This deep red, heart-shaped handaxe may already have been ancient when it was swept into Ice Age deposits around half a million years ago. It was found in Suffolk, where finds of this age are rare outside river gravels, making this an exceptional discovery. #FindsFriday #Palaeolithic #Valentine

For #FindsFriday we’re celebrating the Roman festival of Fornacalia, the Feast of Ovens, held each February. Baking hearths were honoured as the goddess Fornax to ensure good bread & large ovens in the City of London show how commercial baking fed Roman London, with an iron shovel found with them.

We’re happy to share a new Inside Archaeology video, where Rachel chats with the PCA team who discovered the Norfolk carnyx. They reflect on excitement of discovery. Thanks to Rachel for bringing the team together! The PCA section begins at 13:51. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdIK...

This mysterious object from Kent is a bifacially worked axehead or handaxe. It resembles a #Mesolithic transverse or tranchet axehead, however given it's heavily worn condition and the gravel from which it was recovered it may be a #Palaeolithic handaxe of an unusually elongate form. #archaeology

A certain Iron Age boar has been attracting attention recently, so for this #MosaicMonday here's a perky Roman boar. He's from the wonderful Triumph of Neptune and the Seasons mosaic from La Chebba, now in the Bardo in Tunis, and he represents Winter. #AncientBlueSky 🏺

For #FindsFriday & #BoudicaFriday let’s stick to Iron Age Norfolk Iceni metalwork - behold this ‘long-snouted animal’ mount found at Snettisham, c.300-100BC. Possibly from the base of a drinking horn, there is something of the droopy, sleepy carnyx about it… British Museum #Echolands

Today’s #FindsFriday is the head of the Norfolk boar standard! Its fierce face was the first sign, on site, of the Iron Age hoard featured this week on Digging for Britain. www.pre-construct.com/news/the-nor... #IronAge #Archaeology #NorfolkCarnyx

The Norfolk Carnyx: a Playmobil story in 4 parts. 🧵 #DiggingForBritain #DrawingDiggingForBritain #PlaymobilInfestation @profaliceroberts.bsky.social @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social 1: Life

Phenomenal. The Thetford Carnyx sound by @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social and seen tonight on #diggingforbritain

The boar’s head standard found by @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social is just so fabulous. #drawingdiggingforbritain #diggingforbritain

It was fantastic to see the Norfolk Carnyx and Iron Age hoard on Digging for Britain last night! Many thanks to the Digging for Britain team, and to our partners at Historic England, Norfolk Museums and National Museums Scotland. www.pre-construct.com/category/new...

That moment. When the scale of what you’ve uncovered starts to sink in. The Norfolk Carnyx and hoard will feature on Digging for Britain tonight, showing how this remarkable discovery was made, from first sight in the trench to why it matters. 📺 Digging for Britain, BBC Two, tonight at 9pm

You’ll be able to see more of the Norfolk Carnyx and Iron Age hoard on Digging for Britain on Wednesday. After a busy week of coverage, the programme offers a chance to step back from the headlines and explore why the hoard matters. 📺 Wednesday 14 Jan, BBC Two at 9pm #carnyx #Norfolk #IronAge

For today’s #FindsFriday, the Norfolk Carnyx! An Iron Age war horn built to be seen and heard and to unsettle. Polybius wrote that its sound in battle seemed to 'emanate from the entire countryside'. More to come, including on #DiggingforBritain next week. www.pre-construct.com/news/the-nor...

More on the stunning Iron Age carnyx found in #Norfolk with boar standard and shield bosses 👇👇👇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Found by PreConstruct Archaeology and featuring in episode 2 of the new series of #DiggingForBritain with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social on BBC2 Wowzers 🤩

Here's Letty with a piece she composed for @prehistoricsociety.bsky.social in 2021. youtu.be/wNVKQw0-cIk?...

The new Norfolk Iron Age carnyx find featured on #DiggingForBritain with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social is beyond spectacular, dating to that crucial period for the Iceni between Caesar’s expeditions & Boudica’s rebellion. Already my find of the decade, today is a day to worship the carnyx… 1/…

We’re incredibly proud of the PCA team behind the discovery of a remarkable Iron Age hoard in West Norfolk, including a near-complete carnyx and parts of another. Working with Historic England and museum partners as conservation and research continue. 🔗 www.pre-construct.com/news/interna...

