Month: September 2012

The Mysterious Ancient Puebloan Peoples (Anasazi)

Published by James Wiener

The American Desert Southwest has some of the most impressive prehistoric ruins and artifacts in the world. Thousands of archaeological sites, spread about across the American states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, testify to the presence of a advanced civilization: the “Anasazi” or the Ancestral/Ancient Puebloan peoples. Long revered and venerated as the ancestors of the Hopi, Zuni, and other Puebloan dwellers, this remarkable civilization, characterized by its impressive architecture, sophisticated systems of irrigation, and understanding astronomical phenomena, flourished from c. 600-1300 CE before mysterious vanishing. In wake of their “rediscovery” by archaeologists over 100 years ago, many questions still remain as to how they were able to create a civilization in such a harsh climate and why their decline was so sudden. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia took the time to speak with Dr. David E. Stuart, a renown expert on the Ancient Puebloans and Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, and two of his research assistants, Ms. Jenny Lund and Ms. Christine …

INTERVIEW: The Zamani Project and Dr. Heinz Rüther

Published by James Wiener

The Zamani Project attempts to record the “spatial” domain of African patrimony by recording its physical, architectural, and natural dimensions. The documentation project was initiated to increase international awareness of African heritage and provide material for research while, concurrently, creating a permanent and accurate record of important sites for restoration and conservation purposes. The spatial data acquired by The Zamani Project is made available worldwide and augmented with contextual non-spatial data by ALUKA. The Zamani Project was an initiative of the Geomatics Division of the University of Cape Town and is currently supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The endeavor, founded as “The African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Project,” developed out of years of heritage documentation activities by the project‘s Principal Investigator, Professor Heinz Rüther. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia speaks with Professor Heinz Rüther about the project, ancient Africa, and the need for the conservation of Africa’s patrimony.