Urology; Research on urology published by scientists at University of North Carolina
8 January 2007
Gastroenterology Week
Fresh data on urology are presented in the report "Uroscopy by Hippocrates and Theophilus: prognosis versus diagnosis." According to recent research published in the Journal of Urology, "In antiquity the visual examination of urine (uroscopy) is well documented. Uroscopy gradually evolved from a prognostic indicator to a diagnostic tool."
"Comparison of the uses of uroscopy by Hippocrates (400 BC) and Theophilus (700 AD) illustrates this transformation. We reviewed medical and historical literature as well as the translated works of Hippocrates. Although Hippocrates was one of the first physicians to use urine to interpret human body functioning, urine was mainly used as a means for prognosis and prediction of outcomes of illness. In his text De Urinis Theophilus introduced an innovative doctrine and used uroscopy for diagnosis of illnesses. In this respect uroscopy became a paradigm for later diagnostic strategies and is considered an important milestone in the history of clinical diagnosis. Hippocrates' writings displayed uroscopy used in examination of illness. However, he considered it in the context for accurate prognoses. Theophilus treated uroscopy in a sophisticated objective manner and attempted to use uroscopy in an orderly, systemic method to accurately diagnose illness," wrote E. Kouba and colleagues, University of North Carolina.
The researchers concluded: "It was through these approaches to uroscopy that Theophilus became one of the physicians who contributed to the birth of medieval medical studies."
Kouba and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Urology (Uroscopy by Hippocrates and Theophilus: prognosis versus diagnosis. Journal of Urology, 2007;177(1):50-2).
For additional information, contact E. Kouba, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Division of Urologic Surgery, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 U.S.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Mariners' map that shaped Scotland set to fetch GBP 30,000
Mariners' map that shaped Scotland set to fetch GBP 30,000
Tim Cornwell
5 January 2007
The Scotsman
IT WAS the map that captured the distinctive shape of Scotland's coastline for the first time. Step by step, its makers charted the country's headlands, islands and firths, and after centuries of wild guesses about Scotland's geography, the result was remarkably accurate.
The Nicolay Rutter map was drawn up by a ship's pilot on a voyage that King James V made round the country in 1540. It was refined by a French mapmaker before it was printed in 1584.
"It is the first accurate outline of Scotland and remained the most accurate outline for 200 years," said John Sibbald, an expert for the auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull.
The map is part of an 86-page book of 16th century sailing directions, published in French and known as a routier, or rutter. It provided a guide to navigating the Scottish coast in the days before pilots had reliable instruments.
A rare copy of the Nicolay Rutter, the first to come on the market for three decades, is expected to fetch between GBP 20,000 and GBP 30,000 at auction next week.
Scotland appeared on early medieval maps of the British Isles, but the first separate map of the country was engraved in Venice and dated to the 1560s.
However, the early maps were based on travellers' tales and histories, and were often wildly inaccurate.
Mistakes included vastly exaggerating the size of Loch Tay, confusing Iona and Mull, and making St Kilda larger than the entire Orkneys.
By contrast, all but one of the 150 places on the Nicolay Rutter can be identified. Kingorne is Kinghorn, while Edinburgh appears in the French version Edembourg.
Fiffe, or Fife, and Argille appear, with the islands of Rum, Egg, and Muke, though Glasgow is not to be found.
The map's story is one of political and military intrigue, and began with James V's voyage round the Scottish coast to quell threats from the Western Isles.
It was his pilot, Alexander Lyndsay, who apparently compiled the sailing guide, charting the journey step by step. A copy then reached the well-travelled French mapmaker Nicolas de Nicolay, apparently through a scheming English admiral.
De Nicolay was immediately sent to Scotland with a French fleet to besiege St Andrews, in revenge for the murder of a Catholic cardinal. He refined the map with notes from his own journey.
The map shows a sea monster emerging from the waves off St Andrews and is decorated with ships, navigation lines and compass roses. The book in which it features contains nearly 200 items of information about tides, courses and havens, soundings and hazards - vital facts that would help pilots to navigate from headland to headland.
Mr Sibbald said that only a dozen copies of the map are known to survive, most in public institutions. The National Library in Paris has one, as have libraries in Lyon, Rouen and Toulouse, as well as the National Library of Scotland.
He suggested that a wealthy benefactor should buy it as a gift for Michael Perham, the record-breaking 14-year-old yachtsman who became the youngest person to cross the Atlantic solo.
The abiding interest in early maps of Scotland is shown this week by the publication of the first full translation of another historic milestone, the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland. It was published in Latin in Amsterdam in 1654. A new limited edition, with its 49 separate maps, has been published, selling for GBP 100.
But the Nicolay map remains an "unsung hero", according to Chris Fleet, the deputy map curator at the National Library of Scotland, which holds copies of both items. "The Nicolay outline is the first clearly recognisable outline of Scotland that is strikingly accurate. It wasn't until the mid-18th century that the outline was improved."
Tim Cornwell
5 January 2007
The Scotsman
IT WAS the map that captured the distinctive shape of Scotland's coastline for the first time. Step by step, its makers charted the country's headlands, islands and firths, and after centuries of wild guesses about Scotland's geography, the result was remarkably accurate.
The Nicolay Rutter map was drawn up by a ship's pilot on a voyage that King James V made round the country in 1540. It was refined by a French mapmaker before it was printed in 1584.
"It is the first accurate outline of Scotland and remained the most accurate outline for 200 years," said John Sibbald, an expert for the auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull.
The map is part of an 86-page book of 16th century sailing directions, published in French and known as a routier, or rutter. It provided a guide to navigating the Scottish coast in the days before pilots had reliable instruments.
A rare copy of the Nicolay Rutter, the first to come on the market for three decades, is expected to fetch between GBP 20,000 and GBP 30,000 at auction next week.
Scotland appeared on early medieval maps of the British Isles, but the first separate map of the country was engraved in Venice and dated to the 1560s.
However, the early maps were based on travellers' tales and histories, and were often wildly inaccurate.
Mistakes included vastly exaggerating the size of Loch Tay, confusing Iona and Mull, and making St Kilda larger than the entire Orkneys.
By contrast, all but one of the 150 places on the Nicolay Rutter can be identified. Kingorne is Kinghorn, while Edinburgh appears in the French version Edembourg.
Fiffe, or Fife, and Argille appear, with the islands of Rum, Egg, and Muke, though Glasgow is not to be found.
The map's story is one of political and military intrigue, and began with James V's voyage round the Scottish coast to quell threats from the Western Isles.
It was his pilot, Alexander Lyndsay, who apparently compiled the sailing guide, charting the journey step by step. A copy then reached the well-travelled French mapmaker Nicolas de Nicolay, apparently through a scheming English admiral.
De Nicolay was immediately sent to Scotland with a French fleet to besiege St Andrews, in revenge for the murder of a Catholic cardinal. He refined the map with notes from his own journey.
The map shows a sea monster emerging from the waves off St Andrews and is decorated with ships, navigation lines and compass roses. The book in which it features contains nearly 200 items of information about tides, courses and havens, soundings and hazards - vital facts that would help pilots to navigate from headland to headland.
Mr Sibbald said that only a dozen copies of the map are known to survive, most in public institutions. The National Library in Paris has one, as have libraries in Lyon, Rouen and Toulouse, as well as the National Library of Scotland.
He suggested that a wealthy benefactor should buy it as a gift for Michael Perham, the record-breaking 14-year-old yachtsman who became the youngest person to cross the Atlantic solo.
The abiding interest in early maps of Scotland is shown this week by the publication of the first full translation of another historic milestone, the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland. It was published in Latin in Amsterdam in 1654. A new limited edition, with its 49 separate maps, has been published, selling for GBP 100.
But the Nicolay map remains an "unsung hero", according to Chris Fleet, the deputy map curator at the National Library of Scotland, which holds copies of both items. "The Nicolay outline is the first clearly recognisable outline of Scotland that is strikingly accurate. It wasn't until the mid-18th century that the outline was improved."
Byzantine monument in Khesones Taurida
UKRAINIAN AND BRITISH ARCHEOLOGISTS EXAMINE UNIQUE MONUMENTS OF BYZANTIUM ARCHITECTURE
11 December 2006
Ukrainian National News Agency
KYIV, December 11 /Ukrinform/. A Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University archeological expedition together with their counterparts from the British Oxford University Reserford Laboratory performed examination of a unique monument of Byzantium architecture in Khesones Taurida.
According to the Kharkiv archeologists, the expedition was engaged in researching the monument of Byzantium architecture, located in the center of a so-called citadel. The monument traces back to the early 7th century to the middle 9th century. The monument is regarded the unique as has no comparisons.
The international project enabled to compare the results to investigations in other areas of th Antic and Rome world.
11 December 2006
Ukrainian National News Agency
KYIV, December 11 /Ukrinform/. A Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University archeological expedition together with their counterparts from the British Oxford University Reserford Laboratory performed examination of a unique monument of Byzantium architecture in Khesones Taurida.
According to the Kharkiv archeologists, the expedition was engaged in researching the monument of Byzantium architecture, located in the center of a so-called citadel. The monument traces back to the early 7th century to the middle 9th century. The monument is regarded the unique as has no comparisons.
The international project enabled to compare the results to investigations in other areas of th Antic and Rome world.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Kildare: History and Society
Kildare’s rich history revealed
28 December 2006
Kildare Nationalist
A major local history text was recently launched at the offices of Kildare County Council. The book, entitled Kildare: History and Society, was launched by the mayor of Kildare, Fionnuala Dukes. It draws on the information and archival sources of several organisations and individuals around the county, and should serve as a valuable reference for local and national historians in the years ahead.
Published by Geography Publications and edited by William Nolan and Thomas McGrath, the book covers all aspects of Kildare’s history and heritage, in the form of a series of essays, written from a wide variety of angles by people involved in different academic, cultural and historic disciplines. It extends from the earliest times to the present day, but in reality it is set to become the ultimate reference book for researchers of all ages and interests.
The obvious depth and scope of the text is further illustrated by the extraordinary mixture of professional contributors and the quantity and quality of the research produced. Stretching to more than 800 pages, the fully-indexed volume offers instant access to all aspects of life in County Kildare from pre-history to the modern age. The beautiful colour plates, aerial photographs, tables, maps and black and white prints not only enhance the extensive research that has gone into this production, but in themselves serve to illustrate the richness of the history and heritage of the county.
From prehistoric times, apparently, Kildare has served, as a gateway to the rest of Ireland, along the Ancient Slí D·la to and from Tara; along the monastic pilgrimage routes to the home of Brigid, the county’s patron saint; along the periphery of the Pale, through the eventual erosion of distinction between that which was ‘Irish’ or ‘Anglo-Irish’ and to the highways of the Kildare FitzGeralds, who made this county their home. Through the turmoil and conflict of the later medieval and early modern periods, through the rebellion of Silken Thomas to the cataclysm of the 1798 rebellion, Kildare is depicted as a county that suffered and survived, the richness of its documented history very much preserved by its inviolable connection with some of the greatest families in Ireland, titled or not.
From the grand jury system to the ‘new’ democracy of the county council, from garrisons and ‘big houses’ to the sporting plains of the Curragh, Kildare: history and societyprovides a fascinating subject matter which should make the book valuable reading for anyone who is interested in Kildare, past and present.
28 December 2006
Kildare Nationalist
A major local history text was recently launched at the offices of Kildare County Council. The book, entitled Kildare: History and Society, was launched by the mayor of Kildare, Fionnuala Dukes. It draws on the information and archival sources of several organisations and individuals around the county, and should serve as a valuable reference for local and national historians in the years ahead.
Published by Geography Publications and edited by William Nolan and Thomas McGrath, the book covers all aspects of Kildare’s history and heritage, in the form of a series of essays, written from a wide variety of angles by people involved in different academic, cultural and historic disciplines. It extends from the earliest times to the present day, but in reality it is set to become the ultimate reference book for researchers of all ages and interests.
The obvious depth and scope of the text is further illustrated by the extraordinary mixture of professional contributors and the quantity and quality of the research produced. Stretching to more than 800 pages, the fully-indexed volume offers instant access to all aspects of life in County Kildare from pre-history to the modern age. The beautiful colour plates, aerial photographs, tables, maps and black and white prints not only enhance the extensive research that has gone into this production, but in themselves serve to illustrate the richness of the history and heritage of the county.
From prehistoric times, apparently, Kildare has served, as a gateway to the rest of Ireland, along the Ancient Slí D·la to and from Tara; along the monastic pilgrimage routes to the home of Brigid, the county’s patron saint; along the periphery of the Pale, through the eventual erosion of distinction between that which was ‘Irish’ or ‘Anglo-Irish’ and to the highways of the Kildare FitzGeralds, who made this county their home. Through the turmoil and conflict of the later medieval and early modern periods, through the rebellion of Silken Thomas to the cataclysm of the 1798 rebellion, Kildare is depicted as a county that suffered and survived, the richness of its documented history very much preserved by its inviolable connection with some of the greatest families in Ireland, titled or not.
From the grand jury system to the ‘new’ democracy of the county council, from garrisons and ‘big houses’ to the sporting plains of the Curragh, Kildare: history and societyprovides a fascinating subject matter which should make the book valuable reading for anyone who is interested in Kildare, past and present.
Norwich Cathedral
Concerns have been raised that a multi-million pound revamp of Norwich's...
29 December 2006
Evening News (Norwich)
Concerns have been raised that a multi-million pound revamp of Norwich's Cathedral will spoil the look of “the most important building in the city”.
An application to build a massive extension to the historic building, which will house a new an education unit, song school, community room and gallery area, is due to go before city planners next Thursday (4).
However, the proposals have led to concerns being raised by the Norwich Society that the new building is too big and will spoil famous views of the main Cathedral building.
But the organisation, which aims to ensure that the city's heritage is maintained, has admitted that its objections have come too late and it is unlikely any changes to the plans will be made.
A report on the Norwich Society submission said: “The cathedral is the most important building in the city and the country. The scale of alteration is immense.
“The committee considered that the proposal is too dominant, particularly in height and that no building should exceed the current height of the cloisters.
“The committee were aware of the irreparable nature of what they considered to be imperfect proposals and their imposition of immense change to current views and architectural massing to the west of the building and opposed them.”
The applicant, the Corporate Body of the Cathedral of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Norwich, first received permission for the extension seven years ago. However the design has changed over the years leading to the latest proposal.
Vicky Manthorpe, administrator of the Norwich society, said: “We have not objected to the application formally but we did want to register our concerns.
“This is a classic view for Norwich and we fear that a view of the cathedral from the south-west will be slightly blocked.
“However, really this issue should have been raised in 1999 when the original application was made, but we had different people in the society then and unfortunately the plans are probably too far gone to make any significant changes now.”
Cathedral bosses have spent seven years raising the money needed to pay for a new refectory, which opened in 2004, and the latest extension.
