Sign in

Jim Leary

@jimleary.bsky.social
4.1K followers 1.2K following 540 posts

Archaeologist & writer. Senior lecturer at Uni of York. Books: The Story of Silbury Hill; The Remembered Land; Footmarks, a journey into our restless past. Agent: JP Marshall.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It’s wonderful to see our research finally out. It shows that the amazing Devil’s Arrows in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire were transported 18km from Brimham Rocks (not Plumpton!) to the site. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspa/article/4…
Two tall tapering megaliths forming the Devil’s Arrows. A massive grey megalith with blue sky behind. One of the more squat megaliths with a sunburst behind it. A photo of two of the Devil’s Arrows.
724643
Reposted by Jim Leary
Open Research at York @uoyopenres.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Researchers @uoyarchaeology.bsky.social and Curtin University have shed new light on a series of prehistoric stones in Yorkshire, revealing the 25-tonne structures were hauled 11 miles across land by Neolithic builders 🪨 Open access paper in @royalsociety.org Proc. A doi.org/10.1098/rspa... 🔓 📄
york.ac.uk
Neolithic ‘Devil’s Arrow’ stones travelled 11 miles across Yorkshire, study reveals
Researchers have shed new light on a series of prehistoric stones in Yorkshire, revealing the 25-tonne structures were hauled 11 miles across land by Neolithic builders.
0124
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It’s wonderful to see our research finally out. It shows that the amazing Devil’s Arrows in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire were transported 18km from Brimham Rocks (not Plumpton!) to the site. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspa/article/4…
Two tall tapering megaliths forming the Devil’s Arrows. A massive grey megalith with blue sky behind. One of the more squat megaliths with a sunburst behind it. A photo of two of the Devil’s Arrows.
724643
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
For #StandingStoneSunday, I present the High and Low Bridestones on the exposed limestone pavement of Sleight's Moor, North York Moors, near the village of Grosmont. Neolithic or Bronze Age, they are a highly complex set of megalithic alignments and circles but poorly understood.
A leaning, grey megalith surrounded by purple heather.More squat, grey stones in a line alongside purple heather. Another image of the grey stones surrounded by moorland.
111723
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The stones in Utrecht are so wild that they have to be chained to the buildings. This unnamed stone (not the famous Devil’s Stone) was probably used to prevent carts from damaging the side of building. #StandingStoneSunday
A grey boulder lying on the side of a paved road, chained to the wall.
1476
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The stones in Utrecht are so wild that they have to be chained to the buildings. This unnamed stone (not the famous Devil’s Stone) was probably used to prevent carts from damaging the side of building. #StandingStoneSunday
A grey boulder lying on the side of a paved road, chained to the wall.
1476
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Someone’s excited! An Iron Age (c.600 BC) figure carved from oak and found in 1880 in Broddenbjerg bog near Viborg, Central Jutland. Now in the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. #WoodWednesday (literally)
A photo of a roughly hewn wooden figure, with a penis so large it looks look like a third leg being lifted up.
2479
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Someone’s excited! An Iron Age (c.600 BC) figure carved from oak and found in 1880 in Broddenbjerg bog near Viborg, Central Jutland. Now in the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. #WoodWednesday (literally)
A photo of a roughly hewn wooden figure, with a penis so large it looks look like a third leg being lifted up.
2479
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I paid my respects to the Bronze Age Egtved Girl in Denmark this week. Around 17 years old and 160 cm tall, she was buried one summer's day in 1370 BC. I went to the National Museum in Copenhagen, and there she was. Or wasn’t, since hardly any of her remains survived.
Photo of the Egtved girl burial. A hollows log with cowskin laid in it and then the burial laid out.
25314
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I paid my respects to the Bronze Age Egtved Girl in Denmark this week. Around 17 years old and 160 cm tall, she was buried one summer's day in 1370 BC. I went to the National Museum in Copenhagen, and there she was. Or wasn’t, since hardly any of her remains survived.
Photo of the Egtved girl burial. A hollows log with cowskin laid in it and then the burial laid out.
25314
Reposted by Jim Leary
Quantum Sauce @quantum-sauce.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
☀️A sunsenational night of solar science! Quantum Sauce meets @wxwakefield.bsky.social beneath #Helios, for chats about: - our sun’s life story🌌 - solstice religions🛘 - geothermal energy futures♨️ Massive thanks to Dr Felix Sainsbury-Martinez, @undertheground.bsky.social & @jimleary.bsky.social! 👏
242
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
We’re deep into Stonehenge silly season. A few comments from me here. www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
Did humans observe the solstice at this site centuries before Stonehenge?
Two wooden posts sunk into a hillside three miles east of Stonehenge may have been the earliest known solar alignment on that landscape, scientists say.
