History yays

Started by comrade_general, October 01, 2014, 12:34:54 PM

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comrade_general


Jubal

Ooh, awesome :)

Meanwhile the biggest history yay of the past week has probably been the news that Palmyra may be in rather better shape than we feared - ISIS seem to have wrecked some gorgeous temples, but most of the Roman ruins are still standing fortunately.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/palmyra-ruins-not-destroyed-isis_uk_56faa7c2e4b0691b0c563a7c
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Glaurung

And, nearer to home (at least for UK people), some more Roman ruins (a villa, to be specific) discovered by someone laying electricity cables in his garden! Apparently the site hasn't been touched for 1,400 years, so it's very rich archaeologically.

Details, as ever, on the BBC News site.

Jubal

There's a buried one in the village near my house in Norfolk that's only ever been partly excavated - I imagine there must still be really quite a large number across the UK (which presents certain difficulties in terms of long-term preservation).
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

comrade_general

Yeah I've got Roman ruins on my land too.

Jubal

...that's rather more interesting, you might want to get someone to look at that :P
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

comrade_general

http://globalnews.ca/news/2785544/archaeologists-discover-skeletons-coins-in-ancient-pompeii-shop/?sf29605258=1

Nice looking coin, funny looking guy on it.

Is the edge misshaped due to being tumbled around in the ground? Surely not because then the markings and face would be deformed as well. Then it would seem they didn't make the thing perfectly round in the first place which doesn't make sense because they were perfectly capable of doing so.

Glaurung

I suspect two things:
- The rim has been hit against something hard at some point; it's gold so it would dent easily
- The coin has been "clipped", i.e. it's had bits cut off the edge to steal some of the gold. This would account for the irregular edge in the lower left quadrant in the picture.

comrade_general

That could be. Though it seems like most old coins have irregular edges even the non-gold ones.

Jubal

It's that the coin wasn't made round - they could make round objects with moulds or whatever for jewellery, but most ancient & medieval coins were generally made by striking a blob of metal with a marked die & hammer, which doesn't lead to nice perfect round coins but is a considerably quicker & cheaper process than pouring molten metal into moulds.
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...


comrade_general


Tusky

Quote from: comrade_general on August 08, 2016, 12:08:08 AM
Better teeth than modern day British. ;D

I am highly offended by this

As an English person - to have our distinctive brown wonky teeth bundled in with the boring white straight teeth of the Welsh and the Scottish
<< Signature redacted >>

comrade_general


comrade_general

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