10/13/2026
Archaeologists came across these five small sherds of a transfer printed pearlware tea bowl while assessing a collection from the Robinson Landing Site (44AX235). One of our excellent interns found a match for the printed pattern on the Transferware Collectors Club database. The center image is a sphynx while the exterior depicts griffins and humans engaged in a battle. The print was likely inspired by an engraving found in a book of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities. A very preliminary dive into Greek mythology suggests that the griffins may be defending a hoard of gold possibly owned by Apollo or by the Hyperboreans, a people said to have lived well north of the Greek lands.