oddities

Once when touring a musuem, I saw this rusty item that resembled a PVC joint (you know, one of the L-shaped tubes). I stood there wondering why that was in a museum. Then I read the description, and it read something like, "utensil from 315B.C." Yeah, right.

Did it ever occur to the sun-stroked, volunteer-student archealogist, or the loopy college professor who never got fresh air, that the item could be any number of things? It could have been part of a handle on a water pitcher, or a pipe for running water, part of a machine, a spigot, or even a meat grinder! Sometimes I look at the things in my bathroom, and wonder what an excavator might label them 2,000 years down the road. I mean, look at a hairdryer. Would they consider that a weapon? The shape isn't all that different from a kitchen mixer. So how do all these people come up with such stuff?

I don't always ponder such stuff, but my brother's comment about cave drawings got me to thinking. For some bizarre reason I always thought cave drawings were maps or teachings or something. But what if they weren't? What if it was actually some kids drawing on the walls of the house? Or a housewife tired of looking at plain rock?

Speaking of plain things, I've got two projects I had really wanted to finish before the end of February. Seeing as the day is almost over, which means the month is almost over, I had better go get busy.