[Ansteorra] Ancient Roman Transvestite

[Jane Sitton]

I am reminded of a satirical article in Games magazine
from back in the 80's, where archaeologists of the
future do just that when discovering a motel.  MOVIEA
and MOVIEB, they decide, were the gods, and the t.v.
set was the shrine.

One wonders what archaeologists of the future would
think upon finding the remains of a SCAdian with say,
dental work or some other sign of the 20th century,
yet clothing or jewelry or some other momento
portraying an earlier period.

Then there is the story Logan the smith is fond of
telling:  Rolf the Red went on a dig once with some
archaeologists who discovered an iron trove.  Amidst
the hoard of bits and pieces of iron, they found an
oddly twisted bar, to which they could assign no
meaning.  Rolf came over to investigate, and started
laughing.  It was a portable hole.  The next time he
saw Logan, he said, "dang, man, I knew you'd been
making them a long time, but 1000 years??"

Sometimes all one can do is guess.

Madelina de Lindesaya

--- Maria <walositoad at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  I must agree with Diarmid, here.  I'm not familiar
> to anyone, I'm sure, because my schedule is AWFUL
> for eventing.  However, as I was raised in an
> archaeological and anthropologically-leaning
> household, I'd like to point out that we all have a
> toilet in our home.  Since it is so very common to
> our culture, what prevents it from being a deity --
> obviously it is vitally important - - we ALL have
> one.  Some of us have more than one.
> My dad's also made this point about televisions,
> telephones and other objects.  Some poor ignorant
> archaeologist of the future finds the physical
> remains of a mostly digitally-recorded culture.
> S/he doesn't have access to the digital records
> because the technology has changed dramatically and
> our PERMANENT RECORDS are GONE.  This person has
> never seen any of these tools before.  What an
> amazing number of gods!  Being an archaeologist
> himself, my dad is very familiar with assuming
> stupid things because you can't think of another
> logical explanation. . .
> Great job, Diarmid.  :)  But the physical evidence
> (the grave painting accompanying the article) gives
> a strong impression that this transvestite thing was
> not for fun.  Most grave portraits of this time
> showed the person with the tools of his/her trade.
> Cybelean priests are the only men who would be
> wearing dresses to work. . .logically speaking.  But
> then again, where-ever there are humans, there is
> sure to be a non-logical moment. ;)  No telling for
> sure.
>
> Goodness, that turned into a ramble!  Fair well,
> kind gentles!
> Maria Theresa the Younger aka Maria the Tremendously
> Bored

> From: "Marc Carlson"
> To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 13:36:16 -0500
> Subject: [Ansteorra] RE: Transvestite Ancient Roman
> Unearthed in Britain
> Reply-To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
>
> I find the conclusions that sometimes are made based
> on minimal evidence
> truly fascinating. A skeleton wearing women's
> jewelry
> must have been a transvestite in life (in fact a
> castrated worshipper of
> Cybele). Okay....
>
> You know, sometimes people are buried in things that
> reflect their lives
> exactly, sometimes they are buried with things that
> are just meaningful to
> them.
>
> Marc/Diarmaid

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com