(no subject)

Well, I told you a few weeks ago that I'd embarked on the marathon task of inking up an earlier pencil drawing I'd done of the Lugtonridge shield.  I promised you a photo of the aforementioned shield - but then my notes and photos all decided to play hard to get and I couldn't find anything to illustrate it with.

Today, I finally found the photos, and so...  May I proudly present to you a stunning example of a Late Bronze Age sheet bronze shield.  It was found placed on its rim in a peat bog in the late 18th century, forming a circle along with five others.  Its compatriots were, unfortunately, cut into pieces by the workmen who found them and they've all now been lost:-

Unfortunately, the photograph doesn't really do justice to this brute, which is truly massive in size (the ruler at the side is a 30cm one) and terribly complex to draw.  The object was not functional - the sheet bronze is so thin that it flexes slightly when you pick it up and it would originally have been fixed to a stiff backing (such as wood or leather) for display purposes.  The damage to the surface is, however, absolutely authentic.  At some point in the Late Bronze Age, the poor thing was stabbed repeatedly by a sharp object (such as a spear) in an orgy of destruction.

Why?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Though this time, I'm going to opt for the catch-all explanation: ritual!  The object was symbolically killed before it was laid to rest as a gift to the gods or the ancestors. 

Considering the good folk of the West of Scotland weren't really into chucking away vast quantities of bronze for the hell of it, this particular votive deposit is an unusual exception to the rule.

But it's a real beggar to draw, unfortunately.  And I think it's going to take me a couple of attempts to get it right..

(no subject)

Well, I told you a few weeks ago that I'd embarked on the marathon task of inking up an earlier pencil drawing I'd done of the Lugtonridge shield.  I promised you a photo of the aforementioned shield - but then my notes and photos all decided to play hard to get and I couldn't find anything to illustrate it with.

Today, I finally found the photos, and so...  May I proudly present to you a stunning example of a Late Bronze Age sheet bronze shield.  It was found placed on its rim in a peat bog in the late 18th century, forming a circle along with five others.  Its compatriots were, unfortunately, cut into pieces by the workmen who found them and they've all now been lost:-

Unfortunately, the photograph doesn't really do justice to this brute, which is truly massive in size (the ruler at the side is a 30cm one) and terribly complex to draw.  The object was not functional - the sheet bronze is so thin that it flexes slightly when you pick it up and it would originally have been fixed to a stiff backing (such as wood or leather) for display purposes.  The damage to the surface is, however, absolutely authentic.  At some point in the Late Bronze Age, the poor thing was stabbed repeatedly by a sharp object (such as a spear) in an orgy of destruction.

Why?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Though this time, I'm going to opt for the catch-all explanation: ritual!  The object was symbolically killed before it was laid to rest as a gift to the gods or the ancestors. 

Considering the good folk of the West of Scotland weren't really into chucking away vast quantities of bronze for the hell of it, this particular votive deposit is an unusual exception to the rule.

But it's a real beggar to draw, unfortunately.  And I think it's going to take me a couple of attempts to get it right..