One of the worst man-made disasters (video)

Smithsonian Channel, Nov. 3, 2017; Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

One of the Worst Man-Made Disasters in History

We think it'll be okay. We're sure of it.

Residents of the valley of Vajont in Italy had reservations about a giant new hydroelectric dam -- especially when cracks began to appear in the nearby mountain as it became water logged. Their worst fears were soon to be confirmed even after scientists deemed it safe and took precautions. Watch the full episode with a FREE trial for the Smithsonian Channel Plus by signing up today at watch.smithsonianchannel.com. It comes from the series: "Make It Out Alive: Dam Disaster" (bit.ly/2A13Q2r).

2019 best film "Green Book" (doc)

Smithsonian Channel; Seth Auberon, Crystal Q., Wisdom Quarterly

Hollywood's version

(M&C) The Green Book: Guide to Freedom premieres Monday, Feb. 25, 2019 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT) on The Smithsonian Channel. See how The Negro Motorist Green Book helped African-Americans navigate the roads of a racist and segregated nation during the Jim Crow Era. In the 1930s, a black postal carrier from Harlem named Victor Green published a book that was part travel guide and part survival guide. It was called The Negro Motorist Green Book, and it helped American blacks navigate safe passage across freedom-loving America well into the 1960s. Explore some of our segregated nation's safe havens and notorious "sundown towns," and witness stories of struggle and indignity as well as opportunity and triumph.

• WATCH: The Green Book: Guide to Freedom

Was the Tower of Babylon real? (video)

Smithsonian.com; Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Will wunderkind Jared Kushner end up being best thing to ever happen to Trump Klan?

Splendors of Afghanistan (Gandhara)

Hazrat Ali, the most beautiful mosque in Afghanistan, dates to the seventh century and is open to Muslims and non-Muslims alike (Beth Wald).

[In ancient times, present-day Afghanistan was a part of India called Gandhara. It was a Buddhist land, building some of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world -- including the largest Buddha (in Bamiyan prior to its destruction by the Taliban). Buddhism's influence is still to be seen in Mosque art -- particularly iconography deemed neutral by Muslim conquerors such as the lotus. According to Ranajit Pal, Buddhism existed much farther west than Afghanistan , to Indo-Iran, with its philosophical influence going far beyond that.]

The Enduring Splendors of, Yes, Afghanistan
Rob Schultheis (Smithsonian magazine, February 2003)

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A writer and photographer crisscross a nation ravaged by a quarter century of warfare to inventory its most sacred treasures

Our quest begins beside an austere sarcophagus of white, black and pink marble with a simple little ivory-colored mosque below and vast terraced flower gardens beyond, high above the dusty, war-battered city of Kabul. The man buried beneath these stones, Zahiruddin Mohammed Babur, was one of Asia’s greatest empire builders. Starting about the time of Columbus as an Uzbek princeling in the Fergana Valley north of Afghanistan, Babur and his followers captured eastern Afghanistan and Kabul; from there they rode east across the Khyber Pass, to conquer northern India all the way to the Himalayas. More>>

Despite heavy internecine fighting near Kabul for more than a decade, the simple but majestic marble tomb of Mohammed Babur the Conqueror has largely escaped damage (Beth Wald).

Most Number of Temples Anywhere

The Way to Mandalay
WQ Firsthand Reports

Pagan, Burma [now Bagan, Myanmar] has the distinction of having the most number of temples in the entire world. It is like a "merit ghost town." Thousands of stone structures were built with the idea that building a vihara (monastery) or stupa (reliquary) garnered the builder the most merit. Pagan is a must see destination particularly on route to the grandeur of Mandalay.

Much like the competition with totems on Easter Island, prosperous Buddhists out bid one another to build the grandest and most beautifully decorated religious sanctuaries. There are thousands still standing across the valley in a vast expanse of northern Myanmar open to visitors who are willing to brave the dilapidated infrastructure, political corruption, social unrest (Karen tribes versus government forces), and moral dilemma of whether or not to visit a country ruled by a ruthless totalitarian regime.

