# Ancient art and art from antiquity and cultural treasures from the past



## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Much as I love paintings by the old masters and all sorts of other art I'm always drawn back to the ancients.

The Ancient Greeks were pretty incredible, good programme on BBC4 last night reminded me of some lovely stuff, and next week's episode features my favourite piece of art in the world, The Laucoon.







I first saw it when went to the Vatican a few years ago and it nearly knocked me off my feet. It's incredible, truly awe inspiring.

Wiki bit:

The statue of _*Laocoön and His Sons*_ (Italian: _Gruppo del Laocoonte_), also called the _*Laocoön Group*_, has been one of the most famous ancient sculptures ever since it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and placed on public display in the Vatican,[2] where it remains. Exceptionally, it is very likely to be the same object as a statue praised in the highest terms by the main Roman writer on art, Pliny the Elder.[3] The figures are near life-size and the group is a little over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height, showing the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by sea serpents.[1]

The group has been "the prototypical icon of human agony" in Western art,[4] and unlike the agony often depicted in Christian art showing the Passion of Jesus and martyrs, this suffering has no redemptive power or reward.[5] The suffering is shown through the contorted expressions of the faces (Charles Darwin pointed out that Laocoön's bulging eyebrows are physiologically impossible), which are matched by the struggling bodies, especially that of Laocoön himself, with every part of his body straining.[6]

Pliny attributes the work, then in the palace of Emperor Titus, to three Greek sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus, but does not give a date or patron. In style it is considered "one of the finest examples of the Hellenistic baroque" and certainly in the Greek tradition,[7] but it is not known whether it is an original work or a copy of an earlier sculpture, probably in bronze, or made for a Greek or Roman commission. The view that it is an original work of the 2nd century BC now has few if any supporters, although many still see it as a copy of such a work made in the early Imperial period, probably of a bronze original.[8] Others see it as probably an original work of the later period, continuing to use the Pergamese style of some two centuries earlier. In either case, it was probably commissioned for the home of a wealthy Roman, possibly of the Imperial family. Various dates have been suggested for the statue, ranging from about 200 BC to the 70s AD,[9] though "a Julio-Claudian date [between 27 BC and 68 AD] ... is now preferred".[10]


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

These two pieces of gold jewelry were found in the tomb of Phillip Of Macedon, and probably belonged to his wife Meda. Greek, 4th Century BC.

Golden Diadem:

 

Golden Myrtle Wreath:


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## MooChild (Apr 16, 2015)

They are awesome!


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## BandWagon (Apr 16, 2015)

Never made the Vatican but the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay are both excellent.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

I might have to change the thread title, or just ignore it slightly to include all art from antiquity, 'cos there's loads I'd like to include right up to the Renaissance/Baroque period from around the world.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

I love that my kids enjoy going to the British Museum almost as much as I do. We always go and look at the horses from the Parthenon frieze. Personally I'd like them to be returned to Greece now and put back into context with the Parthenon.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

My youngest always demands to go and see the Assyrian lion hunt. 7th Century BC.






The destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud by ISIS is one of the saddest and maddening things I've ever seen.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

One day I'll make it to Jingdezhen, the home of Chinese porcelain. Got a bit of a thing for almost all of it, particularly blue and white ware.

For my money they reached their peak of perfection in the Qing Dynasty, _AD 1723-35_. These moon flasks with birds and cherry blossom are my favourites from the Percival David Collection.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Titian was exceptional at painting old men 

Portrait of an Old Man (Pietro Cardinal Bembo) 1546


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## Sirena (Apr 16, 2015)

Here's a thing of beauty, from around 2500 bc, one of a pair found in Southern Iraq..


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

deer having a crap


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

pazyryk tattoo


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Closer to home, how about this Ango-Saxon jewelry.

Cambridge, 7th Century:









Sutton Hoo, 7th Century:


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> pazyryk tattoo



I love that, must look great as a tattoo.


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

lascaux caves. i seem to remember they're painted thousands of years apart back>front


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> Closer to home, how about this Ango-Saxon jewelry.
> 
> Sutton Hoo, 7th Century:



picked the wrong pieces  the cloisonné enamel is unparalleled ever.


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> I love that, must look great as a tattoo.


it does


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

*Tsukioka Yoshitoshi* ; 30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892. Considered the last great Japanese wood block artist.

Saigo Takamori attacking the Dragon Palace, detailed in sprinkled mica and white pigment, triptych, 1877:





*Shinpūren Rebellion*:


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> picked the wrong pieces  the cloisonné enamel is unparalleled ever.



Excellent


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> it does



Yours? Pic?

ETA: OH, they've not caught your best side


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## Biddlybee (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> it does


 who are/were the Pazyryk?


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> Excellent



i've done a little enamelling. you build up the wires then sprinkle coloured/powdered glass in the spaces and fire. the boars aren't glass enamel they're individually carved garnets. hard. fucking. core


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> Yours? Pic?



it looks like that ^


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

heh edit  no, i was a little short on sleep


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Biddlybee said:


> who are/were the Pazyryk?



Never heard of them, but interested now, Iron Age digs were always the best. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazyryk_burials


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

Biddlybee said:


> who are/were the Pazyryk?


iron age i think - siberia, permafrost, horses, that's about all i remember  except the woman with that/my tattoo had dyed red hair and thigh-high felt boots


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## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2015)

A page from the Book of Kells. Written on vellum, illuminated with the rarest of things, gold, lapis lazuli derived ink from the other end of the silk road. Originally came with a fantastic jeweled cover but someone (I'm looking at you  norway) you look guilty' vanished it into the mists of time after the sack of the monastry it was kept at. Kells. Then they found the manuscript itself some centuries later stashed in a church


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> Never heard of them, but interested now, Iron Age digs were always the best.



my heart is in the bronze age


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

I finally managed to get hold of a picture of the La Tene French Iron Age horse pot I found in 1995. 

 

Here are some more complete examples:


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## BandWagon (Apr 16, 2015)

Great thread.


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

iron age trinovantes british coin (50-ish bc)






modelled on an alexander the great (greek) gold stater (300-ish bc)




alexander on the head side gradually morphs over the generations into an abstraction of his hair and laurel wreath. it finally develops into an ear of corn.


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

just realised i need to save a tattoo spot for a celtic-coin horse


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## JimW (Apr 16, 2015)

"The Priest-king" from Mohenjo-daro


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> just realised i need to save a tattoo spot for a celtic-coin horse



Nice idea. I've been working on a tattoo design which incorporates techniques from Japanese painting, block work and brush pot/vase design for 15 years. It's almost complete


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## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2015)

is there a consenus on when 'antiquity' ends? fall of constantinopole or something? wondering if the Kells book migh not count  its got to date from Romes decline and withdrawal from this part of earth tho..


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> is there a consenus on when 'antiquity' ends? fall of constantinopole or something? wondering if the Kells book migh not count  its got to date from Romes decline and withdrawal from this part of earth tho..



Yeah but we've already gone past that 'cos I said in one of the first posts I was going right up to the Renaissance & Baroque period. I might even put an art nouveau vase up in a minute 

It's more cultural treasures from the past I spose.

ETA: Thread title added to


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## Plumdaff (Apr 16, 2015)

I love mosaics, some of the best are in late antiquity, here's the 6th century Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna











And let's not forget Theodora


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Plumdaff said:


> I love mosaics, some of the best are in late antiquity, here's the 6th century Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna



Ooh, they're lovely, nice choice.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Plumdaff did you watch Italy Unpacked? Andrew Graham-Dixon and Giorgio Locatelli travel through Italy looking at amazing art in churches and the like and then cook some of the local dishes ofeach area. Perfect holiday, I'm doing that one day. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q9rgn

Did similar in France years ago with a mate who's a wine photographer & his wife. We drank wine, ate cheese and looked at art all the way from Marseille to Strasbourg, through Epernay and finished in Paris. Burp.


