Sign in

Andrew Gault

@andrewgault.bsky.social
267 followers 302 following 120 posts

Archaeologist. Hill lover. Should be at my allotment. Senior Inspector of Historic Monuments, working mostly in development management. My views etc.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 08/07/2026
At Haughey's Fort, they identified over 200 possible wooden domestic structures, indicating it was a dense and structured settlement far exceeding what would be expected of a typical hillfort. Alongside these were several large, circular buildings, likely communal spaces 6/12
Illustration interpreting magnetic gradiometry data, showing a series of concentric circular ditches containing many circles, likely wooden structures.
1102
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 08/07/2026
NEW Best known as the mythological capital of Ulster, Navan Fort was one of the five ancient capitals of Ireland. New research finds the landscape's significance stretches all the way back to the Bronze Age, indicating it was a major prehistoric centre. #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵 🏺 #Archaeology
Aerial view of a green landscape, annotated with the locations of three Bronze Age features no longer visible (Haughey's Fort, The King's Stables & Tray Bog).
26825
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Was up on Cavehill this afternoon, in this pic standing on the Bronze Age summit cairn and looking towards McArt's Fort and Belfast beyond. Lovely day for it.
A blue sky day on Cavehill summit, looking over a trail through heather towards McArt's Fort, with Belfast Lough and the city docks in the distance.
000
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Recently. Mostly running and gardening.
051
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
As if the workhouse circumstances weren't bad enough, add in some strong #AdventHorror vibes for good measure. Happy Christmas! 🎅🎄
121
Reposted by Andrew Gault
James O’Driscoll @jodarchaeology.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Hot off the press, our new paper on the incredible Late Bronze Age nucleated settlement at Brusselstown Ring hillfort, Co. Wicklow, Ireland is freely available to read (doi.org/10.15184/aqy...). @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social @antiquity.ac.uk
doi.org
Brusselstown Ring: a nucleated settlement agglomeration in prehistoric Ireland | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Brusselstown Ring: a nucleated settlement agglomeration in prehistoric Ireland
03010
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
What stunning views from these Irish passage graves @Carrowkeel
Carrowkeel megalithic monuments and landscape
2172
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Patrick Gleeson @papgleeson.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Grand first day digging the Dane’s Cast in Co Down! Iron Age or Medieval linear earthwork running along the Newry Valley. We’ll know soon enough. Some nice postholes, a palisade slot and two big ditches and banks
1244
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
I should have posted this on Tuesday I suppose. The Knockagh monument, war memorial for County Antrim. Familiar backdrop round these parts and somewhere I've been running to a bit recently.
000
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
I visited this site shortly after the damage was reported. Shocking indeed. Good to see this outcome, but that damage cannot be undone. BBC News - Damage to historic site 'a significant loss to society' www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Dunmull Hillfort: Damage to historic site is 'a significant loss to society'
Dr Paul Logue, from the Department for Communities, said damage to a hillfort is "one of the very worst" he's seen.
263
Reposted by Andrew Gault
UCD School of Archaeology, Dublin @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Research shows that pig remains at Newgrange result from midwinter feasting conducted c.2600-2450 BC, centuries after the tomb had been closed off. Most of pigs slaughtered during mid-winter solstice after being fattened on acorns in oak forests in the preceding months. 2/3
151
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Recently, midway water-stop at Ben Crom reservoir during the Mourne Seven Sevens. Turned out to be a great day.
020
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
The gardener's curse is constantly seeing the problems, the pests, the things that could be better. You can't sit still for five minutes without seeing a job to do. Year 4 in my new garden sees vine weevils, slug tsunamis, malnourished soil, totrix moths and possibly box moth caterpillars ☠️ 🐛 🪲
100
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Stunning images by Julian Friers of extinct and lost Irish animals from #Megaloceros, #Mammoth, to Great Auk, with the full story of Ireland’s ice age animals and human impacts on the fauna by Mike Simms. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
Book cover with painting of giant ice age deer Megaloceros
2328
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The most picturesque house in the Mournes, seen at the end of a loop of the Annalong Valley today. And a horse, who I caught napping.
040
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
A more than 5,550-year-old well-preserved #Neolithic knife. The blade is crafted from flint and secured in a wooden handle using birch tar. Furthermore, the handle features a hole, intended for attaching a cord. From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2 📷 me 🏺 #archaeology
A flint knife featuring a curved stone blade secured into a wooden handle using black birch tar adhesive. The dark handle has a small perforation at one end. The tool is displayed on a neutral surface, showing the craftsmanship and natural materials used.
7696137
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Trail running woe in the Antrim Hills yesterday. At the furthest point from my car just as I was turning to head back I realised my key was gone. Small hole in the pocket 🤦 Luckily I met a chap (the only other person!) who let me use his phone and I was able to get my spare key. Lessons learned 🙌
130
Reposted by Andrew Gault
James Wright @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Surveying a house in Leicestershire. Its all about the brickwork. Early 18thC bricks w/ angled skintlings & mid-19thC bricks w/ horizontal skintlings. Skintlings are the creases where the bricks were stacked in the kiln. This changes from angled to horizontal in early 19thC.
3408
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Phil Watson @frenchmegaliths.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
The capstone covering the 10m long chamber of the dolmen angevin of Briande (aka Pierre du Marais) in Arçay (Vienne) has broken in two but still rests rather dramatically on 7 surviving orthostats. #TombTuesday. Card by Dando-Berry c.1905.
0327
Reposted by Andrew Gault
(Dr) Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
Millin Bay is a kinda cool place as nobody's really sure what's going on with it, apart from.maybe the wondrous Liam McQuillan and Lisa White who are currently working on it. It is one of the highly strange sites across Ireland, and has more than a whiff of @hookland.bsky.social about it. A thread
A small grassy cairn and a man, Liam McQuillan, running around with carrier bags of demonstration slides !
5579
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Our alternative interpretations of the ‘king’ of Newgrange (a skull fragment from an individual who was born of incest) and his distant relations have been published! We argue for the importance of careful integration of aDNA results with detailed archaeological evidence. Such a great team effort!
18423
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 24/06/2025
Cover image from 'The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber' - Jessica Smyth et al. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber - Volume 99 Issue 405
0122
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Finally starting to feel myself again after completing the Mourne Way Marathon yesterday. It's the first marathon I've done, and to add to the type 2 fun it's a trail marathon on forest tracks, rough mountain trails and bog with >1100m elevation gain. With heavy rain showers and hail thrown in 😆
020
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Prof Nicki Whitehouse @fossilbeetle.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Are you interested in re-wilding? We have a questionnaire on re-wilding and the historic environment open, and keen to hear from ecologists, land managers, and archaeological practitioners. Access the questionnaire here - uofg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
uofg.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
11824
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
You may not realise it, but somewhere, quietly, a miniature schnauzer is watching you.
140
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Ballylesson, south of Belfast and Edenderry, in the sunshine today. Impressive landscape, not far from the Giant's Ring.
A rolling landscape of ploughed fields fresh sown with potato ridges, drumlins, a historic house in a clump of trees in the distance, set against blue sky on a sunny day.
020
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Archaeology is built heritage. I keep seeing the term being applied to refer only to historic buildings, as if archaeological heritage were a separate thing. It isn't. It constitutes the material remains of human cultures and agency, distinct for example from natural heritage.
010
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Stunning day in the central Mournes ☀️
130
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Peak long run today in the sunny Mournes, now tapering to the Mourne Way Marathon in early June. What a day for it!
010
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Loving evening walks in our local woods these days
020
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Stretched after getting out of bed this morning and pulled something in my shoulder. Forties innit?
100
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Apple blossom and first plantings at the allotment. Potatoes are up and enjoying the sunshine. It's getting colder though, and that breeze! 🥶
020
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
kids in the woods listening to Gish on a Saturday night 🤷🏼‍♂️
000
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
What did the little flutter mouse do to you Ireland??
010
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Got the plants. Finished (for now 🙂)
A small Japanese-style tsukubai garden comprising a water basin, stone arrangement, cobbles, gravel and plants. In the background my miniature schnauzer Toby is assessing the situation with a sniff.The same tsukubai arrangement from a different angle. New bronze-coloured leaves on a Japanese maple tree frame the scene against a backdrop of black timber boards.
010
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I've always been influenced by Japanese garden design. Making a calm green serene place at home is an antidote to *gestures at everything* This is the final piece of a 3-year build of our new garden, a tsukubai area at the tool shed. As ever, I've only a few plants to add to finish.