The Evening News told earlier this year how they were just £400,000 short of the £10million needed to complete the project, with the remaining £2.3million expected to come from lottery funding.
The aim of the scheme is to return the cathedral to how it was hundreds of years ago and the application is for a two-storey hostry extension to provide an entrance hall, education room, community room, song school, music library, vestries, chair store and toilets.
A hostry is an inn or lodging house. During medieval times about 250 monks would live in the cathedral grounds and provide hospitality, medical treatment, and education to visitors. The new building will be on the same site as the original hostry.
Concern has also been raised by English Heritage that once the work is underway the archaeological impact is monitored, with the design amended should any historic items be uncovered.
The officer's report to the planning committee said: “It will be a simple, understated building that will not detract from or undermine the importance of the Cathedral but will allow improved access into the Cathedral complex and provide much-needed facilities.”
They do however raise concerns about the effect of the extension on a Copper Beech tree and recommend deferral until this issue is resolved.
29 December 2006
Evening News (Norwich)
Concerns have been raised that a multi-million pound revamp of Norwich's Cathedral will spoil the look of “the most important building in the city”.
An application to build a massive extension to the historic building, which will house a new an education unit, song school, community room and gallery area, is due to go before city planners next Thursday (4).
However, the proposals have led to concerns being raised by the Norwich Society that the new building is too big and will spoil famous views of the main Cathedral building.
But the organisation, which aims to ensure that the city's heritage is maintained, has admitted that its objections have come too late and it is unlikely any changes to the plans will be made.
A report on the Norwich Society submission said: “The cathedral is the most important building in the city and the country. The scale of alteration is immense.
“The committee considered that the proposal is too dominant, particularly in height and that no building should exceed the current height of the cloisters.
“The committee were aware of the irreparable nature of what they considered to be imperfect proposals and their imposition of immense change to current views and architectural massing to the west of the building and opposed them.”
The applicant, the Corporate Body of the Cathedral of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Norwich, first received permission for the extension seven years ago. However the design has changed over the years leading to the latest proposal.
Vicky Manthorpe, administrator of the Norwich society, said: “We have not objected to the application formally but we did want to register our concerns.
“This is a classic view for Norwich and we fear that a view of the cathedral from the south-west will be slightly blocked.
“However, really this issue should have been raised in 1999 when the original application was made, but we had different people in the society then and unfortunately the plans are probably too far gone to make any significant changes now.”
Cathedral bosses have spent seven years raising the money needed to pay for a new refectory, which opened in 2004, and the latest extension.
The Evening News told earlier this year how they were just £400,000 short of the £10million needed to complete the project, with the remaining £2.3million expected to come from lottery funding.
The aim of the scheme is to return the cathedral to how it was hundreds of years ago and the application is for a two-storey hostry extension to provide an entrance hall, education room, community room, song school, music library, vestries, chair store and toilets.
A hostry is an inn or lodging house. During medieval times about 250 monks would live in the cathedral grounds and provide hospitality, medical treatment, and education to visitors. The new building will be on the same site as the original hostry.
Concern has also been raised by English Heritage that once the work is underway the archaeological impact is monitored, with the design amended should any historic items be uncovered.
The officer's report to the planning committee said: “It will be a simple, understated building that will not detract from or undermine the importance of the Cathedral but will allow improved access into the Cathedral complex and provide much-needed facilities.”
They do however raise concerns about the effect of the extension on a Copper Beech tree and recommend deferral until this issue is resolved.
Battle of Derby (1467) re-enactment
Looking for a battlefield
30 December 2006
Derby Evening Telegraph
A Historical group is searching for a field it can use for a battle re-enactment.
The Black Maunch Medieval Society wants to stage a recreation of the 1467 Battle of Derby.
The battle was between the Vernon and Talbot families squabbling over land rights, which resulted in 150 people dying.
Toni Bass of the society said: "The battle is not a very well-known one, but a lot of people died in it.
"We want to stage it over the Easter holidays but need a venue.
"Ideally, we need a large field and also volunteers to help with car parking on the day."
Anyone who has land that the society could use, or anyone who would like to volunteer their services should call Toni on 0796 643 9492.
30 December 2006
Derby Evening Telegraph
A Historical group is searching for a field it can use for a battle re-enactment.
The Black Maunch Medieval Society wants to stage a recreation of the 1467 Battle of Derby.
The battle was between the Vernon and Talbot families squabbling over land rights, which resulted in 150 people dying.
Toni Bass of the society said: "The battle is not a very well-known one, but a lot of people died in it.
"We want to stage it over the Easter holidays but need a venue.
"Ideally, we need a large field and also volunteers to help with car parking on the day."
Anyone who has land that the society could use, or anyone who would like to volunteer their services should call Toni on 0796 643 9492.
Mabinogion just the thing for a fantasy blockbuster
Mabinogion just the thing for a fantasy blockbuster
By Sally Williams
1 January 2007
The Western Mail
A welsh academic has just completed the first new English translation of The Mabinogion for 30 years.
Sioned Davies, chair of Welsh at Cardiff University, has recreated the medieval stories of Wales.
And Welsh academics believe the work could attract the attention of movie makers looking to make a Lord of the Rings-style adaptation of Wales' seminal Celtic myths.
The stories have seen many different interpretations over the years including several translations and cartoon adaptations.
The name Mabinogion was given by William Pughe, an 18th century antiquarian, to a selection of narrative works found in two great ancient books of Wales.
They are the Red Book of Hergest, now kept in Oxford's Bodleian library, and the White Book of Rhydderch, held in the National Library of Wales, both of which feature the relationship between the mundane and the magical.
Ms Davies has reinvented the tales, while taking care to keep the rhythm and tempo of the originals.
In her work, she examines the stories' themes and explains aspects of medieval Welsh society.
She said, 'They feature 11 very different stories, some of them are about King Arthur and his knights fighting giants and witches, others are to do with Celtic mythology, where people get transformed into animals.
'There is also a tale of a red dragon fighting a white one - the red dragon symbolising Wales.
'This is the first major translation I have worked on. I received the contract eight years ago and it took me three years to complete, working on and off, juggling lots of things.
'I did my PhD on The Mabinogion, on its narrative and style. I'm very interested in the storytelling techniques so I tried to make the translation one that can be read out loud.'
She read an extract of her version of the story at the Hay Festival of Literature to an audience of around 100, in the style it would have been performed in the distant days when it was first told.
S4C made an animated film about the tales in 2002 and Dr Ian Hughes, a lecturer on The Mabinogion, at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales, believes the ancient stories would be ideal material for a new fantasy blockbuster.
'Throughout the centuries, everyone has realised the importance of this work,' he said.
'Five of the stories are Arthurian in nature and he has played a major part in our imaginations here in Wales and that of the literati of many countries in Europe.
'But we in Wales feel even closer to these tales because we can plot the destinations mentioned in the stories on the map.
'Arthur hunts a wild boar from Ireland, that swims across to Pembrokeshire and ravages parts of South Wales.
'The Lln Peninsula and Arfon in North Wales are mentioned.
'And Mochdre and Mochnant -'pig stream' in Powys - are referred to, although the Arthurian- like waterfall at Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant is not mentioned.
'We can hear about these myths that occurred in the places where we live and they appear to be more real to us.'
But Dr Hughes believes that while movies like The Sword in the Stone and Excalibur have been made based on Arthur's journeys in England and on the Continent, Wales has been neglected.
'Wales does not seem to have a fair airing in the tales - we don't seem to be as good at the Irish at getting funding and pushing ourselves,' he said.
