Catherine Swift

I find asking students to write about something which must be related to monument in their local barony helps a bit but is not a complete solution. (But the difference in style between AI derived paragraphs and others is often very clear.😀)

Major Congratulations!

Breaking New Ground: sharing archaeological discoveries from Moray - Elgin Museum When: September 13, 2025 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Where: Alexander Graham Bell Centre for Digital Health (AGBC) at UHI Moray, Hay Street, Elgin, IV30 1JJ Breaking New Ground: sharing archaeological...

Elgin Museum's archaeology conference has an excellent line-up of speakers and papers, including @northernpicts.bsky.social's Burghead update, Loch Spynie through time, Covesea caves, metalwork and Celtic art, iron production in Agricolan-era Moray... In-person and online, tickets from £5.

Applications are invited for two positions of Lexicographer in the Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge (FNG), a research programme of the Royal Irish Academy.

Find out more:
www.ria.ie/about/careers/vacancy-two-lexicographer-posts-with-focloir-stairiuil-na-gaeilge/

#DublinJobs #JobFairy #IrishJobs

Hope someone takes a crack at ChatGPT next. These companies are fundamentally built on theft.

Birds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks Larks and other bird species are flourishing in Germany’s solar parks, where breeding success exceeds that of many other habitats. These PV project sites are becoming valuable refuges, benefiting both...

@bnenews.bsky.socialBirds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks www.pv-magazine.com/2025/06/05/b...

Translated Text: Pseudo-Eligius, Homilies, no. I A charter, I always say, is like a legal document crossed with a sermon. (Sometimes, it actually is a sermon.) As you might imagine, I’d like to do more with actual sermons; but political sermonisi…

This week's source translation: a tenth-century Carolingian sermon gives advice for life and politics to... well, everyone.

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/t...

In honour of Simon's #FindsFriday post, I managed to excavate my 🧵 from the bad site:

In 1865, in a field outside the village of Pîtres, a road worker stumbled on a pair of Viking Age oval brooches (type R.657, c. 850-900 CE), typically used as shoulder clasps on Scandinavian-style dresses.

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initial 'F'(uit) at the beginning of 1 Kings (1 Samuel) depicting the fight between the youth David and Goliath.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 003; The Dover Bible, Volume I; 12th century; f.115v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social
@corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Iron age hoard found in North Yorkshire could change Britain’s history More than 800 objects unearthed near Melsonby show the north was ‘definitely not a backwater’ 2,000 years ago

The Melsonby assemblage (not a hoard). 28 (smallish) wheels and 14 harnesses, so potentially seven 4-wheeled carts (2 ponies each). If right then Early Iron Age tradition, as vessel might suggest. Out of fashion in Gaul by 450 BC, slightly later here perhaps.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

This is a great opportunity for younger archaeologist to present their research during National Heritage Week 2025

An important question (and not only for the Middle Ages - government, and no end of communities struggle to get their heads around this, today, too).

Chair in Divinity at St Andrews... with door open for #medieval (I think) #medievalsky

www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

an early medieval ringfort, looking over green countryside towards distant mountains

The King's Fort • Derry

This is one of the best preserved ringforts in Ulster.

It likely dates to some time between the 6th-11th century.

It is situated on the southern slopes of Benbradagh, commanding spectacular views over Drumsurn in County Derry.

#SpéirGhorm #Archaeology 🏺

Thank you!

Historiated initial 'L'(ibrum) at the beginning of the preface to the book of Esther.

BnF MS Latin 116; Biblia Latina, pars II; 12th century; Chartres; f.65v @gallicabnf.bsky.social

New paperbacks in the 'Classical Islamic History and Culture' series, published by the good folks at @edinburghup.bsky.social 👇🏻

I'm convinced *far* more prehistoric forest loss was due to livestock preventing regrowth than people cutting down trees.

But because a tree seedling getting eaten by a sheep goes unnoticed, so does the resulting deforestation, over 100s of years.

Could you post details of the edition and/or previous commentary please? Marie Therese Flanagan has published on relevance of Truce of God movement to 12thC Irish Church and this sounds very germane.

Remembrance I’m writing this on Remembrance Sunday while it pours with rain, all very reminiscent of the numerous church parades of my youth (just how many layers could you get under a Brownie dress? How…

I'm drafting my inuaugral lecture today and have a section on the penitential ordinance, a very interesting document from 170 that deals with the aftermath of conquest. You can read about it here from an old post 1/ #medievalsky #https://normanlandscapes.wordpress.com/2023/11/12/remembrance/

Trump's tariffs threaten Canada's food security. It's time to go local. OPINION | Canada has the land, the farmers and the resources to build thriving local food economies. What’s missing is the political will.

Trump's tariffs threaten Canada's food security. It's time to go local #foodsecurity #Canada #tariffs #DonaldTrump #shoplocal www.corporateknights.com/food-beverag...

The RIA is on Bluesky

The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll.

The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll. Occupied since the Iron Age, the fort was a major centre for the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata from around AD 500 to AD 800. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #IronAge #Medieval #Dunadd #Argyll

Detail from Latin-English-Gaelic dictionary, compiled c.1712-1730

A Latin-English-Gaelic dictionary begun in 1712 by Father Francis Walsh of Dublin. It was purchased by Marsh's around 1743 for £20. We went with the entry on trees as it's #NationalTreeWeek as well as #SeachtainnaGaeilge!

See the full manuscript on ISOS: www.isos.dias.ie/MARSH/MS_Z_3...

In 'Cogadh Gaedel re Gallaib' (12th century saga about Battle of Clontarf) the word scelbocodech is a compound from scell 'shield boss' loaned from Old Norse skjöldr 'shield' + boccóitech meaning embossed. So I take it to refer to ornamented shield bosses used in battle #medievalsky 1/2

A zoom in on a manuscript page. On the left some text is visible and on the right, in a geometric and floral frame there is a monk at a writing desk. The tones are green and red with a blue robe of the monk.

"The image of the painter and illuminator of this work.
Hugh the painter"

Hugh, the 11th century artist of Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 717, goes meta and paints himself at work on the manuscript itself.

Reconstruction of a Gravettian burial of a Child - Lapedo Child, found in Portugal in 1998. It was the first individual ever to be thought as a Neanderthal / Sapiens hybrid due to its anatomical features. A theory that was not fully accepted at the time, 10 years before the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced.

*** WARNING CONTENT: HUMAN REMAINS ***
🏺 In 1998 the burial of a child was found in a shelter in Lagar Velho (#Portugal). A decade before the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, its skeleton was thought to be evidence for a Neanderthal/Sapiens hybrid.. Image: Nuno Farinha / Museu de Leiria
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Rhynie Man carries an axe over his shoulder, has a large nose and sharp teeth bared in a grimace.

A 6ft Pictish stone engraved with an axe-wielding figure was ploughed up by farmer Kevin Alston at Barflat, near Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, #OTD in 1978. ‘Rhynie Man’ is believed to date from the 5/6thC.

Words on the Wave: Ireland and St. Gallen in Early Medieval Europe | Archaeology | National Museum of Ireland Discover how science, art, archaeology and the study of script help reveal the links between Ireland and Europe

Words on the Wave is a historic exhibition of Irish manuscripts from St Gall, Switzerland, coming on loan to the National Museum. Some of these will return to Ireland for the first time in 1,000 years! Opens 30 May 2025. Further info to follow… www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum... mira.ie/index.php?pa...