David Osborne
@daosborne.bsky.social
Archaeologist: PhD candidate in Bronze Age stuff @ Unis of Nottingham & Leicester. UCU & Labour member.
Husband, dad to two amazing people, classical music obsessive, son of Tyneside.
https://daosborne.github.io/
Husband, dad to two amazing people, classical music obsessive, son of Tyneside.
https://daosborne.github.io/
Pinned
David Osborne
@daosborne.bsky.social
· Nov 11
In Birmingham for tonight’s concert of Schumann & Stravinsky by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle and picked up this flyer about UoN’s dreadful Music Dept plans. Spread the word.
I’ve just finished my first non-archaeology book since completing my thesis: a book about the books that novelist Susan Hill has in her house.
It’s great to be reading for enjoyment again! (Not that reading archaeology isn’t enjoyable but you know what I mean).
It’s great to be reading for enjoyment again! (Not that reading archaeology isn’t enjoyable but you know what I mean).
January 4, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I’ve just finished my first non-archaeology book since completing my thesis: a book about the books that novelist Susan Hill has in her house.
It’s great to be reading for enjoyment again! (Not that reading archaeology isn’t enjoyable but you know what I mean).
It’s great to be reading for enjoyment again! (Not that reading archaeology isn’t enjoyable but you know what I mean).
Reposted by David Osborne
To celebrate the centenary of Woodhenge, this #findsfriday we thought we would share something from the site!
This necked beaker, decorated with incised lines and zigzags was found from circle 1, Woodhenge, by Mrs M E Cunnington and Mr B H Cunnington, 1926-8. Now in our Prehistory Galleries!
This necked beaker, decorated with incised lines and zigzags was found from circle 1, Woodhenge, by Mrs M E Cunnington and Mr B H Cunnington, 1926-8. Now in our Prehistory Galleries!
December 12, 2025 at 10:17 AM
To celebrate the centenary of Woodhenge, this #findsfriday we thought we would share something from the site!
This necked beaker, decorated with incised lines and zigzags was found from circle 1, Woodhenge, by Mrs M E Cunnington and Mr B H Cunnington, 1926-8. Now in our Prehistory Galleries!
This necked beaker, decorated with incised lines and zigzags was found from circle 1, Woodhenge, by Mrs M E Cunnington and Mr B H Cunnington, 1926-8. Now in our Prehistory Galleries!
Reposted by David Osborne
Out now & #openaccess:
Grimm, Oliver (Ed.): Beast and Human: Case Studies for Northern Europe from Prehistoric to Early Modern Times, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2025 (LEIZA Publications, Volume 8).
doi.org/10.11588/pro...
#LEIZArchaeology #Archaeology #HumanAnimalStudies
Grimm, Oliver (Ed.): Beast and Human: Case Studies for Northern Europe from Prehistoric to Early Modern Times, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2025 (LEIZA Publications, Volume 8).
doi.org/10.11588/pro...
#LEIZArchaeology #Archaeology #HumanAnimalStudies
December 12, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Out now & #openaccess:
Grimm, Oliver (Ed.): Beast and Human: Case Studies for Northern Europe from Prehistoric to Early Modern Times, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2025 (LEIZA Publications, Volume 8).
doi.org/10.11588/pro...
#LEIZArchaeology #Archaeology #HumanAnimalStudies
Grimm, Oliver (Ed.): Beast and Human: Case Studies for Northern Europe from Prehistoric to Early Modern Times, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2025 (LEIZA Publications, Volume 8).
doi.org/10.11588/pro...
#LEIZArchaeology #Archaeology #HumanAnimalStudies
Reposted by David Osborne
It took the cat a millennium to reach Ireland from England
December 12, 2025 at 8:32 AM
It took the cat a millennium to reach Ireland from England
Reposted by David Osborne
Just want to point out that both the Guardian and the BBC used "man" in their coverage of this research today.
