title: Ancient history

text: Around 1200 BC the first Olmec center of San Lorenzo was founded, which remained the centre of Olmec civilisation until around 800 BC when La Venta took over before losing primacy to Tres Zapotes around 400 BC. These and other Olmec centres were groups of tombs, temples, and other ceremonial sites built of stone. Their construction testifies to the complexity of Olmec society, although the exact nature of how they were governed is not known. They also erected large stone sculptures of human heads and other subjects. Jade jewelry and other Olmec objects are found throughout Mesoamerica, likely having travelled via trade networks. The Olmec writing system was mainly used for recording their calendar, both of which influenced later Mesoamericam cultures.


title: Ancient history

text: After the decline of the Olmecs, other civilisations in Mesoamerica either arose or emerged from the Olmec shadow - the Mayans, the Zapotecs, and Teotihuacan. The Zapotecs began around 500 BC in the Oaxaca Valley at the site of Monte Alban. Monte Alban grew to around 25,000 residents in the period around AD 200, with the city having large stone temples and an expansive stone plaza. Like thei Olmecs, they had a writing system and calendar. But by AD 900 Monte Alban was deserted, for unknown reasons. Teotihuacan developed around AD 200 and centred on the city of Teotihuacan, which grew to perhaps as many as 200,000 inhabitants at its height. Teotihuacan lasted until around AD 700, when it was burned and vandalized.


title: Ancient history

text: Maya culture began to emerge around AD 300 in the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala. During the 600 years of the Classical Maya period, more than 80 Mayan sites were built, with temples, pyramids, and palaces the focal point of each centre. The most influential was Tikal, but Mayan civilisation was based on city-states which often were at war with each other. This seems not to have restricted trade, which went on between the cities. A priestly elite kept astronomical and calendrical knowledge, recording it with a writing system based the Olmec system of glyphs. History, poetry, and other records were recorded in books, most of which did not survive the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica. Mathematics was also studied, and they used the concept of zero in their calculations. The Mayan civilisation began to decline about AD 800, and most of its cities were deserted soon afterwards.


title: Ancient history

text: Organized societies, in the ancient United States or Canada, were often mound builder civilisations. One of the most significant of these was the Poverty Point culture that existed in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and was responsible for the creation of over 100 mound sites. The Mississippi River was a core area in the development of long-distance trade and culture. Following Poverty Point, successive complex cultures such as the Hopewell emerged in the Southeastern United States in the Early Woodland period. Before AD 500 many mound builder societies retained a hunter gatherer form of subsistence.


title: Ancient history

text: Humans spread to Australia and New Guinea by about 60,000 years ago, with agriculture beginning in New Guinea about 3000 BC. Aboriginal Australians retained a hunter-gatherer society, exploiting the varied plant and animal resources available to them. The peoples of New Guinea began to develop an extensive maritime culture where they sailed across the ocean with large outrigger canoes. They cultivated taro and yams and used chickens and pigs as food animals.


title: Ancient history

text: Minoan civilisation emerged around 3000 BC on the island of Crete, where towns emerged on the coast. Trade was important in Minoan civilisation, with artifacts from the Minoans discovered in Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, and Greece. Large palaces grew up on Crete, decorated with painted frescoes. A Minoan writing system is known - Linear A, but it remains mostly undeciphered. An eruption of a volcano on the island of Thera around 1500 BC may have contributed to the decline of Minoan civilisation, with many of the Cretan cities being destroyed around 1450 BC by Mycenaean from mainland Greece. Unlike Linear A, the Mycenaean writing system - Linear B - has been deciphered. Mycenaean culture flourished until around 1200 BC, when it too declined and many of its centres were destroyed.


title: Ancient history

text: The Archaic Period in Greece is generally considered to have lasted from around the 8th century BC to the invasion by Xerxes in 480 BC. This period saw the expansion of the Greek world around the Mediterranean, with the founding of Greek city-states as far afield as Sicily in the west and the Black Sea in the east. Politically, the Archaic period in Greece saw the collapse of the power of the old aristocracies, with democratic reforms in Athens and the development of Sparta's unique constitution. The end of the Archaic period also saw the rise of Athens, which would come to be a dominant power in the Classical Period, after the reforms of Solon and the tyranny of Pisistratus.


title: Ancient history

text: The Classical Greek world was dominated throughout the 5th century BC by the major powers of Athens and Sparta. Through the Delian League, Athens was able to convert pan-hellenist sentiment and fear of the Persian threat into a powerful empire, and this, along with the conflict between Sparta and Athens culminating in the Peloponnesian War, was the major political development of the first part of the Classical period. The period in Greek history from the death of Alexander the Great until the rise of the Roman empire and its conquest of Egypt in 30 BC is known as the Hellenistic period. After Alexander's death, a series of wars between his successors eventually led to three large states being formed parts of Alexander's conquests, each ruled by a dynasty founded by one of the successors. These were the Antigonids, the Selucids, and the Ptolemies. These three kingdoms, along with smaller kingdoms, spread Greek culture and lifestyles into Asia and Egypt. These varying states eventually were conquered by Rome or the Parthian Empire.


title: Ancient history

text: Ancient Rome was a civilisation that grew out of the city-state of Rome, originating as a small agricultural community founded on the Italian peninsula in 8th century BC, with influences from Greece and other Italian civilisations, such as the Etruscans. Traditionally Rome was founded as a monarchy that then became a republic. Rome expanded through the Italian peninsula through a series of wars in the fifth through the third centuries BC. This expansion brought the Roman republic into conflict with Carthage, leading to a series of Punic Wars, that ended with the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. Rome then expanded into Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, while a series of internal conflicts led to the republic becoming an empire ruled by an emperor by the first century AD. Throughout the first and second centuries AD, the Empire grew slightly while spreading Roman culture throughout its boundaries.


title: Ancient history

text: A number of factors led to the eventual decline of the Roman Empire. The western half of the empire, including Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, eventually broke into independent kingdoms in the 5th century AD; the Eastern Roman Empire, governed from Constantinople, is referred to as the Byzantine Empire after AD 476, the traditional date for the "fall of Rome" and subsequent onset of the Middle Ages.


title: Ancient history

text: The Roman Empire underwent considerable social, cultural and organizational change starting with reign of Diocletian, who began the custom of splitting the empire into eastern and western halves ruled by multiple emperors. Constantine the Great began the process of Christianizing the empire and established a new capital at Constantinople. Migrations of Germanic tribes disrupted Roman rule from the late 4th century onwards, culminating in the eventual collapse of the empire in the West in 476, replaced by the so-called barbarian kingdoms. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the cultural foundations of Europe. There has been attempt by scholars to connect European late antiquity to other areas in Eurasia.


title: Ancient history

text: The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age Europe. Proto-Celtic culture formed in the Early Iron Age in Central Europe (Hallstatt period, named for the site in present-day Austria). By the later Iron Age (La Tène period), Celts had expanded over wide range of lands: as far west as Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula, as far east as Galatia (central Anatolia), and as far north as Scotland. By the early centuries AD, following the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture had become restricted to the British Isles.


title: Ancient history

text: The Huns were a nomadic people who formed a large state in Eastern Europe by about AD 400, and under their leader Attila, they fought against both sections of the Roman Empire. However, after Attila's death, the state feel apart and the Huns influence in history disappeared. The Hun-Xiongnu connection is controversial at best and is often disputed but is also not completely discredited.


title: Ancient history

text: Migration of Germanic peoples to Britain from what is now northern Germany and southern Scandinavia is attested from the 5th century. Groups of Goths migrated into western Europe, with the Ostrogoths eventually settling in Italy before being conquered by the Lombards. A related people, the Visigoths settled in Spain, founding a kingdom that lasted until it was conquered by Islamic rulers in the AD 700s.


title: Ancient history

text: The rise of civilisation corresponded with the institutional sponsorship of belief in gods, supernatural forces and the afterlife. During the Bronze Age, many civilisations adopted their own form of polytheism. Usually, polytheistic Gods manifested human personalities, strengths and failings. Early religion was often based on location, with cities or entire countries selecting a deity, that would grant them preferences and advantages over their competitors. Worship involved the construction of representation of deities, and the granting of sacrifices. Sacrifices could be material goods, food, or in extreme cases human sacrifice to please a deity. New philosophies and religions arose in both east and west, particularly about the 6th century BC. Over time, a great variety of religions developed around the world, with some of the earliest major ones being Hinduism (around 2000 BC), Buddhism (5th century BC), and Jainism (6th century BC) in India, and Zoroastrianism in Persia. The Abrahamic religions trace their origin to Judaism, around 1700 BC.


