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Pictures of Archaeological Artefacts
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18-01-2021 6:56pm#1I looked back over 10 pages and a couple of years and cannot see a thread just for pictures of lovely archaeological artefacts.
It is one of my favourite things to see - amazing pictures of artefacts that are really old and beautiful. The craftmanship of ancient times is astonishing.
If thread not appropriate, please delete.
A neo-Assyrian amethyst vase. 8th century BC. 7.9cm high.15
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Awesome!
The Clay Bison of Tuc D'Audoubert. Hard to find an image that does justice to these more than 15000 years old beauties. Est 13500 BCE. Relief sculptures found in a cave in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Lots of other Paleolithic art found in the cave system. 2 foot long, 18 inches high, 3 - 4 inches depth.
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/tuc-daudoubert-cave.htm
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The Knowth flint Macehead. Circa 3300 - 2800 BC. Carved on all 6 facets and with a perfect cylindrical ''mouth''. One of the finest pieces of Neolithic craftmanship in all of Europe. Amazing extraordinary object from 5000 years ago. 7.9 cm in length.
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The Guennol Lioness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guennol_Lioness
A work of pure perfection. Stunning!!
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Wow! I never saw that one before. 5000 years old. 8.3 cm. Mesopotamia. It is beautiful.
Slowburner, re enigmatic...yes, indeed. Very. I see an article on research gate. Used Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) analysis. Shows some incision marks, direction of, etc.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320197732_Making_and_Re-making_the_Decorated_Artefacts_from_Knowth_The_Results_from_RTI_Analysis
Also says the only comparable objects from the time would be the carved ball from Towie, Scotland, which is an ideal chance to post a picture of it. Amazing thing. Again about 5000 years old. 7.3 cm. Weighs half a kilo. Made from black stone.
Also compared in research article to Folkton Drums. Found in a child's grave. 2600BC approx. 8.7 cm. Made of chalk, though, which I don't think is comparable to working the hard flint. Nor is the craftmanship as stunning. But we will allow it
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One of the first artefacts I thought of.Awesome!
The Clay Bison of Tuc D'Audoubert.
Speaking of skills in flint working... Mayan eccentric deity flint
The level of skill involved in pressure flaking that is extremely high. What the pic doesn't show is how thin it is.Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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That's unbelievable skill. Never saw one before. Imagine the tension - every little knap could spell disaster! Maybe they had the flint embedded/held in a substance (sand, soft mud, water?) to disperse the percussion shocks while working on it - that is just an idea I am having, so maybe crazy.
The earlier Lioness made me think of the Lion man of Hohlenstein-Stadel.
Carved out of mammoth ivory. The layer it was found in is dated to 35-40,000 years old. A foot tall.
Interesting video showing a person recreating the work with flint tools.
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About what flint is laid on or held in for knapping, hide has been reasonably reliably suggested to me as a possibility..
And on the subject of beautifully knapped flint.. here is the Hindsgavl Dagger from Denmark. 29.5 cm long - so just a bit under a foot (for Neanderthals like me who visualise old measures better). 1 cm thick. 2400 to 1800 B.C is the ''Dagger period''. I think this one is 1900 BC. Apparently the red colour is from the bog's effect on translucent flint.
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Lector Priest of Ptah, Pa-aker
(Egypt; Old Kingdom; Late 4th Dynasty-Early 5th Dynasty, circa 2500 B.C.E.)
This particular sculpture has always fascinated me. On display in the Cairo museum, Egypt, it was carved from a single piece of sycamore (the arms were attached separately), and stands 112 cm. tall (3.67ft.). It was discovered in the mastaba tomb of Pa-aker by Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette, close to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, during excavations there in 1870. It would have originally been gessoed (covered in a thin layer of plaster) and painted. The exquisite looking eyes were fashioned from rock crystal and quartz.
Not much is known about the man himself only that he was a Lector priest (recited spells and hymns during temple rituals and ceremonies), and army scribe of the King (Pharaoh Userkaf). Another wooden sculpture found in the tomb alongside Pa-aker's was a female statue believed to be that of his wife.
It's breathtakingly lifelike. A masterpiece!
