Alex Harvey
@alexharvv.bsky.social
Best-selling author, artist, archaeologist; I write about the ‘Dark Ages’. Views my own.
New book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, out now!: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingdoms-Hardback/p/56542
Published w/ Cambridge Uni, Pen & Sword, Amberley
New book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, out now!: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingdoms-Hardback/p/56542
Published w/ Cambridge Uni, Pen & Sword, Amberley
Pinned
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingd...
LITTLE KINGDOMS: AN A-Z OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN, my next book, releases on the 30th of November 2025
As of today it is now available for preorder, at a discounted early price of £20 (RRP £25)
Why should you pick up this book...? 🧵
LITTLE KINGDOMS: AN A-Z OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN, my next book, releases on the 30th of November 2025
As of today it is now available for preorder, at a discounted early price of £20 (RRP £25)
Why should you pick up this book...? 🧵
Little Kingdoms
Before England, Wales, and Scotland were created, before Alfred the Great and the Great Viking Army, before even a raid on Lindisfarne, the kingdoms that…
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
To celebrate the looming release of my next book, LITTLE KINGDOMS: AN A-Z OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN, I thought I’d do an A-Z!
1 letter per day, 26 days to go!
A stands for Aechse, the first ‘kingdom’ from my book, mentioned in the Life of St Cuthbert….
1 letter per day, 26 days to go!
A stands for Aechse, the first ‘kingdom’ from my book, mentioned in the Life of St Cuthbert….
Reposted by Alex Harvey
As someone who worked (albeit briefly) in archaeology, I find it weird how many people cling to things and say they should be retained because its our heritage.
Like, just "old" =/= of value, IMO
Like, just "old" =/= of value, IMO
November 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
As someone who worked (albeit briefly) in archaeology, I find it weird how many people cling to things and say they should be retained because its our heritage.
Like, just "old" =/= of value, IMO
Like, just "old" =/= of value, IMO
Bergen! Bjørgvin! You may postdate the Viking Age, but you have my heart
November 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Bergen! Bjørgvin! You may postdate the Viking Age, but you have my heart
Nice to see In The Loop (2009) make the cut, and I’ll accept The Holy Grail at no.6, but no Hot Fuzz is an absolute travesty - its simply the best movie ever made, let alone comedy
It is imposdible to make a Top 100 list everyone agrees with…
BUT THIS LIST IS SO WRONG!!!!
variety.com/lists/best-c...
BUT THIS LIST IS SO WRONG!!!!
variety.com/lists/best-c...
The 100 Best Comedy Movies of All Time
Variety's list of the 100 best comedy movies of all time includes 'Annie Hall,' 'Pretty Woman,' 'Waiting for Guffman' and 'Young Frankenstein.'
variety.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Nice to see In The Loop (2009) make the cut, and I’ll accept The Holy Grail at no.6, but no Hot Fuzz is an absolute travesty - its simply the best movie ever made, let alone comedy
Reposted by Alex Harvey
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
Reposted by Alex Harvey
I find it very pleasing that sometime around 1040, an Icelandic skald addressed the king of the Norwegians as "sinjórr", showing that already at this early stage the French vocabulary for lordship had entered the Nordic world.
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM
I find it very pleasing that sometime around 1040, an Icelandic skald addressed the king of the Norwegians as "sinjórr", showing that already at this early stage the French vocabulary for lordship had entered the Nordic world.
Reposted by Alex Harvey
Just published in Studia Celtica Fennica is Fangzhe Qiu's (@ucdscoilglcb.bsky.social) review of K. Carella's 'The Ideological Foundations of Early Irish Law and Their Reception in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600 — c. 900'. Available, open access, here: journal.fi/scf/article/...
Review of K. Carella, The Ideological Foundations of Early Irish Law and Their Reception in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600 — c. 900.
journal.fi
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Just published in Studia Celtica Fennica is Fangzhe Qiu's (@ucdscoilglcb.bsky.social) review of K. Carella's 'The Ideological Foundations of Early Irish Law and Their Reception in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600 — c. 900'. Available, open access, here: journal.fi/scf/article/...
