Minoan Purple production found on Crete

Ancient

That famous dark red/purple dye so prized by ancient Mediterranean peoples for its depth of color that only increased with time is still known today as Tyrian purple because it was produced and traded extensively by Phoenicia and its colonies.  Archaeological evidence points to the Minoans as having beaten the Phoenicians to the punch by centuries. An excavation on the islet of Chryssi in eastern Crete has unearthed remains of an early Minoan-era dye production facility.

The purple dye was manufactured by extracting the secretion from the hypobranchial gland of murex sea snails. The carnivorous molluscs release a bromine compound when attacked, so dye could be extracted by poking and prodding the snails, thus keeping them alive for further production. Much more common, however, was the destruction of the snails and removal of the gland. It was resource-intensive, time-consuming and, according to ancient chroniclers, eye-wateringly smelly work that required processing literally thousands of murex just to produce enough dye for even a single stripe like one on the toga praetexta worn by Roman magistrates.

The Chryssi settlement was inhabited from 1800-1500 B.C. and evidence of murex processing, including stone tanks used to farm the sea snails, have been found in structures from the early end of the range. The most recent excavations of a later building from ca. 1500 B.C. revealed murex shells were used in the construction of its walls.

The large building, B2, is relatively simple in architectural features with focus on practical elements like work surfaces, stoves, slab staircases. Stone tools and pottery types used for cooking and storing food have been recovered from the building. Workmanlike or not, the contents of the dwellings were expensive, high-quality pieces including precious metals, gemstones, copper pots and talents.

It contained a golden ring, 26 golden beads and a golden bracelet, a silver bead, 5 copper ones and a copper ring sling along with a large number of glass beads of various shapes, four of the so-called Egypt blue, 10 from lapis lazuli, one from amethyst and 20 from carnelian, a seal made of agate with the picture of a ship that its stern had the form of an animal’s head and a stone amulet with the shape of a monkey.

In 2019’s excavations another ‘treasury’ was unearthed that included a big saw and three vases, all made of copper. Their total weight was 68 kilos. It is one of the largest found on Crete so far. Inside a vase, they also found part of a talent made of tin.

This is only the second tin talent found on Crete.

The newly-discovered evidence indicates the building was used by people involved in the production and trade of purple dye. Wealthy, but a mercantile rather than a ruling elite.

Graffiti marking start of WWI found on stable door

Modern(ish)

An old stable door carved with graffiti marking the day World War I began has been discovered near Quadring in Lincolnshire. Archaeologist Neville Hall was recording historic architecture in the Fens for a barn conversion when he came across the poignant record of life from the Lost Generation at the cusp of their agonizing losses.

Carved deep into the wood is W W A R/ AUG 2 1914. (The article says Aug 4th, the day Britain declared war on Germany, but unless my eyes deceive me, that’s definitely a two in the photograph.) On August 2nd, German forces crossed into Luxembourg and gave Belgium an ultimatum: let the German army invade “protect” it from a French invasion. Belgian neutrality had been agreed to by Britain, Germany and France in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and Britain had pledged itself to declare war on anyone who violated the principle of Belgian neutrality.

August 2nd was also the day the war, technically not yet begun, claimed its first two casualties, one French, one German. Lieutenant Albert Mayer, was on a reconnaissance mission just over the border in France; Corporal Jules-André Peugeot commanded the patrol group who caught him. An exchange of fire killed Mayer instantly; Peugeot died of his wounds later that morning.

It makes sense that the two youths who carved their initials in the door would see August 2nd as the war having begun before hostilities were formally opened in a declaration of war two days later. It’s also evidence that the graffito was carved on the actual day as it happened rather than having been added in hindsight.

The two young men have been identified, thanks to those initials. They were neighbors and must have been playmates as kids, carving drawings of a horse, a classic child’s version of a house  — a square topped by a triangle — that may have been a barn or stable as the horse is tethered to it, a bicycle, two ploughs as well as their initials.

“With help from the farm’s previous owner, we have been able identify the children  who created the graffiti – William Bristow and John Leusley – and trace the poignant story of their families during the war,” said Ian Marshman, historic environment officer at Lincolnshire County Council.

William was the youngest son of the family who then owned the farm, whilst John Leusley was the eldest son of the landlord of the pub next door. Both boys survived the war, but not unscathed.

