Dodecahedral die

"In modern role-playing games, the dodecahedron is often used as a twelve-sided die, one of the more common polyhedral dice" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice#Non-cubical_dice

Even in the past, the dodecahedron was used for dice.

Here an example form the site archéologique de la Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Genève 

http://www.site-archeologique.ch/contenu.php?id-node=25&id-img=84

Copie d'un dé romain, en forme du dodécaèdre, datant du IVe siècle

Even older are the Etruscan dodecahedra:

More on the etruscan dodecahedron at sites:

https://sites.google.com/site/ancientdodecahedra/etruscan-dodecahedron

http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2012/05/etruscan-dodecahedron.html

CALCULI, COMPAS, DODECAEDRE

Very interesting page at http://www.alienor.org/Articles/ecriture/instrument3.htm
telling that "Les Gallo-Romains possédaient également différents instruments destinés aux disciplines scientifiques Pour compter, on utilisait des petits cailloux appelés calculi qui étaient placés dans des cases. On disposait aussi de compas se rapportant à la géométrie mais aussi au traçage des lignes d’écriture. ... Aujourd’hui, les avis convergent pour interpréter les dodécaèdres en bronze, creux, comme des instruments de géomètre."

Musée de Poitiers. Visit the site!

Les dodécaèdres gallo-romains (2)

Adapted from http://letarot.com/pages-vrac/pages/Truc-a-trous.html

Les dodécaèdres gallo-romains (1)

Adapted from http://letarot.com/pages-vrac/pages/Truc-a-trous.html

Chimu Surveying

An Ancient Surveying Equipment of Chimu
The Chimu lives in the pre-Columbian Peru, struggling to survive in one of the world's driest desert.

They were therefore "hydraulic engineers". Some of their knowledge about the management of water came from their predecessors, the Mochica, who lived in the Peru's Moche Valley during the 1st millennium AD. Mochica built a network of canals to irrigate their fields. 

 Adapted from http://www.specialtyinterests.net/eop.html

This is a Chimu surveying instrument shows how calculate the slope of the land. "The device consisted of a ceramic bowl pierced by a hollow sighting tube passing through a calibrated, cross-shaped opening (inset). And artificial horizon was established by aligning water with the three dots in the bowl, which was leveled in a larger, sand-filled vessel atop a tripod (far left); when the sighting tube was in the center of the cross-shaped opening it was parallel to the artificial horizon. Chimu surveyors marked a rod at the height of the level sighting tube, then moved the rod a known distance along uneven ground and sighted the mark. The ground slope corresponded to the tube angle indicated by the calibrations inside the bowl." From

Feats and wisdom of the ancients

Time-Life Books

2 Reviews

Time-Life Books, Aug 1, 1990 - History - 143 pages

Surveying and Hydraulic Engineering of the Pre-Columbian Chimú State: ad 900–1450, Charles R. Ortloff, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Volume 5 / Issue 01 / April 1995, pp 55-74
Abstract The Chimú state of northern coastal Peru (ad 900–1480) developed massive irrigation-based agricultural systems supplied by intricate networks of canals drawing water from river sources in coastal valleys under their political control. Further intervalley canal systems, some up to 50 miles in length, were constructed to shunt water between river valleys to augment intravalley supplies. A high degree of civil engineering skill was necessary to construct and maintain such complex systems; knowledge of surveying and of open channel flow hydraulics was paramount. Some of the technology used by the Chimú has been investigated: surveying instruments and calculating tools have been unearthed and analyzed to provide some understanding of the technical base used for canal design. Details of the hydraulics knowledge-base have been extracted from computer simulation of the functioning of ancient Chimú canal designs. This article assembles known pieces of information related to Chimú civil engineering practice and attempts to provide a plausible methodology that could have been implemented by the Chimú to survey the precise canal bed slopes necessary for proper hydraulic functioning of large canal systems through rugged Andean foothill and mountain areas.

Vienne Roman Dodecahedron

Print! Cut! Fold! Glue!

Image obtained from some data in the paper:

Duval Paul-Marie. Comment décrire les dodécaèdres gallo-romains, en vue d'une étude

comparée. In: Gallia. Tome 39, fascicule 2, 1981. pp. 195-200, doi : 10.3406/galia.1981.1829

Bristol Roman Dodecahedron

Adapted from the paper:

Etwas Gewisses hievon zu bestimmen waere ein Gewagtes

260 Jahre Dodekaeder-Forschung, by Michael Guggenberger

Roman Dodecahedron replica

Print! Cut! Fold! Glue!

