Lasse Lukas P Herskind
@ll-herskind.bsky.social
Archaeology PhD fellow @ AarhusUni
"Mesolithic Memes Reanalysed (MESMERYSE) - computational approaches to Mesolithic art of South Scandinavia and beyond"
Linguistics // Semiotics // Aesthetics
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lasse-Lukas-Herskind
"Mesolithic Memes Reanalysed (MESMERYSE) - computational approaches to Mesolithic art of South Scandinavia and beyond"
Linguistics // Semiotics // Aesthetics
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lasse-Lukas-Herskind
Back 🏡 again from #MESO2025 in Ferrara, Italy, where I finally got to meet the faces of the field.
A Mesolithic-specific week like this only comes along every 5yrs, so I appreciated every minute of it. Now it's back to the Paternity bubble 🫧🌷
A Mesolithic-specific week like this only comes along every 5yrs, so I appreciated every minute of it. Now it's back to the Paternity bubble 🫧🌷
September 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Back 🏡 again from #MESO2025 in Ferrara, Italy, where I finally got to meet the faces of the field.
A Mesolithic-specific week like this only comes along every 5yrs, so I appreciated every minute of it. Now it's back to the Paternity bubble 🫧🌷
A Mesolithic-specific week like this only comes along every 5yrs, so I appreciated every minute of it. Now it's back to the Paternity bubble 🫧🌷
This aurochs radius mattock-head was found 100years ago 🎉
Brøndsted 1934: "... the three long lines with the transverse zigzag is an unusually precise and well-executed motif for Mesolithic ornamentation, demonstrating that the art of this period was capable of deliberately stylised geometrisation"
Brøndsted 1934: "... the three long lines with the transverse zigzag is an unusually precise and well-executed motif for Mesolithic ornamentation, demonstrating that the art of this period was capable of deliberately stylised geometrisation"
July 4, 2025 at 8:50 AM
This aurochs radius mattock-head was found 100years ago 🎉
Brøndsted 1934: "... the three long lines with the transverse zigzag is an unusually precise and well-executed motif for Mesolithic ornamentation, demonstrating that the art of this period was capable of deliberately stylised geometrisation"
Brøndsted 1934: "... the three long lines with the transverse zigzag is an unusually precise and well-executed motif for Mesolithic ornamentation, demonstrating that the art of this period was capable of deliberately stylised geometrisation"
"Transgressional phases, between 10.000-7.000 BP, may have caused a certain amount of inconvenience!"
June 19, 2025 at 12:36 PM
"Transgressional phases, between 10.000-7.000 BP, may have caused a certain amount of inconvenience!"
So long and tschüss to Grabow, the iconic Late Palaeolithic amber workshop. Great campaign on all parameters, run by top-notch @au.dk @auarcher.bsky.social students 🚀
May 27, 2025 at 2:26 PM
So long and tschüss to Grabow, the iconic Late Palaeolithic amber workshop. Great campaign on all parameters, run by top-notch @au.dk @auarcher.bsky.social students 🚀
Nerve-racking day of sampling from these precious artefacts, but the results will be equally invaluable.
Let's get those radiocarbon dates!
⏳🦴🏺
Let's get those radiocarbon dates!
⏳🦴🏺
April 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Nerve-racking day of sampling from these precious artefacts, but the results will be equally invaluable.
Let's get those radiocarbon dates!
⏳🦴🏺
Let's get those radiocarbon dates!
⏳🦴🏺
Take a moment to appreciate this stunning photo of a fragmented, perforated, neatly decorated artefact made from an aurochs radius ✨🏺
But how old is it, you ask? Time will tell!
#archaeology
But how old is it, you ask? Time will tell!
#archaeology
April 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Take a moment to appreciate this stunning photo of a fragmented, perforated, neatly decorated artefact made from an aurochs radius ✨🏺
But how old is it, you ask? Time will tell!
#archaeology
But how old is it, you ask? Time will tell!
#archaeology
I know full well that ResearchGate achievements are just a gamification gimmick that annoyingly fills our inboxes, but sometimes I have to admit it works. The 1000 "reads" of my 2023 MA thesis at least suggests that it lives its own life on the www.
Wonder how many actually read the thing though
Wonder how many actually read the thing though
March 26, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I know full well that ResearchGate achievements are just a gamification gimmick that annoyingly fills our inboxes, but sometimes I have to admit it works. The 1000 "reads" of my 2023 MA thesis at least suggests that it lives its own life on the www.
Wonder how many actually read the thing though
Wonder how many actually read the thing though
This heavily used #Maglemose amber pendant depicts a group of people. Brinch Petersen gives a spooky interpretation:
"...four geometrical and standing persons with upright arms with a fifth floating above while a severed head is being presented by the last standing figure to the right."
#prehistory
"...four geometrical and standing persons with upright arms with a fifth floating above while a severed head is being presented by the last standing figure to the right."
