Al-Andalus presentation

This is the presentation about A-Andalus. Pay attention to it, because it includes some additional  information I didn't include on the notes, like the data about the Marinids and the role of Al-Andalus as centre of transmission of the culture of Antiquity and the Middle and Far East. 

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY (Cristina)

Hi everyone! These are my projects about unit 1.

The Paleolithic site I have choosen is Minateda, it's a very interesting site here in Spain and in my opinion it has a lot of remains. It's in a town from Albacete, it's one of the five archaeological parks of Castilla-La Mancha and one of the best examples of Visigothic urban planning.

The Neolithich site I have choosen is Huerta Montero, this one is in a town from Badajoz.

Then, I have made a presentation with short biographies about Gargoris, Habis, Argathonios and Hamilcar Barca.

Finally, here there are some recent discoveries about Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula.

The project that I most enjoyed is the one about the discoveries because I found it interesting, how we can still discovering new thing about periods which are so far from us. 

I also think that it has to be very beautifull see the summer solstice in Huerta Montero.

And I find the story about Gargoris and Habis kind of funny, but I'm not so sure about its truthfulness.

That's all, bye! 

Projects about Prehistory (Mónica)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are " El Castillo Cave and "Pla de Petrarcos Cave". I've also made a google map about the colonization of the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, as everybody, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

This is the presentation about El Castillo Cave, I wrote a short location, a description and some features and I put some photos and explanation. With this project I have learned a lot about this interestic cave, which I don´t know before I done the project.

This is the presentation of Pla de Petrarcos, in which I wrote similar things like in the other one. For me is very interesting the last photo, which is about the women figure and the figure of the deer.

This is the presentation of the most recent discoveries abour Prehistory.  This is the most interesting project for me, because is related with actual news.

And for the end, this is my google map, about the colonization of the Iberian Peninsula.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zN-3HMHog2Lk.kOvfwgEjkaQc

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY (ROXANA)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Cova de l'Aranya and Bòbila Madurell. I have made a presentation about the biographies of Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca too and, eventually, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

  "

 Cova de l'Aranya is a prehistoric site famous for its Levantine cave art. It holds the "Man of Bicorp", a painting depicting a figure that it is gathering honey.

   

 Bòbila Madurel is a Neolithic site famous because it hosts a necropolis, part of the pit grave culture, with many grave goods. Moreover, recently six Sardinian obsidian have been found at Neolithic sites in the Iberian Peninsula.

   

 This presentation includes the biographies of four important figures of the Iberian Peninsula in the Ancient Era: Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

   

Recently, new discoveries have been found in Atapuerca, where more fossils have been discovered, Gorham's Cave, where there is an engrave made by Neanderthals, and Toledo, where a Neolithic vessel have appeared. 

 The projects I have most enjoyed are those about the Prehistoric caves, because I like searching about how people in Ancient Era lived, about their lifestyle and their customs. On the other hand, I like doing the project about the most recent descoveries about Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula too, because I love hearing about all the new findings are discovered every day and the information they provide to human knowledge.

AN INTERESTIG VIDEO TO THINK ABOUT

While I was seeing a video about the Mith of the Cave (Mito de la Caverna), Platón,  I saw this interesting film about education and the educational systems that the States institute in the schools.

I think that this video is a good way to start thinking about what is neccessary to change!

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY (GEMA)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Cova Negra and Bats Cave. 

I've also made a presentation about the biographies of Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca, that for me, it was the most interesting progect.

And finally, I've done a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

Cova Negra is the most important archaeological site in the Middle Paleolithic in  the Valencian Community.
In this area of ​​Mandúver, the archaeological sites are important and will help us study human evolution in Europe 300,000 years ago.

Archaeologically known in Europe, is one of the most important Neolithic sites in Andalusia and the first Upper Paleolithic art found in this community.

In this presentation, I have explained the most interesting things about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

In this presentation, I have explained a little of the most recently discoveries of prehistory era in our peninsula, like discovey of a vessel in Toledo, summer 2014 in Atapuerca and discoveries about Neanderthals in Gorham's Cave.

