Contemporary spatiality: experiencing a multitude of cells

The Euclidean display and overall design of a room inside the MIT museum, Cambridge. Personal archives, 2024

Inside the MIT museum, Cambridge. See how the free standing displays have the same conceptual design as the displays on the wall. Note the shape of the benches as well. Personal archives, 2024.

 I have been thinking about current semiology in architectural spatiality. There is a new meaning based in our contemporary digital pre-conceptions, the different options of spatial relationships and representation techniques. We are becoming more skilled at abstracting the external stimuli, hence the qualities of the objects, since we have so much available information and optical devices to select, being the cell phone the most typical example that allows us to see the world filtered through cameras....

Spatial cognition depends on many factors: our culture, our experience, gender, age, social context, etc. I am particularly influenced by long years working on urban morphology with different mathematical software, but this time, I have also felt impressed by my recent visit to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Harvard museums. The architectural arrangement of the MIT technological exhibition captured my attention as unusual -due to my unconscious expectation of a typical exhibit- . At least in one room, the objects were enclosed by cubes defined by linear lighting. Every cube or rectangular prism, could be seen as a cell. So I missed the interior object in order to recreate the spatiality of the room, or even the wall, since it became a 3D Euclidean construction at a short distance, so pure and strictly mathematical.

Harvard Museum of Natural History. See the many reflections on the glass displays. Personal archives. 2024.

Harvard Museum of Natural History. See the many reflections on the glass displays. Personal archives. 2024.

Of course my mind is ready to understand and digest the contemporary exhibit, but when I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, I was walking among glass cells, which is quite different from the other Natural Science museums. All of a sudden, the 3D cells were conforming space, and progressively, there was this feeling of being dehumanized, one is immersed in a multitude of reflections (our own and the animals'), like a in mirror maze; the archaeology becomes part of the fantasy. 

Immersive Van Gogh, Los Angeles. Personal archives, 2021.

Immersive Van Gogh and the static experience. Los Angeles, personal archives, 2021.

Somehow, the historical composition in Harvard is a sort of prelude to the imaginary current immersive experiences, like Van Gogh's among so many others, with a substantial difference though, the cells and their contents are tangible, the person walking along the displays is lured by the animals, and the experience is dynamic, interactive, the space is re-created by the circulation towards a point of interest (a window, a staircase, an exit....), while the immersive art is realized with distant projections in an empty building, usually a warehouse, where people stand or sit still and the space is conceived by just one's mind perception of the moving images; the orientation is given by the location of isolated structural elements, like a staircase or columns.

Aerial view of Los Angeles Downtown and suburbs, California. Personal archive, 2024.

The spatial perception becomes completely different when we change the scale or the point of view.

I still remember the first time arriving to Los Angeles by plane, I was wondering where is Downtown? My first impression was the industrial flat areas with so little landscape, all of them rectangles. And a colleague of mine reminded me the great purpose of Los Angeles: the creation of movies in an extended city that sells lots of cars: in consequence, the industrial zoning is quite noticeable. 

This year, I had the chance to enjoy the aerial views that I am sharing here, and finally I have seen Los Angeles from above and afar, all blue filtered by the plane window and the residential low areas with lots of dark green. I made the effort to zoom my cell phone camera as much as I could, but for every capture, my impression was that I was looking at a pixelated city. Without history or social input, I was observing the result of Zoning codes, a map created with pixels, quite monotonous, even in its third dimension, and monochrome. While the plane was flying to destine, the view was still a multitude of little cubes and prisms like a projection on the ground where I was not immersed at all. For me was another version of the museums cells experience.

Aerial view of Los Angeles Downtown on the left and suburbs with a huge industrial area, California. Personal archive, 2024.

Antoine Picon, in his article "Anxious Landscapes: From Ruin to Rust" (2000) * on a similar idea, adds the concept of distance and texture, as explained in the following excerpts:

"...the anxious character of many contemporary landscapes is the indication of profound transformations affecting the definition of the subject who contemplates them,..."

"....this is not the first time that the look that we cast over our surroundings has been modified. Each time, such a transformation proves inseparable from a mutation of the ideal image we project of ourselves."

".... one cannot help by be struck by the extent of the mutations that already affect the category of vision."

".... familiar forms seem to give way to luminous effects -scintillations, iridescence, reflections- as well as to textures often based upon contradictory impressions like smoothness, glossiness or graininess. Configurations, both immediately perceptible by the senses and more abstract, substitute themselves for the contours of the world that is familiar. Seen by satellite, Los Angeles doesn't look much different from a section of matter observed in a microscope. The importance of the dominion of lights and textures in the contemporary technological landscape could well originate from this transformation in the categories of vision . Such a transformation leads us to suspend, if only provisionally, questions such as those of "far" and "near." Who tells us that it's Los Angeles we're contemplating, instead of a piece of sidewalk?.... the contemporary urban landscape is organized according to textures that owe more to woven design than to form in a traditional sense."

