This remarkable Mycenaean owl appliqué was found in a tomb at Peristeria, dating to 1630 to 1510 BC. 🦉
Measuring only 3.8 cm in height, it was made of gold sheet and was likely sewn onto a garment of the deceased.
Currently on display at the special exhibition ...🧵1/2
📷 me
#archaeology 🏺
Measuring only 3.8 cm in height, it was made of gold sheet and was likely sewn onto a garment of the deceased.
Currently on display at the special exhibition ...🧵1/2
📷 me
#archaeology 🏺
October 30, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Carved in marble in the 4th c. BC, this owl once served as a support for a seat in the Odeion of Perikles in Athens
It depicts a little owl (Athene noctua), a species that still inhabits the Acropolis area, linking ancient and modern Athens.
On display at the Acropolis Museum
📷me
It depicts a little owl (Athene noctua), a species that still inhabits the Acropolis area, linking ancient and modern Athens.
On display at the Acropolis Museum
📷me
October 28, 2026 at 8:08 PM
One Cypriot stop on the pathway to pigeon domestication.
#archaeobirds #zoarchaeology.
Carter et al. @antiquity.ac.uk, May 2026
#archaeobirds #zoarchaeology.
Carter et al. @antiquity.ac.uk, May 2026
Uncovering the lives of rock doves (Columba livia) in Late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Uncovering the lives of rock doves (Columba livia) in Late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus - Volume 100 Issue 412
www.cambridge.org
October 30, 2026 at 10:54 AM
One Cypriot stop on the pathway to pigeon domestication.
#archaeobirds #zoarchaeology.
Carter et al. @antiquity.ac.uk, May 2026
#archaeobirds #zoarchaeology.
Carter et al. @antiquity.ac.uk, May 2026
Lovely limestone plaque carved with the face of an owl! 🦉❤️
The solemn gaze from across the centuries gives an air of ancient wisdom!
From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC.
Met Museum 📷 by me
#OwlishMonday
#Archaeology
The solemn gaze from across the centuries gives an air of ancient wisdom!
From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC.
Met Museum 📷 by me
#OwlishMonday
#Archaeology
October 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
#MosaicMonday
Byzantine #mosaic panel, Syria, 5th/6th century depicting in multicolored tesserae a large krater flanked by two ducks with heads turned back. A tabula ansata above the scene contains five lines of #Greek dedicatory inscription.
(See Alt )
#Art #History
Byzantine #mosaic panel, Syria, 5th/6th century depicting in multicolored tesserae a large krater flanked by two ducks with heads turned back. A tabula ansata above the scene contains five lines of #Greek dedicatory inscription.
(See Alt )
#Art #History
October 12, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Absolute killer new avian #zooarchaeology paper (Rizetto et al, Quat Int). Venice wildfowling: winter-caught mallards dominated (esp. Roman & early Medieval), but also wigeon (incl. for rent payment). Size, ease of capture & env. change all likely factors. So much to dig into here. #archaeobirds 🪶 🏺
www.sciencedirect.com
October 11, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Absolute killer new avian #zooarchaeology paper (Rizetto et al, Quat Int). Venice wildfowling: winter-caught mallards dominated (esp. Roman & early Medieval), but also wigeon (incl. for rent payment). Size, ease of capture & env. change all likely factors. So much to dig into here. #archaeobirds 🪶 🏺
#Archaeobirds 🥳🥳🥳
A #mosaicmonday from the House of the Birds at the ancient roman site of Itálica - birthplace of the Emperor Hadrian. Particularly loving the proud peacock second from bottom, strutting confidently into the week 🦚.
#archeology #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky #hadrian
#ancientrome
#archeology #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky #hadrian
#ancientrome
October 5, 2026 at 4:47 PM
#Archaeobirds 🥳🥳🥳
St Francis reads a sermon to birds who flock to a tree to listen. A wallpainting at Wissington, Suffolk. Today's the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis in 1226. The Wissington paintings are dated c1280, so it's just possible the artist was alive in the saint's lifetime.
