Giving a lecture on settlement archaeology this week so you KNOW I had to include my favorite archaeological book cover of all time 😂🏺

The Govan Stones is one of the most important historical sites in Scotland. It's one of the few surviving places that has material evidence for this lost kingdom and culture of that most elusive early medieval people, the North Britons and I'd love to see it preserved for the future

I would be endlessly grateful if you were to support this crucial fundraising effort for Govan Old's 1,500-year-old graveyard and the @govanstones.bsky.social museum! 💲❤️ tghts.enthuse.com/cf/graveyard...

Great to see the latest issue of Scottish Archives in print! I've written a wee something about James VI's Scottish menagerie 🐆 🐪 👑 Looking forward to reading all the other fantastic contributions when my copy arrives!

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

It’s been a BUSY few weeks getting @churchheritage.bsky.social up and running but right now I’m up in the Cairngorms with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and I got to see a WILDCAT KITTEN at @highlandwpark.bsky.social. It’s so fierce and silly. I’m not a cat person but I do love this little one.

What a fantastic launch event yesterday for @churchheritage.bsky.social, our collaborative project with @socantscot.bsky.social supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Pilgrim Trust. Chaired by @lizzieswarbrick.bsky.social, we heard from 20 wonderful speakers followed by a panel discussion.

🎟⛏️ The hottest ticket in Scotland this weekend is at the @govanstones.bsky.social!

Retired Physicists Explain the Humanities to Me by Rebecca Solnit

In the wild!! (i.e. on my mum's sofa)

One for @urbanprehistorian.bsky.social - I was reading this morning about the Asda 'Price Promise' stones that were erected across the country in the 90s loststonesofasda.wordpress.com Some are definitely on the way to being archaeological monuments, such as this one in Trumfleet, South Yorkshire

Remember that dude with the Plasticine Action tshirt, with the pic of Morph on it, who got arrested for wearing it in London? He has set up a site selling the tshirts with all proceeds going to the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). You know what to do! ⬇️ plasticineaction.com

I think it's really worth shouting out that the first 2 people to withdraw were black debut authors (Mae Diansangu followed by Jason Okundaye). They both had some of the most to lose by doing so before others did, and yet they did anyway. I'm grateful to all who withdrew, but to them especially.

Reviewer 1 | Reviewer 2

In the death registers of early modern Venice, marginalia often marks the cause of death: drawings of daggers for murders, for instance. In 1696, Giovanni Battista Rinaldi was killed by a dog. This is the drawing by his entry.

now google each of those six universities and “redundancies”

I'll use this occasion of frustration to re-up my thread from a couple of months ago about how to hack your way to reasonaly hi-res images you can download from the BL's IIIF viewer: bsky.app/profile/cari... The way you get to MSS from the landing page has changed, but the rest seems still to work.

Apparently it’s World Embroidery Day so maybe you’ll enjoy this aerial landscape I made of my beloved childhood haunt - the White Horse of Uffington. An @nationaltrust.org.uk site from the later Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. Find out more here www.oxfordarchaeology.com/uffington-wh...

An important part of a bigger story that has so far mainly focused on the University of Edinburgh

UK academics - please sign this open letter to the UK government: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Pleased this is finally published after I proposed it a few years ago. A lot of work by brilliant colleagues & some expected and some shocking findings. It’ll upset some (it’s a long time ago etc) but if a uni can’t speak truth to its own power what’s its point? www.theguardian.com/education/20...

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

There's a type of person who argues there's no point stopping selling plane parts to Israel as they would only get them elsewhere, or the government can't condemn Israeli genocide as it would make no difference, and it's amazing to me that they have never before encountered the concept of "morality"

Every time I see a politician scapegoating immigrants, here’s what upsets me the most: Immigrants are always the tool not the audience of the messaging. They’re counted on to simply stay quiet, grateful & work harder no matter how much vilification they’re exposed to. This expectation is crushing.

Sure, the Epstein files are undoubtedly salacious, but have you ever read a roll of fornication cases from early 18th century Fife?!

Hello pals, a wee help request: do you know of a great academic/heritage website that has a database behind it? I’m going to be commissioning one and I’d like some snazzy examples for inspo. Thanks!

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for. Stop using WeTransfer.

A joyful first event at the Edinburgh Historical Reconstruction lab where we tried European and Chinese early modern cosmetics and perfumes, found out what James I and VI smelled like, and made pomanders from a 1555 recipe.

Few know Orkney to be the home of the world's first recorded Pokémon sighting

AMAZING STUFF! Very well deserved.

New research into the public value and support for the preservation of the heritage of church buildings. Something we’ll be exploring in our @scotchurchfutures.bsky.social project over the next two years. historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ne...

I loved St Cuthbert’s Chapel on Inner Farne, begun 1369. Furnishings nicked from Durham Cathedral, dream-soaked light, and a beaded curtain to keep out the violent arctic terns (exterior photo taken quickly because I was at risk of getting my ears severely pecked).

Come work with the fab Drs @helspencer.bsky.social & @lizzieswarbrick.bsky.social on this new project that will further assess the remarkable cultural heritage found in Scotland's historic churches and look at ways to utilise this inheritance while seeking new futures for these special buildings. 👇

In case you missed our big news this week, we've embarked on a new collaboration with our colleagues at @socantscot.bsky.social, supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, to assess the scale of heritage loss as a consequence of the mass sale of Scottish churches. 👇 www.heraldscotland.com/news/2527341...

Anger as Glasgow School of Art closes its stained glass studio and ends its classes, severing its long links with the endangered craft. My story for the @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2527841...

It’s me! I can finally reveal that I’ve been appointed as the Research Officer for this vital project. Hundreds of churches are currently closing or at risk here in Scotland. This work will rapidly assess our endangered heritage and work with communities to find solutions.

This is a cob (dirt) wall in Dorchester on Thames. It’s two feet thick, probably sixty feet long and it’s home to hundreds of solitary (mason?) bees! It’s Grade II listed, and an example of how heritage building survival is important not just for the vibes or the history.

It is finished. About to make lots of [mostly yt ppl] very angry and shocked. Let their crying and vomiting commence. #booksky #medievalsky #makeracistsupsetsky

Come and work with me! Brilliant project, 3 days a week, flexible working. Happy to answer any questions.

It's me!

The 'precariously employed lecturer/researcher bin' just out of shot is much fuller, however

Just this evening finally submitted an absolute unit of a chapter about the art and architecture of wonderful Trinity college, Edinburgh. Brewing since my PhD (graduated in 2017), it’s been a long gestation!

Next Carantes (anti-fascist Celtic Studies) reading group meeting online next Friday. Come join us to talk about the unstable ways that medieval and medievalist ethnic categories map onto modern identities - open access reading, no expertise (or fee) required.

Mega solidarity to all my @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social former colleagues today!

UCU members at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social are striking today over University of Edinburgh plans to make £140million in cuts and threaten jobs We're fighting against these reckless proposals Share to show your support ✊

June 19: Feast of the translation of Margaret of Scotland (†1093). King Alexander III watched as her relics were placed in a shrine of pinewood set with gold and precious stones before the high altar at Dunfermline Abbey #OTD in 1250. Her gospel-book survives. 📸Bodleian Library #medievalsky