Exhibit 1066-N.01a

Artist's Rendition; Original Undergoing Restoration

Oak wood and iron shovel/voltaic string instrument

Between 900-1280 AD
Origin unknown (presumed Great Britain)

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This piece remains a mystery to modern-day scholars and archaeologists. Although it clearly started its life as a simple garden tool, it was modified by a skilled craftsperson to become something much more. The iron of the shovel head is much denser and tougher than most iron alloys used during this time period; additional components have been welded and/or bolted to it as well. A simple galvanic plate in a flat box on the underside of the shovel provides limited power for musical performances. The sound quality of the instrument is of a high caliber even by today's standards. Some experts have termed the small pivoted extension below the six strings a "whammy bar" (there is great academic controversy on this point). Chemical analysis has shown that the source of the discoloration beneath this "whammy bar" is a dried fluid of some organic origin; this may possibly be bloody evidence of some long-ago battle.

Aside from the damaged etching "Narw..k" on the underside of the shovel's handle, there is little evidence of the item's creator, its owner(s), or its ultimate origin.

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This item donated to the British Museum 4 December, 1893 by the famed explorer Sir Phineas Meriwether Hornsby IV, Air-Colonel Third-Class (Ret.) of Her Majesty's Thirty-Eighth Armored Zeppelin Division