xmorbidcuriosityx:

Haunting Spirit Photography from the Age Before Photoshop

There is nothing new under the sun: the history of the photo editing is almost as old as photography itself. Spirit photography was first widely employed by William H. Mumler in the 1860s, but the earliest pieces were made by Sir David Brewster for his 1856 book The Stereoscope: Its History, Theory, and Construction. Even though he was using the simple double exposure technique and was revealed as a fraud, some other spirit photographers came up in the next decades. Here are some of the most interesting pieces of spirit photography before Photoshop.

(Source: io9)

myaloysius:

Flemish tapestry; “Hunt for the Unicorn” 1500s

from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(via gh2u)

(Source: annstreetstudio, via ink-heron)

fishstickmonkey:

Karnak. Les trois obélisques du grand temple (Égypte) / Bonfils. ca.1867-99. Library of Congress.

(via lulian)

archaeologistforhire:

laughingsquid:

Beer Found in Shipwreck to be Replicated by Finnish Brewery

YES. 

mediumaevum:

Electrum* and sapphire

8th - 10th c.

*a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver

ancientpeoples:

Rhyton (offering vase) in shape of a lion

Middle Bronze Age, found in Turkey

This vase is made from earthware and is painted with red, yellow and black. Geometrical decoration is similar to earthware from earlier earthware from same geographical location. 

(Source: The Leiden Museum of Antiquities) 

(via zomganthro)

ancientart:

An ornamented golden Minoan labrys.

Labrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization.

The first written use of the word labrys comes from Plutarch describing it as a Lydian word for axe:

Herakles, having slain Hippolyte and taken her axe away from her with the rest of her arms, gave it to Omphale. The kings of Lydia who succeeded her carried this as one of their sacred insignia of office, and passed it down from father to son until it was passed to Candaules, who disdained it and gave it to one of his companions to carry.

When Gyges rebelled and was making war upon Candaules, Arselis came with a force from Mylasa to assist Gyges; Arselis then slew Candaules and his companion and took the axe to Caria with the other spoils of war. And, having set up a statue of Zeus, Arselis put the axe in his hand and invoked the god, “Labrandeus”.

Courtesy & currently located at the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion. Photo taken by Wolfgang Sauber

(via cabinet-de-curiosites)