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johnnythin.bsky.social
Jonathan Last
@johnnythin.bsky.social
1.3K followers 660 following 1.3K posts
Prehistory & landscape

Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnnythinsta/
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johnnythin.bsky.social
Also a former golf course around the barrows on Petersfield Heath - it closed in the 1990s but would have been active when Stuart Piggott cut his teeth recording the monuments as a schoolboy
January 23, 2026 at 5:47 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Therfield Heath
January 23, 2026 at 9:20 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Not quite picnic weather
Picnic tables in a flooded outdoor area
January 22, 2026 at 1:27 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Early daffodils yesterday morning
A couple of daffodils in flower next to a tree on a suburban verge
January 22, 2026 at 7:38 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
As one final plug for 'Tarv', here for #HillfortsWednesday is Kensett's/Griffiths'/Tarv's description of a winter night's encounter with (?were)wolves, facilitated by "the camp brats" playing in the snow, at (presumably) a linear earthwork near the downland hillfort that might be Ditchling Beacon...
"...I reached the spot where now we stand, and saw broad lines of bare grass where the snow had been removed. It lay on the hills about a hand's breadth in depth, and the camp brats, as youngsters will, had rolled down great balls of snow, gathering as they went, which at last had so grown that there must have been many of them at the game, and even then they had not moved them but for the falling ground, sloping ever more steeply to the wolf guard, where they had pushed them over, and then climbed up and down by means of them. I saw that where the brats had climbed the wolves might follow, but being young and heedless myself, merely determined to provide them with another game in the morning removing the snow. I had passed on, I think, about as far as might be encompassed by a twice-thrown spear, when I saw a sign of movement in the edge of the thicket below. It was the wolf pack travelling with their easy loping gallop, and keeping in or near the margin of the bush, but not hidden from such eyes as mine. Such a sight is common enough, so although I knew they must be sharp set after a month's severe weather, I never thought of danger to the camp. Their leader I knew well by sight. His speed and cunning were the talk of the fireside, and indeed, many said he was a werewolf, but I hold that the werewolf is solitary and runs not with the pack."
January 21, 2026 at 7:43 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
We may think the problem of storing archaeological archives is a modern one but here, from exactly 200 years ago, is the London Courier & Evening Gazette reporting a discussion on what to do with the "many interesting fragments" likely to be found during future "improvements" in the City of London
Part of a report from the London Courier & Evening Gazette, Friday 20 Jan 1826, on the Court of Common Council held at Guildhall the previous day: "Mr. Hick stated, that in the numerous excavations which had recently been made in various parts of the City, many remains which were valuable to the antiquarian, and important to the historian, had been discovered, and dispersed for want of care, or for want of a proper place to put them in. In the improvements which might in future be carried on, it was to be expected that many interesting fragments would be discovered. Many that had recently been found might perhaps be procured, and some would probably be presented, if an appropriate place were provided for their reception. He moved that it should be referred to the Committee to provide a room adjoining to the library for the reception of such antiquities as might be found or procured, connected with the City of London and the Borough of Southwark. The motion was carried unanimously."
January 20, 2026 at 9:42 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
So here it is, hiding in plain sight near the A3, a brick obelisk of 1777 commemorating "the invention of FIRE PLATES for securing buildings from FIRE By DAVID HARTLEY ESQ". It seems oddly appropriate that a monument to fire safety should now mark the area where the cremated dead were once interred.
The fire obelisk, constructed of bricks on a stone pedestal, set in a sliver of woodland between modern housing and the main road One of the four carved stone inscriptions at the base of the obelisk
January 20, 2026 at 7:54 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
And I do have a (rather battered) copy of Johnson & Wright, so let's see. Ah, here's a tantalising note about Wimbledon Common: "Twenty-three barrows once stood near the fire obelisk on Wimbledon Common…". Fire obelisk? The barrows may be gone but I had to find this crazy sounding monument!
Cover of 'Neolithic Man in North-East Surrey' (1903) with a couple of dents The text in question: "Twenty-three barrows once stood near the fire obelisk on Wimbledon Common, that is, on the high ground overlooking Kingston Vale and Roehampton on the one side, and the valley of the Wandle at Wandsworth on the other."
January 20, 2026 at 7:54 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
As noted in my essay on Tarv, the scene is referenced by Grinsell in his 1934 paper on Surrey barrows as "a vivid account of the burial of a prehistoric chief in a barrow on Wimbledon Common." Unfortunately there's now little sign of these barrows on the ground, but LVG does list other accounts…
Extract from Grinsell's paper: "WIMBLEDON COMMON. 6" O.S. Ma 7 N.W. Lat. 51° 26' 30"-51° 27'. Long. 0° 13'30"- 0° 14' 30" Parish: Wandsworth ? Soil: London Clay. The Wimbledon Common barrows appear to have been situated near Tibbet's Corner, in the County of London, and they are therefore outside the scope of this paper, although they are described in most books on Surrey antiquities. The best descriptions of them are given in: Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pp. 93-4. Bartlett, W. A., History and Antiquities of Wimbledon, pp. 10-11. Johnson, W., Wimbledon Common, pp. 102-3. Johnson, W., and Wright, W., Neolithic Man in North-East Surrey, pp. 65-6. Kensett, P. F., The Amulet of Tarz.—A novel of Surrey and Sussex prehistory, containing a vivid account of the burial of a prehistoric chief in a barrow on Wimbledon Common."
