Maya “Painted Pyramid” Murals Reveal Daily Life

Recently discovered pyramid in the Mexican Jungle has helped historians learn more about the daily life of Mayans. These Mayan wall murals with hieroglyphic captions are different from other previous murals found, which depicted ruling elites, defeats in battles, and religious themes. They also differ because the newly discovered murals are located on the exterior of the pyramid instead of hidden inside, “…they were public” says Mayan expert Michael D. Coe. The new murals illustrate ordinary Mayans doing day to day activities, during 620 A.D to 700 A.D. These murals were most likely based off the people in Calakmul, the capital of Snake Kingdom, which at the time were the most influential cities of the Mayan Empire. These murals show common food such as corn, which was essential to the Mayan diet. They also depict clothing and jewelry worn by all different classes. But what is most surprising about these murals, is that they are freely displayed on the exterior of the pyramid. The pyramid’s burial has successfully preserved the unusual artwork of the Mayans.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091112-maya-pictures-murals-pyramid-food.html

Marissa Romeri
Period 7

HITLER'S "FUEHRERMUSEUM" ALBUM BEING RETURNED

As World War II came to a close, there were a select few U.S. soldiers who entered Hitler's home in the Bavarian Alps. John Pistone was among them. As a souvenir, Pistone took an album with photographs of paintings while searching the dictator's home.
Jump forward 64 years. Pistone, now 87, has finally learned what the album was intended for. The Paintings depicted in the album were to be showcased as part of a series in in Hitler's "Fuehrermuseum," a planned museum in Linz, Austria.
This 3-inch thick, 12-pound book is going to be formally returned to Germany in a ceremony in January. Germany has found 19 other albums that were apart of a 31-collection to be or to be considered being shown at the Linz museum

http://news.discovery.com/history/stolen-hitler-art-book-returned.html

Maggie Herlocker

Period 7

Ancient Tablets Decoded; Sheding Light on Assyrian Empire

In present day southeast Turkey, clay tablets were discovered in an ancient palace. The tablets were inscribed with cuneiform, the common written language of the early Middle East. The tablets were made by scribes in the royal courts; they were taking notes on intricate parts of the Assyrian government never before known. The tablets are dated back 3,000 years to 1000 B.C.E. This creates a link between governments of today, to those of ancient empires. While these tablets are being deciphered, archeologists can only image what other details they contain. These tablets could be used to look more deeply at the Assyrian empire, looking past their brute force that would often display by putting the head of conquered leaders at the gates of a conquered city.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091209-ancient-tablets-decoded.html

JT Janowski

Period 7

Justice is Served

When Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, the destruction and mass murdering of many innocent people was imminent. In order to help facilitate this, many concentration camps were created which were run by guards. Even after the many years from the Holocaust to the present, the repercussions of this blight on world history are still taking place.
Eighty-nine-year-old John Demjanjuk is being put on trial for committing the serious crime as being a suspected guard at a Nazi concentration camp. It is believed that Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor network of camps located in Poland, and may have been responsible for the deaths of 27,900 Jewish people. He denies being a guard at Sobibor, but there are records showing his name and transfer orders located at this camp. As there are no living eyewitnesses to have seen Demjanjuk at this camp, prosecutors will not have the testimonies of anyone. If Demjanjuk is convicted of this heinous crime, he will most likely be subjected to spend the rest of his life behind bars. However, if he does escape this fate, he may possibly be alienated, as he is without a passport, and no country wants to be associated with him. This riveting, nail-biting trial is likely to be the last Holocaust trial to receive a lot of public attention. Even if Demjanjuk is not imprisoned, he will always be a prisoner to the potential regret that may plague his thoughts.

http://news.discovery.com/history/nazi-guard-holocaust-trial.html

-Jackie G.
Period 7

Jesus Enters the Modern World

“The Last Supper” is one of the most revered works of art of all time, for its nearly accurate portrayal of Jesus, the event itself, and for its vivid and life-like detail and color. Since 1498, when the painting was first created, it has tremendously deteriorated and faded. Although its quality has deeply declined in the past few centuries, it has still been wildly appreciated by millions, and the attempts to preserve it have not been disappointing. Recently, Mario Taddei was accompanied by fellow scientists at Milan’s Leonardo3 to digitally recreate the masterpiece, in order to give insight to the original artwork’s beauty, full quality, and to enhance the recent portrayals of it.
Using the remains of the original, poor-quality work of art, other interpretations and recreations of it, and science, these scientists were able to successfully recreate the world’s treasured masterpiece. They used a long, tedious analytical process of taking each pixel, and closely analyzing it for the exact color, texture, and pigment levels of each stroke. These scientists also had the ability to add the forgotten piece of “The Last Supper”, the lower half which contained Jesus’ feet, which had been cut off centuries ago when the painting was used for a door. This had been done by the analyzing of many contemporary portrayals of the painting. This new digital creation is meant to be cherished and treasured, just as DaVinci would have wanted to impact the world.

http://news.discovery.com/history/leonardo-davinci-last-supper.html

-Rebecca W.
Period 7

Rare Darwin Book Found Near Toilet

Charles Darwin was one of history’s most remarkable men. He was born on February 12th, 1809, interestingly, also the date Abraham Lincoln was born. Darwin’s book, The Origin of the Species set out his theory of evolution by which species develop from generation to generation through the process of natural selection. The first printing of the book was in 1859, when 1,250 copies were printed. How much do you think a copy of the first edition would be worth today?

