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Vianden Castle History

(1º§) The rocky outcrop above the modern town of Vianden was first fortified in late antiquity. Excavations at the foot of the castle chapel in 1994 led to the discovery that parts of the crumbling masonry of the Late Antique tower must have existed in Merovingian times and that this square building, the only surviving structure from the period known as Late Antiquity, was incorporated into the first medieval castle.

(2º§) The first fortification was built at the beginning of Late Antiquity on the castle hill at an ancient crossroads, where a branch of the great Roman road Reims-Cologne through the Ardennes and the valley of Our led to the valley of the Sauer and through Echternach to Bitburg and Trier, at that time a thriving metropolis.

(3º§) After the Vianden fort was abandoned around 430/440 AD, the Roman Tower seems to have been sufficiently usable to remain a decisive element in the subsequent periods of castle building up to the High Middle Ages.

(4º§) The first medieval fortification was erected on the rocky spur overlooking Vianden around the year 1000. The main part of this fortification consisted of an oval ring wall. This defensive wall, meticulously reinforced with small slabs of slate, was exactly one meter wide. As with the ancient wall, this special construction technique allowed archaeologists to retrace it virtually its entire length. The old late antique moat also remained in use during this period. The entire inner surface of the fortification was leveled by filling the lower defensive wall with stones and earth. This complex also included a hall, used for administrative purposes, and a chapel, which was installed in the remains of the late antique tower.

(5º§) Vianden Castle was extensively rebuilt around 1170. The remains of the wooden scaffolding found in the new residential tower made it possible to determine the date of construction using the three-ring dating technique.

(6º§) Important architectural contributions were made, in Gothic style, between the 13th and 14th centuries by the Counts of Vianden. In 1417 the castle became a possession of the Orange-Nassau family who made changes in the Renaissance style. The castle was long in the possession of the grand-ducal family until it became state property in 1977. After this date, it was restored and shines in its former glory. Today, Vianden Castle is one of the most important architectural monuments in Europe being one of the largest and most beautiful feudal residences of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. In the entrance area there is a modern interactive visitor center.

https://www.histouring.com/en/historical-places/vianden-castle/

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Magi Richani is the founder of San Francisco-based Nobell Foods, a startup company developing a new kind of cheese made from soybeans. She says plant-based cheese not only accommodates people who can’t consume dairy, but it also could be key to more sustainable food production worldwide. “The reality is that when you raise an animal for food, it’s not just the animals, you are actually growing crops, you are clearing land, and you’re raising the animal for years so it builds biomass,” Richani explained. “It’s an extremely inefficient supply chain.”

Nobell is particularly focused on creating plant-based casein, which is a protein produced when a cow gives birth and is present in the milk for its offspring. It is the ingredient that gives dairy cheese its unique stretchy texture. If Nobell is able to go to market and have the kind of impact it’s hoping to, then plant-based cheese could help us stretch toward a more sustainable future.

Internet: <newsweek.com> (adapted).

New Research Sheds Light to The Persian Plateau: A Crucial Hub for Homo Sapiens Post-Africa Migration

March 31, 2024

The Persian plateau, a region that spans modern-day Iran, has been identified as a critical hub for Homo sapiens following their migration out of Africa. This pivotal role was established through the integration of genetic evidence, paleoecological models, and archaeological findings. The research, led by a team of scientists from various institutions, indicates that Homo sapiens dispersed from Africa approximately 70−60 thousand years ago (kya), but it wasn't until around 45 kya that they began to colonize all of Eurasia extensively. The interim period, which saw these early humans settle in the Persian plateau, has been a subject of considerable scientific interest.

The Genetic Evidence

Genetic studies reveal that populations within the Persian Plateau possess ancestry components closely matching those of the earliest Homo sapiens who left Africa. This suggests that the plateau acted as a significant waypoint for our species during their early Eurasian colonization attempts. The genetic markers found in the region provide a direct link to these ancient travelers, shedding light on the movements and expansions of early human populations.

Paleoecological Insights

The research further explores the environmental conditions that made the Persian plateau a suitable habitation site for early Homo sapiens. Using paleoecological models, the team reconstructed the climatic conditions of the plateau between 70 and 30 kya. The models indicate that the region could support human life throughout this period, offering a stable environment for these communities. Moreover, the plateau's ecological diversity and resources could sustain larger populations compared to other West Asian regions, making it an ideal settlement area during this epoch.

Archaeological Corroboration

Archaeological evidence from the Persian Plate supports the genetic and paleoecological findings. Sites across the region have yielded artifacts and remains dating back to the relevant period, indicating a continuous human presence. These archaeological sites, alongside the genetic and environmental data, paint a comprehensive picture of the plateau as a bustling hub for early humans.

