Please welcome our 2nd issue of Artifact,,, the UCL seasonal student arch and anth mag-azine. We gladly offer you the result of what was somewhat miraculous in the context of exam heat and our struggles to create a smooth path for Artifact’s growth. In this light I would like to thank all of our wonderful and patient contributors and editors. Check out our fantastic post-review of the BM exhibition - Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World; trip tales of archaeological glamour; this issue’s star interview with the guru of consumption – Prof. Daniel Miller; and indeed a critical encounter with the faithful parasite of our lives, Facebook - to name just a few of this issue’s engaging articles. On behalf of Artifact I would also like to welcome all of you new people out there, wishing you a cosy stay at our departments. We do greedily await your enthusiastic contribution to our project! Enjoy! Eugenia

EditorEugenia Ellanskaya

Deputy EditorLaurie Hutchence

Creative DirectorDexter Findley

SecretaryDawid Kotur

EditorsLewis Glynn

Eugenia Ellanskaya Laurie HutchenceDexter Findley

ContributorsIrrum Ali

Jaime Rathor Lewis Glynn

Maryann KontonicolasEugenia Ellanskaya Holly Brentnall Dexter Findley

Lesley Acton

Cover/photography Lewis Glynn

Roberta Capozucca Holly Brentnall

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CONTENTS

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A Very Canine Opera, The Heart of a Dog

An Anthropological Guide to...Facebook!

Current Issues: Is Archaeology Dead?!

BM’s latest: Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World

Tales From The Field

Mummies, Monuments and Mystery

Artifact Persona: Prof. Daniel Miller

Chess - The Ancient Game of Mind Reading

Notes From the Land of Lacking, a phenomenological piece from Nepal

Yiddish Book Centre in Massachusetts

Games Page

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For queries and contributions e-mail us at: artifact.ucl@hotmail.com

“A V E R Y A N T H R O P O L O G I C A L

O P E R A”

A fresh take at Mikhail Bulgakov’s satirical novel “The Heart of a Dog”brought to London audiences by Alexander Raskatov and the EnglishNational Opera.

The truly anthropological novel behind the scenes of the ENO debut contemporary opera is a least known work of a Russian satirist writer Mikhail Bulgakov. Written in 1925, in the atmosphere of post-revolutionary heat, it maintains its social importance and humour to the audiences of today, which greeted the modern (yet ever so slightly modified) version of the novel with collective laughter and awe.

It would have been ambitious to try and grasp all of the numerous curious layers of this opera, which it can certainly boast! So let me show what it is that gets to me in this play by giving you an undeservingly brisk summary of the story. The plot, born in the mind of not only a writer but also a medicine graduate, is insistently relevant with its faint hints at the genetic engineering trends. The main character is a European scale scientist - Professor Preobrazhensky, a relic of pre-revolutionary tsarism, busy with rejuvenating the somewhat nymphomaniac ageing citizens of socialist Moscow. His latest craze is to transplant a pituitary gland of a street criminal into a homeless dog Sharik, the part-narrator and main focus of the rest of the story. The outcomes from this operation exceed all expectation: the dog becomes man, absorbing the full set of habits of the gland’s original possessor. Instead of rejuvenation the professor creates a new man – a disaster for the household and anyone coming into proximity with the creature. The sudden evolutionary progress is recorded by the professor’s assistant as follows:

“The creature’s vocabulary is being enriched by a new word every five minutes and, since this morning, by sentences. It is as if they had been lying frozen in his mind, are melting and emerging. Once out, the word remains in use. Since yesterday evening the machine has recorded the following: ‘Stop pushing’, ‘You swine’, ‘Get off the bus – full up’, ‘I’ll show you’, ‘American recognition’, ‘kerosene stove’. “

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- Eugenia Ellanskaya

This embryonic start of Sharik’s life as a man will soon be saffroned with methodical swearing, abuse,theft, vulgarity (often boosted by his “inherited” drinking habit) and even a job, which ironically to hiscanine origins, is in a Moscow sanitation department to rid the city of stray cats. His status as a man isnow documented with a passport, which the new regime eagerly provided for the somewhat dubiousnew member of society. As part of the escalating absurd of his evolution he attempts to bring hisfiancée into the flat where he was created out of a lab experiment. The professor’s creation, PolygraphPolygraphovich Sharikov (!!), becomes a classical model of a Frankenstein monster, who at the plot’sculmination turns against him – threatening his creator with a revolver in the final scenes.

Indubitably the experiment at the core of this plot is a laugh and gives little contribution to genuinemedicine, however what matters to us as an audience is the science fictive metaphor of it. And so thestory proceeds to a development of an outrageous member of society, a PERSONALITY, capable ofcriticising the letters of Engels to Kerensky, having not so long ago left a dog’s body (the entiretransformation lasts one winter). A dog manifests his emotions on what the professor calls ‘matters ofcosmic scale and also of cosmic stupidity’. As much as this is a satirical sketch of the new ideology andsociety there is more, namely – a caricature of scientific attempts to overdo nature itself in shaping life.The professor exclaims in despair to his medical colleague that transplanting the pituitary gland ofSpinoza would have brought their medical careers to an equally miserable success. The humanity takescare of itself, evolutionary, by insistently picking out geniuses from the pool of human scum, ratherintolerantly conclude the doctors. The professor arrives at the idea that issues of human developmentshould be maintained in the hands of nature, where every woman is a science lab in itself, or simply – apotential child bearer.

So, why does this theme, originally alluding to the socialist 1920s craze over a creation of new gen-eration of proletariat appeal to the audiences of the London Coliseum today? Well, maybe it is becausethe matter of what it is to be human never becomes too irrelevant, however mundane it might sound.Bulgakov certainly demonstrates that ‘humanity’, as a characteristic, is a fuzzy concept. Speech, socialfunctioning, a piece of paper with a hologram – what is it that sums up our humanity? It is also aquestion of who is to decide. The opera’s modern addition to the story is risky and affective as insteadof a promising hopeful end of the original novel the stage gets filled with the Sharikovs (dogs turnedmen) who pollute the air with unbearable howls and barking – threateningly reinforcing the problemsof the opera. Left unresolved, the fate of Sharik the dog merges with our present, with what we shapeourselves to be and what we decide to do with issues of animal to human organ transplantation, geneticengineering and general maintenance of the order of nature.

With the opera season for this performance being sadly far out of the way of this issue, I would gladlysuggest you to read the not so long a novel of mere 90 pages instead, which would also save your earsfrom the sound-obtrusive modern opera experience.

You might also be interested in the 1988 stylised Soviet film adaptation, most easily available onYoutube (moderately comprehensible English subtitles provided).

-Eugenia Ellanskaya

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An anthropological guide to...

Why procrastination is the tool of the modern Homo sapiens

- 500,000,000+ active users- 50% of users log on daily- 130 friends on average- 700,000,000,000 total minutes spent on it amonth- 70+ available languages- 70% users from outside the US- 190 countries connect using its Platformfeature- 250,000,000 users connect on-the-go viaMobile

- Irrum Ali Likes this

“Just a quick look at Facebook and then I’ll definitelystart on this 5,000 word essay...” Quite possibly the storyof your student life, no? Everybody’s favouritedistraction for avoiding work is now 7 years old and yetthe story of how Facebook is changing our lives (or ru-ining if you’re still in education) is still only a relativelynew one. Sneaking a secure place in the list of prioritiesfor so many people, it wasn’t long before academia wasforced to sit up and take notice; even if it was longenough to develop an exciting history at a pace no onereally expected. Almost overnight it has become anintegral part of our routine (remember how quick it wasto get initiated - sorry, to sign up?) so it’s no wonderwe’re well and truly in an era where checking yournotifications naturally fits in somewhere betweenwaking up and brushing your teeth. But couldn’t this justbe a passing fad (Myspace, anyone?) with something westill don’t fully know the social and personal effects of?And why are we all so keen to showcase who we are andwhat we do with so many people we don’t really know?Even that suspicious-looking guy from Indonesia withno mutual friends... Not so long ago, ‘socialising’ meant something entirelydifferent. A person’s network was probably those theyinteracted with fairly regularly – with restrictions oncommunication and the flow of personal information, itwas fair to assume that for the average individual theirlist of acquaintances would be quite limited. Slowchanges were first apparent with the arrival of new-kid-on-the-block, the internet, in the 90’s. First attemptsdidn’t hang around long - the originals, SixDegrees andFriendster, both created the concept of networkingpersonal profiles but where they failed was privacy andpractice; it seemed that these shiny new friend-finderswere not in touch with the needs of their consumers andquickly enough lost popularity. With experience – from both admin and users – bythe mid 00’s using the internet was becoming evereasier and seemingly more important for both workand leisure. Sophisticated forms of social networkingbecame convincing enough to try and, right on time,Facebook arrived. Originally created for Universitystudents (I won’t give you the complete history, you’vegot fellow student favourite ‘Wikipedia’ for that, or forthe more lazy, the film) it quickly grew in today’s thriv-ing community of people from all ages and places,sharing personal information, experiences andconversations with their friends. So what can we learn from this seemingly useful andlasting relationship we’ve built with it? Well, it has itsups and down like those before it. You could even say‘it’s complicated’ (ahem). Learning from its prede-cessors, Facebook has learnt that people don’t actuallywant to ‘network’ so much – they in fact want to limitinteraction with those they don’t know. By building inbetter privacy, Facebook has left most of the control tothe individual - you can be as inactive or proactive asyou like, with as many or as few as you choose.

What can’t be governed so easily is content; if youwant to post your whole life story, you can (a privilegethat some choose to over- exploit, true) but what’smore interesting is that you’re also able to restrict whatyou share. Unsurprisingly, there becomes a differencebetween ‘online you’ and the person you are in, well,person. Questions arise: is online you the real you? Doesit have to be? Does it count as ‘being social’ if you’resitting behind a screen? Furthermore, whilst Facebookhas had its part to play in maintaining and creatingfriendships it’s also done a fair bit of damage. Doeseverybody accept that the unwritten rules of socialconduct stretch to the internet? Probably not, judgingfrom some of the more melodramatic facebook pages.(My bet is that not every single one of the 282,335who’ve liked “I will knock yo bitch ass out!!” have actu-ally said that out loud to someone’s face.) Photos are another interesting insight and the onethat speaks volume is the profile (or display) picture.It’s most likely you, yes, but at your best; probably onechosen to reflect you as you’d prefer others to see youwhether that’s attractive, creative or popular. Not thatyou aren’t any of these, dear reader. (Unless it’s a pho-to you’ve taken of yourself pouting in to a bathroommirror and photoshopped to hell, in which case youshould know that you’re at least 5 years too late and ifinternet police existed you’d probably be arrested forunoriginality and outright shamelessness.) But issues aside, it’s pretty opened up the world to usboth globally and personally. People, events and ideashave become so much more transparent and easilyexchanged between so many of us that it’s hard not tofeel in touch and connected. We’re able to learn moreabout friends, old and new, and relive memories betterthan we’ve ever done before (even the dodgy onesyou’ve been tagged in from that mortifying Mondaynight you ended up in Moonies). Sharing informationand keeping up-to-date is easier than ever and we’venever been so well informed. Is too much informationa good thing? Only time will tell. But where does this fit in with us? It may be farremoved from what we’re used to as anthropologistsand archaeologists but as times are changing, probablymore rapidly than we’re used to, we need to continuein the vein of analysing what our fellow human beingsare doing. A new way of expressing ourselves hasemerged and it may give us more insight in to ‘real life’than ‘real life’ itself. What is needed is more research inorder to fully understand the personal and universalconsequences it’s having on us and what its place is inthe future. Will archaeologists of the future discuss our fascina-tion with the tool known as ‘the internet’ in the samewe do with the people of the past? Possibly. But for thepresent, Facebook is here to stay. Love it or hate it,pointless or practical, you definitely use it. Now stoprefreshing your newsfeed and get back to work.