The most interesting project for me, have been the one about the tartessos's biographies, because I think that they culture was so misterious, and we know only a bit of them. Probably if the archaeologists continue to investigate in it, in a near future we will know more about them. 

So, I hope you enjoy with my projects!Have a nice weekend and I see you on Monday :)

Bye Bye!!  :)  :)  :) 

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Bones Pit and Cova de la Sarsa. I've also made a presentation about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca. Finally, as everybody, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

Bones Pit is placed in Atapuerca. It's an archeological site where we have found the most ancient hominids in the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of the most important archeological sites all over the world.

Archeological site which belongs to Early Neolithic. It is not far from Valencia. It should be noted that paleoanthropologists found some corpses there, one of them with a trepanation in the skull.

In this presentation, I have explained the most interesting things about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca, four important figures of Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula. 

In 2014, paleoanthropologists have made new discoveries in Atapuerca, Gorham's Cave and in Toledo. In Atapuerca they have found more fossils, in Gorham's Cave a design made by Neanderthals and they have also discovered a Neolithic vessel near Toledo.

The most interesting parts for me are the developed trade of Tartessos because it's incredible how people with very few resources could cross the Mediterranean Sea to exchange materials, Bones Pit, especially "Miguelón", because it contains the most important accumulation of hominids' fossils in the world, and finally the new discovery in Gorham's Cave because it tells us that Neanthertals weren't as stupid as we thought.

Bye!

Projects Unit 1

Hello everyone!
Here are my projects about unit 1 "Historical Roots of Contemporary Spain"

This is a project about a Paleolithic Site, I have chosen Elephant Pit, you can find it in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril, located in La Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain.

This one is also about a site, but It is about a Neolithic Site, I have chosen Nerja Cave, located in Málaga, Spain.

In this task I summarize the last discoveries from Prehistory that were found in the Iberian Peninsula.

This last project is about a short biography of some important kings and people from the Metal Ages Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, they are Gargoris, Habis, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

The most interestig pojects for me have been the one about a Paleolithic site (the first one), and the one that tells about the last discoveries from Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula (the third one).

I enjoyed the first one because while I was looking for  information about it, I discovered that paleontologists have sometimes a very hard work, because they have to rebuild each part they find piece by piece, and sometimes it takes a long period of time (over 20 years).

I enjoyed also the third one because I have discovered that nowadays there are still undiscovered objects from ancient periods in the Iberian Peninsula, and I have  also learnt that it is very important to invest money in archaeological investigations.

You will enjoy them! And sorry for my grammar mistakes!

See you in class on Monday! ;)

Presentation of the Visigothic Kingdom

Here you have the corresponding presentation to this part of the unit:

    

Quotes from the Roman Empire

Source: http://www.celebquote.com/11986

Here you have some quotes by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Apart from his political career, he was an outstanding stoic philosopher and wrote a book with his thoughts called Meditations. A good reading to learn from our ancestors the Romans.

Source: http://marcusaureliusquotes.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/if-you-are-distressed-marcus-aurelius.html

Source: http://meetville.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/page1

 Source: http://www.pinterest.com/aikolactaotao/philosophy/

Source: http://www.quotesvalley.com/everything-we-hear-is-an-opinion-not-a-fact-everything-we-see-is-a-perspective-not-the-truth-38/

If you want to read Marcus Aurelius Meditations, here you have two links to his book. Its text is in the public domain:

- In English:

http://www.imperivm.org/cont/textos/txt/marco-aurelio_meditaciones.html

- In Spanish:

http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html

Some news from Roman Hispania

The following are some recent news related to the Roman presence in the Iberian Peninsula:

- The first piece of news is very sad in my opinion, because it explains the serious deterioration the Roman remains of Acinipo, located 20 kilometers from Ronda (Málaga). The lack of investments to preserve this remains has put the site at risk

Source: http://agendaverde.info/?page_id=756

More information: 

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2014/10/08/rondas-roman-ruins-future-in-jeopardy-says-spanish-heritage-group/

