Martyn Barber
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martynjb.bsky.social
Martyn Barber
@martynjb.bsky.social
410 followers 340 following 450 posts
Aerial archaeology, history of archaeology, misc spookery; ex-RCHME, Historic England etc.

Stuff at independent.academia.edu/MartynBarber
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Reposted by Martyn Barber
sarahmay1.bsky.social
Counterpoint. Stonehenge is no more of a mystery than any other large monumental complex, including recent ones like war memorials. We know quite a lot about its construction and use and research is constantly producing new understanding.
kenfollettauthor.bsky.social Ken Follett @kenfollettauthor.bsky.social · 1d
Stonehenge is a mystery. Who built it, how did they build it, and why did they build it? Dr Heather Sebire knows some of the answers.
Circle of Days: In-conversation with Dr Heather Sebire
YouTube video by Ken Follett
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
"Jane Austen said if you got a big house you need a wife."
November 23, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
timdaw.bsky.social
Two fascinating 1918 aerial photo albums, and lots of crashed planes. Hackpen White Horse, Wiltshire. kresenkernow.org/SOAP/search/...
November 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
philh.bsky.social
Just spotted this - "Faith, folk and the far right
Racist and anti-racist Heathenry and occultism in Britain"
(open access pdf version)
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526179463
www.manchesterhive.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
timdaw.bsky.social
A source of archive photos of Stonehenge Aerodrome and elsewhere.

www.sarsen.org/2025/11/ston...
Stonehenge Archive Photos
The US National Archive Catalog is worth searching through - a few Stonehenge ones for example from 1919: For the full size image:  https:...
www.sarsen.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
martynjb.bsky.social
Haven't posted much about OGS Crawford for a while, so here's something from Crawford's WW1 days. He saw out the war as a PoW in Holzminden alongside the likes of James Whale, director of two of my all-time favourites "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House". Sadly, OGSC never mentioned...
A photo of a black and white photo of Crawford in uniform, taken during the First World war while on leave at the Berkshire home of his aunts. The photo is in the Crawford Collection of the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University. Mounted on brown card, a hand-written note says "on leave from France".
November 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
Haven't posted much about OGS Crawford for a while, so here's something from Crawford's WW1 days. He saw out the war as a PoW in Holzminden alongside the likes of James Whale, director of two of my all-time favourites "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House". Sadly, OGSC never mentioned...
A photo of a black and white photo of Crawford in uniform, taken during the First World war while on leave at the Berkshire home of his aunts. The photo is in the Crawford Collection of the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University. Mounted on brown card, a hand-written note says "on leave from France".
November 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
Interest has perked up in this again, so... here's an extract from the Wiltshire Times' report on the auction, published 25 Sept 1915 - the purchaser was Mrs Chubb, not Mr...:
Extract from the Wiltshire TImes, 25th September 1915, stating that Stonehenge, when the bidding readed £6,600, was [quote] "knocked down to Mrs. C.H.E. Chubb, the wife of a popular local landowner. There was much applause when the name of the purchaser was announced..." [end quote]
October 29, 2025 at 1:59 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
Is it time to do a top ten modern myths* about Stonehenge? Saw a lot of this yesterday. Cecil Chubb did not go to the auction to buy chairs (or curtains) for his wife, who had a name - Mary; and the money used to buy Stonehenge was hers.

