The Archaeology and History of Bitumen

Bitumen—also known as asphaltum or tar—is a black, oily, viscous form of petroleum, a naturally-occurring organic byproduct of decomposed plants. It is waterproof and flammable, and this remarkable natural substance has been used by humans for a wide variety of tasks and tools for at least the past 40,000 years. There are a number of processed types of bitumen used in the modern world, designed for paving streets and roofing houses, as well as additives to diesel or other gas oils. The pronunciation of bitumen is BICH-eh-men in British English and by-TOO-men in North America. What Bitumen Is Natural bitumen is the thickest form of petroleum there is, made up of 83% carbon, 10% hydrogen and lesser amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements. It is a natural polymer of low molecular weight with a remarkable ability to change with temperature variations: at lower temperatures, it is rigid and brittle, at room temperature it is flexible, at higher temperatures bitumen flows. Bitumen deposits occur naturally throughout the world--the best known are Trinidads Pitch Lake and the La Brea Tar Pit in California, but significant deposits are found in the Dead Sea, Venezuela, Switzerland, and northeastern Alberta, Canada. The chemical composition and consistency of these deposits vary significantly. In some places, bitumen extrudes naturally from terrestrial sources, in others it appears in liquid pools which can harden into mounds, and in still others it oozes from underwater seeps, washing up as tarballs along sandy beaches and rocky shorelines. Uses and Processing In ancient times, bitumen was used for a huge number of things: as a sealant or adhesive, as building mortar, as incense, and as decorative pigment and texture on pots, buildings or human skin. The material was also useful in waterproofing canoes and other water transport, and in the mummification process toward the end of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The method of processing bitumen was nearly universal: heat it until the gasses condense and it melts, then add tempering materials to tweak the recipe to the proper consistency. Adding minerals such as ochre makes bitumen thicker; grasses and other vegetable matter add stability; waxy/oily elements such as pine resin or beeswax make it more viscous. Processed bitumen was more expensive as a trade item than unprocessed, because of the cost of the fuel consumption. The earliest known use of bitumen was by Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals some 40,000 years ago. At Neanderthal sites such as Gura Cheii Cave (Romania) and Hummal and Umm El Tlel in Syria, bitumen was found adhering to stone tools, probably to fasten a wooden or ivory haft to the sharp-edged tools. In Mesopotamia, during the late Uruk and Chalcolithic periods at sites such as Hacinebi Tepe in Syria, bitumen was used for the construction of buildings and water-proofing of reed boats, with among other uses. Evidence of Uruk Expansionist Trade Research into bitumen sources has illuminated the history of the expansionist period of Mesopotamian Uruk. An intercontinental trading system was established by Mesopotamia during the Uruk period (3600-3100 BC), with the creation of trading colonies in what is today southeastern Turkey, Syria, and Iran. According to seals and other evidence, the trade network involved textiles from southern Mesopotamia and copper, stone, and timber from Anatolia, but the presence of sourced bitumen has enabled scholars to map out the trade. For example, much of the bitumen in Bronze age Syrian sites has been found to have originated from the Hit seepage on the Euphrates River in southern Iraq. Using historical references and geological survey, scholars have identified several sources of bitumen in Mesopotamia and the Near East. By performing analyses using a number of different spectroscopy, spectrometry, and elemental analytical techniques, these scholars have defined the chemical signatures for many of the seeps and deposits. Chemical analysis of archaeological samples has been somewhat successful in identifying the provenance of the artifacts. Bitumen and Reed Boats Schwartz and colleagues (2016) suggest that the onset of bitumen as a trade good began first because it was used as waterproofing on the reed boats that were used to ferry people and goods across the Euphrates. By the Ubaid period of the early 4th millennium BC, bitumen from northern Mesopotamian sources reached the Persian Gulf. The earliest reed boat discovered to date was coated with bitumen, at the site of H3 at As-Sabiyah in Kuwait, dated about 5000 BC; its bitumen was found to have come from the Ubaid site of Mesopotamia. Asphaltum samples from the slightly later site of Dosariyah in Saudi Arabia, were from bitumen seepages in Iraq, part of the wider Mesopotamian trade networks of Ubaid Period 3. The Bronze Age Mummies of Egypt The use of bitumen in embalming techniques on Egyptian mummies was important beginning at the end of the New Kingdom (after 1100 BC)--in fact, the word from which mummy is derived mumiyyah means bitumen in Arabic. Bitumen was a major constituent for Third Intermediate period and Roman period Egyptian embalming techniques, in addition to traditional blends of pine resins, animal fats, and beeswax. Several Roman writers