Dimensions for making a replica Roman Dodecahedron (3)

Let us prepare a copy of the Roman Dodecahedron of Jublains.
We can use the paper:
Une fouille en bordure des thermes de Jublains (Mayenne) : enfin un dodécaèdre en contexte archéologique !
Gérard Guillier, Richard Delage et Paul-André Besombes, at http://rao.revues.org/680

For the dimensions please see the image http://rao.revues.org/docannexe/image/680/img-16.png

Or print and cut

Dimensions for making a replica Roman Dodecahedron (2)

Let us suppose somebody wants to make a replica of a Roman dodecahedron,.
Here another recipe. Consider the image

Centered at the center of each face, draw a circle, which will be a hole. These circles usually have different diameters. Print and cut the image.
 If you want some figures, you can, for instance use the article by

Duval Paul-Marie. Comment décrire les dodécaèdres gallo-romains, en vue d'une étude
comparée. In: Gallia. Tome 39, fascicule 2, 1981. pp. 195-200, doi : 10.3406/galia.1981.1829

Here I reproduce an image.

You have the exact potions of holes.
According to the image of the dodecahedron, 1 is opposite 12, 2 opposite 11, 3 opposite 10, etc.

Dimensions for making a replica Roman dodecahedron (1)

Let us suppose somebody wants to make a replica of a Roman dodecahedron,
here a recipe. Consider the following image

Centered at the center of each face, draw a circle, which will be a hole. These circles usually have different diameters. Print and cut the image.
If you want some figures, you can, for instance use the article at the following link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/116123429/The-Roman-Dodecahedron-of-Kadath
Here I am reproducing a table.

Here we have not the exact potions of the holes, but we have the diameters of holes on the opposite faces.
According to the image of the dodecahedron, 1 is opposite 12, 2 opposite 11, 3 opposite 10, etc.

See the next post too!

Roman Dodecahedron of Kadath

The web site http://www.kadath.be/ is publishing the review Kadath. The site tells that it is based on the "projet KADATH". "Dans l’œuvre de H.P. Lovecraft, Kadath est la cité légendaire des Grands Anciens, symbole de l’origine des civilisations. Notre quête, appliquée aux réalités archéologiques, est de remonter à pareilles sources, en cherchant à déchiffrer l’empreinte que laissèrent les premiers civilisateurs, dieux et ancêtres présents dans tous les mythes et toutes les traditions."

At the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/116123429/The-Roman-Dodecahedron-of-Kadath

the reader can find a paper from Kadath, written by Pierre Méreaux-Tanguy discussing the Roman Dodecahedron as an optical instrument. For other reference on the Roman Dodecaedron see the papers: Ancient and modern rangefinders at http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.2078 and http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.0946

Cooking ... the brain

"Brains demand exceptional amounts of energy," says Ed Yong at Discover Magazine — energy that raw food simply can't provide. That's where cooking comes in.
Writes Yong:
Our ancestors overcame this constraint when they learned how to cook. Cooked food offers more calories than raw food, and is easier to chew and digest. These early chefs could gain more energy from the same amount of eating time. That, in turn, fueled more neurons and larger brains.

Read the interesting article The Week
http://theweek.com/article/index/235334/cooking-the-secret-to-the-evolution-of-the-human-brain

Let me suggest

Let me suggest to visit the link
From WWII to the end of Apartheid, relive 20th century history with Google

De bello Parthico

Roma. Anno 44 avanti Cristo, mese di marzo. Da un futuro lontanissimo in cui la scienza ha raggiunto vertici inimmaginabili, ma insanguinato da una guerra cruenta, appare nell'Urbe un misterioso personaggio. E' un viaggiatore del tempo dotato di straordinari poteri. Nessuno saprà mai qual è la sua vera identità, si fa chiamare Sesto Mercurio e con questo nome verrà ricordato negli annali dell'Impero. Ha una sola missione da compiere: salvare Caio Giulio Cesare dall'imminente attentato delle idi di marzo. ...
 http://www.edizionirei.com/products/de-bello-parthico2/

October, horse chestnut blossoming

Today, 21 October in Torino the temperature is of 24 degrees.

