nelbetancur

The photo was taken underwater. It shows a partially uncovered mosaic on the ground of the sea and a fish swimming above it.

For #MosaicMonday this fantastic photo of a mosaic (and a lovely fish 🐟) that was discovered in the submerged ruins of #Roman Baiae.

Photo: Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei

Circular clay tablet with three lines of cuneiform text across the middle. Modern ID in ink at the bottom reads UET 6/225

"The dog understands: 'Take it!' It does not understand: 'Put it down!'" True 3,900 years ago when a young Mesopotamian scribe copied the proverb onto a round school tablet; still true today! #cuneiform #Mesopotamia #dogs Tablet: BM U.17207.77, CDLI P346305; sculpture: Louvre AO 4349, CDLI P386356

FBI returns stolen Hernán Cortés manuscript to Mexico The FBI has returned a priceless manuscript page signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to Mexico.

The FBI has returned a priceless manuscript page signed by Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes to Mexico.

No Country for Travellers? No Country for Travellers? explores the rise and nature of British travel to Spain and Portugal between 1760 and 1820, across a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to...

Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thc British travellers to Spain and Portugal, and I'm really happy it's now free to download here: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun... (hard copies also available!) #skystorians #c18th

2,178 Occult Books Now Digitized & Put Online, Thanks to the Ritman Library and Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown In 2018 we brought you some exciting news.

2,178 Occult Books Now Digitized & Put Online, Thanks to the Ritman Library and Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown

A lock of hair may have just changed what we know about life in the Incan Empire Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.

Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.

A dragon's head made of bronze, with an open mouth showing sharp, jagged teeth, textured scales along the face, a pronounced ridge along the top, a visible nostril and eye, and evident interior space suggesting it is not solid.

#RomanFortThursday: The only surviving draco, a standard of the #Roman cavalry. The dragon's head was mounted on a post with a long and colourful fabric tail. It probably had a device in the opening of the mouth for making a (hissing?) noise. Found in the fort of Niederbieber...🧵1/2

🏺 #archaeology

Jeff Wall, Insomnia, 1994, transparency in lightbox, 172.2 x 213.5 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, © Jeff Wall. Source

#JeffWall #Photoconceptualism #Art #ArtHistory #Insomnia #Photography #ConceptualArt #ModernArt #ContemporaryArt #CanadianArt #KunsthaleHamburg

A Roman mosaic depicting an owl with wide eyes, brown and red body, and blue feet, set against a cream-colored background with a black geometric border. The owl looks a bit deranged.

Apparently, it's #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay!
Here is my favourite #owl, depicted on a #Roman mosaic found in Uzès southern France, dating second half of the 1st century BC.

📷 Denis Gliksman, Inrap

Anna Atkins, Alaria esculenta (1849) and Ulva latissima (1853), from Photographs of British Algae, 1843–53. Cyanotypes.
Spencer Collection, New York Public Library.

#AnnaAtkins #Cyanotype #BotanicalSpecimen #PioneeringPhotographer #PhotoglyphicEngraving

50 Jobs in the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net Explore 50 real jobs from the Middle Ages—illustrated in a rare 15th-century manuscript from Nuremberg, showing medieval workers at their trades.

50 Jobs in the Middle Ages, illustrated in a rare 15th-century manuscript from Nuremberg, showing medieval workers at their trades. www.medievalists.net/2025/08/50-j...

Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Beautiful Digital Edition of the Poet’s Pressed Plants & Flowers Is Now Online So many writers have been gardeners and have written about gardens that it might be easier to make a list of those who didn’t. But even in this crowded company, Emily Dickinson stands out.

Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Beautiful Digital Edition of the Poet’s Pressed Plants & Flowers Is Now Online

Mary K. Gaillard, 86, Physicist Who Probed the Subatomic Universe, Dies

Mary K Gaillard, a theorist who had a knack for telling experimental physicists where to look, died in her home on May 23 at 86.