It is believed that William stayed to help his widowed mother and elder brother Fred on the farm, producing vital food supplies exempting him from conscription. Meanwhile, John served with the Cheshire Regiment and was injured in France.

John served as a private, deploying after 1915. His records indicate he was entitled to the Victory Medal (awarded to all who left their native countries to serve abroad) and the British War Medal (awarded to all who entered a theater of war).

While he and his old friend came home alive, John’s brother, Private Richard Leusley, was reported killed in action on the Western Front on January 1st, 1918. The winter of 1917-1918 saw a lot of brutally futile action due to the French and British governments and commands insistence on extending the 100 miles of French front held by British forces. They wanted to push it 40 miles deeper into German territory, Richard’s body was never recovered. He is listed among the missing on the British Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing outside Passchendale, Belgium. Thankfully the youngest Leusley brother, William, survived his war.

Ian added: “For us, this is an amazing discovery and a real reminder of what Lincolnshire childhoods – of horses, bicycles and making your own fun – on the eve of war.

“The door will be preserved by the descendants of the Bristow family, but the research on the farm and graffiti will be added to the county council’s Historic Environment Record, where it will be available to future researchers.”

Stolen Revolutionary War-era rifle recovered

Modern(ish), Museums

A rare 1775 rifle made that was stolen from a museum display in 1971 has been returned to its rightful owners. Manufactured by master gunsmith Johann Christian Oerter near what is now Nazareth, Pennsylvania, the firearm was on display at the Valley Forge Museum of American History in Valley Forge State Park when someone crowbarred open the supposedly theft-proof case and made off with the five-foot-long rifle on the morning of October 2nd, 1971. A visiting Boy Scout was the first to notice the empty case a few hours later and alert the staff.

The number of signed and dated rifles from the Revolutionary War era known to exist today is vanishingly small. Born in Fredericksburg a member of the German-speaking Moravian community, Oerter was one of the premiere gunsmiths of the period. He engraved his name, the date and “Christian’s Spring,” the town where the weapon was made,  on top of the rifle’s long iron barrel. Someone else who was probably the first owner carved “W. Goodwin” on the rifle’s wooden stock. The museum is researching the name to find out more about who W. Goodwin was.

The guns proved instrumental in the American war effort, allowing colonial soldiers to shoot more accurately and from farther away than their British counterparts, who carried smooth-bore muskets. Some scholars credit the colonists’ ultimate victory to the more advanced firearms carried by their troops. […]

Known for their elaborate silver and brass wire inlays and carved decorations, Oerter’s firearms are recognized by arms scholars as some of the finest and most important of the period.

The rifle the FBI returned Friday is only one of two signed and dated examples of Oerter’s work known to still exist. The other, housed in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, was given in the early 1800s to the future King George IV, then the Prince of Wales, by a British cavalry officer who served in the war.

The flintlock rifle disappeared for 50 years until it came into the hands antiques dealer Kelly Kinzle last year. He got the rifle at a barn sale and assumed it was a fake. Upon closer examination, however, he realized it was the real deal. His lawyer made the connection between this Oerter rifle and the one stolen at Valley Forge in 1971. They alerted the FBI’s Art Crime Team who, together with city and county police, investigated the reemergence of the artifact seeking to trace its path and identify the perpetrator of the original crime.

The owners, the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution (PSSR), acquired the rifle in 1963. They loaned it to the Valley Forge Historical Society to exhibit at their museum, whose collection forms the core of the new Museum of the American Revolution. When the rifle was restored to the PSSR, they arranged to put it back on display (albeit in an facility with a tad more rigorous security). It will make its public debut in the special exhibition Cost of Revolution: The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier on Wednesday, November 6th, and will remain on display through March 17th, 2020.

24-foot bicentennial mural of George Washington restored

Modern(ish), Museums

Triumph of Washington, a monumental painting by Gardner Hale that hasn’t seen the light of day in 87 years, has been restored and will go on display at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The mural is a unique perspective on George Washington, depicting him looking up towards the skies, mounted on his noble all-white destrier (perhaps the famous Nelson?) at the peak of compositional triangle, flanked on both sides by officers carrying the flags of all 13 colonies. Behind them is a skyline of abstract skyscrapers, two of which are topped with pyramids in a nod to the Washington Monument.

