Esther Addley
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estheraddley.bsky.social
Esther Addley
@estheraddley.bsky.social
13K followers 610 following 170 posts
Guardian senior news writer, Derry Girl. Likes old stones and potatoes.
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Reposted by Esther Addley
markjmcintyre.bsky.social
Love this. Can I chip in with another? The @govanstones.bsky.social in Glasgow, a collection of 1000+ year old Viking age carved stones and sarcophagus, dug up from Govan Old Churchyard on the edge of the River Clyde. On display a two minute walk from Govan subway station.
kcross.bsky.social Katherine CM Cross @kcross.bsky.social · 23d
It is wonderful!
The Govan hogbacks in Govan old church
September 5, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
lvhicks.bsky.social
I enjoyed talking to @estheraddley.bsky.social about the #BayeuxTapestry. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Why the Bayeux tapestry and Franco-British relations are natural bedfellows
Tapestry’s loan to UK is just another chapter in the love-hate relationship that has spanned the centuries since it was created
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2026 at 8:33 AM
estheraddley.bsky.social
I wrote about some stuff to see if you have #bayeuxtapestry Fomo - an entirely random selection of mine that could have been 10x as long - and have already have had plenty of submissions about things that should have been on the list...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
Feeling Bayeux tapestry Fomo? Check out these ancient artefacts instead
From iron age knitwear to stone circles, the UK has a wealth of alternatives if you missed out on British Museum tickets
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#FindsFriday

Bronze portrait of an unknown sitter, with inlaid eyes, dating from the hellenistic period (1st century BC). Found in the Lake Palestra at Delos. Currently on display in the National #Archaeological Museum in #Athens.

📷 by Giovanni Dall'Orto
#Art #History #artwork
#FindsFriday Bronze portrait of an unknown sitter, with inlaid eyes, dating from the hellenistic period (1st century BC). Found in the Lake Palestra at Delos. Currently on display in the National #Archaeological Museum in #Athens. 📷 by Giovanni Dall'Orto #Art #History #artwork
September 4, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
There's 'surprise', and then there's =SURPRISE!= and the tropical royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) knows the difference.

This video is by wildlife photographer Stefano Ianiro (stefano.ianiro on IG).

Let's learn about these regal, colorful birbs.
September 2, 2026 at 1:41 PM
estheraddley.bsky.social
🦉 🗡️
alisonfisk.bsky.social Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 24d
Owl of Athena! 🦉❤️

The goddess’s sacred bird with helmet and weapons transformed into a tiny armed warrior!

Red-figure ceramic vessel made in Athens around 2,400 years ago!

📷 Louvre Museum, Paris collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/5335...

#Archaeology
The Louvre image shows an ancient Athenian ceramic vessel decorated with an orangey-red coloured owl with weapons and helmet against a glossy black slip background. The owl’s details are defined in black. The owl stands facing right, with body in profile and head tilted slightly forwards and turned full-face towards the viewer. It has large circular eyes outlined in black, a small pointed v-shaped beak, and dense plumage represented by dots on the head, and rows of short black lines and dots on the broad wing at its side. It wears a helmet and has a human-like right arm holding a long spear horizontally at its side, and on the other side, at right, is a large round shield. The figure appears quite comic and endearing, at least to the modern eye. The Louvre describes the vessel as an ‘oinochoe’, that is a wine jug with a single handle (looks like a cup to me!). The handle is not seen in the image. Dimensions: Height: 6.4 cm, Diameter 6 cm. Dated 425-375 BC. The vessel is displayed on a small black museum plinth against a light grey background. Owl imagery on red-figure ceramic cups and jugs was extremely popular some 2,500 years ago and they were produced in large quantities in pottery workshops in Athens and beyond.
August 27, 2026 at 1:28 PM
estheraddley.bsky.social
👱
durotrigesdig.bsky.social Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · Aug 14
A near life size Romano British limestone head found at Childe Oakford #Dorset now in the excellent Gold Hill Museum Shaftesbury

