@drnwillburger.bsky.social
Archaeologist | Permanent Representative of the Director, Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg | Adjunct lecturer State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart | Private account, views are mine 🖖
Enamelled copper alloy flask in hexagonal shape, featuring intricate geometric patterns in turquoise, red, and gold against a green patinated surface, with visible cracks.
This beautiful #Roman enamelled copper alloy flask in hexagonal shape was found in Welzheim.
The small vessel was a product of a workshop in Britain or Gaul and was presumably used to hold perfume.
Dating 2. century AD.
#findsfriday 🏺
📷 @almbawue.bsky.social
My hand on the corner of a hard cover book. The cover has several rows of jars on it, with a teal bar in the middle reading 'Death, Commemoration, and Cultural Meaning: Past and Present' edited by Robert Spinelli & Robyn S. Lacy.
My editor copy is finally here from @berghahnbooks.bsky.social ! I'm so happy to see it irl, & I'm so proud of everyone's hard work! 🎉
www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Spinel...
Part of the excavated rampart and ditch of the Iron Age fortifications at Stanwick in County Durham - a major trading centre and power base for the Brigantes tribe. The fortifications are some four miles in length and enclose an area of 766 acres. 📸 My own. #IronAge #Stanwick
23.01.2026 07:28 — 👍 58 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Brown iron pin with green decorated copper crescentic head on a yellow fabric background
A Late Iron Age iron linch-pin with crescent-shape decorated copper alloy head inlaid with blue, red and green enamel 😍
Just under 11cm high, the pin would originally secured a spoked wheel onto a chariot axle
📷 Jan 2026 Verulamium Museum @stalbansmuseums.bsky.social
#FindsFriday #ChariotsofFire
A gold/silver alloy multi-strand torc. The upright terminal & neck ring is at the back, which was discovered in 1965. At the front is a terminal discovered in 2004 by a metal detectorist as part of SHARP (Sedgeford Historical & Archaeological Research Project).
“Sedgeford Torc”, #Norfolk
Two different “finds”, but maybe parts of the same artefact -
1965. Neck ring & terminal, reputedly seen hanging from a harrow towed by a tractor.
2004. Terminal discovered by metal detectorist as part of local history project.
Now #BritishMuseum
#FindsFriday #IronAge
Enamelled copper alloy flask in hexagonal shape, featuring intricate geometric patterns in turquoise, red, and gold against a green patinated surface, with visible cracks.
This beautiful #Roman enamelled copper alloy flask in hexagonal shape was found in Welzheim.
The small vessel was a product of a workshop in Britain or Gaul and was presumably used to hold perfume.
Dating 2. century AD.
#findsfriday 🏺
📷 @almbawue.bsky.social
It's a unique find, rather than being made locally in the Wallertheim region, it was produced in a specialized glass workshop. Generally, the technique and style are connected to workshops in the Middle Rhine and Moselle regions, where colored trail-decorated glass beads of similar dates were made
22.01.2026 22:09 — 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
A small glass figurine of a dog, crafted in deep blue with white stripes and yellow decorative details around its legs, ears, and tail.
A life without #dogs is possible but pointless!
A tiny yet marvellous figurine of a dog (height 1.6 cm) made of blue glass and decorated with yellow and white threads. The unique figurine was found in a Celtic burial at Wallertheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, dating 2nd c. BC.
📷 Landesmuseum Mainz
Me holding a pill-shaped hide shield with bronze plate decoration and a lenticular central boss. I am looking down at the shield.
Me standing behind the shield looking at the camera. It is about 4 feet long.
I have worked in Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales for over six years, yet I learn something new about our collections every day 🤩
Today I got to hold a replica Iron Age - Early Roman (c. 1st century AD) shield! It’s heavy! It’s SO heavy!
En Italie, des chercheurs pensent avoir retrouvé un bâtiment décrit par Vitruve il y a plus de 2000 ans. #Archéologie
actu.fr/histoire-pat...
Central doorway with double round arch above.
General view of west front.
Central architrave.
Church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano,
#Pistoia #Italy
#Romanesque church built in 1159, but rebuilt in 1229.
The central doorway has an architrave of 1167 with the “Redeemer & Apostles” and showing the incredulity of Thomas.
#AdoorableThursday
Hand shape in Indonesian cave may be world’s oldest known rock art.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
A Bronze Age food vessel which was found at Hare Hill Ring Cairn, near Thornton-in-Craven in North Yorkshire. Not part of the collections at Craven Museum and Gallery in Skipton. 📸 My own. #BronzeAge #Prehistory #Archaeology #Yorkshire
22.01.2026 07:09 — 👍 117 🔁 20 💬 0 📌 0
A small glass figurine of a dog, crafted in deep blue with white stripes and yellow decorative details around its legs, ears, and tail.
A life without #dogs is possible but pointless!
A tiny yet marvellous figurine of a dog (height 1.6 cm) made of blue glass and decorated with yellow and white threads. The unique figurine was found in a Celtic burial at Wallertheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, dating 2nd c. BC.
📷 Landesmuseum Mainz
Two people and a rucksack sit on grass covered ramparts in the shade of a tree looking out at a rural landscape
The curving grass covered ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort with trees
The grass covered ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort looking out at trees and cloud filled sky
The glorious contour-hugging ramparts of Penbury Knoll hillfort Pentridge Down, Cranborne Chase, command wide ranging views across #Dorset #Hampshire and #Wiltshire
A place to heal
The earthworks have not been investigated, but are probably Late Bronze or Early Iron Age
#HillfortsWednesday
My photo shows seven honey-coloured chess pieces, hand-carved from elephant ivory and worn with age. They are displayed in two uneven lines. At the front are two foot-soldiers, behind them are two mounted riders, followed by an elephant with rider (nearest viewer) and a figure driving two horses. At the back is a figure driving a three-horse chariot. It’s suggested they represent divisions of an army. Dimensions: Height between 2.6cm - 3.7cm. Dated AD 700s. I saw these pieces on display at the British Museum’s ‘Silk Roads’ Exhibition in 2024, on loan from Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. The museum label read: “This is the earliest known group of chess pieces in the world. Probably originating in India as an aristocratic game, chess spread along Silk Road routes and became a popular pastime across the Islamic world and Europe. These pieces are made of ivory, which probably came from India. They reflect the continued movement of luxury goods and elite customs in the Islamic period”.
WOW, this is the earliest known group of chess pieces in the world! 🤩
It includes two foot-soldiers, two mounted riders, an elephant with rider, a figure driving two horses, and a figure driving a three-horse chariot. Ivory, AD 700s.
Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. 📷 me
#Archaeology
A clay pot displayed in a museum case. The rounded vessel has facial features forming a tired, weary expression.
"I hope this email finds you well"
How this email found me:
Owl carving from the medieval chancel stalls of St. Mary's Church at Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire. 📸 My own. #Woodensday #HighamFerrers #Northamptonshire
21.01.2026 07:23 — 👍 293 🔁 65 💬 3 📌 4
Une occupation humaine depuis le Néolithique à Vauclerc, aux portes du Perthois (Marne). #Archéologie
www.inrap.fr/une-occupati...
Manger sans viande est-il bon pour la santé ? Un débat récurrent dans l’ #histoire de la #diététique. #Alimentation
theconversation.com/manger-sans-...
A wine glass style hexagonal pulpit in the foreground. Behind is the chancel beyond the rood screen. The east window is of the St Margarets to which the church is dedicated - St Margaret of Scotland & St Margaret of Antioch.
👀 Church of St Margarets,
Burnham Norton, #Norfolk
• Rood screen of 1458. Restored by Howard Brown in 1953, when it received new coving.
• Perpendicular pulpit of 1450. It shows the Doctors of the Church & donors. Painting restored in 1973 by Pauline Plummer.
#Woodensday
#WoodcarvingWednesday
One of the Snettisham torcs - an elaborate multi-strand torc with decorated terminals
I've written myself a list - Torcs I have seen 'in the hand' & those want to see.
I've seen 31 & there's 9 more I want to see - 2 of 9 will be soon. That includes all major ones & a few others too. I hadn't realised it was so many.
I've also peered at many more in cases too.
#Archaeology 🏺
The woman on this stunning bead has a remarkable resemblance to Frida Kahlo!
🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #art 🏺
A clay pot displayed in a museum case. The rounded vessel has facial features forming a tired, weary expression.
"I hope this email finds you well"
How this email found me:
Round glass bead with a green base color, featuring a portrait of a woman with a necklace framed in red on a blue background.
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: a glass mosaic face bead. 1st century AD.
📷️ Landesmuseum Württemberg
A red & white boat (with blue cover) at low tide. Blue sky with large white clouds.
Burnham Overy Staithe, North Norfolk
#LowTideTuesday #Cloudscape
Coetan Arthur (also known as Arthur’s Quoit) - the remains of a Neolithic burial chamber close to St. David’s Head in Pembrokeshire, dating to around 3000 BC. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #Archaeology #Pembrokeshire
20.01.2026 07:33 — 👍 87 🔁 13 💬 3 📌 1
My photo shows a small horse statuette in a museum display case. The horse, viewed in profile, was masterfully carved from mammoth ivory around 15,000 years ago. The sculptor has depicted many realistic details such as the eyes, nostrils, and ears flattened against the head. The coat is represented by finely incised lines and dots. The mane is sculpted in relief, with incised lines on both sides. The four legs and tail are incomplete. The surface of the ivory has a shiny brown patina. Dimensions: Length 7.3 cm x Height 3.5 cm. The statuette is known as ‘The Little Horse of Lourdes’. It was discovered in 1886 in a rock fissure in the Espélugues cave, Lourdes, Haute-Pyrénées, France. Part of the collections at the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, Domaine national de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Ice Age art!
A lovely little horse figurine sculpted from mammoth tusk around 15,000 years ago!
Known as ‘The Little Horse of Lourdes’ it was found in 1886 in the cave of Les Espélugues, Lourdes, Haute-Pyrénées, France. 📷 by me.
#Archaeology
It's made of coloured glass
20.01.2026 17:50 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Round glass bead with a green base color, featuring a portrait of a woman with a necklace framed in red on a blue background.
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: a glass mosaic face bead. 1st century AD.
📷️ Landesmuseum Württemberg