* From Architectural Theory. Volume II. An Anthology from 1871-2005. Page 595. Massachusetts, 2010.

A partial detail of a tapestry exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It is similar to an aerial view of a residential neighborhood and a central district. Personal archives, 2024.

My digital art on archaeology

Ancient sculpture of an angel

A pyramid and a tree

A settlement in the desert

Catacombs with human bones

Petroglyphs under the sun

Eagle rock painting

Ruins in the cliff

My version of Stonehenge, revised

Fractal totems

My digital art on archaeology by Myriam B. Mahiques is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Temple of Hercules in Amman, Jordan

I´m sharing today this amazing photograph of the Temple of Hercules in Amman, Jordan, by Robert Clark and posted at National Geographic.com

At first glance, I was astonished to see the fingers and thought if they were digitally manipulated to create a surrealist picture, given the scale of the hand, compared to the temple´s ruins. But:

¨Imposing architecture and art followed Roman armies to the farthest flung corners of the empire. The curled fingers were part of a statue that may have stood over 40 feet tall at the Temple of Hercules, in Amman, Jordan, around A.D. 160. Romans knew the city as Philadelphia.¨

Her is the original link that also contains Clark´s web site:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/roman-walls/clark-photography#/02-temple-of-hercules-670.jpg

An old poster on Angkor Vat, Cambodia

I´m sharing this poster from Wikipedia, it was designed by Georges Groslier, Paris, 1911.

What took my attention was the depiction of ¨exotic¨ people, instead of the ruins themselves. And I remembered, more or less, at the same time, Los Angeles city was promoted by realtors, during the boom of construction. And they said ¨come and see the exotic Indians and Mexicans.¨ So, people that looked different from Europeans was referred to as a means to get investors and tourists.

Now, this picture from National Geographic.com, that shows the beauty of the ruins in Cambodia:

Ta Prohm Temple, Angkor Wat Photograph by Gray Martin Giant strangler fig tree roots embrace the crumbling Ta Prohm temple at Angkor. Although the forest has overrun this sacred site, it has largely escaped the looting that decimated many of its fellow Cambodian temples.

A new expedition to Troy

Ancient Troy. Photograph by James Stanfield

Myth, folklore, mystery, and intrigue surround the ancient city of Troy like no other ruin on Earth. Once thought to be purely imaginary, a prop in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, excavations in northwestern Turkey in 1871 eventually proved that the city indeed existed. In 1871, German adventurer Heinrich Schliemann began digging at Hisarlik, Turkey, (shown here) in search of the fabled city. His roughshod excavation wrought havoc on the site, but revealed nine ancient cities, each built on top of the next and dating back some 5,000 years. At the time, most archaeologists were skeptical that Troy was among the ruins, but evidence since the discovery suggests the Trojan capital indeed lies within the site.

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/photos/lost-cities/#/lost-city-troy-ruins_24732_600x450.jpg

A new expedition to Troy:

¨Troy, the palatial city of prehistory, sacked by the Greeks through trickery and a fabled wooden horse, will be excavated anew beginning in 2013 by a cross-disciplinary team of archaeologists and other scientists, it was announced today (Monday, Oct. 15, 2012). The new expedition will be led by University of Wisconsin-Madison classics Professor William Aylward, an archaeologist with long experience digging in the ruins of classical antiquity, including Troy itself. The new international project at Troy, to be conducted under the auspices of and in cooperation with Turkey's Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, will begin a series of summer-time expeditions beginning in 2013. 

"Troy is a touchstone of Western civilization," says Aylward. "Although the site has been excavated in the past, there is much yet to be discovered. Our plan is to extend work to unexplored areas of the site and to systematically employ new technologies to extract even more information about the people who lived here thousands of years ago." (....) Although archaeologists have been digging at Troy for almost 140 years, with the exception of a 50-year hiatus between 1938 and 1988, less than one-fifth of the site has been scientifically excavated. With about 4,500 years of nearly uninterrupted settlement at a crossroads between Europe and Asia, Troy is fundamental for questions about the development of civilization in Europe and the Near East. 

"Troy deserves a world-class archaeological program," says Aylward. In its heyday, Troy's citadel, with walls 12 feet thick and more than 30 feet high, was about 6 acres in size. A walled lower town covered an expanse of 50 acres, much of which is unexplored. Mysteries abound. Ancient Troy's royal cemetery, for example, has yet to be discovered and archaeologists are eager to add to the single example of prehistoric writing known from Troy, a small bronze seal from the Bronze Age. "Major gaps in our knowledge involve the identity of the prehistoric Trojans, the location of their principal cemeteries and the nature of their writing system," says Aylward. 

