Local volunteer Andrew carefully excavating the top half of a medieval pot at #CerneAbbey as after five days we’re now getting to the great layers

Assistant site director Walter is busy today greeting visitors to our excavations at #CerneAbbey

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

Just 10 days until we're back digging at #CerneAbbey I'm not sure if we'll have any intact medieval floors to clean again this year, but at least it was good life training for the lad last year...

Spent the last few weeks searching out boundary crosses demarcating the massive medieval parish of Ecclesfield (approx. 28,550 hectares or 112 square miles). Here the lad is showing off the Birley Stone, the shaft is a more recent addition but the base is medieval & mentioned in a charter of AD 1161

And that time of year is fast approaching again @helengittos.bsky.social Roll on Cerne excavation Season 4 in July!

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

As the @nationaltrust.org.uk Giant is in the news again, and as @timeteam.bsky.social have just been nominated for even more awards, here's a link to their feature length programme on @hugh-willmott.co.uk's excavations at Cerne - featuring Hugh, me & Walter the cat. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...

Pleased to see my paper on the production and use of millefiori in Britain and Ireland (c. AD 580–850) published open access by @antiquaries.bsky.social A labour of love for a while now and definitely the most colourful illustrations I’ve ever produced, they were a bit of a nightmare to draw up...

Good morning world 🐝 The red mason bees are emerging in my garden this sunny morning

An absolutely gorgeous day here at Sherborne where I’ve been delivering the annual Jim Gibb lecture. The abbey looks resplendent against the cloudless sky!

On another damp, fog-bound day here in the Pennines, I thought I’d share a few of the lustrous fragments of Saxon glass that I've just submitted for publication. Deposited in the early 8th century AD, they still sparkle with joy 1,300 years later 🏺✨

Excited that my volume on the Early Bronze Age coffined burial from Tetney is now published open access by @antiquaries.bsky.social! Now everyone can read about this amazing find dated to 2032 BC and containing an amazing array of environmental and artefactual data. library.oapen.org/viewer/web/v...

Wind, what wind? Today, hardy sheffielduni.bsky.social archaeology students have been out demonstrating their Yorkshire mettle at #CerneAbbey in Dorset, despite Storm Chandra's best efforts

Finally had a chance to go through some of our finds from last year's excavation at #CerneAbbey & thought I would share this gem. Book clasps are quite common finds on monastic sites but this little fella is the finest I've ever excavated & must have come from a pretty fancy prayer book or psalter

It's been a pleasure collaborating with @helengittos.bsky.social on such an engaging and fun project!

Helen Gittos@helengittos.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Now out! Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath the Giant. A @timeteam.bsky.social special on @hugh-willmott.bsky.social's excavations. It's been a joy to work with Hugh, at Cerne, to do some digging, and to get to know the people and the landscape of so special a place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...

The latest @timeteam.bsky.social feature length episode focusing on our excavations at Cerne Abbey has gone live. It's fantastic to see the work we've been doing over the last couple of years shared with everyone! 🏺 🐈‍⬛ youtu.be/DY68mzYXWK8?...

NEW EPISODE! Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath The Giant | TIME TEAM (Dorset) 2025

YouTube video by Time Team Official

youtu.be

Well it's been a while in the making, but this Saturday sees the release of the Time Team feature length episode focusing on our work at Cerne Abbey www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Tm...

Coming Soon! | Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath The Giant | TIME TEAM (Dorset) 2025

YouTube video by Time Team Official

youtube.com

A little teaser from @timeteam.bsky.social highlighting the forthcoming full length episode coming out soon looking at our work at Cerne Abbas... 🙈 youtu.be/lL1ucbcLwLg?...

This chalk giant is hiding a secret | Time Team Podcast

YouTube video by Time Team Official

youtu.be

Pleased to see some coverage by the BBC of our excavations at #CerneAbbey which concluded at the weekend! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cerne Abbey: Archaeologists unearth secrets of medieval hall

Archaeologists return to Cerne Abbas to unearth the medieval abbey and its Anglo Saxon predecessor.

bbc.co.uk

Today has been spent excavating an intact (if crushed) section of tiled floor in the east range of #CerneAbbey First laid down in c.1300, it’s survived remarkably well!🏺

Pleased to welcome back team supervisor Walter on our excavations at #CerneAbbey 🏺🐈‍⬛

The big man of Cerne looking resplendent at dusk yesterday. Whilst he usually grabs all the attention, The Trendle earthwork that sits just above him was looking even more fantastic!

A week to go before @hugh-willmott.bsky.social's third season of excavations at #cerneabbey! Here's an @timeteam.bsky.social reminder of what a gloriously evocative site it is. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctpR...

Search for the Lost Abbey: Cerne Abbas | Time Team (Dorset)

YouTube video by Time Team Official

youtube.com

This time next week all this (and more) should be exposed again as excavations recommence at #CerneAbbey 🏺 We'll continue to work on the late medieval hall but also start investigating the intriguing earlier features that began to appear at the end of last season...

A small selection of medieval tiles found last year at #CerneAbbey 🏺 Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there! #TilesOnTuesday

Thinking about hill figures, another I’m really interested in is the Westbury White Horse. What you see today was permanently ‘preserved’ to prevent erosion by being covered in concrete in 1957. But what lurks beneath is rather more interesting… (1/4)

Talking again to @helengittos.bsky.social about hill figures, I'm reminded of a 🧵 I posted elsewhere about my favourite ones excavated by TC Lethbridge on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridge in 1954. His findings were dismissed by his contemporaries as a combination of natural & invented features (1/5)

With summer just around the corner, I thought I'd share one of my favourite tiles excavated at #CerneAbbey last year. Perhaps we'll find the other half in a few weeks time? #TilesOnTuesday

Wow, what better way to end a stressful week than to see one’s collaborative research featured on the cover of @appliedspec.bsky.social! All credit to @sheonashankland.bsky.social for leading this impactful project 🏺🦴

Dr Sheona Shankland@sheonashankland.bsky.social · last yr.

Very pleased that my paper with @drjemmakerns.bsky.social @hugh-willmott.bsky.social & Adam Taylor on changes in #bone chemistry with #ageing made the March cover of Applied Spectroscopy! 🌈 😁 @sasspectroscopy.bsky.social @appliedspec.bsky.social @lancasteruni.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social

Last week I had the opportunity to revisit my favourite pub carpet for the first time in several years. It's experienced a lot of wear since I last saw it, and now looks even more medieval! A perfect offering for #TilesOnTuesday ?

Really chuffed that our publication of the gorgeous Scremby Cup has been selected as cambridgeuparchaeo.bsky.social paper of the month ☺️ With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone! And it's free to download for the next 30 days

Cambridge University Press - Archaeology@cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org · 2y ago

The Paper of the Month from European Journal of Archaeology is 'From Roman Table to Anglo-Saxon Grave: An Archaeological Biography of the Scremby Cup' by Hugh Willmott, Lenore Thompson, et al., free to access until February 21st! 📚 cup.org/4jncdvB #PaperOfTheMonth @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social