[*by 'modern myths', I of course mean utter b*ll*cks]
Screenshot of a post on Blue Sky. Username has been obscured by me. Text is as follows - On this day in history, Baronet Cecil Chubb gifts Stonehenge to the British people in 1918. He had bought it as a gift for his wife when she sent him to buy dining room chairs. She reacted about how you'd expect when your husband brings home a bunch of rocks instead of the thing you sent him to get.
October 27, 2025 at 11:33 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
For #HillfortsWedesday this week, a double helping of #HillfortsFromMilesAway - here you can see both Liddington Castle and Barbury Castle from the Roman site at Groundwell Ridge, Swindon. Yes you can. See if you can spot them without having to check the zoomed-in images first.
A colour view looking roughly southeast across the Groundwell Ridge Roman site - seen here as an expanse of grass sloping down away from the camera - across the rooftops of Swindon. In the distance, the horizon is actually the edge of the chalk downs, on which can be seen, if you know where to look, the Iron Age hillforts of Liddington Castle (centre-left in the far distance) and Barbury Castle (centre-right in the far distance). A colour photo showing an extremely zoomed-in image of the earthworks of Liddington Castle taken from Groundwell Ridge. On the left, in the middle distance, is a block of flats. Roughly central, and a bit hazy, are the earthworks of Liddington Castle. Another extreme zoom from Groundwell Ridge, this time with the slightly hazy earthworks of Barbury Castle in the far distance and just above centre.
October 22, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
johnnythin.bsky.social
This week marks the centenary of the announcement of the discovery of the London skull, aka the Lady of Lloyd's. Who's that, you ask? Here's the story of the most famous hominin you've never heard of... 🦣🏺
The Lady of Lloyd's, or the London Skull
The most famous hominin you’ve never heard of…
prescapes.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
public-history.bsky.social
Paintings of Stonehenge by Victorian women are rare, and these details are tantalising: could this be Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford (1818-1897) and her daughter Lady Ermyntrude Russell (1856-1927)? Such precious women's artwork needs to be in the Wiltshire Museum collection.
October 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
A couple of Avebury snapshots for #StandingStoneSunday.
A view across the interior of Avebury, with cottages in the foreground (white walls with gery tiled roof), standing stones behind them in the middle distance, and in the far distance the Bronze Age round barrows on the slope of Windmill Hill. A view looking along the ditch and outer bank of Avebury, with trees on the edge of the inner side of the ditch, on the right hand side of the photo. Ditch, bank and interior are entirely grassed, except for the brief glimpse of white on the top of the bank, extreme left, where visitor erosion has worn a footpath. Despite being posted for standing stone sunday, there is not a stone to be seen.
October 19, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
danwhitehead.net
BBC Archive just uploaded The Lonely Shore (1962), a surreal 15-minute short that takes the form of a scientific report from an abandoned and desolate future Britain. Written by Jacquetta Hawkes, an actual archaeologist, and directed by Ken Russell, an actual madman.
1962: An Expedition to Post-Apocalyptic Britain | Monitor: The Lonely Shore | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:49 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
I appear to be under observation.
A squirrel relaxing on top of the wooden garden fence, staring intently at me.
October 14, 2025 at 11:28 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
Just a reminder to fellow archaeologists that if you're publishing a paper that draws on someone else's work, even if only a teensy bit, please acknowledge and cite. And for those who think they've heard me say this before, yes - it's West Kennet again.
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
For #StandingStoneSunday, I was going to post one of Clarissa Miles' photos from Stonehenge in 1901. She was the photographer during architect Detmar Blow's operation to straighten Stone 56, and William Gowland's excavations, but instead, here's a passing shepherd and his sheep on the (1/2)
A black and whte photograph showing a shepherd and his dog, in mid-1901, standing in the middle of a trackway that crosses the photo from centre left to bottom right. Scattered around on the grass either side of the track are numerous grazing sheep. THe landscape beyond is open pasture with a couple of plantations of trees on the slightly higher ground in the distance. Clarissa Miles' photos of Detmar Blow and WIlliam Gowland's work at Stonehenge in 1901 were included in both of their reports. Those photos have been republished many times since, often without crediting the photographer. Sets of her photos exist in various archives, including WIltshire Museum, Devizes, and the National Record Office at Kew. In the latter, each print is attached to a copyright declaration form submitted in Clarissa Miles' name.
September 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
The Heel Stone at Stonehenge, late August or early September 1881 (plus milestone - London 80, Amesbury2). Photo by JJ Cole, architect to then-owner Sir Edmund Antrobus (3rd baronet) and first published in Cole's "The People's Stonehenge" (privately publ. 1895). #StandingStoneSunday
