"Like Charlie Sheen, Hawass seems to dig himself into a deeper pit every time he seeks to extricate..."

“ Like Charlie Sheen, Hawass seems to dig himself into a deeper pit every time he seeks to extricate himself from a reputational sinkhole. As any prudent legal advisor would tell him, his response to criminal accusations should be confined to a succinct denial of guilt. Any further response, if necessary, should be left to the lawyers. 8 notes

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Why slash apart a mummy? New research in Peru leaves archaeologists with ancient mystery

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3628674231200432344.post1416581415235370897..comments2011-03-23T08:15:56.798-07:00Owen Jarushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15680109565884420656noreply@blogger.comBlogger0125

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Village Unearthed Archaeologists Dating Back 11 Thousand Years in Southern Syria

This page is viewed 317 times Global Arab Network

The small village in the archaeological site of Tel Qarasa Unearthed (hill) in the west of Swaida province, dating back to around 11,000 years constitute a clear example of the first models of urban life in the prehistoric times.

The excavations of the Syrian-French archaeological mission conducted at the site over the last two years showed that Qarasa region knew human presence in the form of tiny villages of 8 round houses whose inhabitants depended on fishing and growing cereal crops and wild fruits for their living. Wasim al-Shaarani, Head of Swaida Archaeology Department, said the discovered houses indicate that the human groups in the area were fully civilized as they knew the cereal farming and cattle raising.

"The presence and settlement of humans in this region was made possible by the existence of Qarasa Spring which feeds a small lake in the middle of the area," added al-Shaarani in a statement to SANA, noting that the village left the place and moved to the northern mound since about 4000 BC.

Human settlement in the southern mound of Qarasa village started since nearly 2500 BC. The inhabitants then participated in the building of the first cities in the area and the human settlement in the village continued till 200 BC.

Qarasa village was in touch with all the big cities in the region such as the cities of Labwa, Kherbat al-Ambashi and Jawa, in addition to those spreading along Wadi al-Ordon, Golan and Erbid area.

Al-Shaarani pointed out in the statement that before about 650 years of the present time, a collection of beautifully-shaped houses with 1,5 m walls still in good condition inside which a set of earthenware was found.

During excavation works, he added, weapons, agricultural tools made of flint and bone, small puppets and skeletons were found in a big room in one of the discovered houses, showing an advanced level of symbolic culture of the people of the region.

Architectural remains of about 2 m thick basalt walls and various constructions from the Bronze Age were also uncovered in the excavations.

The archaeological survey of the region singled out 4 phases of human settlement dating back to the period between the Final Neolithic period and the Late Bronze Age.

The archaeological findings unearthed in the southern area are being studied by specialists at Swaida National Museum to try to document the periods of time they go back to.

The report of the Syrian-French mission said the excavations have revealed 522 archaeological sites in al-Lajat region from the ancient historical periods of the 7th millennium BC, among which was Tel Qarasa.

Through the archaeological atlas of the prehistoric sites located in southern Syria, the mission has already documented 923 cases of isolated houses from the Iron Age including Qaras site.

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Sancai porcelain Candlestick

Tang Dynasty
Height: 29.8cm
Mouth diameter: 7cm
Foot diameter: 12cm

Sancai porcelain Candlestick

The candlestick is made up of two parts—a small disk on top and a big disk at the bottom, with a threaded round shaft in between. There’s a splayed loop leg at the bottom and a cup-like candle holder in the middle of the upper disk. The candlestick is applied with glaze of various colors—blue, yellow, green, and white. The bottom is left unglazed.
This sancai candlestick is simplepractical and decorativepractical, as well. It is evenly glazed and the glaze colors are sober and elegant. The additional blue glaze on top of the usual three colors adds noble air to the work, which is a masterpiece of sancai ware.

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Amateur archaeologist helps to unearth history

This page is viewed 669 times Washington Examiner

When George Evans was a boy, he would sometimes ride his bicycle to the Best Farm and ask the property owner if he could look around for artifacts.

He found Native American tools as well as a 1789 Connecticut coin on the property.

A Walkersville resident, Evans, 70, is once again helping to unearth history at the site, now owned by the National Park Service as part of Monocacy National Battlefield. Evans is one of several volunteers assisting with archaeological digs on the land. The most recent uncovered one of the largest known slave villages in Frederick County, part of what was the Hermitage plantation.

"It's been neat," Evans said. "I'm helping to bring this lost knowledge back. It gives us a little more sense of history for Frederick County."

Evans was also involved in the discovery of the Middle Ford Tavern on the Monocacy Battlefield property. The tavern, where a number of British coins, dishes and other artifacts were found, dates back to the mid-18th century and was associated with a ferry that crossed the Monocacy River. Maryland law required all ferry operators to provide food and lodging for travelers.

"It wasn't a real big place, but they must have had some high-end clients, because the glassware we found had these nice narrow stems like wineglasses," Evans said. "It wasn't just a place where the locals went to get drunk."

Evans has worked on a number of other digs throughout the area, many of which were related to Archaic sites, dating back more than 10,000 years, and related to Woodland Indian sites.

He was also one of the first volunteers allowed to assist at Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States. He said he was visiting the park when he happened to see one of the archaeologists working on something. Evans asked how they avoided disturbing nearby graves while they were digging.

"He said, 'How did you know there are graves here?'" Evans said.

After explaining what he had learned from his involvement in other digs, Davis asked if they were accepting volunteers. The archaeologist said it wasn't policy, but asked him to send a resume detailing his experience.

"He sent me a letter back and said, 'You can come down whenever you want,'" Evans said. "And I've been going back ever since."

In April, he plans to spend a week volunteering at Jamestown.

Evans said he wanted to be an archaeologist from a young age, but ended up going into the Navy before working in the shipyards in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later as a technician at the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Standards and Technology.

But Evans said he's glad to be able to finally live out his boyhood dream, even if he isn't getting paid.

"I like the idea of holding something that no one has touched in some cases in more than a thousand years," he said. "I have a passion for it and I really enjoy it."

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Suzaku shows clearest picture yet of Perseus Galaxy Cluster

X-ray observations made by the Suzaku observatory provide the clearest picture to date of the size, mass and chemical content of a nearby cluster of galaxies. The study also provides the first direct evidence that million-degree gas clouds are tightly gathered in the cluster's outskirts. 

Suzaku explored faint X-ray emission of hot gas across two swaths of the Perseus Galaxy Cluster. The images, which record X-rays with energies between 700 and 7,000 electron volts in a combined exposure of three days, are shown in two false-color strips. Bluer colors indicate less intense X-ray emission. The dashed circle is 11.6 million light-years across and marks the so-called virial radius, where cold gas is now entering the cluster. Red circles indicate X-ray sources not associated with the cluster. Inset: An image of the cluster's bright central region taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown to scale. (Credits: NASA/ISAS/DSS/A. Simionescu et al.; inset: NASA/CXC/A. Fabian et al.)Suzaku is sponsored by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with contributions from NASA and participation by the international scientific community. The findings will appear in the March 25 issue of the journal Science. 

Galaxy clusters are millions of light-years across, and most of their normal matter comes in the form of hot X-ray-emitting gas that fills the space between the galaxies. 

"Understanding the content of normal matter in galaxy clusters is a key element for using these objects to study the evolution of the universe," explained Adam Mantz, a co-author of the paper at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 

Clusters provide independent checks on cosmological values established by other means, such as galaxy surveys, exploding stars and the cosmic microwave background, which is the remnant glow of the Big Bang. The cluster data and the other values didn't agree. 

NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) explored the cosmic microwave background and established that baryons -- what physicists call normal matter -- make up only about 4.6 percent of the universe. Yet previous studies showed that galaxy clusters seemed to hold even fewer baryons than this amount. 

Suzaku images of faint gas at the fringes of a nearby galaxy cluster have allowed astronomers to resolve this discrepancy for the first time. 

The satellite's ideal target for this study was the Perseus Galaxy Cluster, which is located about 250 million light-years away and named for the constellation in which it resides. It is the brightest extended X-ray source beyond our own galaxy, and also the brightest and closest cluster in which Suzaku has attempted to map outlying gas. 

"Before Suzaku, our knowledge of the properties of this gas was limited to the innermost parts of clusters, where the X-ray emission is brightest, but this left a huge volume essentially unexplored," said Aurora Simionescu, the study's lead researcher at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University. 

In late 2009, Suzaku's X-ray telescopes repeatedly observed the cluster by progressively imaging areas farther east and northwest of the center. Each set of images probed sky regions two degrees across -- equivalent to four times the apparent width of the full moon or about 9 million light-years at the cluster's distance. Staring at the cluster for about three days, the satellite mapped X-rays with energies hundreds of times greater than that of visible light. 

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 1275, the galaxy located in the center of the Perseus Galaxy Cluster. The red threadlike filaments are composed of cool gas suspended by a magnetic field. (Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration)From the data, researchers measured the density and temperature of the faint X-ray gas, which let them infer many other important quantities. One is the so-called virial radius, which essentially marks the edge of the cluster. Based on this measurement, the cluster is 11.6 million light-years across and contains more than 660 trillion times the mass of the sun. That's nearly a thousand times the mass of our Milky Way galaxy. 

