Latest Posts by culturalanthropologist - Page 4

Late Bronze-Age sacrificial well, c. 800-400 BC from "An Introduction to Celtic Mythology" by David Bellingham

Saw your post from the author who was happy people were using Libby. I'm torn as I understand the author is happy to get the license renewed, but libraries only get 26 loans on a digital license vs 60-80 loans on a physical copy. I love the convenience of digital books, but if taking out the physical copy is better for the library I'm willing to make the trip. Just looking for thoughts from others about it.

It depends on the license agreement the library has and its different for every one. Some renew annually, others renew by X amount of rentals. The library does what is best for them, and the more people use their services the more they can usually argue for more funding.

This is not universal, of course, but most of the librarians I know are ecstatic when people use their services.

Where’s your head at? Greg Dunn

Prehistoric rock carving of a whole bunch of deer. Bayankhongor, Mongolia

RIP, "The Man of the Hole." We never knew your date of birth or name.

And after what we did to you, we didn't deserve to.

BBC News

'Man of the Hole': Last of his tribe dies in Brazil

The last member of an uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil had lived in total isolation for decades.

Femme du Djelfa, Algeria

Reading a book about slavery in the middle-ages, and as the author sorts through different source materials from different eras, I am starting to understand why so many completely fantastical accounts of "faraway lands" went without as much as a shrug. The world is such a weird place that you can either refuse to believe any of it or just go "yeah that might as well happen" and carry on with your day.

There was this 10th century arab traveller who wrote into an account that the fine trade furs come from a land where the night only lasts one hour in the summer and the sun doesn't rise at all in the winter, people use dogs to travel, and where children have white hair. I don't think I'd believe something like that either if I didn't live here.

Not to be a teacher on main but a lot of people in the "video essay" community need a reminder on what an essay is. an ESSAY is NOT an explainer, an account of an investigation, or a summary of information. It certainly can involve those things. However, an essay is an argument for a particular idea backed up with analysis and evidence that supports that point of view. "the themes of Barbie, explained" is not really an essay. "how the themes of Barbie reinforce gender essentialism" is an essay. "the story behind this cooky subculture" is not essay. "how capitalism co-opted this subculture" is an essay. "all the ways Oppenheimer isn't historically accurate" isn't an essay. "here's why I think Oppenheimer is about the cult of individualism" is an essay. "I spoke to all these people about this topic and here's what they all said" isn't an essay. "I investigated this topic, spoke to these people, and here's how what they said supports my thesis" is an essay. At its most basic level, an essay answers the question of "why the fuck should you care?" at every point. It doesn't get bogged down in context or summarisation. A lot of "video essays" are not really essays they're just people saying, "I found this thing and I wanna show you the thing" and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not an essay. Just because a video goes for longer than 5 minutes, doesn't mean it's an essay!!! I'm kinda annoyed at how the essay as a form is getting lost. A lot of people calling themselves video essayists are not actually making essays and as an essay enjoyer I am annoyed by this and think people need to call a long form video a long form video rather than calling all of them essays!!

beautiful creative intelligent women are blighted with chronic illness sorry i don't make the rules

Wishing you a blessed Floralia! 🌸🏵️🌼

Art: "Flora" (circa 1780s) by Angelica Kauffmann

The ancient Romans celebrated this festival from 28 April to 3 May, in honor of Flora, the Goddess of flowers, vegetation, and fertility. The festival had a licentious, pleasure-seeking atmosphere. Ovid says that hares and goats—animals considered fertile and salacious—were ceremonially released as part of the festivities. The festival opened with theatrical performances, continued with competitive games and spectacles at the Circus, and concluded with a sacrifice to the Goddess.

"O Flora! sweetest Flora, goddess bright,

Impersonation of selectest things,

The soul and spirit of a thousand Springs,

Bodied in all their loveliness and light,

A delicate creation of the mind,

Fashioned in its divinest, daintiest mould,

In the bright age of gold,

Before the world was wholly lost and blind,

But saw and entertained with thankful heart

The gods as guests..."

--- Richard Henry Stoddard, "Arcadian Hymn to Flora"

Tango is the only dance that can express the sadness and the joy of life in one breath.

- Carlos Gavito

A tayuu from Shimabara in Kyoto, about 1920s 

phys.org

Archaeologists find that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens organized living spaces similarly

In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, archaeologists from Université de Montréal and the Un

In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, archaeologists from Université de Montréal and the University of Genoa reveal that far from being more primitive, Neanderthals did much the same as their Homo sapiens successors: made themselves at home. Analyzing artifacts and features of the Protoaurignacian and Mousterian levels of the Riparo Bombrini site in northwestern Italy, the scientists uncovered common patterns of settlement between the two populations.

Continue Reading.

The piety of the Hong Kong Chinese is illustrated by the richly decorated temples such as this one in Kowloon (below) and also in the intimate and well-concealed shrines (above).

From 'Eternal Hong Kong'. Scan

garland mantled nymphs of the Ripon Historical Pageant, 1896

Masatoshi Tsunematsu

i do desperately need everyone on this website especially people who arent american but want to rag on america to familiarize themselves with the basic romanized spelling conventions of native american languages because every day i come on here and i see people making fun of massachusetts or connecticut or mississippi or passamaquoddy or mashpee or nipissing and its like PLEASE. PLEASE THEY ARENT ENGLISH WORDS. PLEAAAAASEEEEEUUUHHH. USE YOUR MINDS TO IDENTIFY WHEN A WORD LOOKS LIKE IT MAY NOT BE ENGLISH. I DONT CARE IF YOU MAKE FUN OF AMERICA JUST PLEASE STOP BEING RACIST WHILE YOU DO IT

Crystal dagger uncovered in Spain, dating to around 3.000 BC

My math prof puts this on the instruction page of all his exams

[ID: screenshot of black text on white background saying “an exam is just another means of communication between you and me to help me understand what you have learned so that I can provide you with guidance on how to improve. It is not a measure on your worth as a person nor your intelligence or aptitude as a student. Just give this your best try. END ID]

although i myself lack the attention required for mathematic philosophy i do respect the field and its practitioners so entirely - in my experience the people who are philosophers and mathematicians both always have such a beautiful perspective on existence and the universe

Wandjina Aboriginal art of the Kimberley

Thousand hand Bodhisattva dance

was listening to an excerpt from a toni morrison interview with the paris review and had to pause and take a breath because she said “I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence, it’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for. I think finding, incorporating and then representing beauty is what humans do. With or without authorities telling us what it is, I think it would exist in any case. The startle and the wonder of being in this place. This overwhelming beauty—some of it is natural, some of it is man-made, some of it is casual, some of it is a mere glance—is an absolute necessity. I don’t think we can do without it anymore than we can do without dreams or oxygen.”

First computer animated cat ever - “Koshechka” (”A kitty”), 1968

Another of the skulls fused with a maille (chainmail) Coif recovered from the site of the battle of Visby, Gotland, ca. 1361.