Sign in

Mike Pitts

@pittsmike.bsky.social
1K followers 290 following 4.5K posts

Award-winning writer/broadcaster Editor British Archaeology magazine 2003–23 Editor Society of Antiquaries of London e-newsletter 2015–20 President Sussex Archaeological Society mikepitts.wordpress.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 11h
RIP Jasper Shackleton, who built a replica of the boat Bligh was abandoned in after the HMS Bounty mutiny, & sailed it from Tonga to Timor & then Bali. A sort of archaeological experiment/reverse Kon Tiki www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
telegraph.co.uk
010
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 12h
Media Show on AI-produced websites. I wrote about this earlier, suspecting my searching caused AI videos to be created. If we keep viewing/commenting they will improve till noone can tell what's genuine, & real research is drowned bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... mikepitts.wordpress.com/2026/05/27/h...
bbc.co.uk
The Media Show - Man City verdict, Dead Internet Theory, The Art of Casting - BBC Sounds
We speak to reporters who investigated Manchester City over the years.
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
‘He has committed no offence other than wanting to defend heritage sites’: arrest of Iraqi archaeologists sparks backlash www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/09/29/h...
021
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
RIP Dai Owen, illustrator & peace campaigner, worked with National Trust, English Heritage, the Grosvenor Museum, Alan Garner, BBC, artist in residence at the Portico Library, Manchester, studied archaeology at Cardiff www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Dai Owen obituary
Other lives: Chester-based illustrator who specialised in drawings for museum information panels
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
John Kenworthy-Browne FSA (honorific absent in obit). National Trust, Christie’s, independent scholar neo-classical sculpture, gained "financial independence" by buying a London house, "good-looking aesthete with Army-buffed good manners" www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2... @antiquaries.bsky.social
telegraph.co.uk
010
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Google's added a new satellite layer to maps around Stonehenge, but only for a small area. Contrast shows the summer effect at the visitor centre (1). Robin Hood's Ball Neolithic enclosure showing well (2), & what's this small enclosure north of Larkhill (3)? And some WW1 training trenches (4)
1133
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Esquire rates Island at the Edge of the World among the best books of 2026 across all genres. Hear me talk about it at the Marlborough Lit Fest this Sunday Sep 27 @marlboroughlitfest.bsky.social www.marlboroughlitfest.org/tickets/
140
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Sunday September 25, come and hear me at the Marlborough LitFest on why I think that carving 1,000 huge statues was only part of the extraordinary achievements of Easter Islanders. @marlboroughlitfest.bsky.social marlborough.news/news/litfest...
150
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
interesting set of 3 tapa cloth works, said to be Pacific islands circa 1950 "acquired from a small collection" For sale from Seventeen Twentyone www.17-21.com/en-GB/decora...
010
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If you cant beat em, join em (silently)
040
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I can only add to those saying the Bayeux Tapestry in the BM is a must see. Yes, I've seen it in Bayeux. The London display is entirely different, at once magnificent & intimate. (Tip that may be more a press view thing, but my experience would'e been improved with influencer-cancelling headphones)
010
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Among other archaeological achievements relevant to the Bayeux tapestry is the recent identification of Harold's lordly residence at Bosham, seen at the tapestry's start. Article by Gould et al in Antiquaries Journal 2025 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
WHERE POWER LIES: LORDLY POWER CENTRES IN THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE c. 800–1200 | The Antiquaries Journal | Cambridge Core
WHERE POWER LIES: LORDLY POWER CENTRES IN THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE c. 800–1200 - Volume 104
031
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Little noted is that the Bayeux tapestry lead curator Michael Lewis is head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (currently on secondment). So I wrote about that spectator.com/article/what...
spectator.com
What detectorists taught us about 1066
Laid out in the British Museum like a ruler, the Bayeux Tapestry tells its story with relentless, graphic mastery. Harold sails to Normandy and back. He breaks his promise to support William’s claim t...