Hyde900 volunteers helping Dr Kevin Hayward and PCA to record medieval stone in abundance! We’re hoping to be able to add some more Abbey stones to our map: hyde900.org.uk/hyde-abbey/reuniting-the-stones #hyde900 @winchester.gov.uk @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social #hydeabbey #winchesteruk

More medieval stone processing for Hyde900 volunteers with Dr Kevin Hayward and PCA - and aided by a kind neighbour with a screwdriver just at the right time - thank you! #hyde900 @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social #hydeabbey #winchesteruk

For #FindsFriday a silver coin from a Late Iron Age site in Suffolk. It’s a rare Icenian issue from c.40–35 BC, only the 5th of its kind. The reverse shows a horse; the obverse a bust with a two-headed snake, an unknown design which adds a new thread to the story of Iron Age coinage! #Archaeology

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 🏺

Two baked clay spindlewhorls and a fossil sea urchin (echinoid) found together at the base of an Iron Age storage pit during #Durotriges24 📷 July 2024 What will we find at #Durotriges25? Stay tuned.. #FindsFriday #FossilFriday #FridayFinds #Archaeology #Dorset

#FindsFriday One of most evocative #Roman London finds ever: leopard as ivory knife handle. Tiny little thing <6cm long was buried 3-4 C in Southwark w 14 year old girl who originated from southern med. Inspired @carolawrence.bsky.social time travelling kids' book. 🏺 📷 @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social

This C17th onion bottle from the old Great Kitchen at Westminster School might be the one listed among the belongings of Mr Busby, a schoolmaster who died in 1653. A find that can be linked to a specific person adds an extra layer to the story, making the past feel that much closer! #FindsFriday

For #FindsFriday, this Roman pipeclay figurine of one of the Matres (mother goddesses) feels fitting to share, as this week marked World Maternal Mental Health Day. This would have been kept in a household shrine fertility and protection for fertility and protection #RomanBritain #Archaeology

For #FindsFriday we're heading way back to the Lower Palaeolithic! This flake was found during a geoarchaeological evaluation in Swanscombe, known for its early prehistoric finds. It came from Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath Gravels, so it's probably 430,000–350,000 years old! #Palaeolithic #Prehistory

What a fantastic site. Chariots, flints and Neolithic buildings. Archaeologists only a "bit bemused" also www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Our Spring 2025 issue is out! In Volume 17, Number 8: Features: Findspot: The aurochs skeleton from Ewell, Surrey @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social Author, Author... London Archaeological Prize winner 2024 - Jonathan Gardner speaks to @bwallower.bsky.social #London #archaeology 🏺

Drone footage of PCA’s ongoing excavation at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. Phase 1 is under construction, Phase 2 is revealing a Romano-British ladder enclosure. Phase 3, just beyond the fence, might uncover the settlement itself! youtu.be/LEdDdtN5EHI #archaeology #RomanBritain

This Giant Spider Conch was found recently in a Victorian context in Shadwell, near the East End docks. It may be a sailor’s souvenir or part of a collection from Jamrach’s legendary emporium of shells and strange beasts which was just down the road. #archaeology #FindsFriday (a bit early!)

This once-elegant copper-alloy mount, incised, moulded and pierced with tiny holes, came from a Romano-British pit in the Cotswolds. It was probably attached to a circular object, perhaps made of wood or leather. What could it have been? #FindsFriday #archaeology #RomanBritain

🚨REMINDER 🚨 The 'Future of Prehistory' dayschool will be on the afternoon of Saturday 5th April The day will run from 1-5.30pm, is online only and tickets are £10 for members and £20 for non members (plus Eventbrite fee). Booking and further details: www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/2025-...

