this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
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Historical Artifacts

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Just a community for everyone to share artifacts, reconstructions, or replicas for the historically-inclined to admire!

Generally, an artifact should be 100+ years old, but this is a flexible requirement if you find something rare and suitably linked to an era of history, not a strict rule. Anything over 100 is fair game regardless of rarity.

Generally speaking, ruins should go to [email protected]

Illustrations of the past should go to [email protected]

Photos of the past should go to [email protected]

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[–] kamenlady 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I wanted to use this as an icon, here's a clean cut out, for anyone interested

[–] PugJesus 2 points 1 month ago
[–] VelvetStorm 13 points 1 month ago

It's interesting that they decided to carve it with missing teeth.

[–] idiomaddict 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Is the skull real or ivory?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I don't really see how you could get the snake to fit so well with a real skull. It's tail even goes through some kind of hole at the jaw hinge. So I guess it must all be made of ivory even though it looks super real

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What's wild to me is the sutures. That's a detail I didn't expect on a carving of a skull, and it makes me wonder how many real skulls the artist held in his hand to compare. I'm 99% sure it's all ivory, the area above the teeth looks just a little too smooth for it to be a actual skull, but good GOD is that detailed and amazing

[–] Valmond 6 points 1 month ago

When you were out partying, I studied the skull.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

It's worth Google Lensing this picture to see how many more there are of this type of memento mori, in various sizes, usually smaller than a real skull.

[–] PugJesus 4 points 1 month ago

Ivory, I believe.

[–] daddy32 2 points 1 month ago

The skull is real ivory.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

This question is also mine.

[–] pelya 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

19-th century is, like, the age of most of buildings in old European cities like Vienna.

[–] Numenor 2 points 1 month ago

this means nothing to me – oh Vienna.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago
  1. century is just a few generations ago. You find houses twice as old in every village here.