Gardner Hale studied in Europe before returning to his native New York in 1917 where he made a name for himself as a painter of murals and frescoes on large surfaces, interior and exterior. The trend for concrete and cement construction at that time dovetailed neatly with his interests as they provided a neutral background for his colorful, vivid, active designs. By the early 1920s his work was in demand all over the United States and Europe.

Painted in 1931 just a few months before the artist died at age 37 when he accidentally drove 500 feet off a cliff on a stormy night, the 24 feet wide and 14 feet high mural was only exhibited once, at the Smithsonian’s George Washington Bicentennial exhibition in 1932. The Triumph of Washington was commissioned specifically for the celebration of George Washington’s 200th birthday. After that exhibition in D.C., the mural was bought by a New Jersey man. He rolled it up and stored it. Its history after that is a mystery. At some point it was acquired by Deedee Wigmore of D. Wigmore Fine Art in New York City. She donated it to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 2017.

When conservators examined the mural, they found it in better condition than you might expect from a monumental canvas that had been burritoed for decades. There were some scratches on one end — likely the one that was sticking out from the roll — and a few thin vertical creases. There were also some stains and tears and evidence of water damage. The canvas itself was still pliable and healthy, and because Hale used a thin layer of paint on his murals, there was not a lot of cracking, lifting or bubbling. The top edge had to be reinforced for hanging and the areas of loss filled in without attempting to make it look like they were never there. The museum received a Bank of America Art Conservation Project grant to help fund the treatments necessary to return it to public view.

The mural is now the centerpiece of Renewing the American Spirit: The Art of the Great Depression which opened Saturday in the museum’s special exhibitions gallery. There it takes up an entire wall in the space. The exhibition runs through April 26th, 2020.

Buy a piece of Amsterdam’s architectural history

Modern(ish)

The city of Amsterdam is giving away historic pieces of itself. Ornamental architectural fragments salvaged from historical properties lost to urban development are being offered to Amsterdam residents free of charge. Everything from whole gable tops of canal houses to carved reliefs to columns to simple blocks of stone with mounting holes and attachment points (categorized as debris) from buildings dating as far back as the 17th century are up for grabs. hundreds of pallets of stone architectural features, some with their matching architectural drawings.

They were removed in the reconstruction after World War II and the 1960s, but remarkably for the times, they were carefully documented — their original locations recorded — and kept safe in a warehouse at an undisclosed location. The fragments have been inventoried carefully so that any existing documentation of their original sites (photographs, architectural drawings) are still associated with the pieces.

The city’s department of monuments and archeology has decided to take advantage of the treasure trove of architectural debris in an attempt to give Amsterdam’s golden age a second life.

“It is time to reuse these parts so that we can all enjoy them again”, the municipality has announced. In its attempt to “breathe new life” into old Amsterdam, a 190-page on-line catalogue of the old stonework has been put online to allow every Amsterdammer to own a piece of their heritage.

The catalogue can be seen here (pdf), and the conditions for obtaining on the pieces here (also pdf). Interested parties must submit an application to the Monuments and Archeology department of the municipality describing their planned use for the fragments, the name of the contractor and as full as possible project information for the reuse of the fragment.

If they apply for one of the higher category pieces (larger, better preserved, more thoroughly documented), the city will assess applications more strictly. Criteria include whether the application evinces a full understanding of the piece’s historical value, whether the integration of the fragment into construction runs the risk of damaging it, if it will be installed a listed/protected building how will affect it, how visible it will be in its new location, if will it be reused in the city Amsterdam and how practical is the plan. Applications must be emailed by December 31. All applicants will be notified if they’ve been awarded their desired fragment by the end of February 2020.

There is so payment required to acquire the fragment, but all costs for transport and installation must be paid by the applicant. The fragments must be claimed and removed from the secret warehouse by May 31st.

“Maybe you happen to be a fan and self-builder?” the municipality asks. “Then consider a historic element in your modern Amsterdam facade! But a construction fragment can also be suitable for public spaces or as an application in an art project. And there are even more possibilities, for example, a museum can exhibit it or it can be used as educational material. [The department of] monuments and archeology is open to creative applications!”