title: Ancient history

text: In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were Taoism, Legalism and Confucianism. The Confucian tradition, which would attain dominance, looked for political morality not to the force of law but to the power and example of tradition. Confucianism would later spread into the Korean peninsula and Japan.


title: Ancient history

text: In the west, the Greek philosophical tradition, represented by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, was diffused throughout Europe and the Middle East in the 4th century BC by the conquests of Alexander the Great. After the Bronze and Iron Age religions formed, Christianity spread through the Roman world.


title: Ancient history

text: Ancient technological progress began before the recording of history, with tools, use of fire, domestication of animals, and agriculture all predating recorded history. The use of metals and the ability to make metal alloys was foundational for later technologies to develop. Medical knowledge, including the use of herbs to treat illnesses and wounds as well as some surgical techniques, advanced during antiquity. An early very important development that allowed for further advancement was writing, which allowed humans to record information for later use.


title: Ancient history

text: The characteristics of ancient Egyptian technology are indicated by a set of artifacts and customs that lasted for thousands of years. The Egyptians invented and used many basic machines, such as the ramp and the lever, to aid construction processes. The Egyptians also played an important role in developing Mediterranean maritime technology, including ships. The Babylonians and Egyptians were early astronomers who recorded their observations of the night sky.


title: Ancient history

text: Water managing Qanats which likely emerged on the Iranian plateau and possibly also in the Arabian peninsula sometime in the early 1st millennium BC spread from there slowly west- and eastward.


title: Ancient history

text: The Hindu–Arabic numeral system with the concept of zero was developed in India, while modern forms of paper were invented in China in the first century AD.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Brihadishvara Temple, called Rajarajesvaram () by its builder, and known locally as Thanjai Periya Kovil ("Thanjavur Big Temple") and Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Shaivite Hindu temple built in a Chola architectural style located on the south bank of the Cauvery river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the largest Hindu temples and an exemplar of Tamil architecture. It is also called "Dakshina Meru" ("Meru of the South). Built by Chola emperor Rajaraja I between 1003 and 1010 CE, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples", along with the hola-era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple, which are about and to its northeast respectively.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The original monuments of this 11th-century temple were built around a moat. It included "gopura", the main temple, its massive tower, inscriptions, frescoes, and sculptures predominantly related to Shaivism, but also of Vaishnavism and Shaktism. The temple was damaged in its history and some artwork is now missing. Additional mandapam and monuments were added in the centuries that followed. The temple now stands amidst fortified walls that were added after the 16th century.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Built using granite, the "vimana" tower above the shrine is one of the tallest in South India. The temple has a massive colonnaded "prakara" (corridor) and one of the largest Shiva lingas in India. It is also famed for the quality of its sculpture, as well as being the location that commissioned the brass Nataraja, Shiva as the lord of dance, in the 11th century. The complex includes shrines for Nandi, Parvati, Murugan, Vinayagar, Sabhapati, Dakshinamurti, Chandikeshwar, Varahi, Thiyagarajar of Thiruvarur and others. The temple is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Tamil Nadu.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Rajaraja Chola, who commissioned the temple, called it Rajarajeshvaram (Rajarājeśvaram), literally "the temple of the god of Rajaraja". A later inscription in the Brihannayaki shrine calls the temple's deity Periya Udaiya Nayanar, which appears to be the source of the modern names Brihadisvara and Peruvudaiyar Kovil.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: "Brihadishwara" (IAST: Bṛihádīśvara) is a Sanskrit composite word composed of "Brihat" which means "big, great, lofty, vast", and "Ishvara" means "lord, Shiva, supreme being, supreme "atman" (soul)". The name means the "great lord, big Shiva" temple.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Peruvudaiyar Temple is located in the city of Thanjavur, about southwest of Chennai. The city is connected daily to other major cities by the network of Indian Railways, Tamil Nadu bus services and the National Highways 67, 45C, 226 and 226 Extn. The nearest airport with regular services is Tiruchirappalli International Airport (IATA: TRZ), about away.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The city and the temple though inland, are at the start of the Kaveri River delta, thus with access to the Bay of Bengal and through it to the Indian Ocean. Along with the temples, the Tamil people completed the first major irrigation network in the 11th century for agriculture, for movement of goods and to control the water flow through the urban center.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: A spectrum of Hindu temple styles continued to develop from the fifth to the ninth century over the Chalukya era rule as evidenced in Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, and then with the Pallava era as witnessed at Mamallapuram and other monuments. Thereafter, between 850 and 1280, Cholas emerged as the dominant dynasty. The early Chola period saw a greater emphasis on securing their geopolitical boundaries and less emphasis on architecture. In the tenth century, within the Chola empire emerged features such as the multifaceted columns with projecting square capitals. This, states George Michell, signaled the start of the new Chola style. This South Indian style is most fully realized both in scale and detail in the Brihadeshwara temple built between 1003 and 1010 by the Chola king Rajaraja I.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The main temple along with its gopurams is from the early 11th century. The temple also saw additions, renovations, and repairs over the next 1,000 years. The raids and wars, particularly between Muslim Sultans who controlled Madurai and Hindu kings who controlled Thanjavur caused damage. These were repaired by Hindu dynasties that regained control. In some cases, the rulers attempted to renovate the temple with faded paintings, by ordering new murals on top of the older ones. In other cases, they sponsored the addition of shrines. The significant shrines of Kartikeya (Murugan), Parvati (Amman) and Nandi are from the 16th and 17th-century Nayaka era. Similarly the Dakshinamurti shrine was built later.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Peruvudaiyar temple's plan and development utilizes the axial and symmetrical geometry rules. It is classified as Perunkoil (also called Madakkoil), a big temple built on a higher platform of a natural or man-made mounds. The temple complex is a rectangle that is almost two stacked squares, covering east to west, and north to south. In this space are five main sections: the sanctum with the towering superstructure ("sri vimana"), the Nandi hall in front ("Nandi-mandapam") and in between these the main community hall ("mukhamandapam"), the great gathering hall ("mahamandapam") and the pavilion that connects the great hall with the sanctum ("Antrala").


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple complex integrates a large pillared and covered veranda ("prakara") in its spacious courtyard, with a perimeter of about for circumambulation. Outside this pillared veranda there are two walls of enclosure, the outer one being defensive and added in 1777 by the French colonial forces with gun-holes with the temple serving as an arsenal. They made the outer wall high, isolating the temple complex area. On its east end is the original main gopuram or gateway that is barrel vaulted. It is less than half the size of the main temple's "vimana". Additional structures were added to the original temple after the 11th century, such as a mandapa in its northeast corner and additional gopurams (gateways) on its perimeters to allow people to enter and leave from multiple locations. Some of the shrines and structures were added during the Pandya, Nayaka, Vijayanagara and Maratha era, before the colonial era started, and these builders respected the original plans and symmetry rules. Inside the original temple courtyard, along with the main sanctum and Nandi-mandapam are two major shrines, one for Kartikeya and for Parvati. The complex has additional smaller shrines.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Peruvudaiyar temple continued the Hindu temple traditions of South India by adopting architectural and decorative elements, but its scale significantly exceeded the temples constructed before the 11th century. The Chola era architects and artisans innovated the expertise to scale up and build, particularly with heavy stone and to accomplish the high towering "vimana".


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple faces east, and once had a water moat around it. This has been filled up. The fortified wall now runs around this moat. The two walls have ornate gateways called the gopurams. These are made from stone and display entablature. The main gateways are on the east side. The first one is called the "Keralantakan tiruvasal", which means the "sacred gate of the Keralantakan". The word Keralantakan was the surname of king Rajaraja who built it. About a ahead is the inner courtyard gopuram called the "Rajarajan tiruvasal". This is more decorated than the "Keralantakan tiruvasal", such as with its "adhishthanam" relief work narrating scenes from the Puranas and other Hindu texts. The inner eastern gopuram leads to a vast courtyard, in which the shrines are all signed to east–west and north-west cardinal directions. The complex can be entered either on one axis through a five-story gopuram or with a second access directly to the huge main quadrangle through a smaller free-standing gopuram. The gopuram of the main entrance is 30 m high, smaller than the vimana.The main temple-related monuments and the great tower is in the middle of this courtyard. Around the main temple that is dedicated to Shiva, are smaller shrines, most of which are aligned axially. These are dedicated to his consort Parvati, his sons Murugan and Ganesha, Nandi, Varahi, Karuvur deva (the guru of Rajaraja Chola), Chandeshvara and Nataraja. The Nandi mandapam has a monolithic seated bull facing the sanctum. In between them are stairs leading to a columned porch and community gathering hall, then an inner mandapa connecting to the "pradakshina patha", or circumambulation path. The Nandi (bull) facing the mukh-mandapam weighs about 25 tonnes. It is made of a single stone and is about 2 m in height, 6 m in length and 2.5 m in width. The image of Nandi is a monolithic one and is one of the largest in the country.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: As a world heritage monument, the temple and the premises comes under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which falls under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India, to ensure safety, preservation and restoration. The surrounding facilities have been upgraded to create an ambience worthy of the grandeur of this ancient marvel with lighting, signage and facilities for devotees and visitors. The lighting of the monument is designed to enhance the natural color of the stone along with the sculptural forms adorning all corners of the temple. The restoration has been undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India that commissioned Sheila Sri Prakash Indian architect and designer to lead the design


