In Search of a Missing People

The St. Lawrence Iroquoians, Corn People

Jacques Cartier, the famous French explorer, made 3 trips to Canadian shores between 1534 and 1542. Each time he encountered native people and saw their settlements. During his last two voyages he came to interact with the Iroquoian people along the shores of the St. Lawrence, and left detailed accounts of those encounters.

About 60 years later, when Samuel de Champlain of France also sailed up the St. Lawrence in 1603, he saw no Indian villages along his route. What had happened? Why have the Iroquoian people disappeared from the region?

The new exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière  In Search of a Missing People addresses this issue. Although it has been considered that the white men’s diseases might have devastated the native population, the evidence suggests otherwise. First, the Iroquoian population was still intact between Cartier’s voyages; and second, the settlements had already started to disappear before Cartier’s first arrival at the St. Lawrence region. This process started in the west, in what is presently Ontario (where Cartier never set foot) and continued in a domino-like effect towards the east.

It is now assumed that the settlements were wiped out by the ongoing war between the different groups. Cartier had noted that each village was heavily protected by several tiers of palisades with watch platforms in the upper tier. In addition, the arrival of the Europeans might have destabilized the precarious power-struggle equilibrium between the groups, even creating jalousies because of iron tools and decorative beats acquired from the whites.

It is speculated that the Iroquoian people did not disappear completely, but were rather absorbed and integrated into other Indian tribes.

So what made St. Lawrence Iroquoian Indians unique?

Contrary to Algonquian Indians who were nomads, Iroquoian Indians, thanks to corn cultivation, no longer had to fallow the migration of game. They began building year round permanent settlements, and acquired characteristics of an agricultural society.

Corn was adaptated by the St Lawrence Iroquoians between 800-1200 AD. This was a culmination of corn’s long journey from Mexico. A variety of corn widely used was Northern Flint that has some or all purple kernels. It contains little moisture and becomes very hard and shiny when dry. It is still used today especially during Native ceremonies. You can buy a sachet of Northern Flint kernels for $2 at the Museum, and can even start growing this corn yourself!

Corn (maize) was a result of a very rare mutation in a wild spiked grass called Teosinte (see Photo 3 below) which had only about 10 inedible kernels. 7,000 years ago people gathered Teosinte for its sweet chalks. They ate the pith, and ferment it to make alcohol. They also ate unripe cobs. The Teosinte mutation took place about 5,500 years ago, and today’s corn cobs are much longer and thicker and have a lot more kernels.

It was a woman’s job to cultivate corn. They planted it in small round patches together with two other crops, and called this triad “Three Sisters”. The beans would wind around corn stacks and deliver nitrogen to the soil, so no fertilization was needed, and the squashes’ wide leaves preserved the ground moisture, so it did not need to be watered.

One of the staples of Iroquoian diet was a soup called sagamite: a handful of flour, dried fish, meat, beans, and squash. Women also baked pumpkins and squash in embers, and made carraconny or corn loafs, by setting them on a broad flat stone and covering them with hot pebbles.

Iroquoian women handled all the work of growing food, including sowing, tending, harvesting and drying the crops They made corn flour, gathered and carried firewood, water, fruit, and nuts. They made ropes, nets, mats, baskets, ceramic pots, and farming tools. They hunted small game, fished, made garments, and put the finishing touches to snowshoes and canoes. And, of course, they were also wives and mothers.

Women were the prime movers in domestic life, and this kept them tied down to the villages. Even the social structure revolved around some of the women, the “clan mothers”. An Iroquoian house was a woman’s place. A man came to live with a woman. Iroquoian society was matrilineal - the family line was passed down from mother to daughter rather than from father to son. It was also matrilocal – a married couple lived with the wife’s family, flanked by families of daughters and grand daughters, with their husbands and children. These lineages in turn formed clans that were led by a clan mother.

A village civil chief - always a man - was chosen by women elders. They also revoked the chief’s powers if needed.

But men chose the war chief. Besides going to wars and organizing big game hunting expeditions, men also cleared land from trees and build longhouses, protective palisades and canoes.

The present exhibition at the Museum will immerse you in the everyday life of the Iroquoian people. You will also see many Iroquoian pottery pieces, as well as pipes, ornaments, and other items such as those used in game playing and gambling. You will also see the very first map of various Iroquoian settlements along the St Lawrence River. And, of course, you will learn a lot about our collective history.

Where: Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière
350 Place Royal,
Montreal, QC H2X 3Y5
Canada

When: November 7, 2006 – May 6, 2007

Museum’s Website:
http://www.pacmuseum.qc.ca

Photo 1
Iroquoian Vase
Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière
Photo 2
Multicolored corn
By Keith Weller This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
Photo 3
Two plants believed to be of the species hybridized to create maize. Jardín Etnobotánico (Ethnobotanical Garden), Oxaca, Mexico, June 2005.
Cc-by JerryFriedman 21:26, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons

Romeo and Juliet

The most romantic, and yet the most tragic love story that William Shakespeare ever wrote is indisputably that of Romeo and Juliet. Most of us have seen this masterpiece interpreted either on stage or on screen. And some of us have seen it several times. And yet we are always drawn to this piece and are ready to see it one more time.

Right now, you have an opportunity to see once again another interpretation of this ageless love story, this time on stage right here in Montreal. This ballet, set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, is presented by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at the Place-des-Arts.

If you are in a mood for romanticism, you might not find it in this staging of the famous love story. Some of the elements used to create a heightened romantic mood – luscious colours, elaborate period costumes and seductive lightening are not present in this piece. Neither is present the precise, traditional choreography with a set of effective means of expressing emotions which communicate to the public with ease and immediacy.

Let us momentarily contemplate the subject of ballet.

Until recently, the ballet of the past had gone unchanged for a very long time, trying to preserve the purity of its traditional forms of expression which had the power to communicate emotions with easily understood clarity. In addition, the traditional ballet was concerned with the gracefulness of movements which effectively created an overall poetic, dignified, splendid, and even noble effect.

Let us be honest, can we call our present times noble, poetic and dignified? In the world where in order to be noticed you have to be “chic”, “with it” and “cool”, the old ballet values are no longer understood or appreciated.

It has been a couple of decades now that the traditional ballet has found itself at odds with the present reality, and has even been perceived as outmoded. New artistic forms from modern and jazz dance have been steadily seeping into ballet. Yet let’s hope that the purely traditional ballet would not die completely, and that it will be preserved and staged periodically as an alternative to the mixed style that is currently in vogue and is taking over the ballet.

So how is current interpretation of the famous love story Romeo and Juliet by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens different?

This Romeo and Juliet is not a period mis-en-scène. There are no lush stage sets, nor colourful costumes or lights. As a matter of fact, the decor by Ernest Pignon-Ernest can be referred to as minimalist. He achieves the definition of the space with several movable white screens, which, depending on the scene, change colour by means of spot lights. But do not expect any bright and vibrant colours such as reds or greens. The pallet ranges from white to black, passing though various degrees of grey and beige with a tinge of ochre. As for the costumes, designed by Jerome Kaplan, they match the minimalist colour palette of the mis-en-scène. The only exception is a luscious, shimmering gold dress of Juliet which she wears in a masquerade scene where she first meets Romeo.

What might be the reasons for the removal of colour and of blossoming elements from this interpretation of Romeo and Juliet? (As a matter of fact, you will not even see the traditional balcony from which Juliet calls dreamily to her lover.) Is the stern decor chosen in order to zoom the spectator’s attention to the sculptural quality of the dance? If that is the case, could this explain the color scheme of this production - that of metals, plaster and clay, which are the traditional sculpture materials?

The choreographed movements in this ballet are purely sculptural. Each grouping of characters, each pas-de-deux, creates a sculpture in space. The movements own the space. The space is constantly restructured with bodies and limbs, and is permeated with visceral energy.

What you see on stage is sculpture in motion. Each dance is choreographed in such a way as to restructure with every movement the three-dimensional space.

By all means, go and see this ballet. You might find yourself enchanted with the Prokofiev’s music, and with the kaleidoscopic movements on stage. And above all, you will be once again reminded of the great Shakespeare’s genius, which has fascinated us through many centuries.


Photo above
by Sergei Endinian
Romeo and Juliet
Dancers of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens

Girodet – The Romantic Rebel

Who was Girodet? And why should we really care?

