[Steppes] Period Review Week of 07-02 through 07-08-2006

[Mike]

Heilsa,

Hope the reader will enjoy this look at History
within Period - both from the past and the present
as it affects the history that is known today.

July 02:
Scotland  Modern Day
1200's thru 1500's time period
On July 2nd, 2006   The 17th fairway of a golf course under
development at the Archerfield estate in East Lothian has revealed
the ruins of houses dating back from the 12th -15th centuries.
Archaeologists are studying the ruins carefully before construction
is allowed to continue, though the developers say they plan to
incorporate the ruins into the golf courses "so that whoever plays
golf here will have some sense of history and the different things
that happened here hundreds of years ago."

Italy  Modern Day
On July 2nd, 2006    The Palio di Siena (known locally as the
Palio delle contrade), the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse
race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena,
in which the horse and rider represent one of the seventeen
contrade, or city wards. A magnificent pageant precedes the
race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the
world. Both horse and rider are dressed in the colours and
arms of the contrade: Aquila (Eagle), Bruco (Caterpillar),
Chiocciola (Snail), Civetta (Owl), Drago (Dragon), Giraffa (Giraffe),
Istrice (Porcupine), Leocorno (Unicorn), Lupa (She-Wolf),
Nicchio (Shell), Oca (Goose), Onda (Wave), Pantera (Panther),
Selva (Forest), Tartuca (Tortoise), Torre (Tower) and
Valdimontone (Ram).  Any connection with the sacred games of
the ancient Romans being obscured by time, the earliest known
antecedents of the race are medieval. The town's central piazza
was the site of public games, largely combative: pugna, a sort of
many-sided boxing match or brawl; jousting; and in the 16th century,
 bullfights. Public races organized by the contrade were popular
from the 14th century on; called palii alla lunga, they were run
across the whole city. When the Grand Duke of Tuscany outlawed
bullfighting in 1590, the contrade took to organising races in the
Piazza del Campo. The first such races were on buffalo-back
and called bufalate; asinate, races on donkey-back, later took
their place, while horse-racing continued elsewhere. The first
modern Palio (called palio alla tonda to distinguish it from the
earlier palii alla lunga) took place around 1650. At first, one
race was held each year, on July 2; a second, on
August 16, was added later. The first race (Palio di Provenzano)
is held on July 2, which is both the Feast of the Visitation and
the date of a local festival in honour of the Madonna of
Provenzano (a painting once owned by the Sienese leader
Provenzano Salvani, which was supposed to have miraculous
curative power). The second race is held on August 16
(Palio dell'Assunta), the day after the Feast of the Assumption,
and is likewise dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After exceptional
events (e.g. the Apollo 11 moon landing) and on important
anniversaries (e.g. the centennial of the Unification of Italy),
the Sienese community may decide to hold a third Palio
between May and September.

July 3rd:
Japan  1401 - 1500
On July 3rd, 1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan born.
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado (?????? Gotsuchimikado
Tenno- was the 103rd imperial ruler of Japan, according to
the traditional order of succession. His personal name was
Fusahito (???). He was the eldest son of Emperor
Go-Hanazono. His mother was O-inomikado (Fujiwara)
Nobuko (????(??)??), daughter of Fujiwara
Takanaga (????).

July 4th:
Modern Day
New World  Brazil  Before 601  4200 BC
On July 4th, 2006   "Tropical Stonehenge" Found in Amazon
Rainforest. Scientists have uncovered a ring of stones in the
Amazon jungle near Sao Paulo, Brazil, that they are calling the
"Tropical Stonehenge." The stones, which are believed to date
back to around 4200 BCE, may have been used as an
astronomical observatory, according to the team studying
the site. A grouping of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon
hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical
observatory - a find archaeologists say indicates early rainforest
inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed. The
127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular
intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter. On the
shortest day of the year - Dec. 21 - the shadow of one of the blocks,
which is set at an angle, disappears. "It is this block's alignment
with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once
an astronomical observatory," said Mariana Petry Cabral, an
archaeologist at the Amapa State Scientific and Technical
Research Institute. "We may be also looking at the remnants of
a sophisticated culture." Anthropologists have long known that
local indigenous populations were acute observers of the stars
and sun. But the discovery of a physical structure that appears
to incorporate this knowledge suggests pre-Columbian Indians
in the Amazon rainforest may have been more sophisticated than
previously suspected. "The traditional image is that some time
 thousands of years ago small groups of tropical forest horticulturists
arrived in the area and they never changed - (that) what we see today
is just like it was 3,000 years ago," Heckenberger said. "This is one
more thing that suggests that through the past thousands of years,
societies have changed quite a lot."