Now signed!
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Now signed!
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
I see the #Vikings are trending again, and much like last time, I know I should stop expecting the historical pirates of the 8th to 11th centuries, but every time it happens I always do
November 23, 2025 at 9:00 PM
I see the #Vikings are trending again, and much like last time, I know I should stop expecting the historical pirates of the 8th to 11th centuries, but every time it happens I always do
Reposted by Alex Harvey
Environmental DNA evidence of settlement in Iceland from c. 810 rather than the 870s - and much more besides. Summarised in the New Scientist but that's behind a paywall. Here's the original research.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Environmental DNA evidence of settlement in Iceland from c. 810 rather than the 870s - and much more besides. Summarised in the New Scientist but that's behind a paywall. Here's the original research.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Happy 62nd birthday to #DoctorWho 🌀
November 23, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Happy 62nd birthday to #DoctorWho 🌀
Reposted by Alex Harvey
📚 Foyles, THE actual Foyles, will be selling my Amber Books Treasures of the #Vikings!
The Charing Cross Foyles is one of my favourite spaces in the world, and I recommend losing oneself there for a day at least once.
The Charing Cross Foyles is one of my favourite spaces in the world, and I recommend losing oneself there for a day at least once.
November 22, 2025 at 8:45 PM
📚 Foyles, THE actual Foyles, will be selling my Amber Books Treasures of the #Vikings!
The Charing Cross Foyles is one of my favourite spaces in the world, and I recommend losing oneself there for a day at least once.
The Charing Cross Foyles is one of my favourite spaces in the world, and I recommend losing oneself there for a day at least once.
Touchdown in Bergen, for the last leg of our Norwegian adventure, back in the south where the sea kings sleep…
November 22, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Touchdown in Bergen, for the last leg of our Norwegian adventure, back in the south where the sea kings sleep…
Reposted by Alex Harvey
Read the original research in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Tell Abraq: cross-cultural connections in the Persian Gulf from the Late Bronze Age to the early centuries AD
Tell Abraq (United Arab Emirates) is a key site in south-east Arabian archaeology, evidencing over three millennia of continuous human occupation. Recent discoveries highlight its inclusion in trade networks across the Persian Gulf and beyond and illustrate how the nature of the site changed through time.
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Read the original research in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Reposted by Alex Harvey
Bronze pennanular brooch with inlaid terminals, circa AD 450-550, was the latest object deposited in the Spring at Bath.
Late Roman, probably made in Ireland; birds and fish on the terminals might be associated with the goddess Sulis Minerva.
#FindsFriday #RomanBritain #Archaeology
📸 my own
Late Roman, probably made in Ireland; birds and fish on the terminals might be associated with the goddess Sulis Minerva.
#FindsFriday #RomanBritain #Archaeology
📸 my own
November 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Bronze pennanular brooch with inlaid terminals, circa AD 450-550, was the latest object deposited in the Spring at Bath.
Late Roman, probably made in Ireland; birds and fish on the terminals might be associated with the goddess Sulis Minerva.
#FindsFriday #RomanBritain #Archaeology
📸 my own
Late Roman, probably made in Ireland; birds and fish on the terminals might be associated with the goddess Sulis Minerva.
#FindsFriday #RomanBritain #Archaeology
📸 my own
Good haul from Tromsø
November 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Good haul from Tromsø
Reposted by Alex Harvey
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by Alex Harvey
20th November is the feast of St Edmund King and Martyr whose head is discovered crying 'heer heer heer', with a wolf guarding it.
BL Yates Thompson MS 47; John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund; 15th c; England SE. (Bury St Edmunds?); f.54r
BL Yates Thompson MS 47; John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund; 15th c; England SE. (Bury St Edmunds?); f.54r
November 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
20th November is the feast of St Edmund King and Martyr whose head is discovered crying 'heer heer heer', with a wolf guarding it.