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The sanctum is at the center of the western square. It is surrounded by massive walls that are divided into levels by sharply cut sculptures and pilasters providing deep bays and recesses. Each side of the sanctuary has a bay with iconography. The interior of the sanctum sanctorum hosts an image of the primary deity, Shiva, in the form of a huge stone linga. It is called Karuvarai, a Tamil word that means "womb chamber". This space is called "garbha griha" in other parts of India. Only priests are allowed to enter this inner-most chamber.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: In the Tamizhan style, the sanctum takes the form of a miniature vimana. It has the inner wall together with the outer wall creating a path around the sanctum for circumambulation (pradakshina). The entrance is highly decorated. The inside chamber is the sanctum sanctorum, which houses the brihad linga.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The main Vimana (Shikhara) is a massive 16 storeys tower of which 13 are tapering squares. It dominates the main quadrangle. It sits above a sided square. The tower is elaborately articulated with Pilaster, piers(a raised structure), and attached columns which are placed rhythmically covering every surface of the vimana.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple is dedicated to Shiva in the form of a huge linga, his abstract aniconic representation. It is high, occupying two storeys of the sanctum. It is one of the largest monolithic linga sculptures in India.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Shaivism temple celebrates all major Hindu traditions by including the primary deities of the Vaishnavism and Shaktism tradition in the great mandapa of the main temple. The distribution of the deities is generally symmetric, except for the east entrance side which provide for the door and walkway. In addition to the main deities, each side provides for "dvarapala"s (guardians), and various other sculptures. The vestibule has three stone sculptures that is intricately carved, and mural paintings. The ground floor level sanctum walls have the following sculptures:


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: On the second floor, Shiva's Tripurantaka form in different postures is depicted corresponding to these sculptures. Above these floors, the "sri-vimana" towers above in thirteen storeys ("talas"). Above these storeys is a single square block of granite weight 80 tons, and side. On top of this block, at its corners are Nandi pairs each about by in dimension. Above the center of this granite block rises the "griva", the "sikhara" and the finial ("stupi") of Tamil Hindu temple architecture. This "stupi" is in height, and was originally covered with gold (no longer). The "sikhara" at the top is cupola-shaped and weighs 25 tons. Each storey of this tower is decorated with "kutas" and "salas". The shrinking squares tower architecture of this temple differs from the tower at the Chola temple at Gangaikondasolisvaram, because this is straight in contrast to the latter which is curvilinear. The temple's sri-vimana magnitude has made it a towering landmark for the city.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The upper storey corridor wall of the "aditala" is carved with 81 of the 108 dance "karana"s – postures of "Natya Sastra". This text is the basis of the Bharathanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu. The 27 unrepresented "karanas" are blank blocks of stone, and it is unclear why these were not carved. The 81 postures carved suggest the significance of this classical Indian dance form by early 11th century.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The garbhagriha is square and sits on a plinth. This is moulded and thick. It consists of "upapitham" and "adhishthanam", respectively 140 cm and 360 cm thick.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The two mandapa, namely "maha-mandapa" and "mukha-mandapa", are square plan structures axially aligned between the sanctum and the "Nandi mandapa". The "maha-mandapa" has six pillars on each side. This too has artwork. The Vitankar and Rajaraja I bronze are here, but these were added much later. The "maha-mandapa" is flanked by two giant stone dvarapalas. It is linked to the "mukha-mandapa" by stairs. The entrance of the "mukha-mandapa" also has dvarapalas. With the mandapa are eight small shrines for "dikpalas", or guardian deities of each direction such as Agni, Indra, Varuna, Kubera and others. These were installed during the rule of Chola king Rajendra I.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Inscriptions indicate that this area also had other iconography from major Hindu traditions during the Chola era, but these are now missing. The original eight shrines included those for Surya (the sun god), Saptamatrikas (seven mothers), Ganesha, Murugan, Jyeshtha, Chandra (the moon god), Chandeshvara and Bhairava. Similarly, in the western wall cella was a massive granite Ganesha built during Rajaraja I era, but who is now found in the "tiruch-churru-maligai" (southern veranda). Of the Shaktism tradition's seven mothers, only Varahi survives in a broken form. Her remnants are now found in a small modern era brick "Varahi shrine" in the southern side of the courtyard. The original version of the others along with their original Chola shrines are missing.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple has an underneath layer of Chola frescoes on the sanctum walls along the circumambulatory pathway. These frescoes which cover floor to ceiling, were discovered in 1931 by S. K. Govindasami of the Annamalai University. The painters used natural pigments and infused it into the wet limestone layer as it was setting in. The Chola frescoes were largely of Shaivism themes. These were restored in the 2000s. The total Chola fresco area is about , of which about had been uncovered as of 2010 in a method that preserves both paintings, a technique developed by Archaeological Survey of India. The frescoes narrate Hindu mythology. According to Balasubrahmanyam, most frescoes are related to Shiva, but the 11th century Chola frescoes also show Vishnu, Durga and others, as well as scenes of Chola royalty, courtly and common life.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The later constructions, additions and modifications to the temple curtailed the amount of natural light inside the temple. The frescoes were thus photographed in a limited way and interpreted. According to Sriraman, a complete imaging with better photographic equipment suggests that these historic interpretations were incorrect. For example, a fresco that was previously interpreted as Dakshinamurti Shiva is actually a secular scene of a royal guru meditating under a banyan tree. On the tree are shown peacocks, birds, monkeys, squirrels and owls, plus a cobra. The animals and birds are shown as worried of the cobra, the one's closer to the snake are shown to be more worried. Other parts of the panel similarly show a court listening to a saint. Other show women in different dresses in different dance "mudra".


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Some of the paintings in the sanctum sanctorum and the walls in the passage had been damaged because of the soot that had deposited on them once upon a time. Owing to the continuous exposure to smoke and soot from the lamps and burning of camphor in the sanctum sanctorum over a period of centuries certain parts of the Chola paintings on the circumambulatory passage walls had been badly damaged. The Archaeological Survey of India, for the first time in the world, used its unique de-stucco process to restore 16 Nayak paintings, which were superimposed on 1000-year-old Chola frescoes. These 400-year-old paintings have been mounted on fibre glass boards, displayed at a separate pavilion.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple walls have numerous inscriptions in Tamil and Grantha scripts. Many of these begin with customary Sanskrit and Tamil language historical introduction to the king who authorized it, and predominant number of them discuss gifts to the temple or temple personnel, in some cases residents of the city. The temple complex has sixty four inscriptions of Rajaraja Chola I, twenty nine inscriptions of Rajendra Chola I, one each of Vikrama Chola, Kulottunga I and Rajamahendra (Rajendra II), three of a probable Pandyan king, two of Nayaka rulers namely, Achyutappa Nayaka and Mallapa Nayaka.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: An inscription on the north wall of enclosure, dated 1011 CE, gives a detailed accounts of people employed and supported by the temple. The inscription gives their wages, roles and names. It includes over 600 names including those of priests, lamp lighters, washermen, tailors, jewelers, potters, carpenters, sacred parasol bearers, dance gurus, dancing girls, singers, male and female musicians, superintendents of performance artists, accountants among others. Their wages was in parcels of land, so their temple employment was likely part-time.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple employed "devadasis" who were dancers and singers of devotional hymns. Among its numerous inscriptions are frequent gifts that state, "to provide for worship, for food to assembly of sannyasis (monks or ascetics) and for repairs". According to George Michell, the Thanjavur temple was a major charity institution in its history. It provides free meal for pilgrims, devotees and wayfarers on a daily basis. On the days of Hindu festivals, these meals were elaborate and when brahmins were particularly invited and fed.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Built in the year 1010 CE by Chola emperor Rajaraja I in Thanjavur, the temple is popularly known as the Big Temple. It turned 1000 years old in September 2010. To celebrate the 1000th year of the grand structure, the state government and the town held many cultural events. It was to recall the 275th day of his 25th regal year (1010 CE) when Rajaraja I (985–1014 CE) handed over a gold-plated kalasam (copper pot or finial) for the final consecration to crown the vimana, the 59.82-metre tall tower above the sanctum.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: To mark the occasion, the state government organised a Bharathanatyam Yajna, classical dance show under noted dancer Padma Subramaniam. It was jointly organised by the Association of Bharatanatyam Artistes of India (ABHAI) and the Brhan Natyanjali Trust, Thanjavur. To mark the 1000th anniversary of the building, 1000 dancers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Singapore, Malaysia and the US danced in concert to the recorded 11 verses of divine music Thiruvisaippa


