A stunning #Roman amber flask, found in Aquileia, dating 1st/2nd c. AD.
Aquileia's position at the end of a main amber trade route resulted in its becoming a centre for the carving and distribution of Baltic amber across the Roman Empire.
📷: Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Aquileia
🏺 #archaeology
A pudgy 11th century Byzantine peacock relief. One of two carved facing each other on a lintel from the collection at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Distomo, Greece. In early christianity peacocks could be symbolic of renewal or heavenly paradise.
#reliefwednesday #archaeobirds #ancientbluesky🏺
The world's first writing system, cuneiform, came from Mesopotamia, but how did it develop? Links identified between proto-cuneiform signs and cylinder seals (a pre-literate form of accounting) shed light on the transition from prehistory to history.
🆓 https://buff.ly/3Yuc0go
Just making sure that everyone is aware of this crab that NOAA scientists found
Two prime examples of glass objects found at Canosa: a moulded mosaic bowl with sections of multi-coloured glass canes and glass segments, and a vessel with gold decoration sandwiched between two perfectly fitting bowls.
British Museum, inv. 1871,0518.3 and 1871,0518.2🏺AncientBlueSky
An #IceAge masterpiece: the oldest known representation of a bird.
The small carving (4.7cm) of a water bird was made from mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago.
It's thought to be a diver, cormorant, or duck.Found in the Hohle Fels cave on the....🧵1/2
📷 @almbawue.bsky.social
🏺 #archaeology
Jousting armor for Gustav II Adolf's coronation
🌍 Swedish
⌛ 1617
🏺 Statens Historiska Museer
https://buff.ly/4h31uEG
Any nightmares lately?
This is a baku (獏), born from Chinese myth & reimagined in Japan as a dream-eater. By the 18th century, it was a sleep guardian—summoned with “Baku-san, eat my dream.” But beware: overuse might cost you hopes & desires.
Image: Baku, 18th c., @metmuseum.
NEW How did prehistoric people respond to natural disasters? New research suggests a volcanic eruption that blocked out the sun caused people in Neolithic Denmark to ritually sacrifice 'sun stones' to ensure a good harvest.
Strap in for a volcanic #AntiquityThread 1/14 🧵
Small sculpture of a Rakugoka
🌏 Japan
⌛ Mid-19th century
🏺 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
https://buff.ly/420gQ8B
Here are the contents of an elite Minoan burial on the island of Aegina. They date to between 1850-1550BC and show the skill, delicacy & beauty of Minoan craftsmanship. The jewellery is of the very finest quality - dazzling & breathtaking in equal measure.
🏛️BM
📷mine
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
Something lovely for the weekend! A very good boy! 🐾🐕😍
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping hunting dog opens and closes its mouth, as if barking, by using a lever below its chest. 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Earthenware pots in the shape of a noble and servant, both on horseback
🌏 Silla (Korea)
⌛ Early 6th century
🏺 National Museum of Korea
https://buff.ly/4gWUitA
Got to see this absolute unit of a building today.
#archeology 🏺
This closeup of an early 1st c. CE fresco from the Herculaneum palaestra shows a rare representation of a woman (human or muse) writing. She seems to be inscribing something below a tragic theater mask. Her hairstyle and garments seem very Greek. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/
#MANN (inv. 9019)
📸 me
An early #medival disc brooch decorated with animal interlace and masks forming a cross. From a woman's grave in Krautheim-Klepsau, late 6th century. During this period, the cross was often included in ornamental design. However, it can't always be clearly interpreted...🧵1/2
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
Lmao my mom diagnosing me with Ehlers-Danlos in my 20s
A few more of the often overlooked gems at Anatolian Civilizations Museum (lower floor, small display chamber, dim light): colorful Roman glassware.🏺
War and lion hunt scenes are awesome too, but I especially like the scenes from daily life of Hittites. Like on this orthostat from Kargamış, children playing knucklebones.🏺
The #Neolithic (-Chalcolithic) Cucuteni–Trypillia Culture can be obsessively fascinating for a lot of reasons, from figurative art to settlement (and social) organization, no detail's ever boring:
www.nature.com/articles/d41... - 🏺 Nature.com News Feature (7 January 2025) by Emma Morris
I can’t even try the cold medicine we have because it could react with my prescription 💀
So sick 😭 I get a new symptom or two every day lol
Beta blockers
On the green hills of Galilee, near Sepphoris, archaeologists uncovered a village mentioned by Josephus and Jewish texts—complete with its ancient synagogue. A window into history, faith, and life in the shadow of Sepphoris. 🌿🏺 #Archaeology #Galilee
A mummy portrait from #Roman #Egypt, depicting a dark-haired young woman dressed in red, wearing a gilded wreath around her head alongside other jewellery. We don't know her name, but the style of the portrait suggests she lived & died about 1900 years ago 🏺AncientBlueSky #Archaeology
Marble bust of Matidia, niece of Trajan, c. AD 120. Mother of Sabina (wife of Hadrian) and deified in AD 119, she was known for wearing a distinctive crown-like hairstyle, with a 'tower' bun to the back of the head and a diadem of hair arranged at the front.
🏺 British Museum GR 1805,7-3.96
📸 Mine
Gwion Gwion rock paintings
🌏 Aboriginal Australian
⌛ circa 10,000 BCE
🏺 Kimberly, Western Australia
https://buff.ly/425XL57
The bronze portrait of Seuthes III, along with three rooms filled with Thracian treasures, can be seen at the #GettyVilla during the run of its exhibition 'Ancient Thrace and the Classical World', running now through early March. Highly recommended! 🏺 3/