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

Venus figurine, Upper Paleolithic Europe, but similar found across the globe


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

The Standard of Ur. It shows scenes from the life of a king of Ur in ancient Iraq,one of the world’s first cities. 2600-2400 BC


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## Plumdaff (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> Plumdaff did you watch Italy Unpacked? Andrew Graham-Dixon and Giorgio Locatelli travel through Italy looking at amazing art in churches and the like and then cook some of the local dishes ofeach area. Perfect holiday, I'm doing that one day.
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q9rgn
> 
> Did similar in France years ago with a mate who's a wine photographer & his wife. We drank wine, ate cheese and looked at art all the way from Marseille to Strasbourg, through Epernay and finished in Paris. Burp.



I loved that programme. I would love to do something like that one day, also do the same around Greece and bits of Turkey.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2015)

part of the interior of Istanbuls Blue Mosque (one for the bucket list). Kells tie in- saw an art history docu about the kells and it talked about an islamic art influence on the work (along with the celctic style etc). I can sort of see it.

edit for better pic


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

This cheeky satyr wants to get frisky with this lady. She's quite keen and gives him a tickle. Greek plate, 4th Century BC


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## weepiper (Apr 16, 2015)

Hilton of Cadboll Pictish stone, c800AD, Ross and Cromarty






The Monymusk Reliquary, c700AD










The Lewis Chessmen, c1300AD, found in a sand dune in the 1800s


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> part of the interior of Istanbuls Blue Mosque (one for the bucket list).


isfahan for me


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## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> isfahan for me



Its a shame tripping in these places of worship would be deeply disrespectful, cos otherwise...


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)




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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

reliquary pendant containing a holy thorn c14th









thought to have been used as a talisman during childbirth.


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## Pickman's model (Apr 16, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> isfahan for me


i'll see your isfahan and raise you the palatine chapel in palermo


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## MooChild (Apr 16, 2015)

My favorite is Bernini's David


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## ringo (Apr 16, 2015)

MooChild said:


> My favorite is Bernini's David



I was going to add some Bernini


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## MooChild (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> I was going to add some Bernini



Seen that one (The first one, the second one is blocked at work), that mattress is unbelievable and unreal when viewed up close in real life


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## trabuquera (Apr 16, 2015)

Normally I go for things which  are fairly archaic - like this, Etruscan sarcophagus, couple just hanging out together for the rest of eternity:


And much of the time really classical (Greek and later) marble sculpture just somehow - doesn't do it for me. But that programme on BBC 4 last night converted me completely. who could resist the swagger of the Motya charioteer? (



the photos don't do it justice, by the way - going to go and see it in person whenever I can... the way whoever did this, managed to conjure living flesh and see-through superfine fabric out of stone is just extraordinary. Look at his bum!


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## wayward bob (Apr 16, 2015)

MooChild said:


> Seen that one (The first one, the second one is blocked at work), that mattress is unbelievable and unreal when viewed up close in real life


i got fooled recently by a (modern) sofa-brick-wall i voted sofa but it was bricks


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## Artaxerxes (Apr 16, 2015)

ringo said:


> The Ancient Greeks were pretty incredible, good programme on BBC4 last night reminded me of some lovely stuff,



That was a great show, I loved the Minoan murals and would love the spring one in my house somewhere


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## RoyReed (Apr 17, 2015)

There's some lovely things been added here. I've already put some of my favourite things in this thread on medieval stuff at the V&A.


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## ringo (Apr 17, 2015)

trabuquera said:


> And much of the time really classical (Greek and later) marble sculpture just somehow - doesn't do it for me. But that programme on BBC 2 last night converted me completely. who could resist the swagger of the Motya charioteer?



I'd never seen the Motya charioteer either and was equally enthralled. When I studied Ancient History and Archaeology we never touched on the art in detail, so I wasn't really aware so much was known about individual sculptors, it's one of the reasons I enjoyed that programme so much. Loved the development from frieze carvings to 3-D sculpture, and from democratic everyman faces to individualism.

One thing he didn't cover was the classic facial/body poses. That spear bearer by Polykleitos was a great example. With his lifted foot and thrust out hip he struck a pose still used by photographers and models today, classic in the true sense of the word.


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## ringo (Apr 17, 2015)

If you look at the sculptures of Alexander The Great he is often depicted with his head slightly askance. The early Greek sculptors recognised that this gave the human face character and accentuated beauty and bone structure. The same shape and style has since copied for depictions of everyone from Christ to Beckham.

Alexander The Great:




Jesus:




Beckham:


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## RoyReed (Apr 17, 2015)

ringo said:


> I'd never seen the Motya charioteer either and was equally enthralled. When I studied Ancient History and Archaeology we never touched on the art in detail, so I wasn't really aware so much was known about individual sculptors, it's one of the reasons I enjoyed that programme so much. Loved the development from frieze carvings to 3-D sculpture, and from democratic everyman faces to individualism.


I missed the beginning of the programme, but did he mention that the statues would have been brightly painted. I don't remember him saying that in the part I did see.


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## ringo (Apr 17, 2015)

RoyReed said:


> I missed the beginning of the programme, but did he mention that the statues would have been brightly painted. I don't remember him saying that in the part I did see.


I missed the start too. I couldn't work out if that was the first or second programme either, I'll check Sky now and try and set up a recording.

I didn't hear that. Blimey that's garish isn't it? Not sure if I like or not. That reminds me, loads of Christian churches and cathedrals were once brightly painted too, must find some pics


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## ringo (Apr 17, 2015)

Looks like I'll have to download them on the Iplayer so won't be able to keep them. Oh well, I did see this to watch though:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...autiful-ancient-greeks-good-looks-and-glamour


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## RoyReed (Apr 17, 2015)

ringo said:


> I missed the start too. I couldn't work out if that was the first or second programme either, I'll check Sky now and try and set up a recording.
> 
> I didn't hear that. Blimey that's garish isn't it? Not sure if I like or not. That reminds me, loads of Christian churches and cathedrals were once brightly painted too, must find some pics


It really is garish to our eyes and changes how we perceive the form. And yes, churches used to be very brightly painted - and the Victorian Gothic revival tried to bring some of that back. Have you ever seen All Saints, Margaret Street (just north of Oxford Street)?




All Saints Church, Margaret Street by RoyReed, on Flickr


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## wayward bob (Apr 17, 2015)

best (and i think oldest - bronze age origin?) white horse at uffingdon 






cern abbas giant  (likely modern)




stayed at the priory within sight of the wilmington long man once  _fucking_ steep hill


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## RoyReed (Apr 17, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> stayed at the priory within sight of the wilmington long man once  _fucking_ steep hill


Ooh, that's my photo!


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## wayward bob (Apr 17, 2015)

oh god do i need to pay for the rights now?


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## RoyReed (Apr 17, 2015)

wayward bob said:


> oh god do i need to pay for the rights now?


Nah - I'll let you off this time


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## wayward bob (Apr 17, 2015)

i appreciate your spirit of artistic solidarity 

*prints available enquire for prices*


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## Cid (Apr 18, 2015)

Lammasu.


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## Cid (Apr 18, 2015)

The bull leapers of Knossos! How have they not been posted yet?


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## Cid (Apr 18, 2015)

Swimming reindeer, ice age carving at the BM.


