Kath Page

Great British Castle Rescue Fronted by Rick Edwards, Great British Castle Rescue takes an aerial and up-close view of some of the UK’s most awe-inspiring castles.

Watch out for our very own @thinkuhi.bsky.social Institute for Northern Studies Dr Andrew Lind on Sky History tonight (9th March 2026) at 9pm talking about Fyvie Castle.

tinyurl.com/3tbxvy88

The obverse face features a large shafted Christian cross with hollow angles which spans the full width of the face and the majority of its length. The front of the stone is the most weathered face as, having been laid face-down, this portion of the stone was subjected to many years of cyclical wetting and drying. However, panels of decorative interlace and entangled zoomorphic creatures are still visible around the cross. Above the cross lies a narrow upper section which depicts the confronting heads of two fanged beasts. The Conan beasts have anatomically specific teeth – they have molars, canines and incisors – and feature dangling interlace from their mouths, perhaps representing their tongues or snakes. The reverse face depicts a range of different real and mythical creatures. In the upper left corner, approximately one fifth of the surface has been deliberately chipped away and re-inscribed with the names Hugh McAulay and Alexander McAulay, together with the date January 2 1796. This Pre-Reformation inscription obscures what may once have been a full-width serpent and Z-rod Pictish symbol, the floriated terminals of which are still visible as is the double disc and Z-shaped symbol below. To the side sits a small S-shaped figure matching the hippocampus (symbol no.159) in ECMS. The remaining space is occupied by rows of paired beasts: a kneeling figure with an animal head that often appears on Pictish cross-slabs, and is often termed the ‘formidable man’, faces a now headless centaur with two axes and a small cauldron-like object stands between them. Below, a pair of quadrupeds also face each other and two oxen with large U-shaped horns face rightwards. Interlace appears on both the narrow east and west faces of the stone. On the west face, the interlace terminates just beyond the half way point to give way to an angular key pattern.

Discovered in 2019, this 1,200-year-old Pictish cross-slab featuring real and mythical creatures was reused as a gravestone in the Highlands in the 18th century 🪦

Dig into the story with the North of Scotland Archaeological Society in Inverness on 19 March: www.digitscotland.com/events/not-a...

2017 image of 'Shetland Village Kame of Isbister' and mock-up suggestion. #KameOfIsbister

That's Loch View - Ness of Brodgar Trust HQ 😍

Black Death ‘rewilding’ did not boost biodiversity - BAJR - British Archaeology Jobs and Resources The devastation caused by the Black Death in medieval Europe may not have delivered the environmental benefits that could be assumed to follow large-scale human decline, according to new research. The...

The bubonic plague, which swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, is estimated to have killed up to one half of the continent’s population. The sudden loss of life led to the abandonment of farms, villages and fields, creating a massive historical ‘rewilding’ event.
www.bajr.org/black-death-...

A round stone plaque engraved with a sun motif.

How did prehistoric people respond to natural disasters? Some of 2025's most-read research suggested a volcanic eruption that blocked out the sun caused people in Neolithic Denmark to ritually sacrifice 'sun stones' to ensure a good harvest.

Read it 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

I recommended these guys to the cleaner at #UHI #Orkney last week who was playing Afro Celt Sound System while cleaning up after all of us staff and students 😊Two brilliant bands

Join us for the biggest UK Palaeolithic event of the year.
Tickets on sale at Early Bird Rates. 🦣🏺
Submit your papers and posters!

The audacity of #Scotland to look this good on a Friday morning! #NoFilters

The picture shows a needle made of bone, it resembles its modern descendants with an eye at one end and a tapered end.

Things used in everyday life are the real archaeological treasures!

This sewing needle was made from animal bone some 13,000 years ago.

Some designs simply don't need to be improved, because form and functions were perfectly matched from the start

Length: 5.6 cm

📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺

Postgraduate Funding Find out about postgraduate funding opportunities within the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

My colleagues Annie Tindley and @drhick.bsky.social have funding 📣 for a Collaborative Doctoral Award with Museums Northern Ireland for a PhD on "Reawakening the Living Landscape: Integrating Heritage and Sustainability at the Ulster Folk Museum" - www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/study/hi... Deadline 20 April.

Photo of a loch with mountains in the background and seaweed on the rocky shore in the foreground

Seaweed grows wild and is abundant across Scotland, so it’s no surprise that it's been used here for millennia 🌊

Today, research into historic seaweed harvesting reminds us how these types of food sources can help us build a more sustainable future: www.digitscotland.com/the-archaeol...

Teaching post in Cultural Heritage at our Department: www.abdnjobs.co.uk/vacancy/teac...

