They may not have had the internet, but medieval people still liked to share a joke – such as the discovery of what archaeologists call a historical ‘meme’ found in northern England.
A ‘peculiar and unique’ mountain representing a man from a snail shell on the back of a goat was discovered last year in a field in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
Memes have become a part of 21st century life every day as people around the world share amusing or entertaining images, videos or other items online – especially via social media.
The artifact shows a male knight wearing a Norman-style helmet with a long-sleeved tunic. He has one leg that leaps forward, indicating that he is stepping off the shell. His hands are pressed together as if in prayer, implying religious connotations.
Armed knights fighting snails, according to the museum, are common in manuscripts from this period. Snails have often been used to symbolize cowardice with the victory of a knight indicating that it is a victory for the good of evil.
These tweezers were part of a collection of Iron Age goods believed to have come from a cremation burial. Credit: The British Museum
But this theory does not explain ‘the more comical fusion of the mountain between snail and human’, experts say.
“This may suggest that the original ‘good versus evil’ meaning has mutated into satirical connotations, a cultural phenomenon that means we can see this mountain as an early meme,” the museum said in a press release on Monday.
“The image of the praying knight coming out of a snail shell on top of a goat implies an element of parody or satire,” Beverley Nenk, curator of the museum’s late medieval collections, said in the release.
“The mountain can be a satirical reference to cowardly or non-chivalrous behavior of opponents in battle, or as a parody of the upper or knightly classes. As such, it demonstrates the humor often found in medieval material culture,” he said. Nenk added.
The silver container, which is 21.7 millimeters long and 16.8 millimeters wide, could be worn as a badge or elsewhere on the owner’s clothing.
Among the other finds was a gold medieval seal matrix with a Roman intaglio engraved with an elephant. Credit: Norfolk City Council
It shows 1,094 examples of reported treasure in 2018, consisting of more than 20,906 individual artifacts, 96% of which were discovered by metal detectors.
Among the other findings set out in the report are grave items from the Iron Age, including an unusually decorated mirror and tweezers, a Bronze Age with unusual scraper and bracelet, and a medieval seal matrix depicting an elephant.
The discoveries set out in the report must be obtained by museums across Britain, very close to where they were found.