Digging up history
The Ukok woman who died of breast cancer 2500 years ago
The people in the west cared for the woman since she was bedbound until she died, most likely in January. Her body was kept frozen on the plains till she was buried in June, with her jewels and three horses. Her grave was found in 1993 and everything is still being analysed ever since.
Sorcerers ?
Specialists say that she had been suffering from bone marrow and inflammation since childhood but her breast cancer had let her to death five years later. She smoked marihuana to ease the pain and it was also used to communicate to the spirit world. The woman’s skin was buttered professionally and very good. The whole group helped with the progress and laid her to her grave. Specialists say that she was high born but single and had never had children.
Burial
by her wooden carved casket were her cosmetic bad, decoration mostly out of wood but decorated with good iron, also a Chinese mirror in a wooden frame, a well-made blanket, clothing out of Indian wild silk and last but not least coriander seeds and her body was buttered carefully , that is how it was done for high borne. Her clothes were well made. An accurate research of her remains reviled her medical history and it was discovered by researching the stomachs of the gorses that they were sacrificed in June and that’s when she was buried. She is often called the ice girl of Siberia, Ukok princess or Altai Princess. Guests are permitted to see her in Anokhin museum in Gorno-Altaisk
Original text in Icelandic
Ukokkonan dó úr brjóstakrabba fyrir 2500 árum
Á októberdegi fyrir 2500 árum kom hópur fólks sam bjó við pzyrykmenningu til vestrarbúða sinni á sífreðinni Ukoksléttunni í Altaifjöllum Síberíu. Meðal þess var ákaflega horuð 25 ára gömul koma. Nokkru áður hafði hún fallið, sennilega af hestbaki, flestir liðir á hægri hlið líkaman hennar voru úr lagi gengnir og höfuðkúpan brákuð. Verst var þó meinið sem dreifði úr sér frá hægra brjóstinu.
Fólkið í vestrarbúðunum ól önn fyrir konunni sem var rúmföst þar til hún lést, sennilega í janúar. Líkið var geymt í frostinu á sléttunni en konan svo lögð í haug sinn í júní, ásamt skrauti sínu, skarti og þremumr hrossum. Haugurinn fannst árið 1993 og hefur verið rannsakaður yst ssem innst síðan og þá ekki síður líkamsleifar konu og hrossa. Skart og allt skraut.
Seiðkona?
Sérfræðingar segja konuna sennilega hafa þjáðst af bein- og mergjarbólgum frá barnæsku en að krabbameinið í brjóstinu hafi dregið hana til dauða á fimm árum. Hún hafi andað að sér hassreyk til að lina þjáningar sínar en efnið notuðu seiðmenn iðulega til að komast í samband við andaheima. Húð konunnar var mikið flúrað af ótrúlekri leikni og listfangi, hópurinn allur hafði sinnt henni og lagt hana látna í haug fjarri örðum grafreitum. Sérfræðingar telja þetta benda til að hún hafi verið í hávegum höfð en einhleyp var hún og hafði ekki alið börn.
Haugfé
Hjá myndskreyttri viðarkistu hennar í haugnum lá snyrtitaska hennar, skrautmunir að mestu úr timbri en skreyttir góðmálmum, þar á meðal kínverskur spegill í viðarramma, listlega ofin eða hnýtt teppi, klæði úr indversku villisilki, síðan en ekki síst kóríanderfræ og lík hennar hafði verið smurt af vandvirkni en þannig var farið með lík eðalborinna. Klæði hennar voru vönduð og prýdd útsaumi. Nákvæm rannsókn á líkamsleifum hennar leiddi sjúkrasögu hennar í ljós og samskonar rannsókn á innihaldi maga hrossanna sýndi að þeim hafði verið fórnað í júnímánuði þegar konan var lögði í hauginn. Hún er ýmist kölluð ísstúlkan fá Síberíu, Ukokprinsessan eða Altaiprinsessan og er gestum og gangandi til sýnis á Anokhinsafninu í Gorno-Altaisk.
Why I found it interesting
I really like this because it shows culture really well, like tattos and clothing and it also shows social status 2500 years ago.
Genghis Khan, Stofnandi Mongólu ríkisdæmsins
Á þeim tíma sem hann dó 1227, varð Genghis Khan farin frá að vera minniháttar maður í Mongol ættarflokki og varð hann að höfðingja í eitt stærsta ríkisdæmi í heimi á þeim tilma, náði frá Kína til Kasbía Hafi. Til dagsins í dag er hann munaður sem ríkis hetja ag Mongólíu, en grafreitur hans er en ófundinn og ekkert bentir til hvar hann gæti verið. Kínverskar og Persíaskar heimildir benda til að Genghis hafi dáið meðan á herferð hans til Kína, líklega hafa dottið af hestbaki þegar hann var að veiða og að synir hans hefðu tekið lík föður síns til Mongólíu til að leggja hann í gröf. Margt bendir til að kistan hans var lögð í skurð og síðan hafi verið grafið hann niður og látið eins og ekkert sé að finna. Samkvæmt einni heimild hefði verið látið 10.000 hesta traðka á jörðina til að slétta landið. Í byrjun um árið 1960, voru gerðir margir leiðangrar til að leita grafarinnar en án árángurs. Í dag eru margir fræðimenn sammála því að Genghis hafi verið grafaður einhverstaðar um Khentii fjall um norð-vestur Mongólíu, ekki langt frá fæðingar stað hans.