84914
Reposted by Jim Leary
Dr Tom Horne @hornesupremacy.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Chop, Chop! Axe-Marked Bronze Age Timber Found in Yorkshire 🪵🪓 Archaeologists excavating at Skipsea in Yorkshire have discovered a Bronze Age timber that has preserved the marks of the sockered axe used to fell the tree! Thanks, @jimleary.bsky.social! 📰 AWLOH: open.substack.com/pub/historyh...
Timber with Socketed Axe Marks
1437
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
For #FindsFriday, I'm gifting you this fantastic Bronze Age felled tree we’ve just excavated from #Skipsea in Holderness. The marks of the socketed bronze axe are clearly visible, and the thud of the axe is almost audible. Used - we think - as a post, perhaps for a trackway.
A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.
1421561
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
What is it about the Ridgeway that makes people ignore the dating of archaeologists and describe it as ‘Britain’s oldest road’? And the date of 5,000 years old is so strangely random. Every stretch of Roman road is older than the Ridgeway.
1273
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
What have we found at #Skipsea this week? Well, on the edge of a small pond fed by springs and streams, we found this Iron Age horse’s head and neck. There is no body with it, and I can’t help thinking of it lying there with its large eyes closed and mane gently washed by water.
A 3d scan of the horses skull.An overhead photo of the horses head and articulating neck.
0283
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
For #FindsFriday, I'm gifting you this fantastic Bronze Age felled tree we’ve just excavated from #Skipsea in Holderness. The marks of the socketed bronze axe are clearly visible, and the thud of the axe is almost audible. Used - we think - as a post, perhaps for a trackway.
A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.A photo of the end of a log showing hundreds of  small, curved facets.
1421561
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
What is it about the Ridgeway that makes people ignore the dating of archaeologists and describe it as ‘Britain’s oldest road’? And the date of 5,000 years old is so strangely random. Every stretch of Roman road is older than the Ridgeway.
1273
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
What have we found at #Skipsea this week? Well, on the edge of a small pond fed by springs and streams, we found this Iron Age horse’s head and neck. There is no body with it, and I can’t help thinking of it lying there with its large eyes closed and mane gently washed by water.
A 3d scan of the horses skull.An overhead photo of the horses head and articulating neck.
0283
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Well, this is a wonderful find from the ancient lake edge at #Skipsea - a 1.3m worked wooden pole. A digging stick, possibly Mesolithic, is our best on-site guess, but we’ll know more when it’s back at the labs and reviewed by our wood expert. #WoodenWednesday #Prehistory #Peat
A photo of a long stick lying on peaty mud. It has a W shape at one end and a point at the other.The worked end of the stick showing multiple facets.Archaeologists on hands and knees excavating the stick from peat.The W shaped end.
2587
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Well, this is a wonderful find from the ancient lake edge at #Skipsea - a 1.3m worked wooden pole. A digging stick, possibly Mesolithic, is our best on-site guess, but we’ll know more when it’s back at the labs and reviewed by our wood expert. #WoodenWednesday #Prehistory #Peat
A photo of a long stick lying on peaty mud. It has a W shape at one end and a point at the other.The worked end of the stick showing multiple facets.Archaeologists on hands and knees excavating the stick from peat.The W shaped end.
2587
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
For #FindsFriday, we have this wonderful piece of worked wood from our trench on the edge of the palaeolake at #Skipsea. Our student, Lydia, found it in an area that was once alder carr. At the moment, we don’t know its date, but it is likely prehistoric.
Two hands hold a waterlogged wooden stake with a worked end.A student holds a waterlogged wooden stake.Students on hands and knees excavating wood and peat.
1447
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
For #FindsFriday, we have this wonderful piece of worked wood from our trench on the edge of the palaeolake at #Skipsea. Our student, Lydia, found it in an area that was once alder carr. At the moment, we don’t know its date, but it is likely prehistoric.
Two hands hold a waterlogged wooden stake with a worked end.A student holds a waterlogged wooden stake.Students on hands and knees excavating wood and peat.
1447
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
For #FindsFriday I have the smallest of Small Finds for you - a titchy but beautiful Mesolithic shale bead. One of many that would have been strung on a necklace. Found out of context but not far from the edge of a lake at Skipsea in Holderness.
A small, perforated, teardrop shaped piece of pink shale.
328223
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
For #FindsFriday I have the smallest of Small Finds for you - a titchy but beautiful Mesolithic shale bead. One of many that would have been strung on a necklace. Found out of context but not far from the edge of a lake at Skipsea in Holderness.
A small, perforated, teardrop shaped piece of pink shale.