such as Diodorus Siculus (first century BC) and Pliny (first century AD) mention bitumen as being sold to Egyptians for embalming processes. Until advanced chemical analysis was available, black balms used throughout the Egyptian dynasties were assumed to have been treated with bitumen, mixed with fat/oil, beeswax, and resin. However, in a recent study Clark and colleagues (2016) found that none of the balms on mummies created prior to the New Kingdom contained bitumen, but the custom began in the Third Intermediate (ca 1064-525 BC) and Late (ca 525-332 BC) periods and became most prevalent after 332, during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Bitumen trade in Mesopotamia continued well after the end of the Bronze Age. Russian archaeologists recently discovered a Greek amphora full of bitumen on the Taman peninsula on the northern shore of the Black Sea. Several samples including numerous large jars and other objects were recovered from the Roman-era port of Dibba in the United Arab Emirates, containing or treated with bitumen from the Hit seepage in Iraq or other unidentified Iranian sources. Mesoamerica and Sutton Hoo Recent studies in pre-Classic and post-classic period Mesoamerica have found bitumen was used to stain human remains, perhaps as a ritual pigment. But more likely, say researchers Argà ¡ez and associates, the staining may have resulted from using heated bitumen applied to stone tools which were used to dismember those bodies. Fragments of shiny black lumps of bitumen were found scattered throughout the 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, in particular within the burial deposits near remains of a helmet. When excavated and first analyzed in 1939, the pieces were interpreted as Stockholm tar, a substance creating by burning pine wood, but recent reanalysis (Burger and colleagues 2016) has identified the shards as bitumen having come from a Dead Sea source: very rare but clear evidence of a continuing trade network between Europe and the Mediterranean during the early Medieval period. Chumash of California In Californias Channel Islands, the prehistoric period Chumash used bitumen as body paint during curing, mourning and burial ceremonies. They also used it to attach shell beads onto objects such as mortars and pestles and steatite pipes, and they used it for hafting projectile points to shafts and fishhooks to cordage. Asphaltum was also used for waterproofing basketry and caulking sea-going canoes. The earliest identified bitumen in the Channel Islands so far is in deposits dated between 10,000-7,000 cal BP at Cave of the Chimneys on San Miguel island. The presence of bitumen increases during the Middle Holocene (7000-3500 cal BP and basketry impressions and clusters of tarred pebbles show up as early as 5,000 years ago. The fluorescence of bitumen may be associated with the invention of the plank canoe (tomol) in the late Holocene (3500-200 cal BP). Native Californians traded asphaltum in liquid form and hand-shaped pads wrapped in grass and rabbit skin to keep it from sticking together. Terrestrial seeps were believed to produce a better quality adhesive and caulking for the tomol canoe, while tarballs were considered inferior. Sources Argà ¡ez C, Batta E, Mansilla J, Pijoan C, and Bosch P. 2011. The origin of black pigmentation in a sample of Mexican prehispanic human bones. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(11):2979-2988.Brown KM. 2016. Asphaltum (bitumen) production in everyday life on the California Channel Islands. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 41:74-87.Brown KM, Connan J, Poister NW, Vellanoweth RL, Zumberge J, and Engel MH. 2014. Sourcing archaeological asphaltum (bitumen) from the California Channel Islands to submarine seeps. Journal of Archaeological Science 43:66-76.Burger P, Stacey RJ, Bowden SA, Hacke M, and Parnell J. 2016. Identification, Geochemical Characterisation and Significance of Bitumen among the Grave Goods of the 7th Century Mound 1 Ship-Burial at Sutton Hoo (Suffolk, UK). PLoS ONE 11(12):e0166276.Cà ¢rciumaru M, Ion R-M, Nitu E-C, and Stefanescu R. 2012. New evidence of adhesive as hafting material on Middle and Upper Palaeolithic artefacts from Gura Cheii-Rà ¢snov Cave (Rom ania). Journal of Archaeological Science 39(7):1942-1950.Clark KA, Ikram S, and Evershed RP. 2016. The significance of petroleum bitumen in ancient Egyptian mummies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 374(2079).El Diasty WS, Mostafa AR, El Beialy SY, El Adl HA, and Edwards KJ. 2015. Organic geochemical characteristics of the Upper Cretaceous–Early Paleogene source rock and correlation with some Egyptian mummy bitumen and oil from the southern Gulf of Suez, Egypt. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8(11):9193-9204.Fauvelle M, Smith EM, Brown SH, and Des Lauriers MR. 2012. Asphaltum hafting and projectile point durability: an experimental comparison of three hafting methods. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(8):2802-2809.Jasim S, and Yousif E. 2014. Dibba: an ancient port on the Gulf of Oman in the early Roman era. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 25(1):50-79.Kostyukevich Y, Solovyov S, Kononikhin A, Popov I, and N ikolaev E. 2016. The investigation of the bitumen from ancient Greek amphora using FT ICR MS, H/D exchange and novel spectrum reduction approach. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 51(6):430-436.Schwartz M, and Hollander D. 2016. The Uruk expansion as dynamic process: A reconstruction of Middle to Late Uruk exchange patterns from bulk stable isotope analyses of bitumen artifacts. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7:884-899.Van de Velde T, De Vrieze M, Surmont P, Bodà © S, and Drechsler P. 2015. A geochemical study on the bitumen from Dosariyah (Saudi-Arabia): tracking Neolithic-period bitumen in the Persian Gulf. Journal of Archaeological Science 57:248-256.Wess JA, Olsen LD, and Haring Sweeney M. 2004. Asphalt (Bitumen). Concise International Chemical Assessment Document 59. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Hedonism Essay - 1071 Words

