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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel

@jonaschlegel.com

3.6K followers 750 following 180 posts

founder • archaeology science comm • (conceptual) illustration x programming • Amsterdam https://jonaschlegel.com/ https://www.archaeoink.com/

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · Nov 11

Hi, I’m Jona Schlegel 👋
Archaeologist, web developer, and founder of archaeoINK

I focus on science communication, engaging visuals and digital tools to make archaeology accessible. Skilled in web solutions, scientific and conceptual illustration

Based in Amsterdam, looking for connections in NL

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Nicola Scheyhing M.A. @prehistoryteller.bsky.social · 5h

Me (to The Internet, everybody listening, or just looking my way for more than 5 sec): „Look what we did!“
I received the prints of our #RepresentationMatters publication yesterday evening. It’s not only a collection of papers on the way we reproduce and communicate our knowledge towards audience.

A middle aged white Woman with an red updo and big glasses holding a large book, title says diversity in visual representations of the past. Representation matters.

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Rob Hedge @robhedge.bsky.social · 1d

#ArchInk 1: pigment
#inktober #medievalsky #skystorians 🏺🏛️🗃️

Not sure how much I’ll be able to contribute this year, but I’ll try to chip in when I can.

Ink and graphite sketch showing a woman in medieval dress, holding writing implements in each hand and an expression of intense focus, sat in front of a writing desk with an open manuscript.
Text reads:

# archink I: pigment
Medieval writers and artists used a huge range of compounds & colours - you can find out more abort their techniques at fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated. The staple of the medieval manuscript was the deep purple-black of iron gall ink, made by mixing iron sulfate with tannic acid, usually sourced from fermented oak galls.

MARIE DE FRANCE, LATE CI2th WRITER
After a late c13th illustration of her from BnF Arsenal Library, MS 3142 fol 256

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 19h

day 7: textiles

They rarely survive, but their traces do: loom weights, needles, fragments stuck to metal.

This piece looks at those fragments and the ancient depictions of weaving/fabric creation on vessels that still show these practices.

#archInk #archaeology

orange and black. The vase shows two women holding spindles beside a central triangular weaving pattern. Decorative motifs run around the upper section, and loom weights are depicted on the lower part

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Scarry HAGerty @lrshagerty.bsky.social · 7d

Doodle Day 1: archaeological evidence suggests that women were the majority of the world's first artists. #Art #Doodle web.archive.org/web/20131008...

Pen and ink sketch of a woman squatting in front of a cave wall as she finishes painting a prehistoric horse.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 1d

Oh yes! And so functionally designed as well!

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

A horn core is:

A) a ska band
B) the bony part under the keratin sheath on bovids
C) a source of terrible puns and innuendos on an archaeological site

“Horn” #archink #inktober #archink2025

An ink drawing on a piece of paper of a horn core with a scale.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 1d

day 6 of #archInk2025: horn

I did a kind of archaeology journaling page, where I focused on exploring the texture of the horn, noting down functions and anatomy.

#archInk

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 2d

This is beautiful!
Just shows also how complex a reconstruction drawing can become.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 2d

Surprisingly yet pleasingly complex - the tile elements required to reconstruct a Roman roof over the House of the Faun, #Pompeii. Beautiful watercolour, pencil, and ink illustrations by Pasquale Maria Veneri dating to 1843 on display in the National Archaeological Museum
In Naples.

Watercolour showing different tile elements both flat (tegulae) and curved (imbrices) and antifixes and water spouts needed for a Roman roof

Plan of the House of the Faun in watercolour showing the reconstructed rooflines.

Reconstruction of a roofline in plan and section

Full image of the three elements as one watercolour illustration

Reposted by archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 3d

“Bronze is brilliant!” #archink #inktober - bronze & flint
youtu.be/nyu4u3VZYaQ

Drawing of a skeuomorphic spear head made of flint. It says, “bronze bronze bronze bronze…what’s wrong with stone?” And hashtags in the tweet.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 2d

For day three of #archInk prompt: flint
I created a digital collage of tools used during flint knapping and the by products spreading around the production zone: flakes and blades.