In Corso Palestro, some horse chestnuts trees are blossoming.

 

Dry leaves and blossoms

Terra Madre

Slow Food’s Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre is an international food fair. Held from October 25-29 this year and fully open to the public, it’s an opportunity to discover the foods that change the world.
"‘Foods that change the world’ is the slogan behind Slow Food’s biggest international event - Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre taking place in Turin over October 25-29 - in recognition of the collective power of the hundreds of responsible small-scale food producers, chefs and experts who will gather for these five days." They are coming in Torino from all the world,  with  stories, products and passion, to present their experience of the world of food and wine, to allowing discovering different cultures and related knowledge and skills behind foods.

More: http://www.terramadre.info/

Cupriavidus metallidurans

"The ability to create gold from base materials has eluded alchemists since the Middle Ages, but two U.S. university professors have found a way to produce small amounts of gold using metal-loving bacteria to make the magic. ... the two professors at Michigan State University found that a certain type of metal-loving bacteria can transform high amounts of the toxic chemical compound gold chloride from a liquid into solid 24-karat gold. " Kazem Kashefi, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University and Adam Brown, associate professor of electronic art and intermedia at Michigan State, found that the bacteria, Cupriavidus metallidurans, can withstand concentrations of gold chloride 25 times higher than previously reported by scientists.
More at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kitconews/2012/10/05/focus-microbial-alchemy-produces-gold-from-toxic-chemical/

Australian centuriation

Here the Nullarbor Plain in Australia.

The lines seem a centuriation on the territory

When was this centuriation made?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_Plain

Mombracco e Leonardo da Vinci

"Monbracho sopra saluzo sopra la certosa un miglio a piè di Monviso, a una miniera di petra faldata la quale e biancha come marmo di carrara, senza machule che è della durezza del porfido o più, delle quali il compare mio Maestro Benedetto scultore a impromesso donarmene una tabuletta per li colori.
 Adì 5 di genaro 1511", Leonardo da Vinci, manoscritto “B” Archive National Paris

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Bracco

Here in the satellite map, the quartzite quarry on the top of Mombracco, a mountain near Saluzzo.

Leonardo da Vinci, as we can read from his words,

knew the white marble-like stone coming from this quarry.

Mombracco is a  is over Rifreddo, Sanfront and Barge.

Amianto

« C'era amianto dappertutto, come una neve cenerina: se si lasciava per qualche ora un libro su di un tavolo, e poi lo si toglieva, se ne trovava il profilo in negativo; i tetti erano coperti da uno spesso strato di polverino, che nei giorni di pioggia si imbeveva come una spugna, e ad un tratto franava violentemente a terra. »
(Primo Levi, Il sistema periodico)

L'Amiantifera di Balangero è una cava di amianto situata in provincia di Torino, non più attiva. Fu la più grande cava di amianto in Europa e una tra le prime nel mondo; copriva una buona parte dei territori comunali di Balangero e di Corio.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiantifera_di_Balangero

Crean memoria de cristal capaz de guardar datos por millones de años

Crean memoria de cristal capaz de guardar datos por millones de años
(ConNuestroPeru) "La información se podrá leer con la ayuda de un microscopio óptico. La empresa japonesa Hitachi ha presentado un prototipo de almacenamiento digital de información consistente en pequeñas láminas de cristal de cuarzo capaces de guardar datos durante millones de años."

Is it forming a new tectonic plate?

(CBS News) "A new study suggests that two recent earthquakes may indicate a literal seismic shift in our understanding of tectonic plate movements. Massive earthquakes under the Indian Ocean that took place last spring are the largest of their kind ever recorded. The 8.7 magnitude quake, followed by a 8.2 magnitude aftershock, could signal the formation of a new plate boundary under the Earth."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57521633/earthquakes-suggest-new-tectonic-plate-is-forming/

Younger Mona Lisa

A painting which some experts believe is an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been unveiled in Geneva.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/27/younger-mona-lisa-painting-to-be-presented-in-geneva
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19742773

Body talks

Forbes writes on "10 Body Language Tics That Could Cost You The Interview -- And The Job" ...
In everyday life these habits are no big deal, he says. But in an interview setting they can become a distraction, taking the hiring manager’s focus off of your talents and onto your… bad hair day. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/26/10-body-language-tics-that-could-cost-you-the-interview-and-the-job/

