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Alison Foster

@alisonfoster.bsky.social
1.4K followers 536 following 1.4K posts

Zooarchaeologist based in Worcestershire. Malvern Buzzards Running Club. Cats (well, just the one cat). Power metal

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Reposted by Alison Foster
Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 10h
Do ponies living wild on a hillfort have Iron Age chariot dreams? The beautiful inhabitants of Traprain Law, East Lothian. #HillfortsWednesday
Wild ponies grazing on a grassy hilltop.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 10h
At some point soon I will have finished recording this box of bone and will need to replace the lid. This will not be a popular move.
Black and white cat lying in the upturned lid of a cardboard box. The box is nearby, partially filled with bags of archaeological animal bone.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
His face! A real-life Cheshire Cat ❤️
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
With no phone and my elderly Garmin on strike, I had to wait till I got home to find I'd done a sub-41 minutes parkrun! I've accepted that I'll probably never do a sub-30 again, but I'm beginning to feel that things are definitely improving! Photo: Worcester Woods parkrun #runningpunks
City park with runners on an uphill tarmacked path. The hill is steeper than it looks in the photo.
Photo: Worcester parkrun Facebook page
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Great to add a mountaineering badger to our garden species list. The hillside is very steep and rocky! The footage is not TV nature programme standard but I'm chuffed to bits.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"So if you want to be like Avon, Vila, Tarrant..." I wanted to be like Servalan.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I watched this last night. It's terrifying, but hopeful. I feel it's my duty, as a human, to share it. I'd appreciate it if you shared it too. It's specifically made for people in the UK, but it's about everyone, and, the more people see it, the better chance we'll have. www.nebriefing.org/the-film
nebriefing.org
National Emergency Briefing
A 50-min film centred around the National Emergency Briefing. The frank facts, but also the huge opportunity if Government steps up and leads a WW2-scale response. Designed to be watched by communitie...
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I live near a very popular primary school on a narrow, twisty road with no proper parking. I want to print this off and leave it under windscreen wipers.
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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The extraordinary 3,000 year-old ‘Berlin Gold Hat’! One of four known cone-shaped golden ‘hats’ from ancient Europe. Sheet gold decorated with bands of solar and lunar motifs, which may represent calendars according to latest research. Neues Museum, Berlin 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo shows a very tall, slender, conical gold object known as the Berlin Gold Hat, displayed against a dark museum background. At the top end, the tall slender cone narrows to a pointy tip.
At the bottom it widens into a rounded base with a broad flat brim. It is made of very thin hammered sheet gold, the entire surface of which is embossed with horizontal bands of decoration. Repeated motifs of concentric circles, disks, ovals, and other symbols, are thought to represent the sun and moon. According to latest research this may represent solar and lunar calendars. It is dated to the late Bronze Age, c. 1000-800 BC. It is 74 cm tall and weighs 480 gms. On display at Neues Museum, Berlin. It is one of only four known golden ‘hats’ from ancient Europe. Three from Germany and one from France.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Not an amateur archaeologist, or any other kind. The Guardian should know better. Still, he did contact the authorities at an early stage, so that's something. Amateur archaeologist finds 934 Roman silver denarii in German field | Germany | The Guardian share.google/SapJQ5dU6qYu...
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Amateur archaeologist finds 934 Roman silver denarii in German field
The hoard, buried south of Cologne in the second century AD, is the biggest coin treasure ever found in Germany from the time of Hadrian
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Matt Berry! (To be honest, I say that every time a voice actor is required)
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Xandria headlining at the O2 Institute Birmingham, tonight. Excellent show, especially the brilliant Seven Spires. Tulip were good too. #Symphonicmetal
Metal band with female vocalist. Small club, blue lighting, audience silhouettes in the foreground
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Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Every year on 19 December, the famous Christmas lights at Mousehole in Cornwall are dimmed between 8 and 9pm, leaving just the Cross and Angels shining down across the village and out to sea.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Beautiful fresh eggs from my piano teacher's pet chickens. Rather sweetly, she puts the name on each egg so I know who to thank 😊
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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
People could die for want of rescue because of this. Failure of govt and police to sct as promptly and firmly as they have for progressive protests is a disgrace and a real giveaway.
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School of Archaeology @unioxarchaeology.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
When is a dog a dog? 🐾🐕‍🦺 Fascinating paper from A.B, Sophy & @gregerlarson.bsky.social ponders the dangers of assumptions and presumptions when drawing conclusions about #domestication of our furry... friends(?) #dogsofbluesky #zooarchaeology #aDNA #dogs
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Monday morning, and I have just sent an email and signed off Beast, Alison Good start to the week.
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Jim Hawkins @jimallthetime.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is what a city orchestra looks like mailchi.mp/ichoosebirmi...
mailchi.mp
THIS IS WHAT A CITY ORCHESTRA LOOKS LIKE
There’s something wonderfully Birmingham about encountering one of the world’s great symphony orchestras while buying a tuna mayo baguette.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Very impressive. Had to read the comments though, to see how long it was before someone mentioned Rick Wakeman. (4th comment, first of several)
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www.slowtravelberlin.com @slowberlin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The outdoor gas lamp museum in Tiergarten. Many people walk through it not realising it’s a “museum” but look closely at the lampposts and you’ll see each one has a label with information about its origin and original location. In total there are around ninety lamps from all around Europe. #berlin
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Mark Knight 🍉 @markknight63.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
##BlueSkyArtShow #Undulating The Fen Basin (after Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures)
Black & white peak map of the Fen Basin, Eastern England

https://anvaka.github.io/peak-map/?fbcl...#7.68/47.727/-122.574
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My daughter isn't really a gardener, and things are rather overgrown at the back of her house, but she has ground nesting bees, newts in the pond and this lovely young fox that visits every day.
Young fox sitting on concrete slabs in a somewhat overgrown garden
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Association for Environmental Archaeology @envarch.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
FANTASTIC NEWS! Due to high demand the #AEA Conference has been extended to include all of Sunday 15th Nov. Early bird registration is open until 30th Sept 🤠 Visit: envarch.net/conferences @cifarch.bsky.social @ads-update.bsky.social #EnvironmentalArchaeology #zooarchaeology #archaeobotany
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Cleared out the garage at the weekend, and am very happy to be able to donate all our old but good quality spanners, socket sets etc to Tools for Self Reliance. It's great to think they'll have a second life, helping people develop skills in the UK or maybe Africa! www.tfsr.org/home/about/
tfsr.org
About Tools for Self Reliance - Tools For Self Reliance
About us: Tools for Self Reliance was started by a small group of dedicated volunteers who believed in a practical approach to income diversification.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Every time I read an account of the Unbound saga I think "How on earth can this be legal?" Also, I still keep seeing copies of books published by Unbound in independent bookshops and would like the books but don't buy because I assume the authors won't get the money.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Lone run this morning, so no chatting. Delighted that the extra breath meant a PB on Sheep Shit Sprint! #runningpunks
Orange Strava GPS trail on green map with humorous segment names, e.g. Sheep Shit Sprint and Badger Dash
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Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A week today I'll be running the Great North Run for Maggie's cancer centres, because at the start of this shitty year my wife lost her lovely mum to cancer. I can't do anything about that, but I can do this. ajbellgreatnorthrun2026.enthuse.com/pf/richard-s...
ajbellgreatnorthrun2026.enthuse.com
Great North Run 2026
Here we go again. In September, on the eve of my 48th birthday, I will be flogging myself around 13-point-something miles of sheer Tyneside, in support of Maggie's centres and in memory of my lovely m
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Just seen "free reign" in the New York Times and am feeling more and more that I belong to the world of 'previously', 'derived from', 'archaic'. "Slowly slipping into history, feel us go", as Roy Harper said.
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Anna Orridge @anna-orridge.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
£28 since yesterday. Thank you to the donors. Amal: "I am writing this with tears running down my face. I am tired of being afraid. I just want to be ready to welcome my baby safely, without spending every moment worrying about what we will have and what we will not have.' gofund.me/32bda5e44
gofund.me
Donate to Help Us Give Our Children a Chance at a Peaceful Childhood, organized by Emily Miller
My name is Naser Musllam, and I'm 32 years old. I studied Busi… Emily Miller needs your support for Help Us Give Our Children a Chance at a Peaceful Childhood
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Medieval manuscripts made from animal skin reveal ancient history of deadly sheep virus | Euronews share.google/3YY1AoxIfaCl...