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Sorry about the sensationalist title. It really was a cheaptrick on my behalf. Nobody really believes such a statement, but you could forgive them for doing so.After all, the world economy is well and truly down thepan, the commercial sector’s hiring rate is like a one-in-one-out system at a pretentious club, and the Tories havemade more rash and painful cuts than a back-alley abor-tionist. Dubious metaphors aside, we clearly have issuesawaiting us when we bid UCL farewell and step, blinking,into the real world.

Many of you will have been in a certain compulsorysecond year course which ran during the second term.The message was clear: “you’re all buggered” (stop tellingus how doomed we are, and inspire us, dammit!). Now,pardon me for being a cynic, but I do rather think that ifone does a course like archaeology, one isn’t really doing itfor fantastic job prospects. If I had a pound for each timesomeone from an elder generation said something alongthe lines of “archaeology is the worst paid profession youneed a degree for, you know” or “there’s no money inarchaeology, son” I could buy a lot of drinks at Big Onesindeed. What they fail to realise is that if we wanted to gointo a profession with decent job prospects we’d do someskull-drillingly soulless degree like Economics or (kill menow) Business Studies. Nobody does archaeology formoney. They do it for fun.

This is what quite a lot of people don’t understand. As ex-traordinary as it may seem in our hyper-capitalised world,some people are interested in things other than makingmoney. Unfortunately for us, money is everything in ourway of living. Thus when the wider economy

suffers, everything suffers. The rash actions of a few havebrought the world to its knees. The fact that there arestill people applying to do subjects like archaeology atuniversity in these tight times proves that the capitalistmachine hasn’t reaped our souls – yet.

But that may all soon change, whether we like it or not.Humanities subjects may soon become so desperatelyunder-funded that the only people who will be able torealistically afford them will be the privileged few. Whatthe current government evidently doesn’t appreciate isthat if archaeology and other Humanities subjects arecut to extent they are, the intellectual health of thenation will suffer greatly. Sure, archaeology may notcontribute as much to the economy as some sciencesubjects, but since when was it a good idea to structureuniversity education around what is economicallybeneficial at the expense of a fulfilling and mind-expanding educational experience? As one notoriousinstance of graffiti put it, “JB would not be happy”.

Of course it would be unrealistic for governments tocondone and fund hippie educational free-for-all uni-versities where students can choose to study anythingthey like for an undefined period of time (although thatwas the Swedish higher education model for a longtime), but on the same note they mustn’t drastically cutbudgets and turn universities into factories makinghomogenised, perfectly-formed, ‘employable’ robotsstudying Business Studies.

Unfortunately that’s essentially what they’re do-ing. And that is why, ladies and gentlemen, the titleto this article is not really that stupid at all.

ISARCHAEOLOGY

Recessions, depressions and conservativegovernments... Archaeology’s future

looks bleak. Dexter Findley takes a lookat what lies in store...

-Dexter Findley8

- Dexter Findley

ARCHAEOLOGYDEAD?

copyright of Wessex Archaeology

Cliffs End Farm, Ramsgate

Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World

‘…some say [Afghanistan] is the second richest archaeological country in the world, after Egypt’.- National Geographic Society Fellow and exhibition curator Fredrik Hiebert

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T he highly anticipated exhibition at the BritishMuseum “Afghanistan: Crossroads of the AncientWorld” is probably one of the most interesting trav-elling exhibitions to have toured the world in sometime. Not only are the artefacts an amazing display ofbeauty and artisan skill, the back-story also providesendless tales of heroism, intrigue and drama.

For thirty-three years Afghanistan has been in the grip ofwar. Throughout this period the National Museum ofAfghanistan in Kabul has been on the front lines. For fearof losing their cultural legacy, a committee of curatorsdecided to hide the masterpieces of the museum. So, in1988, they secretly transported the artefacts to thePresidential Palace’s vaults; and for 14 years these mendid not tell anyone, not even their wives of their greatsecret. In 2001 the Taliban decreed, in accordance withtheir belief of Islam, that all figural representations wereto be destroyed. By this time the National Museum hadalready been looted and bombed, but with this decree, theworld became resigned. Although the main floors of themuseum had been empty for decades, the basement ware-house was known to still have items. The Taliban wereordered to destroy anything they deemed inappropriate.However, unbeknownst to them, the people of Kabul hadplaced ‘inferior’ objects on top, hiding the ‘best’ artefactsunderneath. This act saved over 4000 items fromdestruction, including the first known Buddhistsculptures ever created.

In 2003 the safes hidden in the Presidential Palace’s vaultswere accidentally discovered. Thousands of objects werefound intact culminating in the realisation that all themasterpieces from the National Museum had been saved.So with great pride Afghanistan now presents to theworld the collection of their National Museum. Some 220artefacts have been put together demonstrating Chinese,Indian, Near Eastern, Hellenistic, Mesopotamian andScythian (to name a few) influences, all convergingtogether in Afghanistan - the vibrant crossroad of theancient world.

The exhibition is divided into four excavation sites thatspan from 2200 BCE to the 2nd century CE. In order ofage, beginning with the oldest: Tepe Fullol, a Bronze Agesite; Aï Khanum, a Greco-Bactrian city founded byAlexander the Great’s general, Seleucus I, in 300 BCE;Begram, a 1st century CE trading settlement on the SilkRoad and the 1st c. CE grave site of Tillia Tepe (Hill ofGold).The exhibition starts with Tepe Fullol, which offerslimited insight into the unknown Oxus civilisation(2200-1800 BCE). Only three damaged golden vessels

are displayed. The imagery bear witness to the earlyimportance of Afghanistan as an artistic melting pot.One bowl depicts bearded bulls; these illustrate anartistic link to contemporary Mesopotamian dynastiesof Ur III and Isin Larsa (2200–1900 BCE).