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: (ninth volume of Thirumurai) composed by Karuvur deva (the guru of Rajaraja ). The small town turned into a cultural hub for two days beginning 26 September 2010 as street performers and dancers performed throughout the town.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: On 26 September 2010 (Big Temple's fifth day of millennium celebrations), as a recognition of Big Temple's contribution to the country's cultural, architectural, epigraphical history, a special 5 postage stamp featuring the 216-feet tall giant Raja Gopuram was released by India Post.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Reserve Bank of India commemorated the event by releasing a 5 coin with the model of temple embossed on it. A Raja, Cabinet Minister of Communications and Information Technology released the esteemed Brihadeeswarar temple special stamp, the first of which was received by G K Vasan, Cabinet Minister of Shipping.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Mumbai Mint issued Rs 1000 Commemorative Coin with the same picture as on the Rs 5 coin. It was the first 1000 Rupees coin to be released in the Republic of India coinage. This coin was a Non Circulative Legal Tender (NCLT).


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: On 1 April 1954, the Reserve Bank of India released a 1000 currency note featuring a panoramic view of the Brihadeeswar temple marking its cultural heritage and significance. In 1975, the then government led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi demonetised all 1,000 currency notes in an effort to curtail black money. These notes are now popular among collectors.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: In 2010, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister, M Karunanidhi renamed Semmai Rice, a type of high productivity paddy variant, as "Raja Rajan-1000" to mark the millennial year of the constructor of the temple, Rajaraja Chola].


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple "testifies the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting." The temple finds mention in many of the contemporary works of the period like "Muvar Ula" and "Kalingathuparani". According to Chatterjee, the Dravidian architecture attained its supreme form of expression in the temple and it successor, the Brihadeeswarar Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram. The temple has been declared as a heritage monument by the Government of India and administered by the Archaeological Survey of India as a protected monument. The temple is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Tamil Nadu.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the Brihadeeswara Temple at Gangaikondacholapuram and Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram that are referred as the Great Living Chola Temples. These three temples have similarities, but each has unique design and sculptural elements. All of the three temples were built by the Cholas between the 10th and 12th centuries CE and they have continued to be supported and used by Hindus. The temples are classified as "Great Living" as the temples are active in cultural, pilgrimage and worship practises in modern times.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur is the site of annual dance festivals around February, around the Mahashivratri. Major classical Indian dance form artists, as well as regional teams, perform their repertoire at this Brahan Natyanjali festival over 10 days.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The Temple car was rolled out on its trial run from opposite to Sri Ramar temple on 20 April 2015 witnessed by a large number of people. Nine days later, the maiden procession of the temple car was held. This was the first such procession in this temple held in the past hundred years, according to news reports.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: Kalki Krishnamurthy, a renowned Tamil novelist, has written a historical novel named "Ponniyin Selvan", based on the life of Rajaraja. Balakumaran, another Tamil author has written a novel named "Udaiyar" themed on the life of Rajaraja I and the construction of the temple.


title: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

text: The temple is currently administered and managed by Babaji Bhonsle, the head of the Thanjavur Maratha royal family. He serves as the hereditary trustee of the palace Devasthanam which continues to manage 88 Chola temples including the Brihadeeswara temple. Tamil groups have been unsuccessfully petitioning the Tamil Nadu government to revoke these rights as he is not of Chola or Tamil lineage. According to one of the protesters, who also happens to be the coordinator of the Big Temple Rights Retrieval Committee, Babaji Bhonsle is also not the legal heir of the Maratha kings of Thanjavur.


title: Scott Baio

text: Scott Vincent James Baio (; born September 22, 1960) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chachi Arcola on the sitcom "Happy Days" (1977–1984) and its spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi" (1982–1983), the title character on the sitcom "Charles in Charge" (1984–1990), Dr. Jack Stewart in the medical-mystery-drama series "" (1993–1995), and the titular role of the musical film "Bugsy Malone" (1976), his onscreen debut. Baio has guest-starred on various television programs, appeared in several independent films, and starred on the Nickelodeon sitcom "See Dad Run" (2012–2015).


title: Scott Baio

text: Baio was born in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City in 1960, the son of Italian immigrants Rose, a homemaker, and Mario Baio, who worked as his manager. He and his siblings were raised in Bensonhurst. He went to Xaverian High School.


title: Scott Baio

text: In 1976, Baio played the title character "Bugsy Malone" in the children's gangster musical directed by Alan Parker, which also co-starred Jodie Foster. Baio and Foster later worked together again in the teen girl drama "Foxes" (1980), helmed by Adrian Lyne.


title: Scott Baio

text: When he was 16, Baio was cast as The Fonz's cousin Chachi Arcola on "Happy Days". During his time on "Happy Days", Baio earned two Emmy Award nominations, for his lead performances in the television movies "Stoned" (1981) and "All the Kids Do It" (1985). He won two Young Artist Awards during the Third Annual Youth in Film Awards (1980–1982) as Best Young Actor in a Television Special for "Stoned" and Best Young Comedian in Television or Motion Pictures for "Happy Days". He also starred in the made-for-television youth drama specials "The Boy Who Drank Too Much" and "Senior Trip".


title: Scott Baio

text: From March 1982 to May 1983, Baio starred with his "Happy Days" co-star Erin Moran in the show's spin-off, "Joanie Loves Chachi". The show was canceled after 17 episodes and Baio (and Moran) returned to "Happy Days". During this period, Baio, who played an aspiring singer on "Joanie Loves Chachi", was signed to a record contract with RCA Victor, who used his TV role to push his music career. He released two albums and three singles, and his self-titled album peaked at number 181 on the "Billboard" 200, but his recording career never took off.


title: Scott Baio

text: In 1982, he appeared in the film "Zapped!" and starred as Francis Geminiani in the special HBO presentation of "Gemini", an adaptation of the Broadway comedy-drama "Happy Birthday, Gemini" From 1979 to 1984, Baio made seven appearances on "Battle of the Network Stars"; six as a competitor for the ABC team (once as team captain) and one as co-host. From 1984 until 1990, Baio starred in the syndicated comedy series "Charles in Charge". In 1985, he was part of an ensemble cast for "Alice in Wonderland", where he portrayed Pat the Pig. From 1987 through 1991, he was a director of the children's comedy series "Out of This World".


title: Scott Baio

text: During the 1990s, Baio appeared in various television programs, including the short-lived "Look Who's Talking" small screen spin-off "Baby Talk". In 1991, he appeared in the NBC Monday Night Movie "Perry Mason and the Case of the Fatal Fashion", as a young prosecutor. Between 1993 and 1995, he portrayed Dr. Jack Stewart in the medical mystery series "". Baio was a guest-star on a variety of series, including "Full House", "Touched by an Angel", "Veronica's Closet" and "The Nanny". He also starred in several films on television and video releases such as "Detonator", "Bar-Hopping", "Dumb Luck", "Face Value" and "Mixed Blessings".


title: Scott Baio

text: Baio was in the independent films "Very Mean Men" (2000), "Face to Face" (2001), and "The Bread, My Sweet" (2001). In 2004, Baio starred in "" with Bob Clark. The film was widely panned by critics and nominated for four Razzie Awards. Baio played himself in the 2005 Wes Craven film "Cursed". In 2005, Baio appeared in four episodes of "Arrested Development" as the Bluth family's lawyer, Bob Loblaw, taking over the role from his former "Happy Days" co-star Henry Winkler; the Online Film and Television Association nominated him as Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. In 2007, Baio starred in the VH1 celebrity reality series "Scott Baio Is 45...and Single" and its successor the following year, "Scott Baio Is 46...and Pregnant". Baio was also the co-host of the VH1 reality show "Confessions of a Teen Idol", in which former teen idols attempt to resurrect their careers.


title: Scott Baio

text: Baio starred in and produced the Nick at Nite situation comedy "See Dad Run", which ran from 2012 to 2015. Baio guest starred in a 2014 episode of "Sam & Cat" as a police officer who arrests the title characters.


