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David

@archaeomather.bsky.social

5.5K followers 1.5K following 5K posts

Minnesota environmental archaeologist, writer & terrible gardener - always researching the archaeology of bear ceremonialism, obsessed with museums, historical designations & monuments

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David @archaeomather.bsky.social · Jul 29

Motel at sunset - should be the Sunset Motel but I think it’s the Viking instead- in Montevideo, Minnesota, right after the storm. There is lightning across the eastern sky, and this to the west.

Motel sign against a vibrant sunset.

Reposted by David

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 1d

The Peale mastodon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2021.

It’s the 1st mounted fossil skeleton displayed in the US (1805), and 2nd worldwide. Its original viewers didn’t know about evolution. Even extinction was a new concept. More fossils interpreted as history and art, please! #FossilFriday

Mastodon skeleton with long tusks on a gravel bed between two white columns in an art gallery. Seen from the front.

Same from passenger side rear view

Same from driver side rear view. Red curtain entrance to exhibit is visible from
This angle

Reposted by David

Marcus Brandel @lostbones.bsky.social · 1d

🦥 #FossilFriday P68.40.1 - the rarest Minnesota fossil I’ve ever held in my hand: an ungual phalanx of #Megalonyxjeffersoni (Giant #GroundSloth). Discovered in a pile of excavated peat, this individual toe claw remains the singular specimen of this animal found in the state.
#Pleistocene #Fossil

Discovered in the late 1960s by a City of Minneapolis Park Board Department worker in a pile of excavated peat, this individual toe claw remains the singular specimen of this animal found in the state and is now in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s collection.

Plate 2 from: Erickson, Bruce R. (1968). A Claw of Megalonyx (Ground Sloth) from Minnesota. In Volume 1: Paleontology, pp. 1–8.

Plate 1 from: Erickson, Bruce R. (1968). A Claw of Megalonyx (Ground Sloth) from Minnesota. In Volume 1: Paleontology, pp. 1–8.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

The cat’s playing with one (1) of them right now so it seems like a good investment

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

Just 1, he really likes catnip mice

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

Friday night in St. Paul, baby!

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

I counted and there are 183,362 catnip mice in our house

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

Sounds like you are though

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

Our autumn colors are slow this year

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 1d

Maple leaves above us at lunchtime

Looking up into the crown of a maple tree.

Reposted by David

Chris Seddon @chrisseddon.bsky.social · 1d

There's something quite beautiful about Sir Mortimer Wheeler's box-system excavations at Maiden Castle. Such a fantastic photograph!

Image Rights: Society of Antiquaries (held at Historic England Archive)

#archaeology 🏺 #photography

An historic black & white image of the box excavations at Maiden Castle during Sir Mortimer Wheeler's excavations in 1937. Image Rights: Society of Antiquaries (held at Historic England Archive)

Reposted by David

Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 1d

Pine Marten, Shelly Perkins.

Pine marten on a branch. Painting.

Reposted by David

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 2d

#OnThisDay Oct 9, 1949: The Leif Erikson statue is dedicated on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol on "Leif Erikson Day." The monument was part of a Scandinavian American campaign to credit their ancestors - and definitely not Christopher Columbus - with the “discovery” of North America.

A 13' high bronze statue of a viking holding a sword stands atop a tall marble plinth. The white dome of the Minnesota State Capitol is in the background.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”

Maid Marian from the Disney “Robin Hood,” a
total fox.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

The Minnesota State Capitol today

Large domed buildings of white marble with a large tree turning to autumn colors.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

He’s wearing giant shoes as the statue in the park, which was installed just two years later, in 1978. I’m mystified by the viewing platform between his legs, directly under the opening of his tiny (although still giant) leafy tunic.

Avert your eyes from the Jolly Green Giant’s nether regions that are barely covered by his green costume. Or if you do not wish to avert your eyes, you can stand on the viewing platform between his feet and look straight up.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

The Jolly Green Giant did not have shoes until 1976: lore I learned yesterday at the JGG Museum in Blue Earth.

Museum display with pictures of the Jolly Green Giant, saying that he first appeared in ads wearing shoes in 1976.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

Shadow of the Jolly Green Giant yesterday over Green Giant Statue Park in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

A park with grass and sidewalks with a prominent shadow of the giant with his wide stance and hands on hips.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 3d

Autumnal bur oak leaves, yesterday on Blue Mound in southwestern Minnesota

Oak leaves still on the tree, in shades of green, orange, and brown.

Reposted by David

Wendy O'Rourke @wendyo.bsky.social · 4d

Filles de Kilimanjaro III (Miles Davis) by Kazuya Sakai (1976)

This acrylic on canvas is part of Sakai's Ondulaciones (Undulations) series.
The title is a homage to the 1968 Miles Davis album of the same name. Multicolored swirls on a green background.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

Big prairie moon

A full moon rising.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

Compass Plant dying back for the year in a late season prairie, luminous in the late afternoon sun.

A pale leaf amid prairie grass backlit by the setting sun.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

I found a feather tonight on the prairie and left it there. Anyone know who it belonged to?

A striped feather.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

Looook at my loooonng legs

My shadow near dusk with really long legs.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

I’m almost (but not quite) in South Dakota so I’m having chislek for supper in a bar.

David @archaeomather.bsky.social · 5d

After work, enjoying a long hike in the prairie at Blue Mounds State Park

A mowed path through an expanse of tall prairie grass in southwestern Minnesota.