It’s difficult to reconcile the age of some of these objects in the mind. They can’t possibly be so old, and yet, they are. And with such intricacy come so many experiments over many years, decades, generations, even – so how even did they begin to perfect the art of casting such perfect designed work?
Tag: BCE
Saturday
Where does one draw the line between art and artifact? Is it when the materials are deemed semi-precious or rare? Is it when the object is rare or singular? Is it when said object is decorated or designed in such a way as to be aesthetically pleasing rather than just useful? In this case, I think the boxes ticked are material used (nephrite) and the type of axe (flat axe, which is more aesthetic and less useful than a curved axe in the Neolithic).
Friday
So, I just exercised my Google-fu, as I really didn’t know anything about Bi-discs, and now I know a lot more. Bi (or annulus – plural, annular) discs were neolithic ritual objects tied most closely to burials. Most were jade (aka, nephrite), but some were glass (depending on your status and how much you could afford to spend), and the amount of decoration and the ornateness of the decoration also corresponded to how much money had been spent on the object’s commission. Bi discs are thought to have to do with creation mythology and other god mythos, but seeing as how there isn’t a written record, we can’t tell for certain. And, there we go. That’s your knowledge dump for the day.