BL Yates Thompson MS 47; John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund; 15th c; England SE. (Bury St Edmunds?); f.54r
BL Yates Thompson MS 47; John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund; 15th c; England SE. (Bury St Edmunds?); f.54r
Reposted by Alex Harvey
P is for Pengwern, a true fallen realm, remembered in scattered fragments of poetry from the 7th to the 14th centuries
A ‘place to drink mead’, home to Merlin (?), and viciously torched during a war with Mercia; its ashes lie scattered across Shrewsbury, perhaps…
A ‘place to drink mead’, home to Merlin (?), and viciously torched during a war with Mercia; its ashes lie scattered across Shrewsbury, perhaps…
November 20, 2025 at 10:03 AM
P is for Pengwern, a true fallen realm, remembered in scattered fragments of poetry from the 7th to the 14th centuries
A ‘place to drink mead’, home to Merlin (?), and viciously torched during a war with Mercia; its ashes lie scattered across Shrewsbury, perhaps…
A ‘place to drink mead’, home to Merlin (?), and viciously torched during a war with Mercia; its ashes lie scattered across Shrewsbury, perhaps…
Reposted by Alex Harvey
The paperback of Ethnic Identity and the Archaeology of the aduentus Saxonum is now available to pre-order. There is currently a Black Friday discount of 25% available with the code BF2025S, making it < €39/£33!
www.routledge.com/Ethnic-Ident...
www.routledge.com/Ethnic-Ident...
Ethnic Identity and the Archaeology of the aduentus Saxonum: A Modern Framework and its Problems
For centuries, archaeologists have excavated the soils of Britain to uncover finds from the early medieval past. These finds have been used to reconstruct the alleged communities, migration patterns, ...
www.routledge.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
The paperback of Ethnic Identity and the Archaeology of the aduentus Saxonum is now available to pre-order. There is currently a Black Friday discount of 25% available with the code BF2025S, making it < €39/£33!
www.routledge.com/Ethnic-Ident...
www.routledge.com/Ethnic-Ident...
Reposted by Alex Harvey
New research by @mctd.bsky.social shows the impact of generative AI on authors in the UK. They found over a third of novelists report their income has already been negatively impacted by AI and 85% expect their future income will be negatively impacted.
www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...
www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...
Impact of Generative AI on the Novel
A report examining how literary creatives being affected by GenAI and what measures they want see implemented by the government to protect the UK’s literary scene.
www.mctd.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:57 AM
New research by @mctd.bsky.social shows the impact of generative AI on authors in the UK. They found over a third of novelists report their income has already been negatively impacted by AI and 85% expect their future income will be negatively impacted.
www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...
www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...
Never seen this happen before in real life until today:
we just saw someone purchase a meal (jumbo reindeer hotdog), eat one bite, pose with it in their mouth / hands for 20 minutes, then bin the rest (a whole meal) after taking only 1 bite
As a gannet, I was so shocked - is this normal?
we just saw someone purchase a meal (jumbo reindeer hotdog), eat one bite, pose with it in their mouth / hands for 20 minutes, then bin the rest (a whole meal) after taking only 1 bite
As a gannet, I was so shocked - is this normal?
November 19, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Never seen this happen before in real life until today:
we just saw someone purchase a meal (jumbo reindeer hotdog), eat one bite, pose with it in their mouth / hands for 20 minutes, then bin the rest (a whole meal) after taking only 1 bite
As a gannet, I was so shocked - is this normal?
we just saw someone purchase a meal (jumbo reindeer hotdog), eat one bite, pose with it in their mouth / hands for 20 minutes, then bin the rest (a whole meal) after taking only 1 bite
As a gannet, I was so shocked - is this normal?
Reposted by Alex Harvey
My new favorite kind of meme is "here are detailed instructions on how to turn off AI". 🔨
November 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
My new favorite kind of meme is "here are detailed instructions on how to turn off AI". 🔨
Deepest north!
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Deepest north!
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo