Social Studies

WSC Global Round

Archaeology: the Telltale Art
Archaeology

● Study of the human past using artefacts— anything humans

used, made, or modified.
○ Humanity and social interactions
● Types of archaeology
○ Prehistoric archaeology (cultures that do not have writing)
○ Protohistoric archaeology (cultures that have incomplete records)
○ Historic archaeology (cultures that have well-developed historical
records)
Paleontology

● Study of organisms using fossils

○ Species and the Environment
● Types of Paleontology
○ Micropaleontology (microscopic fossils)
○ Paleobotany (fossil plants, algae and fungi)
○ Palynology (pollen and spores)
○ Invertebrate Paleontology
○ Vertebrate Paleontology
○ Human Paleontology/Paleoanthropology (prehistoric human and proto-human fossils)
○ Taphonomy (studies the processes of decay, preservation, and formation of fossils)
○ Ichnology (fossil tracks, trails, and footprints)
○ Paleoecology (Ecology and climate of the past as revealed by fossils and other methods)
Why do we care about looking at the past? (Debate
mechanisation)

● The past provides insight as to how technology, society, physiology, and more
evolved over time
The Present The Future
1. Inspires contemporary issues (heritage 1. Provides insight into evolution, and how
VS novelty; preservation) humans adapted (aiding predictions)
2. Provides valuable insight about climate 2. Reveals patterns of human behaviour in
problems and how we can solve them society and in times of cultural shifts
(evolution) 3. Those who don’t know history are
destined to repeat it
Major Archaeological
Discoveries
In chronological order
 WHAT HAPPENED?

● Mount Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 CE

○ Covered Pompeii in volcanic ash and tephra
○ Hot ash and noxious gas (pyroclastic surge) came in
waves
● The eruption might have lasted days to weeks
● Almost 300 km2 were decimated
● 65 feet of tephra covers the Herculaneum and Pompeii
● Official excavations begin in mid 1800s

SIGNIFICANCE OF DISCOVERY?

● Revealed painful and poignant last moment of the victims

Pompeii ●
●
●
Provides invaluable insight into the Ancient Roman lifestyle
City had a sophisticated traffic system (one-way roads)
Legitimate biography of a Pompeian Umbricius Scaurus
(entrepreneur in the trade of fish sauce)
Discovery in 1748
Italian architect Domenico Fontana ● Archaeologist Dr Llorenç Alapont: use X-rays and high-
resolution photos of the plaster casts of Pompeians,
○ Reconstructed a man’s face
(Lost for 1500 years: founded in 7th– ● University of Massachusetts put together transportation grids
6th century BCE) with 3D mapping and CGI
● Also see what people ate and fed pork
 ● A decree about Ptolemy V Epiphanes’ reign
carved on a black granite stone
○ Writing itself written by priests of
Memphis (capital city of ancient Egypt)
■ Demotic, Hieroglyphics, Ancient
Greek
● Currently located in the British Museum

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt
from 1798-1801: found by one of his soldiers
called Bouchard whilst digging foundations
(found broken)

SIGNIFICANCE

Rosetta Stone ● Helped the 19th century world understand

hieroglyphics = can use to unravel other
artefacts
City of Rosetta (modern EL Rashid, in ○ Deciphered by British
Egypt) Mathematician/Physicist Thomas Young
(identify group of glyphs and worked
July 1799
 ● Once called Sela, or “rock” in Hebrew
● Inhabited by the Nabataean people
● Built as early as 5th century BCE
● Region inhabited by people since ~7000 BC
● Supposedly where Moses struck a stick onto a rock to get water which
eventually caused him to not be able to get to Holy Land???

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Discovered Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig
Burckhardt, led to further excavation
○ It was never forgotten and was still inhabited
by local Bedouin tribes
● UNESCO world heritage site

SIGNIFICANCE
● rock-cut architecture provided valuable insights

Petra
into the engineering of the Nabataean people
● water management system show their
understanding of hydraulic engineering
○ e.g. dams, cisterns, and aqueducts
Jordan ● religious and ceremonial structures = cultural and
1812 religious beliefs of the Nabataean people
 ● 9th century Mahayana Buddhist temple under the
Shailendra Dynasty
○ Decorated with >2,600 relief panels and 504
Buddha figures
● Symbolised Mandala (symbol of the universe)

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Originally buried under volcanic ash, rediscovered
by Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1814
● Extensively restore in the 20th century (Dutch)
● Protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

SIGNIFICANCE
● Provided insight into:
○ History of Buddhism in Southeast Asia
○ Architectural and artistic achievements of the

Borobudur region's civilizations.

● Carvings and sculptures provide valuable
information about the iconography and symbolism
Java, Indonesia of Mahayana Buddhism
Rediscovered 1814 ● Inscriptions found at the site shed light on the
social and political structures of the time
 ● “Machu Picchu” = Old peak
○ Located near “Huayna Picchu” (New Peak)
● A 15th century Inca citadel
● Built in 1450

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Rediscovered and plundered by multiple people
● Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in
1911 + excavated in 1912 sponsored by Yale
● UNESCO world heritage site
● Excavated by gently cutting down trees to avoid
seriously damaging the house walls
○ Spend 2 days erasing graphite from granite walls
of visiting Peruvians

SIGNIFICANCE

Machu Picchu
● Culture and language of the contemporary indigenous
people comes directly from Inca
● Agricultural terraces and an aqueduct system also
helped observe how the development of technology was
Cusco, Peru paced and spread
● Structures in machu picchu like temples and solar
Discovered in July 14 1911 observatories for celestial rituals supports religious
Excavated in 1912 significance in their culture
● learn more about Incas tribe
 ● Two early medieval cemeteries from 6th-7th
century
○ Includes a 27 meter long Anglo-Saxon
burial ship
○ Includes grave for anonymous Anglo-
Saxon King

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Discovered by archaeologist Basil Brown in 1939
in Suffolk, Europe
○ Further explored in 1960s-80s

SIGNIFICANCE
● Found precious artefacts: reflective of Anglo-
Saxon art and craftsmanship

Sutton Hoo ○ Helmet, sword, shield etc. provided insight

into military technology of the time
● Religious objects demonstrated a mix of Pagan
Suffolk, Europe and Christian beliefs
○ conversion.gif
1939 ● Technology and techniques of shipbuilding and
navigation during the early Middle Ages
 ● Ancient Jewish + Hebrew religious manuscripts
(bible)
○ Made of leather, papyrus, copper
(allowing the material to remain)
● Oldest known source of the Jewish Bible (earlier
version of the modern Hebrew Bible)

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Yigael Yadin (Israeli archaeologist) found these
scrolls washed up to sea

SIGNIFICANCE?

Dead Sea ● With X-ray technology, we can see what was

written and know about
○ provided information on a Jewish sect that

Scrolls lived in the region

■ sect: a subgroup of a religious,
political, or philosophical belief
Qumrān caves near the Dead Sea by system, usually an offshoot of a
Bedouins larger group
○ Enhanced understanding of Judaism and
1946/47–1956
 ● Collection of 8000+ clay soldiers, 130 horses &
670 chariots buried with Qin Shi Huang, 3rd
century BCE

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Discovered in 1974 by local farmers who were
digging a well in Xi’an, China
○ First uncovered some arrowheads etc.
● UNESCO World Heritage Site
● Soil slightly alkaline + low organic content, lack
of Oxygen = preserve monuments (NO
OXIDATION HOORAY)

SIGNIFICANCE

Terracotta Army ● Provided insight into the military organization of

the Qin dynasty (e.g. Battle formations)
● Info on the technological advancements in
Xi’an, China weaponry
○ Crossbows, armored chariots etc.
29 March 1974 ● Facial features and clothing details = insight into
fashion and appearance
 ● Australopithecus Afarensis
● Named after the Beatles song ”Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds”
● Woman because of pelvic bone size difference
● Adult because she has wisdom teeth exposed
● 3.18-million-years old
● Stored in a safe in the Paleoanthropology Labs of
National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Abada

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Discovered by Donald Johanson and Tom Grey
○ Sticking out of an Ethiopian stream bed
● Investigation methods:
○ CT Scans revealed bone fractures
■ Fell from more that 40 ft

Lucy
○ DNA testing and X-ray

SIGNIFICANCE
● Insight into evolution
Ethiopia ○ Humans walked long before brains got bigger =
November 24 1974 bipedalism key to becoming human
● Found stone tools in proximity, meaning they used
(TERRACOTTA COMES tools already
 ● Most complete and best preserved skeleton of T-Rex
(90%)
○ ~67 million years old
○ 28 y/o at time of death, the oldest specimen
found until 2013

HOW WAS IT FOUND?

● Found by Peter Larson with
archaeologist/paleontologist Susan Hendrickson
○ At South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux
reservation on a cattle ranch owned by
Maurice Williams
○ Lawsuit between Williams and Larson as to
who owns the remains, Williams won and
took it to Auction
○ Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago,
Illinois got it and Walt Disney got a replica

Sue ● Covered in mud and water, mixing the order of

bones

(Western) South Dakota SIGNIFICANCE

● Provided information about the anatomy and
1990 biology of T rexs
The Fastest ● Footprint of an Aboriginal hunter in a

Man in muddy wetland in New South Wales

○ ~20,000 years ago
○ Wetland now dried off and

History…? footprint belongs to Mungo

National Park
● Studied since 2003 when it was
2003 discovered by Mary Pappen Jr., a
young Aboriginal girl
FINDINGS (The Fastest Man in History Continued)
● 1.7 m tall
● ~60 kg
● Efficient running gait (long stride + footfall pattern) reflective of modern
day athletes
● Steve Webb (biological archaeologist with Bond University in
Queensland): man ran 37 km/h in MUD as compared to Usain Bolt’s 37.6
km/h on track
● Anthropologist Peter McAllister: with modern training, spiked shoes and
rubberised tracks, aboriginal hunters might reach speeds of 45 km/h
● Other footprints on site = running in a group
○ Indicative of social and cooperative nature of Aboriginal groups

However, this speed might be just because of peaking + only one footprint = less
accurate
FINDINGS (Richard III)
● Remains dug out beneath a council car park in Leicester in 2012
○ By a group of archaeologists led by Philippa Langley + some enthusiasts
○ Location compromised by comparing old and new maps
○ (First suggestion of its location in 1975)
● Found Richard III’s remains 6 days into the two week project
● Used DNA to confirm that it was Richard III
● Remains revealed that Richard III had scoliosis
 ● Died during the Battle of
Bosworth @Ambion Hill, UK (32
years old)
○ Ended the War of the Roses, ushering

Richard III in England's House of Tudor (Marked

the end of the Middle Ages in
England)

2012

Sir Richard existed from ● Buried in Greyfriars Church

02/10/1452 - 22/08/1485 (RIP) (13th-century monastic friary in
Leicester)
○ Church was thought to have been
destroyed by Henry VII
Legacy continued…
● Site is now a protected monument
○ Body reburied in 26th March 2015, in Leicester Cathedral
● “People have come in their thousands from around the world to this place of honour, not to judge or
condemn but to stand humble and reverent," said the Right Rev.
○ Tim Stevens, bishop of Leicester: "From car park to cathedral. ... Today we come to give this
king, and these mortal remains the dignity and honour denied to them in death.

