Fossilized teeth from a modern human who lived in Israel close to 200,000 years ago. Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University, Creative Commons By Dr. Rolf Quam / 01.25.2018 Associate Professor of Anthropology Binghamton University (SUNY) New fossil finds over the past few years have been forcing anthropologists to reexamine our evolutionary path to becoming human. Now[…]
James Crichton-Browne, A woman with pursed lips, West Riding Lunatic Asylum, c. 1869 – Wellcome Library Stassa Edwards explores Charles Darwin’s photography collection, which includes almost forty portraits of mental patients given to him by the neurologist James Crichton-Browne. The study of these photographs, and the related correspondence between the two men, would prove instrumental in the[…]
Röttgen Pietà, c. 1300-25, painted wood, 34 1/2″ high (Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn) By Dr. Nancy Ross / 12.19.2016 Assistant Professor of Art History Dixie State College Utah An emotional response It is hard to look at the Röttgen Pietà and not feel something—perhaps revulsion, horror, or distaste. It is terrifying and the more you look at it, the more[…]
Apa Abraham, c. 590-600, watercolor on panel, Egyptian (Bode Museum, Berlin) By Dr. Davor Džalto / 08.08.2015 Associate Professor and Program Director for Art History Program Director for M.A. Peace Studies Program Director for M.A. Arts Management The American University of Rome The word “icon” refers to many different things today. For example, we use[…]
During Wintersession, students learn to make and use the technology that revolutionized human life. The atlatl, or spear-thrower, is a 10,000-year-old tool developed independently across the globe by cultures from the Arctic to New Zealand. The workshop takes place in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Andrew Majewski (pictured), the workshop instructor, demonstrates how to[…]
Alexander the Great Confronts Darius III at the Battle of Issos (or possibly Battle of Gaugamela), floor mosaic, House of the Faun at Pompeii, Italy. 1st century CE Roman copy of a Greek wall painting of c. 310 BCE, perhaps by Philoxenos or Eretria or Helen of Egypt. Entire panel 8’10” x 17′ (2.7 x[…]