Help Identify stone head i dug up.

Hi i dug this out the ground in lincolnshire, uk. It may be a piece of modern junk but it appears to be old, hand made, carved out of pourous rock, (maybe moulded) and painted black maybe. The part that interested me was the strange religious? hat hes wearing with the protrusion in the 3rd eye area. Can anyone help me identify it?





[edit on 5-4-2008 by redzi0n]



[edit on 5-4-2008 by redzi0n]

[edit on 5-4-2008 by redzi0n]

[edit on 5-4-2008 by redzi0n]

the facial features look Asian except for the facial hair. VERY interesting.....I wonder if it could be as old as when the Mongol hordes were riding roughshod around that part of the world?
Prolly not but that WOULD explain the hat, and Asian looking eyes......

the 'hat' seems to me a 'helmet' instead...

the protusion might be an adornment on the helmet which identifies the wearers tribe or clan.


the bust does appear to be a poured stone item, much like the mass produced garden Gnomes which are available

Another possibility, looking at the hat, might be that it is a stylized miners helmet. There have been many types through the years.

cormac

Looks like cast concrete, maybe a lawn dwarf fromthe 30s

Yes that was my first impression that it was not carved but possibly made from a mold, cast concrete or other material aggregate.

One way to help identify this would be to take a sample of the material to see if its concrete, clay type, stone (carved? then what type of stone), plaster etc.

It also looks like either painted black, weathered or blackened by fire. It possibly looks like a helmet or actually a TURBAN, an arabian fellow perhaps.

►Can you also give us info on the location of the find? How deep was the head? In what type of soil, impacted, loose, rocky etc.? What was the above surface like, city, town, rural, farmland, what history had it been in the past etc? Also what made you dig in that location, was anything else found in that dig?

Thanks and very interesting find!

[edit on 5-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

Very interesting find, thanks!

Unusual design of rim and ornamentation of headgear. Unusual facial/cranial features.

I'd like photos of the base and rear to see how it was attached and thickness of material.
Please put something like a ruler beside if you take more.

My guess at this stage would be mid to late nineteenth century, imported.

Originally posted by cormac mac airt
Another possibility, looking at the hat, might be that it is a stylized miners helmet. There have been many types through the years.

cormac

Originally posted by MajKarma
Looks like cast concrete, maybe a lawn dwarf fromthe 30s

Both of these options sound good. The miners headlamp looks dead on and the gentleman is the spitting image of a hardworking and hard-living miner. Perhaps it was part of a cemetery monument or memorial to fallen miners.

It most surely looks cast concrete or plaster aggregate. Possibly ornamentation for a building or other decorative component. You can also see what look like porousness or air bubbles during the casting. It could be erosional, but since not even the black paint (if thats what it is) is been completely removed, so erosion is unlikely.

Also ,we need more pictures please.

What is the BOTTOM like, is it part of a statue thats broken off, or is it a standalone head, important details.

[edit on 5-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

A grave stone marker was my first thought.
I'd look into the area's history and see what the land was used for.
Please post up some new shots of it as asked above, and I would add maybe a shot of the area or a link to a map?

great find

Nice find OP,


try taking it to the Collection in Lincoln , they will hopefully identify it for you.

However if you have removed it from a listed site in Lincolnshire , be aware you may get in trouble.
there are roughly 4500 reg sites in Lincolnshire.

if you need any help let me know as my best friend is a senior person at the Collection archives in Lincoln.

take care

snoopyuk
Lincoln

[edit on 5-4-2008 by snoopyuk]

Hm. This is speaking as an A2 Archaeology student. First off i would agree with the previous poster in that you take it to a collector. However, since you removed the item from the ground without being part of an archaeological excavation, most of the importance has been lost, as the context is as much important as the artefact.

What i would suggest you do is go to your nearest museum or contact the licolnshire H.E.R(historic environment record), in addition to being able to give you more information, you'll be adding information to the archaeological record.

Thanks

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess
the facial features look Asian except for the facial hair. VERY interesting.....I wonder if it could be as old as when the Mongol hordes were riding roughshod around that part of the world?
Prolly not but that WOULD explain the hat, and Asian looking eyes......

The other side is less worn i'll upload some more photos later, looks maybe less asian not sure though.

