Dr. Robert Barry Mason
@robertmason.bsky.social
Archaeology, museums, science, & my garden. I also write fantasy stories (in an effort to keep the fantasy out of my archaeology). Tolkien & Pratchett nerd. 🌱🏹🏺🗡️📚📖⛏️✍️🚀🪐⚒️
Pinned
1/🧵 I am an archaeologist, have been since I was a teenager working for the unit in my hometown of Southampton who then gave me a job for a few years. Eventually I got a D.Phil from Oxford (1994) and jobs at the Royal Ontario Museum & University of Toronto.
This really is not natural. The trees know when the winter is coming, they drop their leaves before the first snows. Usually there is enough time to clear the leaves before the snows come. Things are messed up.
November 14, 2025 at 2:14 AM
This really is not natural. The trees know when the winter is coming, they drop their leaves before the first snows. Usually there is enough time to clear the leaves before the snows come. Things are messed up.
MEN! Have you thought about the Roman Empire today? 🏺
My pic of 2005.
My pic of 2005.
November 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM
MEN! Have you thought about the Roman Empire today? 🏺
My pic of 2005.
My pic of 2005.
I have just written a science-fiction story in which the main character has the ability to create circular kilometer-wide "cities". Today I discovered Nördlingen. However, this German city was built in a meteor crater, not by alien technology! 📚🪐 #BookSky
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
October 27, 2025 at 12:21 AM
I have just written a science-fiction story in which the main character has the ability to create circular kilometer-wide "cities". Today I discovered Nördlingen. However, this German city was built in a meteor crater, not by alien technology! 📚🪐 #BookSky
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
I thought I had better get a pic of these fuchsias before the frost hits tonight! 🌱 #FlowerReport
October 25, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I thought I had better get a pic of these fuchsias before the frost hits tonight! 🌱 #FlowerReport
Nice use of satellite imagery to reveal the destruction of cultural heritage.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/u...
See the White House’s East Wing demolition from satellite images | CNN
Satellite images show how dramatically President Donald Trump’s plans to build a new ballroom have affected the historic structure.
www.cnn.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Nice use of satellite imagery to reveal the destruction of cultural heritage.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/u...
Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason
I think we can all sympathise with Douglas Walker, a 44-year-old fruit salesman of no fixed abode, who was charged with being drunk on Havelock Road on 26 August 1939. Two days later he pleaded guilty and said: “I think Mr Hitler had got on my nerves a bit during the day. I had certainly had a few.”
October 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I think we can all sympathise with Douglas Walker, a 44-year-old fruit salesman of no fixed abode, who was charged with being drunk on Havelock Road on 26 August 1939. Two days later he pleaded guilty and said: “I think Mr Hitler had got on my nerves a bit during the day. I had certainly had a few.”
Looking up the precise location of the site producing the Anglo-Saxon pottery I have been asked to look at in the ROM. North Elmham was apparently the seat of a bishopric until 1071, and the excavations were to the southwest of the now ruined cathedral. 🏺 #MedievalSky
October 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Looking up the precise location of the site producing the Anglo-Saxon pottery I have been asked to look at in the ROM. North Elmham was apparently the seat of a bishopric until 1071, and the excavations were to the southwest of the now ruined cathedral. 🏺 #MedievalSky
I wrote this story for a prompt by The Kraken Lore on Medium. It is the kind of fantasy that helps me sleep at night.
In a good way!
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
In a good way!
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
The Emissary
Would you want to save the world?
medium.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:59 PM
I wrote this story for a prompt by The Kraken Lore on Medium. It is the kind of fantasy that helps me sleep at night.
In a good way!
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
In a good way!
medium.com/the-kraken-l...
If you saw this chap, and you knew he had a story, would you be interested in knowing what that story was?
October 19, 2025 at 8:15 PM
If you saw this chap, and you knew he had a story, would you be interested in knowing what that story was?
