#MosaicMonday - Mosaic panel from Hadrian's Villa depicting a rocky landscape with goats by a stream and a statue of Dionysus. Musei Vaticani, Gabinetto delle Maschere.

6th C cultural appropriation ! Arian KingTheodoric (L) renamed as Orthodox EmperorJustinian (R) at St Apollinaire Nuovo, Ravenna. Boo! #MosaicMonday

The black and white geometric mosaic in the tepidarium of the women's bathhouse at #Roman #Herculaneum / #Ercolano We're not sure what's depicted in the panel closest to the camera but we have a nasty feeling it's a *thingy* 😬 A thingy with a bell on it 😬😬 📷 Sept 2023 #MosaicMonday

What’s better than one layer of mosaic floor for Christmas?? Three of course! (The latest with underfloor heating upgrade). I do hope the ceiling height was raised too… 📸 Us, #Roman villa, Desenzano del Garda. #MosaicMonday #Archaeology #Skystorians #AncientBluesky #Classicsbluesky #AncientRome

Being an optimist … a reminder that summer is just six months away! Summer depicted on a mosaic, 2H-C4th AD, from Carthage in The British Museum (MLA 1857.12-18.126, 130, 132 and 133; BM Cat. Mosaics 29b.) Photo: my own, 2023. #MosaicMonday

'Winter' from Caerwent, Wales (now in Newport Museum) wears a hooded cloak against the cold & wet, maybe the 'birrus Britannicus' mentioned in Diocletian's Price Edict of AD301. A birrus was worth 6,000 denarii. Price details of Winter's furry mosaic companions in the ALT texts. #MosaicMonday 📸 me

A prospective PhD student visited today. And this happened. #Hypocaustgate

It's Monday, Latin dies Lunae - day of Luna, goddess of the #Moon. Therefore, for #MosaicMonday a detail of a mosaic from the #Roman villa at Orbe-Boscéaz, Yverdon-les-Bains region, Switzerland, depicting Luna in a two-horse chariot. Happy Monday to all of you!

I humbly present a “thingy with bells on” from #Pompeii. Photo is my own, Sept. 2021.

As we approach Christmas, for this #MosaicMonday I'm sharing one of my favourite decorative mosaics. From Combe St Nicholas and sadly no longer surviving. Hand-coloured engraving from Samuel Lysons, Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae I.IV (1813-1817), pl. VIII. AncientBlueSky 🏺

The Romans sure did love their *thingies*! In 1992, researchers found a wooden one at Vindolanda, preserved by the anaerobic conditions. The first of its kind, it is possible that they were more widespread but, unlike more common stone and metal ones, don't often survive. doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

The black and white geometric mosaic in the tepidarium of the women's bathhouse at #Roman #Herculaneum / #Ercolano We're not sure what's depicted in the panel closest to the camera but we have a nasty feeling it's a *thingy* 😬 A thingy with a bell on it 😬😬 📷 Sept 2023 #MosaicMonday

Reposting for #MosaicMonday.

Possibly the most sublime Roman fresco of a temple. The architectural detail of the spiky-topped wooden barrier, the painted relief in the pediment, & the offerings burning on the altar; it’s a symphony of observations. Archaeological Museum of Capri (no provenance) #FrescoFriday

Just mentioned Saturnalia 30 seconds ago then I see this 🤷‍♀️😁❤️👍

For #StandingStoneSunday The megaliths of Avebury, Wiltshire splendidly reimagined as festive decorations in the newly reopened (and rather excellent) @nationaltrust.org.uk Manor House 😍🎄 📷 Dec 2025 Happy #WinterSolstice #HalfwayOutOfTheDark

A perfect memory for Winter Solstice. Nether Largie standing stones in Kilmartin, Scotland #StandingStoneSunday #Kilmartin #Scotland #WinterSolstice #pagan #witchsky #animism

#StandingStoneSunday #DailyMegalith Shantemon stone row aka Finn McCool's Fingers, nr #Ballyhaise #CountyCavan #RepublicofIreland (2024) 🏺

But, but NEITHER of these people are acclaimed underfloor heating foot / tile interface practitioner Tony Robinson 😱 #HypocaustGate

Happy Winter Solstice! On midwinter’s day, the sun sets between the pair of stones that form the largest trilithon at #Stonehenge Farewell to the shortest day of the year, as we look forward to lighter days ahead! ☀️ #StandingStoneSunday #Archaeology

A foggy Winter Solstice morning on Standing Stones Rigg in North Yorkshire #StandingStoneSunday

I took this very special photo on the ‘Cold’ SuperMoon of 4th December 2025. It is of Stone Henge, by the light only of that moon. No tricks, no electicity, just the full moon’s luminescence. Happy Solstice/Yule and a blessed #StandingStoneSunday to you all. The light returns 🧡🙏🏼🌞 #solstice

Avebury standing stone Christmas decorations! I may have to break my “silly animals only” Christmas tree rule to accommodate these!

