National Geographic Museum Blog

Mystery Object Suggestions

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:09:43 +0000

Interested in identifying what this mystery object is? Many guesses were given on the Staffordshire Hoard blog. Here’s a sample below with feedback from the exhibit staff or read the whole thing on their blog.

It’s a lid of some kind:

This seems a possibility. The open end of K130 certainly has rivet holes around the edge, showing it was fixed to something else. This could well have been some kind of stopper, possibly to fit into the mouth of a vessel of some kind. One favourite suggestion is that it might have been the stopper for a drinking horn. This would be the first one of these known, but then the hoard is springing lots of surprises on us. The vessel would have to be small though; we estimate the original diameter of the bottom of K130 was about 7.0-7.5 centimetres (3 inches).

Specifically, it’s the lid of a thurible or censer:

The big problem with this suggestion is that there are no holes in K130, which would actually be the cover over the burning incense. I can’t think of a censer cover that doesn’t have holes to let the scented smoke out. There is also no sign of any smoke residue on the underside of K130. (For the same reasons I don’t think it is likely that this the cover of an oil lamp.)

It’s a drawer or cabinet handle:

I can see where the idea comes from, and I agree the shape is very reminiscent of this, but I don’t think there is any evidence that the Saxons had such elaborate furniture. I also don’t think the assembled pieces would have been strong enough to last very long in use as a drawer handle.

Join Us: A Tribute to Wangari Maathai

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:06:25 +0000

Join us on March 13th @ 7pm for an amazing special exhibition.

The late environmental, social, and political activist Wangari Maathai earned a Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Green Belt Movement. She founded this Kenyan organization in 1977 to encourage the planting of trees to protect the soil and provide women with wood for cooking and building. Join her daughter Wanjira Maathai, documentary filmmakers Lisa Merton and Alan Dater, and Green Belt’s U.S. director Stephen Mills for a special tribute to an environmental hero of our time. A reception will follow this event.

Co-presented with the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.

Backpack Theory

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:01:09 +0000

At the National Geographic Museum we offer a variety of educational options to make your visit more hands on.

One of these activities is our Family Explorer Backpack.

Children and adults of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the Anglo-Saxon Hoard: Gold from England’s Dark Ages exhibit with our Family Explorer Backpack, free to borrow with your museum visit. With the backpack and accompanying educational guide, families are encouraged to put on their explorer’s hats and accept a mission of exploration and discovery, unlocking the secrets behind the buried treasure of the Anglo-Saxons.

At the end of their journey, young explorers are invited to submit their theory of why the hoard was buried.

Here are this week’s winners:

“I believe the hoard was buried and instructions on finding it were left to a nobleman. [For] some reason, the directions were lost and the treasure forgotten.”

Name: Matthew P.

Age: 12

“I think the hoard was buried during a ceremony.”

Name: Anne-Fleur

Age: 9

“I think that someone stole the hoard, possibly from a church or other hoard, then buried to conceal the evidence. The thief was then possibly too frightened or died before they could come back to claim their treasure.”

Name: Dorotea D.

Age: 12

“I think they didn’t want anybody to know where it was. I think they used an animal to dig.”

Name: Kate M.

Age: 9

Don’t see your theory here? Check back again!

The Apex of Military Craft

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:38:59 +0000

The apex of Teutonic military craft was the long cutting sword. Averaging about three feet, blades were pattern welded, a sophisticated technique by which twisted rods and strips of iron or steel were hammered together. Forged from this intricate folding, the polished blades rippled with chevron or herringbone patterns. As one appreciative recipient recorded in the early sixth century, they appear “to be grained with tiny snakes, and here such varied shadows play that you would believe the shining metal to be interwoven with many colours

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/gold-hoard/alexander-text

Buried Treasure

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:28:01 +0000

Treasure was buried for many reasons: to keep it out of enemy hands, to “bank” a fortune, to serve as a votive offering. Given the era’s scant documentation, the motive behind the burial of the Staffordshire Hoard is best surmised from the hoard itself. The first clue is its military character, which suggests that the assemblage was not a grab bag of loot. The nature of the hoard accords with the militarism of the Germanic tribes, which was impressive even to the military-minded Romans. The historian Tacitus, writing in the late first century, noted that “they conduct no business, public or private, except under arms,” and that when a boy came of age, he was presented with a shield and spear—”the equivalent of our toga.”

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/gold-hoard/alexander-text

Wordless Wednesday – Harp Seal, Canada

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:36:04 +0000

What would you do if you encountered this cute seal in the freezing waters off Canada? If you are Brian Skerry, you’d snap this photo. Here more about the image, in Brian’s own words here:

I found that living with harp seals around the clock in full immersion was inspiring and addictive in a way that few wildlife experiences have been. The more I saw, the more I wanted to see, and as each roll of film was wound up, I wanted to shoot another. I also loved being far away from everything else. We had a radio on the boat and a satellite phone that I used occasionally, but for the most part it was just the ice, the seals, and me.

Source: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/ocean-soul/#/harp-seal-ocean-soul-skerry_43465_600x450.jpg

Happy Valentine’s Day from NGM!

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:35:01 +0000

Magic?

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:34:03 +0000

Magic may also account for the only three obviously nonmilitary objects in the Staffordshire Hoard: two gold crosses and a slender strip of gold inscribed with a biblical quotation. Christianity first came to Britain with the Roman occupation, faded as the Romans faded, and was vigorously reintroduced to Anglo-Saxon England by missionaries, most from Ireland and the Continent. There was a “perception of the conversion event as a spiritual battle,” writes Karen Jolly, an authority on Anglo-Saxon popular religion. Conversion was a battle for the soul—effectively warfare, something the Germanic pagans understood. And the cross was a militarily useful symbol that had figured dramatically in actual battles. Bede tells the story of the Northumbrian king Oswald, who before the Battle of Heavenfield against the Welsh in 634 “set up the sign of the holy cross and, on bended knees, prayed God to send heavenly aid to His worshippers in their dire need.” He and his men then “gained the victory that their faith merited.” Remarkably, one of the hoard’s two crosses was determinedly bent and folded, like so many of the other pieces in the hoard. Was this to “kill” its military potency, as with the swords?

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/gold-hoard/alexander-text

Batfish, Japan

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:32:29 +0000

If you haven’t seen the photos from Brian Skerry’s Ocean Soul, yet, you are in for a treat. The dynamic images, like this one, captured beneath the ocean floor, enliven our imagination. In Skerry’s own words, here, find out more about Batfish, Japan:

Far from the frenetic activity of mainland Japan, marine life surrounding the Ogasawara Islands moves to its own rhythm. The undersea terrain here morphs from boulder-strewn shallows to coral reefs, each with its own cast of characters. In these waters the ocean has also transformed shipwrecks from bygone wars into lush gardens of life, and oceanic caves hide species not yet described by science. The gift that warm water provides is the gift of time, being able to spend prolonged periods in the water so that we can begin to make sense of all that we see. As we move slowly through these places, patterns begin to emerge and behaviors are revealed. In time, order is created from chaos

Source: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/ocean-soul/#/batfish-japan-ocean-soul-skerry_43470_600x450.jpg

Worth over $5.3 million now, or 80 horses then

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:30:22 +0000

Historian Guy Halsall has estimated the value of the hoard’s gold in its day as equivalent to 800 solidi, about 80 horses’ worth. Modern valuation of the find has been set at £3,285,000, or just under $5.3 million. In its own time, however, the hoard’s worth was surely calibrated by other considerations. The gold dazzles, but from a practical point of view the most valuable part of the weaponry—”the long, sharp, pointy bit you killed people with,” as Halsall notes dryly—is not present in the hoard, and it is possible that the sword blades were cannily retained for reuse.