scholarly journals Persian Collections: Center and Periphery at Achaemenid Imperial Capitals

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-173
Author(s):  
Jennifer Finn
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Greco Roman

The absence of a true Achaemenid Persian “historiography” necessitates that we look elsewhere to construct Persian ideological interactions with the periphery. Like many Mesopotamian kings before them, the Achaemenids became famous for their collecting practices, and sources often depict them looting and stealing artifacts—many of an antiquarian nature—from conquered peoples. Recently, scholars have argued that we should read this picture as a later Greco-Roman historiographical construct, meant to retroactively vilify the Persian kings for their involvement in Hellenic affairs. However, the archaeological record, read together with cuneiform sources, appears to corroborate these statements. The careful recontextualization in Persian capitals of important cultural heritage items, looted mainly from religious environments in rebellious areas, served not only to demonstrate the superiority and dominance of the Persian center over the periphery but also to situate the Persian kings in an historical continuum of Mesopotamian kingship. A reevaluation of Achaemenid collecting practices from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE may allow for a more complete understanding of the discursive nature of Persian imperial display.

scholarly journals Is the Truth Down There?: Cultural Heritage Conflict and the Politics of Archaeological Authority

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Barber
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
The Past ◽  
Culture History ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Applied Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

The selective pressures and processes of cultural heritage management effectively disinherit some interest groups. Where this occurs in the context of postcolonial or nationalist conflict, the material archaeological record may be referenced to support or reject particular views. The disciplinary assumptions behind the archaeological evidence so produced are not usually contested in judicial contexts. A review of archaeology’s theoretical foundations suggests that this naivety itself may be problematic. A descriptive culture history approach dominated archaeology over the first half of the twentieth century with a strong political appeal to nationalist politics. Subsequently archaeology became concerned with processual explanation and the scientific identification of universal laws of culture, consistent with postwar technological optimism and conformity. A postprocessual archaeology movement from the 1970s has promoted relativism and challenged the singular authority of scientific explanation. Archaeologists caught within this debate disagree over the use of the archaeological record in situations of political conflict. Furthermore, the use of archaeology in the sectarian debate over the Ayodhya birthplace of Rama suggests that the material record of the past can become highly politicized and seemingly irresolvable. Archaeological research is also subject to other blatant and subtle political pressures throughout the world, affecting the nature and interpretation of the record. A system that privileges archaeological information values may be irrelevant also to communities who value and manage their ancestral heritage for customary purposes. Collectively this review of theory and applied knowledge suggests that it is unrealistic to expect that archaeology can authoritatively resolve strident claims and debates about the past. Instead, an important contemporary contribution of archaeology may be its potential to document cultural and historical contradictions and inclusions for the consideration of contemporary groups in conflict.

scholarly journals Theodoric the Great’s Legislation on Protection of Monuments and the Significance of the Ostrogothic Renaissance in the Context of Heritage Law History

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-178
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Malyshev
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
European Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Professional Requirements ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
Classical Culture ◽  
Historical Transition ◽  
European Civilization

Introduction. The Ostrogothic conquest of Italy is one of the turning points in the historical transition from the ancient Greco-Roman to the new European civilization to which we now tend to think that we belong. Since then, the protection of historical heritage has become one of the defining features of the European culture, particularly of the legal one. The transition from a cyclical to a linear model of time comprehension has occurred. The awareness of its transience and irreversibility as well as the fragility of the usual order of things is raised. In view of this, the best representatives of mankind become conscious of the need to preserve the best heritage of previous ages. Thus, the very spirit and principles of the future cultural heritage law are born. The aim of the article is an analysis of the array of legal documents on the protection of monuments from the period under consideration and an assessment of the place of the Ostrogothic renaissance in the history of cultural heritage law. Results. Theodoric's legislation on monument protection is represented mainly by documents contained in The «Variae» of Cassiodorus. These are royal orders addressed to a certain category of subjects or certain officials of the state. The ruler in his acts touches on many issues, both purely practical and conceptual. Objects to be protected are identified, responsible persons are appointed, professional requirements are emphasized, specific methodological advice on restoration works is provided, and liability for damage to monuments is defined. It is interesting to emphasize the priority of maintaining a holistic context over the protection of individual objects. It reached the conclusion about a progressive character and an outstanding significance of the Ostrogothic Renaissance for the safeguarding of classical culture and the formation of modern European civilization. The reflections of the Early Middle Ages, encrypted in the «Variae», are part of the intangible message of classical culture. Communication with this culture is the main resource for the progress of our civilization.