"The enduring question of the historicity of the Trojan War is also worthy of further exploration." In future work at Troy, Aylward plans an array of collaborations in order to deploy powerful new scientific techniques to reveal the hidden record of the ancient city and its inhabitants.

 New methods to examine chemical residues on pottery from ancient kitchens and banquet halls, for example, may reveal secrets of ancient Trojan culinary proclivities, and genomic analyses of human and animal remains may shed light on diseases and afflictions at a crossroads of civilization. Much of the new work in the area of "molecular archaeology," which includes DNA sequencing and protein analysis, will be conducted in collaboration with the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center, which has become an active partner in the new Troy project. This past summer, researchers from the center participated in reconnaissance for future studies.¨

REFERENCE

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121015131549.htm

One of the earliest urbanization: Provadia-Solnitsata (5500-4200 BC)

In a Bulgarian mound, archaeologists have found perhaps Europe's earliest massive fortifications. Photograph by V. Nikolov, Bulgarian National Institute of Archaeology/EPA

Researchers announced last week (beginning of November 2012)  they'd discovered 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall), 6-foot-thick (1.8-meter-thick) stone walls around the settlement. The find is among the evidence for Solnitsata's oldest-town status—and further proof of an advanced Copper Age Balkan trade network, according to dig leader Vasil Nikolov, a Bulgarian archaeologist.

Long before the first wheel rolled through Europe, precious goods were likely crisscrossing the Balkans on pack animals and possibly in carts with sledlike bottoms. Salt, essential for preserving meats, joined gold and copper among the most prized cargo. And with its rare and coveted brine springs, Solnitsata, near present-day Provadiya, was a key producer, boiling off the salt and baking it into ready-to-trade blocks to supply its region with the essential mineral.

Salt wealth might explain those heavy-duty walls, which archaeologist David Anthony called "quite unusual."

"You can find evidence of fortification at many sites of this period, but they tend to be timber palisade walls. [Solnitsata] had a much more substantial, permanent, and unburnable stone wall," said Anthony, of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, who did not participate in the excavation.

Trees would have been plentiful in the region at the time, so the decision by Solnitsata's inhabitants to build a wall using stone is revealing, Anthony added.

"It tells you something about the level of hostilities of communities at the time," he said—and about Solnitsata's wealth.

Europe's Oldest Town?

Pottery remains at Solnitsata have been dated to 4,700 to 4,200 B.C., about a thousand years before the beginning of the Greek civilization. The site's age, its prehistoric population of about 350, and its Copper Age status as an agricultural, military, and ideological center help make Solnitsata the oldest known town in Europe, says Nikolov, whose conclusions appear in a recentpaper released by Bulgaria's National Institute of Archaeology (PDF).

But archaeologist John Chapman thinks Solnitsata housed only about 150 people. The idea that it was a town—let alone Europe's oldest town—is, in Chapman's words, "hyperbole."

Solnitsata "isn't really that different from hundreds of other Bulgarian tells [archaeological mounds created by building new structures atop older ones] that I know quite well," said Chapman, of Durham University in the U.K.

"These are not town-sized using any sort of objective criteria at all," added Chapman, who was not involved in Nikolov's study.

Anthony, of Hartwick College, also thinks the oldest-town claim is an exaggeration.

"Heck, when I was a graduate student, I worked on a ... site in what is now Serbia that covered a larger area" and was dated to an earlier time, Anthony said.

For his part, dig leader Nikolov—who could not be reached for comment—seemed to downplay his own claim last week, telling the AFP news service, "We are not talking about a town like the Greek city-states, ancient Rome, or medieval settlements but about what archaeologists agree constituted a town in the fifth millennium B.C."

EXCERPT FROM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121107-europe-oldest-town-bulgaria-walls-science/

Read the paper´s abstract by Vassil Nikolov:

http://naim.bg/contentFiles/ARH_2012_1_res1.pdf

Brett Herbst´s maize landscape art vs Nazca Lines

These pictures posted at inhabitat.com (Via Wired) caught my attention. Being a fan of archaeology, they vaguely reminded me of the Lines of Nazca in Peru, with the exception of the technology. Let´s read some paragraphs of two different posts to compare:

Spotted over at Wired Design, Brett Herbst might just be the King of Corn. He made his first corn maze in 1996, and since then he’s created over 2,000 spectacularly elaborate labyrinths as the founder of the company MAiZE. Using computer software, GPS technology, and a heck of a lot of imagination, Herbst has reinvented the traditional, autumn pastime into a work of art. As the one-time holder of the Guinness World Record for largest corn maize and the mastermind behind hundreds of sites across the country, Herbst has proven that he is head and shoulders above the rest of his field. As a Master of Maize, Brett Herbst puts an incredible amount of thought into each of his amazing pieces. Beginning with GPS coordinates and CorelDRAW design software, he marks out fields on a grid system that ranges in size from anywhere between 8-60 acres. Once marked out with flags, he spray-paints dots on the ground to indicate where the cuts in the corn crop should be made. Herbst’s crew then carves out the pathways with rototillers and riding lawn mowers. As if gigantic vegetable portraits of President Obama or Star Wars scenes were not enough to impress, Herbst also features words in the overall design of his mazes. He sometimes even uses “reverse cuts” in which the cornstalks themselves form blocked letters, creating positive space in the overall image.

