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GoddesschessA compass of research papers, books, essays, articles, links and archived community discussions on historical chess - with special emphasis on the WOMEN of CHESS.
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Archives of previous Random Roundup updates
2007
August 29, 2010
Mingqi Editon
The Legend of the "Fat Lady" in Chinese Art.
Her hair like a cloud
Her face like a flower
A gold hair-pin adorning her tresses
Behind the warm lotus-flower curtain
They took their pleasure in the warm spring night.....Xuanzong (712 - 755 AD)
The Tang dynasty (618 - 906 AD) is generally regarded as the Golden Age in Chinese History. Under one of it's greatest Emperors,Taizong (reigned 627 - 649 AD), military conquests extended Chinese domination as far as the Parmirs.
This was a remarkable time when poetry, dance, painting, music and crafts flourished in a rich and powerful empire.
This was also a period of tolerance both in religious and social matters where elite and middle-class Chinese women enjoyed almost total freedom. Never before had the female so closely rivalled traditional male superiority in Chinese society.
Mingqi Chinese tomb figurines The aim of this website is to become the world's largest database for images of Chinese tomb figurines.
The Vibrant Role of Mingqi in Early Chinese Burials Burial figurines of graceful dancers, mystical beasts, and everyday objects reveal both how people in early China approached death and how they lived. Since people viewed the afterlife as an extension of worldly life, these figurines, called mingqi or "spirit utensils," disclose details of routine existence and provide insights into belief systems over a thousand-year period. Mingqi were popularized during the formative Han dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) and endured through the turbulent Six Dynasties period (221–589) and the later reunification of China in the Sui (589–618) and Tang (618–906) dynasties.
Accessing the Terracotta Warriors by Touch - ROM Creates Braille Replica Warriors Submitted by owenjarus - 08/26/2010 - The Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto Canada, has brought in a number of features to make their Terracotta Warriors show more accessible. They have installed four replica artefacts, along with Braille markings, that people can touch. These include a ding ritual vessel, a kneeling archer, a cavalry soldier and horse, and a dancer.
Incredible Intelligence Games From Ancient China Among the China's ancient mathematical toys, the Huarongdao Puzzle, the Nine Puzzle Ring and the Tangram are considered as the three incredibles among other world-class specimens of mathematical and physics-based puzzle games.
Ancient Chinese coins found in Kenya August 25, 2010 The underwater archaeological team from the National Museum of China will visit Kenya in Africa in November to search for the legendary "sunken ships of Zheng He's fleet." A few days ago, the land-based archaeological team that has already arrived in Kenya sent a piece of news back that they found some Chinese cultural relics, including "Yongle Tongbao," which are ancient Chinese coins used in the Ming Dynasty, in a local village.
"Besides their esthetic quality, holes with eight or six sides have a special meaning to the Chinese. The Chinese word for "eight" (ba ?) has a similar pronunciation to the word to "prosper" or "wealth" (fa cai ??). The Chinese word for "six" (liu ?) is also considered auspicious because its pronunciation is similar to the word "prosperity" (lu ?)."
Lysistrata: the Ritual Logic of the Sex-strike (pdf) by Camilla Power (Lecturer in Anthropology, University of East London) Aristophanes, born about 450BC, was at the height of his powers during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. His three comedies of sexual subversion — are the remaining examples of what may have been a traditional ‘feminist’ or gynocratic theme in Old Athenian Comedy.
Archaeologists Uncover Burial Sites from the Trojan War Period 26 August 2010 | During excavations of the ancient burial site Baalar Kayryak, located in southern Bulgaria near the town of Yambol, archaeologists discovered four burials from the late bronze age, around the time of the Trojan War, 1300 BC.
Ancient wall found around Temple of Apollo in western Turkey August 24, 2010 - AYDIN - Anatolia News Agency - An ancient wall has been found as part of excavation work that started after an illegal excavation around the Apollo Temple in the Didim district of the Aegean province of Ayd?n. The wall is thought to be part of the Temple of Artemis, the twin of Apollo.