Health and the Origins of the Miqveh

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-459
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
The Body ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Medical Tradition ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Use of rock-cut stepped pools for immersion in harvested rainwater is first attested in Judean source material of the second century BCE and on archaeological record shortly thereafter. As argued here, the practice became widespread due to the impact of Greco-Roman ideas about health and well-being. Immersion of the body in water was seen in the Greek medical tradition as a beneficial activity; it balanced the humors, opened harmful blockages in the skin membrane, and helped facilitate unction. Once these ideas became widespread in Judea, local purification rituals followed, and began incorporating immersion in water. The rabbinic dichotomy between purification and cleansing was likely irrelevant for most Judeans in the late Second Temple period, who probably also saw immersion as beneficial for personal hygiene. For this reason, stepped pools nearly disappear from archaeological record with the rise of public bathhouses, which offered the convenience of large and well-maintained immersion pools in exchange for a fee.

scholarly journals Rebuilding Palmyra virtually: recreation of its former glory in digital space

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (17) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmet Denker
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
The City ◽  
Tools And Methods ◽  
Ghost Images

<p class="VARAbstract">This paper addresses the role of the digital tools and methods in the preservation of cultural heritage. As the destruction of Palmyra made international headlines, digital tools emerged as a key tool to fight back against the total deletion of the heritage site from memories. Palmyra in Syria had been, with its Corinthian colonnades, theatre and splendidly built temples to ancient gods, source of inspiration and imagination for Western architecture. In this paper, the aim is reviving the lost reality of Palmyra by digitally reconstructing its “ghost images” from rubbles. The paper offers a glimpse of the grandeur and beauty of the ruins of Palmyra, none of which any longer remains in its entirety. 3D models of the most significant structures of Palmyra, including Temple of Bel and Temple of Baalshamin which have been levelled as a result of conflict based vandalism, as well as the Grand Colonnaded Street and the theatre are presented as “ghost images” through reconstructed 3D models. The focus has been in maintaining the accuracy and validity of the visualised data of the relics and environment of Palmyra, as they were once extant. Following the trauma caused by the destruction of Palmyra, these reconstructions revive in our memory the splendour of the city in the Greco-Roman Period.</p>

scholarly journals Topografia archeologica a Corbetta e Albairate Modificazioni del paesaggio, ricerca e pianificazione territoriale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Massari
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Historical Landscape ◽  
Western Province

This paper presents some considerations elaborated as part of a topographic study on the territories of Corbetta and Albairate, in the western province of Milan (Lombardy). The data resulting from LiDAR DTM analysis and from field surveys, together with literature-based assumptions, suggest varying levels of conservation of the historical landscape and of destruction of the archaeological record. In addition, it is also possible to ponder the causes of such phenomena. In this context, the archaeological cartography plays a key role for further research and for the protection of historical landscape and cultural heritage.

scholarly journals Who Owns the Past?

