Erkki Huhtamo's Moving Media Archaeology

I can remember as a child watching 42nd Street with my father and dancing around to Meet Me In St Louis. I can also remember those nutty Alfalfa kids, Shirley Temple, and those silent movies of the 20's, where strings of film would be strung together to create these moving images, that even today, surprise us by their innovative nature, and comical ambiance.



This is just what Erkki Huhtamo's Moving Media Archaeology's is about. Images on paper strips blur into moving sequences as DESMA Professor Erkki Huhtamo spins a zoetrope from 1870 and peeks through the slits on the side of the metal wheel.



This device is just one of thousands that make up Professor Huhtamo's collection of antique optical viewing devices. From myriopticons to magic lanterns, Professor Huhtamo's collection tells the story of media culture and preserves the history of the moving image.

Erkki Huhtamo's collection extends back more than 800 years ago, and covers all of the early devices used before silect cinema. He first started buying his trinkets from flea markets and antique markets, and he often frequented film festivals, bringing back heavy packs of film history.

These are just some of Erkki Huhtamo's favorite media archaeology contraptions........

Zoetrope

This device is dated to around 1870, the time when these devices were first introduced to the market. A strip of paper with an image was placed inside and then you would spin the drum. You would watch through the slits and the image would appear to be moving.

Mutoscope

This device is from 1897 and it allowed people to really get an good idea about how movie images could be transported to a smaller screen. This device respresents small beginnings for peak media.

Kinetoscope

The concept for the Kinetoscope was first described in 1888 by Thomas Edison, however the device was further developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. This Kinetoscope was created by Edison in 1903. What's special about this device is that it's hand cracked. The movie starts when you turn the handle.

Erkki Huhtamo is making sure that we don't lose track of these unique historical documents by storing them properly. He's also encouraging students at UCLA to question their relationships with their devices and asking why they were constructed in this way to begin with.

Speed Archaeology: Now This Is How It’s Done

How did I ever miss this humorous rendition of speed archaeology. It’s not the video you are use to seeing by Eddie Izzard. This is Eddie in the actual field watching archaeology is all its glory, SLOW.



 There is a grand archaeological surprise at the end so hang in there.

 Have a Great Week Ancient Diggers!

Eroticism, Eros, and Sex in Pompeii

Imagine, my first video making experience in IMovie is centered around erotic art in Pompeii. I created the project for a Sex and Antiquity class and my goal was to share a side to Pompeii that many people mention in passing, but very few like to talk about the details openly.

This mini documentary is a culmination of sexual artifacts kept in the secret room in the Naples National Archaeological Museum, as well as an explanation of eros and ancient sexual practices.



Warning: This movie contains explicit sexual materials and artifacts.

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Credits

Music

Mary Gunderson

Photos

Mary Harrsch
Wikipedia
The Golden Rule
The Naples Archaeological Museum
scruff monkey (flickr.com/photos/cathalm/)

Documentation

Sacred Texts
Colonel Fanin. The Secret Erotic Paintings: Pictures and Descriptions of Classical Erotic

Harrison Ford Watches Indiana Jones

Believe it or not, Harrison Ford has never sat down and watched himself in the Indiana Jones' movies. For most of us aspiring archaeologists, or those of you that are already living this dream everyday, the Indiana Jones' movies were the reason we went into archaeology.



Just imagine. The first Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, came out in 1981. At that time, Harrison Ford was in his mid 30's. He probably had no idea how his movies would impact archaeologists, and students, who flocked to anthropology and archaeology programs all over the world.

If you haven't seen this video, just take a moment and watch the childlike reactions Harrison Ford has while watching it. This made my day!

PS. He's not really watching Indiana Jones, but playing Uncharted 3, a videogame about an adventure-seeking treasure hunter. He watches in  absolute amazement as if he forgot he is the guy who made being an adventure-seeking treasure hunter cool.

