Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Rare Glimpse of Tepanec Culture Goddess

Hybrid Corn Goddess

Photograph from Cortesía/INAH/RML/AP
In addition to graves, the excavation—which began two months ago in advance of the construction of a new apartment building—yielded objects that may speak to the religious beliefs of the little-known Tepanec. This figurine, explained Talavera González, is a combination of the goddess of rain and the goddess of corn.

The site is in an area called Azcapotzalco—in its day a rich and powerful capital and today a borough in northwestern Mexico City. According to INAH, the new findings indicate Azcapotzalco was also an elite Tepanec business district and a civil and ceremonial center.

Published July 31, 2012
National Geographic Daily News


More on the excavations - including the burial of a woman with a newborn infant in her arms and other child burials -- some sacrificial?

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Smokin' Hot Krush!

Wowsers!  IM Irina Krush, reigning U.S. Women's Chess Championship, looks fabulous on the 2012 August edition of the USCF's print (and online) magazine, Chess Life:


Nakamura?  Meh.  Looks like a slumped over Willy Loman. Well, a youngish Willy Loman.  Too many St. Louis ribs?  the photographer did not due (pun!) our reigning U.S. Champ any favors by placing his black suit clad bod against black silk covering his chair.  Naka looks er, legless. Okay, I'm not going any further with that

This is the "cover" for a grand announcement found at Chessbase online -- all Chess Life mags will now be in full, glorious raging color.  Ta Da! 

Now, we all know, darlings, why Chessbase published this at all.  It's because of that absolutely spectacular photo of Krush!  They always have such a soft spot for gorgeous female chessplayers :)

Texas Tech Chess Program Steps Up Its Game

Getting Onischuk as head coach!  Score!  Lawrence - totally wired into the Chess Establishment.  A prudent move by TT. 

Texas Tech hires director and coach for national champion chess program

Posted: Jul 31, 2012 3:28 PM CDTU
pdated: Jul 31, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

Monday, July 30, 2012

Turkish Dig Yields Well-Preserved Statue of King Suppiluliuma

Caption: The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 meters in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four meters. The figure’s face is bearded, with beautifully preserved inlaid eyes made of white and black stone, and its hair has been coiffed in an elaborate series of curls aligned in linear rows. Both arms are extended forward from the elbow, each with two arm bracelets decorated with lion heads. The figure’s right hand holds a spear, and in its left is a shaft of wheat. A crescent-shaped pectoral adorns its chest. A lengthy Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription, carved in raised relief across its back, records the campaigns and accomplishments of Suppiluliuma, likely the same Patinean king who faced a Neo-Assyrian onslaught of Shalmaneser III as part of a Syrian-Hittite coalition in 858 BC.
Credit: Jennifer Jackson
Usage Restrictions: None
Related news release: Archeologists unearth extraordinary human sculpture in Turkey
Archeologists unearth extraordinary human sculpture in Turkey

A beautiful and colossal human sculpture is one of the latest cultural treasures unearthed by an international team at the Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP) excavation site in southeastern Turkey. A large semi-circular column base, ornately decorated on one side, was also discovered. Both pieces are from a monumental gate complex that provided access to the upper citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 1000-738 BC).

"These newly discovered Tayinat sculptures are the product of a vibrant local Neo-Hittite sculptural tradition," said Professor Tim Harrison, the Tayinat Project director and professor of Near Eastern Archaeology in the University of Toronto's Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. "They provide a vivid glimpse into the innovative character and sophistication of the Iron Age cultures that emerged in the eastern Mediterranean following the collapse of the great imperial powers of the Bronze Age at the end of the second millennium BC."

The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 metres in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four metres. The figure's face is bearded, with beautifully preserved inlaid eyes made of white and black stone, and its hair has been coiffed in an elaborate series of curls aligned in linear rows. Both arms are extended forward from the elbow, each with two arm bracelets decorated with lion heads. The figure's right hand holds a spear, and in its left is a shaft of wheat. A crescent-shaped pectoral adorns its chest. A lengthy Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription, carved in raised relief across its back, records the campaigns and accomplishments of Suppiluliuma, likely the same Patinean king who faced a Neo-Assyrian onslaught of Shalmaneser III as part of a Syrian-Hittite coalition in 858 BC.

The second sculpture is a large semi-circular column base, approximately one metre in height and 90 centimetres in diameter, lying on its side next to the human figure. A winged bull is carved on the front of the column and it is flanked by a sphinx on its left. The right side of the column is flat and undecorated, an indication that it originally stood against a wall.

"The two pieces appear to have been ritually buried in the paved stone surface of the central passageway through the Tayinat gate complex," said Harrison. The complex would have provided a monumental ceremonial approach to the upper citadel of the royal city. Tayinat, a large low-lying mound, is located 35 kilometres east of Antakya (ancient Antioch) along the Antakya-Aleppo road.

