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archaeohawke.bsky.social
Jon Hawke
@archaeohawke.bsky.social
3.6K followers 960 following 1.3K posts
#Archaeology, #Ancient #Classical World & #Roman Frontier Studies MA. Former life Archaeologist doing a bit now and then. Every day above ground is a good day! Romanes eunt domus!😂
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archaeohawke.bsky.social
Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · Jun 30
The #Welsh phrase

"dod yn ôl at fy nghoed",

meaning

"to return to a balanced state of mind",

literally means

"to return to my #trees"
🌲🌳🌳🌲🌳🌲
Reposted by Jon Hawke
mumblerjamie.bsky.social
#FrescoFriday so let's celebrate the end of the week! Here we have a Pompeii fresco showing guests at a banquet.

One guests says in Latin "FACITIS VOBIS SVAVITER EGO CANTO" - "Get yourselves comfortable, I'm going to sing". Another replies "EST ITA VALEAS" - "Yes you go for it!".

#AncientBlueSky🏺
February 20, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
chapps.bsky.social
Two ancient 20-sided polyhedra inscribed with letters of the Greek alphabet. Now known as 'divination dice', they were used for cleromancy, a form of divination where casting lots determined divine will, sometimes in conjunction with an oracle. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

#MetMuseum
📸 me
Dark greenstone polyhedron, on which we can see capital Greek letters (20 sides to the polyhedron), with only the last four letters (phi, chi, psy, and omega) missing. It looks identical to modern RPG dice. Greek, 2nd-1st c. BCE. Met Museum (27.122.5) Blue-green faience polyhedron (which probably means that it originates in Egypt, but no findspot is known) with a capital Greek letter on each side/facet. A number of polyhedra made in various materials are known from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. They may have been used in conjunction with an oracle inscribed on a pillar set up in a public place. The polyhedron was thrown in order to choose a letter at random. One consulted the inscription to find the matching letter and read the oracle's response. There would be twenty oracular messages, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet that corresponded to one side of the dice. Roman, 2nd-3rd c. CE. Met Museum (37.11.3)
February 20, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
forestcollectiv.bsky.social
#FindsFriday with this glorious hoard of staters at the Reading Museum, a mixture of Gallo-Belgic & Atrebatic coins,
as well as this gorgeous torc

catch our episode on the Hillforts of Hampshire / Wiltshire and just that whole area in general >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-I1...
February 20, 2026 at 9:30 AM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#FrescoFriday

Reconstructed panel of ceiling plaster From the bath-house frigidarium. The painted panels were intended to make it look like a coffered ceiling for a vault. Later second century AD - Wroxeter

📷 My own.

#Archaeology #History #art #artwork
February 20, 2026 at 4:37 PM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
The Arch of Septimius Severus painted by Canaletto in 1742, before the excavation of the #Roman Forum (Royal Collection, UK).

#Art #artwork #History
February 20, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Chunky Roman-era gold bracelet from a Germanic princely tomb in Zohor, Slovakia. 1st century AD.

Slovak National Museum, Bratislava. 📷 by me

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology
My photo shows a chunky gold bracelet from a 2000 year-old princely grave in Zohor, Slovakia. It is a thick, solid band of gold shaped like a slightly open circle, with the two ends overlapping. Most of the bracelet is smooth and rounded, like a polished gold rod bent into a loop. Nearer the open ends, the surface is engraved with repeating circular motifs, arranged in neat rows running lengthwise along four sides of the bracelet. The rows of circles are separated by narrow decorative ‘rope-like’ borders which also run lengthwise along the band of the bracelet. Each end of the gold band (only one is seen in my photo) features an ornate, rounded knob that looks almost like a small sculpted head or helmet. It has circular patterns and curved ridges.
February 20, 2026 at 3:50 PM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
Barlands Farm boat which dates from the 3rdC AD belongs to a "Romano-Celtic' tradition. With its mast step confirming propulsion by sail, this relatively sophisticated vessel may owe more to late #IronAge traditions.

#Archaeology #RomanBritain
#FindsFriday #History #Sailing
February 20, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
kpw1453.bsky.social
A late Roman jug - part of the Hockwold Hoard which was discovered in 2001 on a temple site at Hockwold-cum-Wilton in Norfolk. Now part of the collections are Lynne Museum in Kings Lynne. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #RomanBritain #Hockwold #LynneMuseum
February 20, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
romanbritain.bsky.social
Cadw want you to have your say!
#RomanBritain #Archaeology

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗲𝗼𝗻

We’re shaping a shared Vision - and we need your insight.
Take our short survey and help guide what happens next.
Survey link:

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
February 19, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#RomanFortThursday

Reconstruction of a #Roman watch tower near Fectio in the #Netherlands

#Archaeology #Military #History
February 19, 2026 at 8:08 AM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#RomanFortThursday
#Roman legionary fortress has been detected near the renowned auxiliary fort at Valkenburg. Uncovering the remains of the fortress gateway was a key factor in proving the existence of a previously unsuspected #military site.
#Archaeology #History (1/4)
February 19, 2026 at 8:16 AM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#RomanFortThursday

