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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 15h

My turtle and tortoise project that is keeping me occupied at the moment. #crochet #craft

Photo of a small crochet project in progress: a bright yellow turtle, body, flippers. Next photo shows it completed.

Small crochet project: a bright yellow turtle with flippers and a tortoise with green shell and, so far, two of four feet completed. feet

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 22h

Well, believe me when I say I'm loving the book.

merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, I've got your books! How did your talk go at the Festival?

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

Go for it, there was a Norwegian language evening class at our local College but that was a while ago now. We did some stuff about the archaeology for Viking brew houses a few years ago. I'm sure you've seen it already @braciatrix.bsky.social

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, absolutely a different attitude. Which is lovely!

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 2d

I reckoned it has to be in Norway! There was a little archaeology festival on Orkney a few weeks ago. We spoke to one of the archaeologists who told us, very clearly, that they are not interested in brewing. They've excavated a Viking site (with probable drinking hall) too. Not a popular topic here!

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 2d

That sounds great, what is the event? Will it be available online? etc etc. All the questions!

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 3d

What a lovely account of a traditional farmhouse brew day. I especially like the technique for cooling the wort.

patto1ro.bsky.social @patto1ro.bsky.social · 3d

Watching a farmhouse brew and the first day of the Kornol Festival @kornolfest.bsky.social
barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2025/10/brew...

Brewing and festing

I rise at 8:30 and go straight for brekkie. They have both bacon and fried eggs. So I have both. Along with orange juice and coffee. And a ...

barclayperkins.blogspot.com

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Reposted by merryn

Beer Nouveau @beernouveau.co.uk · 3d

Your Sunday morning long read:
beernouveau.co.uk/the-future-o...

The Future of Beer Festivals

At the beginning of 2024, after CAMRA announced that the Great British Beer Festival was taking a year off I published a piece on What To Do About Beer Festivals. Since then I’ve been doing researc…

beernouveau.co.uk

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Reposted by merryn

Prof Emma Flynn @profemmaflynn.bsky.social · 3d

Timeline cleanse: spotted in Edinburgh City Centre this morning. #otter #nature #Edinburgh

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 3d

Yeah, like I said, it's complicated. There's a lot of academic papers and books on the biochemistry and physiology of grain germination. Barley is probably *the* most researched grain in this respect. Not by archaeologists, of course, but by biochemists, malting, brewing and cereal scientists.

merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 3d

Yes I saw that. Nice reference to our 1999 paper. This one. (Good excuse for me to post a link to it.) Cheers!

Correction: in the paper I refer to calcium oxalate when it should be beerstone. I know that now. It is the best evidence for cereal fermentation.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Neolithic Ale: Barley as a source of malt sugars for fermentation

PDF | In the British Isles, around 4000 BC, people began to cultivate and process barley and wheat. Cereals are generally believed to have been a... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...

www.researchgate.net

Reposted by merryn

Aidan O'Sullivan @aidanosullivan.bsky.social · 4d

Impossible to read this & not think, stupid, appalling, pointless

Gaza uttterly destroyed, tens of thousands of innocents slaughtered, people with life-changing injuries, children orphaned

Hamas have not been wiped out by Israel

Israel now a pariah state

Despite delays, Netanyahu will be jailed

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 4d

Gaza ceasefire: Palestinians return to destroyed north, Hamas ‘gathers remaining hostages’

‘For the most part, there is consensus’ on next stages of the ceasefire plan, says Trump

www.irishtimes.com

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

Complicated, like I said. But nevertheless, interesting.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

I wish I'd been there. So many questions I'd ask them. Potential archaeological evidence for brewing in prehistory would be my specialist subject, if I had to pick one. There is a general attitude of "no convincing evidence" from the academic community. I've met with it a lot over the years. Why?

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

I take your point to some extent I'll go back to study details in the paper. However as I understand the science starch doesn't ferment into alcohol. It's a lactic fermentation. Pitted starch granules indicate enzyme attack to make sugars. Not fermentation into alcohol. Complicated stuff, this.

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Drew @drewavery.bsky.social · 4d

@mychal3ts.bsky.social

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 5d

This is #BookyMcBookface sailing back from Rousay this afternoon. 💨🌊 #Orkney

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

A few succinct words from Brian Cox on the amazing spectacle (a comet) that's travelling through the universe and, even more amazing, how photographs of it were taken from the surface of Mars by one of the rovers.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Brian Cox on 3I/Atlas - the comet flying through our Solar System

The physicist explains the journey of this

www.bbc.co.uk

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

The grain itself is not fermented. Grain is malted (some would say germinated) to begin the saccharification process but it is not fermented. So *if* I understand this paragraph from the paper correctly that's what is being suggested as potential evidence for an alcoholic cereal based fermentation.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

That is the bit I don't agree with.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

It's all rather complicated. I have several issues with the 'Natufian beer' paper. They have identified malt not beer. These discoveries of ancient cereal processing activity are interesting. The variation in them probably indicates a wide range of activity, experimentation with cereals and grains.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

Also worth considering this paper @larsga.bsky.social. A similar sort of date but totally different discoveries. I don't think it's a 'one or the other' situation: bread or beer. There's another option: malt and malt sugars. Epi Palaeolithic cereal processing.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4d

There were some articulated deer skeletons found near Skara Brae too. In both circumstances, did they use the deer skins to make boats (they'd be good for that) and then paddle away? Leaving the smelly and inedible deer carcasses behind. Have to agree, it's a strange and curious little mystery.

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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 5d

Breaking news: María Corina Machado has been awarded the prize for ‘keeping the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness’ . The win dashes the hopes of US President Donald Trump. on.ft.com/4ocHAKY

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 5d

It looks like the accepted academic archaeological point of view: not proven. The 1999 paper is the first paper I ever wrote. I'd agree it's a good summary of the Neolithic evidence from these islands *at that time*. So much more since then. Is anyone looking for beerstone on Neolithic pots yet? 🤔🏺🍺