Philolithia@bsky.social

Happy John Aubrey Day – 400 years old today! The original stone botherer, who recognised the Avebury stones for the prehistoric marvel they are, and rightly commented that the site 'doth as much exceed Stonehenge as a cathedral doth a parish church'.

Carbon in the Dark: The First Radiocarbon Dates for Cave Art in the Dordogne A team at Font-de-Gaume found something no one had bothered to look for — and it changed what we can know about Paleolithic painting in southwestern France.

A century-old assumption about Dordogne cave art just collapsed. The paintings were thought to contain no carbon — so radiocarbon dating was never possible. Turns out no one had actually checked. #Paleolithic #CaveArt #Archaeology www.anthropology.net/p/carbon-in-...

Just out- the Winter 2025 edition of @archiremag.bsky.social with lots of interesting articles and my ‘Reading the urns’ on the idea of solar-powered pots and urns in need of understanding. Just in time for #wintersolstice2025

Coin used as Leeds bus fare was 2,000‑year‑old currency The coin was handed down to Peter Edwards from his grandfather in the 1950s.

Phoenician coin donated to museum.

That's what to do with them.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Did you know that magnolia petals taste of ginger? Tried one for the first time last year - they're delicious! Go for the white ones with a hint of pink, otherwise the flavour is quite strong!

For #StandingStoneSunday, here is a 1920s self-portrait by Oscar Färdig, a rural autodidact photographer, my great great grandmother's brother. He is standing by the great Iron Age menhirs of Stenehed (appropriately meaning "Stone Heath", likely refering to the monuments). ⚱️

The Fingers of Gurannes, Co Cork, Ireland.
#StandingStoneSunday

Augerum Menhir standing stone in Sweden in Blekinge. The Stone is in the garden of a church. Augerum Church is located next to the Lyckebyån river. It is assumed that the church was built next to stone or the stone was rather moved here from its original place. #StandingStoneSunday

Bedd Arthur, Mynydd Preseli, Sir Penfro 📷 18.04.23

#StandingStoneSunday #scape
#Stunday #LandscapePhotography
#PhotographersofBlueSky

The Tibblestone, an ancient pitted stone on a crossroads near Tewkesbury on a garage forecourt. Lost and found buried by a gardener in 1948. One of Gloucestershire’s very few standing stones. #StandingStoneSunday #UrbanPrehistory

Something similar above Barmouth wedged into a crack in the bedrock. This one above Wern Mynach, Hendre Mynach and Ffordd Mynach. Mynach is Monk in Welsh !

Boundary marker or something else ? High above the Mawddach on Garn fach Cwm Mynach side. Could be work by Cymmer abbey Cistercian monks ?
#standingstonesunday

#StandingStoneSunday with the Nine Ladies Stone Circle in the Peak District, Derbyshire

See more in our new epiosde >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ta4...

‘That thrush just did something incredible’: tuning in to bird calls on a North York Moors walk A guided walk through North Yorkshire woodland throws up some thrilling surprises by honing in on sound over sight

‘That thrush just did something incredible’: tuning in to bird calls on a North York Moors walk

Wonderfull indeed.
But why are these in the Villa? Ultimately "....from the private collection of a British rare manuscript collector."
And how did that collector .... ???

I broke of my visit to the Villa early because I realised that most was "looted" in concession of rich people. It sickned me.

Thanks - perhaps it’s that Saharan dust - just missing a palm tree 😀

Nant Cadair, Cadair Idris National Nature Reserve 📷 03.03.26

#WaterfallWednesday #scape
#LandscapePhotography
#PhotographersofBluesky

Snap

Observing

#blackandwhite #B&W #Photography #photo #bwphotography #bnwphotography #monochrome #mono

The Getty Villa to offer rare look at ancient Egyptian 'Book of the Dead' One of the manuscripts dates back nearly 3,500 years.

If I were a Hollywood superstar, I would go and check this exhibition out: “One of my favorite phrases that I have on a wall of the gallery is ‘May I join with the stars that call out to me in the night boat,’” laist.com/news/los-ang...

🏺 A lovely piece, making me think both of #Neanderthal -bird interactions and how they may have understood signals for when and where birds would appear; and also summoning Bronze Age visual echoes of ducks in marshy landscapes from Akrotiri and Egypt.

This Week! On Age of Stonehenge! All the different ways in which this image is wrong, the development of the Chacolithic Britain, defined not just by metalworking but migrations of Beaker-associated groups and interactions with local people who are in the middle of a massive monument binge.

The frontispiece to Ethel Skeat's textbook The Principles of Geography, Physical & Human (1923). Not sure if school geography textbooks still have frontispieces, but, if they do, they probably don't depict Yggdrasil, Nidhögg, 'the little squirrel Ratatösk', 'the great Midgard serpent', etc.

🏺 Humans: "Decorate* ALL THE THINGS!!"

*there's aesthetic beautification, but markings & their makings always hold potential for 'magics' as well

Have got to stop finding books on Bookfinder that just look completely fabulous when I’m meant to be writing up…

#DailyMegalith #StandingStoneSunday

Ollie at the Watchstone, #Stenness #Orkney #Scotland (2018)

🏺

March Hares! ‘I shall go into a hare’…. Painted, engraved stained glass, private collection.

In honour of #StDavidsDay here are the wonderful Penbryn Spoons, which were found in 1829 beneath a heap of stones inside the Castell Nadolig hillfort, near Penbryn in Ceredigion, Wales. The pair of cast bronze ‘spoons’ date to the Late Iron Age (c. 50 BCE–100 CE).

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus i chi gyd

Happy Birthday 🎈