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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A giant mirage on a Chinese river

'Lost Civilization' Appears Above Chinese River, Published June 27, 2011,  News Corp Australian Papers
"It looks like any other city skyline with skyscrapers, a few mountains and trees -- except it isn't real.
The giant mirage appeared across the skyline in East China earlier this month after heavy rainfall and humid conditions covered the Xin’an River. As mist settled over the river at dusk, tall buildings appeared to rise from nowhere, leading residents in nearby Huanshan City to speculate that the vision may be a "vortex" to a lost civilization."
Egyptology on line resourches
http://egypt.online-resourcen.de/

Royal scenes dated back to Dynasty Zero

The oldest depiction of an Egyptian King wearing the Upper Egyptian crown
“Dr. Maria Carmela Gatto (Director of Aswan-Kom Ombo Archarological Project) made a discovery at Nag el-Hamdulab site (North west of Aswan) of the oldest graffiti shows a King wearing the Upper Egypt headgear(crown) with a group of royal scenes dated back to dynasty zero.” Said Dr. Zahi Hawass. “The find shows many hieroglyphic graffiti and the first drawings shows a complete royal celebration looks exactly like what was known in the different Pharanoic eras, showing the Pharaoh wearing his white crown accompanied by Horus followers or the royal court.”Hawass added."
More on the Dinasty Zero (Naqada III) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naqada_III

More on the Dynasty Zero

"5,200 year-old rock drawings of earliest Ancient Egyptian celebrations unearthed, by Associated Press, Published: July 4 CAIRO — Egypt’s Antiquities Authority says archaeologists have unearthed a 5,200-year-old rock drawing depicting a royal festival during Ancient Egypt’s earliest dynasty. The ministry says the scenes were part of a series of rock drawings featuring hunting, fighting and celebrations along the banks of the Nile River."

Monday, July 4, 2011

Ice Age Art

L’arte più antica d’America trovata su un osso di mammut, LUGLIO 4, 2011. di Aezio
"I ricercatori dello Smithsonian Institution e dell’Università della Florida hanno confermato la veridicità di un misterioso manufatto scoperto in Florida nel 2006: un frammento osseo, di circa 13.000 anni fa, con incisa l’immagine di un mammut o un mastodonte. Questa incisione è l’esempio più antico e l’unico conosciuto di arte dell’era glaciale a raffigurare un Proboscidato nelle Americhe. La ricerca del team è stato pubblicata sul Journal of Archaeological Science
."

" Scientists Reveal a First in Ice Age Art. June 22, 2011. Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon. This engraving is the oldest and only known example of Ice Age art to depict a proboscidean (the order of animals with trunks) in the Americas. The team’s research is published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The bone was discovered in Vero Beach, Fla., by James Kennedy, an avocational fossil hunter, who collected the bone and later, while cleaning it, discovered the engraving. Recognizing its potential importance, Kennedy contacted scientists at the University of Florida and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute and National Museum of Natural History."

Friday, July 1, 2011

Women on the Nile

"The writings of 19th century travellers in Egypt gave momentum to many European adventurers to excavate more, not only of its antiquities, but also of its social, cultural and religious life. Joan Rees' Women on the Nile (published by the American University in Cairo Press) is an excellent survey with illustrations by David Robert, Giovanni Belzoni, W. H. Bartlett, Owen Jones, Edward Lear and many other Western travellers from different walks of life, but all inspired to visit the heart of the Arab world and describe Egypt, its monuments and people."

A far quasar

"A team of European astronomers, including UK astronomers, have discovered a bright quasar that has been beaming light since the Universe was a mere 770 million years old.
The brilliant beacon, named ULAS J1120+0641, is powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun. Located at a redshift – a term relating to astronomical distances – of 7.1, its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach us. The next most distant quasar is seen at 870 million years after the big bang, or a redshift of 6.4, although gamma ray bursts have been detected at greater distances of 8.6 and 8.2 redshifts."
Most distant quasar shines brightly

List of Egyptian sites

The Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) is responsible for hundreds of sites dating to every period of Egypt’s past. Many have been designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The web site of MSA is proposing a list of sites organized alphabetically, by region, or by the period to which each site’s main monuments date. http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/SITE_List.htm

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Plant a New Language in Your Garden

