want to hear about the only alleged case of death by corset that I'm aware of with a named, verifiable victim was IMO actually medical malpractice that got covered up due to misogyny and classism?
you don't get a choice we're talking about it.
23-year-old Annie Budden went to dentist Nathaniel Miller's office in Preston, England one evening in January, 1895. she was a maid in a nearby household, calling on Miller to have a rotting tooth extracted. he agreed, and began dosing her with nitrous oxide to take the edge off the pain of the procedure
she regained consciousness normally after the procedure- and then lapsed back out of it. another doctor was called, Dr. Collinson, who injected her with ether, a controversial treatment for asthma at the time. half an hour later, she died
Miller told the Lancashire Post later on that he and Collinson did everything in their power to revive Budden, but that her corset had been "so tightly laced that [it] had to be torn asunder," and they were powerless to save her from asphyxiating. the whole thing was characterized as a cautionary tale to vain young women, and the world moved on. Miller was ultimately elected mayor of the town of Preston in 1910, and is remembered as a civic hero
I'm calling bullshit.
first, and possibly most damning, is that this wasn't the only fatality in Miller's chair. in 1882, 10-year-old William Smith had also died under nitrous oxide sedation in the same dentist's care. another doctor claimed to have performed an autopsy and found a tooth that had slipped out of the extracting tool and lodged in the boy's throat; he said this tooth had caused William to fatally choke. and maybe that's true- I just find it very convenient that two separate patients died in the care of the same dentist, while under the same sedation, and there was a convenient explanation both times
secondly, the evidence for Budden tight-lacing to a degree that could cause asphyxia is wanting, in my opinion:
Miller himself said she seemed healthy when she came in. if she had been tight-laced as he claimed, wouldn't her waist have looked disproportionately small? women who laced tightly usually wanted to show off their figures, and close-fitting upper body clothing was the norm for women in 1895 regardless of waist size
Collinson claimed Budden's waist measured 23" naturally, and her corset 18". that is almost certainly the closed measurement, though, and even corsetier(e)s of the 19th century admitted that most women wore their corsets with a gap in the back. though this was by no means universal, it's likely that the 18" figure given was not actually Budden's day-to-day reduced waist measurement
Collinson helped conduct Budden's autopsy and said he saw damage to her organs indicating habitual tight-lacing. this couldn't have been known at the time, but in the present day, an MRI conducted on a habitual waist trainer showed temporary movement of, but no serious ill effects to, her internal organs. additionally, the ability to control for other causes of organ irregularity without any medical records for Budden would have been nearly impossible
organ shifting while corseted only occurs...well, WHILE corseted. the organs move back to their natural position when the corset is removed. this was even the case with the recently-deceased Cathie Jung, who had been waist-training since 1959 and had a corseted waist measure of 15" (uncorseted, 21"). it can take a long time if someone trains with the consistency that Jung did, but then how would they get the measure of her natural waist while her body was still compressed enough to see shifts in her organs? if Budden's waist had sufficiently expanded for them to take its natural measurement, and at least half an hour had passed since the corset was removed, how were the effects of supposed habitual tightlacing still visible?
Budden's employer, a Mrs. Willan, was interviewed on the case and called Budden "a good girl of regular habits." tight-lacing was stigmatized at the time. it was broadly seen as foolish, dangerous, and extreme, especially for women in domestic service like Budden who were constantly under moral scrutiny by their employers. it was more common among actresses and other women who could afford stains to their reputation than maidservants who had to remain above reproach to stay employed. it's very hard for me to believe that a habitually tight-lacing maid would have been characterized as "a good girl" in 1895- possible, of course, but unlikely
"but Marzi maybe she was just tightlaced that one day!" who on earth goes high-fashion to have a tooth pulled??? also, they said she was a Habitual tight-lacer in their Definitely Possible With Late 19th-Century Medical Science opinions . for her waist to stay compressed a half hour or longer after the corset was removed, just doing it on her half-days off wouldn't have been the extent of it, I'd imagine. and again, the idea that she'd lace down specifically on a day when her big plan was going to the dentist does not sound plausible to me
in conclusion
in order for the death to have been caused by Budden tight-lacing in this manner, she would have had to be doing it pretty much every day, with no-one noticing including the dentist on the day she died despite the whole point of tight-lacing being a visibly small waist AND the alleged reduction likely looking out of proportion to the rest of her body
and furthermore, to see the alleged clear evidence of habitual tight-lacing on and inside her body, the doctors would have needed access to "control" images of her internal organs that would likely not have even existed AND to have somehow done the autopsy while her body was in some quantum state of both still compressed and fully expanded back to its natural dimensions, to get her natural waist measurement?
while it is absolutely possible that events unfolded as Miller claimed, I find the whole story fishy as hell. the idea of Fatal Vanity and women (especially working-class women) being too vain and stupid for their own good was incredibly popular back then- if Miller could get another doctor (again, a doctor who was also present when Budden suffocated and had a lot to lose if implicated in her death) to claim he'd seen signs that Budden was tight-laced, it would have been extremely easy to make others believe the story
I think Annie Budden was the second victim- currently known -of a careless man protected from accountability by his gender, profession, and social status
Because you're not washing *dishes*, you're washing pieces of half burnt raw clay chunks that start flaking/crumbling in your hand and turns into a slurry in the wash basin and about half the stuff ends up getting washed away and your hands are covered in clay no matter how many times you clean them off there's always gonna be more shit to wash and your clothes end up covered in clay water mud goop and-
Oh god, that DOES sound nightmarish. It didn’t dawn on me that the clay pieces wouldn’t be glazed or fired. How do you learn anything from them if they destabilize in the water and turn back into a slip? I wouldn’t think there would be much to learn from a bowl of muddy mush except for its chemical composition.
Yeeeeep it sucks. As for what you *can* learn? The composition and quantity of the clay that *doesn't* turn unto slippery mush since it's partially fired/burnt already.
Because most of it is luckily partially set as long as you only gently scrub along the surfaces with your fingers you're left with the parts that did set. Like you see in the trays in the pictures (those are all clay/ceramic pieces I washed that day, post wash)
Every now and then you did get a nice raw chuck that just returned to slip tho. We just chucked that outside with the water it was in. xP
Honestly as far as I know they're mostly kept as samples of what the actual vessels we find are made out of / the various steps of the firing process. The digsite this was at mostly included an excavated fire pit, so just knowing the make-up of the ceramics there was probably the most information we could get.
And, since there was already so goddamn much *stuff* there I'm pretty sure my prof decided that a bit of material loss was acceptable.
Kindly petitioning the acedemic community to replace the words "civilization" and "civilized" with "urbanization" and "urbanized." That's what we're referring to anyway when we say "civilization/civilized." But "urbanization/urbanized" doesn't carry baggage from 400 years of racism and colonization.
Accurately conveying the information we intend to is far more important than dogmatically fighting against the evolution of laguage.
19th Century Frenchman: Of course I have fetishes. I have many!
19th Century Frenchman: This wooden figurine is from Japan, and this beautiful bronze idol is from the Congo, and this ivory piece is an ancient Gallic fetish I dug up myself a few miles from here...
19th Century Frenchman: Yes, I'm also super freaky in bed, but I don't see how that's relevant.
Mexico has revealed what experts are already calling the most important archaeological discovery of the past decade: a Zapotec tomb dating back more than 1,400 years, to around 600 CE.
The announcement was made on Friday morning during the daily presidential briefing by Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who highlighted the exceptional state of preservation and the wealth of information the tomb offers about one of Mesoamerica’s great civilizations.
“This is the most significant archaeological discovery of the last ten years in Mexico,” the president said, stressing that the find provides rare and direct insight into the social structure, beliefs, and ritual life of the Zapotec people. “It is powerful evidence of Mexico’s millennia-old cultural greatness.”
An extraordinary tomb in the heart of Oaxaca
The tomb was discovered in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, a region long recognized as the cradle of Zapotec civilization. What sets this find apart is not only its age, but the extraordinary survival of its architectural features, sculptures, and mural paintings.
According to specialists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), the tomb provides invaluable information about Zapotec funerary rituals, social hierarchy, and worldview—elements that are rarely preserved together at this level of detail.
On social media, Mexico’s Secretary of Culture described the discovery as “exceptional,” noting that the tomb’s architecture and mural paintings vividly reflect Zapotec ideas about life, death, power, and the sacred. “It is a clear reminder,” she wrote, “of a civilization whose legacy continues to be studied, protected, and shared with society today.”
Symbols of power, death, and ancestry
Among the most striking features is the entrance to the tomb itself. An owl—an animal associated with night and death in Zapotec cosmology—presides over the antechamber. Its beak partially covers the painted and stuccoed face of a Zapotec lord, believed to represent the ancestor for whom the tomb was built. Archaeologists suggest that descendants may have viewed this figure as an intermediary between the living and the divine.
The threshold is framed by a stone lintel topped with a frieze of engraved slabs bearing calendrical names. Carved into the door jambs are the figures of a man and a woman, both wearing elaborate headdresses and holding ritual objects—possibly guardians of the sacred space.
Inside the funerary chamber, sections of an extraordinary mural remain in place. Painted in shades of ochre, white, green, red, and blue, the scene depicts a procession of figures carrying bags of copal resin, walking solemnly toward the entrance of the tomb.
Preservation and research underway
An interdisciplinary team from INAH Oaxaca is currently working to conserve and study the site. One of the most urgent challenges is stabilizing the mural paintings, which are threatened by roots, insects, and sudden changes in temperature and humidity.
At the same time, researchers are conducting ceramic, iconographic, and epigraphic analyses, as well as physical anthropology studies of the human remains. Together, these investigations aim to deepen understanding of the rituals, symbols, and burial practices associated with this elite Zapotec tomb.
A discovery of national importance
Because of its architectural quality and decorative richness, archaeologists are already comparing the tomb to other major Zapotec funerary complexes in the region. The consensus is clear: this discovery significantly reshapes what we know about Zapotec society and its artistic and symbolic sophistication.
More than a remarkable find, the tomb stands as a rare and vivid connection to Mexico’s deep past—one that continues to speak, centuries later, through stone, pigment, and ritual memory.
2,800-year-old Hallstatt Dagger Unearthed on Polish Baltic Coast
A remarkable archaeological discovery has emerged from Poland’s Baltic coast. A unique, highly detailed Hallstatt-era dagger was recovered from a clay deposit that had fallen from a cliff in the wake of a storm. Dated to approximately 2,800 years ago, the discovery provides new evidence of the craftsmanship and cultural exchange of the early Iron Age.
It was found by President of St. Cordula Association for the Rescue of Monuments Jacek Ukowski, when he together with his colleague Katarzyna Herdzik, was conducting an exploration. While using a metal detector along the shoreline in Kamień Pomorski, Ukowski noticed signals near a fallen clay mass and uncovered the dagger within it. In an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP), he described it as his most valuable discovery to date. He said: “The cliff had collapsed, and the lump must have fallen from above. I went to the site with a metal detector because I started getting signals.”
The dagger, now housed in the Museum of the History of Kamień Land, measures 24.2 cm in length and has intricate engravings on the entire blade and hilt. Crescentic lines and star-like crosses adorn its surface, with a central decorative band, perhaps a symbol of constellations. Specialists interpret these motifs as an expression of a connection with sun worship, indicating that the dagger may have been used in a ritual and not solely for battle.
Grzegorz Kurka, director of the Museum of the History of Kamień Land, was amazed by the craftsmanship of the artifact. “A true work of art! In terms of workmanship, it is of very high quality, beautifully ornamented. Each engraved element is different. As far as finds in Poland are concerned, I have not come across such a dagger,” he told PAP. The advanced level of metallurgy in the weapon suggests it may have been imported from a southern European workshop.
Additional studies, including metallurgical analysis, will be conducted to determine the composition of the dagger’s alloy, specifically its copper and tin levels. Such examinations can provide insights into its origins and whether it was used as a tool in rituals, battles, or as a status symbol for a high-ranking warrior.
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