Archaeologists do it in holes: Tales from the stratigraphy

[Barrister]

So this sort of came up when I studied Old English at university. There's a big thing in Anglo-Saxon poetry of your "sister's son" - it seems to have been an important relationship, they were often given as a ward to their uncle etc. My tutor's theory was that it's one relationship where there is a definite biological link.

Yes, that's true in the Navajo tribe as well.  The most important man in a Navajo boy's life is his mother's oldest brother (or maternal grandfather if no brother exists).  The father teaches the practical skills the boy needs, but he's not a member of the clan so cannot teach the boy the all-important clan secrets - including giving the boy his "secret" or "true" name (the one by which the spirits refer to him). The father is not supposed to know that name, any more than anyone outside the clan is supposed to know.

I'm reminded of the inland T'lingit of Yukon.  You're part of the T'lingit nation, or course, but equally as important was your clan - which was passed down matrilineally.

(and of course the fact they're the "inland" T'lingit is because the T'lingit are a coastal people, but this group moved inland to Yukon at some relatively recent point).

Linguistically, although the T'lingit are neighbours to Athabaskan people (who are related to the Navajo/Dene) the languages are totally different.

Sorry - I find this stuff fascinating when you look at the real history, and not just "crying Indian" stereotypes.  I also learned a lot about the T'lingit from a colleague when I worked up there.

[Razgovory]

Matriarchy:  Matri- mothers
                  Archy - rule
Rule by mothers or by women.  Patterned after Patriarchy, an older word.

family, group, or state governed by a matriarch
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/matriarchy

By that definition, the Navajo nation is a matriarchy.

Also very much true true using the definition you conveniently left out of your post:

: a system of social organization in which descent and inheritance are traced through the female line

This is well-documented enough that you should find no problem verifying it.

Note that no definitions except your private one require that the group be solely run by women, just that they were the governing force.

The source you are asking for is the dictionary link.  The other stuff was just the etymology of the word.

[Razgovory]

My point is if you apply the same standards of matriarchy to a modern society that do to a pre-state society you end up with modern societies being matriarchies.

Honestly what you and Grumbler seem to be describing is a situation where women run the storehouse and the kitchen and men do the prestigious work of fighting and herding.  That's not that uncommon, and certainly not a matriarchy.  People have tried to project a matriarchy onto the past many times in history.  It tells us more about the concerns of the people doing the projecting than it does about the culture they are describing.  I think it bothers people that modern feminism grew out of a culture they consider despotically patriarchal and so they go looking for alternate sources.

I am not at all arguing that the Navajo men did the "prestigious work of fighting and herding."  Those were not prestige activities among the Navajo.  The prestige activities were owning the land and carrying out religious, social, and curing ceremonies.  Those were done by women, for the most part (though not exclusively), and women were expected to make the important family decisions like who their children would marry, when to plant the crops, and how to settle clan disputes.

Those are not traits reserved to women in modern Canada.

You are going to tell me that fighting isn't prestigious?  I don't believe you.  Pre-state societies are very violent, and any group that doesn't put heavy emphasis on fighting gets wiped out by a group that does.

[jimmy olsen]

My point is if you apply the same standards of matriarchy to a modern society that do to a pre-state society you end up with modern societies being matriarchies.

Honestly what you and Grumbler seem to be describing is a situation where women run the storehouse and the kitchen and men do the prestigious work of fighting and herding.  That's not that uncommon, and certainly not a matriarchy.  People have tried to project a matriarchy onto the past many times in history.  It tells us more about the concerns of the people doing the projecting than it does about the culture they are describing.  I think it bothers people that modern feminism grew out of a culture they consider despotically patriarchal and so they go looking for alternate sources.

I am not at all arguing that the Navajo men did the "prestigious work of fighting and herding."  Those were not prestige activities among the Navajo.  The prestige activities were owning the land and carrying out religious, social, and curing ceremonies.  Those were done by women, for the most part (though not exclusively), and women were expected to make the important family decisions like who their children would marry, when to plant the crops, and how to settle clan disputes.

Those are not traits reserved to women in modern Canada.