For starters, he was the first one ever to make a full length portrait of a black man as a true western political legislator, dressed in European clothes. See below the Portrait of Citizen Belley, Ex-Representative of the Colonies (1797).

Girodet was also a master draftsman. His drawings are alive. The precision of rendering is almost photographic, and each detail breathes life into the subject.

Girodet became a painter against his parents' will. He was a pupil of the renowned neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). Of all his students, Girodet was the most gifted and also the most erudite. Moreover, he was rebellious and competitive. This led him to part with the strict neoclassical teachings and to embark onto Romanticism.

Girodet was the first French painter to portray emotion. David said of him “on nous fait les personnages de crystal” (“He makes crystal-clear personages”). And indeed he did. Each evocative gesture in Girodet’s paintings and drawings, each facial and bodily expression reveal internal world of people he portrayed.

Girodet was also interested in unusual colour effects and in the problems of concentrated light and shade. He masterfully employs light and shade in rendering the volume of a human body, or to create a specific allegorical, sensual, or “romanticized” effect in his paintings.

Girodet was born on January 29, 1767, and was named Anne-Louis Girodet. At that time, Anne was considered to be both a masculine and a feminine name. His father died in 1784 and his mother in 1787 when Girodet was barely 20. A neighbor, a friend of the family Doctor Trioson took Girodet under his protection and guidance right after Girodet’s father death. In 1908, when Girodet was 41, Dr. Trioson, whose wife and children have died, adopted Girodet as his own son. And this is when Girodet’s official name became Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson.

We can only assume that it was thanks to the Dr. Trioson’s constant support and care that Girodet’s talent has blossomed freely. Not only did he become known as a historical painter, but he also painted allegorical subject matters and excelled in sensual depiction of human body. He also illustrated books, for instance those of Virgil, as well as many poetical works.

What was less know of Girodet, and what has come to light quite recently, is that he also painted a lot of commissioned portraits of various well-to-do people, both men and women. It is speculated that many such portraits are still held in private collections and are unknown to the art world.

After his death on December 9, 1824, King Louis XVIII made Girodet posthumously an officer of the Legion of Honour, in recognition of his artistic contribution to France.

Girodet’s paintings, drawings and sketches are presently on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Girodet’s collection has been shown in Paris, Chicago and New York. Many of his works have traveled to North America for the first time ever.


Photo 1
GIRODET de Roussy-Trioson, Anne-Louis
Self-portrait with Neckerchief and Hat
About 1790
Black crayon, black chalk, white guash highlights
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden Fund, 1978.79
Photo © The Cleveland Museum of Art

Photo 2
GIRODET de Roussy-Trioson, Anne-Louis
Portrait of Citizen Belley, Ex-Representative of the Colonies
About 1797
Oil on canvas
Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon
Photo © RMN/Gérard Blot

Who Lived Here Before Me?

How often do you think about people who lived in Quebec before you, and who little by little contributed to the present way of our life? If you never do, than right now, during this month of August, you have an excellent opportunity to discover more about who inhabited this land before you and how they lived.

The way of life of those people who lived on the Quebec territory long ago was nothing as what we enjoy presently. These ancient inhabitants were the true ancestors of this land. Their lives were simpler than ours, their tools quite rudimentary. Nevertheless, they possessed very effective skills to survive in a very harsh environment. Their know-how contributed to building villages and habitats where the growth of social interaction was possible.

Right now, you have an excellent opportunity to discover the Quebec’s fascinating history ranging from the ancient Indian cultures and progressing through various stages of colonization of this province. For the second year in the row, the month of August was declared to be Quebec’s Archeology Month. More than 50 archeological sites and exhibitions are participating and opening its doors to visitors.

If you don’t mind to make your hands dirty, you can even take part in real archeological digs, as illustrates on the photo to the right, and become a real archeologist yourself! Imagine how much you and your children could learn from such an experience!

The sites that are participating in the Archeology Month are spread across the province. Here is the website that lists them all: www.archeoquebec.com . Just click on the face of the smiling boy, and if you do not read French, choose English at the bottom of the topics listed on the left.

In case you prefer a personal touch, you can call for more information:
1-887-BONJOUR (1-877-266-5687)

The visit of the archeological digs might raise some questions in your mind: What type of archeological heritage are we leaving for the generations that will follow ours? What will those future people discover about us from what we leave behind? And how highly would they think of us?





