Funny Friday

Funny Friday

Did you watch Shoreline?

Source

Shoreline looks at all the wonders and history of the South African coastline. From Archaeology to natural history! Each episode was brilliant.

I think Shoreline was one of the most amazing and under-hyped shows on television!

Just have a look at this amazing promo:

Did you miss Shoreline?

You can get the Shoreline DVD box-sets at DVD stores like Look & Listen and Musica or order it from the SABC via email content@sabc.co.za or 011 714 6650.

It is a great series and would make a wonderful gift!

More and source:

http://www.shorelinesa.co.za

Archaeology Seminar - 23rd Sept at the University of Pretoria

On Friday a special Archaeology seminar is being held at the University of Pretoria by Dr Anna Clement (UCL Institute of Archaeology) on “Teeth – an integral part of the hunter-gather toolkit”.

The seminar is at 4pm on Friday afternoon in room 8-18, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Go to the Iziko Museums on Heritage Day!

On Heritage Day, 24 September 2011 there will be tons of activates at the Iziko Museums:

The programme observes the national heritage week theme: “Celebrating Heroes and Heroines of the Liberation Struggle in South Africa.” The celebration, jam-packed with thought provoking discussions, electrifying performances, film screenings and tours, kicks off in the Amphitheatre at the Iziko South African Museum at 10am.

Traditional dance performances, ghoema entertainers, magic shows, drumming sessions, poetry, music and more, will be hosted at the ‘hearth of our heritage.’ See the performance, Woza Cape Town, a collaborative production of poetry, dance and song, presented by The Dance Project, which highlights the significance of the South African struggle and historical sites like District Six.

There will also be Public Discussions like:

* “Forgotten Freedom Fighters: The San Struggle for Freedom Past and Present” by Dr Sven Ouzman (Curator of Pre-Colonial Archaeology, Iziko Museums).

* “The Image in the Liberation of South Africa: A look at the holdings of the Iziko South African National Gallery” by Robyn Cedras (Collections Manager, Iziko Museums).

For a detailed programme of events, log onto www.iziko.org.za For booking and enquiries contact Wandile Goozen Kasibe on 021 481 3804/13 or e-mail wkasibe@iziko.org.za

Iziko Museum Web site: http://www.iziko.org.za

Source: http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=28157

Have you joined the The South African Archaeological Society yet?

source

The South African Archaeological Society (ArchSoc) is a non-profit organisation. Anyone can join!

Go here: http://www.archaeologysa.co.za/

Funny Friday

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=156078551138467&set=a.120459478033708.28609.108738502539139&type=1&ref=nf

What someone should have told you about Archaeology!

So I thought this would be a fun feature where we can laugh and sometimes cry at the weird and wonderful things we have discovered about Archaeology, but nobody ever told us!

So today's WSSHTYAA (my attempt at a acronym, criticism is allowed):

Unlike Europe, African archaeological sites are NEVER close to civilization – you have to trek for miles along a track in the African bush in the hot sun, braving dive-bombing cicadas and flies like the early explorers! -Stephanie

If anyone one has a WSSHTYAA that I can add next week, please let me know via one of these mediums:

My email: chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

Or pm me on Twitter: Here

Or Facebook message me: Here

Where can I study Archaeology in South Africa?

When I was in High School I never knew the answer to this question and wish someone would have told me. So I thought I'd share the answer because there might be someone out there it could help.

You can study Archaeology in several places:

The University of Cape Town (UCT) - http://www.uct.ac.za/
The University of Pretoria (UP) - http://web.up.ac.za/
The University of South Africa (UNISA) - http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.html
The University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) - http://www.wits.ac.za/
The University of Limpopo (UL) - http://www.ul.ac.za/

But then there are also these Universities:

The University of Botswana - http://www.ub.bw/
The Catholic University of Malawi - http://www.unima.mw/
Mozambique – Universidade Eduardo Mondlane - http://www.uem.mz/
The University of Namibia - http://www.unam.na/

Hope this helped!

Doing a bit of Spring Cleaning!

If the blog looks a bit funny in the next bit, or some posts are gone don't be alarmed.
I'm doing a bit of cleaning and a re-vamp!

Lu

Save Mapungubwe

Source

"Our treasured World Heritage Site is under severe threat. An Australian company, Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) has recently been given the go ahead to begin construction of an opencast and underground coal mine within less than 6km from the borders of the Mapungubwe National Park and adjacent to the World Heritage Site, with the approval of the Environmental Management Plan for the proposed Vele Colliery. This will compromise the environmental integrity of the area in and around Mapungubwe for current and future generations as it relates to the natural habitat, ecosystems, cultural heritage and related aspects of the environment.
Help us save our heritage!" (Source)

Sign the petition here: http://www.savemapungubwe.org.za/what.php

Source

http://www.savemapungubwe.org.za/index.php
http://mg.co.za/article/2011-07-15-mapungubwe-listing-under-threat
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2011/07/20/mapungubwe-mining-down-to-science

Funny Friday

Tell Me Thursday

Every Thursday I will do this feature about something my readers want to know..

Please submit your questions via anyone of these sources:

My email: chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

Or pm me on Twitter: Here

Or Facebook message me: Here

Today's Tell Me Thursday subject is:

"Please tell me about the mystery of Archaeoastronomy?  What exactly is it?"

What an interesting question! I hardly know anything about Archaeoastronomy. So this is what I could find:

Archaeoastronomy -   

Archaeoastronomy or archeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures." Sinclair 2006:13 

In my search of what exactly Archaeoastronomy is, I found the International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture website:

http://www1.archaeoastronomy.org/

It seems that Archaeoastronomy gives material evidence of how cultures are connected to the sky. We can see how this works in the work that has been done about Mayan astronomy and its relationship with agriculture ("It has been proposed that Maya sites such as Uxmal were built in accordance with astronomical alignments" source). There seems to have been work done on how astronomy relates to the roads of ancient settlements as well.

^Alignment:

^{"A common source of data for archaeoastronomy is the study of alignments. This is based on the assumption that the axis of alignment of an archaeological site is meaningfully oriented towards an astronomical target. Brown archaeoastronomers may justify this assumption through reading historical or ethnographic sources, while Green archaeoastronomers tend to prove that alignments are unlikely to be selected by chance, usually by demonstrating common patterns of
alignment at multiple sites." Source}

Sites: 

"At Stonehenge in England and at Carnac in France, in Egypt and Yucatán, across the whole face of the earth, are found mysterious ruins of ancient monuments, monuments with astronomical significance... They mark the same kind of commitment that transported us to the moon and our spacecraft to the surface of Mars." —Edwin Krupp 1979:1

The Pyramids of Giza is said to have connections to the stars and Stonehenge is said to be connected to midsummer alignment.

Here is a brief introduction to archaeoastronomy:

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~tlaloc/archastro/cfaar_as.html

Thanks for asking this question! I have learned a lot by finding this answer. I hope it helps.

Please don't forget to send me more questions!

Sources:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_different_fields_of_archaeology#ixzz1VNxLNZp3
And all the rest I pointed out

Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines

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A one-ton saltwater crocodile was captured a few days ago in the Philippines. It is a 6.4-meter male crocodile. He is going to an ecotourism park in Agusan.

As you can imagine this story was very exciting to me! So I just had to share.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/giant-crocodile-captured-alive-philippines-134625838.html

What someone should have told you about Archaeology!

So I thought this would be a fun feature where we can laugh and sometimes cry at the weird and wonderful things we have discovered about Archaeology, but nobody ever told us!

So today's WSSHTYAA (my attempt at a acronym, criticism is allowed):

Do not expect the male of the archaeologist species to be NOT drop-dead gorgeous or athletic like (a young) Harrison Ford!  These are a rare find indeed and should be kept for your own personal collection. -Stephanie

If anyone one has a WSSHTYAA that I can add next week, please let me know via one of these mediums:

My email: chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

Or pm me on Twitter: Here

Or Facebook message me: Here

A must visit website for all South Africans!

For all the South Africans out there that have any interest in Archaeology and its related fields, have a look at this amazing website!

http://www.heritageworx.co.za/

You will find great information about courses in your area, such as:
* Introduction to Archaeology
* Bone Course
* Archaeological Bead Course etc.

Funny Friday