Airplane on water

Airplane on water, Rio de Janeiro, Google Maps

Google Earth

Silbury Hill

Silbury Hill on Google Earth

More info

A possible role of Alpha Crucis in the astronomical landscape of Silbury Hill

http://www.philica.com/display_article.php?article_id=872

Dodecahedral sundial

Dodecahedron With Sundial Faces 

Palazzo Madama, Torino

End  XVII Century

Robert Wilson's portraits

Robert Wilson's portraits of Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp

http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2012/09/robert-wilson-portraits-al-palazzo.html

Robert Wilson: Portraits at Palazzo Madama

Video portraits by Robert Wilson, an artist, choreographer, painter, video artist, sound and light designer -http://robertwilson.com/about/biography, at Palazzo Madama, from 20th September to 06th January 2013.
Subjects of his video-portraits are among the others,  actors such as Brad Pitt and  Johnny Depp, and a  Nobel Laureate, the writer Gao Xingjian. His videoportrait is in the treasure tower of the Palazzo. We can see him on the bent glasses of  a showcase of  the tower.

Werewolf

Greg Weeks produced the following for

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33730/pg33730.html

Lycanthropus, by C. EDGAR BOLEN

The jellied night has oozed its miry black

From out the hills to fill the valley floor.

Atop the ragged hills the torn cloud-wrack

Is lightning-limned into a hellish door.

A gust of wind across the sky is hurled—

The gods of old are loosed upon the world.

Age-old, the blood-lust wells within my throat;

Tensely I wait, and feel my body shrink;

My hairless hide becomes a furry coat.

Blood-hungry, through the opened door I slink;

I raise my head and howl in horrid glee—

And from the plain a howl comes back to me.

According to the TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This etext was produced from Weird Tales August-September 1936.

After the Fox

Dear Author (Rob Lee), thank you for this beautiful picture!

"I was lucky and had my telephoto lens (200mm) on the camera when he came for a visit. He's sporting his winter look. Here he is last spring when he was younger (same angle)" writes Rob Lee on 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuzzy_Freddy.jpg

 www.flickr.com/photos/roblee/34957634/in/set-773976/

www.flickr.com/photos/roblee/11655198/in/set-1357853/

Author Rob Lee from Evergreen, CO, USA

Suricata suricatta

Suricata suricatta :  A group of Meerkats at Auckland Zoo, New Zealand.

Date 27 June 2009, Source originally posted to Flickr as Meerkats
Author Ashleigh Thompson

 Dear Author (Ashleigh Thompson), Thank you for this beautiful picture! 

When America discovered Europe

A very remarkable book this one
The American discovery of Europe,  By Jack D. Forbes
 Let me suggest the reading of it. To stimulate the curiosity, here some small abstracts

What is Cornelius Nepos telling? And Pliny?

 

 

The world's first seismometer was Chinese

Who was the inventor of the first siesmometer?
 Zhang Heng. He was  (AD 78–139) a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman. He lived under the Han Dynasty (AD 25–220) of China. He was a  Chief Astronomer, Prefect of the Majors for Official Carriages, and then Palace Attendant at the imperial court.  He invented the world's first water-powered armillary sphere,  improved the inflow water clock by adding another tank and invented the world's first seismometer, which discerned the cardinal direction of an earthquake 500 km away. He improved previous Chinese calculations of the formula for pi. In addition to documenting about 2,500 stars in his extensive star catalogue. Some modern scholars have also compared his work in astronomy to that of Ptolemy (AD 86–161). (Adapted from Wiki)

 A replica of an ancient Chinese Siesmograph  (25-220 CE). Picture taken in July 2004  at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland California.

"In 132 CE, after several serious earthquakes in China, astronomer Zhang Heng invented this instrument to warn people of the next one. When the ground shook, it moved a pendulum inside the jug. The pendulum pushed a lever that opened one dragon's mouth. A ball rolled out and into the toad's mouth below, sounding an alarm. The open dragon mouth pointed in the direction of the earthquake, notifying the Emperor."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EastHanSeismograph.JPG

Ancient solar observatories: Stonehenge

This is Stonehenge. The image shows directions of sun during the day. “The lines on the drawing show the direction and height (altitude) of the sun throughout the day. Thicker and shorter lines mean the sun is higher in the sky. Longer and thinner lines mean the sun is closer to the horizon”, according to Sollumis.com http://www.sollumis.com/. The site is located in the Google Maps. The direction of the sun is given on the summer solstice, choosing an altar at the circle for observation. We see that, at sunrise, the sun is passing near the stone outside the circle.