You are going to tell me that fighting isn't prestigious?  I don't believe you.  Pre-state societies are very violent, and any group that doesn't put heavy emphasis on fighting gets wiped out by a group that does.

EDIT: Eh, never mind. Thought you said pre-modern, not pre-state.

[HVC]

My point is if you apply the same standards of matriarchy to a modern society that do to a pre-state society you end up with modern societies being matriarchies.

Honestly what you and Grumbler seem to be describing is a situation where women run the storehouse and the kitchen and men do the prestigious work of fighting and herding.  That's not that uncommon, and certainly not a matriarchy.  People have tried to project a matriarchy onto the past many times in history.  It tells us more about the concerns of the people doing the projecting than it does about the culture they are describing.  I think it bothers people that modern feminism grew out of a culture they consider despotically patriarchal and so they go looking for alternate sources.

I am not at all arguing that the Navajo men did the "prestigious work of fighting and herding."  Those were not prestige activities among the Navajo.  The prestige activities were owning the land and carrying out religious, social, and curing ceremonies.  Those were done by women, for the most part (though not exclusively), and women were expected to make the important family decisions like who their children would marry, when to plant the crops, and how to settle clan disputes.

Those are not traits reserved to women in modern Canada.

You are going to tell me that fighting isn't prestigious?  I don't believe you.  Pre-state societies are very violent, and any group that doesn't put heavy emphasis on fighting gets wiped out by a group that does.

Imperial china prioritized scholars and bureaucrats over warriors didn't it?

And then got stomped by various step people over different dynasties because of it

Serious answer, generalships and governorships were still prestigious and heavily sought after.

[grumbler]

Confucianism rated warriors below farmers, alongside laborers. Governors and generals were nobles, not warriors.

[mongers]

This article from the UK museum association about a early museum, might interest some of you:

https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2025/04/archaeologists-discover-ruins-of-prototype-museum/#msdynttrid=zYHs4N4Qp_WYA_v0AZkriAZEtqxxlGs-GiINSZlaNOY

If the above link doesn't work, because it's linked to my membership, here's a summary:

Archaeologists discover ruins of prototype museum

Ancient site holds objects from various historical eras and geographical locations, collected apparently at random

A historic stone structure with an ancient design stands in a barren landscape under a partly cloudy sky. Rough stone blocks form the walls and roof, and a pathway of stones leads to the entrance. Sparse vegetation is visible on the ground.

Archaeologists believe they have unearthed the ruins of an ancient prototype museum at an undisclosed location in the UK.

The site, which has not yet been dated, holds a range of objects from various historical eras and geographical locations with rudimentary labels alongside them.

Some of the objects in the collection appear to have been brought together at random, for no apparent purpose whatsoever, while others, possibly from a different stage of the site's development, seem to have been collected more strategically according to the taste or obsession of a single person.

The displays are arranged at times thematically and at times chronologically according to what appears to have been trendy in each era.

It is not always clear which labels correspond to which objects. What may be an early example of a catalogue index was found nearby, but this unfortunately provides no further contextual information.

An adjacent space is thought to have been used as a storeroom for the museum. Evidence shows that it may have eventually run out of space for the ever-expanding collection due to a strong cultural taboo against throwing anything away.

Attempts were clearly made to bring order to the storeroom and document the objects, but graffiti discovered at the site, some of which is too rude to repeat, shows that those who worked there felt their efforts were hampered by a lack of time and resources, as well as disinterest from the site's overseers.

Several layers of pottery fragments, thought to have been mugs, as well as the organic remains of what may have been cake, have been discovered in the space, indicating that while some trends changed over the years, common cultural practices persisted across several generations of ancient workers.

The site appears to have operated for a number of centuries before being disbanded. A stone tablet has been unearthed showing evidence that a powerful local chieftain, confused by arguments about both the intrinsic and economic value of the site, may have decided to just shut it down to fund the construction of a large statue of himself.

"We're almost certain that this could be the earliest example yet discovered of a museum in Britain, transforming our understanding of the development of this unique and, frankly, rather strange discipline," said archaeologist Floria Lop, who is leading the dig.

"Either that or it was the home of several generations of individuals with enthusiastic hoarding, cataloguing and cake-eating tendencies."