#archaeology #archInk2025

Digital collage showing hands reaching upward among flintknapping tools such as antler tines, hammers, and scrapers. Flint flakes are scattered across circular green and ochre shapes. The word “FLINT” appears in cut-out letters near the bottom right

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DAH Lab @dah-lab.bsky.social · 8d

We have a new series of "Digital Lunch"- free, hybrid talks hosted by the Digital Archaeology and Heritage Lab at the University of York. Don't be fooled by the name, we've asked experts on the very cutting edge of the field to talk to us about their research.

Sign up:

forms.gle/qeRcHHe5z3Kf...

26 September James, Colleen, Peter, Guy Current digital research at York
3 October Ahmed El Antably Nubian Chronicles: You've been talking to the wrong people
10 October Stephanie Döpper Co-creating smartphone tours at archaeological sites with the ArchaeoTrail App
17 October Mariana Lopez Sound Heritage: methods and considerations
24 October Maki Wardle Moonlighting at ESA: A Postcard from a Digital Archaeologist in Space
31 October off off
7 November Despoina Sampatakou Cultural objects in reality and virtuality: a comparative study in XR
14 November Florence Smith Nicholls (Not) Dying of Anticipation: Video Game Archaeologies of Contemporary Play
21 November ADS What's new at ADS/HSDS
28 November Mark Altaweel AI for palaeoclimate research
5 December Marta Diaz-Guardamino TBA

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 3d

day 4 of #archInk2025: bronze. tin meets copper, and new colours are created based on the mixture, from gold, green, brown, red.

i drew them circling between two hands, an acknowledgement of how innovative humans are and bronze meant exchange and shared skill

#archInk #archaeology

A digital illustration showing two hands reaching toward a circle of bronze artefacts, including swords, spearheads, and axes. Each object has a different shade of bronze — from golden yellow to deep reddish-brown — representing the varied colours of Bronze Age metalwork

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 4d

day 3 of #archink2025: residue. what's left inside a pot can say a lot. grains, fats, traces of meals long gone.
drew that chain in a kind of comic style: pot in use, pot buried/excavated, pot in the lab.

Small remains lead to past recipes.

#archInk #archaeology

A three-panel digital illustration showing the archaeological process of residue analysis.
In the first panel, a clay pot sits over a small fire surrounded by stones.
In the second, a broken pot is uncovered in the ground with a trowel nearby.
In the third, gloved hands hold a sherd and take a sample with a small tool. Two circles highlight what residue analysis can reveal: plant grains and a goat

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 4d

#archInk is not only drawing but can also be a haiku!

LeftPeggers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇵🇸 @leftpeggers.bsky.social · 6d

#Archlink2025
#Haiku
#Shell

Around fish or fowl,
Dumped in middens when done,
Still contains, stories.

archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 29d

Here's the official #archInk2025 prompt list - 31 days of archaeological (illustration) prompts for October.

From pigment and bronze to provenance and afterlife, each prompt open to be explored through drawing or other techniques and mediums.

Ready to join in?
#archInk

archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 4d

day 2 of #archInk: #shell.
a watercolour scallop in the centre, with digital pen sketches of shell artefacts and tools around it. shells are versatile in archaeology, and this page is also a mix of drawing techniques, from watercolour to digital.

#archaeology #archInk2025

day two of archInk 2025: shell.

the central piece today is a scallop shell painted in watercolour. around it i sketched different shell artefacts — scrapers, spoons, containers, ornaments. it shows how versatile shells are as archaeological finds, and how many uses they once had.

this page is also a small experiment in drawing itself. mixing digital work with watercolour and pen sketches makes it feel layered, like different notes on the same theme.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 4d

They are also always welcome!

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 5d

Quick one today after the pub.

