Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 11hHJM on Old Sarum for #HillfortsWednesday: "they chose a low, featureless hill perking up from the valley of the Avon, and breathed upon it, and lo, the turf sank and swelled and vast green billows of earth curled round their crests into oval cirques that even the brutal heel of war could not deface… 1226
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026For #TombTuesday here's the Roman gravestone of a 12-year-old boy named Septentrionis ('northerner'), presumably a slave, who had danced well for two days in the theatre at Antibes (biduo saltavit et placuit). The original is in the local museum and there's a reproduction on a wall in the town. 0152
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Reading HJ Massingham's 'Downland Man', 100 years old this month, and coming to see it's not really a narrative of British prehistory but an attempt to process the trauma of World War I — then realising that all prehistory from the 1920s to 40s in some way reflects the reality or threat of war… 1111
Reposted by Jonathan LastJonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Amazing 17th-century Flemish windows, depicting the story of Jacob, in the chapel of Abbot’s Hospital, Guildford. Whoever made them was clearly a dog person as they have scattered several little pups through the scenes 🐕 #StainedGlassSunday 031
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026What exactly is the need or problem that all these data centres, in Scotland or elsewhere, are designed to address? 010
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Amazing 17th-century Flemish windows, depicting the story of Jacob, in the chapel of Abbot’s Hospital, Guildford. Whoever made them was clearly a dog person as they have scattered several little pups through the scenes 🐕 #StainedGlassSunday 031
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Nash wrote that he "was not particularly interested in the archaeological significance of the discovery"; rather he was captivated by "dramatic elements" of the scene, the bones "like elegant clusters and sprays of blanched springs and branches… the gleaming skulls like clutches of monstrous eggs" 160
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026As reported #OTD in 1926, 100 years ago they were burning HG Wells' 'Outline of History' in Kentucky: "The outraged pastor told his flock that Mr. Wells' famous work contained even more propaganda for evolution than Professor Scopes had tried to foist upon the defenceless inhabitants of Tennessee" 021
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Totally agree on the achievement of getting these funds & the huge research opportunity at Flag Fen, but the flipside is that climate change, land use & lack of resources mean much of our wetland heritage simply can't be preserved in situ long term, so the govt's celebratory tone needs some nuance 253
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026"...for an encore [Man] goes on to prove that black is white, and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing" 030
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Knepp itself (see thread) shows this nicely. The Weald is often seen as largely impenetrable forest till medieval times but there were significant variations in tree cover throughout (pre)history & much continuity in routes & boundaries. Archaeology offers a range of scenarios to inform the future. 193
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Probably the least accurate depiction of a Palaeolithic 'Venus' figurine, in the Westminster Gazette 100 years ago this week; this is Willendorf II (not the famous one), made of mammoth ivory and unfinished (I suppose it does lack arms…). Also the actual figure from a 1934 article #FindsFriday 🦣 041
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Met Office says pollen count is low but after the latest rain I’m suddenly snuffling and sneezing like it’s June 100
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The hogback stone in Luss churchyard on the banks of Loch Lomond, decorated with an interlaced arcade on the side and scales or shingles on the 'roof' - a bonnie bonnie object for #TombTuesday. Described and illustrated by J Russell Walker in 1885. 0141
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026The second one looks like a late entry for #StandingStoneSunday, apparently a "humorous tale of English archaeologists in search of a megalithic monument in Ireland" - no stereotyping I'm sure 🙃 071
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026#OTD in 1926 H.V. Morton was 'In Search of England' in the Express, reporting from a pub in Brandon: "while I was taking stock of the argumentative little groups round the bar there trickled in from outside a curious insistent tapping, a queer, tinkly metallic sound for which I could find no name" 🧵 183
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Fascinating short programme on the discovery and reburial of 'Mungo Man'bbc.co.ukWitness History - The discovery of Mungo Man - BBC SoundsOn 26 February 1974, Dr Jim Bowler discovered a 42,000-year-old skeleton in Australia. 010
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Some archaeology (of sorts) near the start of HG Wells' 'World of William Clissold': a visit to 'Sir Rupert York', a thinly disguised version of Ray Lankester (see what he did), zoologist & advocate of rostro-carinates, "a peculiar sort of early stone implement with a beaked end", i.e. eoliths 040
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026The striking blues of Glasgow Cathedral's Millennium Window by John Kenneth Clark, with text and imagery from the Gospels #StainedGlassSunday 1234
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 05/09/2026That HG Wells (and/or his publisher) was a bit of a tease - I'm just embarking on The World of William Clissold, his 'experiment in autofiction' as you might say (see also Pedro Almodovar...), published in 3 volumes starting 100 years ago this month. Here's Vol 1 so let's open it and get going... 🧵 100
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 05/09/2026BREAKING: Farage announces all Beaker burials to be deported to the Netherlands under a Reform government 0213
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 05/09/2026There are two important claims here - that a 'land bridge' existed between Wales and Ireland during the Late Upper Palaeolithic, and that cave art of the period has been identified. Both are plausible but a press article like this doesn't make it certain, however confident the statements! 🧵 1135
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Under the guise of saving public money, Reform clearly plan to eliminate any scrutiny of what they and their wealthy mates get up to in the countryside, or elsewhere 020
