That's a wrap from this year's Sachsensymposion which focused on conflict and defence in late Roman / Early Med Europe. Lots of things learnt, new connections made and Pictish stones visited - thank you @scarf-scot.bsky.social for the bursary to attend and for hosting @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social.

Learning all about the Bayeux Tapestry with British Museum curator Sue Brunning at this year's Sachsensymposion. 🏹

It's the detail I can't get over, the nipples on the chest one and the toenails.

Alison Fisk@alisonfisk.bsky.social · last wk.

Roman clay hot water bottles in the shape of human body parts used for therapeutic purposes some 2,000 years ago! Found in a building which may have been a healing centre. Paphos Archaeological Museum, Cyprus 📷 by me #Archaeology

Feeling very lucky to excavate at the promontory Pictish fort at Burghead with @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social this week. Lots of test pit digging in a local's garden to see if there were Pictish buildings. And some small finds. #smallfindsfriday

At Burghead and I'm really starting to see why the Picts built a promontory fort here. It is BEAUTIFUL. You can see across the whole Moray Firth on a clear day. So yes I would also build my 4-9th century domain here.

Ousdale Broch in Caithness. It is surrounded by trees and can only be reached by a rickety wooden bridge. Officially fae territory I think.

May I recommend the Carn Liath Broch for all your roadside picnic needs? Also this broch has outbuildings, which was a whole new idea for me. Every other broch I've seen stands in grand isolation.

The Unstan Burial Cairn. It's quite small and sits behind a very normal looking house off the main road to Stromness. The owner was mowing the lawn as we wandered in. One would never suspect this tomb gave its name to unstan pottery. #TombTuesday

The beauty that is Skara Brae. These Neolithic houses seem quite cosy?

My tribute to Olga Soffer “Olga Soffer, who has died aged 83, brought a revolutionary idea into the conversation about prehistoric ice age people: women mattered.” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Olga Soffer obituary

Professor of anthropology whose approach to archaeology centred on crafts executed by women 40,000 years ago

theguardian.com

Stromness 💛

The heather is out at the Ring of Brodgar #StandingStoneSunday

The Spurness excavation in Sanday draws to a close but we're looking forward to getting back next year.

Dig diary – looking forward to the 2027 season at Spurness

The Spurness excavation in Sanday draws to a close but we're looking forward to getting back next year.

archaeologyorkney.com

That's a wrap for this year at Spurness on Sanday. Neolithic hall uncovered with a Bronze age house cut into it. Thank you for having me @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social, lots of learning from the wisdom of Jane Downes and Colin Richards.

Photographs of the stone artefact recovered from the wall of the Spurness Early Neolithic building.

Dig diary – an enigmatic stone artefact

Photographs of the stone artefact recovered from the wall of the Spurness Early Neolithic building.

archaeologyorkney.com

One of the best bits about digging in Orkney is the hamebakes. These are from Heather who visited the sight for a tour.

Work continues on the #BronzeAge house at Spurness. It's cut into an imposing Neolithic house, which is the wall you can see near the scale bar. Lots of flint, a Skaill knife and hammerstone in my quadrant, plus some burnt bone.

Dan Jagger@auditorynerves.bsky.social · 4w ago

New discovery puts 'women at the centre of early Bronze Age society'. For >200 years, experts believed bones discovered near Stonehenge belonged to a "stout man". Now, DNA analysis has revealed the 4,000-year-old skeleton of a metalworker & shaman was from a woman. 🧪💀 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The incredible stonework of Quoyness, a Chambered burial Cairn on the island of Sanday. It has one tall interior chamber and six little ones that come off it. And yes, you have to crawl to enter the tomb. #TombTuesday

More divisional orthostats suggests Sanday Early Neolithic building was more monumental than first believed.

Dig diary – Monumental Neolithic discovery at Spurness

More divisional orthostats suggests Early Neolithic building was more monumental than first believed.

archaeologyorkney.com

Week 2 on the Spurness excavation with @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social on the island of Sanday. We're working on a Neolithic house that had bronze age houses cut into it.

I'll be working here on Saturday! Finds washing and sorting today as the weather was beyond Orkney level bad. But hopefully the sun returns by our open day.

UHI Archaeology Institute@uhiarchaeology.bsky.social · last mo.

Open day at Spurness on Saturday Atrocious, and (even for Orkney) unseasonable weather today saw no digging in Sanday today, but anyone interested can visit our open day on Saturday, August 8. https://archaeologyorkney.com/2026/08/04/spurness-open-day/

Nicola is my tutor at @uhihistory.bsky.social, this would be an amazing PhD to do!

Darren S. Layne@funkyplaid.bsky.social · last mo.

An incredible new PhD opportunity at @uhihistory.bsky.social under Dr Nicola Martin: An Environmental History of the Jacobite Risings in Scotland. This is a fresh and fascinating filter to apply to Jacobite Studies and the programme is under the very best of direction and care.

And just finished up some volunteer days on an excellent community dig run by AOC. It was at Sprouston, so many different things going on for one site. But I was on what is hopefully a Neolithic ditch 🤞

A visit to the now empty field of Trimontium, where one of the largest Roman forts in Scotland was built. Fascinating to see how the site was loomed over by Eildon Hill North, a local hillfort. The farm track up was also very, very straight

We've been working on a likely medieval chapel site all week with @historicdunkeld.bsky.social and today was flagstone lifting day. And charcoal has been found! 🙏

I just love this. Essentially they're stratigraphy socks.

Council for British Archaeology@archaeologyuk.bsky.social · 2mo ago

How socks helped tell the story of Mesolithic Dartmoor 🧦 Soils are a silent archive beneath our feet. But how do you bring that archive to life? For Emma Stockley’s PhD research on Dartmoor’s Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the answer was simple: knit them. 👉 shorturl.at/d2LtL

Test pit adventures really escalated in Dunkeld! We found the edge of a rampart that burnt so hot the stone looks like it started to vitrify. The little colourful markers you can see mark the charred wood beams.

Day 3 #KingsSeat2026: A huge day! The rampart was far more complex than expected, with multiple charred timbers, intense burning and vitrified stone showing extremely high temperatures during its destruction. Dating samples taken, and finally evidence of occupation inside! 🔥🏺⛏️

That's me with my charred rampart remains and muddy knees looking delighted 😌

NPicts@northernpicts.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Fabulous second day of test pitting the southern enclosure of the Pictish hillfort at King’s Seat, Dunkeld. Although robbed out, two of our trenches show that the rampart was timber framed and had been extensively destroyed by fire with large burnt oak beams surviving