Dept. of Archeology: Fragmentary Knowledge: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker Other artifacts included bronze fittings for wooden furniture, pottery, an oil lamp, and item 15087—a shoebox-size lump of bronze, which appeared to have a wooden exterior. Inside were what seemed to be fused metal pieces, but the bronze was so encrusted with barnacles and calcium that it was difficult to tell what it was. With so much early excitement focussed on the sculptures, the artifact didn’t receive much attention at first. But one day in May, 1902, a Greek archeologist named Spyridon Staïs noticed that the wooden exterior had…