What's New Achives

7,000 Year Old Projectile Points found in Vermont (USA)!!! From the RutlandHerald.com - Artifacts dating back to 5000 B.C. found in Rutland Town - By PATRICIA MINICHIELLO STAFF WRITER - Published: June 24, 2010 Ancient artifacts dating back roughly 7,000 years ago to 5000 B.C., were found by state archeologists on land near Thomas Dairy in Rutland Town recently

Digs in Cyprus uncover more of Phoenician fort By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS (AP) – 6 days ago NICOSIA, Cyprus — Digs in Cyprus have uncovered what may be soldiers' barracks belonging to a sprawling Phoenician fortress that was the island's largest ancient administrative hub dating back at least 2,500 years, the Cypriot Antiquities Department director said Monday.

Ten things you didn’t know about the Lewis Chessmen By Malcolm Jack Thursday, 24 June 2010

Number 11 - They might have been heavy drinkers...

and great seers

Chess, Beer, Chess, Beer — Not Nessessarily in That Order

Chess And Beer Pictures

Schlitz Beer

Researchers see chimps waging "war" Jun 21,WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chimpanzees wage war, mercilessly killing members of neighboring groups to expand their own territory, researchers reported Monday.

While biologists had long suspected that chimp violence could be more than random, the study in Current Biology provides the first clear evidence of this.

WHY THE FOSSIL 'HOBBIT' OF FLORES ISN'T SO STRANGE A dwarf-ed, human-like skeleton was discovered in 2004 deep inside Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. Was it a diseased human? A child? - - Further examination of the bones revealed that they were not recent, nor human exactly. Archaeologists famously declared the skeleton a new human ancestor, Homo floresiensis, whose striking similarities to Frodo Baggins earned it the nickname the "hobbit."

Leconomancy is divination by observing the shape that oil poured on water makes.

Alert: Obama Warns World Leaders ‘Millions Could Die’ From Gulf Oil Disaster June 27, 2010 by pakalert - A sobering report circulating in the Kremlin today from President Medvedev’s meeting with other World leaders at the G8 summit in Muskoka, Ontario states that President Obama has warned his counterparts that the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster “will most likely kill millions, perhaps tens of millions” of people during the coming year.

Last week The New York Times ran an article about the new 'Singularity University', at which 'students' recently gathered for a nine-day, $15,000 course (there is also a separate 10-week 'graduate' course for $25,000). One of the more interesting facets of the article - though only touched on briefly - is the 'techno-Utopianism' that permeates the thinking of those involved:

Somali Maritime Enterprise: Ancient Seafarers of the Erythraean Sea

Chaturanga preview

June 20, 2010

Highway 61 Edition

Ancient Egypt guide to afterlife centre of UK show - By(Reuters Life!) - Papyri from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a series of spells designed to help guide the dead through the afterlife, will be at the center of a new show at the British Museum this November. The star item is likely to be the Greenfield Papyrus, which the London museum called the world's longest Book of the Dead at 37 meters (yards). It has never been shown publicly in its entirety before.

Book of the Dead of Neferini (Egyptian Museum Berlin, Germany)

Carl Jung's The Red Book is considered to be the most influential unpublished work in the history of psychology.

"The Red Book of C.G. Jung: Creation of a New Cosmology," is a new exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, it offers a public look at a private chronicle of Carl Jung which has,until now, been kept in the Shadow.

Smithsonian Institution Libraries Unveils "Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn" New York: Little Simon, 2004, by David A. Carter. - WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Institution Libraries opens its new exhibition “Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn” in the National Museum of American History June 14. The exhibition features the art of paper engineering in the production of books with moving parts, such as peep shows (pictures viewed through a small hole), volvelles (wheel charts), accordion books and popup books, published from the 15th century to modern times.

Moctezuma II Exhibition Opens and Experts Hope to Uncover an Emperor's Tomb Soon By: Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer - MEXICO CITY (AP).- Archaeologists found some of the richest and most unusual Aztec offerings ever in excavations under a mammoth slab depicting an earth goddess and said Wednesday they hope to uncover an emperor's tomb nearby.

The seven offerings of strange and unparalleled oddities found under the stone slab depicting the goddess Tlaltecuhtli include the skeleton of a dog or wolf dressed in turquoise ear plugs, jadeite necklaces and golden bells on its feet.

