This is a beautiful musing by @tessmachling.bsky.social I love the family lore of the bauble - our tree is likewise decorated in a wonderfully wierd mix of decs made, given, bought - each has a story shared as we put them up each year🎄

Really enjoyed this and reflecting on family traditions, where I bought every ornament, and that at a distance I know exactly what my parents and whoever is visiting will be doing. And that hubby and I had our own rhythms, set by our 2nd Christmas in this house and unchanged!

A blog for the season 🎄 #Archaeology 🏺 bigbookoftorcs.com/2025/12/21/d...

Every year I swear I'm going to write something about #Christmas decorations (especially tree ornaments) as curated ritual assemblages... I never get around to it though... 🤣 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

❤️

A slightly less than spectacular sun rise here... But anyway, here's to the shortest day and the ever increasing light! ❤️ #WinterSolstice #ShortestDay #Winter

Twixmas is the bit between #Christmas Day and New Year, but I think we need a new term for the disorientation of place and time that comes to many of us, starting on the weekend before Christmas... 🤣

Les détectoristes ( #pillagearchéologique ) opposent souvent en France aux archéologues les prétendues vertus (sic) du "modèle anglais". La chercheuse anglaise @tessmachling.bsky.social signe ici une critique dudit modèle et de son coût pour la collectivité : bigbookoftorcs.com/2025/11/08/w...

Urrghhh. So many vile men cosying up to Epstein. Every single one needs to be investigated. All of them.

Norfolk Narwal😁

Paging @romanpalace.bsky.social !! 🍿🍿🍿

Just perfect! ❤️

The Netherurd Choir, the Newark Sisters and the Snettisham Great torc narwhal would like to wish everyone a very Merry Torcmas... #Archaeology 🏺 #Torcs

One of the Palestine Action folks hurt someone. *One* He should (rightly) be punished. As to other 28, why have they not been granted bail? They committed targeted criminal damage to weapons/parts made by Israeli owned company to commit genocide. PA are not terrorists. This govt stinks. 😔

Urgggh...it's even worse for 2023... 1343 Treasure finds, 50 were donated or offered at a reduced rate to museums... 53 were archaeologically found which suggests at least 3 archaeologically found items of treasure weren't donated. #Archaeology 🏺 #Treasure #Detecting 1/2

2022 Treasure figures. - 1377 cases. - 64 cases donated or given at reduced cost to museums. - 53 of those cases were archaeological finds... >>> detectorists actually only donated 11 cases (0.8%) out of the 1377 treasure finds recorded in 2022. Urrghhh... #Archaeology 🏺 #Treasure #Detecting

Honestly, by this point we've jumped 'FFS really astonishment?' and headed straight into 'are we really surprised, but how on earth did we get here gibbering hysteria' www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

One of my prize possesions is a copy (not in gold for economic reasons) knocked up by my daughter about 10 years ago.

Honestly, if you're struggling for Christmas gifts, have a look here - Rob's designs are wonderful! ❤️ #Archaeology 🏺

Haha fabulous! Is this one of your fabulous designs, @robhedge.bsky.social ?

Was reminded of this today. That time I made the roman Cirencester Cockerel (AKA Jamie's Cock... IYKYK 🤣) in #chocolate... ...later it fell off a shelf and broke and I haven't had the patience to make another one yet!! 🤪 #Archaeology 🏺

A better detecting story - no reward, donated to the museum... and the lovely warm glow of finding out about history! #Archaeology 🏺 #Treasure #Detecting www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Happy weekend all! 🤣🤣🤣❤️ www.bbc.com/news/article...

BREAKING: Hypocaustgate shocker, TR goes OTT on FRP. Statement from @durotrigesdig.bsky.social expected! 🍿

Although we are in a cost of living crisis, I can't help thinking that our current obsession with the monetary, rather than historic, value of artefacts is contributing to sudden rush of museum thefts... 🤔 #Archaeology 🏺 #Treasure bigbookoftorcs.com/2025/10/07/s... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

TORC!! ... and if you want to know all about the lovely Snettisham Grotesque torc from this video, you can radar about it here: bigbookoftorcs.com/2020/09/22/t... #Archaeology 🏺

Awww... love this! 🐱

Some teeny tiny punched deco from one of the Snettisham Great torc terminals. I love the way the ripples within each little line show each time the maker struck their punch... Ting, ting, ting... 🎶 If you want to know more about the patterns: bigbookoftorcs.com/2022/05/29/p... #Archaeology 🏺

I have a new theory about smaller diameter torcs... #CatWhoIsNotMyCat #Archaeology 🏺 #Bruce #Gold #Torcs

More torc halves - Snettisham Great torc, Newark, Netherurd & Sedgeford. Done for comparison - similarities & differences when scaled to same size. I do lots of drawing, overlays, re-scaling etc. Helps me to visualise & think! (Great for a teatowel print too! 🤣) #Archaeology 🏺 #Gold #Torcs

Created this a couple of years ago to show that - despite being differently decorated and different sized - several torc terminals (Newark left, Netherurd right) were created using the same proportions and layouts. Rather pretty. ❤️ #Archaeology 🏺 #Gold #Torcs

It's worth ordering from Abel & Cole at this time of year, just for the mistletoe! It even comes with a beautiful red ribbon! ❤️ #Christmas

Case in point - discussion of the Newark torc in the Snettisham books (left). The BM used a really poor 150kV xray they had done in 2008, but entirely neglected to mention our 2018 paper, in journal Historical Metallurgy, which included detailed 450kV xrays (right) we had done of the Newark torc...

Saddened, but not surprised, to see Snettisham books nominated for 'Research Project of the Year'. Yes, there's good in those books, but there's much wrong when it comes to torcs themselves & our research was largely ignored... #Archaeology 🏺 #Gold #Torcs bigbookoftorcs.com/2024/12/11/t...

Wholesome seasonal viewing! 🥰🎄 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002nc5h

This is not true. These are the figures for England and Wales (where the 1996 Treasure Act and subsequent amendments apply). It's a complete mess. #Archaeology 🏺 #Detecting #Treasure

We HAVE to start calling these things out. I get it, we're scared if we say anything then detectorists will stop reporting, more will be lost. But honestly, we can't carry on like this... I've read so many 'we're so grateful to have' media reports recently. It's stomach churning. #Archaeology 🏺

More things we paid for, even though they'd been damaged by finder... "It was rolled up when it was found and the finder unrolled it to see what it was. During the unrolling, one end became detached leaving the object in two pieces" #Archaeology 🏺 #Detecting finds.org.uk/database/art... 1/2

Honestly, if you don't have a Potted History pot, you really should...

Everything I've written about detecting, Treasure, private ownership, image rights etc can be found here: bigbookoftorcs.com/who-owns-tor... #Archaeology 🏺 #Detecting #Treasure

Really good #QuestionTime responses from both @zackpolanski.bsky.social & @libdemdaisy.bsky.social tonight. Really proud to be a #Green, but also very happy to have Daisy as my MP. But my goodness the Tory & Zia Yusuf showed themselves to be utterly, truly horrible, spiteful and unpleasant men... 🤮

My dad was histologist in NHS hospital path lab. He started working there when he was in early 20s & by time he was in his 30s he'd developed a strange kind of allergy/ vasculitis where his capillaries burst, leaving him with terrible rashes and other symptoms 🧵 www.channel4.com/news/exclusi...

Lovely to see Kris Lockyear (@welwynarchsoc.bsky.social) nominated for #Archaeologist of the Year! Kris has done huge amount to bring #archaeology to different communities - teaching, digging or amazing geophysics work... or our brilliant YAC project! You can vote here: archaeology.co.uk/vote

Wow! Stunning.

Oh look, if you excavate coin hoards properly you can get a better result than just folks salivating over money

Yet another example of how we are all having to pay to see our shared heritage. Just look at the outrageous financial figures and ask where its coming from!

All kinds of the stresses on heritage in this post: - if the detectorist hadn't found it, would it ever have been found? vs. but what was lost in that random dig/washing bowl??? - local heritage scraping the barrel to buy back their own? and then more begging to have the infrastructure to display??

Most expensive treasure find ever - cost us all £4.3 million last year & now an extra £1 million to display it. Dug without archaeological supervision & taken to the British Museum in a washing up bowl: youtu.be/nKHgiQPYEs4?... #Archaeology 🏺 #Detecting #Treasure www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A commercial organisation being paid by rallies to record... rallies being places where PAS teams don't go because rallies ‘do not provide the ideal circumstances for PAS staff to record finds in the field’... (from PAS website) 1/2 #Archaeology 🏺 #Treasure #Detecting

This made me chuckle. "You give us the Tapestry & we'll give you The Works (we're not gonna say exactly what The Works are - Sutton Hoo, a few Chessmen & some other bits we'll chuck in later - they'll be fabulous though, promise!!)" #Archaeology 🏺 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6929b6...