Indiana Jones Gets Animated in Raiders of the Lost Ark

If you're an archaeologist then most likely you're a fan of Indiana Jones. Even if you're not an archaeologist, this animated short film by Jeff Gurwood will keep you glued to your computer screen, as Jones removes a handful of sand before he exchanges the sand bag for the gold idol. The photo below shows a stacked comparison of the scenes, and as you can see, it's hard to tell which one is animated and which is the original.

This animation using HASBRO figures was specially made to mark the film’s thirtieth anniversary of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The movement and expressions are spot on. Gurwood has painstakingly recreated one of my favorite action, adventure movies of all time.


Indyanimation from Jeff Gurwood

To see behind the scenes photos for Indyanimation or other films by Jeff Gurwood check out his Facebook page.

Special thanks to RJ Evans over at Kuriositas for bringing this to my attention.

Origins of Comedy: Poking Fun at Archaeological Mystery Fabrication

I see it all the time on Twitter. People tweeting out that certain channels are perpetuating the so called pseudo archaeological stories and legends that never existed, but they fit their evidence to match what people will always question. Did that even make sense?

Sketch comedy pertaining to archaeology has been around for quite sometime now, and anytime I take the time to enjoy it, I can’t help but smirk. Everything they exaggerate about these channels, the so called unsolved mysteries, is something all archaeologists and historians want say, but just don’t have the nerve to say it.

This video is a “parody of cheap History channel documentaries that promise much in the way of discovery. Probing the "joke" news bulletin and awkward moments.”

I have to say, the beginning caught me off guard a bit. I was waiting for the punch line and it never really came. Be that my opinion, you can be the judge. I do urge any of you with children to refrain from showing to video to them. It had some vulgarities not suitable to a G audience. Of course, they do use construction paper for the news story which clearly represents the childlike and ridiculous presentation of the information.

In any event, take this video with a grain of salt or a sail, as the Phoenicians were the first seafaring jokesters.

A Cursed Tomb and Colin’s Mummy

Color me a happy archaeology student after watching this hilarious sketch on Whose Line is it Anyway. Greg and Ryan are about to open the tomb of the cursed tomb containing Colin’s mummy.

Using complicated tools to open the tomb and a strict scientific approach, the mummy is unleashed. Who knew the Egyptians had cured baldness or that mummies were from Canada!

Just say no to rugs ancient mummy...lol

Have a Happy Thursday Ancient Diggers!

The Wilderness and Scenery of Fossil Springs in Arizona

This video of Fossil Springs in Arizona has a whole Journey to the Center of the Earth vibe. Diving off the rocky cliffs and swimming up and under this amazing geological wonder makes me really appreciate the natural processes of the earth.

Put together by the Traveling Bard, a graduate from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and future archaeologist (so she just told me, how exciting!), you’ll look at Arizona from a entirely new perspective just by watching this.

If you’re not familiar with Fossil Springs Wilderness area in Arizona, you will be after this intimate journey. The wilderness area is located within the Coconino National Forest at the bottom of a steep canyon at the edge of the Colorado Plateau, just south of the Mogollon Rim. The water at Fossil Springs sustains one of the most diverse ecosystems in the state, with more than 30 species of trees set among native desert shrub. It also creates a haven for abundant wildlife.

Image sources

There was too much city in the trees so I took a day-trip up to Fossil Springs and hiked among green forests and crystal-clear creeks. ~The Traveling Bard

Penn State Abington College Professor Dr. Capelotti Creates Trailer For Archaeology Class

It’s your first year of anthropology classes and you’re nervous. You have no idea who to take for classes and the ratemyprofessor reviews are filled with falsified information *smile*.

What if you had another option? If every anthropology professor created a movie trailer for their classes, wouldn’t you be that much more excited about taking them? Well, one Penn State Abington College professor did just that.

