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ArchaeoPlays

@archaeoplays.bsky.social

5.5K followers 3.4K following 350 posts

They/them. Disabled/chronically ill Minecraft YouTuber, & digital archaeologist (alias: Dr. Heather Christie). Also early medieval Scotland specialist and glass bead nerd. Lead Researcher for Carved in Stone. Business enquiries: [email protected]

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 26d

Pre-orders for Carved in Stone are open!! This book is gorgeous, and I am so grateful to use it (and the artwork!) in my videos.

You can pre-order from @stoutstoat.co.uk here: www.stoutstoat.co.uk/carvedinstone

Thanks to @archaeonado.bsky.social for the endorsement!

🏺 #archaeology #ArchaeologySky

A young person with braided red hair rides a spotted brown horse through trees, a determined look on their face. They have a brown cloak, a yellow tunic/dress, and black leggings. They're carrying a water flask and a leather book satchel. Whatever message they're carrying, it's clearly urgent.

On the left of the image, there is a quote: "It's basically the best book on the Picts ever written. By starting from Scotland's environment and incorporating lessons from archaeology, history and art, this brings the Picts to life more effectively than any other depiction I've yet seen." from Dr Adrián Maldonado, National Museums Scotland.

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Reposted by ArchaeoPlays

Archaeology Data Service @ads-update.bsky.social · 18h

Reposting with the correct link :)

archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog/writing...

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 1d

And if you weren't aware of my Minecraft content... Hi! Hello, I teach archaeology through Minecraft. You might enjoy my videos, like this one that turns Minecraft into early medieval Scotland: youtu.be/iAyh4PJYXQ0

Step into Medieval Scotland and Meet the Ancient Picts | Carved in Stone (Ep. 1)

YouTube video by ArchaeoPlays

youtu.be

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 1d

Morning! If you enjoy my Minecraft content, I've got a question for you over on YouTube!

www.youtube.com/@ArchaeoPlay...

ArchaeoPlays

I’m an archaeologist. I also play a lot of games and when I do, my inner archaeologist can't help but think about them in relation to the past. So if you're interested in archaeology chat while playin...

www.youtube.com

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 5d

I just have to post this #iceage masterpiece from time to time: A tiny (3.7 cm) but amazing figurine of a woolly mammoth carved in mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago.

Found in the Vogelherd cave on the Swabian Jura, south-west Germany.

📷 me
🏺

A mammoth figurine carved from ivory, its surface weathered with age. The shape captures the essence of the animal, with a prominent trunk and sloping back. The figure is displayed on a metal stand against a dark background.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 5d

Had the pleasure of chatting to the archaeoViz folks for our session at WAC-10 - definitely worth attending if you're able!

ATRIUM Research @atrium-eu.bsky.social · 5d

TODAY, at 11:30 CET, join DARIAH's free webinar on #archeoViz & the Spatial and Statistical Exploration of Archaeological Data for the first of DARIAH's #FridayFrontiers series!🏺

ℹ️ Info: www.dariah.eu/2025/06/13/r...
🔸Register: dariah.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Reposted by ArchaeoPlays

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 7d

Rock Art Discovery Reveals Unknown Arabian Nomads from 12,000 Years Ago www.scientificamerican.com/article/rock...

12,000-Year-Old Life-Sized Camel Etchings Reveal a Lost World in the Desert

Camels in ancient Arabia may have led hunter-gatherers through deserts once thought uninhabitable

www.scientificamerican.com

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 7d

~5000-year-old copper cymbals from Bronze Age Arabia for #InternationalMusicDay

They share parallels with Mesopotamian and Indus Valley examples, indicating music connected these three ancient civilisations.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Two copper cymbals, green from oxidation, viewed from above and the side.

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Dr Izzy Wisher @izzywisher.bsky.social · 9d

Time to update your Palaeolithic palettes... 🔵

Very proud to share our new research on the OLDEST use of blue pigment! We identified traces of azurite - a vibrant blue mineral - on a stone object around 14-13,000 years old. Why is this so exciting? 👇🏺

doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Close-up image of a sand coloured stone, with a diagonal crack. The sand rock has a textured surface, and small spots of blue can be seen towards the centre of the stone. The background is grey.

Microscopic photo of the blue spots, that are irregular in shape and size and positioned diagonally across the image. The rest of the photo shows the rough sand coloured texture of the stone.

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Brian / Stout Stoat @stoutstoat.co.uk · 12d

I wrote a massive TTRPG setting guide encyclopaedia about the ancient Scotland and the Picts who lived in it. It covers everything scholars currently know about life in the 7th century, from landscapes to kingdoms to faith, magic, settlements, and so much more.

Check it out!
carvedinstone.scot

Carved in Stone

A storyteller's guide to Pictland. Available now for pre-order!

carvedinstone.scot

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

But I’m not the only textile nerd here - what would YOU do for textile magic in early medieval Scotland?

