unit 3 Islam and Al - Andalus: cooking ancient recipes

Islamic cooking is influenced by many diffferent cultures. As much as the number of  territories they conquered. That´s why it is so diversed and why, in certain areas, like Al - Andalus, it became a real influence in present cooking. We´ve tried an old XIIIth century manuscript with islamic recipes. And the result was great!! yummy, yummy...

Creating your own city: ELECTROCITY

to review Unit 4 contents we are going to use a city simulator called ELECTROCITY. You must apply all you have learnt about urban settlement and create an eco-friendly city with all necessary resources and infrastructures

the link to the web page is ELECTROCITY

MEDINA AZAHARA PALACE

3d recreation of Medina Azahara palace in the caliphal times

Cuyahoga - Segovia comparison project Reminder

Deadline for project delivery is

3rd B: Monday, november 11th
3rd A: Thursday, November 14th

Keep an eye on it and don´t forget!

Unit 4 vocabulary: SETTLEMENT

Reasons for admission in Mental hospitals in 1864 - 1889

Read carefully the list and then think...considering reasons for admission in a mental hospital would you be able to avoid it today?

Unit 2: Islam: THE FIVE PILLARS OF MUSLIM FAITH

Islam is based on five pillars of faith...Would you like to know more in a very easy, attractive way?, try this video:

unit 3 vocabulary: Islam and Al Andalus

Ancient Roman wine preserved in glass bottle

Scientists want to study samples of the world’s oldest wine, currently on display at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in the western German city of Speyer. There’s just one problem: everyone’s afraid to open the bottle.

The glass bottle, thought to be at least 1,650 years old, was found in a Roman grave near Speyer in 1867 and put on display at the museum. Since then, it’s been handled extremely carefully, and been on display in the exact same spot in the museum for 100 years.

Museum directors fear that a moment's carelessness could shatter the bottle, destroying its priceless content. Though scientists would like to test it to figure out exactly how old the wine is and where it comes from, as well as perhaps seeing how it tastes – cracking it open is out of the question. 

“It’s not clear what would happen if air gets into the wine,” said Ludger Tekampe, who heads the department responsible for storing it. 

There’s also the danger that, after all this time, it could have become poisonous, although scientists suspect the alcohol would not be dangerous, but just taste disgusting.

In any event, the ultra-old wine has survived a lot, including ancient drinkers, handling on its way to the museum, and two world wars, with nary a problem. 

Tekampe said he hasn’t observed any changes in the wine or its container in his 25 years at the museum, the bottle appears to have been carefully constructed by the Romans to prevent the wine from decomposing.

“The content is remarkably stable,” Tekampe said. 

Still he’s the only one who handles the bottle. Everyone else is just too afraid.

“I held the bottle in my hand twice during renovations. It was a strange feeling,” Tekampe said.

from http://www.thelocal.de/

Archaeologists uncover a scene of horror at 'Swedish Pompeii'

Swedish archaeologists have uncovered what appears to be a 5th-century murder mystery at an island fort that's being compared to Italy's Pompeii ruins. "It's more of a frozen moment than you normally see in archaeology," said Helene Wilhelmson, a researcher who specializes in the study of bones at Sweden's Lund University. "It's like Pompeii: Something terrible happened, and everything just stopped." Five bodies already have been unearthed amid the ruins of one of the settlement's houses on the island of Öland, just off the Swedish coast. In a news release, Lund University said more human bones have been identified in other parts of the fort, suggesting there may be scores or hundreds of bodies yet to be dug out. 

                "There are so many bodies, it must have been a very violent and well-organized raid," Wilhelmson said. She and her colleagues say the scene dates to what's known as the Migration Period, when tribes moved out from Scandinavia and other areas of northern Europe to confront a Roman Empire in decline. 

                       During this era, it was customary for Scandinavians to burn their dead, and very few uncremated remains have previously been recovered, the university said. Was no one left to light the funeral pyre on Öland? Another puzzling fact is that archaeologists found gilded brooches that hadn't been plundered by the attackers — and were still buried at the site 1,500 years later. Wilhelmson wonders whether the site became taboo. "I don't think anyone dared to go near it for a very long time," she said. 

