Featured Ancient ... but not a coin! Artifacts thread! Post 'em!

That seems to be such a historical and artistic issue with lot of details that are far beyond my knowledge. I'm encouraged to acquire more and more of these, and post them with all the photos you tell me to shoot. Thank you.

 

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Frankly, I usually don't understand what you are trying to say in your posts....

 

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Why does this spam keep coming up?

 

He is a whack-a-mole who perceived that he is valuable to the ancient coin forum, and wants them to appreciate his 'sense of humor'. Report and ignore is best. Jim

 

Then why isnt he banned? See his post right after yours! But then, I suppose these spammers are always registering under new e-mails.

 

In an attempt to resurrect and avoid that spammer:

Here are two Roman period keys. They are of the 'Latch' type and date to the First Century AD and up to about the 5th Century. Yes, that is a big spread, but archaeological excavations have shown the types to have been used generally and synonymously during that time. For reference, see Andrew Birley, Vindolanda, Volume IV, The Small Finds, Fascicule II. Security: The Locks and Keys, figures 2 to 5:

 

In case you are wondering, most is stored in a local bank vault. What isnt is protected quite vehemently through my friends, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. No kidding here.

 

Good dudes. Close friends.

 

What would you do with cough drops & cooking oil?

 

Yes & I should have commented on them as well....for my purposes, I'm going to imagine they were used to "hold" the caged lions!!

 

Some of us are concerned with artifacts relating to the Afterlife, and they may be quite significant. However, others of us are sufficiently tied up with the Beforelife.

 

And there are those who don't have a life....nobody here I imagine!
What is the Beforelife? Never mind, don't go there...….

 

So, I posted a couple bottles I purchased from @Ken Dorney back on page 5 of this thread. You may have missed it Ken, but I was hoping you could comment on them, just any information you have, I never got the chance to ask you before. They are wonderful, and a bargain imo!

 

What is the Beforelife ? I meant it as the opposite of Afterlife. However, as an afterthought, it wasn't an appropriate expression. How about Presentlife, or Life before Afterlife ???

 

About all I have is a short bio on the collection:

Herbert B. Stearns (born 1934, died 2013) was an extensive collector of Holy Land antiquities. He and his wife Audrey collected and exhibited their collection at the Museum of Biblical Archaeology in Columbus, the Museum of Archaeology and Biblical History and Southwest Trinity University. He served as curator at Columbus And Albuquerque. A lecturer on Middle East history, he was friend to such notable archaeologists as Yigael Yadin, and owned various antiquities recovered from Massada and given to him by the same fabled individual.

 

Here are a couple of neat items. From the Song Dynasty a bowl and dish (though the dish may be Ming, not sure yet. Only had them 25 years, should be enough time to properly attribute!):



The bases are inscribed, the bowl 天位乙, sky or heaven, a place, two(?). It refers to the artist or workshop and the lot number of the pottery batch.


The dish is inscribed simply 五, or Two, again either the worker or batch number.

 

This character is 5.

 

二 This character is two.