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Amethyst Figure of the Goddess Taweret
Egyptian · New Kingdom,
18th Dynasty, 1500 - 1391 B.C.
Height 1.9 inches.
Taweret - ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility.
The deity is typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, the limbs and paws of a lion, and the back and tail of a Nile crocodile
- Wikipedia
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Studying samples of this ancient concrete, he and his team determined that the white inclusions were, indeed, made out of various forms of calcium carbonate. And spectroscopic examination provided clues that these had been formed at extreme temperatures, as would be expected from the exothermic reaction produced by using quicklime instead of, or in addition to, the slaked lime in the mixture. Hot mixing, the team has now concluded, was actually the key to the super-durable nature.
“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold,” Masic says. “First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.”
During the hot mixing process, the lime clasts develop a characteristically brittle nanoparticulate architecture, creating an easily fractured and reactive calcium source, which, as the team proposed, could provide a critical self-healing functionality. As soon as tiny cracks start to form within the concrete, they can preferentially travel through the high-surface-area lime clasts. This material can then react with water, creating a calcium-saturated solution, which can recrystallize as calcium carbonate and quickly fill the crack, or react with pozzolanic materials to further strengthen the composite material. These reactions take place spontaneously and therefore automatically heal the cracks before they spread. Previous support for this hypothesis was found through the examination of other Roman concrete samples that exhibited calcite-filled cracks.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Pantheon in Rome. Built 1900 years ago. Still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Diameter 43 metres. Tamped not poured. The oldest building in the world still in continuous use
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Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Analysis of hair from 22 mummies found in southern Peru has revealed the earliest known use of San Pedro cactus, a source of mescaline, and the psychoactive plants that make up the drug ayahuasca. The majority of the mummies were unearthed in Cahuachi, a religious center used by the Nazca people starting around 100 B.C. Coca plants and the Banisteriopsis caapi plant, better known as the liana vine, are among the substances detected in the mummies’ hair. The plants are not native to the region and were probably transported across the Andes Mountains. Researchers found that the drugs of choice changed over time. Ayahuasca and mescaline became less favored and coca consumption became more common after the Wari Empire conquered the Nazca around A.D. 750.
This shift may indicate changes in religious rituals surrounding human sacrifice. The find included four trophy heads, including one belonging to a child, who were sacrificial victims, but there is very little evidence of what role psychoactive substances played in the rituals. Bioarchaeologist Dagmara Socha of the University of Warsaw believes the antidepressant effects of the drugs may have been an important reason for their use. “In the case of the children that were sacrificed,” she says, “they were given Banisteriopsis caapi, probably because it was important for them to go happily to the gods.”
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
The anaerobic conditions at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, close to Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain, have famously preserved a variety of finds made of organic materials, including wooden writing tablets and a pair of leather boxing gloves. Here, the authors re-examine a wooden object originally recovered in 1992, re-interpreting the find as a large, disembodied phallus. Stone and metal phalli are known from across the Roman world, but the Vindolanda example is the first wooden phallus to be recognised. Combining evidence for potential use-wear with a review of other archaeological and contextual information, the authors consider various possible interpretations of the function and significance of the Vindolanda phallus during the second century AD.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
no it's definitely a phallus. Very popular with the Romans. What makes it unusual is that the wood survived. The article is interesting. I think a pestle used for making fertility remedies in a mortar is likely myself. The wear is on the club end and the other end, not in the middle. Although not specifically grinding wear on club end, but it could have been a symbolic pestle. Although I wonder if so would they be able to pick up really minute traces of plant residue? Maybe not yet with the techniques available - fats are easier to get traces on.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Del.Monte wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:35 am
Sorry, that sounds like an OPW interpretation of the item. Looks - to uneducated me - like a club with an age related crack at the end of the handle.
On checking what 10cms is in real money - it must have been a toy club!
16cm. Well within the bounds of possibility
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
isha wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:42 am
16cm. Well within the bounds of possibility
I did say that I was 'uneducated' and I didn't notice the 10cm was just a key for scale not the full length. Proving once again that this male can't multi-task...as I have RTE on in the background.
I meant to put in this image ages ago. I had to check it wasn't a spoof, it's a person standing in front of the Gigantic temple of Bachus in Baalbek, Lebanon. Definitely on my bucket list to see in person!
Likely 2nd century CE
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Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Another cave in France with art. This time the Cussac cave (grotte) which is notable for how many cave etchings it has and the size of some of them. Discovered in 2000.
About 800 cave engravings, 25000 years old, plus interesting palaeolithic burials in former bear hibernation nests, two of which had first been painted with ochre.
The cave has very high levels of carbon dioxide so scientists can only be in there for less than three hours at a time. I like these horses and the woman carving. Lots of jokes eg paleoporn and Neolithicc... but to me she looks like she is giving birth or has just given birth. But open to interpretation.
Another interesting thing they have studied in the cave is footprints left in the clay. The digits were not visible in the human footprints but were in the bear prints which suggests the humans wore soft footwear.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
Anyone familiar with the Pumapunka site in Bolivia?
Lot's of amazing rocks with perfect right angles carved into them. Some interesting magnetism to the rocks too. Many really uniform holes in the rocks and lots of theories about what it was all for.
We still don't know how they made the 90 degree interior and exterior angle so perfectly. I watched a video recently that suggests they actually poured the rock like concrete.
no it's definitely a phallus. Very popular with the Romans. What makes it unusual is that the wood survived. The article is interesting. I think a pestle used for making fertility remedies in a mortar is likely myself. The wear is on the club end and the other end, not in the middle. Although not specifically grinding wear on club end, but it could have been a symbolic pestle. Although I wonder if so would they be able to pick up really minute traces of plant residue? Maybe not yet with the techniques available - fats are easier to get traces on.
