Dr Eleri Cousins

View of the Whin Sill with Crag Lough in the distance. In the foreground, black cows are lying in a field. Much of the sky is blue but with big clouds floating around and a definite feel of possible rain.

Hadrian’s Wall and the Whin Sill viewed from Steel Rigg. With some lucky resident cows who I hope enjoy the view 🐄

📷 my own, taken today

Thank you!! 😍😍😍 That is wonderful to hear - I’ll pass it on to the students too 🥰

Having a nephew to occupy last week gave me just the excuse i needed to revisit @romanpalace.bsky.social

Now in some ways they need no introduction, they're kinda living legends round these parts but sometimes its nice to have other people say nice things about you
so: thread time 🧵👇

#MosaicMonday

🧵/10
The Medusa room, also a place where you can see the palimpsest of later Mosaics being laid over older designs

#MosaicMonday

😰😰😰

“The Thing from Site WF16”? 😅🫣

Forget Area 51 - site WF16 is clearly where it’s at!

Okay, the Levantine Neolithic is officially scaring the pants off me.

I still can’t get over how good this photo of Roman lead bullets taken by @arcdurham.bsky.social students Rowan Colley and Isla Mustin is 🥰.
They did amazing work on the trail I describe in this thread - please do check it out!

www.armittdigitaltrail.co.uk/roman-ambles...
#RomanFortThursday

Had an amazing time with The Armitt, and @nattrustarch.bsky.social . We loved meeting everyone who came along for the tours and got some fantastic feedback!

Dr Carolyn La Rocco: Female patronage in the late Roman and post-Roman west In this article, Dr Carolyn La Rocco (CDRF in Classics and Ancient History) discusses her research on female patronage in Late Antiquity (c. 250-750 CE).

A (very short) look at some of what I’m working on during my fellowship at St John’s: www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/res...

Not gonna lie, a significant part of my research and engagement agenda is basically centred on getting to spend time in the Lakes 😅😎

This looks great - hopefully going up to Ambleside next month, so will be keen to try this out! 👇😃

Obviously I’m biased, but they’ve done an amazing job with it - I’m in awe of how well they researched and wrote about the objects! And the route is lovely too, taking in the river and head of the lake on its way to the fort.

They’ve done a wonderful route that takes in the river as well on the way to the fort - please do take it and let me know what you think!

Rowan Colley giving trail tours in Ambleside Roman Fort

A group listens to a trail tour by Rowan Colley in Ambleside Roman Fort

The trail was officially launched last weekend as part of The Armitt and @nattrustarch.bsky.social’s Ambleside Roman Fort open day for the #FestivalOfArchaeology, with Rowan and @aliceeliz.bsky.social giving trail tours to the public, supported by an @ics.bsky.social public engagement grant.

You can read The Armitt’s Roman Ambleside digital trail entry on the sling bullets and our knowledge of the so-called Battle of Ambleside here, researched and written by @arcdurham.bsky.social student Isla Mustin

#RomanFortThursday

www.armittdigitaltrail.co.uk/lead-bullets

Professional photograph of lead sling bullets from Roman Ambleside, taken by Durham archaeology students Rowan Colley and Isla Mustin. The bullets are cream coloured. Some are lemon-shaped, and others are more hastily formed blobs.

And here is the final photo for the trail itself 😱 Recent work by Edinburgh Uni and @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social suggests the sling bullets, all found scattered extramurally, are evidence for at least one battle outside the fort between the Roman army and the local population.
#RomanFortThursday

Rowan Colley photographing lead sling bullets from the Armitt’s collections

They also got the chance to learn about object photography - many of the trail photographs are their own work 🤩 - and get embedded in The Armitt’s ongoing collections audit. Here is Rowan photographing lead sling bullets from The Armitt’s collections…

#RomanFortThursday

Rowan Colley, Isla Mustin and Faye Morissey discussing the tombstone of Flavius Fuscinus and Flavius Romanus, held in The Armitt

Rowan and Isla taking photographs at Ambleside Roman Fort

Isla and Rowan spent two weeks in Ambleside with me and the Armitt curator, Faye Morissey, researching the objects, designing the trail route, and writing the trail text, as part of their @arcdurham.bsky.social
Advanced Professional Training module

#RomanFortThursday

View of the principia at Ambleside, under a bright blue sky with Windermere in the background. Two students stand in the principia taking pictures.

The trail highlights 13 objects from The Armitt’s collections from Ambleside Roman Fort, introducing visitors to life in a Roman auxiliary fort and vicus and to Roman occupation of the Lake District.

www.armittdigitaltrail.co.uk/roman-ambles...

#RomanFortThursday #Archaeology #LakeDistrict

So delighted to announce the official launch of The Armitt’s new digital trail through Roman Ambleside! The trail was developed by our fabulous @arcdurham.bsky.social 2nd-years Rowan Colley and Isla Mustin, with initial work by LU student Bastien Hamilton… 🧵

#RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain 🏺

I'm knackered after a full day of travelling yesterday, so let's do this.

One like, one curse tablet.

A horned god with spear and shield - a local god from Roman Maryport in Cumbria. The relief is now part of the collections at Senhouse Roman Museum at Maryport. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain #SenhouseRomanMuseum

My former colleagues at Lancaster are facing grave redundancy threats: 1 in 4 jobs are at risk, after already enduring hugely increased workload through staff departures and voluntary severance and major admin and curriculum changes over the last two years. Please consider signing/supporting them.

Gold bust of Marcus Aurelius from Avenches. The mustachioed and bearded emperor looks straight ahead with heavy-lidded eyes. An image of the gorgon sits on his breastplate.

View of the white limestone column of the Sanctuaire du Cigognier at Avenches on a sunny cloudless day (with another reconstructed column in the distance).

The Sanctuaire du Cigognier is best known as the find spot of this spectacular gold bust of Marcus Aurelius, and was likely dedicated in part to the imperial cult.
Cigognier means “stork’s nest” - after its sole surviving column! 🪺🏛️🏺

Bust 📷 © Site et Musée romains d'Avenches
Column 📷 my own

View of the exterior corner of the church of Ste-Marie-Madeleine in Avenches. Most of the church is built of greyish brown stone, and the exterior is plain. But at the bottom corner an extravagant piece of carved Roman masonry in white limestone sticks out, with coffered cornices and egg-and-dart motifs on the modillion.

Spot the Roman bit…

(Entablature fragment from the Sanctuaire du Cigognier at Avenches, Switzerland, built into the medieval church Ste-Marie-Madeleine. 📷 My own )
🏺 #archaeology

Ambleside Roman Fort under a bright blue sky with Lake Windermere visible in the background

The trail tours are launching The Armitt’s new digital trail of Roman Ambleside, designed by our students this spring (more on this next week!), and have been generously supported by an @ics.bsky.social public engagement grant 🥰

Ambleside Roman Fort open day 2025 <p>Get hands-on at Ambleside Roman Fort on this special open day including stalls, walk and talks, demonstrations and reenactments.

If you’re in the South Lakes tomorrow, head to Ambleside Roman Fort for the @nationaltrust.org.uk and The Armitt’s free #FestivalOfArchaeology open day! Our amazing @arcdurham.bsky.social students will be doing trail tours as part of the festivities - and there’s a ballista, apparently…

You can spot the St Andrews years books on my shelves through the sheer density of hardbacks. Never have I been so frequently seduced by a new books table in my life. I genuinely had to promise my husband I’d stop 😭