Australian Aboriginal Artist Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann Recognised with Educational Foundation

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

NT News reports that Australian Aboriginal artist and educator Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, "who has an honorary PhD in education, has been made the chair of the new Miriam-Rose Foundation."  The foundation has recently been established to "raise money to help remote indigenous children get better access to education and learning opportunities, including by boarding in cities."

Uniya.com writes that "in 1998, Miriam-Rose was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for her services to Aboriginal education and art, and for services to the Nauiyu community having been for many years a member of the local community council, often in the role of President."

"Despite never attending secondary school, Miriam-Rose became the NT's first Indigenous school teacher and principal of St Francis Xavier in her home community. Influenced by her bush-tracker uncle, Miriam advocates teaching both western and traditional ways in Indigenous communities" (105.7 ABC Darwin).

Maya Archaeological Expert to Speak in Asheville area TWICE this week!

Palenque. Image: INAH

George Stuart

Archaeologist George Stuart, former National Geographic vice president for research and exploration, will present "Recent Discoveries at the Maya City of Palenque,” twice this week in the Asheville, NC area.  Stuart will be speaking on Tuesday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fairview Library, as well as at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 24, in UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library, Whitman Room. In both presentations Stuart will give an overview of Palenque, its importance as a Mayan city and recent discoveries made in the city’s ruins. Both events are free and open to the public.

During his career with the National Geographic Society, Stuart rose to the position of senior archaeology editor of National Geographic Magazine, and chairman of the Committee for Research and Exploration. He is the author of eight books and more than 40 articles, including his book Palenque: Eternal City of the Maya (Thames & Hudson, 2008), co-authored with his son David Stuart.

George Stuart also founded the Boundary End Archaeology Research Center (BEARC), a not-for-profit organization based on his Barnardsville property, which houses a 12,000 volume library on American archaeology. BEARC promotes research related to the archaeology, art, and writing systems of ancient America. Stuart’s many awards include the Tatiana Prokouriakoff Award from Harvard University and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fifth Annual Maya at the Playa conference.

Runestone of Harald Bluetooth, Jelling, Denmark

Jelling Runestone (replica). Erected by King Harald Bluethooth at Jelling in
Jutland, Denmark, 960-980 AD. This honors his parents who made the Danes Christian.

This deserves an extensive post, which I'll try to get to eventually.  In the meantime, feast your eyes on this colorized replica of the Jelling Runestone erected by King Harald Bluethooth at Jelling in Jutland, Denmark, 960-980 AD.  The crucifixion image is extraordinary!  This is a monument mentioned in the book I'm currently reading, Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North by G. Ronald Murphy.   I can't wait to finish devouring it and start blogging about it!

More to come eventually...

Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North

Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North is a new book written by Father G. Ronald Murphy, Professor of German at Georgetown University.  It sounds fascinating and I can't wait to get my hands on my own personal copy (soon, my friend!).  I'm interested to read the author's angle on the subject since I've never read much about it, but I'm sure that there will be much to learn from it about contextualization (and/or syncretism?) of the Gospel.  The book is available in both a hardcover and Kindle edition.  You can read a short article about the book's content here.