Saturday, October 22, 2011

Archaeology: Most Popular Articles: The Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal (Mexico)

Archaeology: Most Popular Articles
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The Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal (Mexico)
Oct 22nd 2011, 10:26

The Pyramid of the Magician, also known as the House of the Dwarf (Casa del Adivino, or Casa del Enano), is one of the most famous Maya monuments of Uxmal, an archaeological site in the Puuc region of Yucatan, in the northern Maya Lowland of Mexico.

Its name comes from a Maya tale of the 19th century, titled the Leyenda del Enano de Uxmal (The Legend of the Uxmal’s Dwarf). According to this legend, a dwarf constructed the pyramid in one night, helped by his mother, a witch. This building is one of the most impressive of Uxmal, measuring about 115 feet in height. It was constructed over the Late and Terminal Classic periods, between AD 600 and 1000, and five constructive phases have been detected. The one visible today is the latest one, built around AD 900-1000.

The pyramid, over which the actual temple stands, has a peculiar elliptical form.  Two staircases lead to the top of the pyramid. The Eastern staircase, the wider, has a small temple along the way that cut the stairway in half. The second access stair, the Western, faces the Nunnery Quadrangle and is decorated with friezes of the rain god Chaac.

The Pyramid of the Magician is the first building a visitor encounters entering the ceremonial area of Uxmal, just north of the Ball Game Court and the Palace of the Governor and east of the Nunnery Quadrangle.

Several phases of the temple constructed on top the pyramid are visible while ascending the pyramid from the base to the top. Five construction phases have been detected (Temple I, II, III, IV, V). The facades of the different phases were decorated with stone masks of the rain god Chaac, typical of the Puuc architectural style of the region.

Sources

This glossary entry is a part of the guide to the Maya, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.

Mc Killop, Heather, 2004, The Ancient Maya. New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara, California

AA.VV. 2006, Los Mayas. Rutas Arqueologicas: Yucatan y Quintana Roo. Edición Especial de Arqueologia Mexicana, num. 21 (www.arqueomex.com)

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Stone Ring at Ball Court

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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Stone Ring at Ball Court
Oct 22nd 2011, 10:03

This photograph is of the stone rings on the inside wall of the Great Ball Court. Several different ball games were played by various groups in similar ballcourts throughout Mesoamerica. The most wide-spread game was with a rubber ball and, according to the paintings at various sites, a player used his hips to keep the ball in the air as long as possible. According to ethnographic studies of more recent versions, points were scored when the ball hit the ground in the opposing players' part of the courtyard. The rings were tenoned into the upper side walls; but passing the ball through such a ring, in this case 20 feet off the ground, must have been darned near impossible.

Ballgame equipment included in some cases padding for the hips and knees, a hacha (a hafted blunt axe) and a palma, a palm-shaped stone device attached to the padding. It is unclear what these were used for.

The sloping benches on the side of the court were probably sloped to keep the ball in play. They are carved with reliefs of the victory celebrations. These reliefs are each 40 feet long, in panels at three intervals, and they all show a victorious ball team holding the severed head of one of the losers, seven snakes and green vegetation representing the blood issuing from the player's neck.

This is not the only ball court at Chichén Itzá; there are at least 12 others, most of which are smaller, traditionally Maya sized ball courts.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Damascus Steel

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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Damascus Steel
Oct 22nd 2011, 10:03

The word 'nanotechnology' might seem a little odd to be applied to a technology that is clearly several centuries old. After all, a 'nanometer' is something that means one billionth part of meter, something no one could have measured until very recently. But in this sense, nanotechnology refers to the purposeful (and accidental) inclusion of very very tiny amounts of materials to create chemical reactions at the quantum level. Nanotechnology played a role in the mixing of Maya blue, that amazing color in Maya murals from 8th century America. Stained glass windows from the European Renaissance, colored glasses in Bronze Age Egypt, and violins from the 18th century master Stradivari all benefited from the creative use of tiny amounts of inclusions of foreign matter placed into created objects, creating quantum level qualitative changes in the product. Nanotechnology then is alchemy in its most pure form.

And so, nanotechnology--the inclusion of tiny amounts of foreign matter into a smelted iron product--had a crucial role in the construction of the Damascan blade. But... what were those elements and how did they get in there? The secret alchemy of making a Damascan blade was lost by the middle of the 18th century. European blacksmiths before then, and all those who came before the end of the last century who attempted to make their own blades failed to overcome the problems inherent in a high-carbon content, and could not explain how ancient Syrian blacksmiths achieved the filigreed surface and quality of the finished product.