So we’d find these spots covered in tiny white shells in the desert on survey. The only problem was that this also a contemporary practice so you couldn’t always easily tell if the shell floor was archaeology or last week’s family campsite #archink #inktober “shell”

Drawing of a tiny white shell with the text, “in Qatar you could find sites where there wasn’t much left besides a surface of the tiniest white shells used as a floor” with tags that are in the tweet.

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ama @amasugiru.bsky.social · 6d

#archInk2025 Day 2: Shell
During prep, the Conch of Teleportation reminded me of oracle bones, divinatory records from the Shang. They feature some of the earliest writing in China. I thought dragon turtles, taken from Chinese mythological creatures, would help expand a focus on Chinese archaeology.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 4d

Turns out the Palaeolithic had a splash of blue already too.
Guess pigment isn’t only red and yellow after all.
And I just love how the timing of this news actually matches with the first #archInk2025 prompt "pigment"

Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 9d

NEW Archaeologists find the earliest evidence for blue pigment use in Europe, dating back ~13,000 years and questioning the long-held belief that Palaeolithic artists only used red or black.

Strap in for a colourful #AntiquityThread 1/10 🧵

🏺 #Archaeology

Close-up image of a stone with traces of blue pigment on its surface.

Reposted by archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 6d

Super cool to learn that I was huffing cinnabar while laboriously excavating paintings at Çatalhöyük. #archink #pigment #inktober

A drawing with a finger held up and red pigment on the fingertip. Next to it is written “cinnabar, treasured world-wide for its fiery red hue, is toxic and poisoned those who sought its beauty.” Hashtags are in the tweet.

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Louise Bedford | Archaeology @louisearchaeology.bsky.social · 7d

Day 1 #ArchInk2025 - Pigment. Bison cave art from the Cave of Altamira.

Trying to use this challenge to improve my illustration skills on Photoshop. I double brushed areas to show cracks in the cave walls and added an aged paper texture background.

#ArchInk @jonaschlegel.com #Archaeology

A watercolour illustration of a cave art bison inspired by the cave of altamira,

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ama @amasugiru.bsky.social · 7d

#archInk2025 Day 1: Pigment
Back at it with a D&D bend. Today’s piece is Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments. The item text says you can dip a brush right in, but pigments are technically the colorant. You can use them dry, but painting needs a binder. So I imagined some natural sources and the medium.

An illustration of a box of pigments and a bottle of binder. It reads from top to bottom: ArchInk Day 1. Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments. Includes: Fire beetle, Sussur Bark, Merrow Coral, Residuum, Glowcap Phospher, Infernal Iron Soot.

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archaeoINK - Jona Schlegel @jonaschlegel.com · 6d

starting archInk 2025 with pigment. i kept it digital today, a bit like field journal notes, an archaeology journal. pigment feels small, but it made the first colours on stone.
minerals: grounded, mixed with a binder, painted on a surface and suddenly there’s an image.
#archInk #inktober

A hand-drawn illustration showing the archaeological Inktober prompt "Pigment". In the centre is a large stone with a prehistoric bull painting in brown and black. On the left, a flat stone holds red, yellow, and black mineral pieces. On the right, another flat stone shows brown mineral lumps ready for grinding. Labels identify bright red, golden yellow, black (charcoal), and rich brown pigments. Text explains that pigments are minerals ground on flat stones and mixed with water to paint.

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Things We Threw Away @twtapodcast.bsky.social · 20d

🎙️ Episode 3 - Drawing a Hammer

In this episode, we are visiting the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (Netherlands), where an object stands right at the entrance, which Jona picked to take a closer look at: a medieval (ceremonial?) hammer built up based on an axehead from around 1000 BCE.

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Things We Threw Away @twtapodcast.bsky.social · Sep 4

Now that we're two episodes in, we thought we'd give you a little insight into our workflow!

The drawings are from Jona. She made them while Stefanie was editing her show notes.

Any questions about the steps? Let us know!

Listen to the newest episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Substack!

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