October 4, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Following last week's post, and prompted by a comment made then, I'm sharing two more details from Ras al-Hillal in Cyrenaica (modern Libya) to document this floor. On the left, a cup with a ? dove. On the right, a ? gazelle and a ? fruit tree.
📷1991
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
📷1991
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
September 28, 2026 at 12:22 PM
This is the 16th-century version of Coyote vs. Acme. #CoyoteVsAcme 💣
Roundel with Netting Quail https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/469840
September 24, 2026 at 4:53 PM
A&K No. 49 is here!
This time, we’re spotlighting Erika Gal, whose work in Romania and Hungary has been instrumental in the development of archaeornithology, alongside her important contributions to zooarchaeology.
🐦 Curious to discover her research? Here’s one of her books to get you started!
This time, we’re spotlighting Erika Gal, whose work in Romania and Hungary has been instrumental in the development of archaeornithology, alongside her important contributions to zooarchaeology.
🐦 Curious to discover her research? Here’s one of her books to get you started!
Fowling in Lowlands | Archaeolingua
Series Minor No. 24 Budapest, Archaeolingua, 2007 Puhakötés | Paper book, 23.5 × 16.5 cm 152 oldal, színes és fekete-fehér illusztrációkkal | 152 pages with colored and grayscale images Table of conte...
www.archaeolingua.hu
September 14, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Really good chicken helmet. Best chicken helmet I’ve ever seen maybe.
September 13, 2026 at 9:16 PM
All you need is dove
Outlined in white, a small grey bird with multicoloured wings pecks at at a red flower
Detail from a 4th century AD floor in the changing room to a private bath at Chedworth Roman villa #Gloucestershire
📷 Aug 2026
#MosaicMonday
Dove is all you need
Outlined in white, a small grey bird with multicoloured wings pecks at at a red flower
Detail from a 4th century AD floor in the changing room to a private bath at Chedworth Roman villa #Gloucestershire
📷 Aug 2026
#MosaicMonday
Dove is all you need
September 12, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Fascinating world of ancient #glass ! A small-scale but colourful mosaic glass inlay depicting an Ibis. This inlay, originating from a workshop in Roman-era Egypt, was discovered in Tawern, near Trier, Germany.
The ibis was considered a sacred animal of Thoth, the Egyptian deity...🧵1/2
📷️ me
The ibis was considered a sacred animal of Thoth, the Egyptian deity...🧵1/2
📷️ me
August 28, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Yesterday I learned about ethno-ornithology and I've never been so interested in a subject. Ethno-ornithology is a field of study that looks at how birds and stories of birds have contributed to culture creation. It's research, but based around people and their relationship with birds. Wild.
August 21, 2026 at 11:55 AM
This Roman floor mosaic depicts a peacock gloriously spreading its tail feathers into a large, colourful fan. It was found at the Villa du Paon (Villa of the Peacock) in Vaison-la-Romaine.
🕰️ 1st Century AD
🏛️📷 Musée Théo Desplan in Vaison-la-Romaine
#MosaicMonday
🕰️ 1st Century AD
🏛️📷 Musée Théo Desplan in Vaison-la-Romaine
#MosaicMonday
August 10, 2026 at 4:40 PM
🏺Since my last bird artefact caused so much controversy, please enjoy this very clearly duck-shaped brooch from Roman Britain, excavated by Cotswold Archaeology.
cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/roman-duck-b...
cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/roman-duck-b...
August 10, 2026 at 12:53 PM
We're welcoming reseach submissions (any article format) on stable isotope analysis of animals, especially linking present and past environments!
