Artifacts of our History

Augustus of Prima Porta statue and how it looked originally. 1st century AD.

 

Khara-Khoto is an abandoned city in Inner Mongolia, China. Built in 1032, the city thrived under the rule of the Western Xia dynasty. It has been identified as the city of Etzina which appears in The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer who travelled through Asia between 1271-1295.

 

What the pyramid of Khafre looked like 4,500 years ago compared to today. The pyramids of Giza were originally covered with highly polished white limestones, with the capstones at the peak being covered in gold.

 

Detail of the Hercules armor of the Emperor Maximilian II of Austria. Made in 1555.

 

Dardanelles Gun is a Ottoman super-sized bombard built in 1464 by Munir Ali and modelled after the Orban bombard that was used for the Ottoman besiegers of Constantinople in 1453. In 1807, the gun was still in use against the failed Dardanelles Operation by the British Royal Navy.

 

1000 years ago some Viking craftsman lost all his equipment in the lake Mästermyr on the island of Gotland. In 1936 the wooden chest containing all the tools were found at the bottom of the former lake, which now had turned into a bog.

 

A 2500-year-old 24 carat Celtic torc, whose ends are adorned with winged horses on intricate filigree pedestals and lion paws, inspired by Etruscan, Scythian or Middle Eastern bestiary. Found in the grave of the Lady of Vix, now housed at the Châtillonnais Museum in France.

 

1,500-year-old Ceramic Maya Figurine with Removable Helmet, from El Perú-Waka’, Petén, Guatemala.

 

In 1965, excavations in Mezhyrich, Ukraine, revealed the presence of 4 huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings, which are about 15,000 years old, are some of the oldest shelters known to have been constructed by pre-historic man.

 

A Chinese export porcelain crab tureen. 1736-1795 CE, now housed at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.