“There’s only one name for archaeology!” Dr. Capelotti. Ok, with Indiana Jones subtitles, this is sure to draw a crowd of students for an archaeology class. I say job well done Dr. Capelotti.

Archaeologists Travel to Tubuai in Search of Explorers

About 3000 years ago, the Lapita people traveled from Papua New Guinea to the western islands of the Pacific. Two thousand years ago the Micronesians populated the small islands to the northwest. But it wasn’t until the massive expansion, that peoples in east Polynesia experienced one of the greatest periods of voyaging and discovery.

In 2007 a group of archaeologists traveled to Tubuai, an archaic East Polynesian Island, to discover the remains of some of the greatest explorers in human history. This is what they discovered….

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The Kula Ring Exchange

Hilarious Archaeology Song Improv

This Archaeology song was created at an improv club. The game is called the Pointing Song and the audience has chosen the word “archaeology”.

You’ll either find this incredibly funny or terribly stupid. I mean, when a comedian sings about digging up old poop and loving it, you can’t go wrong..*smile*.

Lost Ships of Rome

Watch the full episode. See more Secrets of the Dead.

Secrets of the Dead: Lost Ships of Rome was a documentary previously shown on PBS. If your area is the Classics or you enjoy marine archaeology, take some time to watch this fascinating show.



Show Highlights:

In 2009 a team of marine archeologists carrying out a sonar survey of the seabed around the remote Italian island of Ventotene made an astonishing discovery. The wrecks of five ancient Roman ships were found in pristine condition, each one fully laden with exotic goods. Remarkably, much of the cargo remained exactly as the ancient Roman crews had loaded it.

Pyramids of Caral in Coastal Peru

In the mist of finals this week, I was assigned a video which documents the discovery and history of the archaeological site of Caral. If you haven't seen it, this is a short synopsis. Caral is located upstream on the coast of Peru.



Situated in the Supe River valley, Caral has a number of large buildings including the temple and circular sunken courts. Most likely there were irrigation canals enabling them to farm the arid lands around the river.



"The inhabitants of Caral, despite living many miles from the ocean, ate an enormous amount of sea food in their diet. They probably traded their agricultural crops for the marine resources obtained by people living in coastal towns and villages. Despite the large buildings and evidence for long-distance exchange in the Preceramic, there are no tombs or even elaborate houses".~Dr. Barber



Caral is unique in that is disproves Carneiro's warfare theory. In fact, no evidence has ever been found indicating warfare sparked the emergence of social complexity at this archaeologysite.



Watch this series about Caral as I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much I did.

An Unexpected Discovery By A Guy That Looks Like Indiana Jones

Whaaaaat?! - An Unexpected Discovery - watch more funny videos

Ok, so it's not a real discovery, but it's a parody of sorts (actually an advertisement), and I know how you like those. This one minute short film chronicles an adventure by one so called archaeologist. As he presses on the Ankh, see what happens. You'll never guess!

Introducing Ancient Digger's Video TellTales Week

I’m come to the conclusion-I do that often-readers want more than just articles. If you’re like me, sometimes reading a thousand word articles can be a drag when you haven’t had you’re morning coffee. Am I right or am I right?

I want to get you involved as much as possible, as my goal is to make Ancient Digger a multimedia site. What better way to see who my readers are then to start accepting travelogues and video showcases of you on location at a historical site.

Sometimes it’s easier to understand a site or aspect of history when it’s described in another fashion by a different person. Consequently, I can’t be all over the world at all times, but all of you are. This means many of you have access to sites, maybe even a couple miles away from your home.
I want to hear you’re perspectives. You don’t have to be experts. You don’t even have to put yourself on film. I do, however, want to hear some commentary.

My goal is to receive seven videos. I would like to run a new video every day for a week once a month.

Along with the video, I would like you to provide me:

• A short bio about yourself
• An introduction for your video
• A link to your own website or blog

You can send this information to ancientdigger@gmail.com.