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Sheep virus found hidden in medieval manuscripts
Hidden in the pages of medieval manuscripts, researchers have found DNA traces of a deadly sheep virus dating back thousands of years.
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Dirk Puehl @wunderkammertales.eurosky.social · 29/08/2026
"Currently, my soul is iron-grey and sad bats circle the bell-tower of my dreams." (Claude Debussy) 🎨 Friedrich Specht #BookwormSat #InternationalBatNight #baturday
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Mel Roxby-Mackey @archaeoborders.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Anyone imagining that archaeology is the least bit glamorous, or that finds are always shiny or valuable 👇 from @drtobydriver.bsky.social from firebreak cutting in Powys
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Ben Fulford @benmfulford.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil - and both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out! www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/an...
foxglove.org.uk
Andy Burnham: no gas power stations for data centres
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil. Both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out
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UCD School of Archaeology, Dublin @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
“How Wool Transformed Prehistoric Ireland" Congrats to Dr Mark Horton, MSCA Postdoc Scholar, featured in the Irish Farmers Journal in August following his presentation at the Agricultural History Society of Ireland (AHSI) conference in Leenane, Co Galway. www.farmersjournal.ie/news/news/tr...
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
To celebrate the release of this/it hitting number on the Blackwell's bestseller chart, I'm giving away THREE signed copies of this to Bluesky users today. To enter just repost this and pop a reply below. #booksky
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Disappointing, but not that surprising I suppose. As for those in the comments saying "All museums do this" - that doesn't mean it's ok.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Introduce yourself with 10 acts you've seen live. Nightwish Primal Fear Evil Scarecrow Rammstein Ferocious Dog Sabaton Pink Floyd Helloween Korpiklaani Led Zeppelin
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Me, in The Guardian, wanging on about gannets
theguardian.com
Country diary: For the gannets of Bass Rock, it’s a slow road to recovery | Lev Parikian
North Berwick, East Lothian: As I admire the aerial feats of house martins in Tantallon Castle, my eye is drawn across the water
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Cats with Jobs ⚒️ @catworkers.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Tech support is here.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Anyone who has spent time sorting the residues of archaeological environmental samples will have a little jar of the individual segments of crinoids - they're irresistible and must be collected!
A collection of star-shaped fossils
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Got Rim Tim Tagi Dim stuck in my head now.
Cartoon style painting of tabby cat on sunburst orange background with text "Meow cat, please meow back"
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liz 🍉 ليز @lizardry.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Hunger is spreading and prices are unbearably high. We struggle to find food and survival has become a daily battle 💔 As a young man, all I want is to protect my family. I can't bear the thought of losing them Humanity is our only hope, please help us survive. Donate and share:⬇️🫂🕊️🇵🇸 bit.ly/4nPlAFg
A collage of four equally sized photos of Ahmed, a young Palestinian man. In two, he is standing in front of his family's tent looking towards the camera. One is a selfie in front of the tent. The fourth is him seated next to his parents on a bench next to the next.
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Professor Peter Matthews @urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?
Bram Stoker
1847-1912
A PENGUIN SINCE 1979
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Actually, let's call it two free postcards. They will be randomly selected from the paintings featured in this thread... bsky.app/profile/dj-a...
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Badger Mash @badgermash.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Best dog name ever belonged to a late lamented Malvern resident: Diefer - short for "D for dog."
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Mopsulus!
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
“For them, saving a clutch of turtle eggs has become about much more than just turtles: it is about ensuring that, despite the destruction, life continues.”
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The British press continuing their attempts to deflect blame for their part in Jason Arday's death is a pretty alarming trend. The Times should stfu and reflect. Be better.
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Birna Anna Björnsdóttir @birnaanna.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
We use the term forystusauður (leader sheep) for people who take charge. It’s not a rare thing to say in Iceland, to this day.
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Alison Foster @alisonfoster.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Fascinating piece describing the centuries-long history of Icelandic 'Leader sheep'. Zooarchaeologists, shepherds, historians and anyone interested in sheep and selective breeding will find this interesting! (Repost of a repost, so scroll down)
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