considering how some museums seem like they are 75% ancient vases and cups, it makes you wonder what else is out there
British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
11–20 of 96 posts
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#12This reminds me of a tour I was once on, by one of the resident archaeologists in the open-air museum in Biskupin, Poland. It's the site of an iron age fortified settlement and there is both ongoing archaeological excavation and a reconstruction of sections of the settlement for visitors.
Anyway, the archaeologist showed me a shallow elongated oval wooden vessel with a slight depression in it, that had been on display. She explained that for a very long time it had been believed it was used for offerings as part of religious ceremonies. Only when she first began working there as a student this struck her as odd since she remembered her grandma had used an almost identical vessel for kneading dough for bread. Needless to say, its purpose has since been relabeled.
Her observation to me was that in archaeology, any time researchers are uncertain of the purpose of an object they tend to ascribe a religious meaning to it and so any time an object is described as having a religious significance one should always take that assessment with a grain of salt.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
“we realised how daft we’d been”, says Irving Finkel, a co-curator of the show.
Irvin Finkel is a truly entertaining and intelligent speaker. He has a bunch of videos and lectures on a range of subjects on YouTube through the British Museum Channel. I highly recommend not only his work, but the whole channel.
His video with Tom Scott playing "The Royal Game of Ur" is super fun.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#14A fired-clay headed mace? I'm the daft one now, but how does this work? What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once? Clearly there is some, but if someone can point to a modern example I might know I will get over this disbelief more easily.
I thought the same thing initially, but then I saw it was Irving Finkel making the claim. He's one of the foremost Mesopotamian bronze age historians in the world. Like yeah, this is just an appeal to authority, but damn, what an authority.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#15A fired-clay headed mace? I'm the daft one now, but how does this work? What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once? Clearly there is some, but if someone can point to a modern example I might know I will get over this disbelief more easily.
If they thought it was a vase, I guess it is empty and it has a hole at the "top"/"bottom". It doesn't look like a good design for a real weapon.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#16A fired-clay headed mace? I'm the daft one now, but how does this work? What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once? Clearly there is some, but if someone can point to a modern example I might know I will get over this disbelief more easily.
What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once?
Sometimes once is enough!
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#17A fired-clay headed mace? I'm the daft one now, but how does this work? What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once? Clearly there is some, but if someone can point to a modern example I might know I will get over this disbelief more easily.
If they thought it was a vase, I guess it is empty and it has a hole at the "top"/"bottom". It doesn't look like a good design for a real weapon.
I imagine the hole is where the wooden club was inserted/attached, which has probably since disintegrated long ago.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#18This reminds me of a tour I was once on, by one of the resident archaeologists in the open-air museum in Biskupin, Poland. It's the site of an iron age fortified settlement and there is both ongoing archaeological excavation and a reconstruction of sections of the settlement for visitors. Anyway, the archaeologist showed me a shallow elongated oval wooden vessel with a slight depression in it, that had been on displa…
> any time researchers are uncertain of the purpose of an object they tend to ascribe a religious meaning to it
https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Miner-1956-BodyRitualAmongTheNacir...
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#19A fired-clay headed mace? I'm the daft one now, but how does this work? What fired-clay is sturdy enough to whack someone with more than once? Clearly there is some, but if someone can point to a modern example I might know I will get over this disbelief more easily.
I believe the best modern analog would be a brick.
Re: British Museum realises 'vase' is in fact an ancient mace-head upside down
#20Man, archeology is hard, but this one, with all the upside-down writing, is a bit of a face-palm.
My favorite examples in archeology is the Chaco Canyon Cultures. If you are in the western US, have a 4 wheel drive car, and a free few days, I'd go no where else. Those people are an astonishing mystery. You know how with some places, going on the journey is kinda the point? Sometimes with archeology, that's kinda true too. You find out things along the way, you get a feel for the peoples, you get in their heads, you empathize.
The Chacoans are the rare exception to that process. Chaco is a place of questions and not much more. Despite decades of work on the canyon, we know nearly nothing about them. Nothing makes any sense, getting into their heads has proven nearly impossible; it's very difficult to empathize with them across the centuries. The only plan right now is to rebury all the pueblos and wait for new technology to come out, really.
Cool thing is, though, you can go right up to the ruins and interact with them any way you please. Not that you should, but you can. Since it's a bit hard to get to, the rangers pretty much let any visitor roam free. If you are looking a very 'Indiana Jones' kinda vacation, Chaco Canyon should be #1 on your list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Bonito
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_Culture_National_Histori...