Life lists: Pagan
Lucinda Moore
(Smithsonian magazine, January 2008)

On the banks of the Irrawaddy River, more than 3,000 temples stretch across a 30-square-mile plain in Pagan, Myanmar (formerly Burma). Most were constructed between 1057 and 1287 during a building frenzy initiated by King Anawrahta, who formed the first Burmese kingdom in 1044.

Nearly a thousand years after Anawrahta's reign, visitors can climb to the top terrace of his Shwesandaw Paya, or "Sunset Pagoda," to enjoy panoramic views of the sprawling city. Many flock to monasteries, which display ornate murals, such as the Ananda Temple's 554 scenes from past lives of the Buddha.

Over the centuries, Pagan's architectural wonders have survived pillaging by armies, as well as natural disasters, including a devastating earthquake in 1975. But many experts worry that they may not withstand the inauthentic restorations recently sanctioned by the country's military junta. "The real crime is that the temples are being rebuilt without attention to their original appearance," says University of Texas art historian Donald Stadtner.

Still worse crimes are being committed against Burmese citizens. After bloody attacks by the junta on monks and other pro-democracy protesters in 2007, some dissidents are asking prospective tourists to carefully consider whether the regime deserves their monetary support. Those who do decide to visit should check State Department advisories before venturing into the region (called Bagan by the current government). If history is any guide, Pagan will endure. Its majestic skyline, studded with gold, white and earth-red temples topped by bell-shaped towers and gilded spires, remains one of Southeast Asia's most exquisite sites.

Pagan, the valley of temples: International conservators have been concerned about Pagan's restorations since 1996, when Burma's ruling junta began cutting corners by whitewashing interior walls, using concrete as mortar, and constructing temples, some from the ground up, with new pink brick.

Sacred and Profaned
Richard Covington (Smithsonian magazine, Dec. 2002)

Misguided restorations of the exquisite Buddhist shrines of Pagan in Burma may do more harm than good

As we rattle along rutted dirt tracks in a battered jeep, Aung Kyaing, chief archaeologist of Pagan’s breathtaking 1,000-year-old Buddhist temples, points out an enormous pentagonal pyramid sparkling in the morning sunlight, dominating this arid central Burma plain.

“Dhammayazika,” he informs me as we bounce past a golden, bell-shaped dome with red banners and a flashy marble walkway. “Secretary Number One paid for the restoration himself.” Secretary Number One is Gen. Khin Nyunt, one of the two strongmen leading Burma’s repressive military junta. Kyaing, an affable scholar dressed in an immaculate white shirt and green longyi, the traditional wraparound skirt favored by both Burmese men and women, is showing me an archaeological disaster—the best and the worst of the government’s recent efforts to restore the ancient temples.

In 1996, the junta invited sponsors across Asia to donate money to help the Burmese rebuild the crumbling temples, but they spurned any professional assistance from international conservators. The resulting hurried and often sloppy restorations have risked destroying the very treasures that make Pagan unique. “The restoration campaign is catastrophic,” says Pierre Pichard, a French archaeologist long familiar with Pagan.

Like many of Afghanistan’s archaeological treasures, Pagan’s temples may fall victim to politics. But there are signs of hope. Pagan attracts nearly 200,000 foreign visitors a year, 12,000 of them American, despite the U.S. government’s imposition of economic sanctions in April 1997 and the country’s repressive regime. With the May release of Burmese dissident and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 57, from house arrest... More>>

Stonehenge: primeval place of healing

Stonehenge is an archaeological site in England where it is said Buddhists built a temple in England before Anglo Saxons ever arrived in England. The first inhabitants of England were Buddhists from India. Ancient British Historian Godfrey Higgins in his book the Anacalypsis explains that Stonehenge was a Buddhist temple. While this is controversial, since its origins are unknown, Anacalypsis deserves investigation in terms of Buddhist history.

A view of Stonehenge at sunrise. Two bluestone fragments found at Britain's prehistoric Stonehenge monument could prove that the mysterious stone circle was once a center of healing, archaeologists said Monday (AFP/File/Carl de Souza).