I've had an enduring fascination with all things ancient Egyptian since a national school pal of mine showed me photos of her trip to Egypt with her family. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been. Not sure this pasty-skinned Irishman could stand the 40+ degrees temperatures of Cairo and Luxor!0 -
About what flint is laid on or held in for knapping, hide has been reasonably reliably suggested to me as a possibility..
And on the subject of beautifully knapped flint.. here is the Hindsgavl Dagger from Denmark. 29.5 cm long - so just a bit under a foot (for Neanderthals like me who visualise old measures better). 1 cm thick. 2400 to 1800 B.C is the ''Dagger period''. I think this one is 1900 BC. Apparently the red colour is from the bog's effect on translucent flint.
A stunning piece! Such a delicately worked piece would have been used only in a ceremonial capacity I'm sure. I've seen other prehistoric flint artefacts from Denmark, and it would seem the prehistoric Danes were master flint knappers. I'm sure Wibbs would concur?0 -
That Egyptian priest is somehow so modern looking - very arresting. Egypt would be on my bucket list too. Almost hard to comprehend level of ancient archaeology there. One of the places I would like to see in person would be Karnak. Constructed around 2000BC.
It might be debatable whether large constructions are artefacts (?) but these are all pieces of art worked by humans. They would have been brightly painted too. Which must have been awe-inspiring for the people visiting.
and the absolutely massive unfinished obelisk at Aswan
The amount of co-ordination and physical effort to get that so straight and perfect over such a large area...and they were going to move and raise it up too. Amazing. I'm not saying it was aliens but :pac: (joke!)
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Because of the lovely film The Dig,now on Netflix, about the treasures found by Basil Brown at Sutton Hoo, here are some photos of the treasuresThe Sutton Hoo grave field contained about twenty barrows; it was reserved for people who were buried individually with objects that indicated that they had exceptional wealth or prestige. It was used in this way from around 575 to 625 (AD) - Wikipedia
Iron and Bronze helmet. Has a built in moustache
Gold shoulder clasps inlaid with garnet cloisonné and glass, Britain, c. AD 560–610.
Gold belt buckle, Britain, early 7th century AD.
Gold sword upper guard-plate, Britain, 6th century AD.
Digging Sutton Hoo. 1939
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Something new for me to learn today. Paleolithic spear throwers. This completely changes how I perceived they used spears way back then. A whole lot of extra leverage, sophistication and propulsion. And they made them pretty too!
This one is made of reindeer antler. Length: 12.40 cm, Thickness: 1.50 cm, Width: 6 cm. Age = 13,000-11,000BC. Found in Montrastruc, France.
This one is made of mammoth ivory between 17,000-12,000 years ago. Also found in France.
This is what that spear thrower would have looked like when functional
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/spear-thrower-la-madeleine-atlatl-151381622
This was the technique.
You probably know all this! I just found out :pac: What a clever invention.
Here is a groovy guy showing how to use it.
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@ Gruffalux
Thanks for the heads-up on the Netflix film 'The Dig'. I've watched almost half of it, and hope to look at the rest shortly. I've actually seen the Sutton Hoo treasures in the British Museum, but have to say was a little underwhelmed. To be fair, I probably didn't spend enough time there to appreciate it fully. If I can recall, the Lewis Chessmen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_chessmen were in close proximity, which leads me cunningly on to my next offering!
The Clonard Chess Piece
(Co. Meath; Late twelfth century; H. 7.25cm.)
I was recently thumbing through a wonderful publication called 'Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland - Irish Antiquities' which was co-edited by Dr. Pat Wallace and Dr. Raghnall Ó Floinn, and spotted the above piece, an artefact I had not been familiar with (by the way, a better image of the artefact can be found on page 282 of the above said publication; the image posted above, the only one I could find, doesn't do it justice). It was reputedly found with several other chess pieces in a bog in the townland of Clonard, Co. Meath in about 1817. Sadly, it is now the only surviving piece of that hoard. What's remarkable about it is that it bears incredible similarities to pieces in the Lewis Chessmen collection, so much so, that it's been suggested it came from the same workshop. The figure is that of a queen, which has been sculpted from either walrus ivory or bone (now heavily stained brown in colour having sat for centuries in the peat of an Irish bogland). So how did these pieces end up where they did?
