arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Amelia Carolina Sparavigna.
The most famous geoglyphs of Peru are the "Nazca Lines". Considered as one of the mysteries of the ancient world, they have been included among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in a large region between the towns of Nazca and Palpa, these lines create shapes of animals ranging in size up to 300 m. The archaeological site is under investigation with remote science technologies.
The paper discusses the tale that we can find in "The Architecture" by Vitruvius, on a method used by Archimedes to determine the percentage of gold and silver in a crown. The method is based on the immersion of bodies, allowing the evaluation of their volume in the case of irregular shapes. The measurement, as reported in "The Architecture", seems to be difficult to realize. But, using a vessel for a water-clock, the approach that Vitruvius described is possible. Here the discussion and experiments.
Toshka Lakes are lakes recently formed in the Sahara Desert of Egypt, by the water of the Nile, conveyed from the Nasser Lake through a canal in the Toshka Depression. From space, astronauts noticed the growing of a first lake, the easternmost one, in 1998. Then additional lakes grew in succession due west, the westernmost one between 2000 and 2001. In fact, sources of precious information on Toshka Lakes are the pictures takes by the crews of space missions and the satellite imagery. They show that, from 2006, the lakes started shrinking. A set of recent images displays that the surface of the easternmost lake is strongly reduced.
I have recently proposed that an object, found in an Egyptian tomb and exposed at the Egyptian Museum of Torino, could be a protractor. The tomb was that of architect Kha, supervisor at Deir El-Medina during the 18th Dynasty, and his wife Merit. Considering then the object as a protractor, the architect could have used it to measure the angle of the inclined planes.
Kha was an architect at Deir El-Medina, Egypt, supervisor of some projects completed during the reigns of three kings of the 18th Dynasty (approximately 1440-1350 BC). Buried with his wife Merit, the items of their tomb are exposed at the Egyptian Museum, Torino. After a description of some devices of the ancient Egypt masonry (cubits, cords, plumb, levels and squares), that Kha used during his activity, I discuss an object among those found in his tomb, which, in my opinion, could be used a protractor.
Two books, the "De Architectura" by Vitruvius and the "Naturalis Historia" by Pliny the Elder, give us a portrait of the Materials Science, that is, the knowledge of materials, in Rome at the beginning of the Empire. Here, I am reporting some very attractive contents that we can find in these books. The reader will see the discussion proposed in fours case studies: concretes, coatings, amorphous materials and colloidal crystals, to describe them in modern words.
An arid land, known as the Syrian Desert, is covering a large part of the Middle East. In the past, this harsh environment, characterized by huge lava fields, the "harraat", was considered as a barrier between Levant and Mesopotamia. When we observe this desert from space, we discover that it is crossed by some stone structures, the "desert kites", which were the Neolithic traps for the game. Several stone circles are visible too, as many Stonehenge sites dispersed in the desert landscape.
Abusir, the House of Osiris, is the name given to an Egyptian necropolis of the Old Kingdom period. This site is a part of a huge area, from Giza to Dahshur, rich of archaeological remains and covered by many pyramids. The paper is reporting concisely some archaeological studies on Abusir. We start from the description given by Pliny the Elder and end proposing the use of Google Maps.
We propose the use of image processing to enhance the Google Maps of some archaeological areas of Egypt. In particular we analyse that place which is considered the cradle of pyramids, where it was announced the discovery of a new pyramid by means of an infrared remote sensing.
A recent announcement of some pyramids, buried under the sand of Egypt and discovered by means of infrared remote sensing, renewed the interest on the archaeological surveys aided by satellites. Here we propose the use of images, obtained from those of Google Maps after some processing to enhance their details, to locate archaeological remains in Egypt.
Earthworks appear in the satellite images of deforested sections of the Amazon Basin. These images, and several other archaeological evidences, are showing that a lost civilization is waiting for further researches.
In 1894 Fernando Sanford discussed in a paper published by the Physical Review an electric photography technique, which he developed starting from 1891. The images that he published in the paper are clearly showing some fringes about the objects he photographed. Several years after, the fringes appearing in the electric photography have been recognized as the "Kirlian effect". Unlike Kirlian, Sanford did his best to reduce these fringes, improving the device but losing the "Sanford effect".
On the Andean highlands, the "qochas" are lakes or ponds of natural or artificial origin. An ancient agricultural technique is based on their use. Linked together by a network of canals, qochas form a system of water and soil management, alternately used for crops or pasture. The concave structure of qochas controls the strong evaporation produced by solar radiation and wind blowing. Qochas can be observed in the satellite imagery of Google Maps.
This paper shows how to run some experiments of physics, using a virtual laboratory. Such a laboratory is a website, equipped with objects to be measured and measuring instruments, simulated by means of Java Applets. Here we discuss in particular the case of a laboratory in which we can perform, on the Web, some experiments on radioactivity. The proposed virtual environment can be a viable alternative in the case of unavailability of a real laboratory.
Known as the Michanikos, Hero of Alexandria is considered the inventor of the world's first steam engine and of many other sophisticated devices. Here we discuss three of them as described in his book "Pneumatica". These machines, working with water, air and fire, are clear examples of the deep knowledge of fluid dynamics reached by the Hellenistic scientists.
A simple model shows how it is possible to create a gap in the vibrational spectrum of a one-dimensional lattice. The proposed model is a host-guest chain having, instead of point-like masses connected by spring, massive cages hosting particles inside. We imagine the cage as a rigid box containing a mass linked by a spring to the box inner wall. The presence of guests creates an energy gap in the dispersion of vibrational frequencies. The gap is about the internal resonance of the mass hidden in the cage.
The course of the Nile in northern Sudan follows a contorted path through bedrocks, creating the Great Bend. Few years ago, the satellite images showed a fertile strip of land with villages, where paleochannels of the river hosted many fields with cultivations and archaeological sites. Now, a huge part of this valley is under the waters of Merowe Dam reservoir. Comparing the images of the region before and after the dam gates were closed, we can see that the reservoir created itself through flooding the paleochannels.
The Great Bend of the river Nile contains the Bayuda region with its volcanic core. Along the river, a fertile strip of land has attracting human settlement for thousands of years and is then rich of archaeological sites. The distribution of the sites near the Nile can be detected using Google Maps imagery. We can see many area covered by small mounds, probably burial sites. Some of the archaeological places are currently under the water of the Merowe Dam. With the satellite imagery, we have a portrait of the area close the dam before the closing of its gates.