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

The magic for each spell could be imbued in the yarn, as I mentioned for naalbinding, OR you could put decorative beads on the ends to differentiate between spells… but I swear I’ll leave the bead rabbit hole for another day!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

You could also cut off each strand as you use the spell, if you want to mimic a magical object with charges. But I also feel badly cutting off the fringe piece by piece!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

And my super-exciting bonus option: Use the fringe!!! Going ALL the way back to the Orkney Hood, it has so many lovely strands in this decorative fringe. What if each strand was a spell? Or a spell slot? What if they unravelled when you cast the spell, so each morning you had to re-wind your fringe?

A repeat image of the Orkney Hood, with a green arrow pointing to the fringe.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

You could also forgo symbol-based ‘communication’ or spells entirely, and have the magic be imbued in the threads. Maybe different colours represent different schools of magic, or yarn dyed with different plants imbue it with different magical properties!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

Naalbinding is often used for socks or mittens, but you can definitely make naalbound jumpers or scarves or hats and such. I’m not sure how much you could do in terms of specific Pictish symbols, but you could probably work ogham into naalbinding somehow…

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

And Option #3 is naalbinding! Or nålebinding - there are a few ways to spell it. Naalbinding is a fibre art technique that looks a lot like a cross between crocheting or knitting in the round, and uses your thumb and a needle. It’s also WAY older than crocheting or knitting. Millenia older.

White naalbound mittens from late 19th century Sweden, now held by Nordiska museet. They've also been embroidered with a variety of pansies and rosebuds.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

So for more intricate designs, you could embroider woven or naalbound cloth or even hide or leather, if you’re determined. Granted, leather is tough, so it’s less embroidering and more punching, and any time you punch holes in leather, it weakens it. So maybe don’t embroider your leather armour!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

Embroidery simply requires a need and some kind of thread. Bone needles are a long-since established technology by the Pictish period, as is thread. Some of that thread may be closer to yarn, but you’d be surprised how thin you can spin with just a spindle and distaff.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

Admittedly, the intricacy of many Pictish symbols might still be difficult to weave - I haven’t tried, but I’d love to see if you do! If it feels too complicated for weaving, or you want to have finer details without making your weave finer, you could go for Option #2: Embroidery!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

We know the Picts used tablet weaving, because we have two examples of it on the Orkney Hood, but also because they CARVED it into their stones! Here’s an example from a stone from Rosemarkie, with the green arrow pointing to the tablet woven hem:

The hem design is unclear, but it seems to be some type of interlace.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

You might think the small space and options for cards would limit the designs you can get, but you’d be surprised!

Examples of intricately-patterned tablet weaving in green and white. Most mimic a variety of Celtic knotwork designs.

A variety of tablet-woven patterns in various colours. Many are intricate patterns of diamonds and swirls.

A probably non-Pictish pattern of tablet weaving in various colours that reminds me of turtles or spiders or crabs.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

The art above is by Jonah Walker, who you can see more of over here: galacticjonah.com

JONAH WALKER

galacticjonah.com

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

I also mentioned tablet weaving! Pictish tablet weaving was probably done with a backstrap, rather than a specific loom, though I could be wrong. In tablet weaving, your warp threads are strung through stiff cards with holes in them, often 3-6. Turning the card puts different warp threads on top:

An example page from Carved in Stone. An older woman is showing a young child how to tablet weave using a backstrap. The warp threads extend off the page. The woven design is a black or deep grey pattern modelled after the T-pattern on Pictish carved stones, sitting on a yellow background. There is also a light blue border on each edge. The yellow and blue of the weaving match the older woman's dress and shawl/hood respectively. The young child is trying to keep track of the pattern on their fingers. Art by Jonah Walker.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

Maybe your various ‘Beast Shape’ spells are snakes in different levels of complexity, or ‘Bull’s Strength’ uses the Pictish symbol for a bull, and ‘Mass Bull’s Strength’ just has a bunch of them in one part of your robes!

A stipple and line drawing by Ian Gordon Scott of one of a whopping 30 bull carvings from Burghead, Moray, of which only six survive today. There are swirls characteristic of Pictish symbol art marking the joints. The bull faces to the right, with their head lowered in almost a charging position.

Another stipple and line drawing by Ian Gordon Scott of one of the bull carvings from Burghead, Moray. There are, again, swirls characteristic of Pictish symbol art marking the joints. The bull faces to the right, with their head lowered, this time in a much more aggressive stance

Another stipple and line drawing by Ian Gordon Scott of one of the Burghead bulls, with the same swirls marking the joints. The bull faces to the right, with their head lowered in an almost-charging position, similar to the first.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 9d

The base of your weave will use a specific pattern, like a herringbone or twill, but then your SPELLS can get fancier! Maybe ‘Hold Person’ is a woven design of a person held in place, or ‘True Strike’ is something based on this lovely carving on the Drosten Stone:

From the Drosten Stone at St Vigeans. A person with a beard (presumably a man) kneels on one leg and readies a crossbow. He's wearing a hooded cloak, though we can see some cloth from a tunic or something similar around his thighs. He is facing a boar, ready to shoot.

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