The largest medieval kogge merchant ship yet discovered, found in the Øresund off Copenhagen and professionally excavated - dating from c 1410 and built in the Netherlands. www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/arka...

For St John the Evangelist's day a beautiful little (34 mm) 9th-C Anglo-Saxon gold plaque bearing his symbol, an eagle, found in Brandon (Sufolk) and now in the BM. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

As we approach Christmas here's another ivory depiction of the nativity - this time in whalebone, on the early 8th C Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket. MAGI is written in runes above - the bird leading them is seen as the Holy Spirit (dove or duck? 😂) 📷 British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/i...

For #MosaicMonday a gorgeous colourful mosaic of garlands and birds in the Vatican collection. 📷 my own.

As tomorrow I am leading our carol service, here's a gorgeous Carolingian ivory of the nativity in the Vatican (Vat 64477). 📷 my own.

A conference coming soon... rmblf.be/2025/12/17/c...

For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 3/3

For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 2/3

For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own

For #FindsFriday the gilt & niello silver mounts from Östra Påboda, Söderåkra, Sweden, clearly Carolingian sword-belt mounts that have been converted into ornaments. See their originally use in a detail of the Vivian Bible, produced in Tours in the 840s. Images: SHM / gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

The e-book version is already available, including my chapter on dodgy Carolingian priests, Simon on Carolingian coins and many other great things: brill.com/display/titl...

What a gorgeous winter's day

What a joy: my 12th academic article/ book chapter/ book review of 2025! Of course I didn't write them all this year - it's the fruit of 3 years' work all coming out at once...

For #MosaicMonday I love the simple but profound beauty of a geometric design - from Boscoreale, Pompeii. Picture my own.

More on the remarkable Roman era hoard found recently in France: www.tf1.fr/tf1/jt-13h/v...

Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

For #FindsFriday the most significant #Viking discovery in recent decades, apparently little known among scholars of Scandinavian history.

Recently published - open access! Full of good stuff to read. #medievalsky #vikings books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...

Just uploaded to Knowledge commons another book chapter - the whole volume can be read or downloaded at books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/... Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia works.hcommons.org/records/ez2e...

Just added to my Knowledge Commons works: Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation works.hcommons.org/records/4ary...

I asked ChatGPT for an image of a fire-breathing dragon guarding a princess in a tower - for a school assembly. Unfortunately AI doesn't appear to understand the word GUARDING! 😂 (Thankfully that didn't matter)

For #FindsFriday a denier of Lothar II (855-869) from Cologne, found at Valkhof in Nijmegen. The mangled forms of the king's name (which is written backwards) and the mint-name led to these coins long being unidentified. 📷 Collection Valkhof Museum

Une équipe de l’Inrap et du Service de l’archéologie du département d’Indre-et-Loire a fouillé deux sites proches à Monts et Sorigny (Indre-et-Loire) et ont mis au jour un établissement aristocratique gaulois ainsi qu'une occupation rurale médiévale. En savoir plus 👉 www.inrap.fr/un-site-gaul...

A second Thor's hammer find this year in Østfold (Norway)

For you fans of Roman history and numismatics out there - exciting stuff!

Environmental DNA evidence of settlement in Iceland from c. 810 rather than the 870s - and much more besides. Summarised in the New Scientist but that's behind a paywall. Here's the original research. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

For #FindsFriday one of the coins from the Skumsnes hoard from western Norway - 7 Carolingian, all Louis the Pious Christians religio (most from Melle), 2 early Danish and this one of Ecgberht of Wessex, (802-839), Rochester mint. A very rare and exciting find!

Just out - now you can download it. A look at what caused Dorestad's downfall (not the usual suspects), what the Frisians did next, and where silver then came from in the 10th century. After Dorestad: silver and gold in Carolingian Frisia, 850-950 works.hcommons.org/records/mptd...

Another article uploaded - an important analysis of the many new coin finds from the Carolingian period in the Netherlands and what they reveal about 9th-century history. Coins and Vikings: On the trail of the Scandinavians in Frisia works.hcommons.org/records/6fym...

Interested in early medieval history? Read the proceedings of the latest Dorestad conference online FREE here, including my chapter about gold and silver in Frisia after Dorestad's disappearance in the 850s. For a .pdf of my chapter, DM/email me. #medievalsky www.sidestone.com/books/dorest...

www.sidestone.com/books/dorest... Delighted to share that the proceedings of the Fourth Dorestad Congress are out now, available to read for free online! This was a great conference to be a part of during Jan 2024, w/ @amwillemsen.bsky.social @scoupland.bsky.social @ccooijmans.bsky.social !

Uploaded: "The Zuidbarge and Zuidlaren hoards of 1860 and the Italian coinage of the late ninth century" (NC 2023) works.hcommons.org/records/mefb...

For #FindsFriday Scandinavian objects found at Wijk bij Duurstede (Dorestad) - unsurprising given the importance of trade with Scandinavia, and Danish rule over the site for lengthy periods. Pictures: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden (RMO)

Delighted to have two chapters in this new volume, Frankish Seats of Power and the North, just published: schnell-und-steiner.de/produkt/fran...

Food in Pompeii - happy memories of an amazing place

A fascinating article on how it is that AI (and Google) are making us dumber rather than smarter. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Always love to get a new set of proofs! But it's still embarrassing to find typos in text that you had read and reread umpteen times! 😳🤓

For #FindsFriday a sneak preview of my article in the next Numismatic Chronicle on Carolingian hoards from Drenthe (NL). This is the Balloo hoard of 1855 (just nos 1-5), 1 Dorestad coin of Lothar I and four Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious Group S2, attributed to Saxony.

Fascinating! #medievalsky #vikings

For lovers of things Roman...

A fabulous short film on some of the wooden secrets of the Gokstad ship (sorry, it seems to be only on Facebook). In Norwegian but with English subtitles www.facebook.com/reel/1490598...

Happy to report that our book 'Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050' has been published! It is Open Access, so you can read (or download) it here: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Delighted to add this article to my publications available to download: Who ruled Frisia in the mid-ninth century? works.hcommons.org/records/n3a9...

13th century statues destroyed in the early 18th century 📸 INRAP www.inrap.fr/les-archeolo...

Astonishing finds from the excavations at Notre Dame in Paris! www.inrap.fr/les-archeolo...

For #FindsFriday the Bredfield Brooch, solid silver weighing 36g, found in 2009. The Anglo-Scandinavian Urnes style of decoration dates it to the second half of the 11th century. It's on display in the newly refurbished Norwich Castle. 📸 My own.

New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*: historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...

Here is the answer to my conundrum over whether to order hardback or .pdf! With postage, still only £50. One very happy academic reader 🤓 Order yours today! #medievalsky #vikings

Vikings in Early Medieval Ireland: Church-Raiding, Politics and Kingship by Colmán Etchingham boydellandbrewer.com/book/vikings...

For a limited time only - a digital offprint of our interdisciplinary article rewriting the early history of Bruges and the coast of Flanders, and proposing it and Boulogne as mints of Charlemagne. shs.cairn.info/revue-revue-...