Damascan Steel and Electron Microscopy

What the research team led by Paufler has done has been to use current nanotechnology to examine the microstructure of a Damascan blade using a scanning electron microscope. Investigations have determined that there are two pieces involved to this puzzle: both inclusions into the raw ore itself and the forging process completed in the mideast. Known purposeful additions to Wootz steel include the bark of Cassia auriculata (used in tanning) and the leaves of Calotropis gigantea (a milkweed). Spectroscopy has also identified tiny amounts of vanadium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel, and some rare elements, traces of which presumably came from the mines in India.

These materials were already in the raw steel, but what Paufler and associates also identified in the steel were quantum level changes made in the metal which must have occurred during manufacture. They postulate that during the smith's cyclic heating and forging processes, the metal developed a microstructure called 'carbide nanotubes', extremely hard tubes of carbon that are expressed on the surface and create the blade's hardness. Thus, by blending the unique characteristics of Wootz steel with a forging process that included tiny amounts of specialized materials, the blacksmiths of the Islamic Civilization were able to create the Damascan steel. What happened in the mid-18th century was that the chemical makeup of the raw material altered--the minute quantities of one or more of the minerals disappeared, perhaps because the particular lode was exhausted. Such a difference would not have been apparent to the blacksmith visually; but, interestingly, the blacksmiths may have extended the life of the process by including small pieces of the previous batch in each new batch.

We modern archaeologists like to say that the elite stuff, the expensive goods that were restricted to the upper classes, really have no interest to us. But cracking the code of how metallurgists made the elite Damascus steel! I vote for that.

Sources

Helmut Föll. n.d. Damascene Technique in Metalworking. This is a fascinating website in English and German by materials scientist Föll of the University of Kiel, with lots of details about the process and history of Damascus steel.

Lee A. Jones. 1998. Blade Patterns Intrinsic to Steel Edged Weapons. On Helmut Föll's website.

M. Reibold et al. 2006. Carbon nanotubes in an ancient Damascus sabre. Nature 444:286.

Sharada Srinivasan and Srinivasa Ranganathan. 2004. India's Legendary Wootz Steel: An advanced material of the ancient world. National Institute of Advanced Studies and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

S. Srinivasan and S. Ranganathan. ca. 1997. Wootz Steel: An Advanced Material of the Ancient World.

John D. Verhoeven. 2001. The Mystery of Damascus Blades. Scientific American

J.D. Verhoeven, A.H. Pendray, and W.E. Dauksch. 1998. The Key Role of Impurities in Ancient Damascus Steel Blades. JOM 50(9):58-64.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Lustreware

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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Lustreware
Oct 22nd 2011, 10:03

Lustreware is a decorative technique invented by 9th century AD Abbasid potters in what is today Iraq. The potters believed that making lustreware was truly "alchemy", because the process involves using a lead-based glaze to create a golden shine on a pot without gold in it.

Lustreware grew out of an existing ceramic technology in Iraq, but its earliest form was clearly influenced by Tang dynasty potters, probably first through trade and diplomacy along the Silk Road. Tang dynasty potters and other craftsmen were held captive and working in Baghdad between AD 751 and 762.

The secret to lustreware developed over the centuries, but was kept within one small group of potters who traveled together within the Islamic state until the 12th century, when three separate groups began their own potteries.

Chronology of Lustreware

  • Abbasid 8th c -1000 Basra, Iraq
  • Fatimid 1000-1170 Fustat, Egypt
  • Tell Minis 1170-1258 Raqqa, Syria
  • Kashan 1170-present Kashan, Iran
  • Spanish ?1170-present Malaga, Spain
  • Damascus 1258-1401 Damascus, Syria

Lustreware Bibliography

See the photo essay Islamic Lustrewares: Origins and Technique for more detailed information and photographs.

More photos of lustreware in Wikimedia includes several by Marie Lan-Nguyen. But to really experience them you need to go to a museum. A list of museums with lustres is compiled here.

Caiger-Smith, Alan. 1985. Lustre Pottery: Technique, tradition, and innovation in Islam and the Western World. Faber and Faber, London.

Jenkins, Marilyn. 2006. Raqqa Revisited: Ceramics of Ayyubid Syria. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

Molera, Judit, et al. 2007 Key Parameters in the Production of Medieval Luster Colors and Shines. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 90(7):2245-2254.

Pradell, T., et al. 2008 Temperature resolved reproduction of medieval luster. Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing 90(1):81-88.

Pradell, T., J. Molera, A. D. Smith, and M. S. Tite In Press Early Islamic lustre from Egypt, Syria and Iran (10th to 13th century AD). Journal of Archaeological Science In Press.

