Thumbprints on Ghent counter-seal
The face to face interaction with centuries-old cultural artifacts is something I have become accustomed to. I’ve visited dozens or hundreds of Churches, monuments, art objects and manuscripts that pre-date the Renaissance. However, when I first came across the fingerprints of the scribe who had pushed soft wax into the matrix of a seal, I felt a thrill and a shudder at the encounter of a centuries-old biological artifact. This seal dates to October 31, 1275, and as I overlaid the ridges of my own thumbprints over the preserved wax impressions, I felt a unique and human connection that traversed centuries of separation.
![ADN-B1336-1882 Counter-seal](http://jessehurlbut.net/wp/mssart/files/2016/02/ADN-B1336-1882-cs-s.jpg)
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