18 ancient artifacts that will make you stop and think (19 photos)

Take a look at these objects, including a gilded dagger adorned with a sea monster, a golden snake from the Ptolemaic era, and birds from ancient Georgia.





These are not museum exhibits, but frozen voices of the past. Some used the dagger as a beautiful but deadly weapon, others wore an elegant bracelet as a talisman, and still others sewed golden birds onto their ceremonial clothing. Each artifact in this collection is like a door into a long-gone, alien life, which we can open right now.

1. Ulfberht Swords. 800-1000 AD



2. Transforming eagle mask, closed and open. Vancouver Island, Canada, 1880.





3. Bronze vessel with malachite inlay. China, Warring States, 475-221 BC.



4. Two life-size sculptures found in an ancient Roman tomb in Pompeii



5. Chlorite pendant in the shape of a black African man's head, Cyprus, 9th–8th centuries BC



6. Spondylus shell pendant with inlay of two fishing birds. Peru, Chimu civilization, 900-1470.



7. The Phaistos Disc - a fired clay disc with inscriptions that have never been deciphered. Found in Crete



8. A gilded copper dagger adorning the sea monster Makara. India, 16th century



9. Alcarraza vase depicting a jaguar from the La Tolita collection, National Museum of Ecuador, Quito



10. South Indian bureau-desk with ivory inlay, 18th century century



11. Greek gold snake bracelet, Ptolemaic period (c. 300-250 BC)



12. Iron medicine crusher. China, Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368 CE



13. Two bronze crabs. Japan, Edo period, 1800-1845.



14. Gold bird-shaped ornaments on clothing. Vani, Georgia, 600-430 BC AD



15. Coronation Chair of King Edward I, made by Walter of Durham. England, 1296



16. "Côte de Bretagne" ("Coast of Brittany") - a 107-carat red spinel, cut in 1749 in the shape of a dragon to decorate the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, commissioned by Louis XV



The spinel was stolen during the theft of the French Crown Jewels in 1792, but was returned by Louis XVIII in 1796.

17. The Gundestrup Cauldron, discovered in a peat bog, Gundestrup (Denmark), silver, partially gilded



18. Bearded Bull's Head with Eyes Lapis lazuli, Sumer, 2600-2450 BC.