Ludovicus

Who would have thought? Everyday Science presents us with new discoveries.

"Examples of pottery found in a cave at Yuchanyan in China's Hunan province may be the oldest known to science. By determining the fraction of a type, or isotope, of carbon in bone fragments and charcoal, the specimens were found to be 17,500 to 18,300 years old. The authors say that the ages are more precise than previous efforts because a series of more than 40 radiocarbon-dated samples support the estimate. The work is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Yuchanyan cave was the site where the oldest kernels of rice were found in 2005, and it is viewed as an important link between cave-dwelling hunter-gatherer peoples and the farmers that arose later in the basin of the nearby Yangtze River." For the full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8077168.stm

Yes, even 2000 years ago Roman government officials seem to have known that. Would that all governments had the same intelligence the Romans had then.

This link will take you to an explanation for the sources of the reproductions. Most of them are based on sources from the German Archeology Institute. http://www.byzantium1200.com/introduction.html I've just sent an email to the creator of byzantium1200. Here is his reply to my questions, including one about the sources for his reconstructions: "Thanks for your mail and greetings to fellow forum members. One point though; please do not attach images from the website, people are using the images commercially and when asked they tell that they got the image from a public forum. Members ask what are the sources for the reconstructions. I am working with three leading academicians on the subject, in a new book that will be published next year all the basis for the reconstructions will be listed item by item. Currently we are working on a very detailed model of the hippodrome, we have completed a laser survey of the region, fixed all previous plans and are using 1927 and 1950 excavation photos. This will be the most detailed model yet and will take about a year to complete. You may see it next year in Pera Museum, Istanbul. Also in the Bonn exhibition next year you may see full-HD animations from the project. Best wishes Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus byzantium1200@hotmail.com"

This link will take you to an explanation for the sources of the reproductions. Most of them are based on sources from the German Archeology Institute. http://www.byzantium1200.com/introduction.html

Earlier this month Byzantium1200 was updated with the fountain in the atrium of the Hagia Sofia reconstructed.

Traina's book extract and contents seem to be a nice list for me. Traina explicitly selected a fifth century year with not too may ground-breaking events. Arguably the most relevant events for 428 AD itself would be: -The final demise and annexation of the centuries-long Armenian client kingdom by the Persians. - The beginning of Genseric's reign. - Nestorius becoming the Patriarch of Constantinople. Tibi ago gratiam!

Both authors have remarkable lists of published works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giusto_Traina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averil_Cameron My error: Cameron in not the coauthor, merely wrote the introduction. Can anyone point me to a timeline online of the Roman Empire, one that can tell me about the events of 428 AD?

Extremely interesting! And "por" for "puer." And I thought I knew a thing about Roman cultural history. "What else don't I know?" I ask myself in my bathroom mirror.

Yes, this is interesting, answers my questions. "The master could free his child, but he could not acknowledge or adopt it: law and society was adamant on this point." Slavery in the US and in much of the Western Hemisphere was founded on race. This is a major difference from the Roman institution. Thanks for your response to my questions!

Are you sure it that the child wouldn't be free if the mother was free at it's birth? Anyway I believe that we are putting too much weight on the word slave. I've always had the feeling that slaves should be considered more as another class in society, just as rich, poor and patricians. Live as a slave could differ just as much as life as a free man. Lex Aelia-Sentia, commented by Gaius (Institutiones, I, 84). The child from a slave father was servile, even if the mother was born free. Thanks for this reference to Roman law. I was certain that the Romans regulated the status of the offspring of these unions.

Are there are records of Roman masters fathering offspring with slave women? In such a litigious society I would think that there'd be legal language on such relationships. If Roman slaves weren't considered fully human, as many have proposed, wouldn't it have been a common practice for masters to use slave women or men for their pleasure? And what about the children of women fathered by their masters? Their legal status?

Can you provide a few examples? I know this change is very apparent from the later third century onwards, but not so much during the second. Then again, I don't know that much of the early period. I can't provide any examples. If I had the time I'd do an online search for climate change in the Europe during the time of the architectural changes noted above. I know that there was a mini-ice age during medieval times. So weather patterns can change abruptly, even within short spans of time. Villas seem to decrease in number after 200 AD in Italy, as well. I've always thought that was the result of the chaotic political situation in the Empire. Maybe climate changed played a factor, too. Here and there on the internet you see references to the "Roman Optimum," the mild weather in Europe before the drop in temperature that lasted between 200 and 500 AD. "Roman Britain to Saxon England" by C. J. Arnold mentions this climate change and its effects. You can read the excerpt here at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1EIOAAAAQ...lt&resnum=9 From this I am not surprised that the architecture of the Roman home would have changed in the 3rd century.

Can you provide a few examples? I know this change is very apparent from the later third century onwards, but not so much during the second. Then again, I don't know that much of the early period. I can't provide any examples. If I had the time I'd do an online search for climate change in the Europe during the time of the architectural changes noted above. I know that there was a mini-ice age during medieval times. So weather patterns can change abruptly, even within short spans of time. Villas seem to decrease in number after 200 AD in Italy, as well. I've always thought that was the result of the chaotic political situation in the Empire. Maybe climate changed played a factor, too.

Was there a change in weather patterns that may have effected a change in house architecture?

Both authors have remarkable lists of published works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giusto_Traina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averil_Cameron

Has any read this book? The title sounds very interesting. "428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire" by Giusto Traina and Averil Cameron

Is Trajan's Market a part of the Forum of Trajan? In a back issue of Archaeology Magazine it was reported the Forum of Trajan was in use up to the early 9th century AD. How's that for strength of construction? '

Great article in the NY Times. Here are six vivid enlargements of the "Venus" from the Italian daily "La Repubblica" : http://www.repubblica.it/2006/08/gallerie/...low-rock/6.html

The figurine, unearthed in September 2008 in Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany, may be the oldest known example of figurative art, meaning art that is supposed to represent and resemble a real person, animal or object. The discovery could help scientists understand the origins of art and the advent of symbolic thinking, including complicated language. " For more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/200905...sback35000years

Two US tourists who chipped off a piece of the Colosseum in Rome 25 years ago have returned it - along with an apology for taking it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8037921.stm

An amazing find! Thanks for the links to the articles and images.

DECEM!

While published as a children's book, the 40 pager is a treasure trove of vivid color and black and white illustrations and cross sections from the history of Constantinople's architecture. It begins with cutaways of Rome's San Clemente and the Christian Community House at Dura-Europos, Iraq, as patterns for later buildings in the East Roman Empire. Topics include: Entertainment and Inns, Fortifications, Markets, Churches, Construction and Decoration, Squinches and Pendetives, Waterworks, Houses & Palaces. For you barbarian fans or (better, fans of barbarians) there's a full color illustration of the atrium that fronted the throne room of Theodoric in Ravenna. This is a must for devotees of late antiquity, Eastern Roman Empire, and full blown Byzantinamania. Altho out of print, the book can be found at Amazon here for about $10 USA: http://www.amazon.com/Buildings-Byzantium-...9456&sr=1-1 In my gallery you can view page 9, 6th century scene from San Vitale, Ravenna. I wish I know how to insert images in my posts. Can anyone help?