Jonathan Last

Wordle 1,272 4/6 Made it to 1000 puzzles with no failures so far… ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Some amazing lithic sites have been revealed by development-led archaeology in recent years but they're not always easy to find or evaluate. Updated guidance & new case studies from @HE_Archaeology & @oatweet are designed to help #FlintFriday #FindsFriday historicengland.org.uk/whats…

Today Stukeley is the most celebrated of the 18th-century antiquaries but not all his peers agreed. Samuel Pegge wrote that 'The Doctor, I am sensible, has his admirers, but I confess I am not one of that number, as not being fond of wildness and enthusiasm upon any subject.'

On William Stukeley’s birthday here’s his display in the Enlightenment gallery at the BM

And if you need more archaeological nightmares, here's part 2...

Reading some ghostly prehistory from Elliott O'Donnell for #Halloween - part 1...

No trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en 100 years ago, which was associated with Scotland and fortune-telling. The Evening Telegraph had to explain this foreign custom to Londoners while the Westminster Gazette gave housewives tips on Halloween party games.

The Guardian confusing value with price...

"This idea that every habitat is replaceable is a misuse of biodiversity net gain" - and ignores the heritage value of particular habitats theguardian.com/environment/…

Dystopian archaeology is a somewhat niche genre of fiction (see also: Cold Earth by Sarah Moss) but this fits the bill perfectly bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0023y…

A great loss, not just to Neolithic studies but to so many areas of heritage policy and practice where he made pioneering contributions, from the Monuments at Risk Survey to the Archaeological Investigations Project and his recent work on mental health and wellbeing - thanks Tim

The 14th-century 'Nursing Madonna of Santa Maria de Conxo', found in 2020 on a river bank in Santiago de Compostela, where it had been used in a dam, and now in the Museum of Pilgrimage #FindsFriday #Caminoportugues

In June 1809 Spanish forces under Pablo Morillo defeated the French army by the medieval bridge at Ponte Sampaio. There's a plaque at the site and a grander memorial in Pontevedra. The Peninsular War may be little known in Britain these days but it matters here. #caminoportugues

The 'Visigothic arch' of Panxón, recently redated to the C10 so more likely Mozarabic, formed part of the old parish church; when that was replaced in the 1930s the arch was preserved and indeed inspired the new Templo Votivo do Mar, designed by Antonio Palacios #Caminoportugues

The nearby chapel of Sta. Liberata, supposedly one of nine daughters born on the same day in Roman times to the rulers of Balchagia (Baiona) and ordered to be killed, but secretly spared and raised as Christians, to be later martyred. The elaborate altarpiece dates from 1739.

Posting about some places we passed on the Camino de Santiago route this summer. First the church of Sta. Maria in Baiona, whose internal arches are decorated with marks of various guilds and trades, including this double-jointed dog hunting a rabbit or hare. #Caminoportugues

Relaxing florals for #MosaicMonday from the Villa del Ramalete (now in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid)

Thinking about the possibility of a new microblogging site called Fritter, which would combine the toxicity of x with the inanity of threads and get rid of all those people in one place 😉

The full story of Macgregor Reid’s Church of the Universal Bond and their testy relationship with the authorities at Stonehenge following their first visit in 1912 (as recorded here by the Daily Mirror) is told in Adam Stout's excellent 'Creating Prehistory'.