Digger (“punk rock prehistorian” — check out his page to see his superb petroglyph tattoos and more pictures like this) sends in these photos of a Thai bronze age burial excavation (click through for a second photo), showing shell and marble bracelets as well as large shell ear tunnels.
Comments
78 responses to “Prehistoric Bling”
Awesome.
I go to a lot of museums and they’re chock full of objects that are obviously ear tunnels, and are almost always mislabeled as various toys, weights or other objects.
Awesome.
I go to a lot of museums and they’re chock full of objects that are obviously ear tunnels, and are almost always mislabeled as various toys, weights or other objects.
That is rather awesome
That is rather awesome
Awesome! Even when they are mistaken as toys and etc, the ones who know what they are feel something different, don’t we?
Awesome! Even when they are mistaken as toys and etc, the ones who know what they are feel something different, don’t we?
it was a female. the cheek bones are really distinguished. and yeah, she does look really happy. but did she start the disco craze of huge arm bracelettes?
it was a female. the cheek bones are really distinguished. and yeah, she does look really happy. but did she start the disco craze of huge arm bracelettes?
i wanna be buried with my plugs and studs, too.
i wanna be buried with my plugs and studs, too.
she’s beautiful
she’s beautiful
I agree with #4 #14 and #23… awesome teeth…and that’s primordial!…good teeth,cool mods…seems she was the perfect girl!…
I agree with #4 #14 and #23… awesome teeth…and that’s primordial!…good teeth,cool mods…seems she was the perfect girl!…
I spend a lot of time in museums and have for the past 7 or 8 years but didn’t focus on the body modifications evidenced there till recently. As I walk the galleries now I am surprised at how wide spread and far reaching certain practices are. Particularly stretching ear lobes.
I spend a lot of time in museums and have for the past 7 or 8 years but didn’t focus on the body modifications evidenced there till recently. As I walk the galleries now I am surprised at how wide spread and far reaching certain practices are. Particularly stretching ear lobes.
Gorgeous. I wonder what that would have looked like in life.
Gorgeous. I wonder what that would have looked like in life.
Hey, I made Modblog!
They’re two different skeletons, by the way. One has bivalve shells by the head, which are commonly interpreted as a tool to smear ochre on the corpse, dyeing it red (as seen at other sites). I don’t know what sex they are, but my ill-educated guess would be that they’re both male. Both sexes are found with ear tunnels though.
Ear stretching in Asia goes back at least 2600 years of course. People in the brahiminic caste in India had these, which is why Buddha has/had long ears, although he regected all that to become an ascetic, which is why his hang down empty. These people in Thailand weren’t necessarily thinking the same things about ear stretching as those in India at the same time of course, just like people in highland Thailand now might not think the same about ear stretching as their ‘ancestors’ did.
Funny thing is, my whole life is spent wishing that people would see how the lives of people in the past relate directly to ours, how much we have to learn from the way they lived their lives, how they fitted in (or otherwise) with society around them, how they expressed that with art and objects, and how they coped with the expectations and demands of that society. Then a thing like body modification makes loads of people basically sit up and say ‘hey look, that’s the way I relate myself to the world’. Bodies are great like that, aren’t they? Everyone knows what it’s like to live in one.
I’m a bit of an anarchist. I want people to see how people can get abused by their self-appointed masters (and change that in the present) but, for me, just to see people in the past who went through the same crap that life deals and who coped is heartening. (That’s a lot to ask of two photos, but there’s plenty of past to learn from). Here in these pictures are ideas that have prevailed over 3000 years, and some of those ideas are part of what I am (and maybe you too), and maybe they’ll prevail another 3000 years. In the absence of God I find comfort in that.
Peace,
digger
PS I can’t work out how to make my name link to my IAM page, but I’m there if anyone wants to find me.
Hey, I made Modblog!
They’re two different skeletons, by the way. One has bivalve shells by the head, which are commonly interpreted as a tool to smear ochre on the corpse, dyeing it red (as seen at other sites). I don’t know what sex they are, but my ill-educated guess would be that they’re both male. Both sexes are found with ear tunnels though.
Ear stretching in Asia goes back at least 2600 years of course. People in the brahiminic caste in India had these, which is why Buddha has/had long ears, although he regected all that to become an ascetic, which is why his hang down empty. These people in Thailand weren’t necessarily thinking the same things about ear stretching as those in India at the same time of course, just like people in highland Thailand now might not think the same about ear stretching as their ‘ancestors’ did.
Funny thing is, my whole life is spent wishing that people would see how the lives of people in the past relate directly to ours, how much we have to learn from the way they lived their lives, how they fitted in (or otherwise) with society around them, how they expressed that with art and objects, and how they coped with the expectations and demands of that society. Then a thing like body modification makes loads of people basically sit up and say ‘hey look, that’s the way I relate myself to the world’. Bodies are great like that, aren’t they? Everyone knows what it’s like to live in one.
I’m a bit of an anarchist. I want people to see how people can get abused by their self-appointed masters (and change that in the present) but, for me, just to see people in the past who went through the same crap that life deals and who coped is heartening. (That’s a lot to ask of two photos, but there’s plenty of past to learn from). Here in these pictures are ideas that have prevailed over 3000 years, and some of those ideas are part of what I am (and maybe you too), and maybe they’ll prevail another 3000 years. In the absence of God I find comfort in that.
Peace,
digger
PS I can’t work out how to make my name link to my IAM page, but I’m there if anyone wants to find me.
Nice picture I guess, but she’s sooo skinny. And her smile is kinda weird. Not to mention all the dirt I can see under her fingernails.
Nice picture I guess, but she’s sooo skinny. And her smile is kinda weird. Not to mention all the dirt I can see under her fingernails.
wicked awesome! i love that skeletons always look like they’re saying “haw haw haw”
wicked awesome! i love that skeletons always look like they’re saying “haw haw haw”
that would be a saweet set of plugs to have.
“oh, did you get those from (local studio)?”
“no, i found them on an archaeological dig in Thailand.”
(o.o)
that would be a saweet set of plugs to have.
“oh, did you get those from (local studio)?”
“no, i found them on an archaeological dig in Thailand.”
(o.o)
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thanks the author a lot of useful to myself have found..