Martyn Barber

A line drawing of a Bronze Age rapier, showing front and side views, plus some cross-sections. The pointy end is at the bottom, with the flattish end of the butt at the top. The sides broaden out slightly from the butt, before gradually narrowing to the tip. The maximum length is circa 49 centimetres, and the widest part of the butt end is about 6 centimetres.

Fortunately the much less impressive 'Kent/Essex' weapon was in my study area, so that provided an excuse to handle it (with care, obvs). I've just realised this was 1990, so I may need a drink.

It was so much more impressive than anything I'd booked in to look at.

I was visiting the BM to look at bronzes on the day that arrived - unboxing videos weren't a thing way back then, sadly.

So... we're a case study for reception theory? I have a reception theory about the author of this.

Anyway, next time someone asks me what I do, I'll just say I operate within a parallel epistemology without seeking validation from academic institutions.

It's been reprinted a lot - I have a 1990s copy somewhere.

Exciting news! 🎨

For the first time in 200 years, John Constable’s 'A View of Salisbury from Harnham' will go on public display at The Salisbury Museum.

It is on long term loan from a private collection and will be displayed from June 2026, marking the artist’s 250th anniversary.

Making the Museum

Publication day! Here's a zine about copying, replicating and making in museums that I've been working on with some lovely friends from the Imperfect Bound Collective (find them on Instagram @imperfectboundcollective).

www.prm.ox.ac.uk/making-museu...

YouTube video by Cops Campaign DPP Keir Starmer says 'no systemic problem' with spycops deceiving courts - Newsnight 6 Dec 2011

This daming clip from 2011 hasn't been online for years. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer lying on Newsnight about the fact that the Corwn Prosecution Service colluded with police to secure dozens of wrongful convictions of activists targeted by #spycops 🧵
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqGq...

Should anyone be interested, my note about Guy Underwood's early interest in dowsing is a free download: ‘From sceptic to convert' in Guardian Angel: The Journal of the Bradford Preservation Society Trust, Winter 2025, pp. 20-22.

share.google/CP20m07TLCx1...

Excited that my volume on the Early Bronze Age coffined burial from Tetney is now published open access by @antiquaries.bsky.social! Now everyone can read about this amazing find dated to 2032 BC and containing an amazing array of environmental and artefactual data.
library.oapen.org/viewer/web/v...

This is well worth a read. In the meantime, I've got an app to download...

Amazing stuff. Somehow I managed to guess the source of the idea before clicking on your link...

Frankenstein, if it was more of a how-to guide.

A black and white photo featuring on the left, Vera Lynn looking like she would rather be anywhere else. To her right, with an arm around her, is Dave Brock of Hawkwind. Behind him is a caravan.

It's been a while since this one was posted - Dave Brock of Hawkwind with Vera Lynn and a caravan.

A colour photo looking across a grass field towards a slope featuring the Marlborough white horse, a figure created by exposing the chalk to create an outline figure that resembles a horse. In the foreground is a set of goalposts at a slight angle to the camera. The lines of the posts broadly resemble the outline of the chalk figure.

Hmmmm...

Waiting...

I’m Heading In… Reflecting Upon Engaging with Paul Nash’s Archive at Tate Britain PAUL NASH – TATE ARCHIVES: JANUARY 2026: As I am handed the box, my pulse quickens. I am literally holding Paul Nash’s photographs of Maiden Castle, the Uffington White Horse, and Avebury in my han…

A new blogpost has landed…
🙂
practisesmakeplaces.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/i...

One time (in the 90s) at the BM when I was looking at bronzes, there was a student studying Iron Age swords. He asked if anyone had done analysis of the blades to look for traces of blood. Ian Kinnes, who happened to be passing, said that if there was, it would be from the previous student.

Just winding down here... I'll sign off with Poxy Music.

Tangerine Bream

Bog Country

The Stale Council

Johnny Kidd and the Pilates (Shakin' All Overrrrrr)

VOLE can be misheard. Got stared at.

Nuns'n'Roses

Nose Tattoo

YouTube video by q Unidentified Song ("Yodel Punk")

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q_X...

Ruin a band by changing one letter.

New Yodel Army

Boy Division.

I'm leaving The Cult alone.

Cheap Truck