A Museum of 500,000 Oddities

[beth]

Reachable only through an arched doorway hidden in Oxford’s Natural History Museum, this treasure trove has everything from nose flutes to totem poles to shrunken heads.


The 30cm-long, rolled-up scrap of shark skin in front of me has a story to tell. More than 240 years ago, it was being used – regularly, by the rather grizzled look of the thing – by persons unknown in the Polynesian archipelago of Tonga to smooth down clubs, bowls and other wooden objects. Call it part predator, part sandpaper.





This might be a great destination for one of your group's "outings", mouse.

Go here, read this .. very interesting.

www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161122-a-museum-of-500000-oddities

[men an tol]

Dec 6, 2016 0:52:17 GMT -5 beth said:

Reachable only through an arched doorway hidden in Oxford’s Natural History Museum, this treasure trove has everything from nose flutes to totem poles to shrunken heads.


The 30cm-long, rolled-up scrap of shark skin in front of me has a story to tell. More than 240 years ago, it was being used – regularly, by the rather grizzled look of the thing – by persons unknown in the Polynesian archipelago of Tonga to smooth down clubs, bowls and other wooden objects. Call it part predator, part sandpaper.





This might be a great destination for one of your group's "outings", mouse.

Go here, read this .. very interesting.

www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161122-a-museum-of-500000-oddities

I would love to visit this museum. And as well, I'd love to visit Tinengal. Yes, it is obvious that it is not the home of Arthur as its construction is well after the period most scholars assign to Arthur (the late 400s).

For we here in America, this is our history too.

[beth]

Another thing, these BBC articles usually have other very interesting features listed below the main one. Keep scrolling down for a whole afternoon of reading and discovery.