Reconstruction of a #Roman watch tower near Fectio in the #Netherlands

#Archaeology #Military #History
February 19, 2026 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
wittspat.bsky.social
For this #MosaicMonday, continuing the homage to the Withington Orpheus mosaic. Some of the animals are now excitingly on display @coriniummuseum.bsky.social, including this colourful leopard who is among those recently let out from the BM's store. 1/2
Part of a hand-coloured engraving of a Roman mosaic showing a white leopard with yellow spots in profile running to the right. The animal is flanked by trees with colourful, lotus-like leaves.
February 16, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday takes us into the women's section of the Central Baths of #Herculaneum. This is the changeroom or #apodyterium with a splendid ribbed vault (for her pleasure) and a black and white #mosaic depicting a tentacled #triton and some marine life, all from the early C1 CE. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FLOOR MOSAIC OF THE WOMEN'S APODYTERIUM, 1-25 CE. CENTRAL BATHS, HERCULANEUM The main bath complex of Herculaneum had a large section exclusively for men and a much smaller one for women. The changeroom has preserved its barrel-vaulted ceiling ribbbed in plaster, a shelf for leaving one's clothes, a bench clad in cement all around the room, and a dramatic black and white floor mosaic with a wonderful triton occupying most of the pictorial space, a muscular nude man carrying a staff or oar in one hand and a fish, presumably an offering to the disrobing ladies all around him. His legs become snaky tentacles with many curls. Dolphins, an Eros, and a calamaro complete the scene. The triton is proudly naked: not even in a space reserved for women could they escape the omnipresence of the phallus.
February 16, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday

Detail of a corner panel from Mosaic Floor with a Bear Hunt, A.D. 300–400, #Roman, from near "Stufe di Nerone", near Lago Lucrino, near Pozzuoli, #Italy

Stone tesserae, 51–68 1/2 × 34 1/2–58 ¼ in.
Enough of the fragmentary floor survives to identify the subject as a bear hunt. The figures of three hunters are preserved, and one of them has his name, Lucius, inscribed above his head. The arm of another hunter is preserved along the left edge, along with his name, Minus. The hunters are driving four bears into a net; a fifth has already been captured. The net is set in a semi-circle and tied to trees at the right and left edges of the scene. The hunting scene is surrounded on three sides by a border of loop guilloche, and another vertical border of a foliate garland with a central ribbon frames the right end. The outermost border is a luxurious acanthus scroll. Heads emerge from elaborate leaf complexes in the corners, and smaller figures of erotes with armor, fruits and animals (both real and imaginary) are tucked into the scrolling acanthus along the edges.
February 16, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
romanpalace.bsky.social
It's the Winter Olympics, so here's a mosaic of a Roman who is *definitely* skiing. ⛷️👍

#MosaicMonday
A slightly blurred picture of a Roman person in a tunic, facing left. Above and below are two parallel decorative borders. The person is definitely not skiing. Instead a poorly executed attempt by the mosaicist to give the person a shadow means it looks like he's skiing.
February 16, 2026 at 8:42 AM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday

Detail of a corner panel from Mosaic Floor with a Bear Hunt, A.D. 300–400, #Roman, from near "Stufe di Nerone", near Lago Lucrino, near Pozzuoli, #Italy

Stone tesserae, 51–68 1/2 × 34 1/2–58 ¼ in.
Enough of the fragmentary floor survives to identify the subject as a bear hunt. The figures of three hunters are preserved, and one of them has his name, Lucius, inscribed above his head. The arm of another hunter is preserved along the left edge, along with his name, Minus. The hunters are driving four bears into a net; a fifth has already been captured. The net is set in a semi-circle and tied to trees at the right and left edges of the scene. The hunting scene is surrounded on three sides by a border of loop guilloche, and another vertical border of a foliate garland with a central ribbon frames the right end. The outermost border is a luxurious acanthus scroll. Heads emerge from elaborate leaf complexes in the corners, and smaller figures of erotes with armor, fruits and animals (both real and imaginary) are tucked into the scrolling acanthus along the edges.
February 16, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#WorldHippoDay

#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
February 15, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
jamin80.bsky.social
Pierre Belon
1553
February 15, 2026 at 3:28 PM
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#WorldHippoDay

#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
February 15, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
chapps.bsky.social
This is an extremely rare and the best example of Roman glassware with wavy sides, a type known as a ‘handkerchief‘ bowl - so named because the design mimics the folded, drooping appearance of a cloth handkerchief. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

