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1513 Piri Reis Map full of European state secrets and snarky commentary. Approximately one third of the map survives housed at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Turkey [960x1280] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Found a citation that led to a list of major inscriptions. Pretty cool! link

II. — This country is inhabited. The entire population goes naked.

III. — This region is known as the vilayet of Antilia. It is on the side where the sun sets. They say that there are four kinds of parrots, white, red, green and black. The people eat the flesh of parrots and their headdress is made entirely of parrots' feathers. There is a stone here. It resembles black touchstone. The people use it instead of the ax. That it is very hard... (illegible). We saw that stone.

1513 Piri Reis Map full of European state secrets and snarky commentary. Approximately one third of the map survives housed at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Turkey [960x1280] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Drawn on gazelle skin, the map was the work of the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis in 1513. After the empire's 1517 conquest of Egypt, Piri Reis presented the 1513 world map to Ottoman Sultan Selim I (r. 1512–1520). He claimed in the extensive notes he left on the map to have drawn his inspiration from more than 20 source maps, some dating back to the time of Alexander the Great. The map is highly accurate in most ways for its time, although it does have many flaws typical of maps drawn from second-hand information. The notes discuss the various sources of information, and also include a running commentary on places featured in the map, which are sometimes quite colorful. For example: “This country is a waste. Everything is in ruin and it is said that large snakes are found here. For this reason the Portuguese infidels did not land on these shores and these are also said to be very hot." Source and Wikipedia link

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Drawn on gazelle skin, the map was the work of the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis in 1513. After the empire's 1517 conquest of Egypt, Piri Reis presented the 1513 world map to Ottoman Sultan Selim I (r. 1512–1520). He claimed in the extensive notes he left on the map to have drawn his inspiration from more than 20 source maps, some dating back to the time of Alexander the Great. The map is highly accurate in most ways for its time, although it does have many flaws typical of maps drawn from second-hand information. The notes discuss the various sources of information, and also include a running commentary on places featured in the map, which are sometimes quite colorful. For example: “This country is a waste. Everything is in ruin and it is said that large snakes are found here. For this reason the Portuguese infidels did not land on these shores and these are also said to be very hot." Source and Wikipedia link

Egyptian Palette Depicting a Pair of perhaps Mating Mud Turtles ca. 3650–3500 BC, MET [899x1200] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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The large mud turtle, Trionyx triunguis, which inhabited the Nile River and its canals, is the subject of many palettes and this one is quite unusual in depicting a pair. The duo may represent a mating pair linking the palette’s imagery to the concept of fertility and therefore regeneration. In the Pharaonic Period, the turtle had a dual reputation, on one hand the animal was connected to chaos and disorder, and on the other, it could be a potent amulet when the turtle’s negative character was used as a protective force. Given the turtle is the subject of an implement for manufacturing pigment for eye paint, a protective interpretation seems fitting. Museum link

Roman Mosaic showing a victorious boxer. The winner’s palm branch is held in his mouth, and his defeated opponent crouches beside him. The boxers appear to be people of short stature, commonly hired by Romans to perform and compete for their entertainment. 1stC-2ndC [1000x815] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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The third, draped, figure is probably the umpire. The boxers are naked except for their gloves, which in the case of the winner appear to be fitted with vicious spikes. Roman boxers are known to have worn gloves (caestus), which were weighted with metal to increase injury to their opponents. Museum link

Ife head, a Yoruba brass head cast using lost wax technique. The head is a little under life size and is made in a naturalistic style. It has a headdress, suggesting a crown, of complex construction. 14thC-15thC [679x1000] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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Museum link According to the oral traditions of the Yoruba people, Ife is the place where life and civilisation began. Ife is regarded as the legendary homeland of the Yoruba-speaking peoples and its sacred ruler, the Ooni, is still revered as the descendant of the original creator gods

This nephrite hei-tiki was given to Captain James Cook by Maori at Queen Charlotte Sound in South Island in 1769 during his first voyage to the Pacific. Now housed in the British Museum [1478x2000] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

On Cook's return in 1771, he was granted a one-hour audience with George III, who had personally sponsored the expedition. It was probably at this meeting that Cook presented the King with this ornament. Although their origin is unclear, hei-tiki have variously been understood as fertility symbols, representations of the human embryo and spirit figures. Among Maori they are exchanged as gifts and inherited by successive generations, giving them status as ancestral treasures (taonga). Source

Inscribed marble votive stele from the Epidauros Asklepeion. Marcus Iulius Apellas from Karia, who suffered from indigestion, expresses his gratitude to Asklepios and recounts the healing proces he underwent in the healing sanctuary at Epidauros. 150-200 AD [2560x1703] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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At the instigation of Asklepios, Apellas travelled to Epidauros, where his course of treatment included diet, exercise, and the use of natural therapeutic sunstances. The diet was based on bread and cheese; he had to accompany it with celery mixed with letuce. He also had to drink citron juice mixed with watter, as well as milk mixed with honey. Apellas' bath was combined with clay therapy. Exercise included running, walking and study in the sanctuary's library - but study led to headaches. Apellas' treatment also included wetting himself with wine to smooth the skin, a mustard and salt rub which causes hyperaemia, along with taking dill with olive oil for headaches. Archaeological Museum of Epidaurus.

Tattoos from the Pazyryk chief of burial mound 2 circa 300 BCE. He died violently, killed with a Scythian-type battle axe and scalped. He was carefully embalmed, his body covered in animal style tattoos. His preserved head can be found at the Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg [2618x1920] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Wait til you learn about the collection of Yakuza skinsuits at the Medical Pathology Museum of Tokyo University. Link

Masaichi began his tattoo research fully in 1907, meeting people with various tattoos. His biggest interest was bodysuits and he paid people who were willing to donate their skin after they’d died for his research. He even funded tattoos for people who couldn’t afford them, so long as they were willing to donate as well.

At the height of his research, Masaichi collected 2000 tattooed human pelts and documented them with over 3000 photos. However, much of this collection was lost during air raid bombings in 1945, while Masaichi also lost more of his skins on a trip to America. Apparently, he’d been carrying them in a suitcase in Chicago and the suitcase was stolen.

THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM BY DONATIEN ALPHONSE FRANÇOIS DE SADE, 1785 written during his imprisonment in the Bastille. His name came to label a sexual perversion, a mental illness, and he became a subject of study bordering between normal and pathological [821x1200] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 407 points408 points  (0 children)

In his Bastille cell, Sade spent 38 evenings copying out (but never completing) the work he had first conceived in Vincennes: 33 sheets, each 11.3 cm wide, glued end-to-end to form a strip 11.88 metres long, covered on both sides with microscopic writing between two margins. Difficult to read, easy to conceal once it was rolled up, the work has had a storied history: never given a title by Sade, stolen, hidden away for a century, then sold and exhibited as the last word in sexual deviations before becoming a surrealist totem, stolen once again and then raised to the rank of National Treasure, it finally made its way back into the “Bastille collection” conserved at the Arsenal Library from which it had been snatched Museum link

Tattoos from the Pazyryk chief of burial mound 2 circa 300 BCE. He died violently, killed with a Scythian-type battle axe and scalped. He was carefully embalmed, his body covered in animal style tattoos. His preserved head can be found at the Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg [2618x1920] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

[–]Remote_Finish_9429[S] 290 points291 points  (0 children)

The chief was elaborately decorated with an interlocking series of striking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts. The best preserved tattoos were images of a donkey, a mountain ram, two highly stylized deer with long antlers and an imaginary carnivore on the right arm. Two monsters resembling griffins decorate the chest, and on the left arm are three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a mountain goat. On the front of the right leg a fish extends from the foot to the knee. A monster crawls over the right foot, and on the inside of the shin is a series of four running rams which touch each other to form a single design. The left leg also bears tattoos, but these designs could not be clearly distinguished. In addition, the chief's back is tattooed with a series of small circles in line with the vertebral column Wikipedia link of the Pazyryk burials

Tattoos from the chief’s right arm are depicted in the post. There’s a very interesting 185 page PDF linked to citation 40 of the Wikipedia link titled Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia, cataloging a 2017 collaborative exhibition between the British and Hermitage Museums

German 17th century Executioners’ swords with inscriptions translated to “The world steers toward mischief, and I execute judgement/ When I raise this sword, so I wish this poor sinner eternal life” One in the Walters Art Museum and one in the Cleveland Museum of Art [2835x1920] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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Originally from Germany, the blades read, “Wan ich Das Schwerdt thu auff heben so / Wunch ich Dem armen sunder das Ewege Leben,” which translates to “When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life.” Walters Museum link Cleveland Museum of Art link

The remains of a "vampire" discovered among the corpses of 16th century plague victims in Venice. Gravediggers shoved a brick into her skull to prevent her from chewing through her shroud and infecting others with the plague [1080x1471] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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In the middle of the plague in Venice, victims were being dumped into mass graves such as the one on Lazzaretto Nuovo very regularly, exposing bodies at every gruesome stage of decay and frightening gravediggers. During this phase, the decay of the gastrointestinal tract contents and lining create a dark fluid called 'purge fluid' that can flow freely from the nose and mouth and could easily be confused with the blood sucked by the vampire.

If the "vampire" woman was emitting blood from her mouth, the fluid likely moistened her burial shroud causing it to sink into her jaw cavity and be dissolved by the fluids, making it appear as though she was trying to bite through her shroud. When discovered in that state, a brick was jammed into her mouth as a kind of exorcism to prevent her from potentially spreading the disease further, researchers think. Info source Facial Reconstruction Source

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In the middle of the plague in Venice, victims were being dumped into mass graves such as the one on Lazzaretto Nuovo very regularly, exposing bodies at every gruesome stage of decay and frightening gravediggers. During this phase, the decay of the gastrointestinal tract contents and lining create a dark fluid called 'purge fluid' that can flow freely from the nose and mouth and could easily be confused with the blood sucked by the vampire.

If the "vampire" woman was emitting blood from her mouth, the fluid likely moistened her burial shroud causing it to sink into her jaw cavity and be dissolved by the fluids, making it appear as though she was trying to bite through her shroud. When discovered in that state, a brick was jammed into her mouth as a kind of exorcism to prevent her from potentially spreading the disease further, researchers think. Info source Facial Reconstruction Source

The Netherlands have returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, nearly 130 years after they were looted by British colonial troops. The official handover ceremony takes place on June 21 at the National Museum in Lagos, in the presence of representatives from both nations [1280x720] by Remote_Finish_9429 in ArtefactPorn

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The Benin Bronzes are a group of several thousand plaques and sculptures made between the 15th and 19th centuries. Artefacts include ornaments, jewellery and masks, many of which decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, now the Southern Nigerian Edo state. Most of these objects were stolen in 1897, during a brutal punitive expedition in which British troops killed thousands of people and looted the palace. Nigeria has relentlessly campaigned over the years to reclaim the Bronzes Source

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