'But there is plenty of scope for a blockbuster adaptation of these tales.
'One of the great things about Sioned's book is that it may well lead to a renewed interest in The Mabinogion.' The Four Branches of the Mabinogi: The First Branch is set in Dyfed, an area connected to the magical underworld known as Annwfn.
Here Rhiannon The Great Queen is a goddess of horses, birds and the Island Otherworld.
Pwyll Pendevic Dyfed, the hero, undergoes magical trials before emerging as the Head of Annwfn and consort of the Great Queen, before she gives birth to the hero Pryderi.
The Second Branch sees the great king Bran, or Bendigeidfran lead an ill-fated expedition to Ireland to avenge his sister, Branwen.
He returns bearing the living head of their leader and the seven survivors undertake a mysterious odyssey.
In the Third Branch the fallout from these events involves Manawydan son of Llyr, Pryderi son of Pwyll, his mother Rhiannon and his wife Cigfa living in a land magically emptied of human habitation.
The Fourth Branch concerns the family of the goddess Don.
Celtic hero-god Lleu is forced to overcome a triple curse from his mother, who says he should receive neither a name, a weapon, or a wife.
Gwydion and Math the wizard-king of Gwynedd magically create a woman for Lleu, conjuring her out of wild flowers.
But she betrays the man she was created to love.
By Sally Williams
1 January 2007
The Western Mail
A welsh academic has just completed the first new English translation of The Mabinogion for 30 years.
Sioned Davies, chair of Welsh at Cardiff University, has recreated the medieval stories of Wales.
And Welsh academics believe the work could attract the attention of movie makers looking to make a Lord of the Rings-style adaptation of Wales' seminal Celtic myths.
The stories have seen many different interpretations over the years including several translations and cartoon adaptations.
The name Mabinogion was given by William Pughe, an 18th century antiquarian, to a selection of narrative works found in two great ancient books of Wales.
They are the Red Book of Hergest, now kept in Oxford's Bodleian library, and the White Book of Rhydderch, held in the National Library of Wales, both of which feature the relationship between the mundane and the magical.
Ms Davies has reinvented the tales, while taking care to keep the rhythm and tempo of the originals.
In her work, she examines the stories' themes and explains aspects of medieval Welsh society.
She said, 'They feature 11 very different stories, some of them are about King Arthur and his knights fighting giants and witches, others are to do with Celtic mythology, where people get transformed into animals.
'There is also a tale of a red dragon fighting a white one - the red dragon symbolising Wales.
'This is the first major translation I have worked on. I received the contract eight years ago and it took me three years to complete, working on and off, juggling lots of things.
'I did my PhD on The Mabinogion, on its narrative and style. I'm very interested in the storytelling techniques so I tried to make the translation one that can be read out loud.'
She read an extract of her version of the story at the Hay Festival of Literature to an audience of around 100, in the style it would have been performed in the distant days when it was first told.
S4C made an animated film about the tales in 2002 and Dr Ian Hughes, a lecturer on The Mabinogion, at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales, believes the ancient stories would be ideal material for a new fantasy blockbuster.
'Throughout the centuries, everyone has realised the importance of this work,' he said.
'Five of the stories are Arthurian in nature and he has played a major part in our imaginations here in Wales and that of the literati of many countries in Europe.
'But we in Wales feel even closer to these tales because we can plot the destinations mentioned in the stories on the map.
'Arthur hunts a wild boar from Ireland, that swims across to Pembrokeshire and ravages parts of South Wales.
'The Lln Peninsula and Arfon in North Wales are mentioned.
'And Mochdre and Mochnant -'pig stream' in Powys - are referred to, although the Arthurian- like waterfall at Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant is not mentioned.
'We can hear about these myths that occurred in the places where we live and they appear to be more real to us.'
But Dr Hughes believes that while movies like The Sword in the Stone and Excalibur have been made based on Arthur's journeys in England and on the Continent, Wales has been neglected.
'Wales does not seem to have a fair airing in the tales - we don't seem to be as good at the Irish at getting funding and pushing ourselves,' he said.
'But there is plenty of scope for a blockbuster adaptation of these tales.
'One of the great things about Sioned's book is that it may well lead to a renewed interest in The Mabinogion.' The Four Branches of the Mabinogi: The First Branch is set in Dyfed, an area connected to the magical underworld known as Annwfn.
Here Rhiannon The Great Queen is a goddess of horses, birds and the Island Otherworld.
Pwyll Pendevic Dyfed, the hero, undergoes magical trials before emerging as the Head of Annwfn and consort of the Great Queen, before she gives birth to the hero Pryderi.
The Second Branch sees the great king Bran, or Bendigeidfran lead an ill-fated expedition to Ireland to avenge his sister, Branwen.
He returns bearing the living head of their leader and the seven survivors undertake a mysterious odyssey.
In the Third Branch the fallout from these events involves Manawydan son of Llyr, Pryderi son of Pwyll, his mother Rhiannon and his wife Cigfa living in a land magically emptied of human habitation.
The Fourth Branch concerns the family of the goddess Don.
Celtic hero-god Lleu is forced to overcome a triple curse from his mother, who says he should receive neither a name, a weapon, or a wife.
Gwydion and Math the wizard-king of Gwynedd magically create a woman for Lleu, conjuring her out of wild flowers.
But she betrays the man she was created to love.
Romanian medieval city of Sibiu becomes European culture capital
Romanian medieval city of Sibiu becomes European culture capital
By Lucian Filip
1 January 2007
Associated Press Newswires
SIBIU, Romania (AP) - This medieval Saxon city became one of Europe's official culture capitals Monday, drawing attention to centuries-old buildings that were once ordered demolished during Romania's communist period.
Sibiu, in the region of Transylvania, set off fireworks and held concerts and light shows to celebrate its designation, timed to coincide with Romania's accession to the European Union on New Year's Day.
"Sibiu shows clearly this year an important aspect of what Romania brings to the EU: its cultural contribution," Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said at inauguration of a newly built library.
Sibiu, also known by its German name of Hermannstadt, joined Luxembourg as an official European city of culture for 2007.
The European Parliament each year names the countries that hosts the European Capitals of Culture. Started by Greece in 1985, the designations are meant to highlight the variety of European cultures and forge closer ties between the citizens of the EU's 25 member states.
Authorities and private foundations have repaired Sibiu's fortified wall, two towers and three fortresses, and renovated dozens of old buildings in the center.
During a visit Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier reaffirmed Germany's strong ties to Sibiu, a city of 170,000 established by Saxons almost 1,000 years ago. Most of the ethnic Germans emigrated in the 1970s, but the city continues to emphasize its German heritage, and many of its residents speak German.
Steinmeier and EU Commissioner Olli Rehn visited the Brukenthal Museum, a palace with a large collection of medieval paintings that was recently returned by the government to the Evangelical Church.
Under communism, the city in central Romania was run in the late 1980s by Nicu Ceausescu, the son of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Following his father's example in Bucharest, Nicu proposed demolishing a large part of the old city to build new block-apartment homes, but local architects successfully delayed the plans until 1989, when communism was overthrown.
"The city has architectural treasures from the Gothic, Romantic, Baroque, Neo-classical and Modern periods," said Virgil Ispas, a local architect who helped start Sibiu's bid to become European cultural capital. "The communist period did not have the capacity to properly use this architectural jewel."
By Lucian Filip
1 January 2007
Associated Press Newswires
SIBIU, Romania (AP) - This medieval Saxon city became one of Europe's official culture capitals Monday, drawing attention to centuries-old buildings that were once ordered demolished during Romania's communist period.
