Or as alternative title: "Finder explained all, Irish museum did nothing".
Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
51–60 of 86 posts
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#52“We’d rather it rotted away to dust versus you digging it up.” Good grief.
They've survived since the bronze age . They're not rotting away to dust any time soon.
What I thought when the British claimed they can stole things because they preserved it better. This thing have preserved in this land for centuries, and who's to say that British Museum won't get nuked in the next 100 years?
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at the…
>>These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at t…
> That doesn't seem to happen in England, which allows metal detecting.
In England you need permission of the landowner (or which ever authority is responsible for a piece of public land) and must report any archeological finds. There's a lot of illegal metal detecting at night - "Nighthawking", and fairly tough convictions.
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at the…
>>These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at t…
Literally from the same day’s news: “Metal detectorist who stole £3m Viking hoard jailed for five more years”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/12/metal-detect...
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had the same question. Anyone from Ireland here that might have any idea at all what that's about?
Idk about this specific thing, but this is much simpler than it sounds if it operates like other anthropology. Ritualistic means intentional, and supernatural means symbolically meaningful. In other words, this is less of a specific claim and more of an "idk but they were clearly up to something ".
I interpret supernatural to mean religious in this context. I don't think this find will take on an X-Files direction.
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ritualistic is what archaeologists call everything when they can't tell what it's there for, but it was clearly there for a reason. It sounds like it means religious, but it's more general than that.
The word ritual is orthogonal to how much is known about the usage. "Ritual" is just a way to describe objects that have some higher purpose, beyond any mundane and utilitarian purposes their basic form might serve. The textbook example is a thurible, the censer on a chain used in churches. They're not used because anyone specifically wants a lot of smoke in the air (a fog machine would do just fine) or because swing…
I get all that. But then what "supernatural" context is?
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
They've survived since the bronze age . They're not rotting away to dust any time soon.
What I thought when the British claimed they can stole things because they preserved it better. This thing have preserved in this land for centuries, and who's to say that British Museum won't get nuked in the next 100 years?
That’s not a particularly strong argument considering the state of some of the items in the British Museum.
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#58Or as alternative title: "Finder explained all, Irish museum did nothing".
THIS. Yes, I understand why HN wants to discourage "editorial" titles from submitters. OTOH, less-bad web sites often put the actual sober facts in the subtitles - as was done here. Maybe if HN allowed submitters to use those instead, when the title is just click-bait?
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at t…
> That doesn't seem to happen in England, which allows metal detecting. In England you need permission of the landowner (or which ever authority is responsible for a piece of public land) and must report any archeological finds. There's a lot of illegal metal detecting at night - "Nighthawking", and fairly tough convictions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawking https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-6844520…
Laws requiring permission from the land owner to use a metal detector and dig vs. needing such permission on your own land seems very different IMO.
The English law seems focused on preventing trespassing and digging holes in people's yards, and also to make sure the land owner gets compensated for anything of value found. (e.g. from the link by madax below: In England "An experienced detectorist, Davies would have known he was entitled to half of the proceeds of legal sale of the treasure, instead choosing to deprive the landowner and public by stealing this exceptional and significant treasure.")
The Irish law seems focused on preventing anything from being found.
Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
HN has a wonderful reputation for always finding an unexpected expert to comment - from nuclear physics to philosophy, pre-history to … porridge :-) But we have buried the lede - Flahavens or not, is it water and salt, or is it milk?
Milk is preferable, with a splash of water. I use oat milk, but water is fine in a pinch. I add such a small amount of salt that it may as well be a placebo. Here are my hard-earned porridge cooking tips, not that you asked: Start soaking the oats the night before in the pot you'll cook them in (in the fridge if you're using dairy). This softens the oats and reduces cooking time by a lot. First thing in the morning,…
Do you add milk or sugar to your tea? Or both? Or neither?!
What's your favorite biscuit. Asking as a yank who likes tea and biscuits.