Month: March 2010

7th century Mexican murals restored

Ancient, Modern(ish)

The Tetitla compound, in Teotihuacan Archaeological Zone outside of Mexico City, is renown for magnificent pre-Spanish murals dating to between 600 and 700 A.D. Restorers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History have been working on half of the murals for 2 years and now some of their hard work is on public view.

The conservation work has thus far focused on 8 of the 16 murals which are in particularly damaged condition from the constant battering of sun, wind, dust, moisture and all around hard living.

“Intervention began in September 2007, conducting scientific research and taking pigment samples to be analyzed with ultraviolet technology, which allows knowing mineral composition. Graphic registers made after the discovery, 70 years ago, were studied as well,” [said Jaime Cama Villafranca, expert from the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography].

Recovery of the black pigment of Las Aguilas mural was achieved, which was no longer perceived by the naked eye. “The mural presented eagle’s heads painted in red, floating on a white space”.

“After analyzing it, we found rests of black lines that united the heads. We restored the black feathers described in archaeological reports of the 1940’s decade”.

'Las Aguilas' mural in Tetitla

It was no easy task. Not only did restorers have to repair pigment lost from layer erosion and humidity-generated salinization, but they had to combat structural problems in the buildings themselves. They could hardly repair a mural while the ceiling was leaking and the floor eroding.

Tetitla is thought to have been a ritzy neighborhood in the ancient city, mainly because the extremely colorful and detailed wall art suggests people with discretionary income cared to beautify the area.

The Ides of March at the British Museum

Ancient, Museums, Roma, Caput Mundi

In 42 B.C., Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, aka the Liberatores, the lead conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar 2 years before, had military control of the Eastern provinces, including Greece and Macedonia. In Macedonia, Brutus even kept a handy little portable mint with him, which he used to issue a silver denarius celebrating the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15).

The denarius has a portrait of Brutus on the obverse, with on the reverse a liberty cap flanked by two daggers over the inscription EID(ibus) MAR(tiis). The liberty cap was the garment given to a manumitted slave to indicate his free status, so the reverse side symbolizes Brutus and Cassius liberating Rome with their daggers.

Their are 60 or so known copies of the silver denarius including several in the British Museum collection, but there are only 2 copies of a gold version, known as Aurei, and one of them has recently been adjudicated a fake.

That means there is only one genuine Eid Mar Aureo, and it’s going on display at the British museum today, in honor of the 2,054th anniversary of Julius Caesar’s assassination.

The British Museum was first shown the coin in 1932 but couldn’t afford to buy it. Many private owners later, it has now been loaned to the museum, and will be displayed for the first time. […]

The coin was punched with a hole shortly after it was minted, probably so it could be worn – certainly by a supporter, conceivably by one of the conspirators.

Brutus Eid Mar coin, gold

The inscription on the obverse side of the coin is BRVT(us) IMP(erator) L(ucius) PLAET(orius) CEST(ianus), so for Brutus, acclaimed “imperator” by his troops, and for Lucius Plaetorius Cestianus, the man who actually made the coins and ran Brutus’ mobile mint.

That could have been hanging around Brutus’ or Cassius’ neck while they were in Macedonia, still thinking they had a chance. They didn’t, though. In October of 42 B.C., just months after the coin was struck, Brutus and Cassius were routed by Marc Anthony and Octavian’s forces and died in the Battles of Philippi.

It’s a shame that such a powerful connection to these history-defining events has been in hiding for 80 years. There’s no information on the private collector who loaned the coin to the British Museum. Now that the other gold coin has been declared a fake, its market value is off the charts. If the British Museum couldn’t afford it in 1932, it’s not likely to be able to afford it now, should it ever go on sale.

Sweden extradites neo-Nazi for “Arbeit Macht Frei” theft

Looting, Modern(ish)

A Swedish court has ruled that Anders Högström, the man Polish authorities suspect commissioned the theft of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign over the gate to Auschwitz, can be extradited to Poland.

Anders HögströmHögström founded Sweden’s National Socialist Front party in 1994, but left the party 5 years later in the wake of a rash of bank robberies and assaults by far-right groups, one of them resulting in murder. He denies the charges of being a mastermind, but fully admits to having acted as middleman between the five Polish thieves and the ultimate buyer. His defense is a little rich for my blood:

“I was asked if I wanted to take the sign from one location to another,” he said during an interview with the daily Aftonbladet. “We had a person who was willing to pay several millions [of kronor, or hundreds of thousands of dollars] for the sign.”

