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rolandsleepybear.bsky.social
TheSleepyBear
@rolandsleepybear.bsky.social
25 followers 82 following 1 posts
Self-tought artist
Archaeologist & Fantasy enjoyer
My private blog 🐻​

archaeologyart🏺/gaybearart🐻
/fantasy🪶/books📚/videogames 🎮
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
Christ from a Descent from the Cross
Burgundian sculptor
C. 1100 - 1150 CE

A deeply moving religious work &/or rare masterpiece of French #Romanesque art

An amazing survival, with some restoration. Similar to work in #Volterra👇

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, #Pisa

#Woodensday
#WoodcarvingWednesday
Carved in wood, a very thin Christ lies limp on the cross. Red & gold garment. Bearded & with a crown.
January 14, 2026 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
The waterlogged, anaerobic environment within prehistoric pile dwellings provided ideal conditions for the preservation of organic materials like wood.
This bucket-like vessel made of oak wood and two smaller bowls (maple and ash wood) were found in In Reute Schorrenried.
Dating 3900-3500 BC.

🏺
Three wooden vessels displayed on a neutral background: one tall, roughly carved bucket-like container with a flared rim and two smaller bowl-shaped vessels in front, showing worn surfaces and natural wood texture.
January 6, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
More on the stunning Iron Age carnyx found in #Norfolk with boar standard and shield bosses

👇👇👇

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Found by PreConstruct Archaeology and featuring in episode 2 of the new series of #DiggingForBritain with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social on BBC2

Wowzers 🤩
Iron Age Copper alloy war trumpet being excavated c Norfolk Museum Service Iron Age shield bosses and wild boar standard Iron Age Copper alloy boar standard being cleaned c Norfolk Museum service
January 7, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Ancient Greece beyond myths, marble statues and temples: an everyday craftsman. The terracotta shows a carpenter at work with a bow-saw - a timeless image of human creativity and craftsmanship.

From Boeotia, Greece, late 6th/early 5th century BC

On display at National Museum Copenhagen

📷 me

🏺
Close-up of terracotta figurine depicting a seated carpenter actively sawing wood with a bow-saw, made of clay with surviving polychrome details.
January 2, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
alisonfisk.bsky.social
As the year draws to a close, I’m signing off 2025 with a magical find!

An ancient amber bear. Carved some 10,000 years ago, it washed up on a beach at Fanø, Denmark, from a submerged Mesolithic settlement in the North Sea.

✨ Happy New Year all! ✨

National Museum of Denmark
📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a small figurine of an amber bear carved some 10,000 years ago during the Danish Mesolithic period. The bear is seen in profile facing right. The legs are incomplete. The ears, muzzle, and mouth are defined. The figurine is displayed on a small metal stand. The display lighting shines on the bear’s head and neck enhancing the translucence of the orange amber. The neck of the bear has a polished groove indicating it was once suspended on a cord or string. Length 6.5cm. The Fanø bear was found in 1991 on a beach on the west coast of the Danish island of Fanø, located off the south-western coast of Jutland. In the Stone Age the Danish coastline was different from today. “Since then the coastline has been influenced by later changes to the sea level as well as the rising up of the land after the last Ice Age. This rising of the land is still going on today. North of a line on the map the land has risen up and south of the line the coast has become submerged because of the subsequent rise in sea level. Therefore a proportion of Stone Age settlements south of the “tilt line” now lie under water or at the edge of the beach. Thus objects can be washed out in the sea and later be found on the beach”. The Fanø bear is one of a small number of amber bear figurines from the Baltic Sea region which have been assigned to the Mesolithic period by means of a typo-chronological approach Amber has many amazing properties: it’s warm to the touch, it’s a glossy translucent colour when polished, it gives off a fragrant scent when burnt, and when rubbed against fur or hair it can produce static electricity which ‘magically’ emits green sparks in the dark and can make hair stand on end.
December 31, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drcraigb.bsky.social
Archaeology Advent Calendar Day 14

Terracotta figuring in the shape of a dog (hund!)
Cypriot. 6th century BCE

Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Antikensammlung V 3247

www.khm.at/en/artworks/...
Terracotta statuette shaped like a dog
December 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: Colourful glass bracelets found in #Egypt, #Roman period, dating 1st century BC to 1st century AD.

