Fun fact I'll bet you didn't know - coins were invented in EGYPT in 650 BC!

.now now... don't be pokin holes in peeps beliefs...

 

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o i love those! i haven't ever been able to get one tho, always been beat on the bid when i tried.

 

i see what you did there

 

Each one of those is a tomb that was robbed. Maybe someday future generations might do the same to us. Imagine all the people that get burried with watches and all sorts of jewelry. I can see that being hot ticket items a thousand years from now.

Eventually it would be nice to own a scarab and maybe a statue from ancient Egypt. I've been thinking about it.

 

I can only hope that all my possessions are passed on to future generations. I came into this world buck-nekkid, and I will leave this world buck-nekkid!

 

Same. Wrap my remains in a cardboard box and cremate me, and spread my ashes on a hilltop somewhere. I don't need anything fancy once I'm done in this world.

I do want some hell money burnt with me though...just in case there is some sort of afterlife and whatever deities I come across need some bribing. A denarius under the tongue might work too. At least the Romans thought that was all one needed.

 

Man, I say this to my kids all the time (not in the Eastwood context, so relax), but when I want them to turn left or right. They have no idea where it comes from. Man, feeling old.

 

Wow, that Amenhotep III looks massive! Very awesome indeed.

I'm no expert on these, but from some very casual reading, I understand that the majority of scarabs did not have a funerary use. Certain specific types, such as heart scarabs, did, but many more served other functions and were used as personal seals, tokens, good luck talismans, etc.

 

yup... i just saw a pic of a skull with gold wreath nailed to it and a tetradram found in his mouth on a blog of a peep i follow.

 

I studied Hieroglyphics, Hieratic, and Demotic in college, so this is right up my alley.

 

Yes. The majority of scarabs were essentially good luck charms. Especially those with names of Pharaohs. Its unlikely any were looted from a tomb. In Egypt and in certain places one can simply find them on the ground where they have been a few thousand years (though its currently illegal to keep them).

 

It is. I was surprised how truly massive it was when I received it. It is stone, and I kept thinking it was a Heart Scarab. But it has incriptions and Amenhotep III's cartouche on the underside. Heart Scarabs are about that size, however, WITHOUT inscriptions or cartouches...

 

Most scarabs were in everyday life worn as a necklace. They are drilled from end to end and strung onto a necklace. Many were charms to ward off disease or bad events. Some were funerary, but I understand MOST were used and worn everyday.

 

here's 2 suspender clasp that were a battlefield find, on closer inspection you'll see that these aren't an exact match with each other..close, but no cigar (why i never call them a "pair")

 

@lordmarcovan, I've dug in a graveyard. But we didn't find anything except bones and remnants of sheets. Didn't expect anything else, they were Cistercian monks.
But it was a University Archeology course. So it was OK.

As for the original page, come on dude, it was written by the same people who think three PowerPoint slides are a school report, Wikipedia is a good source of information and the Earth is flat.

 

Well, for anyone who is going to collect antiquities it needs to be understood that the vast majority of items on the market were originally grave goods. Most pottery vessels (from the humble Syro-Palestinian juglet to the nicest Gnathian painted piece) were originally in a grave. Its why they survived to this day. But, it does creep me out as well on occasion. As a dealer I understand a lot of looting goes on. Ultimately we can never know where many items come from. I for one do not buy eastern Roman finger rings, nor votive lead mirrors. They are all obviously looted. I wont have any part in that. On the other hand, there are plenty of things which are random finds, unassociated with any issues. Fibulae (or brooches for our English cousins) are mostly random finds. They survive in mass numbers because they broke and were tossed aside as trash.