How Dolly Parton became a fashion icon

Culture correspondent Noor Nanji explores how the country legend's signature style helped her take over the world.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/cOUa8xB

How Dolly Parton became a fashion icon

Culture correspondent Noor Nanji explores how the country legend's signature style helped her take over the world.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/OgZ9cLi

11,000-year-old sculpture of man riding a leopard found in Turkey

A unique statue depicting a human sitting on the back of a leopard has been unearthed from the Neolithic site of Karahan Tepe near Şanlıurfa, southern Turkey. The figure is 70 cm (27.6 inches) high and was discovered in what archaeologists believe was its original location: on a stone platform along the wall of a circular structure about 10 feet in diameter paved with flat stones.

Karahan Tepe is approximately 30 miles east of Göbekli Tepe, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic monumental complex. The two sites both share structures in common, characteristic T-shaped pillars, more than 250 of which have been found at Karahan Tepe, and similar animal iconography representations that suggest they were related. Karahan Tepe has its own distinctive features, however, especially in the preponderance of rock-cut spaces and human figures carved in three dimensions.

Since systematic excavations began in 2019, a number of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figural sculptures have been found at Karahan Tepe, often in unusual combinations. Several examples of a human carrying a leopard on his back. The leopards in these sculptures are not slung on the man’s back as if he had killed them in the hunt or tamed them enough to carry them, but rather are depicted snarling, with teeth bared, very much alive and very much unfriendly.

The newly announced sculpture appears to reverse that visual formula. Instead of the human carrying the leopard, the human is seated on the animal. Whether that reversal conveyed a different narrative, status or symbolic relationship cannot yet be determined, but the composition gives archaeologists another piece of evidence for examining how Karahantepe’s inhabitants imagined the boundary between humans and powerful wild animals.

Leopards feature prominently in the iconography of Karahan Tepe, both in combination with humans and on their own. Leopard heads and figurines have been unearthed, as have leopards incised on the megalithic standing stones of the site. Less than 12 miles away from Karahan Tepe, a high relief of a man gripping his phallus flanked by two roaring/biting leopards carved into the stone is the earliest narrative scene ever discovered.

The location of the sculpture on the platform against the wall suggests it was meant to be visible and accessible, although there’s no evidence yet to indicate whether the the man-on-leopard was located there from the beginning or moved there when the space was deliberately closed.

* This article was originally published here

Charity? Acting? The Cotswolds? What will Harry and Meghan's UK life look like?

The couple's return to the UK is imminent - and what they'll be focusing on here is gradually becoming clearer.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/aRIcQmV

Medieval ship’s hull reused as ceiling in Constance

An investigation of a 13th century cellar in Constance on the German side of the border with Switzlerand has discovered sections of a ship used to construct the ceiling. The find gives archaeologists a unique opportunity to examine medieval shipbuilding techniques in a fully accessible environment instead of having to explore the few wrecks from this period under the waters of Lake Constance.

The cellar dates to 1244, a time when ships that were no longer in navigation were recycled, their planks reused as timbers for building projects on land. Timber planks in general were often recycled from earlier construction, so while the team from the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (LAD) in the Stuttgart Regional Council immediately recognized them as reused materials, it was only upon closer examination that their maritime origin was identified.

Since the State Archaeology Office (LAD) is currently searching for shipwrecks in Lake Constance as part of the “Wrecks and Deep Sea” project, it is well-positioned in the field of maritime archaeology. “It is known that decommissioned ships were reused as building timber in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, the find in Constance is something very special: Here, not just individual fragments, but an almost completely intact ship’s hull was used,” reports Alexandra Ulisch, a staff member in the “Wrecks and Deep Sea” project. The ceiling spans an area of ​​more than 25 square meters and consists of at least 19 planks, which could be identified as parts of a medieval ship by characteristic wooden pegs, rows of pegs, and typical plank shapes.

The planks came from a flat-bottomed sailing vessel of a type that was common on Lake Constance in the Middle Ages. LAD archaeologists spotted repairs to the planks from when they were part of the ship’s hull, expertly fitted and cut patches where a damaged section had to be removed. At least four such repairs are present, and one of them, a dovetail inlay, has no comparable example known in the area’s medieval shipwrecks.

Another special feature is the visible connection between some planks: “They are precisely cut to fit one another and, just as they were installed in the ship, are attached to the ceiling. As a result, the caulking, the sealant between the planks, has also been preserved in some places,” reports Ulisch. This sealant is of particular interest to maritime archaeology and was therefore also analyzed.

The ceiling/hull has been scanned in 3D using “structure-from-motion” (SfM) technology which stitches together hundreds of high-resolution photographs to create a composite. Samples have been taken for dendrochronological analysis to narrow down the date the timbers were harvested.

* This article was originally published here

Drugs at their fingertips, intense pressure: Why child stars fall into addiction

Experts told the BBC the pressures of childhood stardom can put actors at an unusually higher risk of substance abuse issues.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/7XgetI5

Norfolk Bronze Age axe hoard includes rare button

A small Bronze Age axe hoard with a rare button has been discovered near Barton Turf in Norfolk. It is one of only 19 Bronze Age buttons ever reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Britain, and only the third found in Norfolk.

The hoard was discovered by metal detectorists in two stages. One socketed axe was found in March 2021. The second socketed axe and the button were found in 2023. The objects date to between 1000 B.C. and 700 B.C.

The button is circular with a central boss set in a deep concave circle that rises to a thick outer rim. The boss is conical and originally came to a tip, but that is now gone, probably from corrosion rather than breakage. This is the only of the 19 recorded Bronze Age buttons to have a central conical boss. While the known buttons are all different, they generally follow this design of a central boss surrounded by concentric rings or mouldings. On the back of the button a short rectangular loop from which it was attached.

