Anthropomorphic Images Research Articles

ЖЕРТВЕННЫЕ КОМПЛЕКСЫУСТЬ-ВАГИЛЬСКОГО ХОЛМА НА РЕКЕ ТАВДЕ (ПО МАТЕРИАЛАМ РАСКОПОК 1970 ГОДА)

Ust-Vagilsky Hill is an unusual cult site in the form of a hill with a diameter of about 50 m and a height of up to 6 m is located in the upper reaches of the Tavda river (Garinsky district of the Sverdlovsk region). All epochs from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages are represented on the hill. Each epoch is characterized by its own features. For the Mesolithic, this is a geometric microlith and an arrowhead on a narrow plate. Ceramic vessels with anthropomorphic images stuck on their corollas were widely used in the Neolithic era. The Neolithic is also characterized by large nucleus and tools on wide (1.5–2.5 cm) plates of light gray weakly siliceous rock. The Eneolithic is represented by ceramic vessels decorated with a variety of geometric patterns from the impressions of a comb stamp, as well as polished arrowheads typical of this era, pendants made of dark red pyrophyllite slate, and the pommel of a mace. The transition period from late Bronze to Early Iron is characterized by ceramics of the Vagil type and remnants of metallurgical production in the form of pieces of slag, baked and crusted clay, and fragments of ceramics. This complex includes ornamental fishing sinkers, individual stone products and a clay stamp, which gives prints of a single-row fine-toothed wave. Among them are arrowheads in the form of wide isosceles triangles and scrapers, from the back and from the abdomen treated with flat retouching. The epoch of the Middle Ages is represented by ceramics of the Zelenogorsk type, an iron knife and bone tools (a dagger, a spearhead, arrowheads and points). The sacrificial character of the complexes is emphasized by the presence of ochre and non-utilitarian products: the pommel of a mace, pendants made of pyrophyllite slate, and individual clay products.

Anthropomorphic Figurines with Hunched Backs and Deformed Breasts in Kodjadermen–Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI Culture

A number of unusual anthropomorphic figurines featuring hunched backs and conical protrusions on their chests have been unearthed in several settlements that belong to the area of the Kodjadermen–Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI culture. The figurines have not been subject to a special study in scholarly literature so far and hence, no attempt at their interpretation has ever been made.The study discusses the possibility that these unusual images reflect a physical disability caused by Pott’s disease. Anthropologic research on skeletal remains of the Eneolithic population of Europe has established pathological changes that are consistent with this disease. Its cause, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has been identified also through biomolecular study of human bones, which confirms the spread of tuberculosis in this period. The author furthermore argues about the possible use of this type of figurines in magic rituals. In addition, some ethnographic data is supplied for the use of clay anthropomorphic images in health-bringing and healing rites.

Evaluation, Comparison and Monitoring of Multiparameter Systems by Unified Graphic Visualization of Activity Method on the Example of Learning Process

The article discusses the problem of visualization of complex multiparameter systems, defined by datasets on their structure, functional structure, and activity in the form of complex graphs and transition of traditional representation of the data acquired by graph mining to a compact image built by pictographic methods. In these situations, we propose using the Unified Graphic Visualization of Activity (UGVA) method for data concentration and structuring. The UGVA method allows coding in an anthropomorphic image of elements of graphs with data on structural and functional features of systems and overlaying these images with the data on the system’s activity using coloring and artifacts. The image can be composed in different ways: it can include the zone of integral evaluation parameters, segmented data axes of five types, and four types of symmetry. We describe the method of creating UGVA images, which consists of 13 stages: the parametric model is represented as a structural image that is converted to a basic image that is then detailed into the particular image by defining geometric parameters of the primitives and to the individualized image with the data about a particular object. We show how the individualized image can be overlaid with the operative data as color coding and artifacts and describe the principles of interpreting UGVA images. This allows solving tasks of evaluation, comparison, and monitoring of complex multiparameter systems by showing the decision-maker an anthropomorphic image instead of the graph. We describe a case study of using the UGVA method for visualization of data about an educational process: curricula and graduate students, including the data mined from the university’s learning management system at the Siberian Federal University for students majoring in “informatics and computing”. The case study demonstrates all stages of image synthesis and examples of their interpretation for situation assessment, monitoring, and comparison of students and curricula. It allowed for finding problematic moments in learning for individual students and their entire group by analyzing the development of their competence profiles and formulating recommendations for further learning. The effectiveness of the resulting images is compared to the other approaches: elastic maps and Chernoff faces. We discuss using graph mining to generate learning problems in order to lessen the workload of gathering raw data for the UGVA method and provide general recommendations for using the UGVA method based on our experience of supporting decision making.