title: Scott Baio

text: In 2007, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Baio married 34-year-old Renée Sloan, whom he met in the 1990s at the Playboy Mansion. Baio is stepfather to Renée's daughter Kalyn, born in 1989. In July 2007, he told E!: Entertainment Television's Ted Casablanca that they were expecting a baby girl in December. Initially pregnant with twins, Renée lost one of the babies in the 11th week of her pregnancy. Their daughter, Bailey, was born in 2007, five weeks premature. After the child tested positive for a rare metabolic disorder, the family started the Bailey Baio Angel Foundation to provide financial support to other families who are dealing with metabolic disorders. Renée Baio was diagnosed with a meningioma brain tumor in June 2015, another one later, and was diagnosed with cerebral microvascular disease in October 2017.


title: Scott Baio

text: He is a cousin of former actor Jimmy Baio, New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader, and Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio.


title: Scott Baio

text: Baio is a registered Republican and has described his politics as conservative. He campaigned for Ronald Reagan in his youth and attended Reagan's state funeral. Upon Reagan's death in 2004, he was quoted by the New York "Daily News" as saying, "President Reagan made me feel proud to be an American. Today, I feel sadness."


title: Scott Baio

text: Baio endorsed Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016, and he spoke at the opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention. He also supported Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.


title: Scott Baio

text: In an interview with Ashley Webster, Baio described President Barack Obama as being "either dumb, a Muslim, or a Muslim sympathizer, and I don't think he's dumb".


title: Scott Baio

text: On December 15, 2016, Baio accused Nancy Mack, wife of Chad Smith, drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, of physically assaulting him at their children's elementary school function. Baio claims Mack began berating and cursing him over his support of Trump and at one point attacked him, grabbing him under his arms and then shaking and pushing him. Mack claimed she was trying to show Baio how Trump hugs women and denied any intentional physical aggression.


title: Scott Baio

text: On August 26, 2017, Baio re-tweeted a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory meme, insinuating that the recent death of Heather Heyer and the Sandy Hook shooting were linked hoaxes.


title: Scott Baio

text: On January 29, 2018, sexual misconduct allegations made by Nicole Eggert against Baio resurfaced. Eggert first made the allegations on the Nik Richie Radio show in 2013 and then repeated them on her Twitter account and on "The Dr. Oz Show". She claimed that Baio molested her for three years beginning when she was 14 and a co-star on "Charles in Charge", and that when she was 17, she had intercourse with him. Baio has denied the allegations. He contends that he had sexual relations with Eggert only once, and that the encounter occurred after she had turned 18. Baio contended that Eggert's own words to Richie proved he did not have intercourse with Eggert while she was a minor.


title: Scott Baio

text: Several months later, Alexander Polinsky, another co-star in "Charles in Charge", accused Baio of verbally abusing and physically assaulting him while on set.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is a 2022 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by John C. Donkin, in his feature directorial debut, with a screenplay by Jim Hecht, Ray DeLaurentis, and William Schifrin. It serves as a spin-off of the "Ice Age" franchise and is set after the events of "". The film stars the voices of Simon Pegg (reprising his role as Buck Wild), Vincent Tong, Aaron Harris, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Justina Machado also starring in the film.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: It follows the two opossum brothers Crash and Eddie and their adventure to becoming independent possums alongside the titular character Buck Wild. Originally planned to be a television series, "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" was redeveloped into a feature-length film. Produced by 20th Century Animation and released under the Walt Disney Pictures label, it was released on January 28, 2022, as a Disney+ original film.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: It received generally negative reviews from critics who felt that it lacked a primary focus on the titular character and criticized its recasting of voice actors, animation quality, the absence of Scrat, and the decision to produce the film without the involvement of Blue Sky Studios. The possibility of a sequel to the film was discussed by executive producer Lori Forte.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: In an attempt to practice one of their extreme stunts, Crash and Eddie accidentally cause an avalanche and destroy the gang's summer habitat. Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie gets mad at them, declaring they would not survive on their own. Wanting to prove them wrong, Crash and Eddie secretly leave their temporary camp while the others are asleep. Finding them gone the next morning, Ellie insists that they go search for them. Meanwhile, Crash and Eddie stumble upon the entrance to the Lost World, a land full of dinosaurs, and run into their old friend Buck, who saves them from raptors and tells them that a "Protoceratops" named Orson, who was bullied when he was young for having a massive brain, has escaped from exile and has come to conquer the Lost World. Buck tries to get Crash and Eddie back to their home, but finds out that Orson has covered the entrance with a boulder.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Buck and the possums go to Buck's shelter, where Buck explains how he used to be part of an old team that established a watering hole as a place for animals to peacefully co-exist. He goes on to say that Orson did not accept an offer to join his team because he believed in a world where the strong dominate the weak with him being the leader of them all. Buck further explains that they defeated Orson and banished him to an island, where he learned that he can control two raptors with fire.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The two raptors find Buck's hideout, but Zee, a female zorilla who used to be part of Buck's former team, saves Buck and the possums by using a gas to knock out the raptors. Orson then gets an army of raptors and attacks the watering hole, with Buck and Zee telling the animals to evacuate. Buck and Zee, their relationship strained after their team's breakup, go with the possums to get help. They arrive at the Lost Lagoon and summon their old friend Momma, a "Tyrannosaurus". When Orson and his raptors arrive and attack them again, Buck and Zee forgive each other for breaking up the old team and agree to work together. Acting as a diversion, Buck is captured by Orson, allowing the others to escape.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Trying to figure out how Orson controls the raptors, Zee and the possums devise a plan to get Buck back. Ellie, Manny, Sid and Diego find out that Crash and Eddie entered the Lost World and uncover the entrance. They run into Momma, who gives them a ride to the watering hole, where Orson has taken Buck to feed his raptors, planning to use him as an example for anyone who refuses to follow his rules. Zee and the possums free Buck and fight Orson and his army, with Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie and Momma joining in the battle. Buck tries to explain to Orson that everyone needs to live in peace, but Orson arrogantly rebuffs him and continues to fight. After figuring out that Orson controls the raptors with fire, Crash and Eddie create a fire of their own and stop the raptors from fighting and make the two raptors chase Orson instead, saving the Lost World.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Ellie, Manny, Sid and Diego apologize to Crash and Eddie for doubting them and ask them to come home, but Crash and Eddie express that they want to stay in the Lost World with Buck and Zee. Sad to not be with them anymore yet proud to see that their's adventure with Buck made them more mature, Ellie allows Crash and Eddie to stay and says goodbye, but Crash and Eddie still come to visit the gang often.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Additional voices include Theo Borders, Jason Harris, Kristin McGuire, Shakira Ja'nai Paye, Peter Pamela Rose, and Jason Linere White.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: In July 2016, "Bustle" noted that the chances of a sixth entry to the "Ice Age" franchise was relatively high but would depend on the box office performance of the fifth film.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: In August 2018, 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider announced the development of a television series centered around the character of Buck, produced by Blue Sky Studios. In December 2020, the project was confirmed to have been redeveloped as a film titled "Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild", centering around Buck going on an adventure in the Dinosaur World with Crash and Eddie, during the Disney Investor Day 2020 event. Simon Pegg was reported to be reprising his role as Buck.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Blue Sky was closed on April 10, 2021, and consequently, many of their upcoming projects were canceled. Unlike the previous "Ice Age" films released by 20th Century Fox and produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky, the film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Despite this, production on "Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild" continued. When the teaser poster was unveiled, it was revealed that the title had changed from "Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild" to "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild", including the word 'the' at the beginning of the title. On January 14, 2022, director John C. Donkin and executive producer Lori Forte said that Blue Sky was never involved in the film. This would later be confirmed by "" producers, Chris Wedge, Michael Knapp, and Anthony Nisl in an April 2022 interview with "Paste".


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Simon Pegg reprised his role as Buck from "" and "", having been confirmed to when the film was announced. However, he was the only actor to return from the previous films, as Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck were replaced.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The animation was outsourced to Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver. Bardel had previously collaborated with Disney and 20th Century Animation on "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (2021). Around 80 people were involved in the creation of "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild". Almost all the production was done remotely which led Donkin to never having a meeting with the entire team. Donkin said, "It was a pretty lean crew. But yet, everybody was able to really concentrate and work hard from their homes." He also said that they finished production on the film in late 2020.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Batu Sener composed the musical score. The soundtrack was released on January 28, 2022, by Hollywood Records and Walt Disney Records.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The first look of the film was shown on December 10, 2020, at Disney's Investor Day, depicting Crash and Eddie getting saved by Buck and his pterodactyl Penelope from falling to their deaths.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The film was released in the United States and Canada on January 28, 2022, as a Disney+ original film.<ref name="/FilmIceAge"></ref> It was later released on Disney+ in other countries on March 25, 2022. However, the film was released on the service under Walt Disney Pictures instead of 20th Century Studios, after being moved from 20th Century Studios and 20th Century Animation.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: According to Whip Media's viewership tracking app TV Time, "The" "Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" was the 10th most anticipated movie of January 2022. According to data from Samba TV, 797,000 US households watched "The" "Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" in its first 2 days of streaming. According to Whip Media, "The" "Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" was the 8th most watched film across all platforms in the United States, during the week of January 28, 2022 to January 30, 2022, and the 10th during the week of February 4, 2022 to February 6, 2022.