The researchers also determined the ratio of the cluster's gas mass to its total mass, including dark matter -- the mysterious substance that makes up about 23 percent of the universe, according to WMAP. By virtue of their enormous size, galaxy clusters should contain a representative sample of cosmic matter, with normal-to-dark-matter ratios similar to WMAP's. Yet the outer parts of the Perseus cluster seemed to contain too many baryons, the opposite of earlier studies, but still in conflict with WMAP. 

To solve the problem, researchers had to understand the distribution of hot gas in the cluster, the researchers say. In the central regions, the gas is repeatedly whipped up and smoothed out by passing galaxies. But computer simulations show that fresh infalling gas at the cluster edge tends to form irregular clumps. 

Not accounting for the clumping overestimates the density of the gas. This is what led to the apparent disagreement with the fraction of normal matter found in the cosmic microwave background. 

"The distribution of these clumps and the fact that they are not immediately destroyed as they enter the cluster are important clues in understanding the physical processes that take place in these previously unexplored regions," said Steve Allen at KIPAC, the principal investigator of the Suzaku observations. 

Goddard supplied Suzaku's X-ray telescopes and data-processing software, and it continues to operate a facility that supports U.S. astronomers who use the spacecraft. 

Suzaku ( Japanese for "red bird of the south") is the fifth Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite. It was launched as Astro-E2 on July 10, 2005, and renamed in orbit. The observatory was developed at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in collaboration with NASA and other Japanese and U.S. institutions.  

Source: NASA [March 24, 2011]

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Priceless Pharaoh Statue Found Near Garbage Can

This page is viewed 263 times Discovery News

A limestone statue of the renegade Pharaoh Akhenaten has been recovered beside a garbage bin near the Egyptian National Museum in Cairo from which it had been stolen 20 days ago, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities said Thursday.

The priceless statue was found by a 16-year-old boy near a trash can in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where the 18-day protest that brought down Hosni Mubarak took place. "He brought the statue to his home and when his mother saw it she called her brother, Dr. Sabry Abdel Rahman, a professor at the American University in Cairo. Dr. Rahman, in turn, called the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs to hand the statue over," said the Ministry of Antiquities Affairs in a statement.

Lying by the garbage, as if it suffered another damnatio memoriae some 3,300 years later, the statue shows Akhenaten wearing a blue crown and holding an offering table in his hands.

"It was returned intact, except for the offering table that was found separately inside the Egyptian museum," the ministry said.

The son of Amenhotep III and most likely the father of Tutankhamun, Akhenaten (1353 B.C. - 1336 B.C.) is known as the "heretic" pharaoh who established the capital of his kingdom in Amarna, introducing a monotheistic religion for the sun god Aten that overthrew the pantheon of the gods.

After his death, when Egypt returned to the traditional religion, Akhenaten's name, images and the traces of his reign were eradicated.

Indeed, the recovered limestone statue is one of the few statues that we have from the Amarna Period.

"The entire reign of Akhenaton was unique. The style of the statues and reliefs produced during a large part of the reign are unique as well," Jacques Kinnaer, a Belgian Egyptologist, creator of The Ancient Egypt Site, told Discovery News.

"I'm relieved to hear that this priceless statue has been recovered," Kinnaer said.

Described to have suffered "very minor damage" during the break-in at the museum on Jan. 28, 2011, the statue is slated to be the "the first object that will be cleaned and restored."

The limestone carving was declared missing last Saturday along with other 17 artifacts, then daringly recovered near a garbage at a public square. It has become the symbol of the alternating feelings that have struck the Egyptologist's community in the past two and a half weeks.

Indeed, the story of the looted artifacts at the Egyptian museum reads like a crime-fiction story.

According to Zahi Hawass, who under Mubarak was recently named minister of antiquities, the thieves broke into the museum through its windowed ceiling, sliding down to the floor with ropes.

Desperately looking for a mummy in order to find gold and "red mercury," which it is fabled to be a magical substance used by the ancient Egyptians in mummification, they smashed a New Kingdom empty coffin and 13 vitrines.

The first dramatic reports, which referred to some 70 stolen objects, were followed by more reassuring announcements.

"I would like to assure everybody that the Egyptian Museum, Cairo is safe," Hawass said.

But last Saturday Hawass revealed that 18 objects, including two gilded wood statues of King Tutankhamun, were missing.

"To date, four objects have been found: the heart scarab of Yuya, a shabti of Yuya, the statue of the goddess Menkaret carrying Tutankhamun, and the statue of Akhenaten as an offering bearer," said the ministry.

How the Akhenaten statue got from the museum to Tahrir Square, in the midst of the protests that were going on at that time, to end up in a garbage can, remains a mystery to many Egyptologists.

"Why would the thief have hauled the statue so far through the crowds, only to throw the statue in the garbage can? Did the thief panic, perhaps? Or was it an agreed drop off place and did someone else neglect to pick it up?," wondered Kinnaer, who also runs the Facebook page Protect Egyptian Cultural Heritage.

"Or was it dropped of in the garbage can only recently? The thieves may have realized that they were not going to get away with trying to sell the piece, and so they threw it away," Kinnaer said.

Meanwhile, reports of looting in different archaeological sites have been announced.

Sabry Abdel Aziz, head of the pharaonic sector of the ministry of state for antiquities affairs, reported that the tomb of Hetep-Ka, in Saqqara, was broken into, and the false door was stolen along with objects stored in the tomb.

"In Abusir, a portion of the false door was stolen from the tomb of Re-Hotep. In addition, many magazines also suffered break-ins: magazines in Saqqara, including the one near the pyramid of Teti, and the magazine of Cairo University all had their seals broken," said the ministry.

At the Egyptian museum, guarded by the military, the inventory continues.

"Dr. Hawass asked that the focus be on accurate information rather than speed," said the statement.

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Paraguay's natural and archaeological treasures

In the Paraguayan summer, the red brick Jesuit-Guaraní ruins at Jesus and Trinidad are most spectacular at dusk. The sun's rays turn the high walls orange and yellow, illuminate the cherub faces of Guaraní Indian-inspired angels and cast long shadows from the roofless church's columns. As the silhouettes of distant hills darken, the archways that surround the central plaza's grassy courtyard grow more mystical in this isolated place in the heart of South America. 

Iguazu Falls is actually an expanse of 275 waterfalls over 1.7 miles, with drops up to 260 feet [Credit: Abraham Mahshie]In Paraguay, tourism is underdeveloped. Restaurants, hotels, gift shops and craft peddlers are sparse in the two most famous of Paraguay's archaeological treasures. One afternoon in November, the two sites were also without tourists. Half a dozen tour guides wearing yellow shirts sat on plastic chairs near the entrance, talking and drinking mate, a traditional tea sipped slowly from silver metal straws. Entrance to both sites was just $5 for foreigners; a private tour with historical, religious and cultural background from a guide was just $3. 

Outside of the Jesuit ruins, red is an uncommon color on the Paraguayan landscape, which is flush with every shade of green imaginable. Paraguay receives 300 days of sun per year and 50 to 70 inches of rainfall. The country is criss-crossed by lakes and rivers, swampland, hardwood forests and the Chaco, a sparsely inhabited savannah that occupies much of the north of the country. Paraguay also boasts more than a dozen national parks that are home to 171 species of mammals and 687 varieties of birds. 

With all this natural beauty, numerous historical ruins and prices much lower than surrounding countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile, why doesn't Paraguay receive more American tourists? 

"We make it hard," explains Paraguay's tourism minister, Liz Cramer, who was so well supported by the industry that she kept her job even after a change of parties in government. "We are not focusing on the American market yet because we do not have a direct flight; we request visas." 

Visas — also required in advance for Americans visiting Brazil — are just one hassle in visiting the country. The absence of direct flights from the U.S. and the presence of only a few international carriers that serve the capital of Asunción are also issues. Missing the fast-filling morning connection from São Paulo, Brazil, to Asunción can mean waiting 10 hours or more for the next flight; in addition, the airlines do not have a reputation for on-time departures, with frequent one- to two-hour delays. 

"We do have major problems in infrastructure," admits Cramer, referring to roads and buses for tourists. "We know where we are, we know what we need. We know what we want to reach: Our aim is to get to 1 million tourists; right now it's 430,000." 

But for those who do overcome the obstacles, the journey is worth it. 

Asunción and surroundings 

The capital city has some beautiful Spanish architecture, especially the government palace, Palacio de Lopez, which majestically glistens in white on a perch over the Paraguay River. But the splendor quickly deteriorates. A short walk away, tents are pitched in plazas, pigs roam a lawn behind the seat of Congress and military personnel warn you not to stray too close to a nearby shantytown that hugs the river. Asunción's attractions are historic buildings, museums and a few high-end areas. Otherwise, the city should be used as a jumping-off point to more appealing facets of the country. 

If spending a night in the capital, stay where Guatemalan Grammy-winner Ricardo Arjona stays, the chic 36-room La Misión boutique hotel in the trendy Villa Mora neighborhood, known for its restaurants and fine shopping. 

Opened in 2008, La Misión, with rooms from $198 to $550 per night, is a celebration of Paraguay's history, with an elegant and smart design. Don't miss the wall-size commissioned artwork in the lobby; a rooftop courtyard is ornately designed with replica ruins softly lit and surrounded by draping ferns. 

The view of downtown at night might even look best from the nearby heated pool; there is also a gym, spa and live shows. Each floor has a different décor, and even that isn't enough for Argentine live-in owner Branco Vuckovich: The décor is always changing, "so that guests do not get bored," a slender hostess said on a recent tour. 

The white-tablecloth restaurant is also a pleasure. Enjoy the langostina (shrimp) and mango salad, Surubí fish from the Paraguay River and an array of wine choices from Chile and Argentina — there are more than 24 malbecs alone on the menu. The "delicias Paraguayas" is an excellent choice for dessert: cheeses drizzled with locally made molasses and sweetened papaya chunks. 

Asunción is your best starting point to visit nature reserves, estancias (ranch houses) and the "Circuito de Oro," a route to visit numerous nearby artisan towns and historic sites. If you want to visit the "silver town" of Luque for handmade jewelery, Itá for handmade pottery or the centerpiece of quaint Yaguarón, a historic church with the oldest standing wooden bell tower in the country, do it early. Your maximum speed behind slow-moving cars and motorcycles might be 30 mph, and shops close by 5 p.m. on weekdays. Guided tours may also be arranged through agencies in the capital. 

If you decide to drive in Paraguay, you should allow time to get lost because signage is poor. The only consistent guidelines are that paved roads (as opposed to cobblestoned roads) lead to highways, and once you get on the highway, there will be a sign telling you that you are on the highway, but not before. 

Estancia La Quinta (laquinta. com.py) is one of the best-known estancias, located 50 milesfrom the capital. It is where U.S. Embassy employees went for Thanksgiving last year, and it is where European guests and local businesses alike book retreats. 

Co-owner Olga Ferreira, who switches among English, Spanish and Portuguese as she commiserates with guests, originally bought the estancia with her German husband for retirement in 1990. They changed their mind in 2003 and have added four stone cabañas, eight suites and a luxury experience with three gourmet meals per day. 

Dining rooms of dark native lapacho wood, a pool, recreation room, beach volleyball, plenty of calm gardens with hummingbirds and butterflies, and a friendly and attentive staff make the stay as tranquil — or as active — as you like. Some cabañas have no phone or TV but rather hammocks, beer in an ice bucket delivered at your call, chirping birds and stunning views of the countryside from your elevated porch. A short walk away is a stable offering guided horseback rides at the hour of your choosing. La Quinta, pricy by Paraguayan standards at $75 a night per person, will pick you up from Asunción for an added fee. 

For a more vigorous outdoor experience including a zip line, cable bridges and rappelling down a rock wall, drive 10 minutes from La Quinta to the Mbatovi Eco-reserve (mbatovi.com.py). Inspired by its owner's experience in Costa Rica, Mbatovi's informative guides cover safety protocols and provide the gear for a three-hour outdoor adventure for $35 per person. E-mail ahead to ensure tours are offered on the day of your visit. 

Eastern Paraguay 

Jesuits arrived from Peru in 1607. They brought the Jesuit Reductions, settlements that stressed education, culture and spirituality for the Guaraní Indian communities the Jesuits lived among until they were expelled by the Spanish crown in 1767. Today, Paraguay is blessed with numerous ruins that can be visited along the country's "Ruta Jesuita," or Jesuit route. 

Driving south along Route 1, you can visit small towns, museums, estancias and reductions in Misiones and Itapúa departments (states), culminating in the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Trinidad and Jesus. If you're limited on time, an alternative way of seeing the ruins is to approach from the east of the country. Daily direct flights from Asunción to Ciudad del Este in the far east of Paraguay bring visitors as close as possible to the most impressive and well-preserved ruins. 

A preferable option, and one that should be considered if you intend to visit Iguazu Falls along the nearby Brazilian-Argentine border, is to avoid flying into Paraguay altogether by connecting from São Paulo directly to the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu across the Friendship Bridge from Ciudad del Este. From Ciudad del Este, it is a four-hour drive south along Route 6 through rolling farmland and dusty towns to the historic sites. 

An excellent overnight stop, and the closest hotel worth staying at near the ruins, also has a restaurant with a delicious German buffet. Hotel Papillón (papillon.com .py) is just 10 miles from the ruins of Trinidad. Jesus is six miles farther, and both can be seen in the same day. 

Thursday through Sunday, if you visit Trinidad at night, a stunning array of lighting illuminates the 300-year-old ruins. It is advisable to seek a guide, as he will provide you with access to a room with protected artifacts and to a lookout bell tower. If you do not speak Spanish, there is sometimes an English-speaking guide available, but there is no office phone to call ahead of time. 

If you don't plan to make a separate trip to the region, do not miss Iguazu Falls (iguazuargentina .com). Iguazu is an expanse of 275 falls over 1.7 miles, with drops up to 269 feet. Accommodations can be found in Brazil's Foz do Iguaçu, a metropolis with many hotels and restaurants. 

The Argentine city of Puerto Iguazu, which many believe provides a better view of the falls, is a small, touristy town of beautiful wood-framed hostels, parillas (grills) and shops. Unlike Foz, Puerto Iguazu is walkable, and you can take a bus to the theme park-like national reserve that encompasses the waterfalls. 

Iguazu is worth an entire day or two for the various vantages of the falls, for the tropical wilderness that surrounds them and for tours via boat or jeep. 

Author: Abraham Manshire | North Jersey Com [March 20, 2011]

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Evolution doesn't bother Buddhists

Turns out, many American biology teachers like Beau Schaefer are sneaking creationism into their classrooms. Buddhism, like every philosophy, has many problems, but thankfully it doesn’t have this one. In fact, Buddhists are all about the evolution. 
Buddhism doesn’t have a creator God, like we find in the book of Genesis, nor does Buddhism have the Fundamentalist problem of a literal interpretation of scripture. As a result, it’s never had a war with science, unlike the science-religion skirmishes that plague Christianity and Islam. 

According to a 2009 poll in the Christian Science Monitor, Buddhism was the religion most comfortable with evolution theory. When people were asked if evolution was the best explanation for the origins of human life on earth, 81 percent of Buddhists agreed, compared with only 51 percent of mainline Protestants and 45 percent of Muslims. 

Buddhism is not hostile to biology, psychology, physics, or cosmology. And more than just tolerating each other, Buddhism and science can actually learn from each other (e.g., neuroscientists and monks are collaboratively researching ways that conscious discipline can influence subcortical brain processes). 

Sadly, there’s a lot of New-Age nonsense, trying to link Buddhism with quantum-mystical healing and other embarrasing forms of supernaturalism. But the historical Buddha shunned metaphysical speculations. He refrained from spooky conjectures generally, and thought that origin-stories about how the universe started were avyakata (unanswerable), given our empirical constraints. Most Buddhists take all this as an invitation to embrace the sciences. 

Buddhism and science also share some deep convictions about nature. The Buddha’s teachings of anicca (impermanence) and paticca samuppada (dependent causation), augur many of our 20th century ideas about an ever-changing, evolving, and ecologically connected nature. 

Buddhism also has less anxiety about technology. Ever since Mary Shelley gave us the Frankenstein monster, we have been employing it as a cautionary metaphor for every technological advance. In 2008, for example, a survey found that religious countries were much more opposed to nanotechnology than secular countries. In the survey, published in Nature Nanotechnology, the United States was found to be the most religious country and the most hostile and wary of nanotechnology. 

Western religion, with its idea of a creator God, permeates our culture and sanctifies life in such a way that any technological manipulation of life seems arrogant and offensive. Buddhism on the contrary has no belief in a creator God and therefore feels none of the anxiety about scientists using technology to “play God.” There might be very good reasons not to pursue certain technological moves, like cloning and other biotechnology, but for Buddhists those reasons will appeal to the dangerous and unforeseen consequences. Buddhists do not rule out certain kinds of technology on the grounds that God will be angered by our hubris. 

In Western religions, however, there is usually a yawning chasm that separates we humans from the non-human creatures. We are made in God’s image. They are not. There is something miraculous about life, and something even more miraculous about we humans. 

Buddhism does not share this species elitism, nor do they believe that life can only happen miraculously. We were not made better than everything else, by a loving God, at the beginning of creation. Rather, all living beings according to Buddhism are trying to make themselves better, by their own powers and abilities. We are all trying to work out our enlightenment and liberation. 

There are gods and spirits in the cultures of Buddhism, but they are more like superheroes or super villains. They are not omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnibenevolent. And these other intelligent beings (devas, ghosts, animistic spirits, etc.) are, like us, trying to work out their own enlightenment. They might be more powerful or live longer than us, but that does not mean that they are free or awakened. 

