Ancient things and god-daughters

Feb 14, 2010 21:12

At the British Museum on Friday, I managed to find a near-likeness to my stone axe and get a look at a small portion of the Staffordshire Hoard. I had rather been hoping for a nice old-fashioned range of glass cases with hundreds of different, carefully-labeled axes, but of course the whole gallery had been rearranged, and there were only one or ( Read more... )

eurostar, neolithic, crochet, travel, british museum

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pondhopper February 14 2010, 23:26:31 UTC
Now see? Nothing depressing about today! You got out and had a nice lunch out and got to give Christmas presents on Valentine's Day. That's impressive and cheery!

Interesting about your axe. It rather boggles my mind that you have a possibly many millenia old axe in your house. Is there anyone who could give you a more accurate answer on its age? It does look like the one in the case.

I really like that sword pommel.

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fuchsoid February 15 2010, 11:12:16 UTC
I hadn't thought of replacing Valentine's with Christmas, but since I am usually so behind with presents it might be a good idea!

There were about 50 sword pommels in the actual find, but they only had one or two out. I can't wait to see it when the whole thing is cleaned up.

The axe rather amazes me too, especially since I've had it hanging around here for ages without really noticing it.

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tysolna February 15 2010, 00:19:48 UTC
What amazed me when I saw the pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard was how small and delicate the work is, like the bird's head inlaid with a red eye which they put a magnifying lense over. How did people manage to do such delicate work without the aid of lenses?

Also, I covet a stone axe now.

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fuchsoid February 15 2010, 11:17:30 UTC
The work is spectacular, isn't it? Did you notice the little display on how inlay work was done, by the Sutton Hoo treasure? I can't imagine how anyone could do that without a really elaborate workbench and tools. They must have been far more sophisticated than we imagine.

I found a lot of stone axes on eBay, when I was trying to find out about mine. It's a very useful thing to have - if some disaster hurls us back into the Stone Age, I will be ready!

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