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Duncan Mackay

@theduncanmackay.bsky.social

2.9K followers 840 following 1.7K posts

Writer, archaeologist, wild swimmer, wild gardener. New book Echolands, A Journey in Search of Boudica out now from @Hodderbooks.bsky.social https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/duncan-mackay/echolands/9781399714143/ Rep. Jim Gill at Felicity Bryan Associates

www.hachette.co.uk

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · Nov 29

#Echolands #BoudicaFriday

Front cover of Echolands - A Journey in Search of Boudica by Duncan Mackay

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Reposted by Duncan Mackay

Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

Carrawburgh Mithraeum, Hadrian’s Wall; the shyest member of the contu-baaa-nium
#RomanFortThursday

A sheep pokes its head out around a Roman altar in the ruins of a Roman temple.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 22h

I was impressed.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 22h

Interestingly that’s where the word barbarian came from…

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 22h

a man in a knight 's costume is running in a field with another man

Alt: Monty Python King Arthur galloping an imaginary horse.

media.tenor.com

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 22h

Good lord!

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Reposted by Duncan Mackay

Dan Herbert @danherb10.bsky.social · 22h

Always nice to bump into some of your favourite people in Waterstones Piccadilly
@durotrigesdig.bsky.social @theduncanmackay.bsky.social @stonelands.bsky.social

A photo of a bookshelf with books about British Roman history

A photo of a bookshelf with a large array of hardback books

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 22h

Always nice to see Echolands in such good company!🤩

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

Carrawburgh Mithraeum, Hadrian’s Wall; the shyest member of the contu-baaa-nium
#RomanFortThursday

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

Fools rush in…

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Reposted by Duncan Mackay

Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

“I bet the wind will hold me up.”
No.
It won’t.

Idiot about to fall off a hillfort; Mam Tor c.1994.
#HillfortsWednesday

A foolhardy young man on the edge of a steep drop holding his bellowing white shirt open to catch the wind, and leaning dangerously far into it.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

a man in a suit and tie is holding a pen and hammer .

Alt: Magnus Pike shouting “science!”

media.tenor.com

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

“You can.”
“I caaan’t.”

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair, I had some whopping great shirts back in the day…

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

Icarus complex

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 1d

“I bet the wind will hold me up.”
No.
It won’t.

Idiot about to fall off a hillfort; Mam Tor c.1994.
#HillfortsWednesday

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 2d

I wish

Reposted by Duncan Mackay

Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

Lorica hamata.
Iron Age / Roman mail armour.
Every other ring individually riveted.
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Close up of about a square foot of reproduction Roman/Iron Age mail armour.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

This example from the Folly Lane burial in St Albans looks like it could just be picked up and shaken out into the shape of my reproduction set.
3.

Archaeological find of scrunched up mail armour, beautifully preserved.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

EVERY OTHER RING 😱
RIVETED
2/

Close up of reproduction Roman/Iron Age mail armour showing details of riveting.

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

Lorica hamata.
Iron Age / Roman mail armour.
Every other ring individually riveted.
1/

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Reposted by Duncan Mackay

Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 3d

Awful news! Following the theft of the Ely Bronze Age torc & a Bronze Age bracelet in 2024,now more Bronze Age gold has been stolen from St Fagans Museum in Cardiff. 😔

#Archaeology 🏺 #Gold #Torcs

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Bronze age gold jewellery stolen in raid on St Fagans museum in Cardiff

South Wales police issue public appeal for information after burglary at one of Wales’s most beloved museums

www.theguardian.com

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

That would be nice if I can wing it!

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Reposted by Duncan Mackay

richard mortimer @richardmortimer.bsky.social · 3d

@theduncanmackay.bsky.social
Afternoon Duncs, just been to Vienna, first time, fantastic art, great architecture, crap lager! Plugged myself into Echolands there & back, loving it - we must talk Via Devana over beers, I've been chasing that bugger for decades between the Mesolithic and the Medieval

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

Ah, thanks Richard, really proud I’ve waylaid you into them Roman times! So pleased you’re enjoying it - mysterious old so and so the Via Devana…bit of drinking to be had en route too!

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 3d

Constantly bewildered, by pretty much everything, to be fair.