Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession by Craig Childs
Beyond what most people think about archaeology--with its cleanly numbered dates, and discoveries--lies a vibrant and controversial realm of scientists, thieves, and contested land claims.Now, in TRESPASS, Childs explores the field's transgressions against the cultures it tries to preserve andpauses to ask: To whom does the past belong?Written in his trademark lyrical style,this riveting bookcarries readers directly into his adventures and discoveries, lifting the curtain on the ethical dilemmas and dark side of archaeology. It is a book about man and nature, remnants and memory, a dashing tale of crime and detection. In other words, this is a ghost story.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wadi Al-Hitan
The fossils found in Walid al-Hitan provide crucial evidence about a key phase in evolution, substantiating the theories which Charles Darwin proposed some fifty years before the fossils were found.
The key find in this highly significant paleontological site was hundreds of fossils of an early, now extinct form of whale, named archaeoceti. Although not the earliest examples to be discovered in the world, the concentration of these remains and their level of preservation, which enabled scientists to study their stomach contents, has contributed to our understanding of the early stages of life on earth immeasurably. Unlike other fossils found elsewhere, some of the archaeoceti in Walid al-Hatin had skeletons with back legs and feet, providing a compelling picture of the evolutionary stages the whale went through as it changed from a land to sea mammal. Alongside these early whales, fossils of fifteen species of wild mammals, 19 reptiles and 36 breeds of bird have been found on the site, enabling paleontologists to construct a detailed picture of the environment of the time.
VIA
The key find in this highly significant paleontological site was hundreds of fossils of an early, now extinct form of whale, named archaeoceti. Although not the earliest examples to be discovered in the world, the concentration of these remains and their level of preservation, which enabled scientists to study their stomach contents, has contributed to our understanding of the early stages of life on earth immeasurably. Unlike other fossils found elsewhere, some of the archaeoceti in Walid al-Hatin had skeletons with back legs and feet, providing a compelling picture of the evolutionary stages the whale went through as it changed from a land to sea mammal. Alongside these early whales, fossils of fifteen species of wild mammals, 19 reptiles and 36 breeds of bird have been found on the site, enabling paleontologists to construct a detailed picture of the environment of the time.
VIA
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Damnation of a Canyon
"Lake Powell, though not a lake, may well be as its defenders assert the most beautiful reservoir in the world. Certainly it has a photographic backdrop of buttes and mesas projecting above the expansive surface of stagnant waters where the speedboats, houseboats and cabin cruisers ply. But it is no longer a wilderness. It is no longer a place of natural life. It is no longer Glen Canyon."
The Damnation of a Canyon
Friday, August 20, 2010
Take Back Utah
Take Back Utah protects access to our public lands and defends the freedom of all American’s to explore and experience America’s Wild Places, while preserving America’s small town economies and rural lifestyles through responsible land use.
Take Back Utah
Happy Birthday H.P.Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937)
"We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight."
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Caral: the oldest town in the New World
The ancient city of Caral located in the north of Lima, Supe Valley, is considered as the oldest city in the western Hemisphere. Radiocarbon dates show that monumental architecture there was under construction as early as 2627 BC and until about 2000 BC, in other words 4700 years old, contemporary with pyramids in Egypt and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.
Other sites as old as Caral, do not approach the enormous size of Caral, (165 acres) and scope its architecture, The city has 6 large platforms mounds (pyramids), many small platforms, two sunken circular plazas and diverse architectural features including densely packed residences.
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Something to think about.....
"You can go through life disengaged. You can be the person that always says no, who’s not interested, not enthusiastic, who’s too cool to be part of things. Or, at some point, you can say yes. You can develop interests, take a stand, reach out to people."
Curtis Sittenfeld
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Something to think about.....
"Growth for the sake of growth
is the ideology of the cancer cell."
Edward abbey
Saturday, August 14, 2010
CRESS - "Progress"
You sit in your house and you stare at the screen, wasting away do you know what i mean, as they rip down the trees and tear up the earth, don't they know how much she is worth, your materialist dream, well it ain't worth a lot, when the earth is a dream and mankind is forgot, show them the courage of your moral worth, get out now and fight for the earth, so i sit here in my chair staring at the screen acting out my fantasy by living in a dream, political message while the white wash dries, the government has the answers, but the government never lies, you fill your life with tv, don't see the world outside and you don't even realize you have been taken for a ride, see they cover up the truth with fiction not fact, if you don't know reality how can you react, our voice is as a whisper in these dark times, falling on deafened ears, lost in our ignorance, fear surrounds us on all sides, as we hear of the darkness to come, but we hide ourselves from the pleadings of the millions, the earth our mother dies, without her we will die, as do the starving millions all over the world today, their faces stare at us through that screen in your room, we see it as a repeat of the one we saw last year, only the faces have changed, we have not, staring at the screen, wishing you could do more, look back at your history, see it's always been the same, the leaders take the credit and the people get the blame, abuse us, misuse us, but they promise to do more, like take away our freedom with the power they call law, they clothe us and feed us, protect us from ourselves, ignore us, deplore us and lock away their wealth, they guide us like children, insist that they are right, they bleed us, protect us, then send us into fight, illusion, confusion, the blindfold fits your eyes, i don't need television to see the starving people die, the propaganda sucks you into the tv death machine, the propaganda sucks you into, mankind the living dream
ENDCIV
There is an order to all things. We have a moral niche on this earth, just as we have an ecological niche. When species exhaust their ecological niche, there is a correction, a purification. Sometimes even an extinction. It's the way of nature. But what happens when a species exhausts its moral niche?
Friday, August 13, 2010
Parowan Gap
The Parley Pratt Expedition discovered the petroglyphs at Parowan Gap in 1849. The pass is a classic example of a wind gap, an unusual geological landform marking where an ancient river cut a 600-foot-deep notch through the mountain. Native Americans used this ancient gap for thousands of years to provide easy passage through the Red Hills.
The north wall of Parowan Gap contains a huge gallery of Native American rock art. Most petroglyph sites contain figures of humans and animals. This petroglyph site contains many deeply inscribed geometric forms, along with some humans and animals. The most interesting feature of this site is a very large and deeply inscribed petroglyph known as the "Zipper". Many archaeologists believe the "Zipper" is a composite map (space) and numerical calendar (time).
Parowan Gap Summer Solstice from Parker Grimes on Vimeo.
Parker Grimes
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