Dr Matt Pope

British Iron Age gold coins worth £33,000 sold to US collectors The collection was found in a field near Bury St Edmunds features distinctive horse designs

At least this records that folks were appalled by the sale...

#Archaeology #Treasurw #Detecting 🏺

metro.co.uk/2026/03/06/s...

We won't be working very far from there at the end of July and beginning of August

Stunning to see it's structure revealed, if it didn't have a chapel on top of it, maybe it could have remained revealed

A tall cairn under excavation with a chapel against a blue sky

#TombTuesday Another year older for me today 😮🥳 so a good opportunity to look back at one of my early digs

Second season of excavation at La Hougue Bie Neolithic passage tomb, Jersey, digging the great cairn below the summit chapel

Great days - beer, beaches & camping under the stars

📷 My own

A Google maps showing serious pins across Britain, the Channel Islands and France

How's this for a digital artefact? a map I made in January 2020 for planned work research trips in the year ahead. We achieved one of these, to Brittany in February and as we returned listened on the radio to news of COVID outbreaks on cruise ships.

No drone has hit Dubai Marina. It was debris from a successful interception Everyone is ok.

No drone has hit Dubai Marina. It was debris from a successful interception Everyone is ok. Stay calm, everyone is safe.

No drone has hit Dubai Marina. It was debris from a successful interception

No drone has hit Dubai Marina. It was debris from a successful interception.

I wonder if a drone has hit Dubai Marina. Or whether it was just
debris from a successful interception.

If only loads of Dubai based accounts, including Isabel Oakeshott's, could tell me.

The Guardian has posted a piece on human remains, and as an osteologist I want to add some thoughts. First off I agree that the legacy of colonialism is a problem, and that there are issues surrounding certain collections.

But

The numbers in that piece are massively inflated for two reasons

Book your tickets and join us for the 2026 Long Man Lecture with @archaeologyuk.bsky.social President Raksha Dave

Sunday Hedge Guardian #SeenOnMyRun

A plant about 40cm high with waxey veiny leave and large purple flowers with yellow centres

I've wanted to make space for Hellebores for quite a while and now I finally have. Say hello to my first Hellebore.

I talk about spring ice melt, I've excavating the Ice Age traces of it, I think, but I've never seen it in real life.

Synthesis of the archaeological and rock art record of the Sahout region and correlation with Levantine cultural periods. Sahout dating and rock art presented in this paper shown in blue. A: Occupation phases based on 14C and OSL dating, and artefact assemblages; B: Key artefact types showing number of pieces from stratified contexts in colour and surface finds in greyscale; C: Rock art sequence based on superimpositions and dated via engraving tools at ARN20 and SAU, date ranges are approximate; D: Footprints indicate high (6), medium (4), and low mobility (3) as inferred by diversity and sourcing of lithic materials; E: corresponding periods in the Levant.

The Natufian Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the desert of northern Arabia🏺🧪
Ceri Shipton, @mdpetraglia.bsky.social et al
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Suggests long-term survival in relatively arid environments was based on local adaptation and a network of long-distance connections.

Join us for the biggest UK Palaeolithic event of the year.
Tickets on sale at Early Bird Rates. 🦣🏺
Submit your papers and posters!

We've enjoyed reading the first few abstracts submitted to us over the last week - if you have something you'd like to present follow the link for our call for papers!

sites.google.com/view/unravel...

Tactical Error!

Congratulations, mine just arrived, it looks great!

Front cover of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2025, Vol 91 from Cambridge University Press. The front cover photo is a series of stone circular walls from an Iron Age Spanish site, Castro de Elviña.

Chuffed to finally see an IRL copy of Vol 91 of PPS, the first produced by the new editorial team of Prof Daniela Hofmann, Dr Courtney Nimura and me! New front cover, new size, new article template.

Here is my second post about Hoa Hakananai'a & the time it was removed from Rapa Nui in 1868. It expands on the Sunday Times story about my identification of a remarkable photo of the men who dug the statue up– 1 of 3 taken at the same time on board HMS Topaze
mikepitts.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/a...

I kind of came here to say that!

Pazyryk Swan — an elaborate, intricate bird with extraordinary details on its beak, wings and long sweeping feathers

my goodness, I've never seen these before

www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

Especially given these coins will rattle louder in the deeply buried halls of you conscience year on year for the rest of your life

Photo of two small replica pottery vessels with tealight candles lit inside them. One with slot openings casts a radial pattern of light outwards onto the desk

Yep well done most of you - thinking about the purpose of early Bronze Age miniature cups/incense cups/accessory vessels using @pottedhistory.bsky.social replicas! Managed not to set off the smoke alarm.

😄

Thankfully yes it is

Heading home after giving a talk on Ice Age archaeology in London. Lots of interest and stories of local discoveries shared and great to have some professional geoarchaeologists in the audience 🏺🦣

Very odd, I don't know why he feels the need to defend them, it's not their ethics under scrutiny here.

Honour isnt a word id associate with this infamous episode in our national heritage narrative. 🏺😥

Bury St Edmunds Iron Age coin hoard sells for more than £33,000 Finder Prof Tom Licence plans to use some of his share to fund archaeological work in eastern England.

"It was an honour to see expert collectors taking these coins into their care,"

Really?? REALLY? and there was me thinking you just enjoyed making a fast buck, with at least two of the most important coins now off to the USA...

#Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure 🏺

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Strong Bagpuss Elephant Vibes

Oh god yes, I am ready to give someone my £££ for a little stuffed Vogelherd mammoth