Happy solstice! It hasn't snowed yet where I am, but it's looking promising later in the week

You can find the first of our 'fireside stories from Glencoe' series over the festive break here: glencoeandrannochenvirons.wordpress.com/2025/12/18/b... This story by Prof Michael Given @uofgartshums.bsky.social explores a local *character* of Glencoe Big Archie! @nts-archaeology.bsky.social

Finally got my hands on the physical book for Carved in Stone by Heather Christie @archaeoplays.bsky.social and Brian Tyrrell @stoutstoat.co.uk. Really gives me hope that early medieval archaeology can inspire worlds that are hopeful, empathetic and overall, fun www.stoutstoat.co.uk/products/car...

This is tonight!!! In-person tickets are sold out, but you can tune in online for free - we look forward to seeing you there! For those who can't attend at all, I believe our talk will go live on the Society's YouTube page within a week or so 😁 #ArchaeologySky #HistorySky 🏺

Adventures in Woad: Woad Dyeing in the Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Worlds exarc.net/issue-2025-3...

I'm reading through Georg Agricola's De Re Metallica for a copper smelting video, and I've reached his feelings on alchemists... and it's basically a sassy 16th century take-down: 🏺 #historysky #archaeologysky

Carved in Stone - Relics Most of these are just theoretical examples barring the open casket which is based on the Monymusk Reliquary.

NEW VIDEO IS OUT! This is Episode 2 in my Carved in Stone series in Minecraft, and all I was trying to do was get some cows... because cows are valuable in Pictland and... well, you'll see 😅 youtu.be/X2gDs_l_vuI

Okay, I am absolutely a sucker for ancient animal art; it's undeniable now. Just LOOK at these little ducks!!!

Carved in Stone is a comprehensive setting guide for early medieval Pictish society, and as such my work on it was wide and varied and included illustrating real artifacts, speculative penannular brooch designs, and even the animals that would have inhabited their world.

#FindsFriday bone comb from the #Pictish site of Buckquoy on the island of Orkney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Typical of later Iron Age settlements in Orkney, researchers radiocarbon dated the bone, shedding light on Pictish-Viking interaction in the Northern Isles. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Looking forward to reading this - from our Doctoral alumnus @archaeoplays.bsky.social - great to see it get so much media coverage!

🏺 Have had a proper look at this ahead of time and it’s such a gorgeous book and a fantastic approach to engaging with history!

Talking with Thomas was a real delight! Heather and I peel back the curtain on the process behind Carved in Stone (and we gush about how much we love all of our artists, too!)

This is such a fab way of communicating #archaeology and allowing us to be creative with in the past - “leaning into uncertainty” as a positive thing, as @archaeoplays.bsky.social articulated so well at @scotarchforum.bsky.social a few weeks ago 🏺 #storytelling

The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.

I drew a few pictures for @stoutstoat.co.uk's new book Carved in Stone (www.stoutstoat.co.uk/products/car...) it's probably the best-researched project I ever worked on, and also it looks beautiful. Lots of amazing artists worked on this! Anyway here are some pictish vignettes

This game is absolutely gorgeous, I’ve been avidly watching the layout evolve and there are two page spreads in here that made me gasp aloud with delight. If you’re interested in playing games in settings that predate the medieval period by a good margin, run don’t walk to grab a copy

Carved in Stone is officially out! In this comprehensive setting guide you'll be able to see, touch, taste, hear and smell your way through everything that modern-day scholars currently know of the enigmatic culture of the Picts, from the perspective of someone living in the late 7th Century.

"The Picts emerge from the shadows and step forward in technicolour" 🤩 'Carved in Stone', an illustrated guide to 7th-century Scotland packed with information on languages, settlements, cuisine, fashion, medicine, skills and more, is now available for purchase: www.digitscotland.com/archaeologis...

Game designers bring Scotland's mysterious Picts to life. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Carved in Stone is HERE!!! @archaeonado.bsky.social called it “the best book on the Picts ever written,” so you should definitely check it out over at www.stoutstoat.co.uk/carvedinstone 🏺 #picts #archaeologysky #rpg #ttrpg #indiettrpg #dnd #pathfinder

Ahhhh!!! Just LOOK at these little guys!!! Which one's your favourite? Is it even possible to choose??? Adding 🏺for more archaeology peeps 🦛🦛🦛🦛

Like a time capsule: a #Roman tile marked with #finger lines, hobnail #shoe prints, #dog's paw prints, and a #stamp of the LEG(io) XIIII G(emina). Tiles with imprints are very common, since tiles were laid out to dry in the open air ahead of firing, where...🧵1/2 #TilesOnTuesday 🏺

NEW Excavation at Benin City's historic palace, looted and destroyed by the British in 1897, provides an unprecedented glimpse into pre-colonial West African urban development and artisanal crafts, including the famous Benin Bronzes. #AntiquityThread 1/16 🧵 🏺 #Archaeology

I would LOVE to recreate the smell of a Pictish byre-house! Yes, animals might make it a bit stinky, but there were SO many places to hang herbs and such from, and the Picts cared quite a bit about hygiene. And the FOOD!! I feel like a Pictish house would smell rather nice, even with the animals!

