Written by the TreasureGuide for he exclusive use of he Treasure Beaches Report.
There are a few articles circulating, as might be expected this time of year, about the lance that punctured the side of Jesus when he was on the cross. There are at least three that are held in different places that are thought by some to be the one that pierced Jesus, including the one shown above.
The one shown above seems to be in remarkable condition for an item that would be two thousand years old. To me, it also appears to be surprisingly well made or modern for an item of that age. Of course, I can't really judge that with confidence without doing some research, which I plan to do.
In fact, I read that the one shown above was scientifically tested and determined to be from the seventh century. Perhaps it could have been restored or copied for display purposes. And just as problematically, these days you never know if an author or publication picked up a stock image to illustrate an article rather than using the one that was actually being discussed. That is unfortunately something I've been noticing a lot lately. Something needs to be done about that. I make an effort to provide the source of my illustrations.
So I did some research, which is neither complete or conclusive at this point, but still something to consider.
I didn't find archaeological articles on 1st century lance points. The closest I came so far is an article on medieval lances: The Medieval Spear-, Lance or Javelin Heads from the National Museum of Romanian History (Bucharest) and Their Assessment, by Silviu Ota and Martin Husar, 2022, Cercetari Arheologice, 28/1. p. 335-364.
Here is one illustration from that article. That is more what I'd expect of a lance head of that age.
It is also closer to what I've seen on relevant paintings and sculptures.
While confirming your expectations tends to provide a feeling of confidence, it does not always provide the final answer. More research is needed.
Going to a site on earlier Roman weapons (link provided below), the pilum is what we find.
The Pilum (Spear)
When Swordswouldn't do, Roman soldiers relied on the pilum, which was a long spear, or javelin. There were two types: think and thin. The thin one had a long iron head, that fit to the long handle by way of a socket. The thin pilum was about 2 m long, with a barbed point. The thick pilum was of similar length, and was attached to the shaft with a 5 cm wide tang. The tip of both of these weapons had a pyramid-shaped barb. The shaft of both was about 7.5 mm in diameter. On the thick pilum was a wooden block to secure the metal head. The block also protected the hand in melee fighting. Soldiers carried both types of spear.
Later versions of the pilum in the first century were constructed similarly, but the thick pila were much lighter, weighing in at about 2kg. This lightening of the pilum led to the introduction of a version of the heavy pilum with a weighted ball at the top of the shaft, to help balance the spear. The point was made of softer iron so that it would bend upon impact, preventing the enemy from throwing the spear back.
My research is not complete, but so far, I've not found any evidence that the lance that pierced the side of Jesus was like the lance point shown at the very top of this post.
On a similar subject, there are about nine iron spear heads listed in the Mel Fisher artifact database, but unfortunately none of those are accompanied by photos.
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| Treasure Coast Bottle Find. |
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Shapely but slim lady's leg with a nice kick-up. No, I'm not talking about one of the Radio City Rockettes. It's just a bottle. Not a real common bottle, but one that might catch your eye.
Reading the embossing, we find Marnier Lapostolle draped across the shoulder. So what does that tell you?
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Grand Marnier was founded by Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle in 1880. His father-in-law, Jean-Baptiste Lapostolle, established what would become Grand Marnier’s first distillery when he began making fruit liqueurs outside of Paris in 1827. Louis-Alexandre came from a winemaking family in Sancerre and started out as an assistant to Jean-Baptiste’s son, Eugene. While working at the distillery, he had a revolutionary idea to pair Cognac with a then-exotic ingredient, oranges, in the Lapostolles’ laboratory. After 10 years of experimentation, Grand Marnier was born...
This was the beginning of Grand Marnier orange and cognac liqueur, whose recipe has remained unchanged ever since. (Our Heritage and Origins | Grand Marnier)
The brand continues to this day. The bottle shown above might be called vintage, but not antique. And there are several clues to its age.
If you could look into the glass, you'd see no bubbles. You'd also see that the seams to all the way to the top. And the overall look of the bottle is modern. The glass is thin and of uniform thickness. I'd guess, without doing any further research, that it dates to maybe the sixties or somewhere around there.
The biggest clue is the "Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of This Bottle" embossing, which was on all bottles between 1935 and 1964, but was also on some later bottles.
The first bottles were very square in cross section.
The bottle shown at the top of this post is longer and thinner than the iconic shape adopted in 1892, but I have yet to date it precisely.
It is a brand you can still purchase today.
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Mark G. positively identified one of the mystery finds I showed yesterday.
Below is what Mark said.
You are partially correct about it being for a strap but it’s actually a belt buckle for a heavy-duty wide workman’s belt or web belt. The belts are wide to be able to hold pouches of material like nails rivets or other building material without cutting into the wearer. You don’t find that buckle system around anymore, I don’t think, due to the plastic snap buckles taking over. I dug mine from 1980 out of my garage, I used this belt while building my first house in CT in 1988, see photo:
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Exact Match to One Mystery Item Shown Yesterday.
Photo by Mark G. |
So we have an exact match for one of yesterday's two mystery items. It is satisfying to have such an exact match and definite solution for a mystery find.
I guess the other end might be around too. Wonder if I'll find it.
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I used to get discouraged by the grammatical and typographical errors in my posts, but they are so common on the internet, even in highly regarded publications, that I don't feel quite so bad about it anymore. I still don't like it, but don't always take enough time to recheck everything.
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| Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com. |
Nothing exciting there.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
