For #FindsFriday I offer this gorgeous 15,000 year old engraving of a reindeer calf, nervously standing next to its mum. Found in the Madeleine rock shelter in the Dordogne, France. Part of the excellent Ice Age Art exhibition at the Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, Bradford. 🏺

For #FindsFriday I offer this gorgeous 15,000 year old engraving of a reindeer calf, nervously standing next to its mum. Found in the Madeleine rock shelter in the Dordogne, France. Part of the excellent Ice Age Art exhibition at the Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, Bradford. 🏺

I loved Galway, but this is so sad to see - lines of drying peat cut to fuel heaters and warm homes. This is an incalculable loss to the environment and to archaeology🏺. It's not big business doing this, but small householders keeping a tradition alive that should be long dead.

I loved Galway, but this is so sad to see - lines of drying peat cut to fuel heaters and warm homes. This is an incalculable loss to the environment and to archaeology🏺. It's not big business doing this, but small householders keeping a tradition alive that should be long dead.

For #StandingStoneSunday I offer the Stone of Destiny, Lia Fáil, a one-metre granite pillar on a raised platform on the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath, Ireland. According to legend, High Kings of Ireland were crowned at the stone, which cried out if it was the true king. 🏺

For #StandingStoneSunday I offer the Stone of Destiny, Lia Fáil, a one-metre granite pillar on a raised platform on the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath, Ireland. According to legend, High Kings of Ireland were crowned at the stone, which cried out if it was the true king. 🏺

I love Irish round towers! Like giant grey pencils or a child’s drawing of a rocket. They date to the medieval period and were probably used as belfries or places of refuge. This one is at Kilmacduagh monastery in Co. Galway. It’s over 30m tall and has a decidedly eccentric lean. 🏺

I love Irish round towers! Like giant grey pencils or a child’s drawing of a rocket. They date to the medieval period and were probably used as belfries or places of refuge. This one is at Kilmacduagh monastery in Co. Galway. It’s over 30m tall and has a decidedly eccentric lean. 🏺

Topping off the top four megalithic sites in Ireland is Carrowmore in Co. Sligo. It is classified as part of the Neolithic passage tomb tradition, but many monuments look more like dolmens to me. It is a gorgeously striking site (and sight) though. 🏺

Topping off the top four megalithic sites in Ireland is Carrowmore in Co. Sligo. It is classified as part of the Neolithic passage tomb tradition, but many monuments look more like dolmens to me. It is a gorgeously striking site (and sight) though. 🏺

Another iconic monument ticked off the bucket list. Poulnabrone dolmen is one of Ireland's most photographed and photogenic monuments. It is set in the desolate and magnificent landscape of the Burren, Co Clare. #TombTuesday #Neolithic #Ireland

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Another iconic monument ticked off the bucket list. Poulnabrone dolmen is one of Ireland's most photographed and photogenic monuments. It is set in the desolate and magnificent landscape of the Burren, Co Clare. #TombTuesday #Neolithic #Ireland

Carrowkeel in Co Sligo, Ireland, is one of the most extraordinary Neolithic sites I’ve visited. The passage tombs are set in the Bricklieve Mountains (Speckled Mountain) and overlook Lough Arrow. The views, the sky, the purpling heather - magical! 🏺 #StandingStoneSunday

Carrowkeel in Co Sligo, Ireland, is one of the most extraordinary Neolithic sites I’ve visited. The passage tombs are set in the Bricklieve Mountains (Speckled Mountain) and overlook Lough Arrow. The views, the sky, the purpling heather - magical! 🏺 #StandingStoneSunday

This exquisitely carved 5000-year-old ceremonial macehead is one of Neolithic Europe’s finest works of art. Excavated from the passage tomb at Knowth in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, it is less than 8cm long and made of a hard, mottled cream-coloured flint. #FindsFriday #Neolithic

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This exquisitely carved 5000-year-old ceremonial macehead is one of Neolithic Europe’s finest works of art. Excavated from the passage tomb at Knowth in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, it is less than 8cm long and made of a hard, mottled cream-coloured flint. #FindsFriday #Neolithic

For #TombTuesday, I offer this beauty: the main passage tomb at Loughcrew, near Oldcastle in County Meath, Ireland. It has a series of smaller satellite tombs around it. The monuments sit on a series of hills and date to the Middle Neolithic period, around 5000 years ago.

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For #TombTuesday, I offer this beauty: the main passage tomb at Loughcrew, near Oldcastle in County Meath, Ireland. It has a series of smaller satellite tombs around it. The monuments sit on a series of hills and date to the Middle Neolithic period, around 5000 years ago.