Having established a positive tone, showing thatAfghanistan is more than a war ravaged nation, theexhibition jumps thousands of years to Aï Khanum, theGreco-Bactrian city. At first glance, we see a typicalGreek city, including a theatre and a gymnasium. How-ever, amidst the Corinthian capitals there is a blendingof Greek and local architectural and artistic styles. Theexquisite Cybele plaque is an excellent example of thisunion. The plaque depicts Cybele and Nike on a chariotdrawn by two lions; the latter based on Near Easternfeatures. I found this section of the exhibition to be themost informative, yet, having the least artistically‘beautiful’ artefacts. Nevertheless, the choice of objectsallows anyone with even a passing awareness of classicalstyles to be able to point out the ‘Greek’ in theseartefacts.

Leaving the largest section of the exhibition we are nowintroduced to Begram. Originally believed to be a palacestoreroom, it is now thought to be a bricked upmerchant storeroom. This intact warehouse is probablythe most significant find for a scholar interested in SilkRoad trade or ancient stylistic combinations. The mostimpressive are the Indian ivory furniture panels andglassware from Roman Egypt. My particular favouritesof the exhibition are the glasses. Never before have I seenancient glass so amazingly preserved, with images soclear and crisp.

The visual gems of the exhibition are the gold jewelleryand ornaments from Tillia Tepe, known as the ‘BactrianHoard’. Found in six intact nomadic graves, the 21,000golden pieces reveal just what an artistic melting potAfghanistan was at the height of the Silk Road. Thepieces of gold bejewelled with turquoise and garnet, alllocal to the region, led scholars to conclude that theseastonishing objects were made locally. They are the mostimpressive evidence of a land bombarded with an eclec-tic range of artistic influences. Every culture’s style is upfor grabs and open to reinterpretation. In most cases,due to their small size, they are hard to see but the stylesof Greece, Rome, India, Persia and China all appear ifone stops to look closely. As an archaeologist I wasparticularly pleased to see past interpretations of how thenomads wore their gold next to modern interpretations.I would recommend taking your time in this section ifyou are interested in artistic fusions.

London’s coup: the Begram lost ivories (1st c. CEpanels, inlaid into wooden furniture). The Londonshowing is the first time these ivories have beendisplayed since their recovery and reconstruction.Originally believed lost or at worst destroyed, theivories were, in fact, sold, eventually entering the UK.In 2010 the location of the ivories came to theattention of the British Museum. Officials were toldthat the owner could be persuaded to return them.Little else is known, for much secrecy is associated withthe reacquisition of the ivories. In the end we can onlybe grateful that for 18 years, even though stolen, theywere safe and now returned to the National Museum.

As much as this exhibition does its best tocommunicate its historical significance, it is first of allmeant to dazzle the viewer. I left feeling thatindividuals who do not have previous knowledge of theSilk Road and Afghanistan will not understand theimportance or the impact of this exhibition. One of theproblems is that there are a lot of small gold artefactsgrouped together. The casual viewer would be quick tomiss many cross cultural portrayals, such as the“Bactrian Aphrodite” whose hair and wings indicateGreco-Roman influences, but also Indian with banglesand a bindhi (Hindu symbol of marriage).

But even with this small critique, this exhibition isremarkable. It satisfies both a novice viewer with itsglorious objects, and a scholar with its rarely seenartistic interpretations and examples of ancient trade.It also tells the tale of an amazing people who strived toprotect their cultural heritage. As Hiebert states - thisexhibition is just as much about modern Afghanistanas it is about ancient Afghanistan.

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At the end of the exhibition is what can be consideredLondon’s coup: the Begram lost ivories (1st c. CE panels,inlaid into wooden furniture). The London showing is thefirst time these ivories have been displayed since their re-covery and reconstruction. Originally believed lost or atworst destroyed, the ivories were, in fact, sold, eventuallyentering the UK. In 2010 the location of the ivories cameto the attention of the British Museum. Officials weretold that the owner could be persuaded to return them.Little else is known, for much secrecy is associated withthe reacquisition of the ivories. In the end we can only begrateful that for 18 years, even though stolen, they weresafe and now returned to the National Museum.

As much as this exhibition does its best to communicateits historical significance, it is first of all meant to dazzlethe viewer. I left feeling that individuals who do not haveprevious knowledge of the Silk Road and

Afghanistan will not understand the importance or theimpact of this exhibition. One of the problems is thatthere are a lot of small gold artefacts grouped together.The casual viewer would be quick to miss many crosscultural portrayals, such as the “Bactrian Aphrodite”whose hair and wings indicate Greco-Roman influences,but also Indian with bangles and a bindhi (Hindu symbolof marriage).

But even with this small critique, this exhibition isremarkable. It satisfies both a novice viewer with itsglorious objects, and a scholar with its rarely seen artisticinterpretations and examples of ancient trade. It also tellsthe tale of an amazing people who strived to protect theircultural heritage. As Hiebert states - this exhibition is justas much about modern Afghanistan as it is about ancientAfghanistan.

- Jaime Rathor

TALES FROM THE FIELDWe look at the more and more extreme situations our fellow archaeologists have been in while on excavation

“SNAKES ON A PLAIN”

Botswana, 2010. The scorching sun beats down on the dried mud of the Kalahari desert.Somewhere out in the wilderness a kudu is startled, and dashes off into the thorny under-growth. The expression ‘mean bush’ doesn’t even cover it. Every damned plant out there hasthorns on it, and pretty much every creature can kill you just by looking at you.

We’d woken up just before dawn, as we did every day. The sun had risen and dispelled thefreezing desert night air. I’d eaten breakfast - maize porridge and freshly cooked bread - andbeen assigned to survey duty. This doesn’t mean messing around with Total Stations, however:this meant loading up on water and biscuits and heading out into the bush, in search of sites.

We’d left the car a few miles back and headed out pretty far out into the wilderness. The sunwas nearing the zenith. The heat was getting to us, so we stopped for a break. Picking a goodspot for a rest is pretty hard out there: the only trees are either squat and leafless, or huge bao-babs with trunks like grain silos. No trees were in sight however, so we opted for a small bush.

