Natalia Zagorska-Thomas

A GIANTESS’S toothpick, with evidence suggesting this early Iron Age humanoid ate small children, has been dredged up from the muddy depths of the Regent’s Canal.

The metal implement is one of several objects retrieved from the industrial waterway by a canalboat owner armed with a powerful magnet.

Other finds include a Scooby – a diving weight for a medium-sized dog – and a giant river strainer, used to catch detritus washing down from the Grand Union Canal towards the Thames.

The “Camden Town Hoard” of 30 “artefiction” are objects playfully named and redefined by the artist and gallery curator at Studio ­ExPurga­mento, Natalia Zagorska-Thomas.

She said: “I am a conservator so I am always looking at discarded objects. Objects are used as proof of our history and our longevity. I picked up 20 to 30 objects and I wanted them to be interpreted by artists, writers, and cultural commentators. It was an experiment  and it got me thinking about objects in museums.

“I wanted to consider how objects gain a context. The idea is museums use a version of history and their vision. I thought what if this object has no history – what if we make it up?” She said: “During Covid there was a person who went along the canal in a barge with powerful magnets.”

A Boggard’s Sneck

The finds were discarded on the towpath by a person who went along the canal in a barge using a powerful magnet to retrieve from the bottom. It kickstarted a new project as Ms Zagorska-Thomas turned to a host of artists, writers and cultural commentators for their take on the items she sifted through.

Will Eaves’ Rat Aqualung

Artist Will Eaves has contributed a piece called “Rat Aqualung” – about a collection of small cylinders that look suspiciously like small silver canisters used to hold the street drug laughing gas.

“These cylinders formed part of a veterinary programme initiated by the Dutch zoologist Miriam Hoeghege in 1972,” he writes.

“Hoeghege was studying the effects of habitat fragmentation on aquatic wildlife in the Amstel when she established the link between pollution-linked immunosuppression and respiratory disease in riverine mammals, especially water voles. Take up was encouraged among voles and cognate species, who adapted easily to the breathing apparatus and recovered pulmonary function in most cases.

“The compressed-air cylinders in this image date from the infamous and explosive second stage programme, after Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht withdrew its funding.”

One rusted battery pack is called a “Perhometer”, an imaginary device dating back to the Swinging Sixties that could measure someone’s attraction to you.

There is also the “Boggard’s Sneck”, an item used in the 17th century to ward off spirits that brought coughs and colds.

“Archaeological collections are imbued with ­stories,” Ms Zagorska-Thomas said.

“But also objects in museums might not tell us the truth – but instead a version of it. Objects do not have intrinsic meanings themselves – it is our interpretation that matters. When I think of objects in museums, I feel we have a default approach to what they are. We expect and want our expectations fulfilled. We want things to be something very ancient or something futuristic. We always want something to be in the mists of time. I call these  artefictions, not artefacts.”

The hoard has been displayed at St John’s Church, Waterloo, and is now the subject of a book – The Camden Town Hoard, available from www.studioexpurgamento.com