Research

Monthly Archive: December rese

Goddess Exposed: the ROM’s ‘Minoan’ Goddess is on display!

Posted: September 23, 2014 - 14:19 , by ROM
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ROM 'Minoan' Goddess now on display

She’s been languishing in the Greek & Roman storerooms for years, but finally  the ROM Minoan Goddess is back on display.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Cave Survey

Posted: July 11, 2014 - 12:20 , by Robert Mason
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This cave would have been a home for one of the monks of the Deir Mar Musa community, the wall at the front of the photograph shows that they had a small terrace outside the cave, either for a living area or for growing food.

The monastery at Deir Mar Musa would not have just comprised the main buildings, the monks would actually have been dispersed in hermitages across the landscape.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Frescoes

Posted: July 4, 2014 - 12:26 , by Robert Mason
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The fresco of the Last Judgement on the West wall of the chapel at Deir Mar Musa.

The third in a series on the monastery of St Moses in Syria comprises a detailed examination of the important cycle of 11th-12th century frescoes found in the chapel.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Pottery

Posted: June 29, 2014 - 09:38 , by Robert Mason
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Pottery with an earthenware fired-clay body, overall white slip, incision through the slip with a broad tool, overall lead glaze, splashed with copper-green, probably mid-14th century.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: Introduction

Posted: June 17, 2014 - 15:32 , by Robert Mason
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View of the old monastery buildings from the South in 2004, with then Brother Jihad, a member of the monastery.

Robert Mason reports on his years of archaeological fieldwork at the Monastery of St Moses, Syria, in this blog series. 

 

 

A Fish With a Big Bang

Posted: June 11, 2014 - 13:00 , by ROM
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Illustration of Metaspriggina

New fossils reveal first hints of the evolution of jaws in primitive fish.

Kissing the Cod!

Posted: May 13, 2014 - 09:37 , by ROM
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A close up shot of the blue whales baleen.

Environmental communicator Jacqueline Waters shares more of her experience on the ground with the ROM team working to recover a blue whale carcass in NL.

My first day in Trout River, Newfoundland: ROM biologists arrive, town is curious

Posted: May 7, 2014 - 09:04 , by ROM
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A blue whale carcass lies upside down in the water near a rocky shoreline.

Jacqueline Waters shares her impressions from Day 1 of the ROM's efforts to recover a Blue whale specimen near Trout River, NL.

The ROM ‘Minoan’ Goddess: The Minoan Relations

Posted: April 8, 2014 - 11:12 , by ROM
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Detail of the head of the ROM 'Minoan' Goddess

After looking at the best known of the dubious ‘Minoan’ figurines (which may be modern) in my last post, here I show some of the genuine Minoan objects discovered in archaeological excavations on Crete.

The ROM ‘Minoan’ Goddess: the Suspect Sisters (and brothers)

Posted: April 7, 2014 - 12:59 , by ROM
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Detail of the head of the ROM 'Minoan' Goddess

The ROM Goddess is just one of the ‘Minoan’ figurines in several museums sometimes thought to be fake.  These two installments of the ROM Minoan Goddess project introduce you to some of the suspected (although not definitively proven) fake figurines, and the genuine Minoan objects that may have inspired them.