iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 2h

AIA 2027 preliminary program is out and I'm very excited to be on a panel alongside my advisor @robin-f.bsky.social and colleague @avnergoldstein.bsky.social (and several other great speakers) talking about post-Roman Forth transitions!

A screenshot of the online preliminary program for the 2027 AIA conference (https://www.archaeological.org/programs/professionals/annual-meeting/2027-preliminary-academic-program/) showing a variety of papers under the heading "End(s) of the Roman Empire? Lifeways and Legacies of Roman Imperium on the Roman Frontiers"

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Today in "dissertation footnotes I hope no one encourages me to remove":

A footnote which reads: "Paraphrasing the old joke about American National Parks and Civil War battles, we could ask why so many early medieval people chose to bury their dead on golf courses."

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Love to learn the library purchases I requested have come in and are available... looking forward to getting stuck in! Libraries rock.

Two books on medieval Scotland on a desk: "'A Rocky Place': The Complex Hillforts of Early Medieval Scotland" by Zachary Hinkley and "Royalty and Ritual: The Landscape of Power in Early Medieval Scotland and Europe" edited by Alexandra Sanmark, Mark Hall, Jane Geddes and Oisín Plumb

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Obligatory first day of classes (for me) selfie

A selfie of a bearded man in a red shirt seated in front of a bookshelf and multiple posters

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Sunday's for a bit of cleaning, a bit of writing, and a couple hours spent in the kitchen on a massive pot of gumbo.

A big blue bowl filled with Cajun gumbo with parsley, rice, sausage, chicken and shrimp all visible.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Took advantage of a pretty Sunday morning to do the first leg of the Boston Walking City Trail, which winds from. the Neponset and Mattapan up through Hyde Park into Roslindale. Really nice mix of parks and neighborhoods, nice weather and a burrito at the end. Ideal.

An orange car of the old Mattapan Trolley line sits at a concrete platform.

The Neponset River reflects the sky and the trees along the banks.

A paved path stretches through a pine forest with the sky poking through overhead.

A red dragonfly perches on a leaf in the foreground.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Sky's putting on a show above BC and the reservoir ahead of a little rain!

A low sunset reflecting on a wavy large pond, with a bush in the foreground near right and the edge of a stone building to the left. In the distance across the water a university campus can be seen.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It's a quiet August Tuesday and I need a break from grading so let's do this! One like, one answer. (Borrowed from @abbaetha.bsky.social )

A screenshot of a list of twenty questions about books and reading:
1. book you’ve reread the most times?
2. top 5 books of all time?
3. what is your favourite genre?
4. what sections of a bookstore do you browse?
5. where do you buy books?
6. what books have you read in the last month?
7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?
8. what is the first book you remember reading yourself?
9. when do you tend to read most?
10. do you have a guilty fav?
11. what non-fiction books do you like if any?
12. did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings?
13. do you have a goodreads?
14. do you ever mark/dog ear books you own?
15. recommend and review a book.
16. how many books have you read this year?
17. top 5 children’s books?
18. do you like historical books? which time period?
19. most disliked popular books?
20. what are things you look for in a book?

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Literature on transhumance is best consumed alongside good beer

A printed paper article with a pen in the foreground atop a table with a book on top of them. A mostly empty beer glass sits behind them in a sunny beer garden.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Somewhat impromptu trip to Dunkeld and Birnam today - so impromptu that I didn't do my proper homework and climbed to the top of Birnam Hill/King's Seat only to find out that the early medieval fort is on the other King's Seat, just the other side of Dunkeld. Ah well, the view was great.

A view of hills in the distance with trees in the foreground and sky above

A large stone cathedral, partially ruined, with a tree in the right foreground and a large tower.

A waterfall with many rocks above and green trees all around it

An old bridge over the river Tay with green banks in the foreground.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

The area near Carpow, Abernethy and Clatchard Craig was my wandering ground yesterday, which was wildly helpful

A view of the Tay in Newburgh at low tide with green grass in the foreground.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Rapid (and definitely missing a lot of stuff) but it's very easy to see the landscape context of a lot of early medieval stones/religious sites/hillforts from up here in a way you just can't do on a map!

A view of the river Tay in the middle with hills and fields on both sides. A variety of labels indicate the position of early medieval sites, reading, from left to right: St Madoes, Inchyra, Clatchard Craig, Mugdrum, Carpow, Abernethy, East Lomond

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Getting up this morning to get up Kinnoul Hill was a good idea. Lot of early medieval stuff captured in this photo.