Clonard was the site of an early monastic settlement founded by Naomh Finnian, circa 520 A.D. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonard_Abbey
A cursory look at Google maps shows that the Boyne river is not that far away from the townland, and that the settlement was also on the Esker Riada, so easily accessible for a marauding band of pillaging Vikings.
My overactive imagination would have me believe they belonged to a member of a Viking raiding party who had brought them along on their journey for entertainment, prior to beating the bejaysus out of some hapless Irish monks. A little bit of intellectual stimulation before turning pure savage
. The late twelfth century date postulated for the manufacture of the chess pieces would suggest otherwise I guess? 0 -
Love the chess set piece, was going to suggest it had been carried as a talisman given it is a Queen, but then noticed that there were other pieces found that have been lost. So that scuppers that notion.
Saw this picture of supposedly 5900 year old thread/cordage. I say supposedly because I can largely only find it on reddit and pinterest sites, but one archaeological twitter account says it is a ''Ball of carbonized thread of linen or nettle dating from the Middle Neolithic (3,900 - 3,300 BC) from the Marin-Epagnier / Préfargier site, France.''
Anyway there is this definitely from Must Farm in Cambridge. Tiny tiny thread.. Some fabrics discovered at Must farm had thread counts of 30 per centimetre. 3000 years ago.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-a-3000yearold-ball-of-yarn3,000 years old. For much of its existence, it has been buried underground, in boggy land, along with the rest of the remains of three small houses built millennia ago, near what’s now Cambridge, England.
Ever since archaeologists discovered Must Farm, which has been called Britain’s Pompeii, they have been uncovering small clues as to what life was like for the families that lived here. This ball of yarn is one of the most delicate finds–extraordinary in its survival over all these years.
Same ball of thread on someone's palm..
And then this fascinating demonstration by Sally Pointer of how one turns raw nettles into thin strong thread.
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Continuing a yarn theme, coincidentally, these caught my eye today.
These socks were designed to be worn with sandals.
Made in Egypt between 250 - 420 AD. Using a single needle knitting technique - nålbindning - that was a precursor to 2 needle knitting./https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/ea/f7/eaf75521-6d5b-4c99-a616-955b53a21e90/leftfoot.jpeg)
Here is a child's sock, also found in Egypt, and from 3rd to 4th century.
The yarn has been analysed using multi-spectral imaging.the analysis revealed that the sock contained seven hues of wool yarn woven together in a meticulous, stripy pattern. Just three natural, plant-based dyes—madder roots for red, woad leaves for blue and weld flowers for yellow—were used to create the different color combinations featured on the sock,
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews-history-archaeology/1700-year-old-sock-spins-yarn-about-ancient-egyptian-fashion-180970501/
It's a very hippie looking sock!
Another funky-looking 1700 year old Egyptian sock.0 -
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Speaking of thread. Now this is a decidedly dull and unimpressive looking picture:
However it is a pic of a piece of woven thread found attached to a stone tool from 50,000 years ago, made by neandertals. The oldest thread so far discovered. What they were using it for is up for debate. The consesnus is that they didn't have needles, an innovation solely of modern humans, but IMHO they likely did, only unlike modern humans who made them from ivory and bone, they made theirs from wood which is far less likely to survive.Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Continuing a yarn theme, coincidentally, these caught my eye today.
These socks were designed to be worn with sandals.
Made in Egypt between 250 - 420 AD. Using a single needle knitting technique - nålbindning - that was a precursor to 2 needle knitting.
Here is a child's sock, also found in Egypt, and from 3rd to 4th century.
The yarn has been analysed using multi-spectral imaging.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews-history-archaeology/1700-year-old-sock-spins-yarn-about-ancient-egyptian-fashion-180970501/
It's a very hippie looking sock!
Another funky-looking 1700 year old Egyptian sock.
Almost identical to Japanese type.0 -
However it is a pic of a piece of woven thread found attached to a stone tool from 50,000 years ago, made by neandertals.[/URL] The oldest thread so far discovered. .
