Jonathan Last
@johnnythin.bsky.social
š¤ 1250
š„ 630
š 1191
Prehistory & landscape Also on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/johnnythinsta/
A fascinating programme, especially the insights about Bernard Lovell, and amazing music, of course, from
@hannahpeel.bsky.social
add a skeleton here at some point
about 4 hours ago
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What's through the not-quite-square window behind Stonehenge on this
#StandingStoneSunday
and
#RemembranceSunday
? Why, it's an entire concertinaed military landscape of camps and barracks! This 'novelty card' was written to Miss E. Nixon of Invercargill, New Zealand, in 1916 but never posted⦠š§µ
about 5 hours ago
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reposted by
Jonathan Last
Rick Glanvill
1 day ago
www.chelseafc.com/en/news/arti...
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The rediscovered piece of Chelsea history remembering those who served
This weekend, Chelsea Football Club commemorates Remembrance Day with a recently rediscovered special item that did not see the light of day for more than 50 years.
https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/the-rediscovered-piece-of-chelsea-history-remembering-those-who-served
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The hypocrisy of taking pride in your nationās history while refusing to acknowledge any shame (though personally I donāt find either sentiment appropriate in relation to the past per se, only for its consequences that are still playing out in the present day)
add a skeleton here at some point
2 days ago
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Itās William Stukeleyās birthday š His landscape views are often just as interesting as the drawings of monuments - hereās his Prospect of Kits Coty House in Oct 1722
2 days ago
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Couldnāt we just ban people using fossil fuels to blow leaves from one place to another?
3 days ago
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As it's Richard Jefferies' birthday (born
#OTD
in 1848), here's an extract from a piece he wrote for The Graphic in 1877 about flint: "all along the vast caravan route, so to say, of the human race⦠in cave and mound, and river, the chipped flint is found, the stamp, as it were, of [man's] presence"
3 days ago
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On the Euston Road
6 days ago
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Surrey's heaths are a joy at this time of year. The photos are from today's dog walk on Smart's Heath, which exemplifies Oliver Rackham's statement that "Most surviving heaths have the characteristic shape of commons, with concave outlines, crossed by roads which enter the common by funnels"
7 days ago
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At the very least the costs of conservation and necessary research should be deducted from any ārewardā payable to the finder
add a skeleton here at some point
7 days ago
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This seems doubly risky given the penalties for damaging an ancient monument on the schedule of the 1882 Act š
add a skeleton here at some point
7 days ago
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'Halloween High Jinks' in the Daily News in 1925: "One of the things that surprise Americans visiting England is the way that Halloween comes & goes without any notice from the bulk of the population. Only here and there, in scattered, remote farmhouses, and in the North, are any celebrations made."
9 days ago
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'New Light from the Greatest Treasure-House of Ancient Man':
#OTD
in 1925 the ILN splashed on the Upper Palaeolithic site of Predmost (PÅedmostĆ), Moravia, with numerous images, including portrait reconstructions by AmĆ©dĆ©e Forestier. The skeletal material was destroyed during WW2.
#FossilFriday
9 days ago
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The benefits of an early dog walk
10 days ago
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www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
11 days ago
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A nice listen for us exiles...
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BBC Radio 4 - Mark Steel's in Town, Series 14, 4. Cambridge
Mark Steel visits Cambridge and creates a show for the local audience.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ld62
11 days ago
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I missed the news that Stan Beckensall sadly passed away a few weeks ago, at a ripe old age, but The Times has a nice obituary - and here he is on a fascinating trip to look at Swedish rock art in 2008 (my photos)
11 days ago
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There are the colourful, in-your-face
#Halloween
displays, and then there are the things that lurk in the shadows and just catch the corner of your eye...
12 days ago
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For
#TombTuesday
here's the Modern Antiquarian himself at the massive Duggleby Howe Neolithic round barrow (38m diam, 6m high) on 28 October 1996, and the site as visited this month. An important series of Middle Neolithic burials were covered by the mound, which was enlarged in the Late Neolithic.
12 days ago
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Its only value these days is in winding up people on X...
add a skeleton here at some point
15 days ago
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These local oak trees (red oak?) are always good value this time of year, and not just for the colours - look at the size of those leaves š
15 days ago
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The church of St Peter & St Paul, Albury, in autumn sunlight yesterday, and the interior of the tower, which is raised above the chancel of the original Saxon church and topped by a picturesque early 19th-century cupola
#SteepleSaturday
15 days ago
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Essex Honey is a great record and this is a fascinating read
add a skeleton here at some point
16 days ago
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They could at least have got Cunk
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Witches of Essex review ā Rylanās look at real-life witch trials treats us like idiots
The X Factor star and Prof Alice Roberts are an awkward presenting duo in this superficial history show. Do they really think weāre so thick we canāt imagine the mindset of people from the past?
