A pair of gold armbands from the Colchester Fenwick hoard, buried before Boudica’s attack in AD60. As the Roman last stand took place where Colchester Castle now sits, the owner may have perished where their jewellery is now displayed @ColMuseums.bsky.social #FindsFriday #BoudicaFriday #Echolands

A beautiful yellow Roman glass pitcher with a splash of light blue appliqué for extra decoration. The small relief depicts a bacchant, follower of Bacchus, god of wine. ca. AD 50-75. The Corning Museum of Glass www.museumofglass.org?gad_source=1...

And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.

Lime plaster, warm-toned limewash and a historic window…perfection 💕 The Church of St. Margaret of Antioch, Knotting, Bedfordshire (still my favourite!).

I think I’m just going to keep posting pictures of decorative Roman cavalry horse chamfrons from @vindolandatrust.bsky.social and @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social until people start blocking me. Have some. 1/

#FindsFriday! An arrowhead made of #meteorite iron: around 1,500 BC, a meteorite struck #Estonia. A fragment of it arrived - presumably in the baggage of an amber trader - at what is now Lake Biel, #Switzerland. An arrowhead was then made there from the cosmic iron. From Mörigen, 900-800 BC. 📷 me

We've all been there

#FindsFriday National Museum of #Wales ( Cardiff ). Crescentic bronze plaque with triskele decoration, from Llyn Cerrig Bach lake deposit ( 200 BC - 100 AD). #Archaeology #History #artwork

The Covid Inquiry finds that if Boris Johnson had called the first lockdown even one week earlier then it could have saved at least 20,000 lives. Here's a quick reminder of what Johnson was actually doing during those weeks

Eat out to Help Out was killing people, but they “kept it out of the news”.

Really shocked to hear about the death of the brilliant Observer writer Rachel Cooke - what a terrible loss. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

‘Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library’ by @zadiesmith.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reminded today of this amazing open data project. Search by postcode for your local casualties of WW1, it’s astonishing Astreetnearyou.org

‘Fairy wombat poop’

Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3 📷 D. v. Recklinghausen 🏺

Marvellous Minoan cups made by Bronze Age potters about 3,800 years ago! Which is your favourite? ❤️ Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me 🏺 #Archaeology

Sorry, this will be the only picture I'll share of wombat poop. Their poop comes out in neat 2 cm cubes, about 5-8 cubes per session, which means that artistic wombat POO STACKING is a very real possibility. How do wombats, of all animals, manage to produce these sugar cubes made of excrement?

At almost 2,000 years old, this child’s wooden toy sword is a remarkable survival from Roman times! Found in the living quarters of the cavalry barracks at Vindolanda fort in 2017. Dated c.120 AD. Chesterholm Museum 📷 by me #RomanFortThursday #Archaeology

A late 9th century sword pommel - part of the Bedale Hoard which was found by metal detectorists in 2012. The hoard is now part of the collections at the Yorkshire Museum in York. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #BedaleHoard #YorkshireMuseum

Many years ago I had the huge and thrilling my privilege of travelling with Jane Goodall in the US for a few days. She was fascinating/gracious/ inspirational as you’d expect - and she got absolutely MOBBED everywhere she went, it was mad. What a life. RIP. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Jane Goodall has died. What a woman

Portable altar to the Roman goddess Minerva which was found at Lemington, near Morton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire. Now part of the collections at Chedworth Roman Villa. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain #RomanArchaeology

Love the Irish Times's description of House of Guinness as a "steampunk Mr Tayto", referencing Ireland's favourite brand of crisps and its cheery potato mascot. 1/x www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Hooray for bees

Early King Billy #iykyk (alas)

The dragon head of Skidbladner - a replica of the famous 9th century Viking Gokstad ship which was found in a burial mound at Vestfold in Norway in 1880. Skidblander can be found at Haroldswick on Unst in Shetland. 📸 My own. #Woodensday #Unst #Shetland

Glove, probably made for the coronation of Frederick II in 1220. With some 14thC additions. (Kaiserliche Schatzkammer Wien)

Please make time if you can to read this meticulous and damning piece by my friend @paullaity.bsky.social about the search for accountability after his daughter Martha's needless death

Stenbjerggård Langdysse: Langdysse (Long Barrow) in Svendborg. There are 5 chambers on this monument. Four are more or less in line, the eastern one is located to the north of that line. Easy to find on road 323 from Orbaek to Ringe. You can park your car on the side of the road.

