chaotic-archaeologist

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Basil Wolverton

#Carcinisation

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I am being so brave and answering some very frustrating emails with grace and humility.

#he speaks #he kvetchea #academia #academic problems #he kvetches

[chaotic-archaeologist]

The one bizarre thing to me about textiles is that warp-weighted weaving is at least 6500 years old, but our oldest knitted artifacts are only ~1000 years old, and crochet 200 years old. Even though you need less equipment to knit (two sticks) or crochet (one hook) compared to warp-weighted weaving (frame, loom weights, batting, heddles). Why the big gaps between these inventions? And why did each one appear and spread when it did?

#textiles #historical textiles #fashion history #fiber arts

[chaotic-archaeologist]

FWIW, "mauve" was one of the coal-tar dyes developed in the mid-19th century that made eye-wateringly bright clothing fashionable for a few decades.

It was an eye-popping magenta purple

HOWEVER, like most aniline dyes, it faded badly, to a washed-out blue-grey ...

...which was the color ignorant youngsters in the 1920s associated with “mauve”.

(This dress is labeled "mauve" as it is the color the above becomes after fading).

They colored their vision of the past with washed-out pastels that were NOTHING like the eye-popping electric shades the mid-Victorians loved. This 1926 fashion history book by Paul di Giafferi paints a hugely distorted, I would say dishonest picture of the past.

Ever since then this faded bluish lavender and not the original electric eye-watering hot pink-purple is the color associated with the word “mauve”.

#fashion history #mauve

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Yeah I know I have it saved in a drive and on Zotero and an annotation in a local file, but what if I suddenly don't have access to any of those things and I need to answer a life or death question about this very specific article I downloaded from a professor that isn't available anywhere else???

deleting files makes me so scared what if i Needed That

#wait no that's my emotional support pdf #academic humor

[chaotic-archaeologist]

We've worked out an agreement where we're sharing (mostly)

I am to have stolen my dad's heating pad AND his blanket, heehoo!

#llywelyn the little #puppy pestering

[chaotic-archaeologist]

The saga continues: he made a big fuss like he usually does when he's out of food/water or needs to go out, but when I got up to see what he needed the little stinker IMMEDIATELY went and sat down on my cozy setup

I am to have stolen my dad's heating pad AND his blanket, heehoo!

#llywelyn the little #puppy pestering

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Items from The Galloway Hoard (circa 900CE), including beads and metalware, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

#I... want to put these all in my mouth #artifacts

[chaotic-archaeologist]

public library save me

#library humor #libraries #library

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I survey my kingdom (the dog park) from my wolf den (the picnic table)

[chaotic-archaeologist]

JOB ALERT: MSCA-PF Joint application at the University of Granada (Spain) Department of Prehistory and Archaeology

If anyone is interested in a two-year Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Granada within the field of late antique archaeology, please check this link with the basic information.

#archaeology as a job #job posting

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I would like everyone to know that I MADE that blanket and that he has his own heating pad...

I am to have stolen my dad's heating pad AND his blanket, heehoo!

#llywelyn the little

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Yo I feel like the idea that the only historical women who counted are the ones who defied society and took on the traditionally male roles is… not actually that feminist. It IS important that women throughout history were warriors and strategists and politicians and businesswomen, but so many of us were “lowly” weavers and bakers and wives and mothers and I feel like dismissing THOSE roles dismisses so many of our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers and the shit they did to support our civilization with so little thanks or recognition.

#women's history #fashion history #historic textiles #textiles #textile history

[chaotic-archaeologist]

If you don't see me in the lab at Los Guachimontones the next few days it is because I am going to New Orleans to present a paper at the annual Society for American Archaeology conference. But instead of presenting a paper on West Mexico, my paper is on archaeology and video game preservation. Specifically, how archaeology can help save historic video games from being lost forever. I'll be back on Friday!