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/oct/14/witches-of-essex-review-rylan-real-life-witch-trials
16 days ago
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It seems this work may have been done with a bit more expert assistance than is mentioned in the BBC report, which goes all in on druids, lucky rainbows and borrowing boxes from the landowner!
add a skeleton here at some point
17 days ago
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Intact Roman vessels clearly below the ploughzone, removed from their context š³ The archaeological equivalent of the movie character who digs out a bullet with a rusty penknife rather than going to a doctorā¦
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Roman coins found by detectorist could be Wales' biggest find
David Moss discovered 15,000 coins at a "virtually untouched" secret location in north Wales.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd67vv66wxxo
17 days ago
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Scheduling a barrow cemetery to protect it from the railway reminds me of what J.P. Williams-Freeman said in 1915 on "the best way to visit our ancient earthworks". After foot, bicycle, horse and car, "There is one other mode of locomotion which must be mentioned only to be condemnedāthe railroad⦠šŗ
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Ancient burial site by EWR at Haslingfield gets protected status
East West Rail has altered its plans to protect the integrity of the 4,000-year-old barrow site.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8ey7w52j8ko
18 days ago
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reposted by
Jonathan Last
This week marks the centenary of the announcement of the discovery of the London skull, aka the Lady of Lloyd's. Who's that, you ask? Here's the story of the most famous hominin you've never heard of... š¦£šŗ
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The Lady of Lloyd's, or the London Skull
The most famous hominin youāve never heard ofā¦
https://prescapes.substack.com/p/the-lady-of-lloyds-or-the-london
19 days ago
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"It's a very sad thing to be caught in the rain When night's coming on upon Salisbury Plain"
add a skeleton here at some point
19 days ago
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This week marks the centenary of the announcement of the discovery of the London skull, aka the Lady of Lloyd's. Who's that, you ask? Here's the story of the most famous hominin you've never heard of... š¦£šŗ
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The Lady of Lloyd's, or the London Skull
The most famous hominin youāve never heard ofā¦
https://prescapes.substack.com/p/the-lady-of-lloyds-or-the-london
19 days ago
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The heritage of horror (or vice versa...?)
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10 Historic Locations Featured in Classic British HorrorĀ Movies
England's heritage as the location for horror films.
https://heritagecalling.com/2025/10/17/10-historic-locations-featured-in-classic-british-horror-movies/
20 days ago
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One of the key sites for medieval archaeology in Britain, the deserted village of Wharram Percy in the Yorkshire Wolds, as seen last week
#MedievalMonday
20 days ago
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āNorwayās wealth tax only raised 2.7bn so how could the Greens possibly raise 15bn from a country with 12 times the population?ā š¤š¬
add a skeleton here at some point
21 days ago
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Standing Stone Sum(o)day?
#StandingStoneSunday
add a skeleton here at some point
21 days ago
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These days I feel very little ācultural coherenceā with anyone in the Tory partyā¦
add a skeleton here at some point
21 days ago
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Thomas Browne was born
#OTD
in 1605: I'm lucky to have one of the 500 copies of 'Urn Burial' printed by the Chiswick Press in 1893, with an introduction by John Evans, who notes some of the archaeological interest in Browne's great meditation on death & burial, as prompted by urns found in Norfolk š§µ
21 days ago
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āThis is the only thing that has stayed with me after our house was goneā
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A lucky cat, a tattered football: The things Gazans kept close during two years of war - BBC News
The BBC speaks to Palestinians about the things - from the sentimental to the seemingly mundane - they have held close throughout the war
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-efcd8740-327f-4a1d-811a-c1df9b4975b3
22 days ago
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Great to come across this - can't reply or quote for some reason but just to note that Jacquetta Hawkes had previous with speculative fiction, though more utopian than dystopian in the case of Providence Island:
substack.com/@jonathanlas...
23 days ago
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Iād almost forgotten that the actual sky can occasionally live up to the name of this platform š
24 days ago
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Iām up for an HG Wells Day, so long as, along with his writing, it champions some of his internationalist causes, including the teaching of global history
add a skeleton here at some point
26 days ago
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The eastern rose window of Palma Cathedral, Mallorca
#StainedGlassSunday
28 days ago
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A small but swashbuckling stone hides among the hotels in Illetas, Mallorca - dedicated to Errol Flynn (d. 14 October 1959) and Patricia Wymore, who lived here for periods in the 1950s and helped make the area fashionable
#StandingStoneSunday
28 days ago
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See also: Elon Musk and Douglas Adams
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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Harvest moon just now
about 1 month ago
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Itās great that the Greens acknowledge the interconnection of heritage & nature, but l hope it amounts to more than just giving nature the same protection as heritage - we need better integration in planning policy, and recognition that ālandscapeā is the bridge between them, not a subset of nature
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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What an outrageous restriction: "The British Transport Police ... will not investigate bike thefts outside stations where the bicycle has been left for more than two hours"
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Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'
The British Transport Police will not investigate many categories of bicycle theft, the BBC learns.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jm3wxvlkjo
about 1 month ago
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As with Brexit, the Right always sees European institutions as something imposed on us that we canāt control, rather than something we co-created and that can be reformed (if required) collectively
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Jonathan Last
Hetan Shah
about 1 month ago
This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar. Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?
Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term āenshittificationā explains whatās gone wrong with the internet ā and ...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish
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I still miss Douglas Adams
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Archive on 4 - One Last Chance to See - BBC Sounds
Katherine Rundell rediscovers Douglas Adams' epic journeys in search of threatened species
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kf5g?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
about 1 month ago
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Using AI imagery is now pretty much the equivalent of continuing to post on X
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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