Day 1 - We’re back for our final year of #archaeology at Bishop Auckland! Follow along or come visit us on site! @arcdurham.bsky.social

Starting Monday, we welcome the 2025 (& final) cohort of @arcdurham.bsky.social / @durham-university.bsky.social 1st years to their 1st field training in #archaeology @aucklandproject! 🧵- An overview of last seasons (2018-2024). Visit/follow for daily updates!

Chris Gerrard of @arcdurham.bsky.social and I will be speaking on "Landscapes of Indenture: the Scots of York Maine’s Scotland District and the Piscataqua Region" on May 30 at 6pm, at the York Land Trust yorklandtrust.org/event/landsc...

We welcomed colleagues from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History to #Durham this week. Our collaboration supports research, exchange and training. We're shaping conferences in Washington (2026) & Tokyo (2028), themed: ‘Revolution, Revelation, Reconciliation’. tinyurl.com/bdfa299t

Welcome to the new Bluesky page for the @arcdurham.bsky.social / Auckland Project #archaeology excavations! Preparations are underway for the 2025 season - (primarily stocking-up the coffee!). Be sure to follow along for what will be our -Final- season at Auckland Castle!

How about multi-tasking by relaxing with a coffee while drawing the #archaeology, @antiquityj.bsky.social? As Chris Gerrard @arcdurham.bsky.social expertly shows from the last season at Auckland Castle.

If you haven't seen it yet, why not check out the #DurhamUniversity Global Research Brochure (link below)? The brochure features work from our @ArcDurham Professor Robin Coningham and his team (p.29) - check it out in the full brochure here 👉 issuu.com/communicatio... #DUresearch #HeritageScience

Delighted to be able to share this after 4 years in prep. An exciting collaboration between @arcdurham.bsky.social , Historic England. The British Museum and Yorkshire Museum More info in the links @durham-university.bsky.social www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

🌍 We are delighted to share that globally we are ranked 6th in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 - thank you to everyone contributing to this Department! 🌍 #DurhamUni #DUresearch #DUinspire #QSWUR #QS #ArcDurham #ArchaeologyDepartment

As we enter the Bluesky-era, the posts below were moved as an archive from my account on the 'app-formerly-known-as-Twitter'. 📜👇 ✨Everything above this post will be new!✨ New adventures, 'new' (old) archaeology.

Today’s office for the day is Newcastle’s hidden gem, the @litandphil! If you haven’t been, you’re missing out.

The Professor is in - coffee in hand, sharpened pencil in the other, in his natural element amongst the #archaeology. @cmgerrard1

Any archaeologists want to get together for a bit of experimental #archaeology? Should be a short walk. x.com/EnglishHeritag…

Office for the day for the next round of historical documentary research. Cannot recommend @TheStoryDurham enough! Beautiful facility, friendly and helpful staff, and a cafe for your caffeine fix! #AcademicTwitter #history #archaeology #durham

2024 UK Swimming Nationals- Qualified ✅ Here’s to an incredible team and a phenomenal coach. 🥹❤️🌊 @DurhamCityASC @asanortheast @Swim_England

Day 14 - #archaeology is: three-parts digging, two-parts stratigraphy, one-part coffee, and 100% site fashion (bonus points if matching with @cmgerrard1). Photo credit - @JohnCastling

Day 13 - a tale of two supervisors. The look of the battle worn who faced off for three days with their trusty troops against endless #archaeology fills of rubble of large stones and solid concrete. Victory was ours.

Day 12 - we organized a small team of heavy-diggers (3 cubic meters / 70 barrows in 3 hours!) to excavate Haselrigge’s cellar. We’re hoping for a staircase (flashbacks to our 2021 season?), but so far we are only well acquainted w/some sizable pieces of rubble. Will we find it?

Day 11 - scroll through to see the site transfer from Day 1, Day 7, to Day 11! An impressive amount of #archaeology happening over at Haselrigge’s!

Day 10 - x.com/theAliceRobert…

Day 9 - Following their careful spoil heap management, these @ArcDurham #archaeology students would like to announce their new album: “The Dark Side of the Spoil Heap”.

Day 8 - halfway! While we’ve been busy revealing walls and some lovely sections (see photos, a two day difference!), @JohnCastling has somehow found the time to write the latest blog post! Check it out - aucklandproject.org/discover/auckl…

Day 7 - a little side-by-side comparison of Day 1 vs Day 7 of Haselrigge’s dream house. Plenty more #archaeology to come!

Day 6 - we’ve returned to site from some much needed rest over the weekend and our resident social-media star, @JohnCastling, can hardly wait to see what #archaeology unfolds this week! (He may sign autographs if you can get him to put down his trowel.

Day 5 - end of week one and the walls and mysteries of Haselrigge’s dream house continue to unravel… We are off for the weekend (to visit our chiropractors), but will be back to chasing walls come Monday! Be sure to check out our blog! aucklandproject.org/discover/auckl…

Day 4 - A sighting of Bishop Auckland archaeology celebrities, Caroline and @JohnCastling, on the site’s viewing platform! Perhaps a @thebishopbigdig reunion tour in the works? (New blog coming soon! Keep your eyes out… aucklandproject.org/discover/auckl…

Day 3 - a fine day to admire the #archaeology by climbing to the top of the spoil heap to view Haselrigge’s dream house and other post-med features. (@EmersonWBaker - we thought you may like to see the 17th c structure coming through!

