Month: March 2013

Herculaneum reliefs together again after 2000 years

Ancient, Museums

Two recently discovered marble reliefs from the appropriately named House of the Dionysiac Reliefs in Herculaneum will be on display again for the first time since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. hid them under 100 feet of volcanic ash. The reliefs will be part of a new exhibition at the British Museum called Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum which will display more than 250 artifacts on loan from Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii and objects in the British Museum collection. Many of the pieces on loan have never before traveled outside of Italy.

The focus of the exhibit isn’t just to show off the beauties preserved at Pompeii and Herculaneum but rather to give visitors a glimpse into the daily lives of the people who lived in those towns under the shadow of Vesuvius. Along with entire rooms of frescoed walls, statuary, expensive jewelry and mosaics there are quotidian objects like a loaf of bread and a wooden crib that looks like it could have been made yesterday. The idea is to show the day-in-the-life snapshot captured by the unique preserving force of the eruption. The room of frescoes, for instance, will be on display along with plaster casts of the family who lived there. The bodies of a man, woman and small children huddled together in terror under the stairs of their house left uncanny impressions in the volcanic ash from which plaster casts were made. A dog rolling in agony on his back, one of the most famous of the casts, will also be part of the exhibition.

The two marble reliefs are part of a domestic scene from an elegant seaside villa in Herculaneum. They were embedded into two walls of a room whose fourth wall was open, overlooking the sea. There was probably a third matching relief on the third wall, but it was lost along with the wall during the eruption. The first one of the reliefs, a depiction of two satyrs and a mostly nude woman all engaged in the pouring and drinking of wine, was unearthed by accident in 1997.

The goal of the excavation was to uncover more of the Villa of the Papyri, a massive luxury home on the slopes of the volcano which belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father of Calpurnia, wife of Julius Caesar. The Villa of the Papyri was named after the 1,785 carbonized papyrus scrolls found in the library during excavations by Swiss engineer Karl Weber in the second half of the 18th century. It was also the model for the Getty Villa in Los Angeles. It was excavated via tunnels cut through the volcanic rock and most of it remains undiscovered under the modern town. The 1997 attempt failed to find more of the Villa of the Papyri but the House of the Dionysiac Reliefs was no small consolation.

Excavations stopped because the parts of ancient Herculaneum that had already been exposed were in dire condition, so dire that much of the site had to be closed to tourists for their own safety. If this sounds familiar, it should. Pompeii is in the exact same position today. Herculaneum was saved by direct intervention of the privately funded Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP) which focuses on doing all the constant maintenance necessary to keep an ancient archaeological site stable instead of digging for the next big, flashy find while the place falls apart around them.

In 2009, the HCP turned its attentions to the House of the Dionysiac Reliefs to stabilize and conserve the excavated site. On the last day of the project, the mud caking a section of wall fell off and a second marble relief in even better condition than the first one saw the light of the day for the first time since 79 A.D. This panel depicts a dancing Maenad and a bearded man, probably Dionysius, facing each other on the right side while on the left two other figures stand before an archaic Greek sculpture of Dionysius.

Since it was found still embedded in the wall, archaeologists were given the rare opportunity to study how these panels were mounted. There was no mortar used. They were placed in a niche two inches deep and held in place with iron cramps, two on the long sides, one on the short sides. Once the panel was in place, the exposed edges were filled in with painted plaster. Greek-style reliefs were very popular among wealthy Romans in the 1st century A.D.; getting to explore the practical mechanics of their installation was of major archaeological significance.

The second panel has never been on display before, and the last time the two were seen by human eyes in the same room was August 24th (or November 23rd), 79 A.D. Your eyeballs can be next by going to see the exhibition which opens March 28th and closes September 29th. This is destined to be another blockbuster, so if you’re in London or planning to be there during those dates, book your tickets now.

Behold the Panther Cave pictographs in enhanced HD

Ancient, Multimedia

Panther Cave is a rock shelter in Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas, named for a dramatic leaping cat that is the largest of its many pictographs. Copious overpainting indicates the site was used as a canvas by generations of rock painters. Cats, humans wearing headdresses, abstract figures from six inches to more than 10 feet high decorate the rock face.

The images are predominantly in the Pecos River and Red Linear styles and date back about 4,000 years. Pecos River Style is the oldest, starting around 5000 years ago. Its iconography features monumental polychrome designs of zoomorphic figures and of anthropomorphic figures called shamans. Pecos River art is thought to have had ritual significance, perhaps having been painted for ceremonial religious purposes. Red Linear style is characterized by small red stick figures engaged in a variety of shared activities like hunting, fighting, sex and childbirth. Red Linear figures often incorporated the older large Pecos River animal figures in their scenes.

The art of Panther Cave is not accessible to the general public. The rock shelter can only be reached by taking a boat down the Pecos River and the condition is precarious. Erosion has made it too dangerous for archaeological excavation and the construction of Amistad Reservoir has put the site in more immediate danger from flooding.