Photos by Eric Piché


Photo 1. – Top: Fort St. Jean
Photo 2. – Middle: Pointe-du-Buisson Archeological Park
Photo 3. – Bottom: Droulers - Tsiionhiakwatha, St. Anicet

The Mystery of Ancient Japan

An Argument for the Extraterrestrials?

The photo on the left is the same one as in the beginning of my article of June 10, 2006 Ancient Japan and Extraterrestrials? Take a closer look at what the Goggled Dogu, also called Shako Dogu by the Japanese, is wearing. It is definitely is not an animal hide.

What is known about Jomon is that their garments were made from animal skins. Jomon were, in many respects, a rather primitive culture of hunters and gatherers. So why does the above shown dogu wear such a unique garment that very much resembles some sort of armor? And if it is not armor, than it definitely is a very unique type of clothing. Who could have imagined such a dress in a culture that had no concept of clothing other than that made of hides?

Even more curious is the fact that that Goggled Dogu is not a sole such object found in Japan. A number of goggled figurines, very much resembling one another, were excavated throughout the ancient Jomon territory, mostly in the north. This representation was obviously a common knowledge. Considering that the Jomon population of the Japanese archipelago, even at its peak, was only about a quarter of a million (see the previous article of July 23, 2006), how could people scattered far apart produce almost identical clay representations? Remember, there was no means of transportation at the time other than one’s own feet.

Though Jomon, being hunters, were partially nomadic, that does not explain why the image of a goggled figurine was so readily accepted by all the different Jomon clans who were not in a regular communication with each other.

Could a primitive culture have such an inventive imagination as to dream up of images never seen by anybody, translating them into physical representations accepted collectively by far scattered populace?

In addition, why did Jomon people waste their time and energy making elaborate clay dogu that had no utilitarian use? If these were indeed religious or talismanic objects, could they have been actually inspired by something encountered in real life? Judging on the aesthetic complexity of these objects, their religion was not simplistic.

Jomon also left mysterious stone circles, as did many other ancient cultures like, for instance, the ancient Brits with their Stonehedge and other circular stone formations. It is not known what exactly these stone circles were used for. It is speculated that they were used for religious rituals, and also to keep track of astronomical calendar events like solstices and equinoxes.

Though Jomon pottery is highly advanced in craftsmanship and detail, it was produced without a potter’s wheal since they did not know it. It is hard to imagine the Jomon vases featured in my June 10, 2006 article being used in everyday life as mundane food preparation utensils and storage containers.

During the Yoyoi period (300 BC-300AD) that followed the Jomon, pottery was very simplistic and utilitarian. It had no aesthetic elements or conceptual and artistic complexity of the Jomon pottery. Not a single clay dogu sculpture was found belonging to Yoyoi period. The impetus that had inspired the creation of the Goggled dogu was no longer present.

It appears that either Jomon were culturally far more advanced in their everyday habits and the mode of life than is presently believed. Or they were influenced by something outside of themselves that has not yet been accounted for.

It is very clear:
1) There is a dichotomy between the aesthetics portrayed through Jomon clay creations and the supposedly primitive conditions of their everyday life.
2) The origins of their unique artistic inspiration as well as their elaborate religion have not yet been sufficiently explained.

* “Goggled” dogu
Important Cultural Property
1000 to 400 BC
Prehistoric period: Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)
© Tokyo National Museum collection

This figurine is presently on display at the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière, 350 Place Royal, Montreal, QC H2X 3Y5, Canada, until Oct. 15, 2006
Museum’s Website:
http://www.pacmuseum.qc.ca

Here is an example of a fragment of another Goggled Dogu, not shown at the museum.

Japan Without Rice?

Try Nut Cookies Instead!

It is difficult to imagine Japan without Rice. Today, one half of all arable land in Japan is devoted to rice paddies. But rice was brought to Japan only in 300 BC by Korean peninsula inhabitants.

It is certain that the ancient Japan’s Jomon period from 10,000 to 400 BC - that I talked about in my two previous postings - was totally without rice. Unlike the contemporaneous population on the continent, the Jomon people were not agricultural, though they tended some plants, and were good at exploiting the islands’ recourses. They hunted deer and wild boar with bows and arrows, gathered and cooked nuts, harpooned whales, fished for salmon, and harvested shellfish.

