"A team of specialists and students led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jodi Magness has uncovered additional mosaic scenes in the Late Roman synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in Israel’s Lower Galilee. The new finds provide insight about daily life in the fifth century C.E. and expand the rich repertoire of mosaics already discovered decorating the floors of the building." Source: Archaeology News Network. Video from 2015.
"Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village located approximately three miles west of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala) in the Galilee of Israel. A consortium of universities, led by Dr. Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has completed six seasons of excavations. This fifth season of excavation (1) has revealed further portions of a mosaic floor that decorated a Late Roman – Byzantine (fifth century C.E.) synagogue. The mosaics uncovered in 2013 include a scene of Samson carrying the gate of Gaza upon his back (Judges 16:3), a grouping of men who surround a central figure under an arcade, and a battle scene or triumphal parade with elephants. In 2014, the remainder of the scene containing elephants was brought to light." Source: Huqoq Excavation Project.
(1) I'm not sure when this was written. The excavation is apparently in its seventh season now.
The Olmecs left behind some spectacular stone heads, artwork and ruins, and they did "codify and record their gods and religious practices using symbols," but we known very little about who they were or where they came from. The word "Olmec" is an Aztec name, so we don't even know what the Olmecs actually called themselves. If the orthodox story of how the Americas were first settled is accurate, they were the descendants of the Paleo-Indians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Asia during the Wisconsin Glaciation, but it's also remotely possible that they can be traced back to prehistoric Polynesian sea voyagers. According to Wikipedia, "it has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya [a pre-Olmec culture] and/or [the language family] Mixe–Zoque [sic]."
The Olmecs weren't the first MesoAmerican civilization, apparently, but they are known as the "the cultura madre , meaning the ‘mother culture’, of Central America," according to Ancient Origins:
"Sites containing traces of the Olmec civilization are found mainly on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, specifically in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Although the Olmecs did have a system of writing, only few of their inscriptions are available to archaeologists at present. Moreover, there is not enough continuous Olmec script for archaeologists to decipher the language. As a result, much of what we know about the Olmec civilization is dependent on the archaeological evidence."
Next video is from 2011.
"The Olmec religious practices of sacrifice, cave rituals, pilgrimages, offerings, ball-courts, pyramids and a seeming awe of mirrors, was also passed on to all subsequent civilizations in Mesoamerica until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century CE." (Ancient History Encyclopedia) The collapse of the Olmecs is just as mysterious as their origins:
According to Wikipedia, "scholars have yet to determine the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century." It's possible that changes in the climate made agriculture unsustainable in the region and the Olmecs simply moved on, merging and eventually disappearing into the general population of MesoAmerica.
"The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in nineteenth century sources) is an Ancient Egyptian temple that was built by the Roman governor of Egypt, Petronius, around 15 BC and dedicated to Isis, Osiris, as well as two deified sons of a local Nubian chieftain, Pediese ('he whom Isis has given') and Pihor ('he who belongs to Horus'). The temple was commissioned by Emperor Augustus of Rome and has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1978." Source: Wikipedia.
In a subtle or maybe not so subtle case of ancient propaganda, the pharoah at the Temple of Dendur is actually the emperor Augustus. According to the MET's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "The king is identified by his regalia and by his names, which appear close to his head in elongated oval shapes called cartouches; many of the cartouches simply read 'pharaoh.' This king was actually Caesar Augustus of Rome, who, as ruler of Egypt, had himself depicted in the traditional regalia of the pharaoh. Augustus had many temples erected in Egyptian style, honoring Egyptian deities."
"Due to 2,000 years of flooding and the harsh desert sandstorms, many of the original signs that ancient Egyptian architecture was once vibrant and brightly colored have been wiped away."
This is one of the few videos I could find that shows some of the Ometepe petroglyphs and doesn't include a lot of standard tourist stuff, but the music is intolerable. Mute the audio.
"Ometepe is an island located on Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua. The name of this island comes from the indigenous Nahuatl language. Ome means as ‘two’, whilst tepetl means ‘peaks / hills / mountains’. Hence, Ometepe may be translated as ‘the place of two hills’. The first Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Ometepe are said to have arrived on the island after following a prediction that instructed them to search out an ‘island paradise that consisted of two peaks’. Prior to their arrival, however, Ometepe had already been inhabited by a number of other tribes and cultures, as evidenced by the large quantity of petroglyphs scattered throughout the island. " Source: Ancient Origins.
This was the only video I could find that has relatively decent views of the Paracas Candelabra and doesn't include a lot of ancient-alien stuff or non-English commentary.
"The Paracas Candelabra, also called the Candelabra of the Andes, is a well-known prehistoric geoglyph found on the northern face of the Paracas Peninsula at Pisco Bay in Peru. Pottery found nearby has been radio carbon dated to 200 BCE, the time of the Paracas culture(1).The design is cut two feet into the soil, with stones possibly from a later date placed around it. The figure is 595 feet tall, large enough to be seen 12 miles at sea." (Wikipedia).
According to Ancient Origins, "[t]he shape of the geoglyph is mysterious and somewhat difficult to describe. Some have likened it to a cactus plant, while others believe it looks more like a three-branched candlestick, hence the name 'candelabra' ... The meaning and purpose of the Paracas Candelabra are unknown to this day."
(1) "The Paracas culture was an Andean society between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management and significant contributions in the textile arts. It was located in what today is the Ica Region of Peru. Most information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas site on the Paracas Peninsula, first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello in the 1920s." Source: Wikipedia.