We’d been sitting down, drinking the last of our water and munching biscuits when we heardmovement behind us in the bush. Thinking nothing of it, we ignored it. Then one of usglanced round, by chance.

And was greeted by a huge puff adder.

Needless to say, we jumped out of our skins. We were up quicker than you could say ‘neu-rotoxin venom’, but thought it wise to take photos of the monster nonetheless (see below).Thank goodness none of us made it feel threatened in any way, otherwise this article wouldprobably never have been written.

The rest of the day’s walking was a bit of a blur. I got dehydrated, which didn’t help. But thatseemed insignificant, compared to our group near-death experience earlier.

- Dexter Findley

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The beautiful Egyptian landscape

The generic yet still aweinspiring view of the GizaPlateau

The United Nations (Well, UCL and University of Fayoum anyway...)

For thousands of years, from the earliest Greeks to modern day tourists, visitors have felt the very same excitement and wonder – the monumental architecture, the mystifying writing system and the eternal relationship shared between the people and the landscape. This is the land of Egypt – the land of the Pharaohs. On the 28th of December 2010 a group of UCL students left the snow covered land of London and headed for the scorched land of the Nile. From the Old Kingdom glory of the pyramids to the Graeco-Roman temples and, of course, to the con-temporary culture, the gruelling yet life-changing 3-week study tour gave us a sweeping look at the archaeological wonder Egypt has to offer. Now, attempting to squeeze in 19 days worth of information into this article would be long enough to rival the epic of Homer’s Odyssey. Therefore, I have decided to draw the focus to some selected highlights of our journey.

In The Majesty Of Our Ancient Past The first four days of our trip were spent in arguably one of the strongest-scented cities in the world. Cairo is the capital of Egypt, which is definitely reflected in its heavily industrialised and densely populated nature. Our hotel was situated near the banks of the Nile, and so from our first moments in the city we were totally immersed in the sights, sounds and most definitely the smells of Cairo.

The majority of our visit focused around the pyramid fields of Old Kingdom Memphis. Now, however many times I see the pyramids, I will never fully comprehend their sheer scale and glory; the everlasting symbols of an ancient nation. The huge number of souvenirs and camels thrusted at you from every direction by the locals trying to make a living from tourism is an aspect of Egypt that is echoed everywhere, but an aspect I too will never quite grasp. Camels are one of gods’ glorious creatures that are exploited by the locals for touristic purposes. But my God, do they exploit them well. Riding a camel in the shadow of the pyramids is an occurrence unrivalled by any other. The fusion of man and animal, staring into the eternal output of ultimate human creativity; it truly is an experience of a lifetime.

International RelationsOne of the most memorable days came on our next leg of the trip, which led us south down to the desert oasis of Fayoum. Stopping over in the local university, we were privileged enough to spend the day with the students – chatting, laughing, sharing our academic conquests, but most importantly, forging strong bonds between us all. I urge everyone to connect with others around the world; I have learnt so much about other cultural values as well as how others perceive my own Western culture. It wasday that we shall remember for the rest of our lives,

“Who the hell have you been messing with this time?” “Oh, you know, the usual. Mummies, Pigmies, Big...Bugs”

When UCL met the Mummies,the Monuments and the Mystery

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it was a day in which international relations between two great countries were improved even if just between two small sets of students. As one of the stu-dents said to me: “Together we can create a beautiful union between two great countries,” a message that I think should be echoed in a lot of places around the world today.

The Pharaonic Heritage: Modern EgyptomaniaIf ever there was an award for the most tourist based archaeological site in the world, I would give it to Abu Simbel, the massive monument that lies at nearly the most southerly point of Egypt. The staggering size and elaborate detail are a perfect example of the ideological power of the Egyptian Pharaoh. For the Nubian people entering the Egyptian kingdom, the sight of this monster of a monument as they neared the border would definitely be intimidating. This famous UNESCO relocation project lies in its new concrete cliff, 80 metres above its original location. However, what astounded me the most was the degree that tourism had overtaken the site. Not only do you have to advance book your slot, you must travel in a convoy of coaches from the main city of Aswan, and only then get a limited amount of time once you’re there. They get you in. They get your money. They get your photos. Then they get you the fudge out of there. Personally I didn’t enjoy the experience; the whole time there felt pre-fabricated; the tour operators select your experience for you whether you want it or not.

What I have presented for you here is a sweeping look at the highlights of Egypt from the perspective we were given on our trip. We travelled the length and breadth of the country, leaving no archaeological stone unturned. At the end of the 19 days, it truly felt like the end of the journey; so much came out of our Egyptian experience that I cannot begin to explain. The archaeological sites are astounding on the senses; thousands of years of history still preserved in their glorious monumental detail. These very sites are also a sad reminder of the suffocating impact that tourism has on your own personal enjoyment of them. However, the most rewarding aspect of the trip did not come from the ar-chaeology, but from the people themselves. Our time at the university was truly an eye-opening experience for us all; we formed international friendships that will last into the future. I would personally like to extend my thanks to our two amazing tour guides, Hussein and Ibrahim (of former UCL fame), without whom the trip could not have been as enjoyable and successful as it was. Not only did I gain a fantastic insight into the ancient past, but most importantly I got a glimpse into the culture of the modern inhabitants of the country I have always admired. From the bottom of my bones I urge you all to partake in a study tour if you can; the experiences that both I and the rest of our group gained will remain with us forever. -Lewis Glynn

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Roberta Capozucca ©

Talks...to Irrum Ali and MaryAnn Kontonicolas

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Daniel Miller is most closely associated with studies of our relationships to things and the consequences of consumption. His theoretical work was first developed in Material Culture and Mass Consumption and is summarised more recently in his book Stuff. Tis is concerned to transcend the usual dualism between subject and object and to study how social relations are created through consumption as an activity. He criticises the concept of materialism which presumes our relationships to things are at the expense of our relationship to persons. He argues that most people are either enabled to form close relationships to both persons and objects or have difficulties with both.

