Something Beautiful

Dead Sea Fragments

The discovery of the Dead Sea "Scrolls" is one of the most intriguing, haunting stories of the century just past. Herewith an article on them in the country's newspaper of record.

Sutton Hoo treasure

The ship at Sutton Hoo In the late 1930s, a British archaeologist discovered a ship buried under a large mound in Suffolk, England.  The ship served as a kind of underground pyramid for an Anglo-Saxon king,  ca. 630.  Excavation of the ship and the king's burial chamber within it yielded some fabulous objects. 

Many of those items are now in the British Museum, London.  Here are the four most beautiful --

Gold belt buckle with cast ornament and niello inlay

Purse lid

Buckle   

Shoulder clasps (plus 2 other views)

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Other items are interesting, but not as aesthetically pleasing, e.g., these three military objects --

Helmet; with 2 other views

Shield (reconstruction)

Sword with gold and cloisonné garnet fittings; with one detail

And these four non-military items --

Sceptre

Gold coins and ingots

Hanging bowl; with 1 extra view

2 silver spoons, 3 silver bowls

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Additional information about Sutton Hoo and its objects is also available at the Compass site --

Excavations at Sutton Hoo

A king's possessions in the ship-burial

Who was buried at Sutton Hoo? (answer: probably King Redwald)   

Restoring the helmet from Sutton Hoo: a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle

The Compass site also has a Guided Tour featuring the 11 items listed above.

Gold plaque

At first glance, this gold plaque may not look like much.  But don't go away just yet.  If  you take a look at the zoom version, it will probably delight you, as it did me.   Ca. 750 B.C., Iranian Kurdistan.

Egyptian coffin

I just like this Egyptian coffin.   It's dated ca. 1000 B.C.!    (Check out the zoom version, of course.) 

Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids

Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids.

Lascaux caves

The caves of Lascaux - one of my longtime favorite websites.

Treasures from Ur

The Morgan Library site has impressive images of six finely-crafted objects from the Royal Tombs of Ur, ca. 2,500 B.C.  Check out the enlargements, of course.

Mesa Verde QTVR

A QuickTime VR of Mesa Verde, Colorado.