UK experts say Stonehenge was place of healing

Raphael G. Satter (9/22/08)

LONDON -- The first excavation of Stonehenge in more than 40 years has uncovered evidence that the stone circle drew ailing pilgrims from around Europe for what they believed to be its healing properties, archaeologists said Monday.

Archaeologists Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill said the content of graves scattered around the monument and the ancient chipping of its rocks to produce amulets indicated that Stonehenge was the primeval equivalent of Lourdes, the French shrine venerated for its supposed ability to cure the sick.

An unusual number of skeletons recovered from the area showed signs of serious disease or injury. Analysis of their teeth showed that about half were from outside the Stonehenge area.

"People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," Darvill told journalists assembled at London's Society of Antiquaries.

He pointed out that experts near Stonehenge have found two skulls that showed evidence of primitive surgery, some of just a few known cases of operations in prehistoric Britain.

This 3/31/08 file photo, archaeology students sieve through earth among the stones of Stonehenge. Two British archaeologists say the first excavation at the site of Stonehenge in more than 40 years has shed new light on the purpose of the landmark. Professors told journalists on 9/22/08 that Stonehenge was a kind of primeval Lourdes. They say the stone circle was a center of healing that attracted the sick and infirm from all over prehistoric Europe. They also say they have dated the first stone monuments at the site to about 2,300 B.C. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file).

"Even today, that's the pretty serious end of medicine," he said. Also found near Stonehenge was the body of a man known as the Amesbury Archer, who had a damaged skull and badly hurt knee and died around the time the stones were being installed. Analysis of the Archer's bones showed he was from the Alps.

Darvill cautioned, however, that the new evidence did not rule out other uses for Stonehenge.

"It could have been a temple, even as it was a healing center," Darvill said. "Just as Lourdes, for example, is still a religious center."

The archaeologists managed to date the construction of the stone monument to about 2,300 B.C., a couple of centuries younger than was previously thought. It was at that time that bluestones — a rare rock known to geologists as spotted dolomite — were shipped by hand or by raft from Pembrokeshire in Wales to Salisbury Plain in southern England, to create the inner circle of Stonehenge.

The outer circle, composed of much larger sandstone slabs, is what most people associate with the monument today, particularly since only about a third of the 80 or so bluestones remain. The scientists argued that they were once at the heart of Stonehenge, and closely associated with its healing properties.

As evidence, Darvill said his dig had uncovered masses of fragments carved out of the bluestones by people to create amulets. Any rock carried around in such a way would have had some sort of protective or healing property, he said. He said that theory was backed by burials in southwest England where the stones were interred with their owners.

Today the bluestones are now largely invisible, dwarfed by the huge sandstone monoliths — or "hanging stones" — that were erected later and still make up Stonehenge's iconic profile.

"They are of course quite impressive when you see them," Darvill said. "But in a sense they are the elaboration of a structure which kicked off with the bluestones."

The prehistoric Callanish or Calanais standing stones in Lewis, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides islands, which are older than Stonehenge, are shown in this August 2005 photo (AP Photo/Hugh A. Mulligan).

Both archaeologists quoted the 12th-century monk Geoffrey of Monmouth as saying the stones were thought to have medicinal properties. They also said that evidence uncovered by their dig showed that people were moving and chipping off pieces of the bluestones through the Roman period and even into the Middle Ages.

Darvill said he felt the "folklore interest" in the bluestones into modern times suggested some sort of lingering memory of their supposed healing powers.

"That would be for me the single strongest piece of evidence," he said.

Andrew Fitzpatrick, from British heritage group Wessex Archaeology, said Darvill and Wainwright's discovery was "very important" but that the healing theory, while plausible, was not the only one.

"I don't think we can rule out the other main competing theory — that the temple was a meeting point between the land of the living and the dead," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

The scientists announced their findings Monday, ahead of a documentary due to air on the BBC and the Smithsonian Channel on Saturday, Sept. 27.