It is hoped that the discovery of the site may lead to the revival of lost ancient skills, added Lop: "Our ancestors had an incredible ability to value both specialist expertise and generalist knowledge equally without arguing over which was better. There is much we could learn from them."

While the location of the fragile site is being kept secret, it may eventually become a place of pilgrimage, replacing Leicester as the spiritual home for museum disciples in the UK.

A historically inaccurate AI hallucination of what the ancient site probably didn't look like

[HVC]

Yabba dabba do!

[HVC]

And wow, brits having been stealing artifacts from others for Millennium .   


Good april fools article though

[mongers]

And wow, brits having been stealing artifacts from others for Millennium .   


Good april fools article though

 

And the cake eating is just so true of museum staff.

[viper37]

Something more serious.  Sort of.

Lost manuscript of Merlin and King Arthur legend read for the first time after centuries hidden inside another book

An intriguing sequel to the tale of Merlin has sat unseen within the bindings of an Elizabethan deeds register for nearly 400 years. Researchers have finally been able to reveal it with cutting-edge techniques.


It is the only surviving fragment of a lost medieval manuscript telling the tale of Merlin and the early heroic years of King Arthur's court.
In it, the magician becomes a blind harpist who later vanishes into thin air. He will then reappear as a balding child who issues edicts to King Arthur wearing no underwear.

The shape-shifting Merlin – whose powers apparently stem from being the son of a woman impregnated by the devil – asks to bear Arthur's standard (a flag bearing his coat of arms) on the battlefield. The king agrees – a good decision it turns out – for Merlin is destined to turn up with a handy secret weapon: a magic, fire-breathing dragon. 

For over 400 years, this fragile remnant of a celebrated medieval story lay undisturbed and unnoticed, repurposed as a book cover by Elizabethans to help protect an archival register of property deeds.

Now, the 700-year-old fragment of Suite Vulgate du Merlin – an Old French manuscript so rare there are less than 40 surviving copies in the world – has been discovered by an archivist in Cambridge University Library, folded and stitched into the binding of the 16th-Century register.

Using groundbreaking new technology, researchers at the library were able to digitally capture the most inaccessible parts of the fragile parchment without unfolding or unstitching it. This preserved the manuscript in situ and avoided irreparable damage – while simultaneously allowing the heavily faded fragment to be virtually unfolded, digitally enhanced and read for the first time in centuries.

Previously, it was catalogued as the story of Gawain. "It wasn't properly inventoried," says Irene Fabry-Tehranchi, the French specialist at the library. "No one had even recorded that it was in French."

When she and her colleagues realised the fragment told a story about Merlin and his ability to change shape "we were really excited," she says.

The Suite Vulgate du Merlin was originally written around 1230, a time when Arthurian romances were particularly popular among noblewomen, although the fragment is from a lost copy dated to around 1300. "We don't know who wrote the text," says Fabry-Tehranchi. "We think it was probably a collaborative exercise."

It is positioned as a sequel to an earlier text, written around 1200, in which Merlin is born a child prodigy gifted with foresight and casts a spell to facilitate the birth of King Arthur, who proves his divine right to rule by pulling the sword from the stone.

"The Suite Vulgate du Merlin tells us about Arthur's early reign, his relationship with the knights of the round table and his heroic fight with the Saxons. It really shows Arthur in a positive light – he's this young hero who marries Guinevere, invents the Round Table and has a good relationship with Merlin, his advisor," says Fabry-Tehranchi.

Stylistic evidence in the text indicates the fragment was written by an unknown scribe in a northern French dialect understood by English aristocrats

It is thanks to the sequel, she says, that the story of the Holy Grail – and Merlin's place in that story – could be retold in a coherent way from beginning to end. "If the sequel was written to facilitate that, it was successful. That became the main way the story was transmitted."

Stylistic evidence in the text indicates the fragment was written by an unknown scribe in a northern French dialect understood by English aristocrats. "These are Celtic and English legends, which had circulated orally across the British Isles. But the language used when they are written down is Old French, because of the Norman Conquest."