So, for Buddhism, life is defined more by function –by physiology, rather than by religious metaphysics. If, in our near future, technology produces smart robots, and clones, and nano-beings, and artificial intelligence, and even artificial life, then Buddhism will simply offer its usual advice: Let us help these new beings also, as they pursue their enlightenment with diligence. 

Author: Stephen Asma | Source: Chicago Tribune [March 23, 2011]

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Canterbury Roman burial ground uncovered

This page is viewed 180 times BBC

A Roman burial ground has been discovered by archaeologists working on the site of a former garage in Kent.

About 150 graves have been found on the site in St Dunstan's Street, Canterbury, which formed an important suburb of the Roman and medieval city. The Roman road from Dover to London followed the line of St Dunstan's Street, and Roman finds date from as early as the first century AD.

Burials took place from about AD 290 into the late fourth century AD.

Canterbury Archaeological Trust has until Sunday to excavate the Hallett's Garage site, which will then be developed for housing.

Clay quarries

Director Paul Bennett said the graves were of men, women, young people and children.

"We have been here for nearly 16 weeks and we are trying to rush and grab the last few features before the developers actually start," he said.

One unusual burial is of a man about 6ft 5in tall, who is thought to have been a soldier or merchant who travelled to Canterbury from northern Europe or Africa.

Other discoveries on the site include clay quarries and rubbish pits.

The remains of a number of medieval buildings have been found, including clay floors, tile hearths and masonry-lined wells.

The site also has the remains of more modern properties, including a Jewish synagogue built in 1762.

Archaeologist Damien Boden said the challenge of working on such a dig was working out how every find fitted the overall picture.

"It is making sure you have got it right," he said.

"At the end of the site, when you pack up, you know that you have dug it properly and you have got all the information you can and you couldn't do any more."

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Ancient trash heaps gave rise to Everglades tree islands

This page is viewed 188 times EurekAlert

Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.

Tree islands are patches of relatively high and dry ground that dot the marshes of the Everglades. Typically a meter (3.3 feet) or so high, many of them are elevated enough to allow trees to grow. They provide a nesting site for alligators and a refuge for birds, panthers, and other wildlife.

Scientists have thought for many years that the so-called fixed tree islands (a larger type of tree island frequently found in the Everglades' main channel, Shark River Slough) developed on protrusions from the rocky layer of a mineral called carbonate that sits beneath the marsh. Now, new research indicates that the real trigger for island development might have been middens, or trash piles left behind from human settlements that date to about 5,000 years ago.

These middens, a mixture of bones, food discards, charcoal, and human artifacts (such as clay pots and shell tools), would have provided an elevated area, drier than the surrounding marsh, allowing trees and other vegetation to grow. Bones also leaked phosphorus, a nutrient for plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades.

"This goes to show that human disturbance in the environment doesn't always have a negative consequence," says Gail Chmura, a paleoecologist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and one of the authors of the study.

Chmura will be presenting her research tomorrow, Tuesday 22 March, at the American Geophysical Union's Chapman Conference on Climates, Past Landscapes, and Civilizations. About 95 scientists have converged on Santa Fe this week to discuss the latest research findings from archeology, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, and other fields that reveal how changes in regional and global climate have impacted the development and fates of societies.

In a previous scientific investigation of tree islands, Margo Schwadron, an archeologist with the National Park Service, cut through the elevated bedrock at the base of two islands and discovered that it was actually a so-called "perched carbonate layer," because there was more soil and a midden below. Later, a team including Chmura's graduate student Maria-Theresia Graf performed additional excavations in South Florida and found more of the perched carbonate layers.

Chemical analysis of samples of these curious perched layers revealed that they are made up partially of carbonates that had dissolved from the bedrock below, Chmura says. The layer also contains phosphorus from dissolved bones, she adds. Her team concluded that trees are key to the formation of this layer: During South Florida's dry season, their roots draw in large quantities of ground water but allow the phosphates and carbonates dissolved in it to seep out and coalesce into the stone-like layer.

The perched carbonate plays a key role in letting tree islands rebound after fires: because it does not burn, it protects the underlying soil, and it maintains the islands' elevation, allowing vegetation to regrow after the fire. Humans are now threatening the existence of tree islands, by cutting down trees (whose roots keep the perched layer in place) and artificially maintaining high water levels year-round in some water control systems, which could cause the layer to dissolve.

Chmura's team now wants to explore exactly when trees started growing on the tree islands.

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Roman quarry in Barry old harbour, claims archaeologist

This page is viewed 235 times BBC

An archaeologist believes he has discovered the remains of a Roman quarry in the old harbour at Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Karl-James Langford says the pottery find reinforces his belief that beach man-made walls may be 1,900 years old. The quarry was operational until the 19th Century but its origins were unknown.

"It's not in the records - it may have been been completely ignored because it's too obvious," said Mr Langford.

He believes the quarry to be the source of limestone used for the Roman fort whose remains can be seen in the walls around Cardiff Castle, although historical records do not mention such a quarry.

"I've had this belief that there was a Roman quarry there all my life," said Mr Langford, a landscape archaeologist from Barry.

He said a wall of unquarried high-quality lias limestone left in place on the beach was evidence of a quarry, similar to larger examples along the coast at Porthkerry, Rhoose and Aberthaw.

People would have been able to extract the material behind the wall at any time, without being engulfed by the sea.

A discovery during a recent expedition with students convinced Mr Langford of the quarry's Roman origins.

"I was looking down at the floor and there was a piece of pottery the same colour as the shale," he said.

Full production

The artefact is believed to be a large piece of Roman "greyware" rim, manufactured in about 200 AD.

Mr Langford said other discoveries of Roman pottery and tile in the area suggested the quarry was being worked almost 2,000 years ago.

"I'm looking at the quarry as something that was in full production before the harbour area really became a port," he said.

"On the lowest levels you can see where some of the stone has been deliberately cut, probably some time before the 1800s.

"To have a quarry such as this is very important to archaeology, - it goes to show the value of the local limestone not only in building, but for lime in agriculture for nearly 1,900 years."

Mr Langford, who runs student expeditions around south Wales under the Time Signs banner, hopes to investigate the location of the quarry in more detail to confirm dating sequences.

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Website Tracks At Risk Historic Sites

This page is viewed 302 times Discovery News

A new internet platform has been launched today to rescue cultural heritage sites on the verge of being irremediably lost, said Global Heritage Fund, a California based nonprofit organization that focuses on historical preservation.

Called Global Heritage Network (GHN), the platform is the first early warning and threat monitoring system for saving endangered sites in developing countries, where financial resources and expertise are limited. Combining Google Earth, scientific mapping from Esri, satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, and social networking, the platform aims to serve as an early warning system for site conservation leaders, archaeologists, local communities, government officials, and volunteers.

"Destruction of our global heritage is a 'silent crisis' happening far away in developing countries. GHN's combined satellite and ground reports clearly show the incredible losses we are facing in just the past 10 years," Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Heritage Fund, told Discovery News.

Indeed, the GHN database shows a collection of about 500 heritage sites in the developing world.

Each site is identified by a color, which determines the threats scale. Destroyed sites are marked with black spots, "rescue needed" sites are signed in red, while at risk and stable sites are indicated with orange and green marks respectively.

Overall, more than 200 sites are considered to be under threat due to uncontrolled development, unsustainable tourism, insufficient management, looting, and war and conflict.

"Over 80 sites are identified as 'rescue needed,' and threat and planning dossiers have been published on 40 of these sites," Morgan said.

Among the seriously endangered sites are the ancient city of Nineveh in northern Iraq, which was capital of the Assyrian empire from 705 to 612 B.C.; the town of Allianoi in Turkey, which boasts the largest Roman baths in Asia Minor; and the Durr?s amphitheater in Albania, the largest Roman amphitheatre in the Balkans, with a capacity of 20,000 people.

Red spots also mark the archaeological complex of Pachacamac in Peru, where archaeologists have identified at least 17 pyramids (many of them irreversibly damaged by the El Ni?o weather phenomenon); the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear in Cambodia; the sacred city of Kandy, which was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka; the minaret of Jam in Afganistan, famous for its intricate brick, stucco and glazed tile decoration; and the Klasies River Caves in South Africa, occupied as early as 125,000 years ago.

Threats are reported from the field from professional site monitors and international experts, but also local communities, volunteers and travelers.

Photographs and video footage to document negative impacts or successful preservation efforts are uploaded continuosly to GHN groups.

"We expect the international community and national governments to now use the tools at their disposal to reverse destruction and work together to save our vanishing heritage," Morgan said.

If successful, the project could be extremely rewarding, from both a cultural and economical point of view.

A previous GHF report, called Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, estimated that the 500 sites listed in the GHN database have the potential to generate over $100 billion in visitor revenues annually by 2025, and millions of dollars in new jobs, business and investment opportunities.