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of . Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 30 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Courtney Howard of "Variety" gave the film a negative review, saying how the story's focus is on the major characters of the previous "Ice Age" films, rather than solely on the titular Buck. She also points out the problematic disability representation and how the animation is "akin to a late-stage pre-viz pass", ending the review saying that the film "should've remained on ice." Natalia Winkleman of "The New York Times" said that she was disappointed to see the film replace almost all of its celebrity voices and stated that of all the "sins" in the movie, the omission of Scrat was unforgivable. Laura Millar from "The Michigan Daily" wrote that she was somewhat disappointed in the cast change and the "elementary plot", but said that she was most upset that the film was not made for the same audience as the past "Ice Age" films. Johnny Loftus of "Decider" complimented Simon Pegg's performance, but said the world depicted across the movie appears empty and generic, and found the appearances of several characters uninteresting, writing, ""The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" feels like a tangent, or perhaps a try-out pilot for a small screen Crash & Eddie ‘toon. What it doesn’t feel like is a feature film."


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: Jennifer Green of "Common Sense Media" rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote: ""Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" [...] has frequent animated action involving perilous situations and some mild language. [...] Characters discover qualities in themselves that allow them to gain confidence and improve their relationships. The film has messages about existing peacefully alongside those who are different from you and being a contributing member of your herd [...] and there's some potty humor involving peeing, farting, and other bodily functions." Giving the film a D+, "The A.V. Club's" Jesse Hassenger negatively compared it to Disney's other direct-to-video sequels, saying: "The new direct-to-streaming "Ice Age" sequel is a generic chunk of content." Mark Kennedy of the "Associated Press" gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing: "Visually and storytelling-wise it's not a cut above much of what kids can watch on TV these days. This is a franchise that looks like it's slowly going the way of the dinos, while we drool."


title: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

text: The film's promotional kit mentions another "Ice Age" film that is in development, with the script being penned by Ray DeLaurentis. Lori Forte discussed the possibility of a sequel, saying, "I think it's a little premature. We hope that people will respond to this, and that will promote us to be able to do another movie. If the audiences want it, we've got plenty of ideas. There's no end to ideas and adventures and characters, so we're ready if they're ready."


title: Amleth

text: Amleth (; Latinized as "Amlethus") is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct inspiration of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark". The chief authority for the legend of Amleth is Saxo Grammaticus, who devotes to it parts of the third and fourth books of his "Gesta Danorum", completed at the beginning of the 13th century. Saxo's version is similar to the one in the 12th-century "Chronicon Lethrense". In both versions, prince Amleth ("Amblothæ") is the son of Horvendill ("Orwendel"), king of the Jutes. It has often been assumed that the story is ultimately derived from an Old Icelandic poem, but no such poem has been found; the extant Icelandic versions, known as the "Ambales-saga", or "Amloda-saga" are considerably later than Saxo.


title: Amleth

text: The Old Icelandic form "Amlóði" is recorded once in the Prose Edda. The 12th-century "Amlethus", "Amblothæ" may easily be latinizations of the Old Norse name.


title: Amleth

text: Icelandic "Amlóði" is recorded as a term for a fool or simpleton in reference to the character of the early modern Icelandic romance or folk tale.


title: Amleth

text: One suggestion is based on the "fool" or "trickster" interpretation of the name, composing the name from Old Norse "ama" "to vex, annoy, molest" and "óðr" "fierceness, madness" (also in the theonym "Odin"). The Irish and Scottish word "amhlair", which in contemporary vernacular denotes a dull, stupid person, is handed down from the ancient name for a court jester or fool, who entertained the king but also surreptitiously advised him through riddles and antics.


title: Amleth

text: A more recent suggestion is based on the Eddaic kenning associating "Amlóði" with the mythological mill "grótti", and derives it from the Old Irish name "Admlithi" "great-grinding", attested in "Togail Bruidne Dá Derga".


title: Amleth

text: Attention has also been drawn to the similarity of "Amleth" to the Irish name "Amhladh" (variously "Amhlaidh, Amhlaigh, Amhlaide"), itself a Gaelic adaptation of the Norse name Olaf.


title: Amleth

text: In a controversial suggestion going back to 1937, the sequence "æmluþ" contained in the 8th-century Old Frisian runic inscription on the Westeremden yew-stick has been interpreted as a reference to "Amleth". Contemporary runic research does not support this conclusion.


title: Amleth

text: It has frequently been assumed that the Scandinavian legend ultimately goes back to an Old Norse (Old Icelandic) poem of about the 10th century.


title: Amleth

text: Nevertheless, no such poem has survived, and the two 12th-century Latin versions of the story are the oldest source.


title: Amleth

text: There was in addition an early modern (17th century) Icelandic version of the tale. Historian Thormodus Torfæus had asserted that a story of "Amlodi" was part of popular folklore in the mid-17th century, but it is unclear whether the early modern Icelandic tale is substantially influenced by Saxo's account, or if it represents an independent tradition derived from the unattested Old Icelandic source.


title: Amleth

text: Gervendill, governor of Jutland, was succeeded by his sons Horvendill and Feng. Horvendill, on his return from a Viking expedition in which he had slain Koll, king of Norway, married Gerutha, daughter of Rørik Slyngebond, king of Denmark; she bore him a son, Amleth. However, Feng murdered Horvendill out of jealousy and persuaded Gerutha to become his wife on the plea that he had committed the crime for no other reason than to avenge her of a husband who had hated her. Amleth, afraid of sharing his father's fate, pretended to be an imbecile. However, Feng's suspicions put him to various tests related in detail. Among other things, they sought to entangle him with a young girl, his foster-sister (the prototype of Ophelia), but his cunning saved him. However, when Amleth slew the eavesdropper hidden, like Polonius in Shakespeare's play, in his mother's room, and destroyed all trace of the deed, Feng was assured that the young man's madness was feigned. Accordingly, he dispatched him to Britain in company with two attendants, who bore a letter urging the country's king to put him to death. Amleth surmised the purport of their instructions and secretly altered the message on their wooden tablets to instead direct the king to kill the attendants and give Amleth his daughter in marriage.


title: Amleth

text: After marrying the princess, Amleth returned to Denmark at the end of a year. Of the wealth he had accumulated, he took with him only certain hollow sticks filled with gold. He arrived in time for a funeral feast to celebrate his supposed death. During the feast, he plied the courtiers with wine. He executed his vengeance during their drunken sleep by fastening down over them the woolen hangings of the hall with pegs he had sharpened during his feigned madness, then setting fire to the palace. He slew Feng with his own sword. After a long harangue to the people, he was proclaimed king. Returning to Britain for his wife, he found that his father-in-law and Feng had pledged each to avenge the other's death. The English king, unwilling to personally carry out his pledge, sent Amleth as proxy wooer for the hand of a terrible Scottish queen, Hermuthruda, who had put all former wooers to death but fell in love with Amleth. On his return to Britain, his first wife, whose love proved stronger than her resentment, told him of her father's intended revenge. In the ensuing battle, Amleth won the day by setting up the fallen dead from the day before on stakes, thereby terrifying the enemy.


title: Amleth

text: He then returned with his two wives to Jutland, where he encountered the enmity of Wiglek, Rørik's successor. He was slain in a battle against Wiglek. Although she had promised to die with him, Hermuthruda instead married the victor. Saxo states that Amleth was buried on a plain (or "heath") in Jutland, famous for his name and burial place. Wiglek later died of illness and was the father of Wermund, from whom the royal line of Kings of Mercia descended.


title: Amleth

text: The 12th-century "Chronicle of the Kings of Leijre" (and the included "Annales Lundenses") tells that the Danish king Rorik Slengeborre made Orwendel and Feng rulers in Jutland, and gave his daughter to Orwendel as a reward for his good service. Orwendel and the daughter had a son, Amblothæ the Jutlander.


title: Amleth

text: The jealous Feng killed Orwendel and took his wife. Amblothæ understood that his life was in danger and tried to survive by pretending to be insane. Feng sent Amblothæ to the king of Britain with two servants, who carryed a message directing the British king to kill Amblothæ. While the servants slept, Amblothæ carved off the (probably runic) message and wrote that the servants were to be killed and that he should be married to the king's daughter. The British king did what the message said.


title: Amleth

text: Exactly one year later, Feng drank to the memory of Amblothæ, but Amblothæ appeared and killed him, burnt Feng's men to death in a tent, and became the ruler of Jutland. Then he went back to Britain to kill the British king, who wanted to avenge Feng's death and marry Scotland's queen. Amblothæ went back to Jutland and was killed in battle upon arrival.


title: Amleth

text: In Iceland, the early modern "Ambale's Saga" is a romantic tale (the earliest manuscript dates from the 17th century).


title: Amleth

text: Thormodus Torfæus recorded in 1702 that he "often heard the story of Amlod related in Iceland by old women" in his youth.


title: Amleth

text: The folk-tale of Brjam was put in writing in 1707. In the "Ambale's Saga", besides romantic additions, some traits point to an earlier version of the tale.


title: Amleth

text: Also comparable is the medieval "Hrólfs saga kraka", where the brothers Helgi (known as Halga in "Beowulf") and Hroar (Hroðgar) take the place of the hero (corresponding to the tale of Harald and Halfdan in the seventh book of Saxo Grammaticus); Helgi and Hroar, like Harald and Halfdan, avenge their father's murder by their uncle by burning the uncle in his palace. Harald and Halfdan escape after their father's death by being brought up with dogs' names in a hollow oak, and subsequently by feigning madness. In the case of the other brothers, there are traces of a similar motive since the boys are called by dogs' names.


title: Amleth

text: Lucius Junius Brutus as told by Livy, by Valerius Maximus, and by Dionysius of Halicarnassus are likely deliberate, as the incident of the gold-filled sticks could hardly appear fortuitously in both, and a comparison of the harangues of Amleth (Saxo, Book iv.) and Brutus (Dionysius, iv. 77) shows marked similarities.


title: Amleth

text: In both tales, the usurping uncle is ultimately succeeded by the nephew. The latter has escaped notice during his youth by a feigned madness. Nevertheless, the parts played by the personages who in Shakespeare became Ophelia and Polonius, the method of revenge, and the whole narrative of Amleth's adventure in England, have no parallels in the Latin story.


title: Amleth

text: Further resemblances exist in the "Ambale's Saga" with the tales of Bellerophon, of Heracles, and of Servius Tullius. This concerns especially the episode of the "traitorous letter" (ordering the death of the bearer), also found in the Old French (13th-century) "Dit de l'empereur Constant", and further afield in various Arabian and Indian tales.


title: Amleth

text: There are also striking similarities between the story of Amleth and that of Kai Khosrow in the "Shahnameh" (Book of the King) of the Persian poet Firdausi.


title: Amleth

text: In ancient Egyptian mythology, a similar tale of a king who is murdered by a jealous brother but avenged by his son appears in the narrative of Osiris, Set and Horus.


title: Amleth

text: Outside Scandinavia, the story of Amleth or Hamlet was popularized through François de Belleforest's French "Histoires tragiques" (Paris, Chez Jean Hupeau, 1572, Fueil 149), where it appears as the fifth story of the fifth volume. An English version, "The Hystorie of Hamblet", was published in 1608. An English stage version, conventionally known as the "Ur-Hamlet", appeared by 1589. The play is lost but is mentioned in a few other sources, the first being Thomas Nashe's 1589 preface to Robert Greene's "Menaphon".


title: Amleth

text: William Shakespeare wrote his play "Hamlet" sometime between 1599 and 1602. The "Ur-Hamlet" is thought to be his primary source; his version owes but the outline of the story to Saxo. In character, Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet is diametrically opposed to his prototype. Amleth's madness was certainly altogether feigned; he prepared his vengeance a year beforehand and carried it out deliberately and ruthlessly at every point. His riddling speech has little more than an outward similarity to the words of Hamlet. However, he resembles him in his disconcerting penetration into his enemies' plans.


title: Amleth

text: The legend was taken as the basis of a 1994 film by Gabriel Axel, "Prince of Jutland" (also known as "Royal Deceit"), with Gabriel Byrne as Fenge, Helen Mirren as Geruth and Christian Bale as Amled.


title: Amleth

text: The legend, woven together with Shakespeare's play, forms the basis for Alan Gordon's novel "An Antic Disposition" (2004), the fifth novel in Gordon's "Fools' Guild" series.


title: Amleth

text: Amleth's story was also adapted into the 2022 film "The Northman", directed by the American director Robert Eggers who also co-wrote the script with Icelandic author Sjón, with Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth.


title: Natural environment

text: The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.


title: Natural environment

text: In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. Built environments are where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a photovoltaic system in the desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human, hence beaver dams, and the works of mound-building termites, are thought of as natural.


title: Natural environment

text: People cannot find "absolutely natural" environments on Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. The massive environmental changes of humanity in the Anthropocene have fundamentally effected all natural environments: including from climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution from plastic and other chemicals in the air and water. More precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in an agricultural field, the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil, but the structure is quite different.


title: Natural environment

text: Earth science generally recognizes four spheres, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere as correspondent to rocks, water, air, and life respectively. Some scientists include as part of the spheres of the Earth, the cryosphere (corresponding to ice) as a distinct portion of the hydrosphere, as well as the pedosphere (to soil) as an active and intermixed sphere. Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geographical sciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. There are four major disciplines in earth sciences, namely geography, geology, geophysics and geodesy. These major disciplines use physics, chemistry, biology, chronology and mathematics to build a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the principal areas or "spheres" of Earth.


title: Natural environment

text: The Earth's crust, or lithosphere, is the outermost solid surface of the planet and is chemically and mechanically different from underlying mantle. It has been generated greatly by igneous processes in which magma cools and solidifies to form solid rock. Beneath the lithosphere lies the mantle which is heated by the decay of radioactive elements. The mantle though solid is in a state of rheic convection. This convection process causes the lithospheric plates to move, albeit slowly. The resulting process is known as plate tectonics. Volcanoes result primarily from the melting of subducted crust material or of rising mantle at mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes.


title: Natural environment

text: An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the surface of the Earth (an area of some 362 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several separate oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean. The deep seabeds are more than half the Earth's surface, and are among the least-modified natural environments. The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.


title: Natural environment

text: A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. A few rivers simply flow into the ground and dry up completely without reaching another body of water.


title: Natural environment

text: The water in a river is usually in a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is often also a wider floodplain shaped by waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. Rivers are a part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of water stored in glaciers and snowpacks.


title: Natural environment

text: Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek and brook. Their current is confined within a bed and stream banks. Streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general is known as "surface hydrology".


title: Natural environment

text: A lake (from Latin "lacus") is a terrain feature, a body of water that is localized to the bottom of basin. A body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, is not part of an ocean, and is larger and deeper than a pond.


title: Natural environment

text: Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last ice age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.


title: Natural environment

text: A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams by their current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven micro-currents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools.


title: Natural environment

text: Humans impact the water in different ways such as modifying rivers (through dams and stream channelization), urbanization, and deforestation. These impact lake levels, groundwater conditions, water pollution, thermal pollution, and marine pollution. Humans modify rivers by using direct channel manipulation. We build dams and reservoirs and manipulate the direction of the rivers and water path. Dams can usefully create reservoirs and hydroelectric power. However, reservoirs and dams may negatively impact the environment and wildlife. Dams stop fish migration and the movement of organisms downstream. Urbanization affects the environment because of deforestation and changing lake levels, groundwater conditions, etc. Deforestation and urbanization go hand in hand. Deforestation may cause flooding, declining stream flow, and changes in riverside vegetation. The changing vegetation occurs because when trees cannot get adequate water they start to deteriorate, leading to a decreased food supply for the wildlife in an area.


title: Natural environment

text: The atmosphere of the Earth serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by the planet's gravity. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other inert gases, and carbon dioxide. The remaining gases are often referred to as trace gases. The atmosphere includes greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical compounds. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor and suspensions of water droplets and ice crystals seen as clouds. Many natural substances may be present in tiny amounts in an unfiltered air sample, including dust, pollen and spores, sea spray, volcanic ash, and meteoroids. Various industrial pollutants also may be present, such as chlorine (elementary or in compounds), fluorine compounds, elemental mercury, and sulphur compounds such as sulphur dioxide (SO).


title: Natural environment

text: The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in reducing the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.


title: Natural environment

text: Earth's atmosphere can be divided into five main layers. These layers are mainly determined by whether temperature increases or decreases with altitude. From highest to lowest, these layers are:


title: Natural environment

text: Within the five principal layers determined by temperature there are several layers determined by other properties.


