1.
Petroglyph
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Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use such as carving, engraving. Petroglyphs are found world-wide, and are associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek word petro-, theme of the word meaning stone, and glyphein meaning to carve. The term petroglyph should not be confused with petrograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face, both types of image belong to the wider and more general category of rock art or parietal art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes made by large rocks. Inukshuks are also unique, and found only in the Arctic and they are a category of rock art, and sometimes found in conjunction with rock-cut architecture. However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, a few such works exploit the natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures, and were important in the art of the Ancient Near East. Rock reliefs are generally large, as they need to be to make an impact in the open air. Most have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size, the vertical relief is most common, but reliefs on essentially horizontal surfaces are also found. The term typically excludes relief carvings inside caves, whether natural or themselves man-made, natural rock formations made into statues or other sculpture in the round, most famously at the Great Sphinx of Giza, are also usually excluded. Reliefs on large boulders left in their location, like the Hittite İmamkullu relief, are likely to be included. Some petroglyphs are dated to approximately the Neolithic and late Upper Paleolithic boundary, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, if not earlier. Sites in Australia have petroglyphs that are estimated to be as much as 27,000 years old, around 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, other precursors of writing systems, such as pictographs and ideograms, began to appear. Petroglyphs were still common though, and some cultures continued using them much longer, petroglyphs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica with highest concentrations in parts of Africa, Scandinavia, Siberia, southwestern North America and Australia. There are many theories to explain their purpose, depending on their location, age, some petroglyphs are thought to be astronomical markers, maps, and other forms of symbolic communication, including a form of pre-writing. Petroglyph maps may show trails, symbols communicating time and distances traveled, as well as the terrain in the form of rivers, landforms
2.
Sculpture
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Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
3.
Stone sculpture
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Stone sculpture is the result of forming 3-dimensional visually interesting objects from stone. It is an ancient activity where pieces of natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Petroglyphs are perhaps the earliest form, images created by removing part of a surface which remains in situ, by incising, pecking, carving. Monumental sculpture covers large works, and architectural sculpture, which is attached to buildings. Hardstone carving is the carving for artistic purposes of semi-precious stones such as jade, agate, onyx, rock crystal, sard or carnelian, alabaster or mineral gypsum is a soft mineral that is easy to carve for smaller works and still relatively durable. Engraved gems are small carved gems, including cameos, originally used as seal rings, carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself, beginning perhaps with incised images on cave walls. Prehistoric sculptures were usually human forms, such as the Venus of Willendorf, later cultures devised animal, human-animal and abstract forms in stone. The earliest cultures used abrasive techniques, and modern technology employs pneumatic hammers, but for most of human history, sculptors used hammer and chisel as the basic tools for carving stone. In the direct method of carving, the work usually begins with the selection of a stone for carving. The artist using the method may use sketches but eschews the use of a physical model. The fully dimensional form or figure is created for the first time in the stone itself, as the artist removes material, sketches on the block of stone, and develops the work along the way. On the other hand, is the method, when the sculptor begins with a clearly defined model to be copied in stone. The models, usually made of plaster or modeling clay, may be fully the size of the intended sculpture, once the model is complete, a suitable stone must be found to fit the intended design. The model is copied in stone by measuring with calipers or a pointing machine. This method is used when the carving is done by other sculptors. Some artists use the stone itself as inspiration, the Renaissance artist Michelangelo claimed that his job was to free the human form hidden inside the block. When he or she is ready to carve, the carver usually begins by knocking off, or pitching, large portions of unwanted stone. For this task he may select a point chisel, which is a long, hefty piece of steel with a point at one end, a pitching tool may also be used at this early stage, which is a wedge-shaped chisel with a broad, flat edge
4.