● Benedict Cumberbatch (Distance relative of Richard III) read poem “Richard” by Carol Ann Duffy
(Written FOR the reburial)
● Queen Elizabeth II says this day is of great international significance
● About 35,000 watched the reburial
Significance?
● Richard III was unfairly maligned by the Tudors
○ The Tudors came into power after his death = portrays enemy as a villain (vested interest)
■ Legitimise own claim to throne
■ Commissioned works that paint Richard III in a negative light
○ Shakespeare’s Richard III, affected by the propaganda from the Tudors, portrayed Richard III as
such:
■ A dark, deformed man — 'rather like a spider' — who murdered his way to the throne and
then killed two of his nephews and gave his kingdom away for a horse
■ “Poisonous bunch-backed toad”
● “Revolting physical attributes” = scoliosis, but exaggerated
● Historians say he died a violent and valiant death, yet:
○ "Following the battle, his naked body was thrown on the back of a horse, taken to nearby
Leicester and buried in a humble grave.”
■ Discovering his remains = giving him honour again
 ● Dates back to 2nd century BCE
○ Built atop an even older Buddhist temple
dating back to 3rd century BCE, likely

Pakistan abandoned after earthquake in 3 BCE

○ Oldest Buddhist temple in the Gandhara
region

Buddhist ● Located in the town of Barikot

○ Barikot = important centre of Buddhism in
South Asia, Temple was an important

Temple pilgrimage site

○ Also an important trade crossroad (Asia,
Europe + Middle East)
● Found by a group of Italian and Pakistani
archaeologists led by Luca Maria Olivieri
2019 ○ Stone Buddha statue
○ Stone sculpture of a bodhisattva (Being
attaining enlightenment for the all sentient
beings)
○ Decorative friezes
○ Stucco figurines
Significance?
● Revealed how Buddhism spread
○ Buddhism gained importance in Gandhara by the
reign of Menander I (~150 B.C.E.)
■ May have been practiced solely by the elite
○ Swat eventually emerged as a sacred Buddhist
center under the Kushan Empire (30 to 400 C.E.)
■ Stretched from Afghanistan to Pakistan and
into northern India.
● Found rooms and their uses
○ Stupas (mound-like/hemispherical structure
containing relics used as a place of meditation)
Paleoart (e.g. dino art)
● Reconstructing something in art without complete information (contains elements of fantasy, religion and
mythology
● Did T-Rex have feathers?
○ Feathers decompose after a few years, so you can’t prove existence/absence
○ However, like Pompeii, a region was very well-preserved and two dinosaurs (close cousins with T-Rex)
with feathers were found (Yutyrannus and Dilong)
MODEL ROOM
AT THE
CRYSTAL
PALACE
Philip Henry Delamotte, 1853

Engraving shows dinosaurs being

constructed on the grounds of the
Crystal Palace by natural history
scientist Benjamin Waterhouse
Hawkins, who made 33 beasts over 2
years
 THE
PRIMITIVE
WORLD
ADOLPHE FRANÇOIS
PANNEMAKER, 1857

inserted biblical & mythological

imagery into his work
 THE
ICHTHYOSAU
R AND THE
PLESIOSAUR
BY ÉDOUARD RIOU; ENGRAVED
BY LAURENT HOTELIN AND
ALEXANDRE HUREL, 1863

dinosaurs became metaphors for naval

conflicts of the age
 LAELAPS
By Charles R Knight 1897

Knight: one of the foremost

paleontologists, known for his skillful
depiction of anatomy and movement--
he captures the savage nature of the
predators very well Some believe that these predators represent the
savagely competitive palaeontologists Othniel
C Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, both of
whom would blow up dig sites with dynamite to
obstruct the other’s discoveries.
 MAMMOTH
(ELEPHAS
PRIMIGENIUS)
by Zdeněk Burian, 1941

With creative flair, illustrations for

stories
 TARBOSAUR
US AND
ARMOURED
DINOSAUR
BY KONSTANTIN
KONSTANTINOVICH FLYOROV, C.
1955

disregarded skeletal remains and rarely

consulted paleontologists, choosing
instead to base his dinosaurs off of
modern creatures & his love of bright
TYRANNOSA
URUS AND
EDMONTOSA
URUS
BY ELY KISH, C 1976

this artist was active during the time

scientists publicized climate change,
and it shows in the extreme weather
conditions in her work (apocalypse
etc.)
Excavation
● The exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains
○ Somewhat “destructive” since it is the process of removing the primary source to do research upon
■ Brushing, digging etc.
○ Utilises digital recordings to document the process and findings

Remote sensing

● Technique allowing the collection of data without destroying the physical site
○ Measures reflected and emitted radiation by sending radio waves to the ground
○ Sometimes with sonar and radar remote sensing (Physics waves stuff, echos and whatnot, speed of
sound bla bla)
Zooarchaeology
● Combines zoology and archaeology-- a branch of archaeology that studies the
remains of animals e.g. bones, fur, shells, giving insight into:
○ Human diet: which parts of the animals were consumed? What animals were hunted and raised for
food? Overhunting, how long animals live before the go extinct due to hunting
○ Domestication: Identifying past animal domestication through changes in size and shape of
bones/evidence of pens/enclosure
○ Trade: Non-native species indicative of trading

Archaeobotany/Paleobotany
● Studies macrobotanical (seeds, leaves, stems…) and microbotanical (pollen grains,
phytoliths, starch granules…) remains, giving insight into:
○ Human diet: Find out what parts of the plant were farmed for food
○ Environment: Provide insight into environmental and climate changes in the
○ Uses: provide evidence of ritual and symbolic practices in rituals, also for medical uses
Carbon Dating
● Method to determine the age of an organic object using the properties of radiocarbon
(C-14)
○ When an organism dies, the carbon-14 that it contains begins to decay at a known rate (half-life of
5,730 years)
○ Comparing the amount of C-14 left to the initial amount of C-14, we know roughly when the organism
died
Dendrochronology (Tree-ring
● Discovered in 1946 by Willard dating)
Libby of the University of Chicago
○ He went on to win a nobel prize in chemistry 20 years later

● Determining the age of a tree through its rings

○ Trees in temperate zones usually produce one growth-ring each year
○ Width of ring varies in weather conditions:
■ Adequate moisture = wide ring
■ Drought/lack of rainfall = narrow ring
○ This determination of weather conditions can help with Dendrogeomorphology
More on dendrochronology

● How tree rings rewrote history

○ Tree rings sensitive to change in climate and can be a record of weather
■ humid years - thicker layer
○ Scientists studying tree rings of ancient trees in Europe revealed unusually cold and wet period
happened during 1238 to 1241, around time the Mongols retreated
○ Moisture turned normal land to marshes, swamplands
■ Climate made it hard for food to be grown for sustenance, food able to grow spoiled easily
■ Hard to mobilise troops
Pseudoarchaeology
● Use of artefacts, sites, or materials to construct scientifically insubstantial theories
on the past
○ Can be nationalistically motivated (e.g. propaganda)
■ White supremacist claims of a superior Tartarian Empire that colonized the world
○ Can be religiously motivated
■ Claims of discovering Noah’s Ark
○ Can be just… conspiracy theories
■ Pyramids must have had extraterristrial support because the Egyptians lacked adequate
technology to support the giant blocks etc.
Breaking World Records
 ● Located in the city Alexandria
founded by Alexander the Great in
331 BC
● Ptolemy I soter (king) established a
museum called:
○ Museum of Alexandria 283 BC
■ Named after shrines of Greek
muses
● Area of study