Sibiu, in the region of Transylvania, set off fireworks and held concerts and light shows to celebrate its designation, timed to coincide with Romania's accession to the European Union on New Year's Day.
"Sibiu shows clearly this year an important aspect of what Romania brings to the EU: its cultural contribution," Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said at inauguration of a newly built library.
Sibiu, also known by its German name of Hermannstadt, joined Luxembourg as an official European city of culture for 2007.
The European Parliament each year names the countries that hosts the European Capitals of Culture. Started by Greece in 1985, the designations are meant to highlight the variety of European cultures and forge closer ties between the citizens of the EU's 25 member states.
Authorities and private foundations have repaired Sibiu's fortified wall, two towers and three fortresses, and renovated dozens of old buildings in the center.
During a visit Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier reaffirmed Germany's strong ties to Sibiu, a city of 170,000 established by Saxons almost 1,000 years ago. Most of the ethnic Germans emigrated in the 1970s, but the city continues to emphasize its German heritage, and many of its residents speak German.
Steinmeier and EU Commissioner Olli Rehn visited the Brukenthal Museum, a palace with a large collection of medieval paintings that was recently returned by the government to the Evangelical Church.
Under communism, the city in central Romania was run in the late 1980s by Nicu Ceausescu, the son of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Following his father's example in Bucharest, Nicu proposed demolishing a large part of the old city to build new block-apartment homes, but local architects successfully delayed the plans until 1989, when communism was overthrown.
"The city has architectural treasures from the Gothic, Romantic, Baroque, Neo-classical and Modern periods," said Virgil Ispas, a local architect who helped start Sibiu's bid to become European cultural capital. "The communist period did not have the capacity to properly use this architectural jewel."
Historical dispute rages over ancient Black Sea land
Historical dispute rages over ancient Black Sea land
1 January 2007
Agence France Presse
In an ancient land on the lush shores of the Black Sea, archaeology has become a battleground for those who claim this territory as their own. The history of Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia in a 1992-1993 war, is no fusty academic debate. For the Abkhaz it is about the province's bid to be recognised as an independent state.
"We have to show people, the whole world, that Abkhazia has been a state for a long time," said Vadim Bzhaniya, the head of the separatist province's cultural heritage society.
"This is the task of archaeologists -- to show that Abkhazia is a real country," said Bzhaniya, a jovial historian who was one of the organisers of last year's First Abkhaz International Archaeological Conference. "Many Georgian archaeologists are working for politics," he said.
That's an accusation many Georgians throw right back, describing attempts to prove that the Abkhaz had occupied these lands first as justification for the ethnic cleansing that forced some 250,000 Georgians from Abkhazia during the war.
One of the centres of the historical dispute is the fortress of Anacopia, a complex estimated to date back to the second century AD, perched on a hill overlooking the palm-fringed shoreline of northern Abkhazia. For Abkhaz historians, Anacopia was the historic capital of a medieval ethnic-Abkhaz kingdom. But many Georgian archaeologists say that is propaganda as the kingdom was multi-ethnic and included precursors of ethnic Georgians. "It's nonsense," said Alkhas Argun, head of the historical heritage complex of Novy Afon, which includes the Anacopia fortress, several medieval churches and some one hundred other ancient sites. "History is a science that can go different ways... Ethnic borders have always changed and there have always been wars," Argun said. "History is all about politics."
After 1993, the Abkhaz, who were always a minority in Abkhazia in Soviet times, became the majority population, living alongside smaller groups of Armenians and descendants of colonists from ancient Greece. History has always been part of Abkhazia's independence bid. The province's first self-proclaimed president, Vladislav Ardzinba, and its foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, were both academic historians before they became politicians. The flag of unrecognised Abkhazia -- the palm of a hand surrounded by seven stars in a square red frame next to green and white stripes -- is inspired by medieval symbols. "History shows a constant change of borders. States rise and fall and new borders are created ... There should be a deeper knowledge of history," Shamba said in an interview.
Abkhazia is undisputedly a region with a rich and ancient history going back thousands of years. These territories, which lie on trade routes from Asia, have been swept by the empires of Byzantium, Greece, Rome, Russia and Turkey.
History here is sometimes mixed with legend. Locals tell a story, popular across the Caucasus mountains region, of how God gave the Abkhaz their bountiful land even though they arrived late when the world was being divided up because they were providing hospitality to a guest. The legends are also a strategy for survival in an area that still bears the scars of a separatist war that killed several thousand Georgians and Abkhaz. Many homes here carry bullet holes or lie in ruins.
Valery, a ginger-haired man in his 40s, is the guardian of a cave near Anacopia that is said to have been inhabited by one of Christ's apostles -- Simon the Canaanite. "The war changed my life. That's when I started to work here. I promised to myself after the war that I would do everything to serve God to the end of my days." After intoning a prayer of gratitude to God in the candlelight of the cave, filled with icons and crucifixes, Valery said: "The tourists come and go here, they say thank you, but they never feel the power of this place."
1 January 2007
Agence France Presse
In an ancient land on the lush shores of the Black Sea, archaeology has become a battleground for those who claim this territory as their own. The history of Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia in a 1992-1993 war, is no fusty academic debate. For the Abkhaz it is about the province's bid to be recognised as an independent state.
"We have to show people, the whole world, that Abkhazia has been a state for a long time," said Vadim Bzhaniya, the head of the separatist province's cultural heritage society.
"This is the task of archaeologists -- to show that Abkhazia is a real country," said Bzhaniya, a jovial historian who was one of the organisers of last year's First Abkhaz International Archaeological Conference. "Many Georgian archaeologists are working for politics," he said.
That's an accusation many Georgians throw right back, describing attempts to prove that the Abkhaz had occupied these lands first as justification for the ethnic cleansing that forced some 250,000 Georgians from Abkhazia during the war.
One of the centres of the historical dispute is the fortress of Anacopia, a complex estimated to date back to the second century AD, perched on a hill overlooking the palm-fringed shoreline of northern Abkhazia. For Abkhaz historians, Anacopia was the historic capital of a medieval ethnic-Abkhaz kingdom. But many Georgian archaeologists say that is propaganda as the kingdom was multi-ethnic and included precursors of ethnic Georgians. "It's nonsense," said Alkhas Argun, head of the historical heritage complex of Novy Afon, which includes the Anacopia fortress, several medieval churches and some one hundred other ancient sites. "History is a science that can go different ways... Ethnic borders have always changed and there have always been wars," Argun said. "History is all about politics."
After 1993, the Abkhaz, who were always a minority in Abkhazia in Soviet times, became the majority population, living alongside smaller groups of Armenians and descendants of colonists from ancient Greece. History has always been part of Abkhazia's independence bid. The province's first self-proclaimed president, Vladislav Ardzinba, and its foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, were both academic historians before they became politicians. The flag of unrecognised Abkhazia -- the palm of a hand surrounded by seven stars in a square red frame next to green and white stripes -- is inspired by medieval symbols. "History shows a constant change of borders. States rise and fall and new borders are created ... There should be a deeper knowledge of history," Shamba said in an interview.
Abkhazia is undisputedly a region with a rich and ancient history going back thousands of years. These territories, which lie on trade routes from Asia, have been swept by the empires of Byzantium, Greece, Rome, Russia and Turkey.
History here is sometimes mixed with legend. Locals tell a story, popular across the Caucasus mountains region, of how God gave the Abkhaz their bountiful land even though they arrived late when the world was being divided up because they were providing hospitality to a guest. The legends are also a strategy for survival in an area that still bears the scars of a separatist war that killed several thousand Georgians and Abkhaz. Many homes here carry bullet holes or lie in ruins.
