Mark W. Gardner
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markwillg.bsky.social
Mark W. Gardner
@markwillg.bsky.social
110 followers 56 following 100 posts
Teaching Secondary-level English and History, and TESOL. CompTIA A+/Aviation/Paleoanthropology nerd. Classical Liberal à la John Locke.
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markwillg.bsky.social
Mark W. Gardner @markwillg.bsky.social · Feb 15
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
markwillg.bsky.social
Oh boy, I’d like to be many more than eight miles away right now. 😉
riotgrlerin.bsky.social RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social · Oct 21
the real slim shady gaga: thread
I photoshopped Marshall Mathers/Eminem into the iconic meat dress lady gaga once wore.
October 22, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A wooden Roman sword, dating 1st century AD. Found in Carlisle.
The sword, crafted entirely from wood, was a practice weapon used by Roman soldiers during training drills - or a kid's toy. ⚔️

Currently on display at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, on loan from Tullie House Museum Carlisle

📷me
🏺
A wooden sword in a museum display
October 21, 2025 at 12:22 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
Geez, I wasn’t expecting that. 🫣😏
jackboot.bsky.social Jack Boot @jackboot.bsky.social · Oct 15
When I was frightened my Nanna would sit next to my bed, rub my back and whisper, "Shhh, ghosts aren't for real Jack." Which would have made me feel better if she hadn't died before I was born.
October 22, 2025 at 5:51 AM
markwillg.bsky.social
Hehe… 😏
uncleduke1969.bsky.social Uncle Duke @uncleduke1969.bsky.social · Oct 17
members of the all-bear comedy mime troupe “ursa medium” seen here practicing their “two friends carrying a heavy box” routine
Two bears standing on a roadside, appearing to be roaring at each other. A yellow road sign is visible in the background.
October 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
Magical and terrifying, too! 😏
riotgrlerin.bsky.social RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social · Oct 13
tim burton characters in famous art: thread
Jack and Sally in American Gothic by Grant Wood.
October 14, 2025 at 5:32 AM
markwillg.bsky.social
Interesting. Well done, as always, but it’s a bit disconcerting as I don’t recognize many of these people. Yes, Tom Hanks and Mark Hamill I know, but the others are less familiar. Much less. 🤦🏻‍♂️😉
riotgrlerin.bsky.social RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social · Sep 28
celebrities walking animated characters they’ve voiced instead of their dogs: thread
Mark Hamill walking the Joker instead of his dog.
October 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
Uh-oh… Star Wars frivolity.
riotgrlerin.bsky.social RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social · Aug 3
star wars but in the wrong movies: thread
I am so sorry for putting Jar Jar Binks in this particular scene from Basic Instinct.
August 6, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
‘Dragon Man’ skull may be the first from an enigmatic human cousin [our ongoing phylogenetic analyses suggest Denisovan fossils are part of the Homo longi clade]
www.sciencenews.org/article/skul...
‘Dragon Man’ skull may be the first from an enigmatic human cousin
Ancient proteins and DNA may peg a 146,000-year-old Chinese skull as the most complete fossil to date from Denisovans, a puzzling line of Asian hominids.
www.sciencenews.org
June 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
Truth be told, most people don’t really want to know how we are actually doing.
June 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
chapps.bsky.social
This two-handled Roman glass cantharus (Greek: kantharos) has had blobs of different colored opaque glass added, then marvered (rolled and shaped while still hot). One of a pair at the #MetMuseum, they were undoubtedly added to someone’s tomb for a party in the afterlife. 🏺

1st c. CE. 📸 me
One of a pair of translucent cobalt blue glass canthari, with decorative blobs of opaque white, red, pale blue, and yellow. The body of the vessel looks like an upside down bell, with a round foot at the bottom; two thin and elegant handles are attached at the base of the body, and the top rim - unbelievable that they survived for 2,000 years. The elegant shape of this cantharus (based on a Greek kantharos) is enhanced by its vibrant blue color (with a touch of age-related iridescence) and the use of applied blobs of glass in contrasting colors. This type of decoration, in which chips of differently colored glass were applied to the vessel and then marvered into the surface, was used for a relatively short time during the mid-first century CE. Its production may be attributed to workshops in northern Italy. Roman, 1st century CE. Met Museum, New York (2012.479.5a)
March 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
almbawue.bsky.social
Diese Fibel (Gewandspange) vom Typ Aucissa stammt aus dem 1. Jh. n. Chr. Der Typ war vor allem beim römischen Militär verbreitet.
Dieses Exemplar wurde bei Ausgrabungen auf dem Konstanzer Münsterplatz gefunden; vielleicht gehörte sie einem in Konstanz stationierten Soldaten.

🏺
Eine sehr gut erhaltene Fibel (Gewandspange) aus Bronze, vor schwarzem Hintergrund. Sie zeigt filigrane Gravuren und ein detailliertes Muster entlang des gebogenen Bügels. Die Nadel der Fibel verläuft unterhalb des Bügels. Die Oberfläche weist eine grünliche Patina auf.
March 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A figurine of a hartebeest, made of flint, found in a cemetery at Hierakonpolis. It dates to the Naqada II period, 3650–3450 BC.
The Naqada culture was a Chalcolithic Predynastic Egyptian culture. Hierakonpolis is a major site for studying this period.

