Dr Edward Stewart

Congratulations Alasdair! Sounds like such a cool post.

Empowering Young People Through Archaeology – Big Give We want to offer more opportunities for young people and their communities to participate in archaeology to help bridge the …

We're down to the last few hours! ⏱️

#ChristmasChallenge 🎄 donation window closes tomorrow: 12:00 noon. Tremendous response over the last week 🙏 and the #BigGive means that every £1 generously given is matched to £2.

Any/all kindness makes a huge difference to a young person ✨ tinyurl.com/y96zpbps

[Since you now restrict replies on all posts to those you follow, I'll respond here]
I've critiqued your use of inaccurate #AI depictions for #scicomm because they're potentially misleading, esp out of context.
Contra your ethics statement, you're still not labelling AI, & ignore peer critique

Re-upping this because I undersold it and I'm practicing representing myself better. I really like my blog. Some of my favourite thoughts are there. Yes, I need to tidy it, but if you like me & what I post here, you'll like the 6 posts of this thread & you'll know me better for reading them.

You can check out our latest Glencoe project blog here by the wonderful Leonore Kitt. In this post Leonore talks about her recent experiences with Meike van Lit exploring our soil samples for bulk density and elemental analysis.

glencoeandrannochenvirons.wordpress.com/2025/11/30/i...

Found this outcrop of iron corrosion consuming its source artefacts to form an almost geological strata at Loch Long Torpedo range a few weeks ago. Within the spreading mass links of chain, hinges and brackets are distinct as they ‘melt’ into the rusty conglomerate.

This is absolutely amazing - looks like such a cool exhibition - congratulations!!!

Crafting the Past Among our finds from the Summerhouse of MacIain were an assemblage of spindle whorls. These are hoop shapes, in this case cast in lead, which were used to spin fibres into thread. These would be us…

You can check out our latest @nts-archaeology.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social Glencoe Archaeology Project blog post , 'crafting the past' here: glencoeandrannochenvirons.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/c...

You have one week left to submit abstracts for the 2026 @postmedarch.bsky.social Congress!

The conference is in May next year, hosted at Reading University, UK.

Share your fascinating research with international delegates!

Important stuff from @eddiecstewart.bsky.social with applications to stuff I'm writing about perceptions of early medieval island church sites as well - big recommend

@clydevalleyarf.bsky.social

We’re out at New College Motherwell today for #DYW Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire’s STEM fest.

Students from local high schools in Motherwell, Bellshill and Wishaw will have the chance to explore how archaeologists reconstruct past lives and diets, and contribute their Q’s to #CVARF
🏺

In case you missed it during Halloween shenanigans this weekend…

@urbanprehistorian.bsky.social I see the ‘Glasglow’ at the botanics this year features some throwbacks to @glasgowgardenfestival.org! There’s also a set of doors in the GGF colours and an arch of flowers, a hot air balloon, and a mini uppy-down-ride?

It's 4 whole months since we last posted about our Greater #Glasgow Heritage & History starter pack, created waaaay back to make it easier for folk to find local nourishment here... 💚 New additions inc @clydevalleyarf.bsky.social @weesue7.bsky.social @mininglandscapes.bsky.social go.bsky.app/M4Dezri

I’ll be talking on our @nts-archaeology.bsky.social and @uofgartshums.bsky.social project!

An archaeology of life before and after the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe To celebrate International Archaeology Day, join Dr Edward C Stewart, Archaeology Scotland as he talks about recent excavations at Glencoe

@archscot.bsky.social You can (digitally) catch me talking about the archaeology of Glencoe and the stories we've uncovered from three seasons of excavations as part of the AIA International Archaeology Day here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-archaeo...

See my immediate thought on this was to remember one time I went off for an 8-week field season and returning to my flat at the end found a half mug of tea, I’d clearly abandoned on my dash to the airport taxi, which had reached a similar level of chunkiness to a Boba…

You’ve reminded me my viva was also a year ago today! Funny thought.

Absolutely! I’d love to have that chat! I carried out some local community workshops (partnered with the local folk museum) as part of this research to explore those themes a little more - hoping to get them written up this year.

I don’t mean to present in the article a cure for all of our modern crises… however I argue we should be thinking critically about how we represent these landscapes and how this can shape popular perceptions and policy around their futures. As you say their is much naivety within rewilding debates!

That’s not to say we should tear up the Moor to churn out iron, but, we can perhaps imagine new ways (or old ways) of using these landscapes which support both increasing their biodiversity and their productivity for human communities. Be this through high-nature-value farming, sustainable forestry…

This I’d argue is an important step in truly tackling climate change - as much of Scotland’s carbon emissions result for transport and the import of materials, localising production (of food among other things) across the country has the potential to significantly reduce our carbon footprints.

What I argue (as an archaeologist) is that we can look to the past to consider how upland landscapes have been made productive and sustaining in past, to challenge the dominance of the ‘wild land’ in policy, and imagine alternative productive futures for our uplands.

Housing shortages (in our current largely uncontrolled market for short term lets/holiday homes) and often as I argue prevents genuine local development (in housing/industry) to preserve an aesthetic desired by the visitor (‘wildness’), while providing jobs which are either seasonal or specialist.

I think there’s a balance to be struck, but, some of the clear issues forcing depopulation in many of these regions are a lack of (non-seasonal) sustainable employment and a lack of housing, the promise of rewilding to provide tourism jobs then does nothing to alleviate this, in fact it worsens…

Wicked Wild Wastes? - Edinburgh University Press Blog Dr Edward Stewart challenges contemporary notions of rewilding, suggesting an alternative future for Scotland's 'wild' places.

Could contemporary rewilding represent an act of marginalisation? 

@eddiecstewart.bsky.social looks to the past to suggest an alternative future for Scotland's 'wild' places in a new EUP blog post 👉

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the politics of land in Scotland

‘A repopulating archaeology

By presenting the Highland landscape as ecologically desolate & culturally empty, it is easy then to argue for these already marginalised landscapes to form the frontline of Scotland’s

Repeopling vrs Rewilding is an unhelpful polarisation of views in contemporary land regeneration debates. Reintroducing past social, env. & economic complexity can open up new conversations & options.

A topic central to my current research & taken up brilliantly here by @eddiecstewart.bsky.social:

Wicked Wild Wastes? Challenging Wildness through Repopulating Approaches to Archaeological Narratives in Scottish Highland Landscapes | The Scottish Historical Review This article will explore a repopulating approach as a means of producing archaeological and historical narratives of upland land use in the Scottish Highlands which go beyond tired notions of margina...

You can find the full article (open access) here, thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...