How Art Made The World 说服的艺术 -04

As they examined these more closely, they realized they were in fact ornaments, probably hair clasps, and both beautifully crafted. They may not look very much now, tiny with just a very simple pattern round the edge, but at the time when these were created and worn, that's nearly four and a half thousand years ago, these were probably the greatest treasures that anyone possessed in the British Isles.

For the first time, gold had been melted and shaped and then transformed into an ornament. This was a new kind of art and the first of its kind in Britain. The big question then was: whose was it Archeologists needed to examine the skeleton in more detail and what they discovered was that this man was not from the Stonehenge area. He'd come from Central Europe. He was a foreigner who'd made an epic journey to get to Britain.

It's a journey without compare at this time. And to cross the sea, he would only have had a dugout canoe or a coracle. It's a long and very dangerous journey.

How was it that a stranger from hundreds of miles away had come to be buried with all the trappings of a great and revered leader

People would have known him as an exotic and an important person. He had something that nobody else had and he had the skills to transform raw metal into these finished objects. He had knowledge and he had power.

It was the gold, so exquisite and rare that it created the image of a leader. These would have been like the crown jewels strictly reserved for a leader of great importance: art fit for a king. Just imagine how he would once have appeared to his subjects. Our king would have looked magnificent. Dressed in a splendid leather tunic, his body and face lit up by shiny metals never before seen. The people who lived around Stonehenge would have worn nothing but simple animal skins. This man's appearance alone must have mesmerized them.


words and usages to remember:

1.hair clasp: 发夹

2.dugout canoe: A A light, slender boat made of a hollowed-out log. 一个用中空的木料做的轻而小的独木舟

3. coracle:A small, rounded boat 轻便的小舟

4.trappings: 装饰

eg: He needs no trappings of fame.

5. tunic: 外套

6. mesmerize: spellbing, enchant, enthrall 迷住

eg: He would mesmerize the audience by the sheer force of appearance.