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Welcome to Vol. 3, Issue 2 of The Archaeology Channel Newsletter!
Writing an introduction for TAC Newsletter seems like taking a periodic snapshot from a speeding train. The landscape is vastly different each time and always new. And because the snapshot can cover only a fraction of the panorama, it includes only the key features. So it is with this introduction. When I sat down to write, I worried that we had not made much progress to report, but then I started to make a list of items to cover and I realized that the main limitation is space and time, not topics. I decided that I should focus on the Society for American Archaeology meeting in April, the successful conclusion of another edition of TAC Festival, the arrival of new local volunteers (Marvin Jarvis and Gwen Lowes), and a host of new partnering opportunities to deliver TAC programming on different platforms. The last subject is a principle focus of activity for us now, so maybe we should label this point in time the "Content Distribution Era"! I attended the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Austin, Texas, during April 26-29, where my main task was to roam the Exhibit Hall and talk to a captive audience of Underwriting prospects in the booths. It was a huge hall and I spent three whole days in an effort to speak with someone in each booth. I took notes on about 50 different prospects for underwriting or other forms of partnership during the proceedings and am now working my way through follow-up contacts. I had barely returned to Eugene when we launched the fourth annual edition of The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival, May 1-5, in the Jaqua Concert Hall of The Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene. A big highlight and distinct honor was the presentation of Dr. Louise Leakey from Kenya as our Keynote Speaker. Read on in this edition of TAC Newsletter for details of TAC Festival 2007. And put this on your calendar: TAC Festival 2008 will take place May 20-24, 2008, in the Soreng Theater of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Eugene. A wonderful outcome of TAC Festival 2007 was the addition of two new local volunteers. At the Festival we announced and posted a volunteer sign-up sheet and in the process attracted Marvin Jarvis, a retired law enforcement officer, and Gwendolyn Lowes, Ph.D. candidate in the Linguistics Department at the University of Oregon, to volunteer their services. Marvin now is our latest Office Assistant, spending one day each week in our Eugene office. Gwen is our Organization Liaison, contacting professional and avocational archaeological organizations and inviting them to support us through our Membership Program. Just five days after the conclusion of TAC Festival, on May 10, we received an e-mail message from Vircas, a new company headquartered in Texas, inviting us to partner with them in a new venture, their Vircas Media Center (VMC), to deliver high quality video programming (up to true High Definition quality, or 1080p30) to the world via the Internet. VMC will include many premium video channels that will be enjoyed not only on office computers but also on TVs in living rooms and home media centers worldwide, even without need for a computer! We now are working with Vircus to build our channel, a new clone of TAC, comprising some of the best video programming in the world for our genre. The Vircas video player is the first to demonstrably deliver true Hi-Def video via streaming over conventional Internet connections-we are very excited to be part of this new development. See the last article in this newsletter edition for more details on the VMC project and even a way for our newsletter subscribers to view what has been created thus far. The VMC project seems to be the start of what is developing into a new role for ALI: that of video distributor for our video content partners. In the period from May through July, including VMC, we have added five new partnership prospects for distribution of videos. We are working with Sling Media to create a TAC clone on their planned video portal to be launched as a companion to their new hardware, the Sling Catcher, which will transfer video programs from a computer to TVs in the home. The Fifth Network has asked us to partner with them in an Internet video portal they are launching with Grid Networks. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Cable Television has asked us to supply video content for a TAC-based series to be shown publicly in the Charlotte- Mecklenburg area. Spurred by that development, we now are in discussions with Oregon Public Broadcasting to bring quality video content to the Oregon audience and public TV audiences around the US. All these projects create new venues for us to attract underwriting partners and thereby secure additional revenue. We are moving with all possible diligence to explore and develop these opportunities. In this brave new world of Internet media, we can't be sure just how each of these initiatives will work out, but we feel confident that we are in the right place at the right time. We have great access to the best video content for our genre in the world today, while the development of Internet technology is encouraging the proliferation of Internet media outlets and spurring demand for video content. Any degree of success with these projects will spur more visibility for TAC, move us farther along the path toward financial stability and enhance the pursuit of our public mission to tell the human story. Let's see how things look in the next snapshot. Rick Pettigrew