http://inhabitat.com/the-maize-brett-herbst-creates-incredibly-elaborate-corn-mazes-using-gps-technology/maize-scarecrow/

The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches 53 miles or more than 80 kilometers between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. They were created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys and lizards. The Nazca lines cannot be recognized as coherent figures except from the air. Since it is presumed the Nazca people could never have seen their work from this vantage point, there has been much speculation on the builders' abilities and motivations.

(....) 

Since their discovery, various theories have been proposed regarding the methods and motivations underlying the lines' construction. The archaeological explanation as to who made them and how is widely accepted; namely that the Nazca people made the lines using simple tools and surveying equipment. Wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines (which were used to carbon-date the figures) and ceramics found on the surface support this theory. Furthermore, researchers such as Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky, have reproduced the figures using the technology available to the Nazca Indians of the time without aerial supervision. With careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of individuals could recreate even the largest figures within a couple of days.

From:

http://www.mysterycasebook.com/nazcalines.html

Nazca Monkey. Picture by Maria Reiche

Sobre las ruinas subacuáticas del lago Titicaca

Ciudad de Copacabana, Bolivia. A orillas del lago Titicaca

He leído un artículo muy interesante de Federico Abuaf para La Nación, ¨Lago Titicaca: las aguas mágicas,¨ y de él reproduzco la sección que trata de las ruinas subacuáticas del lago más las dos fotos.

Restos arqueológicos de la zona.

¨Si bien desde tiempos inmemoriales se construyeron mitos sobre posibles metrópolis en los alrededores del lago, a partir de 1956, luego de la primera exploración arqueológica subacuática, se encontraron restos que sugerían la existencia de construcciones sepultadas por las aguas del Titicaca por razones que aún se desconocen.

El profesor Rubén Vela, del Instituto Arqueológico de Tiahuanaco, elabora una hipótesis para entender el origen de los vestigios encontrados: "Estas ruinas tienen un carácter sagrado. Su construcción hace pensar en un templo lacustre que habría constituido el punto de reunión de una peregrinación religiosa muy importante". Otros investigadores complementan esta teoría al sostener que las ruinas sumergidas son una prolongación de los muros del Templo del Sol que se encuentra en el sector norte de la isla y que existían previamente al Titicaca. Para los yatiris (sabios chamanes), en las profundidades del lago se encuentra el Taypi Qallta, el origen del universo aymara.

Según una investigación realizada por un grupo de buzos argentinos en 1966, se hallaron muros y recintos en forma de U con la parte abierta señalando hacia el centro del lago. También se encontró un camino empedrado de unos 30 metros de longitud en perfectas condiciones, similar a los caminos del inca que pueden encontrarse en distintas zonas de Perú. Y no faltan las versiones que hacen referencia a una Atlántida o ciudad perdida en las profundidades del Titicaca, y a la existencia de un grupo de laberintos sagrados (conocidos como chinkanas) de varios kilómetros, que en su tiempo podrían haber servido como conexión con Cuzco y Machu Picchu.

Si bien los pobladores de la Isla del Sol se muestran reacios a prestar información sobre las ruinas, diversas exploraciones como las de Cousteau y otros investigadores, en las que se hallaron oro, vasijas y construcciones pertenecientes a períodos muy arcaicos, han fomentado la creencia en la existencia de una ciudad perdida.

En 1848, las ruinas tiwanakotas que se hallan próximas a La Paz fueron visitadas por Bartolomé Mitre, quien apuntó en sus notas de viaje las siguientes palabras: "Se extendía a mis pies una llanura inmensa y árida y teníamos sobre nuestras cabezas el cielo más espléndido y transparente del universo. Casi en el centro de este llano andino yacen las famosas ruinas de Tiahuanaco, que por su antigüedad y sus misterios, así como por la originalidad de su arquitectura, ha sido llamada la Babel americana".

An experience in Chichen Itza

Photo by Joe Mendel

I've been reading Michael J. Crosbie's experience in Chichen Itza and I can imagine his feelings, though, being born in Buenos Aires, a big city, I'm accustomed to vendors and people bothering us in trains, buses, while walking, children asking for money everywhere in the heart of the City. But it's even worst when you are trying to concentrate on the sacredness of a mystical place.

