iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It's #SundayHuxley 's 14th birthday tomorrow and a neighbour just bought round a card. The card....

A portrait of a golden retriever who is looking pretty good for his years. He's wearing a deer stalker hat, tweeds, and smoking a pipe. Behind him is a door with the number (and you probably know where this is going) with the number 221b on it. AI probably had something to do with this and I don't care.

Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Remember that time when I did the whole glass furnace thing @butserancientfarm.co.uk with our PhD student, Kim (and team)? Well they only went and made a film of it! 🤩 It's 20 mins, but worth every second. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yci4...

youtube.com

Can We Re-create Roman Window Glass? | 3 Day Experiment.

YouTube video by Butser Ancient Farm

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I've been photographing Roman glass today. It's kind of freaking me out that the tiny bubbles in this fragment contain ACTUAL ROMAN AIR. 🤯

A blue-ish subrounded piece of glass measuring around 3 centimetres across. It has "FB62/86/9" written on it in black ink. It is dotted with tiny air bubbles.

A close up of a roman glass fragment showing two air bubbles, which are indicated with blue arrows. You can also see some highly magnified bits of writing in black ink.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This is what the future looks like...

A sign, next to a road and on a grass verge. In black on a white background it says 24 hour cheese vending machine. An arrow point off to the right.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

At last, Huxley and the lawn have reached chromatic equilibrium. #SundayHuxley

A very old and loved golden retriever looking to the right against a background of a decidedly straw-coloured lawn.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Beginning to think we could have made more of that that two star Tripadvisor review, "Just a collection of old floors". www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/new...

independent.co.uk

Massachusetts museum goes viral for merchandise featuring bad Google review

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I've invented a new cocktail. I'm calling it the "Laurie Lee" 😐

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Reposted by Curator Rob

Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

In. The. Hypocaust 😲 #HypocaustGate

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Look! It's me talking about hypocausts to @experimentalkearns.bsky.social from @butserancientfarm.co.uk, while calling her "Mate" too much. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8e...

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

If you've ever visited Fishbourne Roman Palace, I bet you missed this mosaic in the southeast corner of room 9. 🧐 #MosaicMonday

An overhead photo of a roman mortar floor. cut into middle of the floor is a grave with a skeleton in it. to the left is an information board and in the bottom right, ringed with a drawn red circle, is an area where archaeologists have cut through the floor to expose lower levels

a detail of the other picture in this post. It's the bottom left corner of the floor, with the red circle removed. the levels beneath the mortar floor are exposed and you can see there is a rather scruffy roman moasic.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

We had houseguests this week and it turns out they're much better at taking photos than I am. 🥰🥰🥰 #SundayHuxley

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

For #MosaicMonday this week here's a mosaic of everyone you know coming home from the pub this morning. 🥴⚽

A Roman mosaic. An outer border with a yellow and black wave pattern is edged on the inside with a red and white zigzag pattern. The central image is a semi-naked man, worse the wear from drink, being helped on his way by a much shorter person.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

When Huxley lays in the drive, small pieces of gravel often get stuck to his big droopy lips. 😘🥰 #SundayHuxley

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

It's not dust. It's "History Glitter". 🌟🌟

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Paul @atticusfinch-105.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The ‘Shell Mosaic’ from Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex. Dating from the mid-third century AD, the mosaic depicts two scallop shells either side of the central panel. 📸Kevin Wilbraham #History #HistoryMatters

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I don't care what anybody says - having an archive of floor dust is *absolutely normal*. 😐

A stack of smart-looking lidded cardboard boxes (5 boxes high and 4 boxes wide). They are variously marked, in pencil, "dust, floor 19. Dust, floor 20 etcetera.

A pair of small plastic bags and a two small plastic boxes in the bottom of a box. They all contain dust and are labelled with mosaic numbers, dates and the weight of dust inside. I hate my job.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

For dinner tonight I shall mainly be enjoying the Strait of Hummus.

A bowl of hummus, viewed from above, the drizzle of olive oil so often found on such things bears the most fleeting resemblance to the Strait of Hormuz.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

On the opening day of Wimbledon it seems only right to dust off the famous "Tennis Mosaic" from Rudston Villa. #MosaicMonday

A roman mosaic in a naïve style, showing a round border containing a character in the lower left portion with a fish's tail instead of legs and the main figure is a seemingly unclothed woman. She appears to be tossing a ball in the air and behind her is what could equally be a hand mirror or a tennis racket.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Huxley is celebrating not *actually dying* in the heatwave by wearing his hollyhock hat. 😍🥰 #SundayHuxley

An unspeakably handsome golden retriever sitting on front of a striped deckchair looking handsome and handsomely wearing a pink hollyhock flower on his handsome head as if it were a hat.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

It's 30 degrees in my office. It's 22 degrees in our air conditioned conservation lab. Turns out I have a lot of conservation to do today. 😉

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

There's a stork. There's a snake. What's not to like? #MosaicMonday

A roman Mosaic. on a white background surrounded by a black border is a long-legged stork approaching a squiggly snake with one of its legs extended forward (the stork, not the snake).

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

For some reason the Getty Research Institute makes me think of R2-D2.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

What on earth was Margaret Rule painting on our Floral Mosaic??!?! 😱

A vintage image of a woman sitting on a red, black and white Roman mosaic with a pronounced twisted "guilloche" motif. She is holding in one hand a large square metal can, and in the other painting the mosaic with the contents of the can. I suspect this is not water...

