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25 Nov 21:31

Brasiliana: Wood Tile That Explores Periods of Brazilian History

by Caroline Williamson

Brasiliana: Wood Tile That Explores Periods of Brazilian History

Surface designer Renata Rubim partnered with Oca Brasil on a series of wooden tiles that aim to revisit distinct periods of Brazilian design history: Tribal, Modernist, and Colonial. The Brasiliana collection tiles come in the traditional Portuguese tile size, measuring 20x20cm (7.87×7.87 inches), and are made of eucalipt or Valchromat in various color ways, each with their own personality.

Tribal

Tribal

The Tribal tiles, with their geometric, ethic feel, represent the time before Portuguese colonization when indigenous tribes where prevalent. Comes in three patterns.

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Tribal

Modernist

Modernist

The Modernist tiles boast abstract patterns that were inspired by the work of Burle Marx (Brazilian landscape architect), perfectly reflecting the Modernist movement.

Modernist

Modernist

Modernist

Modernist

Colonial

Colonial

The Colonial line looks at a time when the Portuguese influence set the tone for society. The collection is full of geometric and organic shapes made famous on traditional Portuguese tiles.

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial

Colonial










28 Apr 13:03

Wot I Think – Westerado: Double Barreled

by Alec Meer

Westerado: Double Barreled [Steam page] is an expanded and upgraded version of 2013’s free, Adult Swim-hosted, Western-themed RPGish revenge quest Westerado. It’s out now.

Right, this is brilliant. If you like Westerns, if you like Red Dead Redemption, if you like roleplaying games which are based around choosing your behaviour, if you like whodunnits, if you like oddball life-or-death shooters, go get this, have a great time, be happy. If you need more convincing than that, then dammit pardner, saddle up and let’s do this.

… [visit site to read more]

18 Mar 02:25

2,500-Year-Old Bison-Kill Site Offers New Clues Into Ancient Culture of Northern Plains

by Blake de Pastino

A massive and rather cunning bison kill carried out some 2,500 years ago among the sand dunes of southern Alberta left behind a wealth of artifacts that are offering new insights into a poorly-understood culture of the ancient Northern Plains.

In addition to the scattered remains of at least 65 bison, archaeologists have found more than a hundred stone points, most of them fashioned from a type of rock found only in North Dakota, a thousand kilometers away.

Fincastle bison kill site excavation

Students excavate a small section of the Fincastle bison-kill site. In all, more than 200,000 bone fragments were found, enough to account for at least 65 bison. (Photo courtesy Shawn Bubel)

And beneath the layer of animal fragments and tools, even more rare finds were discovered: eight arrangements of bison bones found standing on end, perched in precise, almost sculptural patterns.

Excavated between 2004 and 2012 in the Fincastle Grazing Reserve just north of the Montana border, the site has revealed a chapter in Plains history that was nearly lost, said Dr. Shawn Bubel, archaeologist at the University of Lethbridge.

“I started to excavate at Fincastle was because the site was being looted,” Bubel said.

“There was evidence of pits dug across the site, gouges in the side of the dunes, and bone was tossed everywhere.

“The Archaeological Survey [of Alberta] was notified of the situation, and together we came up with a plan to survey and document the site before it was lost.

“As it turned out, the project grew into something fantastic. The archaeological remains were incredible.”

The most abundant artifacts are more than 200,000 fragments of bison bone, comprising the remains of dozens of animals that were butchered and processed, likely in a single event.

Radiocarbon tests of several of these samples returned dates in the range of the year 500 BCE.

The location of the kill site suggests that the hunters used a particularly canny approach — ambushing the herd as it watered in marshy land tucked among the sand dunes, leaving the animals with few routes for escape.

“It’s not what most people think about when bison hunting is talked about,” Bubel said.

Besant-Sonota-Projectile-Points

The 100-plus projectile points found at the site seem to reflect the influence of two cultural groups: the Besant, whose artifacts are typically found farther east, and the Sonota, who were based in what are now the Dakotas. (Photo courtesy Shawn Bubel)

“Big bison-jump sites where the hunters drove the herd off a cliff, or used the natural landscape to drive the herd into a trap like an arroyo, or driving the bison into a trap they constructed to enclose the animals, are the main bison hunting strategies archaeologists talk about.

“Fincastle showcases more of a stalking and ambushing strategy.”

The only types of bone in short supply at the site were skulls, Bubel noted, which appeared to have been detached, either to harvest the brains — which were often boiled for use in hide-working — or for ceremonial purposes.

[Discover another ancient hunting site: “Butchered Bones Found in Yukon Cave Bear Marks of Early Americans, Study Finds“]

Even more noteworthy, however, are 118 projectile points, whose styles and sizes suggest the influence of two major cultural complexes in the region.

Some of the points are broad-faced and side-notched, like those associated with the Besant Phase, a complex whose traces are more often found to the east, starting around 2,000 years ago.

But some of the tools are more elongated than typical Besant points, suggesting the distinctive style of a more distant group, the Sonota, which was based in what’s now the Dakotas.

“These points showcase attributes that are seen in [both] Besant and Sonota point assemblages,” Bubel said.

“What makes them of great interest is that they were made 2,500 years ago.