Possibly meant to represent a female deity

The hairstyle suggests a late 2nd or early 3rd century AD date

📷 August 2026

#FindsFriday #Roman #Celtic #Archaeology
Stone portrait of a woman with centrally parted hair
August 14, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
archaeohawke.bsky.social
The painted decoration shows an #octopus, swimming in an abstract seascape. The jar comes from the #Minoan palace at Knossos, on the island of Crete, and was created in the 15th century BCE., would have been used for storing agricultural produce such as olive oil or wine.
#FindsFriday
Compared to the earlier, more naturalistic depictions of octopuses in Minoan art, this octopus is rather stylized, notably in the number of arms. Despite the less realistic approach, the animal's open eyes and curling limbs bring it to life. The jar seems to indicate the importance of the sea to the palace, either because of the marine products used by the people who lived there, or due to the significant impact of overseas trade on their daily lives. See it on display in Gallery 20 on Level G. Knossos storage jar, 1450-1400 BCE. Ceramic, 75 x 54 cm. AN1911.608 Ashmolean Museum Collection Found in 1911 under the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans.
August 14, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
alisonfisk.bsky.social
This incredible 3,400-year-old wig is made from locks of human hair!

It belonged to an ancient Egyptian woman named Merit. Styled with ringlets and braids, it’s astonishingly well preserved and offers a remarkable glimpse into the hairstyles of her time!

Museo Egizio, Turin. 📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a well-preserved ancient Egyptian wig crafted from locks of dark brown human hair. The locks were sewn together and braided. The hair is parted in the middle and curled into ringlets that end with braids on either side of the face and on the back of the neck. Dimensions 30 cm x 45 cm. Dated c. 1425-1353 BC. This type of hairstyle was often decorated with flowers and diadems, which were very fashionable in the mid-18th dynasty, as can be seen in paintings and statues of the period. The wig belonged to a high-ranking woman called Merit. She was the wife of Kha, the chief of works who supervised the royal tomb construction workers. The intact tomb of Kha and Merit (TT8) was discovered in 1906 by Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli in the Theban Necropolis at the royal tomb workers’ village of Deir-el-Medina. The wig is on display at the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin.
August 6, 2026 at 10:44 AM
estheraddley.bsky.social
Great column by @jaseokundaye.bsky.social on the unhappy Jason Arday affair.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The takedown of Jason Arday has overjoyed the right, and must be a wake-up call for the left | Jason Okundaye
The Cambridge academic has rightly now resigned. But that won’t end the targeting of senior black figures or the lazy way institutions promote faux equality, says Guardian columnist Jason Okundaye
www.theguardian.com
August 6, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
flintdibble.bsky.social
Everyone's comparing Nolan's Odyssey to Homer, but I think there's much more richness

The ancient Greeks adapted the Odyssey into ART

While these images might appear static to us, I want to walk through how an ancient Greek saw art: AS DYNAMIC STORYTELLING like our films
1/13
July 31, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
carausius286.bsky.social
This beautiful Bronze Age hoard was found in Villena 🇪🇸 in the 60s. It consists of gold & silver bowls, vases & bracelets. More recently scientists have established the iron used in 2 items (incl this spiked demisphere) came from a meteorite that hit earth 1m years ago. Wow

🕰️c1300BC
🏛️📷Villena Museum
July 21, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
passamezzo.bsky.social
Today's marginal musicians are a selection of #bagpipers drawn by Jean Pucelle, in the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, Queen of France, c1324-28.
@metmuseum.org
#MarginaliaMonday
#marginalia
#ManuscriptMonday #earlymusic #medievalmusic #medieval #bagpipe
medieval bagpiper
July 20, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Celtic chieftain’s bird helmet!

An astounding military helmet from some 2,200 years ago!

The bird’s wings are hinged so that they flapped when the wearer moved!