Pradell, T., J. Molera, A. D. Smith, and M. S. Tite 2008 The invention of lustre: Iraq 9th and 10th centuries AD. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(5):1201-1215.

Watson, Oliver. 2004. Ceramics from Islamic Lands. Thames and Hudson, New York.

This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: The Nunnery Annex

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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The Nunnery Annex
Oct 22nd 2011, 10:03

The Nunnery Annex is located immediately adjacent to the Nunnery and while it is from the early Maya period of Chichén Itzá, it shows some influence of later residence. This building is of the Chenes style, which is a local Yucatan style. It has a lattice motif on the roof comb, complete with Chac masks, but it also includes an undulating serpent running along its cornice. The decoration begins at the base and goes up to the cornice, with the façade completely covered with several rain god masks with a central richly clad human figure over the doorway. A hieroglyphic inscription is on the lintel.

But the best thing about the Nunnery Annex is that, from a distance, the whole building is a chac mask, with the human figure as the nose and the doorway the mouth of the mask.

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Archaeology: Pre-Clovis Megafaunal Hunters

Archaeology
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Pre-Clovis Megafaunal Hunters
Oct 21st 2011, 08:07

The Manis Mastodon site, reported in Science today, is throwing (yet another) curve ball into what scholars understand about the founding populations of North America.

3-D Reconstruction of the Bone Point in Manis Mastodon Rib
3-D Reconstruction of the Bone Point in Manis Mastodon Rib. The flat layer going across the picture is the edge of the bone. The exterior is above this line and the interior is below the line. You can clearly see the bone point that penetrates into the rib. It has been sharpened to a point. The tip of the point broke off after impact and rotated a bit. You can also see how some of the bone point failed and scissored. Image courtesy of Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University

Until about 15 years ago, the mainstream archaeological community largely agreed that the first people who occupied North America were big-game hunters called Clovis people, who crossed the Bering Strait from northeastern Asia no earlier than 11,200 years ago. In 1977, the Monte Verde site at the tip of the South American continent was discovered: a site predating all Clovis sites by some two thousand years, and some 15,000 kilometers south of Bering Strait.

Since that time, many other sites older than Clovis (now called "pre-Clovis", for want of a better term) have been identified in both North and South America. We still believe, more or less, that the entry way was across the Bering Strait, but the living strategies of pre-Clovis have turned out to be far more diverse than simply big game hunters. Pre-Clovis people were hunter-gatherer-fishers, meaning that they ate game, fish and plants, as the occasion warranted.

Manis Mastodon is a site on the Pacific Coastline of Washington State, and it is one of a handful of sites that suggest that the omniverous pre-Clovis also dabbled in megafaunal hunting strategies. Ayer Pond, in Washington State very near Manis, is a pre-clovis site where workmen discovered a butchered bison. Fenske, Mud Lake, Schaefer and Hebior are four sites in Wisconsin that represent woolly mammoth hunting/butchering at pre-clovis dates.

Waters MR, Stafford Jr. TW, McDonald HG, Gustafson C, Rasmussen M, Cappellini E, Olsen JV, Szklarczyk D, Jensen LJ, Gilbert MTP et al. 2011. Pre-Clovis mastodon nunting 13,800 years ago at the Manis site, Washington. Science 334:351-352.

Elsewhere

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Alcohol and Archaeology

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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Alcohol and Archaeology
Oct 21st 2011, 10:03

Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive (behavior-, mood- and mind-altering) agent in the world, and it should come as no surprise that it is also the earliest such substance used, perhaps even used by our hominin ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago. The product of a sugar fermentation process (called glycolysis), alcohol is created when yeast interacts with sugar. Glycolysis is one of the most ancient of processes on our planet, and it is part of the natural metabolic breakdown of rotting fruit and its conversion into energy. Some primates, insects and birds use alcohol, and some of them are known to occasionally gorge on the energy-rich liquid--a behavior known as binging in humans.

Alcohol was used prehistorically in all corners of the world: only parts of Pacific North America didn't have some indigenous form of alcohol before European contact. The use of alcohol is prohibited by several modern major religions, including some sects of Christianity, Buddhism and Islam; that was not always the case. Tales of the earliest forms of Christianity and Buddhism include drinking alcohol as a part of life. The Koran includes an explicit prohibition of alcohol use: yet as Islam flourished during the 7th-8th centuries AD, the Bacchic poets of Arabia, like the writers of the Song of Solomon in the Bible, wrote of the worldly pleasures of wine, among other things.

