The Archaeology Channel

                     

Hallsatt is a small village in the heart of the Austrian Alps.  It is located on the shores of Lake Hallstatt, at the foot of the high mountains.  From time immemorial its existence was linked to the exploitation of the rock salt mines in these mountains that has continued over the centuries.   However, this has been just a fraction of its archaeological importance to European prehistory. These mines have brought worldwide fame and notoriety to Hallsatt and have made it deserving of its declaration as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1977.

Screening time: Saturday, May 16, 11:00 pm (Session 2)

Length: 23 min.

Country: Spain

Language: English

Director: Domingo Rodes

Producer: Joan Vicent Hernandez

Producer Web site: www.marqalicante.com

Distributor: Diputacion De Alicante

Distributor Web site: www.marqalicante.com

Awards/Selections:

The film was broadcast in the MARQ’s exhibition area. MARQ. Archaeological Museum of Alicante from June 2014 to January 2015.

The film has been selected on the 14th Interantional Festival of Archaeological Film in Bidasoa.

A german version of the film is being broadcast at Westfalisches Landesmuseum in Herne, Germany from 23rd August 2014 till 25th January 2015.

                     

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Georgetown, Penang, harbors not only historical buildings, but also some of Malaysia’s last traditional craftsmen, such as Mr. Lee Beng Chuan, who still makes joss sticks by hand.  Against the tide of mass-produced incense sticks flooding the market this Chinese New Year, 80-year-old Lee is determined to make a special 12-foot high dragon joss stick entirely by hand.  The process of crafting a joss stick and Mr. Chuan’s life story highlights the unique cultural connection joss sticks have for the Malaysian people.

Screening time: Saturday, May 16, 8:45 pm (Session 5)

Length: 24 min.

Country: Malaysia

Language: English

Director: Chew Han Tah

Producer: Kang Ming Sze

Producer Web site: www.finas.gov.my

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS)

Distributor Web site: www.finals.gov.my

Awards/Selections: N/A

                     

In the summer of 1984, archaeologist Thomas Layton unearthed some unexpected Chinese artifacts at a Native American site in Mendocino County, California.  Driven to discover their origins, Dr. Layton set out on a quest to solve the riddle of the mysterious potsherds.  These potsherds had been recovered from a cargo of Chinese porcelain spilled from a Gold Rush shipwreck.  How these altered the perception of Chinese immigration into the United States and its impact on both sides is the subject of this film.  What he eventually uncovered was the story of vast cultural connections and a shipwreck that impacted California forever.

Screening time: Saturday, May 16, 2:41 pm (Session 3)

Length: 29 min.

Country: USA

Language: English

Director: Matthew Ritenour

Producer: Georgia Fox

Producer Web site: None

Distributor: The Advanced Laboratory For Visual Anthropology

Distributor Web site: www.csuchico.edu/alva

Awards/Selections:

PBS Broadcast Sept. 2014, KVIE Sacramento

                     

In the rolling hills of Ireland’s County Tipperary, a laborer harvesting peat from a dried-up bog spots the remnants of a corpse and stops his machine just in time, revealing a headless torso almost perfectly preserved and stained dark brown by the bog.  Archaeologists recognize the corpse as one of Europe’s rare bog bodies: prehistoric corpses flung into marshes with forensic clues often suggesting execution or human sacrifice.  The corpse eventually will be dated to the Bronze Age, over 3,000 years ago.  Many of these were victims of shocking violence–showing evidence of axe blows, hanging and stab wounds.  Like a crime thriller, NOVA follows archaeologists and forensic experts in their methodical hunt for clues to the identity and the circumstances of this and other violent deaths of bog body victims.

Screening time: Sunday, May 17, 3:05 pm (Session 7)

Length: 54 min.

Country: USA

Language: English

Director: Edward Hart

Producer: Edward Hart and Dan McCabe

Producer Web site: 360productions.com

Distributor: Nova/PBS

Distributor Web site: www.pbs.org/nova

Awards/Selections: N/A

                     

This short documentary captures the essence of a multi-disciplinary creative project that brings together Franco-Manitoban visual artist Colette Balcaen and embroiderer and stylist from Brittany, Pascal Jaouen, who collaborated with renowned Manitoban artisans and Métis embroiderers, Jennine Krauchi and Jenny Meyer, as well as Manitoban weaver Carole James. Colette Balcaen transmits her artistic expression through textiles, which are a representation of her passion for her language and culture.  Her art underlines the importance of the individual person and his or her role in society.  Using her knowledge of textiles and her repeated daily domestic tasks, she tells stories by using the parallel between written text and woven threads to form new information.