Archaeologists are not certain how (or if) they were worn in Bronze Age Britain. There’s no explanatory context in a hoard and while a couple of comparable buttons have been found in graves in northwestern Europe, it was not clear if they were fasteners or even mounted to garments as opposed to, say, a horse harness.

According to Oxfordshire’s finds liaison officer and Bronze Age small finds specialist Dr Ed Caswell:

“This type of button is only found in the late Bronze Age, and to find it with axe heads, when they are all perfectly usable, does suggest it was intentionally deposited in the ground.”

Experts are still debating whether people did that to recycle the objects for use later, or because there was some sort of ritual behind it.

“The exciting thing is when we see it, we call it a button, but in UK context we have never found it showing how it was attached,” Caswell added. “It does give us a hint about how people want to decorate themselves, but buttons do seem to go out of fashion from the Iron Age onwards (from about 750BC), replaced by brooches.”

* This article was originally published here

Prince Harry and six others face privacy case legal bill of up to £34.5m

The seven claimants, who include Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, have to pay the Daily Mail publisher an initial £9.54m in the next seven days after losing a privacy case.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/UBFNWO9

Prince Harry and six others face privacy case legal bill of up to £34.5m

The seven claimants, who include Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, have to pay the Daily Mail publisher an initial £9.54m in the next seven days after losing a privacy case.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/ecOPlLN

Earliest dragon and phoenix combination found in northern China

The earliest known clearly identifiable figures of the dragon and phoenix combination in northern China have been discovered in a tomb at the Zhaizita Stone City site in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. It dates to around 2300 B.C., the middle-to-late Longshan Culture period.

Tomb M38 is a rectangular pit and shaft tomb. The skeletal remains of the deceased were found in supine position head facing northeast, with legs extended and arms straight at his sides. A circular jade bi inlaid in the center with a turquoise stone was placed to the right of his neck. Large clay figurines almost the length of his full body were placed on each side of his body. The dragon figure is on the deceased’s right side, its head facing northeast like the tomb’s occupant. The phoenix is on his left, facing the opposite direction, captured in the moment of rising in flight.

Stable isotope analysis of the deceased’s tooth enamel revealed that he consumed a diet based on millet, but with more animal protein than most people of the period would have had access to. This confirms that the person was of high status and had significant wealth during his life.

The Neolithic Longshan culture occupied the Yellow River valley of northern and central China between 3000 and 1900 B.C. It is notable for its advanced pottery making techniques, and the thin-walled black in intricate shapes they created on pottery wheels is so characteristic that it was also known as the Black Pottery Culture. Their skill in pottery in evident in the large scale and high quality of the dragon and phoenix figures.

Sun Jinsong said that the ‘dragon and phoenix’ clay figurines at the Zhaizita Stone City site are the earliest and most clearly modeled physical combination of dragon and phoenix discovered so far in northern China, pushing the appearance of figurative ‘dragon and phoenix’ back to the Longshan period. This provides valuable material for studying the spiritual beliefs and burial concepts of the ancestors of the Longshan period. In addition, this discovery shows that the Hetao region made a unique contribution to the creation of early spiritual culture in China, providing evidence for the pluralistic and unified structure of Chinese civilization.

* This article was originally published here

Brandon Flowers: Is fame worth it? I'm not sure anymore

The Killers frontman asks big questions on his third solo album, which takes a detour into country.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/5uVZogX

Bronze Age “enigmatic tablet” found in northern Italy

A new 4,000-year-old clay tablet with markings whose symbolism has yet to be deciphered has been unearthed at the prehistoric pile dwelling site of Lucone di Polpenazze in Lombardy, northern Italy. This is the third so-called enigmatic tablet found in the Lucone D sector, the 21st tablet to be discovered at the overall Lucone site.

The tablets, usually made of clay but sometimes of stone, feature incised lines and impressions of geometric shapes including triangles, squares and circles. The oldest of the tablets are predominately characterized by impressed dots.

They have been interpreted as possible calendars, counting tools, or forms of proto-writing. A ritual function has not been ruled out either, extending to the hypothesis that they might have been used as a sort of sacred amulet. One of the most intriguing interpretations today, however, links them to the management of trade, suggesting a function comparable, in some respects, to modern shipping documents used to identify specific goods (perhaps metal).

In addition to northern Italy, enigmatic tablets have been found in Switzerland, Germany and the Danube-Carpathian Basin area in southeastern Central Europe. The largest single concentration of them has been discovered at the Lucone di Polpenazze site.

Located close to Lake Garda, the Lucone di Polpenazze site is now a shallow basin, but in prehistory was a small lake housing at least five distinct pile dwelling settlements occupied from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. The Lucone D sector is a small pile-dwelling village from the early Bronze Age. Radiocarbon dating of the oak logs used to build the houses on stilts dates the village to 2034 B.C. The distribution of the houses indicates they were built over the full lake, not when the water was low, attesting to the engineering prowess of the community. Archaeologists also discovered that household waste was ejected off the platforms the houses were perched on creating a layer cake of organic remains

What makes Lucone D exceptional among the other pile dwellings at the site is that the village was struck by a catastrophic fire which destroyed the homes but carbonized and preserved many materials that would normally have decomposed. Wooden sickles, loom weights, linen fragments, seeds and the remains of food in a ceramic bowl have survived in carbonized form. The conflagration even preserved some of the sun-dried clay of the dwellings, firing it as it were in a kiln.

* This article was originally published here

What happened to Harry and Meghan's American dream?

Harry and Meghan enjoyed some showbusiness success, but their Hollywood reign proved short-lived.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/cfbgHw0