You may recall the vandalism to the grave of an enslaved child at Bristol last year. I’m so chuffed to see that this has been repaired and restored to former glory by a very skilled mason. Thanks to all esp to
@DavidOlusoga
and
@theAliceRoberts
for tweeting my fundraiser.
I remain staunchly committed to experimental archaeology in spite of the abject failure of my latest project - a recreation of the Bronze Age axe in
@WiltshireMuseum
made from Shropshire blue cheese. Ceremonial it wasn’t
Favourite find on our
#diggingbandofbrothers
excavation yesterday- this tiny lead pig from perhaps a child’s toy farm or ark. The huts of Easy Company were reused by bombed out families post war prior to getting council housing
#Archaeology
#veterans
#bandofbrothers
Saw the Roman Army exhibition at the
@britishmuseum
yesterday & it didn’t disappoint. The astonishing shield from Dura Europos in Syria was worth seeing on its own - such vibrant colours & designs. Very well curated - hours well spent.
#Archaeology
#Roman
I have just been able to send the Henbury Village Hall over £5000 for the repair of the Scipio Africanus grave from the historic fundraiser that sought to raise £1000. Consider faith in humanity restored. Thank you all x
All my
#archaeology
chums - THAT feeling with you find fingerprint or finger nail marks in pottery. That moment when you can touch the past so tangibly. And share a landscape with someone 2700 years later. Wow.
#salisburyplain
@mod_dio
#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
is really important to me. I have seen the worth of archaeological work in recovery. Any veterans wishing to join an excavation of a 6-7th century site on Salisbury Plain this July should apply here -
#veterans
#Archaeology
Saxon bulla pendant starting to emerge on Salisbury Plain as part of the Op Nightingale dig - close to the blue bead and not far from the antler comb. We presume this is part of a necklace but is there more?? Exciting times!!
#veterans
#archaeology
#wellbeing
@mod_dio
@wessexarch
Saxon brooch from episode 1 of the new series of
#DiggingForBritain
- my contribution to
#D4Bdrawing
. Lustrous garnets! Still to find one in one of my digs. Maybe this summer? Tune onto BBC2 tonight for more archaeology with
@theAliceRoberts
The new
@britishmuseum
#worldofstonehenge
exhibition - a thread. It been has been said that each age gets the Stonehenge it deserves - well clearly this generation has been very well-behaved…1of10
Two Moonrakers hatching digging plans. Be afraid, very afraid!
Lovely to see everyone at a most dramatic and fascinating Wiltshire Archaeology Conference. In Person!
#AIW2022
@WiltshireMuseum
Lifted iron knife & spear from a grave. Discovery of a blue bead/bronze ring in a burial & a famous archaeologist on site! Also brilliant to see young potential archaeologists experience their first site! With
@wessexarch
@BreakingGroundH
@mod_dio
#archaeology
#veterans
What have we become? At an award ceremony tonight where we celebrated the phenomenal achievements of people in archaeology including wonderful
@YAC_CBA
members. All ruined by some people laughing at the brave research on the APPALLING behaviour to women by some in arch. Horrific
Burials coming thick and fast on the summer excavation on Salisbury Plain - and our first find; a delicate glass bead. Big skies and great work by archaeologist and veterans alike. Op Nightingale in action.
@mod_dio
@wessexarch
#Archaeology
#veterans
#salisburyplain
On a day of horrid news for archaeology at Unis - one bright moment. One of our OpN veterans has just posted this; “Winchester Uni Senior Management have approved my application for their fee-waiver studentship! I'm going to be an Archaeologist! 🤠🍻” ARCHAEOLOGY IS IMPORTANT
Stoney Littleton longbarrow in Somerset. Always loved this site - not least as it has a very large ammonite in the doorway. Many examples of fossil fascination in prehistory. I went to this monument the day I heard I’d got a place to study archaeology.
#archaeology
#neolithic
For those of you that loved ‘Detectorists’ & the beautiful theme - some lovely news! New soundtrack for the next season of Digging for Britain with
@theAliceRoberts
- coming to you in early Jan. Some
#archaeology
to chase away the dark. Now to clear the magpies away from site..
