Dr Jo Ball
@drjeball.bsky.social
#Roman & conflict archaeologist; Lecturer in Ancient History at Manchester Met University; University Teacher at the University of Liverpool; Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Integrative Research in Conflict Archaeology.
Pinned
Dr Jo Ball
@drjeball.bsky.social
· Jun 30
A cute little #Roman brooch in the shape of a hare or rabbit - animal brooches were popular in the Roman world, & this may once have been a very treasured possession for someone who lived 1800+ years ago 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
February 9, 2026 at 9:51 PM
A cute little #Roman brooch in the shape of a hare or rabbit - animal brooches were popular in the Roman world, & this may once have been a very treasured possession for someone who lived 1800+ years ago 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
A beautiful Byzantine necklace (dated C6-7th AD), made of amethyst, glass, & gold beads linked by delicate gold thread. A lovely piece of ancient jewellery! (📷 NY Met Museum) #AncientBlueSky
February 4, 2026 at 10:57 PM
A beautiful Byzantine necklace (dated C6-7th AD), made of amethyst, glass, & gold beads linked by delicate gold thread. A lovely piece of ancient jewellery! (📷 NY Met Museum) #AncientBlueSky
The Romans used the same techniques as the medieval Venetian glassmakers - so we do know the way they did it, but I'm not sure if anyone still makes glass the same way today
February 3, 2026 at 11:13 PM
The Romans used the same techniques as the medieval Venetian glassmakers - so we do know the way they did it, but I'm not sure if anyone still makes glass the same way today
This is in the BM - for once, at least it has a good reason to be there!
February 3, 2026 at 11:12 PM
This is in the BM - for once, at least it has a good reason to be there!
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
February 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
Wealthy but not the uber rich - I think it would have been a bit of a luxury, but the proper elite went for silver when they could!
February 3, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Wealthy but not the uber rich - I think it would have been a bit of a luxury, but the proper elite went for silver when they could!
A #Roman glass bowl in cobalt blue with white irregular swirls; it was made about 2000 years ago, probably in Italy, but ended up in a C1st AD grave in Roman Britain
#AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientRome
#AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientRome
February 3, 2026 at 8:19 PM
A #Roman glass bowl in cobalt blue with white irregular swirls; it was made about 2000 years ago, probably in Italy, but ended up in a C1st AD grave in Roman Britain
#AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientRome
#AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientRome
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
For #EpigraphyTuesday a Roman infantery helmet (Weisenau type) with an owner’s inscription formed by punched dots on the neck guard: the helmet belonged to Lucius Lucretius Celer, legionary in the centuria of Gaius Mummius Lolianus of the legio I adiutrix. 🧵1/2
📷me
🏺 #archaeology
📷me
🏺 #archaeology
February 3, 2026 at 7:46 AM
For #EpigraphyTuesday a Roman infantery helmet (Weisenau type) with an owner’s inscription formed by punched dots on the neck guard: the helmet belonged to Lucius Lucretius Celer, legionary in the centuria of Gaius Mummius Lolianus of the legio I adiutrix. 🧵1/2
📷me
🏺 #archaeology
📷me
🏺 #archaeology
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
DISCO ZEBRA!!!
🦓🦓😍
🦓🦓😍
February 2, 2026 at 4:38 PM
DISCO ZEBRA!!!
🦓🦓😍
🦓🦓😍
The entrance to a building in #Roman #Pompeii, decorated with a beautiful monochrome mosaic - makes a very good first impression! #AncientBlueSky #AncientRome ##Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
February 2, 2026 at 8:54 PM
The entrance to a building in #Roman #Pompeii, decorated with a beautiful monochrome mosaic - makes a very good first impression! #AncientBlueSky #AncientRome ##Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
February 1, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
#OnThisDay - 30 January - in 9 BC the Senate declared a public holiday to celebrate the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae - 'The Altar of Augustan Peace'. The Altar had been decreed by the Senate on 4 July 13 BC in celebration of Augustus' return from Spain and Gaul. #AncientHistory 🏺
January 30, 2026 at 10:24 AM
#OnThisDay - 30 January - in 9 BC the Senate declared a public holiday to celebrate the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae - 'The Altar of Augustan Peace'. The Altar had been decreed by the Senate on 4 July 13 BC in celebration of Augustus' return from Spain and Gaul. #AncientHistory 🏺
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
A #Roman bronze medicine box, with a sliding lid and separate compartments to store medical substances like herbs and mineral products.
Found in Nida, present-day Frankfurt-Heddernheim, dating 2nd/3rd century AD.
On display at Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
Found in Nida, present-day Frankfurt-Heddernheim, dating 2nd/3rd century AD.
On display at Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
January 29, 2026 at 4:28 PM
A #Roman bronze medicine box, with a sliding lid and separate compartments to store medical substances like herbs and mineral products.