Alcohol's Roots

The creation of wineries and breweries, as both home-based and for mass production, involves the economic processes of a society. How the manufacture of alcoholic beverages impacts the economies and societies of the pars is part and parcel of the basics of archaeological and anthropological research. Alcohol is associated with feasts conducted for hospitality, ritual, the establishment of authority and social indebtedness. How people obtain social rank in a society, and maintain it after they have achieved it, is often tied to feasting, and alcohol served to support those aims.

Archaeologists find alcohol use interesting for many reasons not necessarily associated with the economics of making, serving and drinking the beverages. Depending on the role of alcohol in a given society, the beverages were (and are, for that matter) often associated with rules of permissible behavior which vary with gender, class, religion, ethnicity and family. Women were often the brewers, which gave them a source of economic power and independence; but they were also most often forbidden to drink, or had tighter restrictions on their drinking than their male counterparts. In some societies there were rules which led to the segregation of licit drinking into separate facilities (bars and taverns); rules about how and when you drank and how much; and what signs of drunkenness were acceptable and which were not.

Most alcoholic beverages will spoil within a few days after fermentation: beer was like that until hops were added in the 9th century AD. Thus, the production of most alcoholic beverages was done in close proximity to where it would be consumed. Wine was the major prehistoric exception: it could be stored in amphorae for years. As a stable resource, wine could be and was traded throughout the Mediterranean and over vast distances. As a result, wine was a fundamental aspect of Mediterranean societies including Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iron Age Europe.

Tapping into the Unknown

Perhaps of most importance, many religions used alcohol as a way to tap into the deep subconscious. Tapping into the subconscious, sometimes called altered states of consciousness, is what all religions aspire to, and all humans reach for, to reach an understanding of human existence by peeling off the layers of the day-to-day. It doesn't take alcohol or any other psychoactive drugs to get there: altered states can be achieved by physical exercise, fasting or meditation. But alcohol was definitely one of the ways used by our shamanic ancestors to escape the mundane and learn about the larger spiritual world (pun intended).

Archaeological evidence for the use of alcohol includes drinking paraphernalia, such as cups and bowls and vats; brewing and fermentation workshops; bars and taverns; historical texts describing recipes; and art work such as ceramic pot decoration and sculptures and paintings illustrating drinking. Residue analysis, including a wide range of chemical analyses of the sometimes microscopic amounts of organic remains in those cups and bowls and vats, has led researchers to identify the contents and, in some cases, to the reconstruction of ancient brews.

Sources and Further Information

Anderson P. 2006. Global use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Drug and Alcohol Review 25(6):489-502.

Dietler M. 2006. Alcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 35(1):229-249.

McGovern PE. 2009. Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Beer, Wine and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Meussdoerffer FG. 2009. A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing. Handbook of Brewing: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. p 1-42.

Meussdoerffer FG. 2011. Beer and Beer Culture in Germany. In: Schiefenhovel W, and Macbeth H, editors. Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Bergahn. p 63-70.

Stika H-P. 2011. Beer in Prehistoric Europe. In: Schiefenhovel W, and Macbeth H, editors. Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Berghahn Books. p 55-62.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: The Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal (Mexico)

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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The Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal (Mexico)
Oct 21st 2011, 10:03

The Pyramid of the Magician, also known as the House of the Dwarf (Casa del Adivino, or Casa del Enano), is one of the most famous Maya monuments of Uxmal, an archaeological site in the Puuc region of Yucatan, in the northern Maya Lowland of Mexico.

Its name comes from a Maya tale of the 19th century, titled the Leyenda del Enano de Uxmal (The Legend of the Uxmal’s Dwarf). According to this legend, a dwarf constructed the pyramid in one night, helped by his mother, a witch. This building is one of the most impressive of Uxmal, measuring about 115 feet in height. It was constructed over the Late and Terminal Classic periods, between AD 600 and 1000, and five constructive phases have been detected. The one visible today is the latest one, built around AD 900-1000.

The pyramid, over which the actual temple stands, has a peculiar elliptical form.  Two staircases lead to the top of the pyramid. The Eastern staircase, the wider, has a small temple along the way that cut the stairway in half. The second access stair, the Western, faces the Nunnery Quadrangle and is decorated with friezes of the rain god Chaac.

The Pyramid of the Magician is the first building a visitor encounters entering the ceremonial area of Uxmal, just north of the Ball Game Court and the Palace of the Governor and east of the Nunnery Quadrangle.

Several phases of the temple constructed on top the pyramid are visible while ascending the pyramid from the base to the top. Five construction phases have been detected (Temple I, II, III, IV, V). The facades of the different phases were decorated with stone masks of the rain god Chaac, typical of the Puuc architectural style of the region.

Sources

This glossary entry is a part of the guide to the Maya, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.