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Sutton Mew 🐱⚔️ Pic: www.instagram.com/reel/CtRjZh5...

Someone's hands (close up) holding a highly decorated helmet made in they style of the famous Anglo-Saxon helmet from Sutton Hoo, but it has multiple feline features such as it's small size, cat-like nose and cat's ears. It's a modern item.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I bought these boots in 1993, but they were made in 1974. 🥰 I polished them this weekend. It took 6 hours. Starting to think the one on the left needs a little more work 🧐

A pair of dark brown army boots. Oh my God are the toes shiny. You can literally see your face in them. Oh, and top right there's a tennis ball.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Huxley's not been well this week, so we're sleeping downstairs with him. 😢♥️ #SundayHuxley

A photo of a front room. Light is shining through the closed curtains, but the photo is grainy as light levels are low. There is a chair and you can see the corner of a table, on the left. On the right is a sofa with an ancient golden retriever laying on it. In the centre of the room, cocooned in a sleeping bag and laying on a dog bed is a sleeping human.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Can confirm - curators are great. 👍

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

In this week's #Fishback, where I'm recycling old tweets from @romanpalace.bsky.social, I give you this classic from 2020.

Its a screen snip from a tweet. The image is that meme of a man looking awkward. The text reads "We would like to apologize. Thanks to autocorrect not knowing the word 'wellies', we just invited the people of sussex to 'pull on your willies'. We are deeply sorry".

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

This is officially the only Roman mosaic in existence that clearly shows a football. I will therefore be posting this image daily until the madness is over.

There's a lot going on in this black and white roman mosaic. figures are standing around at different orientations. There is a table in the centre with assorted mystery objects on and around it (sorry- I have no idea what they are so can't be more informative). Crucially, near, but slightly lower and to the right of, the centre is what can only be described as a football.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Look! 😮 One of our placement students did a pencil drawing (on the right - it's not a photo!) of the Palace's famous "Boy's Head" sculpture - purported to depict Nero as a child. (Photo on left) I really hate talented people.

A black and white photo of the head of a sculpture of a boy. The head has been broken and the area above his nose and his left eye is missing

It looks at first glance like a photo but it's really a pencil drawing of a Roman sculpture of a boys head, with the forehead and left eye broken off. There is a dark area on the right cheek, which is a concretion caused by the burial environment.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

It's International Archives Day! The popped up in our archives a few weeks ago. ...and it looks as though the controversy isn't a new one. 🙄

It's a typed letter from Barry Cunliffe. Forgive me for paraphrasing, but it's explaining to someone that the use of the word "Palace" when describing Fishbourne Roman Palace is justifiable on grounds of the size of the building. The tone is slightly world weary.

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Reposted by Curator Rob

Getty @gettymuseum.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

hi, happy #worldoceanday. 🌊

Close up on an ancient plate featuring a light pink octopus with bright eyes and a smile. The octopus has two arms waving above its head in a friendly manner.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Huxley has no interest in your drawer full of clean socks. He's perfectly happy with this stinky one he just stole out of the laundry. #SundayHuxley

A very handsome golden retriever laying at the top of a flight of stairs on his side. His face is all squishy and draped over his paws is a brown sock.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Immediate and unrestricted hypocaust-standing privileges awarded to all three of these. ✅

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

If @barnsleymuseums.bsky.social is to be believed, it's #NationalHugYourCatDay. This is all that remains of Fishbourne Roman Palace's only Roman cat. Think it's hugging days might be in the past. 😬

Against a textured black background are five tiny fragments of animal teeth. In case you were in any doubt as to their tininess, to the left is a pencil tip, which appears pretty big in comparison.

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Barnsley Museums @barnsleymuseums.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Today is National Hug Your Cat Day. No thank you very much... #NationalHugYourCatDay

Close-up of a fluffy gray wildcat-like animal with rounded ears and large amber eye

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I'm not sure that's a very good idea. 😱😱

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Because I can't be bothered to come up with original content, I'm recycling @romanpalace.bsky.social's old twitter posts and calling it #Fishback

It's a screen snip of a tweet. Someone has posted a pic of a stone carving of a woman on which the hair has been photoshopped to be blond. Above is a post from the Roman Palace comparing that image with one of Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous and the two are absolutely identical. Kinda.

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

For #MosaicMonday a mesmerising mosaic with a three dimensional cube pattern in a house on the #Greek island of #Delos, dating 2nd century BC. #Archaeology 📷me🏺

A mosaic floor with an optical illusion design of interlocking cubes in shades of red, white, and black, creating a 3D effect. The mosaic is bordered by a decorative spiral pattern and is set within the remains of a stone-walled structure surrounded by dry soil and sparse vegetation.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

My 1989 dig t-shirt from the Charles St excavation in Dorchester calls *Copyright* on this post. 🧐

A generously bearded man who has clearly been working out, wearing a white t shirt with the slogan "It's 1600 years since the romans left Dorchester. We've got 5 metres of archaeology; 6 weeks to dig it. It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!". The design is titled "The Antefix Brothers" and shows two roman antifixes wearing dark glasses and hats in the style of The Blues Brothers, from which the slogan is adapted.

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Curator Rob @curatorrob.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

As far as archaeological photography techniques are concerned, this is... erm... "different". 😬😂

You're not going to believe this. A chair is placed on a Roman mosaic. A man stands on the chair and leans forward for an overhead photo. He leans so far that another young man has to hold him up with a broom pressed into the photographer's chest. A young woman is holding on to the chair to stop the entire mess toppling over and ending in tears.

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