How to make sense of treasure.

How to make sense of treasure. Treasures in themselves are fetishes. Only the admirer can make'treasure' of a find in isolation; but to wonder about it astreasure opens apt questions about why the thing was valued, by whom andunder what conditions. It was worrying, then, when the FitzwilliamMuseum Fitzwilliam Museum,building erected to house the art collection and library bequeathed in 1816 to Cambridge Univ. by Richard, Viscount Fitzwilliam. Both the collection and the building have been enlarged by later bequests, notably that of Charles Brinsley Marlay in , Cambridge University's art collection, took in anexhibition of striking ancient finds returning to the Georgian NationalMuseum from the USA (Smithsonian Institution and New York University New York University,mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the ).For the usual focus on the intrinsic qualities of fine art sitsawkwardly with archaeological concern for context. The Fitzwilliam didtend to isolate the exhibits; but, here, that yielded an advantage aswell as a difficulty. Mounted from October 2008 to January 2009, with a design and atitle of the Fitzwilliam's own, From the Land of the Golden Fleece:Tomb Treasures of Ancient Georgia comprised nearly 150 finds from Vani,dated to c. 450-250 BC. The Museum displayed, at the same time, 155coins and money pieces from around the Black Sea, mostly from its owncollection, ranging from c. 500 BC to the 200s AID. Considering therecent war in Georgia, visitors will have recognised Golden Fleece as anappeal to the West. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Vani was an aristocratic centre in Colchis, fabled destination ofJason the Greek and his Argonauts. It has been investigated more or lessconsistently since 1947 (Chi 2008: 31-2). Periodic meetings on theresults began in 1977, and next year's is expected to assess thefunerary fu��ner��ar��y?adj.Of or suitable for a funeral or burial.[Latin fner assemblages (Chi 2008: 32, 126). Golden Fleece opened with asketch of Colchis's history and pictures of Vani and the region.The first group of finds illustrated living, worship and, indeed, war.It also demonstrated Colchian smiths' superb skills. In the middlestood the life-size torso and thighs of a young man in bronze--Greek inform but not in the technique of casting. The shapes and iconography ofceramic, bronze and silver vessels (kantharoi, situlae) and attachmentsseemed to confirm the taste for wine; there were little ornaments ingold and semi-precious materials, recovered from graves; and there werecoins. Apparently specially buried in or beside a building interpretedas a shrine were vernacular iron figurines and a Hellenistic bronzefigurine, each fitted with gold ornaments. There was also the head of abattering ram. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The rest of the exhibition was given over to five others of the 28tombs excavated so far. They seem to have been associated withdwellings. Grave 11 yielded silverware and an astonishing array of goldand silver adornments, including items from both the Pontic area andPersia. The principal interment (we are told) was a woman, accompaniedby three other corpses and, 'outside' the tomb, a horse (Chi2008: 129). Grave 6 too was of a woman, laden with gold and accompaniedby glassware. Along with a diadem diadem,in ancient times, the fillet of silk, wool, or linen tied about the head of a king, queen, or priest as a distinguishing mark. Later, it was a band of gold, which gave rise to the crown. In heraldry, the diadem is one of the arched bars that support the crown. and ear-rings, she had a delicate andcolourfully inlaid in��laid?v.Past tense and past participle of inlay.adj.1. Set into a surface in a decorative pattern: a mahogany dresser with an inlaid teak design.2. pectoral pectoral/pec��to��ral/ (pek��ter-il) thoracic. pec��to��raladj.1. Relating to or situated in the breast or chest.2. , evidently Achaemenid but showing Egyptianinspiration. Grave 24 held a body lavishly provided with minutely workedgold and silver and evidently shrouded with multi-coloured beads(Figures 1-2). Accompanying it were four bodies also well bedecked butnot in gold. The party had silver and bronze tableware and ceramics bothColchian and Greek. Inspiration for the embossed 'animal art'from Graves 6 and 24 seems both Persian and Scythian. Grave 9 yieldedarrowheads and spearheads, goldwork goldwork,ornaments, jewelry, and vessels created from gold. Such works have figured in almost every stage of civilization as symbols of wealth and power.The Ancient WorldThe earliest-known fine goldwork is from Ur in Mesopotamia. Dating from c. , including signet rings, and jars(amphorae) and tableware. Grave 4 (we are told) was a girl's (Chi2008: 199), with adornments in gold and semi-precious stones and a mostelegant silver cup (kylix). The exhibition's chief technical merit was generous spacing.Small and intricate exhibits need that; and it was respectful tovisitors too. One ornament was displayed on a bracket for a closer look;and attachments were mounted to explain their function. Helpfully too,the gallery walls were painted neutral grey. The cases, lighting,pictures and most of the texts were simple, clear and succinct. Optionaloral commentary on five judiciously selected items was deliveredpersonably by the Museum's director, archaeologist Timothy Potts,encouraging observation, reflection and comparison much better thanother such 'audios'. Yet the archaeological information wasimprecise. There were one or two hints about the division of labour butfew visitors can have worked out how the gold thread from Grave 9 and alumpy little ingot ingotMass of metal cast into a size and shape such as a bar, plate, or sheet convenient to store, transport, and work into a semifinished or finished product. The term also refers to a mold in which metal is so cast. suggest that the smiths worked in Vani itself (seeChi 2008: 92-3). The unevenly edited catalogue (Chi 2008) is equallyvague; not consistently easy to relate to the exhibits; and apparentlynot quite complete. It offers a brief discussion of the burialrites--distinctive in Colchis--but none on the bones. Then too thelay-out obscured distinctions between the assemblages and associationswithin assemblages. The balance of art to archaeology, so to speak, was60:40--better than expected but still the wrong way round. Acknowledgements I benefited from discussions with Jane McIntosh, Susan Oosthuizen,Carole Pegg and Helen Strudwick, the curator. Reference CHI, J.Y. (ed.) 2008. Wine, worship, and sacrifice: the goldengraves of ancient Vani. New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (NY): Institute for the Study of theAncient World. N. James, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge,Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK