An older but nonetheless very nice Norwegian find for #FindsFriday: An ornamented (and burnt) bone fragment from Reistad in Levanger, Trøndelag. Found 1935 in a burial mound. The pelleted body implies Mammen-style (c. ~1000 CE). More here: www.unimus.no/portal/#/thi... (📸: CC BY-SA 4.0)

Free book download of collected papers on Knowledge Commons ‘No Horns on their Helmets? essays on the Insular Viking Age’ #medievalsky #history #vikingsky #archaeology works.hcommons.org/records/xc6k...

The vacuum at highest levels in talking about this dark turn in British life over the last few months HAS to end.

New podcast (in 🇸🇪-ish) on the recent excavation at Björkö, often called Birka. lenakonig111.podbean.com/e/birka-utgr...

An Old Norse taught be Dr Ryder Patzuk Russell. Ryder is excellent! Please share. www.paideiainstitute.org/introduction...

Opinium asked 500 ethnic minority respondents about racism and flags for ITV Good Morning Britain www.opinium.com/resource-cen...

Boydell & Brewer have a 40% sae on paperbacks with code PB40! You could, for example, get Heirs of the Vikings for £16.19 boydellandbrewer.com/book/heirs-o...

'Forgotten' royal castle uncovered on Scottish isle www.bbc.com/news/article...

On days like today, it’s important to remember the words of the wonderful Jonathan Miller when challenging the dog-whistling of those who wish to divide us for political or financial gain.

Good university news in dark times: new interdisciplinary MA in Gender and Sexuality beginning at University of Birmingham. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr...

Another gem from the exhibition Ivory of the sea in Trondheim. This box, dated to the late eleventh century, shows that Romanesque decor extended to all available media. [British Museum no. 1870,0811.1; currently at NTNU University Museum]

Well, I've had two weeks away - so I'd better get back with another Viking camps #FindsFriday! We're going to look at ringed pins today - starting with this find, DB entry 1627 from Torksey. This was probably a cloak pin, with a cord tied to the swivelling ring used to hold it in place. /1

This whole test should have been far better organised to ensure that those people who need to have secret phones, such as domestic abuse victims, have been far better informed about how to prevent the alerts. It's been primarily left to charities to raise that awareness. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Society has today launched a new funding grant in honour of Dr Ryan Foster, supporting those who have come or returned to academia later in life.

My favourite time of year is almost here - #BirminghamHeritageWeek Fri 12 - Sun 21 September Over 200+ heritage events across Birmingham to enjoy. Full programme and booking opens today (9 August) Top Tip: Book early as many events soon become fully booked! #Heritage #BHW2025

Are you curious about the potential for archival practices to shape the study of emotion; why there are letters in the English State Papers labelled 'mad'; or how the culture & politics of Elizabethan England shaped people's experience of distress? Find out here! doi.org/10.1017/S008... #earlymodern

New in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' '"your poore distressed suppliant": ‘Madness’, Emotion and the Archive in Early Modern England', by Jonathan Willis bit.ly/4mM49G4 How can perspectives from the history of emotions inform understanding of 'madness' in early modern England? 1/2

#PhotoFriday #Tolkien Gracewell Cottages on Wake Green Road, the childhood home of J.R.R. Tolkien from 1896 to 1900. theironroom.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/t... Ref - Tolkien’s Birmingham Photo Box – 15 #LibraryofBham @Brumpic @tolkiensociety.org

Norfolk folk, anti-fascists & anyone with a conscience: there’s a neo-Nazi music festival coming to Great Yarmouth in September, you can help stop this by emailing the Home Office ⬇️ Nazi scum off our streets & out of our seaside towns

BREAKING: Baptist minister, James Grote, was just arrested under the Terrorism Act. His alleged crime? Holding a placard outside his church in Oxford which said: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action"

Just heard a UK woman on the street interviewed by the BBC about asylum seekers and her first words were “I know they’re humans and all the rest of it, but”. That’ll stick with me a while

Failure to study languages ‘damages Britain’s reputation’. Former Schools Minister Nick Gibb says it may be time to make languages compulsory again up to age 16, but with a long lead time to ensure there are enough teachers www.thetimes.com/article/5332...

If the marketing team is struggling to understand what universities do and are for, they can read this by a former Warwick professor, HoD, research centre founder/director and PVC. 3/3

“For researchers, the ability to engage with a text in the original language is especially useful in situations where precise nuances—whether technical, legal [or] literary—really matter,” she [Megan Bowler, HEPI report author] said.