"A world memory champion and a neuroscientist have joined forces to create a language-learning website called Memrise, which combines mnemonic tricks with a game to help users learn quickly and efficiently. Its carefully paced learning structure and competitive points system, the app's developers believe, make their site more effective than other language-learning tools. Memrise makes learning a game with virtual gardens that users must tend. As they do, they also earn points and thereby fight their way up a community-wide leaderboard."
Plant a New Language in Your Mind - Technology Review

Who and where

Who and where: Current and Recent Foreign Missions in Egypt http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/FMR_CURRENT-MISSIONS_MP.htm
"The principal mission of the Ministry of State for Antiquities, previously known as the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is to protect and promote the cultural heritage of Egypt, both independently and in cooperation with national and international organizations. To achieve its goals, it formulates and implements all policies concerned with antiquities; issues guidelines and permits for the excavation, restoration, conservation, documentation, and study of sites and monuments; and manages a country-wide system of antiquities museums."

Enborne crop circle

From Google Maps.

"A SHARP-eyed Newbury resident spotted this strange formation off the Enborne Road in Newbury while studying computer satellite images. Construction manager Rob Fox, of St John’s Road, was looking for an alternative route to work using on-line aerial maps when he spotted what appeared to be a crop circle outline in ploughed earth."
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=10089

Being a red blood cell

"Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells could be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to a tumour. So say researchers at the University of California at San Diego, whose new technique is unique in its approach to harnessing nanoparticles."
Nanoparticles play at being red blood cells - physicsworld.com

Aircrafts make clouds rain

"For more than 50 years it has been known that aircraft can punch large holes or carve out canals inside clouds as they pass through them – but no-one had been able to explain exactly why this happens. Now researchers in the US have identified the cause by comparing satellite images of clouds with the results of computer modelling. They say that the phenomenon could lead to extra precipitation in the vicinity of major airports."
Aircraft punch holes in clouds and make it rain - physicsworld.com

Dakhla Oasis

A French excavation team made several discoveries in Balat village in the Dakhla Oasis, around 500 km south of Cairo. More at http://www.archaeogate.org/egittologia/article/1427/1/recenti-scoperte-archeologiche-nelloasi-di-dakhla.html
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/470508 and also
An ancient Egyptian federation

An ancient Egyptian federation

E il faraone inventò lo Stato federale, by Aristide Malnati
"Il federalismo ha avuto la prima manifestazione storica nell’Antico Egitto. ... è la conclusione dell’analisi degli elementi archeologici e storici, emersi in 30 anni di scavo sistematico sul sito di Balat, capoluogo dell’Oasi di Dakhla (200 Km a Ovest dell’odierna Luxor) durante il regno dei sovrani della VI Dinastia (2300-2200 a. C.); scavo condotto dall’archeologo francese Georges Soukiassian alla testa di un’équipe internazionale." Balat  è il più antico abitato egizio giunto fino a noi. "A Balat sono state rinvenute imponenti vestigia di quello che fu il fulcro del potere della regione più ricca d’Egitto, in particolare (ma non solo) durante la VI Dinastia. Qui risiedevano e facevano il bello e cattivo tempo i Governatori di tutta l’Oasi ... Godevano di forte autonomia e di reale possibilità di incidere anche in decisioni di politica nazionale. ... Se passiamo poi alla necropoli per l’eterno riposo dei, diremmo oggi, Presidenti della regione, il quadro della venerazione, in cui erano tenuti, si completa: ognuno fu sepolto in una mastaba, un’imponente sepoltura a sviluppo sotterraneo (quasi una piramide rovesciata), che sfociava nella camera funeraria superbamente affrescata con scene".
More
http://www.avvenire.it/Cultura/faraone_201106301208149670000.htm

As reported by Aristide Malnati, federalism had been developed for the first time in the ancient Egypt. This is a conclusion after analysis of archaeological and historical elements, lasted for 30 years during the systematic excavations on the site of Balat, Dakhla Oasis (200 km due west of Luxor). The period was that of the Sixth Dynasty (2300-2200 BC). The excavation is lead by the French archaeologist Georges Soukiassian.
Balat is considered the oldest Egyptian village. It was the most powerful center in one of the richest regions in Egypt, particularly during the Sixth Dynasty. Here lived the Governors of Oasis, having wide autonomy from the king and a real possibility to influence the decisions of the national policy.