The Topography of the Temenos at Ur and Its Changes from the Third Dynasty to the Kassite Period (original) (raw)
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in M. Liverani (ed.), Aghram Nadarif – The Barkat Oasis (Sha’abiya of Ghat, Libyan Sahara) in Garamantian Times, 2005
Size Matters - Understanding Monumentality Across Ancient Civilizations, 2019
High terraces and ziqqurats have always fascinated Near Eastern archaeologists, not least because of the Babel tale. It is precisely because of its gigantic proportions that the Tower of Babel became a problem and an expression of a kind of human hybris against the gods (Parrot 1949). More than 27 of this kind of monument have been excavated in the Near East (Figure 1) and it is usually thought that the development of the classical Mesopotamian ziqqurats from the Ur-III period on was preceded by a long period in which high terraces played a similar role, especially in proto-urban settlements (Butterlin 2013) and thereafter during the so-called Early Dynastic period (2900-2300 BCE). Many studies have been devoted to these buildings and they are usually compared to other gigantic monuments, for instance pyramids or massive towers all over the world (Quenet 2016: 49, Figure 4). Conceived as mega-buildings from the start, such terraces dominated the Mesopotamian cities with their mass and their height. It is interesting to figure out more precisely what this meant, first through the actual dimensions of the monuments and secondly through their insertion in the cities. The size of the monuments under consideration has always been a challenge for archaeologists: excavating a ziqqurat is a painful and difficult task, requiring an enormous amount of work and involving huge problems. Badly exposed to erosion, the later levels are usually difficult to understand and in rare instances has it been possible to cut deeply into the masonry to uncover the earlier levels, which are sometimes well preserved. A second challenge is to understand the environment of buildings which during the later phases of the history of Mesopotamia stood isolated in a walled temenos. For earlier phases, either we know nothing of what was happening around the monument or it appears that they were set up in a dense and compact urban environment, so that it is necessary to be very careful when assessing how far the monuments were visible from a distance, crowning the Mesopotamian city skyline.
Ancient Theban Temple and Palace Landscapes
report on the latest results, which have raised new questions. InJanuary and February 2013, in our second fu1l season of work, we investigated three main areas: Karnak, the Birket Habu and the Royal Cult Temple ofAmenhotep III (Kom el-Hettan), with some additional work in front ofthe Royal Cult Temple ofTuthmosis III. We focused on the use of geophysical techniques, aiming to continue unravelling the extent to which the Egyptians were able to manipulate the floodplain in the Theban Region (see EA 38, p.3 and EA 41, pp.21-2fl.
Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, 2023
Teotihuacan’s distinctive urban grid has long attracted scholarly investigation. This essay examines several aspects of how the monumental core and its relationship to surrounding mountains changed over time. Specifically, it discusses how two of the most notable geomantic alignments at Teotihuacan—that of the Moon Pyramid with Cerro Gordo and that of the Sun Pyramid with Cerro Patlachique—were gradually refined over the centuries. Marvin Trachtenberg’s model for premodern design processes, called Building-in-Time, with its emphasis on continual redesign, concatenation, and retrosynthesis, serves as analytical framework. First, the essay argues that the location of the front stair of the Moon Pyramid remained fixed in successive reconstructions of the building because it frames a particular visual relationship between the Sun Pyramid and Cerro Patlachique behind it. Second, it presents a north-south alignment between the summits of the Moon and Sun Pyramids that developed as the Moon Pyramid was enlarged. Finally, it considers how the structures of the Moon Plaza helped eclipse the view of Cerro Gordo during the final phases of the Moon Pyramid’s history. These sight lines shaped the viewers’ embodied experience in ways that reinforced social hierarchies, reminding us that monumental architecture in Teotihuacan’s center not only unified its subjects but also reified distinctions among them.
Riset Arsitektur (RISA), 2017
Apart from paying close attention to architecture as a constructional skill connected with material structure and construction, tectonics also covers its expression. One of the architects closely associated with tectonics is Y.B. Mangunwijaya, and in each of his works of architecture the tectonic content is put to the front or highlighted. Referring to Kenneth Frampton's definition of tectonics as the Art of Joinings, it may be quite interesting to focus on the relationship between the three purposes to be found in a work of architecture, namely spatial distribution, construction, and ornamention. One of the architectural works designed by Y.B. Mangunwijaya that has given shape to these three objectives is the Gua Maria Complex devoted to Mother Mary in Sendangsono. In Sendangsono there is a main route for pilgrims that is most commonly visited and passed by visitors to this sacred place. The analysis of architectural tectonics in this research study has been limited based on the ordering of the space passed via the main pilgrim route in Sendangsono. The spatial sequence consists of an entry, the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis), a basin for holy water, a yard featuring the Cave of Mother Mary (Gua Maria), and finally the yard across the river. Its scope includes the tectonics of space, structure, and ornamentation. The analysis indicates that the architectural tectonics in this complex has been designed with the concept of oneness and respect for nature in mind, so hat it has become one with the surrounding natural elements. The local materials used are environmentfriendly. The next step is to further refine the elements used for this spatial and structural layout by way of ornamentation in order to enrich the Christian significance of it all.
1994
Geometry means literally "measure of the earth." Its origins are said to have resulted from the annual flooding of the River Nile, an occurrence which obliterated established agricultural boundaries on a regular basis. After the beneficial flood had receded, the arable land of the Nile Valley-the earth as it were-had to be remeasured and boundaries reset. In response to this need, the ancient Egyptians developed the use of integral right triangles of which the proportional 3,4,5 right triangle is the primary unit. At a later date, knowledge of this geometry was adopted by the Greeks who developed its features into a philosophy as well as a sophisticated system of mathematics. To form an integral right triangle, two numbers "p" and "q" are selected. These numbers must be relatively prime, meaning that they do not have a common factor, cannot be both even or odd, and p must be greater than q. Then the formula for the measure of the three sides of the triangle is; a=p2-q2, l=)pq, c=p2+q2 (Encyclopedia Britannica 1983, vol. 13:349).
The ancient Digital Terrain Model and the infrastructure of the Etruscan city of Kainua
Archeologia e Calcolatori, 2017
Replacing an early settlement of the second half of the 6 th century BCE, Kainua was reconstructed at the beginning of the 5 th century. This newly founded Etruscan city was built following a foundation rite and a rigorous urban plan, structured on four main orthogonal streets, the plateiai, perfectly oriented according to the cardinal points of the compass (E. Govi in this volume). Over the centuries this territory has undergone considerable geomorphological transformations and consequently the terrain elevation has changed significantly, so we tried to carry out a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), taking into account these transformations. DTM describes the three dimensional shape of the Earth's bare surface (excluding if possible any other features placed on it). Normally it is obtained by interpolation of known elevation points (e.g. stereo aerial photos) or contour lines (e.g. maps in analog or digital format) in order to produce a continuous surface. DTM is a particular type of spatial analysis of phenomena continuously changing in space (elevation values of terrain points above sea level). At the same time, through 3D display technologies, DTM is the basis of a more effective and realistic landscape representation model. Moreover, this particular kind of representation, considered from an analytical point of view as a visual analysis tool, may help to the development of new hypotheses or the confirmation of previous hypotheses in different research fields such, in this case, archaeology. When positioning objects on the DTM, the analysis of metrology and structure of the infrastructure of the ancient city (streets and sewers) made it possible to create a renewed vision and to propose a hypothesis for reconstructing the incomplete, or as yet unstudied, parts of the city, which only further excavations will confirm.