30 Artifacts from the Past That Managed to Survive the Test of Time
The world is much more interesting, and the people of the past are much closer to us than it sometimes seems. Here are a few ancient artifacts that make our ancestors closer and more understandable to us, even if they lived hundreds and thousands of years ago.
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Uterus made of fabric - A training manual created by Angelique Du Coudray, a French midwife commissioned by King Louis XV to reduce infant mortality
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Roads stoned with white stones in Ancient Rome - These stones reflected moonlight to help people walk along the streets after dark
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14th century door with a cathole in Exeter Cathedral, UK - Considered the oldest of its kind
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Mosaic detail of a mouse eating a walnut from the 2nd century BC - Now displayed in the Vatican Museums
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Roman army knife from 201-300 AD - Includes a spoon, knife, fork, spike, spatula, and toothpick as part of Roman legionaries’ equipment
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1,800-year-old ceramic horse from the Han Dynasty in China - Currently housed in the Sanxingdui Museum
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Sculpture "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" from 1740 by Agostino Fasolato - Depicts 60 fallen angels and made from a single piece of marble
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Dauphin's armor worn by the future King of France Henry II - Made by Francesco Negroli in Milan in the 1540s and displayed at the Army Museum in Paris
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Charming Ancient Egyptian Otter Figurine
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Roman bronze colander from Pompeii in the 1st century BC
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Stone mask made of green serpentine from 2,000 years ago - Found near the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
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Clothes of the 2,000-year-old Huldremose woman found in a peat bog in Denmark in 1879
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Abuna Yem'ata Guh Church in Ethiopia from the 5th century
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Bison sculptures from a cave in Ariège, France that are 14,000 years old
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Roman brick from Cherchel, Algeria with a perfect imprint of a human hand from 2,000 years ago
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Megalithic site in Spain older than the pyramids
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Cave paintings from Val Camonica in Brescia, Italy
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Middle East clay vessel with two legs from Northern Iran, dated 1000-800 BC
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Thonis Heraklion, an ancient Egyptian port that slowly sank into the sea from 100 BC to 800 AD
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Black mug from Southern Italy, dating back 2,400 years
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Gilded silver and rock crystal vessel made in Nuremberg, Germany circa 1580
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Toys from Ancient Greece, around 2,300 years old
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Marble lace scarf decorating a statue by Louis-Philippe Mouchy from 1781
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Viking blacksmith tools and weapons found in a grave in Norway from around 800 AD
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Silk wedding dress of Helena Slicher circa 1759 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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3,700-year-old clay tablet showing applied geometry
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Church of the Holy Trinity in Hrastovlje, Slovenia from the 12th century
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Ivory and ebony chess pieces shaped like insects from Italy in 1790
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Vase with an octopus from Palaikastro, Greece 1500 BC
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Golden ring from Roman Egypt in the 1st century AD