How on earth am I supposed to cope with the knowledge that I'm spinning yarn the same way people did thousands of years ago, there's a poem in that somewhere ok.
Here's examples of ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HEIROGLYPHS and a WHOLE ASS GREEK POT depicting the same way of spinning yarn I do (last picture) like how am I NOT supposed to get emotional to this ok
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Did some work down in the workshop this week. I’ve got the parts of my fibre blending board all cut & sanded, just waiting on some hardware in order to finish it off.
My glass whorl from Glassbead in etsy & custom spindle sticks to fit from The Dancing Goats arrived too. I sanded smooth some pointy parts of the sticks & sealed with beeswax, all ready to try out medieval spinning.
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As civilization marches ever onwards, many ancient traditions and crafts have been lost to time, but some still survive. Here are 11 ancient crafts still being practiced (and sold) today.
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2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia (c.400-300 BCE): crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact
This artifact was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.
This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artifacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.
Currently housed at the Hermitage Museum.
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I want to take an ancient Greek poet to Broadway and bring them to Hadestown.
I want to show them that this story is still loved and important and we're still singing the songs and telling the stories, in our own way, in our own time, but in a constant lineage that goes back millennia.
I want to bring the sculptor who made the Venus of Willendorf to the art museum and say "we have continued forever to try and capture beauty and love in clay and stone that might outlive us"
I want the women to stitched the Bayeux tapestry to come to my local quilting club and ask them questions about their work and sit and gossip with tea loaded with cream and sugar while we busy our hands with stitching new works of art to pass on to our children.
I want to show these ancient people that we love them. We remember them. Their stories matter to us and we are their children and we remember. We're going to tell these stories again and again. We will make art again and again.
It's an old song
It's an old tale from way back when
And we're gonna sing it again and again
We're gonna sing it again
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Ceramic adventures from the past few months! A local potter put on a couple painting workshops where she provided premade cups, bowls, etc and my friend and I were like oh heck yeah
The first time I painted a cup with Dionysus and Hestia chatting. Thanks to the stories where she gave him his throne I like the idea of them as an unlikely favorite auntie and nephew duo. Unfortunately the potter made a mistake when glazing them... you can't see the figures and the underglaze is weirdly pockmarked, making it impossible to even drink from it. Ah well, such is life... someday I'll make the Dionysus+Hestia kylix of my dreams...
The second time around I painted a different opposite duo, Apollo and Artemis. I like to draw Apollo wearing his more feminine accoutrements, it makes the differences between him and his sister Artemis even starker, and that's fun! And this time you can see through the glaze, woo!
Descriptions in the alt text!
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Wara ningyô (straw doll) kept at Tono Museum.
Those effigies were once hung on ropes (michikiri) by roadsides and village entrances to ward off evil spirits bringing pestilence (疫病神 yakubyôgami). They were sometimes accessorized, like this one bearing a daishô (katana set) and a fearsome (oni?) face mask.
Waraningyô are also a staple of folk magic alike voodoo dolls, especially those related to eerie uchi no toki mairi ("Ox-hour shrine visits", ie witching hour).
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Meet the sari weavers of Varanasi, whose nimble fingers and artistic vision keep alive an ancient craft that dates back to the 16th century. Here’s how they create exquisite works of art that reflect the beauty and culture of India.
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Persephone’s Pomegranates embroidery, part of an ongoing project to cover Greek mythology
2022 was an inspiring year, one that was full of confusion, idleness and a very long break for my mental health- but some of the art I contributed to the world was something I can sit back and be truly proud of
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World's Oldest Leather Shoe, from Armenia, c.3500 BCE: this prehistoric shoe dates back to about 5,500 years ago, making it the oldest leather shoe in the world
The shoe was found within a cave in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia, where it had been preserved beneath a layer of sheep dung for more than five millennia.
From the BBC:
At 5,500 years old, the well preserved cow-hide shoe pre-dates Stonehenge by 400 years and the Pyramids of Giza by 1,000 years.
It was made of a single piece of leather and was shaped to fit the wearer's foot, researchers say.
The shoe contained grass, although the archaeologists are uncertain as to whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the footwear.
Archaeologists put the shoe's remarkable preservation down to the stable, cool and dry conditions in the cave, and the fact that the floor of the cave was covered by a thick layer of sheep dung. This layer of excrement acted as a solid seal, preserving it over the millennia.
According to researchers, the shoe was deliberately buried in a clay-lined pit located within the cave system, though it's unclear why it was originally buried there. The evidence suggests that the shoe was more than just a ritual object -- an imprint of the wearer's big toe is still visible in the leather, and there is a significant amount of wear along the heel and ball of the foot.
This is the oldest leather shoe that has ever been discovered, but older shoes made of plant fiber have been found at sites in Missouri and Oregon. The oldest shoes ever discovered come from Oregon's Fort Rock Cave, where archaeologists unearthed dozens of sandals dating back to about 10,000 years ago.
Sandals from Fort Rock Cave, Oregon
Sources & More Info:
National Geographic: World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found--Stunningly Preserved
BBC: 'Oldest Leather Shoe' Discovered
The Bulletin: Viral Story about World's Oldest Shoes Failed to Mention Ancient Fort Rock Footwear
Oregon Encyclopedia: Fort Rock Sandals
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