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## Cid (Apr 18, 2015)

Bit of audio; Radio 4 series on key artifacts at the BM - A history of the world in 100 objects.


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## ringo (Apr 20, 2015)

Imagine finding this in your garden 





The moment of discovery of ‪#‎Antinous‬ at Delphi 1894


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## ringo (Apr 21, 2015)

Vaulted ceilings.

Lincoln's Inn:





Winchester:


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## ringo (Apr 21, 2015)

The wild boar seems to have had huge importance to the people of the European Iron Age, I'd love to know why.


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## Pickman's model (Apr 21, 2015)

ringo said:


> The wild boar seems to have had huge importance to the people of the European Iron Age, I'd love to know why.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 21, 2015)

not only good eating- a dangerous thing to hunt without guns so test-of-manliness as well


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## trabuquera (Apr 21, 2015)

Not just delicious, it was/is also bloody dangerous, exceedingly aggressive and hyper-male - and is/was often a top predator in its niches ... so an obvious symbol for ruling houses / men / bosses / bastards / kings to take on as their own.

Then you got a good feast and maybe some sausages out of its corpse ... and the more artistic types could make their puny little paintbrushes from its bristles. win win win (for everyone except the boar, obvs)


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## ringo (Apr 21, 2015)

All good contenders


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## DotCommunist (Apr 21, 2015)

tbh I wonder often about pre-modern humans and if they had a materialist/non-materialist dual nature. Because if they didn't, the hunt would be tied to the god to the spirit- you know, a life lived utterly within that spirit/ancestor/totem animal thinking. Or if they were as cynical as todays leaders who pay lip service to God but in reality are concerned with power and manouvering. Damn them for not preserving a written culture


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 21, 2015)

ringo said:


> Imagine finding this in your garden
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The last time I found a naked man in my garden, I called the cops!


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 21, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> That was a great show, I loved the Minoan murals and would love the spring one in my house somewhere



Those birds would make a great tat.


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## Sirena (Apr 21, 2015)

ringo said:


> The wild boar seems to have had huge importance to the people of the European Iron Age, I'd love to know why.



I don't have the answer but pig/boar is a sacred/taboo animal in a great number of ancient cultures.  

Here's a magickal example from Britain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twrch_Trwyth


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## ringo (Apr 22, 2015)

Sirena I think the wild boar myth in Arthurian legend is probably a later recording/retelling of the Iron Age boar story/belief, passed down through the ages.


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

There's some debate on an archaeology Facebook group I use as to whether this depicts circumcision or castration in Ancient Egypt.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 24, 2015)

looks like he's measuring from the base of the shaft, so I'm going castration. Big on eunachry, the gyptians?


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> looks like he's measuring from the base of the shaft, so I'm going castration. Big on eunachry, the gyptians?



I think both were practiced in ancient Egypt. Castration:

http://www.well.com/~aquarius/pharaonique.htm

Would you really do much measuring before either? 

Seems a slightly odd choice to have carved into your tomb, unless maybe he was a practitioner.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 24, 2015)

well yes, the femoral artery runs through your shaft and if thats cut open you'll bleed out in around 6 minutes. So you'd probably want to be a bit careful. Marking out and so forth


maybe its the tomb of Grey Worm


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## ohmyliver (Apr 24, 2015)

On a slightly different tangent has anyone watched


I was slightly obsessed with cave art when I was painting.  I also have the documentary on 3d bluray, albeit for the wrong region for my ps3


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 24, 2015)

China and Japan have always been my favorites.


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> well yes, the femoral artery runs through your shaft and if thats cut open you'll bleed out in around 6 minutes. So you'd probably want to be a bit careful. Marking out and so forth
> 
> 
> maybe its the tomb of Grey Worm



You've thought about this in quite a bit of detail


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## DotCommunist (Apr 24, 2015)

ringo said:


> You've thought about this in quite a bit of detail


I have. Two other ideas:

Tomb of a famed castratii (not those ones)

Tomb of a famed castrator from a time when such a role was venerated for...erm...ritual?

any grave goods in there to indicate status, role?


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> China and Japan have always been my favorites.



I love them too, loads of Japanese stuff I'd like to put up here.

_The Tale of Genji_





Kameido Shrine's Drum Bridge (2003) -- Hiroshi Yoshida's "Kameido" (1927)


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

ohmyliver said:


> On a slightly different tangent has anyone watched



No but I'll add it to my list.

They've just opened the replica of Chauvet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32403867


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 24, 2015)

I went to an exhibit of Japanese textiles recently.  They featured a type of patchwork called Boro that was literally rags sewn together in several layers.  It was then quilted and darned to within an inch of its life.  It was a mark of poverty, but it was still amazing what could be done with so little.


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## ohmyliver (Apr 24, 2015)

Wow... that's now on my places that I must visit list (but after the church with Marc Chegal stained glass in Kent http://www.tudeley.org/chagall.htm)


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> any grave goods in there to indicate status, role?



I haven't read that much about it, but this is the tomb in question:

https://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/tomb-of-ankhmahor/


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## ringo (Apr 24, 2015)

ohmyliver said:


> Wow... that's now on my places that I must visit list (but after the church with Marc Chegal stained glass in Kent http://www.tudeley.org/chagall.htm)



I like those, must get down to Tudeley


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## trabuquera (Apr 24, 2015)

The _Cave of Forgotten Dreams _film is absolutely awesome - I watched it on a home DVD and sort of regretted it, it would be an even better experience if you see it in 3D and/or IMAX. Cave art is normally not my thing  - the insurmountable difficulties of interpretation/understanding mean there's not much more I can do but gawp and enjoy, because as soon as I start thinking anything more complex about it, I know it can only ever be pure speculation - but this film gave me the shivers, not just for the art itself but for the atmosphere it conjures. Plus it's got radioactive crocodiles, so can't be all bad.


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## ohmyliver (Apr 24, 2015)

"the insurmountable difficulties of interpretation/understanding mean there's not much more I can do but gawp and enjoy"  is why I love cave painting, and why when I created art I was so fascinated by it.

*eta* I'll hold off until I've exausted attempts to get the wrong region 3d blu ray to work on the wife's bluray drive on her workstation


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## RoyReed (Apr 24, 2015)

ringo said:


> Kameido Shrine's Drum Bridge (2003) -- Hiroshi Yoshida's "Kameido" (1927)


I love Japanese stuff too, especially woodblock prints. I've got two prints by Toshi Yoshida (Hiroshi's son). One's of the same bridge. The style is very similar.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 24, 2015)




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## hot air baboon (Apr 24, 2015)

Zaraysk bison - 20,000 years old


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## Artaxerxes (May 3, 2015)

Just watching the last episode of the BBC4 Greek art show on the iplayer, realised it's missing something, that's the effect Greek art had on the middle east and India, it did diffuse eastwards after Alexanders conquests

Gandhara Buddha







Yakshi


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## weepiper (May 3, 2015)

Rosslyn Chapel, 15th century


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## Artaxerxes (May 3, 2015)

Cueva de las Manos - 7300 BC - new theories suggest that most cave art was actually created by women, at least judging by these







Chauvet Cave - Approx 30'000 BC, I can almost hear the drums


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## JimW (May 4, 2015)

The mention of China above reminded me of the amazing Bronze Age culture found at Sanxingdui:


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## MooChild (May 5, 2015)

There's a really cool Buddha statue in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.


