I just picked up a book on the human need to sketch. Very moving to see this ancient image.

Artists have always loved to sketch! Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC. Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used flakes of limestone as sketchpads! MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Artists have always loved to sketch! Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC. Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used flakes of limestone as sketchpads! MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Working on a thing, distracted by a headpot. Please behold this incredible likeness of Syrian empress Julia Domna from York (York Museums H2132).

Chûn Quoit for #TombTuesday. #Cornwall #Archaeology

Drawings of 10th century hogback tomb markers at St Andrews Church, Penrith, Cumbria dated 1921 by WG Collingwood who was professor of Fine Arts at University College, Reading and President of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Society. #TombTuesday

Tombstone of Flavius Fuscinus, retired centurion, and his son, Flavius Romanus, a clerk, found near Ambleside Roman fort (GALAVA) #Cumbria The last line reads: *in cas(tris) int(er)f(ectus) ab hosti(bus)* *Killed in the fort by enemies* 😱 📷 Sept 2022 #TombTuesday #EpigraphyTuesday

I had a lovely (if rather damp) day out with the one and only @stonelands.bsky.social on Sunday, during which she introduced me to Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent. Its name is possibly derived from the old Cornish word 'Galdrum' which means 'place of enchantments'. #TombTuesday

The restored entrance to Wayland’s Smithy in Oxfordshire - a Neolithic chambered long barrow close to the Uffington White Horse. The barrow was built over an earlier burial structure which held the remains of at least 14 individuals. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #WaylandsSmithy

2,000 year-old Roman ‘Beware of the Dog’ mosaic. This good boy looks ready for walkies! 😍🐾 Chained black guard dog from the entry passage of the House of Orpheus, Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

Lawrence Payne questions whether by taking the guard dog mosaics at face value, as a warning, are we missing a 2,000-year-old Roman joke? Read more: romanmosaicworkshops.medium.com/is-the-famou...

#MosaicMonday www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

2,000 year-old Roman ‘Beware of the Dog’ mosaic. This good boy looks ready for walkies! 😍🐾 Chained black guard dog from the entry passage of the House of Orpheus, Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

Barrel-shaped jug with stags. c.750 - 600 BCE From Larnaca, Cyprus. (Ancient city of Kition) “the barrel-shaped body and trumpet-shaped neck & mouth of the jar were inspired by Phoenician pottery & artistic traditions”, Ashmolean Museum Loaned to Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. #Archaeology

#MosaicMonday Once again spoiled for choice after a few days in Pompei... So many wonderful floors, but one never gets bored. Well, this one is a little boar-ing

The remains of a geometric mosaic from Roman Cirencester. It was discovered in 1947 in Victoria Road, and possibly dates to the 2nd century AD. The mosaic is on display at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester. 📷 My own. #MosaicMonday #RomanBritain #Cirencester

An ornately convoluted double-handled wine cup (cantharus) Detail from a 4th century AD #Roman house found in 1899 at Olga Road just outside #Dorchester (DVRNOVARIA) Now preserved in the floor of the wonderful @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social 📷 Sept 2024 Happy #MosaicMonday!

For #MosaicMonday a #Roman mosaic showing the labyrinth of the Minotaur on Crete. The monster’s head is depicted in the centre. The simple depiction is alluding to the myth of Theseus, in which the Greek hero slays the Minotaur in the labyrinth with the help ... 🧵1/2 📷🏺 #Archaeology

Less than 30mm long, this is a beautiful testament to our ancestors' artistic skill.

40,000 years ago!

Wonderful Ice Age art! Some 40,000 years ago, this tiny head of a cave lion was skilfully sculpted from mammoth ivory. It is one of the oldest known works of figurative art! 📷 by me #Archaeology

4,500 years old, looks like something from the 1920s.

Wonderful Ice Age art! Some 40,000 years ago, this tiny head of a cave lion was skilfully sculpted from mammoth ivory. It is one of the oldest known works of figurative art! 📷 by me #Archaeology

A child’s footprint frozen in time - pressed into a #Roman tile as it dried before firing nearly 1,800 years ago. A tiny, timeless reminder of everyday life in the ancient world. 📷 online.landessammlungen-noe.at/objects/1306... 🏺

Kildromalive: Standing stone in a field on the Beara Way above Adrigole, north of the Drumlave stone row, Co. Cork. #StandingStoneSunday A lovely setting with Mount Mass rising behind and sweeping views over the hills. It's about 1.8m (6ft) high, square-ended and chunky.