I gave a presentation on exactly this at the Canadian Archaeological Association this Spring and another at the BC Archaeology Forum two Saturdays ago. When the overwhelming majority of archaeological reporting in Canada is dry, data-heavy technical reporting, accessibility through film is crucial.

BIG ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS! 💫 A new section of Hadrian’s Wall has been discovered! The furthest west bit found yet - and it is glorious! 🤩 Reported by the great WC21. Link to his full video here: youtu.be/VfVvl3A_sO4?... #archaeology #history #Roman

Excellent talk this morning by @rubiconarchaeology.bsky.social about social media in archaeology. Honestly, I've been meaning to work more on creating shorts from my longer videos, I just need to find the time! 😅

The reimagined manuscript pages created by Thomas for our #NLHF funded #StoriesOnSkins project are amazing pieces or art, using techniques as close as possible to how manuscript pages would have been made at Portmahomack.

Archaeologists investigating the seafloor off the southern coast of Belize found the earliest evidence of ancient #Maya salt production, dating from AD 250–550. It was likely produced on a household level, suggesting long-distance salt trade came later 🏺 #Archaeology 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🚨 Just a few days left to submit for #NordicTAG2026! Submissions are welcome that critically examine the environmental impact of archaeological practices: both digital and physical 🏺 🔜 Deadline: 22 October 🔸 More: atrium-research.eu/news/call-fo...

NEW How advanced were the resource networks of ancient China? Analysis of timber from the mausoleum of the first emperor indicates sophisticated logistical planning and resource mobilisation even at the beginning of the Qin Dynasty. 🧵 #AntiquityThread 1/12 🏺 #Archaeology

This #medieval illuminated manuscript has been digitized and is now available online #openaccess ! 🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #medievalsky 🏺 www.openculture.com/2025/10/the-...

Halloween is near! It's time to post this marvellous articulated Roman skeleton, presumably meant to be a reminder to enjoy life to the fullest, since pleasure ends irrevocably with death. In Petronius’ Satyricon, the host of a dinner party brings out a small skeleton with moveable...🧵1/2

Adding 🏺 and #archaeologysky just in case they haven't made the rounds in those circles, yet!

Reposting with the correct link :) archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog/writing...

Morning! If you enjoy my Minecraft content, I've got a question for you over on YouTube! www.youtube.com/@ArchaeoPlay...

I just have to post this #iceage masterpiece from time to time: A tiny (3.7 cm) but amazing figurine of a woolly mammoth carved in mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago. Found in the Vogelherd cave on the Swabian Jura, south-west Germany. 📷 me 🏺

Had the pleasure of chatting to the archaeoViz folks for our session at WAC-10 - definitely worth attending if you're able!

Rock Art Discovery Reveals Unknown Arabian Nomads from 12,000 Years Ago www.scientificamerican.com/article/rock...

~5000-year-old copper cymbals from Bronze Age Arabia for #InternationalMusicDay They share parallels with Mesopotamian and Indus Valley examples, indicating music connected these three ancient civilisations. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Time to update your Palaeolithic palettes... 🔵 Very proud to share our new research on the OLDEST use of blue pigment! We identified traces of azurite - a vibrant blue mineral - on a stone object around 14-13,000 years old. Why is this so exciting? 👇🏺 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

I wrote a massive TTRPG setting guide encyclopaedia about the ancient Scotland and the Picts who lived in it. It covers everything scholars currently know about life in the 7th century, from landscapes to kingdoms to faith, magic, settlements, and so much more. Check it out! carvedinstone.scot

Morning! There was a TON of interest in textile magic when I mentioned it as a possibility for wizard ‘spellbooks’ in late 7th century Scotland, so let’s do a deeper dive into Pictish textiles & possible textile magic… #rpg #ttrpg #indiettrpg #dnd #pathfinder 🏺 #archaeologysky #fiberarts #textiles

Distraction from Today's News. Let me infodump about my favourite Pictish stone carving, called "Old Scatness 3" after where it was found. He is one of my favourite drawings, and he has a very important lesson to teach us. I tear up just thinking him because he's so wonderful. (1)

🎉 We've hit 10,000 Facebook followers! 💲 Please help us raise £10,000 of crucial funding - Just £1 per follower would get us to our goal. Thank you all so much for following, and for any donation you can make! tghts.enthuse.com/cf/graveyard...

How would your TTRPG wizards learn spells if they lived in a society that didn't usually write things down? I said I'd answer this question on Monday, but then Chronic Illness Happened & here we are. If you played a wizard in a TTRPG set in late 7th century Pictland, what would your spellbook be?

For anyone wanting to NOT agree to the new Academia.edu Terms of Service, which includes using your work for AI purposes, you don't need to accept the terms to delete your account. Instead, click on the Terms of Service link in the pop-up... 🏺 #AcademicSky