“The Fincastle assemblage is one of the earliest occurrences of this cultural group in the Northwest Great Plains — it confirms that the Besant/Sonota cultural groups were living in southern Alberta by that time.”

[See another recent find of ancient stone points: “13,500-Year-Old Tool-Making Site Uncovered in Idaho Forest“]

The fact that these points were found in Alberta also raises questions about how — and how far — these cultural groups spread to the north and west.

“The points and tools were predominantly made of Knife River Flint that came from North Dakota,” Bubel explained.

“More than 75 percent of the tools were made of this stone.”

“Does this mean that hunters travelled from the Dakotas into Alberta? ” Bubel conjectured. “Perhaps.”

“One could also argue that the hunters were already in Alberta and simply traded with other groups living in the Dakotas for Knife River Flint.

“That could have been the case, but the quantity of Knife River Flint is very high in the Fincastle assembles — higher than what is normally seen if an exotic stone was traded in.”

For more clues as to who the ancient hunters were, Bubel and her team have also investigated the mysterious displays of standing bison bones found buried under the debris, rare formations known as bone uprights.

Fincastle bison bone-upright

Among the most striking features discovered at the site were eight arrangements of bison bones found standing on end, perched in precise, almost sculptural patterns. Their purpose remains unclear. (Photo courtesy Shawn Bubel)

“The upright features are very rare,” she said.

While other sites have included bones stuck in the ground, they were typically put there to serve a certain function, like tying down a tipi flap, or securing hides for scraping, she said.

“But the uprights at Fincastle are not utilitarian.”

And yet, each of the eight uprights was clearly arranged in a deliberate pattern.

“The Fincastle uprights show intentional placement of particular bones into each feature,” Bubel said.

One upright, for examples, features a tibia, or lower leg bone, surrounded by four jaw bones, all set on end with the teeth facing outward.

Another showed three shoulder blades placed in the shape of a triangle.

“In all of the features, the bones were positioned in an upright way, and were pushed all the way into the ground so that they would not have been visible from the surface.

“Were they ceremonial offerings?”

Here, too, the archaeologists see possible clues to the hunter’s identities.

“Bone uprights have been noted at Sonota sites in the Dakotas,” Bubel said, “though these are different than those at Fincastle.”

[Learn about another unusual site left by bison hunters: “Utah Cave Full of Children’s Moccasins Sheds Light on Little-Known Ancient Culture“]

Bubel and her colleagues intend to continue analyzing the traces left by the ancient hunters, in an effort to tease out who they were, and where they came from.

“I have my thoughts on this – that the Fincastle hunters have strong ties to the Dakotas, likely even travelled from there.

“But this remains a hypothesis, for now.”

Bubel reports her findings in the journal Plains Anthropologist.


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Bubel, S. (2014). The Fincastle site: A Late Middle Prehistoric bison kill on the Northwestern Plains Plains Anthropologist, 59 (231), 207-240 DOI: 10.1179/2052546X14Y.0000000009

23 Dec 22:30

1 Building Per Day: Crafting Paperholm, a Working Micro-City

by Urbanist
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

small miniature merry go round

The individual structures are impressive as is the fact that they have moving parts, but their rate of construction is particularly compelling: the man behind this project is creating an additional mini-building each and every day.

animated flyweel gif

micro city animated

Charles Young has an advanced degree from the Edinburgh College of Art where he learned to make models – this project was a challenge to himself to not only remain continuously productive but to continue to improve his craft day by day.

tiny huge building architecture

small water tower rock

small craft paper model

small perched building design

With fresh posts every day, Paperholm represents a growing micro-troplis populated with buildings, buses, cars, planes and trains, the motion of which is animated via gif-formatted images.

micro mini building architecture

mobile mini city parts

tiny architectural crafted models

tiny city builing array

But the movement goes well beyond vehicles and into the realm of rotating radar dishes, spinning flywheels, sliding cranes, opening and closing garage doors and other elements that give this growing urban experiment a sense of life.


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Even when you can observe it fly by from outside, seemingly above the fray, experiencing rush hour traffic may not be as stress-free as you might imagine it ... Click Here to Read More »»


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Electrical boxes beware – Evol is back to up to his old tricks, turning urban fixtures and unused walls into tiny cityscapes using a deceptively simple ... Click Here to Read More »»


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A pragmatic twist on visionary plug-and-play architecture, this project combines a cheap and fast-growing material with existing (abandoned) infrastructure to ... Click Here to Read More »»


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[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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12 May 00:30

In defense of Ros, revisited

HBO made many additions and changes for its adaption of George R. R. Martin's great novels. The most disputed, the most despised and loathed, however, is the introduction of the red-headed whore, Ros, as a recurring character. Her sexposition scenes have attracted many criticisms, and the screen time she gets seems rather a waste of time by many, time that would be well spent on other characters. I find these allegations unfair on the one hand, since Esme Bianco is playing her role really well, but also very shortsighted from a narrator's perspective. The scenes with Ros provide some valuable insights we wouldn't otherwise get, and I don't mean the size of her breasts. Editor's note: this is a revised and expanded version of an essay from last year, also written by Stefan. (Read more...)

Posted 5/11/2013 by Stefan, Comments