A family in the Oxford area in Great Britain has found the answer to that question. Apparently, the family bought the book about forty years ago “for a few shillings” and kept it on their book case in their guest bathroom. The son-in-law of the current owners was at an exhibition on Darwin and saw a picture of the book. He realized the book in the bathroom matched the binding of Darwin’s book. The book was promptly put up for sale. On Tuesday November 24th, 2009, the 150th anniversary of the book’s original publication, the green-cloth volume was purchased by an anonymous bidder for 174,000 dollars. I wonder what Darwin would be more surprised about, that his book was kept in a bathroom for forty years or how much the copy sold for today.

http://news.discovery.com/history/charles-darwin-book-found-in-toilet.html

Sara P.

Period 7

3,000 Year Old Mystery Gets One Step Closer to Being Solved

Recently, Dr. Zahi Hawass and a team of archeologists discovered "Egypt's Lost Queen". They used process of elimination with the use of advanced computer programs to tell which of the thousands of corpses had physical traits similar to Hatshepsut. After finally coming down to two corpses, the scientists scanned a box they found with Hatshepsut's name inscribed. Inside was a tooth, which perfectly matched a missing spot in one of the mummy's mouths. The scientists thus concluded that this corpse was the great leader Hatshepsut.

Dr. Kara Cooney believes that this discovery is more of a "resurrection of Hatshepsut's image." For 3,000 years, Queen Hatshepsut has been erased form history and remained unknown to most people. Back when she was alive, Hatshepsut stole the throne from her stepson, dressed and acted as a man, then announced herself Pharaoh. She was greater than any female ruler with her rule stretching far across Egypt and having a prosperous reign. However, Hatshepsut was killed and completely erased from history. Her monuments were destroyed, any record of her was ruined, and her corpse was removed from her tomb. "The discovery of the Hatshepsut mummy is one of the most important finds in the history of Egypt," said Dr. Hawass. "Her reign during the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt was a prosperous one, yet mysteriously she was erased from Egyptian history. Our hope is that this mummy will help shed light on this mystery and on the mysterious nature of her death."

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/quest/lost-queen/program/program.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/hatshepsut-why-is-this-find-so-significant.html

Jenn Cardoza

Period 7

Roman Statues Found in Blue Grotto Cave

Many ancient Roman statues stand under the island of Capri in southern Italy in the waters of the Blue Grotto. The cave used to be a swimming pool used by Emperor Tiberius, and the statues are thought to be depictions of sea gods. The magnificent blue tone of the water and the silvery light that shines through makes this cave one of the top attractions in Capri. This island happened to be the capitol of the Roman empire between 27 and 37 A.D. because Tiberius took advantage of the mild climate and secluded area. Archaeologists recovered a statue of the sea god Neptune, and two statues of he Greek god Triton in the Blue Grotto. Trinton carried a twisted conch shell and he blew it to calm or raise the waves. Divers found seven bases in the waters at a depth of 150 meters, so they suggest that four other statues may be found on the cave's sandy bottom. They are now preserving the natural wonder of the cave so that it is in similar condition to how it was in ancient times.

http://news.discovery.com/history/blue-grotto-statues.html

Cailyn Prewitt

Period 7

Fingers and Tooth Recovered

In Florence, a tooth and two fingers of Galileo Galilei have been found inside a case from an auction. Because the church did not agree with his findings, he was only allowed to be buried in unsacred ground. So he was later exhumed and transferred to a mausoleum in Santa Croce. There he would lay to rest along with some other famous people like Michelangelo. However, when his coffin was raised during the ceremony, naturalist Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti cut off Galilei’s thumb and forefinger with his pocket knife. Later, he also got the middle finger, the fifth lumbar vertebra and a tooth. These two fingers were kept because they were the fingers that wrote great works. The two fingers and tooth will be on display at the Galileo Museum, which was originally the Museum of the History of Science in Florence.

http://news.discovery.com/history/galileo-fingers-tooth-remains.html

David Leung

Period 7

Do you see what I hear?

There is a real Da Vinci code hiding within the painting of “The Last Supper” created by Leonardo Da Vinci. According to musician Giovanni Maria Pala, he discovered that there is a musical number hidden within this controversial painting. Pala states that "[He has] always been intrigued by the possibility of finding a (piece of) music in the Last Supper, but [he] would have never imagined to find [him]self decoding a secret message by Leonardo." Leonardo was also a successful harpist and enjoyed hiding puzzles and paintings within his paintings. Pala claims that music piece found within Leonardo’s work is a sacred hymn and text. He declares that the horizontal and vertical lines on the tablecloth represent a music staff while the pieces of bread represent music notes. Each piece within the painting had some musical representation. Pala was able to decipher the time of the music by viewing the three "Apostles" representing a 3/4 time signature. He also realized that the way the notes were placed were a form of ancient manuscript. Pala then proceeded by having Father Luigi Orlando read the music and Father Luigi confirmed this sentence was written in Hebrew, and it meant "with Him consecration and glory." Pala also discovered that the church where he painted "The Last Supper", Santa Maria delle Grazie, was incorporated in the painting by a chalice. There are so many enigmas surrounding the controversial painting "The Last Supper", only causing people to want to find out more about the painting and what it hides.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/09/last-supper-da-vinci.html

-Tasha Pineiro, Period 7