Knot of Stone
Knot of Stone

Author: Nicolaas Vergunst

Publisher: Arena books

Published: 2011-04-25

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1906791945

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1510, when the Cape of Good Hope was still revered as the Portal to the Indies, the Viceroy of Portuguese India was led ashore, attacked, slain and hurriedly buried in a shallow grave. The murder of Dom Francisco d'Almeida remains a mystery to this day. Was it the fulfilment of a prophecy or an act of poetic justice? Was it an ambush, a mutiny or even an assassination? If so, was it instigated by the King of Portugal or the Church of Rome?Knot of Stone is a tale of historical detection in which two unlikely travel companions - a restless Dutch historian, Sonja Haas, and a jaded Afrikaans archaeologist, Jason Tomas - find themselves drawn together after discovering a five-century-old skeleton at the foot of Table Mountain. Their search for new evidence leads the reader ever further north to ancestral burial sites, remote mountain sanctuaries, sacred springs, medieval monasteries and rare museum artefacts. Via various roadside encounters, including the startling revelations of a sangoma (a healer empowered by the ancestors), they reconstruct the past and their own identities, with divergent consequences. The multi-layered story is ultimately a tale of self-discovery.As a novel, Knot of Stone presents a unique and insightful revision of actual events, offering a courageous departure from mainstream historical writing. With its captivating mystery, its mixture of legend and original research, plus the karmic background of various historical individuals, this enthralling book will appeal to all those who have enjoyed the enigmatic works of Umberto Eco and Dan Brown.www.knotofstone.com

Geological Journeys
Geological Journeys

Author: Nick Norman

Publisher: Struik Publishers

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9781770070622

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Geological Journeys: a traveller's guide to South Africa's rocks and landforms is an essential companion for car journeys. How often have we wondered about the jaunty tilt of a mountain ahead, the unusual patterns of a road cutting, the colour and texture of the roadside soil, or the purpose of a distant minehead? This handy volume offers answers and explanations about features along all the major routes across South Africa, and some of the lesser, but geologically interesting, routes too. Also included are the three main metropolitan areas - Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban - so that city r.

Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa
Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa

Author: Stefan Grab

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-03-05

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 3319035606

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book presents a beautifully illustrated overview of the most prominent landscapes of South Africa and the distinctive landforms associated with them. It describes the processes, origins and the environmental significance of those landscapes, including their relationships to human activity of the past and present. The sites described in this book include, amongst others, the Blyde River Canyon, Augrabies Falls, Kruger National Park, Kalahari desert landscapes, the Great Escarpment, Sterkfontein caves and karst system, Table Mountain, Cape winelands, coastal dunes, rocky coasts, Boer War battlefield sites, and Vredefort impact structure. Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa provides a new perspective on South Africa’s scenic landscapes by considering their diversity, long and short term histories, and importance for geoconservation and geotourism. This book will be relevant to those interested in the geology, physical geography and history of South Africa, climate change and landscape tourism.

Devil in the Mountain
Devil in the Mountain

Author: Simon Lamb

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780691115962

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scientist Simon Lamb recounts his efforts to uncover the origins of the Andes Mountains, discussing what he and his team of geologists have learned about the mountains during their explorations of the region.

San Rock Art
San Rock Art

Author: J.D. Lewis-Williams

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2013-02-15

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0821444581

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

San rock paintings, scattered over the range of southern Africa, are considered by many to be the very earliest examples of representational art. There are as many as 15,000 known rock art sites, created over the course of thousands of years up until the nineteenth century. There are possibly just as many still awaiting discovery. Taking as his starting point the magnificent Linton panel in the Iziko-South African Museum in Cape Town, J. D. Lewis-Williams examines the artistic and cultural significance of rock art and how this art sheds light on how San image-makers conceived their world. It also details the European encounter with rock art as well as the contentious European interaction with the artists’ descendants, the contemporary San people.

Geology in the Field
Geology in the Field

Author: Robert R. Compton

Publisher:

Published: 1985-08-05

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Replaces Compton's Manual of Field Geology (1962). A guide to advances in the increasingly broad and interpretive discipline of formation mapping theory. Thorough, yet compact enough for use in the field, it consists of brief descriptions of textures and structures useful in interpreting depositional environments, kinds of volcanic activity, and plutonic events and conditions. Included are procedures often reserved for the laboratory or office: staining rocks, correcting orientations of current indicators, constructing profile sections of folds, measuring strains, making photogeologic interpretations, and more. Covers pre-field considerations, methods of observation and measurement, recognition of key geologic features, and preparation of a report. Illustrated with composite drawings. Fourteen appendixes provide systemized data and procedures.