On the Two Types of Resources for Innovative Primary School Teacher Training

In the article, the authors substantiate the approach to educational innovations as different types of resources - human and technological. Moreover, the concept of “innovation” is understood by the authors in a broad sense: these are objects, phenomena and trends that emerged recently, experienced unexpected development or require urgent changes. The authors discuss the role of human non-technogenic innovation resources and their prospects in personal and organizational-methodological meaning. The purpose of the article is to outline the prospects for the development of an innovative personality for future teachers and demonstrate them some zones of potential occurrence of innovations. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the educational technologies gradually drive out the teacher from the main role which threatens education, that has always been anthropomorphic, rather than technocentric. Methods. During the study, philosophical metaphysical methods were used, in particular the method of “monologic debate”, reflection on global trends in education. From more specific methods, an analysis of educational processes, generalization and modelling of possible educational consequences were used. This made it possible to outline possible directions of personal innovative growth of the teacher in the context of global changes (presented in Table 1). The result of the article. The authors also investigated Ukrainian and foreign scientific literature on the topic and evaluated it from the point of view of pragmatics and axiology. They also proved a thesis about the new ontological essence of educational and teacher innovation: the change of social and educational environments, the development of electronic technologies force to modify not so much the environment as the professional self-identification of the teacher, the specifics of their resources, professional and ontological “self”. Now the institutional resource support has become less important for the teacher, and the subjectivity comes to the fore, which actively uses innovative resources and is the source thereof. The international significance of the article is explained by the global crisis of the educational values, substitution of the anthropomorphic image of education with hi-tech, which should attract the attention of all civilized humanity.

THE ORIGINS OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL WORLDVIEW IN THE ART OF ANCIENT CHINA

China is one of the most ancient civilizations of mankind. Ancient Chinese art and culture have deep spiritual traditions that arose from the fusion of various ethno-cultural values. The art and culture of ancient China are rightfully considered one of the most striking and unique phenomena in the history of human civilization. Since the fifth millennium, the first agricultural centers have appeared in ancient China. It should be noted that the very first mythological and cosmological worldviews of ancient China are connected with the ancient Chinese agricultural culture. Geometric and floral ornaments, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images that adorn ancient Chinese ceramics of the Neolithic era reflect the myths and rituals of the ancient Chinese. In the middle of the II millennium BC, the Yin civilization was formed in the Yellow River basin. The Yin period in the history of ancient Chinese culture marks a huge progress in many areas of ancient Chinese society. It is also noteworthy that in the decorative and applied art of ancient China of the Yin period, completely new and different art products with elements and motifs of the "animal" style appear in their forms and compositional content. Many researchers believe that the ancient Chinese animal style could have originated and developed under the influence of neighboring nomadic tribes and peoples, as a result of military and trade contacts. Objects with zoomorphic images and compositions that relate to the art of Ancient China of the Han period are carriers of the aesthetic principles of “steppe animalismˮ. These artistic images made in the “animal style” have a high level of decorative stylization, which are characteristic of Ancient Scythian and Hunnic art. Ancient Chinese art, unique both in its ancient semantics and in the style of depicting artistic images, is a phenomenal and still not fully explored phenomenon.

