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Exotic Material

Obsidian Mirror – Dora Moutsiou

by Dora Moutsiou The aesthetic value that obsidian enjoyed in the past reached its apotheosis in the Mesoamerican cultures whose economic and symbolic life it underwrote for ~3000 years. The symbolic importance and authority obsidian attained throughout that period is exemplified by the Aztecs’ respect towards their patron god Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Smoking Mirror. Tezcatlipoca’ s eponymous possession, the obsidian mirror, was a metaphor for rulership and power. Continue reading →

Obsidian Micro-core – Dora Moutsiou

by Dora Moutsiou Obsidian’s high quality for the manufacture of stone implements was recognised very early on by prehistoric tool-makers. Although the use of obsidian is more pronounced in late prehistoric times, particularly in the Neolithic, it is much earlier that the first archaeological evidence for the procurement of obsidian is recorded. Continue reading →

Introduction to module

Human history needs to be told through things. Texts help but they only reach back into the shallows of our past. In this module we go further to investigate deep human history through the wonderful things left behind. Our aim is to unite the entire span of our evolutionary history by investigating forty wonderful things described for you by experts. The story starts two and a half million years ago with the first stone tools. Continue reading →