The Jomon lived in large villages. In colder regions, they made pit-dwellings with sunken floor that took advantages of the soil’s natural insulation. Throughout the archipelago, they also build wood structures, some of them quite large. The archaeologists uncovered the remains of such buildings, as well as dug-out holes that originally held enormous upright chestnut trunks. At the Japan Exhibition currently held at the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière (http://www.pacmuseum.qc.ca ) you can see photos from the Jomon Sannai Maruyama dwelling site. They show gigantic holes in the ground where tree trunks were inserted, and a hypothetical reconstruction of a three-floor building.

Nut Cookies Instead of Rice

So if Jomon did not have rice what did they eat instead? Nuts!

The archaeologists found that many dwelling sites had pits containing nuts. The Jomon soaked some types of nuts to remove bitterness, and grounded them to make edible dough and cookies. At the Japan Exhibition you can see a photo of the charred remains of cookies excavated at the sites.

And the recipe for those cookies?

Ground hazelnuts
Yams
Perilla (spice)
Basil
Garlic
Shallots

Grind and mix all the ingredience, make cookie patties, put them on a flat stone used as a cookie sheet - also found during excavations - and cook over an open fire pit.

How large was Jomon population?

According to some estimates, the archipelago’s population grew from 20,000 in the early Jomon, to over 260,000 by the Middle Jomon. But around 900 BC the number of Jomon dwelling sites started to decline. By the end of that period there were only about 75,000 people left. So what had happened?

It is difficult to say why there was such a market decline. Despite the fact that the climate was cooling and Mount Fiji erupted a few times, that did not cause the population to decline. Something else may have been responsible: the arrival of immigrants from the continent. The new know-how that they brought with them transformed daily life in the archipelago.

Around 400 BC political turmoil rocked the East Asian continent. For some time, small groups of people have been leaving the Korean peninsula. Most of them migrated to Kyushu, the Japanese archipelago island closest to the continent. They also spread northeast almost as far as the island of Hokkaido. It is not known if their encounter with Jomon was peaceful. What is clear, they mixed with the local population – as shown by modern day Japanese DNA research.

And thus in 300 BC began the Yayoi period, which lasted up to 300 AD. It was the period of bronze, iron, and rice. And this is when rice became a staple of Japanese cusine.

The photo in the beginning of this article shows a dogu clay mask.*

* Earthenware mask
2000 to 1000 BC
Prehistoric period: Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)
© Tokyo National Museum collection

This eloquently simple mask shows only relief modelling and a distorted mouth. It was unearthed by a farmer clearing land.

What Is Dogu?

The readers of my previous article

Ancient Japan and Extraterrestrials?

(published on June 10, 2006)

have expressed a great interest regarding the picture which appears at the very beginning of that article - Photo 1.

What is a dogu? It is a type of Jomon ritual object. The first such object was discovered in the 17th century, and labeled dogu, “an earthen-ware figurine”. The archaeologists have since turned up approximately 15,000 of these dogu. Some represent animals, but most are human shaped. It remains unclear what they were used for. Since most dogu have feminine features: breasts, wide hips, and pregnant bellies, it is therefore assumed that they were perhaps intended to invoke the fertile earth goddess.

Almost all of dogu were found in fragments. They might have been broken deliberately and their pieces scattered like those of “medicine dolls”, used in purification rituals to dispel the source of a person’s suffering. Later in the Jomon period, dogu were placed in graves. Dogu were no longer produced after the Jomon period, which lasted from 10,000 to 400 BC.

The Goggled Dogu is among the largest dogu of its kind, and is the best preserved. As was mentioned before, many science-fiction enthusiasts claim it to represent an extraterrestrial. But scientists argue that dogu figurines should not be taken literarily. According to them, dogu daringly push the boundaries of the representational form. They claim that this particular figurine appears to be wearing the sort of bone “goggles” once worn by Inuit to protect their eyes from sun’s glare on the snow. However, no goggles of this type have ever been found in Japan. It is also claimed that “goggles” may represent eyes closed in death, or portray the magical power attributed to eyes.

The picture above, at the begging of this article, also shows a dogu (* see below for more comments). It is called Dogu with almond shaped eyes. The figure is female, and comes from 3,000-2,000 BC. It is, therefore, more ancient than Goggled Dogu which comes from 1,000-400 BC.