Just ten days to go until the new series of Digging for Britain comes to
@BBCTwo
- and I'm so pleased to announce that the soundtrack is a special creation by the wonderful Johnny Flynn and
@RobGMacfarlane
! I hope to share a snippet with you very soon.
UK visa centre for Ukrainian refugees fleeing their cities destroyed in war is in Arras. Meanwhile - here is an image of Arras itself in the First World War. As a species - our incredible capacity to learn is only matched by our inability to. Image: Australian War Memorial
For those that also loved
#Detectorists
- only one Anglo Saxon reliquary has been found in Britain - the Winchester reliquary now on display in the
@878Winchester
exhibition - maybe catch Lance, Andy (or Alice) there!
Good Morning – I’ll be your guide today on this tour. I have been an archaeologist for MOD on Salisbury Plain for over 15 years now. We’ll see some highlights but please do tweet your own photos, drawings, films, links and objects that this prompts
#SPTAarchaeology
Really enjoying visiting the splendid
@Hyde900org
community excavation in Winchester looking for Hyde abbey - last resting place of King Alfred the Great. Finds include this tile found in my next door neighbour’s garden! By his 5 year son - get them young!
#Archaeology
Spent much of today looking at the wonderful art of Victor Ambrus who died this year. Trying to apply his astonishing style to burials from Salisbury Plain this summer. Here a woman with comb, knife, pin, purse and spindle whorls. Victor was so talented.
#timeteam
#Archaeology
Ancient Wiltshire after a visit by Jack Frost. This landscape is always a joy to walk through, following so many footsteps.
#prehistory
#Archaeology
#wiltshire
💥Coming soon💥
David R Abram: Ancient Sites from the Air
An exhibition of aerial images of ancient Britain. Using flying cameras, Abram waits for perfect light and weather conditions to reveal the beauty of prehistoric monuments from the air.
Opens January 29 📅
HUGELY honoured (shocked/humbled) to have won the Marsh award from
@MarshAwards
at the
@RoyalAnthro
institute for Anthropology in the World. Entirely off the back of hard work by the Op nightingale vets & volunteers & colleagues at
@mod_dio
. Thank you to whoever made this happen
Worst. Bakeoff. Ever. I blame the ingredients.
#diggingforbritain
studio pandemic era. Coming to BBC2 soon… always fun to catch up with lovely friend
@theAliceRoberts
and the team
Off to the Bronze Age/Iron age site of East Chisenbury tomorrow in advance of a major isotope project. Last time we did fieldwork there we found this little bronze pendant. Only just around 2cm in size and without parallel as far as we know. Suggestions?
#Archaeology
@anthroqveer
It was truly appalling and highlights just why your work is both improving and courageous. I am thankful Mike said what he did but appalled he had to. What should have been a celebration of much that is good in archaeology in fact demonstrated much that is wrong. So so sorry
A wet day lends itself to inside drawing. Today the beautiful Burton Agnes Neolithic ‘drum’ found in a burial by
@allenarchaeo
. Can’t wait to visit the new Stonehenge exhibition
@britishmuseum
curated by
@NWilkinBM
- in part to visit the ‘Boles Barrow bluestone’.
#Archaeology
@DrNWillburger
@theAliceRoberts
Nina - this is the 6th C vessel found by a veteran (rifleman Rowan Kendrick) on our Op Nightingale recovery excavation at Barrow Clump on Salisbury Plain - the yew stems are original. We were incredibly fortunate it survived so well in chalk. Now in the
@WiltshireMuseum
Am loving all these museum tours and site visits done remotely as we are hidden away. Would any of you be interested in a virtual archaeology tour of the hidden military areas of Salisbury Plain with pics and links to resources? Let me know!
#SPTAarchaeology
Blustery and dramatic - a drenching morning walking along the ridgeway past the Uffington White horse to Wayland’s Smithy chamber tomb. In the company of kites and magpies. Bracing and perfect.
#Archaeology
#wellbeing
Another good day today and splendid to also have the help of Katie from RAF police to help us try to lift Iron Age fingerprints from pots at
@WiltshireMuseum
. Did we manage it? You be the judge! Touching the hands of those from 2700 years ago.