The unique Trichtingen torc consists of an iron core with a silver mantel. It’s too large and too heavy for human use (6.7kg), it was rather worn by a wooden cult image. Dating 2nd/1st c. BC. On display at Landesmuseum Württemberg 📷 me 🏺 #archaeology

#FindsFriday A 3,400 year-old woollen cap from the Bronze Age! So incredibly well-preserved it wouldn’t look too out of place if worn today! Found in a man’s oak-log coffin grave at Trindhøj, Denmark, in 1861. National Museum of Denmark 📷 by me #Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, a Mesolithic tranchet axe from a site near Chichester. The site revealed evidence from the Neolithic to the Roman period, a landscape shaped and reshaped over time, with this axe as a small trace of its earliest inhabitants! #Archaeology #Mesolithic #FlintFriday #Prehistory

Something a bit different for #FindsFriday! ‘Peckham Rock’ hoax cave art with authentic-looking label, installed without permission in the British Museum in 2005, by the street artist known as #Banksy ‘Found’ 3 days later in the Roman Britain gallery! 😳 Marker pen on lump of concrete! 😁 📷 me

For #FindsFriday a silver fibula brooch from a Roman pit in Gloucestershire. The pit also yielded a copper alloy pin and wire. Verdigris from the copper clung to the brooch, making us think it was copper alloy too. But to our delight, a gentle clean with a dry brush revealed the silver beneath!

PCA has uncovered a remarkable Neolithic cremation burial, adding a crucial piece to the puzzle of Neolithic Cambridgeshire. This discovery offers new insights into early funerary practices. Read more here: www.pre-construct.com/news/neolith... #archaeology #neolithic #prehistory

For #FindsFriday on #NationalPerfumeDay, a Roman perfume bottle! The base is stamped S • V (or A). These marked phials came from imperial estates in Spain, France & Italy. Did it once hold an exotic or floral blend? We’ll never know, but smelling good never goes out of style! #Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, a 'Bartmann' jug from a Stratford site, with a bearded face inspired by the Green Man of folklore. Tomorrow (15th), Harry Platts shares PCA's excavation results at LAMAS. Visit our stall to see some of the fantastic finds! bit.ly/4issWwt

PCA Warwick have a new site in the Cotswolds which is looking promising! The team have found bone pins, a glass bead, and Romano-British pottery. The site lies on the edge of a settlement occupied from the Bronze Age to the Anglo-Saxon period, which may be the current town’s origins. #Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, an antler pick, typically used in the Neolithic period. This one from Suffolk, found with late Iron Age pottery, may have been repurposed for agriculture. Similar tools appear at hillforts like Danebury and Maiden Castle, showing continued use in the Iron Age. #archaeology

We’re Hiring: Assistant Project Manager / Project Manager – Winchester Send your CV and cover letter to Caroline Edwards ([email protected]) by 4 April 2025. More info: www.pre-construct.com/jobs/winches...

It’s World Book Day! For today only, get 20% off all our publications. Shop here: www.pre-construct.com/publications/ Use coupon code BOOKS at checkout for 20% off all books. #WorldBookDay #Archaeology #BookSale

WE'RE HIRING IN DURHAM! Fancy a career in archaeology? PCA is looking for Trainees and Archaeologists to join our Durham team! www.pre-construct.com/jobs/durham-...

We’re Hiring! PCA is recruiting Trainees, Archaeologists, Assistant Supervisors, Supervisors, and Project Officers to join our growing Cambridge team. More here: www.pre-construct.com/jobs/cambrid... [Image: PCA archaeologists spelling out ‘PCA’ on site – because teamwork is everything!]

From our wonderful @uclarchaeology.bsky.social teaching collections, a large Ficron handaxe from Dartford, Kent. Not so far away from Cuxton, Twydall & @lettyingrey.bsky.social's site of Maritime Academy. North Kent is the home ground of the Giant Handaxe people #PaPa #FindsFriday #FlintFriday 🏺🦣

Iron Age surrealism for #Findsfriday An intriguingly bizarre coin (a silver quarter stater) of the Durotriges featuring: 3 people on a boat (or a giant caterpillar) A lightning flash, a fish, a carrot and 2 whelks Erm... 🤔 © Trustees of the British Museum No: 1910,1005.17

For #FindsFriday, a medieval gunstone from the Tower of London! This rough projectile was for a cannon, its final size adjusted once the gun was known. Gunstones were vital in medieval warfare & finding one in such an iconic fortress offers a compelling glimpse into its defensive past. #archaeology