000
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
theconversation.com/irelands-neo...
theconversation.com
Ireland’s neolithic passage tombs were not just the burial place of the elite – new research
New analysis challenges the idea that only elites were buried in passage tombs.
010
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 31/03/2025
𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗉’𝗌 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋, 𝖠𝗋𝗎𝖻𝖺, 𝖲𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗁 𝖠𝗆𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺. 𝟣𝟫𝟧𝟩 𝖻𝗒 𝖤𝗌𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖡𝗎𝖻𝗅𝖾𝗒
painter in a cradle suspended at the bow of a huge ship, the plimsol line is visible
416126
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
The native village of Secoton in what would become Virginia, featuring community banqueting and dancing. Viewed in 1588 by Thomas Hariot and published by Theodor de Bry, whose day is today.
2719
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Long easy Sunday run in the Antrim Hills passing my old friend the Ballygilbert standing stone, overlooking Ballygally and the Irish Sea. #StandingStoneSunday
a curiously shaped basalt standing stone, reminiscent of a mushroom or similar bulbous-ended stubby upright edifice, stands on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the Antrim Coast and the Irish Sea. It's overcast but dry and pleasant.
1163
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Council for British Archaeology @archaeologyuk.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Our Statement of Support for the Gardens Trust 📢 We support the Gardens Trust in urging the UK Government to reconsider its plans to remove the Trust’s role as a statutory consultee on planning applications, announced on 10th March. Read more here👉 www.archaeologyuk.org/resource/sup...
1258
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Some earnest cross-community work in my neck of the woods involves planting your potatoes on St Patrick's day, to be harvested on 12 July. TBH these will be covered in butter and garlic by June, but still the intention is there. Happy St Patrick's day etc ☘️
020
Reposted by Andrew Gault
(Dr) Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
As the onslaught of St Patrick's Day approaches, |I'm presenting a wee list of folks to follow who represent the *real* ireland in its diversity. Here we go, my 1st #FollowFriday on Bluesky! Guaranteed leprechaun free...LFG!
2238
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Tuatha @tuatha.ie · 12/03/2025
Aghnaglack Court Tomb • Fermanagh This remarkable megalithic tomb is hidden away in Ballintempo Wood, not far from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. It is a rare example of a dual court tomb, and it is likely to date to the earlier part of the Neolithic Period (c.4000–3500 BC). #Ireland #SpéirGhorm
An aerial plan view of Aghnaglack Court Tomb set in Balltintempo Wood. The megalithic tomb is made up of an arrangement of large stones set on edge. From directly above it looks a little like a pair of handcuffs, with the galleries forming the loops for the wrists.A view along Aghnaglack Court Tomb in Ballintempo Wood
1499
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Stone Club @stoneclub.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid is The South Zeal Menhir Standing Stone at The Oxenham Arms. Carved from Dartmoor granite by Neolithic people 5000 years ago
1149693
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
www.thejournal.ie/ancient-rema...
thejournal.ie
Ancient remains found in Co Derry bog ‘likely to belong to young woman’ who lived 2,000 years ago
The remains have been hailed as “one of the most important archaeological discoveries on the island of Ireland”.
010
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Make Chalchiuhtlicueyecatl Great Again
010
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Dr. Adelle Bricking 🌼 @archaedelle.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I hereby dedicate this Valentine’s Day on honour of all the Medieval girlypops who sealed their spicy love letters with this seal matrix that depicts a squirrel and the legend ‘I CRAKE NOTIS’ (I crack nuts) 🥜 More info: finds.org.uk/database/art... #FindsFriday #ValentinesDay
Die face of a small circular deal matrix with the shape of a squirrel with tail bent over its back engraved. Most of the legend is visible around the edges.A seal impression showing the squirrel and legend in more detail.Photoshopped image of the PAS record showing the die face and handle of the seal matrix on a white background with a photo scale.
07011
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
‘Winter Skein’ Other work of the Ladybird artists, (1983) Artist Ronald Lampitt
This illustration, which was originally painted for the cover of the magazine ‘readers digest’, is all in subtle shades of mauve and brown, suggesting sunrise as the geese fly over a wide, flat landscape dotted with winter trees
537540
Andrew Gault @andrewgault.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
One of our favourite things is a trip up the coast to Cushendun beach followed by a quick visit to Mary McBrides. January weekday quiet, place to ourselves.
030