Websters dictionary defines hedonism as the ethical doctrine that pleasure, variously conceived of in terms of happiness of the individual or of society, is the principal good and the proper aim of action or the theory that a person always acts is such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain. With this definition in mind, and with further examination of John Stuart Mills theory on hedonism, I am going to argue that hedonism is not an exclusive or distinct way of thinking. In fact, I think that with the exception of possibly a few people, most people are very hedonistically inclined. Hedonistic utilitarians†¦show more content†¦2. In the absence of conclusive evidence for a supernatural, ethics and morality must be based on our living in the natural world. 3. Pleasure and pain are our natural means for determining what is beneficial or harmful to life. 4. Those actions are best which lead to the greatest pleasure and happiness, or the least pain and suffering, in the long term for all concerned. 5. Our lives are made most happy and fulfilling by cultivating the higher pleasures of intellectual development, aesthetic appreciation and creativity, and social bonds of friendship, family and romantic love. 6. Happiness is best attained in an atmosphere of freedom, tolerance, nonviolence and diversity. The Hedonic society also states that the ethics of enlightened hedonism is a positive, dynamic and life- affirming alternative to traditional religious and political dogmas. In todays terms, when you hear someone speak of hedonism, your mind automatically goes to associating sex, orgasms, and all other types of physical pleasure with the term hedonism. The important thing to keep in mind, however is that hedonism does not just include physical pleasure. It is possible to strive to achieve happiness and excitement, and at the same time avoid sadness and anxiety. This is also a hedonistic way of thought. Hedonism is not the pursuit purely physical. It is possible to be intellectually hedonistic as well. And, Hedonism is not based solelyShow MoreRelatedHedonism : Utilitarianism And Ancient Hedonism1255 Words   |  6 PagesHedonism concerning Utilitarianism and Ancient Hedonism Hedonism comes from the Greek word hedone, which means pleasure (Weijers). Hedonism is the principle that pleasure or happiness is the most important objective in life. It states how we should behave, why we behave the way we do, and what is good for us. Pleasure and pain are the two most important components in all hedonistic theories. Pleasure is the primary central good; it is essentially valuable and pain essentially not valuable. ThereRead MoreWhat ´s Hedonism?555 Words   |  2 PagesThroughout history, pleasure has been the main goal that drives society. Pleasure can be described as an accomplishment or satisfaction of physical, intellectual, or spiritual desires. Hedonism, which is the view that sees pleasure as the only thing worth pursuing for its own sake, and that everything else is worth pursuing as long as it leads to pleasure. This view appears to be accurate since; everything that a person could ever want is for some thing to fulfill their desires. A philosopher namedRead MoreAn Inside Look at Hedonism Essay606 Words   |  3 PagesWhat is hedonism? Maybe most of us do not familiar with this word. Whereas, we could be a hedonist subconsciously. According to Cambridge Advance Learner’s dictionary, hedonism is living and behaving in ways that mean you get as much pleasure out of life as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself. We called the people who do hedonism as a hedonist people. Hedonist connotes someone devoted to his own sensual pleasure (spot.colorado.edu). 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The novel focuses on his pursuit of attaining enlightenment through finding Nirvana, the balance between asceticism and hedonism. He experiences the extremes of both asceticism and hedonism in order to find balance between the two. Throughout Siddhartha’s spiritual journey, he comes across multiple teachers, including the Samanas, Kamala, Young Siddhart ha, Vasudeva, and the river, who teach him something