Acutely aware of the precarious situation Panther Cave and other rock art sites find themselves in, the SHUMLA Archeological Research and Education Center launched the Lower Pecos Rock Art Recording and Preservation Project in 2009. Its aim is to document ancient pictographs using the latest and greatest technology to preserve them digitally. So far they’ve completed work on 21 rock art sites.

In collaboration with the Amistad National Recreation Area, Seminole Canyon State Park, and Geo-Marine Inc., SHMULA has now recorded and laser scanned the art of Panther Cave. They used 3D modeling software to showcase the natural contours and shape of the cave, then used color enhancement to highlight the stunning complexity of figures that are not clear to the naked eye. The finished product is a riot of color, giving viewers whole new insight into the pictographs that layer the site.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/vbmgpKKLMyY&w=430]

Drumclay Crannog dig extended one last week

Ancient, Modern(ish), Social policy

The excavation of Drumclay Crannog in County Fermanagh, Ulster, has gotten one last week-long extension. The dig has proven to be such a vast historical bonanza — more than 4000 artifacts and remains from a thousand years of habitation have been unearthed — that the original six week dig which started in June of 2012 has been repeatedly extended, in large part thanks to the huge public outcry over such a rare piece of Irish history being destroyed to build a road.

It looks like this is really the last reprieve the site will receive. Archaeologists will continue to excavate the man-made island through the Easter holidays, but after that the boom will lower.

A spokesperson for the Department for Regional Development (DRD) said: “DRD continues to work with Northern Ireland Environment Agency to resolve the archaeological excavation.

“Whilst the minister has agreed to allow the crannog excavation to continue for a further week over the Easter holidays, we do not wish to see any further extensions as it is essential that this road is open in advance of the G8 summit in June.”

The 39th G8 summit will be held at the Lough Erne Resort in County Fermanagh and according to the DRD, they really need a new road to transport all those dignitaries to their five-star hotel and golf resort which is surrounded by water making it conveniently hard for protesters to congregate. The Carntogher Community Association, which has started a Change.org petition asking Environment Minister Atwood to give archaeologists all the time they need, thinks that’s a flimsy rationale for destroying history. According to them, chances are slim the G8 ministers will even use the road to get to the resort.

People who are not in the DRD think the priority should be excavating the crannog down to the last speck of archaeological evidence. According to archaeologist Nora Bermingham, Drumclay is unlike any other discovered. Instead of the usual two to five houses commonly found on crannogs, almost 30 have been discovered on Drumclay. That makes it more of a lake settlement than a crannog as they’re usually defined. There is evidence of habitation going as far back as the 7th century through to the 17th, and the ancient royal line of the Fermanagh Maguires may have had a presence on the island.

The early work on the road damaged the site irretrievably, draining the water and possibly destroying as much as half of the crannog before that initial dig began. Even if the road were diverted to avoid paving over archaeological paradise, the crannog’s odds of survival under current conditions are slim. That’s why archaeologists need to be allowed to dig all the way down to the earliest layer so they can get as much information from the site before it’s too late.

Even from an economic perspective, it doesn’t make sense to prioritize the road over the archaeology.

Fermanagh & South Tyrone Sinn Féin MLA, Phil Flanagan, welcomed the extension.

“The significance of this find cannot be understated [sic; he means overstated] and the learnings that can be made from its excavation and the potential benefits in terms of the development of our local tourism sector are enormous,” he said.

“This site is of much greater strategic importance than the link road that is going to be built over it, a road that is of minor significance in Fermanagh. The construction of the road can wait, but once this crannog is tarred over, it cannot be recovered.”

The open days confirm that interest in this site is massive. So many people went to visit the site on the February 16th open day that 400 people had to be wait listed. The first open day in December and the most recent one on Saturday also went far over capacity. People are fascinated by this site, and that fascination will bring cash and employment to the county far beyond the G8 summit.

Mystery sculpture found at Brooklyn construction site

Modern(ish)

A nude sculpture of an unknown female figure has been unearthed at a construction site under the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. Construction workers first encountered her last year while clearing the site and archaeological consultants Historical Perspectives, Inc. were hired to excavate the statue before construction began. Excavating machines had damaged the face and body before workers realized she was there.

The neighborhood is today known as DUMBO (Jane’s Carousel is just a few blocks north of the construction site) and is primarily residential, but beginning in the 19th century it was a major manufacturing center. Its warehouses and factories, now converted into a plethora of gentrified lofts, are the result of a dramatic increase in industrial production in Brooklyn between 1890 and 1920. According to Census records, Brooklyn went from having 1,032 factories with 12,758 employees in 1860 to 10,713 factories employing 100,881 workers in 1900. By 1913, 30% of the borough’s manufacturing large firms were centered in DUMBO.