If you want science news that doesn't employ anachronistically gendered language, be sure to read us at @livescience.com. 😘
If you want science news that doesn't employ anachronistically gendered language, be sure to read us at @livescience.com. 😘
December 10, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Just want to point out that both the Guardian and the BBC used "man" in their coverage of this research today.
If you want science news that doesn't employ anachronistically gendered language, be sure to read us at @livescience.com. 😘
If you want science news that doesn't employ anachronistically gendered language, be sure to read us at @livescience.com. 😘
Reposted by David Osborne
Where Little Shambles meets Shambles, York. Number 8 Shambles can be seen, along with a bit of 9 Shambles, between numbers 43, on the left, and number 42 on the right. On the extreme right 1 Little Shambles, one of the few survivors of the street left after the creation of the market.
#drawing
#drawing
December 2, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Where Little Shambles meets Shambles, York. Number 8 Shambles can be seen, along with a bit of 9 Shambles, between numbers 43, on the left, and number 42 on the right. On the extreme right 1 Little Shambles, one of the few survivors of the street left after the creation of the market.
#drawing
#drawing
Reposted by David Osborne
Calling all who appreciate plants and what they do for us!
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at University of Nottingham (UK) chng.it/Fq67ZRxK via @UKChange
#Botany
#PlantScience
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at University of Nottingham (UK) chng.it/Fq67ZRxK via @UKChange
#Botany
#PlantScience
Sign the Petition
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at UoN
chng.it
December 2, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Calling all who appreciate plants and what they do for us!
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at University of Nottingham (UK) chng.it/Fq67ZRxK via @UKChange
#Botany
#PlantScience
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at University of Nottingham (UK) chng.it/Fq67ZRxK via @UKChange
#Botany
#PlantScience
Reposted by David Osborne
University pressing ahead with course closures plan despite 'profound' warning
www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
University pressing ahead with course closures plan despite 'profound' warning
MPs called for the University of Nottingham to immediately pause the suspension of certain courses
www.nottinghampost.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:37 PM
University pressing ahead with course closures plan despite 'profound' warning
www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
Reposted by David Osborne
'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2
RED ALERT: the University of Nottingham is threatening to close its Department of American Studies, putting all staff at risk of redundancy, and ending any American specialist knowledge in the Faculty of Arts.
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the Petition
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
www.change.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2
Reposted by David Osborne
Another day, another round of news articles admonishing the administration for making cuts to our university.
It's clear that faculty, students,. staff and community members are united against course closures. When will the university listen?
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
It's clear that faculty, students,. staff and community members are united against course closures. When will the university listen?
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
University of Nottingham considers axing language and music degrees
Total of 48 degrees could disappear from Russell Group institution, with falling revenues and rising costs blamed
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Another day, another round of news articles admonishing the administration for making cuts to our university.
It's clear that faculty, students,. staff and community members are united against course closures. When will the university listen?
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
It's clear that faculty, students,. staff and community members are united against course closures. When will the university listen?
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by David Osborne
An amazing day of solidarity with staff, students, and community members saying NO to compulsory redundancies and unnecessary course closures.
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
An amazing day of solidarity with staff, students, and community members saying NO to compulsory redundancies and unnecessary course closures.
Reposted by David Osborne
Horrified by the proposed closure of Modern Languages @uniofnottingham.bsky.social This would end language higher education in the East Midlands & decimate the uni’s research profile. Shortsighted and reckless. #University_of_Little_England #SaveNottinghamLanguages #WeAreUoN
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Horrified by the proposed closure of Modern Languages @uniofnottingham.bsky.social This would end language higher education in the East Midlands & decimate the uni’s research profile. Shortsighted and reckless. #University_of_Little_England #SaveNottinghamLanguages #WeAreUoN
Reposted by David Osborne
Please support and share this petition to help save American Studies teaching at The University of Nottingham. Staff are facing redundancy. The expertise that would be lost would be monumental. Please sign.
c.org/26qjPmffNy
c.org/26qjPmffNy
This campaign needs you now
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
c.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Please support and share this petition to help save American Studies teaching at The University of Nottingham. Staff are facing redundancy. The expertise that would be lost would be monumental. Please sign.
c.org/26qjPmffNy
c.org/26qjPmffNy
In Birmingham for tonight’s concert of Schumann & Stravinsky by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle and picked up this flyer about UoN’s dreadful Music Dept plans. Spread the word.
