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The Artifact Volume 7, Issue 1 September 2001 The Palace and Gardens of King more naturalistic character, like the Kasayapa at Sigiriya, Sri Lanka traditions of China and Japan. Of particular interest are the numerous garden pavilions During the late 5th century AD, Kasayapa, that stood along the central axis of the king of ancient Sri Lanka, commissioned his formal gardens, others that occupied special surveyors, architects, and gardeners to sites surrounded by moats, and the many design and construct a new luxurious seat small structures that perched on the for his government in a remote part of his numerous boulders in the upper gardens. island kingdom. The location was Sigiriya, The water gardens are the largest in the or ‘Lion Rock.’ world and will be traced through their many components: fountains, shallow reflection This site was briefly excavated by the pools, deeper bathing pools, and the cisterns British in the late 19th century as part of the and moats that were necessary to supply all Archaeological Survey of Ceylon and was these facilities. more recently excavated by the local department of antiquities in the 1950s. Dr. Robert L. Vann teaches in the School of Sigiriya is already famous in the history of Architecture at the University of Maryland. art as the location of one of the earliest His areas of specialty include the history of series of painted figures in South Asia. Greek and Roman architecture, ancient Kasayapa’s palace, located 600’ above the construction, and underwater archaeology. jungle canopy, is one of the earliest in Asia and the enormous figure of a lion, built against a sheer cliff on the north approach to the palace, coincides exactly with the accounts of ancient historians who described the path ascending to the summit as entering the mouth of the huge creature who gave the rock its name. This lecture will present the results of several seasons of survey and excavation by a combined team including the University of Maryland in their attempts to uncover yet another unique aspect of Sigiriya - the water gardens. The organization includes landscapes of formal plan, very similar to the much later tradition of Mughul gardens of Iran and north India, as well as those of The ‘Lion Rock’ of Sigiriya 1 Letter From the President they occur: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/ArchLab/AIA/ Greetings, and welcome back after what I hope was a productive but relaxing summer! The other major change is in the venue of I was able to enjoy my first Milwaukee AIA lectures on the UWM campus, which summer in several years, since the have been held for many years now in the Landscape of Ancestors in Germany project Art History Department’s lecture hall in is currently in analysis rather than fieldwork Mitchell 195. This summer, the mode for a change. I finally have first-hand Anthropology Department moved into the knowledge of what kinds of things are newly renovated Sabin Hall, the last campus growing in our front flowerbed, and I had a building north of Mitchell on Downer chance to teach for the Irish Fest Summer Avenue. The main lecture hall there, Sabin School at UWM for the first time as well. I G90, should be better able to accommodate was also recently named co-director, with the occasionally SRO crowds we have had John Gleeson of UWM’s Ethnic Studies for some speakers. We will also be able to program, of the revitalized Center for Celtic hold the post-lecture reception on the second Studies at UWM. As the Center expands we floor in Anthropology Department space. In hope to bring speakers to campus that might order to minimize the confusion this change be persuaded to present lectures for the AIA will cause for some members, we will be Milwaukee Society. Check the Web site for holding the first two lectures of the fall information as it becomes available: season in Mitchell 195, and will announce http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ the new venue at those lectures. The fliers for the 2001-2002 lecture series will include There have been some major changes at a map identifying the location of Sabin Hall. both the local and national level for the AIA Subsequent lectures will be in Sabin G90 that I would like to share with old and new unless otherwise indicated. members alike. The less terrific news is that the membership increases have now gone Our line-up for this year covers a broad through, as you will have noticed if you sent range of geographic areas and time periods. in a renewal recently. While the increases The fall series begins with two speakers will probably not represent a major burden provided by the national office. The first for most members, we recognize that for lecturer was Kevin Crisman of Texas A&M some of you the change may cause University on Shipwrecks and difficulties. We urge you to stand by us as Archaeology in Portugal’s Azores Islands we work our way through the fiscal (Sunday September 30), followed by a talk complexities of the new millennium. The by Robert Lindley Vann of the University of AIA is facing tremendous challenges in an Maryland on the Palace and Gardens of increasingly competitive entertainment and King Kasayapa at Sigiriya (Sri Lanka) information environment, but with your (Tuesday October 30). The Milwaukee continued support and commitment to AIA Society is pleased to be able to bring you a programs we will continue to flourish for the December 2 lecture by Jennifer Tobin of the next century and beyond. Our own Professor University of Illinois-Chicago, who will be Jane Waldbaum will be taking the helm of presenting her research on the port site of the AIA soon, and the organization itself is Cilicia in Roman Turkey. The spring series in the process of reconsidering its role and also looks exciting, with one Kress lecturer mission. We will be keeping you informed from the national office, the possibility of a via the Web site of changes and initiatives as 2 second, and two Milwaukee Society lectures. In February the Milwaukee Society Milwaukee Society Officers has invited Ying Wang of UWM’s Art History Department to present a talk on her President: Bettina Arnold, UWM research into Shang Bronze Age China [email protected] (Sunday February 10). We are working on bringing Paul Bahn back to lecture in Vice President: Jane Peterson, Marquette March, since he will be in residence as an [email protected] AIA Kress lecturer and may be willing to add a Milwaukee talk to his schedule. If you Secretary/Treasurer: Alice Kehoe, UWM missed his over-flow crowd lecture on 3014 N. Shepard, Milwaukee, WI 53211 Upper Paleolithic art in December 1999, you’ll want to be sure to make it to this one! The Artifact Editors: In April, we will host the other 2001-2002 Jocelyn Boor, UWM, Kress lecturer, Claudio Bizzarri of the [email protected] Universita di Macerata (Italy), who will be Christine Hamlin presenting his research on an underground [email protected] Etruscan town in Umbria (Sunday April 2). Finally, we have invited UW-Madison’s Web Master: Jason Yaeger to present his research in the Thomas (Homer) Hruby, UWM Maya area on Sunday, May 5. Remember – [email protected] 50% or more of the lectures (three/four out Assistant Webster: of six/seven) we bring you every year are Seth Schneider, UWM directly funded by rebates from national [email protected] membership dues, so if you have been coming regularly to lectures, and look forward to coming to campus to hear From The Field professional archaeologists talk about their research, consider becoming a member. If Tumulus 17 and Beyond you are already a member, be sure to take a Since 1999 this newsletter has reported on moment to renew your membership. We the excavation of Tumulus 17 in southwest need your support now more than ever! Germany, near the town of Hundersingen and the Heuneburg Iron Age hillfort, and the I also would like to extend an invitation to long-term research project entitled all members to get more actively involved in “Landscape of Ancestors.” The project the Milwaukee society through attendance at combines archaeological excavation, which lectures, contributing refreshments to concentrates on early Iron Age (EIA) burial receptions, or attending the national meeting mounds, and ancient DNA (a-DNA) studies as a delegate, which will be held in of bone from burials found within tumuli. Philadelphia, PA from January 3-6 2002. If Recent a-DNA samples that have been you are interested in any of these activities, tested come from the Heuneburg hillfort, or have any questions, please feel free to burial mounds near the Heuneburg and a contact me at [email protected]. See you previously excavated mound near Stuttgart. September 30 at the first lecture of the 2001- Analysis of the cultural materials (ceramic, 2002 season! bronze, metal and organic remains) and the Bettina Arnold, President stratigraphic sequence of mound construction are underway at the University 3 of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archaeology Lab, for viewing via a scanning electron the Milwaukee Public Museum and the microscope. The light can pass through the Landesdenkmalamt Tübingen in Germany. samples to determine the material and weave of the fabric. Photos of the fabric fragments At the end of the 2000 field season Tumulus as seen through the microscope will be taken 17 had been completely excavated and five and sent to experts for analysis. Preliminary burials were uncovered. Radiocarbon dates microscopic observation of the fabric from the graves and the cultural materials suggests that at least one of the samples is found within them, including a bronze linen and another is a textile placed on an cauldron and a short sword from Grave 1 organic backing, which might be reeds or and fibulae in Grave 3, suggest that the grass.
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