Library of ○
○
Lecture halls, zoo, gardens, library
Over 100 scholars studied / researched /
taught there full time

Alexandria ● Library collected literature from

Assyria (Iraq), Greece, Persia
(Iran), Egypt, and India
Alexandria, duh. (City in Egypt) ● Branch library at Temple of Serapis
The library was burnt down… WHODUNNIT?
● Caesar?
○ Sir salad got stopped at Alexandria whilst chasing someone for a battle in 48
BC
■ The Egyptian fleet that cut Caesar’s troop off outnumbered his men by
a lot
○ Caesar ordered the ships to be set on fire
■ Fire spreaded to city and burnt down the Library as well - oops
○ However Caesar only confessed to setting the ships on fire, but not burning
down the Library
● Did he actually?
○ Caesar had haters so maybe someone defamed him
■ If he was genuinely guilty the lack of official documents/proof is
THE HYPATIA SAGA (Theophilus/Hypatia)
● Theophilus was the leader of Alexandria from 385 to 412 AD
○ ~391 AD, Temple of Serapis (branch library) got converted into a Christian church
■ = many documents were destroyed (~10% of the entire Library of Alexandria
records)
● There was this woman called Hypatia, who was the last “head / member of Library of
Alexandria”
○ The city prefect, Orestes, claimed that he was influenced by Hypatia when he killed a
Christian monk, Hierax
● Alexandria has been known to be one of the more violent (ancient) Greek cities
○ Christians, Jews and Pagans all lived together
■ Conflict between religion and politics
● Behind Hierax’s death was a group of Christian-hating Jews, who began to lure more
Christians into the streets by proclaiming that their Church was on fire and then killed the
Christians on the streets (conflict!!! More conflict!!! CONFLICT!!!!!!!!!)
○ Christians realised the Jews were just doing hate crime -- fought back with the
Caliph Omar
● Muslims conquered the city of Alexandria in 640 AD
● Allegedly Caliph Omar said:
○ Library’s texts will either contradict the Quran (hersey)
○ Or it will agree with it (redundant)
○ = Library should be destroyed
● Supposedly the Muslims used the texts as timberwood for heating their baths
○ However this was not written until 300 years later and by a Bishop who
was infamous for criticising other religions without any evidence
BRAIN DUMP (RE: TRUTH BEHIND
ALEXANDRIA THINGS)
● Depends on bias / exposure
○ Those who blame Caesar hated him
○ Original author who blamed Theophilus and those supporting him were
mostly atheists and anti-Christian
● The Bishop who blamed Omar and those supporting the Bishop were mostly
anti-Muslim
● The accurate timeline was never confirmed
○ Supposedly Mark Anthony gifted
○ Cleopatra scrolls from the Library after it was burnt
Link to curriculum
○ History
■ Perspective in history & how accurate it can be (Historical
distortion)
○ Journalism
■ Bias and its influence on history / records
○ Archeology / technology
■ Finding what’s left

○ Art
■ Different artworks portraying different accounts
○ Modern culture
■ “Library of Alexandria” used as a metaphor for a valuable large
collection
BAGHDAD’S
HOUSE OF ● AKA Khizanat-al-Hikma / Storehouse of
Wisdom

WISDOM
● Originally a private library for a House of
Caliphs in the late 8th century AD
○ Afterwards the library was eventually
open to public to encourage education
Iraq ● Contains manuscripts and translated
versions of ancient texts
○ Ancient works in Pahlavi (Iran),
Syriac, Greek, and Sanskrit were
translated into Arabic and
documented
FLOWCHART OF THE CREATION OF HOUSE OF
WISDOM
WHY
) BUILD IT?
● Muawiyah I (Caliph) during 600 AD liked to collect books in Damascus
(Syria)
● Umayyad dynasty (661-750 CE)
○ Translated books into Arabic with Christian and Persian scholars
○ Increased access for information ⇾ Islamic Golden Age
● Abbasid dynasty (750-1258 CE)
○ Moved capital to Baghdad & made the formal library
● Caliph Al-Mansur wanted scholars all over the world to come
○ Next Caliph Al-Mamun wanted to focus on scientific development
● Academia > War in the Abbasid dynasty, would negotiate with pieces of
literature
How the House of Wisdom was destroyed

● Mongols invaded Baghdad in 1258, nearly 5 centuries after the library was made
public
○ A siege lasted for 13 days (Wanted to destroy the city on their way to Hungary: they did)
■ Made a surprise attack led by Hulagu Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson
○ Wanted to force the Caliph to surrender to Mongol forces and help them win the war in Persia (Iran)
● Caliph refused - 12 day siege
○ Looted treasure, executed the Caliph, killed citizens
○ Threw all the books in the House of Wisdom into the Tigris River
● Supposedly the River water was black for half a year after that due to all the ink, and
that the leftover paper stacked so high it was practically a bridge
○ Leather covers made into sandals
● Marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age
 ● Tripitaka means Buddhist scriptures (World’s
most complete Buddhist texts, laws, and treaties)
○ AKA PalmanDaejanggyeong = 80,000
Tripitaka
■ Original scriptures are carved into

TRIPITAKA ●
80,000 woodblocks
Used by scholars of Zen Buddhism for 1000
years

KOREANA ○ Some said it has shaped the religion itself

South Korea
Tripitaka Koreana destroyed :\

● Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1232 during a Mongol invasion

THEN…
● King Gojong (King at the time) believed the scriptures may be a deterrent to
invasion = order scriptures to be made again
○ From 1237 to 1248, woodcocks carved again on Ganghwa Island
■ Monks used wood form silver magnolias, white birches and cherry trees from Southern coast of
Korea
■ Soaked in seawater for 3 years to prevent it form warping in winter
● Prevented wood from warping during winter
■ Each block would be boiled in saltwater again
● Prevent mould and insects
■ Dried before carving
Structure of the (new) Tripitaka Koreana
● Located in the Haeinsa, top of Gaya Mountain
○ Transferred during the early Yi dynasty ( early 1400s)
● Higher than primary hall, which houses the primary Buddha
● Reflects style of the time: simple details, harmony, balance
● Spacious = ventilation = prevent accumulation of moisture & heat = avoid mould etc.

