Flyting Was Medieval England’s Version of an Insult-Trading Rap Battle | Atlas Obscura

Flyting from Norse folklore and Old England should be incorporated into American politics. (Photo: Public Domain/WikiCommons)

Imagine a world that had swapped its guns for puns and its IEDs for repartees. Such a planet is possible if only those in power would manage their conflicts with flyting, the time-honored sport of verbal jousting.

Flyting is a stylized battle of insults and wits that was practiced most actively between the fifth and 16th centuries in England and Scotland. Participants employed the timeless tools of provocation and perversion as well as satire, rhetoric, and early bathroom humor to publicly trounce opponents. The term “flyting” comes from Old English and Old Norse words for “quarrel” and “provocation.” ‘Tis a form of highly poetic abuse, or highly abusive poetry—a very early precursor to MTV’s Yo Mama and Eminem’s 8 Mile.

“Court flyting” sometimes served as entertainment for royals such as Scottish kings James IV and James V. The most famous surviving exchange is The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie, which was performed in the early 16th century by…

Source: Flyting Was Medieval England’s Version of an Insult-Trading Rap Battle | Atlas Obscura

1,500-year-old wine presses found in Netivot, Israel | Ancientfoods

Original Article:

mfa.gov.il

November 2015

The excavation revealed the remains of a late Byzantine period village dating to the 6th and 7th centuries. One of the most impressive finds of the excavation is a sophisticated wine press that was used to mass-produce wine.

(Communicated by the Israel Antiquities Authority)

In the course of preparations for the construction of a new residential neighborhood in the town of Netivot in the Negev, the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted a salvage excavation of the site. Youths from Netivot and Ashkelon were encouraged to volunteer in the dig, along with a group of future IDF recruits currently performing a year of community service in the area.

The excavation revealed the remains of a late Byzantine period village dating to the 6th and 7th centuries C.E., including a workshop, various buildings and two wine presses. Fragments of marble latticework in the form of a cross and…

Source: 1,500-year-old wine presses found in Netivot, Israel | Ancientfoods

Archaeologists discover previously unknown Anglo-Saxon industrial island in Lincolnshire | Culture24

This sceat was discovered on an Anglo-Saxon island in Lincolnshire © Portable Antiquities Scheme

An Anglo-Saxon island which could have been a monastic or trading centre in Lincolnshire is being described as one of the most important discoveries in decades by archaeologists, who say hundreds of dress pins, 21 styli and a “huge” number of 7th and 8th century coins are merely an “enticing glimpse” of an ancient settlement…

Source: Archaeologists discover previously unknown Anglo-Saxon industrial island in Lincolnshire | Culture24

Pompeii: The First Navigation Map | Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project

The PBMP’s first full map for navigation is now online. You can start to explore Pompeii in the map embedded below, or go to the full site for more space and options. If you want to customize the map or…

Source: Pompeii: The First Navigation Map | Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project

Sutton Hoo?

In 624, at a windswept English coastal town with the comical name of Sutton Hoo, the royal ship of an Anglo-Saxon King was loaded to the gunwales with treasures beyond compare. Its manifest would list piles of precious metals, jewel-encrusted odds and ends, rare coins, arms from the far north, tableware from the far south and above all, a spectacular golden war helmet. The whole shining ship, 90 feet of overreaching opulence from stem to stern, mocked the dusk into which the sovereign’s world was lapsing. When at last, every artifact had been neatly stowed and the King brought aboard, the vessel embarked upon one final voyage home. Its strange journey did not head out over the seas, but rather into the Earth and covered over with dirt until a mound rose up from the hole. The ship traveled into a darkness very much like that which Western Civilization itself was falling, for this was the…

Source: Sutton Hoo?