|
| Latest News |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
8/2/2011
Digitization Project Brings Ancient Near Eastern Inscriptions into 21st Century
|
|
|
WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives announce a new 3-D digital resource that will enable scholars and the public to learn more about the ancient Near East through a unique group of pressed-paper molds called squeezes. This resource provides unparalleled access to the archives' collection of squeezes from ancient Near Eastern archaeological sites.
The squeezes were created in the early 20th century by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948), a prominent scholar on the ancient Near East, as a way to record intricate inscriptions on monuments and other stone buildings. They were formed by pressing layered, wet, moldable paper into an inscription and leaving it to dry, creating a 3-D mirror-image representation of the original. Created to serve as temporary reference materials, the squeezes have become vital to continued research for archaeological sites that are no longer accessible.
The squeezes contain Arabic script, Middle persian and Cuneiform impressions from archaeological sites such as Pasargadae, Persepolis, Naqsh-i Rustam and Paikuli. The captured inscriptions were often carved on commissioned temples, civic buildings and statues to record battles won, titles acquired or the lineage of kings. Scholars have used the squeezes to chronicle the reigns of local rulers and discover the nature of otherwise unidentifiable structures. More recently, scholars have used microscopic traces of pigments retained from the original surface to provide a unique and exceptional journal of the color and decoration used at the time of the monument's creation.
"These digital images offer extraordinary access to inscriptions from the cradle of civilization," said Alex Nagel, assistant curator of ancient Near East art. "By making them available to scholars and enthusiasts worldwide, we're ensuring that new discoveries can come from these remarkable artifacts."
The archives hold almost 400 paper squeezes that belong to its larger collection of Ernst Herzfeld papers.
In 2010, the archives received a grant from the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund to aid in the preservation of the squeezes. The Archives, in collaboration with the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute, created a digital version of each squeeze using a new imaging technique called Reflectance Transformation Imaging. RTI allows users to manipulate the image and enhance a squeeze's readability, while protecting the fragile original objects from further damage.
|
|
 8/14/2012
Two earthquakes in Iran kill more than 300 and injure 5,000
Overcrowded hospitals in northwest Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful quakes killed nearly 300 people. |
|
 8/13/2012
Iranian wrestlers win 2 bronze medals
Iranian wrestlers Ehsan Naser Lashgari and Komeil Qasemi have won bronze medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games. |
|
 8/6/2012
Iran to exhibit works by Gunther Uecker
Iran is planning to exhibit works by modern German sculptor and installation artist Gunther Uecker at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts. The event will be held from September 16 to November 1, 2012 ... |
|
 8/4/2012
"When Artists Attack the King: Honoré Daumier and La Caricature, 1830-1835" opens at Cantor Arts Center
STANFORD, CA.- Long before iranian cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraiyeh was sentenced to 25 lashings for drawing a parliament member in a soccer jersey, 19th-century caricaturist Honoré Daumier and his colleagues ... |
|
 8/1/2012
Farhadi’s film takes N America by storm
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning film A Separation has taken the North America’s movie theaters by storm as the second top-grossing foreign-language film in 2012. |
|
 7/30/2012
London to exhibit installation by Iran’s Shirin Sabahi
The Saatchi Gallery is slated to display an installation work created by the Iranian artist Shirin Sabahi in the British capital of London.
The event is part of the 2011 Contemporary Art Prize (CAP) ... |
|
 7/24/2012
US, Iranian team excavate Siraf
A team of American and Iranian archaeologists has launched underwater excavations at the historical port of Siraf in the Persian Gulf. |
|
 7/22/2012
Mutatis Mutandis: Group show curated by Cathrine David opens at Vienna's Secession
VIENNA.- Mutatis Mutandis brings together a number of works that explore the complexity of contemporary events, materiality, history, and memories, and propose possible re-presentations. Discontinuous ... |
|
 7/7/2012
The 2nd Tehran Annual Digital Art Exhibition [TADAEX] was opened on Friday, July 6th.
The first day of The 2nd Tehran Annual Digital Art Exhibition [TADAEX] was opened among the unexpected attendance of the audience. |
|
 7/2/2012
UNESCO registers Isfahan Friday Mosque
Isfahan’s Friday Mosque has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, making it the 14th Iranian site registered on the roll. The independent, 21-member World Heritage Committee announced the ... |
|
News Archive
|
Tehran