A couple of different angles of the standing stone at Gardom's Edge, near Baslow in Derbyshire, taken last month 🪨 #StandingStoneSunday

La Roche Longue in Quintin (Côtes-d’Armor) is a 7m tall needle-like granite menhir. It was said that fairies and nains used to dance around it and that the menhir itself sometimes danced when midnight sounded. #StandingStoneSunday.

Upon my sickle I catch the sun And by my power I cast it on Across the sky The light to bring To rouse the gods To send the spring #WinterSolstice #Solstice #Midwinter #PlaymobilInfestation

Here's to longer days ..🌞🍻🥳 #StandingStoneSunday A crowded Winter #Solstice at Stonehenge in 1990, giving some rare human scale to the enormous sarsen stones & lesser - but still massive - bluestone monoliths 📷 My own

For #StandingStoneSunday The megaliths of Avebury, Wiltshire splendidly reimagined as festive decorations in the newly reopened (and rather excellent) @nationaltrust.org.uk Manor House 😍🎄 📷 Dec 2025 Happy #WinterSolstice #HalfwayOutOfTheDark

Yes. Yes they did

Something lovely for the weekend! A 1,800 year-old Roman glass flask shaped like a mouse! Squeak squeak! 🐭❤️ 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Two finely crafted bone combs from the early 6th c. AD, found in a grave at Dittigheim. To protect their delicate tines, they were carefully kept in a custom-made case. In the Early Middle Ages, long, well-groomed hair was more than a fashion choice, it was a symbol of status and identity. 1/2 📷me

Fabulous! #Stonehenge

It's #Saturnalia ! Here's the satyr Silenus, companion to Bacchus the god of wine, who's inebriated face appears on this 3rd century AD #Roman copper alloy wine jug Found beneath Dorchester Marks and Spencers in 1936 and now @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social 📷 May 2021 Happy #FindsFriday #FridayFeeling

#FindsFriday: A 'dragonesque' brooch from the British Museum. Its belly is inlaid with coloured enamel, and the pin (missing) would have fitted on the back between the two necks. These wonderfully sinuous brooches were popular in the decades after the Roman invasion. #RomanBritain 📸 me

Can we adapt this for hypocaust walking? @romanpalace.bsky.social @durotrigesdig.bsky.social #HypocaustGate

My last piece of writing this year is on @spaceshipmark.bsky.social's charming folk LP and zine in tribute to archaeology telly programme Time Team. Review features reference to the Einstürzende Neubauten hard hat worn by @durotrigesdig.bsky.social on the show: thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

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

Reader, we purchased it #SorryNotSorry #WinterSolstice #Christmas #Stonehenge #Archaeology

Shiny plate mounted on the wall, Who is the fanciest ram of all? This fella at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston! Day 19 of Ancient Animal Advent, info below.

#FindsFriday! This Roman ring came from a site in Northamptonshire. Although absent in our example, these kinds of rings were often set with a gemstone. The stones were carved with images depicting a large range of topics, from portraits to gods to natural symbols, and were popular and valuable.

Its #FindsFriday! During our curator's work repacking the Trosley Roman Villa & Bathhouse excavation archive Andy came across this lovely little tile fragment with another pawprint on it. We aren't entirely sure what animal this came from; what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

Ahead of Christmas, it feels fitting to share this Roman fibula - a decorative pin once used to fasten garments - shaped like a stag. In my Christmas-influenced imagination, it looks rather reindeerish! 🎄 Is it Dasher, Dancer, or maybe Rudolph? 🎅 From the Roman Villa at Borg, 2nd c. AD 📷Villa Borg

This #findsfriday we have a miniature copper alloy axe head fitted into a red deer antler handle for use as a hand tool. Found in Snail Down (XXII), Wiltshire You can search more of our collections here at: www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/search-the-c...

Small mirror - Roman Maybe an offering to the river gods. An unusual find, but similar objects are found around the Danube in eastern Europe. Found by anonymous and Bill & Anthony Yendall. “Secrets of the Thames” exhibition. #London Museum - Docklands #FindsFriday #Roman

Today's #IronAge #coin for #FindsFriday is a little scrap of silver, 12mm diameter, probably produced somewhere in eastern Armorica in the first century BC - found in the Le Câtillon hoard in Jersey in 2012 #numismatics #archaeology 🏺

It's #Saturnalia ! Here's the satyr Silenus, companion to Bacchus the god of wine, who's inebriated face appears on this 3rd century AD #Roman copper alloy wine jug Found beneath Dorchester Marks and Spencers in 1936 and now @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social 📷 May 2021 Happy #FindsFriday #FridayFeeling

The pre-Christmas glimpse of the @romanpalace.bsky.social Ceefax page is undoubtedly the top @bsky.app highlight of 2025. More of this please 🥰🥳 #VillaNotVilla

Reader, we purchased it #SorryNotSorry #WinterSolstice #Christmas #Stonehenge #Archaeology

Happy Birthday, Nero!!! We can't believe you all forgot. 😭

The late #Roman stone and red tile courses in a projecting tower of PORTVS ADVRNI (Portchester) coastal fort #Hampshire emerging from behind medieval repair Built in the late AD 280s when Britain had temporarily left the Roman Empire, the walls survive to over 6m 📷 May 2023 #RomanFortThursday