STATUS
● Declared National Treasure of South Korea in 1962
● UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995

NOW
● Tripitaka Koreana Now
○ 9 years research + copying scriptures —> digital version released in 2000
○ Work is currently done to transfer woodblock to copper to preserve
What else did the Mongols do?
(Destroyed House of Wisdom AND Tripitaka Koreana)
● So evil! There was this guy called GENGHIS KHAN
○ Started expanding Empire in 1206
○ Attacked all across Asia
○ East towards Eastern shore of China
○ West towards Hungary, Poland
○ Stopped when reached Austria, went back to Asia
● Genghis Khan's legacy
○ Died in 1227
○ Heir was son Ogodei
○ Mongol Empire stretched from Northeastern China to the Caspian Sea (North of modern Iran)
○ 28 million square km
■ For reference, Russia currently only has 17 million square km of land
Genghis Khan’s legacy continued by his good ol’ son
● Ogodei Khan
○ Ogodei Khan went on to continue his father’s legacy
■ Expanded into the rest of China, even into Russia
○ A wet season allowed the Mongol army to cross the Gobi Desert (between Mongolia and China)
■ 1240: the Mongols sacked Kiev and wanted to continue expanding westward in Europe
○ Ironically the conquer introduced Europeans to Chinese gunpowder
○ March 1241: Mongols made it to Hungary
■ Hungarian King Bela IV fled
■ ~1 million Hungarians were killed by the Mongols
○ In December, Ogodei died unexpectedly = POWER VACUUM!!!
■ Some historians hence think that Batu, Ogodei’s nephew led everyone back to Mongolia to elect
a new leader
○ However, Batu never left Europe and instead Ogodei’s wife Toregene took over the position as Khatun

IT ENDS WITH US

● All Mongols troops turned back in 1242

● Left through what is now Serbia, going through Russia, heading South back to Mongolia
 ● WHO
○ Made by former sons of liberty + plumber
Samuel Adams and Paul Revere
● WHEN
○ Brass box hid in a coner stone during the
construction of the Massachusetts State House in
1795
○ Opened once in 1855 for cleaning and to add
new artefacts
○ Discovered in late 2014 when fixing waterleak
○ Displayed for a month in the Museum of Fine

The Massachusetts ● WHAT

Arts, Boston (MFA) in 2015

State House Time ○ Newspaper clippings

○ Old coins dating to the 1600s

Capsule ○ Page from the Massachusetts Colony Records

and a copper medal with an image of “General
United States’ oldest known time of the American Army” George Washington
○ Plaque given to Adams to approve the
capsule
construction of the State House
 ● WHO & WHEN
○ Purple velvet-lined safe Collected by New
York magazine publisher Anna Deihm in
1867
○ Sealed in 1879
● WHERE
○ Made at the U.S. Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia
○ Stored at the US Capitol but was left
forgotten under the East Portico
● WHAT
○ Filled with 19th century relics, including

1867 Century ■ Gold pen and inkstand

■ A book on temperance
■ A collection of Americans’

Safe signatures
■ Snapshots of President Ulysses S.
Grant and other politicians (taken by
First ever planned time capsule photographer Mathew Brady)
● Unlocked a century later in July 1976 during the
US’ bicentennial festivities
 ● WHO
○ Mayor William C. Maybury (politician)
● WHERE
○ Detroit’s Old City Hall
● WHEN
○ January 1, 1901
○ Opened in December 2000
● WHAT
○ Copper time capsule filled with:
■ Several dozen letters to the future
written by the city’s business and
political leaders
■ Mostly included descriptions of the
wonders of 1900 Detroit + musings on
The Detroit what life in 21st century might be like
(Some are questions, some are
Century Box predictions [some of them are
ridiculously wrong: “Canada would be
Contains several dozen letters to the future annexed or that Ontario would become
written by the city’s business and political leaders
a U.S. state”])
 ● WHO
○ The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company
● WHERE
○ Future-themed 1939 New York World’s Fair on
the fairgrounds in Flushing Meadows
● WHEN
○ Made in 1939
○ Scheduled to be opened in 6939 A.D.— 5,000
years after the first one was buried (one was
buried in 1965)
● WHAT
○ Originally called a “time bomb” but was changed
after Westinghouse publicist coined the now-
famous term “time capsule”
■ Collection of seeds, metals and textiles

The Westinghouse ■
■
Microfilm and newsreelsand
Everyday items (e.g. Beatles record, a bikini, a pack of

Time Capsule
Camel cigarettes and a plastic child’s cup featuring
Mickey Mouse)
■ The 1939 capsule also featured a letter from physicist
Albert Einstein, who praised the scientific progress of
50-foot-deep “Immortal Well” his age but also added that “People living in different
countries kill each other at irregular time intervals, so
 ● WHO:
○ Thornwell Jacobs-- president of Oglethorpe
University (Georgia, US)
■ Believed it would valuable for
archaeologist
● WHEN:
○ Since 1937
○ Sealed behind a airtight stainless steel door during
a ceremony in 1940, intended to be opened 6177
years later-- in 8113 AD (same duration as
recorded history at the time)
● WHERE:
○ Underground chamber (20 x 10 ft) in the
administration building of the Oglethrope
University
The Crypt of ● WHAT:
○ 640,000 pages of microfilmed books and religious

Civilization ○ TV
texts

Attempt to preserve all of human ○ Container of beer

○ Set of toy Linclon Logs
knowledge for posterity
○ Language integrator just in case whoever found it
 ● WHO
○ Panasonic
● WHERE
○ 1970 Expo in Osaka, Japan
● WHEN
○ 1970
○ To be opened 5000 years later
○ First opening (for inspection) already took place in
2000, and the rest will occur at intervals of 100
years
● WHAT
○ Main container filled with a protective layer of
argon to protect its contents
○ Second “control” capsule periodically opened,
inspected and cleaned to keep the project’s memory

