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ArchaeoPlays

@archaeoplays.bsky.social

5.5K followers 3.4K following 350 posts

They/them. Disabled/chronically ill Minecraft YouTuber, & digital archaeologist (alias: Dr. Heather Christie). Also early medieval Scotland specialist and glass bead nerd. Lead Researcher for Carved in Stone. Business enquiries: [email protected]

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · Sep 12

Pre-orders for Carved in Stone are open!! This book is gorgeous, and I am so grateful to use it (and the artwork!) in my videos.

You can pre-order from @stoutstoat.co.uk here: www.stoutstoat.co.uk/carvedinstone

Thanks to @archaeonado.bsky.social for the endorsement!

🏺 #archaeology #ArchaeologySky

A young person with braided red hair rides a spotted brown horse through trees, a determined look on their face. They have a brown cloak, a yellow tunic/dress, and black leggings. They're carrying a water flask and a leather book satchel. Whatever message they're carrying, it's clearly urgent.

On the left of the image, there is a quote: "It's basically the best book on the Picts ever written. By starting from Scotland's environment and incorporating lessons from archaeology, history and art, this brings the Picts to life more effectively than any other depiction I've yet seen." from Dr Adrián Maldonado, National Museums Scotland.

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Ideas Roadshow @ideasroadshow.bsky.social · 2h

This #medieval illuminated manuscript has been digitized and is now available online #openaccess !

🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #medievalsky 🏺

www.openculture.com/2025/10/the-...

The Aberdeen Bestiary, One of the Great Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, Now Digitized in High Resolution & Made Available Online

For thousands of years, ordinary people all over the world not only worked side-by-side with domestic animals on a daily basis, they also observed the wild fauna around them to learn how to navigate a...

www.openculture.com

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 6h

Halloween is near! It's time to post this marvellous articulated Roman skeleton, presumably meant to be a reminder to enjoy life to the fullest, since pleasure ends irrevocably with death.
In Petronius’ Satyricon, the host of a dinner party brings out a small skeleton with moveable...🧵1/2

Bronze figurine of a walking skeleton with elongated limbs and detailed ribcage, shown against a dark gradient background.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 2d

Adding 🏺 and #archaeologysky just in case they haven't made the rounds in those circles, yet!

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2d

Here I am. Once again. I'm out of archaeologists.

We matched 576 groups w/archaeologists, leaving 13 groups unmatched. This brings me pain! We've never run out of scientists like this before. 598 requests for one category is A LOT. But still.

Archaeologists 🥺
www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

Skype a Scientist gives you the opportunity to connect with students and the public around the world.

www.skypeascientist.com

Reposted by ArchaeoPlays

Archaeology Data Service @ads-update.bsky.social · 5d

Reposting with the correct link :)

archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog/writing...

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 6d

And if you weren't aware of my Minecraft content... Hi! Hello, I teach archaeology through Minecraft. You might enjoy my videos, like this one that turns Minecraft into early medieval Scotland: youtu.be/iAyh4PJYXQ0

Step into Medieval Scotland and Meet the Ancient Picts | Carved in Stone (Ep. 1)

YouTube video by ArchaeoPlays

youtu.be

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 6d

Morning! If you enjoy my Minecraft content, I've got a question for you over on YouTube!

www.youtube.com/@ArchaeoPlay...

ArchaeoPlays

I’m an archaeologist. I also play a lot of games and when I do, my inner archaeologist can't help but think about them in relation to the past. So if you're interested in archaeology chat while playin...

www.youtube.com

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 10d

I just have to post this #iceage masterpiece from time to time: A tiny (3.7 cm) but amazing figurine of a woolly mammoth carved in mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago.

Found in the Vogelherd cave on the Swabian Jura, south-west Germany.

📷 me
🏺

A mammoth figurine carved from ivory, its surface weathered with age. The shape captures the essence of the animal, with a prominent trunk and sloping back. The figure is displayed on a metal stand against a dark background.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 10d

Had the pleasure of chatting to the archaeoViz folks for our session at WAC-10 - definitely worth attending if you're able!

ATRIUM Research @atrium-eu.bsky.social · 10d

TODAY, at 11:30 CET, join DARIAH's free webinar on #archeoViz & the Spatial and Statistical Exploration of Archaeological Data for the first of DARIAH's #FridayFrontiers series!🏺

ℹ️ Info: www.dariah.eu/2025/06/13/r...
🔸Register: dariah.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 11d

Rock Art Discovery Reveals Unknown Arabian Nomads from 12,000 Years Ago www.scientificamerican.com/article/rock...

