Durotriges Dig
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durotrigesdig.bsky.social
Durotriges Dig
@durotrigesdig.bsky.social
Investigating the Iron Age and Roman period in SW Britain. Bournemouth University #HillfortsWednesday Posts (mostly) by Miles Russell
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Hello, we're the Durotriges Project 👋

If you're here for updates on prehistoric Dorset, archaeology info or just to look at pictures of Iron Age / Roman artefacts, we hope you'll find something of interest

#Durotriges25

⚠️ warning: may contain random references to #DoctorWho and #HypocaustGate
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
On another damp, fog-bound day here in the Pennines, I thought I’d share a few of the lustrous fragments of Saxon glass that I've just submitted for publication. Deposited in the early 8th century AD, they still sparkle with joy 1,300 years later 🏺✨
February 10, 2026 at 12:01 PM
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And in other news, thanks to Storm Chandra, our colleagues from @bournemouthuni.bsky.social Maritime Archaeology have found a part of the Fame of Hoorn, an armed Dutch merchant ship that sank in 1631

#Archaeology

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Timbers from 17th Century shipwreck appear on Dorset beach
Experts believe timbers found at Studland Beach form a missing piece of the Swash Channel wreck from 1631.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
It's probably a bit early in the day / week to be thinking about wine...

but here's an exquisite little tessellated cantharus (wine cup) with S-shape handles

Detail from the Oceanus Mosaic found in 1931 and now in the excellent Verulamium Museum @stalbansmuseums.bsky.social

Happy #MosaicMonday 🍷
February 9, 2026 at 7:43 AM
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February 9, 2026 at 6:38 PM
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New paper from Adam Morley shows that some vegetation anomalies in multi-spectral satellite data correlate with geophysical data, and can be used to identify buried archaeological structures like tunnels and drains, with examples from Cornwall and Normandy.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
February 8, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Starting the week with some oatmeal? #OatmealMonday
Analysis of the gut contents of the Tollund Man, an Iron Age body from Denmark preserved in a peat bog, found his last meal was a barley porridge. Was this ordinary fare or related to ritual practices?

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology
The last meal of Tollund Man: new analyses of his gut content
The last meal of Tollund Man, a bog body from Early Iron Age Denmark, has been re-examined using new analyses of plant macrofossils, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, steroid markers and proteins found in his gut. Some 12–24 hours before he was killed, he ate a porridge containing barley, pale persicaria and flax, and probably some fish.
doi.org
February 9, 2026 at 8:13 AM
Very pleased to have @bournemouthuni.bsky.social research on Geoffrey of Monmouth featured in the new TV series *Lost Grail* with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social

See it on Sky History or stream the series on NOW TV

www.history.co.uk/shows/lost-grail-with-alice-roberts

📷 © 9 of Cups Productions
February 9, 2026 at 5:08 PM
And in other news, thanks to Storm Chandra, our colleagues from @bournemouthuni.bsky.social Maritime Archaeology have found a part of the Fame of Hoorn, an armed Dutch merchant ship that sank in 1631

#Archaeology

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Timbers from 17th Century shipwreck appear on Dorset beach
Experts believe timbers found at Studland Beach form a missing piece of the Swash Channel wreck from 1631.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#MosaicMonday

... and now the Seasons, who are in the corners of the mosaic!
Horae & the Seasons mosaic; now on display in the rather fine Archaeological Museum of #Kissamos, #Crete.
(sorry about my feet!)

2/2
February 9, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
For today's #MosaicMonday a #Roman guard #dog chained to the door, a detail from a mosaic at the entrance of the House of Paquius Proculus in #Pompeii.
Dating 1st century AD.