November 11, 2025 at 10:41 PM
In Birmingham for tonight’s concert of Schumann & Stravinsky by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle and picked up this flyer about UoN’s dreadful Music Dept plans. Spread the word.
Reposted by David Osborne
THREAD: Delighted that Peterborough Museum has received £250k, to further explore the amazing Bronze Age assemblage from Must Farm. One of my favourite projects of the past few years was creating replicas of the pots, to better understand the technology behind them 🏺
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Peterborough Museum gets £250k for Bronze Age project
The two-year initiative will explore the discoveries made at Must Farm in Whittlesey.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
THREAD: Delighted that Peterborough Museum has received £250k, to further explore the amazing Bronze Age assemblage from Must Farm. One of my favourite projects of the past few years was creating replicas of the pots, to better understand the technology behind them 🏺
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by David Osborne
A massive number of our members just got word that the courses they teach on will be "suspended" by the university, effecting out current and future students in every single faculty and school at UoN.
November 5, 2025 at 6:21 PM
A massive number of our members just got word that the courses they teach on will be "suspended" by the university, effecting out current and future students in every single faculty and school at UoN.
Reposted by David Osborne
You are warmly invited to The Discovery Programme’s Martin Doody Memorial Lecture 2025:
"Animal Kin, Animal Others in Early Bronze Age Britain”
It will be delivered by Prof Joanna Brück of @ucddublin.bsky.social
Sign up here:
www.eventbrite.com/e/martin-doo...
Thurs 4 Dec
7.30pm
Online
Free
"Animal Kin, Animal Others in Early Bronze Age Britain”
It will be delivered by Prof Joanna Brück of @ucddublin.bsky.social
Sign up here:
www.eventbrite.com/e/martin-doo...
Thurs 4 Dec
7.30pm
Online
Free
Martin Doody Memorial Lecture 2025
The Discovery Programme's annual Martin Doody Memorial Lecture, delivered this year by Prof Joanna Brück of University College Dublin
www.eventbrite.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Erratum: in my post yesterday on a recent Guardian article about Bronze Age feasting networks, I linked to a 2023 paper that was all I could find at the time.
I’m grateful to @timdaw.bsky.social for telling me about the now-published paper in iScience, at
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
I’m grateful to @timdaw.bsky.social for telling me about the now-published paper in iScience, at
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Redirecting
doi.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Erratum: in my post yesterday on a recent Guardian article about Bronze Age feasting networks, I linked to a 2023 paper that was all I could find at the time.
I’m grateful to @timdaw.bsky.social for telling me about the now-published paper in iScience, at
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
I’m grateful to @timdaw.bsky.social for telling me about the now-published paper in iScience, at
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Today’s Guardian article on multi-isotope evidence for feasting at the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition is still interesting even though it’s based on a 2023 paper by Richard Madgwick, Carmen Esposito & @angelalamb.bsky.social
🧵1/2
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
🧵1/2
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
People gathered for great meat feasts at end of British bronze age, study shows
Evidence of millions of animal bones at sites in West Country and Surrey points to ‘age of feasting’
www.theguardian.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Today’s Guardian article on multi-isotope evidence for feasting at the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition is still interesting even though it’s based on a 2023 paper by Richard Madgwick, Carmen Esposito & @angelalamb.bsky.social
🧵1/2
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
🧵1/2
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by David Osborne
Our alternative interpretations of the ‘king’ of Newgrange (a skull fragment from an individual who was born of incest) and his distant relations have been published! We argue for the importance of careful integration of aDNA results with detailed archaeological evidence. Such a great team effort!
