this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2025
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Historical Artifacts

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Just a community for everyone to share artifacts, reconstructions, or replicas for the historically-inclined to admire!

Generally, an artifact should be 100+ years old, but this is a flexible requirement if you find something rare and suitably linked to an era of history, not a strict rule. Anything over 100 is fair game regardless of rarity.

Generally speaking, ruins should go to !historyruins@lemmy.world

Illustrations of the past should go to !historyillustrations@lemmy.world

Photos of the past should go to !HistoryPorn@lemmy.world

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This flint axe was found in 1912 in West Tofts, a now-abandoned village in the UK between Cambridge and Norwich, It was made by a Homo heidelbergensis or possibly a Neanderthal, somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.

This kind of tool is fairly common throughout western Europe and Africa, but this specimen is unique for having a Cretaceous-era fossil of a spiny oyster in the centre that suggests the axe's maker wanted the shell on it as an adornment.

It's kept in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, and you can see more details on their web site.

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[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

That's awesome! I bet you could trade one of these bad boys for an entire atlatl set

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I found a tool like this made from a different type of rock on a beach in Florida when I was 11. It was in the wall of an eroded dune. I still have it today, 37 years later.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Like this meaning it has a preserved fossil? Or like this meaning a hand axe?

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The hand axe. Here's a photo. Also, I did specify "tool" and not "fossil."

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A picture is what I was hoping for - thank you! That is gorgeous. Interesting that it's much flatter on that one edge.

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

It's almost ergonomic, which makes sense. Crazy to me that I never lost it; I used to keep it in my glove box as a lucky charm. Now it's at home on a shelf.