Melbourne Museum Aztecs Exhibition

I had a fantastic time at Melbourne Museum's Aztec exhibition this morning! Wearing my Aztec (actually Mayan, shhh!) calendar shirt, I went along to the University of Melbourne Alumni (free) sneakpeak session at 8am, and as luck and actually-working-public transport would have it for once ended up being the first person in line to enter the exhibition like some kind of Mesoamerican archaeology groupie. After avoiding being sacrificed and going under the pyramid through the underworld and past some Spanish armour I re-emerged at 11am - just in time for the "official" opening launch and the Mexican fiesta of flavours, dancing, music and paper flowers that was the Aztec opening party! 

It was a pretty confronting experience to view so many objects associated with or used in repeated human sacrifice though, especially when in some instances increased suffering of the victim (who may have been groomed for this and lived a life where their every whim was satisfied for quite sometime before their grisly end, sometimes for up to a year), some bled, others burned, flayed alive and/or their still beating hearts removed from the body and then thrown down the steps of the pyramid shaped temples. Or the idea that the tears of infants would bring more bountiful rains from the water god who was sustained by their blood. Behind all of this is a notion that individual sacrifice and death were essential to sustain cosmic powers such as the sun and gods, which in turn provided the life for new souls to be born.

One could argue that the smaller collection of artifacts linked to the Spanish conquistadors, rather belies the gravity of the cataclysmic contact with Europeans and the disease and conflict that resulted. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond famously discusses this in great detail for those who would like to look understanding how and why this clash of civilisations was so dramatic. 

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnmT-Y_rGQ

I liked the fact that the exhibition addressed many aspects of Aztec culture, including art, agriculture (often in raised aquatic garden beds), literature. an explanation of the calendar system, ethnogenisis and origin stories, pottery production, textiles, sport, remarkably modern looking flutes and whistles, and impressively a system of universal education for teenagers regardless of their class.

Some of my favourite highlights were the archaeological site presented as it was found - a sort of re-in situ, the stone statue of a dog, the 15th C Spanish suit of plate armour and piece of horse armour, and the amazing whole pieces of pottery that had survived the collapse of 2 civilisations: pottery from Teotihuacan 'the birthplace of the gods' a city  over a thousand years old when the Aztecs came across it's eerily abandoned ruins, from which they would find, honour and sometimes relocate relics like these pots in their temples for purposes of preservation and education or create new pieces in styles inspired from interpretations of the artifacts they found. 


http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whatson/current-exhibitions/aztecs/ — at Melbourne Museum

Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories, Oral History and Rock Art Sheds Light on Extinct Species

Years ago my family took me on a trip to the gorgeous wilderness of the Grampians National Park (http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Grampians/Activities-and-attractions/Aboriginal-Victoria) in the western side of Victoria, Australia. It is a breath taking place. It is also known for it's beautiful Aboriginal rock art. One site is known as Bunjil's Shelter. Bunjil is a great spirit, ancestor and creator in many Koori stories and traditions, and often takes the form of an eagle. The rock shelter contains paintings thousands of years old, showing a seated man Bunjil,  and his 2 dogs. You can't tell from this picture and as the site is sealed off to protect it from damage by people, either accidentally from the oils in our skin or worse from deliberate damage, I can't find a good picture of it, but there is reportedly a picture of an extinct Thylacine, just barely visible on one of the top curved walls (the right I believe - but I saw it over 10 years ago now), a species extinct for centuries if not millenia in Victoria.

Above is a selection of Australian Aboriginal rock art from across our country-continent featureing the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger which is thought to have died out on the mainland 2,000 years ago years ago, but survived on the island of Tasmania until it was falsely believed to prey on sheep and was exterminated by European settlers. Sadly the last known representative of the species died in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania, Australia in 1936 (pictured below). The top picture is from a cave in New South Wales, the 2nd from Victoria, the third from Western Australia and the 4th showing a human and Thylacine from the Northern Territory. In the case of the Thylacine, there is hope that due to a number of well preserved specimens with salvageable DNA and it's recent extinction by human hands, that the species may be able to be cloned and brought back from extinction!
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-or-false-extinction-is-forever-83853792/?no-ist=

 
There are still reports of sightings of these animals in remote areas to this very day, although none of these have been able to be shown to be proven conclusively. Australia is a vast place and still has some very remote wilderness, some species like the Mountain Pygmy Possum and the Adelaide Pygmy Blue Tongue Lizard were assumed to be extinct for decades before small populations were rediscovered. And other species here like the Night Parrot remain in the mysterious ether between extinction and survival: the species was thought to have died out over a century ago, and yet 20 years ago a fresh specimen turned up as roadkill along a remote outback highway.

And that's not all, recently a species of lizard was actually discovered which had only been known from rock art prior to now.It's yellow head thought to only be artistic, not litteral.

http://australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/Science/New-lizard-from-NSW

It seems we could learn a lot from Australia's extensive Indigenous history, folklore, art and culture. Indigenous colonisation  of Australia is thought to have begun  between 50,000-70,000 years ago making Australia's Indigenous peoples and their culture amongst the most ancient and successful of human civlizations. One that is still with us to today in the modern globalised world. 