The qocha of Chuquiña

Chuquiña is a small town in Bolivia.
Near Chuquiña satellite maps show a huge "qocha".
A "qocha" (small lake, lagoon)  is an artificial pond used to gain water for cultivation.
Waru-warus, camellones, qochas were old pre-incaic cultivation techniques.

On Andean qochas you can find more info here
http://www.archaeogate.org/sperimentale/article/1396/1/qochas-on-andean-highlands-by-amelia-carolina-sparavign.html
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2011/04/qocha.html
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2011/04/raised-fields.html
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2011/05/le-qochas-dellaltopiano-andino.html

Our Starman

Didn't know what time it was and the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll 'lotta soul,  he said...
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive

There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie

I had to phone someone so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out so you heard him too!
Switch on the TV
we may pick him up on channel two
Look out your window I can see his light
If we can sparkle he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright

Starman, by David Bowie

Our Starman, farewell

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, NASA

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/the-apollo-11-journey-in-photographs/260125/

The legend of Cangjie

After unifying China, the Yellow Emperor, being terribly dissatisfied with his Quipu method  of recording information, charged Cangjie of creating characters for writing. Cangjie then settled down on the bank of a river, and devoted himself to the completion of the task at hand. ... One day, Cangjie  saw a phoenix flying in the sky above, carrying an object in its beak. The object fell to the ground directly in front of Cangjie, and he saw it to be an impression of a hoof-print. Not being able to recognize which animal the print belonged to, he asked for the help of a local hunter passing by on the road. The hunter told him that this was the hoof-print of a Pixiu. This conversation with the hunter greatly inspired Cangjie  ... From that day forward, Cangjie paid close attention to the characteristics of all things, including the sun, moon, stars, clouds, lakes, oceans, as well as all manner of bird and beast. He began to create characters according to the special characteristics he found, and before long, had compiled a long list of characters for writing. To the delight of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie presented him with the complete set of characters.
Adapetd from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangjie

Cangjie

Public domain image

Empresa destruye patrimonio cultural

Empresa destruye patrimonio cultural
"El observatorio más antiguo de América, es afectado por trabajos de empresa autorizada por el INC. Desconocen informes que dan cuenta de restos arqueológicos alrededor de área patrimonial."
http://www.connuestroperu.com/actualidad/miscelanea/22-miscelanea/22705-empresa-destruye-patrimonio-cultural

Ancient solar observatories: Syrian desert

The Syrian desert is covered by ancient stone structures created during Neolithic times, as I discussed in the paper, Stone circles on the harraat of Syrian desert, published at http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.4665
Some of these stone structures are circular, with radial lines of stones. These circles have been also compared with Stonehenge. Therefore, we can ask ourselves, are these solar observatories too, as Stonehenge is.
The answer is probably so, see my paper at http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2591
I used a software for the solar energy applications to see the direction of sun on sunrise and sunset of solstice. It seems that there is a good agreement. Therefore, the Syrian stone circles are probably the Stonehenges of Middle East.

This is one of the stone structure of Syrian Desert. The image shows directions of sun during the day. “The lines on the drawing show the direction and height (altitude) of the sun throughout the day. Thicker and shorter lines mean the sun is higher in the sky. Longer and thinner lines mean the sun is closer to the horizon”, according to Sollumis.com http://www.sollumis.com/. On the left, the site as it appears in the Google Maps. In the middle, the direction of the sun on the summer solstice, choosing the center of the circle for observation. We see that, at sunrise, the sun is passing near the dot. At the sunset the direction is that of a line. In the image on the right, we see the direction of the sun on winter solstice. At sunrise, the lines is passing between dots. The sunset has the direction of a radius (images have been obtained from original provided by Google Maps and sollumis.com).

Circles and lines!

Alignemnt at the sunrise on the winter solstice

At the site http://www.dp-news.com/en/detail.aspx?articleid=97188
it is told that "He (David Kennedy) explains that they come in a huge variety of forms, some being ‘kites’, structures that funnelled animals, some being seemingly random meandering lines of stone and others being rectangular. None are believed to be aligned with the stars, which has added to the mystery surrounding their purpose." Well, in my opinion it is not so.