January 20, 2026 at 7:54 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
"Behold, if thou art content then will we raise this barrow to the skies so that for all generations to come everyone who cometh hither shall exclaim 'Great is this tumulus!'"

A tangential #TombTuesday prompted by the funeral at Wimbledon in the 1925 psychic time travel novel 'The Amulet of Tarv' 🧵
"While everyone joined in this last lament and a wild howl ascended to the very skies, two of the principal clansmen half carried and half dragged the bull's hide on which lay the corpse into the sepulchral chamber through the narrow passage leading thereto, and on their reappearance enquired for the iron weapons of the dead chief to lay them at his side. Tarv na Cefn smiled grimly as he listened to a dispute which ended in an inferior axe and spear being handed to them for that purpose. This done, the entrance was closed by some slaves who would continue their work after the mourners were gone. Then a shower of offerings fell on the uncompleted barrow, everyone, even the children, throwing curiously-shaped natural flints, broken stone weapons and implements, many of the latter having been made for this purpose, and indeed, some bearing but a rude resemblance to what they were supposed to represent. These offerings would continue to be made by everyone who chanced to pass until the tumulus was completed, and even afterwards no one would go by without adding a stone."
January 20, 2026 at 7:54 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
The volumes were entertainingly edited by the eccentric English don Mansfield Forbes whose opening ‘Apologia; some virtues of delay’ outlines the problems caused by “the far-reaching contrariness of the General Strike” and the loss of a key contributor to an unspecified breakdown
“The cloud of enormity in delay will, no doubt, in large measure be dissipated by the solid and bulky apparition which we here at last reveal. Lest, however, some querulousness remain unshed, we are fain to refer it to the mountain country we have had to traverse, with no little effort and with the leisure of two years impressed for what turned out in great part unexpectedly to be, and very much against time, a journey of exploration.”
January 18, 2026 at 9:22 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
As this year marks the 700th birthday of my old college I thought I’d post occasional nuggets from this massive volume (and the second which is even bigger) produced by @universitypress.cambridge.org for the sexcentenary, though it didn’t actually appear until 1928
‘Clare College 1326-1926 Volume I’, just about held up in one hand The title page of the volume and frontispiece showing a painting of c 1730, attributed to George Lambert, with a view of Clare from the Backs
January 18, 2026 at 9:22 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
This would have meant something quite different a few hundred years ago…
Screenshot of headline reading ‘Badenoch reiterates call to sack Guildford’
January 14, 2026 at 2:00 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Shadow portrait with Faith (Guildford Cathedral) #WallsOnWednesday
An external brick wall with the shadow of a person next to a stone relief in front of a stained glass window
January 14, 2026 at 8:37 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
This was as good as it got in Surrey the other day. Currently raining hard.
January 8, 2026 at 9:31 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
In his 1796 paper Pearson describes making ingots out of the objects to characterise their alloys; the method behind this madness (which also lacked chronological understanding) was recognition of the role of tin in hardening copper, and therefore the importance of British ore for ancient metallurgy
Extract from Pearson's paper that reads: "An experienced observer can judge tolerably well concerning many metals, and metallic compositions, by inspecting fractured surfaces; but to judge accurately from these appearances, the metals to be compared with one another should be in the same state of aggregation. I therefore melted the old implements, and cast them into the same ingot mould. In this state I could also judge better of their hardness, brittleness, strength, malleability, and other properties, but especially of their specific gravity." "From the preceding experiments and observations we learn that tin was infinitely more valuable to the ancients than it is to the moderns : without this metal, it is not easy to conceive how they could have carried on the practice, and invented the greater part of the useful arts. Tin was even of more importance to the ancients, than steel and iron are to the moderns; because allays of copper by tin would afford better substitutes for steel and iron, than any substitutes which the ancients, in all probability, could procure for allays of copper by tin. We see also the importance of Britain in times more remote, probably, than those of which we have any record, or tradition; being, in all probability, the only country which furnished the metal so necessary to the progress of civilization."
January 7, 2026 at 5:36 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
The carnyx was in Banks' possession (well known as a naturalist, his antiquarian interests are underappreciated) but as Pearson (a physician who dabbled in chemistry) put it, Banks' "zeal for science induced him to sacrifice [the carnyx and other metalwork from his collection] to chemical analysis"
The opening paras of Pearson's paper: "Read before the ROYAL SOCIETY June 9, 1796. THE opportunity of examining the ancient metal instruments, which are the subject of the present paper, was afforded me by Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bart. K.B. P.R.S. whose zeal for science induced him to sacrifice them to chemical analysis. I am further indebted to Sir JOSEPH for almost all the curious particulars relative to the history of these instruments; which he was so kind as to permit me to extract from his own notes." Banks' advertisement in the Lincoln Mercury, 17 Oct 1788: "ANY Gentleman possessed of ancient Weapons, Utensils, or other Things, found in clearing the River Witham, or elsewhere in Lincolnshire, will much oblige Sir JOSEPH BANKS, by permitting him to inspect them; and he will be very thankful for any Information on the Subject he shall receive by the Post, directed to him at Reavesby Abbey, near Boston. October 7th, 1788."