title: Natural environment

text: The dangers of global warming are being increasingly studied by a wide global consortium of scientists. These scientists are increasingly concerned about the potential long-term effects of global warming on our natural environment and on the planet. Of particular concern is how climate change and global warming caused by anthropogenic, or human-made releases of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, can act interactively, and have adverse effects upon the planet, its natural environment and humans' existence. It is clear the planet is warming, and warming rapidly. This is due to the greenhouse effect, which is caused by greenhouse gases, which trap heat inside the Earth's atmosphere because of their more complex molecular structure which allows them to vibrate and in turn trap heat and release it back towards the Earth. This warming is also responsible for the extinction of natural habitats, which in turn leads to a reduction in wildlife population. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the group of the leading climate scientists in the world) concluded that the earth will warm anywhere from 2.7 to almost 11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 6 degrees Celsius) between 1990 and 2100.


title: Natural environment

text: Efforts have been increasingly focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gases that are causing climatic changes, on developing adaptative strategies to global warming, to assist humans, other animal, and plant species, ecosystems, regions and nations in adjusting to the effects of global warming. Some examples of recent collaboration to address climate change and global warming include:


title: Natural environment

text: A significantly profound challenge is to identify the natural environmental dynamics in contrast to environmental changes not within natural variances. A common solution is to adapt a static view neglecting natural variances to exist. Methodologically, this view could be defended when looking at processes which change slowly and short time series, while the problem arrives when fast processes turns essential in the object of the study.


title: Natural environment

text: Climate looks at the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Weather, on the other hand, is the present condition of these same elements over periods up to two weeks.


title: Natural environment

text: Climates can be classified according to the average and typical ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used classification scheme is the one originally developed by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system, in use since 1948, uses evapotranspiration as well as temperature and precipitation information to study animal species diversity and the potential impacts of climate changes.


title: Natural environment

text: Weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmospheric area at a given time. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.


title: Natural environment

text: Weather occurs due to density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On the Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F) annually. Over thousands of years, changes in the Earth's orbit have affected the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the Earth and influence long-term climate


title: Natural environment

text: Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes due to differences in compressional heating. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The atmosphere is a chaotic system, and small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout human history, and there is evidence that civilized human activity such as agriculture and industry has inadvertently modified weather patterns.


title: Natural environment

text: Evidence suggests that life on Earth has existed for about 3.7 billion years. All known life forms share fundamental molecular mechanisms, and based on these observations, theories on the origin of life attempt to find a mechanism explaining the formation of a primordial single cell organism from which all life originates. There are many different hypotheses regarding the path that might have been taken from simple organic molecules via pre-cellular life to protocells and metabolism.


title: Natural environment

text: Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and reproduction. Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms. In biology, the science of living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death.


title: Natural environment

text: A diverse variety of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria—are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information. Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.


title: Natural environment

text: An ecosystem (also called as environment) is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment.


title: Natural environment

text: Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a highly interrelated set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist. Eugene Odum, one of the founders of the science of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (i.e.: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."


title: Natural environment

text: The human ecosystem concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy, and the emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.


title: Natural environment

text: A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity of an ecosystem may contribute to greater resilience of an ecosystem, because there are more species present at a location to respond to change and thus "absorb" or reduce its effects. This reduces the effect before the ecosystem's structure is fundamentally changed to a different state. This is not universally the case and there is no proven relationship between the species diversity of an ecosystem and its ability to provide goods and services on a sustainable level.


title: Natural environment

text: The term ecosystem can also pertain to human-made environments, such as human ecosystems and human-influenced ecosystems, and can describe any situation where there is relationship between living organisms and their environment. Fewer areas on the surface of the earth today exist free from human contact, although some genuine wilderness areas continue to exist without any forms of human intervention.


title: Natural environment

text: Global biogeochemical cycles are critical to life, most notably those of water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.


title: Natural environment

text: Wilderness is generally defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, defining wilderness as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet – those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure." Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, and aesthetic reasons. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity.


title: Natural environment

text: The word, "wilderness", derives from the notion of wildness; in other words that which is not controllable by humans. The word's etymology is from the Old English "wildeornes", which in turn derives from "wildeor" meaning "wild beast" (wild + deor = beast, deer). From this point of view, it is the wildness of a place that makes it a wilderness. The mere presence or activity of people does not disqualify an area from being "wilderness." Many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or influenced by activities of people may still be considered "wild." This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which natural processes operate without very noticeable human interference.


title: Natural environment

text: Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, rain forests, plains, and other areas—including the most developed urban sites—all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by civilized human factors, most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is (now) impacted by human activities.


title: Natural environment

text: It is the common understanding of "natural environment" that underlies environmentalism — a broad political, social, and philosophical movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this environment. While true wilderness is increasingly rare, "wild" nature (e.g., unmanaged forests, uncultivated grasslands, wildlife, wildflowers) can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.


title: Natural environment

text: Goals for the benefit of people and natural systems, commonly expressed by environmental scientists and environmentalists include:


title: Natural environment

text: In some cultures the term environment is meaningless because there is no separation between people and what they view as the natural world, or their surroundings. Specifically in the United States and Arabian countries many native cultures do not recognize the "environment", or see themselves as environmentalists.


title: Sister Wives

text: Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes Kody Brown, his wife Robyn, ex-wives (Meri, Janelle, Christine), and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and to Flagstaff, Arizona in mid-2018.


title: Sister Wives

text: Brown and his four wives have stated they participated in the show to make the public aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices. Brown argues that his polygamist arrangement is legal because he is married (legally) to only one woman (Robyn), while the other marriages (to Meri, Janelle, and Christine) are "spiritual unions".


title: Sister Wives

text: In November 2021, Christine announced the dissolution of her relationship with Kody. Christine sold her Flagstaff home in October 2021, and in August 2022 transferred ownership of a portion of jointly-owned "Coyote Pass" property in Flagstaff to Kody and Robyn Brown.


title: Sister Wives

text: The show follows the lives of Kody Brown, wife Robyn, ex-wives (Meri, Janelle, Christine), and their 18 children. In the first season, the show televised Kody's courting of and marriage to his fourth wife, Robyn, in 2010. Robyn was the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years.


title: Sister Wives

text: The crews continued to film them after the marriage in case the series was picked up for a second season. "Sister Wives" was publicly introduced on August 6, 2010, at the Television Critics Association summer media tour in Beverly Hills. The series' first episode, an hour-long, was broadcast on TLC on September 26, 2010, and the first season continued with six half-hour episodes until October 17, 2010.


title: Sister Wives

text: The broadcast of "Sister Wives" came at a time when polygamy and multiple marriages were prevalent topics in American pop culture. "Big Love", the hit HBO series about fictional Utah polygamist Bill Henrickson, his three sister wives, and their struggle to gain acceptance in society, had already been on the air for several years. In early September 2010, the drama series "Lone Star", about a con man on the verge of entering into multiple marriages, premiered on Fox but was quickly canceled after two episodes. When "Sister Wives" debuted, actress Katherine Heigl was in the process of developing a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who fled from a polygamist sect.


title: Sister Wives

text: In October 2010, TLC announced it had commissioned a second season, which began in March 2011. A TLC interview with the Brown family was broadcast on October 31, 2010, and a one-hour program featuring the honeymoon of Kody and Robyn aired on November 22, 2010.


title: Sister Wives

text: The series led to the Brown family being investigated for possible prosecution. The family later sued the state of Utah, challenging its criminal polygamy laws. The Browns prevailed in the district court in a 2013 ruling, but a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ordered the case to be dismissed on standing grounds in 2016.


title: Sister Wives

text: "Sister Wives" drew national media attention after its first season and garnered generally mixed reviews from critics. "Washington Post" staff writer Hank Stuever called it "refreshingly frank" and found most interesting the small details of the family's everyday life, such as the food supply, division of labor, and minor arguments. "Los Angeles Times" television critic Mary McNamara said she was intrigued by the matriarchal nature of the polygamist family, a unit that is traditionally considered patriarchal. McNamara said the wives form the center of the family and that "their bonds appear far stronger and more vital than the casual fondness with which they all treat Kody". "Salon" writer Schuyler Velasco praised "Sister Wives" for introducing viewers to the unfamiliar subject matter and called it "refreshingly modest" considering its controversial topic. Velasco said it has "a natural, honest presence in a genre fabled for the camera-hogging antics of "Jersey Shore"". Shelley Fralic of "The Vancouver Sun" called it fascinating and surprising and was impressed with the sensible and articulate way in which the family defended their lifestyle. When the Brown family made an October 2010 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she found particularly fascinating the relationship between the sister wives.