Helen Gittos
@helengittos.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford Chair, Family Expert Reference Group, National Maternity & Neonatal Taskforce (I can't read private messages here.)
Good to be back! We loved the current Love's Labours Lost. Giants! And a Hercules. A highlight of a good weekend. My ten year old even thought it worth standing for 2 1/2 hours...
So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
I love that this begins as a simple story about the perilous thrill of meeting an idol but ends up as a fable about craft. Thanks for the nudge @carynrose.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ab...
Glen Hansard meets Van Morrison
YouTube video by bannedfromchina
youtube.com
I love that this begins as a simple story about the perilous thrill of meeting an idol but ends up as a fable about craft. Thanks for the nudge @carynrose.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ab...
Glen Hansard meets Van Morrison
YouTube video by bannedfromchina
youtube.com
Second, it is a huge reassessment to say that the Fuente Álamo site (pleiades.stoa.org/places/83653...) has a library since it was previously labeled as a Mithraeum. The library is the best preserved in the Iberian penninsula & second only to the Villa of the Papyri out of all. It dates to the 4th c
Clearing the houses of the elderly is sobering. So much curation. So much keeping-of-things-in-case-they'll-come-in. And the saving for best. All the futures that never came. And the letters & photos & archives our generation won't have because our digital tracks are so much harder to control.
4/4 That's why I've signed @rachaelmaskell.bsky.social parliamentary motion, calling on the Office for Students to investigate institutions accused of undermining pension rights, and on the Government to take action to prevent pension cuts and a race to the bottom across higher education.
What sources do people use for finding research fellowships for people at mid career and beyond stage?
Please read and read again this stunning reflection on what’s happening at Exeter — and on the personal cost (for far too many and for far too long) of struggling to uphold the humanities within a system bent on grinding them down and squeezing them out. #DefendExeterUni
Lizzy Williamson@lizzywilliamson.bsky.social · last wk.How had I forgotten thisso-good-its-reading-list-worthy piece! 'The distinctive architecture that resulted [from the Norman Conquest is]...evidence that...they aimed at... creating a new model state on the basis of Roman Christian precedent, a revived Britannia organized by a new Constantine.'
No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.
AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books
If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.
news.com.au
The Amos Maternity Review trying to explain its use of AI to families to analyse what they told the team in family 'listening sessions'...
🚨 BREAKING: Jericho Wharf, by the Oxford Canal, has been sold to Worcester College. The site has been derelict for 20 years. Worcester says it is “committed to bringing the site back into productive use through a carefully considered redevelopment that respects its heritage”.
An entry in the Chronicle of Colchester says: 'it is related that Helena...was born...in this city. It was of great merit... Indeed, this is conjectured from those things which people digging have excavated from the earth: iron, precious stones & minted coins & buildings found beneath the earth.'
We're counting down the days until Friday! Tickets here: ticketpass.org/event/EBUOPO... #FestivalofArchaeology #Yeavering #Northumbria
The Gefrin Trust@gefrintrust.bsky.social · last wk.Come join us for Yeavering's #FestivalofArchaeology, Fri 31 July to Sat 1 August. Chat about Northumbrian small finds with @findsorguk.bsky.social, tour Edwin's palace with @arcdurham.bsky.social, walk through #ACLE's early medieval camp, and inhabit the rich history of a lived landscape. #Yeavering
God, this rings true: '"leadership is immune to any actionable feedback from below. Consultation still exists but nothing anyone says can change the decision or remove those who made it." This trend... towards managerialism & ultimately authoritarianism can be seen across British society...'
Jonathan Calder@lordbonkers.bsky.social · last wk.Liberal England... Our universities aren't just managerialist: they're authoritarian "The atmosphere of fear and expected obedience reminds me of my time as a student in Poland, but the reason I use the word 'authoritarian' is more banal: leadership is immune to any actionable feedback from below."
A necklace from a sixth/ seventh-century child's grave in Qāw al-Kabīr (Egypt) with a bone pectoral cross, 'a blue faience Bes amulet' & beads. From this chapter by Ádám Bollók: www.academia.edu/36949656/The...
This is from twenty years ago but still remains a very sad sight /site. I came across it in Stephen Pollington's superb Wayland's Work book and wondered why I'd not seen a reference to it before...
A mould for a C6th/ 7th pilgrim's flask has been excavated at a monastery in the Judean desert, 10 miles east of Jerusalem. It supports the idea that the flasks like those in the treasuries at Monza & Bobbio were made in & near Jerusalem. www.timesofisrael.com/forget-keych...
Here's 👇a book to teach & think with! 'This a world we dare not simplify. This is not purely a world of vibrancy & cultural creativity. Nor is this a world of decadence, of oppression, of decline & fall. This is not a world driven purely by status... It is a world of every knd of struggle...'
With summer excavation season in full swing, we're curious: what dig first got you hooked on archaeology? Share your story below!
The Bulford discovery is a really exciting find, but it's got us thinking about how some sites naturally attract more public attention than others. Which archaeological site do you think deserves far more attention than it currently gets?
One of 2025's star finds at #CerneAbbey was this roof boss from the conduit house. An exact match for one at the conduit in Sherborne and almost certainly carved by the same mason. Sherborne's spent the next 487 years exposed to the elements; Cerne's was buried, preserving it in remarkable condition
FHDC called possible human faecal contamination across Romney Marsh and the East Stour “urgent”. 110 days later, there’s not a single contract in place to begin the sampling —while 2026 storm overflows have already run for an estimated 903 hours. Hardly green, is it? shorturl.at/6AJpg
Folkestone and Hythe Council’s Unfulfilled Promise to Investigate Sewage Pollution
On 1 April, Folkestone & Hythe District Council agreed that possible human faecal contamination across Romney Marsh and the East Stour needed investigating “as a matter of urgency”. One hundred…
shorturl.at