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## ringo (Aug 20, 2015)

Gold lunula and disks, Ireland
*



*
By hammering gold into thin sheets and then forming it into objects such as sun disks, beads, oval plaques, and lunulas, or crescent-shaped neck ornaments decorated with geometric motifs, they created what were to become the most iconic gold artifacts of the early Irish Bronze Age (2200–1800 B.C.). Some 100 lunulas have been discovered by archaeologists, with more than 80 from Ireland alone, and much more early Bronze Age gold has been unearthed in Ireland than in nearby countries. Experts theorized, until recently, that Ireland was not only a center of gold production, but also, perhaps, a source of its unprocessed ore.


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## Sirena (Aug 20, 2015)

It's functional rather than artistic but I loved this Sumerian star-map from 3000BC Nineveh


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## RoyReed (Aug 21, 2015)

The Assyrian Lion Hunt in the British Museum




Assyrian Lion Hunt by Roy Reed, on Flickr




Assyrian Lion Hunt by Roy Reed, on Flickr




Assyrian Lion Hunt by Roy Reed, on Flickr




Assyrian Lion Hunt by Roy Reed, on Flickr


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## JimW (Aug 21, 2015)

Didn't realise they dentists in Assyria.


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## wayward bob (Aug 21, 2015)

sardines at the v&a


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## moon (Aug 27, 2015)

A few of my faves
Makonde mask and Ekoi head dress




A Votive Hand of Sabazius




The Dacre Beasts


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## Sirena (Sep 24, 2015)

The famous Gundestrup Cauldron is in the UK for an exhibition at the British Museum (http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/exh...terpieces-arent-celtic-but-they-are-fabulous/)


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## Pickman's model (Sep 24, 2015)

woman with snakes and cat on head


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## ringo (Sep 24, 2015)

Sirena said:


> The famous Gundestrup Cauldron is in the UK for an exhibition at the British Museum (The British Museum's Celtic masterpieces aren't Celtic - but they are fabulous)



The whole exhibition looks great, looking forward to seeing the cauldron. I shared a house with a woman doing a PhD in what was and wasn't Celtic


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 24, 2015)

I'll be going to that Celtic exhibition, its always bugged me how little there is on show compared to Roman/Egyptian stuff.

Tattoos from the Ice Maiden


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## Sirena (Oct 9, 2015)

4th c BC Hellenistic Greek gold Nike earrings.


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## ringo (Oct 15, 2015)

Gold wreath unearthed in Cyprus




ANKARA, TURKEY—A tomb complex containing three burial chambers and multiple burials has been excavated near the ancient city of Soloi in northern Cyprus. Two burial chambers in the 2,400-year-old complex were intact and contained human remains, a collection of imported symposium drinking vessels, jewelry, figurines, and weapons, while the third had been looted and was empty. One of the burial chambers also held an ivy wreath fashioned from gold that resembles wreaths usually found in Macedonian tombs. “This tomb complex surely proves that Soloi was in direct relationship with Athens, who was the naval power of the period. Soloi was supplying Athens with its rich timber and copper sources, and in return, was obtaining luxurious goods such as symposium vessels,” Hazar Kaba of Ankara University told _Live Science_. “A DNA project is also running on the bones to identify the degree of kinship between the deceased,” he added.


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## ringo (Oct 20, 2015)

2000 year old Roman child's sock. British Museum.


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## JimW (Oct 20, 2015)

ringo said:


> 2000 year old Roman child's sock. British Museum.
> ...


See it has separate big toe like Japanese ones. Love seeing these rare textile survivals. Wasn't one of the Vindolanda letters from a Roman squaddie asking to be sent socks from home? Clearly not bothered about being seen in 'em and sandals.
ETA Thinking about it, must have been the other way, a letter accompanying a gift of socks from home, and here it is: h2g2 - The Vindolanda Tablets - 'Send More Socks' - Edited Entry


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## ringo (Oct 20, 2015)

JimW said:


> See it has separate big toe like Japanese ones. Love seeing these rare textile survivals. Wasn't one of the Vindolanda letters from a Roman squaddie asking to be sent socks from home? Clearly not bothered about being seen in 'em and sandals.



It could have been the fashion for centuries and we might never know. I think Jesus preferred those separate toe socks with his sandals.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 20, 2015)

note that its just the one sock. Theres where all the missing ones go, they go to the future


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## JimW (Oct 20, 2015)

So are they woven? I seem to recall knitting isn't invented until the late medieval period, but these look like they might be knitted.
ETA Looking at wiki: History of knitting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia seems it might be some version of nålebinding, sort of a basic one needle version.


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## ringo (Oct 20, 2015)

JimW said:


> So are they woven? I seem to recall knitting isn't invented until the late medieval period, but these look like they might be knitted.



Dunno, but weaving was already very advanced by the time of the Romans, I've dug up hundreds of loom weights. I'd have thought knitting, or some sort of manual weaving, must have predated looms by a long way.


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## JimW (Oct 20, 2015)

Look at these 4th century-odd Coptic socks off the Nalebinding page, them's some odd toes:


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## ringo (Oct 20, 2015)

Weaving came from spinning, so it appears our ancestors went from manual sowing to loom weaving, perhaps without a manual technology in between. Or maybe, and most likely, we just haven't identified it yet.


----------



## Stanley Edwards (Oct 20, 2015)

Wish I had time to read the entire thread. My ongoing obsession is with Evolution of a Goddess and ancient beliefs represented in art. 

Dama de Baza was found near a small town named Baza close to Granada. At the time she was thought to be the oldest example of 3D art.

Iberian sculpture | Wikiwand


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

Admired this at the weekend at the natural History Museum.

Originally part of Sir Hans Sloane’s collection, this nautilus shell was carved by Johannes Belkien, a Dutch artist, in the late seventeenth century.
Sloane believed this carving, which approximates a mathematical Fibonacci spiral constructed according to the so-called golden ratio, improved on the animal’s natural perfection.




I really like the bronze cast replica they sell in their shop, but I don't have £600 for one, resembles late medieval Italian armour. It might work well upside down as a shoulder tattoo, possible without the cherubs.


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

Beautiful Italian parade armour from the Wallace Collection, London.


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## wayward bob (Jan 12, 2016)

ringo said:


> Weaving came from spinning, so it appears our ancestors went from manual sowing to loom weaving, perhaps without a manual technology in between. Or maybe, and most likely, we just haven't identified it yet.


my best guess (as a sometime weaver) is that tablet or "backstrap" weaving most likely filled that gap.


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

wayward bob said:


> my best guess (as a sometime weaver) is that tablet or "backstrap" weaving most likely filled that gap.



Like this? It does look like it might fill the gap, nice one.


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

Golden Spiral: In geometry, a *golden spiral* is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio.[1] That is, a golden spiral gets wider (or further from its origin) by a factor of φ for every quarter turn it makes.
The Fibonacci sequence is named after Italian mathematician Fibonacci. His 1202 book _Liber Abaci_ introduced the sequence to Western European mathematics,[5] although the sequence had been described earlier in Indian mathematics.[6][7][8] By modern convention, the sequence begins either with _F_0 = 0 or with _F_1 = 1. The _Liber Abaci_ began the sequence with _F_1 = 1.
Fibonacci numbers are closely related to Lucas numbers





 in that they form a complementary pair of Lucas sequences





 and 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. They are intimately connected with the golden ratio; for example, the closest rational approximations to the ratio are 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5




In art:


----------



## moon (Jan 12, 2016)

I love the metalwork ringo
Here are a couple of my favourites from the V&A
An ornate lock

Detail from the Hereford screen


This is some tile work next to the cash machine at Lloyds on Fleet street, it has to be the most beautiful cash machine in London!


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

moon said:


> I love the metalwork ringo
> Here are a couple of my favourites from the V&A
> An ornate lock
> This is some tile work next to the cash machine at Lloyds on Fleet street, it has to be the most beautiful cash machine in London!



