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The Benty Grange helmet is a boar-crested helmet of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the 7th century. It was excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 from a burial mound at the Benty Grange farm in Monyash in western Derbyshire. The grave had probably been looted by the time of Bateman's excavation, but still contained the helmet and other high-status objects suggestive of a richly furnished burial, such as the fragmentary remains of a hanging bowl. The ornate helmet was constructed by covering the outside of an iron framework with plates of horn and the inside with cloth or leather, now decayed. It would have provided some protection against weapons, but may have also been intended for ceremonial use. It was the first Anglo-Saxon helmet to be discovered; others have been found at Sutton Hoo, at York, at Wollaston, at Shorwell, and in Staffordshire. The Benty Grange helmet is displayed at Sheffield's Weston Park Museum, which purchased it from Bateman's estate in 1893. (Full article...)

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Carmen, canoe designed by Carl Smith in 1882

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On this day

December 1: World AIDS Day (2024); Great Union Day in Romania; Rosa Parks Day in some states and cities in the United States

Juan Lavalle

1828 – Returning to Buenos Aires with troops who fought in the Cisplatine War, Juan Lavalle (pictured) deposed provincial governor Manuel Dorrego, reigniting the Argentine Civil Wars.
1918 – With the signing of the Act of Union, Denmark recognized the Kingdom of Iceland as a fully sovereign state in personal union through a common monarch.
1923 – The Gleno Dam in the Italian province of Bergamo failed due to poor workmanship, flooding the downstream valley and killing at least 356 people.
1971 – A period of political and economic reforms in the Socialist Republic of Croatia came to an end as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia decided to purge the state's reformist leadership.
1988 – Five armed men hijacked a bus carrying schoolchildren and a teacher in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz, Russia), and were later given an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft and ransom for the release of the hostages.

Saint Eligius (d. 660)
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (b. 1743)
Edwin Francis Jemison (b. 1844)
Masao Horiba (b. 1924)

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Today's featured picture

The African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa) is a species of side-necked terrapin in the family Pelomedusidae. The species naturally occurs in fresh and stagnant water bodies throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, and in southern Yemen. It is omnivorous, with its diet consisting mainly of aquatic invertebrates, small fish, and vegetation. It is typically a small turtle, with most individuals being less than 20 centimetres (7.9 inches) in straight carapace length. The female lays two to ten eggs on average, normally during late spring and early summer. The eggs are placed in a flask-shaped nest about 4 to 7 inches (10 to 18 centimetres) deep and hatch in 75 to 90 days. This African helmeted turtle was photographed in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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