iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Dr Kay Sunahara @kaysunahara.bsky.social · 9h

Back to a bit of coin photography @romtoronto.bsky.social today's favourite is a Denarius of Nerva from 97 CE, mint of Rome. The reverse side has incredible detail of Concordia embodied as clasped hands, on a coin that measures but 27.9 mm! 🪙 #MuseumWork #numismatics #coins #handshake

Silver denarius coin with the wreathed head of Roman emperor Nerva, facing to the right.

Silver denarius coin, the reverse side of the same coin of Nerva, showing two hands clasped in a handshake.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

More excitement in the second of my three part space-opera about archaeologists being abducted by Space Pirates! Published by The Kraken Lore on Medium!! #SciFi #ShortStory #TheKrakenLore #Medium 💙📚🪐 medium.com/the-kraken-l...

medium.com

Space Pirates on Overtime 2

The Pursuers

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not a lot of Fall flowers in the garden at the moment! Just some strays photographed in the intense early morning light. The kale is going well, though! 🌱 #FlowerReport

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

38% of Americans approve of Donald Trump?

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Cover of "Mission to the Stars" (1953) A novel by Philip Kent (Kenneth Bulmer). Never read the book, but I do wish they still had covers like that! 📚

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Today is #HobbitDay because Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were both born on September 22nd. Normally we'd shire a hobbit pun or two but it might just feel like a tolkien gesture and we don't want to embarrass our elves. Anyway it's a good day to come and boromir #Tolkien books. 📚

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Happy Hobbit Day! Recently I realised that as I get older & better remember being under 4' tall & going on adventures, I wanted to be a Hobbit. But one that did magic. Thinking about how & where that might occur led to a story. #HobbitDay 💙📚🪐 #Fantasy medium.com/@Robert_Barr...

medium.com

List: Tales of the Vale | Curated by Robert Barry | Medium

Tales of the Vale · The adventures of Blys & Bertie can be romantic and cozy, or at times dangerous and scary. Join them as they learn the ways of magic, and try to make a better world for their peopl...

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Innocent archaeologists abducted by Space Pirates? High space adventure short story just published by The Kraken Lore on Medium!! #SciFi #ShortStory #TheKrakenLore #Medium 💙📚🪐 thekrakenlore.com/space-pirate...

thekrakenlore.com

Space Pirates on Overtime 1

The Abduction

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Once again my article "A Map of Middle Earth in the Third Age" is my most popular thing in Medium. I wish some of them would give it a few claps! medium.com/@Robert_Barr...

medium.com

A Map of Middle Earth in the Third Age

Me Tolkien nonsense

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Being a bit of a Tolkien geek, I find the discussions of his legendarium on Quora quite compelling. The latest question I have addressed is "What do you consider to be the most evil deed within Tolkien’s legendarium?" www.quora.com/What-do-you-...?

quora.com

What do you consider to be the most evil deed within Tolkien’s legendarium?

Robert's answer: People often think that corrupting elves to create the race of orcs was a bad thing, but when you dig deeper, it is even worse. Tolkien was deeply romantic. It may not be obvious, bu...

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

In the next part of the process to make the Serce Liman pottery thin-sections the "excess" sample in its resin casing is cut off from the slide using a high precision saw (more in ALT). #ArchaeologyofStuff #CeramicPetrography 🏺⛏️ #Ceramics #CeramicPetrology #Archaeology #Archaeometry

The "excess" pottery in its resin casing is cut off from the slide using a high precision saw

The slide is then numbered with the unique number of the object being sampled. "GW" stands for "Glass Wreck", the specific wreck found at Serce Liman (there were several others!)

The slides are now ready to have the sample ground down to three microns thickness. The "surplus" pottery will then be renumbered, if the number was lost in the processing, and stored in the numbered bag it arrived in. If something goes wrong in the final stage, or if it is otherwise desirable, the block will be used to make another thin-section.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Found this and couldn't resist sharing it.