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Terrific result for the Boroughbridge Devil's Arrows sourced 18km away, with the nearby C15 Battle Cross Monument identified as a repurposed 4th megalith
1131
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Marlborough's white horse looking good with fresh chalk and rain
1111
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Konstantinos Politis obituary
Archaeologist who spent his career excavating and protecting the sites and artefacts of Jordan’s Dead Sea shore
030
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“since the first pottery was not made in Devon until the 10th century, bowls and dishes were wooden” ?? www.thetimes.com/article/002c...
thetimes.com
I traced 1,500 years of English history through my Devon house
In Through the Windows of an Ordinary House, Ian Mortimer has crafted a social history that focuses on ordinary British lives, from jilted brides to joyless Puritans
240
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In today’s Guardian paper, my obituary for Olga Soffer
040
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Good to see Wild Horse Nine getting rave reviews. It's got to be better than the only previous movie shot on Rapa Nui, Kevin Costner's farce. I can safely say I'll enjoy it without in the least being troubled by everything on the island that wasn't there in 1973 www.vogue.co.uk/article/wild...
vogue.co.uk
Venice Hit ‘Wild Horse Nine’ Is Galloping Into The Awards Race
Martin McDonagh’s latest romp, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Parker Posey, just premiered at the Venice Film Festival – and is heading straight for the Oscars.
030
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Have you thought about helping to shape the future of Sussex archaeology? The Sussex Archaeological Society has outstanding collections & properties, & a glorious history in a county stuffed with archaeology & heritage. Applications for Trustees open til September 1 sussexpast.co.uk/news/new-tru...
sussexpast.co.uk
New Trustees and Committee Members Sought
content="Could you play an integral role in providing strategic oversight and governance to The Sussex Archaeological Society? If so, we would love to hear from you! The Sussex Archaeological Society ...
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...
thetimes.com
Peter Cannon-Brookes obituary: art curator who worked behind Iron Curtain
Expert who championed a scientific approach to conservation dies aged 87
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Hear me talk about Island at the Edge of the World at the Mere Literary Festival in October! mereliteraryfestival.com/product/mike...
mereliteraryfestival.com
Mike Pitts | Mere Literary Festival
Mike Pitts will join the Mere Literary Festival on Wednesday 14th October at 4pm to talk about his book Island at the Edge of the World.
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I enjoyed this so much I bought a printed copy. What makes AI so compelling is that the big questions about consciousness etc can only be answered when we can do the same for us. Suddenly we actually need to understand how biology creates a mind. Is consciousness an illusion? Are we the original AI?
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Apparently Max Branning once went to Stonehenge. We don't yet know who he took with him
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
RIP Peter Howell, historic buildings campaigner, authority on church architecture, lover of all things Victorian. Proposed alterations to chapel, University College, Oxford, would replace Gilbert Scott with “a mongrel lot of cobbled together woodwork” www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
telegraph.co.uk
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
RIP curator & museum director Gillian Spencer. Institute of Archaeology diploma. Museums in Saffron Waldon (1958, animals "so badly stuffed as to be mere caricatures", sent to the dump), Bristol, Norwich, Wakefield (1973): “a machine to destroy the collections” www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
Gillian Spencer obituary
Other lives: Pioneering curator who revitalised Wakefield’s museums and galleries
061
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Back in June I said I'd comment on a Stonehenge-linked claim when promised information was available. The Prehistoric Society has now brought us that info in its excellent PAST newsletter. So, what do I think? NEW STONEHENGE 🧵 !
172
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
RIP Dino Politis, Greek archaeologist who studied at the Institute of Archaeology, London, and was at then Department of Medieval & Later Antiquities, British Museum, excavating in Oman, and later with the BM in Jordan jordantimes.com/news/local/r...
greekreporter.com
Greek Archaeologist Dino Politis Leaves Lasting Legacy in Jordan - GreekReporter.com
Greek archaeologist Dino Politis work on Jordan's Byzantine and medieval heritage, has left a lasting archaeological legacy.
042
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I once rented a flat above a high street bank, one of the best places I lived in Historic buildings can help to solve this housing crisis www.thetimes.com/article/7c9d...
thetimes.com
Historic buildings can help to solve this housing crisis
Unlike newbuild developments, these homes already have infrastructure around them: transport links, shops, schools
120
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
My tribute to Olga Soffer “Olga Soffer, who has died aged 83, brought a revolutionary idea into the conversation about prehistoric ice age people: women mattered.” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Olga Soffer obituary
Professor of anthropology whose approach to archaeology centred on crafts executed by women 40,000 years ago
0155
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
There’s some great Rapa Nui island & museum film here (including human remains) with Nicolas Cauwe, one of many archaeologists who’ve worked hard to debunk the ecocide theory of self-induced cultural collapse. Though not sure I agree with his statue & quarry ideas www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXXV...
