Nina Willburger
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
Nina Willburger
@drnwillburger.bsky.social
18K followers 3.4K following 3.1K posts
Archaeologist | Permanent Representative of the Director, Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg | Adjunct lecturer State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart | Private account, views are mine 🖖
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · Nov 9
Hello new followers and welcome! My focus is on #archaeology, you can expect posts from me covering a wide range of topics, e.g. objects, exhibitions, and latest discoveries, primarily from the European Paleolithic to the early medieval period.
I may also share posts about nature and Star Trek.

🏺
Reposted by Nina Willburger
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Some 1,900 years ago a child was buried with an array of terracotta figurines in the #Roman town of Arae Flaviae, #Rottweil: 2 pigeons, 2 dogs, 2 roosters, a chicken, a duck, and a female figure, commonly identified as Iuventas, the personification of youth. Rather than....🧵1/2

🏺
📷 me
A museum display case with small white clay figurines arranged in a circle: several birds and two seated dogs on grey plinths surround a slightly taller nude female figure standing on a red pedestal at the back, with a few pottery fragments and a coin laid flat in the center on a grey surface against a neutral background.
December 4, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
prehistoryteller.bsky.social
I feel you, sorrowful dog of Arae Flaviae.
Almost one year I saw this depressive good boy at Hidden Länd exhibition in Stuttgart. 🏺
December 4, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
chapps.bsky.social
This Hellenistic bronze statuette depicts a thickly-muscled craftsman, identified by his short tunic and by the wax tablets tucked into his belt. He may represent a famous or mythological figure - Daidalos, who built the labyrinth at Knossos, or the sculptor-architect Phidias. 🏺 1/

#MetMuseum 📸 me
This statuette is remarkable for its synthesis of Hellenistic immediacy and Classical composure. The figure can be identified as an artisan by his dress (a short tunic, ending just above his knee) and muscular build. Particularly telling is the pair of wax tablets tucked in his belt—the equivalent of a note pad—on which he would have written or drawn with a pointed stylus. His left arm is laid across his torso, his hand gripping his right side, and his bald head is pulled down towards his right shoulder. He's missing his right arm and leg. The bronze has a deep brown patina, with rich light highlights. The portrait is imbued with great psychological power and may represent a famous, even mythological, figure. For example, he may portray the Homeric hero Epeios, who with Athena's help carved the Trojan horse. It has also been proposed that he is the legendary master craftsman Daidalos, who built the labyrinth at Knossos, or even the famous 5th century BCE Athenian sculptor Phidias, creator of the chryselephantine cult statue of Zeus at Olympia and master craftsman of the sculptures of the Parthenon on the Athenian Akropolis. Greek, Late Hellenistic, ca. mid-1st century BCE. Bronze with silver eyes. Said to have been found in the sea off the North African coast, probably at Cherchell, Algeria. Met Museum, New York (1972.11.1)
December 4, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
alisonfisk.bsky.social
To bring a smile to your face, here’s an ancient Egyptian sketch of a tabby cat serving a mouse! 😁

The artist used a flake of limestone as a sketchpad to draw this comic scene some 3,200 years ago.

📷 Brooklyn Museum www.brooklynmuseum.org/en-GB/object...