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Maja Gori ◽  
Alessandro Pintucci ◽  
Martina Revello Lami
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Archaeological Heritage ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
The Past ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Event Triggered

 On the 23rd of August 2015 Daesh blew up the 2,000-year-old Baal-Shamin temple in the world-famous Greco-Roman site of Palmyra. This event triggered a profound emotional reaction in society at large, and the ruins soon became an iconic symbol of world heritage in danger. The appalling images of the ruins of Baal Shamin reinforced the perception, especially among western observers, that protecting cultural and natural heritage is yet another duty in the fight against terrorism. A similar international outcry occurred in 2001, when the Buddhas of Bamiyan fell to Taliban dynamite in Afghanistan, and when Iraqi museums and sites were ransacked and looted providing two of the most recent and vivid examples of destroyed heritage in the so-called War on Terror which was launched by the U.S. government after 9/11. Following the destruction at Baal-Shamin, UNESCO declared that the deliberate destruction of Syria's cultural heritage was a war crime, and put into motion several projects and actions aimed at preserving endangered Syrian archaeological heritage. At the same time, alongside income gained from the sale of drug and weapons, the trafficking of antiquities from Syria and Iraq worldwide provided a major source of revenue for Daesh.

scholarly journals The Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast: An Overview

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Ulm ◽  
Ian Lilley
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Initial Results

Since 1993 archaeological surveys and excavations have been undertaken on the southern Curtis Coast as the coastal component of the Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project. This paper briefly outlines the physical environment of the study region including geology, vegetation and fauna communities before presenting the preliminary results of archaeological surveys and excavations. These initial results suggest that the region has an extensive mid-to-late Holocene archaeological record that has the potential to contribute to understandings of changes in late Holocene Aboriginal societies in Central Queensland.

scholarly journals The Enchantment of the Archaeological Record

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Perry
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Ethical Action ◽  
The World ◽  
Historic Record ◽  
Intimate Encounters

Empirical studies increasingly testify to the capacity for archaeological and cultural heritage sites to engender wonder, transformation, attachment, and community bonding amongst diverse individuals. Following political theorist Jane Bennett, these sites have the power to ‘enchant’ and, in so doing, they are seedbeds of human generosity, ethical mindfulness, and care for the world at large. However, the means by which such enchantment is created, and the extent to which these intimate encounters with the prehistoric or historic record can be deliberately crafted, are little understood. Worsening the predicament, professional practices commonly thwart the potential for archaeology to provoke ethical action amongst humans. Here, I propose a multi-stranded conceptual model for generating enchantment with the archaeological record across both professional audiences and broader publics. With reference to the European Commission-funded EMOTIVE Project, I articulate one particular strand of this model: facilitated dialogue. Alongside exploring the role of digital culture in its advancement, I argue that an enchantment-led approach is imperative for achieving a truly socially-beneficial archaeological discipline.

scholarly journals Ideas of Childhood in Roman Britain

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gowland
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Material Evidence

Since the 1990s there has been a burgeoning focus on the experience and treatment of children in the ancient world. The majority of studies have utilized historical and iconographic sources more than the archaeological record, resulting in an image of Roman childhood that is dominated by the view from Rome. For Roman Britain, the archaeological context, especially the funerary domain, is a fruitful source of evidence concerning childhood. The bioarchaeological and material evidence from Romano-British cemeteries is reviewed here. Skeletal remains provide valuable evidence relating to the health and care of past children. The integration of the skeletal data with the material evidence from the funerary context can illuminate past perceptions of childhood and the social construction of this earlier part of the life course. Theoretical and methodological developments within archaeology are paving the way for a more complete understanding of Roman childhood.

Conformation of Ribosomes from Escherichia Coli

1974 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 210-211
Author(s):  
M. Boublik ◽  
W. Hellmann ◽  
F. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Binding Sites ◽  
Ribosomal Proteins ◽  
Fluorescent Dyes ◽  
Protein Biosynthesis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
And Function

The present knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of ribosomes is far too limited to enable a complete understanding of the various roles which ribosomes play in protein biosynthesis. The spatial arrangement of proteins and ribonuclec acids in ribosomes can be analysed in many ways. Determination of binding sites for individual proteins on ribonuclec acid and locations of the mutual positions of proteins on the ribosome using labeling with fluorescent dyes, cross-linking reagents, neutron-diffraction or antibodies against ribosomal proteins seem to be most successful approaches. Structure and function of ribosomes can be correlated be depleting the complete ribosomes of some proteins to the functionally inactive core and by subsequent partial reconstitution in order to regain active ribosomal particles.

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