20 ancient artifacts that look like they were made yesterday (21 photos)

You can learn about the lives of bygone eras not only from textbooks. There are things that have retained the warmth of their owners' hands and have remained unchanged, despite age.





Roman artisans carved marble sculptures of puppies with such authenticity that the little ones seem alive. The Pullman car in this collection resembles a veritable palace on wheels, where every detail exudes luxury. And the antique pistol, it turns out, fired not bullets, but scents. These objects have not only outlived their eras. They tell their stories without a single word.

1. Marble tombstone of the Dossi Rampinelli Spalenza family, made by Giovanni Battista Lombardi in 1856, located in the Monumental Cemetery in Brescia, Italy.



2. Duke Charles's Chamber at Gripsholm Castle is the only completely preserved room in a Vasa-period castle and one of the oldest Renaissance interiors in the world. Sweden





The decor has remained virtually unchanged since this room was created for Gustav Vasa's youngest son in the 1570s.

3. In the late 1800s, explorers photographing the Guatemalan jungle captured this image of Stela K in Quiriguá, an ancient Mayan city near the Motagua River.



By that time, the monument had already stood for over 1,200 years.

4. A gold perfume stand or attardan in the shape of a lotus bud, Chennai, India



5. A Roman marble sculpture depicting four puppies curled up in a sleeping position



Excavated in the ruins of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, 1st century BC, currently housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Italy

6. 39,000-year-old Anoa rock painting. Sumpang Bita Cave, Indonesia



7. Photograph of the interior of a Pullman car from the 1890s



8. Italian cuirassier's closed helmet, circa 1615 years



9. A faience cat ring, dating to the New Kingdom of Egypt, 18th Dynasty, circa 1390 BC.



10. Mycenaean daggers, 16th-14th centuries BC.



11. Bronze mirror inlaid with turquoise and gold, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States period (c. 475–221 BCE), from China



12. Helmets of the Bengal Sultanate, which ruled between the 14th and 16th centuries centuries



13. A pistol-shaped flint perfume atomizer, decorated with gold, enamel, and pearls, with a hidden clock, made in Geneva in 1805



14. A 2,300-year-old tomb in southwestern Turkey, once revered as a sacred Islamic site, has been revealed to be the grave of the ancient Greek wrestler Diagoras Rhodes



15. Ceramic brazier with three spherical stands, found in Tula, Mexico. Late Postclassic period (1250-1521 CE), now housed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.



16. Two-faced bronze head of a deity. The only known example from the Shang Dynasty



This beast-man idol was once crowned with feathers and used as a ritual scepter for communication with the deity. China, circa 1200 BCE.

17. Tutankhamun's large gold collar in the shape of a vulture (1323 BC) with elongated wings consisting of 250 segments and inlaid with polychrome glass.



It was placed on the mummy's chest in such a way that it covered the entire ribcage down to the shoulders.

18. Baroque pulpit in the parish church in Dobroszów, Poland



Built around 1750, rebuilt in 1856, made of wood by an unknown local sculptor.

19. Snuffbox, Jamacoque culture, Ecuador, circa 300 BC - 600 AD.



20. Gold turtle necklace from the Kingdom of Colchis (modern-day Georgia), circa 450 BC.