Mc Killop, Heather, 2004, The Ancient Maya. New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara, California

AA.VV. 2006, Los Mayas. Rutas Arqueologicas: Yucatan y Quintana Roo. Edición Especial de Arqueologia Mexicana, num. 21 (www.arqueomex.com)

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: History of Alcohol - Timeline

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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History of Alcohol - Timeline
Oct 21st 2011, 10:03

The earliest history of human alcohol consumption on the table below is to a degree based on conjecture. We know for certain that the creation of alcohol is the result of a natural process, and we know that primates, insects and birds partake in fermented berries and fruit. We don't have evidence that our hominin ancestors saw this and drank fermented liquids, although some authors have suggested the possibility. Scholars are also divided about the Venus of Laussel: whether she carries a drinking horn or something else entirely is up for discussion. Finally, the connection of pottery to the consumption of alcoholic beverages may be a bit of a stretch: however, some of the earliest music and shamanistic practices were developed in the same region of the earth as pottery, so we can't entirely rule it out.

For further information, follow the links in the table below, or read

Alcohol Timeline

  • 100,000 years ago (theoretically): Paleolithic humans or their ancestors recognize that leaving fruit in the bottom of a container for an extended period of time leads naturally to alcohol
  • 30,000 BC, earliest cave paintings suggest activities of shamans
  • 25,000 BC, Venus of Laussel
  • 13,000 BC, first pottery invented in China
  • 9th millennium BC: domestication of fig trees, the earliest fruit
  • 8th millennium BC: domestication of rice and barley
  • 7th millennium BC: Neolithic China, earliest evidence of wine from rice, honey and fruit at Jiahu
  • 6th millennium BC: Middle east and Transcaucusus, chemical traces of alcohol at Chalolithic site of Areni-1
  • 5th millennium BC: Wine in Neolithic Greece, at Dikili Tash
  • 3rd millennium BC: Widespread wine and beer in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Anatolia (such as Tepe Gawra); trade and as elite luxury good
  • 3rd millennium BC: Herb-based beers consumed in Predynastic Egypt, tomb paintings, models, wine jars
  • 3rd millennium BC: Early Bronze Age Greece, Minoan and Mycenanean wine use
  • 2nd millennium BC: Cereal based alcohol in sealed bronze vessels of Shang and Western Zhou
  • 2nd millennium BC: Barley and wheat beer brewery at Hierankopolis
  • 2nd millennium BC: Barley and rice beers in Vedic period India
  • 1st millennium BC: Grain beers and mead in central Europe, including Barley Beer in Iron Age
  • 1st millennium BC: Sorghum beer ritually important in Kushite kingdom
  • 9th century BC: Maize-based chicha beer an element of South American cultures
  • 8th century BC: First wine produced in Italy, Phoenicians take wine to Carthage
  • 700 BC: First wine produced in Spain
  • 600 BC: First wine produced in France; Massalia founded in France (Marseille)
  • 500 BC: (possible) Alcohol distillation in India and Pakistan
  • 1st-2nd centuries BC: Mediterranean wine trade explodes
  • 2nd century AD: France a Roman province and major wine-producing region
  • 4th century AD: distillation developed in Egypt and Arabia
  • 13th century AD: Pulque (fermented agave) part of the Aztec state
  • 16th century: production of wine in Europe moves from monasteries to merchants

Sources

Anderson P. 2006. Global use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Drug and Alcohol Review 25(6):489-502.

Dietler M. 2006. Alcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 35(1):229-249.

McGovern PE. 2009. Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Beer, Wine and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Meussdoerffer FG. 2009. A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing. Handbook of Brewing: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. p 1-42.

Meussdoerffer FG. 2011. Beer and Beer Culture in Germany. In: Schiefenhovel W, and Macbeth H, editors. Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Bergahn. p 63-70.

Stika H-P. 2011. Beer in Prehistoric Europe. In: Schiefenhovel W, and Macbeth H, editors. Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Berghahn Books. p 55-62.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Top 10 Things to Know about the Aztecs

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
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Top 10 Things to Know about the Aztecs
Oct 21st 2011, 10:03

Whether you are a student, a Mexico’s aficionado, a tourist, or simply moved by curiosity, here there is an essential guide to what you may want to know about Aztec civilization

1. Who were the Aztecs?

The Aztecs, who should be more properly called Mexica, are one of the most important and famous civilizations of Mesoamerica. In the Postclassic period they reached Central Mexico and established their capital there. In few centuries they managed to control almost all Mexico through an extended empire.