12,000-Year-Old Life-Sized Camel Etchings Reveal a Lost World in the Desert

Camels in ancient Arabia may have led hunter-gatherers through deserts once thought uninhabitable

www.scientificamerican.com

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 12d

~5000-year-old copper cymbals from Bronze Age Arabia for #InternationalMusicDay

They share parallels with Mesopotamian and Indus Valley examples, indicating music connected these three ancient civilisations.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Two copper cymbals, green from oxidation, viewed from above and the side.

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Dr Izzy Wisher @izzywisher.bsky.social · 14d

Time to update your Palaeolithic palettes... 🔵

Very proud to share our new research on the OLDEST use of blue pigment! We identified traces of azurite - a vibrant blue mineral - on a stone object around 14-13,000 years old. Why is this so exciting? 👇🏺

doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Close-up image of a sand coloured stone, with a diagonal crack. The sand rock has a textured surface, and small spots of blue can be seen towards the centre of the stone. The background is grey.

Microscopic photo of the blue spots, that are irregular in shape and size and positioned diagonally across the image. The rest of the photo shows the rough sand coloured texture of the stone.

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Brian / Stout Stoat @stoutstoat.co.uk · 16d

I wrote a massive TTRPG setting guide encyclopaedia about the ancient Scotland and the Picts who lived in it. It covers everything scholars currently know about life in the 7th century, from landscapes to kingdoms to faith, magic, settlements, and so much more.

Check it out!
carvedinstone.scot

Carved in Stone

A storyteller's guide to Pictland. Available now for pre-order!

carvedinstone.scot

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

But I’m not the only textile nerd here - what would YOU do for textile magic in early medieval Scotland?

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

The magic for each spell could be imbued in the yarn, as I mentioned for naalbinding, OR you could put decorative beads on the ends to differentiate between spells… but I swear I’ll leave the bead rabbit hole for another day!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

You could also cut off each strand as you use the spell, if you want to mimic a magical object with charges. But I also feel badly cutting off the fringe piece by piece!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

And my super-exciting bonus option: Use the fringe!!! Going ALL the way back to the Orkney Hood, it has so many lovely strands in this decorative fringe. What if each strand was a spell? Or a spell slot? What if they unravelled when you cast the spell, so each morning you had to re-wind your fringe?

A repeat image of the Orkney Hood, with a green arrow pointing to the fringe.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

You could also forgo symbol-based ‘communication’ or spells entirely, and have the magic be imbued in the threads. Maybe different colours represent different schools of magic, or yarn dyed with different plants imbue it with different magical properties!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

Naalbinding is often used for socks or mittens, but you can definitely make naalbound jumpers or scarves or hats and such. I’m not sure how much you could do in terms of specific Pictish symbols, but you could probably work ogham into naalbinding somehow…

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

And Option #3 is naalbinding! Or nålebinding - there are a few ways to spell it. Naalbinding is a fibre art technique that looks a lot like a cross between crocheting or knitting in the round, and uses your thumb and a needle. It’s also WAY older than crocheting or knitting. Millenia older.

White naalbound mittens from late 19th century Sweden, now held by Nordiska museet. They've also been embroidered with a variety of pansies and rosebuds.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

So for more intricate designs, you could embroider woven or naalbound cloth or even hide or leather, if you’re determined. Granted, leather is tough, so it’s less embroidering and more punching, and any time you punch holes in leather, it weakens it. So maybe don’t embroider your leather armour!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

Embroidery simply requires a need and some kind of thread. Bone needles are a long-since established technology by the Pictish period, as is thread. Some of that thread may be closer to yarn, but you’d be surprised how thin you can spin with just a spindle and distaff.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

Admittedly, the intricacy of many Pictish symbols might still be difficult to weave - I haven’t tried, but I’d love to see if you do! If it feels too complicated for weaving, or you want to have finer details without making your weave finer, you could go for Option #2: Embroidery!

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

We know the Picts used tablet weaving, because we have two examples of it on the Orkney Hood, but also because they CARVED it into their stones! Here’s an example from a stone from Rosemarkie, with the green arrow pointing to the tablet woven hem:

The hem design is unclear, but it seems to be some type of interlace.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

You might think the small space and options for cards would limit the designs you can get, but you’d be surprised!

Examples of intricately-patterned tablet weaving in green and white. Most mimic a variety of Celtic knotwork designs.

A variety of tablet-woven patterns in various colours. Many are intricate patterns of diamonds and swirls.

A probably non-Pictish pattern of tablet weaving in various colours that reminds me of turtles or spiders or crabs.

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ArchaeoPlays @archaeoplays.bsky.social · 14d

The art above is by Jonah Walker, who you can see more of over here: galacticjonah.com

JONAH WALKER

galacticjonah.com

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