The Expo ’70 alive

○ Contains:

Time Capsule ■ 2,098 culturally significant objects (many

suggested by the public)
■ Films, seeds, microorganisms, ceremonial
To remain unopened for 5,000 years
kimono, slinky, blackened fingernail 1945
 ● WHO
○ Blank records were provided by the Pyral S.A. of
Creteil, France
○ NASA
● WHERE
○ Space
○ Carried by Voyager 1 and 2
● WHEN
○ Murmurs of Earth" by Executive Director, Carl Sagan
published in 1978
● WHAT
○ Gold-plated copper, cover is aluminum and
electroplated with pure isotope uranium-238
■ To the makers of music – all worlds, all times"
hand-etched on its surface

Voyager Golden ○ Intends to communicate a story of our world to

extraterrestrials
○ Carries a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated
Records copper disk containing sounds and images selected to
portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth
NASA: time capsule for the benefit of any other ■ Greetings in different languages
spacefarers that might find them in the distant future ■ Sounds on Earth
■ 90-min selection of music
 ● WHERE
○ Federal building in Juneau, Alaska
● WHEN
○ First closed off in 1994
● WHAT
○ 9 x 6 foot chamber fitted with a glass
observation window
○ Contains:
■ Wonderbrs
■ Sony Walkman
■ Barbie doll
■ Old driver's licenses
■ Family mementos
■ Box containing menus from all of

The Juneau Time Juneau’s restaurants

■ Hundreds of letters written by

Capsule
schoolchildren to the students of the
future
■ Copies of notes displayed several years
Memorabilia scrounged by locals as part of a later, but the originals will remain
citywide project sealed off until New Year's Eve 2094
 ● WHO
○ Scottish artist Katie Paterson
● WHEN
○ Started in 2014
○ A century in the making
○ Entire collection of texts published in 2114
● WHERE
○ Manuscripts held in a specially designed room
in the new public library, Oslo, Norway (See
left)
● WHAT
○ 1,000 trees has already been planted outside
Oslo, Norway to supply the paper for the
printing
○ A new author will be invited to submit a novel,

The Future poem or other written text to the project each

year for 100 years

Library ■ Writers are forbidden to reveal anything

about their works other than the title
For literature lovers ○ Margaret Atwood submitted the first
manuscript, “Scribbler Moon,” in 2014
○ British author David Mitchell provided the
 ● WHO
○ Scottish artist Katie Paterson
● WHEN
○ Buried on 17/09/2017
● WHERE
○ Buried in an Arctic island in an unused borehole (5
metres deep)
○ Can remain in the ground for > half a million years
before it resurfaces as a result of geological uplift, sea-
level rise and erosion
● WHAT
○ Phonograph records (together with a cartridge and a
needle)
○ Includes:
■ Dried DNA samples from humans, rats, salmon and
potato, a bee in resin, seeds and around 300
tardigrades, the minuscule aquatic ‘water bears’
Polish Time that can survive extreme radiation, drought and
heat.

Capsule ■ Silicon-based electronic devices (e.g.

accelerometers, a radiation detector and a mobile
phone)
Sums up technology in 2017 ■ Credit card, a wristwatch and a photograph of
Earth taken from space (etched into porcelain)
■ Researchers also left their fingerprints on the inside
of some of the container caps
 ● WHO
○ Paul Hudson (founder: alumni of Oglethorpe
University)
● WHERE
○ Database is held at Oglethorpe University and also
the Not Forgotten Library Depository, a digital
library where people can document and keep their
most precious memories and mementos
● WHEN
○ 1990 (look at the logo, duh)
● WHAT
The International ○ Tracks the world’s time capsules
■ Ensure they are not lost

Time Capsule ○ Estimated that ~80% of all time capsules are lost
and will not be opened on their intended date

Society
Time capsules are more popular than before

● Adrienne Waterman, President of the International Society of Time Capsules:

○ Surge of popularity mostly driven by the Pandemic and also fear of the destruction of digital content
○ Also due to fear of the phenomenon of a memory hole, collective amnesia, a political or technological
erasure of history
■ Desire to create a time capsule = lost hope that traditional methods of transmitting history
● Amazon sells multiple do-it-yourself time capsule kits
○ Stainless-steel tube large enough to hold CDs, DVDs and written material. Sometimes as a therapeutic
● Experience to reflect on one's life
○ Deciding, planning, and creating a time capsule is a rewarding experience that lets them examine their
life through carefully chosen personal objects
Journalism: an Exposé
The History of
Journalism
Breaking news!
Towncriers: Igboland (Southeastern Nigeria)

● Armed with a metal or wooden gong → walk through village

○ Beating gong at intervals as the messages were shouted out
○ Stops when the entire village is informed
● Concerns with speed
● Problems with this method
○ Information spread is low
and accuracy
○ Core elements missed out or lost
○ Natural
disasters
● Validity of
Bulletin Boards ●
information?
“Town criers” are
appointed by
● Put news on bulletin boards officials: erasure and
● Still seen in modern context bias
○ Animal crossing
○ Online forums
General stuff about newspapers
● China was the first country to invent the newspaper in the Han Dynasty
○ In the Tang Dynasty, newspapers were boring reports of what happened inside the palace and about the government used
for administrative processes
○ In the Song Dynasty, governments started to issue news to people and the people would issue their own news

(This part isn’t in the syllabus, so just skim/know as context)