3rd-4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
Translucent blue green glass; trail in the same color. Intact; a few large bubbles; small patches of soil encrustation, weathering, and iridescence. Vessels that have been deliberately worked to create a wavy rim and sides are extremely rare in Roman glassware. This bowl is perhaps the best example known to have survived. A handkerchief bowl (or vase) is a decorative glass piece designed to mimic the folded, drooping appearance of a cloth handkerchief. Popularized in the modern era by Italian glassmakers in the 1940s and 50s, it remains a popular form. 3rd-4th century CE. H.: 3 5/8 in. (9.3 cm) Met Museum, New York (17.194.314)
February 14, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#StandingStoneSunday

The Standing Stones of Torhouse (also Torhousekie) are a stone circle of nineteen granite boulders on the land of Torhouse, three miles west of Wigtown, Scotland.
The stone circle consists of nineteen granite boulders set on a slightly raised platform. The stones have a height ranging from about 0.6 metres to 1.5 metres and are arranged in a circle with a diameter of about 22 metres. The larger stones, over 1 metre high, are on the southeast side. Three upright boulders stand in a line near the centre of the circle. The direction of the line of the three central stones is northeast to southwest. Two stones stand 40 metres to the south-southeast of the stone circle, one large and the other small, and there is a stone row of three stones 130 metres to the east. There are also surviving remains of several burial cairns, and history records others long removed to build field dykes. The stone circle has not yet been archaeologically excavated. It probably dates to the Neolithic period or the Bronze Age. The Torhouse Stones are in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument. Local tradition maintains that the three large stones in the center of the circle contained the tomb of Galdus, a mythical Scottish king. A similar story is told about one of the tombs at Cairnholy, also in Galloway. In the dyke on the south side of the road is a stone with a deep cavity which according to tradition, "the knowing never pass without depositing therein some pebble or gift to pass in peace"
February 8, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
*Academic sells history off to the highest bidder*

There, BBC, we sorted that headline for you

If he truly feels *a connection* to the find, as the article claims, would he not have donated it to a museum?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Professor finds Iron Age coin hoard near Bury St Edmunds
Tom Licence says he feels a personal connection to the coins, which are to be auctioned.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#FrescoFriday takes us into a garden in #Herculaneum, in the gloomily-named House of the Skeleton. Part of the #fresco decoration survives, showing us how the real garden extended into the painted space. Bushes, birds, and an #oscillum with a #Medusa all rise over a wicker fence. #AncientBluesky 🏺
GARDEN FRESCO, BEFORE 79 CE. HOUSE OF THE SKELETON, HERCULANEUM This somewhat faded fresco faces onto what was once a small garden with, at the centre of this frescoed wall (and still visible at lower right), a mosaic-covered niche which served as a lararium. A large red frame with a black lining serves as a fictive window looking into another, imaginary garden with a blue background. From this frame hangs a disc with a Gorgoneion on it. This is an oscillum, a disc in terracotta, stone, or metal with a low relief on it, that would be put up for feasts or celebrations, and would oscillate in the wind. On either side is a bush with a bird singing and facing the oscillum. The remains of a light wicker fence form a lower boundary for this garden.
February 13, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Jon Hawke
archaeohawke.bsky.social
A Banger for #FindsFriday

In 2006, archaeologists led by Clementina Panella of Rome's La Sapienza University discovered an extraordinary cache of 4th-century (often referred to as early 300s/late 3rd-century) #Roman imperial items on the northeast slope of the Palatine Hill. See Alt.

#Archaeology
An exceptional discovery has been announced by the archeologist Clementina Panella. Who said that on the Palatine Hill everything has been already discovered? In the last 5-6 years archeologist have revealed new ground layers with tombs and early roman artefacts and now they have discovered a collapsed wooden box originally hidden with a silk and linen textile believed to be vexilla (flags). In the box the unique find: four lancea iron points covered with oricalcum and possibly used to hold standards according to the very common iconography, two pikes and two alabards possibly cerimonial "weapons", and, overall, three scepters with the handgrip in oricalcum and a carved flower and a calcedonium globe and a number of glass spheres, believed to be a symbolic representation of the earth. Some catastrophic event forced someone to hide them and another similar event didn't allow to get them once possible. The box was located in a hole under a staircase aside to the Via Sacra, by the team from La Sapienza University leaded by Clementina Panella the expert of the ground in front of the Colosseo that in 2003 brought to the light the Meta Sudans of Augustus. Experts said are striking for their completeness, in fact digs usually turn up only fragments, and the fact that they are the only known artifacts of their kind. The scepters and all other equipment found are dated early IV century AD, and it is thought they belong to Emperor Maxentius. They were probably hidden to be preserved from the enemy, in that case Constantine, that was approaching the city of Rome. Some of the objects, which accompanied the emperor during his public appearances, are believed to be the base for the emperor's standards, rectangular or triangular flags (vexillum), officials said. All the objects are now under restoration and it will be displayed in one of the national museums in Rome Conservator Esmerelda Senatore fits a green glass sphere on a scepter that may have belonged to the emperor Maxentius. (Images: ©Pasquale Sorrentino) The discovery of Roman imperial standards on Palatine hill was a first for classical archaeology.
February 13, 2026 at 11:21 AM