Celtic Picspam from the Ambiorix Exhibition
Wednesday, 6 January 2010 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
siguneI finally got to Tongeren a week later than originally planned. On the day we were set to go, there was such heavy snowfall that we were forced to stay at home, a rather unusual situation for this part of the world. Anyhow - I got there eventually.
I took my camera with me in order to take photos that I can use as reference material for my comic(s). Those of you who are interested can find a selection below. I'm sorry to say that the quality isn't always good. It was dark in the exhibition hall and most objects were set in glass cases in which the camera's flash light would reflect. Because I tried not to use my flash light, a lot of my pictures predicatbly turned out blurry. But I do have a few good ones :).
For an exhibition that carries his name, the display was very light on Ambiorix. Of course that is not so odd: all we know about the man is contained in a few paragraphs of Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Some historians even dispute the fact that he existed at all. So basically the Gallo-Romeins Museum's staff set up an exhibition about the Celts with a focus on the Low Countries and used Ambiorix's name as a kind of lure for the wider public.
Did I, as a long-time Celtophile, learn anything new? Weeelll... Not much. But was it worth my while? Absolutely! The objects on display were most interesting, and there were rather many I had never seen before. By contrast, the audio guide told me very little. There were plenty of things which I would have liked to have seen/heard explained or detailed, but the text was purely "Celts for Beginners". And if you didn't get an audio guide, you barely knew what you were looking at. I wish I'd had an archaeologist handy :/.
Anyway: on to the picspam.
Look! A Celtic oppidum!
So I photographed a computer screen. What else was I to do? It is the most visual, detailed layout of a Celtic settlement I have ever seen... This is a 3D reconstruction of the site of Manching in Germany. It is strikingly different from what I am used to from comics and films.
I guess my favourite objects from the exhibition mostly belong to everyday life in the Celtic world. These are the things that you don't give much thought until you want to draw a scene that simply places one of your characters inside a house. What kind of furniture is there? How do people occupy themselves? What are the everyday tasks? The Gallo-Romeins Museum has videos showing how the Celts wove and span, crafts that I really don't know the first thing about and that I find difficult to visualise just from text. The exhibition doesn't explain any of the methods, but it does feature tools and things.
A bit of fabric; weights that get attached to the warp yarn on a loom; sticks for spinning.
To the right, you see the tips of two wooden spades. In the middle is a boomerang (not sure what you'd hunt with it though - it looks so light). What the bowl-like thing with the hole in it is, I have no idea *g*. The main reason why I photographed this display is the toy sword. Isn't it cute?
Alas, this one isn't quite sharp. But isn't this ceramic pot lovely? I photographed it so that I would certainly not forget to draw one like it in the home of one of my characters :).
Another blurry one, I'm afraid - but I couldn't resist posting a picture of a pair of shoes. Especially in view of the sorry excuse for footwear the museum people made the wax statue of Ambiorix wear (see below) :/.
There are several types of knives on display. They all used to have wooden grips, but the wood has mostly disappeared. There were a few complete examples, though, to remind me what the others supposedly looked like once. There were also quite a few razors.
Furthermore: arrowheads, and one example of the many horse bits found.
After the arrowheads, have a few swords. These caught my eye because I had never seen this type of hilt before. The grip consists of little round plates between which there used to be some organic material.
The thing top left is a metal buckle for a wooden shield. And then there are two helmets, one of which is really the very coolest Celtic helmet I have ever seen. Have a close-up:
IT HAS EYES! AND DEMONIC EYEBROWS!
XD
Seriously, I have never seen one like that before. It simply must appear in my pages...
This here is a weapon, I am told. I have no idea what it is for, though, and it was not explained. I guess that if you attach it to a stick you can club someone with it, but then why give it this kind of shape? If one of you has an explanation for this, or recognises this, or has a wilder imagination than I have, please post your suggestions :-).
Fragments of the bronze decoration of a horn, plus reconstruction. Just because it's pretty :-).
Alas, another blurry picture :/. But I really like this little comb.
These things are bronze belt buckles. I have been trying to figure out how they work, and I still don't understand very well. The right end supposedly goes into a hole in the leather, or is hooked into a small ring or loop or something. But what are the metal loop thingies that stick out on top? My first thought was that these serve to attach the buckle to the belt, but then why do the loops stick out on top? The bits that stick out must have a function too, because as decoration they look clumsy and awkward - and those attributes do not rhyme with Celtic decoration. Suggestions would be MOST welcome :).
Finally, the thing everybody has been waiting for: gold torques! I think these are particularly pretty, and the one on the left is the torque I picked for Ambiorix a while ago. That this treasure was found on his territory is a bonus :-). The coins are local too. They were minted by the Treveri, if I'm not mistaken.
This picture shows clearly how this type of torque could be worn. The two ends are joined with a hook. The gold is pliable - as demonstrated at the bottom of this page.
And then, a few Celts :-).
The so-called "King of Oss". Waxwork based on findings in a Dutch iron-age burial site.
Aaaaand the museum's interpretation of Ambiorix. Not what I would have made of him... ;-)
Why is he bare-chested? Why isn't he wearing decent shoes? Where is his jewelry? We are looking at a man who could afford to mint a million gold coins! ...Conclusion: Ambiorix, museum version, is a terrible miser ;-). I think I like my version better!
I took my camera with me in order to take photos that I can use as reference material for my comic(s). Those of you who are interested can find a selection below. I'm sorry to say that the quality isn't always good. It was dark in the exhibition hall and most objects were set in glass cases in which the camera's flash light would reflect. Because I tried not to use my flash light, a lot of my pictures predicatbly turned out blurry. But I do have a few good ones :).
For an exhibition that carries his name, the display was very light on Ambiorix. Of course that is not so odd: all we know about the man is contained in a few paragraphs of Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Some historians even dispute the fact that he existed at all. So basically the Gallo-Romeins Museum's staff set up an exhibition about the Celts with a focus on the Low Countries and used Ambiorix's name as a kind of lure for the wider public.
Did I, as a long-time Celtophile, learn anything new? Weeelll... Not much. But was it worth my while? Absolutely! The objects on display were most interesting, and there were rather many I had never seen before. By contrast, the audio guide told me very little. There were plenty of things which I would have liked to have seen/heard explained or detailed, but the text was purely "Celts for Beginners". And if you didn't get an audio guide, you barely knew what you were looking at. I wish I'd had an archaeologist handy :/.
Anyway: on to the picspam.
Look! A Celtic oppidum!
So I photographed a computer screen. What else was I to do? It is the most visual, detailed layout of a Celtic settlement I have ever seen... This is a 3D reconstruction of the site of Manching in Germany. It is strikingly different from what I am used to from comics and films.
I guess my favourite objects from the exhibition mostly belong to everyday life in the Celtic world. These are the things that you don't give much thought until you want to draw a scene that simply places one of your characters inside a house. What kind of furniture is there? How do people occupy themselves? What are the everyday tasks? The Gallo-Romeins Museum has videos showing how the Celts wove and span, crafts that I really don't know the first thing about and that I find difficult to visualise just from text. The exhibition doesn't explain any of the methods, but it does feature tools and things.
A bit of fabric; weights that get attached to the warp yarn on a loom; sticks for spinning.
To the right, you see the tips of two wooden spades. In the middle is a boomerang (not sure what you'd hunt with it though - it looks so light). What the bowl-like thing with the hole in it is, I have no idea *g*. The main reason why I photographed this display is the toy sword. Isn't it cute?
Alas, this one isn't quite sharp. But isn't this ceramic pot lovely? I photographed it so that I would certainly not forget to draw one like it in the home of one of my characters :).
Another blurry one, I'm afraid - but I couldn't resist posting a picture of a pair of shoes. Especially in view of the sorry excuse for footwear the museum people made the wax statue of Ambiorix wear (see below) :/.
There are several types of knives on display. They all used to have wooden grips, but the wood has mostly disappeared. There were a few complete examples, though, to remind me what the others supposedly looked like once. There were also quite a few razors.
Furthermore: arrowheads, and one example of the many horse bits found.
After the arrowheads, have a few swords. These caught my eye because I had never seen this type of hilt before. The grip consists of little round plates between which there used to be some organic material.
The thing top left is a metal buckle for a wooden shield. And then there are two helmets, one of which is really the very coolest Celtic helmet I have ever seen. Have a close-up:
IT HAS EYES! AND DEMONIC EYEBROWS!
XD
Seriously, I have never seen one like that before. It simply must appear in my pages...
This here is a weapon, I am told. I have no idea what it is for, though, and it was not explained. I guess that if you attach it to a stick you can club someone with it, but then why give it this kind of shape? If one of you has an explanation for this, or recognises this, or has a wilder imagination than I have, please post your suggestions :-).
Fragments of the bronze decoration of a horn, plus reconstruction. Just because it's pretty :-).
Alas, another blurry picture :/. But I really like this little comb.
These things are bronze belt buckles. I have been trying to figure out how they work, and I still don't understand very well. The right end supposedly goes into a hole in the leather, or is hooked into a small ring or loop or something. But what are the metal loop thingies that stick out on top? My first thought was that these serve to attach the buckle to the belt, but then why do the loops stick out on top? The bits that stick out must have a function too, because as decoration they look clumsy and awkward - and those attributes do not rhyme with Celtic decoration. Suggestions would be MOST welcome :).
Finally, the thing everybody has been waiting for: gold torques! I think these are particularly pretty, and the one on the left is the torque I picked for Ambiorix a while ago. That this treasure was found on his territory is a bonus :-). The coins are local too. They were minted by the Treveri, if I'm not mistaken.
This picture shows clearly how this type of torque could be worn. The two ends are joined with a hook. The gold is pliable - as demonstrated at the bottom of this page.
And then, a few Celts :-).
The so-called "King of Oss". Waxwork based on findings in a Dutch iron-age burial site.
Aaaaand the museum's interpretation of Ambiorix. Not what I would have made of him... ;-)
Why is he bare-chested? Why isn't he wearing decent shoes? Where is his jewelry? We are looking at a man who could afford to mint a million gold coins! ...Conclusion: Ambiorix, museum version, is a terrible miser ;-). I think I like my version better!