youtube.com
Île de Pâques : Les découvertes bouleversent l'histoire des Rapa Nui | SLICE HISTOIRE | DOC COMPLET
YouTube video by SLICE Histoire
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
There're many Bronze Age barrows near Stonehenge, some with exceptional artefacts. It's often said their siting avoids Stonehenge itself from a lingering respect for the older monument's sanctity & history. But is this right? 1/3
191
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Morten Morland’s Times cartoon: August 14, 2026 www.thetimes.com/article/6626...
thetimes.com
Morten Morland’s Times cartoon: August 14, 2026
Buy prints or signed copies of Times cartoons from our Print Gallery at timescartoons.com or call 0800 912 7136
040
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
So pleased to read this, I absolutely loved the film www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
theguardian.com
My Brilliant Career review – a joyous heroine lights up this rare and beautiful period drama
Phillipa Northeast is brilliant as a young woman rebelling against society’s expectations in 1890s Australia. It is witty, intelligent and absolutely glorious to watch
000
Reposted by Mike Pitts
FlatbreadSammy @flatbreadsammy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
@pittsmike.bsky.social we made it! Some of the misinformation dispelled in your book is very much internalized by the guides we had (the pre-contact ecocide, civil war), but we are having a blast!
Two Americans at Rana a Rakaru (quarry at Easter Island)
101
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Is it looking for water? In 20 odd years on this street I’ve never seen a squirrel before, determinedly trotting down the middle of the road
040
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It's not getting any greener in Wiltshire
1101
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Interesting & perceptive essay by Katie Meheux about Gordon Childe journals.uclpress.co.uk/ai/article/i...
211
Reposted by Mike Pitts
Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote about a reason not to use generative AI in your writing that I haven't seen anyone talking about. Once I realized this, banning GenAI in our lab's writing became a no-brainer. Feel free to share, I think this is probably useful especially for trainees: www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/the...
carlsonlab.bio
The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab
Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...
361563632
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Christine Borland. "Installations, sculptures & films returned repeatedly to the histories embedded within bodies, specimens & collections... they revealed the ambiguities, ethical responsibilities and acts of interpretation that underpin medical knowledge" www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Christine Borland obituary
Turner prize nominee whose installations, sculptures and films returned repeatedly to the histories embedded within bodies
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
If Simon & Schuster are about to publish a book explaining that Jason Arday was an elaborate and unexpectedly successful hoax to expose a particular academic narrative, I reckon they’ve got a bestseller. Alternatively, it’s going to highlight the problem with celebrity book puffs
050
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Christine Borland, Turner-nominated artist who worked with forensic scientists & used human remains. For debut show Glasgow 1994 she paid £900 for "real bones": "They suspected people were being murdered for the skeletons. I think that’s what happened to her” www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
telegraph.co.uk
000
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
A classic Rapa Nui gorget, looks antique and anciently damaged, to be sold by Woolley & Wallis on August 20, estimate £10-20k. No provenance or ownership history. Similar object in British Museum acquired 1870 (note suspension holes) has short rongorongo script bid.woolleys.live/auctions/973...
010
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Silbury area is very dry, though even now the spring that feeds the ditch close to the mound is keeping grass green. The Winterbourne stream is just gravel
281
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
More parchmarks. By the car park at Silbury Hill you can see some of the wall foundations of the house & tea rooms that were beside a petrol station that closed in the mid 1970s. Black & white Wiltshire Museum photos, some interesting memories of the site here www.facebook.com/groups/deviz...
0297
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
www.lbc.co.uk/article/lond...
lbc.co.uk
London's museums are the envy of the world. We must keep them free to enter, writes Sadiq Khan | LBC
Art and culture are for everyone – no matter where they’re from or how much money they earn
041
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
There's a playful show about ancient DNA at the Francis Crick Institute to July '27: buttons, bright colours, audio, video & flashing lights. Behind the British Library & St Pancras station, London. Recommended for inspiring the future scientist in curious 10-year-olds (my launch photos)
0102
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
hare early this morning
2152
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Wes Anderson's mother studied Anthropology & Archaeology at Rice University. In The Royal Tenenbaums, Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) is an archaeologist. This is a Tenenbaums excavation drawing in the show (hard to photograph). Also don't those French Dispatches below look like Tintin covers?
020
Mike Pitts @pittsmike.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
John Smith obituary
Other lives: Architectural historian who played a key role in preserving the Lincolnshire town of Stamford
000