Valery, a ginger-haired man in his 40s, is the guardian of a cave near Anacopia that is said to have been inhabited by one of Christ's apostles -- Simon the Canaanite. "The war changed my life. That's when I started to work here. I promised to myself after the war that I would do everything to serve God to the end of my days." After intoning a prayer of gratitude to God in the candlelight of the cave, filled with icons and crucifixes, Valery said: "The tourists come and go here, they say thank you, but they never feel the power of this place."
Stonehenge: a new view from a medieval artist
Stonehenge: a new view from a medieval artist
Norman Hammond
2 January 2007
The Times
Stonehenge has been in the news twice recently. Both a new view and a new interpretation of the monument have been announced.
The new view is a tiny medieval drawing, only a couple of inches across, noticed in a scala mundi or "world ladder", a chart of universal chronology from the Creation onwards. The document was in the municipal library of Douai, in northern France, probably taken there from England by Catholic refugees in the 16th century; Professor Christian Heck catalogued it there six years ago without at that stage thinking more about its importance.
The document dates from the 1440s, not the oldest depiction of the monument - which dates from around 1342 and is on a similar scala mundi at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge -but one of very few known. "Medieval representations of Stonehenge are extremely rare," Professor Heck says, and this one is "the first known design to represent Stonehenge not just as a symbolic image, but with precise observations on its form and construction techniques. It bridges perfectly the worlds of medieval myth and Renaissance observation."
The drawing shows four of Stonehenge's trilithons, with two small squares on top of each lintel representing the carved tenons on the uprights poking through. "In reality the tenons are not that long, but they also struck the first modern artists -they are shown on the 16th century illustration by Lucas de Heere," Professor Heck says in the current issue of British Archaeology.
The drawing is in the part of the chronology dealing with post-Roman England, and is connected with the legend of Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon invaders, their ally Vortigern, the usurping British ruler, and his exiled rival Aurelius Ambrosius, set in AD480-85.
After Aurelius's defeat of Vortigern, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth around AD1136, Stonehenge was Merlin's suggestion of a memorial to the British lords treacherously slain by the Saxons at a feast in nearby Amesbury. Merlin magically transported a stone circle, the chorea gigantum, from Ireland, and eventually Aurelius and his brother Uther Pendragon -King Arthur's father -were buried there.
Although the great sarsens with which Stonehenge's main structure was built are of local origin, within lies a smaller circle of "bluestones", exotics which in 1921 were traced to the Presceli mountains in Pembrokeshire, some 150 miles to the west. They have been at Stonehenge since between 2,400 and 2,100BC.
Recently, Dr Geoff Wainwright, formerly English Heritage's chief archaeologist, and Professor Tim Darvill, of Bournemouth University, have been working at Presceli, where there are springs with a therapeutic reputation, and associated prehistoric tombs and rock art. The water emerges from the same bluestone outcrops used for the Stonehenge monoliths.
Dr Wainwright and Professor Darvill regard Presceli as "a centre for ceremonial and burial comparable to the Stonehenge area". Medieval folklore claimed that the Stonehenge rocks "possessed healing powers when used in conjunction with water", they say, and "as recently as the 18th century, people went to Stonehenge to break off bits of rock as health talismans".
They speculate further that the historian Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC, in speaking of a noted round temple dedicated to Apollo, the god of healing and prophecy, in the land of the Hyperboreans -usually identified as Britain -may have recorded a garbled version of the Stonehenge story that had reached the Mediterranean.
Mayanists react to Gibson's Apocalypto Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, his Maya slash-and-sacrifice movie set in Pre Columbian Yucatan, opens here this weekend. It has been showing in America for a month, and Maya specialists there have been responding in reviews and blogs with mixed feelings. The extreme violence, including excoriation, decapitation and other forms of ritualised bloodletting, has occasioned some remarks, but Mayanists have long been aware that human sacrifice was an integral part of ancient Maya ritual.
They have been more concerned that evidence has been faked, as with the introduction of a scene of heart-excision into the noted Bonampak murals where none in fact exists. This might be seen by those not immersed in the subject as permissible latitude, given that both carved and painted scenes at sites such as Piedras Negras and Chichen Itza show priests removing captives' hearts, but the hecatomb of corpses in another scene is more Aztec than Maya.
In fact, one of the Mayanists' major objections is that the florescence of classic Maya civilisation, which ended around AD900, has been dragged six centuries forward in time to the sixteenth century, so that the Spanish conquistadors' arrival in Yucatan (which took place over a period between 1517 and 1542) is seen as coincident with and perhaps consequent from the noted Maya Collapse.
A slightly more complex objection has been that by portraying the Maya as savages whose culture deserved to die, Gibson is reinforcing attitudes to the modern Maya which have in recent decades resulted in oppression in Mexico and the Zapatista rising in Chiapas, and in Guatemala in the genocidal massacres by successive military regimes in the name of anti-communism.
American support over nearly four decades, from the ousting of the elected Arbenz Government by the CIA in 1954 until the early 1990s, left many Americans ashamed, notably when the Maya Rigoberta Mench won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Maya archaeologists and anthropologists are now worried that the distorted vision of Apocalypto will encourage revanchist views.
"Stereotypes of bloodthirsty savagery and moral degeneracy have been used to vilify indigenous people for 500 years," Mary Weismantel and Cynthia Robin of Northwestern University, Illinois, say in a widely circulated review. "The mass genocide of Maya peoples is not a thing of the past... Don't feed the hate".
Norman Hammond
2 January 2007
The Times
Stonehenge has been in the news twice recently. Both a new view and a new interpretation of the monument have been announced.
The new view is a tiny medieval drawing, only a couple of inches across, noticed in a scala mundi or "world ladder", a chart of universal chronology from the Creation onwards. The document was in the municipal library of Douai, in northern France, probably taken there from England by Catholic refugees in the 16th century; Professor Christian Heck catalogued it there six years ago without at that stage thinking more about its importance.
The document dates from the 1440s, not the oldest depiction of the monument - which dates from around 1342 and is on a similar scala mundi at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge -but one of very few known. "Medieval representations of Stonehenge are extremely rare," Professor Heck says, and this one is "the first known design to represent Stonehenge not just as a symbolic image, but with precise observations on its form and construction techniques. It bridges perfectly the worlds of medieval myth and Renaissance observation."
The drawing shows four of Stonehenge's trilithons, with two small squares on top of each lintel representing the carved tenons on the uprights poking through. "In reality the tenons are not that long, but they also struck the first modern artists -they are shown on the 16th century illustration by Lucas de Heere," Professor Heck says in the current issue of British Archaeology.
The drawing is in the part of the chronology dealing with post-Roman England, and is connected with the legend of Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon invaders, their ally Vortigern, the usurping British ruler, and his exiled rival Aurelius Ambrosius, set in AD480-85.
After Aurelius's defeat of Vortigern, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth around AD1136, Stonehenge was Merlin's suggestion of a memorial to the British lords treacherously slain by the Saxons at a feast in nearby Amesbury. Merlin magically transported a stone circle, the chorea gigantum, from Ireland, and eventually Aurelius and his brother Uther Pendragon -King Arthur's father -were buried there.
Although the great sarsens with which Stonehenge's main structure was built are of local origin, within lies a smaller circle of "bluestones", exotics which in 1921 were traced to the Presceli mountains in Pembrokeshire, some 150 miles to the west. They have been at Stonehenge since between 2,400 and 2,100BC.
Recently, Dr Geoff Wainwright, formerly English Heritage's chief archaeologist, and Professor Tim Darvill, of Bournemouth University, have been working at Presceli, where there are springs with a therapeutic reputation, and associated prehistoric tombs and rock art. The water emerges from the same bluestone outcrops used for the Stonehenge monoliths.
Dr Wainwright and Professor Darvill regard Presceli as "a centre for ceremonial and burial comparable to the Stonehenge area". Medieval folklore claimed that the Stonehenge rocks "possessed healing powers when used in conjunction with water", they say, and "as recently as the 18th century, people went to Stonehenge to break off bits of rock as health talismans".
They speculate further that the historian Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC, in speaking of a noted round temple dedicated to Apollo, the god of healing and prophecy, in the land of the Hyperboreans -usually identified as Britain -may have recorded a garbled version of the Stonehenge story that had reached the Mediterranean.
Mayanists react to Gibson's Apocalypto Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, his Maya slash-and-sacrifice movie set in Pre Columbian Yucatan, opens here this weekend. It has been showing in America for a month, and Maya specialists there have been responding in reviews and blogs with mixed feelings. The extreme violence, including excoriation, decapitation and other forms of ritualised bloodletting, has occasioned some remarks, but Mayanists have long been aware that human sacrifice was an integral part of ancient Maya ritual.
They have been more concerned that evidence has been faked, as with the introduction of a scene of heart-excision into the noted Bonampak murals where none in fact exists. This might be seen by those not immersed in the subject as permissible latitude, given that both carved and painted scenes at sites such as Piedras Negras and Chichen Itza show priests removing captives' hearts, but the hecatomb of corpses in another scene is more Aztec than Maya.
In fact, one of the Mayanists' major objections is that the florescence of classic Maya civilisation, which ended around AD900, has been dragged six centuries forward in time to the sixteenth century, so that the Spanish conquistadors' arrival in Yucatan (which took place over a period between 1517 and 1542) is seen as coincident with and perhaps consequent from the noted Maya Collapse.
A slightly more complex objection has been that by portraying the Maya as savages whose culture deserved to die, Gibson is reinforcing attitudes to the modern Maya which have in recent decades resulted in oppression in Mexico and the Zapatista rising in Chiapas, and in Guatemala in the genocidal massacres by successive military regimes in the name of anti-communism.
American support over nearly four decades, from the ousting of the elected Arbenz Government by the CIA in 1954 until the early 1990s, left many Americans ashamed, notably when the Maya Rigoberta Mench won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Maya archaeologists and anthropologists are now worried that the distorted vision of Apocalypto will encourage revanchist views.
"Stereotypes of bloodthirsty savagery and moral degeneracy have been used to vilify indigenous people for 500 years," Mary Weismantel and Cynthia Robin of Northwestern University, Illinois, say in a widely circulated review. "The mass genocide of Maya peoples is not a thing of the past... Don't feed the hate".
Tacolneston
Four years ago a group of archaeologists and amateur historians embarked on a...
2 January 2007
Eastern Daily Press
Four years ago a group of archaeologists and amateur historians embarked on a project to chart the beginnings of a medieval Norfolk village and ended up winning national awards for its innovative research. And now they are to do it all again - in another village just three miles up the road.
Whereas the project in New Buckenham, near Attleborough, was designed to chart the beginnings of a bustling castle town settlement, the Norfolk Historic Buildings Group will now be finding out how Tacolneston developed. The New Buckenham Project was launched in 2001 and saw volunteers drilling into timbers of the village's historic homes in order to analyse the wood for information. It spawned a 227-page book charting the development of the planned Norman town - and group leader, UEA academic Adam Longcroft, described the project as a major step forward in the understanding of Norfolk's buildings. Tacolneston has been chosen as the group's second major project as it has many well-preserved houses to study and will offer a good comparison to its historically more important neighbour.
Karen Mackie, who lives in Tacolneston and is helping run the latest project, said more than 50 householders had turned out for an introductory meeting in December and interest in the village was high. “We were recording details of historic houses around the county while we were working in New Buckenham,” she said. “We had the opportunity to go into one or two houses in Tacolneston, which were well-preserved. So the village seemed like a good second project for us and it will be an interesting comparison between two villages in a similar area but with very different histories.”
Many of the people at the initial meeting said they would like the group to study the origins of their houses, and Mrs Mackie said she hoped the project would snowball. Individual visits to houses will start in the coming weeks, and the eventual results will be published by the group in a special journal.
2 January 2007
Eastern Daily Press
Four years ago a group of archaeologists and amateur historians embarked on a project to chart the beginnings of a medieval Norfolk village and ended up winning national awards for its innovative research. And now they are to do it all again - in another village just three miles up the road.
Whereas the project in New Buckenham, near Attleborough, was designed to chart the beginnings of a bustling castle town settlement, the Norfolk Historic Buildings Group will now be finding out how Tacolneston developed. The New Buckenham Project was launched in 2001 and saw volunteers drilling into timbers of the village's historic homes in order to analyse the wood for information. It spawned a 227-page book charting the development of the planned Norman town - and group leader, UEA academic Adam Longcroft, described the project as a major step forward in the understanding of Norfolk's buildings. Tacolneston has been chosen as the group's second major project as it has many well-preserved houses to study and will offer a good comparison to its historically more important neighbour.
Karen Mackie, who lives in Tacolneston and is helping run the latest project, said more than 50 householders had turned out for an introductory meeting in December and interest in the village was high. “We were recording details of historic houses around the county while we were working in New Buckenham,” she said. “We had the opportunity to go into one or two houses in Tacolneston, which were well-preserved. So the village seemed like a good second project for us and it will be an interesting comparison between two villages in a similar area but with very different histories.”
Many of the people at the initial meeting said they would like the group to study the origins of their houses, and Mrs Mackie said she hoped the project would snowball. Individual visits to houses will start in the coming weeks, and the eventual results will be published by the group in a special journal.
Archaeological finds from York Museum
Cracking the time code...
4 January 2007
York Press
Andrew Morrison, curator of Access to Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum examines a prehistoric axe head and a 15th century wooden boss (depicting a bishop) from Martin le Grand Church, in Coney Street, York
How old is everything? That's the question being posed by a new exhibition in York. From a 4.5 billion-year-old Middlesbrough meteorite to the swords of rampaging Vikings, the display will give visitors the chance to "crack the time code" by experimenting with scientific dating techniques. The exhibition, Fingerprints Of Time, opens at the Yorkshire Museum in February, and will run throughout the year.
Andrew Morrison, the museum's curator of archaeology, said: "How do we know a crocodile is 165 million years old? What is the one man-made object that we use today that has been in use for 500,000 years? These are the types of questions we will be answering in the exhibition. We have included some very interesting and rare items from our collection. These will range from prehistoric dinosaur bones, medieval jewellery, and Victorian costume right up to modern sweet wrappers."
Magnetism, light, heat and even radioactive atoms are all used to discover the age of things. Trees, rocks and fossils all lay down layers as time progresses - crucial to finding the date something died. Andrew added: "It is amazing how much we can find out through applying the right techniques. These methods can help us date how long we have lived on the earth for, when we first invented pottery, what were the first metals we used and even when we first started eating bread."
The Yorkshire Museum opens daily from 10am to 5pm. Fingerprints Of Time opens on February 10. For visitor information, phone 01904 687687.