Critical Perspective Leadership Managementâ€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Critical Perspective Leadership Management? Answer: Introducation It is evident from the previous essays that the concept of leadership may be the same, but the perception of the leadership is different to different people. The basic concept of leadership is to possess the ability to motivate and guide the members of the following team into the right direction. However, the essay discusses the results, insights and the conclusions from the previous essays about the leadership. The essay discusses the idea organizational leadership in on the critical perspective of the same. A leader of the organization must possess the ability to harmonize the organizational stakeholders and the management into the business, since the organization requires the full support from its leaders in order to maintain a good relationship between the leader and the followers (Northouse, 2015). Another quality the leaders of the organization must possess is the effective communication within the team, since it is the basic means of leadership. The communication to certain extent ensures the success of the organization. Similarly, the effective leadership requires an effective framework in which the objectives of the organization will be focused. The last but not the least, I found out that the feedback from the followers is and effective and important tool to measures the ability of the leader. Feedback helps the leader to understand and realize the strengths and weaknesses of him i n terms of guiding the team. The previous essay gives the clear idea that there are different models of the leadership defied by the past scholars such as Public, Private and Personal. These leadership models were defined by the characteristics of the leaders (Scouller, 2011). The modern scholars have categorized leadership in four different departmental divisions, in terms of the organizational leadership. These leadership styles is designed specifically to describe the characteristics of the leaders in the broader perspective, namely in the organizational context. Relating to the four organizational leaderships, the first leadership, namely the participative leadership, refers to the stakeholders engagement into the organization. This leadership is well defined as the mission oriented leadership (Mullins Constable, 2013). The leadership is the transactional leadership, which is based on the performance of the team members. The central idea of this leadership is the system of reward and punishment according to the performance of the team members to control the followers. The leadership entails the conception of the motivating and encouraging the team members by the rewarding system. The transformational leadership is based on the communication among the team members and the leaders in every level of the team. This particular leadership focuses on the engagement of the team members into the work for the achieving the objectives (McCleskey, 2014). The leaders constantly works for motivating an empowering the team members. The last category of the organizational leadership is the autocratic leadership, which signifies the authoritative quality of the leaders. In any organization, the leaders are the managers. The managers are often tend to be dominant over the employees and do not accept the contribution of them (De Hoogh, Greer Den Hartog, 2015). From the understanding of the previous essay about the idea and concept of leadership I realized that the qualities and the abilities of the leadership lies in the characteristics of the leaders, irrespective of the background, context and the objectives of the leadership (Gchter et al., 2012). Leadership is the art of directing and guiding a team of skillful people into the right and proper direction by manipulating the skills, knowledge and the psychology of the followers. I have realized that the leadership involves various activities including the political, managerial, and social and so on. All the leadership requires the clear, wise and vast knowledge about the purpose, objectives, surround environment and the potential power of the team by the leader. Leadership can be rational as well as emotional. It depends on the involvement of the leaders into the team and with the individual followers. In addition, the involvement also refer to the rational thinking power of the leaders. From the above essay, this can be concluded that the organizational leadership possesses various qualities in for guiding team as well as the organization for meeting the business goals. Though the past scholars have identified certain leadership models, but the present organizational structure uses different leadership style according to the workflow of the organization. In this regard, I would like to know the reactions and comments of others on the understanding of the organizational leadership style. Reference: De Hoogh, A. H., Greer, L. L., Den Hartog, D. N. (2015). Diabolical dictators or capable commanders? An investigation of the differential effects of autocratic leadership on team performance.The Leadership Quarterly,26(5), 687-701. Gchter, S., Nosenzo, D., Renner, E., Sefton, M. (2012). Who Makes a Good Leader? Cooperativeness, Optimism, and Leading?By?Example.Economic Inquiry,50(4), 953-967. McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development.Journal of Business Studies Quarterly,5(4), 117. Mullins, C. Constable, G. (2013). Leadership and teambuilding in primary care. Oxford: Radcliffe. Northouse, P. G. (2015).Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Scouller, J. (2011).The three levels of leadership: How to develop your leadership presence, knowhow, and skill. Management Books 2000.