I love that lock, I've stood in front of it for ages before. Don't think I've seen those tiles, will have to go and find them


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## trabuquera (Jan 12, 2016)

The recent BBC4 thing on the story of Scottish art ((The Story of Scottish Art - BBC Two)  has some interesting archaic things I'd never heard of or seen ... some unusual Pictish stonework (they had a sophisticated and charming script of carved glyphs of animal/natural things, it wasn't all about the tattooing) and even older, some properly mysterious hand-grenade-sized objects which nobody can explain...

Ashmolean Museum: British Archaeology Collections - Carved Stone Balls
Carved Stone Balls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look at these:


Dozens and dozens of these have been found across Scotland - carved in various sorts of stone, almost perfectly spherical, dead old (technical term - late Neoloithic or early Bronze Age) and nobody knows what they're for. Too finely worked to be a prehistoric boules set; they're nearly all in good nick, meaning they probably weren't weapons either. There was some talk about them maybe representing particular clans or leaders, or being used for tanning skins, or being the 'talking ball' you had to hold if you wanted to speak in a public assembly. Who knows. But there are more of them (in many fascinating variations, loads of different stones, images in the telly doc above). Also, how did the 'primitive' people get so close to making perfect spheres?


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

trabuquera said:


> The recent BBC4 thing on the story of Scottish art ((The Story of Scottish Art - BBC Two)  has some interesting archaic things I'd never heard of or seen ... some unusual Pictish stonework (they had a sophisticated and charming script of carved glyphs of animal/natural things, it wasn't all about the tattooing) and even older, some properly mysterious hand-grenade-sized objects which nobody can explain...



I saw that, loved the one with closely spaced nodules like a curled up hedgehog. I'd seen pictures of them before but never film so until then I hadn't realised quite how fabulous and tactile they looked.


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

trabuquera said:


> Also, how did the 'primitive' people get so close to making perfect spheres?



Because they weren't primitive


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## Sirena (Jan 12, 2016)

ringo said:


> Because they weren't primitive


Exactly.   Just because people didn't know how to work metal doesn't mean they didn't live in sophisticated societies, probably over hundreds of thousands of years.


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## DotCommunist (Jan 12, 2016)

markers to track wealth, money system the old school way


I recon


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## moon (Jan 12, 2016)

16th century Benin ivory 'Queen Mother' pendant mask, reportedly worn by the Oba (King of Benin)


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

moon said:


> 16th century Benin ivory 'Queen Mother' pendant mask, reportedly worn by the Oba (King of Benin)



That's lovely. I've got quite a few, I tried to get one from each community I went to in West Africa. I have one with cowrie shells and old pennies illustrating the different currencies before and after colonisation which is a favourite. Also got a massive one I call pigdog but he's in the loft because everyone else is scared of him


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## moon (Jan 12, 2016)

ringo said:


> That's lovely. I've got quite a few, I tried to get one from each community I went to in West Africa. I have one with cowrie shells and old pennies illustrating the different currencies before and after colonisation which is a favourite. Also got a massive one I call pigdog but he's in the loft because everyone else is scared of him


Photos??!!


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## ringo (Jan 12, 2016)

moon said:


> Photos??!!


I'll try and remember to take some when I'm at home


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## ringo (Jan 14, 2016)

The Story of Scottish art also featured this wonderful picture, which I recognised as being copied stylistically by the 1983 2000AD story of Celtic myths - Slaine The Horned God.

George Henry (1858–1943) and Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864–1933), _The Druids Bringing in the Mistletoe_. Oil on canvas, 1890.





Simon Bisley:








The Druid painting is currently on loan the the British Museum as part of their Celtic art and identity exhibition:
History


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## moon (Jan 14, 2016)

My favourite dragon in London, its the Birch Dragon (or Griffon) outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
I walk past him almost every day and have named him Theodore 


Also one of my favourite buildings
The St Mary Le Strand, one of the 2 'Island Churches' on the Strand... it really is very pretty.


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## ringo (Jan 14, 2016)

Nice, I like London's caryatids, will find some pics


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## ringo (Jan 15, 2016)

Caryatids in London.
St Pancras Church on Euston Road:




Caryatids Pathway at Stables Market in Camden Village:





44 Old Bond street:


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## Sirena (Jan 20, 2016)

The OP says 'cultural treasures' so I thought this would fit.

I'm not quite sure how they would prove it but the presence of a 'devil' character 6000 years ago is interesting.....

Fairy tale origins thousands of years old, researchers say - BBC News


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## ringo (Jan 20, 2016)

Love that, I find it odd that it was even questioned, but am happy to see it proved. The devil story has been used so many times, from Faustus to Robert Johnson. I hope we can one day go back even further and look at how the fairy tales about god and the devil came about, they've had quite an impact.

"Dr Tehrani said Jack And The Beanstalk was rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure, and could be traced back to when Eastern and Western Indo-European languages split more than 5,000 years ago.

Analysis showed Beauty And The Beast and Rumpelstiltskin to be about 4,000 years old.

And a folk tale called The Smith And The Devil, about a blacksmith selling his soul in a pact with the Devil in order to gain supernatural abilities, was estimated to go back 6,000 years to the Bronze Age.

Dr Tehrani said: "We find it pretty remarkable these stories have survived without being written.

"They have been told since before even English, French and Italian existed.

"They were probably told in an extinct Indo-European language.""


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## DotCommunist (Jan 20, 2016)

> The stories had been thought to date back to the 16th and 17th Centuries.


by who? I thought it was just then that they started being written down rather than part of an oral tradition


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## Pickman's model (Jan 20, 2016)

ringo said:


> Love that, I find it odd that it was even questioned, but am happy to see it proved. The devil story has been used so many times, from Faustus to Robert Johnson. I hope we can one day go back even further and look at how the fairy tales about god and the devil came about, they've had quite an impact.
> 
> "Dr Tehrani said Jack And The Beanstalk was rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure, and could be traced back to when Eastern and Western Indo-European languages split more than 5,000 years ago.
> 
> ...


nice to see them catching up with aleister crowley http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric/occultism/magic/ceremonial/crowley/004bfint.txt


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## wayward bob (Jan 20, 2016)

Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters :thumbs :


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## trabuquera (Jan 20, 2016)

Meanwhile, more news of those who don't believe in cultural treasures from the past (or any past other than their own narrow splinter sect's) ... IS apparently levelled the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq last autumn and satellite imagery has just emerged showing the field of rubble they left behind.

By the picturres it doesn't seem to have been the oldest, most aesthetically extraordinary, or even the holiest (for Christians) site in Iraq , but all the same. fuxake you bigoted fundamentalist idiots...

Iraq's oldest Christian monastery destroyed by Islamic State - BBC News


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## moon (Jan 20, 2016)

One of the rock hewn, underground churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia


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## wayward bob (Jan 20, 2016)

reminds me of the step wells in india


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## ringo (Jan 20, 2016)

trabuquera said:


> IS apparently levelled the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq last autumn and satellite imagery has just emerged showing the field of rubble they left behind.



Not like


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## Artaxerxes (Jan 22, 2016)

wayward bob said:


> reminds me of the step wells in india



Step wells are amazing, seriously.



DotCommunist said:


> by who? I thought it was just then that they started being written down rather than part of an oral tradition



Oral traditions have had a bum rap for a long time sadly, societies like the Celts or other tribal peoples were thought to be primitive because they didn't write down histories like the Greeks and Romans, the perception is changing slowly along with the realisation that a formalised oral tradition can retain useful information for decades if not longer due to the use of rhyme and rythmn to record information.