The presence of colossal human statues, often astride lions or sphinxes, in the citadel gateways of the Neo-Hittite royal cities of Iron Age Syro-Anatolia continued a Bronze Age Hittite tradition that accentuated their symbolic role as boundary zones, and the role of the king as the divinely appointed guardian or gate keeper of the community. By the ninth and eighth centuries BC, these elaborately decorated gateways, with their ornately carved reliefs, had come to serve as dynastic parades, legitimizing the power of the ruling elite. The gate reliefs also formed linear narratives, guiding their audiences between the human and divine realms, with the king serving as the link between the two worlds.

The Tayinat gate complex appears to have been destroyed following the Assyrian conquest of the region in 738 BC, when the area was paved over and converted into the central courtyard of an Assyrian sacred precinct. These smashed and deposited monumental sculptures also include a magnificently carved lion that was discovered last year and Hieroglyphic Luwian-inscribed stelae (stone slabs or pillars used for commemoratives purposes). Together these finds hint of an earlier Neo-Hittite complex that might have once faced the gateway approach.

Scholars have long speculated that the reference to Calno, identified as one of the "kingdoms of the idols" in Isaiah's oracle against Assyria (Isaiah 10:9-10), alludes to the Assyrian devastation of Kunulua (i.e., Tayinat). The destruction of the Luwian monuments and conversion of the area into an Assyrian religious complex may represent the physical manifestation of this historic event, subsequently memorialized in Isaiah's oracle.
###

HIV-Positive Women Being Sterilized in Namibia

Namibia illegally sterilized HIV-infected women

Sunday, July 29, 2012

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship

The 2012 Goddessschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship starts August 4th! 

The playing venue is the Olympic Stadium Regroupment Loisir Quebec,4, 545 Pierre-de-Coubertin, Montréal. 

Schedule :
Saturday, 3:30 pm, opening ceremony
Rd 1: Saturday, 4pm
Rd 2: Sunday, 10 am
Rd 3: Sunday, 4 pm
Rd 4: Monday, 4 pm
Rd 5: Tuesday, 4 pm
Rd 6: Wednesday, 4 pm
Rd 7: Thursday, 4 pm
Rd 8: Friday, 4 pm
Rd 9: Saturday, 1 pm
Playoffs and closing ceremony: as soon as possible after round 9.

Guaranteed prize fund:1- Travel to the Women’s world championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia (1000$) + 200$
2- 150$
3- 100$
100$ added to the prize fund for each player over 12 (66% 2nd prize, 33% 3rd prize). Free accommodation for 2011 Women’s champion.

Time Control: 40/90, G/30 + 30 seconds from move one.


Here are the final standings of the 2011 Canadian Women's Chess Championship (from Wikipedia):

CAN-ch (Women) Toronto 2011
PlayerRatingPoints
1 Natalia Khoudgarian (CAN)2468
2 Iulia Lacau-Rodean (CAN)2426
3 Yelizaveta Orlova (CAN)23214
4 Jackie Peng (CAN)2353
5 Chang Yun (CAN)2288
6 Jiaxin Liu (CAN)2211
7 Daniela Belc (CAN)22183
8 Qiyu Zhou (CAN)23223
9 Rebecca Giblon (CAN)21453
10 Melissa Lee (CAN)23093
11 Myriam Roy (CAN)2217
12 Olya Chichkina (CAN)2231
13 Melissa Giblon (CAN)2249
14 Jessica Danti (CAN)21392
15 Rachel Tao (CAN)21271
16 Taylor Zhang (CAN)21600

You will recognize many of these names among the players registered for the 2012 Goddesschess Champiuonship. 

Here are bios of the players -- on some players there is not much information available on the internet (at least, I could not easily locate it!)

This promises to be a very exciting Championship, and I can't wait for play to start!  I love the mix of experience and youth, although even the youngest players have been tested in various championship settings!  I am impressed. 

WIM Natalia Khoudgarian (2278 CFC)(2158 FIDE)
Current Canadian Women's Champion, born 1975 in Moscow, Russia.  Married and has two daughters. 
Bio information at Wikipedia 
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Profile at Chess Federation of Canada
More biographical information (source of photo, below)
Natalia won the 2007 Canadian Women's Chess Championship

WIM Natalia Khoudgarian

Jackie Peng (2121 CFC)(1998 FIDE)
In 8th grade and 14 (at the time of the article from which the photo, below, was taken)
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Profile at Chess Federation of Canada
Jackie Peng, 14, becomes second youngest player ever on Canada’s national chess team
July 12, 2012
Jackie Peng Will Represent Canada Proudly, May 29, 2012

Jackie Peng

Myriam Roy (2093 FQE)(1979 CFC)(1951 FIDE)
Born 1995 (Age 17)
Bio
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com); also at 365 Chess.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Some information available at David Cohen's Canadian Chess Biographies 

Myriam Roy (2093 FQE)(right), with WGM Alina L'Ami at the 2011
City of Montreal Open Chess Championships, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lali Agbabshvili (2018 CFC)(1952 FIDE)
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada


Chang Yun (1988 FQE)(1873 CFC)(1886 FIDE)
Born 1996 (Age 16)
Some of her Games (at Chess Tempo.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Chang Yun, Canadian player at
 2011 FIDE World Youth Chess Championships
(Girls U-16)

Qiyu Zhou (1953 CFC)(1813 FIDE)
Born 2000 (Age 12)
Some of her Games (at Chess Games.com); also at 365 Chess.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Zhou Qiyu 2011 World Youth Chess Championship, U-12

Natasa Serbanescu (1869 CFC)(1824 FIDE)
Some of her Games (at Chess Games.com); also at Chess 365.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Natasa played in the 2007 Canadian Women's Chess Championship

WCM Jiaxin (Dora) Liu (1722 CFC)(1669 FIDE)
born 2001 (Age 11)
Bio
Some of her Games (at Chess Tempo.com)
A few games at Chess Games.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Liu Jiaxin (Dora) finished first in her group (G 5) at the 2012 Ontario Girls' Chess Championship

Photo from FIDE profile

From the 2010 Canadian Open, courtesy of  GM Kevin Spraggett's blog

Indy Ma (1698 FQE) (1490 CFC)
Born 1996 (Age 16)
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Ling Yun Shi (1633 FQE)
Ling Yun Shi is in 6th grade (per the 2012 Canadian Chess Challenge) and so I estimate she is 11 or Born 1999 (Age 12)
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Recent tournaments at Quebec Chess Federation (Federation Quebecoise des echecs)

Giant Lion Carvings Split Apart in Looter Search for Treasure

Looters should be drawn and quartered.

From Live Science
Date: 25 July 2012 Time: 12:18 PM ET
Two sculptures of life-size lions, each weighing about 5 tons in antiquity, have been discovered in what is now Turkey, with archaeologists perplexed over what the granite cats were used for. One idea is that the statues, created between 1400 and 1200 B.C., were meant to be part of a monument for a sacred water spring, the researchers said.

A life-size granite lion sculpture discovered in the town of Karakiz in Turkey. Dating back more than 3,200 years, to the time of the Hittite Empire, the lion is shown "prowling forward" with rippling muscles and a curved tail. In antiquity there would have been a second lion connected to it, bringing the total weight of the sculpture to about 5 tons (10,000 pounds).
CREDIT: Photo copyright American Journal of Archaeology

The lifelike lions were created by the Hittites who controlled a vast empire in the region at a time when the Asiatic lion roamed the foothills of Turkey.

"The lions are prowling forward, their heads slightly lowered; the tops of their heads are barely higher than the napes," write Geoffrey Summers, of the Middle East Technical University, and researcher Erol Özen in an article published in the most recent edition of the American Journal of Archaeology.

The two lion sculptures have stylistic differences and were made by different sculptors. The lion sculpture found in the village of Karakiz is particularly lifelike, with rippling muscles and a tail that curves around the back of the granite boulder.

"The sculptors certainly knew what lions looked like," Summers told LiveScience in an interview. He said that both archaeological and ancient written records indicate that the Asiatic lion, now extinct in Turkey, was still very much around, some even being kept by the Hittites in pits.

Curiously the sculpture at Karakiz has an orange color caused by the oxidization of minerals in the stone. Summers said that he doesn't believe it had this color when it was first carved.

The head of the surviving Karakiz lion. It was never finished, its sculptor intending the piece to be moved and completed on location. Remnants of the second lion can be seen on the left.
CREDIT: Photo copyright American Journal of Archaeology

Digging up lions

The story of the discovery of the massive lions began in 2001, when Özen, at the time director of the Yozgat Museum, was alerted to the existence of the ancient quarry by a man from Karakiz village and an official from the Ministry of Culture. An extensive search of the area was undertaken in spring 2002 with fieldwork occurring in the following years.

Looters, however, beat the archaeologists to the catch. The Karakiz lion was found dynamited in two, likely in the mistaken belief that it contained hidden treasure. "There's this belief that monuments like this contain treasure," said Summers, explaining that the dynamiting of monuments is a problem in Turkey. "It makes the Turkish newspapers every month or so."

The second lion, found to the northeast of the village, had also been split in two. As a result of this destruction both lion sculptures, which originally were paired with another, now mainly have one lion intact.

A second granite lion was found to the northeast of the town. There are stylistic differences between this sculpture and the one in Karakiz although in antiquity this also was attached to a second lion.
CREDIT: Photo copyright American Journal of Archaeology 

The danger of new looting loomed over the researchers while they went about their work. In the summer of 2008 evidence of "fresh treasure hunting" was found at the ancient quarry along with damage to a drum-shaped rock that, in antiquity, was in the process of being carved.