Day 2 @DUACE2024 complete! A range of #archaeology excitement including cobbles, kitchen deposits, and naturally @cmgerrard1 & Andrew Ferrara either looking ready to sign their latest album or contemplating the site…

Day 1 cont - some lovely snapshots from the day including: 1) a fitting first find in the top-soil, 2) a PhD showing off his (2019) find to his supervisor, 3) the calm site-walkover before the storm.

Bonus 2022 cohort- The Bishop Big Dig (@thebishopbigdig) ⛏️ Dug 107 test pits across Bishop Auckland throughout 2022 in partnership with @KJIAcademy and @aucklandproject. 🎬 Documentary:📝Report:💻 Web: thebishopbigdig.com collections.durham.ac.uk/files/r2rv042t… vimeo.com/891591104?shar…

Starting Monday, we welcome the 2024 cohort of @ArcDurham/@durham_uni first years to their first field training in #archaeology @aucklandproject! An overview of last seasons (2018-2023) is below (🧵): Visit/follow us for daily updates! @cmgerrard1 @JohnCastling @DUACE2021

Draft for 1 of 3 data chapters written - ✅ #phdlife

Since 2018, I haven’t seen this path sans Heras fencing or excavations. In ~1 month nearly 100 @ArcDurham students return to @aucklandproject for the next chapter of #archaeology #excavations. Watch this space… #DUACE24 @cmgerrard1 @JohnCastling @durham_uni @NewsBishop

At the current survey site, we have a particularly moving area featuring some children’s graves. This robin is their guardian - consistently & carefully watching & following us as we work, but never straying far from the stones. I can’t help but be moved.

After this weekend’s field-walking outing, I can only embrace the #postmedieval #archaeology that broke my soul last excavation season…

The Survey team and Durham’s finest gravestone carver - solving one mystery at a time. (Chances are you will not guess who is who.

A photo taken the last time I was in Scotland, while undertaking the #DunbarToDurham trek. In a few days, I’ll return to present to the local community - with payment going to Scottish veterans. Looking forward to being back! (And no, I am not walking there.) @ArcDurham

Post-medieval coffee, anyone? It’s the simple things. @SHA_org @SPMA #archaeology

First day of #archaeology fieldwork for 2024! A side-project survey with much to reveal…

A “first meeting” from 2022 following years of documentary research & perhaps my favorite image from that season. Unscaled, black & white, digital; channeling the artistic brilliance of Allan Ludwig. @AGS_gravestones @cmgerrard1 @EmersonWBaker @SHA_org @SPMA

“Are you the archaeologist who walked from Dunbar to Durham?” “I am. Wait, are you @GaryBankhead?” After years of following each other via social media, these two @ArcDurham #archaeologists happened to run into each other at the morning coffee run. Great to chat, Gary!

Was reminded that on this day, a 20-year-old undergrad me (w/better eyesight & no grey hairs…) quite literally & purposefully chose Latin declensions over boys. I admire & thank her for her tenacity. (….Yes that is a mango in the foreground.

Absolutely love old #archaeology photos. This one is from the 1929 @ArcDurham #excavation at Birdoswald Roman fort. Ft. Eric Birley (2nd from left, centre) & Frank Gerald Simpson (centre). Much has changed. (Draper, S. 2007. A Short History of Archaeology at Durham Univ).

May we not forget the carnage witnessed tonight during the great freeze of #ElvetBridge as the symphony of sirens sing #Durham to sleep & the survivors slowly return home to nurse their wounds. Only the sun can save us now. @DurhamCouncil

Thank you @alnwickcastle for inviting me back (this time under different circumstances from my visit last Sept!). I enjoyed speaking with you all about all things #DunbarToDurham, & the #history / #archaeology of the Scottish prisoners. @cmgerrard1 @ArcDurham @OfficialSPOWS x.com/alnwickcastle/…

It’s been 3 years since the 2021 Auckland Chapel #archaeology excavations…but the story continues when today one of our keenly-sighted interns spotted these beads while sample processing. My eyes need the microscope… @cmgerrard1 @JohnCastling @ArcDurham @aucklandproject

This holiday season I’ve been reflective on womanhood-with today’s visit ⁦@CollectedDurham⁩ especially poignant as I was surrounded by the genius of female authors being enjoyed by a fellowship of women ages ranging 5-80. So beautiful. Thank you. x.com/collecteddurha…

🎬 World Release! You would think I would have the right words as it’s been since 2022… Instead, I invite you to watch. I cannot express enough gratitude for @thebishopbigdig, the students, vols, & community. This is your story & for you. Thank you. x.com/thebishopbigdi… vimeo.com/891591104?shar…

A supervisor asking his PhD’s for their most recent drafts and their reactions. (@ the #THEAwards for the @thebishopbigdig with @cmgerrard1 and @JohnCastling. @ArcDurham

Enjoying the #THEAwards with the @thebishopbigdig! Fingers crossed! @ArcDurham @cmgerrard1 @JohnCastling x.com/thebishopbigdi…