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Recent Archaeological Discoveries (NEW CONCEPTS)
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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1) Iron tends to rust away, whereas gold is resistant to oxidisation.
2) Gold, being intrinsically more valuable, is more likely to have been secreted away in hidden stashes, rather than being just left to rust.
3) There probably is a far greater weight of ancient iron dug up than gold, but it's far less sexy (and usually in pretty poor condition) so doesn't hit the headlines.

I agree, a large proportion of antiquities are probably fakes, but the odds are against it in this case.

Do you remember the case of the guy from Bolton who made a fortune flogging ancient Egyptian statues, which he knocked up in his garden shed? His master stroke was getting his octogenarian parents to do the selling.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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So what are we to make of this little treasure find, reported in the Daily Express?

AMATEUR divers stirred up a mystery when they stumbled across a treasure trove at the bottom of a river.

Brothers Gary and Trevor Bankhead spent two years retrieving the precious artefacts, including gifts from Pope Paul VI and the Queen.

Some of the items, belonging to a former Archbishop of Canterbury, are thought to be worth up to £10,000 each. All appeared to have been deliberately thrown into the River Wear in the shadow of Durham Cathedral.

The 32 gifts were the property of the late Michael Ramsey, Durham's 71st Bishop, who went on to become the 100th prelate of Canterbury. After his retirement in 1974 he returned to live in Durham's South Bailey, just 200 yards from Prebends Bridge.

The brothers first found a silver trowel presented to Ramsey for laying the foundation stone of an Indian church.

Then came a silver medal from the Queen's coronation, a gold medal from a Japanese Buddhist leader, a silver medal from Pope Paul VI, another from the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, and a copper and enamel icon from the Russian Orthodox Church.


The newspaper offers three possible explanations. But each of these is highly unlikely:

Former soldier Trevor, 40, and fireman Gary, 44, believe they were left by Ramsey as an offering to the city he loved.


Had he never heard of a museum?

Another theory is that the brilliant but slightly eccentric theologian was embarrassed to have such riches.


Why did he not discard the other accumulated wealth that naturally came with his office.... rather than just what appear to be treasured personal mementos?

A third possibility is the items were stolen by a burglar who feared discovery and dumped the evidence.


A burglar would have stashed the hoard where it could later be retrieved.... And the theft would surely have been reported.

No... there is only one rational explanation.

The theft was never reported because the former Archbishop could not face the scandal that would have ensued.

It was obviously an act of spite, perpetrated by a spurned (probably gay) ex-lover.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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A rational story that fits. But please don't let this metastisize into a theory absent evidence. That's how academic diciplines get started.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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I was just being a little mischievous. I actually doubt Ramsey could have championed the bill to decriminalise homosexual practices through the House of Lords, if he was carrying such skeletons in his closet, without them being exposed by his opponents.

(Unless he only gave in to temptation after his tenure.)
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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The question arises about sexual orientation and the Church. I think we can agree that in modern times the Church is not an obviously attractive career move (unlike former times when it was the way ahead). It follows therefore that other attractions must come to the fore. Clearly, as soon as you discover that you are attracted to young boys you join the Church since that is an obvious and increasingly unique shelter to practise your proclivities. Where do they go now that the Church is reluctantly making it oh-so-difficult?

But of course in Michael Ramsay's time straightforward homosexuality was illegal so the (Anglican) Church would have been an obvious place to hang out. The High Anglican Church, I believe, still is along with the stage, the (Royal) Court, the navy and the various guards regiments. Any others?
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Grant



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Years ago I had a girlfriend who worked in Waterstone's bookshop in Charing Cross road. At that time virtually all the male shop assistants were gay, and she said that was usual for bookselling. I suppose it was near Soho, but I was surprised.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Years ago

It would be interesting to know whether these 'haunts' have changed since legalisation. There would appear to be no need for job specialisation if you can meet socially anyway. (But, as AE is always pointing out, there are always advantages to being a minority, even an otherwise persecuted minority. Though personally I'd give up being gay if it meant working in a bookshop) .

One is (I am) constantly slightly shocked to (suddenly) come across the fact that crypto-cottaging is openly engaged in on, say, Clapham Common or Kensington Town Hall Passage but that is, after all, only the equivalent of heterosexual dogging. Is there gay dogging? Are these new and exciting sexual pursuits, thanks to the internet, becoming vertically specialised?
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Chad wrote:
So what are we to make of this little treasure find, reported in the Daily Express?

Do they know if the treasures were dumped prior to or during the war years? There are some churches which possess particularly valuable items that are said to have been buried during the Civil War to keep them out of the clutches of Cromwell's men (why not Royalists too?) and their whereabouts were subsequently forgotten. In some cases they were only rediscovered two hundred or so years later.

If this had only happened in one instance it might be just about plausible in the chaos of war but there does seem to be a pattern. It seems a bit odd that the hiding place of precious, sacred even, possessions could be 'forgotten'.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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Hatty wrote:
Do they know if the treasures were dumped prior to or during the war years?


No, these were all personal mementos acquired during his time as Archbishop of Canterbury (1961 to 1974) and presumably ended up at the bottom of the river sometime afterwards, when he was living in retirement in Durham.
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Grant



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Surely the most likely explanation is that someone in his employ stole them but either couldn't sell them or was overcome with remorse. They couldn't own up so they dumped them. If the Archbishop knew, he was such a good Christian he forgave the culprit.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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Surely the most likely explanation is that someone in his employ stole them but either couldn't sell them...


There is always a ready market for this sort of thing.

...or was overcome with remorse.

But not enough so as to give them back anonymously?

If the Archbishop knew, he was such a good Christian he forgave the culprit.

Pass the sick bucket!
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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The location of the find is the first thing that should raise questions of whether it's Anglo Saxon or something else.

https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Staffordshire_Hoard&params=52_39_19_N_1_54_24_W_region:GB

Hammerwich is on Watling Street in Staffordshire, close to an intersection of Watling Street with the axis of Britain (Isle of Wight to North of Scotland).

Staffordshire was one of the borderlands that was often more Khymric than English for centuries before the Saxons arrived.

Other people are wondering if Sutton Hoo was Saxon as well.
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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Chad wrote:
So what are we to make of this little treasure find, reported in the Daily Express? ... The newspaper offers three possible explanations.


They missed another possibility.

The Bishop had gone Druid and is offering precious objects into the river in order to appease local gods and goddesses.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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I have to say things are looking pretty bad for Hats.

Nothing personal but the bust (err) always looked fake.

And the provenance was....

Well you had to believe that the well known famous sculptor Thutmose has decided to leave Armana, and as his works had just gone out of fashion, or heyho he had a artistic hissy fit, he upped leaving his famous sculptures behind, only for Nefertiti to be found in 1912, and not written about for another 11 years.

Now her secret tomb doesn't exist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44026087

I don't reckon she is much older than Wiley. Most probably born around 1912.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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I hope not. She hasn't got the software skills to change it. But this is a good spot. We ought to compile a list of things the world really couldn't abide losing. I thought I was making a start in Forgeries but I can't really put that forward as an alibi for its failure.

It would be interesting though to know whether any scientific investigation -- anything other than peer review really -- has been undertaken. Oh, and by the way, we're talking 1912 peer review. "Whadya reckon, Flinders?" "Seems OK to me." The rest is museum history.
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