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Reposted by John Ó Néill

Dr. Ellen Green @ritualpurposes.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Calling all UK archaeologists! I am conducting some reasearch on Stratigraphic literacy in the industry. If you work/have worked in archaeology in the UK I would really apprechiate if would fill in this survey! forms.gle/5jZKpcf78gZt...

forms.gle

Stratigraphic Literacy in UK Archaeology -

This survey, along with a previous one circulated in September 2025 will form the basis for a study of stratigraphic literacy in UK Archaeology, to hopefully be published in an academic journal such a...

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Looks like no light at the end of the tunnel at #Newgrange....!

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Crowd building at #Newgrange and the sky is clear.

Newgrange megalithic tomb with a crowd in front.

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Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh OMN | School of Celtic Studies MU @ceilteachomn.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

It is with a heavy heart that we convey the sad news of the death of our good friend and colleague, Dr Eoin Grogan. May he rest in peace. Is oth linn go mór a rá go ndeachaigh ár seanchara agus iar-chomhghleacaí, Dr Eoin Grogan, ar shlí na fírinne. Suaimhneas síoraí go raibh aige. buff.ly/nuMCaIc

Dr Eoin Grogan with students on an Irish Cultural Heritage field trip

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Someone appears to have moved a couple of stones on an overgrown mound just behind McArts Fort on Cavehill (above Belfast) exposing a couple of possible cup-marked stones. #rockart #megalith #archaeology

Rock with my foot for score. Two visible circular depressions, possibly cup marks.

Another boulder from a group that may be remnants of a destroyed megalithic chamber. Two circular depressions, possibly cup marks, are visible. Moss growing inside one.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

This is a lesser known find from #Newgrange (since it’s the #Solstice) - a gold Roman bracelet terminal inscribed with SCBONS:MB, one of the 4th century AD votive offerings at the site. The MB is 'manibus', 'to the spirits' while 'SCBONS' could be an abbreviated name.

Black and white photo of a bracelet terminal with letters SCBONS:MB written in dots on the bracelet. Object was found at Newgrange.

Black and white photo of the bracelet terminal. It expands towards the end in a thick cone. It also has visible cut mark where it has been removed from the rest of the object. Often been described as the terminal of a Middle Bronze Age torc, the form is not similar as the twisted body of the torc usually begins immediately after the bend at the terminal. In this example the surviving body is untwisted. There are also much better Roman parallels elsewhere see. http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/download/9783/9750/

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Despite - or probably because of - the long history of research and attention, Stonehenge is now just a kitsch divination pool. Gaze into it and say out loud what you see. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

theguardian.com

Stonehenge may have been erected to unite early British farming communities, research finds

The altar stone, which we now know is from Scotland, may have been a gift or marker of political alliance

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Prof Siobhan O’Neill @profsiobhanon.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Thinking tonight about all those people who, for whatever reason, are absolutely dreading Christmas. It can be a really sad & triggering time for so many. Take it a day at a time. You’re not alone x

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 07/12/2024

About 20 years ago archaeologists found what appeared to be evidence of Bronze age (steam) bathing in the Netherlands. The analysis of what was found was finished last year and you can read the paper here: www.academia.edu/112022865/A_... A thread.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Early Bronze Age lunulae. These three are so similar they have been repeatedly mistaken for each other. The top one is a roller press image of a lunula owned by Richard Pococke, current whereabouts unknown. Likely provenance is in 'Ossory' (Laois/Kilkenny) where he was bishop 1756-65. The second...

Three lunulae - early Bronze Age ornaments, made from hammered gold, in the shape of a crescent moon. Each is similarly decorated but with minor variations in the number of motifs.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

This is a lecture I gave to the Ulster Archaeology Society earlier this year looking at undocumented burials around Belfast: such as coffins in estuarine mud, a cemetery below a cross roads, a lost plot for executed prisoners. And Samuel L Jackson... m.youtube.com/watch?v=MbFa...

m.youtube.com

The Valley of Dry Bones: Belfast's forgotten burial grounds

YouTube video by The Ulster Archaeological Society

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

To continue my current fad for the archaeology of (Belfast) dystopias. This is Belfast Lough around 1900. The West and East Twin Islands were created by dredging to make it safer for shipping to navigate the channel into Belfast port. Not dystopian, obviously. An Intercepting Hospital was added...

