From a Cave Bear to a Duchess's Crown: 18 Artifacts That Bring History to Life (19 photos)

Tens of thousands of years ago, in a deep cave in southern France, an unknown artist drew 14 lines on the wall.





Just 14 lines, and from the stony silence a cave bear was born, looking at us through time, its muzzle appearing three-dimensional and alive. This bear from Chauvet Cave is the oldest in our collection, but far from the only one that can tell stories without words. It's joined by the golden head of the falcon-headed Horus, hidden beneath the floor of a temple in Egypt, and a Roman general who was "gifted" someone else's head 1,500 years later. Also here is the crown of an English princess and a stunningly detailed pie maker carved from a narwhal tusk by an unknown whaler.

Each of these objects is more than just an artifact. It is a frozen moment in someone's life, someone's prayer, someone's love or hope. It is a dialogue across millennia, made possible only because someone once poured their soul into stone, gold, or clay. Let's take a closer look.

1. The image of a cave bear in the Chauvet Cave in France was drawn approximately 32,000 years ago using just 14 lines.



The artist used a technique known as shading. Using his fingers or a piece of skin, he worked on the muzzle and emphasized the contours of the head and front of the body.

2. Vintage Rat Purse





Designed in the late Victorian/early Edwardian style. Made by Paul Frey for the famous French jewelers between 1900 and 1905. These pieces are very rare and hard to find. The jewelers also made pigs and hares.

3. A whaler's pie roll, fashioned from narwhal tusk, circa 1850.



4. A postcard from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.



A caricature depicting a woman using an umbrella to ward off a stork carrying her newborn baby. The caption reads, "And the villain still pursues her."

5. Intricately carved wooden entrance to the 7th-century Lakshana Devi Temple in India.



6. Ceramic figurine of a horse in ceremonial attire. China, Northern Wei Dynasty, 6th century CE.



7. Orpheus Cup from the Rothschild collection, made in Vienna and Prague between 1600 and 1642 CE.



It features a base with Atlas, a bowl with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and a lid depicting Orpheus and Diana. Made of gold, enamel, and rubies, it is currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

8. The Reliquary of the Holy Blood, now kept in the crypt of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer in France



This is a masterpiece of 14th-century goldsmithing, attributed to Guillaume Jullien.

9. Three baked clay faces representing the cycle of life and death, from ancient Mexico



A toothless old man, depicted in two halves, encloses a young man in the center. The deceased's split face frames them both. Probably Aztec work, circa 1300 CE.

10. Tripod vessel with white lilies. Mayan civilization, 300–600 CE.



11. Liturgical comb from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, circa 1130 CE.



12. Katar dagger with Tanjore metal inlay. South India, 1650



13. Roman sculpture depicting a man in military uniform with a modern head of Julius Caesar



The artifact dates to the 2nd–3rd centuries CE. It is housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

14. Gold head of the falcon-headed god Horus, lord of the sun and patron god of royalty



It was discovered under the floor of the main hall of his temple in Hierakonpolis, Egypt. The eyes are inlaid with obsidian. Old Kingdom, c. 2345–2181 BC, now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

15. Silver filigree dish in the shape of a leaf. China, 1740-1750.



16. Two ceramic parrots. Peru, 3rd century CE.



17. Gold ring with a stag holding a branch. Germany, circa 1550-1600 CE.



18. Crown of Margaret of York. England, dated 1468