Classical Archaeology, Egyptology, and Crazy Science Stuff I Bet Rodney McKay Would Totally Know
ETA links on why anyone cares about Hatshepsut's mummy. She was an amazing woman, to be sure. Here's this and this, too. And because that first link does not clarify the revised New Kingdom timeline, here's this and this.
Despite Mason's attempts to convince me that he is clearly perishing from lack of treats, I'm afraid he's not quite as convincing as he could be. I've spoiled him so much over the last couple of weeks, he now immediately starts licking his lips in anticipation of a treat as soon as he sees me walk toward him. *g* That's hilarious.
Thanks for the fb on the Science Porn series. I'll start converting the slides into .jpegs and type up the notes this week. I hope to post the first LJ-friendly presentation next weekend.
Fake statues unmasked with X-rays
Oh, hot diggity damn. Another new use for X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that will permit non-invasive means of identifying fake and forged artifacts. Nice.
Here's a fun, interactive XRD tutorial that will explain much on X-ray methods in general and XRD in particular. It takes you through the math and the physics, and even has a handy little glossary of Teh Sexy Science terms. I'm pretty sure you can actually get smarter just by pressing your head against the monitor with this site up -- give that a try and let me know how it works out for you.
Oh, christ. And it covers Bragg's Law, too. Hee. Obviously, I will never escape Bragg's Law, no matter how far I run. Bragg's Law is an incredibly simple derivation that describes the geometry of diffraction. It's pretty cool neep, to be honest, and it could easily make for fine info for any snarky-ass scientist dealing with alien technology (ahem) to know. I'm just sayin', is all.
If you're into Fourier transforms and more advanced diffraction physics, here's a more sophisticated tutorial, complete with atomic structure simulations. I've been playing with it for the last half-hour. Awesome. It definitely helps to be comfy with this sort of subject but I don't think it should be entirely unknowable to someone without a background in traumatic math and science classes. At the very least, you could do screen caps for making some awesome story art and icons.
In part, I overshare on this topic because I've also found a fine example of where just such a method might come in handy:
Egyptian statue in forgery claim
I'll be keeping an eye out for subsequent developments. I want to know by what means of analysis they determine whether this statue is authentic or not. And speaking of statues....
Statue reveals Roman lady with her make-up still on
How cool is this? Eeee! This is the first time such a find has ever been discovered. Unlike the assumptions that Romans used the same bright colors the Greeks did, "the colouring on the head is a delicate shade of orange-red, which, although faded, indicates that classical colouring was subtle and sophisticated." Sweet!
Also? This statue was found at the ruins of the once-posh Roman resort Herculaneum, which was destroyed at the same time as Pompeii by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The thing is, whereas Pompeii was buried in ash, Herculaneum was buried in lava. Nonetheless, it's still a wicked cool archaeological site.
Here's a tiny but vocab-helpful site I just found on the architecture at Herculaneum and related photos from a totally different site that actually give visuals for the structures described in the first site. Coolness. Oh, and I'm including this link that I've kept up with for ages just because the very fact that this site exists and neeps on ancient plumbing always makes me happy.
I've also updated the following:
four new Egyptology links, including one on an ancient brewery discovery that lead to another on the discovery of pre-dynastic wooden artifacts, and another Parthenon restoration link.
Whew. That's plenty for now, I think. Enjoy!
Despite Mason's attempts to convince me that he is clearly perishing from lack of treats, I'm afraid he's not quite as convincing as he could be. I've spoiled him so much over the last couple of weeks, he now immediately starts licking his lips in anticipation of a treat as soon as he sees me walk toward him. *g* That's hilarious.
Thanks for the fb on the Science Porn series. I'll start converting the slides into .jpegs and type up the notes this week. I hope to post the first LJ-friendly presentation next weekend.
Fake statues unmasked with X-rays
Oh, hot diggity damn. Another new use for X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that will permit non-invasive means of identifying fake and forged artifacts. Nice.
Here's a fun, interactive XRD tutorial that will explain much on X-ray methods in general and XRD in particular. It takes you through the math and the physics, and even has a handy little glossary of Teh Sexy Science terms. I'm pretty sure you can actually get smarter just by pressing your head against the monitor with this site up -- give that a try and let me know how it works out for you.
Oh, christ. And it covers Bragg's Law, too. Hee. Obviously, I will never escape Bragg's Law, no matter how far I run. Bragg's Law is an incredibly simple derivation that describes the geometry of diffraction. It's pretty cool neep, to be honest, and it could easily make for fine info for any snarky-ass scientist dealing with alien technology (ahem) to know. I'm just sayin', is all.
If you're into Fourier transforms and more advanced diffraction physics, here's a more sophisticated tutorial, complete with atomic structure simulations. I've been playing with it for the last half-hour. Awesome. It definitely helps to be comfy with this sort of subject but I don't think it should be entirely unknowable to someone without a background in traumatic math and science classes. At the very least, you could do screen caps for making some awesome story art and icons.
In part, I overshare on this topic because I've also found a fine example of where just such a method might come in handy:
Egyptian statue in forgery claim
I'll be keeping an eye out for subsequent developments. I want to know by what means of analysis they determine whether this statue is authentic or not. And speaking of statues....
Statue reveals Roman lady with her make-up still on
How cool is this? Eeee! This is the first time such a find has ever been discovered. Unlike the assumptions that Romans used the same bright colors the Greeks did, "the colouring on the head is a delicate shade of orange-red, which, although faded, indicates that classical colouring was subtle and sophisticated." Sweet!
Also? This statue was found at the ruins of the once-posh Roman resort Herculaneum, which was destroyed at the same time as Pompeii by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The thing is, whereas Pompeii was buried in ash, Herculaneum was buried in lava. Nonetheless, it's still a wicked cool archaeological site.
Here's a tiny but vocab-helpful site I just found on the architecture at Herculaneum and related photos from a totally different site that actually give visuals for the structures described in the first site. Coolness. Oh, and I'm including this link that I've kept up with for ages just because the very fact that this site exists and neeps on ancient plumbing always makes me happy.
I've also updated the following:
four new Egyptology links, including one on an ancient brewery discovery that lead to another on the discovery of pre-dynastic wooden artifacts, and another Parthenon restoration link.
Whew. That's plenty for now, I think. Enjoy!