M.J. Rose

Symphony of Science – ‘We Are All Connected’ (ft. Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)

For the next four minutes just set everything else aside. You’ll enjoy this, I promise…

Even in rubble they are mysterious and beautiful – new discoveries are made about the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan…

(Even statues can experience reincarnation!)

Destroyed Buddhas Reveal Their True Colors
by Andrew Lawler 

Ten years ago tomorrow, the Taliban began to systematically destroy the great Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan—two giant statues that watched over the Bamiyan Valley for 1500 years. Now, extensive studies of the rubble have revealed new details about the creation and appearance of these statues, including their original colors.

Bamiyan was an important monastic complex at a time when Buddhism began to spread from India and Pakistan into Central Asia and China. But dating the massive statues—38 and 55 meters high, respectively—that were carved into the sandstone cliffs has proved problematic. Based on the style of the robes, art historians have long believed the monuments were made as early as the 3rd century C.E.

But the new analysis indicates that they were made a few hundred years after this. Drawing on organic material in the clay layers in the rubble of the destroyed Buddhas, a team led by Erwin Emmerling of the Technical University of Munich in Germany used mass spectrometry analysis to date the smaller Buddha to between 544 C.E. and 595 C.E. and the larger Buddha to between 591 C.E. and 644 C.E. These later dates may show that the complex remained vibrant longer than scholars once thought, even after the advent of Islam in Afghanistan starting in the 7th century C.E…

For the complete article please click here to go to Science Now.