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…