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I've not seen the Bayeux tapestry but I was given this little volume, which is a minor miracle of printing in its own right. Shall we unfold and see if a 1/7 reproduction will fit in my rather small house? 0103
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026A masterpiece - not overlooked around here… bsky.app/profile/john... 010
Reposted by Jonathan LastJonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026The road to #TombTuesday... 141
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Well, the dog and I finally made it to Machrie Moor last week - what an amazing place! A striking contrast between the large stones that dominate the landscape and the modest circles that frame the surrounding hills. I gather there's plenty to sniff and smell too... #StandingStoneSunday 0272
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Understanding what happened in Cerny, with its shift away from the Danubian longhouse tradition, is also crucial background to the origins of the British Neolithic at the end of the millennium - so always good to be reminded that significant cultural change can happen without population turnover 130
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026A rather odd paper that gives the impression the writers don't really know the region or all the previous (pre-aDNA) work on this theme, and buries its most interesting result—the Sales Lot (female) burial that predates the 2450/2400 date usually given for the earliest Beaker phase in Britain… 240
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Just under a month before the deadline for grant applications to Historic England for aerial investigation and mapping projects to enhance HERs and address research agendas. Full details via the link (despite the photo I don't think there's a queue 😉)historicengland.org.ukHistoric England Grant Calls for Proposals | Historic EnglandThe projects we fund in response to specific calls for proposals that address priorities outlined in the Historic England Corporate Plan. 023
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026For #MosaicMonday here's the Dido and Aeneas mosaic from Low Ham in the Illustrated London News #OTD in 1946. In fact this wasn't the first time it had appeared, though when shown as work in progress in May the story wasn't quite straight, with D&A's embrace described as "two warriors fighting" 🤔 2196
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026The army in the firing line from archaeologists #OTD 100 years ago: the Wiltshire Arch Soc annual meeting passed a resolution calling for greater powers to protect monuments, especially on land occupied by the War Office, where there was "continued demolition of and damage to prehistoric earthworks" 132
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 12/08/2026A repost for #HillfortsWednesday, given John Ireland's connection to two well-known sites: Chanctonbury Ring (see thread) and Maiden Castle, which inspired his piece 'Mai-Dun'. In its evocation of a great battle it could be the soundtrack to Wheeler's excavations, though written 13 years previously.youtube.comIreland Mai Dun Symphonic RhapodyYouTube video by atsusiueno 0131
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026The paradox that when it comes to climate our governments have a short-term approach to the future, so they won't invest as required, but a long-term (politically speaking) view of the past, so they act as if we're still in the 20th century and this is just unusual weather, like 1976 020
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Binaural Ballardbbc.co.ukBetween Ballard's Ears - BBC SoundsEnter JG Ballard's innerspace with binaural dramatisations of his short fiction. 000
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026The project manager could have saved himself some grief by saying what actually happened, which is that the standard archaeological process was followed: evaluation revealed Bronze Age features so the cable was re-routed slightly to avoid them, as confirmed by a strip, map and record exercise 236668
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 09/08/2026West Sussex rarely features in #StandingStoneSunday but if you’re ever in Shipley churchyard (and who wouldn’t want to meet the local custodians) you may notice some slightly incongruous pieces of sarsen, marking the grave of the composer John Ireland, whose birthday is this week (b. 13 Aug 1879) 🧵 1181
Reposted by Jonathan LastJonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026An expanded repost for Jacquetta Hawkes' birthday #OTD, during the Festival of Britain's 75th anniversary. Despite some problematic themes, reflecting academic narratives of the time, the Festival offered a rare opportunity for archaeology, as Hawkes wrote in @antiquity.ac.uk before it opened… 🧵 133
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026An expanded repost for Jacquetta Hawkes' birthday #OTD, during the Festival of Britain's 75th anniversary. Despite some problematic themes, reflecting academic narratives of the time, the Festival offered a rare opportunity for archaeology, as Hawkes wrote in @antiquity.ac.uk before it opened… 🧵 133
Reposted by Jonathan LastJonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026It's the 185th birthday of W.H. Hudson, born #OTD in Argentina in 1841. Though best known as an ornithologist, his birds inhabit landscapes in which nature and history mingle. Here are a few extracts from Hudson's account of a visit to Glastonbury lake village in 'Adventures Among Birds' (1913) 🧵 1112
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026It's the 185th birthday of W.H. Hudson, born #OTD in Argentina in 1841. Though best known as an ornithologist, his birds inhabit landscapes in which nature and history mingle. Here are a few extracts from Hudson's account of a visit to Glastonbury lake village in 'Adventures Among Birds' (1913) 🧵 1112
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Estimating prehistoric populations is so tricky because you need robust estimates of not only how many sites there were but, more problematically, how many people lived at a site and how long each one lasted. In this case an estimate of 300 people to build an enclosure seems basically a guess… (1/2) 131
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Rapid climate change revealing the creatures that were done for the last time it happened... #FindsFriday 🦣 0123
Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 29/07/2026For #HillfortsWednesday here's Ivinghoe Beacon, as seen last Sunday: the approach from the south; the view south-westwards along the Chiltern Scarp; and hints of a rampart under the long grass. It's a meeting place of allegedly ancient routes... 1324