328223
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
I love digging prehistoric peat - the way the ground bounces with every movement, the soft, sucking nature of it, and the anticipation of what we’ll find in it. Skipsea, Holderness, preparing trenches for the student field school.
2244
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
I love digging prehistoric peat - the way the ground bounces with every movement, the soft, sucking nature of it, and the anticipation of what we’ll find in it. Skipsea, Holderness, preparing trenches for the student field school.
2244
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
It’s that time of year again when swallows arrive and skim the fields, and archaeologists flock to Skipsea in Holderness to open trenches.
A large orange mechanical digger digs soil@in the foreground, while an archaeologist in orange hi-vis shovels nearby. Skipsea castle mound in the background, visible through the arch of the diggger arm.
0302
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
It’s that time of year again when swallows arrive and skim the fields, and archaeologists flock to Skipsea in Holderness to open trenches.
A large orange mechanical digger digs soil@in the foreground, while an archaeologist in orange hi-vis shovels nearby. Skipsea castle mound in the background, visible through the arch of the diggger arm.
0302
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
The cart tracks of the North York Moors. Last year’s devastating fire on Fylingdales Moor has revealed archaeology in graphic detail. Medieval holloways and seventeenth and eighteenth-century cart tracks are visible for the first time and look as fresh as the day they were made.
Two parallel grooves run along burnt ground.A series of parallel grooves run along burnt ground.
213540
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
The cart tracks of the North York Moors. Last year’s devastating fire on Fylingdales Moor has revealed archaeology in graphic detail. Medieval holloways and seventeenth and eighteenth-century cart tracks are visible for the first time and look as fresh as the day they were made.
Two parallel grooves run along burnt ground.A series of parallel grooves run along burnt ground.
213540
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
I was back doing some fieldwork at one of my favourite Neolithic monuments yesterday. The neck-craning, almost 8m Rudston Monolith, a great, grey Yorkshire leviathan. The warden of the Wolds. No other standing stone in the UK beats it in sheer stature. #StandingStoneSunday
A photo of the Rudston Monolith with a church behind it and gravestones around it. Green grass and daffodils in the foreground.
313517
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
I was back doing some fieldwork at one of my favourite Neolithic monuments yesterday. The neck-craning, almost 8m Rudston Monolith, a great, grey Yorkshire leviathan. The warden of the Wolds. No other standing stone in the UK beats it in sheer stature. #StandingStoneSunday
A photo of the Rudston Monolith with a church behind it and gravestones around it. Green grass and daffodils in the foreground.
313517
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
The heart-quickening sight of an old friend. #SilburyHill - the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. A Neolithic monument I once spent a year inside. It is a mass of ancient matter, and quicksilver - substantial, heavy, brilliant, yet can’t be pinned down. #Neolithic
A photo of Silbury Hill taken from the lay-by, showing the green grass-covered mound surrounded by a water-filled ditch.
612915
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Get your popcorn 🍿 ready for tonight - 8pm BBC2, our excavations at #Skipsea in Holderness will be on #DiggingforBritain. @uoyarchaeology.bsky.social
A photo of York students excavating a Saxon building with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of York students excavating an early medieval timber hall with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of York students excavating a Saxon building with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of a Saxon building.
2376
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Get your popcorn 🍿 ready for tonight - 8pm BBC2, our excavations at #Skipsea in Holderness will be on #DiggingforBritain. @uoyarchaeology.bsky.social
A photo of York students excavating a Saxon building with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of York students excavating an early medieval timber hall with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of York students excavating a Saxon building with Skipsea castle in the background.A photo of a Saxon building.
2376
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The Ehenside Tarn axe, found in Cumbria in 1869, now in the British Museum. An early Neolithic stone axe from Langdale, with its original wooden handle still attached. The haft always reminds me of Captain Caveman’s club! #FindsFriday
Photo of wooden club-like handle with a greenstone axe inserted into a socket within it.
313924
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The Ehenside Tarn axe, found in Cumbria in 1869, now in the British Museum. An early Neolithic stone axe from Langdale, with its original wooden handle still attached. The haft always reminds me of Captain Caveman’s club! #FindsFriday
Photo of wooden club-like handle with a greenstone axe inserted into a socket within it.
313924
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Hello old friends! A trip to London isn’t complete without a visit to say hello to the Folkton Drums. These Neolithic carved chalk cylinders found in a child’s burial in Yorkshire. I love their surprised little faces. #FindsFriday
A photo of three cream coloured chalk cylinders with geometric patterns carved on them. They also have little eyes and monobrows.
