View allAll Photos Tagged artifacts
These kids are digging away for artifacts in Egypt at our Children's Worlds Fair! What mysteries have you discovered?
anyone know something about this artifact? came from an estate sale and was on the master bedroom fireplace mantle.
Under certain lighting conditions, optical transparency fields, which normally render alien planetary probes invisible, can be seen, very faintly. Sometimes they are pink. Other times they are green. Very rarely, a deep azure limned by violet, and then only if the light is polarized.
Discovered in 1570 by Diego GarcÃa de Palacio, the Maya site of Copan is one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization. The site is functioned as the political, civil and religious centre of the Copan Valley. It was also the political centre and cultural focus of a larger territory that covered the southeast portion of the Maya area and its periphery. Copán is in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the 19th century. The ruined citadel and imposing public squares reveal the three main stages of development before the city was abandoned in the early 10th century.
This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscapes in which it flourished—a fertile, well-watered mountain valley in western Honduras at an elevation of 600 meters (1,970 feet) above mean sea level. It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. The city was in the extreme southeast of the Mesoamerican cultural region, on the frontier with the Isthmo-Colombian cultural region, and was almost surrounded by non-Maya peoples.
Copán was occupied for more than two thousand years, from the Early Preclassic period to the Postclassic. The city developed a distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers.
The first evidence of population in the Copan Valley dates back to 1500 B.C., but the first Maya-Cholan immigration from the Guatemalan Highlands is dated around 100 A.D. The Maya leader Yax Kuk Mo, coming from the area of Tikal (Petén), arrived in the Copan Valley in 427 A.D., and started a dynasty of 16 rulers that transformed Copan into one of the greatest Maya cities during the Classic Maya Period. The great period of Copán, paralleling that of other major Mayan cities, occurred during the Classical period, AD 300-900. Major cultural developments took place with significant achievements in mathematics, astronomy and hieroglyphic writing. The archaeological remains and imposing public squares reveal the three main stages of development, during which evolved the temples, plazas, altar complexes and ball courts that can be seen today, before the city was abandoned in the early 10th century.
Copan's history has been reconstructed in detail by archaeologists and epigraphers. Copán was a powerful city ruling a vast kingdom within the southern Maya area. The city suffered a major political disaster in AD 738 when Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, one of the greatest kings in Copán's dynastic history, was captured and executed by his former vassal, the king of Quiriguá. This unexpected defeat resulted in a 17-year hiatus at the city, during which time Copán may have been subject to Quiriguá in a reversal of fortunes.
The Mayan city of Copán as it exists today is composed of a main complex of ruins with several secondary complexes encircling it. The main complex consists of the Acropolis and important plazas. Among the five plazas are the Ceremonial Plaza, with an impressive stadium opening onto a mound with numerous richly sculptured monoliths and altars; the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza, with a monumental stairway at its eastern end that is one of the outstanding structures of Mayan culture. On the risers of this 100 m wide stairway are more than 1,800 individual glyphs which constitute the longest known Mayan inscription. The Eastern Plaza rises a considerable height above the valley floor. On its western side is a stairway sculptured with figures of jaguars originally inlaid with black obsidian.
From what is known today, the sculpture of Copán appears to have attained a high degree of perfection. The Acropolis, a magnificent architectural complex, appears today as a large mass of rubble which came about through successive additions of pyramids, terraces and temples. The world's largest archaeological cut runs through the Acropolis. In the walls of the cut, it is possible to distinguish floor levels of previous plazas and covered water outlets. The construction of the Great Plaza and the Acropolis reflects a prodigious amount of effort because of the size of its levelled and originally paved expanse of three hectares and the latter because of the enormous volume of its elevated mass, which rises some 30 meters from the ground.
The design of the site, with its temples, plazas, terraces and other features, represent a type of architectural and sculptural complex among the most characteristic of the Classic Maya Civilization. The Maya site of Copan represents one of the most spectacular achievements of the Classic Maya Period because of the number, elaboration and magnitude of its architectural and sculptural monuments. The stelae and altars at the Plaza form one of the most beautiful sculpture ensembles in the region. In both the design and execution of monuments, the Maya bequeathed a unique example of their creative genius and advanced civilization at Copan.
The lengthy inscription on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, the longest inscribed text in the Maya region, is of considerable historic significance for the site, and for a wider cultural area.
Alfred Maudslay (1850–1931) quit his position as a colonial official at the age of just 22 to embark on an extraordinary undertaking that he'd pursue for the rest of his life. He was a pioneering British explorer and archaeologist who conducted the first systematic, scientific studies of major Maya ruins between 1881 and 1894, including Tikal, Copán, Quiriguá, Palenque, and Chichén Itzá. He utilized high-quality photography and plaster casting techniques to document and preserve Mayan monuments. His work was published in the influential five-volume Biologia Centrali-Americana (1889–1902).
Francis International Airport, Deckchair Orange, Pascal (A Band), Artifacts und Rika am 03. April 2011 am Campus Rock von earlyphotography.at
Francis International Airport, Deckchair Orange, Pascal (A Band), Artifacts und Rika am 03. April 2011 am Campus Rock von earlyphotography.at
"ARTifact I" 2009
Fine silver, Copper, Sterling silver, Chalcedony, Leather Cord
First in a series of pieces inspired by South American, Central American & Aztec ancient civilization.
These photos depict artifacts of unknown origin. For now, they can only be explained as tools left behind when the humans made a sudden departure. Unlike the previous structures, these artifacts do not disintegrate with the high tide, but appear to last on the beaches forever.
June 18, 2017 - The Xi'an Museum was opened in to the public on May 18, 2007 which happened to be World Museum Day. "The architectural design of the museum follows the traditional Chinese concept of the universe - a round heaven and a square earth. It has been recognized as one of the ten landmark buildings of the city and offers excellent facilities for the display of precious cultural relics thereby ensuring their full appreciation". Previous text from the following website: www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/museum.htm