What were they intended for?

The discovery of the massive lions, along with other pieces in the quarry, such as a large stone basin about 7 feet (2 meters) in diameter, left the archaeologists with a mystery — what were they intended for?

A search of the surrounding area revealed no evidence of a Hittite settlement dating back to the time of the statues. Also, the sheer size of the sculptures meant that the sculptors likely did not intend to move them very far.

Summers hypothesizes that, rather than being meant for a palace or a great city, the lions were being created for a monument to mark something else – water.

"I think it's highly likely that that monument was going to be associated with one of the very copious springs that are quite close," he said in the interview. "There are good parallels for associations of Hittite sculptural traditions with water sources."

Indeed one well-known monument site, known as Eflatun P?nar, holds a sacred pool that "is fed by a spring beneath the pool itself," write Yi?it Erbil and Alice Mouton in an article that was published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. The two researchers were writing about water religions in ancient Anatolia (Turkey).

"According to the Hittite cuneiform texts, water was seen as an effective purifying element," Erbil and Mouton write, "used in the form of lustrations or even full baths during ritual performances, its cleansing power is self-evident."

To the Hittites the natural world, springs included, was a place of great religious importance, one worthy of monuments with giant lions. "These things (water sources) were sacred, just as their mountains were sacred," Summers said.

Lots and Lots of Angry Young Men

Take a look at this AFP photograph from the "protests" in Qidong, China:


I see lots of angry young men in this photograph.  There are women too, but many more males than females.

I couldn't help think about the sex ratio disparity that is now causing both China and India huge albeit mostly unspoken and perhaps even "unrecognized" problems -- in China I think the ratio is 124 males for every 100 female born; in India the ratio is even more out of whack.  I believe the normal birth ratio is 105 females to 100 males.  There are now millions of marriageable men who cannot find a mate because their countries' cultural preferences have succeeded in killing off at least 100 million females (that's in India alone; I assume it's a similar number in China) who otherwise would have been born!

So when I see photographs like this one, and read stories about these flash "protests" -- I sit up and take notice.  It's only going to get worse as the male rage builds.

QIDONG, China — Thousands of people demonstrating over fears of pollution from a sewage pipeline at a paper factory in east China clashed with police Saturday, the latest in a series of environmental protests.

The protestors overturned two cars and ransacked local government offices in the coastal city of Qidong, near Shanghai, an AFP photographer said.

Demonstrators seized bottles of liquor and wine from the offices along with cartons of cigarettes, items which Chinese officials frequently receive as bribes, according to messages on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like service. [So, the corrupt officials don't even bother to try and hide the items they received as bribes -- they keep the goodies in their offices!]

Thousands of people had gathered in a square in front of the government offices and in adjacent streets Saturday morning, with armed police arriving at the scene at 9:00 am, AFP witnessed. But the crowds dispersed after local authorities used television, radio, the Internet and text message to announce that the waste water pipeline project at the mill, which belongs to Japanese company Oji Paper, would be "permanently cancelled".

Oji Paper denied it was causing pollution and said closing the 110 kilometre (70-mile) pipeline would not affect operations at the plant, located in Nantong, Jiji Press reported. [So where are they going to dump the sewage now?]

"We don't release 'polluted water' as we are currently releasing water after purification that meets the local environmental standards," the news agency quoted a company public relations official as saying. [Oh geez, that's reassuring - NOT!  What standards?  If there are any standards, everyone knows they are ignored due to those nice bribes being paid monthly to the local Communist officials!]

Protests against environmental degradation have increased in China, where three decades of rapid and unfettered industrial expansion have taken their toll.

The sewage pipe from the paper mill would have discharged into the sea in the port of Lusi, one of four fishing harbours in Qidong, one protestor, who for safety reasons only gave her name as Qin, told AFP.

Discharges were set to climb to 150,000 tonnes of sewage a day when the mill was fully operational, according to residents quoted Friday by the state-run Global Times newspaper. [And they were going to dump this into the "sea" -- well, guess what that sea is -- it's the Pacific Ocean!]

Qin said there had been about 50,000 demonstrators but that "almost everyone left after the government's promise to stop the project".

A Nantong official, who gave his name as Chen, denied rumours that an 18-year-old man had been beaten to death by police.  "It must be a rumour, if true we would know," Chen told AFP by phone. [Yeah, right -- just a 'runour.']

A photograph posted on the Internet showed a man, identified online as Sun Jianhua, the party secretary of the city, protected by police. He had apparently been stripped to the waist by protesters.
One microblogger using the name Qidong Longhuisheng estimated numbers at 100,000.

