The Shorwell helmet (replica pictured) is a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon helmet found near Shorwell on the Isle of Wight in southern England. It was one of the grave goods of a high-status Anglo-Saxon warrior, and was found with other objects such as a pattern-welded sword and hanging bowl. One of only six known Anglo-Saxon helmets, alongside those from Benty Grange, Sutton Hoo, Coppergate, Wollaston, and Staffordshire, it is the sole example to derive from the continental Frankish style rather than the contemporaneous Northern crested style used in England and Scandinavia. Exhibiting hardly any decoration other than a speculative exterior leather covering, this was a utilitarian fighting helmet. It was simply and sturdily designed out of eight pieces of riveted iron, and its only decorative elements were paired with functional uses. The helmet's plainness belies its significance; helmets were rare in Anglo- Saxon England, and appear to have been limited to the higher classes.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorwell_helmet
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
American Civil War: The United States Congress passed the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, asserting that the war was solely to prevent the dissolution of the nation, although this was repealed five months later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crittenden%E2%80%93Johnson_Resolution
1893:
The Corinth Canal, which bisects the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, was formally opened, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea's Saronic Gulf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal
1978:
Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed in a police ambush at Cerro Maravilla in Ponce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Maravilla_murders
2000:
Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde en route from Paris to New York City, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all one hundred passengers and nine crew members, as well as four people on the ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
mink: 1. (plural mink or minks) Any of various semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals in the Mustelinae subfamily, similar to weasels, with dark fur, native to Europe and America, of which two species in different genera are extant: the American mink (Neovison vison) and the European mink (Mustela lutreola). 2. (plural mink) The fur or pelt of a mink, used to make apparel. 3. (plural minks) An article of clothing made of mink. 4. (slang, pejorative, Scotland) (plural minks) An individual with poor personal hygiene; a smelly person. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mink
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
People unfit for freedom — who cannot do much with it — are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have-not" type of self. If Hitler had had the talents and the temperament of a genuine artist, if Stalin had had the capacity to become a first-rate theoretician, if Napoleon had had the makings of a great poet or philosopher they would hardly have developed the all- consuming lust for absolute power. Freedom gives us a chance to realize our human and individual uniqueness. Absolute power can also bestow uniqueness: to have absolute power is to have the power to reduce all the people around us to puppets, robots, toys, or animals, and be the only man in sight. Absolute power achieves uniqueness by dehumanizing others. --Eric Hoffer https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer