The Basiliscoe Mercury 308

The Basiliscoe Mercury308


TheInternet newsletter for the arms and armour community


Arms and armour in the news


Rather a quiet period after Christmas, but still some interesting snippets: medieval sword in a cellar, mammoths in Poland, re-enacting in China and Mary Queen of Scots.


Ancient arms


Hoard of Bronze Age axes and hammers foundin Bulgaria

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/20...-ax-hammers-discovered-in-northeast-bulgaria/


Medieval copper site found in Jordan

https://www.archaeology.org/news/7301-190114-jordan-ayyubid-site


Beasts of assorted varieties…


Hunting mammoths in Poland

http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/ne...rope-man-was-hunting-mammoths-discovered.html


And hunting dogs in ancient Jordan

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/uoc--1ab011519.php


Salmon fishing in ancient Artic

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/U...tify-5600-year-old-Scandinavian-salmon-577612


Horses rather than mares buried in pagan Viking tombs

https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/...rather_than_mares_were_buried_with_icelandic/


Grave stories


Iron Age warrior grave found in Iran

https://ifpnews.com/exclusive/grave-belonging-to-iron-age-warrior-discovered-in-northern-iran/


The mystery of the decapitated skeletons in Suffolk

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-whol...-era-skeletons-have-been-unearthed-in-england


Captain Matthew Flinders found under a railway station

https://www.theguardian.com/science...scovered-after-200-years-under-london-station


Medieval Miscellany


This month’s sword: in a cellar in Lviv

http://micetimes.asia/in-the-dungeon-of-lviv-found-a-medieval-sword/


Medieval siege weapons

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01...topography-and-archaeological-investigations/


Recent work on Slovak castles

https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22020423...ing-discoveries-a-new-castle-for-example.html


The Brussels tournament

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01...rnament-a-spectacle-in-brussels-4-7-may-1439/


Forts and cannons


Royal cannon at the met

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/onlin...SUHyS7anbwsUBOX58whV7RtgcuGIBVjM9aDcDtHfbPvtw


New future for Fort George?

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/f...-george-could-become-quangos-new-national-hq/


Restoring a Krupp gun in South Africa

https://northernnatalcourier.co.za/92403/restoring-history-dundee-can/


Living in the past in China


Chinese re-enactment on the rise

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003474/knights-in-ancient-armor-fight-to-save-chinese-culture


Recreating the Summer palace, Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post...beijings-old-summer-palace-computer-modelling


Café Basiliscoe


The world’s oldest clove

http://theconversation.com/worlds-o...lanka-says-about-the-early-spice-trade-109686


Ancient chocolate of the Incas

https://www.archaeology.org/issues/325-1901/trenches/7219-trenches-ecuador-cacao-seeds


110 year old Antarctic beer

http://artdaily.com/news/110500/Sha...-barrel-returns-to-Antarctic-hut#.XDsDuDFCd9A


Medieval recipes

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/haggis-oyster-stew-medieval-recipes/


Miscellany


Interesting illustrated feature on the Ripley Scroll

https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4822-ripley-scroll


Ancient guns, swords found at Barabanki excavation

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/258912799/ancient-guns-swords-found-at-barabanki-excavation

https://www.business-standard.com/a...d-at-barabanki-excavation-119010900944_1.html

https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/uttar-pradesh-ancient-guns-swordhttps://www.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/barabanki-ancient-guns-and-swords-found-during-excavations-at-barabanki-18832599.htmls-found-at-barabanki-excavation/1433210


Surprising haul of guns and grenades from the Nene

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk...d-from-river-nene-near-peterborough-1-8779317


Princesses and Amazons


Mary Queen of scots goes to Falkland palace

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/mary-queen-of-scots-visit-to-falkland-palace


And a brief introduction to her life

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/mary-queen-of-scots


Nautical news


latest news from Florida

https://eu.floridatoday.com/story/n...ent-artifact-near-melbourne-beach/2575075002/


Ottoman era cannon discovered off Algeria

https://allafrica.com/stories/201901200030.html


Wreck belonging to the Tokugawa clan found off Japan

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/japanese-shipwreck-0011326


Latest on the Hunley’s loss

http://walterborolive.com/2019/01/researchers-discover-new-clue-that-may-help-explain-hunleys-loss/


Slightly spooky take of the WWI U-boat, re-merging from the sea off Calais

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46846988


Museum news and exhibitions


News


Future of Greece’s monuments and museums still under threat

http://www.ekathimerini.com/236778/...aeologists-seek-rescue-of-monuments-from-fund

https://newschannel20.com/news/nati...s-ancient-sites-museums-from-development-list


Imperial War museum hands over human remains for burial

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-holocaust-victims-to-be-given-jewish-funeral


New Museums


RAF museum opens at Biggin Hill

https://museumcrush.org/biggin-hill-memorial-museum-opens-to-remember-the-few-and-the-many/


Cultural figures criticise new glass and steel wing planned for Ferrara

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/palazzo-dei-diamanti-extension


Museum Musings-


Statues- so 2018- it’s all walls now…

https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/op-ed/730322/our-view-history-shows-that-walls-work


Museums are good for you- but we all knew that anyway!

