Chinese Jade Carving

 Jade Carving: Jade is semipreacious gem stones which are cut and polished to be then turned into decortative objects, like small statues and jewerly.

Here is a jade carving. It is a mythological tortoise made from nephrite jade. It has some brown colors to it. The texture appears to be very smooth and solid. It almost gives off a wet shine to it, because it is so polished.

 

Jade was very important to the Ancient Chinese. It aided the conforting belief of magic powers. Jade played a great role in the higher society of China. The emperors were buried in it and sometimes even covered in it, like the jade suits which were worn by a prince and his wife in their burial tombs. It was thought as a powerful gemstone that could protect the body from decomposing.  

These are Slit rings(Jue). They could be considered jade earrings. It was an ornament to be worn, probably of the weathly.

Jade was mostly made for decorative uses instead of functunal purposes. Though, jade was involved with  ritual ceremonies, burial ceremonies, and vessals. Jade was made into a variety of animals, like this one. It is of a bat. 

It is a nephrite jade amber colored pendant from the Han dynasty. The form almost looks symmetrical. This bat pendants appears very stylized.

A video I watched explained the difference of real jade to imitators. When jade is close to the light it is almost transparent. So if it has air bubbles then it is probably plastic and marble is too opaque. Here is the video it does not have great quality:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUPZ__HpNRE&feature=related

I searched for awhile on youtube for a video which demonstrated how to carve jade in the old tradiontal style. Here is a great informative video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1oO1kbtt4s

Here are few websites: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/asia/chinese_jade/chinese_jade.aspx

http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/Exhibitions/chineseJadeExhibit_Jade.html

A Stepwell in India and Devi

In one of the Archaeology magazines I read about the Ritual wells of ancient India. I learned vavs are stepwells which have stairs leading to the water located at the bottom. So after desending a few levels of stairs you are rewarded with water. Possibly they were meant to have group gatherings and to socialize. Though mostly the purpose was for retrieving water. It was directed towards women, because they were to be the ones who had to collect the water. A famous vav in Gujarati is the Rani Ki Vav(Queen Stepwell). It had orignially seven levels but only five of the levels exist now. It is decorated in reliefs that depict the attendents of Vishnu and Shiva. The Rani Ki Vav is a place to calm down and pray to Devi, who is the mother-goddess. I guess it makes sense that they would pray to her, because the women are the water collectors.

Here is a part of the Rani Ki Vav. There is so much movement and patterns crammed into these reliefs.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2011/mother-india-the-goddess-in-indian-painting

From EBSCOhost I learned a little about The Mother-Goddess. Devi is a Hindu goddess and is considered The Great Goddess Devi. She is best known to Hindus as of holding all of the essense of womanhood. Though, she is an assortment of many personalities. She is a mother, a lover, a holder of wisdom, and a warrior. She is an extremly strong warrior who had destroyed a buffalo demon in one of her stories. She did that while riding a tiger and she had eighteen arms. It is interesting that there are so many characters in bizare stories from different cultures. People could  believe in the tales either literally or figuratively.

A video showcasing Rani Ki Vav: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnsjyu2Bl0

Works citied:

Hathaway, Bruce. "The Great Goddess Devi." Smithsonian 30.3 (1999): 114. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Sept. 2012.

 

Patel, Samir S. "India's Underground Water Temples." Archaeology Magazine. Archaeological Institute of America. May/June 2011. Print.

Indus Valley Civilization

The video was a little strange, but it demonstrated all the people of the Indus Valley working together. They helped each other lift heavy supplies up the buildings. It was interesting that they had a city market with vases. The vases were decorative and had markings going around the center of the vases, which gave directional force. I wished the video had someone speaking to the viewer. I would feel more comfortable knowing what exactly I am looking at, though we did go over a few things in class already. I wonder what the insides of the buildings look like. I forgot if the people live only on top of the buildings or if there are rooms inside of them. I checked out a few images of the Indus Valley vases and here to the left is one of them.

The Process of Egypt's Mummification

The process of Egyptian mummification was to preserve the body for its next adventure, the after life. All of the internal organs were removed first. The ancient Egyptians used metal knives like copper and bronze.Through the nostrils the brains were taken out with metal hooks. The brain was thought as unimportant and had served no purpose in their life, so it was tossed out. Though four organs were important to the ancient Egyptians and were crammed in canopic jars. The jars represented the four sons of Horus and they were, Imseti, Duamutef, Hapi, and Qebsenuef. The Imseti jar stored the liver and the Duamutef which is the famous jackal, contained the stomach. The other two, Hapi the baboon held the lungs and Qebsenuef the falcon kept the intestines.
The abdomen would be removed from the body. After removing it, the giant hole from the missing abdomen is then washed with palm wine and grinded spices. Later the hole is filled with many things like crushed myrrh. When the body is stuffed it is then sewn up and put in natron, which is like salt. Natron was a mixture of chemicals with sodium and was found in salt fields in Wadi Natrun. The natron would set on the body for many days, possibly more than fifty days. The natron was used to dry out the body's moisture. When you got a dry mummy you oil it up. They used perfume and plant oil to rub over the mummy's body. Then they would apply a thick glue of restine. The linen wrappings would cover the entire mummy to head to toe. Sometimes if the mummy was lucky he/she would get tresures wrapped inside its wrappings. The linen decorated mummy would be placed on a board to be wrapped again.
Depending on the person the mummy could get a golden coffin or be painted on its mummy wrappings. Some mummys even get a painted portrait and most probably got robbed.

      

Memphis, Ancient Thebes and its Necropolis with Egyptian Mummification

Memphis and its Necropolis: How did the Egyptians make the sand drainer under the pyramid? Why were the pyramids created and what exactly do they represent? I thought it was funny in the video when they said the writing tablet had recorded a laborer absent because of a hang over.

Ancient Thebes and its Necropolis: It is a shame that most of the artifacts in the Valley of the King were already gone or stolen. Though, its incredible they foung King Tutankhamen. I looked up what Corn flowers looked like, because in the video they had mentioned them. The Corn flowers were in King Tutankhamen's tomb and were said to have looked more beautiful than the golden treasures.

Egyptian Mummification: Why was the mummy's heart removed? Why was he speical? His wrappings were painted red and gold. He also had characters on his wrappings. On his feet they wrote in Greek and I wonder why they did that. His portrait must have been painted while he was still alive, that would be a strange experience. Though maybe a way for a person to accept their death while living.

Research Assignments

Archaeology Magazine: Ancient India, India's underground water temples. Pg36-39 May/June 2011 volume 64 #3
Media: China, carving jade.
Religion: Zoroastrianism from Ancient Persia.

Three artifacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur

 A Necklace from the royal tomb of ur. Media : beads made of agate and probably gold. Dimensions: some beads are two inches and the bead wall is about a millimeter thick. Technique: The stones were formed into bead and a drill like tools  made a hole in each.

 

A cylinder seal titled as the banquet scene. Media: clay and lapis stone. Dimensions: 2" high. Technique: the cylinder seal rolled onto clay. 

 Gold vessels. Media: gold. Dimensions: 15.2cm. Technique: Hammered from inside and out.

 

Royal Tombs of Ur

I wonder if the 73 bodies that were found in the death pit was a mass suicide or a massacure.
Did the color blue represent any other symbol than royalty? Were animals their gods? Under the golden bull there was a panel with animal humans telling a story maybe of importance. The gold head-dress and beaded necklace were remarkably preserved. It seemed like most of the beads were in tack. Those items were filled with so many tiny details it would be amazing to see some one wear them. And I never thought eye make up could be a way of sun protection.