#Archaeology
This Brooklyn Museum photo shows a sketch made in black ink on a stone-coloured limestone flake (known as an ostracon by Egyptologists). The sketch depicts a scene with a cat and a mouse imitating human behaviour. On the right, a tabby cat is drawn in profile with pointed ears, standing on its hind legs in front of a large mouse seated on a folding stool on the left of the scene. The cat is depicted as a servant; in one paw it holds a fan, and offers a plucked duck, in the other paw it holds a piece of linen cloth. The mouse has drooping breasts, wears a long skirt, has a lotus flower on its forehead, and its long tail hangs down over the back of the stool. The mouse holds a dish, a flower, and cloth (often held by pharaohs). Dimensions 8.9 x 17.3 x 1.1 cm. Dated c. 1295–1075 BC. Animals imitating human behaviour are well-known in Egyptian art. Their meaning is uncertain. Perhaps this sketch is a caricature or illustration of a long-lost fable, perhaps a satire of the royal family, or maybe just a sketch for fun!
December 4, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
kpw1453.bsky.social
Ceramic head pot from Roman York (Eboracum) depicting the Empress Julia Domna - wife of Septimius Severus who was based in York between AD 208-211. Now part of the collections at the Yorkshire Museum in York. 📸 My own. #RomanBritain #York #YorkshireMuseum
December 4, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
isabellemarie.bsky.social
Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments
Conch-shell trumpets discovered in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia make tone similar to french horn, says lead researcher
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
isabellemarie.bsky.social
We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers—here's what it reveals.
phys.org/news/2025-12...
We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers—here's what it reveals
When you picture medieval warfare, you might think of epic battles and famous monarchs. But what about the everyday soldiers who actually filled the ranks? Until recently, their stories were scattered...
phys.org
December 2, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
Our Lady of Fatima Church, Harlow, #Essex

A #Modernist church designed between 1953 & 1954 by Gerard Goalen. It is noted for the large windows with dalle de verre glasswork.

#WindowsOnWednesday
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekWforWindows
The cross shaped church with two of the six large walls of glass. The church is surmounted by a tall spire.
December 3, 2025 at 5:04 PM
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Some 1,900 years ago a child was buried with an array of terracotta figurines in the #Roman town of Arae Flaviae, #Rottweil: 2 pigeons, 2 dogs, 2 roosters, a chicken, a duck, and a female figure, commonly identified as Iuventas, the personification of youth. Rather than....🧵1/2

🏺
📷 me
A museum display case with small white clay figurines arranged in a circle: several birds and two seated dogs on grey plinths surround a slightly taller nude female figure standing on a red pedestal at the back, with a few pottery fragments and a coin laid flat in the center on a grey surface against a neutral background.
December 4, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A new discovery has revealed gold-decorated iron lances that were sacrificed at a sacred spring in modern-day Boeslunde approximately 2800 years ago.
Iron weapons with similar gold decoration from this period are unusual and without parallel in all of Northern Europe.

vestmuseum.dk/en/nyt-fund-...
A close-up of two iron lances with gold decoration
December 3, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
aroddick.bsky.social
A recently published illustration by @kjkillackey.bsky.social . screw AI, hire an artist.
An illustration by Kathryn Killackey of late formative ceramics from Highland Bolivia
December 3, 2025 at 9:27 PM
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A new discovery has revealed gold-decorated iron lances that were sacrificed at a sacred spring in modern-day Boeslunde approximately 2800 years ago.
Iron weapons with similar gold decoration from this period are unusual and without parallel in all of Northern Europe.

vestmuseum.dk/en/nyt-fund-...
A close-up of two iron lances with gold decoration
December 3, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Fascinating glimpse into everyday Roman life: This samian ware bowl was repaired with lead rivets, clear evidence that it was valued enough to mend rather than discard.
The repair reflects either the practical mindset and economic realities of a Roman household, or it may have been a...🧵1/3

📷 me
🏺
A reddish Roman samian ware bowl with richly figurative and geometric decoration, its surface pierced and repaired with several lead rivets.
December 3, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
isabellemarie.bsky.social
#Conférence Les identités parisiennes hier et aujourd’hui. Métiers, âges, genres et société.
www.carnavalet.paris.fr/visiter/offr...
Les identités parisiennes hier et aujourd’hui. Métiers, âges, genres et société.
Jeudi 11 décembre 202519h - 20h30, full_html
www.carnavalet.paris.fr
December 3, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
kpw1453.bsky.social
The northern ramparts and ditches of Meikle Reive Fort on the southern slopes of the Campsie Fells, near Glasgow. An early Iron Age date has been suggested, with possible later occupation in the early medieval period. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #MeikleReive
December 3, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
drtobydriver.bsky.social
On the first fabulous #HillfortsWednesday of December ☃️🎄 - the mysterious Dinas Mawr coastal promontory fort above Pwll Deri on Stumble Head, Pembrokeshire