by Douglas Coffman, ALI Administrative Assistant As a reader of this Newsletter, you may know that The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival premiered back in 2003 as an adjunct to our Web site, The Archaeology Channel. TAC Festival is designed as a way of sharing the human cultural heritage with our growing base of local and regional patrons. Now, with the successful completion of its fourth installment, TAC Festival has further consolidated its place in the cultural life of Eugene, Oregon. There is now every reason to believe that TAC Festival will have a long and increasingly bright future here locally and around the world. We sincerely hope that you managed to attend at least one of this year's screenings-both to catch the international flavor of the event and to savor a bit of its sumptuous film fare. If you did not attend, then I am sorry to say you missed what was, in almost every way, our best celebration of human diversity, culture and environment to date. There's so much to tell! Of course, you're wondering about Dr. Leakey-noted paleoanthropologist and human-origins expert who joined us all the way from Kenya to deliver this year's Keynote Address. We'll get to that, below. First, we want to announce the winners of this year's film competition. The jurors' pick for 2007: Unearthing the Lost Kingdom of Aratta. As those who have seen it can attest, this is an important story, well told, about recently revealed traces of a 5000-year-old civilization on the Iranian Plateau. The discovery challenges the common belief that civilization arose from one location in Mesopotamia. We here at ALI felt that Aratta was a potential winner, which our five-member jury of film experts confirmed. But this year's audience had other ideas. Their pick for best film was Tibet Tibet-- a dazzling tale of one man's quest to find place, meaning and identity in the lofty domain of Tibet. The story literally floats along like gossamer, buoyed by a soundtrack of gamelon bells that percolates through the film's considerable 95 minutes! Fortunately, it managed quite well to hold the audience spellbound. You can see clips of these winners, and the 19 other 2007 Festival films, on the 2007 Festival Web page . (For more about this year's winning films, including a listing of winners in all categories of judging, see "TAC Festival 2007 Announces Winners," elsewhere in this Newsletter.) But TAC Festival brought much more than just the films themselves--there were related events which broadened the Festival's scope, made it more visible in the community, and rounded out the spectator "sport" of film-watching with some hands-on opportunities for festival-goers. This year, the Video Bar was especially popular. There, members of the public viewed films of their choice at individual viewing stations, selecting from among all 86 entries. A modest-sized group attended the Symposium on Heritage Film this year, which made for easy access to the visiting filmmakers. Our distinguished Board member, Esther Stutzman--culture-bearer of the Kommema-Kalapuya Indians--presented stories from her Kalapuya and Coos forbears, including Coyote stories, Origin stories, and stories involving audience participation. Her stories harken back to a time when animals could talk and people could talk to animals. Esther shares her heritage widely through the stories and arts handed down from her ancestors. You can read about Esther and listen to one of her stories on TAC. A field tour to Cascadia Cave--one of the most visually impressive archaeological sites in western Oregon--also featured among this year's Festival doings. This decorated rock shelter, northeast of Eugene, is located along significant indigenous travel routes and provided important cultural functions to tribal groups for at least 8000 years. Here, the largest group of rock art panels in western Oregon remains in excellent condition. Our trip was led by the always entertaining Willamette National Forest archaeologist, Tony Farque. Tony told us about tribal use of the region in antiquity and discussed various interpretations of the rock art we saw. He also described current Forest Service plans for site restoration, protection and interpretation at Cascadia Cave. Our thanks to Tony for providing our festival- goers an unforgettable field experience. With the exception of the field tour, most of the ancillary events at this year's TAC Festival were held at the Eugene Public Library. We thank the City of Eugene, the Eugene Public Library and its accommodating staff for making these public events possible-all at no cost to ALI. Several visiting dignitaries from places near and far further enriched the 2007 Festival. Dr. Kurt Denzer, Director of CINARCHEA International Archaeological Film Festival, served with distinction on our panel of Jurors. Kurt and his wife, Steffi, joined us from Kiel, Germany, the home base of CINARCHEA. Ms. Peng Xiaolian, from Shanghai, China--Director of TAC Festival 2007 entry, Red Persimmons--traveled half way around the earth to be with us. When not enjoying the films herself, Xiaolian and other filmmakers served as presenters at this year's Symposium on Heritage Film. Closer to home, Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm-- producers of TAC Festival 2007 entry, Proving Up and Settling Down-- joined us from Portland, Oregon. Accompanying them was 87-year-old Violet Wilson Shirley--an early settler of Hells Canyon, Oregon, and featured in the film. We give special thanks to Violet and all those who traveled from near and far to enliven TAC Festival 2007. As usual, planning for this year's TAC Festival was not without its difficulties. There