Roman bowls mended with pine tree resin, a plate fixed with staples and snapped spoons reveal we haven’t always been so squeamish about recycling
Wretched objects including shattered bowls, cooking pans with holes, snapped spoons, filthy old shoes and shattered wine glasses are going on display at the Museum of London, as proof that for most of human history, junk was far too precious to throw out.
The curator Hazel Forsyth says that archaeologists who discovered the broken wine glasses in central London realised they had been damaged a second time. The slender stems of the precious handmade objects had snapped 400 years ago and been carefully wired and soldered back together – and in some cases the wires were gilded to try to restore the beauty of the originals.
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