Talks...

-Who were your heroes growing up?

Well academically Marx, Hegel and Bourdieu

-Tell us a bit about your undergraduate experience.

I was very fortunate to have had David Clarke as mysupervisor in Cambridge, I had and have a hugerespect for him and was devastated by his early death.Actually you may have heard recently of the death ofLewis Binford, my strongest memory was of a longconfrontation with him (I am not sure if it was when Iwas an undergrad or post grad). We argued for hoursin the department and then continued up in ColinRenfrew’s private rooms. At the end he turned to meand said that if he could have any influence on the matterI would never get a job in archaeology. As it happens I never did, I went into material culture instead.

-You studied Archaeology and Anthropology for your undergraduate and postgraduate degree. Why did you choose to focus on Anthropology as a career? How has Archaeology helped in your research?

I think like with many people my archaeological background was instrumental in my choice of a career in materialculture rather than in social anthropology. In many ways the search for patterns in objects themselves and betweengenres of objects remains the case with ethnographic as it was with archaeological studies.

-Did you go on any excavations? Anything you liked/disliked?

Many, I started as a volunteer on the roman pottery site in Highgate Woods, and had a pretty exciting time diggingcaves in Sumatra, a temple complexes on a tell in Iran, bronze age sites in India. I then spent two years as the government archaeologist for the Solomon Islands - the first ever archaeologist employed there. I was responsible for their initial government site survey, protective legislation and interaction with the public to promote archaeology. That was a pretty amazing two years

-What do you think of your students at UCL? What do you feel they can learn from studying material culture?

I have supervised over forty PhD students and many of them remain close friends. I think they represent an incredibletradition in material culture studies along with the students of my colleagues. The key in my case has been to insist onclassic ethnography of at least the same standard as conventional social anthropology but applied to topics that are notso conventional. I feel the reputation of material culture has grown steadily over the last two decades to becomingrecognised as vanguard social science and there is a collective enthusiasm amongst these students which is reallyimportant to me. We have done several collective books of which the most recent is Anthropology and the Individual.

-What is your relationship with the Institute of Archaeology?

Well my current work is always through contemporary ethnography, but I share interests through material culturestudies, for example I helped bring Rick Wilk and Anne Pyburn to the Institute for a very successful visit. I suspectnew links will grow through new initiatives such as the MSc in Digital Anthropology. I think the blog I run withHaidy Geismar of New York University at materialworldblog.com. The Journal of Material Culture I run with mycolleagues in Anthropology and the book series I edit for Berg are all resources of interest to archaeologists.

-How relevant is present-day material culture to that in the past? Have you made comparisons?

I tend not to work on this direct relationship partly because I have excellent colleagues such as Chris Tilley and MikeRowlands for whom this is much more central.

-Tell us a bit about your new book on Facebook. Why do you feel it’s important to examine social networking sites?

I think social network sites are a huge challenge to the general presumption that sociality itself is in decline which 17

has been central to social science. Also more or less any topic one might want to study is not being carried out on Fa-cebook which makes it often integral to a wide range of interests. The point is that this Facebook is 500 million people spread across the world and we need to understand its consequences not just its origins. The book tries to be a highly readable account of the way Facebook impacts on individuals as well as a more general theory. I don’t think students need to be told that Facebook is important and yet to my knowledge mine is the only book that seeks to seriously document this impact.

-Your groundbreaking global denim project is a collection of various essays on selected parts of the world. Are you thinking on expanding upon this, or are you planning to focus more on technology in the future?

Well so far there has been an edited book Global Denim with Berg and an edited issue of the journal Textiles. Then there is a monograph called Blue Jeans – The art of ordinary, which has just been accepted for publication by the University of California Press. All of these are collaborations with Sophie Woodward. I would like to undertake further projects such as one on the rise of ethical denim which would deal with technology and possibly one on sex and denim, but these depend on finance and collaborations.

-How much do you feel your funding is dependent on the type of research you do?

Basically I don’t tend to get funding, what I do is attach myself to projects by junior colleagues who benefit from being the Principle Investigator and who are better at applying for funds than me. Almost all my work these days is collabo-rative.

-Will the current cuts affect you? What is your opinion on them?

I don’t think these cuts will affect UCL very much at all, in the sense that the institution is likely to gain more money. But even if it gained hugely I would be equally against these cuts because of their impact on students and because they are divisive since while UCL might do just fine, there are many less powerful academic institutions that will suffer greatly as a result. Already we are seeing cuts in the small research grants which were really good value in terms of what they achieved, and cuts for people on part time jobs which will make it harder and harder for PhD students to survive prior to getting a permanent job, which has always been a stressful period. This is bad and sad.

-Have you self-analysed yourself based on your research on denim and social networking sites?

Not really, I think anthropology is about having the humility to care empathetically about other people. This is why I missed out your last few questions which were directed to me as a private person. I hope my work is of interest, and I am now writing books such as Stuff which are intended for people to enjoy as well as to reach a wider audience. But all of this is the product of me as an academic. As a private individual, sure I am happy to go for a drink and talk about myself to someone who is also talking about themselves, but I would not like to be one of those who pontificates opinions and things about themselves as though they mattered more than anyone else around them. Though, in case that sounds too cold, let me admit I am currently into Rodriguez y Gabriella and P J Harvey’s Let England Shake and wishing clubbing wasn’t so ageist.

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With his students Daniel Miller has applied his ideas to many genres of material culture such as clothing, homes, media and the car, through research based on the methods of traditional anthro-pological ethnography in regions including the Caribbean, India and London. In the study of clothing, his work ranges from a book on the Sari in India to more recent research explaining the popularity of blue jeans and the way they exemplify the struggle to become ordinary. His initial work on the consequences of the internet for Trinidad was followed by studies of the impact of mobile phones on poverty in Jamaica and more recently the way Facebook has changed the nature of social relationships.

The game of mind reading

Ever since I can remember Holland park, this verdant oasis tucked away in Kensington, its modest cafeterium arcades sheltered a somewhat raggle-taggle crowd of individuals religiously attending to a wooden board of black and white squares. The scene of these peculiar park-bench-devotees standing up to seasons, bad forecasts and curious gazes seems an inevitable part of urban “subculture” across the world. However apart from a comforting sense of stabil-ity what else can this scene evoke?

Well, first, chess is not exactly a nose-picking leisure game, but a distinct form of sport recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The game, which can last from several minutes to exhaustingly endless hours, is also subject to many controversies, some of which are political in nature. According to literary records the biography of chess begins in In-dia a couple of thousand years ago (debatably around 6th century AD), where the pieces came to represent the army of the Gupta Empire. However some have suggested otherwise, assigning chess to an original Chinese “citizenship” 4000 years ago. Either way the endless battle of black and white is an ancient one.

Stripping chess of its social and historical cargo, we can see some fundamentally anthropological material, namely - the invisible network of mind reading, something that we subconsciously do all the time and bring to its climax in chess. Ignoring suspecting asso-ciations with some New Age gypsy jargon, mind reading is a rather serious term for a unique human evolutionary adaptation which some believe prevailed over tool use. The fact that we just cannot stop thinking about others’ thoughts is annoyingly insistent on a day-to-day basis. Not only do we engage in trying to understand others, we can never possibly know for sure what all these people around us think...Yet the mind reading game goes on, because we are no longer solitary nomads...

Today some like to debate the extent of our animal nature. How-ever without our capacity for immensely variable and complex social behaviour we would not even have a cause to debate, being still indubitably stuck in the animal kingdom. It is then not simply tool use, which boosted hominin brain growth and evolution, but an adaptive drive to establish first ever relationships between a craftsman and his apprentices, that helped us survive and flourish, if you like, above everything else. The modern descendant of this very drive, Facebook , sadly doesn’t quite fulfil its function to make us more efficient and adapted to the evolutionary reality, given of course that there still is one.

Expanding our mind reading game, we must take on board the obscure idea of a higher order intentionality. Calculating beings as we are, we tend to see the consequences of our actions, or, more realistically, dwell upon the approaching ‘crack of doom’. Given that we are not aliens or live in the world of Murphy’s laws, we can expect certain reasonable outcomes,

which in turn are most likely affected by others.

Trivially enough, intentionality of a higher order is an ability to get your head around your representation of the world. However we can shift to a 2nd order intentionality, another person’s representation of the same, 3rd order and even 4th order, where the intent is no longer agent-centred, as you will see in a moment. A simplistic model of increasing intentionality could look something like this:

-I want to make a risky attacking chess manoeuvre (1st order) to make you think that I am not afraid (2nd order), to prevent you from thinking that you might want to make a similar attacking move (3rd order), but to make you a passive defender who thinks that the external factor (4th order), which is rules of the game are in my favour (here we can see that 4th order intentionality no longer refers to the individuals efforts and thoughts, but to an external “invisible power”, in our case the game itself).

Even if you are vaguely scheming chess players you can deduce, that in chess we do precisely that: with each move you have to make every time it’s your turn, you assume that he assumes that you assume... To show you the insane extent of this mind reading exercise I will just mention, that a friend of mine, who is a silver chess medallist of her country, can think 10 moves ahead... We could make an absurd and daring assumption that chess players are the most humanly humans, because no one else exercises and, what’s most important, enjoys mind games as much as they do. Not only do they dedicate their precious time to this seemingly dry game, they “dissect” the games afterwards and contemplate the massacre.

However chess is not some kind of elitist game for the gifted, we are all subconscious chess players, working our moves on people. So why neglect a practice in this re-alistic art of human relations? Whether you choose to get equipped with pre-prepared templates or work your way impulsively on the spot is your personal choice. Either way it would seem that chess could make you a whole lot more irritating and calculating unit of society, much to the annoyance of others and to your own self-indulgent glory. UCL has a chess society of its own and although my role here is not to create some kind of PR move on their part, I would definitely recommend fellow students to have a go at it (let the beastly exclamations and outcries that you will hear far beyond their UNION room lead your way), or simply invest in a worthy mind machine of your own.

-Eugenia Ellanskaya

Phil Allin carving of MC Escher, fragment from Metamorphoses III

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“Can you find Nepal on the map?” I’d ask the children I was working with at Umbrella children’s home this year. Of course they could find it. Such knowledge is ingrained into them through a classroom memorising technique evocative of Buddhist chanting. After point-ing to the sliver of a country wedged too cosily for comfort between the gargantuan China and India, their next irrevocable observation was “Nepal: so small country.” In actual fact, out of a total of 180 countries in the world (depending on how you count them) there are ninety-three that exceed Nepal in smallness. Perhaps it’s due to the two beasts on either side that create a rather morphed symbiotic self-image of Nepal as some kind of political-economic runt.

Tanka Prasad, the man who revolutionised Nepalese politics and introduced democracy in the 1950s,

reflects in his biography that during his state visit to China “everything was so big- airports and such. Nothing of ours could measure up to theirs. So a bit of an inferiority complex comes upon you.”

After leaving Nepal I was later reminded of Tanka Prasad’s words by a Nepalese expatriate working in a café in Northern India. He had noticed the message I have tattooed in Sanskrit around my wrist and commented: “This is good; it is a question not and answer. So many Indians write answers such as ‘everything is possible’. But I think everything is not possible.” “Where do you come from?” I asked. “Nepal, and in my country everything is certainly not possible” was his gloomy reply and with a withdrawn expression he moved away to clear the next table.

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notes from the land of lacking“where everything is not possible”

Around several thousand Nepalese are forced to liveand work in India in order to keep their families athome alive. Similarly, the most feared soldiers in theworld, the Ghurkas, also work for external purposes,serving in the British and Indian armies. Theirremittances constitute one of the countries’ mainsources of GDP.