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Found in 1856 during the cutting of a grave for Martha Brown (whose sad tale inspired Thomas Hardy to write Tess of the d’Urbervilles) this Roman mosaic belonged to a 4th century townhouse Lifted and set into Dorchester prison chapel the mosaic now resides in Dorset Museum 📷 Sep 2026 #MosaicMonday

The centre of a geometric polychrome Roman mosaic floor with two heart shaped leaves surrounded by intersecting black squares and red triangles

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Busy week at the ROM! I took the impregnated Serce Liman samples out of the cups, cut off the excess resin, ground the sample flat, then glued glass slides to the sample! #ArchaeologyofStuff #CeramicPetrography 🏺⛏️ #Ceramics #CeramicPetrology #Archaeology #Archaeometry

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Andrew Spratt @dirleton.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Reconstruction mock-up over 'groovesvillewkd' image of Warkworth Castle, Northumberland (England). A Percy family stronghold. #WarkworthCastle #HistoryRebuilt #EnglishCastles

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Andrew Spratt @dirleton.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The remains of St. Olaf’s Kirk - a 12th century Norse Church located at Lunda Wick on Unst in Shetland @kpw1453.bsky.social info/image post turned into a mock-up suggestion.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

At the ROM this week I set the pottery samples from Serce Liman in epoxy resin before making them into thin-sections. (more in ALT). #ArchaeologyofStuff #CeramicPetrography 🏺⛏️ #Ceramics #CeramicPetrology #Archaeology #Archaeometry

Pottery samples from Serce Liman in epoxy resin in anticipation of turning them into thin-sections. They are put under vacuum for a few minutes to suck the air out, and then the vacuum is released to impregnate the ceramic with the resin as much as possible, This makes it less problematic in making a thin-section out of the friable ceramic. I was nervous about mixing up the samples with their numbers, so I gave each sample it's own cup!

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

For significant amounts of time my train of thought circles around a Zen fairy garden. #GardenRailway #ModelTrain #Gscaletrains #Gscale #FairyGarden #FairyGardenRailway

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Finished up recording the samples from Serce Liman this week. Next week I will start turning them into thin sections for petrographic analysis! #archaeology 🏺

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Dr Kay Sunahara @kaysunahara.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Pickled these jalapeños today. Fresh from our raised beds in the front yard! 🌱 #GrowingFood

Close up of a glass bottle of sliced pickled jalapeños, most are green and a few are red.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Dear Elder Scrolls Online, please make clothes like this. Also a nice basket-hilt broadsword. Thank you. @elderscrollsonline.com #ESO

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Anyone on here do photographs of pottery fabrics? Do you like whole sherd sections, or a close-up of the fabric? #archaeology 🏺

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Sorry for not being very active on this platform lately, I've just been so busy in the garden! #FairyGarden #GardenRailway #FairyGardenRailway

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Dr Kay Sunahara @kaysunahara.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Purple Erasmus Asparagus is on the menu! It's been 3 years since I first grew them from seed, but worth the wait! From here on in, it is easy spring harvests 🌱🌱🌱

A dozen or so purple asparagus spears, picked, sitting on top of a light gray flat limestone rock, surrounded by a background of leaf litter and pine needles.

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

OTD in 1912, five days after the Titanic disaster, a memorial service for those who lost their lives was held in St Mary’s Church. The church was completely packed. Sailors marched from the docks in order to attend. Southampton, a town in mourning, came to a complete standstill for the service.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

The stalwarts of Gnomeland Security are the first to appear in the fairy garden, ensuring it is safe for the fairies to appear. They say it isn't. They were right, moments after this the hail came down. 🌱

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Brief spell of sunshine this morning after days of rain, but these daffodils look only somewhat beaten down. Mind you, we had hail in the afternoon. 🌱 #FlowerReport

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

On this day 114 years ago, at noon on 10 April 1912, Titanic began her maiden voyage from her home port of Southampton to New York. 1/12

Titanic at Southampton embarking upon her maiden voyage.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I was in the Nubia Gallery at the ROM yesterday, and noticed this 4th century CE box from the ROM excavations at Gebel Adda in Nubia (near the first cataract in Egypt). What interested me were the "sphinxes" with *wings* as wings are not in the Egyptian tradition, but in the West Asian tradition. 🏺

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Magnified examination of the Anglo-Saxon & Medieval North Elmham pottery at the ROM yesterday. I had a magnifying lens on my head, as well, so the magnification was greater than what you see here! I was not working with fresh breaks, but you could see the fabric in some cases. #medievalsky 🏺

Magnified view of a shell-tempered St. Neot's Type Ware

Magnified view of a fine-grained Thetford Type Ware

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

It seems this viola seedling is eager to take it's place in the garden! 🌱 #FlowerReport

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

We are having carrots for Easter Sunday dinner. Other stuff, as well, but I'm responsible for getting the carrots ready!

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Easter Sunday Irises in the front garden on the sunny side of the house. Okay, not exactly sunny today, but I did go out at least long enough to take this photo! 🌱 #FlowerReport

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Happy Easter to all those that observe it! And a lovely Spring day off to those that don't! This is the "Tomb of the Righteous One" in Nazareth, the nuns that found it say it is the tomb of St. Joseph. My photo of 2008.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I recently finished a short series of stories for Medium and used Hero Forge to create the header image. It really does make cute images! @heroforgeminis.bsky.social

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I was at the ROM this week working on pottery from excavations at North Elmham in Norfolk. Here are some very nice 13th-14th century Grimston Ware handles! #medievalsky 🏺

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

As someone that studies the past I know better than to think artists depict reality. However, I suspect the strong women of the past depicted in "Calling in the Gleaners" (1859) by Jules Breton would take any incel going on about "trad wives" or "women being women" and slap some sense into them.

"Le rappel des glaneuses" (Calling in the Gleaners), 1859, by Jules Breton. The image is set in Courrières, Breton's native village in Artois, France. Oil on canvas painting currently housed in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Someone at Nook Shop in Stoke Newington, North East London sent me this photo of a recently published interview with Monty Don, whose style I admire. I found the interview charming, so I thought I'd share it here. To me, Monty Don is a great example of developing personal style.

A photo of a page published by The Sunday Times Style. The page features an interview with Monty Don. Here is the text:

UNZIPPED!
Monty Don

The horticulturist, 70, on navy jumpers, his mullet era and weeding the carrots in suits

What was the first item of clothing you bought?

I remember very clearly a pair of crushed-velvet, bottle-green loons when I was 14 or 15. I bought them in a men’s clothing outlet in Bournemouth, where we were on holiday, such was the glamour of my life. This would have been in the early Seventies and I thought they were fantastic. At that time, tie-dye, three-button T-shirts and loons were the look and absolutely what I wanted to wear.

What item of clothing do you have too many of?

I probably have 30 very similar navy jumpers. If I like something I buy it in every iteration possible. I have Guernseys, Slazengers and there’s a company called Shackleton that does jumpers based on the ones Shackleton wore on his expeditions. I will happily put on three jerseys when I get up in the morning — a thin cotton one, followed by a cashmere one and a thicker one on top — because this is not London. I have lived in the same old house in Herefordshire for 36 years.

What do you never wear but can’t throw away?

I’ve always loved good cut and fabrics, so I won’t throw away a beautiful jacket or well-cut shirt. I have Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto clothes from the Eighties that I haven’t worn for 30 years. Would I wear them now? The brutal truth is that, at 70, I’m not quite the same shape as when I was 20. I have to suck in my tummy and hold my breath.

Tell us a secret from your style past

I had a Damascean moment when I was 19. Up until then I wore pretty much what my peer group wore, but I remember seeing photographs in a book of farm and country workers from the late-19th/early-20th century and I loved the clothes they were wearing. I bought a pair of heavy, high-waisted corduroy trousers — bear in mind this was 1974–75, when everything w…

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Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason

Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Titanic at Southampton on 4 April 1912, six days before her maiden voyage. This photograph was taken on this day 114 years ago. She had arrived from Belfast in the early hours of the morning and is dressed with signal flags to celebrate the first visit to her home port.

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

It was a lovely day yesterday, and I finally managed to clear up the fallen leaves from the Autumn! The early snow rather hampered my usual routine! Today it is raining, so I am posting this nice photo of snowdrops in the fairy garden on the north side of the house. 🌱 #FlowerReport

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I love old paintings of the Countryside, before it was filled with massive lorries plummeting along the narrow lanes with a death-wish. This is, of course, "The Hay Wain" (1821) by John Constable, depicting the Stour between Suffolk and Essex. My parents had a print and said it was the New Forest!

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Dr. Robert Barry Mason @robertmason.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

There is still snow and ice on the ground, but this south-facing slope on the sunny side of the house is ready for Spring! 🌱 #FlowerReport

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