Screening time: Sunday, May 17, 1:45 pm (Session 7)

Length: 12 min.

Country: Canada

Language: English and French with English subtitles

Director: Danielle Sturk

Producer: Alliance Francaise Manitoba, Les Productions Diselle

Producer Web site: none

Distributor: Winnipeg Film Group

Distributor Web site: winnipegfilmgroup.com

Awards/Selections:

ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival 2014 | Peterborough ON Canada | January 2014

Regent Park Film Festival 2013 | Toronto ON Canada | November 2013

Montreal First Peoples' Festival 2013 | Montréal QC Canada | August 2013

Haida Gwaii Film Festival 2013 | Queen Charlotte BC Canada | March 2013

Stepping Through Heaven: The Personal Films of Danielle Sturk | Winnipeg MB Canada | January 2013

                     

Dashi is the bedrock of Japanese cuisine and deceptively simple.  Master chefs have jealously guarded their recipes for centuries and blended their aromas at night.  The development of dashi came about as a result of the arrival of Buddhism in Japan about one thousand five hundred years ago.  The adoption of Buddhism by the Imperial Court inspired the Japanese people to try to distill nature’s essence from the few plentiful ingredients they had at hand, such as konbu seaweed that grows in the northern seas, the shoals of bonito that arrive once a year on their annual migration north and the shiitake mushrooms that are nurtured in Japan’s dense forests.   Dashi is a distillation of the natural resources of Japan.

Screening time: Sunday, May 17, 11:00 am (Session 6)

Due to certain restrictions Dashi: Essence of Japan trailer can not be shown online by The Archaeology Channel.

Length: 51 min.

Country: Japan

Language: English

Director: Shohei Shibata

Producer: Nozomu Makino, Jun Ito, Yoshimi Oganeku, Luc Martin Gousset

Producer Web site: None

Distributor: Shohei Shobata, NKH (Japan Broadcasting Company)

Distributor Web site: None

Awards/Selections: N/A

                     

The big wood and iron wheels are strong; too strong for modern roads and too slow for a fast moving world.  This is the bullock cart of Malacca.  Made of 99 parts, the carts were a common sight in Malacca once upon a time, but it’s a dying trait.  However, one man is adamant about preserving the technology of cart making.  He’s 71-year old Haji Abdul Kassim, the last known bullock cart maker in Malacca.  He's descended from several generations of bullock cart makers and drivers.  Haji Abdul claims that his ancestors have been making bullock carts since the time of the Sultanate of Malacca, 600 years ago.

Screening time: Saturday, May 16, 7:45 pm (Session 5)

Length: 30 min.

Country: Malaysia

Language: English

Director: Johana Hassan

Producer: Jacqueline Ho

Producer Web site: www.finas.gov.my

Distributor: National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS)

Distributor Web site: www.finas.gov.my

Awards/Selections: N/A

                     

Northern Nevada is a landscape of extremes, from parched playas baking in the summer sun to snow-mantled peaks wrapped in winter’s deep freeze.  Through this landscape a new gas pipeline would have to be built, but before construction could begin, archaeological studies would have to be completed along the entire route.  Far Western Anthropological Research Group hired members of the region’s Paiute and Shoshone tribal communities and trained them as archaeologists to assist in the mapping, recording and excavation of archaeology sites located on their ancestral lands.  For many, working as archaeologists was a life-changing event.  Their understanding of their history grew, their attitudes towards archaeology changed and they experienced moments of profound spirituality.  This is their story.

Screening time: Sunday, May 17, 4:15 pm (Session 8)

Length: 33 min.

Country: USA

Language: English

Director: Phil Gross

Producer: Kelly McGuire; William Hildebrandt and D. Craig Young

Producer Web site: cinnabarvideo.com

Distributor: Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc. And Cinnabar Video

Distributor Web site: farwestern.com

Awards/Selections: N/A

                     

Texas-based archaeologists Meredith Driess and David Brown take the viewer on a 10,000 year visual exploration of the symbiotic relationship between agave and the humans who have depended upon it.  Agave Is Life, narrated by Edward James Olmos, delves into the ceremonial and sacred importance of this multi-purpose plant, native to the Americas.  From the ancient past to the present we learn how agave became embedded in myth, religion and cultural identity.  The film ends with a look to the future as today’s scientists worry about the loss of species and related human folkways—emblematic of planet-wide concerns about sustainability and our environment.

Screening time: Sunday, May 17, 5:51 pm (Session 8)