Michael Crosbie is the Editor of the architectural magazine Faith and Form. Here, his words:

I remember it being a very hot day. I had traveled with friends and colleagues this past April on a pilgrimage to the ruins of Chichen Itza, Mexico, one of the places on my architect's bucket list. Now I stood at the threshold of this monumental site, ready to sacrifice myself to the heat (and the occasional iguana) to learn some deep, sacred truth. The anticipation of this adventure, which was organized by the Forum for Architecture, Culture and Spirituality, was almost too much to bear. How would we receive these incredible religious ruins? What secrets would they admit to us as we wandered among them, immediately and over our next few days in their presence? What spiritual transcendence could we hope for, experiencing these mute stone structures of an ancient civilization, one whose primary traces were the mysterious, sacred buildings they left behind? And then it all went…terribly wrong. As I drew closer to the ruins, making my way through a densely forested pathway, I was approached by a child, imploring, “Want to buy a handkerchief, mister? One peso, almost free!” A bit farther on, as I strained to see on my right the outline of the El Castillo–that dramatic flight of steps to the heavens–an alarming growl rose from just off to my left, the sound of a wounded, angry animal of the jungle. Was I about to be consumed before consummating my tryst with these sacred stones? No. It was just another vendor, his long table spread out with souvenirs, blowing into the carved wooden head of a jaguar, the cat that used to rule these ruins. Another vendor next to him hawked tee-shirts, and another beyond offered onyx paperweights carved in the likeness of a portion of the male anatomy, detailed in every way. And there was another vendor, and another, and another, as far as the eye could see. But I still hadn't seen a blasted ruin! We arrive at pivotal sacred sites around the world, our spirits ready to be lifted into communion with ancient truths, to dive into the deepest pools of transcendence, and someone is trying to sell us gee-gaws. Or we turn a corner in Paris, ready to be floored by the aura of Notre Dame, and it is covered with scaffolding. Or it is just closed for the day…no explanation at all. What is the pilgrim to do? The next day in Chichen Itza, we came early. Really early–the ticket sellers hadn't even yet arrived in their booths as we milled around, counting out exact change. I rushed with my ticket down the pathway, not a soul in sight. For a while, maybe only 15 minutes, it was just me and El Castillo, this mysterious mountain of stone that refused to tell me anything. I sketched in peace and scribbled notes. I then walked to the epic ball court nearby, with its rings of stone protruding as witnesses to the ghosts of gamesmen who might hope eternally in vain for the ultimate “do over.” I sat against a wall, the humidity beginning to rise, and looked for a long time at the two facing ball-court walls, silent in their secrets. More notes, more sketches. I was grateful for the silence.

http://faithandform.com/editorial/archive/45-2.php

An ancient dolmen used as a cellar

I´m really curious about this image I´ve found in the book FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER SPARKLING WINES, COLLECTED DURING NUMEROUS VISITS TO THE CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER VITICULTURAL DISTRICTS OF FRANCE, AND THE PRINCIPAL REMAINING WINE-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. BY HENRY VIZETELLY. London, 1879.

It´s an ancient dolmen but you can see a door at the ¨entrance¨ of much modern manufacture. This is an excellent example of  ¨appropriation¨, and change of use. Below, all I could find as a reference: 

 Chevalier of the Order of Franz Josef. Wine Juror for Great Britain at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of 1873 and 1878. Author of “The Wines of the World Characterized and Classed,” &c. While visiting the vineyards of Varrains and Chacé we came upon a couple of dolmens—vestiges of the ancient Celtic population of the valley of the Loire singularly abundant hereabouts. Brézé, the marquisate of which formerly belonged to Louis XVI.’s famous grand master of the ceremonies—immortalized by the rebuff he received from Mirabeau—boasts a noble château on the site of an ancient fortress, in connection with which there are contemporary excavations in the neighbouring limestone, designed for a garrison of 500 or 600 men. Beyond the vineyards of Saint-Florent, westward of Saumur and on the banks 147 of the Thouet, is an extensive plateau partially overgrown with vines, where may be traced the remains of a Roman camp. Moreover, in the southern environs of Saumur, in the midst of vineyards producing exclusively white wines, is one of the most remarkable dolmens known. This imposing structure, perfect in all respects save that one of the four enormous stones which roof it in has been split in two, and requires to be supported, is no less than 65 feet in length, 23 feet in width, and 10 feet high.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20889/20889-h/20889-h.htm

A story at Grave Creek Mound, Ohio

Grave Creek Mound in 2006. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grave_Creek_Mound.jpg

This gigantic tumulus, the largest in the Ohio valley, was opened some four or five years ago, and found to contain some articles of high antiquarian value, in addition to the ordinary discoveries of human bones, &c. A rotunda was built under its centre, walled with brick, and roofed over, and having a long gallery leading into it, at the base of the mound. Around this circular wall, in the centre of this heavy and damp mass of earth, with its atmosphere of peculiar and pungent character, the skeletons and other disinterred articles, are hung up for the gratification of visiters, the whole lighted up with candles, which have the effect to give a strikingly sepulchral air to the whole scene. But what adds most to this effect, is a kind of exuded flaky matter, very white and soft, and rendered brilliant by dependent drops of water, which hangs in rude festoons from the ceiling.