was a late change in our main Festival venue, for example. Briefly, complications with our customary venue necessitated a move to new quarters this year: Jaqua Concert Hall, at The Shedd Institute for the Arts. Happy to say, this potential "problem" turned out to be something of a blessing, thanks to the capable staff and management at "The Shedd." This beautifully refurbished old church provided just the sort of architectural character and warmth conducive to an event like ours, while its proximity to downtown lodging and restaurants made Festival attendance an easy pleasure. The folks at The Shedd made short work of the myriad details of planning this complex event and for that we are grateful! In fact, a big part of our success this year relates directly to the availability of this well-liked arts-and-entertainment venue and the speed with which we were able just to move right in. Sincere thanks to all The Shedd staff and management. Our success is also due in large part to generous financial and in-kind support from our many Festival Sponsors. In particular, the City of Eugene, Lane County, Lane County Historical Society and Museum, Oregon Council for the Humanities, Bi-Mart, Umpqua Bank, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, H. Delight Stone, and Jean and Ray Auel spring to mind. We thank them for their generous support Enhanced promotions enabled by our sponsors this year have helped us to establish the Festival in this community, with the result that we have just enjoyed our most consistent audiences to date. Though total attendance numbers were not what we had hoped (and have not yet reached a level where ticket proceeds sustain the Festival), attendance at Festival screenings was certainly respectable. For this, we owe a special debt of gratitude to our media sponsors--in particular, KVAL-TV Channel 13 and our major daily newspaper, The Register-Guard. Both news organizations provided generous matching support which gave our promotional campaign real impact. Obviously, we want to build on this backing, and to further expand our sponsor program in years ahead. All of the above people and entities of business and government helped to make TAC Festival what it is. A full list of 2007 Sponsors can be seen on the 2007 Festival Web page, and we thank each and every one for their generous support A bit road-weary, but with heads full of wonderful sights, sounds and ideas from five days of films and events, Festival staff and audience members gathered Saturday evening, May 5, at Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts ("DIVA") for a final fling--TAC Festival Awards Reception. Here, Festival Director Rick Pettigrew announced the winning films and showed clips from each. Those attending visited about their film favorites, sampled from a spectacular spread of homemade hors d'oeuvres, fruits and local wines, and generally enjoyed themselves. Then, satisfied in mind and body, the celebrants mingled and drifted out. And with that, TAC Festival 2007 became history If all of this interests you, and especially if you were unable to attend this year's Festival but wanted to, there is still a way. Planning for TAC Festival 2008 is underway, with dates already scheduled for May 20- 24, 2008. Festival 2008 will appear in an entirely new and modern venue: Soreng Theater, at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts. You are cordially invited to attend TAC Festival 2008, so please mark your calendar now and plan to join us in celebrating the Festival's fifth year! (Watch this Newsletter for updates; we will soon announce the guest speaker for 2008.) Photo:TAC Festival 2008 venue--Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene, Oregon
By Rick Pettigrew From May 1-5, The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival featured some of the world's best films on archaeology and indigenous peoples, and results of the competition are in. Producers and distributors from 23 countries worldwide submitted 86 film entries to the Festival, of which 21 films from 10 countries were screened in front of the live audience. Awards listed below are in eight categories: Best Film (by jury), Best Narration (by jury), Best Animation (by jury), Best Script (by jury), Best Cinematography (by jury), Best Music (by jury), Most Inspirational (by jury), and Audience Favorite, as well as three Special Mention Awards designated by the Festival jury. Our impression that this was our strongest group of films yet for the Festival was confirmed by the audience ballot results and the jury's comments. Our strategy to solicit the best films from around the world paid off in terms of the quality of the content viewed by our Festival audience. For the first time, we received entries from east Asia, and one of those turned out to be the audience favorite. TAC Festival is one of approximately seven competitive festivals featuring archaeology films worldwide and the only one in the Western Hemisphere. The top jury award (Best Film by Jury) went to Unearthing the Lost
Kingdom of Aratta, a documentary describing the surprising discovery
of a previously unknown civilization in a remote Iranian valley between
Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley of Pakistan. This film, produced by
Marie-Pierre Aulas of Gedeon Programmes, a leading French production
company based in Paris, landed among the top five films in seven of the
eight categories. The Festival jury also awarded three Special Mention awards. They honored Network, a production of Greek film-maker Andreas Apostolidis, for the significance of its message about the damage caused by illicit trade in antiquities. Their mention of Signs Out of Time, an American production by Donna Read of Belili Productions, was for its unique insights and its biography of Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. Their special award to Tibet Tibet mentioned the significance of the film's message about the current threat to Tibetan culture. You can access results of the Jury and Audience judging across the full range of competitive categories on The Archaeology Channel, on the 2007 Festival Web page. Just click on "Award Selections for 2007." When you do, ponder this: there were many other films of distinction submitted to this year's Festival which, sadly, could not fit into the time allotted for screening. To all the producers who entered films this year, we offer our sincere thanks; your artistic insights and skilled cinematography enriched us all. Following is the complete list of TAC Festival awards for 2007: Best Film (by Jury)
Network (Andreas Apostolidis, Greece) Honorable Mention (in order):
The Lost Ship of Venice (Maurice Ribiere, Taxi- Brousse Company, France/Italy) Honorable Mention (in order):
Journeys Into the Ring of Fire: Peru (Jeremy Phillips and Arif Nourmohamed, BBC Science and History Studio, UK) Honorable Mention (in order):
Novgorod: Letters from the Middle Ages (Valerie Grenon, Gedeon Programmes, France) Honorable Mention (in order):
Unearthing the Lost Kingdom of Aratta (Marie- Pierre Aulas, Gedeon Programmes, France) Honorable Mention (in order):
Tibet Tibet (Kim Seong Yong, Japan) Honorable Mention (in order):
Photo: 2007 Jury pick: Unearthing the Lost Kingdom of Aratta, wherein a 5000-year-old civilization is unearthed in SE Iran
By Doug Coffman, ALI Administrative Assistant You've been patient, and I know you're eager to hear about our illustrious visitor from the dark continent--Dr. Leakey, I presume! And illustrious Louise is and affable, and gracious, and gifted with wit and wisdom. And of course Dr. Leakey was professionally knowledgeable, and uniquely qualified to share that knowledge--based on her own paleoanthropological credentials and three generations of her family's work in Kenya and Tanzania--during her month-long speaking tour of the U.S. and Canada. We're delighted that she could fit us in! As Dr. Leakey's New York agent predicted, "You're going to love her!" And, indeed, this turned out to be the case. On opening night of the Festival, Louise spoke for about an hour, juxtaposing her perspectives on human origins in deep time with slides and stories of her own life and origins, growing up in remotest Kenya. Scenes of young Louise with her parents, Richard and Meave Leakey, and grandmother, Mary Leakey (grandfather Louis died in 1972, the year Louise was born) gave poignant insight into her fascinating life. Throughout her stay, Dr. Leakey demonstrated her consummate skills as a public speaker, conveying complex, often technical findings in ways that made information and ideas accessible to our predominantly lay audience. In addition to her Keynote address, Dr. Leakey provided a lively two-hour question-and-answer session for members of the public and University of Oregon faculty and graduate students at our Eugene Public Library venue. Live interviews with Dr. Leakey also were conducted by Tripp Sommer, News Director for KLCC Radio (airing on May 1) and by ALI Director, Rick Pettigrew. Go to TAC to see the ALI video interview with Dr. Leakey . But the highlight of Dr. Leakey's visit to Eugene was certainly the opening night Keynote Address. Among other topics, Louise spoke of her current work as Director of the Koobi Fora Research Project at Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. There, she carries on the paleoanthropological research begun in the 1930s by her still well-known grandfather, L.S.B. (Louis) Leakey. That she does so with all the flair and public relations savvy of her parents and grandparents stands her in good stead; as she confided in private conversation, financing complex expeditions to remote areas and negotiating political minefields in her native land still does not come easily despite three generations of effort. "In fact," she ventured, "it may be even harder now." It is fortunate, then, that a bit of the old "stiff-upper-lip" still
runs in the Leakey genes. Now, Louise looks to the future and her dream of
establishing, with her parents, the Turkana
Basin Institute. This state-of-the-art research facility will work to
knit together our fragmented understandings of human development "through
the entire span of human evolution." As their Web site explains in the
following quote, this becomes uniquely possible in the Lake Turkana area
of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia for the most basic of reasons:
Geology. Hosting Dr. Leakey and attending her presentations was a thrill and a privilege for all of us here at Archaeological Legacy Institute. Judging from the very positive audience response, those attending Dr. Leakey's presentation felt the same way. We wish Louise continued good luck in her work and family life, and look forward to receiving updates about the Turkana Basin studies. As research progresses, you can find regular updates from the field on both of the Leakey Web sites. Photo: Dr. Louise Leakey in the field, "somewhere in Kenya"
