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From the Han Dynasty, unearthed near Guanghan, Sichuan.
Last week’s photo shoots were of Tianfu Square (at night) and a day trip to Huanglongxi Ancient Town southeast of Chengdu. This week, I changed it up a little and went to a museum that I’d been wanting to visit for quite some time (but, honestly, was just too lazy to go to until now).
Sanxingdui (literally, “three star mound(s)”) is an archaeological site/museum. To give you perspective, I’ll make a few comparisons. The easiest (and less impressive) comparison is to the Jinsha Archaeological Site within the Chengdu city limits.
Jinsha is a very nice site in its own right, and has a lot of source material that dates from around 2,500-3,000 years ago. The Jinsha site was more recently discovered (2001) than the Sanxingdui site (early 20th century; excavations began in earnest in 1986). At Jinsha, things just feel like “leftovers.” I mean to say…there doesn’t feel like anything that the world at large necessarily needed to know about – though some of the art there, the skeletal remains, etc. are incredibly interesting if you have an interest in human history. However, I digress. The main point I should make regarding Jinsha and Sanxingdui is that it’s believed that the sites are from a related culture, though the timing is off by about 500 years (if I remember right from the signage at Jinsha).
The other comparison I will make is to China’s most famous archaeological site: the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. Those are more important from a nationalistic point of view, I suppose, in that they were made (or ordered to be made, to be more precise) by China’s first emperor circa 200 BC. Aside from that, the terracotta army is quite impressive.
I feel Sanxingdui is much more important to human history, though, and I say this for a few reasons. First, it predates China (as a “nation-state”) by about 1,000 years. Almost everything that has been unearthed here is from roughly the 12th or 13th century BC (per carbon dating). Finding this site was (rightfully so) a huge shock in the archaeological record. It wasn’t known that people were in this area, if I’m not mistaken, and that they were as advanced as they were.
As you can see from the collection, this is a people who were highly advanced, had a monetary system (based on the knowledge of cowry shells, etc.), religious practices, and a high technical skill with bronze and other alloys. The masks from Sanxingdui are the most famous part of this collection and are still in such good shape 3,000 years later that they could honestly be placed in any museum in the world. They’re truly quite impressive.
Another reason I say so little is known of the people who lived here is that, while this museum is of exceptional quality – architecturally, in presentation, in every aspect – there is so little background information provided about the people’s origins. We can see how they lived, what was important to them, and other things, but the one thing that is missing is…where they came from. I continually found myself saying, “Wow,” over and again throughout the afternoon here.
Getting here is relatively easy now. A bus goes from Xinnanmen long distance bus station in downtown Chengdu (leaving at 9:30 a.m.) and takes you directly to the Sanxingdui parking lot, about 50 km (at most) towards the northeast on the Mianyang freeway. The closest town is Guanghan, and the cost of the ticket, for a round trip ride, is 50 RMB. (The bus returns at 2:40 p.m., which gives about 4 hours to see the entire museum and grounds.)
Upon getting to the visitor center, you have to pass through security scanners (in each of the three other buildings, too, for that matter). After paying the very reasonable 80 RMB admission, you pass through security yet again and are finally in the museum/site proper. I don’t recall much information available at the visitor center, but I may have just missed it. In retrospect, it would be very nice to have some informational videos – even if they were just to say much isn’t known about the history of the people. It could have given suppositions of life in video format, or even focused on the discovery of the site. (Again, maybe they’re already there, and I missed them…but, I don’t think so.)
Upon leaving the video center, the first of the three buildings you arrive at is the Comprehensive Gallery. This gallery is wonderful in that it has actually been built into one of the three mounds. (I’m not 100% sure that this is one of the three original mounds; perhaps it’s a replica of the mound. Either way, it was a good use of the land.) The comprehensive gallery consists of five areas that, for the most part, focus on earthenware and stone ware artefacts that were unearthed in the pits. The relics are well-presented, well-labeled, and well-maintained. Besides earthenware and stoneware, there are also plenty of artefacts made of jade, some of bronze, some of gold foil, and so on. The comprehensive gallery ends with a display of bronze money trees that were (are?) important in Chinese culture.