Originally posted by cormac mac airt
Another possibility, looking at the hat, might be that it is a stylized miners helmet. There have been many types through the years.

cormac

That was my first thought when i picked it up. The other side looks more like a miner.

Originally posted by MajKarma
Looks like cast concrete, maybe a lawn dwarf fromthe 30s

Looking closer im fairly confident it is cast, probably concrete, it looks like some sort of concrete mix made from the local lime stone here.

It's full of air bubbles suggesting its cast and not very well. I'd have failed if my aluminium casting looked like this at uni . But it must me hard to let the air escape on a complicated piece like this.

Originally posted by battlestargalactica
Yes that was my first impression that it was not carved but possibly made from a mold, cast concrete or other material aggregate.

One way to help identify this would be to take a sample of the material to see if its concrete, clay type, stone (carved? then what type of stone), plaster etc.

It also looks like either painted black, weathered or blackened by fire. It possibly looks like a helmet or actually a TURBAN, an arabian fellow perhaps.

►Can you also give us info on the location of the find? How deep was the head? In what type of soil, impacted, loose, rocky etc.? What was the above surface like, city, town, rural, farmland, what history had it been in the past etc? Also what made you dig in that location, was anything else found in that dig?

Thanks and very interesting find!

[edit on 5-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

I thought it looked blackened by fire, thought it might be part of a fireplace once maybe.

It's from 4 miles east of lincoln, lincolnshire uk. There was a Time Team, -uk tv prog with baldrick - dig about 2 miles away on the river witham (I know the exact location ) and i think they found the most artefacts ever in one place , it was a Roman Trading post. Pretty sure this isnt that old though.

Im doing a lawn and I raked it up, ive got a pic of the spot actually so ill upload later. It's only 3 inches tall by the way, thats grass seed in the picture near his beard.

It's the edge of the village, very close to farmland, It was in the top 2ft of soil we have 2 ft of rich top soil here on the fenland.

Apparently there were stables there before the houses were built, ill found out how old the houses are, about 40 - 50 years ago maybe. Found nothing else of interest while digging the garden for the lawn.

Ill update later with some more pics.

i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...
i161.photobucket.com...

thanks for the update,

see my previous post for my offer of help.

snnoyuk
Lincoln

►Ok I think we may have solved this, or at least some clues to the interesting puzzle! What is this mystery head you've found?

Garden Gnome.

Of course that term is a bit off, because 'garden gnome' evokes images such as this:



which is of course, WRONG. There are other types of waht I would class (humorously) as garden gnome, such as these:







The above being more accurately named, 'garden statuary', or 'garden angels' (no not guardian angel )

Here are some other types:









Ok that out of the way, anything that resembles your interesting find?







And finally the piece de resistance, this garden protector, looks strikingly similar, allowing for artistic changes throughout the decades (I believe your statue head may be from early 20th century or possibly late 19thcentury).



See the resemblance, mustache, eyebrows, turban or hat, with a slight bun in the center, eyes slightly slanted etc.

He is Saint Nicholas, the garden protector. We more commonly know him as SANTA CLAUS! The reason I say he is a garden statue/protector and not a traditionally statue per se, is that your find is more stylized, less conservative, but of course there is room for interpretation.

Here is another shot of jolly St. Nick:



Why have St. Nick as a protector of your garden or estate? (he could have been at some gate entrance as well).

St. Nick was known as a protector, protecting children, defending the falsely accused, saving persons from execution etc.





Thanks for the pictures and information OP, this was an interesting research item, everyone loves a mystery.

Question for the original poster: So have you had any dreams of Santa Claus, or male saintly figures in the past since finding this head? I ask because sometimes things like answers come to me in my dreams, wondering if you had any similar. It could be the subconscious mind at work, ie: your mind knew what it was, you just did not let it thru, your dreams then allow it to...just curious

[edit on 6-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

Interesting find.

It looks in a small way that the head is wearing a crown and not a hat.


Since you're putting in a lawn, why not invite some researchers over to dig?

That may take care of a lot of the hard work for you.


Would you have available - or the researchers have available - one of those electronic wheel-borne gadgets that look for differing densities underground?


Rich topsoil.
You're lucky, here in the Arizona Desert our soil is very alkaline which makes life difficult for gardeners.

Enjoyed the post greatly.
Gave you a star.