To this rotunda, it is said, a delegation of Indians paid a visit a year or two since. In the “Wheeling Times and Advertiser” of the 30th August 1843, the following communication, respecting this visit, introducing a short dramatic poem, was published.

“An aged Cherokee chief who, on his way to the west, visited the rotunda excavated in this gigantic tumulus, with its skeletons and other relics arranged around the walls, became so indignant at the desecration and display of sepulchral secrets to the white race, that his companions and interpreter found it difficult to restrain him from assassinating the guide. His language assumed the tone of fury, and he brandished his knife, as they forced him out of the passage. Soon after, he was found prostrated, with his senses steeped in the influence of alcohol.

“’Tis not enough! that hated raceShould hunt us out, from grove and placeAnd consecrated shore—where longOur fathers raised the lance and song—Tis not enough!—that we must goWhere streams and rushing fountains flowWhose murmurs, heard amid our fears,Fall only on a stranger’s ears—’Tis not enough!—that with a wand,They sweep away our pleasant land,And bid us, as some giant-foe,Or willing, or unwilling go!But they must ope our very gravesTo tell the dead—they too, are slaves.”

REFERENCE:

From Western Scenes and Reminiscences. By Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. 1853

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39898/39898-h/39898-h.htm

The first archaeological evidence of the city of Bethlehem

(Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they had discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem's existence centuries before the town became revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

 The proof came, they said, in a clay seal unearthed near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and imprinted with three lines of ancient Hebrew script that include the word "Bethlehem".

 Eli Shukron, who directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the seal apparently had been placed on a tax shipment of silver or agricultural produce sent from Bethlehem to the King of Judah in nearby Jerusalem in the 8th or 7th century BC. 

"This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible in an inscription from the First Temple period," Shukron said in a statement, referring to the years 1006 BC to 586 BC. The coin-sized remnant of the seal proves that Bethlehem - first mentioned in the Book of Genesis - "was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods", he said. Bethlehem is located on the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. 

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Pravin Char)

The clay seal

REFERENCE: text and pictures from

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-israel-archaeology-bethlehem-idUKBRE84M0MR20120523

Léalo en español:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1475818-hallan-la-primera-evidencia-arqueologica-de-la-ciudad-de-belen

Mazes and Labyrinths

Knossos labyrinth

The theory of the description of mazes is included in Euler’s theorems given above. The paths in the maze are what previously we have termed branches, and the places where two or more paths meet are nodes. The entrance to the maze, the end of a blind alley, and the centre of the maze are free ends and therefore odd nodes.

If the only odd nodes are the entrance to the maze and the centre of it–which will necessitate the absence of all blind alleys–the maze can be described unicursally. This follows from Euler’s third proposition.

Again, no matter how many odd nodes there may be in a maze, we can always find a route which will take us from the entrance to the centre without retracing our steps, though such a route will take us through only a part of the maze. But in neither of the cases mentioned in this paragraph can the route be determined without a plan of the maze.

A plan is not necessary, however, if we make use of Euler’s suggestion, and suppose that every path in the maze is duplicated. In this case we can give definite rules for the complete description of the whole of any maze, even if we are entirely ignorant of its plan. Of course to walk twice over every path in a labyrinth is not the shortest way of arriving at the centre, but, if it is performed correctly, the whole maze is traversed, the arrival at the centre at some point in the course of the route is certain, and it is impossible to lose one’s way.

I need hardly explain why the complete description of such a duplicated maze is possible, for now every node is even, and hence, by Euler’s second proposition, if we begin at the entrance we can traverse the whole maze; in so doing we shall at some point arrive at the centre, and finally shall emerge at the point from which we started. This description will require us to go over every path in the maze twice, and as a matter of fact the two passages along any path will be always made in opposite directions.

If a maze is traced on paper, the way to the centre is generally obvious, but in an actual labyrinth it is not so easy to find the correct route unless the plan is known. In order to make sure of describing a maze without knowing its plan it is necessary to have some means of marking the paths which we traverse and the direction in which we have traversed them—for example, by drawing an arrow at the entrance and end of every path traversed, or better perhaps by marking the wall on the right-hand side, in which case a path may not be entered when there is a mark on each side of it. If we can do this, and if when a node is reached, we take, if it be possible, some path not previously used, or, if no other path is available, we enter on a path already traversed once only, we shall completely traverse any maze in two dimensions.

Of course a path must not be traversed twice in the same direction, a path already traversed twice (namely, once in each direction) must not be entered, and at the end of a blind alley it is necessary to turn back along the path by which it was reached.