The construction site where the statue was found was most recently a parking lot but in Brooklyn’s manufacturing heyday there were spice warehouses in the area around the corner of Dock Street and Front Street. Inspired by that spicy history, archaeologists named the armless and legless stone lady Ginger. They don’t know that she dates to that period, or any other for that matter. She was discovered amidst mid-20th century demolition debris churned up during previous construction, so it’s not possible to analyze archaeological strata. Pottery sherds and foundation stones from the 18th century were also discovered in the debris.

With no specifics to go on, Ginger’s voluptuous nakedness has inspired speculation that she may have been a 3D brothel advertisement. Other possible roles that have been suggested include garden ornament or ship’s ballast, or she may have been simply a work of art produced by a local sculptor, but the truth is nobody has any idea who made her, why and when.

According to art experts, her maker probably did not receive a formal education in sculpture. She’s rough-hewn in parts, but there’s some great detail, like the texture in the hair.

“The chisel marks seem quite refined,” Carl F. Hammer, a Chicago dealer in outsider art, said in an e-mail after analyzing photos of Ginger.

Most of her 400 pounds are bare rock now, but there are flakes of blue-green paint on her hair that suggest she once sported a polychrome look. Those paint flecks are our best chance of determining her age and anything else about her history. They will be analyzed in a lab this spring.

Until more is known, the construction company, Two Trees Management Company (founded by David Walentas, husband of the Jane in Jane’s Carousel), is keeping Ginger on display in their office where she is roundly beloved.

Construction continues on the site. It is scheduled to be a mixed-use development with 300 rental apartments in a LEED-certified building, a public middle school, parking for Brooklyn Bridge Park and retail businesses.

St. Oran’s Cross reassembled for 1450th anniversary

Medieval, Modern(ish)

Historic Scotland is reassembling St. Oran’s Cross, one of the first (if not the first) Celtic High Cross ever made, so that it may be raised on the island of Iona in time for the 1450th anniversary of St. Columba’s arrival on the island and his founding of the monastery in 563 A.D. Built in the mid-8th century, the massive cross has been in five pieces for centuries. Before January 2012 when the reassembly project began, the pieces were on display on the floor, resting on their back at the Iona Abbey museum.

As of last year the broken pieces of St. Oran’s Cross were sent to Selkirk, Scotland, to the workshop of museum mount maker Richard West. He is creating a steel structure that will keep the cross pieces together upright so visitors can see the one-ton, 14.4-foot tall sculpture in all its imposing height as pilgrims to Iona saw it for hundreds of years. This isn’t just a nifty thing, but a historically significant display since the High Crosses were created in the tradition of pre-Christian standing stones and thus meant to inspire not only with their beautiful decoration, but with their sheer vertical massiveness.

The cross was chiseled out of three large blocks of schist stones and was erected at the Reilig Òdhrain (Sr. Oran’s graveyard), the cemetery that would become known as the burial ground of at least seven early Scottish kings, plus kings of Ireland and Man and the chieftains of important Scottish clans in the later Middle Ages. The carved decorations are also fusions of the pre-Christian Celtic tradition and early Christian symbols. The spirals and vines, Celtic symbols of the intertwining of heaven and earth, were syncretized into Celtic Christianity, as were the snakes, whose shedding of their skin symbolized Christ’s resurrection. Rounded circles called bosses like the metalwork center of shields, are grouped into fives (the number of wounds Christ suffered) and arranged into cross shapes.

These designs dovetail seamlessly with more explicitly Christian iconography, like the image of Daniel in the Lion’s Den on the left cross-arm. Most notably, in the center underneath the cross arm is an image of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ flanked by angels on either side. This is one of the earliest images of Virgin and Child known.

Quarrying the stone, transporting it, carving it, putting it together would have been an exceptionally expensive proposition. Although the carvings are faded now after centuries in the elements, their quality remains unmistakable. The best in the business made this cross. Historic Scotland experts believe it had to have been commissioned by a king since nobody else could have mustered the funds and manpower to make it happen. A likely candidate is Óengus son of Fergus king of the Picts, who conquered Iona around 741 A.D.

The cross underscores the religious and political significance of Iona in early Christian and medieval Scotland. St. Columba is credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland. We don’t know how much converting he personally did, but the abbey he founded, his relics, the High Crosses made the island a sacred place and site of pilgrimage. Its importance was undiminished until the Protestant Reformation which ended monastic life on the island and ushered in a long era of neglect, hence the decay of three of the four High Crosses (only St. Martin’s remains intact, upright and in its original position).

It was a challenge creating the steel structure that would support the cross in its original posture, but moving it back to Iona is going to be an even greater challenge. The cradle and cross are huge and heavy. It will take two ferry trips and a walk across a field to get it to the museum, and then it will have to be squeezled into the building which isn’t exactly set up for giant freight intake. Once they manage to get it in the door, the final stages of cleaning, conservation and stabilization will take place at the museum.