After finishing in the Comprehensive Gallery, my second stop was to go to the Cultural Relics & Restoration Gallery. This is the smallest of the three, and most comprehensive (in terms of presenting artwork from all of Chinese history) of the three galleries. There are plenty of pieces here from the Song, Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. I went through here in a bit of a hurry, so am not certain whether or not the relics in this hall are local to the Chengdu plain or not. I think they are.
Hurrying along, I found my way outside and passed the Echo Altar (sacrificial stage) and quickly wandered around the Bronze Hall before going in. I was enjoying the landscape at the site as it’s spring and magnolias are in bloom all around the grounds, along with rapeseed (a little), and a lot of landscaped flowers along the way.
The Bronze Hall is the highlight of the Sanxingdui site. It almost exclusively contains nothing but masks. You would think it gets a little redundant after a while, as most of the masks are similar (exaggerated pupils, though two or three have protruding pupils), mostly of bronze, and all with the sparse signage that they were excavated from either pit #1, #2, or #3 in the 13th-12th century BC. However, like the Comprehensive Gallery, the Bronze Hall is an architecturally pleasing building that presents the masks in six different sections, also ending with a large (3.5 times the original size) replica of a bronze money tree.
Feeling completely satisfied with Sanxingdui, and fresh out of galleries to visit, I left the Bronze Hall and walked the grounds towards the main exit. There is a restaurant and shopping area on the way out (though I didn’t stop to eat or buy anything). I did take a very quick glance into the gift shop, but wasn’t really excited by anything I saw offhand.
After a little more photographing, I made it back to the bus with about 45 minutes to spare. All in all, it was a perfect day out of town at a museum, and I was also thrilled that there weren’t too many people out here. I couldn’t have asked for much more from this experience.
I finished the day off at Tai Koo Li, eating Thai food at Lian (in a very early preparation for an upcoming holiday in May). Before the May holiday, though, the goal of getting out to shoot every weekend continues. Monday (today), March 14th was spent in Pingle, another ancient town, which was completely underwhelming…especially after last week’s shoot at Huanglongxi and yesterday’s shoot at Sanxingdui. Fortunately, there is plenty more to photograph between now and May.
Alla faccia del minimalismo. Più che una libreria mi sembra un negozio di giocattoli :-(
e dire che uno dei miei architetti preferiti è Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Less Autre
MRRAY - gitaar, toetsen, stem, arrangementen
Mattia Swinnen - drums, percussie, arrangementen
Peter Fias - gitaar, stem, tekst en muziek
Charles Guillaume Leroi - bass type Guillaume 3
Swie Junior Grandjean - saxen
Winterfeest Aarschot - Avond van de Butterfly
28-Dec-2019
Photo's © Patrick Van Vlerken 2019
2e jour de randonnée - Avant d'entamer la descente vers Dormillouse, Renaud fait sa petite lessive matinale. Sur une pierre, face au lac, avec l'eau du ruisseau. Tranquille.
Have not seen this window in the Lego store at Mall of America empty until just today. (Apologies for the bad Lord of the Rings pun, but they do have the new LotR sets in)
Sturdy cardstock is Japanese stab bound with beautiful hand dyed silk ribbon. The cover art is a replica of an altered book page I created. The scorpio is accompanied by the statement "less is more".
Öffentliche Abendveranstaltung in der Villa Lessing
Jochen Hohmann
Präsident der Bundesnetzagentur
Oliver Luksic, MdB
Dr. Josef Auer
Research Deutsche Bank AG, Experte für Energie
Dr. Andreas Möller
Aurubis AG – Europas größter Kupferproduzent,
Leiter der Konzernrepräsentanz Berlin
Moderation
Norbert Klein
Chefredakteur SR Fernsehen
OCTOBER 25, 1975: Evel Getting Ready And Getting Airborne...the crowd was less than half there was room for.