Modern Day
England   Before 601
On July 4th, 2006   250,000 year-old flint handaxes found in Britain.
Near Cuxton in Kent, archaeologists have found stone axes more
than a quarter million years old and bearing craftsmanship
exceeding the quality of that previously found from such an early time
period. The hand axes, made of flint, are of varying sizes, with one
measuring 307mm (1 foot) in length, the second largest ever found
from that period. The axes were dug up from old sand deposits in a
front garden.
"It is a site where there would once have been a slow-moving river,"
explained Dr Francis Wenban-Smith, from the Centre for the
Archaeology of Human Origins at the University of Southampton.

"It would have periodically overflowed its banks; and there would have
been occasional sand bars and islands that got exposed. Obviously,
at some point, Palaeolithic man was doing something there, left his
handaxes, and they got covered up."
The biggest of the tools - the second largest of its type found in Britain
- is beautifully preserved and sharply pointed. It was probably used to
butcher prey, which at that time would have included rhino, elephants,
large deer and an extinct type of cattle known as aurochs. Another
big implement was uncovered immediately beside the star find; this
time a cleaver, 179mm (7 inches) long by 134mm (5 inches) wide.
The lands which are now the UK have been occupied on and off by
human species since before 500,000 years ago. When the retreat
of great ice sheets permitted, people would move in from warmer
climes further south; and then abandon the region when conditions
turned harsh again. But the period from about 400,000 to 250,000
years ago is known to have been one of intense occupation; not by
modern humans (Homo sapiens), who were not in Europe at this
time, but by what is now an extinct human form evolving into Homo
neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals.

The culture at Cuxton is one that archaeologists refer to as Acheulian,
 to describe the type of stone tool manufacturing that was dominant
at that time. Dr Wenban-Smith says the latest finds hint that these
people were more advanced in their cognitive and behavioural
development than is normally assumed. The Cuxton manufacturing
techniques were soon supplanted by a different way of making
stone tools, known as Levalloisian technology. Dr Wenban-Smith
said it was unclear whether this knowledge was imported from
further south in Europe or independently discovered by the Britons 
themselves.

July 4th:
World Wide  1001 - 1100
On July 4th, 1154   A supernova is observed by the Chinese
and Amerindians near the star ? Tauri. For several months it
remains bright enough to be seen during the day. It is possible
that the bright new "star" was observed by Native Americans and
recorded in petroglyphs. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
Located at a distance of about 6,300 light years (1.93 kpc)
from Earth, the nebula has a diameter of 11 ly (1.84 pc) and
is expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometres per second.
The nebula contains a pulsar in its centre which rotates thirty
 times per second, emitting pulses of radiation from gamma
rays to radio waves. Its discovery provided the first conclusive
evidence that supernova explosions produce pulsars.

July 5th:
England Modern Day
Time Period involved: 14th century
A 14th Century hall in on the banks of the River Welland in
Lincolnshire that was restored with a UK£600,000 lottery grant
is reopening as an art gallery and museum. It will contain 10
galleries, including the history of the local fens and how the
landscape was created by drainage and reclamation.
Ayscoughfee Hall in Spalding, England, was originally built
as a home for wool merchant Richard Alwyn and dates to
the 1420s-50s. The gardens are of great historical importance,
because some horticulturists believe it to be a rare, possibly
unique, surviving example of an early 18th century (laid out by
William Sands circa 1730) town garden and has retained the
integrity of its original boundaries for at least the last 300 years.
It is also rumoured to have its own ghost, "The White Lady,"
who roams the halls of the manor.

July 5th:
Holiday in Scotland  
1201 - 1300 started and continued Day.
On July 5th, 1266   Isle of Man: Tynwald Day (1266)   The Isle of
Man (Ellan Vannin in Manx) or Mann (Mannin in Manx), is an
island located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of Britain
and Ireland. Although it is not part of the United Kingdom, it is a
Crown dependency. The Isle of Man became a Viking
outpost/kingdom from circa AD 700 to AD 900. The Norse
Kingdom of Mann and the Isles was created by Godred Crovan
in 1079. Norway's King Magnus VI ceded the isles to Scotland
in 1266, as dictated in the Treaty of Perth. The Isle of Man came
under English control in the 14th century and to the British Crown
in 1765. The Island arguably has the oldest continuous parliament
in the world, the Tynwald, nominally founded in 979 AD (both the
Icelandic parliament and the Faroese parliament are older, but
they were abolished between 1800 - 1845, and 1816 -
1852 respectively). The annual ceremonial meeting at Tynwald Hill,
on Tynwald Day in July, continues the celebration of the Island's
national day. The main purpose of the occasion is to read the
titles and to give a brief description of the new laws which have
been enacted by the Tynwald Court during the previous year.

July 6th:
Modern Day   Medieval Monks and Workers to be Reburied
England  1001 - 1100
On July 6th, 2006   Reported that bodies of 44 medieval monks
and workers discovered during the contruction of an overpass in
Partney, England, were reburied in mid-June. The remains of 44
priests and workers from a medieval hospital and chapel were
discovered during archaeological excavations at Partney near
Spilsby. A special service will take place on Sunday evening at
the site where the remains were found.

July 7th:
Holidays and observances
On July 7th  Bhutan - Guru Rinpoche  Padmasambhava (also
Padmakara or Padma Raja) (Chinese: ?????, Pinyin: Lian Hua
Sheng Shang Shi; Tib: Padma Jungne), in Sanskrit meaning
"lotus-born", founded the Tibetan or Tantric school of Buddhism
in the 8th century. In Bhutan and Tibet he is better known as Guru
Rinpoche ("Precious Master") where followers of the Nyingma
school regard him as the second Buddha. According to tradition,
Padmasambhava was incarnated as an 8 year old child appearing
in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, located in Swat in
present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the
local king who married him to one of his daughters, Mandarava.
Mandarava and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe
Tsogyal, developed into realised practitioners. Many thangkas and
paintings show Padmasambhava in the middle between them.
Padmasambhava's ability to memorize and comprehend esoteric
texts in a single hearing established his reputation as a master
above all others. Accused of the mystical killing of an evil minister,
he was banished from the court and freely chose to live in a cemetery
district. Transiting various heavens and hells, he developed the
power to transcend the cycle of birth and death, accomplishing the
so-called great transference. His fame became known to Trisong
Deutson, the 38th king of Tibet (742-797), whose kingdom was
beset by evil mountain deities. The king invited Padmasambhava
to Tibet where he used his tantric powers to subdue the evil deities
he encountered along the way, eventually receiving the Emperor's
wife, identified with the dakini Yeshey Tsogyel, as a consort. This
was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating
negative forces but instead redirecting them to fuel the journey
toward spiritual awakening. In Tibet he founded the first monastery
in the country Samye Gompa, initiated the first monks, and
introduced the people to the practice of Tantric Buddhism. In
Bhutan he is associated with the famous Taktshang or "Tiger's
Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the
floor of Paro valley. He flew there from Tibet on the back of his
favorite consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who he transformed into a flying
tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he traveled to Bumthang
district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king.
Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a
cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.

July 8th:
Italy, Savory  1501 - 1600
On July 8th, 1528   Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy born on this
date. Emmanuel Philibert was the only child of Charles III, Duke of
Savoy and Beatrice of Portugal to reach adulthood. His mother was
sister-in-law to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the future duke
served in Charles's army during the war against Francis I of France,
distinguishing himself by capturing Hesdin in July 1553.


YIS,
Lord Michael Kettering