Found in Nida, present-day Frankfurt-Heddernheim, dating 2nd/3rd century AD.
On display at Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
Found in Nida, present-day Frankfurt-Heddernheim, dating 2nd/3rd century AD.
On display at Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
A #Roman glass ridged bowl, in a lovely shade of pale green. It was made about 2000 years ago & was found in #Pompeii
#AncientBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
January 29, 2026 at 4:52 PM
A #Roman glass ridged bowl, in a lovely shade of pale green. It was made about 2000 years ago & was found in #Pompeii
#AncientBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
A #Roman gladiator's helmet, missing the face mask it originally had, found in Hawkedon (Britain). It dates to the C1st AD, suggesting that gladiatorial combats were introduced to Roman Britain quite early in its history 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
January 26, 2026 at 11:20 PM
A #Roman gladiator's helmet, missing the face mask it originally had, found in Hawkedon (Britain). It dates to the C1st AD, suggesting that gladiatorial combats were introduced to Roman Britain quite early in its history 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
An animal footprint on a #Roman tile from Dalton Parlours, a villa in West Yorkshire - amazing to think of it walking over the drying clay more than 1600 years ago!
#AncientBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
January 19, 2026 at 12:04 AM
An animal footprint on a #Roman tile from Dalton Parlours, a villa in West Yorkshire - amazing to think of it walking over the drying clay more than 1600 years ago!
#AncientBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
Article about retrieval of items stolen from the British Museum. 654 out of an estimated 1,500 missing items have been recovered 🏺 #AncientBluesky
Inside the hunt for British Museum’s missing treasures
More than two years have passed since the British Museum revealed it was missing hundreds of precious artefacts. Alex Ross spoke to the man tasked with tracking the prized items down
www.independent.co.uk
January 11, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Article about retrieval of items stolen from the British Museum. 654 out of an estimated 1,500 missing items have been recovered 🏺 #AncientBluesky
I think they did put meat etc between bread, not sure if they would recognise it as a sandwich in modern terms, but the basic concept seems the same!
January 11, 2026 at 2:07 PM
I think they did put meat etc between bread, not sure if they would recognise it as a sandwich in modern terms, but the basic concept seems the same!
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
FOI requests show that in 2024/2025, payments to individual finders & landowners for 'Treasure' rewards cost us £7,280,321.26
1/2
bigbookoftorcs.com/2026/01/11/t...
#Archaeology #Treasure #Detecting 🏺
1/2
bigbookoftorcs.com/2026/01/11/t...
#Archaeology #Treasure #Detecting 🏺
‘That belongs in a museum’: The true ‘cost’ of detecting in England and Wales.
By Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] ‘My members don’t want to be quasi-archaeologists, they want to go out on a Sunday, dig around, get dirty, find …
bigbookoftorcs.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:17 AM
FOI requests show that in 2024/2025, payments to individual finders & landowners for 'Treasure' rewards cost us £7,280,321.26
1/2
bigbookoftorcs.com/2026/01/11/t...
#Archaeology #Treasure #Detecting 🏺
1/2
bigbookoftorcs.com/2026/01/11/t...
#Archaeology #Treasure #Detecting 🏺
A loaf of #Roman bread, which was being baked in an oven in #Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79; it was carbonised by the disaster & left in the oven until being excavated nearly 1800 years later 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
January 11, 2026 at 11:21 AM
A loaf of #Roman bread, which was being baked in an oven in #Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79; it was carbonised by the disaster & left in the oven until being excavated nearly 1800 years later 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
A snowy scene in the Alps, viewed from 39,000ft one year ago today
January 9, 2026 at 6:25 PM
A snowy scene in the Alps, viewed from 39,000ft one year ago today
It would be so cool if this carnyx really did have links to the Boudican Revolt, as suggested by its find spot (I'm not sure we could ever be certain though, sadly)
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
‘Extraordinary’ iron age war trumpet find in Britain may have Boudicca links
Bronze instrument or carnyx dug up in Norfolk in area inhabited by Celtic tribe led by warrior who fought Romans
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:45 AM
It would be so cool if this carnyx really did have links to the Boudican Revolt, as suggested by its find spot (I'm not sure we could ever be certain though, sadly)
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
An assortment of engraved #Roman gems, found in the drains of the legionary bathhouse at Caerleon (Wales). Originally set in pieces of jewellery - especially rings - until the glue softened in the heat & they fell out; similar collections are found in many Roman bathhouse drains
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
January 5, 2026 at 5:59 PM
An assortment of engraved #Roman gems, found in the drains of the legionary bathhouse at Caerleon (Wales). Originally set in pieces of jewellery - especially rings - until the glue softened in the heat & they fell out; similar collections are found in many Roman bathhouse drains
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