A view of the River Tay with green and yellow fields on both sides and hills in the background.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Rewarding myself after a few hours in the HES archives with... more stones

A display of carved stones, several with crosses, in a museum

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Stirling looking a bit menacing on the ascent but what a view of the Forth valley

A wide plain with trees in the foreground and mountains fading into rain and clouds in the background

A street crossing looking up into buildings with a very dark grey raincloud overhead.

A church at the top of a street with buildings on both sides and grey clouds above

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

what I say: "hell yeah man, I love the Stones!" what I mean:

A slab of sandstone with carvings of two riders with spears and shields within bordered squares.

A carved stone with a fish-like creature within a border.

An irregular carved piece of sandstone with a crescent atop and a Pictish beast below

A carved sandstone with a crescent and v rod above and a Pictish beast below

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Capping off my time in Aberdeen by making Nan Shepherd proud and hiking in the Cairngorms. True to form, it was sunny when I went up and hailing when I came down.

A rough stone path amidst rust colored brush looking down to a green valley with a town in it and clouds beyond.

Five low stone cairns on a rocky surface with hills just barely visible out of mist and clouds behind.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Finished grading and rewarded myself with a train down to Stonehaven and some dramatic cliff walks round Pictish sites

A wide view of a bay with a harbor and blue cloudy sky overhead, with cliffs around, at Stonehaven.

A rocky cliff headland into the sea with a trail in the front right.

A ruined castle atop a dramatic cliff with the sea all around.

A metalwork viking ship with a harbor in the background.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Up to all my usual tricks (though there were, in the end, no seals to be had)

A stone with Pictish carvings and ogham, cemented together, sits in some gravel with buildings behind.

A tall stone with Pictish carvings stands in a green pasture with forest behind and sky overhead.

Several standing stones in a green field with green and yellow fields in the distance and sky overhead.

A green sign among yellow flowers that reads "SEALS ahead" along with other warnings

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Crossing over the Tay by rail, obligatory to repost McGonagall's truly abysmal poem about the 1879 disaster www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45828/...

A view of the Tay Firth with clouds above.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Oh, mighty Forth, I have missed you dearly

The grey Firth of Forth with two bridges spanning it and a quay with buildings on the right.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Supremely jetlagged but officially on the right side of the Atlantic.

A view of the River Liffey with grey skies overhead and a line of buildings alongside.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Time to finish this chapter and get it into my advisor's inbox before I leave!

A two-panel meme using the format from ICarly. The top panel has two girls, with the lead one (labeled "my advisor") asking "Um...whatcha got there?". The second panel shows a man (labeled "me") holding a smoothie in the foreground with the text "thirty pages of solid work" over it. In the background he is holding an ostrich labelled "the worst footnotes you've ever seen". He is saying "A smoothie."

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Channeling this classic XKCD comic (with apologies to Randall Munroe for my edits here) as I review my chapter comments that read "include a map, no one but you knows where these sites are"

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Opening Day and it's a beautiful one

A baseball park partially shaded with a blue sky with clouds above. A sign with the field name, Fluor Field, is to the right.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

A good office bookshelf should communicate a lot about the owner, and I like to think mine does it well.

A full bookshelf with several items and books on display including a drinking horn and a box of tea. Maps and photos in the right background.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Saturday solo hiking, leaving the grading aside (at least for a few hours) to go scrabble around on some rocks.

A waterfall framed by trees with a large mossy boulder in the foreground and a cloudy blue sky above.

A wide view of buildings below a rocky hill with a cloudy blue sky above.

A reservoir reflecting the sky with a treeline in the distance and rocks close.

Me, sitting on a rocky outcrop with blue sky and clouds behind.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Finally submitted an article I had been hemming and hawwing about today, and was rewarded when I got home by a package containing the new Carved in Stone book! It is every bit as gorgeous as the PDF, and after a day of editing about coastal early medieval creatures, it is a welcome sight.

The front cover of the book Carved in Stone atop a desk.