Dogu with almond shaped eyes was produced during the time when pottery was reaching its zenith; and so were also some dogu true masterpieces. It was made during the same time as “Flame-style” deep bowl, on Photo 3 in the article from June 10, 2006. During that period, as can be seen in the above photo, the base was broader, so the figurines could stand on its own, while the head and torso remained narrow. This resulted in an oddly attractive shape. This remarkably preserved piece is the largest hollow cone-shaped dogu.

Both dogu figurines discussed above (and much more) are currently on display at the Japan Exhibition, Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière, 350 Place Royal, Montreal, QC H2X 3Y5, Canada, until Oct. 15, 2006.

Museum's Website:
http://www.pacmuseum.qc.ca/

* Dogu with almond-shaped eyes
Important Cultural Property
3000 to 2000 BC
Prehistoric period: Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)
© Minami-arupusu City Board of Education, Yamanashi, Japan

Ancient Japan and Extraterrestrials?

Since you landed on this page, you must be an art lover. And if indeed you are, then you must also appreciate ancient art and artifacts. So how about such gems as fine Paleolithic (33,000-10,000 BC) projectile points made of obsidian volcanic rock? Or a stunning rarity, one of the oldest - twelve century, to be exact - pottery vessels in existence? Or a statuette of an extraterrestrial? (Photo 1 on the left; also see detailed explanation at the end of the article.) You have never seen such antic rarities? Actually, nobody outside of Japan has ever seen those items before, until very recently.

If you do love ancient art and history, and especially if you are a Japan aficionado, then come to the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History at Pointe-à-Callière. And if you don’t live in Montreal or Quebec, then consider changing your summer travel arrangements and head for Montreal instead. I promise, you will be amused. There is no way of escaping the multitude of summer festivals, the fine cusine, and the French language and spirit. But of course, you will be mainly coming for art and history… Japanese history…

So find your way to the Japan Exhibition. Besides seeing real archaeological digs and learning about fascinating Montreal history, you will be catapulted into the ancient past and find delight in the vessel mentioned above (Photo 2 on the right), crafted during the prehistoric Jomon period (10,000-400 BC), even before the Japanese state emerged. It was fired in an open pit, and is very fragile.

You will also see a Jomon vase with a flame motive, usually displayed in the Highlights of Japanese Art gallery at the Tokyo National Museum (Photo 3 on the lower right), and other enormous clay vessels with unique decorative cord design. The finding of such antique items made archaeologists conclude that pottery-making had originated in the Far East.You will also see dogu figurines, the role of which still remains a mystery. 

Actually, a lot of mystery is especially attributed to the one in Photo 1 above. You might have seen the picture of it reproduced in books and articles on extraterrestrials as evidence that Earth was visited by beings from outer space. This statuette is considered by many to represent an extraterrestrial astronaut. Its huge eyes cover more than half of its face. They are indeed very non-oriental eyes. Could those be protective goggles with slits for vision in the middle? Still many scientists argue that this small statue merely suggests that the ancient civilization attributed magical powers to eyes. But that is only an opinion. I invite you to be your own judge. You will also see items from Yayoi period (300 BC – 300 AD), which is referred to as “rice period” when newcomers mainly from Korea brought with them the agricultural as well as metallurgical know-how. Some impressive bronze bells - dotaku - are also on display, along with ceremonial weapons.


And then comes the famous Haniva “old tomb” period, also called Kofum (4th – 7th century AD), when huge burial mounds were build throughout Japan with earthenware animals and human figurines standing guard. They included soldiers and other professions, as well as houses and boats. As for animal lovers, you will adore the terra cotta dog (Photo 4 on the left). Even in those ancient times, dogs were already our companions, our pets, and were portrayed in artifacts.

At the end of Kofum period major events took place: introduction of writing and Buddhism, establishment of the first central government, adaptation of laws and institutions brought from China. For the first time a word designating Japan was used: Nipon – “Rising Sun”. Thus the Japanese state was born. And this where the exhibition theme ends.

The archeological objects at the exhibition, all 150 of them, are among the most important items of Japan’s heritage. They come primarily from the Tokyo National Museum, as well as from ten other Japanese museums. These objects have never left Japan before. They will be on display until October 15, 2006. After that the entire collection returns back to Japan.

