Tessera

For #HillfortsWednesday here's Ivinghoe Beacon, as seen last Sunday: the approach from the south; the view south-westwards along the Chiltern Scarp; and hints of a rampart under the long grass. It's a meeting place of allegedly ancient routes...

Looking north towards Ivinghoe Beacon (on the right; note the barrow within the hillfort) and the claylands beyond

Looking south-west from Ivinghoe Beacon, with the Chilterns on the left

The north-western rampart with trig point at the top of the slope on the left

Icknield Way route marker with symbol of hafted stone axe and arrows pointing towards the Peddars Way and Ridgeway

Travis Miller@travismillerx13.bsky.social · last wk.

Tinseltown in the rain... that was quite something, even in Gaelic 😉

🇨🇲Emmanuel Eseme and 🇦🇺Lachlan Kennedy BOTH RUN 9.8s NATIONAL RECORDS in Commonwealth Games 100m final! 3rd place for 🇳🇬Kayinsola Ajayi #Glasgow2026

Perhaps the first photograph of the summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge, advertised for sale #OTD 150 years ago: only a shilling (£6.60 today in terms of RPI) - I wonder if there are any copies still around...?

Cutting from the Western Gazette, July 28, 1876:
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENTS.
PHOTOGRAPHY AT STONEHENGE.
F.T. WITCOMB begs to inform the public that he has succeeded in taking a beautiful photograph of "THE RISING OF THE SUN," on the longest day of the year; from the Altar Stone to the Druid's Stone; and copies can be had for One Shilling each at Mr. Witcomb's, Midford-street, Salisbury.
Mr. WITCOMB will be at Stonehenge every day during the summer season for the purpose of TAKING GROUPS, PARTIES, &C."

Anon Opin@anonopin.bsky.social · last wk.

I also wonder how being short-sighted would have affected me in prehistory - less hunting and herding, more knapping or potting I guess. And whether we’ll ever pick up these conditions from aDNA…

Sometimes, when I remove my glasses to clean them, I realise how fucked I'd have been my entire life without them. Hard to imagine life for people with astigmatism in the Middle Ages, but I suppose they wouldn't have known any different.

6-4 is the new 1-0 😆

Western Sydney Wanderers 4-6 Chelsea: Joao Pedro scores hat-trick as Xabi Alonso marks first game with bonkers 10-goal thriller

Report as Xabi Alonso marks first Chelsea game with victory in 10-goal thriller; Joao Pedro nets nine-minute hat-trick off bench; 17-year-old Dastan Satpaev scores opener; Chelsea trailed three times...

skysports.com

I wonder what they'd have thought of rewilding and the Knepp Accord? Effigies on the tomb of Sir Thomas Caryll, ironmaster of the Knepp furnace c 1600, and his wife Margaret, in Shipley church "Aske not who lyes intoombd, that crime Argues you liv’d not in his time..." (see alt text) #TombTuesday

Detail of marble effigies of a man in armour and a woman with a ruff. The epitaph behind reads:

"Aske not who lyes intoombd, that crime
Argues you liv’d not in his time
His vertues answer and to fate
Out liveinge him express their hate
For stealing ‘way the life of one
Who (but for fashion) needs no stone
To speake his praise, his woorst did dye
But best parte out lives memorie

Then uew reade, trace, his toombe, praise deeds
Which teares, joy, love, straines causeth, breeds"

London Geodiversity Partnership@londongeodiversity.bsky.social · last wk.

Megaloceros providing a useful reminder that the ‘dinosaurs’ also include some Pleistocene fauna!

We had a very enjoyable trip to Crystal Palace Park today to visit the newly restored prehistoric creatures and geological illustrations. We were unanimously impressed! It’s great to be able to see everything so clearly #urbangeology #crystalpalacedinosaurs @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social

The sculptures of Megaloceras (Giant Irish Elk)

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.

I guess the cultural significance of places doesn’t carry too much weight with UKRI; there are only 20* post-war structures in England that are listed at Grade I - two of them are telescopes at Jodrell Bank

Jodrell Bank Observatory facing closure after major funder cuts support

Odd This Day@oddthisday.bsky.social · 2w ago

Richard Parker's memorial at Pear Tree Church, Southampton, a modern replacement for an earlier memorial stone #OTD

A modern stone slab commemorating Richard Parker (d. July 25th 1884) and describing the case (Regina vs Dudley and Stephens)

But if you think that’s appalling, please bear in mind that today is also the 142nd anniversary of this story, which is frankly horrid

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

One more for the list of #Odyssey adaptations is Robert Graves’ ‘Homer’s Daughter’ which asks what if it was written by a woman, what if she placed herself in the narrative (as Nausicaa), and how’d she feel if cut from the movie entirely (ok not quite, but she’s a feisty character so we can guess!)

