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Jon Taylor

@jonjtaylor.bsky.social
659 followers 259 following 57 posts

Cuneiformist. History of ancient western Asia. Likely to post on assyriology and museums. Hoping to be distracted by dogs, cows, running, zombies. Curator of cuneiform & cylinder seals at British Museum. Host of Thin End of the Wedge podcast. Views my own.

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Reposted by Jon Taylor
Gabe Moshenska @gabemoshenska.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Just published a paper on the complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir meme, the decade-old tumblr in-joke that continues to impact the public understanding of the ancient world. Paywalled but email me if you want a copy. 🏺
Title section of a journal article: The Legend of Ea-Nasir: How a Babylonian
Businessman Became an Internet Meme. By Gabriel Moshenska, UCL Institute of Archaeology, UK, g.moshenska@ucl.ac.uk 
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JCA/article/view/30204
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.30204
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
A restored victorian garden in Norwich, on a sunny day. A fountain in the background is framed by tree branchesA restored victorian garden in Norwich, on a sunny day. A fountain in the background, with a colourful red and yellow ornamental flower bed in the foreground
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Sapinuwa @sapinuwa.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Woohooo, that tablet is currently on display at the royal palace too!🥳🥳🥳
A clay tablette with a very bad photographed info chart.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
If you want to hear the latest news from one of Iraq's most iconic sites, and how excavations work, episode 77 is for you
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
A little Sunday timeline cleanse
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Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Babe, wake up. New relief of Ashurbanipal just dropped! 🧪🏺
livescience.com
'Quite enigmatic': Rare stone carving of Assyrian king surrounded by gods discovered in Iraq
A massive stone carving featuring an Assyrian ruler and several deities has been found in Iraq.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
it was great to chat with @moudhy.bsky.social about her work. Worth a listen if you'd like to hear about how the stories you enjoy reading come to be made.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
this exhibition received more than 100,000 visitors, and both the English and Hungarian versions of the catalogue sold out. Very impressive.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
enjoyed talking about The Book, Moudhy's work here, and more. You won't have to wait long. The episode will be out later this month. In the meantime, there are a few other things to keep you entertained, like this on cuneiform www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
You're Dead to Me - Cuneiform: the world’s first writing system - BBC Sounds
Join Greg and his guests to learn all about the history of cuneiform.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Thin End of the Wedge episode 74 is out: Michael Danti and John MacGinnis talk about Nimrud: post-conflict archaeology in the heartland of Assyria. www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/ The Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program--conservation and reconstruction work, excavation, and capacity building.
View of northwest Palace from the north. A series of low mounds with outcrops of rough vegetation. In the background stand damaged reconstructed remainsWork in progress the Upper Chambers. Shallow excavations in the mound reveal rooms and mud brick floors. Newly discovered sanctuary chambers. The remaining walls stand as high as a person
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Donna Yates @profdonnayates.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Iraq returns 27,000 antiquities to national museum: Official www.rudaw.net/english/midd...
rudaw.net
Iraq returns 27,000 antiquities to national museum: Official
Iraq’s General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage announced on Tuesday the recovery of 27,000 looted relics from within Iraq and abroad, confirming their return to the National Museum of Iraq.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
"Mr Woolley disapproved of the existence of women at all but in a few resigned phrases pointed out their superiority to men. Such beings must not, he said, be degraded by politics. Women had no sense of honour nor any appreciation of secrecy. But their capability was not the question so much as..."
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Gabe Moshenska @gabemoshenska.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Happy 10th birthday to the Ea-Nasir complaint tablet meme! A glorious decade of memes, mashups, merchandise, erotic fanfic, real-life copper fraud, and pilgrimages to the British Museum. Thread 🧵:
hand holding a sticker reading "well behaved copper ingot merchants rarely make history".
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Thin End of the Wedge 73 is out: Zoltán Niederreiter & Erika Roboz: Kingdom of Gods and Demons www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/ First major exhibition of Mesopotamian heritage in Hungary. And a big catalogue in both English and Hungarian versions. I'll do a little virtual tour over the coming days
photo of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, host of the new exhibitionnight time photo of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, host of the new exhibition. Blue light illuminates the neo-classical facade
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Andrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · 25/01/2025
Two snapshots into the history of the mouse-catching food industry. While not certain, these mice were likely the short-tailed bandicoot rat (Nesokia bunnii).