@frontiersin.bsky.social @icaz-news.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social #archaeology #archaeobirds #zooarchaeology #ecology #stableistopes
@frontiersin.bsky.social @icaz-news.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social #archaeology #archaeobirds #zooarchaeology #ecology #stableistopes
Frontiers | Applications of Stable Isotopes in
Zooarchaeology and Historical Ecology
Stable isotope analyses of historical archives (e.g., tissues from specimens held in natural history collections and faunal remains recovered from archaeolog...
www.frontiersin.org
August 18, 2025 at 9:45 AM
We're welcoming reseach submissions (any article format) on stable isotope analysis of animals, especially linking present and past environments!
@frontiersin.bsky.social @icaz-news.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social #archaeology #archaeobirds #zooarchaeology #ecology #stableistopes
@frontiersin.bsky.social @icaz-news.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social #archaeology #archaeobirds #zooarchaeology #ecology #stableistopes
Registration is open for the ICAZ Stable Isotopes Working Group meetup! Please join us in Reading on 25th-28th of June - signup and more info is available using the following link:
zooarchisotopes.com/back-to-the-...
@icaz-news.bsky.social #archaeobirds #animalhistory #zooarchaeology #archaeology
zooarchisotopes.com/back-to-the-...
@icaz-news.bsky.social #archaeobirds #animalhistory #zooarchaeology #archaeology
Back to the Future 2025
Back to the Future: Zooarchaeological Isotope Approaches to Modern Questions June 25-28 2025 – University of Reading REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN Access the registration form via clicking this li…
zooarchisotopes.com
May 22, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Registration is open for the ICAZ Stable Isotopes Working Group meetup! Please join us in Reading on 25th-28th of June - signup and more info is available using the following link:
zooarchisotopes.com/back-to-the-...
@icaz-news.bsky.social #archaeobirds #animalhistory #zooarchaeology #archaeology
zooarchisotopes.com/back-to-the-...
@icaz-news.bsky.social #archaeobirds #animalhistory #zooarchaeology #archaeology
Very glad to share the findings from my PhD work on raptors from archaeological sites, showing an early pattern of urban scavenging! #archaeobirds
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Tracking 4000 years of raptor diets through isotope analysis reveals urban scavenging with implications for conservation
Birds of prey (‘raptors’) often consume anthropogenic foods and can be closely associated with human settlements. In medieval Britain, birds of prey w…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Very glad to share the findings from my PhD work on raptors from archaeological sites, showing an early pattern of urban scavenging! #archaeobirds
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Since yesterday’s MS damaged by a canon ball was a hit, I figured I’d continue sharing objects from my overflowing folder of museum/archive snapshots.
Today I give you the historian’s version of r/whatismycookiecutter: what is my Iron Age brooch?
(Moesgaard Museum, DK)
🏺 #archaeobirds #aarhus
Today I give you the historian’s version of r/whatismycookiecutter: what is my Iron Age brooch?
(Moesgaard Museum, DK)
🏺 #archaeobirds #aarhus
February 11, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Since yesterday’s MS damaged by a canon ball was a hit, I figured I’d continue sharing objects from my overflowing folder of museum/archive snapshots.
Today I give you the historian’s version of r/whatismycookiecutter: what is my Iron Age brooch?
(Moesgaard Museum, DK)
🏺 #archaeobirds #aarhus
Today I give you the historian’s version of r/whatismycookiecutter: what is my Iron Age brooch?
(Moesgaard Museum, DK)
🏺 #archaeobirds #aarhus
In the following link (books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...) you can find the open-access version of this magnificent volume. Vielen Dank an @landesmuseumhalle.bsky.social #archaeobirds #ancientbluesky🏺
Der soziale Wert prähistorischer Beile: neue archäologische und archäometrische Ansätze /The social value of prehistoric axes –new archaeological and archaeometric approaches: 16. Mitteldeutscher A...
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
February 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In the following link (books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...) you can find the open-access version of this magnificent volume. Vielen Dank an @landesmuseumhalle.bsky.social #archaeobirds #ancientbluesky🏺