Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️

@graveyardarch.bsky.social

3.4K followers 750 following 2.1K posts

Adjunct prof, PhD in Historical Archaeology ✨️ Mortuary Archaeologist & Museum Educator. I like graves, the C17th, landscapes, & protective magic. I preserve gravestones, write books, & paint pictures (she/her) https://linktr.ee/RLacy

linktr.ee

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · Jul 30

Hello everyone, I thought I'd reintroduce myself! 💁‍♀️
I'm Dr. Robyn Lacy, & I'm a historical + mortuary archaeologist in NL, Canada. I'm an adjunct professor of archaeology, gravestone conservator, & museum educator. I study burials, protective symbols, & colonial spaces! 🏺 #archaeology #heritage

I'm standing in a bush beside a rocky hiking trail, leaning on a small trail sign reading 'Doctor's Cove'. It's sunny in the woods, and I'm wearing a forest green toque, green button up hiking shirt from lululemon, and dark green climbing pants with black knee patches.

I'm standing beside a 10 foot tall tripod made of 2x4s, with a blue chain hoist under it, hauling up a thick limestone gravestone. I'm wearing a khaki hat, blue long-sleeved shirt, and olive green pants. The graveyard is in a lush valley, and the ocean is in the background over the rocks.

1 3 46

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 1h

Day 14, Inside: This is the mausoleum of Count d'Harcourt, inside the Notre Dame, Paris. The Count, Henri-Claude d'Harcourt, died in 1769, and his wife Marie-Magdeleine Thibert des Martrais, commissioned this monument Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in 1776.
#31DaysofGraves

A large monument to the dead, made of marble and black granite(?). There is a guardian angel on the left of the large black stone coffin. There is a corpse of a man reaching out of the coffin, and the figure of death behind him, holding up an hourglass. There is a kneeling woman in front of the sculpture, covered in robes.

2 1 6

Reposted by Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️

It's Helga Again @helgaastrophysics.bsky.social · 2d

1/1
BREAKING🚨: It's Official. There's a Black hole on the loose in the Milky way galaxy
Astronomers have officially confirmed the first-ever rogue black hole drifting through our Milky Way galaxy!

Using data from Hubble and Gaia, scientists spotted this cosmic ghost not by its light (it emits none)

8 10 65

Reposted by Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️

Sonia Zakrzewski @soniaz.bsky.social · 11h

🏺🧪🦷

Brenna Hassett @brennawalks.bsky.social · 12h

I'm hiring! 4 year post doc on my Wellcome Trust grant -- come be inventive about isotopes in teeth with me in PPN Turkiye :) www.lancashire.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...

please share!

Post Doctoral Research Assistant - 1160-25

Thinking of the next step in your career? Take a look at our exciting new role, Post Doctoral Research Assistant based at our Other. Find out more and apply he…

www.lancashire.ac.uk

4 3

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 7h

How can you have too Much fieldwork??

1 1

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 1d

And then you're told that your CV is extremely competitive but also maybe you didn't do the Right kind of publishing??

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 2d

To be paired with that perpetual refrain: "Just focus on publishing good work and you'll be fine."

1 1 8

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 1d

You've gotta go! And I gotta go back!

Reposted by Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️

Mach ich auch @machichauch.bsky.social · 1d

#31DaysOfGraves
12: Notable Woman
This grave in Kyôto ist supposed to be Murasaki Shikibu's. The author of Genji monogatari died prob. 1016. The location used to be temple ground and is today cared for by a neighbouring factory. She shares the space with calligrapher/poet Ono no Takamura (802-53).

Grave of Murasaki Shikibu in Kyôto: green enclosed space with a stone and the inscription, a small bowl before

Stone at the entrance to the graves to Murasaki Shikibu and Ono no Takamura: A stone, partly covered by green leaves and small flowers in pale violet colour, „murasaki“ in Japanese.

grey stone stele marking the grave of Ono no Takamura, a glass/plastic cup of water standing before. (Photos all by me 2015)

3 18

Reposted by Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️

Katie Crane @ohfolkthat.bsky.social · 1d

#31DaysOfGraves
Day 13 - Skeleton

Two lovely little skeletons on the grave of Cirsten Biset in Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth, Scotland. The other side has this fantastic ship even though it was her 'spowse' Robert Browhowse who was the 'sailer.' She 'dyed' the '22th' of May 1747.