Let’s go inside Bryn Celli Ddu Neolithic passage tomb! Built about 5,000 years ago to align with the rising sun on the Summer Solstice! 🌅 Look for the stone pillar inside the burial chamber, like a tomb guardian keeping watch from the shadows! Anglesey, Wales 🎥 by me #Archaeology

AJP Taylor - not a referencing guy

Happy Monday! Here are two lovely little owls decorating an ancient Greek ceramic drinking cup made in Athens around 2,500 years ago! 🦉😍 Louvre, Paris 📷 by me #Archaeology

What research! What a story! It seems the statue of the winged lion in Venice may have been a tomb guardian brought from China by Niccolò & Maffeo Polo - &, once in Venice, it was modified to resemble the Republic’s emblem – the winged lion of St Mark ... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Sort of dizzying to think about how many people are alive today because Patricia Hewitt (ban on smoking in enclosed spaces) was health secretary and because Norman Fowler (mandatory seatbelts) was transport secretary and health secretary (HIV/Aids).

So thankful to the phenomenal family of Martha Mills. She should have turned 18 today. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

I find myself worried about who will present In Our Time next, but I suppose it makes a change from all the other things there are to worry about.

Oh my. Who's in?

Plaster cast of a child's face, from a mould accidentally made when cement seal of sarcophagus leaked inside and covered child's face that was buried in the 1st century AD. You are looking at a the face of a child who died 2000 years ago. collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co84...

#FindsFriday An unsettling Roman tin mask recovered from the drain of the Sacred Spring, Aquae Sulis/Bath Probably once riveted to a wooden panel & carried by priests, the mask suggests dark rituals at the heart of the baths complex 📷 My own

Apart from anything else the numbers of weeks parents have to take off to sit at home with an infectious kid must cost the country a fortune. This is good.

No10 spokesman not prepared to criticise anything about Farage speech today. Not his description of "invasion", not his prediction that the UK on brink of civil war, not plans to pay the Taliban or Iran to take back migrants, or indeed to rule out doing so themselves.

The magnificent nose guard ('nasal') on the 8th century #York Helmet, found in 1982 during building work for the Coppergate shopping centre. It is one of six surviving Anglo-Saxon / early English helmets, and is on display at the #Yorkshire Museum. #FindsFriday #Helmet 📷 Mine

Full credit to my brilliant colleagues who reported this diligently - and particularly to the brave and remarkable women who came forward Noel Clarke claimed he was a victim. Twenty-six witnesses painted a very different picture www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...

@pnjackson.bsky.social Hi Paul, I have sent you an email to your academic address, grateful if you cd take a look. Thanks, Esther Addley @ Guardian

Some 3,300 years ago, an ancient Egyptian artist painted this humorous illustration of a cat herding geese on a flake of limestone. From Deir el-Medina, Thebes, Egypt. 📷 Egyptian Museum, Cairo. #Archaeology

Two little quail chicks carved on a limestone plaque over 2,000 years ago. Look closely to see a third chick sketched in ink! From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC. 📷 Met Museum www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #ReliefWednesday #Archaeology

"It is tricky to make definitive claims about whether or not whales are driven “loco” by offshore wind..." Trump's wind turbine claims fact-checked www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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

Mondays eh

Here’s a 🧵 about the amazing Bluey, which tells a different story about the BBC than the one we usually hear… It’s how the BBC’s commercial arm has understood the new media world, piled into digital platforms - & is now reaping the benefits. Story & details: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...