The items on display are true museum treasures. They cannot be put on your book shelves, or placed in the middle of your coffee table, or be framed and hung on a wall behind a couch in your living room. These are not decorative pieces to enhance our present home environments. Nevertheless, though distinctly ancient, there is a hint of modernity in some of them. Wouldn’t you agree that the dog in Photo 4 could have been produced by a modern artist?

Come and see this exhibit. It attests to the liveliness of the spirit of ancient Japan, and to the treasures of our global cultural heritage.

Where: Montreal Museum of Archeology and History Pointe-à-Callière Museum

350 Place Royal, Montreal, QC H2X 3Y5 , Canada

When:May 16 - Oct. 15, 2006 

Museum's Website:

http://www.pacmuseum.qc.ca

Photo 1

"Goggled” dogu
Important Cultural Property
1000 to 400 BC, Prehistoric period Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)
© Tokyo National Museum collection
This dogu (“clay figurine”) is a ritual object. It is among the largest of its kind (36 cm high) and the best-preserved object from Japanese prehistory.

Photo 2

Deep bowl
World oldest pottery vessel
10,000 BC, Prehistoric period Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)
© Kokugakuin University Archaeology Museum
This bowl, dating from the Incipient Jomon, was discovered in a cave in the Nagano region. Jomon pottery is currently the oldest known in the world.

Photo 3

“Flame-style” deep bowl

3000 to 2000 BC ,Prehistoric period Jomon (10,000 to 400 BC)

© Tokyo National Museum collection

This earthenware bowl, with its superb relief motifs, shows that its maker was a true master potter. It is usually displayed in the Highlights of Japanese Art gallery at the Tokyo National Museum.

Photo 4
Haniwa dog

6th century, Prehistoric period Kofun (250 to 600 AD)
© Tokyo National Museum collection
Its ears erect, eyes wide open and tongue dangling, this is a Japanese dog ready to assist its master. The bell around its neck shows that the dog was domesticated, although the sound wouldn’t have helped with the hunt!

The Art of Start

The future Frames, the "picture frames” of this site, will consist of snapshots of artistic and other related events, and my thoughts. I straggled with the title. Art Frame was not my first choice. Far from it. I wanted to call it Art Chat, but somebody had already snatched that title before me. I tried Art Spot, again with no luck. More such “clever” two-word combinations followed. Yes, you guessed it; they were all already taken by some lovers of art in the blogging cyberspace. After more futile attempts to register my blog’s name I felt despondent and rejected. Nothing I proposed was good enough for an invisible server to accept and make my own. I was at the end of my wits and my creative imagination. I am sure you know that feeling of outer despair and frustration when trying to register for an internet service. You discover that all the user names you propose, regardless of how many your mind spews out, are already floating somewhere on the net. And now you have to face the possibility, or even an inevitability, of living with a hideously long user name interlaced with numbers and signs.

As my head was mounting an attack of a colossal headache, I finally hit Art Frame, and to my surprise and a great relieve, this word combination went through. The title stays, though my blog is not about picture frames and framing paintings. My Frames are more in line with the cinematographic meaning of the word. Separate frames of fragmented reflections on art, exhibitions and other artistic and related topics and activities will be placed on top of each other. In the same manner as a full-fledge feature film is created by putting one frame at the time on top of the other, the separate frames - the snippets of my blog - would, I hope, turn into a coherent whole, a vision of some sort.

At times I will certainly digress from purely artistic topics. In case you believe that the word “Art” connotes only Visual Art, then my future postings might not be for you. “Art” for me has a more global meaning. A lot of human activity comprises artistic elements, or rather, a possibility of them. See for yourself. Just try and insert any noun of your choice into the phrase “the art of…” It fits, does not it?

Do come back and enjoy Art Frame and my future framed postings as I’ll be enjoying framing those posts. I promise not to bombard you with too many Frame entries. Even champagne and caviar, if served too often or every day, become mundane. Just frame that in your mind!

And although Art Frame was not the first choice for my blog’s name, you can tell from the preceding paragraph that the frames are taking over, they are growing on me...

P.S.
Stay tuned to my next Frame on prehistoric Japanese artifacts that left Japan for the first time ever. You will also see a picture of an ancient extraterrestrial!