Indian newspaper cont:
● First Indian newspaper: Hicky's Bengal Gazette
○ Run by Irishman JAMES HICKY
○ Forgotten legacy, Hickey had and how Hicky was in jail (random article I don’t wanna read)
■ Local announcements, posters, and miscellaneous notices for the colonies of Isles of France
■ Good mechanisation (significance of newspaper)
● Without him India wouldn’t have its first newspaper, its firfirst place where rights of life and liberty were
debated. These are the building blocks of free societies. While reading about journalism history in India, it
is important to ask ourselves: what if India didn’t have the same traditions of free expression that it does
today?
● Africa: Newspapers a byproduct of colonialism?
○ Oldest newspapers published in Africa in Mauritius Jan 13 1773 “Annonces, Affiches et Avis Divers pour les Colonies
des Isles de France et de Bourbon”
■ By Nicolas Lambert.
■ Printed in French
○ The second oldest newspaper is Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser which was the first South African newspaper,
printed by the British South African Government
■ Used newspapers for advertisements and announcements to reach a wider audience
■ Restricted by the government policies and lack of sufficient technology for frequent and bulk production
■ Government had to censor some of the newspapers like South African Commercial Advertiser to redeem its image
(earliest forms of newspaper = censorship, dictatorship)
Interviews (Journalism in the USA)

● Newspapers in America date back to ~1600s, but it was not until 1820 where it was
formalised and reporters were hired
○ 1830 penny press (kinda like tabloid) = popularised local news report
○ However until then newspapers were still just publications of official documents and public speeches
● Then came interviews:
○ What: A reporter asking questions to a public figure, then quoting them on an article
○ When: 1860s (first incident = president interviewed by reporter)
○ Where: America
○ Specifics
■ Sme credit James Gordon Bennett in 1836, others Horace Greeley in 1859
■ This practice was largely unknown before 1860 became familiar and controversial a decade later
● Andrew Johnson himself submitted to the new practice in 1868
■ However, at the time, it was controversial because it’s “invasive”/judged vulgarly
Interviews CONT (Journalism in the USA)
● Are interviews good?
○ Good
■ Interviews give context and insight if relevant (eg. a local can give a local perspective on the
issue/event)
■ Interviews can be used to hold people accountable (public watchfulness over the powerful)
■ Interviews have less sugar coating and more subconscious replies
○ Bad
■ Interviews are often heavily biased (eg. criminals justify their own actions)
■ Questions can potentially lead towards a certain bias to push a reporter’s own agenda (strategy)
■ Can be used to spread propaganda and/or conspiracy theories
■ High vulnerability of the reporter to the source, of the source to the reporter, and of the public to
both

Pretty detached fact: reporters didn’t really take notes during interviews, but relied on recollections (I suppose it makes the
conversation less comfortable-- as if every word can be used against you)

● Interviewees could retract what they said + standard practice to submit the interview to its subject for corrections
Case study

William Howard Taft when he served as Secretary of War under Theodore Roosevelt: Taft
spoke frankly to them of his disagreement with the President on an important issue

● “Taft sat beaming, waiting for the next question, wholly unconscious of the bomb he had
touched off,” wrote a New York Times correspondent, Charles Thompson. “He was safe
enough in the hands of most of us; but the Hearst representative would assuredly print it
under streamer head-lines in boldface type on the front page.”
● So the Associated Press representative, Arthur Dunn, told Taft that unless he said
otherwise, they would surely print the comment he had just made: “We strongly advise
you to place the injunction of secrecy upon us. Do I speak for all of you, gentlemen?” And
everyone agreed. As the reporters left, the Hearst man said to the AP reporter, “Dunn, why
do you hate a good story so intensely?”
So… the oldest form of interviews:

● Interviewees could request for the reporter to omit anything that would get them into trouble
○ Censorship
■ Eleanor Roosevelt had a devoted group of female reporters who shielded her. In 1933, she revealed to
four of them that President Roosevelt had refused to sign a joint proclamation with Herbert Hoover to
close the banks before the inauguration. The reporters chose not to publish this news, as it could have
sparked worldwide panic. One of them later recalled that “the women always covered up for Mrs.
Roosevelt. She said things that shouldn’t be printed.”
● Toward late 19th century, journalism was still dominated by partisan:
○ Politicians usually only spoke to reporters that support them/political stance
■ Regardless, interviews were seen as manly performance, exploit, or coup, an enterprise attesting to the
bravado and cleverness of a reporter
● Interviews then developed from casual first-person recount to a third-person documentation
● Also, news reports became a summary more than a chronological order (need to decide which part of
everything = most significant; might give room for bias)
○ Makes it easier for readers to understand important events and provided reporters with more
Press Conferences (Journalism in the USA)

● Meeting at which a person or organization makes a public statement and reporters

can ask questions
○ When: 22/03/1913
○ Who: Woodrow Wilson
○ Specifics
■ Was actually an accident
● Unclear instructions by his private secretary
● Expected to greet each reporter one by one → 125 men came at the same time, woops
■ The speech en masse became a regular feature of the Wilson administration
 Press Conferences Progression (Journalism in the
USA)
Time President Summary of what happened
Period

1913-1953 Woodrow Governing press conferences favoured the president: sessions were off the
Wilson to Harry record events
Truman ● If the president said something he believed unwise, he could alter the
quote

1923-1929 Calvin Calvin Coolidge, who held the most press conferences for the number of
Coolidge years he was in office, had 521 sessions or an average of 93 a year

1953-1961 Dwight D. January 19, 1955 - First televised (pre-recorded film footage) press
Eisenhower conference

1961-1963 John F. January 25, 1961 - First live press conference

Kennedy U2 spy plane incident changed the relationship for many reporters with their
government. (US government was caught in a lie – it was a spy plane the
Soviets shot down, not the weather plane the White House said it was)
= Reporters became wary of the accounts they received from White House
officials.
Modern Press Conferences

● High risk high reward

● Instead of holding a standard press conference, presidents today can choose from among
the type of press session where they feel most comfortable responding to reporters
○ Added in interviews with individual reporters or groups of reporters
● Occasions expanded - not only held by presidents/ government
○ Not only for policies - example: press conference everyday during the pandemic
■ To update the public
● For companies - private → public
○ Started off as private conferences - only for selected press/ media
■ 2007 Apple - live streaming
○ Change due to development in technology - stable internet
○ Increase media exposure
Are press conferences good?