Who was NG10 and what was the world they lived in? The sister paper to our CAJ paper is now out in Antiquity and the cover image no less! Working on these papers with this group, has been one of the richest academic experiences I have had in my career. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber - Volume 99 Issue 405
www.cambridge.org
June 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Our alternative interpretations of the ‘king’ of Newgrange (a skull fragment from an individual who was born of incest) and his distant relations have been published! We argue for the importance of careful integration of aDNA results with detailed archaeological evidence. Such a great team effort!
Reposted by David Osborne
Our brains love the colour gradation in rainbows, maybe due to our ancestors searching for sources of water. Looking at plants helps us recover from stress & looking at something we think is beautiful causes dopamine release.
I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿
I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿
June 14, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Our brains love the colour gradation in rainbows, maybe due to our ancestors searching for sources of water. Looking at plants helps us recover from stress & looking at something we think is beautiful causes dopamine release.
I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿
I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿
Reposted by David Osborne
Fin Cop above Monsal Dale (the only Derbyshire hillfort to feature on a classic rail poster!), excavated 2009 by Longstone History Group and ARS. Late Bronze Age origins, and a harrowing end in the Middle Iron Age (400-300BC) with inhabitants massacred and dumped in the ditch.
#HillfortsWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
May 21, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Fin Cop above Monsal Dale (the only Derbyshire hillfort to feature on a classic rail poster!), excavated 2009 by Longstone History Group and ARS. Late Bronze Age origins, and a harrowing end in the Middle Iron Age (400-300BC) with inhabitants massacred and dumped in the ditch.
#HillfortsWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by David Osborne
Check out this beautiful wooden shovel and antler pick from Bronze Age Britain #FindsFriday 🏺
Currently in the Cornwall Museum, they are some of the oldest of their kind in Europe and would have been used to mine tin traded as far as the Levant!
Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Currently in the Cornwall Museum, they are some of the oldest of their kind in Europe and would have been used to mine tin traded as far as the Levant!
Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
May 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Check out this beautiful wooden shovel and antler pick from Bronze Age Britain #FindsFriday 🏺
Currently in the Cornwall Museum, they are some of the oldest of their kind in Europe and would have been used to mine tin traded as far as the Levant!
Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Currently in the Cornwall Museum, they are some of the oldest of their kind in Europe and would have been used to mine tin traded as far as the Levant!
Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Reposted by David Osborne
Curious how the Arts & Humanities can elevate your research? Join us for a free webinar where leading scholars share how interdisciplinary collaboration can unlock new insights and tackle complex challenges.
🗓️ June 18
⏰ 12:30 PM EDT
🔗 Register now: https://oxford.ly/4kadupU
#AcademicSky
🗓️ June 18
⏰ 12:30 PM EDT
🔗 Register now: https://oxford.ly/4kadupU
#AcademicSky
May 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Curious how the Arts & Humanities can elevate your research? Join us for a free webinar where leading scholars share how interdisciplinary collaboration can unlock new insights and tackle complex challenges.
🗓️ June 18
⏰ 12:30 PM EDT
🔗 Register now: https://oxford.ly/4kadupU
#AcademicSky
🗓️ June 18
⏰ 12:30 PM EDT
🔗 Register now: https://oxford.ly/4kadupU
#AcademicSky
Reposted by David Osborne
The so called Leprechaun house at Carrowkeel, Sligo is a ruined Neolithic tomb. Sliced by a field boundary, some of its material is used in the stone walls… I was inspired by this to come out of “drawing retirement” (1/2) 🧵
May 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The so called Leprechaun house at Carrowkeel, Sligo is a ruined Neolithic tomb. Sliced by a field boundary, some of its material is used in the stone walls… I was inspired by this to come out of “drawing retirement” (1/2) 🧵