Pre-Historic Art

The earliest figurine yet discovered come from between 500,000 and 300,000 BC, during the Middle Acheulean period. Discovered in Morocco, it is about 6 centimeters long. Evidence suggests that this Moroccan piece may have been created by natural geological processes with a minimum of human tool-work, but the piece bears evidence of having been painted; "a greasy substance" on the stone's surface has been shown to contain iron and manganese and indicates that it was decorated by someone and used as a figurine, regardless of how it may have been formed.

Discoveries in Blombos cave, situated in South Africa, have totally changed the history of art. Stones were discovered that were decorated with complex red arrays, showing that early Homo Sapiens Sapiens were capable of abstraction and production of art. These impressive works date back from 70,000 years ago i.e. more than 50,000 years compared to Lascaux in France.

Venus of WillendorfThe earliest known European art is from the upper palaeolithic period and includes both cave painting, such as the famous paintings at Lascaux, and portable art, such as animal carvings and so-called Venus figurines like the Venus of Willendorf.

There are some speculations that only Homo sapiens is capable of artistic expression. However, Homo erectus had long before produced seemingly aimless patterns on artifacts such as is those found at Bilzingsleben in Thuringia, and these might be understood as a precursor to art, as well as to reveal some intent of the artificer to decorate, to fashion beyond practical necessity.

The symmetry and attention given to the shape of a tool has led authors to see middle palaeolithic hand axes and especially laurel points as artistic expressions as well. The Venus of Berekhat Ram (Israel) and its counterpart in Morocco, the Venus of Tan-Tan, from 800,000 and 220,000 BC, may be the earliest attempts to recreate the human form. A recent find, the Mask of La Roche-Cotard in France, now suggests that Neanderthal humans may have developed a sophisticated and more complicated artistic tradition.

Drawing of bracelets from Mousterian period.Later findings from terrains of Ukraine (Mizyn archeological site) dated from Mousterian epoch of Paleolithic are Mammoth ivory bracelets with carved meander ornaments.

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic period has some examples of portable art, like painted pebbles (Azilien) from Birseck, Eremitage in Switzerland, and in some areas, like the Spanish Levant, stylized rock art. Patterns on utilitarian objects, like the paddles from Tybrind Vig, Denmark, are known as well.

Decaying K-12 School Communications Infrastructures Turn to New High Capacity Wireless Networks for Salvation

Because of declining tax bases and increased needs for academic accountability and performance, the days of traditional K through 12 "classroom only" learning are numbered. They are rapidly being replaced by a truly multi-mode combination of self-instruction, specialized out of classroom coaching (often by off-site, higher grade peer tutors), parental monitoring and involvement and specialized "distance learning" curriculum.

All of these faster, more individualized and more efficient teaching tools have one thing in common: They will gobble up connectivity resources, and require delivery of information in places that may have yet to embrace the new format's high speed, high bandwidth demands, whose existing "legacy" systems will be outpaced by them.

Help is being sought in ways that in effect leave behind the costly purchase, rental or construction of traditional "wired" networks in distributed school systems, for a one time, less expensive purchase of a new class of high speed, high dependability wireless local area networks.

For example, a Northern Indiana school system recently eschewed a traditional "land based" leased network and instead installed a licensed wireless gigabit Ethernet (GigE) "point to point" managed services solution. The new system permitted the school system to upgrade capabilities, allowed room for growth, ensured integrity of the system through the use of licensed spectrum, and transferred costs from a model of total ownership to one of purchasing services resulting in tremendous savings. And speed? Well the system transfers data as fast as many traditional wired local area networks within buildings at 100 MB transfer rates. It has allowed them to save on their traditional voice communication costs as well as data, enabling new lower voice over IP (VoIP) technologies that use the same data networks.

While a seemingly technical solution, the fact is that this school system is joining others in looking for new technologies to help them with old problems. Numbers from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that at least 22 states are cutting K-12 and early education. Already, Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina have each cut school aid by an estimated $95 or more per pupil. Rhode Island is eliminating early education funding for 550 children, and Massachusetts is reducing funding for a number of early care programs. And the trend is not stopping at primary education: At least 30 states have implemented cuts to public colleges and universities, resulting in cuts in faculty and staff and tuition increases of 4 percent to 15 percent. Students in Rhode Island and New York are facing mid-year tuition hikes.

So in the end, the question will likely not be whether to use technology to shape education's future, but how. "Cutting the wire' will likely be one of those strategies that will be needed to keep our most important asset, our innovation, alive.

Gold manufacturers in kolkata and free business listing!

Import and export of gems and jewelries is among the most profitable businesses in the world even today and India is among the top revenue earning countries in this trade. Especially Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal has got a huge market of gemstones and jewelries. The Northern, Central and partially the Eastern part of the city are homes to hundreds of people who earn livelihood from buying and selling gemstones and jewelries. Bow Bozar in the North Central part of Kolkata is a place where you will find gem and jewelry shops lined up on either sides of the street. The gem and jewelry exporters in Kolkata are well known not only in entire India but even in other parts of the world for the quality of items that they sell. The Gulf countries are the biggest importers of gems and jewelries that are supplied from Kolkata.

Not only do people buy gemstones for changing their fortune but also look for fashionable gold and other metal jewelries that are exported from Kolkata. One of the biggest reasons behind the worldwide popularity of jewelries exported from Kolkata is the exquisite finishing of the items. Unlike other Indian states, jewelers and goldsmiths in Kolkata still maintain the practice of manufacturing hand-made jewelries. Being made by hands, each and every piece of jewelry get a unique look. You can never find an identical twin of a hand-made jewelry item. Every single piece is exclusive. In USA and Western countries, finding out more than one individual wearing identical jewelries is considered as a fashion disaster and that's why people prefer hand-made jewelries to machine made items.

Planning to make an attempt to change your fortune? Thinking about obeying the advice of your fortuneteller to wear gemstones? Then don't hesitate to make a contact with any of the gem and jewelry exporters in Kolkata. No need to turn pages of telephone directory or guidebook. Opt for the easy way. Log on to the internet and look for Kolkata-based B2B portals. The B2b portals are the newest and most well equipped guides to Kolkata. All kinds of information regarding Kolkata is available on these portals in detail. If gem and jewelry exporters in Kolkata is what you are looking for search for it note down names from the long list that you will be provided with. Most accurate and updated information are available on these portals that one can't expect from a guide book. You may also communicate with a gem and jewelry exporter in Kolkata directly through a Kolkata-based portal by making use of the interactive tools like live chat, free SMS and email. What you just need to search for a gem and jewelry exporter and then go for the options of communications available on the portal. So check out for the Kolkata-based B2B portals right now and make use of the modern technology to change your fortune or bring smile to your loved ones with a piece of exquisite jewelry.