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4,000 year old woodturnings discovered in England...

Rob Wallace

Rob Wallace

Joined
Jun 10, 2004
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Location
Ames, Iowa (about 25 miles north of Des Moines)
Website
www.robwallacewoodturner.com
Tib Shaw posted this link on Facebook which is an on-line article from England's "The Guardian" magazine that reports on the relatively recent discovery of Bronze Age artifacts excavated from a burial site that contained 4,000 year old woodturnings - various jewelry and ear plugs turned from wood, and beads made of other materials such as amber and tin. The artifacts are from the well known archaeological "Dartmoor" site in Devon, from an area of peatland (moors) in the southwest part of England. They were discovered in a box associated with the skeletal remains of what may be a women or teenager, as part of what appears to be the remains from a funeral pyre.

Have a look at the article at: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/09/dartmoor-burial-site-bronze-age-history

I would LOVE to see these turned pieces that are 4,000 years old! If only they could find the lathe that turned them!!

I hope you find this as interesting as I do!!

Rob Wallace
 
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Thanks for posting the link, since I don't do Facebook. An interesting find, on a number of counts. It would be good to be able to see both sides of the wooden 'ear studs', to see if clear direct evidence for turning were visible.
 
I'm sure this video have been seen by many but for the people that has not I believe it will be interesting. Mainly because it show a way in which turning was done for millennia. It should teach us that speed is not everything and a major source of danger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnv0DAR_gWA
 
Hi

This may be worth a look for some further reading for you: http://www.stuartking.co.uk

Stuart is a professional woodturner and is certainly the UKs if not the worlds expert on the history of turning. A very interesting chap and his website should keep you interested for a good while. He was also the guy that filmed the bow lathe turner in Markesh which is linked to above.

Enjoy

Richard

Ps, The Guardian is a daily national newspaper over here
 
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