A black and white photo of the Heel Stone at Stonehenge. The view is from a short distance to the southeast. The stone is leaning slightly to the left (i.e. towards the centre of the photograph). The landscape beyond is largely open grassland. Just behind the stone is the track from Amesbury to Shrewton that later became the A344. Just left of centre is the much smaller milestone. John Jenkins Cole, who took the photograph, was an architect who undertook work for the then owner of Stonehenge, Sir Edmund Antrobus (3rd baronet - there were four successive owners, all called Sir Edmund Antrobus). In the summer of 1881, Cole was asked by Antrobus to examine the condition of the monument in the wake of concerns about the stability of some of the stones. During the course of this survey he took several photographs, including this one. He published several in 1895 in his own booklet 'The People's Stonehenge'. Several have been used on numerous occasions subsequently, often without credit.
September 21, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
btwhite.bsky.social
I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...
The Bomber's View of the Past
Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
September 11, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
lauramca.bsky.social
Given the EAA has gone back on excluding Israeli institutions from the conference - and is also trying to prevent @archagainstaparth.bsky.social from protesting in their sessions - it’s time to walk away until they can find their moral compass. blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b...
BTC Call for Action – EAA
URGENT ARCHAEOLOGISTS: YOUR EAA PARTICIPATION Last week the executive board of the European Association of Archaeologists took the decision, in light of the ongoing genocide of the population of Ga…
blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:02 PM
martynjb.bsky.social
Another scan of an old photo - Carnac, September 1989. It was pretty dry that summer, wasn't it? The person in the centre, Jo, was a little shorter than me, if that helps with scale. #StandingStoneSunday
A colour photo looking across the rows of standing stones at Carnac. The ground is mostly shades of light brown, either grass or areas where the grass has been worn away by tourists' feet. The stones themselves are mostly a kind of grey-brown in this light. In the distance can be seen trees on slightly higer ground. In the centre of the photo, among the stones, is a single individual dressed mostly in black, acting as a highly unsuitable scale. A drawing-pin hole can be seen in each corner of the photo as a result of it being pinned to a noticeboard sometime in the past.
August 24, 2025 at 8:46 AM
martynjb.bsky.social
For #StandingStoneSunday, a 2017 episode of Miriam's Photo Casebook from Viz. The dilemma here is Debbie's, but let's face it, it could be almost any of us.
#ThePhoneLinesAreNowClosed
#DebbieDoesDolmens
Scan of the first part of Miriam's Photo Problem Casebook from Viz 263, March 27. The introduction says: Debbie's Monolith Dilemma - Day 53. Pretty student nurse Debbie Carter had been going out with hunky mechanic Callum Richards for 8 months. At first they had got on well, but now a nagging disagreement about how the stones of Stonehenge had been transported to their final destination on Salisbury Plain was threatening to drive a wedge between them. The first photo shows Debbie and Callum discussing the issue in bed. Callum says "It's obvious, Debbie. They must have moved them using logs as rollers. That's the only way they could have moved such giant blocks all that distance." Debbie replies "I'm not so sure, Callum." The next photo shows Callum sleeping while Debbie ponders: "I love Callum, but surely it's possible that those stones were moved by other means." The next photo shows Callum and Debbie both asleep, but Debbie is dreaming about Callum's best friend Steve. In Debbie's dream, she and Steve are in bed. Steve says "They could have moved them on a barge along the River Avon, then dragged them the final few hundred yards on some kind of sledge." Debbie replies "Oh yes". The final photo shows Debbie thinking "I thought I loved Callum, but after hearing Steve's theory in my dream, I'm not so sure." Finally, at the bottom, after the words "Continues tomorrow", there is a note about a text vote. Who do you think is right? Callum or Steve? Text Callumrollers or Stevebarge to 80118. Texts cost £18 plus your standard network rate. Please wait until the billpayer has left their phone unattended before casting your vote.
August 17, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Thank you all for showing that archaeologists stand with Palestine. With just 1 day left, we ask you to continue to sign, share & talk about the open letter to @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social demanding they do the right & principled thing: #boycottisrael
forms.gle/YkcYuikrqh1D...
#archaeology #🏺#eaa2025
August 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
As we continue on to engage other archaeological institutions, we are posting this final statement on the WAC campaign. We, unlike the World Archaeological Congress organisation, will not move quietly on, while Palestinians continue to be starved and slaughtered by Israel.
AAAWACStatement.pdf
drive.google.com
July 31, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Martyn Barber
aerialarchaeology.bsky.social
🚨🚨🚨 Last call! 🚨🚨🚨

⏰Registration for AARG 2025 closes today!⏰

📷✈️🛰Join us for two days of aerial archaeology and remote sensing in Trondheim.
aerialarchaeology.bsky.social Aerial Archaeology Research Group @aerialarchaeology.bsky.social · Jun 30
⏰⏰⏰Early Bird registration for AARG 2025 closes today. 🚨🚨🚨

📷✈️🛰Join us for two days of aerial archaeology and remote sensing in Trondheim and make the most of the reduced rates. Standard registration will close on 31st July.
aerialarchaeology.bsky.social Aerial Archaeology Research Group @aerialarchaeology.bsky.social · Jun 2
Registration for AARG 2025 meeting in Trondheim, Norway (11-13 Sep 2025) is now open! You can register via the AARG website: aargonline.com/wp/aarg2025/

The call for posters is still open, so please continue to submit your poster abstracts!

Register by 30th June to avail of the Early Bird offer.
July 31, 2025 at 8:11 AM