But after discovering that the money from the sale would fund a violent campaign aimed at disrupting Sweden’s upcoming parliamentary election, Högström said he decided to inform police about the plot. “That was not something I wanted to be involved in or carry out in any way,” said Högström, who quit the far-right movement in 1999.

He had scruples, you see, in the middle of arranging for the “Arbeit Mach Frei” sign to be cut into 3 pieces and sold to some neo-Nazi buddy of his. Ugh.

The Polish police think he was a lot more involved that that. They say Högström’s phone call came while they were already in the process of arresting the thieves. Also, the leader of the thieves has known Högström for 2 years, since he worked on Högström’s estate in southern Sweden. They’ve apparently stayed in touch all this time.

The Polish authorities think Högström commissioned the theft personally, then only called to fess up when his thieves told him the publicity was so huge they were bound to get caught.

Högström has 3 weeks to appealing the court’s ruling. If he doesn’t or his appeal is denied, the authorities have 10 days to come and get him. He’d then be sent to Poland for trial, but any prison time he does will be done in Sweden, as stipulated in the extradition agreement.

DNA retrieved from fossilized eggshells

Ancient

A team of researchers from Australia and New Zealand universities have successfully extracted DNA from the fossilized eggshells of extinct birds. Don’t fear the devilish, door-opening cunning of the velociraptor quite yet. The oldest eggshell was from an emu that lived 19,000 years ago.

Fossilized elephant bird egg“We were able to obtain DNA from both thin (duck) and thick (elephant bird) eggshells, which suggests that thickness may not play a significant role in the recovery of DNA from eggshells,” lead author Charlotte Oskam told Discovery News.

“Furthermore, we were able to isolate DNA from eggshells from three countries, each with very different climate conditions,” added Oskam, a researcher at Murdoch University’s Ancient DNA Lab.

The 19,000 year-old emu eggshell was from Australia, as was an owl eggshell. They also got DNA from the fossilized eggshells of extinct moas and ducks from New Zealand and extinct elephant birds from Madagascar.

Fossilized moa eggshellsThe combination of calcium carbonate and a strong organix matrix in the eggshells decays very slowly. The strength of the structure protects the embryos from decay after the egg is laid, and keeps on protecting the eggshells long after the nest is empty.

Oskam explained that the “moa eggshell has 125 times lower microbial contamination when compared to moa bone. This highlights eggshells as an attractive substrate for ancient DNA work, especially whole genome studies.”

Successful DNA extraction isn’t going to lead to any cloned giant moas coming back, not this time anyway. Instead the research team is hoping the genetic information will fill out the evolutionary histories of these animals, and also be a useful non-invasive way of examining the genetic profiles of living animals.

Dinosaur eggs are still way off. Eggs that old (dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago) have become fully mineralized, so DNA extraction is so far impossible.

Confirmed: beheaded warriors were Vikings

Ancient

Mass grave of decapitated VikingsScientists have confirmed that 54 decapitated bodies found last July in a mass grave near Weymouth, Dorset, were indeed Vikings.

Isotope analysis of their tooth enamel confirmed that they came to Dorset from Scandinavia. At least one of the beheaded men lived most of his years in the Arctic circle, in fact. They probably came to England in a raiding party and encountered Saxon resistance. Effective Saxon resistance.

Archaeologist believe the men were from a captured raiding party and were taken to the site by Anglo-Saxons defending their land for the specific purpose of putting them to death. Ms Boston added: “The location is a typical place for a Saxon execution site, on a main road and a parish boundary and close to prehistoric burrows.”

Teeth from ten individuals were examined by Dr Jane Evans and Carolyn Chenery at NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory in Nottingham. Dr Evans said: “Isotopes from drinking water and food are fixed in the enamel and dentine of teeth as the teeth are formed in early life. The isotope data we obtained from the burial pit teeth strongly indicate that the men executed on the Ridgeway originated from a variety of places within the Scandinavian countries.

“These results are fantastic, this is the best example we have ever seen of a group of individuals that clearly have their origins outside Britain.”

Their deaths were not easy ones. Bone evidence indicates that their necks and jaws were hacked at repeatedly, not removed in one clean blow. One body’s hands were cut through, probably a defensive wound incurred while trying to grab the sword that was coming for his neck.

Others were wounded on the pelvis, stomach and chest. There are more bodies than heads, which suggests that 3 heads might have been put on spikes or displayed outside of the grave in some gruesome manner.

The research team also narrowed down the date a death a little more, to from between 910 and 1030 A.D., so towards the end of the Viking raid period. By 1016, Danish King Cnute had conquered most of England and the raids stopped, mainly because he was the boss of the raiders too.

Scientists are hoping to learn from further studies of the remains, like more details about their long-term health issues, diets, general lifestyle.