Publication success for AEONS facilities manager UHI Archaeology Institute lecturer Dr Julia Cussans is one of the authors in a new monograph detailing the Romano-British villa and prehistoric settlement at Low Ham, Somerset.

UHI Archaeology Institute lecturer Dr Julia Cussans is one of the authors in a new monograph detailing the Romano-British villa and prehistoric settlement at Low Ham, Somerset.

A leather book cover, with brass clasps and am embossed front, featuring a two headed eagle and the text VERBVM: DOMINI: MANET: IN ETERNVM (‘The word of the Lord endureth for ever’).

A leather book cover, opened to show both the front and the back, which are decorated with embossed animals, and vines, with a rectangular border reading DOMINI EXAUDI ORATIONEM MEAM ET CLAMOR MEUS AD TE VENIAT (Vulgate Psalm 101: ‘Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee'

A very badly preserved leather book cover, held together by the wooden base beneath it. It had similar clasps to the one with the two-headed bird

A larger leather book cover, with faces in profile on the cover, and the initials MD, a monogram for Martin Doture, a bookbinder and stationer from Tudor England.

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the pages didn't survive 437 years submerged in seawater!

Nine leather book covers were recovered from the Mary Rose, which probably belonged to officers - books were very expensive in 1545!

Quick reminder about our UHI Faroes Shetland Research Symposia online seminar titled Hildina - '250 Years from Gutterm to Mareel' when Shetland musician Barry Nisbet will present his work on the recovery of the Hildina Ballad from Foula.
➕ 12 midday 12th March 2026
tinyurl.com/4j2mxjtt

‘Earthbound Orkney’ exhibition moves to Leith After premiering at the Maeshowe visitor centre in Orkney, the Earthbound Orkney exhibition can now be viewed at the Custom Lane Gallery, Leith, until March 26.

After premiering at the Maeshowe visitor centre in Orkney, the Earthbound Orkney exhibition can now be viewed at the Custom Lane Gallery, Leith, until March 26.

What's Left of the Picts? Scotland's Pictish Stones - Historic Environment Scotland Blog Pictish stones can be found all over Scotland, but what are they, who carved them, and why? We take a look at some of the research.

Scotland’s Pictish carved stones, dating from the first millennium CE, display a number of symbols of unknown meaning. Some symbols show animals, some are abstract/geometric, but the same designs can be found from Shetland to the Borders
#WyrdWednesday
blog.historicenvironment.scot/2025/08/what...

The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll. Occupied since the Iron Age, the fort was a major centre for the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata from around AD 500 to AD 800. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #Dunadd #Argyll

Wow thats some hill(s) to cycle up! Just getting along the Old Finstown Road is a feat on a bike!

Yes the views are stunning, these were from a few years back but at the top of the hill. The Cairn is further down the slope but you get the idea! That's Damsay (L) and the Holm of Grimbister (R) you can see in the Bay of Firth.

📸 my own

#TombTuesday
This #Neolithic chambered cairn is located on the steep slope of Wideford Hill #Orkney.
Overlooking the Hoy Hills and the Bay of Firth, the cairn has a central chamber and 3 side chambers. Access is now via a ladder in the roof, but it's a squash and a squeeze once inside!

A view of Dun Telve Broch, south-east of Glenelg in Lochalsh. The image shows a view of what was originally a partly conical stone tower, with only the wall around the far side now rising to any height and details visible of features in the structure of the wall. The base of the rest of the circle can be seen. There are trees in the background. The scene is in sunshine.

A view of Dun Telve Broch, south-east of Glenelg in Lochalsh. Over 18m in diameter and standing in part to over 10m in height, it is one of Scotland's best preserved brochs and one of a pair that are located within sight of one another. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...

#Scotland

a whalebone carving on a little plastic stand. shaped a bit like a child's drawing of a bell but oddly boxy, it has a crooked face made of crude and extremely mismatched holes that together form a look of benign confusion and maybe a coming sneeze. it has an enormous bellybutton (?) but no other features such as limbs or any earthly explanation. i love him and you do too

hey guys? i need you to look at buddo real quick

Sika Deer 🦌 enjoying Sakura 🌸 Cherry Blossom Season in Nara Park Japan 🇯🇵

#MosaicMonday

#Roman mosaic from a villa in East Coker (southwest England). The object dates to the 4th century CE. On the mosaic, we see two hunters carrying a hunted deer and a hunting dog.
#History #artwork
#Archaeology #RomanBritain

Institute director talks Neolithic Orkney in new Stonehenge TV programme UHI Archaeology Institute director Professor Jane Downes features in a new television programme looking at the Stonehenge Altar Stone.

UHI Archaeology Institute director Professor Jane Downes features in a new television programme looking at the Stonehenge Altar Stone to be broadcast in the UK on March 3.

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