My sister, Dr Rachael Sparks, is Lecturer and Keeper of Collections at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London. In this, her inaugural blog post, she details the mystery of the above pictured object known only as 46.10/22
"It was only on turning it over that I discovered it to have an unusual addition to the usual form. There it was. A rather charming hand applied to the vessel wall. Well, I’m a fan of pop culture myself, so my immediate thought was that there had been a bit of jiggery-pokery by a Star Trek fan with a time machine and a talent for working clay, to produce what looked like a fine representation of a Vulcan hand salute.
Actually, the link is not as far-fetched as first seems; the Vulcan hand sign was supposedly invented by Leonard Nimoy, inspired by a hand gesture used in temple to represent the Hebrew letter shin. This is an Iron Age sherd, from Hebrew Kingdom of Judah, so maybe the ancient potter intended the same thing. Or maybe the placement of the fingers is just coincidence. What we don’t know is how this element related to the rest of the vessel. Was there a matching hand? A modeled face or head between? It is an intriguing possibility."
You can read the entire blog post here.
And yes, the sci fi nerd gene does run strong in our family…
10 Comments
can’t argue with the evidence!
Wow, that is awesome!
I didn’t know your sister was an archaeologist.
That is absolutely fascinating. I’ve heard of ceramics in the Near East that mimic body parts – hands, eyes, arms, legs – and they were often deposited at shrines (presumably, in the hope for healing). Sometimes they were deliberately broken.
I’ve emailed the blog link to one of my supervisors as she studies this period and area. Thought she might be interested!
cool!
That was really interesting, thank you, and thank Rachael.
ummmmm. It looks more like this:
http://diviningnation.tripod.com/film/spocamok.jpg
More like Spider-Man’s hand as drawn by Steve Ditko…
Still, way cool.
still, impressive for the Iron age I reckon!
Wow, so the ancient Hebrews were aliens?
yup, seems likely!
I knew it! Explains a lot really.
Nice work on the blog, sister of the archeologist (which is a very cool profession – is she much like Indiana Jones?*) – always good to
see pop culturisms in the unlikeliest of places…
*oh my god all I know about the world I learned from movies and TV.
well, she doesn’t have a whip and a gun… that I know of…