#prehistory
March 1, 2025 at 10:41 AM
This heavily used #Maglemose amber pendant depicts a group of people. Brinch Petersen gives a spooky interpretation:
"...four geometrical and standing persons with upright arms with a fifth floating above while a severed head is being presented by the last standing figure to the right."
#prehistory
"...four geometrical and standing persons with upright arms with a fifth floating above while a severed head is being presented by the last standing figure to the right."
#prehistory
First pummeled by a wild boar, later killed and dismembered. The #Ertebølle man from Grave 13 at Skateholm had a rough life.
Perhaps it would have been a comfort for him to know that, ~7000 years later, archaeologists would make a comically morbid cartoon out of it 🏺
Perhaps it would have been a comfort for him to know that, ~7000 years later, archaeologists would make a comically morbid cartoon out of it 🏺
February 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
First pummeled by a wild boar, later killed and dismembered. The #Ertebølle man from Grave 13 at Skateholm had a rough life.
Perhaps it would have been a comfort for him to know that, ~7000 years later, archaeologists would make a comically morbid cartoon out of it 🏺
Perhaps it would have been a comfort for him to know that, ~7000 years later, archaeologists would make a comically morbid cartoon out of it 🏺
Contemporary judgements of #prehistoric #art influence how we research and disseminate it.
Mesolithic art has, in implicit comparison to more famous traditions, often been described as “sparse and poor, without much care… As a whole, a hasty, random frippery without independent worth or bearing”
Mesolithic art has, in implicit comparison to more famous traditions, often been described as “sparse and poor, without much care… As a whole, a hasty, random frippery without independent worth or bearing”
February 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Contemporary judgements of #prehistoric #art influence how we research and disseminate it.
Mesolithic art has, in implicit comparison to more famous traditions, often been described as “sparse and poor, without much care… As a whole, a hasty, random frippery without independent worth or bearing”
Mesolithic art has, in implicit comparison to more famous traditions, often been described as “sparse and poor, without much care… As a whole, a hasty, random frippery without independent worth or bearing”
February 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The Beautiful Rotten-Fish Bone-Knife:
This ~9430yr-old slotted bone tool (arguably a stylized depiction of a fish/fish skeleton) from Norje Sunnansund was excavated in relation to a ditch used to store and ferment fish - the world's earliest evidence of fermentation. Swedish tradition runs deep!?🐟💚
This ~9430yr-old slotted bone tool (arguably a stylized depiction of a fish/fish skeleton) from Norje Sunnansund was excavated in relation to a ditch used to store and ferment fish - the world's earliest evidence of fermentation. Swedish tradition runs deep!?🐟💚
February 14, 2025 at 12:18 PM
The Beautiful Rotten-Fish Bone-Knife:
This ~9430yr-old slotted bone tool (arguably a stylized depiction of a fish/fish skeleton) from Norje Sunnansund was excavated in relation to a ditch used to store and ferment fish - the world's earliest evidence of fermentation. Swedish tradition runs deep!?🐟💚
This ~9430yr-old slotted bone tool (arguably a stylized depiction of a fish/fish skeleton) from Norje Sunnansund was excavated in relation to a ditch used to store and ferment fish - the world's earliest evidence of fermentation. Swedish tradition runs deep!?🐟💚
Two Mesolithic butterflies - A moment of artistic expression? Animist magic? Or a meaning-laden, communicative symbol?
#StoneAge #Art #Magic #Symbolism 🏺
#StoneAge #Art #Magic #Symbolism 🏺
February 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Two Mesolithic butterflies - A moment of artistic expression? Animist magic? Or a meaning-laden, communicative symbol?
