Starting to complete some of my reconstructions of repaired viking age oval brooches. #viking #archaeology #reenactment

We have worked so hard putting these videos together so everyone can see what we do and some preliminary findings! #archaeology youtu.be/E0nII2SklCE?...

First prototype of a repaired P37 viking oval brooch, with a replacement iron hinge fitting, attached with iron bosses. Similar to a single shell led brooch from Clibberswick, Unst, Shetland, they are different types. But both early styles and single shelled. #vikings #archaeology #earlymedieval

Multi-period handling kits done and off to their forever home! #roman #anglosaxon #vikings #museums #archaeology

A year; well that has flown by! #vikings

The last of few pairs of viking oval brooches in this latest batch done! #vikings #archaeology

A little video; the first of many, that the team and I have been working on!

A really stunning pair of gilded P37.12 viking brooches I have made for a very patient customer! I don't often get to gild the P37 series, but I am really taken wth these! #viking #vikings #livinghistory #archaeology

Working away on finishing off viking age oval brooches again today! #vikings #archaeology

Bit of a delay due to hols/Illness, I'm back with wire and silver boss work on these two viking age oval brooches. Top right are P51 double shelled type, the lower left are a custom adaptation of a single shelled P37; gilded with silver inlays soldered in the channels and engraved. #viking

A week away - and two Viking festivals - means I need to catch up on Viking camps #FindsFriday again! I can't think of a good Jórvík-related find for today's Yorkshire Day celebrations, but I talked weights with Howard @archaeodeathprof.bsky.social at Heysham festival... so let's look at scales. /1

However, our three scales show how busy our Viking camps were with trading: they were far more marketplaces than they were fortifications. I'm going to take this opportunity to re-post Adam @eblueaxe.bsky.social and my chat with Howard about scales and weights - and their links to the Great Army. /8

Viking Bling with Adam and Trix www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p9t... @trixranderson.bsky.social

𝗨𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 #𝟭𝟯: 𝗧𝗮𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘄'𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 Scattered across the landscape like ancient sentinels, hillforts rise from the earth—silent, enduring, and powerful. Yet some slip into obscurity, veiled by the mists of time, until archaeologists breathe life back into their stories.

Another completed pair of viking age P42 oval brooches. Being able to make artefacts makes a huge difference to how you understand them from an academic perspective. It prevents poor interpretations as well as inaccurate writing regarding how things are made; prevalent within archaeology #vikings

So that is the assembly and polishing of the base shells done. I now need to degrease these and send them for gilding! #viking

Twi sets of silver plate soldered into the channels of these P37 brooches and engraved. Next to fit the face mounts, then they can be gilded! #viking

There seems to be a lot of younger academics talking absolute garbage about finds due to inexperience these days, with an awful lot of confidence and self promotion. I thought those days were past us, but perhaps that is just the circle of life!

My mate Ezra made a stonking video all about Vikings (with a little help from Mum and Dad!) Give it a watch and a like! youtu.be/twIDqfQQD1Q?...

My eldest did his work experience in our office recently and him and three other students put together this short video on some of the post-excavation processes they did and why we do them (including the video!) Please give it a watch and a like; I think they did an awesome job!

I've been making good progress with some problems with the P51 brooches I've been having: first four pairs underway! Two pairs of P42s are about to head out and the second two pairs are close behind! Aa way to go but the battle is slowly turning! #viking #vikings #craft #livinghistory #reenactment

To celebrate yesterday's anniversary of the finding of the Cuerdale hoard (15th May 1840), we're going to look at this little silver ring for our Viking Camps #FindsFriday today. This is database number T79, one of the earlier finds from the site, recorded by the late and great Mark Blackburn. /1

Adam @eblueaxe.bsky.social and myself are working on this theme at the moment, looking at how traces of the Great Army and the cultural influences of the force can be seen moving westwards. If you want to know more, you'll need to watch his presentation at the Midlands Viking Symposium tomorrow! /7

After a Melsonby-hoard-related delay, the announcement of this is finally official - I've been on tenterhooks waiting! Viking North is going to showcase a wonderful collection, including the first public presentation of finds from the Great Army camp at Aldwark. I'm very pleased and excited :)

The P42 oval brooches are polished, cleaned, and gilded, and I've started wiring them up now! The P51s are a little behind alas, but hopefully I'll have those back on track in the next month. #viking #viking #archaeology #livinghistory #reenactment #crafts #vikingjewellery

📈📺 1,000+ views of @eblueaxe.bsky.social's chat with me about The Power of Silver in the Viking Age: The Silverdale Hoard in Context! Thanks again to Adam Parsons for asking me to talk about #Viking silver economies and trade networks. 📺 Click the link below, and do subscribe to Adam's YouTube!

My weekend up at Moorforge historic craft weekend, doing some experimental work and education!

I had a go at interpreting this fragment as a weight, using one of the lovely Loch Glashan brooch reproductions made by @eblueaxe.bsky.social (and with his help). Adam had set an amber cabochon into the loop which I didn't have the heart to drill out - but otherwise I feel it turned out well. /6

Had a spare half hour this afternoon so I added the boss and handle to this viking age flat shield for my own collection! #vikings #archaeology #livinghistory

I have no way of explaining to anyone how satisfying this is to me and I am tempted to keep them all, but I know there will be a few people who understand where I am coming from! #cubo-octahedral #vikings

This is one of those 'if you know, you know' type pictures! It's rawhide (hence the pupsters interest) and I've soaked it and am cutting it into strips to edge a shield with

Made a custom brass rivet which allows me to convert my standard P36.3 cast into a sub variant with these little bearded faces! It means I can offer some variety into my models in future without too much added cost! #vikings #crafts

Such an important project, with a lot to tell us about how to move forward ethically and sustainably! #archaeology

Punching decoration on a viking age 1.5 gram Viking age Cubo-Octahedral weight. #timelapse #viking #vikings #vikingage #earlymedieval #craft #livinghistory #reenactment #archaeology

#FindsFriday again! I was intrigued by @eblueaxe.bsky.social making reproduction cubo-octahedral weights last night - but Viking-Age weights are a rabbit hole and a trap for the unwary! Instead, I thought we'd look at dirhams today, which cubo-octahedral weights were probably used to assess. /1

Excuse the hands: this was NOT easy to make accurately whilst ensuring it was tempered hard enough to punch the brass without just dissolving! These lines of dots on viking-age polyhedral weights are punched by a single punch such as this how they made them I do NOT know! #archaeology #vikings

A copper alloy trade token from 1651, issued by Ipswich grocer Samuel Stannard, was recently discovered at our OCA excavation at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Read more about it here: bit.ly/420dSPQ 1/2 #ocaarchteam @cotswoldarch.bsky.social

The double sided comb I have been making recently is from this site here; so get your free download to find out more!

Today was one of those days where nothing was started or finished, but progress was made. A mix of red deer antler combs from Pictish, to double sided English, to Hogbacked style, all got decorated, finished, and riveted ready for a tooth cutting extravaganza. #crafts #vikings #pictish #archaeology

We're closing in on 1,000 views for @eblueaxe.bsky.social's chat with me on The Power of Silver in the Viking Age - The Silverdale Hoard in Context! youtu.be/D-ISsg-DBmE?...

Testing my medieval style bellows for draw! #livinghistory #experimentalarchaeology

Come visit the Stones!

#FindsFriday After watching Florent Audy's excellent WIVA talk on non-silver currencies at Birka earlier, I thought we'd look at some similar evidence from the Great Army camps today. It's going to involve strap-ends again... don't worry, I won't get carried away! These are finds T1747 & T3545. /1

Sound on for this one folks! Today I created a video with some footage from our awesome site staff at @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social it's perhaps the most fun hour I have had at work! #archaeology #teatime youtube.com/shorts/BaD1f...

We were meme'ing over on other platforms at @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social and it's too good not to share here! #archaeology Happy big C's day to those who celebrate!

Currently decorating the backs of these two combs, destined for a handling kit for @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social the 10th century single sided one is from Heysham, very close to the Lancaster Office, and the double sided one is a 6-7 the century type from Butlers field, closer to the Oxford Office!

Very tired in the sunshine!

#FindsFriday We've been on dress accessories for the last few weeks, so I thought we'd have a change today and look at tools instead - more specifically, axes! We have axe finds from the Viking Great Army camps at both Aldwark and Torksey. These finds - A130 and T1657 - are of the same form. /1

Rough-cast polyhedral weights back. Checking targeted, master size, and final weights I did pretty good on all except the 6 dots. I'm not sure I was aiming for 3.75 though when I only made it 0.05 bigger, perhaps I changed to 3.5-6 and forgot to change my notes! #vikings #archaeology