Two ramparts cut off a tiny headland dominated by a rock tower - presumably the focus of all the enclosure effort 🧐⛰️

📷 My own, Sunday
A rocky headland looking out across the sea
December 3, 2025 at 7:38 AM
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Fascinating glimpse into everyday Roman life: This samian ware bowl was repaired with lead rivets, clear evidence that it was valued enough to mend rather than discard.
The repair reflects either the practical mindset and economic realities of a Roman household, or it may have been a...🧵1/3

📷 me
🏺
A reddish Roman samian ware bowl with richly figurative and geometric decoration, its surface pierced and repaired with several lead rivets.
December 3, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
williamcarruthers.bsky.social
Odd request, but do I know anyone who knows anyone who works for the Nepal Department of Archaeology and I can email a question to?
December 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Somewhere in a Roman brickyard, around 1800 years ago, a fresh tile was drying ahead of firing - until a dog trotted straight across it.
Centuries later, the tile has made it into a museum: not because of an emperor, but thanks to one dog who accidentally walked his way into history.🧵1/2

📷me
A Roman tile with 13 dog's paws prints
December 2, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
chapps.bsky.social
Abbondanza! This large mosaic emblema uses a limited palette of stone tesserae to depict baskets of fish and fruit, symbols of abundance from the sea and land. It probably once decorated the floor of a Roman villa's triclinium (dining room). 🏺

1st-2nd c. CE, Carthage. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Large rectangular section of a mosaic floor. It depicts a round wicker basket at the bottom, spilling out a variety of fish, eels, and crustaceans. At the top, a tube-like wicker basket is on its side, with an intricate diamond pattern around the rim - it holds masses of fruit, probably figs, as fig leaves stick out at the bottom). The background is made of white tesserae, and the scene is contained within a thick black border.
December 2, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
alisonfisk.bsky.social
The incredible ‘Orkney Hood’ from Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

So well preserved it looks like it was woven yesterday rather than some 1,500 years ago!

It’s thought the hood was made for a child. Found in 1867 in a peat bog in St Andrews Parish, Orkney.

National Museum of Scotland
📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a museum mannequin wearing a brown-coloured woven woollen hood with a long knotted fringe. The remarkablely well preserved hood was found in a peat bog on the island of Orkney in 1867. Organic clothing rarely survives, but the lack of oxygen in the peaty conditions of the bog served to practically halt its decay. The hood has been radio-carbon dated to between AD 250 and AD 615. On display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
December 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
kpw1453.bsky.social
Dedication stone from Roman Bath to the goddess Sulis which was set up by Priscus, a stonemason and tribesman of the Carnutes (a tribe in Gaul). Now part of the museum collections at The Roman Baths in Bath. 📸 My own. #EpigraphyTuesday #RomanBritain #Bath
December 2, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
kpw1453.bsky.social
Burial cist and part of the surrounding stone circle at Temple Wood in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll. The site was in use for over 2000 years (between 3000 and 1000 BC), and is part of a remarkable prehistoric landscape. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #KilmartinGlen #Argyll
December 2, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
👀 Grosvenor Museum #Chester

Antefix fragments with LEG XX & decorated with a boar, symbol of the Twentieth Legion Valeria Victrix.

The museum believes V. V. stood for Valiant and Victorious, probably awarded to the legion after they helped defeat #Boudicca AD61

#Roman #Archaeology
#TilesOnTuesday
Two fragments of the triangular tiles known as antefix which terminated the end of curved tiles on a roof.
December 2, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Nina Willburger
saveredlandlibr.bsky.social
Shared for #LibraryTuesday

Manchester Central Library
juliew67.bsky.social JulieW67 @juliew67.bsky.social · 4d
#10minutesfromhome
#Eastcoastkin #Stunday
Reflections at St Peter's Square this afternoon
Looking across St Peter's Square Manchester today towards Central Library. It had been raining and the ground was wet. In front of the library is a giant Illuminated Christmas decoration of Santa sat upon a huge Christmas present. It was getting dark as I took the photo and the lights from the windows of the library and Santa were reflected in the puddle
December 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM