Aed Thompson

Hwær cwom diamond twill
hwær cwom cloisonne buckle
hwær cwom wād ond mædere

Eala beorht tabletweave! Eala wool-wiga!
Eala plant-dyed þrym! Hu seo þrag gewat,
genap under beige cotton, swa heo no wære.

A large triangular buckle with shield-on-tongue and three bossed rivets, with alternate-twist filligree borders and intertwined filligree beasts filling the centre panel. The buckle is mounted on a belt made of colourful patterned, woven braid of red, yellow, orange and blue sewn onto leather backing. The outer borders are dark blue, then yellow, with the central zone comprised of red-in-orange-in-yellow-in-blue lozenges, set into a dark red background. Arms reach out from the lozenges - those on the right reaching forward, those on the left reaching backward. A pattern described as “colourful diamonds swimming freestyle through a river of lava”.

A princely belt from early C7th Kent — thanks to member Phil Ratcliffe.

Replica of the Faversham buckle (found in c19th & displayed in the British Museum @britishmuseum.bsky.social) by Danegeld Historic Jewellery. Belt by member @aedthompson.bsky.social woven from plant dyed wools, on leather.

The Early Anglo-Saxon Dead at Northampton Museum Let’s start with an important, stark and perhaps bold claim: the middle first millennium CE – traditionally and still well-understood by the British public as the ‘early Anglo-Sax…

The Early Anglo-Saxon Dead at Northampton Museum howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/26/t...

Dr Sue Brunning; curator of the European Early Medieval Collections in the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at The British Museum will be visiting Lichfield Cathedral on Wed 29th Jan to present 'Silk Roads'. To book please visit www.lichfield-cathedral.org/what-s-on/wh...

Way ahead of you (ft. @thegns.bsky.social )

An information dark age is upon us. I’m logging off | Stewart Lee As Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos attempt to reshape our reality, my advice is to avoid their toxic platforms and wait it out Wow! That escalated quickly. Last time I filed my supposedly funny column, only two weeks ago, Los Angeles wasn’t on fire;…

An information dark age is upon us. I’m logging off | Stewart Lee

Way ahead of you (ft. @thegns.bsky.social)

Way ahead of you (ft. @thegns.bsky.social )

Way ahead of you.

a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him .

Bloomin’ Beaker folk, coming over here. Teaching us to drink liquids out of cups. What’s wrong with cupping your hands and lapping it up like a cat?

Love these fakery coin moulds- but would really like to see how an experienced metalworker went about recreating how these kind of moulds worked - I'm not convinced by the method in the prog.

It plainly didn't work - bring in the specialist craftspeople folks...

Please...?

#DiggingForBritain

drawing of a stone with interweaving lines in form of a cross

The most westerly discovery of a Pictish carving with an inscription in Ogham - quite the discovery for #diggingforbritain - but a nightmare to draw quickly!! Pictish beast below Christian cross #drawingdiggingforbritain #archaeology

Dirham from Clatterbridge, #Wirral: LVPL-0CF3F0
finds.org.uk/database/art....

Q. What's the difference between a coin hoard recovered by archaeologists rather than metal detecting?

A. Context

How many organic containers (like this paper filled parcel) are lost to blind digging rather than systematic recovery?

And now that astonishing sword from Kent with the sword ring on #diggingforbritain - very envious though I was lucky enough to see it #drawingdiggingforbritain

Back in the day, if you were caught whining you’d get a sharp clip round the ear, mouth washed out with leaded petrol, and made to stand under an ozone hole. Never did us any harm…
Then the wall came down, they renamed Marathon and Opal Fruits… and we haven’t felt joy since.

They all fought and died for our freedom two decades before they were born. Please show them a little respect.

I seem to remember snow used to be rationed, and you had to make do with just a little bit each week. That was real hardship. Good times. Or were they bad. I say bring it back. Or don’t.

‘Really incredible’ sixth-century sword found in Kent Exclusive: Sword is among striking objects unearthed from Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Canterbury

🏺 Scabbard lined with beaver fur!

Also, no skeleton mentioned, burial contains sword with unusual ring on pommel, & a female-associated pendant; gender interp as male with heirloom from girl or woman

www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

Friendly reminder, Fuck the Tories for partying during the 2020 lockdown:
#DrWho #DoctorWho

This was fucking FANTASTIC.
#DoctorWho

More photos from Lichfield Cathedral's Light Show showing the West Front. Photos by me this time.

a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him .

‘Ultimately, however, “it doesn’t succeed” […] “beaker people” would largely displace earlier neolithic populations.’

Imagine the head-start we could’ve had on political & economic union. Instead, we got Beaker folk. Those bloomin’ Beaker folk… coming over here. Teaching us to drink out of cups.

a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is holding a microphone in front of him .

‘Ultimately, however, “it doesn’t succeed” […] “beaker people” would largely displace earlier neolithic populations.’

Imagine the head-start we could’ve had on political & economic union. Instead, we got Beaker folk. Those bloomin’ Beaker folk… coming over here. Teaching us to drink out of cups.

Just minding my own business, preparing for a midwinter get-together, negotiating identity at a liminal place in a putative hinterland during an initial phase of the long 22nd century, but everyone keeps calling my festive plans ‘ritual’.

Thanks @helengittos.bsky.social !

Ps. Thanks for your paper in Radiocarbon & making it open access.
It’s been of great help to me learning more about C dating, but also fascinating implications for understanding of furnished burial rite. Agree with your assessment of the, um, drawbacks, of the ASCF.

Oh thanks so much for checking @ecbrownlee.bsky.social ! Glad I haven’t missed any.

a young boy is holding a bowl with a spoon in it in front of a group of children . ALT: a young boy is holding a bowl with a spoon in it in front of a group of children .

Bit of a longshot, but anyone know of UK *seax* graves or hoards with radiocarbon data? / Access to any? #archaeology

I’ve got Buttermarket, Butlers Field Lechlade, Mill Hill, Ford, Castledyke & St Peter’s Tip Broadstairs, but I need more…

…and how both silk-road and whale-road brought people, materials & artworks, but also sophisticated intellectual freight to these shores.

Another outing for a BYRGA GENIHT treasure | BYRGA GENIHT | Country House Consultancy 10 December 2024

Proud to see work of Thegns of Meecia colleagues, from a paper I contributed to, has featured in the excellent “Silk Roads” exhibition at the British Museum.
byrga.co.uk/another-outi...
This research concerns how early Anglo-Saxon treasures provide a window onto the wider early medieval world…