Jan 1826. Rev. J. McEnery discovered 5 canine teeth of Homotherium latidens in Kents Cavern, Devon - the first evidence of this species in Britain. Later magic lantern slide depicts one tooth, based on 1826 drawings by Mary Buckland (neé Morland). #fossilfriday #histsci #Homotherium #Pleistocene

The #WinterSolstice livestream link is now available Join us on 21 Dec @ 8:40 am to witness the solstice sunrise live from inside the #Newgrange chamber, weather permitting. Save the link now and be part of this extraordinary moment. 🔗www.gov.ie/solstice#WinterSolstice#Newgrange#ShareTheSolstice

On the Ice Age theme, I love the nonverbal stories told by these NMNH displays. A woolly mammoth clears snow off the grass with its curved tusks, a family of humans is startled by a stalking saber tooth… #FossilFriday

Lovely unusual coloured version of Henry De la Beche's 1832 cartoon The Light of Science for sale at auction next month. Seeking government support for science, De la Beche draws a fashionable female figure with gas lamp, wristwatch & of course a geological hammer. www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...

L is for... Lithograph! A lithograph is a stone with an image drawn out in a greasy material, and the surrounding stone is etched out to create a water-receptive surface. The ink will only adhere to the drawing, allowing for printing of an image, as shown here in Breaking Ground.

This Weds 19th, join us for a 1920s lecture on our Dynamic Earth! Prof. Charles Lapworth will explore earthquakes & volcanoes accompanied by lantern slides & Museum objects. Then a panel of experts will discuss the historical & scientific context of the talk. Free tickets: lapworth-dynamic-ear...

To find out more: scientificwomen.net/women/white-...

I gathered some mammoth-relevant materials together for my Tet Zoo Woolly mammoth article, here... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/11...

Step back in time with us... to learn all about peculiar #palaentology! Hear from Prof. Lapworth himself on the weird and wonderful world of early 1900s palaeontology, then from modern-day experts on how science has evolved our understanding of fossils. 📅 Mon 6 Oct, 18:30 peculiar-palaeontolo...

Please help @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social conserve these important watercolour albums by Philip Crocker, with their exquisite paintings of Bronze Age finds from barrows in the Stonehenge landscape. They're looking to crowd-fund £2730 (bargain!): www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/crocker-wate...

Hey literature and science people: betcha didn't know that Richard Owen illustrated Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Great article here by @linneansociety.bsky.social archivist Alex Milne: www.linnean.org/news/2025/01...

Here is the contemporary caricature illustrating Buckland entering the Cavern. It accompanied a humorous verse by W.D. Conybeare describing Buckland's cave 'adventure'. It is annotated as drawn by H.T. de la Beche - but was he the artist? Answers on a post, please.

'HOGG Field Meeting 'Caves, Coves & Controversies' (South Devon) DAY1. A very full & fascinating day with Dr Christine Farmer concerning the work of John McEnery (1796-1841) in excavating caves around Torbay & his legacy via WIlliam Pengelly (1812–1894).

Memorable visit to Torquay Museum, Brixham cave and Kent’s Cavern thanks to Christinefarmer.bsky.social and @hoggroup.bsky.social

How does place shape life-writing? Jenny Uglow examines such questions in “A Year with Gilbert White”. Join OCLW for our collaboration with Arts of Place on 17 June at University of Birmingham. Registration: shorturl.at/i0mTi

So @oxfordunipress.bsky.social have made the first main chapter of my new book open access for a month. If evangelical geology, epic poetry, surprise Swedenborgian conversions, and complicated interpretations of the word 'day' are your thing, please check it out: academic.oup.com/book/59688/c...

On the evening of 18th February, 1841, Rev. John McEnery, excavator of Kents Cavern, died at Torre Abbey "quietly in his chair" aged 45. His gravestone at Tor Church reads: "He inspired respect as a scholar by the vigor of his understanding is polished taste and varied learning” (cont. in ALT)

And some other views of Scharf’s work in @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social - the huge megatherium that he painted for Richard Owen, and an enthralling predatory scene from the Jurassic based on a painting by Henry de la Beche that reconstructed Mary Anning’s fossil finds

Love the energy on this. Watercolour depicting Richard Owen (seated) and the mineralogist Bryce Wright, by Ernest Grisetca (V&A Collections) ca. 1873

Killer Smiles: Why Saber-Toothed Teeth Were Evolution’s Masterpiece scitechdaily.com/killer-smile...

Christmas Eve with a blackbird singing

Somewhat overcrowded, and the mammoth is up to his knees in icing, but Merry Christmas!

Recommending ‘Breaking Ground’ great new exhibition @morethanadodo.bsky.social based around my favourite early geologists William and Mary Buckland

The cutest historical depiction of prehistoric animals? Where "chibi-fied" Ichthyosaur, Plesiosaur, Megalosaur and Pterodactyl scrutinise reconstruction of a human. Made for Natural History Museum London by Thomas De la Ruei, 19th century.

Exciting upcoming conference - Female Foundations: The Lives and Legacies of Women in Earth Sciences Proposals for papers that celebrate individual or collective women’s contributions to science. Abstracts to [email protected] #science #archaeology #geology #EarthSciences #palaeontology

It's weird to think I've spent 20% of my life at the NHM London. My very first day at the museum involved moving around drawers of woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis) teeth from Kent's Cavern in Devon, England #FossilFriday #fossils #museums 📜⚒️

Since we can now pin posts, I see no reason not to revive my recent Public Domain Review article, 'Professor Megalow’s Dinosaur Bones: Richard Owen and Victorian Literature': publicdomainreview.org/essay/richar.... Featuring some of the imagined adventures of the Natural History Museum's founder.

A 🧵 about the recently published discovery of a sabre-tooth kitten, including some personal reflections and thoughts on its age... 🧪🏺⚒️

Snowy Stourbridge

In honour of this insane Homotherium cub news, here’s a lovely H. latidens canine we have at NHM London, one of the first discovered in England and among those used by Richard Owen to describe the species in 1846. Happy #FossilFriday!