan midwinter is a moving celebration. But, as we rush around buying presents, do we remember the true meaning of the winter sun festival?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/dec/21/light-darkest-day-winter-solstice
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Ireland's Newgrange: Countdown to winter's magic moment
On the morning of 21 December, a select group of people made their way through a dark, narrow passage and gathered in a small cross-shaped chamber at Newgrange in Co Meath, Irish Republic, to celebrate the winter solstice. Why?
Newgrange, located 40km north of Dublin and perched high above a bend of the River Boyne, is a prehistoric passage tomb, covered on the outside by a large grassy mound.
At over 5,000 years old it is the older cousin of Stonehenge and it predates the pyramids by about 500 years.
It is difficult to estimate how long it would have taken to build it.
"They were a very sophisticated society with a sound economic base as they were able to divert a large number of people to the building of passage tombs," says archaeologist Professor George Eogan.
"The ritual of the dead was very important in their lives and the site combines engineering, architectural and artistic skills."
Shaft of light
Newgrange is unique because the builders aligned it with the rising sun.
Just after sunrise, at 0858GMT, on the shortest day of the year, the inner chamber will flood with sunlight, which enters through a 25cm (9.9ins) high "roof box" above the passage entrance.
The phenomenon was discovered by archaeologist, Professor Michael J O'Kelly on 21 December 1967 during research on the site.
"He found the roof box when uncovering the roof chamber but wondered about its purpose," says his daughter Helen Watanabe O'Kelly.
Local people always said it was aligned to the sun but the measurements did not fit the summer solstice.
"My mother, who worked closely with him, suggested that it might be connected with the winter solstice. And that was how he discovered it in 1967."
Ms O'Kelly recalls how she experienced it with him the following year.
"There were just the two of us. It was cold and dark - no razzmatazz, like you have now. I still remember sitting in the cold and we just waited.
"Suddenly this shaft of light came into the chamber and hit the back wall. I remember being quietly moved - it was like someone was speaking to you from thousands of years before. I still see it like a picture before my inner eye - it was a golden light."
Since the discovery of the winter solstice alignment, Newgrange has been developed as a major tourist attraction and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
Demand to attend the midwinter solstice is high and since 2000 it has been regulated by a lottery system. This year, more than 25,000 people applied but only 10 were selected to attend on 21 December. Each can bring one guest.
The lucky winners - drawn by primary school children from three local schools - include people from Ireland, the US, England, Scotland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
In addition, 40 other winners and guests can attend on the days around the solstice, when some light enters the chamber.
Clare Tuffy, the visitor centre's manager who has worked at Newgrange since the early 1980s, says that guests are kept outside for as long possible on the solstice morning.
Even though the passage way and chamber are only 24m (78ft) long, once you enter you are cut off from the outside world and lose a sense of time passing.
"When the sun clears the horizon you can hear a big cheer from those gathered outside.
"We have to wait four minutes after sunrise to experience the light entering the chamber because the earth's angle has changed since it was constructed 5,000 years ago. The light remains in the chamber for 17 minutes before retreating."
The centre's staff do not orchestrate what happens in the chamber. Sometimes people ask to sing a song, say a poem or chant, but any activity is done with the agreement of the group.
Those not lucky enough to get a place in the draw are welcome to gather outside.
People are motivated to come by the symbolism of the light and dark and the turning of the year. Some have made it a tradition and come year after year. Druids also assemble outside, chanting and singing.
Even though she is a veteran of the experience, Clare Tuffy is still moved by it and she is keen to make it special for the lottery winners.
"I get very excited and anxious every year that it will all go well. My husband calls it 'solstice fever'. It starts in early December and doesn't finish until Christmas."
Lunar eclipse
Irish weather is frequently inclement, but there will not be any drips inside Newgrange to dampen the enthusiasm of the solstice watchers.
The ancient engineers designed it to be waterproof, packing sand and burnt soil among the roof stones and even cutting channels into them to direct water away from the passage and chamber.
But the privileged few who will come to marvel at this masterpiece of human creativity are counting on "third time lucky".
The past two years have been cloudy and overcast on 21 December, which means the chamber remains in darkness. This year they hope for clear skies and a bright solstice sunrise.
To add extra excitement to this year's experience there will also be a lunar eclipse on the morning of the 21st.
The moon will start to brighten again just as the sun starts to enter the inner chamber.
It is the first time in over 450 years that a lunar eclipse and the winter solstice have coincided.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12018432
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Likes: Massive stones.
Dislikes: Noisome trolls.
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