I can’t accept every video sent to me and I do apologize ahead of time. Remember I only need seven, so the sooner you can get your video sent to me the better. I may choose to use your video for a later date. If that’s the case, I’ll let you know via email.

This is something I’m trying and if it works, I would like to devote one week out of every month for your travel videos. Just remember, although the videos are about travel destinations, I still need to hear the history. Don’t give me a commercial. Make it personal!

Now you’re probably wondering what you get out of this deal. Am I right? If you said no, I thank you for your generosity. However, I would like to give you something back.

I will be devoting a page just for you. My video tour guides. Your name and a link to your site will reside there permanently, divided by month submitted and the name of your video.

For Example:

September 2010

Lauren Axelrod “Natives of Florida”

Rules For Video Submission

• Original work only.
• Video Format needs to be compatible with Vista, Windows 7, and XP. If I can’t upload or embed your video to the site, I can’t use it.
• No profanity in the video. Keep it friendly to all ages.
• Please keep the commentary easy to understand.
• Topic of the video should be about travel, archaeology, anthropology, culture, or history. You know what this site’s about, so stick to the format.
• Length of the video must be no less than 2 minutes and no longer than 10 minutes.
• I encourage you to film the video in English. However, if you'd like to film in your native language, I will need the translation for the video or you can add subtitles to the video itself.
• Please do not submit videos already published to YouTube. I want originals.
• Submit all videos to ancientdigger@gmail.com. In the subject line put "Video TellTales Week Submission".

Helpful Tips and Extras

• If you’d like to include friends in the video or family members, it’s entirely up to you.
• You can use music.
• You can use a rendering service like Animoto to create your video. I use them all the time. In that aspect, they will provide you en embed code. Copy and Paste. Very easy.
• Creativity is encouraged. So if I see you in an Indiana Jones hat with a whip, most likely I’ll love it.
• Videos can be made in Windows Live Movie Maker, Animoto, from a video camera, Webcam, or other video software you may have.

Voting

You are more than welcome to comment on the videos once they are published, however voting will not commence until all seven videos have been posted.

To vote, just sign into the comment system and write vote under your favorite video. You will have until the end of the month to vote and you can only vote once. You can, however, encourage your friends and family to vote and comment.

On the first of the month I will announce the winner.

Rewards

The winner will receive a free Ancient Digger T-shirt, 2 Free months of advertising (banner 125 x 125 or link), and an announcement page with a link back to your site.

For all of my six runner ups, you will still receive a spot on the video tour guide page. Your name, link to your video, and a link to your site will reside there permanently.

Ladies, you can chose a shirt from these pages:

T-shirts
Tank Tops

Gentlemen, you can chose a shirt from these pages:

T-shirts Page 1
T-shirts Page 2

Important Dates:

September 11th Videos Due
September 20th Voting Starts
September 30th Voting Stops
October 1st Winner Is Announced


Please Note: This is an off week for the Monday Ground Up Edition. I'm trying to promote the new Video TellTales Week, so make sure you tell your friends and remember, September 11th will come quite soon.

If you have any further concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to use the contact form.

I'm looking forward to seeing the submissions.

Lauren Axelrod
Owner Ancient Digger

Lost Civilization of Etruri

Etruscan Odyssey: Expanding Archaeology follows Dr. Greg Warden of SMU as he searches for clues about the lost civilization of Etruria.

The Etruscans were not only a highly religious group of individuals, but they excelled in pottery making. They were a great ancient power of the central Mediterranean, and in this video, you'll see exactly what they left behind. Fascinating piece

SVESTARY Thracian Tomb - The Goldens WONDERS of Bulgarian Archaeology

Bulgaria is often overlooked and underrepresented when it comes to its rich heritage. Bulgarian Archaeological Sites are continuously being uncovered, yet many have no idea that these sites will soon fall into the hands of industry, covered by infrastructure and only existent on archived documents.