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...ng-people-de-stress-with-respite-at-galleries


Conservation corner


Dulle Griet the painting back on display in Antwerp

http://artdaily.com/news/110736/Pie...t-the-Mayer-van-den-Bergh-Museum#.XEbe9jFCd9A


Conserving Tutankhamen’s tomb

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/getty-wraps-up-conservation-effort-at-king-tutankhamen-s-tomb


Objects


US museum gets its stolen powder horn back, after 60+ years…

https://www.foxnews.com/science/rev...returned-to-museum-it-was-stolen-from-in-1952


British trade musket donated to Tippecanoe County Historical Association

https://eu.jconline.com/story/news/...t-lafayette-battle-tippecanoe-era/2592670002/


Ireland gets its Ivy Patch gun back

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2019/1/15/the-ivy-patch-gun/


Before the AK-47

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/b...ent-russian-gun-just-wont-stop-shooting-42127


Exhibitions


Carronades in Falkirk

Falkirk folk are made of tough stuff as new exhibition proves! https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/wha...ough-stuff-as-new-exhibition-proves-1-4861884


Exhibitions at the Met

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions


Books


Gareth Williams: Weapons of the Viking Warrior

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/...able-this-month/weapons-of-the-viking-warrior


David Bates: 1066 in Perspective

https://shop.royalarmouries.org/boo...ries-publications-en/1066-in-perspective.html


Natasha Bennett: Chinese Arms and Armour

https://shop.royalarmouries.org/boo...-publications-en/chinese-arms-and-armour.html


National Museums of Scotland books

https://shop.nms.ac.uk/collections/books-military-aviation


Online Book


Scott A. McLaughlin: Resume of a Seventeenth-Century Top-Secret Weapon:

The Story of the Mount Independence Cannon

https://www.vtarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/v4_ch1_reduced.pdf


ICOMAM MAGAZINE 20

http://network.icom.museum/icomam/publications/the-magazine/


Popular Culture


The bear that went to war: a true story- and a happy ending!

http://artdaily.com/news/110520/Animated-film-to-spotlight-bear-that-served-in-WWII#.XDxEnTFCd9A


Mail-making as a modern business

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/21/what-medieval-knights-small-minn-town-have-in-common


Events


Diary Dates


19 – 22 April jousting Leeds

https://royalarmouries.org/event/international-jousting-tournament-2019/


Conferences


23 February 2019 Hindlip Hall

OrdCon conference

https://www.facebook.com/ORDCON/


6 -7 May, 2019 Maritime Museum of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia

Hobart Whaling Conference 2019

https://www.whalingconference.org/


10 May 2019 Leeds

The heart of the art of combat - exploring medieval manuscript I.33

https://royalarmouries.org/event/the-heart-of-the-art-of-combat/


Calls for Papers


17-18 May 2019 London

Trial by Fire conference

https://www.trialbyfireteam.com/submit-an-abstract


16-17 November 2019 Portsmouth

Wooden Walls and Stone Bastions: Ship and ordnance remains on land and under the sea

https://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/annual-conference


September 2019 Kyoto

ICOMAM 2019 Conference, Kyoto (Japan) http://icom-kyoto-2019.org/data/ima...8E-Qdx4KsoD_htE1_BHGVouQhJSu4YRKPyN4D4N8ckh3o


Sales, fairs and auctions


News of recent Bonham’s sales

https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/27319/


Arms sale in Ohio

http://artdaily.com/news/110243/Mil...ia-in-premier-January-19-auction#.XCx5tzFCd9A


2 March 2019 Olympia, London -

The Fourth Antique Arms Fair Incorporating the Park Lane Arms

http://antiquearmsfair.com


14 – 15 March 2019

https://www.hermann-historica.de/en


Wallis and Wallis dates for 2019

http://www.wallisandwallis.co.uk/auction-dates-2019/


Thomas Delmar dates for 2019

25 June & 4 December 2019

http://www.thomasdelmar.com/


Websites and Downloads


Les Invalides

https://www.musee-armee.fr/accueil.html


1066 etc: Crusades, William rufus& death of Orleans

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/the-crusades-with-andrew-latham/

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/the-nightmare-and-the-accident-how-king-william-rufus-died/

http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01...annicide-the-murder-of-louis-of-orleans-1407/


Finally

This fortnight I tweeted pictures of Tilbury Fort

https://twitter.com/Basiliscoe


Compiled by Ruth Rhynas Brown – 2019


Some people have asked me about making a contribution to the Newsletter – if you would like to support us, you can make a donation here through our Paypal account – see here for details:

http://www.basiliscoe.com/id2.html

 

Noticed a kind of glaring error in one of the articles, https://nationalinterest.org/blog/b...ent-russian-gun-just-wont-stop-shooting-42127

The headline photo actually shows the Soviet SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, sniper version, in the foreground. Hardly visible in background are soldiers with Mosin single-shot, bolt action rifles discussed in the article. I guess either the author didn’t know much about firearms, or he left it to the editor to find an appropriate photo.