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## Sirena (Jan 28, 2016)

One of our great cultural inheritances....

World's Oldest Tea Discovered In An Ancient Chinese Emperor's Tomb


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## moon (Feb 4, 2016)

Celestial clocks are amazing, here is one of my faves in Prague


And another on the outside of the old Financial Times building in London, the image in the centre is Winston Churchill


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## ringo (Feb 4, 2016)

moon said:


> Celestial clocks are amazing, here is one of my faves in Prague



Love that clock, spent a lovely stoned couple of hours staring at it one time 



moon said:


> And another on the outside of the old Financial Times building in London, the image in the centre is Winston Churchill



I didn't realise that was Churchill. It's almost impossible to comprehend now just how great the love for Churchill was after the war, especially for us (mostly) anti-war anti-Tories on here. The funeral stopped the whole country, probably not seen again until the overblown sobfest of Diana. Probably counts as a cultural treasure on its own.

It's astonishing that following his death the public sent money, in quite extraordinary quantities, for absolutely no reason, completely unbidden, and they had no idea what to do with it. The Churchill Memorial Trust (Winston Churchill Memorial Trust) still has huge cash deposits and gives extremely numerous grants every year to British citizens to "investigate inspiring practice in other countries, and return with innovative ideas for the benefit of people across the UK". My Ex did it, getting enough money to travel West Africa investigating repatriating Rastas, along with my 1 year old. I had to pay for myself, but worth it for the chance to travel beautiful countries and explore their cultures. Must photograph those masks


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## moon (Feb 4, 2016)

ringo you didn't go to Shashamane?


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## ringo (Feb 4, 2016)

moon said:


> ringo you didn't go to Shashamane?



No, never made it to Ethiopia (yet). Went to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.


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## ringo (Feb 9, 2016)

Slightly baffled by comments on the War & Peace thread suggesting that the naked male body is lacking in beauty, so here's a celebration of the form, as interpreted by some of the greatest artists to have walked the earth.
Michaelangelo's David:





Polykleitos' Doryphoros:





“_Hercules Battling Achelous Metamorphed into a Serpent_”. ... by Baron François Joseph 1824




Leonardo Da Vinci:


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## ringo (Feb 9, 2016)

Bernini:


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## danny la rouge (Feb 9, 2016)

Just found this thread. It's excellent, thanks.


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## Sirena (Feb 12, 2016)

Talking of sculpture, these were made 15,500 years ago....






Trois Frères - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## ringo (Feb 12, 2016)

Love those Sirena , never seen them before


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## trabuquera (Feb 12, 2016)

They're astonishing - thank you Sirena! I'd never seen or even heard of them before either. I feel such an urge to touch their ancient beards . Mindboggling (and chilling tbh) to think of all the stuff we've never seen and don't know about from such a long way back - just how much of the fabric of people's lives we have no idea about. what on earth were they doing in there? what sort of rites called for lovely clay-model bison? and just how did that artist get so good?


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## ringo (Feb 12, 2016)

trabuquera said:


> Mindboggling (and chilling tbh) to think of all the stuff we've never seen and don't know about from such a long way back - just how much of the fabric of people's lives we have no idea about. what on earth were they doing in there? what sort of rites called for lovely clay-model bison? and just how did that artist get so good?


Just the sort of question I'm always pondering. I've got this on my pile of books to read:




"Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us.

We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?

In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going.

_Sapiens_ is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world"


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## Sirena (Feb 12, 2016)

trabuquera said:


> They're astonishing - thank you Sirena! I'd never seen or even heard of them before either. I feel such an urge to touch their ancient beards . Mindboggling (and chilling tbh) to think of all the stuff we've never seen and don't know about from such a long way back - just how much of the fabric of people's lives we have no idea about. what on earth were they doing in there? what sort of rites called for lovely clay-model bison? and just how did that artist get so good?



One of the things I've mentioned before is that I'm sure I came out of junior school with the notion that we were savages living in caves and then Jesus came!

Every year that passes seems to push back 'civilization' another ten thousand years, maybe even a hundred thousand years.

A recent exhibition at the British Museum featured stone-age toys, some articulated like puppets, some probably designed to provide entertainment with shadows.  These were 30,000 years old.  The earliest formal grave burial found, so far, takes us back 50,000 years (Neanderthal Burials Confirmed as Ancient Ritual) and, on television last week, they showed a carefully worked tool taken from the sea where the land-bridge from Britain to Europe used to be.  Its age was estimated at 450,000 years!

I think we have to accept that sophisticated civilizations, complete with traditional social conventions and belief systems built up over countless generations, have come and gone over hundreds of thousands of years.


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## ringo (Feb 12, 2016)

Sirena said:


> I think we have to accept that sophisticated civilizations, complete with traditional social conventions and belief systems built up over countless generations, have come and gone over hundreds of thousands of years.



Exactly right, I reckon. We're just touching the surface of finding out how we evolved into our current societies. There may have been complex societies which far outlasted our current ideas of great civilisations.


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## Pickman's model (Feb 12, 2016)

egyptian goddess tawaret


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## DotCommunist (Feb 12, 2016)

as beautiful as a stone sculpture nude may be I find the stone pubes hilarious. Can't help it, childish I know. But it cracks me up every time. Cornflakes glued to a ken doll


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## trabuquera (Feb 29, 2016)

what, this old thing? just a little bit of Mesolithic bling dug up in Yorkshire and dated to be ELEVEN THOUSAND YEARS OLD ... it's just a pebble with a hole in it and some lines scratched on, but as you can read in the link, this is a big f'in' deal when you are talking ritual and technical implications for very early Britain...



The History Blog  » Blog Archive   » 11,000-year-old engraved pendant found in Britain


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 29, 2016)

Found this and its worth a read. 

Ancient Secrets on Winter Hill

Not so much art but the imprints that humans have left on the land in the bronze age and iron age right through to the modern day, in ways that aren't often looked at or easy to grasp. The everyday lives that left a mark outside of books of kings and historical texts.


----------



## bimble (Feb 29, 2016)

ringo said:


> Just the sort of question I'm always pondering. I've got this on my pile of books to read:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I really enjoyed that book - so much that I went around trying to bully other people into reading it too. It's a friendly fun to read book.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 13, 2016)

its terrible, incredibly reductive.


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## Sirena (Apr 22, 2016)

Don't Worry, Be Happy' mosaic






2,400 year-old mosaic found in southern Turkey says ‘be cheerful, enjoy your life’


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## trabuquera (Apr 22, 2016)

ancient YOLO


----------



## ringo (Jun 15, 2016)

Celtic bronze boar's head brooches and amulets.


----------



## rekil (Nov 23, 2016)

Excellent 3800 year old jug.


----------



## Sirena (Jan 21, 2017)

200 bc mosaic


----------



## RoyReed (Jan 22, 2017)

British Museum by Roy Reed, on Flickr

One of three lintels from Yaxchilan, the sacrificial offering of blood conjures up a visionary manifestation of Yat-Balam, founding ancestor of the dynasty of Yaxchilan. In the guise of a warrior grasping a spear and shield, this ancestral spirit emerges from the gaping front jaws of a huge double-headed serpent rearing above Lady Xoc. She gazes upward at the apparition she has brought forth. In her left hand she bears a blood-letting bowl containing instruments of sacrifice, a sting-ray spine and an obsidian lancet.




