Past Horizons TV

Space Archaeology: Alice Gorman at TEDxSydney

PHTV — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:16:05 +0000

Alice Gorman is an archaeologist who specialises in the material culture of space exploration, from its origins in the 1930s through to the present. Her particular focus is orbital debris, or “space junk”, including historic satellites. Her aim is to contribute a cultural-heritage perspective to international agreements on reducing the orbital debris problem. Other areas she has researched and written about include rocket launch sites, tracking stations, Skylab, and Russian landing sites on Venus. Alice is a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University, an Adjunct Fellow at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at ANU, and a member of the Space Industry Association of Australia. Her favourite spacecraft is Australis Oscar V, launched in 1970 by a group of Australian students and still in orbit around the Earth.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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gorhman arqueologo

Analyzing the Past – Chemistry, Archaeology, and Art: Ruth Ann Armitage at TEDx

PHTV — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:32:55 +0000

Every week, millions of people watch TV shows about solving crimes with science. But did you know that chemists and archaeologists can work together to piece together an understanding of human behavior in antiquity? This talk will describe analytical chemistry research at Eastern Michigan University on historical and archaeological materials: colonial bricks, ancient rock paintings, tiny fragments of textiles. Learn about the questions that chemistry can — and can’t! — answer about people, technology, and materials from our ancient past.

While a chemistry student at Thiel College in Pennsylvania, Ruth Ann Armitage, now Professor of Chemistry here at Eastern Michigan University, participated in an archaeological field school that confirmed her desire to combine these seemingly disparate disciplines. She completed a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Texas A&M University on radiocarbon dating of charcoal-pigmented rock paintings. She has since worked with archaeologists at historic and prehistoric sites around the world. Dr. Armitage and her students develop mass spectrometry methods for characterizing rock paintings, dyes in textiles, and ceramic residues. Identifying these molecules from the past helps archaeologists better understand ancient materials.

This place has never been empty..

PHTV — Sun, 05 May 2013 07:22:28 +0000

Since the discovery in 1999, of a large settlement site from Early Stone Age (ca 6 000 — 4 000 BC) close to the river Motala ström, the Swedish National Heritage Board has conducted archaeological excavations north and south of the river.

Among other artifacts the site provides a rich and multifaceted material of bone and antler, which is very rare for this type of Stone Age excavations. This is due to the exceptionally good conditions for preservation. Artifacts found in anaerobic, cool and moist contexts appear to be manufactured yesterday and not to have been deposited in layers of gyttja for 7 000 or 8 000 years.

The structure of the excavated area and the multifaceted artifacts in combination with the projects inter disciplinary constitution creates widening scopes of interpretation of how the site was used, and also broadens our perception of Early Stone Age society.

This film is produced in association with the production company BringitoLife. The film crew has followed the archaeologists during two field seasons.

The site is located in the town of Motala, East Middle Sweden. The archaeological excavations are part of the Swedish Transport Administration project “BanaVäg Motala — Mjölby”. The field work will close during 2013. Stiftelsen Kulturmiljövård also investigates part of the archaeological complex.

You will find more information about the excavations by Motala ström at: http://www.arkeologiuv.se (under Uppdrag/Aktuella uppdrag/Motala ström) http://verkstadsvagen.arkeologiuv.se https://www.facebook.com/arkeologivid…

Archaeology and forensic anthropology confirm survival cannibalism at Jamestown

PHTV — Fri, 03 May 2013 07:44:50 +0000

Findings were proven through collaborative research efforts by Preservation Virginia’s Jamestown Rediscovery Project (archaeology), The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (historical context) and Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (forensic anthropology).
https://www.facebook.com/historicjame…

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The Day We Learned To Think

PHTV — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 07:47:00 +0000

Understanding of humans’ earliest past often comes from studying fossils. They tell us much of what we know about the people who lived before us. There is one thing fossils cannot tell us; at what point did we stop living day-to-day and start to think symbolically, to represent ideas about our environment and how we could change it? At a dig in South Africa the discovery of a small piece of ochre pigment, 70,000 years old, has raised some very interesting questions.

Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged in Africa roughly 100,000 years ago. We know from fossil evidence that Homo sapiens replaced other hominids around them and moved out of Africa into Asia and the Middle East, reaching Europe 40,000 years ago.

Prof Richard Klein believes art is a landmark in human evolution. Unquestionable art that’s widespread and common suggests you’re dealing with people just like us. No other animals, after all, are able to define a painting as anything other than a collection of colours and shapes. This ability is unique to humans.

Other scientists agree. They believe art defines humans as behaviourally modern, and its beginning must coincide with the ability to speak and use language. If someone has the imagination to devise a shared way to describe their environment using art then it seems inconceivable that they could not possess language and speech. The search for the moment our ancestors became behaviourally just like us is also the hunt for the first evidence of art.

The earliest evidence of human art was always thought to appear in south western Europe around 40,000 years ago. Spectacular cave paintings, jewellery, carved figurines, ornaments and new styles of stone and bone tools all appear. There is evidence that ceremonial human burials were taking place. It really did seem like a light bulb had been turned on in the human brain; a big bang of thought.

Had something happened in a very small timeframe during the course of human evolution to forever change our future? A theory called ‘The Human Revolution’ emerged. It suggests there was some sudden, dramatic, genetic change around 50,000 years ago, that meant human beings, became able to think and communicate. For years this was the most plausible theory of why we evolved language and symbolic thinking, whilst our cousins the Neanderthals got wiped out.

Neanderthals were known to have been living in Europe for nearly 200,000 years before Homo sapiens arrived. But within 10,000 years of the modern human arrival, Neanderthals had disappeared. This seemed to back up the idea of the human revolution. A new, more intelligent species arrived to compete with the stronger, less advanced natives. Intelligence won and the Neanderthals were eventually made extinct, unable to compete with the incomers for scarce food and resources.

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homo sapiens 100 000 years ago

Geoanalytics at Mammoth Cave National Park

PHTV — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:44:28 +0000

This video showcases the work being done at North Carolina State University in collaboration with Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Here, we present Light Detection and Ranging Data (LiDAR) recorded at the Park. The discrete return points are shown along with surfaces that were interpolated from those points.

Initial processing was done by Dr. Nicholas Skowronski (NPS). Post-processing and video creation was done by John Wall.

Archaeologists unearth 1000 year-old tomb in Peru

PHTV — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 06:37:36 +0000

Archaeologists in 2012 discovered a 1,000-year-old tomb 20 miles south of the Peruvian capital Lima.

It contains the cloth-covered skeletal remains of over 70 people – most of them thought to be children.

The 60-ft-long grave is linked to the ‘Painted Temple’ where the Huari people used to pray to Pacha Kamaq – their God of Creation.

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Cyber Archaeology

PHTV — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:03:43 +0000

Maurizio Forte combines traditional archaeological techniques with new technologies to investigate — and visualize — ancient civilizations. Forte arrived at Duke in January as the William and Sue Gross Professor of Classical Studies. Learn more at https://today.duke.edu/2013/03/mauriz….

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cyber arqueología

Limestone Landscapes: Community Archaeology

PHTV — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:04:48 +0000

We are helping local communities to discover more about their heritage through taking part in archaeology, learning the techniques of excavation and survey. Community excavations led by professional archaeologists are looking at sites in the area to date a range of sites to improve knowledge and understanding of the historic environment. There is also training in archaeological techniques for people in local areas.