Thursday, February 9, 2012

The World's Oldest (Yet) Known Paintings

Tee hee hee. These ARE the oldest, until they discover some more... Some day, they'll get it right. But until then, sigh.

Story from Gizmodo.com
Jeus Diaz, February 7, 2012

These Are the Earliest Human Paintings Ever

According to new dating tests, these are the first paintings ever made by humans. They are seals painted more than 42,000 years ago, located in the Cave of Nerja, in Málaga, Spain. And they may change our ideas about humanity's evolution. [Evolution? Bwwwwaaaaahhhhaaaaaaaa! On the other hand, how the hell did anyone identify these as "seals?" I just thought they were fish, or maybe pigs without feet...]

Until now, archeologists thought that the oldest art was created during the Aurignacian period, by modern humans. But these are way older, way more primitive than the ones in Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, the 32,000-year-old paintings featured in Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

According to the latest dating of the charcoal found next to the paintings—used either to make the paintings or illuminate them—these seals may have been made more than 42,300 years ago. In fact, they may be as old as 43,500 years.

It's a mindblowing academic discovery, according to project leader José Luis Sanchidrián, professor at the University of Córdoba, one that can revolutionize our understanding of our history, culture and evolution:

Our latest discoveries show that neanderthals decorated their bodies with paint and had an aesthetic sense, and that's a scientific revolutions because, until now, [we] homo sapiens have attributed our selves every achievement, showing [the neanderthals] almost like monkeys.

We thought art history was exclusive to evolved humans [but that "evolved" in quotes, of course, har!], that our sensibility was "an intimate part of ourselves, the sapiens, because we think we are the thinkers." This discovery, if confirmed with further testing, proves this sapiens-centric idea wrong.

According to Sanchidrían, all the available scientific data shows that these pictures could only have been made by Homo Neanderthalensis instead of Homo Sapiens Sapiens, something completely unthinkable until this finding. [Surprise, surprise!] "The charcoals were next to the seals, which doesn't have any parallelism in paleolithic art" said the professor, "and we knew that neanderthals ate seals." And there is no proof of homo sapiens in this part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Researchers think that this cave was one of the last points in Europe in which neanderthals—who lived from 120,000 to 35,000 years ago—sought refuge, escaping the push of the Cro-Magnon, the first earliest homo sapiens to reach Europe. [Cueva de Nerja via Diario de Córdoba—In Spanish]

Er, obviously these researchers have not kept up with the latest news on the subject. Geez, they need to read this blog, darlings!

A Quick Slide Tour of Madrid and Toledo!

I'm tired - stayed up way too late last night and tonight I'm done in; I'm going to turn in shortly. I spent the earlier part of the evening putting together this slide presentation at Smilebox of Mr. Don's and my trip to Madrid and our day-trip to Toledo, and in-between times I put together a new lamp that I purchased from Jacques Pennee' on clearance, specfically to sit on my bedside table. I love it!

Only, in the meantime, I decided to change the color-scheme in my bedroom. Oh oh. So now, not sure what I'm going to do with the lovely new lamp that is definitely BROWN toned. I'm switching from beige, tan and cream tones (with some grey) to black and white (with some grey, because the carpet is grey and I can't afford to replace it any time soon) to coordinate more closely with the Sears paint I bought eons ago called "Powder Puff" in a satin finish that was put on the walls a little over 2 years ago by Kevin, my wonderful former handy-man. I swear to you, I was aiming for a true creamy white. Instead I got - well, not sure, exactly....

There is a definite under-tone to "Powder Puff" but I'm not sure what it is - only that it sure clashes with my antique white with black toile drapes! Damn! So, those will be moved to the guest room where the walls were painted a Sears "Antique White" in satin finish some 19 years or so ago. They will probably go much better in that room.

In my bedroom, "Powder Puff" does seem to go better with my Jacqlyn Smith "Today" toile comforter in a true white and black that I bought more than 2 years ago and it's no longer available! Can't get sheets to match! But there's the comforter, pillow shams and bed skirt.and I'm adding a pure white mesh canopy over the bed just for the hell of it that I recently purchased at Overstock.com. Going over Niagra Falls, for sure, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. Whatever, arrrgggghhhh!

Here's the slideshow!

Slideshow customized with Smilebox

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Priceless Indian Find and Yet More Destruction of Ancient Sites

From dawn.com
February 7, 2012
Rare Indus seal discovered in Cholistan (excerpted)

LAHORE, Feb 6: The Punjab University archaeology department has discovered a rare Indus seal in steatite material with carved figure of Ibex with two pictographs from Wattoowala, Cholistan, during a survey of different sites near Derawar Fort along the ancient bed of River Hakra.