A beautifully carved gravestone in Greyfriars Burial Ground Perth, Scotland. The top has a winged cherub head. Two scrolls are on the sides with two skeletons below them. The scroll on the right side has the letters "BA IS IO EL GR MA" vertically down the scroll as if the scroll is not fully unrolled. The scroll on the left also has vertical letters but they all are the letter B. The very bottom of the stone has a banner but it has been damaged and if there were any words on it, they can no longer be read. Below this are damaged crossbones, skull, and sideways hourglass. The middle has the space for the inscription which reads:

Here lyes Cirsten
Biset spowse to
Robert Browhowse
Sailer who dyed
22th of May 1747 aged
49 years
Happy is the soul that lives on hie
Whil dust lyes resting here
Whose bless is all above the skie
Where nothing breeds us fear
She wants no power nor earthly thron
To raise hir figure here
Content and pleased to be unknown
Til Christ his lyfe appear

A wonderfully ornate gravestone for Cirsten Biset in Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth, Scotland. The top has an ornate letter B inside a wreath flanked by two winged cherub heads. Below this two torches on columns flank either side. In the middle is a carving of a tall ship above a carving of two people holding a plaque that has a wreath and an anchor on it. They are surrounded by carvings of vibes. The people appear to be standing on a banner that has the letters DFO in the centre.

1 5 23

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 1d

Day 13, Skeleton: I couldn't resist using today to highlight the amazing Paris Catacombs! Created in former underground quarries below Paris, the Catacombs were established in the late 18th century. The first cemetery transfered there was the Cimetiere des Innocents, in April 1786.
#31daysofgraves

A stone plaque is set in the centre of a wall of human skulls and femurs in the Paris Catacombs. The plaque reads 'Ossements du Cimetiere des Innocents Deposés en Avril 1786'.

2 2 19

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 2d

Day 12, Notable Women: This is the grave of Henriette Marie Louise Gicquel (later Arbelot) Her face is held by her husband Fernand, & they are buried together in Section 11, Pére Lachaise, Paris. She died in 1967. Her face is famous & most docs on the grave don't mention her name.
#31DaysofGraves

A green brass monuemnt of a reclining man holding up the face of his wife. There are no names or text in the image.

1 1 24

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Day 11, Military: We worked on the gravestone of Private Albert Ash, Royal Nfld Regiment, at the New Anglican Cemetery at Battle Harbour this summer. Ash enlisted when he was 19 (or 21?). His regimental number is no. 5711. He did make it back from the war, & died in 1923.
#31daysofgraves

A small marble gravestone dedicated to Private Albert Ash, son of Ruth Ash. Born in 1897, died 1923. The decoration on the stone shoes a stone archway with a star and 2 1/2 below it, with the words 'at rest' on either side. Beside the gravestone, there is a small British flag in the gras on the left, and an orange pin flag to the right

1 1 14

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Interesting!

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

I think our sandstone was from Nova Scotia! Cheapest here would have been...i guess local stone, but they didn't carve them typically 🤷‍♀️

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Oh yeah I'm sure that is where the guides were coming from!! I thought we were talking about shipping the carved stones haha

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Were there marble quarries in Scotland? The one I posted was carved by a local carver in St. John's, & as far as we know, the marble probably was shipped in from New England?

2 2

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Drop scones is a new one for me! It is..pancake like?

2 1

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

This is so cool, I can't wait to poke around! #31daysofgraves

Friends of Toowong Cemetery @fotc.au · 3d

I found many monument catalogues on archive.org. I used search terms like:
- monuments -- catalogs
- tombstones -- catalogs
- sepluchral monuments

I recognised many designs in these:

- archive.org/details/CoxS...
- archive.org/details/exce...

Sadly but no design for our #31DaysOfGraves flowers.

Excelsior statuary book. : Cook & Watkins. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

1 4

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

Wow, that's awesome! Thank you! 😍

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 3d

If you find one, please let us know!! 👀

1 3

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 4d

I prefer the British kind for the name! We can keep pancakes

1 1

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 4d

It totally does! I wonder if it was a mass produced style guide!

1 4

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 4d

Wait I found it! @fotc.au @ohfolkthat.bsky.social
This one is an Alexander Smith stone dated 1889, at the old UC Cemetery in Brigus, NL!

A five piece complex monument, dated to 1889. It has a complex flower design on the middle section above the inscription.

1 2 5

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 4d

So friggin cool, I'll find the photo I have of another one!

1 2

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 4d

Day 10, Urn: Today I've picked this gorgeous example of an urn on the grave of Caleb Smith at the Old House Cove Burial Ground, in Twillingate. This gravestone dates to 1819, a fairly early stone for NL! There are at least 2 other stones in Twillingate of this same design.
#31DaysofGraves

A limestone gravestone with 3 ridges on the top. The central image is a large urn, in the Greek style, with a cloth draped over it, suspended on either side by a carved stone ring. The inscription is partly weathered away, but you can read 'In Memory Of Caleb Smith...February 1819...Aged 7[?] Years'

1 3 18

Dr. Robyn S. Lacy ⚰️ @graveyardarch.bsky.social · 5d

Day 9, Hand: We have a classic hand pointing to the heavens with a broken rose motif behind it, signifying a life cut short, with a crown above. This is the grave of Susanna Soward, at the Old Cemetery in Battle Harbour, Labrador.
#31DaysofGraves #cemetery #labrador #battleharbour

A marble gravestone which has been repaired across the centre of the stone. It is dedicated to Susanna Soward, who died in 1885.

1 3 16