Bobby Fischer's Body to Be Exhumed in Paternity Case (June 17) -- The body of iconic chess champion Bobby Fischer has been ordered exhumed from his grave in Iceland in the hopes of settling a paternity case brought by a former lover. Iceland's Supreme Court said today that three tissue samples were required to determine whether he was the father of 9-year-old Jinky Young, a Philippines-born girl whose mother has filed a claim on Fischer's estate.

Thunderstone Mystery: What's a Stone Age Axe Doing in an Iron Age Tomb? ScienceDaily (June 16, 2010) — "If one finds something once, it's accidental. If it is found twice, it's puzzling. If found thrice, there is a pattern," the archaeologists Olle Hemdorff and Eva Thäte say.

Lost? Evidence That Sense of Direction Is Innate - June 17, 2010 | - Two new studies show how spatial parts of the brain are already functioning in infancy, revealing that not everything we understand about our surroundings is learned

"God Particle" May Be Five Distinct Particles, New Evidence Shows Standard physics can't explain "provocative" results, scientists say. - Ker Than Published June 16, 2010 The "God particle" may actually be five distinct particles, evidence from a new atom-smashing experiment suggests. Called the Higgs boson, the theoretical particle has been long sought by physicists who think it's responsible for all mass in the universe—hence the name God particle.

Ancient Mass Sacrifice, Riches Discovered in China Tomb Kevin Holden Platt in Beijing, China for National Geographic News January 29, 2008 A 2,500-year-old tomb containing nearly four dozen victims of human sacrifice has been excavated in eastern China, yielding a treasure trove of precious artifacts and new insights into ritual customs during the era of Confucius, archaeologists say.

Ancient Human Sacrifice on China’s Periphery Anthropoetics 14, no. 1 (Summer 2008) Herbert Plutschow - Dean of International Humanities, Josai International University Japan - This bronze vessel, its location and approximate date, indicates a continuation of human sacrifice in south-west China into the Western (also Former) Han Dynasty (206BCE-25CE). Already five centuries have passed since the teachings of Kong Fuzi made human sacrifice obsolete, and several centuries have elapsed without any notable evidence of human sacrifice at the state level. Confucianism, a socio-political philosophy based on etiquette, ritual know-how, and learning made human sacrifice obsolete, as the state no longer needed blood sacrifice to impose political authority and social cohesion. Animal sacrifice, however, continued as an important imperial ritual until the collapse of imperial China in 1911

In a fundamental sense, and in modern terms, sacrifice is the "cost" in the cost-benefit analysis equation. Whatever that benefit may be, whether it be material or immaterial, whether it be survival or power, there is almost always a cost associated with benefit. Thus that "cost" or "sacrifice" is intrinsic to our existence.

Lo-Shu

Ancient Psychic Shell? Photograph from Imagechina/AP - A broken tortoise shell found at the Luoyang excavation site was likely used for psychic practices thousands of years ago.

Not much is known about tortoise-shell divination during the Western Zhou period, Sena said, but during the preceding Shang dynasty, the process involved heating the shell and interpreting the cracks that formed.

"Holes are bored in the back of the shell to make it easier to crack during the divination process," Sena explained.

"Someone then 'reads' the cracks. We don't know how exactly—it may be the shape of the crack or the sound it makes when it's heated," he added.

"The diviner would ask a question and the crack provided an answer."

Western Zhou Dynasty Tortoise Shell Sunday, June 20, 2010

DraganLalic — March 08, 2010 — The Greek Gift - what a beautiful and complex sacrifice! As a tribute to Grandmaster Peter Wells, Peter Lalic commentates on one of the professional player's brilliantly attacking games. It requires expert concentration and calculative ability to pull off such a masterpiece. The question is...can you learn from this lecture and write your own legendary work of art up on the wall of fame?

The Greek Gift chess sacrifice PART 1 / 2: how to win like GM Wells

David Fincher Also Considering Chess Drama 'Pawn Sacrifice' March 14, 2010 by Alex Billington - Pawn Sacrifice will tell the life story of American chess icon Bobby Fischer leading up to his historic world championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972. It apparently won't focus on any of his story after then, which is when Fischer became more reclusive. As expected, Variety says the latest script attracted a whole bunch of A-list directors, but Sony does really like what Fincher has done for them on The Social Network so far and is "eager" to work with him again.

In a move that will take him from comic book geeks to a whole new level of nerd, former superhero Tobey Maguire may take on the role of famous chess master Bobby Fischer in a project called Pawn Sacrifice.