Reaad Further:



2. Where did they live?

The Aztec/Mexica were not native of Central Mexico but migrated from north, from a mythical land called Aztlan. Historically, they were the last of many Nahuatl speaking tribes, generally called Chichimeca, who migrated towards south from what is now Northern Mexico or the Southwest of the United States due to a period of great drought. After almost two centuries of migration, at around A.D. 1250, the Mexica arrived in the Valley of Mexico, and established themselves on the shore of lake Texcoco.

Read Further:

3. Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the Aztec Capital

Nicoletta Maestri

Mexico-Tenochtitlan is the name of the Aztec capital. The city was founded in AD 1325. The place was chosen following an omen of the god Huitzilopochtli, who commanded his people to settle where they would have found an eagle perching on a cactus and devouring a snake. The place was very discouraging: a swampy area around the lakes of the Valley of Mexico. Tenochtitlan grew rapidly thanks to its strategic position and the Mexica military skills. When the European arrived, Tenochtitlan was one of the largest and better organized cities of the world.

Read Further:

4. Origin of the Aztec Empire

Thanks to their military skills and strategic position, the Mexica became allies of the most powerful cities of the Valley, Azcapotzalco, and obtained tributes from these military campaigns. They then obtained recognition as a kingdom, electing as their first ruler Acamapichtli, a member of the royal family of Culhuacan, a powerful city-state in the Basin of Mexico. Finally, in 1428, they allied themselves with the cities of Texcoco and Tlacopan, forming the Triple Alliance. This event starts the Mexica expansion in the Basin of Mexico and beyond, and the birth of the empire.

Read Furhter:

5. Aztec Economy

Aztec economy was based on three things: market exchange, tribute payment and agricultural production. The famous Aztec market system included both local and long-distance trade. Markets were held on a regular basis and a high degree of specialization existed. The most important market was that of Tlatelolco, sister city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Tribute collection was among the main reasons for the Aztecs to conquest a region. Tributes paid to the empire usually include goods or services, depending on the distance and status of the tributary city. In the Valley of Mexico, the Aztecs developed sophisticated agricultural systems which include: irrigation systems, floating fields, called chinampas, and hillside terrace systems

Read Further:

6. Aztec Society

Aztec society was highly stratified. The population was divided into nobles, pipiltin, and the commoners, macehualtin. The nobles were exempted from taxes and covered government position, whereas the commoners paid tributes in form of taxes and labor. These people were grouped into sorts of clan, called calpulli. At the bottom of Aztec society there were the slaves. These were criminals, people who couldn’t pay taxes, and prisoners. At the top of Aztec society stood the ruler, or Tlatoani, of each city-state, and his family. The supreme king, or Huey Tlatoani, was the emperor, and king of Tenochtitlan. The second most important political position of the empire was that of the cihuacoatl, a sort of viceroy or prime minister. The position of emperor was not hereditary, but elective. He was chosen by a council of nobles.

Read Further:

7. Aztec Politics

The basic political unit for the Aztecs and in the Basin of Mexico in general, was the city-state, or altepetl. Each altepetl was a kingdom, ruled by a tlatoani. Each altepetl controlled a surrounding rural area that fed the community. Warfare and marriage alliances were the mean through which Aztec politics expanded. An intense net of informants and spies helped the Mexica government to maintain control over a large empire and intervene rapidly in case of uprising.

8. Aztec Warfare

Warfare was the mean to obtain tributes and captives for sacrifices. The Aztec didn’t have a standing army but soldiers were drafted among the macehualtin. In theory, a military career and the access to higher military orders, such as the one of the eagle and jaguar, were open to everybody who distinguished himself in battle. However, in reality, these high ranks were often reached only by noblemen. War actions included battles against neighbour groups, flower wars - aimed to obtain captives - and coronation wars. Type of weapons included both offensive and defensive tools, such as spears, bows and arrows, swords, clubs, as well as shields, armories, and helmets. Weapons were made out of stones, wood and obsidian, but not metal.

Read Further:

9. Aztec Religion

Nicoletta Maestri

As other Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztec/Mexica worshipped many gods who represented the different forces and manifestations of nature. The term used by the Aztec to define the idea of a deity or a supernatural power is teotl, which is often part of a god name. The Aztecs divided their gods into three groups which supervised different aspect of the world: the sky and celestial beings, the rain and agriculture, and the war and sacrifices.

