Office Archaeology

/Office bound archaeologist and reenactor/ History, archaeology & the weird shit you find in an archaeologists office

[mr-entj]

A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?” The student expected her to say a clay pot, a grinding stone, or maybe a weapon. Margaret Mead thought for a moment, then she said, “A healed femur.” A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. A healed femur shows that someone cared for the injured person, did their hunting and gathering, stayed with them, and offered physical protection and human companionship until the injury could mend. Mead explained that where the law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest—rules, no healed femurs are found. The first sign of civilization is compassion, seen in a healed femur.

— Ira Byock, The Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life (x)

[bywandandsword]

Apparently, a few college students studying Alexander the Great at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay went and decided to build their own linothorax, a type of armor made of layered linen and glue. Then they went and and tested it, found it was indeed highly effective and the mad bastard leading the project allowed himself to be shot from 10 feet away while wearing it. Repeatedly

And thus, gambeson defenders were validated everywhere 🎉

[gallusrostromegalus]

Paging the SCA crowd to firstly Validate you and secondly to remind you Please Don’t.

Also paging @sifu-kisu​ because I think he’ll find this amusing.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

What’s the sexiest field of science?

OBVIOUSLY ARCHAEOLOGY

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I’m kidding no one looks sexy in field gear.

[saintartemis]

Peak sexy archaeologist/bandit.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Laura Croft has nothing on you

[djeheuty-bros]

The inherent eroticism of having almost every inch of you covered 

[chaotic-archaeologist]

That is the sexiest outfit I’ve ever seen

[sud-e-magia]

The view is good, and the valley ain’t half bad either

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I see what you did there

[midden-maiden]

Nothin sexier. Nothin.

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

Clothes of the Egtved Girl (Denmark, Nordic Bronze Age). The dendro dated oak log-coffin was closed a summer’s day 1370 BC, above the remains of a girl aged 16-18 years. She was buried together with the cremated remains of a small child and a bucket of “beer” - More photos in comments [610x789]

Source: https://reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/fee6p5/clothes_of_the_egtved_girl_denmark_nordic_bronze/

[archaeologistproblems]

“How does an archaeologist entertain a 4yo during isolation? Teach them to use a line level and send them around the 200-year-old farm house in search of the elusive level surface. Day 2.”

— From an archaeologist in my area with young kids (shared with permission)

[jedi-anakin]

favorite female leaders of the ancient world requested by anon

[elliotannhella]

Me, being forced to learn math to be an archaeologist:

[pics-that-make-you-go-hmm]

[cerastes]

[midden-maiden]

This is how archaeologists hunt

[roomba-with-knives-taped-to-it]

We couldn’t find any bones so we’ll just have to make some

[trekking-through-life]

@stardusthufflepuff

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I can confirm

[two-left-thumbs]

Read this sitting in an archaeology lab. Now the entire room is laughing.

[midden-maiden]

Alternative and supplementary hunting methods for archaeologists

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

Wolf skeleton dressed as a warrior, found with an atlatl, gold disk, and shell necklace. Found in an offering at the Templo Mayor, Mexico City. Aztec. Late 15th century [1960x1065]

Source: https://reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/e1lmwz/wolf_skeleton_dressed_as_a_warrior_found_with_an/

[murhuedur]

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

The Nebra sky disc is attributed to a site in present-day Germany near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt and dated to c. 1600 BC. Researchers suggest the disk is an artifact of the Bronze Age Unetice culture. [1611 x 1584]

[a-book-of-creatures]

Honestly the biggest disappointment I had researching ABC was that medieval authors did not, in fact, see the creatures they were describing and were trying their best to describe them with their limited knowledge while going “what the fuck… what the fuck…”

[a-book-of-creatures]

Instead all those creatures you know came about from transcription and translation errors from copying Greco-Roman sources (who themselves got them from travelers’ tales from Persia and India - rhino -> unicorn, tiger -> manticore, python -> dragon, and so on).

[downinmybeastheart]

So unicorns are real

[a-book-of-creatures]

behold… a unicorn

[gallusrostromegalus]

I always thought animals in medieval manuscripts looked like the result of having to draw say. A Tree Kangaroo, but your only source for what it looked like was your friend who heard it from a fellow who knows a man who swears he saw one once, whilst very drunk and lost, and I am SO PLEASED  to find out this is, in fact, the case.

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

Bull-themed “benches” at the neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Southern Anatolia. Those benches are roughly 9000-years-old. [746x450]

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

Roman dress pin and lead dice I found metal detecting near Cambridge. The dice is number 1,2,4,4,5,6 with no number 3. (1200x800 I think)

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

Ancient Greek or Roman bronze panther head armrest decoration from a couch, 2nd century BC. [1799x1800]

[princessslea]

A few days ago I went to guédelon and it was the most amazing thing ever

Over the last twenty years they have been working on building a medieval fortress by hand with building methods that would have been used in the 13. century. They expect to be done in about six or seven years

The castle is ‘standardized’ because about a thousand castles were build at the same time by King Phillip II. as a defnece against the english

It already looks beautiful just like that

The even move the stones around on little carriages that have to be moved by two people

Even all the safety structures are made by hand and out of wood (while they are safe just like that, they have to be screwed together as well so they are up to today’s standards)

This will be the highest and most secure tower where the owner would escape to, should the castle be under siege. It has its own water and works mostly independent from the rest of the castle.

These are the wheels used to lift the stones and get them to the top of the wall. They are still moved by people walking inside and the only thing they added was a break so it’s safer otherwise this is a complete reconstruction

The small chapel has the most beautiful window which was made completely by hand and it’s so symmetrical it’s unbelievable

Also there was a little nest of swallows in the chapel which made it extra amazing

The great hall is the only room with very big windows which made the room very lovely and bright. Below the great hall is the storage connected to the kitchen. Above the kitchen behind the great hall is a guest room which would be the warmes room since the cooking fire would be burning below it.

The guest room also had beautiful paintings and the even made the pigment for it themselves

There was so much more and it was so interesting I could have stayed there forever. Anyone who is interested in medieval history and has a chance to go there should definitely do that

I’m gonna stop now because tumblr won’t let me add any more pictures and I have way too much to say about this because they showed so much amazing stuff

[petermorwood]

There’s a BBC documentary series about this project - “Secrets of the Castle“ - by the same team who did “Victorian Farm” etc.

The whole thing is on the Timeline Channel at Youtube, and well worth a look.

[officearchaeology]

This is gorgeous!

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

A silver, gold filigran and niello Type O viking sword pommel that was recently discovered by a detectorist in Northamptonshire.[1109x640]

[officearchaeology]

Oh wow this is local to me. Pretty awesome stuff!