                      Lund University archaeologist Nicolo Dell'Unto is creating computerized 3-D models of the ruined fort to reconstruct the crime scene — and perhaps solve the mystery surrounding the massacre. "Using 3-D modeling gives us the unprecedented opportunity to see all the bodies simultaneously, even though the skeletons were removed one by one," Dell'Unto said.

from http://www.nbcnews.com/science/

Carolingian Empire Scatter Concepts activity

Unit 3 vocabulary: POPULATION

Time zones map

if you want to download the map, just right click on your mouse

Unit 1 vocabulary: the end of the roman empire and the barbarian kingdoms

Unit 1 and 2 vocabularies: planet earth and spanish physical landscape

AFRICA MAPS

click on every picture to enlarge it!

Europe Political Map

click on the picture to enlarge it!
to review, try this link:  EUROPE MAPS

unit 1 vocabulary PLANET EARTH

PARTS OF THE ROMAN DOMUS

TO INCREASE THE SIZE, CLICK ON THE PICTURE

unit 11 vocabulary: Roman civilization

GREEK CIVILIZATION

If you want to know more about greeks, you should try these links from the British Museum. They will offer you plentiful of information and many interactive activities. Enjoy!

Click on words to choose subjects

Daily Life

Religion

Knowledge & Learning

Festivals and games

Geography

War

Athens & Sparta

The Hellenistic Period: Macedonia and Alexander the Great

would you like to know more about the Hellenistic period and, at the same time, have fun singing in a Karaoke? try this video clip

Unit 10 Vocabulary: Ancient Greece

Egypt´s fun stuff

Egyptian is one of the most fascinating and interesting ancient civilizations. Now, besides learning its features, let´s play a little bit with fancy, thrilling games of the Ancient Egypt...Enjoy!

Mummy Madness

Tomb of terror

Pyramid Builder

Mummy Maker


And if you want to look like a real egyptian, try Get - a - Look, and choose the egyptian one.

Egytptian Hieroglyphs

in order to learn to write in the ancient egyptian way, here you can download this picture with the Hieroglyphic Alphabet. Enjoy!

The mass grave of Hastings finally found?

Historian believes the 10,000 victims of the Battle of Hastings may be buried in a field one mile north west of the official site at Battle.

 

The site of where the Battle of Hastings has been commemorated for the last 1,000 years is in the wrong place, it has been claimed.

Ever since the 1066 battle that led to the Norman Conquest, history has recorded the event as happening at what is now Battle Abbey in the East Sussex town.

But although some 10,000 men are believed to have been killed in the historic conflict, no human remains or artefects from the battle have ever been found at the location.

This has given rise to several historians to examine alternative sites for the battle that was a decisive victory for William the Conqueror and saw the death of King Harold.

Now historian and author John Grehan believes he has finally found the actual location - on a steep hill one mile north west of Battle.

It is documented that Harold assembled his English army on Caldbec Hill before advancing on Senlac Hill (Battle Hill) a mile away to meet the invading Normans.

But Mr Grehan believes his research shows Harold never left his defensive hilltop position and the Normans took the battle to the English.

He has studied contemporaneous documents in the national archives and built up a dossier of circumstantial evidence that, when put together, make a more than convincing argument in his favour.

Witness accounts from 1066 state the battle was fought on steep and unploughed terrain, consistent with Caldbec Hill. Senlac Hill was cultivated and had gentle slopes.

The Normans erected a cairn of stones on the battle site to commemorate their victory, known as a Mount-joie in French. The summit of Caldbec Hill is still today called Mountjoy.

One English source from the time, John of Worcester, stated the battle was fought nine miles from Hastings, the same distance as Caldbec Hill. Senlac Hill is eight miles away.

Harold is supposed to have abandoned his high position to meet William on lower ground, a tactical move that makes no sense at all as he would have been moving away from his reinforcements.

