Thread by @orridge_anna

1/ Merry Christmas everyone! I'm a very odd and eccentric person, so after some Yuletide joy and wine drinking, my thoughts turn to what archaeologists of the future might make of my remains if I were to die in a sudden disaster, like the Vesuvius eruption.
(Quick disclaimer...

2/ I'm not an archaeologist - just someone who takes a keen amateur interest in these things)
After, let's say, a thousand years, and without very particular conditions of preservation that are unlikely in this climate, it's likely that all skin, gristle and textiles would have

3/ rotted into nothingness.
So, what's left?
My bones.
Presuming they're in a decent state of preservation, archaeologists would be able to tell from my brow ridges and gracile bones that I was probably a natal woman.
The eruption of my wisdom teeth and the condition of my

4/ pelvis would indicate I was 30-50 years old at time of death and had had at least one child.
Analysis of bones would indicate I had a land based diet, lived in N. Europe and was well-nourished. Lack of joint wear and tear shows I had undertaken no strenuous physical labour.

5/ What else would be left of me... most likely the sparkly beads on my clothes - both on the collar of my dress and my cardigan. They're made of gum/plastic - made to imitate gems, but very cheap. In the far future, finds like this would be plentiful. Archaeologists would likely

6/ interpret them as they now interpret beads and shells used as ubiquitous ornamentation in the distant past.
It's likely my jewellery would be preserved. The rings I'm wearing are white and yellow gold, studded with sapphires and diamonds. An archaeologist might well

7/ regard these as high status goods. Certainly, they are my wedding and engagement rings, and quite expensive. But I am, in fact, middle class. Would they know that, in this particular era and civilisation, it was not at all uncommon for even quite ordinary people to own goods

8/ like this? Who knows? It likely depends on how much data they have available.
Of particular interest would be the necklace I'm wearing = a silver chain with a wrought iron arrowhead as a pendant.
Considering the lack of wear and tear on my bones and my nourishment... could I

9/ be a warrior queen? Demonstrating my prowess through the plunder of the battle field?
For the record - no. My husband, knowing that I'm writing a piece of fiction set in the Bronze Age, thought I would like a piece of jewellery that is rooted in that period.
This is all...

10/ a bit of Christmas silliness, of course. But it goes to show... it would be incredibly easy to misinterpret the material remains of cultures that have left no written records, wouldn't it?
Happy Christmas to you all. Here's to no devastating natural disasters in the next 24

11/ hours. Because we've definitely had enough of the manmade variety in the last year
❤️❤️❤️