On display at Neues Museum Berlin.

📷 me

🏺
A flint figurine shaped like hartebeest. The objcet is brown and has a rough, chipped texture. It is mounted on a display with metal supports, casting a shadow that emphasizes its form.
March 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
ticiaverveer.bsky.social
Archaeologists in France may have found a long-lost canal that the Romans built over two millennia ago while battling the Celts.
Long-lost Roman canal built by Julius Caesar's uncle may be found
Scientists may have just found a canal the Romans built 2,100 years ago while battling the Celts.
www.livescience.com
March 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Exquisite Roman cobalt blue glass cup signed by master glassmaker ‘Ennion’. AD 30-70.

Ennion was the first glassmaker to ‘brand’ his work by incorporating his name into the mould’s design.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria 📷 Leonardo.disimon

#Archaeology
Photo of an intact Roman period two-handled translucent cobalt-blue glass cup dated AD 30-70. The cup has a cylindrical body with vertical sides and two narrow strap handles attached to each side as ear-shaped loops. The cup is mould-blown with relief decoration on the body which incorporates two inscriptions in Greek, one on each side of the cup. One side reads ‘ENNIWN/ENOIH/CEN’ (‘Ennion made [it]'). The other side reads ‘MNHOH/O AOPA/ZNW translated as ‘May the buyer be remembered’. Dimensions: Height 2½ in. (6.4 cm), diameter (rim): 3% in. (9.5 cm) Collections of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria, Italy.
March 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
St Peter’s Cathedral, #Belfast

The #Victorian hammer beam roof of the nave.

#alwayslookup #CeilingsOnSunday
The cream hammer beam roof picked out in light blue. Also, light blue are the open work spandrels. The ceiling is painted in horizontal bands of mauve, light blue & cream.
March 16, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
johnhawks.net
“We know that by now there is a lot of genetic evidence showing Sapiens and Neanderthals interbred, but we are going further and suggesting they constantly shared knowledge.”

Great quote, I think probably true.

www.timesofisrael.com/rare-cave-bu...
Sapiens and Neanderthals coexisted in prehistoric Israel, rare cave burials show
Using dentists' tools, archaeologists painstakingly uncover evidence that Israel’s Tinshemet Cave housed hominins who shared rituals and knowledge, and possibly lived in harmony
www.timesofisrael.com
March 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
drjeball.bsky.social
It might not be #Roman, but for me this is one of the highlights of the NY Met Museum collection - a bowl standing on a lovely pair of human feet! It was made more than 5500 years ago, in predynastic Egypt AncientBlueSky #Archaeology
February 28, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
drjeball.bsky.social
A beautiful #Roman necklace, made of emerald beads with delicate gold links between them. Amazingly, it was made 1900-2000 years ago, in the early Imperial period, for a lucky original owner (📷 NY Met Museum) 🏺AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
March 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
Darn right! 😏
prufrockluvsong.bsky.social Pru @prufrockluvsong.bsky.social · Mar 7
I'll swear whenever the heck I feel like it
March 7, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
johnhawks.net
A lot of interest lately in the fusion of human chromosome 2, and whether it happened around a million years ago—maybe corresponding to the subsequent diversification of Neandersovans and various lineages in Africa.

I've examined this fascinating question.

johnhawks.net/weblog/when-...
When did human chromosome 2 fuse?
More and more, it looks like this event happened shortly before a million years ago, in the common ancestors of Neandertal, Denisovan, and African ancestral humans.
johnhawks.net
March 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
johnhawks.net
Not much has changed since I wrote my take on mammoth cloning back in 2017: “What is needed is some basic respect for the facts, and better investigative questions.”

medium.johnhawks.net/how-mammoth-...
How mammoth cloning became fake news
George Church, artificial wombs, elephant embryos, and a gullible science media
medium.johnhawks.net
March 6, 2025 at 10:41 PM
markwillg.bsky.social
And, we’re off… 😁
riotgrlerin.bsky.social RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social · Mar 6
for every 50 likes i’ll put pepé the king prawn into a music video.
March 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
The genetic origin of the Indo-Europeans www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The genetic origin of the Indo-Europeans - Nature
Ancient DNA reveals how the explosive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists began with a small community north of the Black Sea speaking ancestral Indo-European, and detects genetic links with Anat...
www.nature.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Enjoyed discussing this with my students today - might the Vale of York hoard cup also be Iranian, not Carolingian, as widely assumed?
pseudo-isidore.bsky.social Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · Sep 3
Does the new provenance for the Galloway hoard vessel have implications for the Vale of York hoard vessel, I wonder?
March 6, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Mark W. Gardner
drnwillburger.bsky.social
I'm two days in Munich, time to visit the collection of classical antiquities, where I spent so much time when I went to university here. It's like meeting old friends, like this Etruscan vessel in the shape of Charun, the demon of death, around 400 BC.
Three more museums to go 😃

🏺 AncientBluesky
A pottery vessel in the shape of a human head, displayed on a clear pedestal. The vessel has a detailed face with arched eyebrows, deep-set eyes, a prominent nose, and a black-painted beard with geometric patterns. The ears are adorned with large hoop earrings, and a gold-colored nose ring with a red pendant hangs from the septum. The top of the vessel flares into a black-painted cylindrical opening with decorative patterns.
March 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM