Anyway, in the archaeology museum, two happy hours passed by as your genial correspondent absorbed information about East Yorkshire from its earliest geological beginnings to medieval times. There were many interesting exhibits to illustrate the story including complete Roman floor mosaics from two villas that were discovered in the region. One of them was at Rudston, close to the stone monolith I wrote about very recently.
However, it was another exhibit that left me awestruck. It was inside a climate controlled glass case. Two wooden figures standing on a wooden boat stared back at me from the mists of time. They are known as the Roos Carr Figures and they were found in wetland near the village of Roos in 1836.
Some labourers were digging a drainage ditch and two metres down, totally by accident, they came across a cache of carved wooden items. Some of the items were badly degraded but a few had miraculously survived several centuries in the earth, including The Roos Carr Figures.
They were carved from yew wood and that factor undoubtedly assisted their survival. Radio-carbon dating has indicated that the figures are approximately 2650 years old, carved during a period that is now known as The Iron Age.
It is believed that there was once a shallow lake where the figures were found and it is speculated that they were left in the mud at the side of the lake as votive offerings to some ancient deity. The figures have detachable wooden penises but at least one expert has pointed out the when the penises are removed, holes that might represent vaginas are left. Perhaps the figures are androgynous.
Although carved from yew, the figures' eye sockets contain rather unnerving quartzite eyeballs.
I stared into that glass box for a few minutes as thoughts bounced around inside my skull. I thought of those swift-minded labourers who had the presence of mind to stop their work and report what they had found. And I thought about the nineteenth century Hull Literary and Philosophical Society that first cared for the carvings. But mostly I thought about the community from which the strange figures emerged - speaking tantalisingly to future people like me or you.
There is still so much that we do not know.
Amazing find.
ReplyDeleteAnd totally accidental.
DeleteTheir foundries must have been substantial.
ReplyDeleteBronze is ductile compared to cast-iron though iron's ductility alters depending
on the way it's processed and the carbon content.
Their iron axe-heads cleared the forests for wheat and barley fields.
They had horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats
Julius Caesar's invasion, sudden and mysterious, wasn't until 55 BC.
Nearly one hundred years later, the Roman invasion of Aulus Plautius in 43 AD.
I wonder why you think Julius Caesar's invasion was "mysterious"?
DeleteIt's mysterious to me but then I'm a fellow who likes his mysteries.
DeleteJulius spent less than three months here ; over the two expeditions
The first expedition.
He had his 7th and 10th Legions, not many horsemen.
A year later, five legions and 2000 cavalry - hundreds of transport ships.
He never stayed a winter, never left a garrison behind.
He alone made the invasion decision, voices in the Senate were critical.
As military governor of Gaul he had no authority to cross the Channel.
He wanted to punish the Britons for backing the Gallic military.
He admitted it was the wrong time of year for a military campaign.
Second invasion was better planned and he had the best of ships.
Strangely it made his name in Rome.
He had crossed over into terra incognito. Julius was famous.
Astonishingly ancient. They have rather decently sized accoutrements and are tall and slim, not as one would imagine people would be in the Iron Age, plus their bug eyes. Yes, good on those 19th century lads.
ReplyDeleteThey were just digging a trench. They could have easily just carried on to claim their wages.
DeleteThose figures are creepy (to me) but I am glad they were found and I think we should all be grateful to those who dig with purpose and unearth such treasures from the past. It makes history so much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI apologise if I have unwittingly creeped you out Elsie. Don't have nightmares!
DeleteI never have nightmares.
Delete2600 years from now, will anyone be able to read out electronic records of life at this time?
ReplyDeleteAlways keep learning.
ReplyDeleteJust about 30 minutes from me in Wilberforce, Ohio, is Wilberforce University, an HBCU (Historically Black College or University). It's the oldest private, historically Black university in the United States, founded before the American Civil War in 1856, and holds the distinction of being the first college owned and operated by African Americans. It was also part of the Underground Railroad.
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe past does sometimes offer such mysterious glimpses of the people who have gone before. Our ancestors.
ReplyDeleteI really like your conclusion where you think of these figures speaking to us from so long ago. And yes there's much more to learn.
ReplyDeleteHow remarkable, to see wooden items that have survived for so long!
ReplyDeleteI think technically all penises are detachable, with varying degrees of difficulty obviously:)
ReplyDeleteI find carvings like this, anything from long ago, so fascinating, the people who carved them, and what they meant to the people who took the time to carve them. 2650 years isn't really all that long ago when you think about it. The Romans had just left and the anglo-saxons were just arriving.
Very interesting and another great photo.
ReplyDeleteThe shape of them remind me of Scandinavian rock carvngs (petroglyphs)
ReplyDelete