Belfast Lough map, about 1900, showing two long artificial islands either side of a shipping lane. One contains an Intercepting Hospital for contagious diseases, and a 'bathing place'.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

A bit of dystopian heritage for all the X fugitives. Meet HMS Gibraltar. A first-rate 101-gun ship of the line. From 1872-99 it lay in Belfast Lough as a 'training ship'. It was a reformatory for boys 10-14 (some younger), with the presence to 'training' exposed by the lack of a sea-going tender...

Line drawing of a tall sailing ship, The Gibraltar, sitting in Belfast Lough with shore in the background, originally published in the Illustrated London News, 8 February, 1873

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The Black Trowel Collective @blacktrowel.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Don't Panic! How to fight fascism as an archaeologist. Hey, archaeologists! As archaeologists, we tend to be the doing sort, the busybodies shoveling and sorting, keeping and caring, custodians of time, places, people, it's time to lean into that! blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2024/11/13/d...

blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com

Don’t Panic! How to Fight Fascism as an Archaeologist

Hey, archaeologists! As archaeologists, we tend to be the doing sort, the busybodies shovelling and sorting, keeping and caring, custodians of time, places, people. It’s time to lean into that, to …

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 08/08/2024

Slightly different shapes, but two intact Bowl Food Vessels (the less obviously bowl-shaped one just about falls within the definition). Dates 2150-1950 cal BC. From a site in County Meath. #archaeology

Bowl Food Vessel, intact Early Bronze Age pot.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 10/05/2024

Northern lights, Wexford, Ireland

Northern lights behind tree and a thatched cottage.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 29/02/2024

We're asking EAA members and other #archaeology and #heritage professionals to support a call for EAA to make a statement on the ongoing crisis in #Gaza. You can sign at the link below. chng.it/9NFJVd6dFx

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 29/02/2024

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Internet Archaeology @intarcheditor.bsky.social · 13/02/2024

New in IA65: Big Data and Lots of Data are Not the Same Things: Small data sources in the social science of archaeologists by Kenneth Aitchison doi.org/10.11141/ia....

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 11/02/2024

This is an 1815 watercolour of a (now destroyed) #neolithic tomb (in Ireland). Unusual pottery vessel found in second chamber shown in the foreground, clearly not Neolithic (and presumably intrusive and much later). Is it #Etruscan #Greek #IronAge or something else? #archaeology

Line drawing in an antiquarian style, showing a now destroyed megalithic tomb in Ireland. Foreground includes a ground plan of the tomb as if it was painted on a stone, plus an unusual profiled ceramic vessel with a pedestal and sharp recurved shoulder.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 30/01/2024

Anyone interested in history and archaeology of Belfast can check out my talk to Ulster Archaeology Society last night on YouTube, here: www.youtube.com/live/MbFashL...

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 02/12/2023

Interested in any obvious parallels to this brick-built fort or block-house. Recorded in the 19th century, it purports to date to 1640 (reputedly built by Catholic Confederate forces). There is recorded expenditure of £2 10s from 1640 at the Milewater Bridge where it was located... #archaeology

Line drawing of a brick-built fort, with narrow vertical gun loops and domed roof.

Ground plan of circular fort, around 4 metres in diameter, externally, 2.1 meters internally, door to the east, with seven equidistant gun loops.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 18/11/2023

This is Henry Goulburn, former Chief Secretary in Ireland, absentee slave and plantation owner, opponent of Catholic Emancipation, MP for Armagh and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Wellington and Peel. And sometime correspondent (as 'Hibernicus') on Irish antiquities and history. Goulburn...

Black and white portrait of Henry Gouldburn

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Goulburn#/media/File%3AHenryGoulburn.jpg

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 18/11/2023

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

A bit more explanation of the Tandragee Idol. Have a look at the right hand - this is generally presented as the figure holding a severed arm, or similar. But if you look closely it is an object being held. Which is clearer when seen from the side.

Stone figure with right hand on left arm.

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

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John Ó Néill @jjconeill.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

Some carved stones from Ireland, all reputedly from county Armagh. The one on the left has been in public eye since 1920s and generally known as the Tandragee Idol. The others are from Cloghfin and Lurgan (none may be the actual provenance). Each only really makes sense when seen with the others.

Three carved stone figures from Ireland. Photograph from Archaeology Ireland magazine.

The 'Tandragee Idol', a carved stone figure from Ireland, among other stonework, in a newsprint photo from Belfast Telegraph, 14 Sept 1922.

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