18th c. Dutch telescopes made out of cow bones (The History Blog)
An interesting history-related post from The History Blog:
A recent study published in the Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries reports that five small telescopes have been discovered in Amsterdam, all of them dating to the 18th century and all of them made from bovine metatarsals, the long cylindrical bones above a cow’s hoof.
Although the Dutch Office for Monuments & Archaeology records over 2000 historical artifacts excavated over the past 35 years that were made out of hard animal tissue like bone, antler, ivory and tortoise shell, they’re all things like combs and buttons. Other telescopes from the 18th century have been discovered, but they’re made ...
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