Praying Essays - Fauna Of California, Mantis, Mantidae,

Praying Mantis Mantodea - most commonly known as the Praying Mantis, order mantodea is a group of about 1800 carnivorous insects which prodominatley live in tropical regions of the earth. Though certain species can be found in locations with moderate climate. With an extremely striking appearence, mantids almost have human like qualities with the ability to hold an erect stance, and arms that face forward. A very efficient killer, mantids were created for hunting and killing prey. Order Mantodea is in the subclass Pterygota. As with all classifications there can be debates on where certain orders or species belong. Historically there has been some confusion on whether Mantodea deserves there own order. Some experts have placed Mantodea in the dictyoptera order along with cock roaches (Ramel 1996, Jaques 1981, Phoenix Zoo). Others say mantids belong in Orthoptera, which consists of grasshoppers. Experts say this is due to their large pro notum (Stokes 1983, Borror and White 1970). The emerging consensus around the position of Mantodea believes Mantodea constitute their own independent order of insects. Mantids can be characterized by their triangular head, and filiform antennae. This head has the ability to turn 180 degrees. With their prominate pair of compound eyes located on Peters 2 the sides of the head, the mantis can almost see 360 degree's around. However the sharpest vision is located in the compound eye's center, for the mantis to optimaly see objects it must turn its head so that the eye is facing the object. These eyes are extremely sensitive to light, changing from light green or tan in bright light, to dark brown in the dark. The prothorax of the mantis is another aid in giving them their distintive appearence. This prothorax has the ability to bend and twist which aids in the mantids ability to see close to 360 degrees around. The two long "raptorial" front legs are adapted to seize and hold prey. The coxa connects the tibia which has sharp spines to firmly hold prey. The femur has matching groves where the spine on the tibia fold into. This creates a "jack knife" effect that allows the insect to assume it's distinctive praying position. The other four legs of the mantis are designed for locomotion. These legs can regenerate if broken, but only in the molting process. These limbs that regenerate are always smaller than they were originally. A full grown adult that no longer molts no longer possess the ability to regenerate limbs. The front"raptorial" limbs do not regenerate if broken. Because of their large bulky bodies mantids are fairly weak flyers. They have four pairs of wings. The first pair are leathery tegmina wings that lay over the inner pair. The Peters 3 mambrenous inner pair are folded under the first pair and are used for flight and to startle enemies. The large segmented abdomen houses the digestive system and reproductive organs. The male mantis has 8 segments, and the females are born with 8 segments as well. But with each succesive molt in the female the last two segments begin to overlap resulting with 6 segments left. Sixty percent of mantid species possess an ultrasonic ear on the under side of the metathorax, especially those that have wings. The mantid is an "auditory cyclops", which means it only has one ear. The ear is 1mm long with cuticle like knobs at either end and two ear drums buried inside. The ear is specially tuned to very high ultrasonic freqeuncies of sound waves from 25 to 65 kilohertz. Apparently, the ears primary purpose is designed to respond to the ultrasonic echo-location signal used by hunting bats. The mantis primarily uses its ultrasonic ears while in flight. When a mantis senses a bat's ultrasonic echo at close range, it curls it's abdomen upwards and thrusts its legs outward creating a drag and resulting in a sudden aerial stall. This flight manuever of the mantis creates an unpredictable flight pattern for the bat, and is very effective at avoiding hungry bats. There are three ways to distinguish between female and male mantodea. The male has 8 segments, while the female has Peters 4 The second is size, the female is always bigger than the male. The third is behavior, the male mantis is more prone to take flight in search of a mate, while the female often remains stationary. Mantids are extremely predacious feeders, only eating live prey, or prey that is moving, and hence appears alive. Varying on the species, you can see what diet preferences are. Some species only