Episode 7 of the new documentary series Strata: Portraits of Humanity, produced by AntiquityNOW’s partner, Archaeological Legacy Institute, considers what we uncover about a society through the remnants of its existence. In this two-part episode we observe how discarded items become touchstones for past lives—relics that capture times, places, memories, social status, gender roles and cultural attributes. And we ponder how future generations will remember us when they come upon what we in the 21st century have left behind. Continue reading
Category Archives: Public Life
Strata: Portraits of Humanity, Episode 7, “Historical Archaeology in Downtown Boise” and “South Carolina Pottery Kiln Excavation”
Posted in Architecture, Art, Blog, Culture, Education, Public Life, Strata Curricula
Tagged AntiquityNOW, Archaeological Legacy Institute, Archaeology in Boise, cultural heritage film, cultural preservation, pottery excavation, South Carolina kiln, Strata Portraits of Humanity, The Archaeology Channel
The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival 2015
The Archaeology Channel, a program of Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), has just completed another successful annual International Film and Video Festival. Packed with insightful and provocative films as well as lively and important discussions on the significance of cultural preservation, this year’s festival touched minds and hearts with its depictions of how precious and vulnerable our world heritage is.
The festival’s mission is:
To exhibit for our audience the wonderful diversity of human cultures past and present in the exploration of our place in history and in our world. To promote the genre and the makers of film and video productions about archaeology and indigenous peoples.
You can see all of the festival’s winners on the TAC website, but we’d like to highlight the winners of Best Film by Jury Vote and Audience Favorite. Each film had an important message to share and did so beautifully, using the art of film to capture the images and stories of the ages. Continue reading
Bon Appetit Wednesday! Native American Wojapi
Wojapi is a traditional Native American dish that has been enjoyed for centuries. We give you fair warning that once you’ve had your first taste of wojapi, you won’t be able to put down the spoon.
Wojapi has been made by Native American tribes for centuries, with each generation passing the recipe down through the family. It is created with a combination of wild berries that can be found growing on the Great Plains, corn flour and honey. One of the favored berries for the recipe is the chokecherry. Used extensively by the North American Native tribes, the chokeberries were ground up, including the stones, and used in soups, stews, pemmican and even with salmon or salmon eggs.[1] (Speaking of pemmican, check out our blog post and recipe for this ancient dried meat jerky.) The bark and even the roots of the chokecherry trees were used in medicines to treat a host of illnesses.[2] Continue reading
A Modern Makeover for an Ancient Religion: The Norse Gods Find a New Earthly Home
We see them on the big screen, bashing about aliens and each other, ruling over fantastical worlds and wielding extraordinary weapons. Their hair is perfect, muscles rippled and jaw chiseled. While Anthony Hopkins, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston do a remarkable job of portraying the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Loki, it is likely few moviegoers are aware these are not just superheroes, sprung from the mind of a talented writer. These are important figures in an ancient religion. And now, after thousands of years, the Norse gods are getting a brand new temple, the first since the Viking age. Before we explore this new phase of the Norse religion, let’s venture into its past and find out how it all began. Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Blog, Celebrities, Culture, Public Life, Religion
Tagged ancient history, ancient religion, AntiquityNOW, Loki, Norse gods, Norse mythology, Odin, Thor, Vikings
Qin Shi Huang’s China: The Secret Tomb of the First Chinese Emperor Remains an Unopened Treasure
A kneeling crossbowman from the Terracotta Army assembled for the tomb complex of Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC)
The history of China can be likened to a majestic tapestry threaded with innovative technologies and embellished with the exquisite artifacts of a prolific culture. Intertwined in this more than 4,000-year-old history are the wars and periods of peace that have lent definition to the complex evolution of this most populous modern nation. Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Origins, Architecture, Blog, Culture, Engineering, Politics, Public Life, Science and Technology, War and Violence
Tagged Ancient China, ancient engineering, ancient history, ancient mysteries, Ancient Origins, ancient tombs, AntiquityNOW, Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang tomb, social studies curriculum, Terracotta Army
Part 2, Tricks of the Trade: From Ancient Symbols to Modern Sensibilities—Imagination and the Power of Belonging
In ancient Rome, the fasces, symbolized strength through unity.
In Part 1, “Tricks of the Trade: From Ancient Symbols to a $70 Billion Brand” we looked at how symbols and branding have been around for millennia. Indeed, humankind has an innate need to belong, and to embrace that belonging with some outward expression of attachment. Whether it be the demonstration of national identity with flags and blood-stirring national anthems, team spirit with the sporting of football colors, ladies with attitude in purple and red hats or political candidates in party lockstep with precision soundbites, we join, cleave to, pledge allegiance to and meld into the single identity that gives meager individuals a sense of purpose and being. Continue reading
Bon Appetit Wednesday! Ancient Celtic Woodruff Spiced Wine
May Day was last Friday, but it’s not too late to celebrate the fresh and breezy month of May and the ushering in of a warm and beautiful spring! The Celts loved the change in seasons and they celebrated with the Beltane festival. There was plenty of food and drink, of course. But like other ancient cultures, the seasonal festival reflected the Celts’ deep spiritual intertwining with the natural world around them. Continue reading
Part 1, Tricks of the Trade: From Ancient Symbols to a $70 Billion Brand (That’s You, Coca-Cola!)
The human mind is complex, elegantly fashioned and constantly surprising us as to its capacity. A recent study by a team of MIT neuroscientists has found that the brain can process images that are seen by the human eye for as little as 13 milliseconds, evidence of the extraordinary processing speed of the mind. Mary Potter, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and senior author of the study, observes: “The fact that you can do that at these high speeds indicates to us that what vision does is find concepts. That’s what the brain is doing all day long — trying to understand what we’re looking at.”[1] Continue reading
Posted in Art, Blog, Communications, Culture, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, ancient marketing, ancient symbols, AntiquityNOW, cornucopia, ichthus, ichthys, okay sign, swastika
The Nepal Earthquake: Cultural Heritage and the Soul of a People
How do societies define themselves? To some degree or another, they look to the past. Where their people originated, the gods who have guided and protected them, their cultural accomplishments through the ages and the ancient sites that embody their historical heart.
Dharahara Tower before and after the earthquake. Image credit: NPR, Sunil Sharma/Xinhua/Landov and Narendra Shrestha/EPA/Landov
The massive earthquake in Nepal has resulted in thousands of deaths and casualties. Pictures reveal vast swathes of devastation, and as with most catastrophes, it’s hard to distinguish amidst the rubble the evidence of previous human habitation. The earthquake now is embedded as a fault line of the nation’s 21st century self: the time before the earthquake, the time after. Once again, this ancient land has raised itself upward and wrenched itself away from earth’s pull. Eventually, after the geological frenzy, it will settle back down again. In Nepal’s strata, in its layers of broken tiles and artifacts, history reveals itself as relentlessly repeating. Continue reading
Happy Arbor Day! Trees Glorious Trees
Trees have always been awe-inspiring, even to our earliest ancestors. Trees can hold a poetic beauty as they sway in the breeze, musical tones fluttering from their leaves, colors riotously changing with the season. They are hallmarks of our holidays. They are the chroniclers of time, capturing in a ringed litany the ebb and wane of the world in which they are rooted. Trees protect, offer food, preserve the soil and provide resources. Indeed, one of their earliest representations illustrates the importance of trees to cultures through the ages: Continue reading
Posted in Art, Biology, Blog, Culture, Holidays, Public Life, Religion, Science and Technology
Tagged ancient history, ancient trees, AntiquityNOW, Arbor Day, Don Ramon Vacas Roxo, J. Sterling Norton
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