Read Further:

10. Aztec Art and Architecture

Nicoletta Maestri

The Mexica had skilled artisans, artists and architects. When the Spaniards arrived, they were surprised by these people architectural accomplishments. Raised, paved roads connected Tenochtitlan to the mainland; bridges, dikes and aqueducts regulated water level and flow in the lakes, allowed to separate fresh from salt water, and provide fresh, drinkable water to the city. Administrative and religious buildings were brightly colored and decorated with stone sculptures. Aztec art is best known for its example of monumental stone sculptures, some of which of impressive size. Other arts in which the Aztec excelled are feather and textile works, ceramic production, wooden art, obsidian and lapidary works. Metallurgy, by contrast, was in its infancy among the Mexica when the European arrived. However, metal products were imported through trade and conquest. Metallurgy in Mesoamerica probably arrived from South America and people of Western Mexico, among whom the Tarascans, mastered its techniques.

11. The Aztecs and the Spanish Conquest

The Conquest of Mexico and the subjugation of the Aztecs, although completed in few years, was a complicated process which involved many actors. When Hernan Cortes reached Mexico in 1519 he and his soldiers found important allies among the local communities subjugated by the Aztecs, for example the Tlaxcalans, who saw in the newcomers a way to free themselves from the Aztecs. The introduction of germs and diseases, which preceeded the actual invasion, decimated the native population, and therefore facilitated the control over the new land. Entire communities were forced to abandon their homes and new villages were created and controlled by Spanish nobility. A least formally, local leaders were left in place but they had no real powers. Christianization proceeded through the destruction of pre-Hispanic temples, idols and books by Spanish friars, but at the same time these religious orders collected, in the so called codices, an incredible amount of information about Aztec culture, practices and beliefs.

Read Further:

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: The Narmer Palette

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com
The Narmer Palette
Oct 21st 2011, 10:03

Definition:

The Egyptian dynastic civilization began over 5,000 years ago with the unification of the Upper and Lower Egypt by the legendary King Menes, also called Narmer. Numerous later Egyptian writings claim Narmer as the conqueror of all the societies along the length of the Nile River; but some scholarly doubt persists. During the 1897/1898 field season, British archaeologist J. E. Quibell was excavating the pre-dynastic capital of Hierakonpolis when he found one of the most famous artifacts of the protodynastic period of Egypt, called the Narmer Palette, believed by many to illustrate this historic event.

Description of the Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette, a shield-shaped slab of gray schist some 64 centimeters (25 inches) long, is in the shape of a cosmetic palette, a type of object made by Egyptians for at least 10 centuries before the date of the Narmer palette. What makes this particular palette of importance is that is larger than most palettes, and it is elaborately carved on both sides with images and words.

In addition to the carvings illustrating Narmer's battles, the images include symbols of a cattle cult, and drawings that are typical of later Egyptian forms of decoration. The Narmer palette may not be a representation of the unification battle of 5,000 years ago; but its extensive decorations will continue to intrigue historians and archaeologists for years to come.

Sources

Wengrove, David 2001 Rethinking "cattle cults" in early Egypt: towards a prehistoric perspective on the Narmer Palette. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11(1):91-104.

Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 2000 What a King Is This: Narmer and the Concept of the Ruler. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 86:23-32.

This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Archaeology Subfields

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Archaeology Subfields
Oct 20th 2011, 10:03

Archaeology has many subfields--including both ways of thinking about archaeology and ways of studying archaeology

Battlefield Archaeology

Battlefield archaeology is an area of specialization among historical archaeologists. Archaeologists study battlefields of many different centuries, eras, and cultures, to document what historians cannot.

Biblical Archaeology

Calendrical Document - Dead Sea Scrolls Document 4Q325Dead Sea Scrolls Document 4Q325. Israel Antiquities Authority/Tsila Sagiv

Traditionally, biblical archaeology is the name given to the study of the archaeological aspects of the history of the Jewish and Christian churches as provided in the Judeo-Christian bible.

Classical Archaeology

Greek Vase, Heraklion Museum (Flying Spaghetti Monster)Greek Vase, Heraklion Museum. by A Pastafarian

Classical archaeology is the study of the ancient Mediterranean, including ancient Greece and Rome and their immediate forebears Minoans and Mycenaeans. The study is often found in ancient history or art departments in graduate schools, and in general is a broad, culture-based study.

Cognitive Archaeology

For the Love of God, Platinum Cast Skull, Damien HirstFor the Love of God, Damien Hirst. Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd / Getty Images

Archaeologists who practice cognitive archaeology are interested in the material expression of human ways of thinking about things, such as gender, class, status, kinship.

Commercial Archaeology

The crossroads plaza in PalmyraCrossroads Plaza in Palmyra, Diane Jabi

Commercial archaeology is not, as you might think, the buying and selling of artifacts, but rather archaeology which focuses on the material culture aspects of commerce and transportation.