- The second report is about the remains of the Roman dam in Consabura (present day Consuegra). A group of archeologists has started exploring the remains of this dam and they think they have located one of the intake towers. This dam was one of the biggest the Romans built in Europe and it had the largest wall in Hispania, 700 meters long. The dam was built on River Amarguillo and it completely changed this dry area, because it allowed the development of irrigation agriculture.

http://www.abc.es/toledo/20140919/abcp-inician-sondeos-arqueologicos-presa-20140919.html

Source: http://paseandoydescubriendo.blogspot.com.es/p/presas-puentes-romanos.html

Here you have a drawing to understand the concept of intake tower (torre acuaria in Spanish):

Source: http://www.ideers.bris.ac.uk/glossary/gloss_intaketower.html

And this is a link in English with collects all the information about the Roman dams in Hispania: 

http://www.traianvs.net/textos/presas_in.htm

- A recent research has confirmed that the bust of Emperor Augustus found in the Roman city of Pollentia (Balearic Islands) in the 16th century was sculpted in the 1st century AD. This means that this statue of the first Roman emperor is the oldest imperial statue located in Hispania.The government of the Balearic Islands has decided to acknowledge the statue National Historic Interest, in order to avoid that Augustus bust being sold at auction in New York. 

Source: http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticias/cultura/2014/134648/informe-senala-busto-augusto-pieza-romana-fundamental.html

- The last piece of news is related to the use of the imperial past of Rome to extol dictatorships. In 1937 Fascist Italy celebrated the second millenary of the birth of Emperor Augustus and dictator Benito Mussolini gave a lot of copies of the statues of this emperor as present to his friends. Mussolini liked to compare himself with Augustus and promoted the idea that under his rule Italy was recovering the splendour of the Roman Empire. When the Civil War ended, Spain received a lot of copies of statues of the Roman emperors. Most of them were statues of Augustus, but there were also other statues of emperors linked with ancient Hispania. The falangists were particularly interested in comparing the rise of the Roman Empire and the Hispanic Empire of the Modern Era and there were frequent comparisions between Franco and Emperor Augustus. In their opinion, the "caudillo" had won the war and brought peace, as Augustus had done in the Roman Empire. That's the reason why you can find many statues of Roman emperors in different cities in Spain. Here you have a picture of the copy of Prima Porta Augustus  statue in Zaragoza

 Source: https://es.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/arte-secreto/la-estatua-de-augusto-que-mussolini-regal%C3%B3-a-zaragoza-210001156.html

Some videos about the Roman Empire and Hispania

These are some interesting videos about the Roman Empire and romanization:

- The fisrt one includes an animated map where you can watch the evolution of the Roman Empire throughout time:

- This one is the video we were watching in class last Friday. It's called The Ancient Roman Empitre in the West and includes the effects of romanization in Gaul and Hispania

-This is a link to a Youtube channel called Ruta Bética Romana. They have a lot of videos in Spanish about the Roman presence in the Baetica province. You can learn a lot from all the Andalusian cities  in Roman times: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnVYUmPpWYIVDDYW8ods6A


- And finally a video in Spanish about how to make garum, the sauce the Romans loved:

Some interesting documentaries about prehistoric sites in Spain

Here you will find the link to some short documentaries from a TVE series called El túnel del tiempo, broadcasted on La 2 program La Aventura del Saber. They are very didactic and if you're interested, you can learn more about some of the most important archeological sites from different periods of the Pehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. I can't embed the videos, beacuse the website doesn't allow me to do it. 

http://www.rtve.es/television/la-aventura-del-saber/documentales/el-tunel-del-tiempo/

- LA DRAGA: Neolithic site in Extremadura. 

- LOS MILLARES: Chalcolithic site in Almería

Ruins of Los Millares

Source: http://www.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/NOTICIAS/Recreacion_de_los_Millares.htm

- CASTRO DE LAS COGOTAS: Metal Ages site in Ávila

- MINAS DE GAVÀ: the oldest mines in Europe. Archeological site of the Metal Ages

- LAS ERAS DEL ALCÁZAR: Metal Ages site in Úbeda

- L' ILLETA DELS BANYETS: Broze Age site located on a small penisula in El Campello (Alicante)

L´Illeta dels Banyets

Source: http://www.marqalicante.com/Paginas/es/Illeta-dels-banyets-P21-M2.html

- HUMANEJOS: Neolithic site in Parla (Madrid)

- LA SARGA: Epipaleolithic site in Jijona, Alicante.