Newton's Dark Secrets.... Magic or Mainstream Science?- An interview on Newton's alchemy with historian Bill Newman Newton's Dark Secrets homepage

A LEGITIMATE PURSUIT

NOVA: Why are people surprised when they hear that Isaac Newton—the grand patriarch of physics—was an alchemist?

NEWMAN: Well, I think it's because alchemy has been portrayed as the epitome of irrationality and a sort of avaricious folly.

NOVA: Sinister, dark-robed sorcerers trying to turn lead into gold. Is that an accurate picture of alchemists in Newton's time?

NEWMAN: It's accurate for some alchemists. But we now know that most of the great minds of the period were involved in alchemy, including Robert Boyle, John Locke, Leibniz, any number of others.

The Number 61 Revisited - A vast assortment of goodies...

Highway 61 Revisited

Highway 61 once ran from New Orleans through Memphis and Iowa through Hibbing, Minnesota all the way to Thunder Bay, Ontario in Canada. The road was originally 1714 miles long, but has been shortened to 1400. Also known as the Blues Highway, it runs through the Mississippi delta country which was an important source of blues music. Both Son Thomas ("Highway 61") and Mississippi Fred McDowell ("61 Highway") wrote songs about it, and many Mississippians, such as Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley took the blues to Chicago along the route. All these connections led Bob Dylan to commemorate the highway in the title song of his album Highway 61 Revisited.

Lyrics

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."

Pawn Sacrifice! - Winning at Chess the Adventurous Way
by Timothy Taylor

Publisher: Everyman Chess
Edition: Paperback medium
Pages: 240
Language: English

Pawn sacrifices are incredibly common in chess games, and yet curiously they have been neglected in literature... until now. In this pioneering work, Timothy Taylor carries out an in-depth study of this major subject. Using an abundance of instructive examples, Taylor uncovers the secrets of pawn sacrifices, highlighting the many reasons for their success and indicating the ideal situations in which pawn sacrifices work, as well as those cases in which they are not so effective.

Now the rovin’ gambler he was very bored
He was tryin’ to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61

Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt & Bruce Springsteen - Highway 61
Recorded at Los Angeles "Christic Institut Benefit Concert". 11/16/1990

June 13 , 2010

Beam Me a Board Edition

The Astounding World of Sandro Del-Prete by Abraham Tamir* Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel - Published: The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Volume 78, October 2000 (pdf)

"Demonstration of the close interaction between art and science —'the two sides of a coin' usually being ignored — has been the major aim of this set of articles. Applying the basic idea that art can be a means to illustrate science and that science can be instrumental in creating art, made it possible to materialize this interaction. Elaboration of the latter, that science creates art, by means of the science of visual perceptionor cognition, is the essence of this article... It is the fact that our mind can identify the two “pictures” which makes this phenomenon possible."

The Dejarik Holochess game from Star Wars By Peter Rojas
The table has a round, black and white checkered dartboard-like top, made up of 25 segments, resting on a single cylindrical leg. It has blue and red fairy lights around the edge and projects holographic figures onto its surface.

Each player has a selection of different figures. (Ugly ones at that!)

Finishing the Game December 07, 2006 — A robot and a scanner orb finish the last few moves of a holographic chess game...then, it's dropped into the memory hole...

Scientists create artificial mini 'black hole' June 3, 2010 by Lisa Zyga - The scientists, who are from Southeast University in Nanjing, China, explain in their study published in the New Journal of Physics that this is the first experimental demonstration of an omnidirectional electromagnetic absorber in the microwave frequency region. To build the absorber, the researchers used the unique properties of metamaterials to manipulate light waves and achieve the wave trapping and absorbing properties.

Holography (from the Greek, ?λος hólos whole + γραφ? graf? writing, drawing) is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded.

Where do "tropes" come from? Where do they go?

World President: So this will be our home for the next few weeks. I hope you play a good game of 3-dimensional chess, Captain.

Captain Brown: I play a very good game, sir.

— Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons

We've all seen it before. It's the far-flung future, or an alien planet, or even a Wizarding School. The two characters are talking about the latest plot point over a game of Chess.

No wait... It looks like chess (or checkers or what have you), but it isn't quite the chess we know. It could have multiple, circular, or other odd boards. It could be that the pieces are sentient. It could be something as simple as a different motif for the pieces, or a new unique piece or two. But in some way, the characters are playing a different board game. The characters may or may not still use terms like "Checkmate".

