miércoles, 15 de junio de 2011

Sculpture in Rome.

The romans innovated by making portraits.
Three types:


                                           Bust: Showing only the head and the shoulders.



        The equestrian statues: The person is sitting in a horse.



Commemorative relief: showed the gestures and archievements of the emperors.


miércoles, 13 de abril de 2011

PREHISTORY HOMEWORK


INTRODUCTION TO PREHISTORY
What is the difference between Prehistory and History?
The difference is that Prehistory is the period that lasts from de origin of the human species until the appearance of writing (3500 BC) and the History is the period of time after writing was invented until today.












What does Palaeolithic mean?
Palaeolithic is a prehistoric time characterized by the use of stone tools, but also they used bone, wood, leather, fibers, etc. It is the longest period of human history. It extends from 2,6 million year ago until 10000 years.













ATAPUERCA
What is Atapuerca?  Why is it important?
Atapuerca is a small mountain range where there is an important archaeological site. It is important due to the finds that are taking place, which allows the study of human evolution in our continent.


Where is it?
Atapuerca is located in the north of Ibeas de Juarros in the province of Burgos (Spain), between the Cantabrian and Iberian Mountain Ranges.



What can you find there?
We can find several caves, where fossils, rock paintings and stone tools have been found; such us Sima del Elefante, Sima de los Huesos, Portalón, Gran Dolina, etc.












Write about the most important fact you think it is there.
I think the most important fact is that thanks to discoveries to being made there, we can know how humans lived at this time and how they evolved: hunting´s methods, farming, grazing, such as communicating, ornaments, methods of burial, to meet the daily activities through paintings, prints and ceramics, tools, materials they used, etc.

martes, 12 de abril de 2011

MEGALITHS

MEGALITHS
When?  The megaliths appeared in the 6th millennium BC.
Who?   They were built by the more advanced societies.
What?  They are monuments. They were made out of large stones called megaliths. There are different types: Menhir, Dolmen and Stone circle.
Where?  In Europe.
Why?    Menhir: They were commemorative or to mark territory.


               Dolmen: This is a collective burial chamber.



  

            Stone circle:  They may have been linked to cults of agriculture or the Sun.

domingo, 10 de abril de 2011

MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in the Spanish lands in the Medieval centuries. The three groups coexisted peacefully during part of the Middle Ages, but from the late 14th century Muslims minorities and Jewish, especially the latter, suffered violent persecution which made it difficult for his life in the territory. All of them, almost always, were tolerant of the traditions and religions of others.
The three cultures worship the same God but in different ways: The Muslims´ God is Allah and they follow the teaching of their holy book, the Koran; the Christians´ God is Christ and their holy book is the Bible and the Jews´ God is Yahveh and their holy book is the Torah.


Muslims                                                            Jews              Christians

MUSLIMS:
In the eight century (711-716) the Muslims conquered all of Spain called al-Andalus. They settled mainly in Granada and Cordoba. With people living in the occupied land, the Muslims respected their religion, both Christians and Jews. They demanded them tributes and part of the land. In the eight centuries that remained in the Iberian Peninsula they passed through various stages of organization: Caliphates, Emirates and Taifas. They left us samples of their great architecture like the Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra in Granada and a wide variety of books, over 400.000.








                      
    Mosque of Granada



CHRISTIANS:
From the year 722 and for a long time, until 1492, Christians were gradually conquered the Iberian Peninsula and defeating and expelling Muslims and Jews. The population of these Christian kingdoms lived next to Muslims and the Jewish population, who had arrived in the Iberian Peninsula for centuries and their coexistence gave rise to a rich cultural exchange. The Christians created two constitutions: the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. The Christians build great cathedrals, such us the Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña) and big castles.







                                                                 Cathedral of Toledo







JEWS:
The Jews formed in medieval Spain one of the most affluent communities in its history, both under Muslim rule as in the Christian kingdoms. They helped the Muslim in their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. They lived in communities called Aljamas. At first they lived very well and they were very successful economically, but then they´d to go to the northern Christian kingdoms. They transmitted to Christians all arabic knowledge. They excelled in the field of medicine, botany, geography, mathematics, philosophy and poetry and they gave us their knowledge. They were also responsible for collecting taxes until they were expelled in 1492. The Jews have left their architecture, such us synagogues and at present, there are still Jewish district in some cities.

Synagogue

jueves, 17 de marzo de 2011

TIMELINE

TIMELINE OF LADY GAGA

1986:   Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known as Lady Gaga, was born March 28th in New  York.
1990:   She had a plastic tape recorder and she played songs by Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones and The Beatles. She learned to play piano by ear.

1999:   She writes her own piano ballad.
2000:   Stefani Joanne sings at clubs and open mike nights.
2003:   She gains early admission to the New York University´s Tisch School of the Arts.
2006:   Stefani Joanne writes lyrics for the Pussycat Dolls, Fergie and Britney Spears.











2008:   Lady Gaga released her first album: The Fame. The first single from the album “Just Dance” and the second “Poker Face” have been successful around the world.