I think most people would understand by a maze a series of interlacing paths through which some route can be obtained leading to a space or building at the centre of the maze. I believe that few, if any, mazes of this type existed in classical or medieval times.

One class of what the ancients called mazes or labyrinths seems to have comprised any complicated building with numerous vaults and passages.

Such a building might be termed a labyrinth, but it is notwhat is usually understood by the word. The above rules would enable anyone to traverse the whole of any structure of this kind. I do not know if there are any accounts or descriptions of Rosamund’s Bower other than those by Drayton, Bromton, and Knyghton: in the opinion of some, these imply that the bower was merely a house, the passages in which were confusing and ill-arranged.

Another class of ancient mazes consisted of a tortuous path confined to a small area of ground and leading to a place or shrine in the centre.

This is a maze in which there is no chance of taking a wrong turning; but, as the whole area can be occupied by the windings of one path, the distance to be traversed from the entrance to the centre may be considerable, even though the piece of ground covered by the maze is but small.

The traditional form of the labyrinth constructed for the Minotaur is a specimen of this class. It was delineated on the reverses of the coins of Cnossus, specimens of which are not uncommon; one form of it is indicated in the accompanying diagram. The design really is the same as that drawn in figure ii, as can be easily seen by bending round a circle the rectangular figure there given.

Mr Inwards has suggested that this design on the coins of Cnossus may be a survival from that on a token given by the priests as a clue tothe right path in the labyrinth there. Taking the circular form of the design shown above he supposed each circular wall to be replaced by two equidistant walls separated by a path, and thus obtained a mazeto which the original design would serve as the key. The route thus indicated may be at once obtained by noticing that when a node is reached (i.e. a point where there is a choice of paths) the path to be taken is that which is next but one to that by which the node was approached. This maze may be also threaded by the simple rule of always following the wall on the right-hand side or always that on the left-hand side. The labyrinth may be somewhat improved by erecting a few additional barriers, without affecting the applicability of the above rules, but it cannot be made really difficult. This makes a pretty toy, but though the conjecture on which it is founded is ingenious it must be regarded as exceedingly improbable. Another suggestion is that the curved line on the reverse of the coins indicated the form of the rope held by those taking part in some rhythmic dance; while others consider that the form was gradually evolved from the widely prevalent svastika.

Copies of the maze of Cnossus were frequently engraved on Greek and Roman gems; similar but more elaborate designs are found in numerous Roman mosaic pavements. A copy of the Cretan labyrinth was embroidered on many of the state robes of the later Emperors, and, apparently thence, was copied on to the walls and floors of various churches. At a later time in Italy and in France these mural and pavement decorations were developed into scrolls of great complexity, but consisting, as far as I know, always of a single line. Some of the best specimens now extant are on the walls of the cathedrals at Lucca, Aix in Provence, and Poitiers; and on the floors of the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere at Rome, San Vitale at Ravenna, Notre Dame at St Omer, and the cathedral at Chartres. It is possible that they were used to represent the journey through life as a kind of pilgrim’s progress.

In England these mazes were usually, perhaps always, cut in the turf adjacent to some religious house or hermitage: and there are some slight reasons for thinking that, when traversed as a religious exercise, a pater or ave had to be repeated at every turning. After the Renaissance, such labyrinths were frequently termed Troy-towns or Julian’s bowers. Some of the best specimens, which are still extant, are those at Rockliff Marshes, Cumberland; Asenby, Yorkshire; Alkborough, Lincolnshire; Wing, Rutlandshire; Boughton-Green, Northamptonshire; Comberton, Cambridgeshire; Saffron Walden, Essex; and Chilcombe, near Winchester.

The modern maze seems to have been introduced—probably from Italy—during the Renaissance, and many of the palaces and large houses built in England during the Tudor and the Stuart periods had labyrinths attached to them. Those adjoining the royal palaces at Southwark, Greenwich, and Hampton Court were particularly well known from their vicinity to the capital. The last of these was designed by London and Wise in 1690, for William III, who had a fancy for such conceits: a plan of it is given in various guide-books. For the majority of the sight-seers who enter, it is sufficiently elaborate; but it is an indifferent construction, for it can be described completely by always following the hedge on one side (either the right hand or the left hand), and no node is of an order higher than three.

Maze at Hampton Court.

Unless at some point the route to the centre forks and subsequently the two forks reunite, forming a loop in which the centre of the maze is situated, the centre can be reached by the rule just given, namely, by following the wall on one side—either on the right hand or on the left hand. No labyrinth is worthy of the name of a puzzle which can be threaded in this way. Assuming that the path forks as described above, the more numerous the nodes and the higher their order the more difficult will be the maze, and the difficulty might be increased considerably by using bridges and tunnels so as to construct a labyrinth in three dimensions. In an ordinary garden and on a small piece of ground, often of an inconvenient shape, it is not easy to make a maze which fulfils these conditions. Here on the following page is a plan of one which I put up in my own garden on a plot of ground which would not allow of more than 36 by 23 paths, but it will be noticed that none of the nodes are of a high order.

