My Science School

Located on a plateau above the Osaka plain in Japan, this property includes 49 mounds (kofuns) made for the members of the elite. A material representation of the Kofun period from the third to the sixth century CE, these 49 kofuns were chosen from among a total of 1,60,000 in Japan.

The property demonstrates the differences in social classes that existed then and stands testimony to a highly sophisticated funerary system. The kofuns, which were once decorated with paving stones and clay figures, can be found in the shapes of a keyhole, scallop, square or circle.

Despite changed uses and landscape treatments, and the high degree of 20th century urbanisation of the Osaka region, the kofun are a significant visible and historical presence within the present-day landscape. The authenticity of the selected kofun is demonstrated by their forms, materials and extensive archaeological contents, as well as the esteem which they engender in Japanese society. While the Ryobo generally demonstrate a high degree of authenticity, there are variations within the series. There is a need to ensure that seibi works are subject to impact assessment and reviewed in order to sustain the authenticity of the kofun.

 

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Located on a plateau in central Laos, the Plain of Jars gets its name from the over 2000 tubular-shaped megalithic stone jars used for funerary practices in the Iron Age. Divided into 15 components, the property contains large carved stone jars, stone discs, tombstones, secondary burials, quarries and funerary objects dating from 500 BCE to 500 CE. The Jars are the most prominent evidence of the Iron Age civilization that made and used them until its disappearance.

The sites are considered a “serial property” consisting of two or more unconnected related areas. Located on hill slopes and spurs surrounding the central plateau, the well-crafted jars required technological skill to produce and move from the quarry locations to the funeral sites. The property was proposed to be inscribed under criterion (iii), being an exceptional testimony to an Iron Age civilization. The distribution of the sites is thought to be associated with overland routes at the historical crossroads between the Mun-Mekong and the Red River/Gulf of Tonkin systems.

 

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Characterized by hogback hills, small plots of vines on narrow grassy terraces (ciglioni), forests, farmland and small villages, the landscape of the Prosecoo wine production area has been shaped and adapted by man for centuries. Located in northeastern Italy, the landscape is known for its chequerboard pattern consisting of rows of vines parallel and vertical to the slopes. The 19th Century bellussera technique of training the vines a few metres off the ground, has contributed to the looks of the landscape.

The declaration was made in Baku (Azerbaijan) at the 43rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, with a unanimous vote by the 21 Committee Member States, thus confirming the high profile of the Italian candidacy. The result is proof of the leading position held by Italy within the UNESCO and the excellent teamwork carried out to promote Brand Italy, which saw the involvement of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry and Tourism Policies, the Veneto Region and the Candidacy Promotion Committee.  

 

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Located on the flood plain of the Elbe River in Kladruby nad Labem, Czech Republic, the property, its design and functional use serve the needs of breeding and training the Baroque draught horses of the Kladruber breed. These horses were used during the ceremonies of the Habsburg Imperial Court. The property is a rare example of the merging of two types of cultural landscape – living and organically developing landscape, and manmade landscape, intentionally designed using the principles of the French and English landscape architecture.

Up to 1918, the town was part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, district of Pardubitz (Pardubice), Bohemia. The stamp cancelled in 1903 shows the two official names: KLADRUB A.D. ELBE and KLADRUBY NAD LABEM since the end of the 19th century.

Kladruby nad Labem is renowned as home of the Kladruber horse breed. On 6 July 2019, the Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

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Krzemionki is a group of four mining sites located in the mountain region of Swietokzyskie near Kielce, Poland. The property, dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze age (3900 to 1600 BCE), features one of the world’s most comprehensive prehistoric underground flint extraction and processing systems. Lint was used mainly for axe-making.

With its underground mining structures, flint workshops, and close to 4,000 mine shafts and pits, Krzeminonki bear testimony to the importance of flint mining for tool production in human history.

Poland nominated the Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Plint Mining Region for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in early 2018, and later in the year an ICOMOS expert visited the site and gave a positive recommendation. The decision to add Krzemionki Opatowskie to the World Heritage List was made during the 43 session of the World Heritage Committee held in Baku (Azerbaijan).

The Krzemionki mining complex is the sixteenth site in Poland included in the World Heritage List.

 

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• Cueva de Manos: The cave of hands, in Patagonia, Argentina, gets its name from the “stenciled” handprints that dot the cave. Of course, there are other depictions of hunting scenes and animals, but the hands (most of them are left hands) were spray-painted and hence, the specialty. These date back up to 13,000 years.


• Altamira Cave: This cave in northern Spain was discovered in the 19th Century. It had depictions of bison, horses and handprints, coloured ochre and outlined in black. They were so well-preserved that scientists thought it was fake until 1902, when it was deemed genuine.


• Lion Man: This is a prehistoric sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stad!, a cave in Germany, in 1939. Nicknamed Lowenmensch, or lion man, it is the oldest-known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world. It is between 35,000 and 40,000 years old.


• Nazca Lines: The Nazca Lines in Peru are great examples of geoglyphs. These large creations are made by incisions in soil. They are of various animals such as monkeys, dogs, spiders, and fish and since they are so big, they are best seen from the air. There are over 70 such images with the total length of the lines being over 1,300 km. They occupy over 50 sq.km of land. These are more recent, and date between 500 BC and 500 AD.

Wow Facts

Scientists have found drawings by homo sapiens that date back as far as 73,000 years – some of the earliest in history! Among the oldest in sub-Saharan African art, the Blombos Cave has abstract geometric signs and beads made from shells. These were discovered in 2002 and date back to 70,000 BC. The discovery suggests that human beings used and understood symbols back then.

The Bhimbetka and Daraki-Chattan caves in Madhya Pradesh are the oldest evidence of prehistoric art and human existence in India. While the caves had been used as shelter in excess of 1,00,000 years, the earliest paintings there are 30,000 years old.

 

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Prehistoric art constitutes all forms of art and communication in pre-literature eras and the pre-historic period, roughly from 40000 to 5000 BC. In layman terms, much before there was papers or pens, leave alone mobile phones, computers or the Internet! This meant that people had to communicate with each other in person.

Prehistoric art is among the earliest forms of sculpting and painting. Whether this art took shape to express one’s creativity is unknown but what is clear is that humans wanted to leave their legacy behind. Either that, or they were just really good at Pictionary!

So, early human chose what they could find and began to draw. Sometimes it would be a cave. If that didn’t get the message across, they would make sculptures (the most popular being the Lion Man, said to be about 40,000 years old). Geoglyphs (a large design made on the ground, mostly using rocks or other materials) and megaliths (a large stone sculpted into a monument) probably helped as well.

These forms of art were a way of recording history and culture until humans began to develop some kind of written language to keep records better. Therefore, the age at which prehistoric art transitions into ancient art is blurry and varies it different parts of the world. You know earlier, not everyone caught on that fast!

 

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