Cover of Homer’s Daughter by Robert Graves with a line drawing (uncredited) of a man, woman and pig in Classical style

From oral tradition to #ChristopherNolan’s adaptation, Homer’s #Odyssey has been retold across centuries to reflect contemporaneous issues such as imperialism, migration, and gender. This #openaccess article explores the epic’s long history of adaptation: 📚 https://cup.org/4pDFypb

The Odyssey. Classical Studies from Cambridge.

'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 3w ago

An odd precursor to the Knepp Accord and the Festival of Archaeology’s Nature theme is a 1925 psychic time-travel novel written by a fridge salesman: what it lacks in archaeological accuracy it makes up for by its vivid description of the wild landscapes of prehistoric Sussex and Surrey

"Mixed up with today and yesterday": prehistory and the wild in 'The Amulet of Tarv'

As a part-time member of the excellent ‘Rewilding’ Later Prehistory project, based at Oxford Archaeology, I’ve been privileged to make a number of visits to the equally wonderful Knepp Wilding in Suss...

prescapes.substack.com

The Knepp Accord has launched! Supported by the National Trust & representatives from 30+ orgs, it sets out shared principles for collaboration between archaeology, heritage & the nature sector to support nature recovery. We're proud to have played a key role in developing it. shorturl.at/KxRF7

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

It’s that time again - the annual discovery that there are more archaeologists on Bluesky than people who want to ask them questions 😉

Tomorrow is #AskAnArchaeologist Day! ⛏️ Join us here throughout the day as archaeologists answer your questions and share more about their work. Send us your questions through our Instagram Stories or leave them in the comments below, then check back tomorrow for the answers.

'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 3w ago

Endlessly pandering to the climate-denying right…

Burnham to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling

Drilling has become a controversial topic for the Labour party after the 2024 manifesto pledged to not issue new licences.

bbc.co.uk

The Knepp Accord has launched! Supported by the National Trust & representatives from 30+ orgs, it sets out shared principles for collaboration between archaeology, heritage & the nature sector to support nature recovery. We're proud to have played a key role in developing it. shorturl.at/KxRF7

Press Release | Media

The National Trust, Oxford Archaeology and Knepp Castle Estate have launched the ‘Knepp Accord’, a new framework to tackle the nature and climate crisis.

nationaltrust.org.uk

Brian Edwards@public-history.bsky.social · 3w ago

Image made for the @rewildarch.bsky.social project by Rose Ferraby - check out her Instagram feed for more of this sort of thing!

A painted collage with landscape and wildlife elements juxtaposed to reflect the complexity of change through time at Knepp

That is a cracking illustration 👌

'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 3w ago

A week today - sign up to join a walk through the lovely Low Weald and chat about how archaeology and the historic landscape contribute to rewilding and nature recovery #FestivalOfArchaeology

Wander back through time on Knepp’s 'Wilding With Archaeology' safari 🌿 Thursday 23 July |11:00-13:30 Part of the @archaeologyuk.bsky.social #FestivalOfArchaeology, join Knepp ecologist Tony Whitbread and the ‘Rewilding’ Later Prehistory team. More information here: shorturl.at/PZ5Bq

'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 3w ago

A week today - sign up to join a walk through the lovely Low Weald and chat about how archaeology and the historic landscape contribute to rewilding and nature recovery #FestivalOfArchaeology

Wander back through time on Knepp’s 'Wilding With Archaeology' safari 🌿 Thursday 23 July |11:00-13:30 Part of the @archaeologyuk.bsky.social #FestivalOfArchaeology, join Knepp ecologist Tony Whitbread and the ‘Rewilding’ Later Prehistory team. More information here: shorturl.at/PZ5Bq

HT 0-0 in the second place playoff 😉

Surrey Cricket@kiaoval.com · 3w ago

Well that was a big let down. Time to take the 50 over comp seriously for a change…?

We fall short at Trent Bridge. 🩵 | #VitalityBlast

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 3w ago

Worth noting that the polished flint axes with the Upton Lovell burial, shown in the headline photo and captioned as "Artefacts dating to about 1,800 BC..." would probably have been at least 500 years old at that time, so a deeper past was also being referenced in her metalworking practice.

Ancient DNA analysis reveals Wiltshire’s Upton Lovell Shaman was a woman

Exclusive: Analysis offers ‘smoking gun evidence’ that overturns previous assumption that bronze age individual was male

theguardian.com

1/2 The Church of England was complicit in one of the greatest crimes against humanity in history. As an institution with a moral mission it has acknowledged this and is seeking to atone through a forward-looking investment programme, Project Spire. www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

Bishop of Norwich defends research underpinning Project Spire

Heated discussion highlights ‘vile abuse and correspondence’ aimed at Church Commissioners staff

churchtimes.co.uk

Bloomsbury Sport @bloomsburysport.bsky.social · 3w ago

I enjoyed this morning’s dog walk listening to a lovely chat with the author about the great Gianluca Vialli on the latest @socobhampod.bsky.social

We are delighted to share that we are publishing a new vivid, heartfelt biography of Gianluca Vialli, written by his lifelong friend. Out 13th August.