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Tackiest souvenirs to Royal Wedding are on sale

Posted by admin on March 25th, 2011

Shop owners in the United Kingdom are rubbing their hands with glee as they hope for a Royal wedding-inspired boom with the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The ceremony and all the associated pomp will give the UK economy a much-needed shot in the arm at a time of austere spending cuts and countrywide restraint.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

Retailers have already started to get in on the action in a sales bonanza the like of which has not been seen since the wedding of Prince Charles to Diana in 1981.

Souvenir-makers have already launched into action, mindful that memorabilia of the 1981 Royal nuptials remain highly sought by collectors.

Experts estimate the wedding could boost the struggling British economy by £620million through sales of merchandise and tourism.

The appetite for memorabilia in America – where the Royal family are viewed with wonder – is also likely to be strong.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at 6:48 am and is filed under Blog and Collectibles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Are lead tablets discovered in a remote cave in Jordan the secret writings about the last years of J

This page is viewed 1116 times Daily Mail

Artefacts discovered in a remote cave in Jordan could hold a contemporary account of the last years of Jesus.

The find of scrolls and 70 lead codices - tiny credit-card-sized volumes containing ancient Hebrew script talking of the Messiah and the Resurrection - has excited biblical scholars. Much of the writing is in code, but experts have deciphered images, symbols and a few words and the texts could be 2,000 years old.

Some academics are sceptical about the discovery because there have been numerous hoaxes and sophisticated fakes produced over the years.

Many of the codices are sealed which suggests that they could be secret writings referred to in the apocryphal Book of Ezra - an appendage to some versions of the Bible.

Texts have been written on little sheets of lead bound together with wire.

The treasure trove was found five years ago by an Israeli Bedouin and may have been around since the 1st century, around the time of Jesus's crucifixion and Resurrection.

A number of experts have examined the writings, including Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old testament Study with a renowned knowledge of early Christian studies.

She told the Sunday Times how the intrigue surrounding the artefacts was similar to the black market secrecy with the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls.

There is a thriving market in Middle Eastern antiquities and many shadowy figures involved. One archeologist has allegedly received death threats.

Ms Barker said: 'There has been lots of shenanigans. Vast sums of money have been mentioned with up to ?250,000 being suggested as the price for just one piece.'

She has had access to photgraphs taken of the codices and scrolls, and is wary of confirming their authenticity.

But she said if the material is genuine then the books could be 'vital and unique' evidence of the earliest Christians.

'If they are a forgery, what are they are forgery of?' she said.' Most fakes are drawn from existing material, but there is nothing like this that I have seen.'

The owner of the cache is a Bedouin named Hassan Saeda who lives in the village of Um-al-Ghanam in the north of Israel,according to the Sunday Times. He is believed to have obtained them after they were discovered in northern Jordan.

Two samples were sent to a laboratory in England where they were examined by Peter Northover, head of the materials science-based archaeology group.

The verdict was inconclusive without more tests, but he said the composition was 'consistent with a range of ancient lead.'

However, Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University is convinced the codices are genuine after studying one.

He has told colleagues privately that he believes the find is unlikely to have been forged, say the Sunday Times

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Child-Shaped Porcelain Pillow

Song Dynasty
Height: 18.3cm
Length: 30cm
Width: 11.8cm

The pillow is shaped like a child lying on his stomach on a couch, with the back of the child serving as the top of the pillow. The child rests his head on folded arms, with a silk ball in the right hand. Crossing and turning up his feet, the child wears a long robe and a sleeveless jacket. The lower part of the robe is decorated with round flower patterns. Mould-pressed with decorative patterns, the couch is applied with paneled decoration on four sides. One side is engraved with hornless dragons in relief, the opposite side is smooth and unadorned, and the other two sides are engraved with ruyi head patterns in relief. The pillow is glazed in slight yellow. The bottom is unglazed and has two holes.

This child-shaped pillow is elaborately created, featuring a lifelike and carefree child. It’s a rare treasure of ancient Chinese porcelain ware.

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The Roman Ninth Legions mysterious loss

This page is viewed 722 times BBC

The disappearance of Rome's Ninth Legion has long baffled historians, but could a brutal ambush have been the event that forged the England Scotland border, asks archaeologist Dr Miles Russell, of Bournemouth University.

One of the most enduring legends of Roman Britain concerns the disappearance of the Ninth Legion. The theory that 5,000 of Rome's finest soldiers were lost in the swirling mists of Caledonia, as they marched north to put down a rebellion, forms the basis of a new film, The Eagle, but how much of it is true?

It is easy to understand the appeal of stories surrounding the loss of the Roman Ninth Legion - a disadvantaged band of British warriors inflicting a humiliating defeat upon a well-trained, heavily-armoured professional army.

It's the ultimate triumph of the underdog - an unlikely tale of victory against the odds. Recently, however, the story has seeped further into the national consciousness of both England and Scotland.

For the English, the massacre of the Ninth is an inspiring tale of home-grown "Davids" successfully taking on a relentless European "Goliath". For the Scots, given the debate on devolved government and national identity, not to say the cultural impact of Braveheart, the tale has gained extra currency - freedom-loving highlanders resisting monolithic, London-based imperialists.

The legend of the Ninth gained form thanks to acclaimed novelist Rosemary Sutcliff, whose masterpiece, The Eagle of the Ninth, became an instant bestseller when published in 1954.

Since then, generations of children and adults have been entranced by the story of a young Roman officer, Marcus Aquila, travelling north of Hadrian's Wall in order to uncover the truth about his father, lost with the Ninth, and the whereabouts of the Legion's battle standard, the bronze eagle.

The historians have dissented, theorising that the Ninth did not disappear in Britain at all, arguing both book and film are wrong. Their theory has been far more mundane - the legion was, in fact, a victim of strategic transfer, swapping the cold expanse of northern England, for arid wastes in the Middle East. Here, sometime before AD 160, they were wiped out in a war against the Persians.

But, contrary to this view, there is not one shred of evidence that the Ninth were ever taken out of Britain. It's just a guess which, over time, has taken on a sheen of cast iron certainty. Three stamped tiles bearing the unit number of the Ninth found at Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, have been used to support the idea of transfer from Britain.

But these all seem to date to the 80s AD, when detachments of the Ninth were indeed on the Rhine fighting Germanic tribes. They do not prove that the Ninth left Britain for good.

In fact, the last certain piece of evidence relating to the existence of the Legion from anywhere in the Roman Empire comes from York where an inscription, dating to AD 108, credits the Ninth with rebuilding the fortress in stone. Some time between then and the mid-2nd Century, when a record of all Legions was compiled, the unit had ceased to exist.

But what happened to the Ninth?

The early years of the 2nd Century were deeply traumatic for Britannia. The Roman writer Fronto observed that, in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD 117 - 138), large numbers of Roman soldiers were killed by the British.

The number and full extent of these losses remain unknown, but they were evidently significant. The anonymously authored Augustan History, compiled in the 3rd Century, provides further detail, noting that when Hadrian became emperor, "the Britons could not be kept under Roman control".

The British problem was of deep concern to Roman central government. Thanks to a tombstone recovered from Ferentinum in Italy, we know that emergency reinforcements of over 3,000 men were rushed to the island on "the British Expedition", early in Hadrian's reign. The emperor himself visited the island in AD 122, in order to "correct many faults", bringing with him a new legion, the Sixth.

The fact that they took up residence in the legionary fortress of York suggests that the "great losses" of personnel, alluded to by Fronto, had occurred within the ranks of the Ninth.

It would seem that Sutcliff was right after all.

It was the Ninth, the most exposed and northerly of all legions in Britain, that had borne the brunt of the uprising, ending their days fighting insurgents in the turmoil of early 2nd Century Britain.

The loss of such an elite military unit had an unexpected twist which reverberates to the present day. When the emperor Hadrian visited Britain at the head of a major troop surge, he realised that there was only one way to ensure stability in the island - he needed to build a wall.

Hadrian's Wall was designed to keep invaders out of Roman territory as well as ensuring that potential insurgents within the province had no hope of receiving support from their allies to the north. From this point, cultures on either side of the great divide developed at different rates and in very different ways.

The ultimate legacy of the Ninth was the creation of a permanent border, forever dividing Britain. The origins of what were to become the independent kingdoms of England and Scotland may be traced to the loss of this unluckiest of Roman legions.

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China White-Glazed Pottery Lion

Tang Dynasty
Height: 10.8cm
Bottom diameter: 6.3cm

Raising its head and baring its teeth, the crouching lion on the pedestal has protruding eyes, stand-up ears, long beard and curly hair. Its fore legs are straight and hind legs are bent, with the tail turned up. The eyes and legs of the lion are applied with brown glaze. The pedestal is rectangular in shape, with the top and the bottom of the same size. The four sides of it are applied with brown glaze that looks black where it is thickly applied.

This white-glazed pottery lion is simple and vigorous. It is a masterpiece of pottery sculptures of the Tang Dynasty.