Cave canem - Beware of the dog 🐶🐕🦮🐕‍🦺🐩

📷me
🏺 #archaeology
February 9, 2026 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#MosaicMonday
The lovely Horae (The Goddesses of the Seasons & Order: Eunomia, Eirene & Dike), in the centre of the Horae & the Seasons mosaic; now on display in the rather fine Archaeological Museum of #Kissamos, #Crete.
1/2
February 9, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Absolutely terrifying 😬😬😱
February 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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Some of us who follow #MosaicMonday were at the excellent Project Orpheus conference, either in person or online, held on Saturday @coriniummuseum.bsky.social, where the newly released Withington animals are on display. Here's the bouncy bear before lifting - now reunited with his friends 😍. 1/2
February 9, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#MosaicMonday

Lullingstone villa #mosaics - The mosaic shows famous scenes from #Greek and #Roman #mythology: the hero Bellerophon riding the winged horse Pegasus to defeat the Chimera. A scene of Europa cleverly depicted in a simple, yet effective linear style. 

#History #art #RomanBritain
February 9, 2026 at 8:03 AM
It's probably a bit early in the day / week to be thinking about wine...

but here's an exquisite little tessellated cantharus (wine cup) with S-shape handles

Detail from the Oceanus Mosaic found in 1931 and now in the excellent Verulamium Museum @stalbansmuseums.bsky.social

Happy #MosaicMonday 🍷
February 9, 2026 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#StandingStoneSunday During construction of this bridge "a causeway of ancient origins but unknown age" was discovered underwater

Could that be the ancient route used by Neolithic peoples to reach this stone circle?

📍 Callanish VIII, Bernera island, Scotland

📸 Me

#archaeology #photoftheday 🏺
February 8, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Finding Nero?

There he is! (the one on the left, obvs)

Always good to see the 13 year old proto tyrant: part of the incredible collection of Charles Wyndham, second Earl of Egremont (1710–63)

Today at the ever-wonderful Petworth House @nattrustarch.bsky.social

#Roman #Archaeology
February 7, 2026 at 10:26 PM
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Is it #StandingStoneSunday already?! 😮🥳

Take a spin around the incredible Harold Stone standing stone on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire

In 2024, following path erosion, we discovered a rare Bronze Age cobbled platform around it.

Browse on @rcahmwales.bsky.social Sketchfab: skfb.ly/pvJw8
February 8, 2026 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
The Castel Statue Menhir, Guernsey.
An Early Bronze Age female figure of power: spiritual, temporal or both.
Raised on the highest point of the island (I think), slighted and buried at some point in the past.
#StandingStoneSunday
🏺🦣
February 1, 2026 at 10:09 AM
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The menhir near La Croterie in Chauvé (Loire-Atlantique) is over 4m tall, 3.5m wide at the base of the broad face and 1.5m thick. A recumbent stone nearby may have been a twin or may never have stood. Card by Chapeau early 1910s. #StandingStoneSunday.
February 8, 2026 at 9:13 AM
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A recent stones trip to Coldrum long barrow in Kent with @classicalalan.bsky.social - misty, muddy and very atmospheric! This place is 6,000 years old, just so awesome. #StandingStoneSunday
February 8, 2026 at 7:54 AM
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Boscawen-un Stone Circle
📸 By me from a few summers ago.
I miss Cornwall, but the journey and #MECFS are not happy bedfellows.
#StandingStoneSunday
February 8, 2026 at 8:09 AM
Finding Nero?

There he is! (the one on the left, obvs)

Always good to see the 13 year old proto tyrant: part of the incredible collection of Charles Wyndham, second Earl of Egremont (1710–63)

Today at the ever-wonderful Petworth House @nattrustarch.bsky.social

#Roman #Archaeology
February 7, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#RomanSiteSaturday with Witcombe Roman Villa in autumn

We've spent the last 4 autumns heading to Shropshire, as well as the Cotswolds & into Wales
you can see more of that here >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjB...
February 7, 2026 at 5:48 AM
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Currently hallucinating primary coloured Roman legions invading my Durotrigian living space

It's like AD 43 again (but more cheerful)

Winter #Olympics
February 6, 2026 at 7:19 PM