"There are people everywhere, on walls, cars, rooftops, in streets," said another Internet user writing under the name Jiaojiaotaotailang earlier in the day.  "The air is filled with the smell of alcohol, and there are sounds of breaking glass."

Searches including "Qidong" were blocked Saturday on Sina Weibo, which has more than 250 million subscribers.

The move to close the paper mill's waste water pipeline comes after Chinese authorities this month scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion metals plant in the southwest province of Sichuan following violent protests by local residents concerned about the planned factory's environmental impact.

Similar incidents are reported regularly around China, many over environmental concerns that locals say are linked to corruption, but authorities typically quash the protests and push ahead with the projects.

The Chinese government warned Friday that security would be tightened throughout the country ahead of a major Communist Party Congress this autumn, which should see a new generation of leaders take over the reins of power.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Follow-up: World's Oldest Evidence of Ceramics?

Published: Jul 26th, 2012

17,500-Year-Old Ceramic Figures Unearthed in Croatia


An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the first evidence of ceramic figurative art in late Upper Paleolithic Europe – from about 17,500 years ago, thousands of years before pottery was commonly used.

36 ceramics artifacts found at the archaeological site of Vela Spila, Croatia (Rebecca Farbstein / PLoS ONE)


The evidence of a community of prehistoric artists and craftspeople who ‘invented’ ceramics during the last Ice Age has been found at the archaeological site of Vela Spila, Croatia.

The finds consist of 36 fragments, most of them apparently the broken-off remnants of modeled animals, and come from the site on the Adriatic coast. The archaeologists believe that they were the products of an artistic culture which sprang up in the region about 17,500 years ago. Their ceramic art flourished for about 2,500 years, but then disappeared
.
A study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, adds to a rapidly-changing set of views about when humans first developed the ability to make ceramics and pottery. Most histories of the technology begin with the more settled cultures of the Neolithic era, which began about 10,000 years ago.

Now it is becoming clear that the story was much more complex. Over thousands of years, ceramics were invented, lost, reinvented and lost again. The earliest producers did not make crockery, but seem to have had more artistic inclinations.

“It is extremely unusual to find ceramic art this early in prehistory,” said senior author Dr Preston Miracle of the University of Cambridge. “The finds at Vela Spila seem to represent the first evidence of Paleolithic ceramic art at the end of the last Ice Age. They appear to have been developed independently of anything that had come before. We are starting to see that several distinct Paleolithic societies made art from ceramic materials long before the Neolithic era, when ceramics became more common and were usually used for more functional purposes.”

Vela Spila is a large, limestone cave on Korčula Island, in the central Dalmatian archipelago. Excavations have taken place there sporadically since 1951, and there is evidence of occupation on the site during the Upper Paleolithic period, roughly 20,000 years ago, through to the Bronze Age about 3,000 years ago.

The first ceramic finds were made back in 2001. Initially they were almost overlooked, because it is so unusual to find ceramic in the Upper Paleolithic record. As more ceramic emerged, however, examples were set aside for careful analysis.

Broadly, the collection belongs to a material culture known as ‘Epigravettian’ which spanned 12,000 years, but radiocarbon dating has allowed scholars to pin down the Vela Spila ceramic collection to a much narrower period, between 17,500 and 15,000 years ago. Those which can be identified appear to be fragments of modeled animals.

The ceramics were clearly made with care and attention by real craftspeople who knew what they were doing. One of the better-preserved items, which seems to be the torso and foreleg of a horse or deer, shows that the creator deliberately minimized the number of joins in the model, perhaps to give it structural strength.

As well as being the first and only evidence of ceramic, figurative art in south-eastern Europe during the Upper Paleolithic, the collection’s size, range and complexity suggests that Vela Spila was the heart of a flourishing and distinctive artistic tradition. Although the finds bear some similarities with ceramics discovered in the Czech Republic, which date back a further 10,000 years, there are enough structural and stylistic differences – as well as separation by a huge gulf in time – to suggest no continuity between the two.

The older, Czech finds were also typically found near hearths, which were possibly kilns. Some researchers have even gone so far as to suggest that they were deliberately destroyed in the fire as some sort of ritual act. The Vela Spila finds, on the other hand, appear to have undergone no such ritual destruction – at least not in the same way.

As a result, the Cambridge-Croatian team believes that these ceramics came from a hitherto unknown artistic tradition that flourished for about two millennia in the Balkans. Like their Neolithic descendants, these people may have had no knowledge of ceramics before they invented the technology for themselves.

