Air curtains for Terracotta Warriors

"New system can shield national relics from damage by pollution. Even the Terracotta Warriors are feeling the effects of China's choking air pollution. Chinese scientists have found that the indoor environment where the Terracotta Warriors are housed could cause them to deteriorate, prompting some scientists to raise the idea of using air curtain technology to help control the environment in the pits."
More at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-03/02/content_16268606.htm

Adapted from Wikipedia, courtesy Maros

Physics of archaeology

"Physics is breaking new ground in the field of archaeology and human evolution.
So much so that in just a few years the gains in archaeology now equal the gains made from the past 100 years of using traditional methods, explains nuclear physicist and University of Wollongong visiting Professor Claudio Tuniz. Dr Tuniz, who began his career in the United States using physics to analyse moon rocks and meteorites, has spent almost two decades examining how advanced scientific technology in nuclear physics and X-rays can tell us more about palaeoanthropology and human evolution. ..."
more at
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1333188/hi-tech-discoveries-archaeology-transformed/?cs=12

Mosaic - Palazzo Madama, Turin

XI-XII Century, Palazzo Madama, Torino

Karazuri - A ghost

Nishiki-e print with Karazuri; a work by Utagawa Toyokuni II (Toyoshige), 1825-1830, representing a ghost, Museo di Arte Orientale, Torino.


On Karazuri, read please
The Japanese art of using an inkless printing
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2747878

Torino - Cariatidi e Telamoni

Torino - Statues

Leonardo da Vinci and Amboise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_d'Amboise

 "The royal Château at Amboise is a château located in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century, it became a favoured royal residence and was extensively rebuilt. 

...

King Francis I was raised at Amboise, which belonged to his mother, Louise of Savoy, and during the first few years of his reign the château reached the pinnacle of its glory. As a guest of the King, Leonardo da Vinci came to Château Amboise in December 1515 and lived and worked in the nearby Clos Lucé, connected to the château by an underground passage." 

In 1516, Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise and hosted him in the Clos Lucé, then called Château de Cloux. Leonardo arrived in Amboise with three of his famous paintings:  Mona Lisa, Sainte Anne, and Saint Jean Baptiste. Leonardo lived at the Clos Lucé for the last three years of his life. He died there on 2 May 1519.

Image processing from a picture of the modern statue in Amboise of Leonardo in the pose of a river god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_IMG_1759.JPG

Horned frog - Robert Wilson

Horned frog

Robert Wilson

Palazzo Madama, Torino

http://www.palazzomadamatorino.it/mostra.php?id_evento=169

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!