The Greed to Read

Something optimistic for a change: bats

: amonseuldesir; February 1st, 20:50

Current Location:: Jerusalem, usually hanging upside down

Old Israel Defense Forces outposts along the Jordanian border have new occupants who, unlike soldiers, don't mind living there throughout the year or taking the night shift - in fact, they even prefer working at night.

These newcomers are bats, of as many as 12 species, who have settled into the scores of concrete outposts and bunkers decommissioned in the wake of the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement.
(read more here).

Tags: bats, caves

Poor Mark

: amonseuldesir; January 30th, 13:18

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where the evangelists keep writing and erasing

Early copy of the Gospel of Mark is a forgery. US scholars, conservators and scientists collaborate to prove that a “14th-century manuscript” is a skilled late 19th- or early 20th-century forgery. Read more...

Tags: forgeries, manuscripts

Rising and Falling Seas

: amonseuldesir; January 28th, 19:29

Current Location:: Jerusalem, ever-falling city

Templar palace in Acre
"Rising and falling sea levels over relatively short periods do not
indicate long-term trends. An assessment of hundreds and thousands of
years shows that what seems an irregular phenomenon today is in fact
nothing new"... (read more here).

Tags: acre, archaeology, sea

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness...

: amonseuldesir; January 21st, 8:34

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where inscriptions never fade away

US troops use combat rifles bearing Bible verses will not be used in Afghanistan... (read here).

As the article tells, the Biblical verse which the manufacturer inscribes on the telescopic equipment to be installed on the rifles is John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness...", which proves that weapon manufacturers don't lack sense of humor.
But no, I don't want to go into this from a political angle, but from a linguistic/cultural one. It could be really interesting to study inscriptions which soldiers from all armies and all periods inscribe, or write, by themselves, on their arms, helmets, armor, etc.

(c)

Tags: archaeology, army, arrow, inscriptions

Trees, University.

: amonseuldesir; January 18th, 21:50

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where trees shine

Tags: night, photos

Woman, University

: amonseuldesir; January 18th, 21:42

Current Location:: Jerusalem

Tags: night, photos

Epitomization of Old Knowledge

: amonseuldesir; January 18th, 21:38

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where knowledge is accumulated and thrown away

Visiting today the library basement I saw these sad bodies of dead filing cabinets. Embodiment of old knowledge - when Sophia was the name of the goddess of erudition, not Wikipedia.

Albert Camus watching a soccer game

: amonseuldesir; January 16th, 8:56

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where everybody is a stranger

(c)

Eye tracking

: amonseuldesir; January 15th, 10:42

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where the eyes never rest

OK. This is a well-known issue, but it is still a fascinating topic. (Avoid the temptation of going to Wiki...).
Ilya Repin's "Unexpected Visitor" 1884 was studied by the Russian psychologist Alfred Yarbus, who tried to trace eye movements of different people looking at Repin's painting.
Here is Repin:

and here Yarbus' schematic eye movements.

Tags: art, eye movement, psychology, russian

Green-grey sky

: amonseuldesir; January 8th, 11:04

Current Location:: Jerusalem: so close, so closed

Tags: jerusalem, night

A freemasons' box

: amonseuldesir; January 8th, 10:47

Current Location:: Jerusalem

This object circulates in my family. It probably originates from Belgium/France, or Denmark, c. 100 or 150 years ago. It is made of leather(?) and the inlay is of mother-pearl.
Anybody can tell me more about it (purpose, exact origin, lodge, etc.)?

Tags: freemasons

Did Unemployed Minoan Artists Land Jobs in Ancient Egypt?

: amonseuldesir; January 8th, 9:28

Current Location:: Jerusalem, a reconstructed city

One of the most perplexing mysteries that Egyptologists and Aegean experts are tackling is that of the frescoes of Tell el-Dab’a, also known as Avaris.

This site was used as the capital of the Hyksos, at a time when they ruled much of Egypt, from 1640 – 1530 BC. It is on the Nile Delta and would have provided access to the Sinai, Levant and southern Egypt.

The site appears to have been abandoned for a time after the Hyksos were driven out. However, by the end of the 18th dynasty (when the Egyptians were back in control of their land), the site was in use and sported with three – yes three – large palaces. They were ringed by an enclosure wall. The whole complex was about 5.5 hectares in size.

Read here...

Tags: archaeology, art, egypt, knossos, minoan

Acre (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ‎; Arabic: عكّا‎; Italian: San Giovanni d'Acri)

: amonseuldesir; January 4th, 9:10

Current Location:: Jerusalem, Crusaders' city

Tags: acre, galilee, photos

Trees in the Galilee. Fog and light.

: amonseuldesir; January 4th, 9:00

Current Location:: Jerusalem

Tags: galilee, light, photos

Masculinity of language, the eroticism of old man

: amonseuldesir; December 17th, 2009

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where writers write in German

Tags: bernhard, translation, writers

Three

: amonseuldesir; December 16th, 2009

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where trinities multiply

How do you signal with your fingers "Three" (like in "three beers please!")? - I do it as in no. 1.

1.

(c)
(Yes, I saw this scene from "Inglorious bastards" in which the Englishman is discovered to be not German after doing the wrong "three" gesture with his fingers).

Tags: hand gestures, social linguistics, three

Hierosolyma

: amonseuldesir; December 13th, 2009

Current Location:: London, where early morning resembles early night

And tomorrow back to umbilicus mundi. (LittleA. was more than happy, and I was more than more than happy with her).

(c)

Tags: london, travel

Londonium

: amonseuldesir; December 9th, 2009

Current Location:: Jerusalem, where the Ottoman Empires rules for ever

Tomorrow to London (with little A.)

(c)

Tags: london, travel

pinky-grey stone (an update)

: amonseuldesir; December 9th, 2009

Current Location:: Jeursalem

Just an update....

Egypt's head of antiquities will drop a demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the BM agrees to loan it out.

(c)

Tags: archaeology, orientalism, rosetta

Hoaxes and fakes

: amonseuldesir; December 7th, 2009

Current Location:: Jerusalem, a city where nothing is truer than fakes

(c)
An interesting list of hoaxes and fakes in world archaeology is given in the magazine Archaeology.
I did not know about some of them, and many other famous cases are not the list, but its worth going through the cases, learning once again about this wonderful human mixture of greediness and naiveness.

Tags: archaeology, fakes

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