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Medieval English leather backpack discovered

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:12 pm
by Elleth
Now THIS is interesting....

Found in an excavation at the Oxford friary, c. AD1224-1538 is an item described as a "leather backpack."

I'm really curious for more details: I've never heard about proper "backpacks" as we know them in this historical context.
I can't wait for more details to come out!
Trenches-England-Oxford-Backpack-Styluses.jpg
Trenches-England-Oxford-Backpack-Styluses.jpg (246.65 KiB) Viewed 6967 times
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/304- ... greyfriars
(If the original link goes down, the caption on that photo has copyright credit for Oxford Archaeology and is captioned "Leather backpack (left) and styluses (right)")

I can't find any more information at this point, but next time I'm at the bookstore I'll have to look up the magazine. Fascinating!

Re: Medieval English leather backpack discovered

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:33 pm
by caedmon

Re: Medieval English leather backpack discovered

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:42 pm
by Elleth
Thank you caedmon! I poked about on their site a bit trying to find dig notes, but you were clearly a better detective than me. :)

You're right of course. In the event the page goes down, here's the "backpack"
Geraldine-Crann-Finds-Supervisor-at-Oxford-Archaeology-with-the-leather-bag.jpg
Geraldine-Crann-Finds-Supervisor-at-Oxford-Archaeology-with-the-leather-bag.jpg (56.98 KiB) Viewed 6955 times
https://oxfordarchaeology.com/sites/16- ... e-westgate

harumph. Should have known it was too good to be true.
Never believe the headlines I guess. :/

I'm still curious to find out what the construction was like. A simple bag? Some complexities like a girdle purse of the era?