2009:   She released the second album: The Fame Monster. The first single “Bad Romance” is also a great success and the most watched in history of You Tube.
2010 (January):    Gaga donates $500.000 to earthquakes victims in Haiti.
2010 (November):   The second single of The Fame Monster: “Telephone” reached number one in the list Pop Songs. Lady Gaga is named one of Time magazine´s 100 most influential people of the year.
2011 (February):     She released the first single from her third album “Born this Way”.                       

domingo, 13 de febrero de 2011

H/W ARROYOMOLINOS

HOMEWORK ARROYOMOLINOS
FIRST PART


1.-  WHERE ARE WE?
    



Arroyomolinos is a small village.

We are in the south-west of Europe













We are in Spain










It´s south of The Community of Madrid, between Mostoles and Navalcarnero.

The red dot shows where is Arroyomolinos.

2.-  MADRID´S FRONTIERS
Madrid is bounded by Segovia to the north-west, Avila to the west, Guadalajara to the east, Cuenca to the south-east and Toledo to the south.














3.-  COORDINATES
The geographic coordinates of Arroyomolinos: 40º16´9´´N 3º55´12´´O

4.- VILLAGES NEAR ARROYOMOLINOS:














Arroyomolinos found near the villages of Moraleja de Enmedio (5,1 Km.), Mostoles (7,6 Km.), Navalcarneron (8,2 Km.), El Alamo (7,5 Km.), Batres (6,5 Km.), Serranillos del Valle (7,7 Km.) and the Parque Coimbra and Cotorredondo development.

5.- FRONTIERS
 Arroyomolinos is bounded by Moraleja de Enmedio to the south and east, Mostoles to the north and by Navalcarnero to the south.

6.- RELIEF AND WATER.
Arroyomolinos is in a depression due to its proximity to the Guadarrama River. The relief is made up of hills in full, except in the vicinity to the streams.
Arroyomolinos belongs to the Regional Park of the river middle course of the Guadarrama River and this runs through the municipality.
Combos´ stream, that flowing through Arroyomolinos, is surrounded by a forest called “El Pinar”. The flow is low but in the rainy season the level rise. This stream has its origin near Fuenlabrada and flows into the Guadarrama River. The Moral Major stream is a tributary of the Combo stream.

















7.-  CLIMATE
The climate is Mediterranean continental, with very cool winters with temperatures below the 8 degrees, night frosts and occasional snowfall. In contrast, the summer is hot with average superior to 24 degrees in July and August, often exceeding 35 degrees.
Precipitation, little abundant in general, are regularly distributed in the year, except in summer.

8.-  ARROYOMOLINOS LANDSCAPE
The landscape is formed mainly by:
·        Dry land crops, devoted to the cultivation of the grain.
·        Scrubs, those are mostly scrub oaks.
·        Pine forest, small pine reforestation.
·        Holms, that is the main vegetation and
·        Forest Bank.

    


    
9.- GENERAL COMMENTS
Arroyomolinos has a population of about 16200 inhabitants and this number will increase considerably in the coming years, due to the number of houses under construction.
The village is divided into three districts or neighborhoods. In the old town are the public services (Police, Council, Health Center, schools, The Tower) and a lot of chalets. In the north are Las Castañeras y Ciudad Jardín with chalets and flats. And in the east are Zarzalejo and El Bosque, here are the Cultural Center, Sports Center, The Civil Guard and the fairgrounds. 










Auditorium                                                                                                                   City council

The village´s annual festival is in June, celebrating the Corpus Christi.
In education, Arroyomolinos has 7 nurseries, 4 public schools, one secondary school and 2 private schools.
Transport: Arroyomolinos has only buses as public transport (496, 497, 498, 498 Xanadu, 499 and 495) which connect to the nearby villages and Madrid.
Arroyomolinos is a very nice village, with many parks, fountains and beautiful places. The best place to live.

    
          











10.- HISTORY OF ARROYOMOLINOS
Arroyomolinos was founded during the Muslim, invasion for more was be later reconquered by the King Alfonso VI of Castile. Place was known as the Arroyo Huts.

                                                                      Ruins of the waterwheel
In 1476 Juan de Oviedo took over the village and ordered the construction of a tower, now known as The Tower or Tower of the Bread. In that year, when Gonzalo Chacón besieged Arroyomolinos combating with Juan de Oviedo the Tower had not concluyed yet, so it was the latter who ordered its completion. In the 20th century the Tower was used as barn in its first two floors and dovecote in the remaining three.
                                                                          Gonzalo Chacon statue
Until at the beginning of the 21st century and although it is very close to Madrid, the village had fewer inhabitants, but the high price of housing in Madrid has driven the demographic development and it has tripled its population.

SECOND PART
OUR VISIT









From de park, just below us, we could see large plains and long paths that cross it, some hills, small groups of trees, probably oaks or pines and some isolated houses. If we looked at Parque Coimbra or Xanadu (more or less in the north), in the background we could see a mountain range, which is the Guadarrama Mountains, and we could distinguish “The Globe” (2.265 m.), the second highest mountain of Navacerrada after Peñalara (2.428 m.)
Looking to the south in the distance, we could see the Navalcarnero village and a little further south, in the background and too far away, we saw the Gredos Mountains, in the Avila´s province.
 (I am sorry about the photos because there are many clouds and we can´t see the mountains. I will go back to take the photos when the weather will be better)