From Ciumești, Satu Mare County, Romania

📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a remarkable helmet of a Celtic warrior chieftain dated c. 250-175 BC. The helmet body is made of iron, now brown in colour, with some fragments missing. On top of the helmet perches a large bronze bird of prey, now greenish-grey in colour, with outstretched wings made of sheet bronze. The wings are attached to the bird’s body by hinges, allowing them to flap up and down when the wearer moved, likely suggesting flight. There are coral-red and white enamel inserts in the eyes. There is a modern blue support frame beneath the wings and a modern blue replica beak for display purposes. It was found in a warrior’s grave at Ciumești in Romania, in 1961. Other military equipment amongst the grave goods of the Celtic warrior’s tomb included an iron coat of chainmail and two of its bronze appliques, two bronze greaves and an iron spearhead, as well as clothing accessories (an iron fibula and iron belt buckle) and two pottery vessels (a biconical vase and a bowl).
July 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
drnwillburger.bsky.social
WOW, I crossed 20k followers! Huge thanks to each one of you for your interest in archaeology.
To celebrate this milestone, here's a highlight of our collections,an #IceAge masterpiece: The so-called Venus of Hohle Fels (a cave on the Swabian Jura) was carved in mammoth ivory some 40,000 years..🧵1/2
An ivory figurine with a weathered surface, shown in a museum setting, with exaggerated breasts, rounded hips, short limbs, and a small ring-like loop at the top where the head would be.
July 18, 2026 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
medmilmedicine.bsky.social
A scribe’s effort to correct an omission - The words that were accidentally left out are pulled along by one man who passes them to another who waits between the fourth and fifth lines to receive them - c. 1300, Walters Ms. W.102, f. 39v
July 17, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
c20society.bsky.social
The people spoke, their local council ignored them. Shameful.

In Dec 2025 a remarkable 9-day occupation of the humble 1950s Sheringham Bus Shelter thwarted an attempted demolition by Norfolk County Council.

This week, their beloved streamline moderne shelter was unceremoniously flattened.
Image credit: Art UK Image credit: Gareth Gabriel
July 15, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
lemoustier.bsky.social
🏺 LOVING THIS!

(I don't love the apparent need to still qualify that the axe with her might have been used to kill animals not people; nor the persistent trend of describing what look like magical specialists as "shamans", but that's another issue)
July 15, 2026 at 6:01 AM
estheraddley.bsky.social
Last time @ledbydonkeys.org put a poster about Farage's outside earnings in Clacton it was ripped down by supportive locals. Will be interesting to see if the message is now having more more cut-through
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
July 10, 2026 at 2:19 PM
estheraddley.bsky.social
Loved working on this story about a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence found in the UK National Archives - and seized from a captured American privateer in 1776. On board, a crew of multiple nationalities including a freed black man, Daniel Cottle 1/x
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
‘Vanishingly rare’ copy of US Declaration of Independence found by volunteer in UK archives
One of 11 surviving copies of ‘Exeter printing’ and only one known outside US was taken from American privateer ship
www.theguardian.com
July 3, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Reposted by Esther Addley
medievalmarginalia.com
update from this week’s heat dome

bodleian library, ms douce 134
June 30, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Esther Addley
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A Roman #glass flask in the shape of a #fish.
We don't know what flasks in the shape fishes were used for, maybe the shape relates to the content (garum/fish sauce), maybe they were used to hold oil.

On display at Pierides Museum, Larnaka, Cyprus.

Photo: Jeff Amadon via Flickr
The picture shows a flask in the shape of a fish made of translucent light green glass. The vessel is decorated with spiral thread in the same colour.
June 23, 2026 at 11:12 AM
estheraddley.bsky.social
Ten years to the day since the Brexit vote, and thank goodness for all that political stability it brought.
This oral history of the referendum campaign, from those who were behind it, is a pretty bracing reminder of the farce and tragedy of it all.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Geldof started flicking Vs at Farage’: the story of the Brexit campaign, told by those with a front-row seat
How five months in 2016 that encompassed Boris Johnson siding with Vote Leave, Jo Cox’s murder and David Cameron’s resignation shaped the UK’s future
www.theguardian.com
June 23, 2026 at 9:59 AM
estheraddley.bsky.social
😧
archaeohawke.bsky.social Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · Jun 22
After a busy weekend - #MosaicMonday be like:
Stone mosaic; medallion with mask of Phobos in the centre of rosette with 12 petals; triangles between rosette petals.

📷 The Trustees of the British Museum.

Late 4th Century Halicarnassus.
#History #art #artwork #Archaeology
FindspotExcavated/ Findspot: Hadji Captan's Field (Halicarnassus) Asia: Turkey: Aegean Region (Turkey): Caria: Bodrum: Hadji Captan's Field (Halicarnassus)
June 22, 2026 at 8:55 PM