Cornwall Archaeological Society

Wansdyke cutting it's path across the top of Tan Hill in Wiltshire. (Yesterday)

Had a great day yesterday at the @cornwallarch.bsky.social conference. Lanyon Quoit was very visible all day in logo form so here's one of my photos taken three years ago. Happy #StandingStoneSunday

Sarah helped my friends and I with a very special commission when we lost our friend to breast cancer a few years ago. I will always appreciate the kindness she and @pottedhistory.bsky.social showed. Such a good cause. Such a great way to fundraise!

Join Cornwall Archaeological Society’s conference on 50 years of the Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU). October 17 Programme: cornisharchaeology.org.uk/events/confe... Booking details: www.tickettailor.com/events/cas Lunch, stalls and swarms of archaeologists. Look forward to seeing you there!

Brilliant sun illuminates the inner enclosure at Bury Down hillfort, Lanreath. On its hill's western crest, we look over the land towards the River Fowey, and the much later estate of Boconnoc with its dark woods. Fast approaching is a front of rain and winds, including lightning. Time to go.

archaeologymag.com/2026/09/5000...

We archaeologists tell the stories of the stones not to erase their mystery, not to undo their role as anchoring post for folklore, but to transmit the Long Neolithic. We give context for ghosts, provide new reasons for lithic pilgrimage. – Dr. K. Brophy #StandingStoneSunday

A faint moonpath crosses Veryan Bay in the equinoctial dusk. The mighty Dodman looking on as always.

Registration for TAG 2026 is now open! We have early bird prices until 22 October 2026. Head over to our website to book your place now! Register here: tag2026.square.site/registration

One of the remaining upright stones of Louden Hill circle near St. Breward in Cornwall. #StandingStoneSunday

Ancient semi-natural grassland on High Moor, Bodmin Moor. Never enclosed and probably open and a form of common since the Neolithic period.

Discovered in the 2020-21 Over Needingworth quarry excavations, this Late Neolithic pit well contained some interesting fills. Two distinctive charcoal rich midden deposits contained 123 sherds of Grooved Ware pottery, 604 fragments of animal bone and over 100 pieces of worked flint.

An ancient Egyptian crocodile that bites! 🐊 More than 3,000 years ago, someone carved this crocodile from wood and gave it a movable jaw. Perhaps a child’s toy, it offers a small glimpse into the playful side of ancient life. From Thebes, c. 1540-1075 BC Neues Museum Berlin 📷 me #Archaeology

@adam_franks shares 2 good Samaritans rescuing a stuck eagle: #AGoodPlace

Too good not to share: a wooden floor of a #Neolithic house. Unearthed in Alleshausen-Grundwiesen, a wetland settlement at the western rim of the Federsee marshlands, 3020-2700 BC. 📷H. Schlichterle/Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden Württemberg 🏺 #archaeology

Amazing survival. Can almost sense a waviness to its surface as if of differential wear. Showing busier and quieter corners of the house?

You will hear from us again.

Impressive, Katy!

Roadside respite on Penally's steep hill, nr Boscastle. Beautiful water trough for horses & dogs; the shute's hexagonal spout at a height convenient for pails. Displays the local geology: granite trough, quartz jambs and grey slate for everything else. The strong arch earlier, reused? Photo 2006

@cornwallarch.bsky.social

The amazing rufous hornero bird building its iconic, oven-shaped clay nest on a tree branch. It’s waterproof and cozy

How did prehistoric cultures perceive remarkable natural stones in the landscape? I came across this incredible perched glacial erratic nr Cregennan Lakes yesterday in upland Gwynedd which closely resembles some regional Neolithic tombs 🧐 One for #TombTuesday 📷 My own

Isbister Chambered Cairn on South Ronaldsay in Orkney. The Neolithic cairn is also known as the ‘Tomb of the Eagles’ on account of the bones and talons of sea eagles which were found alongside human remains. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #Archaeology #Orkney

The Nine Stones, Altarnun, Bodmin Moor. Usually when I visit these stones they are standing in water - so great to be able to not get soggy feet on this occasion. #StandingStoneSunday

Toot toot! 🐭 🎺 🎉 I’m delighted to reach the milestone of 15,000 followers! Thank you for joining me! Great to see so many of you interested in #Archaeology! Here’s a tiny Roman bronze mouse playing a trumpet! Perhaps too loudly as he’s covering his ear with a paw! 1st-2nd century AD #Archaeology

Remarkable survival. Might the early Neolithic Cornish greenstone axeheads have been fitted up in a similar way?

The Moel Hebog Shield - a late Bronze Age shield which was found in a bog near Moel Hebog Mountain (Eryri National Park) in 1784. Now part of the collections at the British Museum. 📷 My own. #FindsFriday #Prehistory #Archaeology

The archaeology of archaeology A shed used from 1910 by Arthur Bulleid and Harold St George Gray during excavations at Meare Iron Age Lake Village Rediscovered in 1982 filled with tools and newspapers dating from 1890 😮 Now at Avalon Archaeology #Somerset #IronworkThursday #MetalworkThursday

Some buildings will show their stories through architectural strata – abandoned Roman fort to 7th century chapel to Tudor barn to 20th century reconsecration. Some buildings will show it through a parading of their ghosts – centurion to monk to hapless hiker. – Dr. M. Benn

As is usually the case with platform cairns, the views from it are tremendous.

Also commenced a plane-table survey of the subtle earthworks of parterre gardens at Penans. The former gardens have been meadows and orchards for a quarter millennium. The earthwork survey complements the geophysical one, adding raised walks and other features absent from the other.

Last weekend CAS members dug two test pits in early 18C walled garden of Penans, nr Grampound. Recorded a water feature and foundation trench of building visible on geophysical survey. More expected this weekend.

On the western slopes of Dartmoor, from where the historic landscapes of Bodmin Moor and Cornwall stretch enticingly away towards the setting sun.

Sheepfold & hafod archaeology in the Berwyn Mountains. All of these are along the Afon Disgynfa valley west of Pistyll Rhaiadr & there were plenty more hidden in the head height bracken. They are mostly late Medieval & Post Medieval in date, but frequently incorporate or robbed earlier structures.

The land at drought cries to the sky for rain. Cries through cracks in fields, through its dusty lane coughing. Everywhere distressed spirits at lamentation. Everywhere a tormenting thirst. In this time of withering, we forgive the coming of storms. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982

Information on how to become a member is here: cornisharchaeology.org.uk/become-a-mem... Here ends the commercial. From now on this site will be archaeological and historical, but not strictly, or purely, as neither should be narrow.

Huge congratulations to @mattpope.bsky.social, who has been promoted to Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology 🎉 Matt's new appointment recognises decades of research, teaching and fieldwork, as well as his longstanding commitment to the @ucl.ac.uk Institute of Archaeology community. #Archaeology

Membership not only makes it more likely that you can join our walks. The annual Cornish Archaeology journal, 3 newsletters a year with news on further events, ours and others', including our online and in-person talks and conferences. Opportunities to join investigations, like that at Penans.

CAS organises walks to historic sites and landscape throughout Cornwall. The next on 26 September to Lizard's Lowland Point and Trebarveth (where a prehistoric round house is sliced by the sea) is led by Charlie Johns. Numbers are limited to 25 (safety) so walks are effectively members-only events.

We have just refreshed this account, starting today, with me Pete Herring as the Society's principal poster.