#digital archaeology #video game archaeology

[chaotic-archaeologist]

#classics humor #ancient rome #a scandalous sexual incident happened on the way to the forum

[chaotic-archaeologist]

While we’re on the subject of names, is there an explanation for how traditional nicknames came about that are seemingly unrelated to, or have little in common with, the original name?

ie- John/Jack, Richard/Dick, Henry/Harry/Hank, Charles/Chuck, Margaret/Peggy/Daisy, Sarah/Sally, Mary/Molly, Anne/Nan, etc

I am actually over a week into researching a huge follow-up post (probably more than one if I’m being honest) about the history of nickname usage, so I will be going into this in much, much more detail at a hopefully not-so-later date - if I have not lost my mind. (Two days ago I spent three hours chasing down a source lead that turned out to be a typographical error from 1727 that was then quoted in source after source for the next 150 years.)

As a preview though, here’s some info about the names you mentioned:

The origins of a good portion of common English nicknames come down to the simple fact that people really, really like rhyming things. Will 🠞Bill, Rob🠞Bob, Rick🠞Dick, Meg🠞Peg.

It may seem like a weird reason, but how many of you have known an Anna/Hannah-Banana? I exclusively refer to my Mom’s cat as Toes even though her name is Moe (Moesie-Toesies 🠞 Toesies 🠞 Toes).

Jack likely evolved from the use of the Middle English diminutive suffix “-chen” - pronounced (and often spelled) “-kyn” or “kin”. The use of -chen as a diminutive suffix still endures in modern German - as in “liebchen” = sweetheart (lieb “love” + -chen).

John (Jan) 🠞 Jankin 🠞 Jackin 🠞 Jack.

Hank was also originally a nickname for John from the same source. I and J were not distinct letters in English until the 17th Century. “Iankin” would have been nearly indistinguishable in pronunciation from “Hankin” due to H-dropping. It’s believed to have switched over to being a nickname for Henry in early Colonial America due to the English being exposed to the Dutch nickname for Henrik - “Henk”.

Harry is thought to be a remnant of how Henry was pronounced up until the early modern era. The name was introduced to England during the Norman conquest as the French Henri (On-REE). The already muted nasal n was dropped in the English pronunciation. With a lack of standardized spelling, the two names were used interchangeably in records throughout the middle ages. So all the early English King Henrys would have written their name Henry and pronounced it Harry.

Sally and Molly likely developed simply because little kids can’t say R’s or L’s. Mary 🠞 Mawy 🠞 Molly. Sary 🠞 Sawy 🠞 Sally.

Daisy became a nickname for Margaret because in French garden daisies are called marguerites.

Nan for Anne is an example of a very cool linguistic process called rebracketing, where two words that are often said/written together transfer letters/morphemes over time. The English use of “an” instead of “a” before words beginning with vowels is a common cause of rebracketing. For example: the Middle English “an eute” became “a newt”, and “a napron” became “an apron”. In the case of nicknames the use of the archaic possessive “mine” is often the culprit. “Mine Anne” over time became “My Nan” as “mine” fell out of use. Ned and Nell have the same origin.

Oddly enough the word “nickname” is itself a result of rebracketing, from the Middle English “an eke (meaning additional) name”.

I realized earlier this week that my cat (Toe’s sister) also has a rebracketing nickname. Her name is Mina, but I call her Nom Nom - formed by me being very annoying and saying her name a bunch of time in a row - miNAMiNAMiNAM.

Chuck is a very modern (20th century) nickname which I’ll have to get back to you on as I started my research in the 16th century and am only up to the 1810s so far lol.

#linguistics #etymology #nicknames #there's my something new I learned for today

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I cooks for himb! And by cooks I mean trim off the tops around the stem of the strawberries and add them to his kibble. Llelo has decided this is worthy of four Michelin stars.

Um please please please you to put the strawberries down where I can reach them

#llywelyn the little #SNACKIES #off duty #he speaks