Bison and gold cups

This memory was caused by the two copied bison artfully positioned when you entered The British Museum, they took my breath away, though the BM model was very tame to the actuality of where and how they were found, see above photo taken from the internet.  It must have stunned the finders.  These two carefully modelled out of clay.  What did they represent? 

Fourteen thousand years ago is their approximate date, you can find some information about the find in 1912 by three teenagers in this wiki but it is not enough.  The Tuc D'Audoubert cave with this cow and bull bison shows creative artwork whatever the age era was.  And somehow it doesn't show religious significance more like what is on the menu tonight thinking! On second thoughts, we have both male and female so it could be a fertility symbol but I think not.

We had not gone just to visit, but had been invited by the present Japanese curator at that time to have a look at an exhibition going out of 'erotica' stuff. Erotica in Japan is quite near the knuckle by the way;) see the marriage manuals!    Paul had set up this department in the museum years ago, so he was an honoured guest.  

We pottered around in the museum in what I call the Celtic realm, and the following not very good  photos show the gold work.  I saw the Rillaton cup, badly bent though now it has been restored.  And we were very fortunate to be shown the Rillaton barrow where the cup was found out on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall by our good friend Roy when on holiday in Cornwall.

I see this is what I had written at the time on The Modern Antiquarian.

Firstly this enormous barrow is pitted with stone robber pits, a reed filled pond lies in its centre and the entrance pit has been raised up so as to stop school children* going into the hole and damaging the inside stones and the fluorescent lichen, which gives a ghostly green glow inside the tomb. The rather neat internal stones have ferns growing against them, and our proud warrior with his gold cup and bronze age dagger lies buried between the Cheesewring and the stone circles, he also has a marvellous view to the front over the surrounding countryside.

The photo inside is not very good (in fact most of my photos are bad) but you can definitely see the fluorescent lichen on the rock. It is better to click on the photos and go into the black I think.

The two similar gold cups, one found in Kent the other in Cornwall

Battle shield

Battersea battle shield

Rillaton Barrow

Inside Rillaton Barrow

lunch at the British Museum

V and M look as if they do not like their photo taken, not sure why.  Me I am my usual scruffy self! V talked about shopping at Zara , never heard of it at the time but have been since, after all I now live with fashionable people!   .....