The combination of genetic, paleoecological, and archaeological evidence positions the Persian plateau as a critical juncture in the story of human migration and settlement. This research not only highlights the importance of the region in our prehistoric past but also opens new avenues for understanding the complexjourney of Homo sapiens as they spread across the globe. Further investigations into this area are likely to yield even more insights into the early chapters of human history.

https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/new-research-sheds-light-to-the persian-plateau-a-crucial-hub-for-homo-sapiens-post-africa-migration

Fire Devastates Brazil's Oldest Science Museum

The overnight inferno likely claimed fossils, cultural artifacts, and more irreplaceable collections amassed over 200 years.

By Michael Greshko ______________________________________

PUBLISHED September 6, 2018

Major pieces of Brazil's scientific and cultural heritage went up in smoke on September 2, as a devastating fire ripped through much of Rio de Janeiro's Museu Nacional, or National Museum. Founded in 1818, the museum is Brazil's oldest scientific institution and one of the largest and most renowned museums in Latin America, amassing a collection of some 20 million scientifically and culturally invaluable artifacts.

The Museu Nacional's holdings include Luzia, an 11,500-year-old skull considered one of South America's oldest human fossils, as well as the bones of uniquely Brazilian creatures such as the long-necked dinosaur Maxakalisaurus. Because of the auction tastes of Brazil's 19th-century emperors, the Museu Nacional also ended up with Latin America's oldest collection of Egyptian mummies and artifacts.

Even the building holds historical importance: It housed the exiled Portuguese royal family from 1808 to 1821, after they fled to Rio de Janeiro in 1807 to escape Napoleon. The complex also served as the palace for Brazil's post-independence emperors until 1889, before the museum collections were transferred there in 1902. In an September 5 email, Museu Nacional curator Débora Pires wrote that the entomology and arachnology collections were completely destroyed, as was most of the mollusk collection. However, technicians had braved the fire to save 80 percent of the mollusk holotypes—the specimens that formally serve as the global references for a given species. The museum's vertebrate specimens, herbarium, and library were housed separately and survived the fire.

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An Irreplaceable Loss

It's not yet clear how the fire started, but it did begin after the museum was closed to the public, and no injuries have yet been reported. Firefighters worked through the night to douse the burnt-out shell of the main building, but it seems the blaze has already seared a gaping hole in many scientists' careers.

“The importance of the collections that were lost couldn't be overstated,” says Luiz Rocha, a Brazilian ichthyologist now at the California Academy ofSciences who has visited the Museu Nacional several times to study its collections. “They were unique as it gets: Many of them were irreplaceable, there's no way to put a monetary value on it.”

“In terms of [my] life-long research agenda, I'm pretty much lost,” says Marcus Guidoti, a Brazilian entomologist finishing up his Ph.D. in a program co-run by Brazil's Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Guidoti studies lace bugs, an insect family with more than 2,000 species worldwide. The Museu Nacional held one of the world's largest lace bug collections, but the fire likely destroyed it and the rest of the museum's five million arthropod specimens. “Those type specimens can't be replaced, and they are crucial to understand the species,” he says by text message. “If I was willing to keep working on this family in this region of the globe, this was definitely a big hit.”

Paleontologist Dimila Mothé, a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, adds that the blows to science extend beyond the collections themselves. “It's not only the cultural history, the natural history, but all the theses and research developed there,” she says. “Most of the laboratories there were lost, too, and the research of several professors. I'm not sure you can say the impact of what was lost.”

Brazil’s indigenous knowledge also has suffered. The Museu Nacional housed world-renowned collections of indigenous objects, as well as many audio recordings of indigenous languages from all over Brazil. Some of these recordings, now lost, were of languages that are no longer spoken.

“I have no words to say how horrible this is,” says Brazilian anthropologist Mariana Françozo, an expert on South American indigenous objects at Leiden University. “The indigenous collections are a tremendous loss … we can no longer study them, we can no longer understand what our ancestors did. It’s heartbreaking.”

On Monday, The Brazilian publication G1 Rio reported that ashes of burned documents—some still flecked in notes or illustrations—have rained down from the sky more than a mile away from the Museu Nacional, thrown aloft by the inferno.

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Editor's Note: This story was updated on September 6, 2018, with new details about which artifacts survived the fire.

Taken from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/news-museu-nacional-fire-rio-de-janeiro-natural-history/. Access: 11 dez. 2018.

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Undertanding the language as a means of communication which is predominantly oral, rather than written, considering language teaching inductive, and not necessarily conscious is its base. In terms of pedagogic theory, inductive teaching happens through practice, so that students should be encouraged to answer questions, thus learning how to speak, speaking. Translation must be avoided, therefore, in order to construct understanding, teachers associate lexicon and object, in concrete relationships, what is supposed to lead to abstract ideas, in such a way that those will always be linked to concrete concepts. The sociolinguistic base for teaching is the language employed by native speakers in everyday communicative interactions, that is, in simulations that introduce dialogues, for example, in a restaurant, at the supermarket.

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