Fiona Campbell-Howes

New Irish Studies blogpost about a Pictish stone published today www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie... #scotland #picts #medievalsky #archaeology

Frankish rivers styled as a tube-map.

This morning's lecture on the vikings in Francia was enhanced by this graphic of Frankish rivers, taken from @ccooijmans.bsky.social's admirable book.

Apart from anything else, hollow lol at the idea that I might want writing advice from an AI version of Pierre Bourdieu. Sure, if I wanted to write sentences so long and tortured that it's an ordeal to get to the end of even one of them..

The early church in Urquhart, the Aird and Strathglass This blog is more or less a transcript of a talk I gave last weekend at the Highland Archaeology Festival in Inverness. It was a great conference and it was wonderful to meet so many people in person...

Wonderful, thank you! This one may be of interest as well. (Most of my PhD research is focused on identifying evidence for the early church in the Moray Firthlands.)

Hi Peter, many thanks for sharing it on your page! Yes, please feel free to add it to your digital archive.

Thank you very much - glad you enjoyed it!

Banchor, Banchory and Boleskine: The wattle-built churches of northern Pictland? Recently I’ve been pondering the significance of the medieval place-name Banchor, which appears numerous times across Scotland (and the Celtic-speaking countries more broadly), and whose meaning has l...

A new blog, with a new look at the place-name element 'banchor' (also Boleskine) in Scotland. Have we been barking up the wrong tree thinking this is a Gaelic word?

Ha, this is brilliant! James would totally be offed by a (the?) Kraken, he wouldn't have it any other way. Nice to know that I'll step up (or swim out) when the time inevitably comes, too.

I bet I can guess which of our cats smells like a potato (my guess: it's not the stripy one).

Well hello

The Pictish stone lying on its side on the ground.

A 6ft-tall Pictish stone was discovered by Moray man Wayne Miles near Elgin #OTD in 2019. It had been discarded by workers constructing the Barmuckity Business Park, and bears the symbols a notched rectangle and Z-rod beneath an eagle. #medievalsky

My pleasure - hope you have a constructive trip!

All the UHI Orkney digs for 2026 are here - the Ness of Brodgar one with Time Team should be super-interesting too: archaeologyorkney.com/2026/01/07/2...

Oh, if you're there in July, you might coincide with the new season of excavation at The Cairns, a multi-period site spanning the Iron Age through the Pictish period to the Norse period and beyond: archaeologyorkney.com/the-cairns/, led by Martin Carruthers of UHI.

Maybe! Although Orkney isn't in my study area, so I don't keep a *very* close eye on it. What sort of people would you be interested in meeting?

Image of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age logo with the words We Are Back! beneath.

Welcome to the brand-new social media page for the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age! The longship has set sail for new shores as we have parted ways with X (Twitter) and are setting up camp here on Bluesky. Follow along for updates on upcoming events, new research, and all things Viking Age!

One for @dreadships.bsky.social?

This has been a slog but I’m pleased to day that I’m currently checking the proofs, which means this book will soon be out in the wild!

Off again tomorrow for the last bit of the Pagans book tour - Canterbury on Monday, Truro on Tuesday then up to Cardiff Wednesday. It's been *lovely*.

Will the cats/children recognise you after all this time?

Dog walkers discover 2,000-year-old human footprints on beach Archaeologists say the human and animal prints were made at the height of the Roman Empire

Amazing to be part of this! Never had an archaeological emergancy before - truly a once in a lifetime site! www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Ninth-century optical telegraph, anyone?

Post-doctoral researcher sought for analysis of Newark cemetery remains ORCA is looking for a post-doctoral researcher to record and analyse the human remains from a Pictish/Norse cemetery in Orkney.

The UHI Archaeology Institute is looking for a post-doctoral researcher to record and analyse the human remains from a Pictish/Norse cemetery in Orkney.

This has reminded me of my client's style guide which for some reason wanted me to spell 'capex' in all lower case, but Opex with a capital O.

*proud wife time again*

Thank you - it has certainly been A Time!

While also overseeing (now from afar) the modernisation work on the flat in Cornwall that they're moving into!

Unfortunately the former, as I am racing to get paperwork done to repatriate my dad, stepmum and all their possessions on 27 Feb - made infinitely harder by the fact that stepmum has been in hospital for a month and will be there until the actual day they catch the flight to the UK!

And also I think @emmajwaring.bsky.social might have had a *little* bit to do with it ;)

...and Glasgow...