The Paracas Culture was quite strange. Its people practised the art of artificial cranial elongation, leaving behind various oddly "cone-shaped" skulls which have naturally attracted the interest of the ancient aliens crowd. They weren't the only people to use the technique, however:
"Intentional cranial deformation predates written history; it was practised commonly in a number of cultures that are widely separated geographically and chronologically, and still occurs today in a few places, including Vanuatu." (Wikipedia)
DNA testing of the Paracas elongated skulls has apparently produced some unexpected results:
"The elongated skulls of Paracas in Peru caused a stir in 2014 when a geneticist that carried out preliminary DNA testing reported that they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”. Now a second round of DNA testing has been completed and the results are just as controversial – the skulls tested, which date back as far as 2,000 years, were shown to have European and Middle Eastern Origin. These surprising results change the known history about how the Americas were populated." Source: Ancient Origins.
The preliminary test results stirred up a lot of speculation that the Paracas people were actually aliens or alien hybrids, which is par for the course these days. I haven't been able to find any mainstream confirmation or comment on the results of the second round of tests which supposedly showed that they were of European/Middle Eastern origin. I'm pretty sceptical about all of this, to say the least, and some sources argue that the preliminary DNA tests were contaminated in the laboratory. If the second round of tests actually happened, contamination could also explain the conclusion that the remains were European/Middle Eastern.
I seem to have wandered off my original topic. So sue me.
"The first major exhibition in the U.S. to be devoted to the art and artifacts of prehistoric Malta and featuring many objects never before seen outside the Maltese islands, Temple and Tomb provides insights into Malta’s famous temple sites, which were built from stones weighing up to 20 tons each and quarried using only stone and wooden tools. Older than the Egyptian pyramids or Stonehenge, they are believed to be the oldest freestanding stone buildings in the world." Source: Archaeology News Network (2013).
According to the Bradshaw Foundation, "[t]he oldest buildings in Europe are found in Malta - older than the Pyramids of Egypt. The occupation and settlement of Malta by modern humans began approximately 7,000 years ago, when the first Neolithic Farmers crossed the 50 mile-wide straits that separate the islands from Sicily. Prior to that, the islands were uninhabited."
"The dramatic story of the King James Bible and the English Bibles that came before it is part of a much larger, even epic, narrative that spans not just centuries, but millennia: the history of the Christian Bible as a book. This gallery offers a look at a wide sampling of early Bibles and psalters (collections of the psalms)." Source: Manifold Greatness.
Comment: I'm not that interested in the Bible itself, but it doesn't really matter. I love everything about old books from their bindings and worn covers to the feel of their pages and the look of their text and engravings. They're works of art, designed to last, and the care that went into their production, not to mention their age, gives their content an almost mystical aura of ancient wisdom.
I've always wanted to collect old books--really old books--but I don't have the slightest idea how to get into something like that and, in any case, I couldn't afford it. If I did know what I was doing and had the money, I know what I'd like to collect, though. Old Bibles may be priceless, but they're a little too tame for me. I'm more interested in dangerous knowledge and forbidden books like the Necronomicon or the Nine Gates Of The Kingdom Of Shadows. Too bad they don't actually exist.
"In ancient Egypt, temples were seen as residences for deities, who were thought to temporarily manifest themselves in the cult statues located in the sanctuary. The temples were also the stage for daily rituals that were ideally performed by the pharaoh, but in practice by priests. These cultic performances included the offering of food and beverages as well as the burning of incense, which was thought to have a purifying effect. The inner rooms of the temple were restricted to those performing the rituals. During religious festivals, cult statues could be brought out of the temple. At Dendur, they were likely carried out onto the spacious cult terrace, enabling the public to feel closer to their gods." Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Note: The Arch Of Titus is a classic example of ancient Roman propaganda. The arch, with its scenes of Roman legions triumphing over Jewish rebels, was designed to glorify not only Titus, but the empire itself and by extension it's rulers. Titus, an effective and popular leader, didn't live very long and was succeeded by his brother Domitian, who was widely despised as a tyrant (the historian Tacitus hated him). By completing the Arch of Titus, Domitian was probably making an attempt to share in his brother's reflected glory.
The arch is an example of visual propaganda. The use of monumental architecture, inscriptions, sculptures, public spectacles and so on was necessary in a society where most people were illiterate. Literacy rates are higher today, but most people don't read so the use of imagery is still critical for controlling the masses.
Modern governments use various techniques to spread their message, but video is probably the most important. Some examples would be the release of "smart bomb" videos during the Gulf Wars and the staged footage of American soldiers toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein. The Romans didn't have TV or film, so they used sculpture and monuments instead. The effect, however, would have been about the same.
Roman Propaganda: The Arch Of Titus
Note: The Arch Of Titus is a classic example of ancient Roman propaganda. The arch, with its scenes of Roman legions triumphing over Jewish rebels, was designed to glorify not only Titus, but the empire itself and by extension it's rulers. Titus, an effective and popular leader, didn't live very long and was succeeded by his brother Domitian, who was widely despised as a tyrant (the historian Tacitus hated him). By completing the Arch of Titus, Domitian was probably making an attempt to share in his brother's reflected glory.
The arch is an example of visual propaganda. The use of monumental architecture, inscriptions, sculptures, public spectacles and so on was necessary in a society where most people were illiterate. Literacy rates are higher today, but most people don't read so the use of imagery is still critical for controlling the masses.
Modern governments use various techniques to spread their message, but video is probably the most important. Some examples would be the release of "smart bomb" videos during the Gulf Wars and the staged footage of American soldiers toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein. The Romans didn't have TV or film, so they used sculpture and monuments instead. The effect, however, would have been about the same.
Posted at 07:00 AM in Architecture, Art, Commentary, Culture, Roman Legions, Rome, Videos | Permalink