In 2018, a photo of a ceramic boar labeled “Boar Vessel, 600–500 BC, Etruscan, ceramic” went viral, spawning thousands of memes and a devoted subreddit. A few years later, the Cleveland Museum of Art removed the beloved artifact from display—and for good reason.
📚Bibliography
Cartwright, Mark. 2017. “Etruscan Civilization.” World History Encyclopedia, February 24. https://www.worldhistory.org/Etruscan….
Cleveland Museum of Art. 2021. “Desktop Dialogue: Authenticating Antiquity.” Desktop Dialogue: Authenticating Antiquity , February 17. Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.
Cleveland Museum of Art. 2022. “Stories from Storage: Replication and Reinterpretation, Old and New.” Stories from Storage: Replication and Rein… .
“Dating | The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program.” 2024. January 3. https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/….
“Etruscan and Early Roman Art.” 2020. In Art & Archaeology of the Roman World, by Mark D. Fullerton. Thames & Hudson. Kazakis, Nikolaos A., and Nestor C. Tsirliganis. 2017.
“Thermoluminescence Dating.” Archaeology Data Service. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/….
Know Your Meme. 2018. “Boar Vessel.” https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cultur….
Moshenska, Gabriel. 2023. “Museum Memes.” Archaeology International 26 (1): 215–23. https://doi.org/10.14324/AI.26.1.16.
Terracotta Askos in the Form of a Boar. 4th century BCE. Terracotta; black-glaze, 10.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect….
Terracotta Kantharos. 7th century BCE. Terracotta, 18.39 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect….
Vessel in the Shape of a Wild Boar. 700–500 BC or 1900s. Terracotta, 17.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.42
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