#bronze artifacts

[blueiskewl]

Ancient Roman Bronze Bird Finial 2nd century AD

[the-cricket-chirps]

Bronze statuette of a dog

Roman

2nd-3rd century CE

[sixteenseveredhands]

Prehistoric Figurine of a Harp Player, from the Cyclades (Greece), c. 2700-2300 BCE: this figurine was shaped from a block of solid marble and then slowly sanded into form using pumice and emery

The figurine depicts a musician with a frame harp, an instrument that originated in the Near East and then later spread to the peoples of the Aegean. A sound box forms the section along the base of the instrument, and a small protrusion can be seen near the top of the harp's frame; some experts have argued that this protrusion might represent an ornamental carving of a waterfowl's head, while others argue that it represents a musical extension that facilitates the projection of sound (a feature that often appears on the stringed instruments of the ancient Near East).

This piece measures 35.8cm (about 14 inches) tall.

Musical performances like this are rarely depicted in Cycladic artwork. Depictions of male characters are similarly rare, representing only 5% of the Cycladic sculptures that are known to exist. When male figures are depicted, however, they are frequently shown playing musical instruments, as seen here.

Figurine of a Harpist, c. 2800-2700 BCE: a similar example of a Cycladic sculpture that features a musician with a frame harp

The Museum of Cycladic Art provides a more detailed explanation of the process by which these figures were created:

As we can deduce from the few unfinished figurines that have been discovered so far, the first step in the process was to roughly shape the raw piece of marble into a figure by the impact of a mallet. Emery powder was then used to abrade the surface until it obtained the desired shape and size. Once the desired shape was achieved, the surface was smoothed carefully before the fine work of carving the details started. At the end, the figurine was polished to a high degree that is still amazing.

And according to The Met:

Many of these figures, especially those of the Spedos type, display a remarkable consistency in form and proportion that suggests they were planned with a compass. Scientific analysis has shown that the surface of the marble was painted with mineral-based pigments—azurite for blue and iron ores, or cinnabar for red.

The Cycladic Islands (also known as the Cyclades) are a group of about 30 separate islands in the Southwest Aegean, off the coast of mainland Greece. These islands contain a wealth of natural resources, including marble, emery, pumice, obsidian, and an assortment of precious metals. The prehistoric peoples of the Cyclades made use of these resources for many different purposes, but the marble figurines/sculptures that they crafted during the Bronze Age are perhaps their most famous creation.

The vast majority of these figurines are stylized depictions of the female form. The cultural significance of the sculptures remains unclear; they may have simply been created as decorative pieces/artwork, without any additional function, or they may have been used as fetishes, totems, religious idols, grave goods, or votive offerings.

Sources & More Info:

The Getty Museum: Figurine of a Harp Player

The Met: Cycladic Harp Player

The Met: Early Cycladic Art and Culture

The Museum of Cycladic Art: Techniques

[artifacts-archive]

Bronze Mirror with a Support in the Form of a Draped Woman

Greek, mid-5th century BCE

[ltwilliammowett]

Roman Bronze Ring with Galley Intaglio, c. 1st-4th century AD

[thatshowthingstarted]

Tutankhamun's meteoric iron dagger,

Also known as Tutankhamun's iron dagger and King Tut's dagger, is an iron-bladed dagger from the tomb of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC). 

As the blade Composition and homogeneity closely correlate with meteorite composition and homogeneity, the material for the blade is determined to have originated by way of a meteoritic landing. 

Since the 1960s, the high nickel content in the blade has been accepted as indicative of meteoric origin. A more recent study published in June 2016 derived from x-ray fluorescence spectrometer analysis show that the blade's composition is mostly iron (Fe) and 11% nickel (Ni) and 0.6% cobalt (Co). This means its composition is placed within the median of a group of 76 previously discovered iron meteorites. 

The nickel content in the bulk metal of most iron meteorites ranges from 5% to 35%, whereas it never exceeds 4% in historical iron artifacts from terrestrial ores produced before the 19th century.

Also, the nickel to cobalt ratio of this blade is comparable to that of iron meteorite materials.[2]

At the time of King Tutankhamun's mummification in approximately 1323 BC (the Bronze Age), iron smelting and manufacture were rare. Iron objects were used for only artistic, ornamental, ritual, gift giving, and ceremonial purposes as well as for pigmentation. Hence, iron during this age was more valuable or precious than gold.

The dagger is currently displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo 

[ancientorigins]

On the Danish Island of Zealand, amateur archaeologists stumbled upon a remarkable artifact - a tiny, mysterious Roman bronze plaque featuring none other than Alexander the Great!

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Bronze Tablet

Artist: Tom Wänerstrand TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[romeneverfell]

Twin-flamed lamp with bat-shaped reflector; bronze, Roman | Found in the Villa Arianna in Stabiae, south of Pompeii | On display in the Capitoline Museum, from the MANN collections.

[covenawhite66]

Located in Bavaria, Germany. A 3,000-year-old wooden wishing well overflowing with more than 100 artifacts dating to the Bronze Age.

The items in this well were placed there for "ritual purposes" The artifacts included more than 70 well-preserved clay vessels, including numerous decorative bowls, cups and pots that were used for special occasion. They found more than two dozen bronze robe pins, a bracelet, four amber beads, two metal spirals, a mounted animal tooth and a wooden scoop. This is very different from modern-day wishing wells, where people toss in coins and make a wish

[blueiskewl]

An Ancient Sacrificial Site Found in Poland

In a dried up lake in Poland, a group of metal detectorists stumbled on some buried objects — and uncovered an ancient sacrificial site. The more archaeologists dug into the dry lakebed, the more offerings they found.

Metal detectorists with the Kujawsko-Pomorska Grupa Poszukiwaczy Historii located the sacrificial site in January 2023 while searching a dry lake near Papowo Biskupie, according to a study published Jan. 24 in the journal Antiquity.

Initially, metal detectorists found three piles, or deposits, of bronze artifacts that archaeologists identified as part of an ancient sacrificial site. Photos show these deposits.

Follow-up excavations revealed more details — and hundreds more artifacts — at the dry lake.

Sacrificial offerings at the 2,400-year-old site took two main forms: human bones or bronze artifacts, the study said.

Archaeologists found the bones of at least 33 males and females of various ages. The bones were broken up and “severely fragmented” but did not show signs of “blunt or sharp force trauma.” Still, the bones likely belonged to sacrificial victims, the study said.

Excavations also uncovered over 550 bronze artifacts at the Papowo Biskupie site. Most of the objects were “arm and neck ornaments,” including a necklace with “several swallow-tail pendants and a single glass bead.” Photos show these ornamental offerings.

A pair of “nail-like earrings,” a “flint spearhead” and some artifacts made of deer antlers were also unearthed, the study said and photos show.

The human remains were several centuries older than the bronze artifacts, suggesting that rituals shifted over time from human offerings to metal offerings, the study said.

Based on the plant material found at the site, the offerings were likely “packed into baskets made of birch bark and lined with moss” then left in the lake when it was most waterlogged.

Archaeologists linked the 2,400-year-old sacrificial site to the Lusatian culture, a European Bronze Age culture known only from archaeology. The Papowo Biskupie area is “one of the northernmost communities of the Lusatian culture” and, for this reason, was previously assumed not to engage in “metal-hoarding.” The findings at the sacrificial site challenge this idea.

The Papowo Biskupie sacrificial site is one of the first of its kind in Poland and one of the northernmost bog sites found in Europe.

The dry lake near Papowo Biskupie was a boggy lake until the 19th century when it was drained. In the 1980s, it was drained again and turned into agricultural land, the study said.

Researchers noted that these are “preliminary findings” and excavations at Papowo Biskupie are ongoing.

Papowo Biskupie is about 130 miles northwest of Warsaw.

By Aspen Pflughoeft.

[the-cricket-chirps]

Three kneeling figures in poses of jubilation, c. 715-332 BCE. Late Period. Egypt. Bronze

[sixteenseveredhands]

Bronze Age Libation Vessel from Crete, c. 1600-1450 BCE: the body of this 3,600-year-old vessel was carved from a single block of rock crystal

The collar of this libation vessel is decorated with discs of gilded ivory, while the handle is formed by a length of bronze wire and fourteen beads made of rock crystal. The vessel itself is about 16.5cm tall (roughly 6.5 inches) when measured from the base up to the rim.

Libation vessels such as this were widely used to pour ritual offerings, such as wine (or other alcoholic substances), water, honey, olive oil, milk, or grain, usually in honor of a deity or in remembrance of the dead. These ritual vessels are also known as rhyta (or the singular rhyton). They were especially common among ancient cultures, but have also been used by many other peoples throughout history, and similar libation vessels are still used within certain religious/cultural traditions today.

This particular vessel was crafted and used by the Minoans -- a Bronze Age civilization that once flourished on the island of Crete. It was unearthed from the ruins of the Central Palace of Zakros.

According to The Heraklion Archaeological Museum:

This small libation vessel, a true masterpiece of Minoan art, is one of the most valuable ritual vessels of the Central Sanctuary of Zakros. The body and neck are made separately. The body of the rhyton is carved from a particularly large block of rock crystal. The vase was found shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, which were restored with marvellous skill by the conservators of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The collar around the join between neck and body is decorated with gilded ivory discs. The tall, curved handle is formed of fourteen crystal beads threaded on bronze wire and was found almost intact during the excavation, with the beads still in place.

The skill of the Minoan craftsman is evident not only from the decorative details of the rhyton but also from the fact that he was able to create such a fine-walled vessel without cracking the particularly hard raw material. The aesthetic perfection of the rhyton is as impressive as the technical skill required to produce it. Its symbolic value as a ritual vessel is heightened by the precious ivory and the metals, all of which were imported to Crete from distant parts of the East Mediterranean.

Sources & More Info:

Heraklion Archaeological Museum: Rock Crystal Libation Vessel/Rhyton

World History Encyclopedia: Minoan Rock-Crystal Vase

Minoan Crete: Zakros

[artifacts-archive]

Composite Ibis Figure

Egypt, Late Period, 712-332 BCE

[charlesreeza]

Jupiter, Bronze, 1st century CE, Herculaneum

Apollo, Bronze, 1st century CE, from Pompei

National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Photos by Charles Reeza

[ltwilliammowett]

British bronze signal cannon with Dolphins - circa 1770