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Six Nations 2011: Stadio Flaminio dig to reveal Roman 'City of the Dead'

‘Marina Piranomonte is talking about the Stadio Flaminio, after seeing how the “City of the Dead” she has dug up behind Gate 7 has fared under the winter rains. With 23 funeral inscriptions, dozens of bronze coins, oil lamps and more than 1,000 ceramic fragments found since digging started in 2008, Piranomonte believes the necropolis could be “immense,” containing up to 50 tombs linked by a grid of streets.’

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Gods Wife Edited Out of the Bible Almost

This page is viewed 431 times Discovery News

God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to a theologian.

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.

"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many ... or so we like to believe."

"After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife," she added.

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.

Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.

"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares. "Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and his Asherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."

Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."

J. Edward Wright, president of both The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, told Discovery News that he agrees several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah."

"Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors," he added. "Traces of her remain, and based on those traces, archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations bordering Israel and Judah, we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant."

Asherah -- known across the ancient Near East by various other names, such as Astarte and Istar -- was "an important deity, one who was both mighty and nurturing," Wright continued.

"Many English translations prefer to translate 'Asherah' as 'Sacred Tree,'" Wright said. "This seems to be in part driven by a modern desire, clearly inspired by the Biblical narratives, to hide Asherah behind a veil once again."

"Mentions of the goddess Asherah in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) are rare and have been heavily edited by the ancient authors who gathered the texts together," Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museum and an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, said.

Asherah as a tree symbol was even said to have been "chopped down and burned outside the Temple in acts of certain rulers who were trying to 'purify' the cult, and focus on the worship of a single male god, Yahweh," he added.

The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News, "with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historic events of 586 B.C." In that year, an elite community within Judea was exiled to Babylon and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. This, Brody said, led to "a more universal vision of strict monotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of the nations."

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Unravelling the mystery of an ancient statue

This page is viewed 405 times CTV

For more than a decade, art historians and archeologists at Montreal's Concordia University have been puzzling over the origins of a mysterious Egyptian statue.

Experts have declared the statue both grotesque and beautiful and said it is either a potentially priceless artifact thousands of years old or a worthless fake. "It's very mysterious and very unusual piece," Clarence Epstein, the university's director of special projects and cultural affairs, told CTV.ca. "None of the specialists, none of the experts are ready to say whether this piece is authentic, what it is, how old it is, or where it comes from."

The 67-centimetre-high limestone sculpture depicts two seated, intertwined figures with large, elongated heads and long thin limbs, lending the carving its unofficial name: The Starving of Saqqara.

It has traces of pigment, indicating that it was once painted, and includes inscriptions in what appears to be an ancient but as yet unidentified language.

But Epstein says little else is known about the 80-kilogram statue. He has consulted experts from Cambridge University, the British Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Israel Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum -- but none were able to confirm the sculpture's pedigree.

"One specialist commented that if it can be proven to date to the period when the Jews were exiled from Egypt, it could be one of the rarest finds of its kind," says Epstein. "Another archeologist suggested the statue was either from a pre-dynastic tomb or was an outright fake."

If genuine, the statue could predate the pyramids, Epstein says, making it "one of the rarest finds of its kind."

The statue came to the university in 1999 from the collection of Vincent and Olga Diniacopoulos, Greek immigrants from France who amassed an enormous group of Mediterranean antiquities which are now in museums and private collections around the world.

The sculpture was exhibited in the 1950s at their family-owned Galerie Ars Classica in Montreal, but remained hidden away for decades, stored in fragments in a sealed crate.

Little is known about where or how the Diniacopoulos family acquired it. Saqqara refers to a vast burial ground in the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, but it is not clear how this region relates to the statue.

But no expert among the many Epstein consulted over the past decade could identify the sculpture's age or artistic tradition, nor could they decipher the script carved into its back.

Epstein said the sculpture may have come from an early Egyptian tomb representing "images of the conquered" -- people enslaved by an ancient ruler.

His theory is that it comes from a very early burial site or tomb dating back to before the first pharaohs rose to power in Egypt. "I believe it's 4,000 years old or older and that makes it a very, very rare find."

In an essay about The Starving of Saqqara, Swiss art historian Jean-Jacques Fiechter weighed in on the side of authenticity.

"An experienced collector and connoisseur such as Vincent Diniacopoulos would not have bought this piece, nor shipped it at great cost to Canada, had it not been considered authentic," Fiechter wrote.

The university restored the statue and put it on public display for the first time this week in hopes of attracting international attention and possibly fresh insights into its origins.

The three-day exhibition and newly published pictures of the statue on the university's website drew opinions, questions and interest from respected archeologists, art and cultural experts and curious amateurs, Epstein says.

"We've gotten a considerable response from all over the world," he says.

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Black-Glazed Pottery Ewer with Blue Speckles

Tang Dynasty
Height: 15.6cm
Mouth diameter: 7.5cm
Bottom diameter: 8.6cm

Black-Glazed Pottery Ewer with Blue Speckles

Flared mouth, short neck, oval belly, flat bottom, spout on one side of the shoulder, curved double-band handle on the opposite side, a knob on another two sides; the ewer is black-glazed all over, with the inside fully glazed, and the outside bottom unglazed. The mouth and shoulders etc are decorated with grayish blue speckles.

The full-bodied ewer bears the flourishing Tang Dynasty charm. The nicely-contrasted black and white glaze colors and the decorative streaks of blue speckles make the ewer simple, elegant and sober.

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Researchers reveal amazing Cambrian fossil

Posted by IoanG Breakingnews, China, Fossils, Palaeontology 3:12 PM Researchers from China, Leicester and Oxford have discovered a remarkable fossil which sheds new light on an important group of primitive sea creatures. 

The 525 million-year-old hemichordate fossil [Credit: Professor Derek Siveter, Oxford University]The 525-million-year-old fossil belongs to a group of tentacle-bearing creatures which lived inside hard tubes. Previously only the tubes have been seen in detail but this new specimen clearly shows the soft parts of the body including tentacles for feeding. 

Details of the discovery have been announced today in the journal Current Biology. The study was funded by the Royal Society and the National Natural Foundation of China. 

The creature belongs to a group called pterobranch hemichordates which are related to starfish and sea urchins but also show some characteristics that offer clues to the evolution of the earliest vertebrates. About 30 species of pterobranch are known to exist today although 380-490 million years ago a group of these animals called graptolites were common across the prehistoric oceans. 

Pterobranches are creatures which secrete a substance that builds up into a hard tube around their soft body. Tentacles extend from the top of the tube to catch plankton. Although less than 4cm in length, the new fossil is beautifully preserved and minute details can be seen including 36 tiny tentacles along one feathery arm.  

Professor David Siveter from the University of Leicester's Department of Geology commented, "Amazingly, it has exceptionally preserved soft tissues - including arms and tentacles used for feeding - giving unrivalled insight into the ancient biology of the group." 

Colleagues from Yunnan University and the Universities of Leicester and Oxford collaborated in identifying and describing the remarkable find which was discovered in Yunnan Province, China. It has been named Galeaplumosus abilus which means 'feathered helmet from beyond the clouds', referring to both the creature's shape and its location – 'Yunnan' literally translates as 'south of the clouds'.  

Source: University of Leicester via EurekAlert! [March 24, 2011]

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Sancai porcelain Plate Carved with Egret and Lotus Design

Liao Dynasty
Height: 3.1cm
Mouth diameter: 12.2cm
Foot diameter: 7.5cm

Sancai porcelain Plate Carved with Egret and Lotus Design

Shaped like a nine-petal water chestnut flower, the plate is shallow and flat inside, with a loop leg at the bottom. The inside of the plate is carved with egret and lotus patterns as a background, on which glaze of three colors is applied. The making of the plate involves the following steps: 1) outlining patterns with an iron awl on the unfired ceramic body; 2) applying green glaze after biscuit firing; 3) applying grape purple glaze to the lotus leaves; 3) applying yellow glaze to the egrets and lotus flowers.
The carved patterns on this plate are smooth and natural. And the glaze of yellow, green and purple are applied in low temperature using fusing agent of lead oxide. The colors go perfectly well with one another. What’s worth mentioning is the rare use of grape purple glaze in a sancai article of the Liao Dynasty.

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Mangalore: Ancient Burial Rites, Something to Learn from the Urn

This page is viewed 250 times Mangalorean

Thirty seven pre Inca tombs, which date back to between 800 and 1445 AD, were accidentally discovered last week while workers were digging trenches as part of the installation of a water system for the Boca del R?o settlement, 60 kilometers from the city of Tacna in southern Peru.

Evidence of a prehistoric burial custom of interring dead persons in earthen pots has been found in various parts of India, mostly in Tamil Nadu. In a prominent instance, they were found in a farm near Kuvalakarai village when the land was being dug a few years ago. Villagers had found some very fragile skeletal bone pieces. Kuvalakarai village is near another archaeologically significant site, Girivalamvandha Nallur, where a large treasure of Roman and Chinese coins and medallions was discovered some years ago.

