1.
Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
2.
Bust (sculpture)
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A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a persons head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual and these may be of any medium used for sculpture, such as marble, bronze, terracotta or wood. A parallel term, aust, is a representation of the part of an animal or mythical creature. Sculptural portrait heads from classical antiquity are sometimes displayed as busts, however, these are often fragments from full-body statues, or were created to be inserted into an existing body, these portrait heads are not included in this article. Herma Portraiture Livius. org, Bust gallery of famous ancient Greeks Oxford definition Dictionary. com definition
3.
Elche
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Elche, or Elx, is a town located in the comarca of Baix Vinalopó, Spain. According to the 2014 census, Elche has a population of some 228,647 inhabitants, ranking as the third most populated city in the Valencian Community, part of the municipality is coastal but the main city is some 11 km from the Mediterranean Sea. A small creek called Vinalopó flows through the city splitting it in two parts, la Alcudia is 10 km from the current citys location and the immediate predecessor of current day Elche. This original location was settled by the Greeks and then occupied by Carthaginians and Romans, Greeks Ionian colonists from the achaian city Helice established their new colony, naming it Helike around 600 BC. The Romans called the city Ilici and granted it the status of colonia, after a brief Byzantine rule, Elche lost importance during the period of Moorish occupation, when it was moved slightly north to its present location. James II of Aragon took the city from the Moors in the 13th century, many archaeological remains have been found in Elche, with the stone bust of the Lady of Elche being the most important. This may date from the Iberian period, the original is in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain. There are other activities in Elche, agriculture, although it has lost importance in recent years, rubber industry, trade, which employs 20% of the workforce. Elche has a centre, an international airport a public University, Universidad Miguel Hernández. Elche has a hot subtropical semi-arid climate and it is an orchard of over 200,000 palm trees that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. Altamira Castle, also known as Alcázar de la Señoría, located next to the Municipal Park It was originally built in Almohad times, basilica of Santa Maria Calahorra Tower, of rectangular plan and Rabic origin, it represent the last relic of the old city walls. It is played every year in mid August, in the context of the local holidays dedicated to the Assumption of Virgin Mary. Also as a part of celebration, on the 13th of August is the date of a celebration in Elche called Nit de lAlbà in which a city-wide night-long show of fireworks takes place
4.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
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National Archaeological Museum of Spain
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The National Archaeological Museum of Spain is a museum in Madrid, Spain. It is located on Serrano Street beside the Plaza de Colón, the museum was founded in 1867 by a Royal Decree of Isabella II as a depository for numismatic, archaeological, ethnographical and decorative art collections of the Spanish monarchs. The museum was located in the Embajadores district of Madrid. In 1895, it moved to a building designed specifically to house it, in 1968, renovation and extension works considerably increased its area. The museum closed for renovation in 2008 and reopened in April 2014, the remodelled museum concentrates on its core archaeological role, rather than decorative arts. The collection includes, among others, Prehistoric, Egyptian, Celtic, Iberian, Greek and Roman antiquities and medieval objects
6.
Iberians
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The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. The Roman sources also use the term Hispani to refer to the Iberians, the term Iberian, as used by the ancient authors, had two distinct meanings. One, more general, referred to all the populations of the Iberian peninsula without regard to ethnic differences and this non-Indo-European cultural group spoke the Iberian language from the 7th to the 1st century BC. Other peoples possibly related to the Iberians are the Vascones, though related to the Aquitani than to the Iberians. The Iberian culture developed from the 6th century BC, and perhaps as early as the fifth to the third millennium BC in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, the Iberians lived in villages and oppida and their communities were based on a tribal organization. The Iberians in the Spanish Levant, were more urbanized than their neighbors in the central, the peoples in the central and northwest regions were mostly Celtic, semi-pastoral and lived in scattered villages, though they also had a few fortified towns like Numantia. They had a knowledge of writing, metalworking, including bronze, in the centuries preceding Carthaginian and Roman conquest, Iberian settlements grew in social complexity, exhibiting evidence of social stratification and urbanization. This process was aided by trading contacts with the Phoenicians, Greeks. The settlement of Castellet de Banyoles in Tivissa was one of the most important ancient Iberian settlements in Catalonia that was discovered in 1912, also, the Treasure of Tivissa, a unique collection of silver Iberian votive offerings was found here in 1927. Lucentum was another ancient Iberian settlement, as well as Castelldefels Castle, mausoleum of Pozo Moro near the town of Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón in Castile-La Mancha seems to mark the location of another big settlement. Sagunto is the location of an ancient Iberian and later Roman city of Saguntum, Greek colonists made the first historical reference to the Iberians in the 6th century BC. They defined Iberians as non-Celtic peoples south of the Ebro river, the Greeks also dubbed as Iberians another people in the Caucasus region, currently known as Caucasian Iberians. It is not known if there had any type of connection between the two peoples. The Iberians traded extensively with other Mediterranean cultures, Iberian pottery and metalwork has been found in France, Italy, and North Africa. The Iberians had extensive contact with Greek colonists in the Spanish colonies of Emporion, Rhode, Zakynthos, the Iberians may have adopted some of the Greeks artistic techniques. Statues such as the Lady of Baza and the Lady of Elx are thought to have made by Iberians relatively well acquainted with Greek art. Thucydides stated that one of the three tribes of Sicily, the Sicani, were of Iberian origin, though Iberian at the time could have included what we think of as Gaul. The Iberians also had contacts with the Phoenicians, who had established colonies in southern Andalucia
7.