Turkish archeologists find 4,000 year-old trade deal in Anatolia Archeologists have unearthed the tablets of first written trade agreement in Anatolia. - 29 August 2010 14:54 - Kanesh, inhabited continuously from the Chalcolithic period down to Roman times, flourished most strongly as an important merchant colony (karum) of the Old Assyrian kingdom, from ca. 20th to 16th centuries BC. A late (c 1400 BC) witness to an old tradition includes a king of Kanesh called Zipani among seventeen local city-kings who rose up against the Akkadian Naram-Sin (ruled c.2254-2218). It is the site of discovery of the earliest traces of the Hittite language, and the earliest attestation of any Indo-European language, dated to the 20th century BC
A remarkable accomplishment. (above graphic) This gentleman obviously went to "boarding school"! The rules of this board game are based on an Anglo-Saxon game, ‘Hnefatafl’ popular in this country between about AD 400 and AD 1000 when chess arrived. It was carried here from Scandinavia by the Norsemen who were continuing an ancient tradition amongst the northern European tribes. A more detailed history is contained within the accompanying book. This game is appropriate to the time in which the story is set, and the opposing forces are of unequal size and have different objectives. This ties in with the political theme to the book.
'Sensational' Discovery Archeologists Find Gateway to the Viking Empire By Matthias Schulz - 08/27/2010 - For a century, archeologists have been looking for a gate through a wall built by the Vikings in northern Europe. This summer, it was found. Researchers now believe the extensive barrier was built to protect an important trading route.
Acoustic archaeology: The secret sounds of Stonehenge
• 10:31 27 August 2010 by Trevor Cox reveals how the acoustic footprint of the world's most famous prehistoric monument was measured. "Just after sunrise on a misty spring morning last year, my fellow acoustician at the University of Salford, Bruno Fazenda, and Rupert Till of the University of Huddersfield, UK, could be found wandering around Stonehenge popping balloons. This was not some bizarre pagan ritual. It was a serious attempt to capture the "impulse response" of the ancient southern English stone circle, and with it perhaps start to determine how Stonehenge might have sounded to our ancestors.
Traces of Lost Language and Decimal Number System Discovered in Peru Submitted by Ann on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 12:55 Excavations at a Colonial Period site on the North Coast of Peru have revealed the first traces of a lost language. Sometime in the early 17th century, a Spaniard jotted down some notes on the back of a letter. Four hundred years later, archaeologists dug up and studied the paper, revealing how Peruvian natives used numbers.
RESEARCH ARTICLES: Traces of a Lost Language and Number System Discovered on the North Coast of Peru
23 AUG 201- Archaeological excavations at a Colonial Period site on the North Coast of Peru have revealed the first traces of a lost language. A combined research team of U.S.–Peruvian archaeologists at the site of Santa María Magdalena de Cao within the El Brujo Archaeological Complex in the Chicama Valley has found a document that lists a few but important words that serve as keys to unlocking the intricacies of a native language that was spoken in prehistory and into the Colonial Period but has since become extinct.The Lost City - A discovery in the desert could rewrite the history of ancient Egypt. September/October 2010 by Heather Pringle - For much of the twentieth century, Egyptologists shied away from explorations in the vast sand sea known as the Western Desert. An expanse of desolation the size of Texas, the desert seemed too harsh, too implacable, too unforgiving a place for an ancient civilization nurtured on the abundance of the Nile.
New discoveries in Syria reveal ancient trade routes to Nile
Aug 26, 2010, Damascus - An academic excavation team said Thursday it had uncovered artifacts which indicate that an ancient Bronze-Age kingdom in northern Syria had strong international trade relations with Nile river dynasties.
Nebra sky disk discarded because of volcanic ash, scientists say By Thomas Schoen Halle/Mainz, Germany - A catastrophic volcanic eruption spewing huge clouds of ash about 3,600 years ago was behind the burial of the Nebra sky disk, one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in recent years, according to scientists at Mainz and Halle-Wittenberg universities in Germany
Some Interesting and useful links to Native American games
Native American Technology and Art
Native American Board Games
References cited in NativeTech's Games & Toys articles:An exhaustive list of ritual activities of various South American tribal cultures
Updated August 1 , 2010
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We enthusiatically encourage our readers to
join Shira's charity cause on FacebookLast year, Shira started a foundation called Computer Labs for Kids. Shira receives donated or buys laptop computers with donations and then gives them to needy children and provides training and orientation on how to use the laptops! Wow!
Shira's first activity was to travel to Agra, India where she taught several girls who are residents of a girls' school there. This You Tube video follows their progress. You can read more about Shira's foundation work and travels at her Facebook site
“The Monkey Race” – Remarks on Board Games Accessories (pdf) Anne-E. Dunn-Vaturi - In the ancient Near East, games represented an essential dimension in social life. It is because they are closely related to another principle, important in the stability of human communities...