The roleplaying and strategy games that one sees on computers and video game consoles are one permutation of a much older legacy. The originals were played with a book of rules, pencils, paper, dice, models and imagination - a form of low-tech virtual reality. These are still popular today, in many forms, the most widely known of which are tabletop RPGs and tabletop wargames.

Derren Brown beats 9 chess players simultaneously. (video) February 27, 2007 — This is a video cut from "Trick of The Mind" series aired in the UK. The clip here is taken directly from Season 1 -- Episode 1.

Blinding fast chess game - 30s blitz between chess masters. Trick of the Mind? Maybe not ...

Did a 'sleeper' field awake to expand the universe? • 11 June 2010 by Anil Ananthaswamy - To overcome this daunting discrepancy, physicists have resorted to other explanations for the recent cosmic acceleration. One explanation is the idea that space-time is suffused with a field called quintessence. This field is scalar, meaning that at any given point in space-time it has a value, but no direction. Einstein's equations show that in the presence of a scalar field that changes very slowly, space-time will expand at an ever-increasing rate...

Baby Bang - The sound of holochess?
What's new/old on the "acoustic horizon"?

What does the hottest matter ever made sound like? The hottest material ever created in the laboratory makes an eerie drone. A similar sound may have pervaded the universe just after the big bang, when space was a seething cauldron of matter.

About halfway through, a wiggle in the tone signals the point at which quarks and gluons recombine to form particles from protons to pions. Watch a longer video narrated by the researchers here.

Magical shoes or "How to get from there to here and back" - from senet, to chess, to hyperspace... Damn the Heisenbugs! Full speed ahead, Scotty...

WASHINGTON – About 5,500 years ago someone in the mountains of Armenia put his best foot forward in what is now the oldest leather shoe ever found.,,,"In fact, enormous similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of this (Armenian) shoe and those found across Europe at later periods, suggesting that this type of shoe was worn for thousands of years across a large and environmentally diverse region," Pinhasi said.

From the ground below, it is not visible. As you clamber up what looks like a tall mound, the villagers caution you. For the entire place is overgrown with dense bushes and there are depressions, quite deep, hidden by vegetation.

When you pause, the skeletal remains of what looks a temple vimana suddenly looms up. The tall structure, built entirely of bricks, looks forlorn, blanketed by vegetation all round.

Theban Tomb 39 - MEXICO CITY.- After 5 years of uninterrupted archaeological, restoration and iconographic interpretation work, the Mexican delegation in charge of conservation at the Theban Tomb 39, in Egypt, will begin the 6th field season in September 2010. The goal is to open the site to public in 2013.

June 6 , 2010

Relics in Recovery Edition

Sahara Prehistoric Rock Art - Archaeologists, egyptologists and anthropologists as well as lovers of the Sahara's pre-historic art must now have their eyes set on Libya, as full access to its unique prehistoric art and primeval past is only a few hours away from Europe's capitals. Dazzling and vivid mages of its early pastoralists, tribal shamans and early artists can be grasped directly off the rocks of the Sahara.

Sahara cave may hold clues to dawn of Egypt- By Patrick Werr - Mon May 24, 2010 CAIRO (Reuters) - Archaeologists are studying prehistoric rock drawings discovered in a remote cave in 2002, including dancing figures and strange headless beasts, as they seek new clues about the rise of Egyptian civilisation.

Prehistoric Paintings in Gilf Kebir Video - Gilf Kebir is the most arid and desolate places on Earth, but thousands of years ago, the site had water and was inhabited by humans and animals. In the 1930s, Hungarian explorer László Almásy discovered prehistoric paintings in the Cave of the Swimmers, which gave a view into the life of a long forgotten civilisation.

Dr Salima Ikram Shares the Secrets of Egypt's Animal Cults In this exclusive video, the American University at Cairo's Salima Ikram shares the secrets of Egypt's enduring animal adoration. In the video, she explains how Egyptians believed that animals were born as gods' creatures, and that gods would enter their bodies and animate it.

Genetic Data Added to Archaeology and Linguistics to Get Picture of African Population History ScienceDaily (May 26, 2010) — Genetic researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have combined data from existing archaeological and linguistic studies of Africa with human genetic data to shed light on the demographic history of the continent from which all human activity emerged.

93 tombs belonging to Warring States Period, Han Dynasty unearthed 2010-05-28 16:40:00 - Archaeologists have discovered 93 tombs ranging from the times of China's Warring States Period to Han Dynasty at the Zhangduo Ruins in Neiqiu of Xingtai, Hebei.