#archaeology
#veterans
#midden
As a fair weather archaeologist I spend much of January thinking of where I can get muddy in warmer months. This year we’ll have a Neolithic tomb, an US paratroopers camp, a 7th C cemetery, medieval ‘ghost’ village, a B17 and probably more.
#Archaeology
#veterans
#warmth
@mod_dio
This city (Winchester) is flipping obsessed with matters ‘Anglo Saxon’. Right, gonna knock on this door.. wait a moment…. AGGGHHH!!! I need a Barrow Clump door knocker I think!
#archaeology
#suttonhoo
Not in Britain (and actually only a fortified village in Brittany) but can we have The village of Asterix and Obelix for
#HillfortsWednesday
after the passing of Albert Uderzo yesterday?
People have asked how Falklands vet Sean has fared since his
#diggingforbritain
appearance last year. Well, he has completed his first year at Bradford Uni and today recovered a Saxon necklace. Glass beads the colour of sky, Roman coins & Saxon tracery!
#Veterans
#FindsFriday
*BREAKING* 1/2
Can no longer keep this to myself. Bowled over to have been asked to illustrate ‘The River Kings’ by mega brilliant
@CatJarman
! Images now with publisher so I’ll be a published artist! shout out to
@DrRJWarren
&
@theAliceRoberts
for art inspiration throughout 2020
Ok let’s do it! I love drawing. A new series of Digging for Britain starts tomorrow with
@theAliceRoberts
so I’ll try an image per prog. Why don’t you all have a go? Any sketch, painting, doodle will do - any find/site/person. No talent needed - just fun. Use
#D4Bdrawing
to join.
Found an old postcard of an excavation in a Winchester shop, and decided to reunite it with the original in Winchester museum the same day. From Sparshalt villa.
#mosaicmonday
#MosaicMonday
- the Fullerton mosaic in the Museum of the Iron Age in Andover. A splendid depiction of Mars which seems to have influenced the pose of the Owslebury warrior adjacent!
#archaeology
Wonderful camping weekend on Exmoor with the daughter to celebrate the birthday of dear friend
@theAliceRoberts
in idyllic spring sunshine. Seeing old & new friends. Perfect
Thanks so much too everyone for the heart-warmingly lovely messages today - a bright end to a grim year. I can't help feeling a tad fraudulent as I am so privileged to do a job I love, in a landscape I adore, with people I admire. But thanks and love anyway x
There is much deserved excitement about the new Roman wooden figure found on the HS2 dig (and on
#DiggingForBritain
tonight). For the connoisseur of these - you can visit he
@butserfarm
Bronze Age roundhouse and see our attempts at BA Roos Carr figures!
I first met Sir
@Tony_Robinson
in 2012 at the Op Nightingale Barrow Clump dig with Time Team (he won’t know it but I also saw him in a production of Chekhov’s 3 Sisters!) - delighted to be seeing him once more at Aldbourne for our
@thetimeteam
#bandofbrothers
dig in May!
Ok - first time I have EVER done this. Over 10 years I have run excavation work to assist veteran wellbeing - this will be needed more than ever after the virus. I need Support of groups like BGH and their funding has vanished. PLEASE DONATE AND SHARE
So this Monday sees the return of Operation Nightingale to Salisbury Plain and more work on our 7th Century site. Watch this space for results, finds and thoughts of the team. Exercise Ring Giver 2022
#Veterans
#Archaeology
#Wellbeing
First time back in Oxford for yonks and thus a quick visit to the Alfred Jewel before meeting friends. You can take the boy out of Winchester but….
#FindsFriday
Congratulations
@richardhosgood
for a thoroughly well deserved honour in HM The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, awarded for services to defence and archaeology. Bravo!
So it begins! Tomorrow we start our evaluation of Boles Barrow on Salisbury Plain. Hoping to add to tales of combat victims, early archaeologists and, of course, BLUESTONE. Watch this space.
@mod_dio
#Archaeology
#veterans
#wellbeing
#Stonehenge