Such Stone Age pieces of evidence were also found as part of a large burial ground at Adichanallur, near Tirunelveli, also in Tamil Nadu. Archaeology department officials say it was common for "burial urns" to contain smaller earthen pots of grain and food kept there when the dead were interred. The practice was linked to a strong belief in life after death because Neolithic man believed in the concept of the spirit surviving a man's death, they say further.

Archaeologist K S Ramachandran, who had served for many years with the Archaeological Survey of India, is of the opinion that these monuments displaying the "mode of disposal of the dead and the furnishings within these burials are known to archaeologists as 'Megaliths', on account of the use of huge stones involved in the construction of these graves".

"Megalithic graves" are scattered in peninsular India and there is a "heavy concentration" of these in Tamil Nadu, "urn burials" being one category of such monuments, says Ramachandran.

The extensive urn burial site at Adichchanallur in Tuticorin district (formerly Tirunelveli) was first discovered by Dr. Jagor of Berlin Museum in 1876. A Rea excavated a good number of urns during 1910s and discovered gold diadems with parallels from Mycenae; bronze objects, notably lids with exquisite finials depicting many animal forms, iron objects besides thousands of potsherds. The excavation was resumed during 2003-04 and 2004-05. More than 160 urns within the area of 600 square metres have been exposed.

A five-foot-high burial urn dating to the Megalithic period (300 BC to 100 AD) and containing teeth and some other articles was unearthed by construction workers at a village in 2010.

The urn was found at a depth of about eight feet at the backyard of a house at Thillayadi village and contained pieces of teeth and some articles commonly used by soldiers.

In Coastal Karnataka too

Prof T Murugeshi, lecturer in Archaelogy at Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty College, Shirva in Udupi district says the custom was prevalent in the coastal district also. Only two prominent cases have come to light, whereas a good many in number might have been levelled and gone underground during real estate development and urbanization process.

Prof Murugeshi says that the Megalithic culture or Iron Age culture was a dominant culture of South India and in Karnataka too, it was widespread. It was known by their diverse forms of burials in India and elsewhere in the world. The southern west coast in south India comprises the Maalbar and theKonkan. In between these two, a small tract of coastal belt is known as west coast of Karnataka.

"It was formed of three districts South Canara, Udupi and North Canara. From a prehistorical perspective, this region is much less-known until recently. However, It was Dr P Gururaj Bhat who brought to light megalithic Dolmens and rock-cut caves of coastal Karnataka and was the first to include the region in the study of Megalithic sites in India," says he.

He further substantiates that subsequently an urn burial site at Birumale near Puttur was discovered by Dr A Sundara and another by himself (Prof Murugeshi) at Baggeyarkar near Shirva. Besides the Dolmens, rock-cut caves and urn burials, another new type of Megalithic burial called Menhirs was discovered and included by Prof Murugeshi.

Habitational sites of megalithic people are very less known but their burials known by thousands, which factor clearly indicates that the people had very strong belief in life after death.

The Hebri site which Murugeshi and his team recently studied accidentally came to light while a new bypass to Hebri town was being constructed near Ardhanarishwara temple at Tana. But before his spot inspection to know its significance, it had been disturbed and supposed to have been robbed. Then, a rescue operation was conducted to recover the available antiquities and their cultural mode with the help of Hebri police station and local people, Prof Murugeshi recalls.

The unbaked and sun-dried pot about 3 feet in height was placed in a pit and covered by a granite cap-stone. It had a thick rim of 6-inch diameter and a globular body about 63 inches in diameter. It is locally known as 'Gurke' in Tulu dailect and has a flat round base. It was placed two feet below the subsurface.

By scraping, the following observations were made by Prof Murugeshi at the site.

The pot was firmly placed in a pit with accurate water level.

The pot has turned very brittle after absorbing the water around over the past thousands of years.

The pot had finger-press ornamentation on the surface.

The pot had symbolic female identity by two bulbous marks.

The belief of life after the death confirmed by using handmade unbaked and sun-dried pot for burial purpose.

The pot was made by rings instead of wheel made, which we call constructive method.

Seven rings are used with rim and base totalling nine which number had special significance in Indian culture.

In conclusion, he says that the urn symbolically represents that death is not an end of life but beginning of a new life which is the essence of Upanishad thought.

Prof Murugeshi gratefully recalls the assistance and kind help received from his friends and acquaintances Yogish Bhat, Sukumar, Pandu Naik, police sub inspector of Hebri, Sridhar Bhat and Krishnayya of Udupi, driver Ravi Alva and Raghavendra Amin.

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In Israel, Treasures for Those Willing to Dig

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YOU might have mistaken it for a typical summer barbecue: friends sprawled on a sandy ledge, shielded from the sun by a tarp flapping sporadically from an elusive sea breeze, listening to Kings of Leon blare from minispeakers connected to an iPod as they poked at the embers of a campfire.

Except the fire went out 2,500 years ago. Still, the campers in Ashkelon, Israel, about 35 miles south of Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean coast, were mesmerized by the layer of white ash that adhered to a blackened base. Deftly wielding bamboo sticks, dental tools and trowels, they sifted the soot gingerly in an attempt to identify those who might have flanked this fire pit around 500 B.C., what was being cooked and where it came from.

I had eagerly gone to every new Indiana Jones movie, but had never longed to venture on an archaeological dig. Nor had I been to Israel. So when my wife and I were invited by a friend to tag along for a week last summer, we more or less leaped at the opportunity. (Any lingering doubts were dispelled when we were told that the hotel room reserved for us in Ashkelon faced north, which meant that it was less likely to incur a direct hit by errant missiles occasionally fired from Gaza, about a dozen miles to the south.)

Every June and July, the six-week Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon (digashkelon.com) draws an eclectic mix of college students and mostly other young adult volunteers who discover themselves - and often their vocation - as they uncover and connect with the past. Sponsored since 1985 by the Leon Levy Foundation, administered by the Harvard Semitic Museum and a consortium that also includes Wheaton and Boston Colleges and conducted under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the program accepts applications from anyone who meets three criteria. "They must be physically able, have at least a six-week interest in archaeology and be prepared to have fun," said Tracy Hoffman, a grid supervisor. "We'll take anyone who wants to dig dirt."

"It's like an adult sandbox," said another supervisor, Kathleen Birney.

The dig draws singularly disparate individuals. One year, a couple came to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Last summer, about a third of the 40 participants had no formal training in archaeology. They included students majoring in French literature, Russian history and political science; a Harvard philosophy student who said he came "on a lark because I had never seen this part of the world"; and Hillary Smith-Wikle, a third-generation volunteer whose professor at Troy University in Alabama and his professor had dug at Ashkelon. (Ms. Smith-Wikle is applying to the Defense Department's Forensic Science Academy, which recovers the remains of soldiers killed in combat. "As an army wife with a husband in Afghanistan, I think it is a good fit," she said.)

Michael Goble, an archaeology major at Wheaton, returned last summer with his girlfriend, Heather (a number of the participants have since paired off and married) and his 50-year-old father.

"It had been my dad's dream as well to go to Israel ever since he studied for ministry in college and seminary, yet he was willing to send me there first," Mr. Goble said. "As soon as I returned from my trip to Israel I told my dad that he had to go back with me the following summer."

"All three of us had the time of our lives moving dirt, uncovering large Roman architecture, finding pottery and traveling around," he said. "I got to witness my father baptize Heather in the Jordan River near Bethsaida."

The deadline to apply for the 2011 expedition is April 5. The full program runs from June 5 through July 15. Some scholarships and fellowships are available to defray the cost ($2,900, including room and board; a half session is $1,450). The full for-credit academic program offered through Harvard for undergraduates and graduate students is $5,500. (The several Sudanese and Ethiopian workers hired to help on the site laughed out loud when they heard that the volunteers were paying for the privilege of what, from afar, might have seemed like the opportunity to be hired as extras playing the roles of hod carriers in "The Ten Commandments.")

The expedition is a mix of Outward Bound and summer school. The classes are all outdoors - below ground, mostly - in deep pits excavated in grids marked on a 130-acre bowl atop an eroding cliff that overlooks the beach below. The site is part of a national park, populated by picnickers and jackals and mongoose, with guest appearances by the pink, black and white-crested hoopoe, Israel's national bird.

The accommodations are vastly improved from the first year when, with the group camping out near the dig, the director stumbled into a cesspool and had his pants stolen. These days, the accommodations compare very favorably with sleepaway camp and the hotel food is tolerable (it's served at a buffet, so at least there's plenty of it).

Breakfast is at 5 a.m. A bus leaves for the excavation before 6. Digging usually ends for the day by 1 p.m. because of the heat. After lunch, participants clean and analyze the morning's discoveries.

"We're voyeurs," said Adam Aja of Harvard. "We're going through ancient garbage." To the untrained eye, the broken pottery and other artifacts may seem indistinguishable, but archaeologists take great care not to contaminate distinct layers of ancient civilizations.

Ashkelon was the site of 20 cities from the Bronze Age (around 3500 B.C.) through the Crusader period (in the 1500s) and was occupied by Canaanites, Israelites, Philistines, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans, Greeks and Romans.