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
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The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint John, The Great Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is located in New York City on Amsterdam Avenue between West 110th Street and 113th Street in Manhattans Morningside Heights neighborhood, designed in 1888 and begun in 1892, the cathedral has undergone radical stylistic changes and the interruption of the two World Wars. Originally designed in the Byzantine Revival-Romanesque Revival styles, the plan was changed after 1909 to a Gothic Revival design, after a large fire on December 18,2001, it was closed for repairs and reopened in November 2008. It remains unfinished, with construction and restoration a continuing process, as a result, it is often nicknamed St. John the Unfinished. There is a dispute whether this cathedral or Liverpool Cathedral is the worlds largest Anglican cathedral. It is also the fourth largest Christian church in the world, the interior covers 121,000 sq ft, spanning a length of 601 ft and height 232 ft. The interior height of the nave is 124 feet, the cathedral houses one of the nations premier textile conservation laboratories to conserve the cathedrals textiles, including the Barberini tapestries to cartoons by Raphael. The laboratory also conserves tapestries, needlepoint, upholstery, costumes, in 1887 Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Episcopal Diocese of New York called for a cathedral to rival the Catholic St. Patricks Cathedral in Manhattan. An 11. 5-acre property, on which the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum had stood, was purchased by deed for the cathedral in 1891. After an open competition, a design by the New York firm of George Lewis Heins, the foundations were completed at enormous expense, largely because bedrock was not struck until the excavation had reached 72 feet. The walls were built around eight massive 130-ton, 50-foot granite columns, each turned as one piece, sourced from Vinalhaven, Maine and said to be the largest in the world. The columns, which were transported to New York on a specially constructed barge towed by the steam tug Clara Clarita. The first services were held in the crypt, under the crossing in 1899, the Ardolino brothers from Torre di Nocelli, Italy, did much of the stone carving work on the statues designed by the English sculptor John Angel. After the large dome made of Guastavino tile was completed in 1909. Grant LaFarge, and hire the noted Gothic Revival architect Ralph Adams Cram to design the nave, in 1911, the choir and the crossing were opened, and the foundation for Crams nave began to be excavated in 1916. J. Sanford Saltus, namesake of the American Numismatic Societys Saltus Award, Manning with a life-size statue of Joan of Arc for the Cathedrals French Chapel, which was dedicated in January 1923. The first stone of the nave was laid, and the west front was undertaken in 1925, Bishop Manning had announced a $10 million capital campaign to raise money for this project at a major press conference, the New York campaign committee was headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Work at the church went on during the Great Depression as a result of monies raised in this campaign, the Cathedral was opened end-to-end for the first time on November 30,1941, a week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor
5.
Kilmartin Stones
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The Kilmartin Stones are a collection of 79 ancient graveslabs at Kilmartin parish church in the village of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland, about 30 km due south of Oban. The earliest stones date back to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, originally, the stones would have been laid flat on the ground to cover a grave. After the Reformation, however, many of the stones were moved, the symbolism of the motifs carved onto the slabs is the subject of much discussion and speculation. Many feature swords or claymores, some alone, others with surrounding designs of twining or interlaced foliage, other motifs include crosses, animals and shears, a comb appears with shears on one stone. It has been suggested that several of the slabs may commemorate Knights Templar, Kilmartin Glen is the richest prehistoric landscape in Scotland. Within an area not much over 6 miles long a huge diversity of standing stones, stone circles, carved rocks and ancient tombs can be found. It also has what is believed to be the linear cemetery in the country. The oldest of these is believed to be 6,000 years old, the reason for such a concentration of these ancient monuments in one small area of the Scottish Highlands is unknown. Media related to Kilmartin Sculptured Stones at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Al-Khazneh
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Al-Khazneh is one of the most elaborate temples in the ancient Arab Nabatean Kingdom city of Petra. As with most of the buildings in this ancient town, including the Monastery. The treasury was built by the Arab Nabateans, coinciding with the time of the Hellenistic and Roman Empires, the temple is a popular tourist attraction in both Jordan and the region. Al-Khazneh was originally built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1st century AD during the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris and its Arabic name Treasury derives from one legend that bandits or pirates hid their loot in a stone urn high on the second level. Significant damage from bullets can be seen on the urn, another legend is that it functioned as a treasury of the Egyptian Pharaoh at the time of Moses. Many of the architectural details have eroded away during the two thousand years since it was carved and sculpted from the cliff. The sculptures are thought to be those of mythological figures associated with the afterlife. On top are figures of four eagles that would carry away the souls, the figures on the upper level are dancing Amazons with double-axes. The entrance is flanked by statues of the twins Castor and Pollux who lived partly on Olympus, in 1812, the city of Petra and Al-Khazneh was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. As the west continued to colonize the Middle East, tourism became more common, and by the 1920s, while Petra was not as popular as larger, more central cities like Cairo, tourism started to change the economy and social structure of the Bedouin people who lived nearby. Tourism is now the source of income in Jordan. Hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants and horse rental services are all found within a few mile radius of Petra itself, while the economic effects have been largely positive, the site itself faces threat from the increased tourism. Humidity from large crowds of people visiting the site can cause damage to the dry sandstone, white spots have appeared on walls and columns from stearic acid deposition due to hands resting against the walls. The Khazneh surface itself has receded by 40mm in less than ten years from touching, leaning, the interior scenes of the temple were filmed at Elstree Studios in England. Ancient Megastructures, Petra, a series from National Geographic Channel, is dedicated to the Khazneh, explaining how it was created through human resourcefulness. Ad Deir Petra Siq List of megalithic sites Biblical archaeology Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans Biblical Archaeology Review Over 110 pictures, many details
7.
