Ancient history?
Ah yes, I like periods of time where one culture met another. Anything from 500AD back to 4000BC is very interesting.
Here in Japan you can see how a peaceful people who used their precious and scarce metals to make bronze for pouring and producing large, beautiful bells to hang in their villages became something quite different due to meeting migrants. The historians believe the bells were used for ceremonial purposes. This peaceful use of metal then changes slowly but definitely through 2000 years. The bells were actually ceremonially buried, I wonder if they were hidden to save the metal from violent use. First there are a few ceremonial spears and a few arrow heads but by 500 Ad we see bronze used only for weapons, many weapons and no bells except tiny ones on horses' bridles.
Otzi the iceman came to a nearby museum last year. What stunned me was that his clothes, weapons and backpack were superbly adapted for the mountains. His equipment was better in some respects than modern mountaineering gear. The arrow between his ribs showed that some things never change!
Oh to be an archaeologist! Interesting that we'd all like to be one. I went to school in England and the nearby city council was excavating the local castle. I worked at the dig for three summers. The castle wasn't as pretty as yours, Arrowqueen, for it was smashed to pieces during the Civil war by Roundheads and we found 17thC clay pipes and a spur, various other bits and pieces. What amazed me was the metres of soil we had to remove to get anywhere near the castle floor. I went on as a university student to spend my summers on emergency digs as a lowly scraper and carrier but loved it. Did a Knights Templar site and a Roman villa. Wasn't allowed to train as an archaeologist because then you needed Latin and Classical studies as well as history.
Did you know that many digs around the world these days fund themselves by taking keen amateurs who pay to be trained and pay a little each week as they work? It's a good holiday idea!
Lief Erikson and Brendan definitely reached America, there must have been others. I wonder who reached us and Oz before the official 1st finder, Abel Tasman. I'm sure East Indian tea clippers were storm driven and wrecked on our coastline and there were brave explorers through the ages.