Aléria dodecahedron

This image is adapted from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_2OrVzC46Y

It is showing a rock crystal dodecahedron found at Aléria Corisca

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%C3%A9ria

Do dolphins think nonlinearly? - physicsworld.com

Do dolphins think nonlinearly? - physicsworld.com
"Unlike solid objects such as the sea floor or fish – which reflect acoustic signals linearly, as straight-forward echoes – bubbles reflect nonlinearly. This means that acoustic echoes from bubbles contain harmonic frequencies in addition to the fundamental frequencies of the outgoing signal – producing a "clutter" that is incredibly confusing to sonar. And to make matters worse, bubbles are extremely efficient at reflecting sound."

Rumors

Higgs Bosons Rumors: Hopes that Cern scientists have found the Higgs Boson were strengthened yesterday when rival American researchers announced their strongest evidence yet of its existence.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/9370677/Higgs-Boson-rumours-strengthened-by-Tevatron-data.html

Huge and old crater in Groenlandia

Descubren cráter del asteroide más antiguo y grande en Groenlandia
"Un cráter de 100 kilómetros de ancho fue descubierto en Groenlandia y corresponde al impacto más antiguo y del asteroide más grande que se conoce hasta ahora, asegura un artículo publicado en la revista Earth and Planetary Science Letters."

Small oscillations...

"Researchers Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo test a new theory that suggests how ancient Easter Islanders may have used ropes to “walk” the moai to their platforms. Mystery of Easter Island"http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/easter-island/walking-statue-video

20,000 years old pottery in a Chinese cave

"BEIJING (AP) - Pottery fragments found in a south China cave have been confirmed to be 20,000 years old, making them the oldest known pottery in the world, archaeologists say."
New Jersey Herald - Pottery 20,000 years old found in a Chinese cave

Roman jewelry in Japan

TOKYO —"Glass jewelry believed to have been made by Roman craftsmen has been found in an ancient tomb in Japan, researchers said Friday, in a sign the empire’s influence may have reached the edge of Asia."
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/roman-jewelry-found-in-ancient-tomb-near-kyoto

A portrait of Julius Caesar

My image processing based on the Tusculum Bust, Museo Archeologico di Torino.

The Tusculum bust is considered a portrait of Julius Caesar

Alan Turing

Google celebrates the 100th birthday of a computer genius, Alan Mathison Turing (23 June 1912 - 7 June 1954) with a doodle. He is the founder of computer science. He broke the german Enigma-ciphered code.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Alan-Mathison-Turings-100th-birthday-Google-pays-tribute-with-a-doodle/articleshow/14353203.cms

Silicene

Silicene pops out of the plane - physicsworld.com
"Researchers in Japan say that they have made 2D honeycomb crystals of silicon that resemble the carbon-based material graphene. This is the second potential sighting of the material dubbed "silicene"; the other was reported in April by an independent group in Europe. The Japanese research suggests it may be relatively easy to alter the structure of silicene by changing the substrate on which it is grown – which could allow different versions of silicene to be produced with a range of useful electronic properties. However, not all scientists agree that this latest material is actually silicene."

Arles, Turin and Caesar

The heart of the ancient history of Arles, this is what is on show at the Louvre Museum of Paris, until 25 June 2012. The Museum is  hosting an exhibition of spectacular Roman pieces recovered from the bottom of the Rhone! From March 9 to June 25, 2012, the Louvre Museum in Paris

On exhibition fifty of the most spectacular artifacts unearthed by archaeologists: columns and capitals, fragments of statues and reliefs, Roman jewelery, lamps, vases ... These pieces are coming from the museum of Arles, and other pieces from Avignon, Vienne and Turin.
Among the pieces from Turin, you can admire Julius Caesar's bust, unearthed in 1825,  long considered unique, until the discovery in 2007 in Arles of another bust of the Roman politician. At the Louvre, these sculptures will be presented for the first time side by side.

http://www.france.fr/it/arti-e-cultura/evenement/arles-gli-scavi-del-rodano-un-fiume-memoria

   Arles

Torino

Un altro ritratto interessante è quello del busto Farnese, a Napoli

 Napoli