From Yahoo!News:
<http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010214/od/drinking_dc_1.html>

Wednesday February 14 7:47 AM ET
Old 'Drinking Penis' Goes on Display
LONDON (Reuters) - A unique, 300-year-old phallic shaped drinking cup
discovered in a London cess pit by archeologists is to go on display at a
museum in the capital on Wednesday, Valentine's Day.
The Museum of London said that the unusual receptacle is around
six-and-a-half inches (16 cm) long, hollow, made from tin-glazed earthenware
and ``rendered with exact anatomical precision.''
``A small cup above the testicles suggests that the vessel was used to
contain liquid, possibly wine, beer or ale,'' the museum said in a
statement.
``Phallic objects were common in the Roman and Medieval periods but this is
the only known tin-glazed example of early modern date.''
Ruth Panes, the field archeologist who found the artifact, said she got ``a
bit of a shock'' on making the discovery before bursting into laughter when
she realized what it was.
The drinking penis will eventually join a selection of 18th century
pornographic tiles found in central London and held at the Museum of London.




Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, RPA
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Archaeological Research Facility
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1076
510-236-2303
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