4 January 2007
York Press
Andrew Morrison, curator of Access to Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum examines a prehistoric axe head and a 15th century wooden boss (depicting a bishop) from Martin le Grand Church, in Coney Street, York
How old is everything? That's the question being posed by a new exhibition in York. From a 4.5 billion-year-old Middlesbrough meteorite to the swords of rampaging Vikings, the display will give visitors the chance to "crack the time code" by experimenting with scientific dating techniques. The exhibition, Fingerprints Of Time, opens at the Yorkshire Museum in February, and will run throughout the year.
Andrew Morrison, the museum's curator of archaeology, said: "How do we know a crocodile is 165 million years old? What is the one man-made object that we use today that has been in use for 500,000 years? These are the types of questions we will be answering in the exhibition. We have included some very interesting and rare items from our collection. These will range from prehistoric dinosaur bones, medieval jewellery, and Victorian costume right up to modern sweet wrappers."
Magnetism, light, heat and even radioactive atoms are all used to discover the age of things. Trees, rocks and fossils all lay down layers as time progresses - crucial to finding the date something died. Andrew added: "It is amazing how much we can find out through applying the right techniques. These methods can help us date how long we have lived on the earth for, when we first invented pottery, what were the first metals we used and even when we first started eating bread."
The Yorkshire Museum opens daily from 10am to 5pm. Fingerprints Of Time opens on February 10. For visitor information, phone 01904 687687.
York Minster
Standing room only in Minster
4 January 2007
The Times
The nave of York Minster has been cleared of its 800 chairs, giving visitors a glimpse of how the cathedral would have looked to medieval worshippers. The nave will remain empty until February 19, allowing the cavernous 260ft by 100ft (80m by 30m) space to be used for special events. The minster will take advantage of the extra room by holding a youth event, a concert, circle-dancing and a Taize service. The nave is emptied once a year during the Minster's quiet post-Christmas period. In medieval times it was also used as a marketplace and, in the 1500s, there were complaints about boys playing football there. York Minster is England's largest medieval cathedral and can trace its origins to 627.
4 January 2007
The Times
The nave of York Minster has been cleared of its 800 chairs, giving visitors a glimpse of how the cathedral would have looked to medieval worshippers. The nave will remain empty until February 19, allowing the cavernous 260ft by 100ft (80m by 30m) space to be used for special events. The minster will take advantage of the extra room by holding a youth event, a concert, circle-dancing and a Taize service. The nave is emptied once a year during the Minster's quiet post-Christmas period. In medieval times it was also used as a marketplace and, in the 1500s, there were complaints about boys playing football there. York Minster is England's largest medieval cathedral and can trace its origins to 627.
Japanese Imperial tombs are opened to view
Imperial tombs are opened to view
Richard Kimber
4 January 2007
The Times
After years of intrigue, secrecy and much heated debate, some of Japan's most mysterious monuments will be opened up for public inspection for the first time.
The imposing burial mounds of Japan's ancient emperors have lain almost untouched for as many as 17 centuries, but after pressure from historians the Imperial Household Agency agreed to let archaeologists get their hands dirty.
As piles of earth and stone dotted around the Japanese countryside go, the mounds may appear unimpressive, but what they conceal could hold the key to unlocking Japan's imperial past.
There were more than 200,000 ancient burial mounds, or kofun, in Japan, dating back to the 4th century. They come in all shapes and sizes and, though most contain only the remains of local dignitaries, some of the biggest, and the most controversial, are revered as the tombs of Japan's most famous emperors.
The Imperial Household Agency has faced a problem in recent years: not everyone believes that the mounds contain the remains of emperors. Some archaeologists claim that many of the kofun have been wrongly designated as imperial tombs. They allege that the agency has known for many years that some imperial tombs were wrongly identified, and that those inside may not be as regal as believed.
There are also suspicions that the tombs could reveal that Japan's emperors were not as Japanese as has been claimed.
Textbook history states that Japan's emperors have existed in an unbroken line since Jimmu, the great-great-grandson of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Omikami. Many historians suspect that, because of repeated intermarriage between Japan and present-day Korea and China, the imperial bloodline could be somewhat more continental.
Although many of the lesser tombs have been freely excavated and explored by historians eager to find out more about daily life in medieval Japan, the imperial mounds have remained off limits.
Historians have long sought permission to study the imperial tombs, to confirm - or rebut -the conspiracy theories but challenging the system has not been straightforward.
Until now, the Imperial Household Agency has refused all requests for inspections, maintaining that the tranquillity of the imperial souls should not be disturbed.
Some academics who have campaigned for access have complained of having received death threats from ultra-nationalists.
After all the rejections, the waiting game is finally over. Although a number of restrictions remain, several academic organisations finally have been granted royal permission to visit the Imperial tombs.
On Monday, historians, archaeologists, zoologists and botanists will all be on the guest list, and it promises to be quite a celebration.
The Imperial Household Agency said that the lifting of its restrictions, the day after Emperor Akihito offered his annual New Year's greetings to nearly 70,000 people at the Imperial Place in Tokyo, represented an effort to aid research into Japan's ancient history.
The gesture may be merely the cheer of a Japanese New Year, but the mystery of the monarchic mounds could be revealed at last.
Richard Kimber
4 January 2007
The Times
After years of intrigue, secrecy and much heated debate, some of Japan's most mysterious monuments will be opened up for public inspection for the first time.
The imposing burial mounds of Japan's ancient emperors have lain almost untouched for as many as 17 centuries, but after pressure from historians the Imperial Household Agency agreed to let archaeologists get their hands dirty.
As piles of earth and stone dotted around the Japanese countryside go, the mounds may appear unimpressive, but what they conceal could hold the key to unlocking Japan's imperial past.
There were more than 200,000 ancient burial mounds, or kofun, in Japan, dating back to the 4th century. They come in all shapes and sizes and, though most contain only the remains of local dignitaries, some of the biggest, and the most controversial, are revered as the tombs of Japan's most famous emperors.
The Imperial Household Agency has faced a problem in recent years: not everyone believes that the mounds contain the remains of emperors. Some archaeologists claim that many of the kofun have been wrongly designated as imperial tombs. They allege that the agency has known for many years that some imperial tombs were wrongly identified, and that those inside may not be as regal as believed.
There are also suspicions that the tombs could reveal that Japan's emperors were not as Japanese as has been claimed.
Textbook history states that Japan's emperors have existed in an unbroken line since Jimmu, the great-great-grandson of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Omikami. Many historians suspect that, because of repeated intermarriage between Japan and present-day Korea and China, the imperial bloodline could be somewhat more continental.
Although many of the lesser tombs have been freely excavated and explored by historians eager to find out more about daily life in medieval Japan, the imperial mounds have remained off limits.
Historians have long sought permission to study the imperial tombs, to confirm - or rebut -the conspiracy theories but challenging the system has not been straightforward.
Until now, the Imperial Household Agency has refused all requests for inspections, maintaining that the tranquillity of the imperial souls should not be disturbed.
Some academics who have campaigned for access have complained of having received death threats from ultra-nationalists.
After all the rejections, the waiting game is finally over. Although a number of restrictions remain, several academic organisations finally have been granted royal permission to visit the Imperial tombs.
On Monday, historians, archaeologists, zoologists and botanists will all be on the guest list, and it promises to be quite a celebration.
The Imperial Household Agency said that the lifting of its restrictions, the day after Emperor Akihito offered his annual New Year's greetings to nearly 70,000 people at the Imperial Place in Tokyo, represented an effort to aid research into Japan's ancient history.
The gesture may be merely the cheer of a Japanese New Year, but the mystery of the monarchic mounds could be revealed at last.
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