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Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade
Domestic Artefacts
Pottery shards – from cooking vessels, storage jars, or ceremonial cups.
Bone combs and spindle whorls – everyday tools for grooming and textile production.
Coins – often found in hoards or scattered across trade routes, bearing imperial iconography.
Military & Conflict Remains
Arrowheads and musket balls – battlefield scatter patterns used to reconstruct troop movements.
Helmet fragments and belt buckles – personal items lost or discarded in haste.
Trench art – objects repurposed from war debris, often carved or engraved.
Environmental & Organic Finds
Charred seeds and pollen samples – used to reconstruct ancient diets and landscapes.
Animal bones – evidence of hunting, domestication, or ritual sacrifice.
Coprolites (fossilized dung) – surprisingly rich in dietary and health data.
Accidental or Extraordinary Discoveries
The Staffordshire Hoard – largest Anglo-Saxon gold hoard ever found.
Pompeii’s frescoes and graffiti – preserved by volcanic ash, offering intimate glimpses of daily life.
Ötzi the Iceman – a naturally mummified body from 3300 BCE, found in the Alps with tools and clothing intact.
Custodianship and the Question of Cultural Ownership
One of the most urgent challenges in contemporary heritage practice is the question of ownership: who is truly entitled to inherit, interpret and care for the meanings embedded in culturally significant objects and sites? As global movements call for the repatriation of looted and illicitly acquired antiquities, the issue is no longer abstract, it is a matter of justice, memory and ethical custodianship.
The British Museum’s continued possession of the Parthenon Marbles has been forcefully contested, raising questions about colonial legacy and cultural entitlement. The reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque reflects a political shift toward ethno-nationalism and imperial nostalgia. The occupation and looting of Palmyra by ISIS introduced “blood antiquities” into global circulation, severing artefacts from their histories and communities.