January 7, 2026 at 5:36 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
In 1768 the previous #carnyx to be found in England was pulled out of the river Witham near Tattershall. Lacking the zoomorphic head, it was interpreted as a Roman lituus. Unfortunately, it fell victim to early experiments in archaeological science at the hands of Joseph Banks and George Pearson...
Part of plate XI in Pearson's 'Observations on some ancient metallic Arms and Utensils', captioned: "Tab. XI. fig. 1. Two pieces of the Lituus which had been broken. a. The ornament of chain-work round one end of the Lituus. Fig. 2. An ancient medal, on which the Lituus is represented."
January 7, 2026 at 5:36 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
One of these, published in 'The Reliquary', his friend Llewellynn Jewitt's magazine, was on Arbor Low - or rather on megalithic sites in general, inspired by a visit to Arbor Low in 1876 and a wish to refute James Fergusson's theory that these monuments were post-Roman in date. #StandingStoneSunday
Extract from The Reliquary, Oct 1876: "ON ARBOR LOW. BY WILLIAM HENRY G0SS, ESQ. I have called this paper Arbor Low, because it is written in consequence of a visit by the North Staffordshire Naturalist and Archaeological Field Club, myself with them, to that famous Derbyshire circle, near Hartington, on the 18th of July, 1876. Had not Mr. James Fergusson, in his Rude Stone Monuments, theorized another origin to this and similar monuments throughout the world, there would have been little more to say about Arbor Low than that it was probably one of the ancient sacred enclosures of the Celtic sun-worshippers, where they offered their sacrifices, and performed their mysterious religious ceremonies; the open-air temple, or grove nucleus, not of a limited local worship, but of one of the earliest, most natural, and most wide-spread faiths of mankind." Engraving of Arbor Low in 1880 (from a paper by A.H. Scott-White in The Midland Naturalist - Goss's paper is not illustrated)
January 4, 2026 at 10:44 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Part of Goss's obituary in the Staffordshire Sentinel, published on the day he died! As well as originating "the charming heraldic ware which he produced in great quantities" it notes that he was "a well-known member of the North Staffordshire Field Club", contributing papers on various themes...
DEATH OF MR. W. H. GOSS, OF STOKE. Inventor of Goss's Heraldic Pottery. We deeply regret the necessity of having to place on record the death of Mr. William Henry Goss, F.G.S.. F.R.M.S., of Ashfield Cottage, Stoke, and Barthomley, near Crewe. The sad event took place at 2 45 this morning, after a painless illness which had lasted since October last, death, due to failure of the heart's action, being peaceful. Mr. Goss was born in London on July 30th, 1833. In his early life he was a great student, and at Somerset House where he spent much of his youthful leisure, he became an artist of some considerable power. He remained in London until he was twenty-four years of age, making at this time the acquaintance with most of the best-known literary men of the day.
January 4, 2026 at 10:28 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
William Henry Goss, founder of many archaeologists’ favourite ceramics company, died #OTD in 1906. Here’s a Goss model of an Iron Age pot from Glastonbury lake village, with the family crest and motto.
A white porcelain bowl with the original modelled decoration barely visible. A colourful crest depicts a hawk standing on a helmet over a shield with an X of red stars, below which is the motto ‘Se Inserit Astris’ The base of the vessel with the Goss logo and text ‘Model of bowl from the ancient British lake-village near Glastonbury’
January 4, 2026 at 9:48 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
New York in 2026 AD, as depicted in the Illustrated London News, 2nd Jan 1926: "Living-apartments will be built above and between great blocks of city offices and on the spans of bridges. Aeroplanes will land on the roofs of buildings and on huge platforms above the docks."
"An architect's futuristic idea of New York in 2026 AD: city blocks with business offices, and apartments above and between them" "Roofed with a huge landing-platform for aeroplanes, over an upper storey of living apartments: a 'Brooklyn Bridge' of the future."
January 2, 2026 at 4:19 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
This went down rather well
Hogs Back ‘Mistletoe and Swine’ on draft
January 1, 2026 at 2:56 PM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Happy new year to everyone, but especially to asylum seekers, trans folk and all those made to feel vulnerable during the past year
An anxious dog looking forward
January 1, 2026 at 1:02 AM
johnnythin.bsky.social
Meanwhile the Westminster Gazette's cartoonist, F.C. Gould, decided the precarity of Stonehenge's uprights mirrored that of various members of the government. The joke no longer works today, of course - as we can be fairly confident Stonehenge will still be standing in a year's time… Happy New Year!
Cartoon in the Westminster Gazette, 8th Jan 1901, entitled "On Salisbury Plain", depicting the stones of Stonehenge in the style of the Daily Chronicle illustration, but with the heads of various members of the government...
December 31, 2025 at 9:59 PM