Garden plot by the author, Rouse Ball.

From Mathematical Recreations and Essays. W.W. Rouse Ball. 1892

http://yaroslavvb.com/papers/books/Ball%20-%20Mathematical%20Recreations%20and%20Essays.pdf

Casa del Virrey Liniers, Buenos Aires

No conocía esta casa, pero parece que no hubiera tenido oportunidad de hacerlo, ya que recién en diciembre 2010 se abrió al público. Reproduzco la nota de Silvia Premat con la esperanza de conocerla algún día:

Después de medio siglo de estar cerrada, la casa que fue del virrey Santiago de Liniers, donde los ingleses firmaron la rendición luego de la reconquista de la ciudad, en 1806, atrae cada vez más turistas y vecinos deseosos de conocer la historia del país. Desde diciembre, cuando se abrió al público, se registran unos 2500 visitantes por mes.

A pocas cuadras de Plaza de Mayo, la Casa del Virrey, una construcción de estilo colonial típico del siglo XVIII, está unida por medio de un patio con otra edificación de valor histórico para la ciudad y el país, dado que allí funcionaron los primeros talleres de diarios argentinos y perteneció a Angel Estrada, un mentor de la educación y pionero de la industria gráfica nacional y de los textos escolares.

El gobierno porteño adquirió en 2009 ambos inmuebles ubicados en Venezuela 469, la Casa del Virrey, y en Bolívar 466, la de Estrada, y trasladó allí la Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural e Instituto histórico, cuya titular trata de unificar las dos viviendas bajo el denominación: Casa del Historiador y Espacio Virrey Liniers.

"La gente no sabe que ambas casas están conectadas", contó a LA NACION la directora de Patrimonio, Liliana Barela. "Entran en la casa de Liniers como si lo hicieran a un templo, pero este templo fue tirado abajo y quedaron sólo pocos muros y algunas cosas de gran valor simbólico", admite la funcionaria.

"Para que los visitantes no vengan a buscar algo que no existe", la funcionaria advirtió que "no está la cocina, la cama, la mesa, las pantuflas del Virrey, como generalmente se espera encontrar en una casa histórica", sino que hay dos salas donde se hacen exposiciones temporarias, un salón y un patio.

Ingresar en la casona que perteneció a la familia Estrada, recorrer sus pasillos y ambientes es viajar al pasado. Allí Angel de Estrada vivió con su familia. En 1869 fundó una empresa comercial que fue el origen de la editorial que lleva su nombre y, en 1871, inauguró la primera fundición nacional de tipos de imprenta.

La editorial y la imprenta funcionaron en la casona de la calle Bolívar donde los inmensos vitraux con motivos florales, los pisos, las puertas y ventanas de madera y los techos altos transportan al visitante al siglo XIX, cuando esa casa de familia era visitada por otros ilustres ciudadanos, como Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Emilio Mitre, Amancio Alcorta y Miguel Cané.

En el lugar en el que ahora está la biblioteca de la Dirección de Patrimonio se conserva una pequeña imprenta instalada con la intención de mostrar, sobre todo a los niños, cómo se imprimían los libros de antaño.

Después de pasar por las oficinas vidriadas de arqueólogos y paleontólogos y verlos trabajar con piezas rescatadas de algún rincón porteño, los visitantes acceden a un típico patio colonial de la Casa del Virrey.

Allí, los baldosones, los gruesos muros y los techos de tejas españolas trasladan al visitante al siglo XVIII. Antes de Santiago de Liniers vivía en esa casa la familia de Martín Simón de Sarratea, un comerciante dedicado a la venta de sedas. Su "local a la calle" estaba en lo que hoy es la sala más pequeña, sobre la calle Venezuela.

El patio conduce a un salón donde se da un curso sobre la historia del barrio Montserrat. "Queremos recuperar la identidad de este barrio que fue un poco fagocitado por San Telmo", explicó Barela, al recordar que la Casa del Historiador está a 200 metros del límite con San Telmo.

Un retrato de Martina Sarratea, segunda esposa de Santiago de Liniers, preside el salón donde el 13 de agosto de 1806, un día después de la reconquista de la ciudad, el general británico Guillermo Beresford firmó allí la capitulación de su tropa. Por ese motivo, en 1942, la vivienda fue declarada monumento histórico. Y, desde pocos años después, permaneció cerrada al público en general.

Ambas casas se pueden visitar gratis, de 12 a 18, de martes a domingos, y se organizan recorridas con grupos escolares que pueden revivir costumbres de la vida porteña en los siglos XVIII y XIX..

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1413367-dos-siglos-de-historia-en-montserrat?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

Fotos: Fernando Massobrio y Graciela Calabrese