Tanit
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Tanit was a Berber Punic and Phoenician goddess, the chief deity of Carthage alongside her consort Baal Hammon. She was also adopted by the Punic Berber people, Tanit is also called Tinnit, Tannou or Tangou. The name appears to have originated in Carthage, though it not appear in local theophorous names. She was equivalent to the moon-goddess Astarte, and later worshipped in Roman Carthage in her Romanized form as Dea Caelestis, in modern-day Tunisian Arabic, it is customary to invoke Omek Tannou or Oumouk Tangou, in years of drought to bring rain. Similarly, Tunisian and many other forms of Arabic refer to Baali farming to refer to non-irrigated agriculture. Tanit was worshiped in Punic contexts in the Western Mediterranean, from Malta to Gades into Hellenistic times, from the fifth century BCE onwards, Tanits worship is associated with that of Baal Hammon. She is given the epithet pene baal and the title rabat and her shrine excavated at Sarepta in southern Phoenicia revealed an inscription that identified her for the first time in her homeland and related her securely to the Phoenician goddess Astarte. One site where Tanit is uncovered is at Kerkouane, in the Cap Bon peninsula in Tunisia, the origins of Tanit are to be found in the pantheon of Ugarit, especially in the Ugaritic goddess Anat, a consumer of blood and flesh. There is significant, albeit disputed, evidence, both archaeological and within ancient written sources, pointing towards child sacrifice forming part of the worship of Tanit, some archaeologists theorised that infant sacrifices have occurred. Lawrence E. Stager, who directed the excavations of the Carthage Tophet in the 1970s, paolo Xella of the National Research Council in Rome summarized the textual, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence for Carthaginian infant sacrifice. Tophet is a derived from the Bible, used to refer to a site near Jerusalem at which Canaanites and Israelites who strayed from Judaism by practicing Canaanite idolatry would sacrifice children. It is now used as a term for all such sites with cremated human. The Hebrew Bible does not specify that the Israelite victims were buried, only burned and we have no idea how the Phoenicians themselves referred to the places of burning or burial, or to the practice itself. Several apparent Tophets have been identified, chiefly a large one in Carthage, dubbed the Tophet of Salammbó, soil in the Tophet of Salammbó was found to be full of olive wood charcoal, probably from the sacrificial pyres. It was the location of the temple of the goddess Tanit, animal remains, mostly sheep and goats, found inside some of the Tophet urns, strongly suggest that this was not a burial ground for children who died prematurely. The animals were sacrificed to the gods, presumably in place of children and it is conjectured that the children unlucky enough not to have substitutes were also sacrificed and then buried in the Tophet. The area covered by the Tophet in Carthage was probably over an acre, about 20,000 urns were deposited between 400 BCE and 200 BCE, with the practice continuing until the early years of the Christian period. The urns contained the bones of newborns and in some cases the bones of fetuses
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Carthaginian Iberia
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The Carthaginian presence in Iberia lasted from 575 BC to 206 BC when the Carthaginians were defeated by the Roman Republic at the Battle of Ilipa in the Second Punic War. The Phoenicians were a people from the eastern Mediterranean who were traders from the cities of Tyre, Sidon. They colonised much of the Mediterranean and in the year 814 BC and they also annexed territory in Sicily, Africa, Sardinia and in 575 BC, they created colonies on the Iberian peninsula. In eight years, by force of arms and diplomacy, he secured an extensive territory in Hispania, the fall of Carthages Iberian territories came in the Second Punic War. In the year 209, after the Romans had landed on Iberia under the command of Scipio Africanus, they captured the centre of Punic power in Iberia, Cartagena. They then moved south and faced the Punic army of Hasdrubal in the Battle of Baecula but were not able to prevent him continuing his march to Italy in order to reinforce his brother Hannibal. This catastrophic defeat sealed the fate of the Carthaginian presence in Iberia and it was followed by the Roman capture of Gades in 206 BC after the city had already rebelled against Carthaginian rule. A last attempt was made by Mago in 205 BC to recapture New Carthage while the Roman presence was shaken by a mutiny, so in the same year he left Iberia, setting sail from the Balearic islands to Italy with his remaining forces. Four Iberian Ladies, Lady of Cerro de los Santos, Lady of Baza, Lady of Guardamar, the Lady of Guardamar, found in 1987, is in the Museum of Alicante. This series of sculptures can be seen as types of funerary urns to hold ashes, there has been speculation that the Elche bust was originally full-length. Mythological animals of an earlier period – 6th–5th century BC, the Bull of Osuna, the Sphinx of Agost, Carthaginian currency, including the Barcid mints in Iberia Timeline of Portuguese history
9.
