Tessera
Folgen

Chris Callow

@chriscallow.bsky.social

Medievalist at the University of Birmingham, fan of Iceland, Vikings, running and other things

189 Posts694 Follower651 Folgt
Alison Fisk@alisonfisk.bsky.social · 6d ago

A rare and fragile survival from Viking-age York! A delicate silk cap made of hand-spun, undyed silk, c. AD 875-950 Silk was an exotic material imported via a vast network of Viking trade routes. Found during excavations at Coppergate in 1980. Yorkshire Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

My photo shows a hood-shaped silk cap from Viking Age York displayed on a thin metal stand against a dark display case background at the Yorkshire Museum. It is made from a rectangle of hand-spun, undyed silk, and shaped at the back by a centre seam. The pale silk is yellowy-gold in colour with a shiny lustre. The edges have been neatened with fine hems. According to the museum, it was probably worn with ties to fasten it to the head, as it includes the remains of two groups of stitches with which to attach ties. The museum says that the silk cap was likely worn by a female Anglo-Scandinavian resident of York. Also that “Silk was incredibly rare in the Viking North because it was not made locally. Silk-weaving is a Chinese technology, but by the 10th-century, the practice had reached the Arabian Peninsula, the Byzantine Empire, and parts of North Africa and Spain. Silk used to make the cap was imported from one of these places. The fine, pale-toned material would have been recognised in the town as a highly expensive and exotic fashion item”.
Count Binface@countbinface.bsky.social · 3y ago

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

Bild
Chris Callow@chriscallow.bsky.social · 2w ago

Google translate has got a bit confused here. Though it is good to see a mention of the rare place-name Sakka. nafnid.arnastofnun.is/leit/ornefni...

Nafnið.is

Nafnið.is veitir aðgang að skjölum úr örnefnasafni Stofnunar Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum sem geyma heimildir um örnefni vítt og breitt um landið.

nafnid.arnastofnun.is

Dictionary of Old Norse Prose@onp.ku.dk · 2w ago

Yesterday’s #Wordle: lenda (vb.): 48 cits, e.g. [GoogleTrans: countries, ports (a place)] // lande, havne (et sted) ‘Oc þegar þeir vrðv þess varir, foro þeir vt með landi til Svarfadar-dals oc lendv við osinn , oc foro þaðan til Sockv’ (Stu in AM 122 a fol) onp.ku.dk/o108750 #OldNorse

Chris Callow@chriscallow.bsky.social · 2w ago

Flekka lasted only 18 months as an outlaw in the wilds of Hornstrandir. And while she suffered a humiliating capture she gets to live on, unlike so many Icelandic outlaws. #grettir

RÚV English (Unofficial)@ruvenglish-mirror.bsky.social · 2w ago

Few #sheep could match the adventures of #Flekka the outlaw, who was captured on #Hornstrandir on Sunday after roaming for almost a year and a half. https://www.ruv.is/english/2026-07-23-sheep-rescued-after-18-month-adventure-482066

Jack Kirby@jdk653.bsky.social · 3w ago

We are seeking to appoint two independent members to our Collections Committee, for up to 4 years: One with significant experience in the management of historic collections in museums or heritage sites One with significant experience in the digital humanities. Closes 24 August: lnkd.in/e38mtWDf

Rows of historic cars and buses in a bright and clean warehouse environment
Guy De Launey@guydelauney.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Is binning expert correspondents in eastern Europe a good idea at a time like this? Disinformation on the rise, Russia interfering in many countries, threatening several and actually at war with one? Well, BBC News management seems to think so. It's disposing of me and 4 of my colleagues.

Jenn@jennburrill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

One of the largest data centers in the country is rising from the desert of southern New Mexico. At 1,400 acres, it could swallow New York's Central Park While there might be enough land, there isn't enough water. Locals concerned Project Jupiter will destroy the chile & pecan farming ✏️ @npr.org

Worries over water as a giant data center moves into the New Mexico desert

Developers say there's plenty of water for a giant data center in southern New Mexico. Some locals are skeptical.

npr.org

Alex Harvey@alexharvv.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Almost identical to the ‘weapon dancer’ who features on the Torslunda die matrices! This horned, spear-wielding, foot-stepping figure is ubiquitous across North Sea ‘warrior’ groups, and is possibly Odinic in nature

Helen Gittos@helengittos.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A die stamp, potentially for making foils akin to those on the Sutton Hoo helmet has been found in Kent. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The @findsorguk.bsky.social record is here: finds.org.uk/database/art...

Chris Callow@chriscallow.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A really good article IMO. Brings together diverse evidence to show how one place had a long-term significance.

UCL Archaeology South-East@archsoutheast.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In 2020, a landslip exposed a medieval cave shrine in a railway cutting near Guildford. ASE archaeologists abseiled(!) in to investigate carved symbols and niches adorning the cave walls. The cave is the focus of a new publication in Medieval Archaeology: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

An archaeologist excavates a sandstone cave. Ropes extend to the clifftop high above them. Text reads "Now published in Medieval Archaeology"
Jake Stattel@jakestattel.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Mini-article out now Open Access in Notes & Queries – take a look for my theory of what Wulfstan II means by ‘injustice in the north’ (spoiler: Vikings and weird legal stuff in the Danelaw) doi.org/10.1093/note... #Medievalsky #Medievalists

Wulfstan II’s Complaints of ‘Unlagu in the North’

One of the most prolific late Old English writers, Archbishop Wulfstan II of York ‘Lupus’ (d. 1023), is particularly known for drafting law-codes for King

doi.org