Petra
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Petra, originally known to the Nabataeans as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. The city is famous for its architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the out of which it is carved. Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the city of the Arab Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who took advantage of Petras proximity to trade routes to establish it as a major trading hub. The Nabataeans are also known for their ability in constructing efficient water-collecting methods in the barren deserts. Petra lies on the slope of Jebel al-Madhbah in a basin among the mountains form the eastern flank of Arabah. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, the site remained unknown to the western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as a rose-red city half as old as time in a Newdigate Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon, UNESCO has described it as one of the most precious cultural properties of mans cultural heritage. Petra was named amongst the New7Wonders of the World in 2007 and was chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 28 Places to See Before You Die. Pliny the Elder and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans, excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods, and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and these innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought and enabled the city to prosper from its sale. Another approach was possibly from the plateau to the north. Today, most modern visitors approach the site from the east, at the end of the narrow gorge stands Petras most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh, hewn into the sandstone cliff. A little farther from the Treasury, at the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr, is a massive theatre, at the point where the valley opens out into the plain, the site of the city is revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre has been cut into the hillside and into several of the tombs during its construction, rectangular gaps in the seating are still visible. Almost enclosing it on three sides are rose-colored mountain walls, divided into groups by deep fissures and lined with knobs cut from the rock in the form of towers. By 2010 BC, some of the earliest recorded farmers had settled in Beidha, Petra is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna letters as Pel, Sela or Seir
8.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
9.
Goshavank
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Goshavank is a 12th- or 13th-century Armenian monastery located in the village of Gosh in the Tavush Province of Armenia. Today the monastery is not a religious complex, although it remains a popular tourist destination and has recently undergone some light restoration. These restorations are being financed by an Islamic individual from the United Arab Emirates for reasons not fully understood, the impressive monastery which has remained in relatively good condition also houses one of the worlds finest examples of a khachkar. Goshavank was erected in the place of a monastery once known as Nor Getik. Mkhitar Gosh, a statesman, scientist and author of fables and parables as well as the first criminal code. At Goshavank, Mkhitar Gosh founded a school, one of its alumni, an Armenian scientist by the name of Kirakos Gandzaketsi wrote The History of Armenia. The architect Mkhitar the Carpenter and his disciple Hovhannes also took a part in the building of the monastery. The complex was later renamed Goshavank and the village named Gosh in his honor, Goshavank does not have outer walls, and is surrounded by village homes. All of the buildings are attached to each other except for S. Hripsime Chapel, numerous religious and monumental civil buildings show that in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries the monastery was full of life. The churches are decorated in accordance with the traditions of the time, as a rule, the door portals and windows are framed in rectangular or arched platbands some of which are profiled. The façade niches have multifoil or scalloped tops like those of the niches of the church at Geghard. The unusual and artistically framed sun dial on the southern façade is a decorative element. The main churches belong to the types widespread in the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, St. Gregory Church is found between the three chapels. The small interior has intricate carvings over most of the surface and it is a small vaulted structure. The bottom of the apse is trimmed by a graceful arcature topped with a band which is ornamented with an intricate geometrical pattern and garlands of alternating trefoils. The exterior decoration of the church is also rich, the graceful arcature with ornamented spandrels, engirdling the edifice, is topped with half-arches on the corners. This creates not only a decoration of the facets of the edifice. The decoration of the facades, especially of the western one, is divided in height into separate parts to produce an impression of a substantial size
10.
Rock (geology)
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Rock or stone is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar. The Earths outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock, rock has been used by mankind throughout history. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization, three major groups of rocks are defined, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is a component of geology. At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, the aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed, many rocks contain silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74. 3% of the Earths crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock, the proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties. Rocks are geologically classified according to such as mineral and chemical composition, permeability, the texture of the constituent particles. These physical properties are the end result of the processes that formed the rocks, over the course of time, rocks can transform from one type into another, as described by the geological model called the rock cycle. These events produce three general classes of rock, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, the three classes of rocks are subdivided into many groups. However, there are no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks, hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to more or less arbitrary selected points in a continuously graduated series. Igneous rock forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava and this magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, igneous rocks are divided into two main categories, plutonic rock and volcanic. Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earths crust, a common example of this type is granite. Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta, the chemical abundance and the rate of cooling of magma typically forms a sequence known as Bowens reaction series. Most major igneous rocks are found along this scale, about 64. 7% of the Earths crust by volume consists of igneous rocks, making it the most plentiful category. Of these, 66% are basalts and gabbros, 16% are granite, only 0. 6% are syenites and 0. 3% peridotites and dunites
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