#StoneAge #Art #Magic #Symbolism 🏺
#StoneAge #Art #Magic #Symbolism 🏺
One of the finer things to come out of Amager - an island otherwise known for Copenhagen's waste storage and 19th century decapitations - is this decorated axe from the middle #Kongemose, ca.6150-5800 BC 🏺
Site: Carstensminde
Photo: Nationalmuseet
Site: Carstensminde
Photo: Nationalmuseet
February 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
One of the finer things to come out of Amager - an island otherwise known for Copenhagen's waste storage and 19th century decapitations - is this decorated axe from the middle #Kongemose, ca.6150-5800 BC 🏺
Site: Carstensminde
Photo: Nationalmuseet
Site: Carstensminde
Photo: Nationalmuseet
Bone and antler was the common medium for #Mesolithic #Art, usually red/roe deer, wild boar & aurochs. But there are a few exotic exceptions:
Surprised zoologists declared that this dagger was made from the bill of a #Swordfish. There is archaeological consensus that its owner must have had style🏺⚔️🐟
Surprised zoologists declared that this dagger was made from the bill of a #Swordfish. There is archaeological consensus that its owner must have had style🏺⚔️🐟
January 31, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Bone and antler was the common medium for #Mesolithic #Art, usually red/roe deer, wild boar & aurochs. But there are a few exotic exceptions:
Surprised zoologists declared that this dagger was made from the bill of a #Swordfish. There is archaeological consensus that its owner must have had style🏺⚔️🐟
Surprised zoologists declared that this dagger was made from the bill of a #Swordfish. There is archaeological consensus that its owner must have had style🏺⚔️🐟
In South Scand. #Mesolithic imagery, human depictions are rare, but all in a similar style: geometrically stylized, always showing people in motion - and a bit ominous if you ask me 😬
Meet 'Dansarna från Bökeberg', two figures engraved on separate objects from a Swedish inland settlement. Wild stuff
Meet 'Dansarna från Bökeberg', two figures engraved on separate objects from a Swedish inland settlement. Wild stuff
January 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
In South Scand. #Mesolithic imagery, human depictions are rare, but all in a similar style: geometrically stylized, always showing people in motion - and a bit ominous if you ask me 😬
Meet 'Dansarna från Bökeberg', two figures engraved on separate objects from a Swedish inland settlement. Wild stuff
Meet 'Dansarna från Bökeberg', two figures engraved on separate objects from a Swedish inland settlement. Wild stuff
Treated myself to THE palaeontology textbook - the equally cool sister of archaeology
But I fear this bookshelf addition will also add fuel to the 'digging-up-dinosaurs'-confusion among friends & family
But I fear this bookshelf addition will also add fuel to the 'digging-up-dinosaurs'-confusion among friends & family
January 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Treated myself to THE palaeontology textbook - the equally cool sister of archaeology
But I fear this bookshelf addition will also add fuel to the 'digging-up-dinosaurs'-confusion among friends & family
But I fear this bookshelf addition will also add fuel to the 'digging-up-dinosaurs'-confusion among friends & family
This artefact has it all:
🔅A mattock made from the radius of an aurochs (cool animal)
🔅From Hohen Viecheln (dope site)
🔅Engraved with barbed lines (regionally distinct motif type)
🔅And and and it's radiocarbon dated (happy days) to 7937–7610 calBC
🔅Fine drawing too (Schuldt 1961)
🔅A mattock made from the radius of an aurochs (cool animal)
🔅From Hohen Viecheln (dope site)
🔅Engraved with barbed lines (regionally distinct motif type)
🔅And and and it's radiocarbon dated (happy days) to 7937–7610 calBC
🔅Fine drawing too (Schuldt 1961)
January 2, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This artefact has it all:
🔅A mattock made from the radius of an aurochs (cool animal)
🔅From Hohen Viecheln (dope site)
🔅Engraved with barbed lines (regionally distinct motif type)
🔅And and and it's radiocarbon dated (happy days) to 7937–7610 calBC
🔅Fine drawing too (Schuldt 1961)
🔅A mattock made from the radius of an aurochs (cool animal)
🔅From Hohen Viecheln (dope site)
🔅Engraved with barbed lines (regionally distinct motif type)
🔅And and and it's radiocarbon dated (happy days) to 7937–7610 calBC
🔅Fine drawing too (Schuldt 1961)
This diversely decorated Ertebølle red deer antler axe from Ølby Lyng wishes a Merry Christmas to all ✨
December 23, 2024 at 12:00 PM
This diversely decorated Ertebølle red deer antler axe from Ølby Lyng wishes a Merry Christmas to all ✨
This amber pendant was worn around the neck of a stylish Mesolithic Doggerlander.
If you think it's cute, then you are of the same opinion as Sophus Müller (1918): "This piece shows the highest, and in itself by no means poor, level reached in the oldest ornamental style of the Stone Age"
If you think it's cute, then you are of the same opinion as Sophus Müller (1918): "This piece shows the highest, and in itself by no means poor, level reached in the oldest ornamental style of the Stone Age"
December 17, 2024 at 1:25 PM
This amber pendant was worn around the neck of a stylish Mesolithic Doggerlander.
If you think it's cute, then you are of the same opinion as Sophus Müller (1918): "This piece shows the highest, and in itself by no means poor, level reached in the oldest ornamental style of the Stone Age"
If you think it's cute, then you are of the same opinion as Sophus Müller (1918): "This piece shows the highest, and in itself by no means poor, level reached in the oldest ornamental style of the Stone Age"
The oldest (to my knowledge) illustrations of Danish, decorated Mesolithic objects are AP Madsen's true masterpieces of copper plate engraving from 1868(!). Here is a cute slotted bone point from Langeland - what animal do you see?
December 10, 2024 at 10:18 AM
The oldest (to my knowledge) illustrations of Danish, decorated Mesolithic objects are AP Madsen's true masterpieces of copper plate engraving from 1868(!). Here is a cute slotted bone point from Langeland - what animal do you see?