Cultural Resource Management

Save Pasargad and PersepolisSave Pasargad and Persepolis. Ebad Hashemi

Cultural Resource Management, also called Heritage Management in some countries, is the way cultural resources including archaeology are managed at the governmental level. When it works best, CRM is a process, in which all the interested parties are allowed to have some input into the decision about what to do about endangered resources on public property.

Economic Archaeology

Karl Marx's Gravestone, Highgate Cemetery, London, EnglandKarl Marx's Gravestone, London. 13bobby

Economic archaeologists are concerned with how people control their economic resources, most particularly but not entirely, their food supply. Many economic archaeologists are Marxists, in that they are interested in who controls food supply, and how.

Environmental Archaeology

Huge tree in Angkor Wat, CambodiaHuge tree in Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Marco Lo Vullo

Environmental archaeology is the subdiscipline of archaeology that focuses on the impacts of a given culture on the environment, as well as the impact of the environment on that culture.

Ethnoarchaeology

Ethnoarchaeology is the science of applying archaeological methods to living groups, in part to understand how the processes of how various cultures create archaeological sites, what they leave behind and what kind of patterns can be seen in modern rubbish.

Experimental Archaeology

Flint Knapper at WorkFlint Knapper at Work. Travis Shinabarger

Experimental archaeology is a branch of archaeological study that replicates or attempts to replicate past processes to understand how the deposits came about. Experimental archaeoloy includes everything from the recreation of a stone tool through flintknapping to reconstruction of an entire village into a living history farm.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Klasies River

Archaeology: What's Hot Now
These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Klasies River
Oct 20th 2011, 10:03

Beginning about 125,000 years ago, a handful of our human ancestors lived in a handful of caves on the Tsitsikamma coast of South Africa, near the small stream called Klasies River. The site located at the very southern tip of Africa provides evidence of the behavior of Homo sapiens at our very earliest moments of existence, and a slightly uncomfortable peek into our distant past.

The people who lived in these caves were modern humans who lived by recognizably human methods, hunting game and gathering plant foods. Evidence for our other hominid ancestors--Homo erectus and Homo ergaster, for example--suggests that they primarily scavenged other animal's kills; the Homo sapiens of Klasies River caves knew how to hunt. The Klasies River people dined on shellfish, antelope, seals, penguins, and some unidentified plant foods, roasting them in hearths built for the purpose. The caves were not permanent residences for the humans who inhabited them, as best as we can tell; they only stayed for a few weeks, then moved along to the next hunting stand. Stone tools and flakes made from beach cobbles were recovered from the earliest levels of the site.

Klasies River and Howieson's Poort

Apart from the debris of living, researchers have also found fragmentary evidence in these earliest levels of the earliest of ritual behavior--cannibalism. Fossil human remains were found in several layers of the Klasies River occupations, fire-blackened fragments of skulls and other bones showing cut marks. While this alone would not convince researchers that cannibalism had taken place, the pieces were mixed with the rubble of kitchen debris--thrown out with the shells and bones of the remainder of the meal. These bones were unequivocally modern human; at a time when no other modern humans are known--only Neanderthals and early modern Homo existed outside of Africa.

By 70,000 years ago, when the layers called by archaeologists Howieson's Poort were laid down, these same caves were used by the descendents with a more sophisticated stone tool technology, backed tools from thin stone blades, and perhaps projectile points. The raw material from these tools came not from the beach, but from rough mines some 20 kilometers away. The Middle Stone Age Howieson's Poort lithic technology is nearly unique for its time; similar tool types are not found anywhere else until the much later Late Stone Age assemblages.

While archaeologists and paleontologists continue to debate whether modern humans are descended only from the Homo sapiens populations from Africa, or from a combination of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal, the Klasies River cave populations are still our ancestors, and are still representatives of the earliest known modern humans on the planet.

Sources

Bartram, Laurence E.Jr. and Curtis W. Marean 1999 Explaining the "Klasies Pattern": Kua ethnoarchaeology, the Die Kelders middle stone age archaeofauna, long bone fragmentation and carnivore ravaging. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:9-29.

Churchill, S. E., et al. 1996 Morphological affinities of the proximal ulna from Klasies River main site: archaic or modern? Journal of Human Evolution 31:213-237.

Deacon, H. J. and V. B. Geleisjsne 1988 The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the main site sequence, Klasies River, South Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 43:5-14.

Hall, S. and J. Binneman 1987 Later stone age burial variability in the Cape: A social interpretation. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 42:140-152.

Voigt, Elizabeth 1973 Stone Age Molluscan Utilization at Klasies River Mouth Caves. South African Journal of Science 69:306-309.

Wurz, Sarah 2002 Variability in the Middle Stone Age lithic seuqnece, 115,000-60,000 years ago at Klasies River, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 29:1001-1015.

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