Origin of chess - a phylogenetic perspective... (pdf) Alex R. Kraaijeveld : "Board games are like plant and animal species in that they can can evolve and give rise to new forms. This leads to an important similarity between board games and bio- logical species (Eagle 1995, 1998; Kraaijeveld 1999): in both cases a group of similar-looking ‘species’ most likely owe their similarity to their being descended from a single common ancestor.
The Game of Go: (pdf) Speculations on its Origins and Symbolism in Ancient China - By Peter Shotwell © 1994-February 2008 "... just as new thinking and new evidence have turned up in recent years to help strengthen the original theses, scholarship and excavations of the multitude of China’s archeological sites that remain underground will undoubtedly influence future thought."
The Games of Chess and Backgammon in Sasanian Persia (pdf) By Touraj Daryaee California State University, Fullerton - "Board games were played in many parts of the ancient world and so it is very difficult to attribute the origin of any board game to a particular region or culture."
• L’Occident chrétien médiéval et les échecs. L’évolution des pièces non figuratives du 10e au début du 16e siècle. Modified for html access March 22, 2009 English-French introduction to French text - Pierre Mille offers a graphically rich and rewarding survey outlining the 10th - 16th Century evolution of non-figurative western chess pieces. Merci, Pierre!
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The Literary World of 15th Century Valencia: The Scachs d'amour Manuscript and its Three Authors by M.C. Romeo. A wonderful description of the Spanish literary circle that made modern chess what it is today.
• The Montreal Open Chess Championship 2009 - A patzer's eye view of the road to and from Ahuntsic (With gathered links to postscripts on the event in French and English) by Don McLean - September 19, 2009.
The Daunce of Nine-Men's-Morris and the Boundaries Between Worlds by Tracy Boyd © 2004 - Well researched and written, Tracy gives us all something to sing and dance about! A stellar performance shows how the energetric pulse of a living culture courses through many tributary arteries - board games included.
• Lawrence Totaro has put together a nice pictorial essay on Salvador Dali's artistic interest in chess we are pleased to incorporate into our current library. Updated March 22: This page now hosts recent photos of the Dali Museum - St. Petersburg, Florida and some additional bits of information.
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Social/socialization factors at work explain the difference in performance rather than any lack of innate ability among females to play chess as well as males...
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• George Koltanowski Remembered: Just who was George and what made him so special to chess? The Knight's Tours of George Koltanowski, by Frederic Friedel takes us on a brief journey back in time...
• FILE UPDATE: The Cleveland Public Library has a collection of articles and materials on Gisela Kahn Gresser's chess career. The Gisela Kahn Gresser Collection is available for use by researchers in the John G. White Special Collections Department on the 3rd Floor of the Main Building.
Archives of previous Showcase material
Silver-plated divination bowl
Egypt, 1801-1900
Divination was used in medicine to try to determine the cause of an illness and to give some indication as to suitable treatments. This divination bowl may have been used by interpreting the reflection of light on its sides.
Other methods include casting stones or studying the entrails of a sacrificed animal and interpreting the patterns made. The engraving on the silver-plated copper bowl shows entwined snakes, a running dog and also has some Arabic text. Although its exact origin is unknown, it is thought that the bowl was made in Egypt. It is believed that at some point it may have been used as an ashtray as there is staining on the surface.
Agora Director: Alejandro Almenábar - Starring: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Michael Lonsdale Rating: 4/5 - Now here’s something rather unusual and interesting. A film set in 4th century Egypt that doesn’t involve lost treasure, monsters or magical artefacts. Instead, we have a beautiful reconstruction of Alexandria at the time that religious conflict destroyed the fabled library. Hypatia (Weisz, superb) teaches science and philosophy to a multi-cultural classroom, but this melting pot city is about to boil over.
The Chinese puzzle ball could generally be categorized as a good luck charm because it is decorated with symbolic figures and it is the shape of the eternal circle. The multi-layered sphere, which is an exquisite example of carving craftsmanship dating back to ancient China, is also sometimes called, and rightfully so, a “mystery ball.”
" No one should gather wisdom in a bag, put it in a box, and then stand on a road and say, “Teach me wisdom!” - African Senufo tribal saying
“ It is right to teach young people that chess is not a game of war, but is a beautiful game.” - Russian Chess Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh
" Remind me again he said, how the little horse shaped one moves." - Terry Pratchett
" Chess predates the universe, as I recall. It was the reason life arose."
"Chess is the greatest game ever invented, because it only looks like a game." - Scott Kerns
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