527334
Reposted by Jim Leary
Royal Archaeological Institute @royalarchinst.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐚𝐭 𝟓 𝐩𝐦 Dr Jim Leary and Dr Elaine Jamieson will be presenting our next lecture on ‘Life on the lake: The prehistory and history of Skipsea, Holderness’. At Burlington House and on youtu.be/dTxePLmT25I
youtu.be
Life on the lake: The prehistory & history of Skipsea, Holderness Dr Jim Leary & Dr Elaine Jamieson
YouTube video by Royal Archaeological Institute
2158
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Today’s fire path. The sun a flame-throwing marmalade ball.
0211
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Well, I was startled and delighted to hear that the Chinese-language edition of my book #Footmarks has won an Openbook Best Book of the Year award at a ceremony in Taipei. I wish I could’ve been there - instead I recorded my acceptance 👇 www.openbook.org.tw/article/p-71...
openbook.org.tw
2025Openbook好書獎.年度翻譯書》足跡:考古學家眼中的故道、遠古人類與動物足印、史前車轍、朝聖路徑 | Openbook閱讀誌
▉評審推薦語 魏明毅(《受苦的倒影》、《靜寂工人》作者) 當考古學家將目光跨越到古蹟遺址外的足跡——行走、漫遊、土地、抵抗、自由、穿越、遷徙、顛覆、創造、發掘路線、連結、聚集;流動的複雜與豐富,串起百萬年前的過往與如今。從考古學家的眼,一處處散落的靜止定點,成了被接連起來的閃亮珍珠。輻射出來的神話佚事、物質演變、歷史事件,彷彿油然躍現的活生生、動感畫面。 閱讀是知識的來源之一,卻理應不僅止於此。《...
0163
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
For #FindsFriday I offer this gorgeous 15,000 year old engraving of a reindeer calf, nervously standing next to its mum. Found in the Madeleine rock shelter in the Dordogne, France. Part of the excellent Ice Age Art exhibition at the Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, Bradford. 🏺
A photo of a fragment of bone with the outline of a reindeer calf carved onto it.
321355
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
For #FindsFriday I offer this gorgeous 15,000 year old engraving of a reindeer calf, nervously standing next to its mum. Found in the Madeleine rock shelter in the Dordogne, France. Part of the excellent Ice Age Art exhibition at the Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, Bradford. 🏺
A photo of a fragment of bone with the outline of a reindeer calf carved onto it.
321355
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
I loved Galway, but this is so sad to see - lines of drying peat cut to fuel heaters and warm homes. This is an incalculable loss to the environment and to archaeology🏺. It's not big business doing this, but small householders keeping a tradition alive that should be long dead.
A photo of long, parallel lines of stacked drying lengths of peat on grass. The remnants of a raised bog in the background.A photo of long, parallel lines of stacked drying lengths of peat on grass. The remnants of a raised bog in the background.
3557
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
I loved Galway, but this is so sad to see - lines of drying peat cut to fuel heaters and warm homes. This is an incalculable loss to the environment and to archaeology🏺. It's not big business doing this, but small householders keeping a tradition alive that should be long dead.
A photo of long, parallel lines of stacked drying lengths of peat on grass. The remnants of a raised bog in the background.A photo of long, parallel lines of stacked drying lengths of peat on grass. The remnants of a raised bog in the background.
3557
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
For #StandingStoneSunday I offer the Stone of Destiny, Lia Fáil, a one-metre granite pillar on a raised platform on the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath, Ireland. According to legend, High Kings of Ireland were crowned at the stone, which cried out if it was the true king. 🏺
A photo of a pale pillar-like standing stone surrounded by a circular bricked area on grass in the foreground, with views out across the landscape in the background.
17110
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
For #StandingStoneSunday I offer the Stone of Destiny, Lia Fáil, a one-metre granite pillar on a raised platform on the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath, Ireland. According to legend, High Kings of Ireland were crowned at the stone, which cried out if it was the true king. 🏺
A photo of a pale pillar-like standing stone surrounded by a circular bricked area on grass in the foreground, with views out across the landscape in the background.
17110
Reposted by Jim Leary
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
I love Irish round towers! Like giant grey pencils or a child’s drawing of a rocket. They date to the medieval period and were probably used as belfries or places of refuge. This one is at Kilmacduagh monastery in Co. Galway. It’s over 30m tall and has a decidedly eccentric lean. 🏺
A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones.A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones. From a different angle. A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones. Further away.
3606
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
I love Irish round towers! Like giant grey pencils or a child’s drawing of a rocket. They date to the medieval period and were probably used as belfries or places of refuge. This one is at Kilmacduagh monastery in Co. Galway. It’s over 30m tall and has a decidedly eccentric lean. 🏺
A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones.A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones. From a different angle. A photo of a long thin grey rocket-like tower surrounded by gravestones. Further away.
3606