Fourknocks passage tomb in Co. Meath, Ireland. Built in the Middle Neolithic period, the passage leads to a vast pear-shaped chamber, initially with a wooden roof supported on a central pole. Three small recesses contained 65 adults and children. 🏺

Fourknocks passage tomb in Co. Meath, Ireland. Built in the Middle Neolithic period, the passage leads to a vast pear-shaped chamber, initially with a wooden roof supported on a central pole. Three small recesses contained 65 adults and children. 🏺

Monumentally iconic. Sí an Bhrú or Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland. 🏺#Neolithic #Archaeology #Ireland

Monumentally iconic. Sí an Bhrú or Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland. 🏺#Neolithic #Archaeology #Ireland

Today is the final excavation day at Skipsea in East #Yorkshire, and we’ve dug our way into the Early Mesolithic. And here - an elegant flint point, a razor-thin slash through time, found lying exactly where it had been dropped, some 10,000 years ago. 🏺 #FlintFriday #FindsFriday

Today is the final excavation day at Skipsea in East #Yorkshire, and we’ve dug our way into the Early Mesolithic. And here - an elegant flint point, a razor-thin slash through time, found lying exactly where it had been dropped, some 10,000 years ago. 🏺 #FlintFriday #FindsFriday

A few tens of millions of years ago this nugget of Baltic amber bobbed across the sea to arrive on British shores. Over a thousand years ago someone picked it up and began to turn it into a bead for a necklace, before losing it on our site at Skipsea. #FindsFriday #Skipsea2025 🏺

A few tens of millions of years ago this nugget of Baltic amber bobbed across the sea to arrive on British shores. Over a thousand years ago someone picked it up and began to turn it into a bead for a necklace, before losing it on our site at Skipsea. #FindsFriday #Skipsea2025 🏺

Of the wonders we’re excavating at Skipsea, East Yorkshire, my favourite is this rare medieval floor, 6th-9th century. How many leather-bound feet, over a thousand years ago, padded in and out of it? How many people stood in the doorway, having passing conversations? 🏺 #Skipsea2025

Of the wonders we’re excavating at Skipsea, East Yorkshire, my favourite is this rare medieval floor, 6th-9th century. How many leather-bound feet, over a thousand years ago, padded in and out of it? How many people stood in the doorway, having passing conversations? 🏺 #Skipsea2025

And we’re off! Excavating Skipsea Castle, a prehistoric and early medieval landscape. By the end of May, 114 students will have had their first taste of archaeology in the trenches we open this week. 🏺 #Archaeology #Yorkshire #Skipsea #Skipsea2025

And we’re off! Excavating Skipsea Castle, a prehistoric and early medieval landscape. By the end of May, 114 students will have had their first taste of archaeology in the trenches we open this week. 🏺 #Archaeology #Yorkshire #Skipsea #Skipsea2025

Well, this is exciting news! 🏺 thebookseller.com/rights/elliott…

The Quakers Trod between Guisborough and Castleton on the North York Moors. A shingle straight flagged path across a flail flat moorland desert. Older than the Quaker name suggests, this was a medieval road, and runs parallel to a prehistoric route.

Elliott & Thompson has acquired The Seekers: Unearthing the Lost Neolithic People of Britain and Ireland by archaeologist, lecturer and author Jim Leary. 👇 #BookSky

We're so happy to be welcoming @jimleary.bsky.social‬ to the E&T list with #TheSeekers! 🎉

Well, this is exciting news! 🏺 thebookseller.com/rights/elliott…

The Quakers Trod between Guisborough and Castleton on the North York Moors. A shingle straight flagged path across a flail flat moorland desert. Older than the Quaker name suggests, this was a medieval road, and runs parallel to a prehistoric route.

The enchanting green aura of this steep-sided sunken path, with its shaggy moss-clad sides like deep-pile carpets. #HollowayWednesday

I recently visited Kirkdale Cave (or Kirkdalegrottan), a smiling cave mouth located near Kirkbymoorside in North Yorkshire. It is a site of considerable importance in the history of science and our understanding of the past. 🏺

I recently visited Kirkdale Cave (or Kirkdalegrottan), a smiling cave mouth located near Kirkbymoorside in North Yorkshire. It is a site of considerable importance in the history of science and our understanding of the past. 🏺

It will forever amaze me that my words have been translated! And yet, here we are! And it’s a joy to see the Chinese translation of #Footmarks Out soon! 🏺

"In archaeology, we tend to forget about people strutting like Travolta." ... Now THAT'S a sentence I never thought I'd read in an archaeology book! But it's brilliantly apt nonetheless. Very much enjoying @jimleary.bsky.social 's Footmarks. #archaeolog #archaeologybooks #wandering #wanderers

Do join me on Friday for a bookish chat about walking, the past, and writing.

Fancy attending an #Archaeology book club? Join @digventures.bsky.social founder @diggingthedirt.bsky.social for a conversation with archaeologist and author @jimleary.bsky.social about his new book 'Footmarks‘ and to discuss 3.5 million years of human movement! 📅 28 February 2025, 13:00 GMT

Good to bump into @megalithic.bsky.social and @jimleary.bsky.social on the shelves in Foyles this afternoon

Absolutely delighted to see the Chinese language front cover of #Footmarks! Words I never thought I’d say! Out this March. What a joy to see the book in another language. I think I’ll head out today and find a holloway to celebrate in. 🏺

We now have 100 accounts in our University of York Starter Pack! The number 100 has great cultural significance, but of course it's not THAT different to the 98 we were on before we added @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social and @jimleary.bsky.social - we're excited about it nevertheless. Welcome!

I stumbled across this exquisitely soulful, peaceful place while walking in the woods the other day. I sat in it and watched a robin hop around my feet. It’s the Lowna Quaker Burial Ground on the North York Moors, used between 1675 and 1854. 114 Quakers were laid to rest here. 🏺