British Museum by Roy Reed, on Flickr

One of three lintels from Yaxchilan, this scene depicts Lord Shield Jaguar and his principal wife Lady Xoc engaged in a bloodletting rite. The king stands on the left brandishing a flaming torch to illuminate the drama that is about to unfold. Kneeling in front of him wearing an exquisitely woven huipil, Lady Xoc pulls a thorn-lined rope through her tongue. The rope falls onto a woven basket holding blood-soaked strips of paper cloth.


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## RoyReed (Jan 22, 2017)

British Museum by Roy Reed, on Flickr

Female Huaxtec figure made of sandstone depicting Tlazolteotl, hands folded in front, with fan-shaped (plumed?) head-dress (900-1450).


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## Sirena (Feb 10, 2017)

Not hugely old (2nd-3rd millenium bc) but really interesting material







Archaeology Dig In Spain Yields Prehistoric 'Crystal Weapons'


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## ringo (Feb 10, 2017)

Sirena said:


> Not hugely old (2nd-3rd millenium bc) but really interesting material


That's a beauty


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## JimW (Feb 10, 2017)

Sirena said:


> Not hugely old (2nd-3rd millenium bc) but really interesting material
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Prepared for the White Walkers crossing the Pyrenees.


----------



## wayward bob (Feb 18, 2017)

going through an egyptian phase atm :thumbs :


----------



## Sirena (Feb 26, 2017)

Interesting more than high art.....

Oldest known depiction of the Trojan Horse (fall of Troy c1200bc) can be found on the Mykonos vase ca. 670 BC at Archaeological Museum of Mykonos


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## wayward bob (Feb 26, 2017)

wayward bob said:


> iron age trinovantes british coin (50-ish bc)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i've finally scored myself some of these. replicas so they're like £3 a piece but it's a marvel to find out how fucking _tiny_ they are


----------



## hot air baboon (Feb 26, 2017)

This striped cow comes from the Trypillian culture in what is now Ukraine, and dates back to about 3950 BCE.

https://www.littlethings.com/ancient-toys/


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## danny la rouge (Feb 28, 2017)

Prehistoric Pointillism? Long Before Seurat, Ancient Artists Chiseled Mammoths Out of Dots      |     Science | Smithsonian

""You actually see the hand of people from 38,000 years ago. Who wouldn’t be moved by it?" says Randall White, a professor of anthropology at New York University and one of the authors of a study published last Friday in the journal _Quaternary International_."


----------



## blossie33 (Mar 2, 2017)

Following on from the Anglo Saxon Staffordshire Hoard find in 2009, more amazing Iron Age gold work recently found in the same area - around 2500 years old!


----------



## wayward bob (Mar 4, 2017)

sanxingdui massive head, china, c. 1100 BC


----------



## Stanley Edwards (Mar 5, 2017)

danny la rouge said:


> View attachment 101272
> 
> Prehistoric Pointillism? Long Before Seurat, Ancient Artists Chiseled Mammoths Out of Dots	  |	 Science | Smithsonian
> 
> ""You actually see the hand of people from 38,000 years ago. Who wouldn’t be moved by it?" says Randall White, a professor of anthropology at New York University and one of the authors of a study published last Friday in the journal _Quaternary International_."



Can we talk about this?

Stupid post in a really nice thread. How the fuck can anyone compare this to Seurat? What else are you supposed to do to stone other than chisel points out of it?

Fucking scientists


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## wayward bob (Mar 20, 2017)

bimble said:


> I really enjoyed that book - so much that I went around trying to bully other people into reading it too. It's a friendly fun to read book.


just arrived chez bob - i ordered it and the follow-up for kid1 but i didn't check the page count  she'll happily read a novel that thick but not sure mum telling her "read this" will fly. so i guess i have to


----------



## Sirena (Apr 24, 2017)

Nice pre-loved figurine from 21,000 bc






'Palaeolithic Venus' discovered in Russia - The Archaeology News Network


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## Sirena (Apr 26, 2017)

A nice thing a friend has just posted on FB..





Astrological ceiling from Vizier Senenmut's tomb under the "front door" of Mortuary temple of Queen Hatshetsut. A masterpiece of ancient astronomical lore... shows Hippo goddess holding Seth to the pole star and more

Probably one of the most important astronomical monuments from the ancient world. (c1450bc)


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## Pickman's model (Apr 26, 2017)

Sirena said:


> A nice thing a friend has just posted on FB..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


by hippo goddess you doubtless mean tawaret


----------



## hot air baboon (Sep 22, 2017)

A short note on a new figurine type from Göbekli Tepe





A sketch of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft in 1934


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## ringo (Oct 23, 2017)

The Lion Man
He is the oldest known representation of a being that does not exist in physical form but symbolises ideas about the supernatural.
40,000 years old, sculpted from mammoth ivory and found in a cave in what is now southern Germany in 1939.

He'll be at the the British Museum for this new exhibition* Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond is on from 2 November 2017 to 8 April 2018.

The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece*


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## Ponyutd (Oct 23, 2017)

My mate and his friend found a Saxon female grave with this in it.It also had gold earrings and a gold coin made into a pendent. A find of a lifetime for both of them, the farmer was delighted as well. 
"Among the items are a Merovingian coin pendant, two gold biconical spacer beads, a gold openwork pendant with the form of a Maltese cross, a coin pendant with a gold suspension loop, another pendant with a Maltese cross design, a continental pottery biconical bowl, an iron knife and a collection of copper alloy chatelaine rings."
They have all just accepted the valuation offered by the British Museum.
My friend is currently in the Carribean.


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 30, 2017)

Felt Swan - 300BC






Scythians exhibition is worth going to, some lovely stuff and I loved the textile fragments.


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## Ponyutd (Oct 30, 2017)

£16.50 for this exhibition...absolute bargain!
Some of those tatoo's, extraordinary


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 30, 2017)

Ponyutd said:


> £16.50 for this exhibition...absolute bargain!
> Some of those tatoo's, extraordinary



Sad that the ice princess tattoos weren't in it but the mans were. 

Siberian princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos


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## DotCommunist (Dec 5, 2017)

Detectorists strike gold as British Museum reveals record haul


> The grave of the Norfolk woman, who probably had aristocratic or royal connections, was found by* Tom Lucking*, then a landscape history student at the University of East Anglia. He has since graduated with a first and found work as an archaeologist. His student loan debt repayments will be made considerably easier by the £145,000 valuation recently agreed at the British Museum for his treasure, which will be shared with the landowner.



nominative determinism strikes again


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## Ponyutd (Dec 5, 2017)

That's not quite right to be fair. There is a third party involved. Tom is a lovely fella, and so is the third party who has just come back from the Carribean.


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## wayward bob (Apr 4, 2018)

speaking of the carribean...  i just wanted to shoe-horn this in somehow  it's my and mr b's silver anniversary coming up i'm getting him a piece of 8


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## wayward bob (Apr 4, 2018)

Ponyutd said:


>


this is fucking beautiful  when i had dreams of becoming a conservator _this_ is what i was dreaming about


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## trabuquera (Jul 30, 2018)

Never seen this before and it's so beautiful - the light! the shading! the empathy ! - and it's pretty damn old...


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## DotCommunist (Aug 10, 2018)

this is amazingly well preserved:











Oldest known book from the medieval age, unique in terms of the preservation. St Cuthberts Gospel. Over a thousand years old.

there an anglo-saxon exhibition starting in october at the BL where this will be. I might go, from further reading they have managed to amass quite a haul of rare and old stuff from the time. Also when reading about this: Apparently the orthodox church still produces jeweled binding books.


British Library acquires the St Cuthbert Gospel  the earliest intact European book

edited for spelling


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## Stanley Edwards (Oct 1, 2018)

Just to preserve the link...
Prehistoric art hints at lost civilisation

Be interesting to see how this develops. Rhino's in India?