Recent news about Prehistory

To end with Prehistory, here you have some recent news:

- Some recent studies about cave paintings found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have confirmed that they are older than the ones found in Europe. Up to this moment, the Upper Paleolithic French-Cantabrian cave paintings were considered to be the oldest, with an antiquity of around 30,000. The oldest painting in Europe is a rhino found in Chauvet Cave, dated to 32,400 years. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_rhinoceros

The cave paintings in Sulawesi include a babirusa (pig-deer) dated to 35,400 years and another animal, similar to a pig, dated to 35,700 years: 

Babirusa painting

Source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2014/10/08/ancient-indonesian-cave-paintings-force-rethink-of-arts-origin/

But there are still older paintings in Sulawesi, representing  stencils of hands, dating to 39,900 years. The oldest stencils of hands in Europe have been found in El Castillo Cave, in Cantabria, and they date to 37,300 years. 

Stencils of hands in El Castillo Cave

Source: http://trabajamosjuntosunete.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/las-pinturas-de-altamira-las-mas.html

The only record Europe still holds is a red disc painted on the ceiling of El Castillo Cave, dating to 40,800 years.

Here you have a short video from Nature magazine about Sulawesi paintings:

 

And this is an article from Scientific American magazine: 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2014/10/08/ancient-indonesian-cave-paintings-force-rethink-of-arts-origin/

- A film called El Maestro de Altamira is being shot in Altamira Cave. It's a documentary that will tell the story of the discovery of the paintings and explain the main theories about their meaning. It will be directed by  José Luis  López Linares and his crowd has been allowed to film inside the cave for six alternative days. The filming is something extraordinary, because Altamira has been closed since 2002 to preserve the cave from pollution. Last year the cave was reopened to the visits, but they are limited to 5 persons per week. Experts are studying the impact of these visits and the resukts of their research will be used to decide to reopen the cave to the public or keep it closed. 

Here you have a documentary bout Altamira showed on the program Crónicas on La 2 some weeks ago: 

Altamira, la importancia del original

A LITTLE BIT MORE OF PREHISTORY - The Railway Trench, an important part of Atapuerca's site

Aereal view of the Railway trench.

The Railway Trench is located in Atapuerca’s mountain range (Burgos, Spain), opposite to the Compressor’s cave (cueva del Compresor).

The Railway Trench is one kilometre long and it is full of human and animal remains that are distributed in three sites:

  1-Gran Dolina

  2-Gallery

  3-Elephant's pit

  4-Entrance (Acceso al recinto)

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT- THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING THERE:

-Richard Preece discovered by chance in 1895 the most important site when his mineral company built the railway that was going to connect the Atapuerca’s mountain range with the line Burgos-Bilbao.

-During the Spanish Civil War there was a huge lack of interest for continuing digging there, and the trench was changed into a quarry.

- In 1964, Francisco Jordá (1914-2004) started the firs excavations there until the 70s and 80s, when Emilio Aguirre continued with it. Aguirre was the one who established the points for an investigation in Atapuerca and with him the first project started.

Francisco Jordá

-After Aguirre, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Eudald Carbonell and José María Bermúdez de Castro continued with the study in the site and they discovered the most important things and objects there.

The three scientists

-In the last years some new remains were found and nowadays there are still some expeditions. 

Radio interview from Atapuerca

Source: http://www.efefuturo.com/entrevista/601/

Here you have a very interesting interview to José María Bermúdez de Castro, one of the three directors of the excavations in Atapuerca and expert paleonthologist dedicated to the study of teeth. It was broadcasted last Thursday on RNE. Bermúdez de Castro explains the history of the site, how they work, the importance of this extraordinary site and the most recent discoveries they have made. You can use it for the last project about Prehistory.

Entrevista: Jose María Bermúdez de Castro - 02/10/14

Roman Hispania presentation

This is the presentation about Roman Hispania. Here you will find all the information you need to know about the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and romanization.