by Douglas Coffman, ALI Administrative Assistant As it so happened, it was very little fire we made in front of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus that evening of April 11. But it was enough to attract the attention of the campus Fire Marshall, with whom we had filed the required permit, "just in case." A Fire Marshall knows better than most how great fires begin with a single spark! Our small group gathered to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq National Museum, April 10-12, 2003, which had followed upon the U.S. invasion of Baghdad on March 20th of that year. For several days, looters had vandalized the museum unchallenged, making off with thousands of irreplaceable artifacts, smashing what they could not carry off, effectively shattering the museum's 11,000- year evidentiary record of settled life in the "Cradle of Civilization." Urgent pleas and a barrage of advance warnings from international antiquities authorities about the impending threats to the Iraq Museum (numerous regional and site museums suffered destruction during the Gulf War of 1990-91), had failed to prevent the spasm of thievery and destruction which took down the museum in Baghdad. In an ironic twist, U.S. forces had stood by, unwilling or unable to prevent the tragedy. While its oil ministry had been immediately and forcefully protected, Iraq's vast cultural treasure was left unguarded--open to the chaos which followed Saddam's fall from power. Much of the museum's holdings (more than 15,000 pieces in all) had been stolen or smashed in just a few days, threatening the tangible record of human development in the "Fertile Crescent." Much of the world had watched in horror and disbelief as the catastrophe unfolded. Though some 7,000 artifacts and other objects have since been recovered, and a few restored, subsequent attempts to re-open the museum have failed. Today, the Iraq Museum is sealed shut. But the catastrophe did not stop at the museum gates: In the same eruption of mayhem, the National Library of Iraq--storehouse of humanity's earliest written records--also had been destroyed, its ancient writings reduced to ashes. As widely reported, a period of general lawlessness had followed in the wake of the U.S. invasion, unleashing a broader wave of looting across the antiquities-rich Middle East. Even now, in Iraq, the country's cultural legacy is being systematically pilfered by unchecked looting of archaeological sites which continues to this day. (See, for example, an American Association of Museums report, entitled "Lost: The Looting of Iraq's Antiquities." The full extent of damage to Iraq's antiquities over the past four years has yet to be revealed by a distracted, perhaps complacent, press. Sadly, news coverage in the U.S. of Iraq's cultural plight during this period has been light (is there a tacit sense that loss of antiquities is somehow less newsworthy than other aspects of life and death in the war-torn region?). Of course, the full extent of this staggering cultural loss, and its implications for humanity's future, has yet to be assessed and fully understood by antiquities experts and general public alike. Indeed, full comprehension may take years, perhaps decades. Fortunately, then, there are those who find value in creating awareness of this tragic episode of culture- loss, both for its own sake and in the greater interest of protecting antiquities elsewhere. Among these is Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, Iraq Museum's former Director (now living in the U.S., where he teaches at New York's Stony Brook University). As Dr. Youkhanna recalls, "On the 13th of April 2003, when I went back to the [Iraq] Museum, it was as if a hurricane had hit. What [the looters] could not take, they smashed. But the main problem was the looting of the archaeological sites because whenever ancient objects are looted from the ground, most of the cultural and historical information that proper excavation would have yielded is lost forever. It is not something we are losing, and tomorrow we can buy again. It is the memory of the Iraqi people, the memories of mankind." But Dr. Youkhanna is not content simply to mourn great losses. Instead, he calls us all to action in behalf of the Iraq Museum and antiquities everywhere. As he urged this past spring, "Let's gather together and see what we can do, so that people will not forget what happened. Here at Stony Brook, we will gather together with students and faculty to remember those three days. And if you can gather together and remember, light a candle; lighting a candle is a very nice symbol, so that we will not forget." So this is how our little group had come to the University of Oregon's beautiful Schnitzer Museum. In solidarity with Dr. Youkhanna and concerned citizens across the U.S. and around the world, and in partnership with the Schnitzer Museum, we sought to commemorate and to mourn the unprecedented loss of our common heritage this most vulnerable record of human failure and triumph, this painstakingly assembled tale of our forebears' imaginative efforts to accommodate and celebrate their ancient world. As we stepped out into the dusk of that mild April evening, our hopes for understanding and a better tomorrow were brought to light in the candles' flame. Under the good
auspices of SAFE--the New York- based non-profit group, Saving
Antiquities for Everyone--the candlelight vigil brought us together
with people everywhere to express common cause. ALI Director Rick
Pettigrew and Schnitzer Museum Educator Sharon Kaplan hosted the event
and, together with University of Oregon law professor Dominick Vetri, led
the assembly in a lively discussion about the fate and future of the
cultural legacy. Photo: Vigil group at the Schnitzer Museum main entry, April 11, 2007 Read the story of Iraq Museum and view its collection: The Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad: The Lost Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia by Milbry Polk and Angela M.H. Schuster. Abrams, 2005.
by Brenda Poulos, State Chair, Arizona Archaeological Society The Arizona Archaeological Society was founded in 1964 as an independent, non-profit, state-wide volunteer organization. Prior to this there was no organized group in Arizona practicing responsible amateur archaeology. Sites were being destroyed by development, natural forces and vandalism and the need arose for increased public education towards protection and preservation of the sites The goals of the Society were to encourage better public understanding and concern for archaeological and cultural resources; to serve as a bond between professional archaeologists and nonprofessional volunteers; to foster interest in the research, protection and preservation of Arizona's cultural resources; to provide an education in archaeological techniques in order to assist the professional community; and to publish the results of the Society's scientific investigations. The Arizona Archaeological Society today comprises approximately 1200 members in thirteen chapters throughout the state. Each chapter has a professional archaeologist as an advisor. Some of the finest professional archaeologists in the state support the AAS by providing lectures, teaching courses and offering volunteer opportunities on their archaeological projects. No archaeological research or activity is conducted by AAS members without the supervision of a professional archaeologist. In return, the Society is a dependable source of trained and qualified volunteers who assist many of the state's professional archaeologists on their projects. Society activities include monthly meetings with lectures provided by authorities in various aspects of archaeology. Hikes, field trips, field schools, courses and workshops provide further education on the archaeology of Arizona and the Southwest. The Society has a nationally recognized Certification Program, providing knowledge and skills in a variety of archaeology-related topics. Thirty seven courses range from the introductory "Prehistory of the Southwest," which provides members with an overview of the prehistoric cultures of this region, to the more intense, skill-enhancing Field Techniques, Lab Techniques, Ceramic Analysis, Osteology, Faunal Analysis, and so forth. Courses in prehistoric technologies such as flint-knapping and ceramic manufacture are extremely popular with AAS members and serve to enhance understanding of prehistoric lifestyles. The Society has a long and rich publication record, having published 36 monographs since 1967, as well as a number of occasional papers, chapter publications and site reports. In addition, the Society's newsletter, "The Petroglyph," is published ten times per year. The monographs, on topics relating to the prehistoric and historic archaeology of the Southwest, and published as the "Arizona Archaeologist" series, are available for sale on the AAS website at http://www.azarchsoc.org/azarchaeologist.html. AAS activities being offered this summer include the ongoing field school at Elden Pueblo in Flagstaff, Arizona. Courses in Field Crew I and II and Stabilization and Reconstruction will be taught during the two one-week sessions, June 25-29 and July 2-6. Located at the base of Mt. Elden, in the cool pines, Elden Pueblo is a 60-70 room Sinagua pueblo dating to the period AD 1100-1275. In addition, the society is offering a "Site Preservation and Stabilization Course" at Q Ranch Pueblo, a 250 room, three-story pueblo dating from AD 1265 to 1380. The pueblo, on the historic Q Ranch, is situated in the pine forests near Young, Arizona. Authorities in stabilization and site preservation techniques will provide instruction in the field, and afternoon lecture sessions will be provided by a variety of guest lecturers who have conducted some of the most successful stabilization and site preservation projects in Arizona. A two-day field trip will enhance the educational component of the course. This course will provide all participants with the knowledge and practical experience to participate in future stabilization and site preservation projects. You are welcome to attend this course for one week or two. There will be sufficient hours of fieldwork and lectures in the two-week session to achieve AAS certification in this course. Further information regarding the activities of the Arizona Archaeological Society can be found on the society's website at http://www.azarchsoc .org or by contacting State Chairperson, Brenda Poulos at brendapoulos@yahoo.com. Photo: Chaco Canyon kiva--AAS field trips are both fun and educational
by Sean Hammond, ALI Administrative Assistant Born in San Francisco in 1977, I'm a Californian born and bred. That means I'm a liberal, love diversity and drive like my hair is on fire. My parents, Stan and Sharon, are a pair of "old souls" and two highly successful Bay-Area real-estate agents. My younger brother Scott is the "modern one" in the family; a tech- guru as a teenager, he is now married and just got his Ph.D. in advanced chemical engineering As for myself, I followed the usual path: smart and bouncy kindergartener, excluded in middle-school, found friends and relearned love-of-knowledge in junior high school, discovered new aspects of myself in high school, loved the people and learning of college, and then hit numerous walls trying to run forward in the job-market. But I'm "un-lucky in job, lucky in love," and more so than I could possibly deserve. In college at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, a young lady named Vivian Hirsch set her sights on me and once I saw her clearly it became mutual. In fact, she is why I moved from California to Eugene 3 1/2 years ago; she had a stable job at the main branch of the Eugene Public Library and still does. We married six months later. What brought me to Archaeological Legacy Institute was actually an illness. I left my previous job (administrative assistant) because a gastro-intestinal disorder the