It is also around this very same time that the climate was changing rapidly, the continent was drying out, habitats were changing, fires became so frequent that Australian flora adapted to being burnt and the megafauna became extinct. It is still a contentious issue whether or not human beings caused the extinction of the megafauna, whether it was due to climate changes well underway before mankind arrived or perhaps some combination of these and other factors. For more on this debate a comprehensive starting point can be found in Tim Flannery's  1994 book The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People.
Ancient stories of Indigenous people encountering some of these prehistoric fauna occur in Dreamtime oral tradition folklore passed on over spans of time which must span millennia. The ABC  First Footprints program noted a flood story relating to the end of the last Ice Age, making it amongst the oldest continuous oral traditions on earth. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/first-footprints/Giant emus and kangaroos also abound in Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. Long thought to be just fanciful stories, we now know that there were many species of Ice Age megafauna much larger than their present day relatives. Likewise Moari folklore in New Zealand of giant birds called moa and a giant eagle that hunted them was thought to be a mere myth until the bones of nine moa species were discovered, the largest being up to 3.6m tall and they were indeed preyed upon by harpagornis, a giant eagle with a 3m wingspan. Fossil harpagornis talons fit into identical shaped holes found in some moa fossils.  Perhaps if we paid more attention to the wealth of Indigenous wisdom in Indigenous Dreamtime stories, with an open mind, we could learn something about these ancient creatures.The First Foot Prints documentary series also featured this fascinating piece of educational rockart discovered in May 2010, possibly 40,000 years old, at the Nawarla Gabarnmung site in the Northern Territory that compares the size, beak and bill shape accurately between the modern emu (right) and the extinct giant genyornis (left).

Those details can be confirmed by the numerous samples we have of the extinct giant herbivore genyornis from the fossil record. Emus uniquly  have feathers with a double plume and a single shaft, whereas, according to Indigenous lore the genyornis, contrary to what might be assumed by the superficial resemblance to an emu, were singular. This is logical given that we now know the species existed and it's closest living relatives are waterfowl not emus. Rupert Gerritsen has postulated a longer period of survival for this species in temperate south-west Victoria in his 2011book Beyond the Frontier: Explorations in Ethnohistory.


A fascinating letter or opinion piece written into Australian Geographic many years ago, one that I am still trying to retrack down, had a fascinating article about an Aboriginal story about a Wonambi or Wagyl, a rainbow serpent. There are many varying myths about giant rainbow serpents creating features in the landscape across Australia, while others are more naturalistic cautionary tales of those eaten by giant snakes that dwelt in springs and billabongs. Interesting several species of large prehistoric pythons are known from fossils in Australia and have been given the genus Wonambi, elsewhere in the world their closest relitives died out 55 million years ago, but in Australia they clung on until they became extinct some 50,000 years ago - making for the tantalising possibility that Australia's indigenous people did indeed encounter such creatures, and some notion of this surviving in their oral history down to today. That article in an Australian Geographic contained a Dreamtime myth of a woman who was killed by a wonambi after attempting to steal it's eggs. If there is some truth in the tale, then we can learn some things from myths that would otherwise be unknowable, in this case we can see some signs of parental care for the snake's nest. Of course we cannot know this for a fact, but it is an insight we may not have even considered before otherwise. The article finishes with the question, what colour was a wonambi? Well brown and yellow of course, as this too is recorded in the myth.


An artists impression of the Wonambi naracoortensis.

Interestingly, even Thylacoleo the marsupial lion as discussed and this website below in regards to some interesting rock art. We can see the colour, patterning and texture of the animal's fur from several sites across Arnhem land, that begin to build up a consistent picture for us of what the animals looked like, even showing the large bristles on the back - all fascinating details preserved by people that had seen and even hunted such animals thousands of years ago before they became extinct. We even get a few suggestions of it's possible hunting behaviour in these scenes.
http://austhrutime.com/marsupial_lions.htm

For much more on this fascinating topic and additional resources see:
http://austhrutime.com/megafauna_dreamtime.htm

Starting My Ph.D

Over the past few weeks I have undertaken the daunting but exciting task of commencing research for my Ph.D. My thesis topic is about the dissemination of chariots and chariot technology between cultures  in the Ancient Near East, and beyond into surrounding regions such as the Aegean and Transcaucasia, in the Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. It is an exciting work in progress and follows on from my earlier Honours thesis on the development of early chariots and their use in ancient warfare. I've been very busy but having a great time and feel there is a real welcoming and supportive Academic and postgrad community. As I'm settling in, here is some photos of my nice surrounds where I study in castle (looking)  Old Quad building (the international 8 hour work day started after strikes on the construction of this beautiful gargoyle-adorned sandstone building commenced in 1856) at the University of Melbourne.

Here are some images of some decorating we did in the office.

And when I look up, I have a lovely dome to ngaze towards the heavens - except it's been blue tacked up there.





The mighty clock tower of the Old Arts building, where I have my  coursework units.


And some of the views from within the castle of Old Quad.

Digging up Daleks.

This was a really unusual find recently, perhaps one of the most unusual yet. And better still, it is not a hoax - it really happened! While dredging rubbish from a lake in Hampshire, UK, volunteers uncovered a dalek. Yes that is right, I did say a DALEK as in the villains from the popular science fiction television series. While it is still a mystery why this dalek suit ended up in the lake it may have something to do with Dr Who episodes filmed in the area in the 1980s by the BBC.

Have a look at this amazing picture of the dalek being brought to the surface from the mud and moss

http://digventures.com/2014/03/25/digging-up-daleks-ex-cav-ate-ex-cav-ate/