What is striking, too, is the juxtaposition of ancient ruins and modern technology. Each artifact and the daily changing dimensions of the dig are meticulously digitized.

"Every field book is typed onto a laptop, every bucket is assigned a bar code to enable us to communicate the results to the archaeological community faster," said Dr. Daniel M. Master, an archaeology professor at Wheaton College and the expedition's new co-director with Dr. Lawrence E. Stager, a Harvard archaeology professor and director of the Harvard Semitic Museum, who has overseen the dig for 25 years.

Amateur and professional archaeologists can dig for months elsewhere without ever finding anything (although as Zach Grossman philosophized, "Even when we find nothing, we find something"). But Ashkelon, with prompting by passionate experts and the amateurs they tutor, regularly disgorges an astounding number and variety of ancient artifacts: in recent years, a silver statuette of a calf, a dog cemetery, arrowheads, bi-chrome pottery, amphorae once filled with wine from Cyprus and Rhodes and silver coins bearing the portrait of Alexander the Great. (I found an almost intact unguentarium, a small perfume flask.)

"It is the most rewarding experience when you can piece together small bits of evidence and paint or theorize a bigger picture," said Patricia Kim, who is pursuing a double major in art history and Near Eastern archaeology at Berkeley.

Ashkelon is so rich in artifacts that a few months after we left, a storm collapsed a cliff to reveal a 2,000-year-old white marble statue of a woman wearing a toga and sandals. It was discovered by a beachcomber, which prompted Bob Lenzner, a friend who recalled sweating with us in a pit in Ashkelon last summer, to remark, "Maybe next year, we just wait on the beach."

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Archaeologists discover 900 year old abbey

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Scientists find waves are getting bigger

Ocean wind speeds and wave heights around the world have increased significantly over the past quarter of a century, according to Australian research that has given scientists their first global glimpse of the world's rising winds and waves. 
Published in the journal Science today, the research – the most comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken – used satellite data collected from 1985 to 2008. 

It shows the extreme wave height off the coast of south-west Australia today is six metres on average, more than a metre higher than in 1985. 

"That has all sorts of implications for coastal engineering, navigation and erosion processes," said Alex Babanin, an oceanographer at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, and co-author of the paper. 

However, there are greater uses for the data compiled by Professor Babanin, his Swinburne colleague Stefan Zieger and the Australian National University vice-chancellor, Ian Young. 

To date scientists have largely focused on temperature as an indicator of climate change. But climate is about much more than temperature, as winds and waves control the flux of energy from the atmosphere to the ocean. 

"Scientifically, this is another set of environmental properties which can be used as indicators of what is happening to the climate," Professor Babanin said. "Temperature changes the global patterns of the pressure, pressure defines the winds, winds define the waves. It's all connected." 

The trio established that between 1985 and 2008, global increases in wave height were most significant for extreme waves – large spontaneous waves. They increased in height by an average of 7 per cent in the past 20 years. In equatorial regions the rise was 0.25 per cent a year, while in higher latitudes the rise was up to 1 per cent a year. The mean wave height also increased, but to a lesser degree. 

When analysing extreme wind speed data over the world's oceans, the researchers found they increased by 10 per cent in the past two decades, or by 0.5 per cent a year. 

Professor Babanin said waves were generated by wind. However, the data show the lift in wind speed was greater than wave height increase. 

He said he doubted the 23 years of data could be immediately used to forecast future wind and wave conditions. 

"These are the environmental properties which can be used as indicators for the climate behaviour along with the other properties, such as temperature and precipitation, and extrapolations have to be made with caution," he said. 

Author: Bridie Smith | Source: The Sydney Morning Herald [March 25, 2011]

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11,000 year-old village unearthed in Southern Syria

The small village unearthed in the archaeological site of Tel Qarasa (hill) in the west of Swaida province, dating back to around 11000 years constitute a clear example of the first models of urban life in the prehistoric times. 
The excavations of the Syrian-French archaeological mission conducted at the site over the last two years showed that Qarasa region knew human presence in the form of tiny villages of 8 round houses whose inhabitants depended on fishing and growing cereal crops and wild fruits for their living. 

Wasim al-Shaarani, Head of Swaida Archaeology Department, said the discovered houses indicate that the human groups in the area were fully civilized as they knew the cereal farming and cattle raising. 

"The presence and settlement of humans in this region was made possible by the existence of Qarasa Spring which feeds a small lake in the middle of the area," added al-Shaarani in a statement to SANA, noting that the village left the place and moved to the northern mound since about 4000 BC. 

Human settlement in the southern mound of Qarasa village started since nearly 2500 BC. The inhabitants then participated in the building of the first cities in the area and the human settlement in the village continued till 200 BC. 

Qarasa village was in touch with all the big cities in the region such as the cities of Labwa, Kherbat al-Ambashi and Jawa, in addition to those spreading along Wadi al-Ordon, Golan and Erbid area. 

Al-Shaarani pointed out in the statement that before about 650 years of the present time, a collection of beautifully-shaped houses with 1,5 m walls still in good condition inside which a set of earthenware was found. 

During excavation works, he added, weapons, agricultural tools made of flint and bone, small puppets and skeletons were found in a big room in one of the discovered houses, showing an advanced level of symbolic culture of the people of the region. 

Architectural remains of about 2 m thick basalt walls and various constructions from the Bronze Age were also uncovered in the excavations. 

The archaeological survey of the region singled out 4 phases of human settlement dating back to the period between the Final Neolithic period and the Late Bronze Age. 

The archaeological findings unearthed in the southern area are being studied by specialists at Swaida National Museum to try to document the periods of time they go back to. 

The report of the Syrian-French mission said the excavations have revealed 522 archaeological sites in al-Lajat region from the ancient historical periods of the 7th millennium BC, among which was Tel Qarasa. 

Through the archaeological atlas of the prehistoric sites located in southern Syria, the mission has already documented 923 cases of isolated houses from the Iron Age including Qaras site. (SANA) 

Author: H. Said | Source: Global Arab Network [March 24, 2011]

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Scientists get glimpse of how the code of life may have emerged

A portion of the "code" of life has been unraveled by a UC Santa Barbara graduate student from the town of Jojutla, Mexico. 

Crystal structure of glutaminyl tRNA synthetase (GlnRS, green) in complex with its substrate tRNA^Gln (yellow). Left panel: Color-coded residues depict favorable (blue) and unfavorable (red) effects on the free energy of glutamine binding from mutation at this position. Right panel: Effects of mutation on the ability of GlnRS to catalyze amino acid attachment to the tRNA. In this case all effects are unfavorable [Credit: Annia Rodriguez/ John Perona / UCSB]Annia Rodriguez worked with John Perona, professor in UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, to decipher intramolecular communication within a large RNA-protein enzyme responsible for expressing the genetic code for the amino acid glutamine. 

To their surprise, the experiments by Rodriguez captured a partial glimpse of how the genetic coding of life may have emerged. The results of the study are published in the journal Structure, published by CELL. 

Life is based on the ability of all living cells to convert the genetic information in DNA, into the specific sequences of amino acids that make up the proteins that are the cell's workhorses. The key reaction in this decoding process is the attachment of a particular amino acid to one end of a small RNA molecule known as a transfer RNA. The enzyme that catalyzes this amino acid-RNA attachment is the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. 

Rodriguez performed many laborious experiments in which she removed portions of the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase that interact with the anticodon stem of the transfer RNA, far from the part of the enzyme that binds the amino acid. Using a biochemical approach known as rapid chemical quench kinetics, Rodriguez discovered that when she made these changes to the enzyme, the binding of the amino acid to the protein was strengthened, even though the amino acid binds far away from the positions where the changes were made. 

"It is totally counterintuitive," said Perona. "Imagine if you had a car, and you took out a gear, and the car went faster. Why would you want that gear if it makes your car go slower?" 

In all, Rodriguez found that separately removing seven different "gears" from a distant part of the molecule each caused the amino acid to bind more tightly to the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Perona explained that this provides the first systematic analysis demonstrating long-range communication in an enzyme that depends on RNA for its function. 

"So what we think is going on is that these enzyme-RNA interactions far from the amino acid binding site evolved together with the needs of the cell to respond to subtle cues from its environment – especially in terms of how much amino acid is available," said Perona. "It makes sense in terms of evolution." 

Rodriguez is the first in her family to pursue a Ph.D., which she will complete this year. Now 28 years old, she began her career as a nurse in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Then she went on to obtain a B.S. in biochemical engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatepec. 

Graduation from her undergraduate program called for work at a research institution and she chose UCSB. Upon graduation, Rodriguez was offered a prestigious five-year scholarship with Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Technología (CONACYT) to continue her studies at UCSB. 

Although her current research is not focused specifically on human health, Rodriguez said: "My interest in biochemistry started because I wanted to know the mechanisms by which drugs and medications worked inside the human body. I wanted to learn not just the signs and symptoms of disease, but how diseases are developed in a molecular level."  

Source: University of California - Santa Barbara [March 23, 2011]

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