doctors could only treat left me constantly nauseous to the point of incapacity for three months. As my body slowly began to re-harmonize my stomach, I wanted to put my growing free-time into a worthwhile and interesting job, but one that would accept random days off as I pandered to my biology. A job where I could help build something worthwhile, both to individuals and to our culture. While being a SMART teacher for disadvantaged kids was attractive, at ALI I'm helping to teach thousands and creating something that may outlast me as well. I'm also learning new things myself. Office work I knew coming in: developing protocols, creating databases, filing, business communications, and customer service. But the technical production aspects of manipulating films in a variety of formats from all over the world, encoding audio and video files and uploading them to a website, were as foreign to me as the Russian Steppes. And I had never created a merchant website before, yet I feel as proud of TAC Marketplace as any papa. My hobbies have always been varied: youth soccer, varsity basketball, downhill skiing, Scouts, Tai Kwon Do, and improving my swordsmanship through fencing, kendo, and swashbuckling. But the one I always have and always will truly love is "the story," in any format. I read all the time and my collection of books and movies is large enough to worry my wife, but it's simply the thing I love most. That's another reason why ALI has been such a great "home" for me: the stories that we bring to people are the spice that gives history flavor, the "personal truths" that give meaning to dry and dusty facts. It truly is the wonder of the human experience, in all its depth and variety, and I look forward to bringing it to the world for years to come. Photo: Sean Hammond at his work station
by Kiera O'Brien, ALI Volunteer Correspondent Situated on the Polvar River of the Tang-e Bolaghi Valley in the Fars Province of Iran, the Sivand Dam has been the centerpiece of a decade-long project by the Iranian government to provide much-needed irrigation water to the farming communities of this arid southern region. The dam's position on the valley gorge, however, is problematic to a number of groups within and outside of Iran. The ensuing lake is set to completely inundate an eight-mile stretch of an ancient imperial road that ran from Persepolis to Pasargadae as well as an estimated 130 archaeological sites of interest, ranging in date from the prehistoric period to the Qajar monarchy that fell in 1925. Fears have also been expressed for the safety of the ancient cities of Pasargadae and, in some cases, Persepolis. Experts involved in the construction of the dam have emphasized that both of these sites, as well as the nearby tomb and palace of Cyrus the Great, are situated well above and away from the waterline. According to the Iranian Ministry of Energy, the furthest reaches of the lake created by Sivand will stop about 9 kilometers from Pasargadae, flooding only its fringes, and more than 70 kilometers from Persepolis. Further concerns have addressed the possible ecological changes that a lake might create in the region, in particular an increasing level of humidity. The area already has some problems with lichen eating away at the ancient stones and some have suggested that a progressively damp environment could exacerbate erosion of the monuments. In recent years, however, steps have been taken to mitigate the damage and limit the potential damage relating to the dam. The Iranian government, with the support of UNESCO, initially called on international archaeologists to conduct salvage excavations in the affected area. The opening of the dam was postponed on several occasions, allowing rescue teams from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland and Iran more time to complete their work in the area, particularly where sites of major interest were concerned. Ancient mounds, cave dwellings, metalworking furnaces, stone tombs, group graves, some small settlements and a variety of portable artifacts were uncovered, recorded and, when feasible, removed to a laboratory or storage facility out of harm's way. Once the archaeological teams declared the completion of their salvage work in mid-April, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the inauguration of Sivand Dam. The Iranian Ministry of Energy then announced that they had begun inundating the gorge with water diverted from the nearest river. It will take a full year to flood the structure, which will provide hydroelectric power as well as supply water for irrigation to the parched region. The two aims are to expand by 9,000 hectares the amount of arable land available, as well as provide relief from a salinization crisis that is threatening farmland in the area. Despite the potential economic and social benefits, disagreement continues over the project and its consequences. In addition to certain international protests over the potential loss of heritage sites, many groups within Iran have rallied and petitioned the government to abort the project. The situation has become a bitter struggle between those who want to modernize and develop Iran (at any cost, some say) and those who want society to place a greater value (disproportionate, others argue) upon the country's rich ancient heritage and its preservation. Even this seemingly straightforward disagreement, though, is subject to complex debate over the motivations involved. The conservative Iranian government is accused of cultural favoritism in purposefully ignoring and intentionally destroying much of the country's pre-Islamic heritage. In fact, a number of Iranian academics have pointed out the sensationalist mentality of this claim and its misuse of archaeological information, which converts a heritage issue into a platform for political grandstanding against the current Iranian regime. From a slightly different perspective, these protests are seen to have