From Homeland-Mother to Azhong-Brother: a qualitative study of nation anthropomorphism among Chinese youths

Nation anthropomorphism refers to the symbol and the symbolization process in which human-like characteristics are metaphorically attributed to a nation. In China, the Homeland-Mother ( zuguomuqin) is a widely accepted anthropomorphic image representing the nation. However, a brotherly national image named Azhong-Brother ( azhonggege) derived from subcultures was created and went viral on social media platforms with fierce controversy since 2019. Based on 23 in-depth interviews with China’s young netizens of wide variations, this study explored the differences between these two symbols, Chinese youths’ identification with the nation through the symbols, and their identity negotiation amid the controversy surrounding the image of Azhong-Brother. We discussed the symbolic contestation between traditional hegemonic and emergent soft masculinities within Azhong-Brother, the instrumental and sentimental national attachment associated with Homeland-Mother and Azhong-Brother, and the conflicts arising from the negotiation of multiple identities in relation to Azhong-Brother.

THE TECHNOLOGY OF CLASSICAL NATURALISM IN ANCIENT RELIGIOUS IMAGES?

The characteristic forms of Graeco-Roman naturalism, first developed in late Archaic and Classical Greece and ultimately inherited by the Roman world, could reasonable be viewed as a sort of artistic ‘technology’ within religious imagery, facilitating the efficacy of the cult image as a proxy for a god. This is true even for the Roman period when the heritage of Greek styles and conventions had become a highly conventionalized and conservative ‘language’ for religious representation. Nevertheless, the utility of classical naturalism as a representational strategy in such images had its limits. An interesting sidelight is cast on this issue by considering the ancient Buddhist art of Gandhara in Central/South Asia, which adopted the conventions of classical naturalism afresh, in order to invent the anthropomorphic image of the superhuman yet superlatively humane Buddha. The Gandharan case illustrated the undiminished potential of this visual tradition in the early centuries AD.

Science fiction literature as a prediction of human’s communication 
 with artificial intelligence

Science fiction literature simulates our reality in a specific way. It also provides opportunities to predict not only the development of technologies, particularly the artificial intelligence, but also the modes of the humans communication with these technologies, that are resented in the written works via anthropomorphic images. In this article there have been analyzed the organizational interaction modes between a human being and artificial intelligence within the scope of science fiction as exemplified by the works of Ph. Dick, A. Azimov, D. Adams, A. Clarke and W. Gibson. It has been pointed out that the authors conceptualize the artificial intelligence via three methods: comparison to a human being, creating the images of supercomputers and super-mind. The authorial communication models oriented on the interaction with artificial intelligence are focused on the development of the human inner world, the search of the answers on the key being questions. Interaction with the other, non-human consciousness collides with the technological limits and the destruction of the subject-object communication sphere. The analysis of the authorial communication models oriented on the interaction with artificial intelligence has shown that the basic problems of such communication is the impossibility of creating the dialogue-like relations and understanding of the other as the main communicative efficiency norm. The artificial intelligence, becoming the communication subject, continues to be perceived by the characters of the literature work as am object. The above-mentioned situation in the end leads to destruction of dialogical communication. True communication is possible under circumstances, when a human being understands technological restraints of artificial intelligence and he / she is ready to enrich it proactively with sense within the context of functional objectives solutions.

Art and feminine iconography: locating the aesthetic/profane body in the Bharat Mata paintings

ABSTRACT Indian art engages with the cartographic representation of the motherland and utilizes feminine iconography as an integral tool for interpreting socio-cultural changes at micro/macro level of the nation. Bharat Mata's anthropomorphic image as a 'living mother' can be traced as the idealized, asexual, pure figure of the past which attempts in recognizing the secular-national terrain where she can claim her own 'geo-body'. With nudity emerging as a hyper-visible metonym for obscene sexuality in the popular imagination, it turns out to be a set of jumbled 'attitudes' and 'rationalizations' Positing the painting against this backdrop of aestheticism/obscenity, this paper attempts to foreground how the female body inscribed with the symbolic value of both ‘mater' (mother) and ‘materia' (matter) related to nation-building has engendered ‘naked' figure of a woman ‘clothed' in art to transgress from the aesthetic framework into parameters of obscenity thereby nullifying artistic subjectivity and creativity. The paper draws attention towards how certain feminine depictions representing the spiritual and motherly attributes are idolized and the depiction of the physical or sensual, if not actively censored continue to be regulated from the public eye by certain institutions operating as discreet forms of ‘censorship’ on female nudity.

The Iron Combat Hatchet with an Anthropomorphic Image from the Novotroitsk Necropolis (Materials for the Course “Archaeological heritage of Altai”)

Purpose . The article presents the results of the development of a problem task for the academic discipline “ Archaeological heritage of Altai ”, studied by second-year students of the Institute of History , Social Communications and Law of the Altai State Pedagogical University, studying in the direction of training “ Tourism ”. As part of the educational project , students are invited to establish the reliability of the interpretation of a well-known archaeological find in the region – an Iron Combat Hatchet with an anthropomorphic image from the Novotroitskoye-2 necropolis . Results . During the implementation of the educational project , the study of the history of the discovery of the Combat Hatchet , the search and analysis of its multi-temporal photographs , the comparison of the original photographs and research reconstruction are carried out . In the course of these operations , it is established that the anthropomorphic image on the Hatchet was not recorded at the time of its discovery . During the processing of the Hatchet , fragments of corrosion were removed from it , due to which it acquired human-like shapes . There are no analogies to such an image on the sites of the south of Western Siberia . Thus , the fact of the presence of an anthropomorphic image on the Hatchet from Novotroitskoye-2 is questioned . Conclusion . Problem tasks based on the consideration of particular debatable topics that involve variability of judgments have a clear promise in the modern educational practice of higher educational institutions . Their involvement in the educational process contributes to the formation of students ' critical thinking .

3D printed anthropomorphic left ventricular myocardial phantom for nuclear medicine imaging applications

BackgroundAnthropomorphic torso phantoms, including a cardiac insert, are frequently used to investigate the imaging performance of SPECT and PET systems. These phantom solutions are generally featuring a simple anatomical representation of the heart. 3D printing technology paves the way to create cardiac phantoms with more complex volume definition. This study aimed to describe how a fillable left ventricular myocardium (LVm) phantom can be manufactured using geometry extracted from a patient image.MethodsThe LVm of a healthy subject was segmented from 18F-FDG attenuation corrected PET image set. Two types of phantoms were created and 3D printed using polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) material: one representing the original healthy LVm, and the other mimicking myocardium with a perfusion defect. The accuracy of the LVm phantom production was investigated by high-resolution CT scanning of 3 identical replicas. 99mTc SPECT acquisitions using local cardiac protocol were performed, without additional scattering media (“in air” measurements) for both phantom types. Furthermore, the healthy LVm phantom was inserted in the commercially available DataSpectrum Anthropomorphic Torso Phantom (“in torso” measurement) and measured with hot background and hot liver insert.ResultsPhantoms were easy to fill without any air-bubbles or leakage, were found to be reproducible and fully compatible with the torso phantom. Seventeen segments polar map analysis of the "in air” measurements revealed that a significant deficit in the distribution appeared where it was expected. 59% of polar map segments had less than 5% deviation for the "in torso” and "in air” measurement comparison. Excluding the deficit area, neither comparison had more than a 12.4% deviation. All the three polar maps showed similar apex and apical region values for all configurations.ConclusionsFillable anthropomorphic 3D printed phantom of LVm can be produced with high precision and reproducibility. The 3D printed LVm phantoms were found to be suitable for SPECT image quality tests during different imaging scenarios. The flexibility of the 3D printing process presented in this study provides scalable and anthropomorphic image quality phantoms in nuclear cardiology imaging.

Чемурчекские антропоморфы

The article studies peculiar anthropomorphic rock images of the Mongolian Altai, representing some persons in shoulder clothes. The co-authors analyzed the results of their own field studies and published materials from the excavated complexes of the Mongolian Altai, Tibetan petroglyphs and stone sculptures of Xinjiang. They offer an experience of typological research of the “Chemurchek type” anthropomorphic figures, a chronology and semantics of these images, and present their hypothesis about the prototypes of “Chemurchek anthropomorphs” in the cult sculpture of the Bactria–Margiana archaeological complex.

Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism in the Ornamental Art of the Crimean Tatars

The author of the article reveals the problem of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images in Islamic art, particularly in the Turkic ornamentation of the Crimea. Superficial, unscientific interpretations of motifs and ornamental compositions often lead to the search for and appropriation of anthropomorphism without appropriate research, loose interpretations of motifs, and the creation of a new mythology. Despite conservative views regarding the categorical denial of the permissiveness of the image of a person, there are many surviving works of fine and decorative art that confirm an opposite tradition. Currently, there are practically no studies of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism in the Turkic ornamentation of the Crimea, their typological and artistic features, and their symbolic context. Based on the material of decorative and applied art of the Crimean Tatars from the fourteenth century to the present, examples of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamental images are provided in the article. They are stylized objects – fully, partially, or in the form of a silhouette – reflecting the surrounding real world of living beings. Complete naturalistic images (birds, fish, animals, insects) are found on objects until the first half of fifteenth century, and then starting again from the second half of eighteenth century. From the sixteenth to the first half of eighteenth centuries, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs were depicted in a stylized form. The author of the study reveals the symbolism of the most common motifs, along with the typological and artistic features of the images. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the color, silhouette, and figurativeness of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images in the Crimean Tatar decorative and applied art depend primarily on the material, technique, and functional purpose of the created object. In addition to images on objects, anthropomorphism is present as the silhouette of objects.

ОЦЕНОЧНАЯ СЕМАНТИКА МЕТАФОРИЧЕСКИХ МОДЕЛЕЙ «ЧЕЛОВЕК – ЭТО МЕХАНИЗМ» И «МЕХАНИЗМ – ЭТО ЧЕЛОВЕК» В РУССКОЙ ЯЗЫКОВОЙ КАРТИНЕ МИРА

Statement of the problem. This article analyzes the anthropomorphic image of a mechanism and the mechanistic image of a person in the aspect of evaluative semantics, reveals the axiological orientation of conceptual models, and presents the characteristics of the reversible correlation of the analyzed concepts in terms of their evaluative orientation. The purpose of the article is to analyze the metaphorical models “MAN – MECHANISM” and “MECHANISM – MAN” in terms of evaluative semantics, to identify the nature and axiological potential of conceptual metaphorical models. The study was carried out on the methodological basis of cognitive linguistics and was carried out on the material of the texts of the National Corpus of the Russian Language, Internet forums representing the semantics of the mechanism both as a target sphere and as a source sphere for the metaphorical interpretation of the image of a person. Research results confirm the functional-semantic asymmetry of metaphorical models, which appears in different evaluative orientations of the metaphors of the compared models. Thus, most of the lexical representatives of the “MAN is a MECHANISM” model is characterized by a negative evaluative connotation: a person in the image of a mechanism is characterized negatively or ironically. While the evaluative semantics of the metaphors of the correlated MM “MECHANISM is a MAN” is characterized by neutrality.

Turning the Party State Inside Out: CCP Intra-party Regulations as a Theoretical Challenge

Abstract Scholarship on the Chinese party state commonly treats the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a black box: the Party acts in the world, using the law as its tool to achieve its political goals. The study of intra-party regulations turns this anthropomorphic image inside out, requiring scholars to regard the very notion of the Party and rule-based governance as ideologically and theoretically contentious matters. This article maps out—and criticizes—prominent approaches to the study of intra-party regulations and rule-based governance within the CCP. It is certainly possible to explain CCP intra-party regulations through external social theoretical perspectives, such as Ernst Fraenkel’s dual state model. However, such perspectives do not necessarily help one understand the CCP leaders’ and ideologues’ idiosyncratic approach to rule-based governance. Fraenkel’s dual state model, in particular, fails to fully describe the role of rule-based governance in the CCP’s governance project.