Iberian sculpture
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Iberian sculpture, a subset of Iberian art, describes the various sculptural styles developed by the Iberians from the Bronze age up to the Roman conquest. For this reason it is described as Pre-Roman Iberian sculpture. Overall the degree of influence is correlated to the region of origin. The sculptures that comprise the Levantine group were made between the 5th century B. C. and the period of Roman domination, this group is best represented in museum collections. The most famous among them is the bust known as The Lady of Elche, works in this style number over 670, though there are stylistic differences, which testify to the successive influences of conquering peoples. They include, The Bicha of Balazote, or the man-bull The Sphinx of Agost, in Alicante, and that of Salobral, which guards the Louvre Museum, though mutilated. In the period between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD, sanctuaries like Montealegre used small bronze castings, rather than stone carvings, as votive offerings. Approximately 4,000 sculptures in this style have been excavated, depicting Iberian warriors, riders, religious celebrants, small horses, the oldest have been dated to the 8th century B. C. and they most likely continued to be made up to the Roman domination. These include, The Lady of Ibiza Praying Terracotta Figurines Pieces also considered to be of Phoenician or Punic origin, a very early Phoenician piece from Galera depicts a seated female, perhaps Astarte, flanked by sphinxes. The Lady of Galera The southern group is composed of sculptures found in sepulchers. Most of them display heavy Phoenician influence and they are as follows, The sculptural set of Cerrillo Blanco the sculptural set of The Pajarillo The Punic stela of Villaricos, of conical form and with Phoenician inscription The Lady of Baza. The plates and combs of ivory reliefs of Carmonas necropolis. These sculptures are relatively coarsely worked, some of them bear Roman inscriptions, which were probably added long after the figures were carved. In the center of the Peninsula, between the rivers Douro and Tagus there are many granite sculptures roughly carved in the form of bulls, some of these also have Roman inscriptions, which again were probably added later. The most famous of these monuments are the four known as the Bulls of Guisando, archeologists consider them to be works of the same culture that carved the sphinxes of the Levantine region. South-Western Iberian Bronze Iberian schematic art VV. AA, escultura ibérica en el Museo Provincial de Jaén. Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía
10.
Polychrome
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Polychrome is the practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc. in a variety of colors. The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, some very early polychrome pottery has been excavated on Minoan Crete such as at the Bronze Age site of Phaistos. In ancient Greece sculptures were painted in strong colors, the paint was frequently limited to parts depicting clothing, hair, and so on, with the skin left in the natural color of the stone. But it could cover sculptures in their totality, the painting of Greek sculpture should not merely be seen as an enhancement of their sculpted form but has the characteristics of a distinct style of art. On high-quality bronzes like the Riace bronzes, an early example of polychrome decoration was found in the Parthenon atop the Acropolis of Athens. By the time European antiquarianism took off in the 18th century, however, however, some classicists such as Jacques Ignace Hittorff noticed traces of paint on classical architecture and this slowly came to be accepted. An example of classical Greek architectural polychrome may be seen in the full size replica of the Parthenon exhibited in Nashville, Tennessee, throughout medieval Europe religious sculptures in wood and other media were often brightly painted or colored, as were the interiors of church buildings. The exteriors of churches were painted as well, but little has survived, exposure to the elements and changing tastes and religious approval over time acted against their preservation. With the arrival of European porcelain in the 18th century, brightly colored pottery figurines with a range of colors became very popular. Polychrome brickwork is a style of brickwork which emerged in the 1860s. It was often used to replicate the effect of quoining and to decorate around windows, early examples featured banding, with later examples exhibiting complex diagonal, criss-cross, and step patterns, in some cases even writing using bricks. In the 1970s and 1980s, especially, architects working with bold colors included Robert Venturi, Michael Graves, Polychrome building facades later rose in popularity as a way of highlighting certain trim features in Victorian and Queen Anne architecture in the United States. The rise of the paint industry following the civil war also helped to fuel the use of multiple colors. These earned the endearment Painted Ladies, a term that in modern times is considered kitsch when it is applied to describe all Victorian houses that have painted with period colors. John Joseph Earley developed a process of concrete slab construction and ornamentation that was admired across America. In the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area, his products graced a variety of buildings — all formed by the staff of the Earley Studio in Rosslyn, earleys Polychrome Historic District houses in Silver Spring, Maryland were built in the mid-1930s. The concrete panels were pre-cast with colorful stones and shipped to the lot for on-site assembly, less well-known, but just as impressive, is the Dr. Fealy Polychrome House that Earley built atop a hill in Southeast Washington, D. C. overlooking the city. His uniquely designed polychrome houses were outstanding among prefabricated houses in the country, appreciated for their Art Deco ornament, the term polychromatic means having several colors
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