Jim Leary

@jimleary.bsky.social

Archaeologist & writer. Senior lecturer at Uni of York. Books: The Story of Silbury Hill; The Remembered Land; Footmarks, a journey into our restless past. Agent: JP Marshall.

For #FindsFriday, I'm gifting you this fantastic Bronze Age felled tree we’ve just excavated from #Skipsea in Holderness. The marks of the socketed bronze axe are clearly visible, and the thud of the axe is almost audible. Used - we think - as a post, perhaps for a trackway.

A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.

What is it about the Ridgeway that makes people ignore the dating of archaeologists and describe it as ‘Britain’s oldest road’? And the date of 5,000 years old is so strangely random. Every stretch of Roman road is older than the Ridgeway.

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What have we found at #Skipsea this week? Well, on the edge of a small pond fed by springs and streams, we found this Iron Age horse’s head and neck. There is no body with it, and I can’t help thinking of it lying there with its large eyes closed and mane gently washed by water.

A 3d scan of the horses skull.An overhead photo of the horses head and articulating neck.

For #FindsFriday, I'm gifting you this fantastic Bronze Age felled tree we’ve just excavated from #Skipsea in Holderness. The marks of the socketed bronze axe are clearly visible, and the thud of the axe is almost audible. Used - we think - as a post, perhaps for a trackway.

A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.

What is it about the Ridgeway that makes people ignore the dating of archaeologists and describe it as ‘Britain’s oldest road’? And the date of 5,000 years old is so strangely random. Every stretch of Roman road is older than the Ridgeway.

Bild

What have we found at #Skipsea this week? Well, on the edge of a small pond fed by springs and streams, we found this Iron Age horse’s head and neck. There is no body with it, and I can’t help thinking of it lying there with its large eyes closed and mane gently washed by water.

A 3d scan of the horses skull.An overhead photo of the horses head and articulating neck.

For #FindsFriday I have the smallest of Small Finds for you - a titchy but beautiful Mesolithic shale bead. One of many that would have been strung on a necklace. Found out of context but not far from the edge of a lake at Skipsea in Holderness.

A small, perforated, teardrop shaped piece of pink shale.

For #FindsFriday I have the smallest of Small Finds for you - a titchy but beautiful Mesolithic shale bead. One of many that would have been strung on a necklace. Found out of context but not far from the edge of a lake at Skipsea in Holderness.

A small, perforated, teardrop shaped piece of pink shale.

I love digging prehistoric peat - the way the ground bounces with every movement, the soft, sucking nature of it, and the anticipation of what we’ll find in it. Skipsea, Holderness, preparing trenches for the student field school.

I love digging prehistoric peat - the way the ground bounces with every movement, the soft, sucking nature of it, and the anticipation of what we’ll find in it. Skipsea, Holderness, preparing trenches for the student field school.

The cart tracks of the North York Moors. Last year’s devastating fire on Fylingdales Moor has revealed archaeology in graphic detail. Medieval holloways and seventeenth and eighteenth-century cart tracks are visible for the first time and look as fresh as the day they were made.

Two parallel grooves run along burnt ground.A series of parallel grooves run along burnt ground.

The cart tracks of the North York Moors. Last year’s devastating fire on Fylingdales Moor has revealed archaeology in graphic detail. Medieval holloways and seventeenth and eighteenth-century cart tracks are visible for the first time and look as fresh as the day they were made.

Two parallel grooves run along burnt ground.A series of parallel grooves run along burnt ground.

I was back doing some fieldwork at one of my favourite Neolithic monuments yesterday. The neck-craning, almost 8m Rudston Monolith, a great, grey Yorkshire leviathan. The warden of the Wolds. No other standing stone in the UK beats it in sheer stature. #StandingStoneSunday

A photo of the Rudston Monolith with a church behind it and gravestones around it. Green grass and daffodils in the foreground.

I was back doing some fieldwork at one of my favourite Neolithic monuments yesterday. The neck-craning, almost 8m Rudston Monolith, a great, grey Yorkshire leviathan. The warden of the Wolds. No other standing stone in the UK beats it in sheer stature. #StandingStoneSunday

A photo of the Rudston Monolith with a church behind it and gravestones around it. Green grass and daffodils in the foreground.

The heart-quickening sight of an old friend. #SilburyHill - the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. A Neolithic monument I once spent a year inside. It is a mass of ancient matter, and quicksilver - substantial, heavy, brilliant, yet can’t be pinned down. #Neolithic

A photo of Silbury Hill taken from the lay-by, showing the green grass-covered mound surrounded by a water-filled ditch.

The Ehenside Tarn axe, found in Cumbria in 1869, now in the British Museum. An early Neolithic stone axe from Langdale, with its original wooden handle still attached. The haft always reminds me of Captain Caveman’s club! #FindsFriday

Photo of wooden club-like handle with a greenstone axe inserted into a socket within it.

The Ehenside Tarn axe, found in Cumbria in 1869, now in the British Museum. An early Neolithic stone axe from Langdale, with its original wooden handle still attached. The haft always reminds me of Captain Caveman’s club! #FindsFriday

Photo of wooden club-like handle with a greenstone axe inserted into a socket within it.

Hello old friends! A trip to London isn’t complete without a visit to say hello to the Folkton Drums. These Neolithic carved chalk cylinders found in a child’s burial in Yorkshire. I love their surprised little faces. #FindsFriday

A photo of three cream coloured chalk cylinders with geometric patterns carved on them. They also have little eyes and monobrows.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐚𝐭 𝟓 𝐩𝐦 Dr Jim Leary and Dr Elaine Jamieson will be presenting our next lecture on ‘Life on the lake: The prehistory and history of Skipsea, Holderness’. At Burlington House and on youtu.be/dTxePLmT25I

Life on the lake: The prehistory & history of Skipsea, Holderness Dr Jim Leary & Dr Elaine Jamieson

YouTube video by Royal Archaeological Institute

youtu.be