(Not a good image, unfortunately) The seal dates back to 2500-2000 BC.

The seal has been discovered by a six-member team of archaeologists headed by PU archaeology department chairman Dr Farzand Masih, who has just concluded a Unesco-funded US$26,000 project “Sui-Vihar Excavations and Archaeological Reconnaissance of southern Punjab”.

Dr Masih told Dawn that the discovery would open new dimensions for scholars. The seal has a perforated boss in the back with variant style from Harappan seals showing the regional influence and perhaps a separate identity in the Harappan domain. The seal is almost square in shape and slightly broken from the right side but figure of Ibex is almost intact. The muscles, genitalia, hooves and tail of the Ibex were engraved artistically with high proportion of skill and craftsmanship.

Dr Masih said the team had also combed the Cholistan desert in the vicinity of Derawar Fort. Prior to that, he said, Sir Aural Stein and Henry Field had conducted the survey in 1941 and 1955, respectively. After the Independence, he said, Dr Muhammad Rafique Mughal had conducted an extensive survey during 1974-77 and discovered altogether 424 settlements on a 24-32 km wide strip on both sides of the dry bed of Hakra River.

He said the Mughals’ work in Cholistan had established a new dimension in the understanding of Indus cultures in Cholistan but unfortunately any indigenous or foreign scholar could not precede his work further even after three decades. Consequently, he said, the PU took the gigantic task of exploring the sites in spite of the inhospitable climatic conditions and surveyed some 25 sites in Cholistan Desert, which eventually led to the discovery of the rare Indus seal.

During explorations in Cholistan, the archaeology department chairman told Dawn that the team had also recorded flagrant violation of the Antiquities Rules to the cultural mounds which had been subjected to the worst human vandalism. “The land grabbers and other mafias have brutally murdered the cultural heritage while sinking tubewells on the mounds and ploughing the mounds to convert them into farm lands,” he said.

Dr Masih said the private land owners had sold the land including the cultural mounds and now the attitude of the new buyers towards the heritage was very hostile and it was feared that if no concrete steps were taken to safeguard the relics of the past, it might meet the fate of ruins of Harappa that suffered colossal damage during the laying of Lahore-Multan railway track.

“The entire scenario shows the dexterity of the investors and the pathetic attitude of the agencies responsible for cultural heritage of Pakistan,” he observed.

Short Sighted Policies: Destruction of Archaeological Sites in China

I can't begin to tell you how much this pisses me off! Once lost, this heritage is gone forever. We can never, ever EVER get it back.

From Popular Archaeology
Census Declares Thousands of China’s Heritage Sites “Disappeared”
By Heritage on the Wire Tue, Feb 07, 2012

The results are in from China’s most recent national heritage census — the first in more than 20 years — and they’re not good.

According to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), around 44,000 of China’s 766,722 registered heritage sites have completely disappeared, while approximately a quarter of those remaining are either “poorly preserved” or “in a state of disrepair.” No sites were specifically mentioned in the census, but the study included ancient ruins, temples and other cultural relics.

According to Liu Xiaohe, deputy director of the survey, economic construction is among the biggest reasons for the destruction. Many of the vanished sites were completely unprotected or ignored by protection units overseeing national and provincial cultural relics, thereby allowing their demolition in favor of construction projects. In addition, some heritage sites were destroyed without explanation.

Meanwhile, a recent Guardian article reported on the increasingly sophisticated looting gangs that have devastated China’s heritage sites, with a national network of as many as 100,000 looters working to serve international dealers and collectors. According to the report, the thieves use dynamite and sometimes bulldozers to break into the ruins, then search and pillage using night vision goggles and oxygen canisters.

One archaeologist whose teams researched more than 900 tombs in Shaanxi province found that almost every one had been raided. (The SACH survey additionally deemed Shaanxi province the hardest-hit region, with more than 3,500 cultural sites having vanished.)

“Before, China had a large number of valuable ancient tombs, and although it was really depressing to see a tomb raided, it was still possible to run into a similar one in the future,” said Wei Zheng, a Peking University archaeologist, in the Guardian article. “Nowadays too many have been destroyed. Once one is raided, it is really difficult to find a similar one.”

Reports like these appear in stark contrast to China’s recently adopted guideline to promote cultural development. Although the guideline focused mainly on boosting China’s soft power and producing new movies, music, books and art, the tragic loss of thousands of cultural relics does not correlate with cultural development.

News Source: Global Heritage Fund
See more about the Global Heritage Fund at www.globalheritagefund.org.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Paul Michael Home

Whew - finally! I can write about the Paul Michael Company and how fab, fab, fabulous they were to me in arranging an order of - feathers! Yes, feathers!