“The development of this new material and technology may have been a catalyst for a more general transformation in artistic expression and figurative art at this site thousands of years ago,” said lead author Dr Rebecca Farbstein of the University of Cambridge. “Although we often focus on utilitarian innovations as examples of societies transforming as a result of new technology, the ceramic evidence we have found here offers a glimpse into the ways in which prehistoric cultures were also sometimes defined and affected by artistic innovations and expression.”
_______
Bibliographic information: Farbstein R, Radić D, Brajković D, Miracle PT. 2012. First Epigravettian Ceramic Figurines from Europe (Vela Spila, Croatia). PLoS ONE 7(7): e41437; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041437

So, what is this about "older Czech finds" dating back another 10,000 years?  Are ceramics then as old at 27000 BCE?  Older than the Venus of Willendorf?  I seem to have missed this!

2012 Quebec Open

Hola!  Final standings are here.  WGM Melissa Greeff of South Africa, who was a last minute entry into the Invitational, did not finish in last place, a good thing! 

Invitational (9 rounds):

Classement final après 9 rondes

Rg.NameFEDELOPts. Dep.1
1GMSO WesleyPHI26507.537.50
2GMBRUZON BATISTA LazaroCUB27117.038.25
3GMSUMETS AndreyUKR26186.535.00
4GMKOVALYOV AntonARG26145.524.25
5FMOLIVA CASTANEDA KevelCUB23205.523.00
6IMGERZHOY LeonidCAN24595.522.50
7IMPANJWANI RajaCAN23925.521.75
8FMTHAVANDIRAN ShiyamCAN23015.521.50
9GMARENCIBIA RODRIGUEZ WalterCUB25265.024.50
10GMROZENTALIS EduardasLTU26005.022.00
11IMNARODITSKY DanielUSA24865.020.25
12IMPEREZ GARCIA Rodney OscarCUB24125.018.25
13GMSAMBUEV BatorCAN25425.018.00
14IMSMITH Bryan GUSA24414.523.75
15GMBOJKOV DejanBUL25564.520.25
16IMHANSEN EricCAN24604.519.50
17GMVERA GONZALEZ-QUEVEDO ReynaldoCUB24894.518.75
18IMPIASETSKI LeonCAN22904.518.50
19IMNORITSYN NikolayCAN24604.019.00
20FMJIANG LouieCAN23374.018.00
21FMKLEINMAN MichaelCAN22934.014.00
KRAIOUCHKINE NikitaCAN22044.014.00
23QIN Zi Yi JoeyCAN21984.013.25
24IMCALUGAR ArthurCAN22734.012.00
25BERUBE AntoineCAN21523.511.75
26FMVOSKANYAN VahagnCAN22403.08.50
PRAHOV ValentinBUL22093.08.50
28WGMGREEFF MelissaRSA20913.07.50
29IMYANG DarwinUSA24982.510.00
30MASSE HuguesCAN22322.59.25
31HUMPHREYS MichaelCAN21792.05.00
32FMLEVEILLE FrancoisCAN23011.57.50

There were several sections in the Open.  The top section (A -- 57 players), had favorite son IM Jean Hebert finish in second place overall, with 6.5/8.  Here are the top 10 15 (because of tie scores I extended the range):

# Nom Cote Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Tot
1 Xu, Haizhou 2126 +41 +39 +12 +11 =7 =2 +5 +6 7
2 Hébert, Jean MI 2436 +27 +3 H--- +6 =10 =1 +17 +9
3 Tomb, Maroun 2087 +54 -2 +37 +35 +11 =9 +7 +14
4 Tessier-Desrosiers, Olivier MN 2194 +46 -22 -13 +45 +27 +39 +8 =10
5 Luksza, Arkadiusz MN 2143 +14 -12 +41 +25 +26 =7 -1 +18
6 Arsenault, Nicolas MN 2106 +36 +50 +35 -2 +12 =17 +15 -1
7 Galbadrak, Enk-Amar 2105 +32 =10 +53 +20 =1 =5 -3 +19
8 Goldner, John 1667 -35 +36 H--- +40 +34 +13 -4 +17
9 Casareno, Erwin MN 2246 =28 -35 +30 +46 +24 =3 +16 -2 5
10 Carrier, Claude 2197 +30 =7 =26 +39 =2 -15 +29 =4 5
11 Chiku-Ratté, Olivier Kenta 2196 +40 +38 +24 -1 -3 -14 +31 +28 5
12 Gelet, Seymour 2009 +57 +5 -1 +38 -6 =18 =13 +26 5
13 Yu, Zong Yang 1943 -20 +48 +4 =24 +22 -8 =12 +34 5
14 Le Duin, Thierry 1938 -5 -44 +56 +55 +35 +11 +22 -3 5
15 Rondon, Luciano 1844 =23 +18 =25 H--- +20 +10 -6 =16 5

My apologies in advance to any chess femmes that I have omitted from this report -- as I said in prior posts, I have trouble recognizing gender sometimes by names only.  Organizers, it would really be helpful for us reporters if you could designed F or M after a player's name! 