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## Yuwipi Woman (Oct 1, 2018)

Stanley Edwards said:


> Just to preserve the link...
> Prehistoric art hints at lost civilisation
> 
> Be interesting to see how this develops. Rhino's in India?



Indian rhinoceros - Wikipedia


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## Mordi (Oct 9, 2018)

Was really excited to see this a few weeks back. Essentially believed to be a Bronze Age star map for charting the sun's movements. It got dug up at the end of the nineties before going on walkabout and turning up in Switzerland where the state seized it. I find the idea of it remaining in use for a sustained period and it being added to and changed over the course of it's use really intriguing. 
The Prehistoric Museum in Halle is excellent.It covers a pretty big sweep right the way with artifacts  from Homo Erectus sites up to the Iron Age. And fucking massive pre-ice age elephant and mammoth skeletons.


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## ringo (Nov 9, 2018)

Mordi said:


> Was really excited to see this a few weeks back. Essentially believed to be a Bronze Age star map for charting the sun's movements. It got dug up at the end of the nineties before going on walkabout and turning up in Switzerland where the state seized it. I find the idea of it remaining in use for a sustained period and it being added to and changed over the course of it's use really intriguing.
> The Prehistoric Museum in Halle is excellent.It covers a pretty big sweep right the way with artifacts  from Homo Erectus sites up to the Iron Age. And fucking massive pre-ice age elephant and mammoth skeletons.


Ha, I was just coming on here to post about this. Its amazing isn't it. So beautiful and representing some astounding scientific knowledge. The earliest definite representation of the cosmos known, dating to 1600BC.

It's a bronze disk of around 30 centimeters (12 in) diameter and a weight of 2.2 kilograms (4.9 lb), with a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols. These are interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades). Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a Solar Barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow).

The disk as preserved was developed in four stages (Meller 2004):

1.	Initially the disk had thirty-two small round gold circles, a large circular plate, and a large crescent-shaped plate attached. The circular plate is interpreted as either the Sun or the full Moon, the crescent shape as the crescent Moon (or either the Sun or the Moon undergoing eclipse), and the dots as stars, with the cluster of seven dots likely representing the Pleiades.
2.   At some later date, two arcs (constructed from gold of a different origin, as shown by its chemical impurities) were added at opposite edges of the disk. To make space for these arcs, one small circle was moved from the left side toward the center of the disk and two of the circles on the right were covered over, so that thirty remain visible. The two arcs span an angle of 82°, correctly indicating the angle between the positions of sunset at summer and winter solstice at the latitude of the Mittelberg (51°N). Given that the arcs relate to solar phenomena, it is likely the circular plate represents the Sun not the Moon.
3.   The final addition was another arc at the bottom, the "sun boat", again made of gold from a different origin.
4.   By the time the disk was buried it also had thirty-nine holes punched out around its perimeter, each approximately 3 mm in diameter.


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## Mordi (Nov 9, 2018)

ringo said:


> 2.   At some later date, two arcs (constructed from gold of a different origin, as shown by its chemical impurities) were added at opposite edges of the disk. To make space for these arcs, one small circle was moved from the left side toward the center of the disk and two of the circles on the right were covered over, so that thirty remain visible. The two arcs span an angle of 82°, correctly indicating the angle between the positions of sunset at summer and winter solstice at the latitude of the Mittelberg (51°N). Given that the arcs relate to solar phenomena, it is likely the circular plate represents the Sun not the Moon.



I'm reading a book of essays by Rebecca Solnit at the moment, and she has a bit in about the sky in the Southwest of America. Apparently the folks there (I'd have to look it up again to remember who precisely) would use the angle of the rising and setting Plough constellation against the mountains and hilltops to mark the change of seasons. Reminded me of Carrowmore on the west coast of Ireland where there's a sequence of cairns and tombs aligned with the rising and setting sun. So you can stand at the tombs and look at the ridgeline to see how far the sun has moved throughout the year. The ridge of hills charts neatly to the solar phases, and structures (still visible today) built correspond to particular dates.
Somehow it had always passed me by that being able to chart seasons and the passage of time accurately translates to agricultural knowledge and power. One of those things I've read countless times and never actually processed.


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## ringo (Nov 9, 2018)

Mordi said:


> I'm reading a book of essays by Rebecca Solnit at the moment, and she has a bit in about the sky in the Southwest of America. Apparently the folks there (I'd have to look it up again to remember who precisely) would use the angle of the rising and setting Plough constellation against the mountains and hilltops to mark the change of seasons. Reminded me of Carrowmore on the west coast of Ireland where there's a sequence of cairns and tombs aligned with the rising and setting sun. So you can stand at the tombs and look at the ridgeline to see how far the sun has moved throughout the year. The ridge of hills charts neatly to the solar phases, and structures (still visible today) built correspond to particular dates.
> Somehow it had always passed me by that being able to chart seasons and the passage of time accurately translates to agricultural knowledge and power. One of those things I've read countless times and never actually processed.


Yes and I think the marking of the seasons is vital to understanding how their understanding of what they had observed scientifically translated to their every day existence.
There was a great doc on BBC 4 last night about the stunningly well preserved Bronze Age site of Must Farm alluding to the use of such knowledge to know when to sow crops, which was vital to early civilisations and central to their cultures.

BBC Four - Britain's Pompeii: A Village Lost in Time


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## Saunders (Nov 10, 2018)

Re the Nebra Sky Disc...What a rare and wonderful thing. I read around it last night after seeing your post (and also reminded myself I haven’t watched the later season(s) of ‘Detectorists’).
Interesting and lovely. Thanks.


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## Artaxerxes (Nov 12, 2018)

Mordi said:


> Was really excited to see this a few weeks back. Essentially believed to be a Bronze Age star map for charting the sun's movements. It got dug up at the end of the nineties before going on walkabout and turning up in Switzerland where the state seized it. I find the idea of it remaining in use for a sustained period and it being added to and changed over the course of it's use really intriguing.
> The Prehistoric Museum in Halle is excellent.It covers a pretty big sweep right the way with artifacts  from Homo Erectus sites up to the Iron Age. And fucking massive pre-ice age elephant and mammoth skeletons.



It's lovely isn't it, I made a few oil burners using that for inspiration.

Need to get around to getting a big book o prehistoric art so I can use that in my ceramic works.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2018)

Haaretz has an article saying divers have found a missing piece of the antikythera device


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## Artaxerxes (Nov 15, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Haaretz has an article saying divers have found a missing piece of the antikythera device



No, they haven't. Story was doing the rounds this week.

Uproar over ‘ancient computer’ find

TL : DR a bronze disk was found a few years ago, speculation was it was a cig buy it's most likely jist a bronze disk off something.


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## Artaxerxes (Jul 29, 2020)

Spotted this recently and fell in love with it. Looks modern art deco but it's 11th-16th century Colombian.



			https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/316692


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## Artaxerxes (Apr 10, 2021)




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## Artaxerxes (Oct 22, 2021)

Pompeii graffiti (simply signed "It's Rufus!"


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## two sheds (Oct 22, 2021)




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## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2022)

24 ancient bronze statues found in Tuscany. 2000 years plus, there are latin and Etruscan inscriptions.









						S.Casciano like Riace, 24 bronzes found under water - Lifestyle
					

Lying on the bottom of the large Roman 'vasca' or pool, the young and very beautiful ephebe seems to be sleeping. Next to him is Hygeia (Igea), the goddess of health who was the daughter or wife of Asclepius, with a serpent curled on her arm. © ANSA




					www.ansa.it


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