The Enquirer/Tom Hubbard
scanned January 7, 2011
FROM A SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 1975 ARTICLE BY JIM ROHRER, LEBANON BUREAU CHIEF
Evel Knievel's 14-bus jump at Kings Island turned into a 13 1/2-bus jump Saturday, 10/25/75. In the time it took several thousand flashbulbs to pop and a roaring harley-Davidson to soar 150 feet. Knievel's show had climaxed with a smooth jump and a perfect landing. Knievel seemingly had cleared 14 buses as he roared off his starting ramp at 95 mph into a slight headwind at precisely 5:45 p.m., but he admitted immediately afterward he touched down on the 14 bus. "It doesn't have winds," he said later. "It's a motorcycle, not an airplane." This, he claimed, was all planned. He declared himself happy with the jump and pleased with the crowd of 30,000 less than half the 70,000 capacity of the temporary arena.
The Field Museum's collection consists of over 26 million specimens. Most are not on display--in fact, of the 2+ million specimens in the fossil invertebrate collection, less than 300 are on display. The rest of the collection is stored behind the scenes and used for research.
With a collection this large anytime a specimen is loaned out or handled, extreme care must be used to make sure it is returned to its proper storage location. The three small (about 1 centimeter in diameter) bead-like specimens here (UC 6121) are crinoid calyx fossils (an animal related to starfish) and are over 430 million years old from the Silurian of St. Paul, Indiana. In 1895 Samuel Almond Miller and William Frank Eugene Reed Gurley used these three specimens to describe and name a new species, which they called Pisocrinus baccula. These specimens therefore are cotypes and are very important scientifically.
The specimens were kept in the University of Chicago’s Walker Museum until 1965 when the collection was transferred to The Field Museum. They were in the collection in 1972 when Julia Golden and Matthew H. Nitecki published a catalog of type and referred crinoid specimens in The Field Museum’s collection. However in 1982 Laurel Johnson and someone only listed by the initials “S. P.” conducted a survey and noted that these three specimens were missing. We do not know how they were lost but that is the way things remained until last month when Sam, one of the Silurian Reef digitization interns, “re-discovered” this specimen misplaced in the general Silurian collection. The specimen has been returned to the type and referred collection, a note has been added to its record that it has been found, and it is available to be studied by researchers once again.
This illustrates just one of the many responsibilities collection managers have, and the importance and usefulness of collection surveys and digitization projects.
(c) The Field Museum, Paul Mayer and Sam Albright
MADRID (ESPAÑA), 25/11/2018.- Una mujer (c) sostiene con sus manos un cartel en el que se lee: “Ni una menos”, mientras participa junto a miles de personas (principalmente mujeres), en una manifestación por las calles de Madrid, hoy, domingo 25 de noviembre de 2018, durante la conmemoración del Día Internacional de la Eliminación de la Violencia contra la Mujer, en Madrid (España). Bajo el lema: "Ni una menos, libres nos queremos", miles de personas han salido a la calle en las principales ciudades del mundo para pedir la eliminación de la violencia de género. En lo que va del año han sido asesinadas 44 mujeres en España a manos de sus parejas o exparejas, con lo que ya son 972 las víctimas de violencia de género desde el año 2003. Se estima que el 35 por ciento de las mujeres de todo el mundo ha sufrido violencia física y/o sexual por parte de un compañero sentimental o violencia sexual por parte de otra persona distinta a su compañero sentimental en algún momento de sus vidas, cifras que no incluyen el acoso sexual de acuerdo a datos de organismos internacionales. (Foto: Hugo Ortuño).--.MADRID (SPAIN), NOVEMBER 25,2018.- A woman (C) holds a sign with her hands that reads: "Not one less", while participating with thousands of people (mainly women), in a demonstration through the streets of Madrid, on Sunday, November 25, 2018, during the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Madrid (Spain). Under the slogan: "Not one less, free we love each other", thousands of people have taken to the streets in the main cities of the world to demand the elimination of gender violence. So far this year, 44 women in Spain have been murdered by their partners or ex-partners, with 972 victims of gender violence since 2003. It is estimated that 35 percent of women in all the world has suffered physical and/or sexual violence by a partner or sexual violence by someone other than their partner at some point in their lives, figures that do not include sexual harassment according to data from international organizations. (Photo by Hugo Ortuño)