The rise and fall of a Harappan city T.S. SUBRAMANIAN - Dholavira, now identified as one of the five largest Harappan sites, tells the story of a civilisation that flourished across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A game, apparently involving a puzzle, found at the site.

Saqqara: The City of the Dead Submitted by Sean Williams on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 10:48 Saqqara, located 40km south of Cairo, was a vast, 6km-long necropolis for the ancient capital of Memphis during the 1st and 2nd dynasties. It is most famously recognised for its step pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh Djoser (2635 – 2610 BC) – but houses thousands of ancient burial sites, with many more submerged beneath the unerring depths of the desert.

Jomon Clay Figurine 2010/05/31 OTSU--A clay figure believed to be 13,000 years old and one of the oldest in the country, was found in an archaeological site in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture, the Shiga Prefectural Association for Cultural Heritage said. The tiny figure, 3.1 centimeters in height and 14.6 grams in weight, depicts a female torso with breasts and a waistline.

BYU archaeologists discover ancient royal tomb in Mexico that may be oldest in Americas By Sara Israelsen-Hartley = Deseret News - Thursday, June 3, 2010 Provo - Whoever they were, the two adults went out of this life in style — their bodies adorned with jade carvings shaped like monkeys and crocodiles, and their mouths filled with precious jewels and tiny seashells.

Bird rock art could be world's oldest By Emma Young - JUNE-3-2010 A ROCK PAINTING THAT appears to be of a bird that went extinct about 40,000 years ago has been discovered in northern Australia. If confirmed, this would be the oldest rock art anywhere in the world, pre-dating the famous Chauvet cave in southern France by some 7,000 years

Yummy! Christine Dell'Amore - National Geographic News - June 2, 2010 - The real-life caveman diet included crocodiles, and eating the reptiles' fatty flesh may have helped early humans evolve bigger brains, a new study suggests.The work is based on bones and artifacts from a prehistoric "kitchen" that make up the earliest evidence that humans ate aquatic animals.

Mat Weights - A remarkable and mysterious group of small bronze sculptures from China’s Warring States Period and Han Dynasty (475 BC–AD 220) depicts bears, felines, rams, deer, and other creatures both real and imaginary. Made in sets of four and often filled with lead, these sculptures were used to weigh down mats used for seating and for playing board games, and their internment in tombs suggests that they were as significant during life as after death.

The Forms and Functions of Mat Weights
Michelle C. Wang

                   With walls of iris, of purple shells the chamber;
                   Perfumed pepper shall make the hall
                   With beams of cassia, orchid rafters,
                   Lily-tree lintel, a bower of peonies,
                   With woven fig-leaves for the hangings
                   And melilotus to make a screen;
                   Weights of white jade to hold the mats with,
                   Stone-orchids strewn to make the floor sweet.
                                     Qu Yuan, Elegies of Chu, ca. 300 BC

The Lost Game of Liubo Part 1 : Funerary Statuettes - The ancient Chinese game of liubo - meaning 'six sticks', was immensely popular during the latter part of the Warring States period (476-221 B.C.) and throughout the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.), but later faded into oblivion.

In“The Summons of the Soul,” a poem dated to around the second century B.C.E., there is a lively description of the game of liu bo.

Then with bamboo game sticks and ivory-inlaid board the liu bo game begins:
Both sides advance at once: they press and contend.
Reaching the target and recording a double score, they shout: ‘Five White!’
Dice of rhino horn, fashioned in Jin, flash in the sun.

The invention of liubo is a lot earlier than that of Chinese chess. It came into existence way back in the Spring and Autumn Period and caught on during the Warring States Period. The game was widely spread during the Qin and Han Dynasties, becoming one of the most popular board games in the imperial court and among the people. Along with the opening up of "the Silk Road" in the Han Dynasty, liubo was introduced abroad...

UW games collection goes to Museum of Civilization April 19, 2010 - By Brent Davis - Waterloo - For nearly 40 years, a small museum tucked away at the University of Waterloo boasted one of the world’s largest collections of games. Now, the collection has found a new home at one of Canada’s national treasures, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.

Collection of over 5000 objects and archival documents concerning games and game playing - board and table games, playing cards, gambling games, Inuit games, African games, Asian games, Canadian manufactured games, related art objects, games modified for physical limitations, etc.