44 years after I last excavated in Anglo-Saxon Southampton (fondly known as "Hamwee,"or actually Hamwih, to its excavators), I have been asked to catalogue some English early mediaeval pottery. A reward for a career studying the vibrantly colourful pottery of the medieval Middle East! #MedievalSky
October 15, 2025 at 6:41 PM
44 years after I last excavated in Anglo-Saxon Southampton (fondly known as "Hamwee,"or actually Hamwih, to its excavators), I have been asked to catalogue some English early mediaeval pottery. A reward for a career studying the vibrantly colourful pottery of the medieval Middle East! #MedievalSky
I have a new short-story published by the Krakenlore on Medium today. It is a pleasant little read, I would say.
thekrakenlore.com/the-hungry-q...
thekrakenlore.com/the-hungry-q...
The Hungry Queen
A Failure in Royal Courtesy
thekrakenlore.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I have a new short-story published by the Krakenlore on Medium today. It is a pleasant little read, I would say.
thekrakenlore.com/the-hungry-q...
thekrakenlore.com/the-hungry-q...
The Union Jack is a combination of the crosses of St. George, a Palestinian; St. Andrew, who was an Apostle from Galilee; and St. Patrick, who was British, but is famous for work in Ireland where he was initially a hated immigrant. They would not approve.
September 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM
The Union Jack is a combination of the crosses of St. George, a Palestinian; St. Andrew, who was an Apostle from Galilee; and St. Patrick, who was British, but is famous for work in Ireland where he was initially a hated immigrant. They would not approve.
For all the people out there waving the Cross of St. George, you should know that St. George of Lydda was a Palestinian, and is widely revered in the Middle East by all faiths.
September 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
For all the people out there waving the Cross of St. George, you should know that St. George of Lydda was a Palestinian, and is widely revered in the Middle East by all faiths.
Getting some very nice aubergines or eggplants this year! 🌱
September 11, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Getting some very nice aubergines or eggplants this year! 🌱
Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason
NEW Britain's economy did not collapse after the #Romans left
A new, unbroken timeline of British metal production from the 5th century AD to the present day questions the idea of a post-Roman 'Dark Age'.
Strap in for an industrious #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
🏺 #Archaeology
A new, unbroken timeline of British metal production from the 5th century AD to the present day questions the idea of a post-Roman 'Dark Age'.
Strap in for an industrious #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
🏺 #Archaeology
September 11, 2025 at 7:45 AM
NEW Britain's economy did not collapse after the #Romans left
A new, unbroken timeline of British metal production from the 5th century AD to the present day questions the idea of a post-Roman 'Dark Age'.
Strap in for an industrious #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
🏺 #Archaeology
A new, unbroken timeline of British metal production from the 5th century AD to the present day questions the idea of a post-Roman 'Dark Age'.
Strap in for an industrious #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
🏺 #Archaeology
Archaeology Mag provide a nice update on the work at Guédelon Castle.
#MedievalSky #ExperimentalArchaeology #ArtchaeologyofStuff #Castles
archaeology.org/issues/septe...
#MedievalSky #ExperimentalArchaeology #ArtchaeologyofStuff #Castles
archaeology.org/issues/septe...
Features - How to Build a Medieval Castle - Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2025
Why are archaeologists constructing a thirteenth-century fortress in the forests of France?
archaeology.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Archaeology Mag provide a nice update on the work at Guédelon Castle.
#MedievalSky #ExperimentalArchaeology #ArtchaeologyofStuff #Castles
archaeology.org/issues/septe...
#MedievalSky #ExperimentalArchaeology #ArtchaeologyofStuff #Castles
archaeology.org/issues/septe...
Now *that* is a very nice helmet. I suspect the reenactors will be ordering Aegadian Montefortino helmets in large numbers. The peak goes to the back, though, if you didn't know.
#archaeology #RomanSky #Roman #MilitaryArchaeology
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
#archaeology #RomanSky #Roman #MilitaryArchaeology
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
'Extraordinary' Roman helmet from war-ending battle found in the sea off Sicily
Archaeologists recovered the "Montefortino"-style helmet in an underwater excavation in the Aegadian Islands off the coast of Sicily.
www.livescience.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Now *that* is a very nice helmet. I suspect the reenactors will be ordering Aegadian Montefortino helmets in large numbers. The peak goes to the back, though, if you didn't know.