A soil profile of a Frederick soil. Accumulated clay extends from a depth of about 20 to more than 150 centimeters. Typically, chert fragments are scattered throughout the soil profile but make up less than 35 percent of individual soil horizons. (Soil Survey of Smyth County, Virginia; by Robert K. Conner, Natural Resources Conservation Service)
The Frederick series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in residuum derived mainly from dolomitic limestone with interbeds of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. They are on are nearly level to very steep uplands. Permeability is moderate. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Paleudults
Solum thickness is more than 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 72 inches. Depth to the top of the argillic horizon ranges from 0 to 20 inches. Variegated colors in the solum range from 40 to more than 60 inches below the soil surface. Rock fragments are mostly chert and range from 0 to 60 percent in the A, E, BA, and BE horizons, and 0 to 35 percent in the Bt, BC, and C horizons. In some areas the upper part of the solum is capped with as much as 20 inches of silty material. The soil ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid, unless limed.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are cleared and cultivated. Crops are corn, small grain, hay, tobacco, and apple orchards. Most of the steeper areas are in pasture or forest. Vegetation is largely hardwoods such as oak, hickory, maple, and yellow poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. The series is of large extent.
For additional information about the survey area, visit:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/virginia/VA173...
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/F/FREDERICK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
I used to think that you don't need to be strong, but I was wrong. I don't mean mistaken about the common perception of strength – no, I think I had that right. I'll never rate highly the typical toughness that some men seem to value so much. Physical capacity and visible musculature are two very different things. Never saw the point in looking twice my size, or being able to lift twice the weight that my daily life requires. But I can pound out the miles on any hard hike, haul my body over boulders and under precarious trunks and trees. All of my strength is purposeful only. I've gone great lengths to stay suited for the punishing life I live daily.
When I talk about real strength, I don't mean any of that. It's more about weakness. I've lived my adult life in a state of great exposure – and not just the photography kind. I never knew when I was younger just how much effort it would take to keep a constantly open heart. That's the natural soul of youth, you see it from the start. From toddler to teenager, emotions boil out with no boundaries. But you've got to get real tough if you want to make that last. Not calloused, not closed off, because that's counter-intuitive to the intention. You've got to build up the bravery it takes to give up holding back.
People often say when we meet in person that I'm "younger than they thought". I'm thirty-six, but I could pass for a decade less. A lot of that lies in being open. I need to talk, listen, love, share, smile, and I've got no aversion to doing that around strangers. Many folks I grew up with have gotten infinitely more restrained with age. Their reasons are as many as there are kinds of people. Disappointment, exhaustion, bitterness. Tests of their strength that failed. I've faced a fair share myself, being away from loved ones, and struggling in my career. But the muscle I'm always flexing is my metaphorical heart, that valentine one drawn with a kid's crayon. It's what I mean when I say that you need to be strong.
May 15, 2024
Lansdowne, Nova Scotia
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Der Gesundheitstag 2017 der PLUS stand unter dem Motto "less-stress@work".
In der NaWi konnten sich die Besucherinnen und Besucher über ihre Gesundheit, interne Kraftquellen, Stressbewältigung und ihren persönlichen Fitnessstand informieren.
Daneben waren der Nordic Walking Aktiv Treff, das Schaukochen und die Vorträge gut besuchte Programmpunkte.
Bilder: Hans-Christian Gruber.