Núna er alþjóðlegt átak frá Mongólska Menntabraut Vísinda, Háskóla Californíu, San Diego, (UCSD) og National Geographic Sociaty eru að nota fjarlæga tækni til að leita grafreitsins. Allar þessar stofnanir eru að vonast til að loka því opi sögulega sögu Móngólíu. ,,Hann breytist plánetunni’’ segir UCSD verkfræðingur Albert Lin, sem sjálpaði með þetta verkefni árið 2009. ,, En það eru ekki einusinni málinga verk eða listaverk af honum frá hans fólki. Það vantar líkamlegann þátt að arfleifðum hans, og aðeins að finna grafreit hans myndi gefa Mónolíum mikla teingingu við hann.‘‘ Mongólíu ríkisstjórnin gæti brátt tilkynnt niðurstöður liðisins hvort eittvhað hafi fundist áður á þessu ári.
Original text in English
Genghis Khan, Founder of the Mongol Empire
By the time he died in 1227, Genghis Khan had gone from being cast out of a minor Mongol tribe to ruling the largest contiguous empire in history, stretching from China to the Caspian Sea. Today, Genghis Khan is still worshipped as a national hero of Mongolia, but the location of his burial is shrouded in mystery. Chinese and Persian historical sources suggest Genghis died during a campaign in China, possibly falling off his horse during a hunt, and that his sons took his body back to Mongolia for burial. A number of accounts agree that his coffin was placed in a pit and that the ground above was restored to its original appearance to conceal it. According to one source, 10,000 horsemen trampled the ground above it to make it even. Beginning in the 1960s, several expeditions have searched for the grave, but without success. Today, many scholars agree that Genghis was likely interred somewhere in the Khentii mountain range of northeastern Mongolia, not far from his birthplace.
Now an international effort of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the University of California, San Diego, (UCSD) and the National Geographic Society is using remote-sensing techniques to search for the tomb. The team hopes finding it will close a gap in the historical record for Mongolians and the world at large. “He transformed the planet,” says UCSD engineer Albert Lin, who helped start the project in 2009. “But there isn’t even a painting of him by his own people. There’s a missing physical element to his legacy, and just finding the location of his burial would give Mongolians an important link to him.” The Mongolian government could announce the team’s preliminary findings later this year.
Why I found it interesting
This man shows and represents the Mongolians history well, he is a part of their history and cultural heritage. It’s also interesting that people are spending a long time trying to find a grave of a long dead man.
Louise Leakey : Digging for humanity’s origins
Why I chose this
This is really explaining how human evolved and I myself believe in we evolved from apes. She is speaking of an interesting matter also how hard it is finding them is.
History vs. Christopher Columbus
This is a debate about who was Christopher Columbus and why or why not to celebrate Columbus Day. Also about what kind of man Columbus was.
Why I chose it
I chose this video because it’s interesting to see what Columbus did at that time and he is not as great as I always thought he wasn’t.
A brief history of religion in art
Why I chose it
Religion is a very big part of history and so is art, we learn so much of our history through art.
Interview with Orri Vésteinsson a archaeologist and professor
How and when did you get an interest in archaeology?
I have had been working in archaeology before I started to educate myself. For example I went to dig up and research at Eyjafjöll at the age 15. I started then to go to HÍ to study history and then archaeology abroad. I have always been kind of a nerd, I had a lot of interest in science and found it fun to work outside.What do you love and what do you dislike doing in your job
I find everything fun and it is very divers. I love excavating, mapping and being outside. I also love the inside work, like drawing and writing texts. But I don’t particularly like analysing objects, I kind of get other people to do that for me.
Have you work all around the country, how about outside of Iceland
Yes I have, all over our country, mostly in the North-east and in Mývatnssveit. I have also gone abroad like Japan and Greenland.
What assignment or work have you done that you are proud of and find most memorable
I think all work I have ever done is memorable. I’m really lucky to always have something to do. I am happy that I got to take part in developing archaeological registration it did not exist not too long ago. And also making a archaeology course in HÍ in 2002.
Do you have any plans for the future
Yes I do, since in archaeology one work takes a long time, a couple of years. But the more you dig the more you find and the more work you get.
Are there many diffrent jobs avaible for archolagist in Iceland
Yes there are and they have increased these past years. But it’s not like jobs are waiting for you, people have to make their own job and their own work.
Summary of interview
Orri Vésteinsson really likes his job and has enjoyed it since he was young. He likes the diversity of his work and his workplace is stable and so is the work market.