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Colleen Morgan

@clmorgan.bsky.social

5.5K followers 590 following 910 posts

Senior Lecturer at the University of York. Director of the Wolfson Digital Archaeology and Heritage Lab & Centre for Digital Heritage. I post about beautiful archaeology, digital phantasmagoria and anarchist imaginaries & realities. She/her 🏴

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 11m

Dude lmk if you want a coffee

Reposted by Colleen Morgan

HRC York @hrcyork.bsky.social · 16m

Grace McCulloch from the Archaeology Data Service is leading the workshop 'Unearthing Herbal Histories with Digital Archives' as part of the @beinghumanfest.bsky.social Join the team to create your own herbal remedies, inspired by archaeological evidence www.beinghumanfestival.org/events/unear...

Unearthing Herbal Histories with Digital Archives

Create your own herbal remedies, inspired by archaeological evidence.This hands-on workshop combines archaeobotanical information from digital archives with traditional herbalism to create remedies, b...

www.beinghumanfestival.org

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1h

Yep. Getting quite a few these days

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 14h

Perfect tinder match

The Greek inscription on this relief is
associated with the cult of the moon.
The subject of the prayer is health problems. It contains breasts, a leg and and a pair of eyes.

This is a rectangular block of stone with a penis and a head.

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 19h

m.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOA...

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

Rob Hedge @robhedge.bsky.social · 5d

#ArchInk 1: pigment
#inktober #medievalsky #skystorians 🏺🏛️🗃️

Not sure how much I’ll be able to contribute this year, but I’ll try to chip in when I can.

Ink and graphite sketch showing a woman in medieval dress, holding writing implements in each hand and an expression of intense focus, sat in front of a writing desk with an open manuscript.
Text reads:

# archink I: pigment
Medieval writers and artists used a huge range of compounds & colours - you can find out more abort their techniques at fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated. The staple of the medieval manuscript was the deep purple-black of iron gall ink, made by mixing iron sulfate with tannic acid, usually sourced from fermented oak galls.

MARIE DE FRANCE, LATE CI2th WRITER
After a late c13th illustration of her from BnF Arsenal Library, MS 3142 fol 256

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

I just can't

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile, in an antique shop in Leiden. These are precolumbian fakes...right?

A hand holding a bowl with red geometric and figurative designs painted on a yellow base.

An elaborate geometric precolumbian design on a pot, held up by a hand.

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Behold, the horror.

An example of "stratigraphy" that has artefacts floating in soil, random colours, patterns in the layers, an absolutely monstrous mess.

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

8️⃣ floor layer
9️⃣ floor layer
🔟 compacted sand
1️⃣1️⃣ slightly darker compacted sand
1️⃣2️⃣ gravel

This was inspired by an example I saw that haunts me to this day...don't look if you value your sanity....

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

(there really was a pearl earring in one of my firepits in Qatar)
4️⃣ a secondary burn layer
5️⃣ a primary burn layer
6️⃣ pit lining. We're going to assume it is contiguous around the pit
7️⃣ pit cut, sorry for the confusing line, better practice probably would have been to label them all on the side.

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

This is very simplified, so no Harris Matrix or bracketing.

1️⃣ windblown sand aka topsoil
2️⃣ compacted sand
3️⃣ windblown sand deposited after the firepit went out of use. It is likely very similar to 2. There's a pearl earring in this deposit, perhaps lost as the camp was moving.

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Above is a very common stratigraphic sequence where I work, in Arabia. It is a firepit cut with a lining. The lining has been worn away at the bottom through use. There's a couple of burned layers, sealed with windblown sand. The pit is cut into a couple of floors. Did you get the sequence?

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The same drawing of stratigraphy, labelled with numbers to demonstrate the order of excavation.

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

I have strong feelings about stratigraphy. I have stronger feelings about the schematic examples that we use to teach stratigraphy. Artefacts shouldn't float in the middle of the layer, for example. No colour-coding, obscure symbols to indicate difference, etc.

#archink #archink2025 #inktober

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A hand holding a drawing of schematic strategraphic layers. The order of the layers is two tweets down.

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

Rob Hedge @robhedge.bsky.social · 1d

#ArchInk 4: bronze; 5: flint; 9: ivory
#archaeology #illustration 🏺🏛️🗃️
Combining three prompts to look at early-19th century views of early Bronze Age artefacts.

Ink and graphite sketch of a dagger and arrowhead. Text reads: #ArchInk
The early Bronze Age was a time of remarkable transformation in material and social lives. People and materials came together in new ways.
I’m interested in how early observers interpreted these changes. The early-19th century excavators of these artefacts, Colt Hoare and Cunnington, were not afraid to draw parallels with continental Europe.
“Some may think it derogates from the dignity of our country to allow a Gaulish (i.e. foreign) original; but, be the consequences what they will, whenever we are in search of truth, although we discover her in ruins and rubbish, we must acknowledge and revere her.” Richard Colt Hoare, 1812
*Colt Hoare and Cunnington were, by the standards of the day, pretty good at recording. But in a sheepish footnote in their discussion of barrows in the severely area of Wiltshire, Colt Hoare admits that he’s not sure which of the barrows this dagger came from!
#5 flint One of four arrowheads within a burial in a bowl barrow: Which Show affinity with those from Armorica, NW France.
FLINT ARROWHEAD, WIMBORNE ST GILES.
4: Bronze BRONZE DAGGER, SILK HILL MILSTON*
9: ivory The pommel is ivory from a marine mannal, possibly a walrus. It is very worn, suggesting it might have adorned other artefacts before this dagger
The wooden handle was re-constructed based onCunnington's dig notes.
* Or is it ? Colt Hoare and Cunnington - and their illustrator /surveyor Philip Crocker- were pretty good at recording their f, by the standards of the day. But in a sheepish footnote in their discussions of barrow-digging in the Everley area of Wiltshire, Colt Hoare admits the dagger was "in one of these, but I cannot specify which!'

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

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

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

Despoina V. Sampatakou @archaeobruja.bsky.social · 2d

Maki Wardle killing it up there. I love love love this presentation 👌
#TIPC4
@valuefnd.bsky.social

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

VALUE Foundation @valuefnd.bsky.social · 2d

Back from lunch and ready to play some archaeology with our panel featuring the inimitable @clmorgan.bsky.social @archaeobruja.bsky.social and @waltros.bsky.social

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 3d

Krakow is amazing! Have fun. There’s a shop with a disturbing amount of stuffed animals in it. Enjoy!

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

Jason Scott @textfiles.com · 3d

Amplifying indie creators

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

VALUE Foundation @valuefnd.bsky.social · 3d

Katrine Haydock is wrapping up this session talking about photogrammetry and 3D objects and art!

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

VALUE Foundation @valuefnd.bsky.social · 4d

Second session of the day has just started! Louise Bedford will be talking about an archaeologist's journey into game design!

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Reposted by Colleen Morgan

Liam J. Liburd @liamliburd.bsky.social · 4d

York people, I'm giving a paper at the Uni History Department's research seminar on Wednesday 15 October. Particularly keen for feedback from historians of crime, historical criminologists, and criminologists.

An Accidental History of Prisons and Race in Late Twentieth Century Britain

Join us for research seminars hosted by the Department of History with a selection of visiting academics, alongside University of York researchers. All students and staff are very welcome.

www.york.ac.uk

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 4d

My favs

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 4d

Animate it with augmented reality

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