Chang Yun (FQE 1988), who will be playing in the upcoming 2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Closed Chess Championship ( also known as the Women's Invitational and Women's Zonal), finished in in 27th place overall with 4.0/8 -- at 50%.  Very good! 

Top final standings, U-2000 Section (50 players):

# Nom Cote Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Tot
1 PICHETTE Mickaélin 1863 +50 =6 +16 +14 +2 -5 +4 +11
2 ALCANTARA Maximo 1757 +34 +13 +17 +9 -1 =4 =11 +5 6
3 LIBERSAN Mattieu 1882 -7 =42 =43 +36 +33 +22 =17 +9
4 GIROUX Robert * 1845 =46 +27 +6 =7 +18 =2 -1 +16
5 PILOTTE Benoît 1823 X--- =16 =25 +17 +8 +1 =9 -2
6 VILLENEUVE Benoît 1740 +36 =1 -4 +41 +38 =7 =18 +17
7 PERNA-FRASER David 1701 +3 =14 +11 =4 =9 =6 =20 +15
8 YAO Houji 1885 -17 +28 +22 +15 -5 -18 +30 +20 5
9 COTE-LALUMIERE Tristan 1866 +45 +15 +33 -2 =7 +29 =5 -3 5
10 NIKULICH Oleksandr 1836 =25 +41 -14 =22 +24 -17 +33 +18 5
11 LALUMIERE Claude 1825 =31 +46 -7 +25 +14 +21 =2 -1 5
12 BENOIT Sébastien 1816 +28 -18 =44 +23 -29 =33 +22 +21 5

Ling Yun Shi (FQE 1618) (or perhaps it is Shi Ling Yun?), who also will be participating in the 2012 Goddeschess Canadian Women's CCC, finished in 42nd place overall with 2.0/8.

In the U-1700 Section (66 players), top final standings:

# Nom Cote Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Tot
1 PLANTE Marc-Eric 1668 +20 +37 +54 +31 +5 -4 =11 +6
2 BATHAIE Sina 1685 H--- H--- F51 +21 +40 +25 +26 +12 6
3 SHI Yang Tian Jiao 1570 -22 +55 -38 +39 +49 X31 +27 +16 6
4 LEMIEUX Serge 1533 +66 +57 =30 +19 +26 +1 -6 =7 6
5 SAHA Ananda 1325 +53 +25 +8 +7 -1 =26 =12 +11 6
6 KOZLOV Guennadi * 1665 +38 -54 +62 +53 +25 =11 +4 -1
7 BEDARD Michel 1611 +44 =23 +15 -5 +50 +19 =16 =4
8 LAMBERT Pierre 1573 +39 +42 -5 +54 -16 =9 +24 +20
9 NIKULICH Andriy 1415 +17 =33 +18 =12 -11 =8 +19 +27
10 MEDAWAR Jean-Marc 1636 -16 -50 +66 +44 +15 =20 +14 =13 5
11 CÔTÉ Claude 1598 +55 =16 H--- +36 +9 =6 =1 -5 5
12 MICHAUD Jean-François 1530 +28 =24 +23 =9 +31 =16 =5 -2 5
13 STEINBERG Ellis 1431 -58 =59 -29 +57 +33 +50 +17 =10 5
14 SAMIKOV Chingis 1427 -31 +46 =32 +29 +17 =27 -10 +28 5
15 SUN Benjamin 1409 +32 =48 -7 +33 -10 =30 +25 +26 5
16 SAINE Zachary 1408 +10 =11 =36 +35 +8 =12 =7 -3 5

I recognized the following chess femmes:

56 NICOLE Chantal 1269 -37 -38 -40 X66 +62 -21 -39 -47 2
57 GAO Christine 1210 +62 -4 -35 -13 -39 -44 -46 +55 2

In the U-1300 Section (72 players), top final standings:

# Nom Cote Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Tot
1 ZHANG Evan 1254 +66 +65 +39 +4 +5 +3 =2 +7
2 JOHNSON-CONSTANTIN M 1232 +56 +61 +12 =3 +24 +4 =1 +5 7
3 NOVOZHENIN Oleksandr 1286 +31 +26 +18 =2 +35 -1 +22 +12
4 DIMITROV Dimitar 1245 +55 +58 +7 -1 +10 -2 +28 +17 6
5 JOMPHE Denis 1241 +67 +46 +10 +13 -1 +11 +17 -2 6
6 VLASBLOM Vincent 1140 +59 -51 +47 -17 +44 +10 +11 +18 6
7TROTTIER Claire1288+37+53-4=9+29+23+8-1
8 BISSONNETTE Raphaël 1185 =63 +34 +22 -24 +21 +35 -7 +20
9 DIMOV Pierre 1118 -46 +67 +66 =7 -22 +29 +23 +21
10 MONTREUIL Carl 1285 +47 +15 -5 +43 -4 -6 +29 +22 5
11 ZHENG Xin Yue 1276 H--- =41 B--- +44 +14 -5 -6 +27 5
12OUELLET Maili-Jade1254+21+27-2+20+39-17+15-35
13 GRENIER Marcel 1246 +40 +36 +51 -5 -17 -15 +31 +28 5
14 DEMERS Claude 1222 +38 -23 +41 +42 -11 -20 +30 +26 5
15 CHAN David * 1122 +50 -10 -43 +33 +41 +13 -12 X24 5
16 YAMAGAMI Tadashi 1057 =64 -22 -34 +68 +49 =27 +33 +35 5
17 LEGAULT Gabriel unr. +19 -39 X28 +6 +13 +12 -5 -4 5