By the 16th Century, however, Old French had fallen out of favour in England. "There was a linguistic shift to English among readers of Arthurian literature," says Fabry-Tehranchi. This may be why the fragment ended up as the book binding of an archival register: "The text had lost its appeal, so they wanted to reuse it."

The library wanted to preserve the register, which was created in 1580 to record the property of Huntingfield Manor in Suffolk, as evidence of 16th-Century archival binding practices in England.
Previously, it would have been necessary to cut this binding to access the parts of the folded fragment, and the heavily faded areas of the texts would have remained illegible.
Today, multispectral imaging (MSI), CT scanning and 3D modelling has enabled scholars to not only read the faded and hidden texts of the fragment, but to understand exactly how it was folded and sewn into the register. The Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory team at Cambridge University Library has even been able to analyse the different threads used by the Elizabethan bookbinders and the different decoration pigments used by the medieval illuminator,  whose job it was to "illuminate" manuscripts with decorative illustrations and rich colours.
Down in the basement of the library, in a small photographic studio dominated by a multispectral camera that cost over £100,000 ($125,000), the lab's chief photographic technician Amélie Deblauwe says: "The specialist imaging techniques that were employed on the Merlin fragment revealed details that would not be visible to the naked eye."

Different inks and different papers react differently to different lights – Amélie Deblauwe

The camera takes 49 images of each page using different combinations of light panels emitting different wavelengths of light into both sides of the paper. Starting with invisible ultraviolet light, it moves right through the visible spectrum – "all the colours of the rainbow" – to invisible infrared light, she says. "All of these are measured in nanometres. So we very accurately know what we are doing to the page with these lights, we are really in control of what we're bombarding it with."

Using a range of light colour bands meant that even the tiniest residue of ink, which had chemically degraded over time, could be made to stand out clearly in images. Technicians made the writing more legible by processing the image data using geospatial and open source software. "That's because different inks and different papers react differently to different lights," Deblauwe says. While some lights are absorbed by the parchment and the ink, others are deflected, illuminating different details. 

The camera can even reveal tiny scratches on the parchment by sending light towards the paper at different angles, creating "surface shadows". "We call it 'raking light'," says Deblauwe.

An unexpected discovery came when the images revealed that the parchment was significantly lighter in the middle. "That was an amazing moment for me," says Deblauwe. "It was a little bit noticeable in the colour image, but it became really apparent in the MSI."

After she saw these images, she realised the parchment was also shinier in the middle and had a waxier feel to it. This indicates that a leather strap had probably once been tied around the middle of the book to hold it together more firmly and, over time, rubbed some of the parchment's fibres away. "Sometimes you have a bit of a lightbulb moment, and that gives you a greater understanding of the history of the item," says Deblauwe. "This is next level study of manuscript material."

One of the "trickiest" challenges the team faced was how to access the text hidden by folds,  says Fabry-Tehranchi. The solution was for conservators to carefully handle the parchment while technicians inserted a "very narrow" macro probe lens into the darkest crevices of the hidden areas via any part of the parchment that was still accessible. 

"The lens can get very close to an object," says chief photographic technician Błażej Władysław Mikuła. "We take multiple shots, and we stitch the images together."

The result was hundreds of images of Old French words and letters – all handwritten by a medieval scribe – which needed to be put together like a jigsaw. To add a further layer of complexity, some of the images were taken using mirrors to reflect otherwise inaccessible areas of the text, so the images were curved or needed to be rotated or flipped.

Figuring out where a particular image belonged was a painstaking process, but it was ultimately very satisfying, says Fabry-Tehranchi. Only a few square centimetres of the text remain unseen, due to the placement of the thread, but otherwise the fragment has been forced to give up all its secrets. 
Using a CT scanner, which can distinguish between different materials, the team was even able to digitally remove the thread from the spine of the book in a new process which allowed the stitches and materials used by the Elizabethan bookbinders to be analysed. "We never knew that we would obtain such a good quality image of the structure of the binding," says Fabry-Tehranchi. "It's amazing."

Mikuła sometimes wonders what these Elizabethans would have made of all his efforts to analyse the fragment. "They saw it as a piece of rubbish. It could never have crossed their minds what we would do to it." He suspects there may be other such manuscripts out there. "This library is full of treasure that needs to be discovered."