● Merits
○ Reporters: useful for developing information
■ Respond to any concerns - may be good or bad
○ Citizens: valuable for making judgments about their chief executives
○ Presidents and their staffs: strategy for explaining their policies
● Is it good or bad for news coverage?
○ Good
■ Information comes direct from the person in charge, or appointed spokesperson
■ Compared to newspapers or printed news, more information can be received through
body language
○ Bad
■ Press Conferences can be edited to present biased information (cherry picking)
■ Negative publicity (dividing the nation)
Modern forms of journalism
● WHAT
○ Digitalisation-- social media platforms and websites
■ Made more accessible
■ However the echo chamber effect is heightened
○ Tone
■ Previously
● Only narration, reporters detached
● ‘no theme music, no pundits offering their opinions, and no social media weighing in,
only calm news anchors narrating the events and explaining the issues.’ - Journalism in
Action
■ Nowadays
● Often opinion seeps in
● ‘Less relayers of documents and messages and more interpreters and explainers’
● WHO
○ Everyone can be a reporter
■ Ukraine war
Problems with modern forms of journalism

● Ultimate motive: MONEY

○ Clickbait
○ More clicks = more ads = more money
○ Fake News
■ Spreading information is too quick
■ Fake news spreads six times faster than real news because of sensationalisation
● Need to catch up with the speed of other sources - publishing before fact checking
● OR: anyone can spread info, but not everyone fact checks
● Echo chamber effect (encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce
their own)
○ Algorithm - designed to push articles that are more suited for your taste
■ So you will stay on the platform → more advertisement
○ Keep on reading articles that you agree with → you believe more in your stance
Investigative
journalism
Oolala
What is investigative journalism (context, just know)
“Investigative journalism involves exposing to the public matters that are concealed–either
deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally, behind a chaotic mass of facts
and circumstances that obscure understanding. It requires using both secret and open sources
and documents.”

-UNESCO

JOURNALISM OFTEN CALLED The Fourth Power （第四權）

● Separation of (political) Power
○ Although Judiciary, Parliament and Executive government are separate from each other (Decrease
chances of corruption)
○ What if the entire government is corrupted??
■ Press is the ‘watchdog’ of the people - to examine if the government is bad
● Some reporters claim that all reporting is investigative reporting
○ Based on leaked documents etc.
■ Stories that focus on crime or corruption, analysis, or even outright opinion pieces may
Case Study 1: Brazil, Rubens Valente, Operação
Banqueiro

● 2008 police operation that captured the attention of the country for involving the
imprisonment and immediate release, for acts of corruption, of one of the most
powerful bankers in Brazil
● Justice Gilmar Mendes in ensuring banker Daniel Dantas evaded prison.
○ Operação Banqueiro revealed the collusion between Dantas’s bank and members of the judicial
system, particularly Justice Mendes who was, at the time, the president of the STF
■ During which time he reached out to Judge Mendes without response.
● Judge Mendes sued Valente for defamation, citing “damage of image and honor.”
● Valente’s case exemplifies how a corrupt judiciary protects wrongdoers and
perpetuates human rights violations
○ Justice Mendes is using the power a broken system has granted him to carry out a personal vendetta
against Valente
Case Study 2: Watergate

● Richard M. Nixon: president seeking reelection

● 17/06/1872 - Burglars broke into the Watergate Office Building
● 2 years later, revealed that President Nixon was involved in the burgling:
uncovered by BOB WOODWARD AND CARL BERNSTEIN
○ Aim: to win the election by knowing the Democrats’ moves
○ Resigned
● Ways of Investigation
○ Finding informats - ‘Deep Throat’
■ Comparing information from different sources
○ Raising awareness - publishing any new findings
○ Calling officials, demanding responses
■ Not something a layman could do
Case Study 2: Watergate II
● After journalists reported a series of stories connecting payments for the Watergate
burglary to Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President, a special prosecutor was
appointed
○ Prosecutor obtained a subpoena that required Nixon to deliver audio recordings of meetings he had
with various assistants to the district court
○ Nixon refused to turn over all the tapes and transcripts, claiming executive privilege within the
Executive Branch and that the court had no jurisdiction.
● Nixon announced that Dean completed an internal investigation into the Watergate
break-in → no evidence of White House involvement
○ Obviously proven to be a lie
● Transformed into United States Supreme Court in the case US v. Nixon
○ 24/07/1974
■ Unanimously ruled that the case should go before the courts and that the president’s claim of
executive privilege was not absolute. He had to turn over all the tapes and transcripts.
● Demonstrates the importance of investigative journalism - the government is not
always trustworthy
Case Study 2: Watergate Risks
● Personal Safety
○ Graham was threatened by Mitchell that she will end up in a ‘big, fat wringer’
● The Washing Post Almost Died (Because there was where the allegations were published)
○ Nixon + his pals said the reports were all lies
■ “based on hearsay, innuendo, guilt by association”
○ Accused Graham of hating Nixon - hence the reports were out of personal grudge and not facts
○ Boycott from interviews
○ Almost didn’t get to renew their TV channels license
■ Nixon - "The Post is going to have damnable, damnable problems out of this one. They
have a television station . . . and they're going to have to get it renewed."
○ Stocks fell
Case Study 3: Weinstein - Background Info

● WHO
○ Culprit: Harvey Weinstein
○ Reporters: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
● WHAT
○ Published a book called “She Said”
○ Kantor and Twohey had confidential discussions with top actresses, former Weinstein employees and
other sources:
■ Learnt about long-buried allegations
■ Some had been covered up by onerous legal settlements
○ Kantor and Twohey revealed that Weinstein was sexually harassing women for decades, in exchange to
advance their careers; or threaten that he will destroy their careers if they resist
● WHEN
○ 5 October 2017
Ethics in Journalism

Edward Snowden
● Exposed the bad stuff about CIA (surveillance)

Other stuff
● Example: Code of Ethics of HKJA (Hong Kong Journalists Association)
○ 5. A journalist shall obtain information, photographs and illustrations only by straight forward means.
The use of other means can be justified only by overriding considerations of the public interest. The
journalist is entitled to exercise a personal conscientious objection to the use of such means.
○ 6. Subject to justification by overriding considerations of the public interest, a journalist shall do
nothing which entails intrusion into private grief and distress.
○ 11. A journalist shall not take private advantage of information gained in the course of his/her duties,
before the information is public knowledge.