Images on Halaf Pottery from Syria

Pottery marked the advent of the agricultural revolution, transition to sedentary life, and a new era of intellectual development. Man used pottery to communicate important ideas in symbolic form. This article presents examples of ancient art, in particular, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images on pottery. The research featured ceramic vessels found at the archaeological sites of Halaf culture in Syria. The research objective was to interpret their meaning using various descriptive and analytical methods. The author believes that the ancient potter used animal images out of reverence or fear. Animal images on pottery point at the close interaction between people, animals, and nature.

Гидропоэтика Алтая: реки

The article explores the water sphere of the Altai text (with the exception of lakes). The research methodology is based on works on local supertexts by representatives of the Tartu-Moscow school, as well as adherents of the geocultural and geopoetic approach. A range of motifs and images based on the real qualities of the object under study, on cultural tradition, and on archetypal foundations is revealed. The Katun and the Biya differ in their origin, color of water, specific flow, and sound. In a work of fiction, all the real characteristics of these and other Altai rivers often underlie the metaphor of personification. The formation of one of the main rivers of Siberia, the Ob, by the confluence of the Katun and the Biya, is reflected in literature through a visual image - the color difference between two rivers in the channel of the third, and an anthropomorphic image - the union / conflict of a man and a woman, two women. Chuyskiy Trakt is an analogue of the Chuya and the Katun. The white color of the mountain rivers is identified with milk and gray hair, giving rise to zoomorphic and anthropomorphic metaphors. The noise of the mountain rivers is interpreted as the cry of the beast, crying and speech, including artistic and human ones. The flow of water is associated with the passage of time, a turbulent current with a difficult historical moment, the immutability of the flow with eternity. Especially frequent is the chronotope of a river crossing associated with a crisis moment in the life of a person and/or society. Metonymic substitutions of a river and a crossing according to the pars pro toto principle, and vice versa, are based on a borderline - a feature common for them. The border concentrates around itself plots related to the implementation/impossibility of contact, changes. Therefore, not only the crossing of the river, but also the path along the river is accompanied by corresponding events. Swimming in the river is endowed with adventurous, epistemological, aesthetic functions. Rivers allow differentiating space and navigating in it. Small rivers are usually associated with the concepts of homeland and childhood. The noted semantics are universal for the most part. The territorial attachment of these meanings arises due to toponymic markers. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Anthropomorphic Images in the Works of the Chukchi Writer Yury Rytkheu

Anthropomorphic Images in the Works of the Chukchi Writer Yury Rytkheu

ЖИВОПИСЬ И ЖИЗНЬ В ГРОТЕ ШАХТЫ (ВОСТОЧНЫЙ ПАМИР)

The Shakhty rock-shelter is the most famous rock art site in the Eastern Pamir. It was discovered and thoroughly studied by V. A. Ranov in 1958. After a long break, the research was resumed only in 2019. The article highlights the results of the studies, which included field observations on the site and work with the V. A. Ranov’s collection, stored in the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography named after A. Donish of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. In addition to previously discovered and described by V. A. Ranov zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images, thanks to modern methods of rock paintings analysis, several more figures were identified, details of previously known images were clarified, including important for their attribution and interpretation. Based on the new data on the site, an attempt was made to date the images. For the lithic artifacts discovered during the V. A. Ranov’s excavations in the Shakhty rock-shelter typological and use-wear analyses were carried out. Based on the diary records of V. A. Ranov, we restored the planigraphic data. The combined application of these techniques has made it possible to localize some artifacts used in various operations, as well as to relate these data to images on the wall of the rock-shelter.

Semantics of Anthropomorphic Images on Shamanic Drums of Shors as an Object of Intangible Cultural Heritage

The article substantiates the significance of the refering to the mythological ideas of the ethnos about the structure of the universe, about the anthropomorphic spirits inhabiting the world. The semantics of images on drums is characterized as one of the categories of intangible cultural heritage that has a material embodiment. The possibility of reconstructing the semantics of anthropomorphic images on the drums of Shor shamans is considered. Interpretation based on the researchers' fixation data is defined as the main method of reconstruction. The results can be used in the cultural and educational activities of the museum. The preferred forms of this activity may be interactive excursions and master classes.