But, darlings, not just any kind of feathers. Hell no. These are the most gorgeous feathery things I've ever seen, including on the costumes of those famous Las Vegas Show Girls, Bambi Darling and Kandi Kane, who used to write witty and informative articles related to chess and sex and, er, chess, which is a very very sexy game (you must, of course, give it a chance to develop...). In fact, these are the feathers - HERE!

Okay, just to remind you how absolutely incredibly beautiful Laura Orr's Christmas Tree was -- and the Goddess made sure I stumbled across it :)

I can't sing the praises of the Paul Michael Home Company enough, especially Samantha, who was so wonderful in emails and on the telephone when I finally was able to call her (after the Holiday) to place my small order. She was just wonderful through many emails and one missed phone connect.

In due course, the feathers arrived! In this big long, jerry-rigged box that was perfectly intact despite having traveled from Arkansas via UPS (not exactly the smoothest ride...)

I haven't open the box. I'm going to wait until - CHRISTMAS 2012!!!!

Many many wonderful thank-yous to Samantha and the Paul Michael Company for their great customer service. That's what I love -- real, actual people doing real, actual things for you and being glad to do it -- and I hope you will, too. Please check out their fab website and order some things! There's lots to choose from. You'll be glad you did, darlings!

Harappan Finds at Ropar?

From Archaeo News at stonepages.com
5 February 2012

Pottery from 1900 BCE discovered in India

Hallmark pottery dating back to 1900 BCE has been discovered during the recent excavations in Rupnagar (Punjab, India). The Archaeological Survey of India, which recently started excavating the site after a gap of 56 years, has recovered fragments of geometrical designs dating back to the Harappan era.

Ropar is situated on a high ancient mound overlaying the Shiwalik deposition on the left bank of the river Satluj where it emerges into the plains. It has yielded a sequence of six cultural periods or phases with some breaks from Harappan times to the present day. The first excavations at the site were carried out by Dr. Y.D. Sharma of the Archaeological Survey of India. The migration of people from Harappa to Ropar has been postulated through the lost Saraswati River to the Satluj as both rivers once belonged to

After more than five decades, archaeologists say further digging may allow them to discover typical Harappan culture findings. "We have so far found the contemporary, regional elements, but there is a possibility of discovering typical Harappan culture items," said superintending archaeologist V.N. Prabhakar.

Experts say once the excavations are over, they will use scientific methods to establish the dietary pattern of the Asian population that lived there.

Edited from The Asian Age (2 February 2012)

2012 Moscow Open: National Cup - Men (A Group)

The winner, and the chess femmes' final standings that I was able to pick out of the long list of players (190). My apologies to any female players I may have left off the list.

Moscow Open 2012 A

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp
1	GM	Lysyj Igor	RUS	2633	7,5	50,5	6	38,5	2847

Gunina Valentina

RUS

2510

5,5

46,5

29,5

2512

WGM

Girya Olga

RUS

2399

2437

126

WGM

Cori T Deysi

PER

2415

37,5

2331

145

WIM

Saduakassova Dinara

KAZ

2191

3,5

18,5

2301

151

WFM

Petrukhina Irina

RUS

2202

3,5

35,5

13,5

2219

173

WFM

Baraeva Irina

RUS

2165

2,5

2110

2012 Moscow Open: College Grandmaster Cup (Women)

Final standings crosstable:

№	Name				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Place
1	Padmini, Rout	WGM	2383	IND		1/2	1/2	1	0	1/2	1	1	1/2	0	5	5
2	Batsiashvili, Nino	WGM	2426	GEO	1/2		1	1/2	1	1/2	1	1	1/2	1	7	1
3	Bulmaga, Irina	WIM	2360	ROU	1/2	0		0	0	1/2	1	0	1	0	3	8
4	Kashlinskaya, Alina	WGM	2389	RUS	0	1/2	1		1/2	0	1	1	0	1/2	4,5	7
5	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	WIM	2333	RUS	1	0	1	1/2		0	1	1	1/2	1/2	5,5	4
6	Ziaziulkina, Nastassia	WIM	2290	BLR	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1		1	1/2	1	1/2	6,5	2
7	Severina, Maria		2185	RUS	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	1/2	0	1,5	10
8	Drozdova, Dina		2242	RUS	0	0	1	0	0	1/2	0		0	0	1,5	9
9	Pustovoitova, Daria	FM	2303	RUS	1/2	1/2	0	1	1/2	0	1/2	1		1/2	4,5	6
10	Szczepkowska-Horowska, Karina	WGM	2377	POL	1	0	1	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1	1/2		6	3

2012 Moscow Open: National Cup - Women (Group B)

Final standings from the National Cup (B Group - Women):

Moscow Open 2012 B