Trethevy Quoit, Cornwall, is a well-preserved portal dolmen, a burial chamber with four upright overlapping granite slabs forming the sides of the chamber and lateral stones at the front and back. These monuments were constructed in the early Neolithic period (3700-3300 BC). #StandingStoneSunday

Castlerigg stone circle in winter. Erected around 5,200 years ago, this stone circle in the Lake District is said to be one of the oldest in the country. #StandingStoneSunday

The late Neolithic henge and circle of standing stones known as Bedd Arthur (‘Arthur’s Grave’) in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire. Located close to the source which provided Stonehenge with its bluestones. 📸 My own. #StandingStoneSunday #Prehistory #Pembrokeshire

Ancient glamour for a change (Interesting alt text with details)

Something lovely for the weekend! A 4,500 year-old ancient Egyptian faience beadnet dress. Museum of Fine Arts Boston collections.mfa.org/objects/1465... 📷 by me #Archaeology

Incredible 😮❤️ Imagine the time it took to create this.

Something lovely for the weekend! A 4,500 year-old ancient Egyptian faience beadnet dress. Museum of Fine Arts Boston collections.mfa.org/objects/1465... 📷 by me #Archaeology

Wow, read the whole thread.

The Tudor Heart Pendant. A spectacular 16th-century gold pendant linked to Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon. Discovered in Warwickshire by a metal detectorist in 2019. British Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

The Tudor Heart Pendant. A spectacular 16th-century gold pendant linked to Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon. Discovered in Warwickshire by a metal detectorist in 2019. British Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

Two #Roman gladiators (a thrax and a murmillo) square up in the arena Small piece of a mid 2nd century AD terra sigillata (samian ware) bowl Found in London sometime before 1929 Exact context sadly unknown 📷 OA The Metropolitan Museum of Art Acc No 29.158.494 #FindsFriday

A wriggling infestation of Bronze Age lurs for #FindsFriday (not fair the #carnyx gets all the glamour…) all found in bogs in Denmark, c.1200-700BC. National Museum, Copenhagen.

A hunting scene from the 6th century Bromeswell Bucket which was manufactured in the Eastern Mediterranean. The bucket was found at a site near Sutton Hoo in 1986, and is now part of the collections at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #SuttonHoo #Suffolk

A complete Roman dodecahedron from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt – one of about 130 known examples found across the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire. We don’t really know what these mysterious objects were used for. Over the years, countless (and sometimes rather absurd) theories ...🧵1/3 📷me

Ancient Greek silver stater (coin) with an octopus on the reverse side. 🐙 Minted in Eretria, Euboea, Greece, 500-480 BC. Photo: British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o... #Archaeology #ReliefWednesday

Ancient Greek silver stater (coin) with an octopus on the reverse side. 🐙 Minted in Eretria, Euboea, Greece, 500-480 BC. Photo: British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o... #Archaeology #ReliefWednesday

For #ReliefWednesday, among the splendours of the #BritishMuseum we find this quite large #sardonyx #cameo showing a goddess in a chariot pulled by two restless bulls. The size suggests an imperial commission of the #Severan period. Maybe Julia #Domna as #Selene or the Dea Syria. #AncientBluesky 🏺

#ReliefWednesday showing Helios, Sun God. From the North-West pediment of the temple of Athena in Ilion (Troy). Between the first quarter of the 3rd century BC and 390 BC. Found during the excavations lead by Heinrich Schliemann in 1872, now in the Pergamon-Museum in Berlin

My colleagues and I are finally taking on the challenge of getting a precise number of burial mounds located at this absolute monster of a site, called Lyngaland, near Ålgård. The official number for now stands at 125 - Let's see what we end up with at the end of it all! #Archaeology

Fascinating world of ancient #glass: One of my favourite #Roman objects made of glass is this little basket (height 6.5cm). It is not clear what it was used for, possibly to hold cosmetics. From Syria, dating 3rd century AD. On display at British Museum 📷 me 🏺#archaeology

I saw Merit’s beauty box last year when I visted the incredible Museo Egizio in Turin. Here’s a closer look at Merit’s fabulous blue glass kohl tube with applicator and her delightful blue glass cosmetic jar with two little duck heads on the lid!

A 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian beauty box with original containers for makeup and beauty products! 🤩 📷 Museo Egizio, Turin #Archaeology

Love this!

A 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian beauty box with original containers for makeup and beauty products! 🤩 📷 Museo Egizio, Turin #Archaeology

#TombTuesday the Weiden Roman #tomb is today one of the best-preserved and most impressive burial sites from #Roman times north of the Alps. It shows a large part of its original furnishings - pure antiquity. 🧵 (1/2) 📸 A Thünker #Archaeology #History #RomanArchaeology