#archaeology #RomanSky #Roman #MilitaryArchaeology
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
#archaeology #RomanSky #Roman #MilitaryArchaeology
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
It sounds like the locals "discovered" the roof, tried to move it with heavy machinery, and then told the authorities. Nice bit of stonework, though.
#Archaeology
www.reuters.com/science/weal...
#Archaeology
www.reuters.com/science/weal...
Wealthy ancient Roman's tomb discovered in Albania
Archaeologists in Albania have discovered a large Roman burial chamber dating from the third to fourth century AD, the first of its kind found in the Balkan country that was once part of the Roman Empire.
www.reuters.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM
It sounds like the locals "discovered" the roof, tried to move it with heavy machinery, and then told the authorities. Nice bit of stonework, though.
#Archaeology
www.reuters.com/science/weal...
#Archaeology
www.reuters.com/science/weal...
Earliest evidence of indigo processing in Georgia, 34,000 years ago. Looks convincing!
#ArchaeologyofStuff #Archaeology
archaeologymag.com/2025/09/anci...
#ArchaeologyofStuff #Archaeology
archaeologymag.com/2025/09/anci...
Ancient blue: 34,000-year-old traces of indigo found in Georgian cave
Archaeologists uncover 34,000-year-old indigo dye traces in Georgia, revealing early plant use beyond food and tools.
archaeologymag.com
September 10, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Earliest evidence of indigo processing in Georgia, 34,000 years ago. Looks convincing!
#ArchaeologyofStuff #Archaeology
archaeologymag.com/2025/09/anci...
#ArchaeologyofStuff #Archaeology
archaeologymag.com/2025/09/anci...
Interesting paper on microplastics. It seems they are everywhere, including in our bodies, and we still do not know the harm that they may do.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Twenty years of microplastic pollution research—what have we learned?
Twenty years after the first publication that used the term microplastic, we review current understanding, refine definitions, and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources,...
www.science.org
September 8, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Interesting paper on microplastics. It seems they are everywhere, including in our bodies, and we still do not know the harm that they may do.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I think what astonishes me about the Chalcolithic site at Cortijo Lobato, Spain, is not the Roman guy they found buried in it (which made it newsworthy) but that they were building (seemingly) multivallate castles in Spain before 2450 B.C.E.
#Castles 🏺
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
#Castles 🏺
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
September 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I think what astonishes me about the Chalcolithic site at Cortijo Lobato, Spain, is not the Roman guy they found buried in it (which made it newsworthy) but that they were building (seemingly) multivallate castles in Spain before 2450 B.C.E.
#Castles 🏺
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
#Castles 🏺
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
Reposted by Dr. Robert Barry Mason
Anglo-Saxon urn, about 500-600 CE, in the collection @romtoronto.bsky.social A partial label identifies it is from Girton College, Cambridge, UK. This will be on ROM's eMuseum website tomorrow, just look up 920.96.1
🏺 #MuseumWork #archaelogy #AngloSaxon #ceramics
🏺 #MuseumWork #archaelogy #AngloSaxon #ceramics
August 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Anglo-Saxon urn, about 500-600 CE, in the collection @romtoronto.bsky.social A partial label identifies it is from Girton College, Cambridge, UK. This will be on ROM's eMuseum website tomorrow, just look up 920.96.1
🏺 #MuseumWork #archaelogy #AngloSaxon #ceramics
🏺 #MuseumWork #archaelogy #AngloSaxon #ceramics
July 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
July 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM
It seems that it was Sir Patrick's birthday yesterday, but I didn't see any pics of him in my favourite of his roles...Leondegrance, Guinevere's dad, in Excalibur.
#PatrickStewart #SirPatrickStewart
#PatrickStewart #SirPatrickStewart
July 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
It seems that it was Sir Patrick's birthday yesterday, but I didn't see any pics of him in my favourite of his roles...Leondegrance, Guinevere's dad, in Excalibur.
#PatrickStewart #SirPatrickStewart
#PatrickStewart #SirPatrickStewart