yet another politically subversive aim: using heritage preservation as leverage to impede economic development and progress of the country, which might threaten Western political interests and economic dominance. Conflicting motivations for protest aside, some interesting archaeological discoveries may encourage a bit more thought on that issue. During Sivand's construction, archaeologists revealed that the new structure has actually been built on top of an ancient Persian stone dam, thought to be around 2500 years old. This find has shed light on early agricultural activities and the use of water management during the Achaemenid dynasty, which mirrors, on a smaller scale, the current situation. Whether or not the Achaemenid kings encountered similar disagreements during their time, it is interesting to speculate. Today, though, the effects of the Sivand dam remain to be seen and, no doubt, debated. News articles and links of related interest: Photo: Sivand Dam location and photo of dam under construction
By Rick Pettigrew From the time when we founded ALI, back in 1999, the Holy Grail of Internet video, the Grand Vision of The Future, has been the delivery of High Definition video via on-demand streaming. Those who understood the technology knew that it was only a matter of time before the Internet would be a chief means of broadcasting the highest quality video programming to ordinary people around the world in the place where they prefer to watch: in their living rooms or home media centers. Let history record that the year 2007 brought humanity to the realization of that vision and that The Archaeology Channel played a role in that story. When Matt Brown, Chief Operating Officer of Texas- based Vircas, e-mailed us on May 10 with an offer to participate in the Vircas Media Center (VMC), we were skeptical. He touted VMC as a "family of channels containing high quality, professionally produced programs and viewed online throughout the world via the Internet." So far, so good. We already had quality programs being viewed via the Internet and we were favorably disposed to expanding our reach through additional portals. But then he added that VMC would "deliver programs in full-screen, High Definition (1080p30) and DVD quality video to our anticipated 3 million viewers per month (initial) over a secured network." Yeah, right! No one has ever been able to successfully deliver true Hi-Def video via streaming (played directly from the server over the Internet pipes) as opposed to file downloads (played from the user's computer). And then, finally, he added: "Additionally . . . we will expand our programming reach to the television by using a powerful box to transport VMC with even greater functionality." I was taken aback and thought, did he really just say that?! Despite hoopla already seen last year and before about hot new technologies to bring Internet media to the living room, nobody so far has succeeded in making that happen in a practical and widely accepted way. But we played along and said, sure, this looks interesting and let's see how it goes. It wasn't until I saw a demonstration of the Vircas player on my own computer monitor that I fully realized what was happening. I was stunned. If you want to have that experience, go to http://www.vircas.com/demo and download the Vircas player setup file onto your computer. Then install the player. We found the download and installation to work very quickly and easily. Then, once you have the Vircas player installed, go back to the Vircas demo page and select one of their demo movie clips to watch, such as the one for Spiderman 3 (my personal favorite!). For the "DSL" option you will need a bandwidth of at least 640k (pretty common for DSL these days). For "DSL Pro" you will need 1600k minimum and for "Cable" you will need 3200k minimum. Where I am, on Comcast Cable, we typically get about 2400k, but it fluctuates hour by hour and sometimes is less. When you get it to play, you will immediately understand why we are excited by this new venture. Imagine TAC videos displayed in that quality! So now we are committed to a partnership with Vircas. Getting in on the ground floor of this new venture, we will have a TAC channel clone on VMC. Our approach with VMC is to bring to the project mostly new video content, although there will be some overlap between the existing TAC video list and the VMC list. We have made some very good progress in bringing in longer programs (including one-hour and longer productions) of the highest possible quality (even Hi-Def!) from our worldwide partners. Our goal is to set this up with an initial content list of 50 videos. We will support it financially by expanding our Underwriting Program with new sponsors for TAC videos on VMC. We will make a formal announcement and promote it widely when VMC is ready to go public (possibly already by the time you read this!). In the meantime, as a TAC Newsletter recipient, you can see a sample of TAC videos on the Vircas player by going to http://vmc.vircas.com/download.php. This information is for TAC Newsletter subscribers only. Please do not share this URL widely right away, as the Vircas network is still not fully set up and cannot handle huge volumes of traffic. The URL will take you to a place where you can download the VMC installation file. Download the file to your desktop or to a folder and then run it to set up VMC . Once you have the Vircas icon on your desktop, click on it to bring up VMC and access the channels, including The Archaeology Channel. Check back from time to time to witness the development of this new portal. We will send out a general announcement when Vircas is ready to formally launch the service. Photo: TAC program list page on the Vircas Media Center
Please let us know what you think of the newsletter. We welcome any suggestions for improvement. Contact us at: info@archaeologychannel.org
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