By: The Scribe on Friday, April 6, 2007
Although it may look like just a piece of sculpture, this dog’s head is actually a drinking cup from 5th century Athens. It is thought to have been created by the Brygos Painter, who has over 200 pots and cups attributed to him in museums worldwide.
This drinking cup, or ‘rhyton’, was made with very close attention to detail: tiny whiskers are incised on the dog’s snout, and visible tendons bulge on the throat. The red band around the neck represents a collar, and on the rim of the cup is a painted scene from Greek mythology of pygmies battling cranes.
The rhyton probably belonged to a high-class Greek citizen, since dogs in ancient Greece were mostly kept as hunting companions. The cup itself would have likely been used to drink wine at men’s drinking parties, called ‘symposiums’. When the cup was empty, it would be turned upside-down to show the dog’s head, displaying the craftsmanship and allowing the vessel to have two functions: for practical use as a cup, and for aesthetic use as a piece of art.
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Tomorrow: 9000 year old wine, was that a good year?
By: The Scribe on Thursday, April 5, 2007
Among the ruins of an ancient city in the Chinese province of Henan, archaeologists have discovered 4,500 year old pottery fragments containing inscriptions. These fragments are believed to be pieces of a spinning wheel; the image shown here is a piece of a black ceramic spinning wheel about 4.7 cm wide.
The inscription here resembles the shape of a symbol from Taoist philosophy, suggesting that this city may have been one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Previously, the earliest known Chinese writing came from the 3,000 year old royal tombs of the Shang Dynasty. These characters were inscribed on bones and tortoise shells, and were used by religious leaders for divination.
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Tomorrow: Drinking from a… dog?
By: The Scribe on Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Underwater archaeologists at Loch Tay in Perthshire, Scotland, have discovered a well-preserved, drowned forest, dating to the Neolithic period around 5000 years ago. Archaeologists have identified fallen elm and oak trees, as well as upright oak trunks surrounded by organic material, including moss and hazelnuts. Many of the trees have been preserved in odd shapes, creating a “spooky landscape protruding from the loch bed”.
The radiocarbon dates for these trees fall between 3200 and 2500 BC; scientists hope that samples of the preserved wood and pollen will be able to assist them in tree-ring dating and climate-change studies.
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Tomorrow: The beginnings of literacy in China
By: The Scribe on Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Before the heyday of the compass, the Vikings of Scandinavia traversed the seas in their Norse ships, relying on sundials to help navigate the open waters… but what did they do on cloudy days?
Researchers in the past have suggested that Vikings may have used rock crystals known as ‘sunstones’ to assist in navigation during overcast conditions. Although there is no official archaeological evidence to support this theory, in early 2007 a team sailing the Arctic Ocean aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden found that sunstones could indeed “light the way” in foggy or cloudy conditions.
Although the concept of a ‘sunstone’ is known only from an ancient Viking legend, the theory on its usefulness for navigation was first put forth by Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou in 1966.
These rock crystals work as natural polarizing filters, changing brightness and color as they detect the angle of sunlight. Using these changes, Vikings could have determined which angle the light was coming from, and thus determined the sun’s orientation.
Since there is no concrete evidence of these sunstones, the matter is still under dispute. However, with recent studies confirming the reliability of sunstones for navigation in overcast conditions, it does not seem implausible that the Vikings could have made use of such technology for nautical purposes.
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Tomorrow: Swimming in…..the forest?