For the fans of the eleventh century (there are dozens of us!), here's a 30% pre-order discount from @oxunipress.bsky.social on my book, due out next month.

Delighted to say that I've been awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for 2025-26, and we are hiring a 1-year full-time lecturer in early medieval history to replace me. Deadline 7 August. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions about the role! jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

How to cool your reindeer. In a heatwave in northern Sweden.

Call for Papers: "New Perspectives on the Viking Diaspora" Call for Papers: "New Perspectives on the Viking Diaspora" CfP: Leeds International Medieval Congress 2026 (6-9 www.themedievalacademyblog.org/call-for-pap...

This was a joy to read.

‘Motornormativity’ - where society fails to address the massive harm caused by motor vehicles, leading to a higher acceptance of death and injury on our roads. In the case of the West Midlands, a shocking 2,373 people last year. @ianwalker.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2023/j...

We’ve published our response to plans to extend the @a38cycleway.bsky.social to Longbridge. We enthusiastically welcome them while identifying some issues with the design. Please consider sending a response supporting ours!

A new eruption in south-west Iceland in the same area as other recent volcanic activity. See the thread for a map. Looking forward to seeing this in a few weeks’ time, I think!

This road will cost £200 million if it’s delivered on budget (others are not). It will deliver 206,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2032 and f**k knows why we don’t have the full 60 year report from National Highways. It will also generate more traffic. But it 100% will absolutely not “improve the economy”.

Fun fact: you can view a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry at @readingmuseum.bsky.social! Learn more about it on the Reading Museum website, which includes a complete digitised version. www.readingmuseum.org.uk/collections/...

A brilliant blog post by the Frisia Coast Trail here on our varied forms of archaeological evidence for identifying bizarre (to us) burial rites of the southern North Sea rim

“They’ve found a very early ruler, so that’s very important, and he’s claimed to be the founder of a dynasty,” said Gary Feinman, an archaeologist at Field Museum of Chicago who was not involved in the excavation. “That’s a major find.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/w...

In case you haven't spotted it: **Historical Association Bursary Scheme via @royalhistsoc.org ** Open to early career and mid-career applicants £1,500 research support to produce an article Deadline 15 August 2025 royalhistsoc.org/calendar/his...

Call for papers! The @snsbi.bsky.social autumn day online conference "Names Abroad - Names From Abroad" is on Sat 25/10/2025: A) Current Name Research in Scandinavia, of relevance to Britain/Ireland, B) Names of other origins in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere. Deadline for abstracts: 15 August.

Unsurprisingly, there is lots of excited chatter at #IMC2025 about the Bayeux Tapestry/Canterbury Embroidery coming to visit next year. Anyway, a quick thread. #medievalsky #BayeuxTapestry 1/

This fall, The Greenhouse is offering three 5 ECTS micromodules @unistavanger.bsky.social, based in environmental history & humanities, online and open for all to take. #envhist #envhum

Viking ship news incoming. A later date for an excavated ship than was previously thought. Reminds us again of how important basic chronology is for understanding the 8th to 10th centuries in Northern Europe.

It’s good to see people still give a Futhark about this sort of thing.

It is remarkable that the west is committing to spending 5% of GDP on defence, and almost no one has made the case that the most pressing threat to our security this century is climate change and we should be spending more on tackling that.

Just because you all need more archaeological finds and sites in your feed. The granite baptistry located at Stenild church, Northern Jutland, dated to 1050-1100 AD. With a diameter of 130 cm, it is the largest font from the Medieval period in Denmark.

A treat for my many new followers. Eyrbyggja saga (The Saga of the People of Eyri) is as entertaining as it is intriguing.

Cycle parking #GentSintPieters vs #BirminghamNewStreet station

It’s great to see I have so many new followers. If you want to find out more about vikings, early medieval history, and Iceland then you won’t be disappointed.

Reform UK is proposing a "Britannia card" that would let wealthy foreigners pay a £250k fee to move to the UK, and live here exempt from all tax on their foreign assets What they don't say: it would cost the UK £34bn Report here, and thread below: buff.ly/gpe2Dpf

Really sad to hear that the wonderful photographer Nick Hedges has passed. I was lucky enough to interview him last year and he was wonderful - insightful, reflective and funny. His pictures will really stand the test of time I think. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Out and about today.