The Shvestary village is situated in the Sboryanovo Reserve in the north-east of Bulgaria. The Thracian Tomb, dated to 300 BC, was discovered on this territory of an ancient religious centre in 1982. The interior, consisting of three chambers, includes splendid decoration depicting 10 female figures -- caryatids and a polychrome on the walls.

Extensive examinations of the site have focused on the ancient building and art techniques, assessment of the tomb's condition and the selection of the optimum conservation methods. Selected results of these examinations are presented.

The main preservation measure was construction of a permanent air-conditioned protective building over the tomb, securing a controlled environment.The 'minimal intervention' approach was used in the handling of the interior decorations, restricted to cleaning operations and reintegration of the broken fragments. Due to this 'passive' approach the tomb has retained its authentic appearance. So far, the results are positive for the more than twenty years that have passed since the tomb was found.

The Sveshtary Tomb in Sboryanovo Reserve is situated in the north-east of Bulgaria. On this territory there is an ancient religious centre and many Thracian hills with graves and tombs which were organized into a necropolis in the Hellenic period, 300 BC. In this place, the Thracian Tomb has been the most significant discovery of the last 20 years.The tomb is situated in the south east part of the Guinina Mogila. Its outer dimensions are 767cm x 667cm. It consists of a passage (dromos)leading to a building.

In the building there are three chambers: an anteroom, a side chamber and a central tomb chamber). The construction was built of limestone blocks. Three types of limestone were used: a hard, monolithic variety as block stone for structural building work, a medium hard stone for the inner walls and architectural details and reliefs, and a soft, lighter variety for construction of an upper part of the tomb.The interior includes splendid decoration depicting 10 female figures -- caryatids (Figure3).

The central chamber is decorated with a polychrome, a drawn scene on the arched part of the north-west wall. The tomb is a cultural monument which has been placed under the protection of UNESCO.

The Thracian Tomb has survived under the hill mound for 2,300 years. Over the course of time, the fluctuations in temperature and humidity were very slight, and degradation progressed very slowly

Text via bulgad @YouTube

YekPare: A 8500 Year Old Tour of Istanbul

‘YEKPARE’ (monolithic) from nerdworking on Vimeo.

"Yekpare" is a storyteller which narrates the 8500 year story of Istanbul. The story embraces symbols from Pagans to Roman Empire, from Byzantine Empire to Latin Empire, and finally from Ottoman Empire to Istanbul at the present day. The story is projected on the Haydarpaşa Train Station, as history comes alive in artistic expressions. 

Lecture Discussing Life of Saxon Queen Edith At Bristol University

Shot at the Bristol University in June 2010, Dr. Alistair Pike and Professor Harald Meller lecture on the archaeological findings of  Eadgyth (Edith).

It was this tomb that was opened by German archaeologists in 2008, a tomb long expected to be empty...But instead it contained a lead box carrying the inscription "EDIT REGINE CINERES HIC SARCOPHAGVS HABET..."

Read the entire blog post about the Saxon Queen Eadgyth on Heritage Key

ECU Maritime Archaeology survey of the "Oriental"

ECU Maritime Archaeology graduate students have been mapping and documenting the Oriental, a Civil War Federal transport vessel that ran aground and sunk in the waters off Pea Island in 1862. Locally known as the "boiler wreck", the engine of the Oriental can been seen above water some 400 yards off the beach of Pea Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Oriental 1862 (Courtesy of Coastal Guide)

 A Federal transport during the Civil War, the steamship Oriental has been grounded in her present position since 1862. Local rumor has it that some of the area's largest fish make their home in the Oriental's rusty remains. You can sometimes see the exposed boiler and smokestack in the ocean surf off Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Directions: Seven miles south of Oregon Inlet campground, or 30 miles north of Buxton. Park at turnout for Pea Island Comfort Station. Board walk leads to wooden remains which are occassionaly exposed on the beach nearby. A wooden bow is located on the beach 1 mile north.

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