Furthermore, Mr Grehan believes he has identified the site of a mass grave where the fallen soldiers were buried after the battle at a ditch at the foot of Caldbec Hill.

He is now calling for an archaeological dig to take place there straight away.

If he is proven right, the history books published over the last millennium may have to be re-written.

Mr Grehan, a 61-year-old historian from Shoreham, West Sussex, has made his arguments in a new book about to be published called 'The Battle of Hastings - The Uncomfortable Truth'.

He said: "I assumed everything was known about the Battle of Hastings but I found that almost nothing is known by way of fact.

"The evidence pointing towards Caldbec Hill as the scene of the battle is, at present, circumstantial, but it is still more than exists for the current Battle Abbey site.

"Excavations have been carried out at Battle Abbey and remnants pre-dating the battle were found but nothing relating to the conquest.

"The Battle of Lewis took place 200 years later 20 miles down the road and they dig up bodies by the cart load there.

"Some 10,000 men died at the Battle of Hastings; there has to be a mass grave somewhere.

"You would have also expected to find considerable pieces of battle material like shields, helmets, swords, axes, bits of armour.

"Having carried out the research, there are 11 main points which suggest the battle was fought in the wrong place.

"Harold is supposed to have abandoned his assembly point on Caldbec Hill to take up a position on the lower ridge of Battle Hill even though many of his men had still not arrived.

"This means that even though he could see the Normans approaching he moved further away from his incoming reinforcements. This makes no sense at all.

"The primary sources state Harold was taken by surprise.

"This means he could not have been advancing to meet the Normans as his troops would have been in some kind of formation.

"The only possible interpretation of this can be that Harold was not expecting to fight at that time and was taken unawares at the concentration point with his army unformed.

"This must mean that the battle was fought at the English army's assembly point."

Mr Grehan said he believes the human remains from the battle were hastily rolled down the hill and buried in an open ditch by the victorious Normans.

He said: "Two days after the battle the Normans moved on towards Winchester. They had two days to get rid of the thousands of bodies. You can't dig that many graves in such a short space of time.

"At the bottom of Caldbec Hill is Malfose ditch, I believe the bodies were rolled down the hill and dumped in this ditch which was filled in.

"A proper archaeological dig of that ditch now needs to happen.

"Whatever the outcome, it doesn't make a difference which hill the battle was fought on.

"But history books may need to be re-written if I am proved right."

Roy Porter, the regional curator for English Heritage which owns Battle Abbey, said they were obliged to look into alternative theories for the battle site.

But he said the spot the abbey is built on was not the most obvious at the time as it required major work to dig into the hill.

He said: "Archaeological evidence shows that the abbey's impractical location required extensive alterations to the hill on which it sits.

"Any suggestion that the battle occurred elsewhere needs to explain why this difficult location for the abbey was chosen instead.

"The tradition that the abbey was founded on the site of the Battle of Hastings is based on a number of historical sources, including William of Malmesbury and is documented before 1120.

"It would be premature to comment on Mr Grehan's thesis until the book is published.

"The interpretation of our sites is subject to periodic revision and this process involves our historians reassessing the available evidence and considering new theories.

"Battle Abbey will be the subject of this work in due course but at the present time there is little reason to discount the scholarly consensus regarding the site."

from http://www.telegraph.co.uk 

sunday October 28th 2012

 

Unit 9 vocabulary: Early Civilizations

Let´s sing Prehistory!!

Would you like to review Prehistory unit in a very funny way? Try this fantastic Stone Age sing along. Who knows..perhaps you´ll discover that you´re a great singer and prehistorian...!

music & History: The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era

Many times, joining Music and History makes perfect sense in learning processes. Here you have a good example. This short but perfectly summarized video about French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era, could be just what you need to review this topic. Enjoy it! and pay attention to lyrics...would you be able to find the link between the song and the video? why is this the perfect soundtrack for the video?. In case you don´t understand the lyrics, try this weblink

Coldplay - Viva La Vida lyrics | LyricsMode.com

Unit 7 second part: Neolithic & Metal Ages Vocabulary