Taxidermy of the specimen, located in the Urmia University Natural History Museum.
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
if you have on your mind crime, punishment, and big houses, and you'd like a healthy outlet, why not listen to Thin End of the Wedge: www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/ episode 56. Nicholas Reid: The Big House episode 35. Małgorzata Sandowicz: Law and order in Babylonia
wedgepod.org
Episode list - Thin End of the Wedge
COMING SOON! Zoltán Niederreiter and Erika Roboz: Kingdom of Gods and Demons. Mesopotamia 1000-500 BCE Tina Greenfield — bioarchaeology The Lagash Archaeological Project — fieldwork at Lagash Jeff All...
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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Finds at Kurd Qaburstan, Iraq by @tiffanyspadoni.bsky.social: "Animal bones found...suggest that residents enjoyed a varied diet, including domesticated meat and wild game. This level of dietary diversity is unexpected for non-elite populations in Mesopotamian cities...." www.ucf.edu/news/ancient...
ucf.edu
Ancient Artifacts Unearthed in Iraq Shed Light on Hidden History of Mesopotamia
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, an associate professor of history at UCF, and a team of researchers made the new discoveries during field work at the Bronze Age site of Kurd Qaburstan. The research provides i...
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
this weekend I found a very effective distraction from the news--bardcore. Old English versions of well-known songs www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcKq... watch out for this one (Rīċa Ēastlēah) www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErg...
youtube.com
Pumped up kicks 1066 A.D Cover in Old English (Anglo Saxon tongue) Bardcore/Medieval style
YouTube video by the_miracle_aligner
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Christopher W. Jones @cwjones.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
In other great news, the journal KASKAL has re-launched as an online open-access publication! (with a new numbering series for the volumes). edizionicafoscari.it//it/edizioni...
edizionicafoscari.it
Edizioni Ca' Foscari
Edizioni Ca' Foscari - Venice University Press
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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
"When the data were visualized as grayscale images, ghostly outlines emerged of structures as deep as 6 to 10 feet below ground. The data revealed the location of the city’s water gate, possible palace gardens, and five enormous buildings, including a 127-room villa ..." news.agu.org/press-releas...
news.agu.org
Abandoned Assyrian capital brought to life in new magnetic survey
The first geophysical survey of an important Middle Eastern archaeological site overturns long-held assumptions about its history
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rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
We might feel love in our fingertips ---- but did the Ancient Mesopotamians? | ScienceDaily www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
sciencedaily.com
We might feel love in our fingertips ---- but did the Ancient Mesopotamians?
A multidisciplinary team of researchers studied a large body of texts to find out how people in the ancient Mesopotamian region (within modern day Iraq) experienced emotions in their bodies thousands ...
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Andrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · 05/12/2024
I saw someone on Reddit ask if Ur had street names. Yes, Ur had street names and it wasn't the only city to have them. Having street names was essential for economic and legal documentation, ritual instruction, and civic recognition.
Reddit thread discussing the use of 'fabricated' in a post about Ea-nasir living on "Old Street" at Ur. The conversation lands with the use of fabrication being used so as to not conflate ancient street names with modern names given by archaeologists. One redditor responds, "They have street names in Ur?"
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Thin End of the Wedge 71 is live: www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/ Hear from three prize-winning early career assyriologists: William McGrath on a pivotal period in Babylonian history; Alessia Pilloni on Babylonian horoscopes; @cwjones.bsky.social on life (and death!) at the Neo-Assyrian court
wedgepod.org
Episode list - Thin End of the Wedge
COMING SOON! Christopher Jones — Neo-Assyrian court life through letters Zoltán Niederreiter and Erika Roboz: Kingdom of Gods and Demons. Mesopotamia 1000-500 BCE Tina Greenfield — bioarchaeology The ...
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Jay Crisostomo @cjcrisostomo.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
We have an opening for a Lecturer in Akkadian and/or Sumerian for next term. #Assyriology #AncientBluesky careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
careers.umich.edu
Lecturer - Sumerian and Akkadian (Winter 2025) | U-M Careers
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Christopher W. Jones @cwjones.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
New followers, I think I'm finally going to do it: Write a long-promised series of threads on my experience with the academic job market and advice to job seekers. Here's what I learned in three years on the job market: 🧵 PART 1: THE BASICS
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Jon Taylor @jonjtaylor.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Hi Bluesky, I'm new here. I trained in ancient history and archaeology, specialising in languages of the ancient Middle East. My day job is curator in a big museum, with responsibility for the clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing. My posts will focus largely on that.
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