David Gibson

An overhead photograph of an archaeologist crouched down in an excavated quadrant of a sub-rectangular archaeological feature. The archaeologist is wearing an orange hi-vis jacket and a white hard hat, carrying a planning board and using a tape measure to take measurements.

During 2023’s excavations at Tarmac’s Broom South Quarry we found 16 Early Saxon sunken featured buildings. The buildings, like the one pictured, form part of a settlement spread out along the edge of the floodplain of the River Ivel.

Soaring Norman Arch at Crowland Abbey #Fens

An aerial photograph showing an archaeological excavation. The bright yellowy-orange sand and gravels of the site stand out with dark grey-brown lines show where the archaeological features are. These features include circular enclosures, roundhouses, curved ditches and across everything straight lines of furrows. The roughly wedge-shaped site is surrounded by green fields.

In 2024 we worked on a project in Bedfordshire which included a large Late Iron Age enclosure that was subdivided into smaller internal areas. We’re hoping to find out if the different sections of the enclosure might have developed gradually or were all present from the start.

We can easily spare a tenth of England for nature without affecting food production!

20% of our land produces just 3% of our food.

Vast swathes of our uplands are owned by about 150 wealthy landowners who use it for shooting grouse, and set fire to our biggest carbon sink, our peat bogs...

A diverse flight crew of a gay guy, a Black man, and a woman

A gay guy, a Black man, and a woman walk into a flight deck— that’s not the beginning of a joke, but just a regular day at work! There was so much DEI on this plane that we could hardly get in the air. Luckily my limp wrists were able to wrestle the heavy jet back to the ground 💅🏼

A groundhog on a red cushion is consulted by a circle of men wearing top hats and black suits. One of the men holds a cane which allows him to speak in groundhogese.

It's six more weeks of winter, everyone! #groundhogday

A photograph showing a close-up view of a stone chamber. The rectangular chamber is in the centre of the image and is made from pale stone chunks and is attached to a wall that runs left to right at the top of the image. Around the chamber the ground is a dark brown colour.

Within the 3rd-4th century Roman barn at West Deeping Cemex Quarry was a stone chamber attached to the main wall foundations. Built using dry stone construction and with a floor of large limestone flagstones, 10 different archaeological layers some with spelt wheat, wheat grain and oat seeds.

An overhead photograph of an area of an archaeological dig. In the centre of the image is a square of different coloured soil which is very dark. The edges of this square are very clear against the mottled orangey and pale gravels. Around the bottom and right-hand edges of the square are two red and white striped ranging poles for scale.

Another feature of the Roman barn from the Cemex West Deeping Quarry is the presence of a granary in its northern part. Made from three parallel beam slots, the structure had clearly burnt down preserving distinct layers of grain, chaff and charcoal.

A photograph showing an archaeological feature on a dig. The image shows a ring-shaped ditch that has had eight segments dug out of it. The areas between segments have been left and are made of darker soil, showing the outline of the circle. In the centre of the ring a T-shaped scale of red and white poles shows the size.

Elsewhere in the rural Roman settlement at the West Deeping Cemex Quarry was an enclosure that contained the base of a hayrick. Hayricks (haystacks) are used for storing hay, with this one surrounded by a circular ditch to provide drainage to help keep it dry.

A photograph showing an area of an archaeological excavation. In the centre of the image is a wall made from densely packed pale stones. Around the area are dark patches of earth with lighter orange and brown gravels. Two 2m white and red ranging rods provide a scale for the roughly rectangular shape of the building.

Several settlements were found at the West Deeping Cemex Quarry. One of the most fascinating was a rural Roman settlement where evidence for agricultural and industrial activities was found, including this 3rd-4th century barn with surviving wall foundations. #archaeology

The University of Leeds has become the first Russell Group university to officially announce that it is quitting Elon Musk’s social media site X.

It will, however, be alive and well on Bluesky.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

A photograph of an archaeological feature with some of its dark sediment fill still present. Two large, long, thin pieces of wood are visible in the centre of the image with a 1m long white and red scale bar next to them. The wood is surrounded by a bright orange sandy gravel and in the top right a small cluster of pale grey stones can be seen.

A second Roman watering hole at Cemex’s West Deeping Quarry was even larger, with a diameter of over 10m. This one contained carved wooden timbers, with the largest 3m long, that could have formed part of a cart or structure. A 100kg of artefacts were discovered from the rest of the feature!

A photograph of the bottom of an archaeological feature. In the centre is a dark grey-brown layer surrounded by lighter orange gravels. In the dark layer are three objects, a round plate, an upside down bowl and, on the right hand side, the dark brown sole of a shoe. Each object has a rectangular white and red scale bar next to it.

Excavations at Cemex Quarry, West Deeping revealed some incredible archaeology with the most recent work finishing in 2024. In one layer of this 5m wide Roman watering hole was a pewter plate, ceramic bowl and the remains of a well-preserved leather shoe.

Cyril Fox's symbol for Wandlebury hillfort: two concentric red circles and three parallel red lines form a key-shape

Go follow @cambridgearch.bsky.social

A venn diagram. The three circles are labelled: The Archaeologist The Pirate The Dog The area where all threel overlap is labelled: Loves digging things up Dog/Archaeologist overlap is labelled: Gets excited by bones Pirate/Archaeologist overlap is labelled: Good with maps Dog/Pirate overlap is labelled: Buries things for later

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.bsky.social

Whittlesey?

The censorship algorithm on Twitter reduced our audience by roughly 95%, and seriously, who does that to a wildlife biology & advocacy group ?
So we moved 😇 over here to BlueSky

If you could, please help us regain our following
Follow
Retweet and
Repeat ;-)

Together we can change the world.

Christmas cheer and dog

Pigeon was obviously a dry run for Santa down the chimney. Safely released from trusty landing net.

November Canopy

#York #Peregrine

Managing Lithic Sites | Historic England New advice addresses research and management issues for sites where prehistoric stone tools contain unique evidence.

Some amazing lithic sites have been revealed by development-led archaeology in recent years but they're not always easy to find or evaluate. Updated guidance & new case studies from Historic England are designed to assist. #FlintFriday #FindsFriday

More here: historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/re...

Fenland light rays
#photography #landscapephptography

Two archaeologists in hi vis clothing, crouching excavating in a pit stepped down to 3m below ground level. Small white flags mark the position of artefacts. Beyond is metal fencing and field of green maize leaves.

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Winter’s bounty. Low Moor Allotments #York

4000 years before Must Farm. Fantastic

Dying people deserve a choice. Let them make it | Letters Letters: Readers who believe the assisted dying bill should be passed into law in England and Wales respond to Guardian coverage

The Guardian published my letter: www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

I was meant to be meeting old school friends there on Friday post work. The Station Tap it will have to be

End of an era. I was in awe arriving 31 years ago in Cambridge, from up North. Found him genuinely interested in contract field archaeology and what could be achieved. Remember the 1990’s debates with Lewis Binford and of course those TAG discos