Not to belabour a topic (well, okay, maybe a bit..) but I am having a bit of a cordage pre-occupation at the moment. It started with idly wondering about tying stuff together in the past, like roof timbers, fences etc, and it has persisted, because cordage, rope, and its refinements to thread is a huge development for humans. Maybe as big as fire. It makes what one can possibly do infinitely more variable. From stringing up a loom to make cloth to keeping your goats close at hand to intricate wooden constructions to making music to everything!...everything becomes better and possible with cordage, and for so much longer than before we had metals to truly take over the world. You need cordage to build a pyramid. The lowly spindle whorl, often formed from animal bones in the earliest times, is a true wonder also if one thinks (too much) about it!
And has been here since the Neolithic.
Neolithic spindle whorl from Worcestershire - women were often buried with their spindle whorls, the female equivalent of a spear (or golden penis sheath
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Late Bronze Age spindle whorl from Tipperary
But anyway before I get too caught up on spindle whorls, this is what I really wanted to show. The papyrus ropes found in the Mersa/Wadi Gawasis cave no. 5 - used for sailing , looking good as new when found in 2010 ish (?) after 4000 years of being closed in. It is beautiful.
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Spooky looking artefacts today.
9000 year old neolithic masks from Israel.
First is found most recently in 2018. Carved from pink and yellow sandstone.
At first I thought since the rest of the mask was quite subtle and sophisticated and the teeth looked a bit like later less artistic incisions, maybe they were not carved at the same time. But then I saw some other masks from the same era, same area. They all got teeth!
They would have been painted. One mask found still had traces of paint. They weigh about 1 - 2 kg. Most of those pictured here were made of limestone. In a few cases they were found with preserved hair.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/6/140610-oldest-masks-israel-museum-exhibit-archaeology-science/Strands of hair, preserved for thousands of years in the dry climate, were stuck to the masks in clumps. "These were clearly adult males," says Hershman. "Each had a mustache and a beard." Hair may also have been attached to holes at the top of each mask.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/eerie-neolithic-masks-to-make-israel-museum-debut/By examining the type of stone and the patina on the surface of the masks, Goren determined that all of the artifacts originated from an area of the Judean Desert and Judean Hills approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) in radius.
So back about when our ancestors were settling down to farm, they were also using these masks for ancestor rituals (it is presumed). Religious rites really got going along with agriculture.0 -
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largest metal vessel found on antiquity. 1.63m high
vix burgundy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vix_Grave
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ednwireland wrote: »largest metal vessel found on antiquity. 1.63m high
vix burgundy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vix_Grave
Wow, same heights as me
I saw this lady with a horn yesterday ....
Woman holding a bison horn, from Laussel, France, ca. 25,000-20,000 BC (!!) Painted limestone, 1’ 6"" high.
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/sculpture/laussel.phppart of frieze of four female figures which adorned the back wall of a rockshelter. Further engravings of vulva were also discovered on rocks within the archaeological deposits. The woman holding a bison horn is pregnant and the shape of her waist and hips suggest that she had already had children. Her head is turned to the right but seems to look down at her breast rather than towards the horn. She has no face but her neck and shoulders are well defined. Her large breasts are placed high and again suggest previous child bearing. The sexual triangle is well defined and her legs, sculpted slightly apart, are complete and in proportion to the length of her body. The fingers on her left hand rest on her stomach whereas her right arm bends upwards supporting a bison horn marked with 14 vertical incisions. Traces of red ochre occur on her head, body, hips and stomach.
I wonder did she say to her sculptor afterwards that he could have done a little photoshop on the hips - they are rather lumpy-looking! Not exactly the smoothly curvaceous bottoms of the ancient carved Maltese ladies.
Here is one of my favourite artefacts ever - I saw it in person and she is gorgeous and peaceful. 3000 ish BC. Quite small at 12 cm long. Found in the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum - a mind-blower of a place. I was a bit spooked down there, himself was high as a kite0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgbvT9_pjzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgUMUk3YwY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eq7fyLMu9I
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