An opened page from the book showing a sea stack and the title "Coastline"

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

The book haul in question - a representative sample of interest including two research books I use and did not expect to find

A stack of four book spines on a table: Parker's The Common Stream, Haldane's The Drove Roads of Scotland, Fudge's Quick Cattle and Dying Wishes, and the edited volume Appalachian Reckoning

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

step 1: go to a rural VT cabin with a wood stove step 2: buy a lot of books at local used bookstores step 3: profit

A view of a snowy wood with a line of prayer flags at the top of the frame.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

RIP unnamed medieval people buried at Lundin Links, you would have loved quick oats

A steaming bowl of oatmeal perched atop a book in the sun.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Keeping quite comfortably at the edge of both the archaeologists and classicists, as befits a medieval historian!

A distribution map of Bluesky users grouping together by similar subject and post material. A pink circle marks out my username, @mearcsteppende, at the edge of Classical Study Scholars and within range of Academic Archaeologists.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Had a great time today talking about my (incredibly wildly messy) working research map in QGIS at our department Digital Humanities showcase. 2,000+ sites, 26 layers, and a lot of time spent data cleaning, but a personal resource I return to again and again!

A screenshot of a crowded QGIS map with many different overlapping symbols and points, clustered around the Firth of Forth.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Nearby was the grave of Kelly Bennett, a contemporary and similar advocate for the park, whose story I had never heard, but am now glad I know.

Another natural boulder with a stone inscription to Kelly Bennett.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Another visit from yesterday - the grave of Horace Kephart, author of Our Southern Highlanders and instrumental part of the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, resting on a hill surrounded by the mountains he lived in and protected.

A large boulder with a metal plate atop it serving as the grave of Horace Kephart, with a sunlit inscription.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

The half-paved road and blasted banks above it give way to a smaller path with a mountain laurel canopy which winds with the twists, turns and hollers of the ridge. A beautiful and yet somber hike. (3/3)

A sun-dappled trail with trees and green mountain laurel around it.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

The unfinished tunnel at the beginning of the trail acts like a portal, separating the beautiful few miles of finished parkway from a small stretch of rough pavement and broken guardrails. The dark and cold passage between the hopeful promise and its broken reality. (2/3)

A partially paved road with a worn wooden guardrail surrounded by trees.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Took a hike on the "Road to Nowhere" in the Smokies today, an unfinished road which was supposed to supply access to areas cut off by the flooding of Fontana Lake, which submerged several smaller Appalachian towns. It was never finished, leaving the promise unfulfilled. (1/3)

A dark stone tunnel built into the mountain with a faint light on the far end.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

A cold stream in the Smokies slowly melting and rushing down into Deep Creek.

A small stream trickles down mossy rocks under rhododendron.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

If anything can solve writer's block, it has to be an early morning sky in the mountains.

A blue sky with clouds among the trees and mountains with a snow covered railing in the foreground.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

I hope everyone is spending this holiday season comfortable and happy, with the people you most want to be with. Beginning in on some newly acquired Christmas reading in a warm sweater, myself.

A copy of the book Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor in front of a Christmas tree lit with multicolor lights.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

So grading ends, and holiday editing begins...

A variety of medieval history and archaeology books tightly stacked on a bookshelf

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Alright which one of you dumped a bunch of good stuff at your local used bookstore

A lap of used books including Before France and Germany, From Memory to Written Record, and Communities of Violence.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Saying goodbye to the beautiful venue of #Haskins2025 after two and a half days of brilliant papers and even better conversations over coffee and drinks. Eagerly looking forward to the next one.

A view of the University of Miami campus with lush tropical greenery and paths.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

A reminder that if you live in a place with elections today, no matter how local, you should get out and vote!

A selfie of a man (me) with a blue sweater and "I Voted" sticker smiling in front of an autumnal New England sky

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Our seals are a great reminder that big societal shifts changed life all the way down, and that in turn, they transformed the ways people lived their very ordinary coastal lives. Also, they remind us that we have some great non-text sources for studying a poorly-understood place and time! (11/11)

A concrete barrier marking the causeway to the tidal island at Cramond in the Firth of Forth, with grey water around it, and the land of Fife visible in the distance along with the island itself.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

It's Friday afternoon and I have a little time between meetings, so let's do a little mini-thread on early medieval seals in the Firth of Forth and why I think it's useful to us to study them. Join me as I bounce through a tiny bit of my dissertation! (1/11)

A rocky island (the Isle of May) sits in the middle of the water on the Firth of Forth with several small white seabirds, a cloudy sky above and a white foghorn building in the middle back.

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