Stef North-Sagrott

In the same week we discover AI was used to create completely incorrect reconstructions of Hadrian's Wall, we now learn that it has also been used by PBS to reconstruct Great Zimbabwe bsky.app/profile/indy...

Get this in your diary!

Australopithecus 3 million years ago:

Cullen Cockburn wil be speaking at our 2026 TAFAC Conference on 'Excavations at Aberlemno 3: No stone left unturned' Following storm damage to Aberlemno Stone 3 in 2025, a small hand excavation was carried out by AOC beneath the stone uncovering a robbing cut, two small pits and some small finds.

#Roman #Scotland seminar today👇

Archaeological finds on a Scottish island shed light on the spread of Christianity, according to #research published in @antiquity.ac.uk. 🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/oct/01/lismore-archaeological-finds-scottish-island-monastery-spread-of-christianity @theguardian.com #FindsFriday

Desperately sad news

We're not quite ready to announce our speakers and their topics yet, but please save the dates below for our 2026-27 Seminar Series. Keep an eye here and on our website for the finalised programme firstmillennia.wordpress.com/lecture-cale...

An exciting inter disciplinary project www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Autumn is a time for age old traditions, Harvest, Halloween, Bonfire Night, and keeping the opaquely funded, Tufton Street adjacent, would be entryists of Restore Trust off the National Trust Council. Helpfully Restore Trust have listed the candidates to avoid in the election.

neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now

A real shame to see that organisations who claim to care about heritage are happy to jump on using AI slop images. It's ethically, morally and environmentally wrong, and also means we can't take anything you say seriously @thecockburn.bsky.social

“People are discovering that, as everything is already decided for you by a computer or algorithm, being able to make or own something physically is good. And it is very satisfying to repeat a task to perfection. It is meditative as a job...” – Eryn Lawley, bookbinder apprentice

It’s quite something seeing the (long) list of people who claim to work on social justice issues in archaeology who are prepared to go to EAA in Athens this year, sometimes sharing sessions with people involved in illegal excavations in the West Bank. bdsmovement.net/news/europea...

slow day in the office so we're starting beef with archaeologists

Incredible sight: Brioc, a replica high medieval leather boat, has sailed from Brittany all the way round England, Wales and now Scotland. The crew navigate, dress and cook exactly as their medieval counterparts would have⛵️ bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0n259yx7no

Solidarity with heritage sector colleagues across the V&A 💪

Trying to work out if the parchmarks on the lawn in front of Inverleith House at @thebotanics.bsky.social which I saw at the weekend match up with the garden design shown on the 1876 OS map Maybe?

Spotted this unusual standing stone from the train to Pitlochy on Friday. Thanks to Pastmap I was able to locate it as the Over Benchil Standing Stone, which features a sundial perched on the top of it, and seems to have done since the early 20th c www.trove.scot/place/27002 #StandingStoneSunday

Today is #AskAnArchaeologist and my colleague Nick and myself have answered some questions we've been asked about the discovery of another prehistoric circle at Machrie Moor which hit the news a few weeks ago blog.historicenvironment.scot/2026/07/ask-...

A new #industrialheritage body #Bricks and Pits was registered as a SCIO with a primary aim to secure the med and long term future of the Scottish brick collections both virtual (www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk) and the physical. Interested see www.mining-landscapes.org/news/announc... #BrickHeritage

On #RomanFortThursday I was at Rough Castle on the Antonine Wall - talking about our management of the site, its significance and the recent(ish) fortlet discovery by colleagues in the HES Geophysics team 1. The northern entrance to the fort 2. Looking westwards along the frontier 3. The Lilia pits

Badwulf was consecrated as bishop of Candida Casa / Hwit Aerne, ‘White House’, (Whithorn, Galloway) by Eanbald I, archbishop of York, and Æthelberht, bishop of Hagustaldes ham (Hexham), #OTD in 791. The 8thC Golgotha Stone 📸Historic Environment Scotland

It’s out. aDNA analysis reveals that well-known Upton Lovell Early Bronze Age metalworker burial was that of a woman: www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Break a Leg! Injured Late Medieval Hunting Bird Given Metal Splint 🦅 Archaeologists have revealed the probable use of a metal splint to help a valuable Late Medieval hunting bird recover from a broken leg 🩹 open.substack.com/pub/thearcha...

This week, working with AOC Archaeology we completed the excavation of the base stone for Aberlemno 3. The excavation has given us valuable new information & it might even be possible to begin to answer long-standing questions about whether the stone stands where it was first erected.

This week I have been spending my time in Aberlemno. AOC Archaeology are undertaking an excellent and intriguing excavation for us, to try and unpick the biography of Aberlemno 3 www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/5533...

Really excited that this is finally out there! My colleagues in HES Geophysics carried out a survey at Machrie Moor and discovered the sockets of a previously unknown circle which could have held either wood or stone! www.ardrossanherald.com/news/2624005...

And you can read about its history as you cool down blog.historicenvironment.scot/2021/02/inno...

Three brilliant talks today. Thanks to all the speakers @archscot.bsky.social staff for making it happen There's a bonus one on Sunday as well 👀

Day 1 walking (most of) Hadrian's Wall. From the Tyne (Newbury) to East Wallhouses. I should point out that the Super Nintendo is not built in to Hadrian's Wall but in to a modern wall beside it

My new #UrbanPrehistory blog post reporting on the horrible fate of the Bogleys Stone of Fife - Barn Storm. This contains a trigger warning for anyone who thinks our heritage - and megaliths - matter. With thanks to Sam McKeand theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2026/05/19/b...

Back home after a few brilliant days at PARIS6. With colleagues from HES we showcased some of the work and research we carry out to preserve the archaeological resource of our estate. The two days were an inspiring range of presentations, discussion and chat with colleagues from across Europe!

Castle Howe Hillfort at Little Langdale in the Lake District. The fort guards the Wrynose Pass, and possibly dates to the Iron Age. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #Cumbria

Great to see @eddiecstewart.bsky.social talk for @eafsarch.bsky.social featured in @edinburghminute.com this morning. Free, but ticketed: Wicked Wild Wastes Glencoe and Rannoch Moor 17th - 18th Centuries Date: 13 may • 19:00 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wicked-wil...

This is such a fabulous find. I love the focus on where it was made - frontiers were full of people who were not soldiers. I write a little about these bowls in my new book - published next week - in a chapter about the craftsmen and women at Hadrian's Wall www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

Our final seminar is tomorrow (05/05) and is the annual 'finds medley' featuring three speakers: Dawn McLaren on artefact deposition at Black Loch of Myrton Leanne Demay on materialising identity at Burghead Gemma Cruikshanks on metalworking at St Moluag's, Lismore 6pm in the Usha Kasera LT

A lovely role for someone! - Lecturer in Archaeology at UHI in Kirkwall, Orkney: myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...

Had an inspiring and uplifting day at #CIfA2026. Lots of excellent presentations on a huge range of topics and a concluding with a very good panel discussion on the present & future of archaeology in Scotland. Just a shame we didn't get to see the highlights of the last 30 years in Billy Joel style

What is needed is a reappraisal of working conditions and re-evaluation of the role of field archaeologists and their conditions

In an industry where almost half of the archaeologists are women , the retention rate of experienced practitioners is low