Antiquities Exhibits

In many myths, ranging from Egypt to the Far East, the initial process of creation and birth begins when a cosmic egg. sometimes fertilized by a serpent but more often laid in the primeval sea by a giant bird. From these sacred eggs, the sun (the golden yolk)  is hatched leading to the division of earth and sky and the multiplicity of life, natural and supernatural. Eggs are well attested as funerary offerings—real eggs, artistic counterparts in marble and terracotta or diminutive vases of egg shape.  Between approximately 65,000 and 55,000 years ago, African hunter-gatherers scratched on eggshells at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa.  Eggs were found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur dating to 3800 BCE. In archaeological sites of predynastic Egypt (Naqada II period - 3600-3200 BCE) ostrich eggs were found in graves, partially cut and used as containers or placed in graves whole. Many of the eggs were decorated with incised or painted designs which took the form of geomet...

I belong to the Herculaneum Society and today received a news item from them that the archaeological site of Herculaneum reopened to the public January 18!  I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the site in 2007 and I hope I'll have a chance to revisit it whenever I can travel again.  So today's featured "Antiquities Alive" virtual exhibit is a collection of my images that I took at Herculaneum during about a three hour walkthrough (the site definitely deserves much more time than that) back in 2007.  I've also included some artifacts from Herculaneum I photographed at Pompeii: The Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle Washington, the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California, and The Louvre in Paris.  Unfortunately, the day I visited Herculaneum the Villa dei Papiri was closed to the public. A Roman mosaic in the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum, Italy Theater mask in a bath complex in Herculaneum Statue of Heracles or Dionysus with a...

The Tiwanaku (Tiahuanacu) Empire was a Pre-Columbian polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin.  Its capital, Tiwanaku, was founded around 110 CE during the Late Formative Period, when there were a number of growing settlements in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Between 450 and 550 CE, other large settlements were abandoned, leaving Tiwanaku as the pre-eminent center in the region.  Beginning around 600 CE its population grew rapidly, probably due to a massive immigration from the surrounding countryside, and large parts of the city were built or remodeled. Tiwanaku was a multi-cultural "hospitality state" that brought people together to build large monuments, perhaps as part of large religious festivals. This may have been the central dynamic that attracted people from hundreds of kilometers away, who may have traveled there as part of llama caravans to trade, make offerings, and honor the gods. Tiwanaku grew into the Andes' most important pil...