I recognized the folllowing chess femmes (femmes in top final standings above are marked in red):

18 PINEAULT Véronique 1243 +48 +57 -3 -29 +43 =19 +36 -6
26 ROUSSEL Lauriane 1106 +72 -3 -57 -21 +55 +42 +40 -14 4
28 SERBAN Diana 1092 H--- H--- F17 +40 +46 +39 -4 -13 4
32 TINICA Sabina 1024 H--- -35 -62 +50 -36 +38 +55 =25 4
33 PEPIN Marie-Jocelyne 1005 -24 -60 +45 -15 +59 +58 -16 +46 4
40 OCCEANT Christelle 993 -13 -71 +59 -28 +45 +44 -26 -30 3
41 GAO Catherine 973 =35 =11 -14 +47 -15 -46 -34 +48 3
43 TSYPIN Allison 849 -39 +19 +15 -10 -18 -31 +45 -29 3
45 CHUKHOVICH Yanina unr. -53 -30 -33 +67 -40 +59 -43 +55 3
48 EDOUARD Marie-Erline 973 -18 -52 =50 -38 +67 -49 X58 -41
50 FERDINAND Jennyfer unr. -15 -37 =48 -32 +56 -47 +59 -42
66 DUBOIS Lorraine * 1015 -1 +70 -9 U--- U--- U--- U--- U--- 1
69 HAMELIN Alysa * unr. -65 -47 +67 U--- U--- U--- U--- U--- 1

I will check with the organizers to see if they can give me a list of all female players and their final results/standings.  But they are busy right now getting ready for the next events.  So - we shall see!

Crow Offerings

I'm taking a 30 minute break from cutting the grass in the back yard.  Geez - it got tall over 2 weeks thanks to the rain we've had for the past several days (off and on, hit or miss but enough, enough -- for now...).  I didn't have to cut last week; despite my own watering (especially the trees and my perennials), the grass wasn't growing much. 

Two weeks ago when I cut I found the headless torso of a small baby doll -- plunked down right next to one of the clear glass flat dishes I put out to supplement the water supply for my critters during the drought.  I didn't keep it -- it freaked me out, actually!  I knew it had to have been deposited by a crow.  They leave interesting things behind all the time.  After finding two more items today, I have decided to start a collection of "Crow Offerings:"

Photos taken of the objects where I set them down on my plastic patio table:





As you can see, the offerings I found today are a bone with a lot of the marriow eaten out, and a gold-colored bangle bracelet with topaz-colored stones (one stone is missing), a little bit bent out of shape but otherwise in good condition.  I don't know what kind of metal it is made out of, but it is weighty.  I did not see any markings on it of any kind.  It does not fit over my hand, I think it must have been designed for a child.

I don't know what the bone might be from.  Shape-wise, it sort of reminds me of the bones that are found in pork-hocks that my dad loved, Bless his Soul, and were served in the house at least twice a month while I was growing up.  I don't remember them being this "long," though.  But the shape is similar. 

I found the bone next to the concrete birthbath under which my doggy Spencer's ashes are buried (March, 1999).  It wasn't there a few days ago when I gave that bird bath a good scrub, I would have seen it.  The bangle bracelet I found next to the glass pie plate I have filled with water, resting on the ground near the back fence.  It wasn't there a few days ago when I last cleaned that dish out and put fresh water in it.  It caught my eye as I was shoving the mower close to those glass dishes.  I didn't stop mowing, just bent over and picked it up and stuffed in in a pocket.

How do I know these were left behind by crows?  Well, they don't visit like they used to (I think the trees have gotten too big and thick for their liking), but during this drought, they have been coming for the water in the bird baths and the extra dishes I put out.  They often (but not always) announce their presence because the scout will signal out a call of "all clear" and then more of the flock members will come.  So, since they are visiting again, I have been tossing out peanuts and nutty-bread for them.  Crows always return the favor -- they understand quid pro quo very well.  I have been feeding them for 21 years now, and know their ways. 

Pretty neat "treasures", heh?  What do you think - should I clean them off or leave them as they are?  Not sure how I'm going to display them either!  I guess that depends on what other crow offerings I find in the future.
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