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A Small Turnip
11/11/08

In reply to Found Art
Hi guys! Sorry it's a bit late - but here they are! They're not nearly as pretty as the darling one above, but they've got their own quiet dignity, I think.

The jeweler did a bit of research for Dad and I, and came up with the idea of modelling the earrings on the shape of a small Roman brooch that had also been discovered nearby. He clasped the coins in the middle of 'em, and boom! Earrings - ancient and modern.

And here's the back of them. You can see the 'tails' from the back, which I think is pretty nifty. Oh, those Roman Britons, they had classy currency, didn't they?

So there ya go. Hope you like them!
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The Queen of No
11/11/08

@ASmallTurnip: Oh my GOD. Those are so cool! I am literally swooning! I can't even imagine what it was like to discover those coins on your own. Great gift idea, too.
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electriklights
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
How beautiful.
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girlnamedblue
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
That earring is the sort of thing I find so interesting about history, it puts it into perspective that there were people who lived thousands of years ago, and that they maybe weren't as different from us as you'd think. Like when I went to the King Tut exhibit, I was all "That chair! Someone sat in it! Those jars! They were used for make up!", lol.
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kbrook
11/10/08

@girlnamedblue: "That sarcophagus! It contains the body of someone who put curses on the people who desecrated his tomb!" I've been around Egyptian grave goods. They give me the heebie-jeebies, big time.

A friend of my worked in a natural history museum with a large collection of Native grave goods that were in the process of going back to the tribes. She was there when one of the shamans came through and smudged the remains down, and swore the room was warmer and less creepy afterward.
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girlnamedblue
11/10/08

@kbrook: Wow, pretty intense. When put in that context, the 4,000 year old Egyptian dog leash is pretty sinister too. I was just in awe at the fact that I was looking at every day things that are thousands of years old, and then wondering what people will say about us in 3,000-4,000 years.
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kbrook
11/11/08

@girlnamedblue: The whole 'looking at things people used a long time ago' thing is pretty damn cool, isn't it? That's the fun part of archeology. The not so fun part is having to be incredibly anal about recording things you find, digging in nasty, bug filled, inhospitable places, and scrabbling for money. That's why I minored.
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girlnamedblue
11/11/08

@kbrook: Oh definitely, all the cataloguing and gridding and stuff, I'll just enjoy it in the museum.
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Liz11685
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
This makes my archaeologist-in-training heart squeal in delight. It is so important to bring attention to the women of antiquity. Its similar to many ethnographies- men wrote them down, so women got left out. Archaeology is similar, men tend to focus on the men of antiquity. For a truly balanced view of past humans, we must get the dirt on jewelry tastes!(or the dirt off of, I guess...)
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gobblegirl
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
How can they be sure it wasn't say, a bellybutton ring? Maybe it belonged to a rich Roman's slutty symposium-aged daughter?
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sabbaticalplease
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
Awww, I'll take any cultural justification to buy shiny pretty things. See, the engagement ring diamond isn't so stupid and superficial! Lasting means something! You're welcome, 4009.
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Haystacks
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
If I found that I would assume it was made now, not 2000 years ago...how did they know?
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JennaW
11/10/08

@Haystacks: Science!
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RainbowBrite
11/11/08

@JennaW: Ummmm, you mean, Jesus told them it was old.
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kbrook
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
I'm enough of a history/archeology geek that I love these kinds of things. Tombs and temples are fine and good - you can get lots of valuable information from them - but those are the things the ancients wanted to be seen and preserved. The small stuff, like these earrings, or pots and jars, are all infinitely fascinating to me.
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LaComtesse
11/10/08

@kbrook: Preach it, child! Gimme a garbage dump over a dynastic tomb any day!
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kbrook
11/10/08

@LaComtesse: One of the coolest thing I've handled was a Mississippian potsherd - you could actually see the maker's fingerprints in the clay. This person lived thousands of years ago, but left something substantial behind, something that survived. How amazing is that?
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RainbowBrite
11/11/08

@kbrook: Wow, that's awesome! I have an intense fascination with mummies, particularly natural mummies (you know, the ones that weren't intentionally mummified - they're found in deserts and bogs and such). It's just incredible to see that person's eyelashes and what they're wearing because it's like, a person who lived THOUSANDS of years ago!
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Capital City Goofball
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
I just love when these stories pop up. I am such a history nerd and whenever something like this happens it makes me feel great to know that there are still undiscovered things out there.Love it.
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The Queen of No
11/10/08

@Capital City Goofball: I feel exactly the same way!
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A Small Turnip
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
When I was growing up, my parents had a little weekend cottage down in West Sussex, near Chichester, which is an old Roman town. I used to spend my weekends digging up my dad's flowerbeds, eagerly trying to be helpful amongst his agapanthuses. And one day, I came across something a bit rusty and shiny a few feet down, and it turned out to be a couple of silver Roman coins.

We carefully wrapped them up and brought them to the local Roman museum. Where the curator was singularly unimpressed - apparently Roman coins turn up like stones in the gardens around there. So Dad and I took them to a jeweler and had them polished up and made into earrings for my mum's Christmas present. Nice, huh?

I never found any others, though. But I'm still looking.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/10/08

@ASmallTurnip: That is such a neat story!
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NewsBunny
11/10/08

@ASmallTurnip: I found some walnuts while doing some gardening in Queens last spring.

You tell me -- WTF are WALNUTS doing buried in a garden in Queens? That's WAY more impressive than Roman coins.
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A Small Turnip
11/10/08

@BrutallyHonestBabes: Ain't it? I love old stuff. And I can gleefully say that once in my life, I FOUND BURIED TREASURE, MUTHA UCKA!

Honestly, it was felt like living in a storybook. And I have decided that I like storybook life much better than regular life.
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The Queen of No
11/10/08

@ASmallTurnip: That is SO cool. I would love to see those earrings now. :P
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A Small Turnip
11/10/08

@NewsBunny: Way tastier, too. In an earthy sort of way.

There are slugs in my city garden. Jealous?
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A Small Turnip
11/10/08

@glowingliketheocean: I'll take a picture of them tomorrow and post them in this thread, how's that? They're pretty cool looking, actually.
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The Queen of No
11/10/08

@ASmallTurnip: That would be amazing! Thank you! I'll check back obsessively tomorrow! <3
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/10/08

@ASmallTurnip: Yay! Thanks ever so much!
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NewsBunny
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
Anyone finds the vintage opal rings that fucking crackhead with a screwdriver stole from my house, let me know. Don't call the archeologists.
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thesciencegirl
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
I can has matching set?
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DangerMouse
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
Women of antiquity: apparently blingin'.
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BeckySharper
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
THERE it is! I've been looking all over for that damn earring. Please to return?
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gerbilsoutofexile...is cheap and easy
11/10/08

@BeckySharper: Dang. How old are you, anyway?
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KiwiMarie
11/10/08

In reply to Found Art
Ooooh, it's vintage.

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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/10/08

@KiwiMarie: It's antique. I'm not sure where the vintage/ antique cutoff is though. 100 years? Anyway, it's crazy pretty!
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DangerMouse
11/10/08

@BrutallyHonestBabes: I use the "was my Nana born yet" rule.

Nana is vintage. ;)
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/10/08

@ejc.yippee.skippee!: She sounds awesome! I love vintage. And antique!
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