Dr. Gaillard was an unpaid scientist at CERN for more than a decade, & the first woman physicist hired & tenured at Berkeley:

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

Pottery vessel with a round body and narrow neck, featuring several handles and a string. The pottery is displayed on a white stand in a museum setting, with a blurred nature-themed backdrop behind it.

#FindsFriday! Pottery vessel with five handles and remnants of a string, found in a Neolithic well in Altscherbitz, Saxony, dating 5100-5000 BC.
Multiple intact vessels have been discovered within the well. They may have been intentionally placed there ...🧵 1/2

📷 me
#archaeology 🏺

Inside an ancient tomb, with high stone walls on three sides above dark chambers at ground level

#TombTuesday Inside Quoyness Chambered Cairn on the island of Sanday in #Orkney

Built around 3000BC in the Maeshowe style, excavations in 1867 found the skeletal remains of at least 14 people buried in these side-chambers!

📸 Mine

#archaeology #scotland #ancientbritain #photooftheday

Helen Levitt
American, 1913–2009
Woman and dog in window, 1972
Manhattan, New York

#HelenLevitt #StreetPhotography #DocumentaryPhotography

Hundreds of medieval medical manuscripts now accessible Over the course of the last three years, the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project has been enhancing the discoverability of medieval medical recipes in historic library collections across the ...

"In total, 190 manuscripts have been conserved, catalogued and digitised. More than 7,000 pages of medieval medical recipes are now freely displayed on the Cambridge Digital Library."

www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...

Wawiriya Burton, Ngayuku ngura - My Country, 2012
Indigenous Australian, Pitjantjatjara (1928-2021)
Acrylic on linen
1525 x 1980mm

A lovely little bronze #Roman mouse figurine, shown holding a morsel of food in his little front paws (a nut or seed maybe?), perhaps about to take a little nibble from it. It is about 1900-2000 years old 🐭

(📷 Christie's) 🏺 AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

Aerial view of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, showing its long, rectangular layout with one rounded end. Built on the site of the ancient Stadium of Domitian, the square features three fountains, including the central Fountain of the Four Rivers with an obelisk, surrounded by historic buildings.

#RomanSiteSaturday: The Piazza Navona in #Rome was built on the remains of the Stadium of Domitian, therefore it has its unique shape.

📷 Valentino Ligori via IG

#archaeology 🏺

A view into the tomb, showing various pottery vessels

A view into the tomb, in the background archaeologists at work

New discovery: Archaeologists have uncovered a rare, intact Etruscan chamber tomb – a discovery hailed as one of the most significant finds in recent decades for understanding the ancient pre-Roman civilization. 

news.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2...

🏺

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72.
Photo Wolfgang Volz.

Georgia O'Keeffe
Wave, Night, 1928

Wawiriya Burton, senior Indigenous Australian artist and healer who, in collaboration with her daughters, painted Mingkiri Tjukurpa, 2011, referencing a sacred story from Western Australia #WomensArt

A flint knife featuring a curved stone blade secured into a wooden handle using black birch tar adhesive. The dark handle has a small perforation at one end. The tool is displayed on a neutral surface, showing the craftsmanship and natural materials used.

A more than 5,550-year-old well-preserved #Neolithic knife. The blade is crafted from flint and secured in a wooden handle using birch tar. Furthermore, the handle features a hole, intended for attaching a cord.
From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology

A dark forest that is absolutely filled with the yellow light of thousands of fireflies.

Synchronous Fireflies at Elkmont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fireflies don't synchronize their flashes, they synchronize lights off so they can look for receptive females. So they'll flash, flash, flash and all go dark at once. #Fireworks
(Photinus carolinus)

Cover of The Sage Handbook of Decolonial Theory with an image of Palestinian Tartreez

Anyhoo, this will be the last post preceding actual publication at the end of this month. Please order it for your libraries. It's been a long-drawn process but totally worth it.
A preview is available on the site, under the rubric 'major work' in cultural theory.

uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/th...