From a Western perspective, Nepal is a country onthat distant planet we call ‘the third world.’ By meansof its Western-derived per-capita income, it is rankedas the fifth poorest country in the world.Comparatively, the more comprehensive Human De-velopment Index, including quality-of-life statisticssuch as health and education puts Nepal ahead ofthirty-one other countries.

The land of lacking, rather than the land of plenty ishow the figures pigeonhole Nepal. But there arealways those more qualitative endowments to a coun-try which only anthropology can uncover. Peopleseem to forget that development is a Western ideawhich cannot be architected into a static form andsuper-imposed onto just any society. In Nepal’s casean influx of foreign aid coincided with the spread ofimperialism via post-colonial India and mostcrucially, the disintegration of an ancient order,intricately adapted to Nepal’s specific cartography. Invillages where people had previously habituatedtraditions of unconditional support and sharing ofresources, an alien market economy beganincreasingly to slice communities, until today itlacerates at gaping wounds. This is exemplified by themodern dwellings of the upper strata of society, whokeep exotic breeds of guard dog and build high wallsembedded with jagged ramparts of broken glass.

Imperialism even leeched its way to Humla, the mostforsaken region of far North-Westerly Nepal. Here, upuntil as recently as one generation ago, the marriagesystem of polyandry was practiced. That is until theHumlis were “educated” of its impropriety so thatinheritance began to be divided between brothers andsubsequently, due to diminishing plots of land, menand women were forced to leave their farms to thegold-paved streets of Kathmandu. An additional limbto the situation is the people-traffickers. Their contri-bution is to manipulate the dilemma into a money-making scheme in which families pay for theirchildren to be taken to the capital, with the hope ofeducation and better prospects. But in Nepal it’s onlythe dirt that is washed down hill and that’s whataccumulates in Kathmandu valley, not gold.

Umbrella Foundation is composed of over threehundred children rescued from the terminal moraineof this social landslide. The trigger? - A type ofeconomic ‘development’ which ignores the system ofproduction within a country and consequently feeds aself-negating reliance on foreign aid. If only a nativeideology was found and utilised. Because until thishappens a national frailty will persist, resonating evenin the words of children: “Nepal: so small country.”

-Holly Brentnall

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A Review of The National Yiddish Book Centre, Amherst, Massachusetts

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The National Yiddish Book Centre was established in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1980. The museum/library was founded by the then graduate student Aaron Lansky, who was seeking out Yiddish literature for his thesis.

Yiddish had been the language of secular discourse for three-quarters of the world’s Jews for over a thousand years. Yiddish, along with other Jewish vernaculars, such as Judeo-Arabic and Ladino were derived from, and used, Hebrew letters. They were essentially bastard languages that had evolved during the course of Jewish migrations.

For most of history, Yiddish had been primarily a spoken language. However, by the early twentieth century, there was a whole body of Yiddish literature that encompassed everything from daily newspapers and pulp fiction to political and philosophical literature. Unfortunately, this vibrant culture was all but annihilated by the Holocaust. Thus, by the time Lansky sought out Yiddish literature, only an estimated 70,000 books were thought to have sur-vived.

Lansky’s appeal and subsequent book collecting is told in his book Outwitting History (2005). The book chronicles his often funny, but ultimately desperate, rescue of books from rubbish skips, demolition sites, old libraries, basements and various abandoned buildings. Most poignantly, it chronicles the donations from elderly Jews, who having no one else to pass their Yiddish books onto, donated them to him. It was often with a deep sadness, but ultimately a great sense of relief, that the books were handed over. Lansky recounts how the handing over invariably became a ceremony, in which he was fed and regaled with the history of each individual book. It was, Lansky explained, an enacting of ritual transmission.

Today, Lansky has collected over 1.5 million books, with about 1,000 new books arriving each week. During my visit, staff were busy unpacking a crate sent from Zimbabwe. There, as in so many other places throughout the world, the surviving Jew-ish community has no use for Yiddish books because they can no longer read them.

The success of the Book Centre goes far beyond its collection, however. It describes itself not as a storehouse for dusty books no one will ever read again, but as a resource that returns old books to a new generation of readers. To that end, it has supplied 450 major universities in 26 countries with books from its duplicate holdings. Demand for books is continuous, but because many of the books are in poor condition, the centre no longer has sufficient supplies to meet demand. Therefore, it has recently launched a programme to digitize its collection, thus making high-quality reprints available on demand. Revenue from sales helps to fund the centre and its extensive educational and cultural activities.

The centre is an amazing achievement and stands as mon-umental testimony to one man’s quest to rescue an entire body of literature. Today, anyone, anywhere, can study Yiddish literature and culture in a way heretofore impossible. Seventy years since its virtual eradication, Yiddish is enjoying a spectacular renaissance. The ritual transmission continues.

- Lesley Acton

the games pagePete got a call saying that a baby elephant got trapped in a pit at an abandoned building site.

T

Action was required asap. So he took off immedi-ately!

He saw two pits between two massive piles of soil. He had no idea how the elephant got there.

p

I just turned away for a sec and then he was there!

T

Hm...it’s about 1.5 metres deep

The rescue service couldn’t come. A crane won’t be easily available either. The poor animal was get-ting cold and walked in circles.

Oh, my elephant! The performance is ruined!

It seemed there was nothing that could be of help apart from two planks of wood and a 3 m rope.

There must be something we can do!

Archimedes said:

“Give me a place to stand and I shall move the world!”

I’d rather he got the elephant... The time went

on. Pete was thinking while the elephant kept on walking in circles.

After a couple of hours the elephant was out! Luckily he was ok to go straight to the circus.

And how would you

get the elephant out?

Vita

ly P

odvi

tsky

©

See the answer at the back page...

Solution to games page: the two big piles of soil have probably come from the pits. There are several shovels (seen in the picture). So the pit was filled back up in 2-3 hour while the trained circus elephant who kept on walking in circles simply trampled it downuntil it reached the top of the pit. A similar curious occasion took place during the renovations of the Dresden zoo in 1965.