UNNECESSARY ARTEFACTS
Until you have… … As a Reenactor, You have no need for…
…Leather Turnshoes … Bone Iceskates
…Period Tunic … Slave Manacles
…Utility Seax … Lute
…Ceramic Cup … Drinking Horns
…Bowl … Metal Trencher
…Belt or Sash … Uhtred Sword
But you *never* want…
Spectacles
Cigarettes or cigars or smoking pipe
Sneakers, Harley boots, thigh-high boots or welted boots in general
A WWF belt that is eighteen inches wide; in fact,any belt wider than an inch and preferable half that
A fork
A horned or winged helmet
A pauldron
A fur cloak, cowl or breech clout
What accessories do you commonly see at events or sold by “thenty” sutlers that are especially aggravating if you have any sense of real reenacting is?
NEW ACADEMIA PAPER
New Academia publication in Academia!
AND IN MY POUCH
We cannot be certain that graves from the period are a truly accurate representation of what a person—poor or posh—would have kept in his pouch, but they are for the most part the only indication of what was held important, since there are no literary or graphic representations except for most pouches or bags. In “The Great Pouch Debate,” Andy McVie, et. al., notes that common objects found in pouches in graves included:
Needles and pins
Shears
Combs
Coins
Flint and Strike-a-Lights
Honestones
Weights (it is uncertain these were for practical use or were keepsakes of some sort)
Keepsakes or lucky charms such as quartz pebbles, horse teeth, broken Roman bracelets, teeth (the citation doers no say whether these are human or animal) and boars' tusks
This list should not be considered exhaustive, and bags might contain such items as pan pipes and simple tools such as spindle whorls.
In addition, gold and jewelry—for example gold and bead necklaces for women and golden rings and arm bands for men—was worn on the person and would not have probably been included in the bags. Scissors, shears, chatelaines and the such was often suspended for easy access. And knives—with the possible exception of fold knives—which were early versions of pocket knives–were generally kept in external sheathes suspended from belts, brooches or even the neck.
THE LAST HOLIDAY OPINIONS V
Every week in the month of December (and today), we will have a pop literature quiz. No real answers, but hopefully this will encourage controversy, debate and new books. We give four alternatives, but there are no wrong answers!
Week Five—Sagar
Njall’s saga
The Vinland Sagas
Egill’s Saga
Laxdæla Saga
Other __
folo1
The Anglo-Scandinavian Chronicles 