On display at Museum der Universität Tübingen.

📷 me

🏺
Five colorful fragments of glass bracelets displayed on a neutral background, each curved piece decorated with raised multicolored dots, eye-like ovals, and striped patterns in blue, white, yellow, green, orange, brown, and red tones.
December 9, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A more than 3000-year-old Egyptian basket of coiled palm fibre with a lid. Baskets served as household containers and were frequently placed in tombs, containing grave goods such as jewelry or food offerings. The basket has been remarkably preserved because of Egypt's arid desert climate.🧵1/2

📷 me
A coiled, round lidded basket made of tightly woven natural fibers, displayed on a gray surface. The basket has a flat, circular lid that fits snugly over the bowl shaped basket.
December 6, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
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 TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A helmet of a Thraex (Thracian) #gladiator found in the gladiatorial barracks in #Pompeii.
The different classes of gladiators can be distinguished by their armor and weapons. A Thraex was equipped with a small shield and a short, curved blade. The helmet, with...🧵1/3

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
A bronze gladiator helmet displayed in a museum case, featuring a high crest topped with a sculpted griffin and a relief of a woman’s face on the forehead. The helmet has wide, flaring cheek guards and a lattice-style face grille with circular cutouts, all shown under soft gallery lighting.
November 23, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
alisonfisk.bsky.social
The Roman military ‘draco’ standard was carried by a ‘draconarius’. The Draconarius Tombstone from Chester (Roman Deva) shows a Sarmatian standard bearer, fighting far from home with the Roman legions.

Grosvenor Museum, Chester. 📷 by me

grosvenormuseum.westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/collections/...
The so-called ‘Draconarius Tombstone’ from Chester (Roman Deva) on display at Grosvenor Museum, Chester. The tombstone is only partially preserved. It shows a Sarmation cavalryman on horseback, wearing a cloak and conical hat, armed with sword, and holding a draco standard. The fabric tube is inflated behind the rider. The portion of stone in the top right corner with the dragon head is missing, as is the lower left portion of the stone with the rear of his horse. The tomb’s inscription is also missing
November 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Roman bronze dragon’s head standard, AD 190-260.

Originally mounted on a pole, with a long fabric tube attached to the back of the head. When charging on horseback, the wind inflated the tube and the dragon shrieked!

Niederbieber fort. Landesmuseum Koblenz. 📷 me

#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology
My photo shows a Roman bronze dragon’s head from a military standard carried by Roman cavalry. The head is elongated with open jaws. The top and bottom jaws are lined with sharp triangular teeth. The top of the snout has diagonal ridges. It has a single round eye socket. The rear of the head and neck is textured with scales. At the top of the head there is a short, jagged, fin-like, upright crest. The bronze surface is weathered with greenish and gold patches. It is mounted on a dark stand in a museum display case.
November 20, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
alisonfisk.bsky.social
For #Caturday

Behold the mouse! 🐭🐈

So says the inscription on this #medieval badge of a cat with mouse in mouth!

Lead alloy, circa 1300-1500.

📷 British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

#Archaeology
The image shows a small medieval-era metal badge in the shape of a cat carrying a mouse in its mouth. The cat has a long body shown in profile with head to the left. It’s head is turned towards the viewer. It has upright pointed ears and a stylized face which looks somewhat human with eyebrows, round eyes, and a snub nose. From its mouth hangs the body of a small, limp mouse. Carved lines on the cat’s body represent fur. It stands on four thin legs, all attached to a narrow scroll-shaped base, inside which is written the inscription YI SIS MUS / Behold the Mouse. The S's in the inscription are reversed. Mould-made from lead-alloy. Length 2.54 cm. British Museum collection.
November 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
Saint Barbara
#TilmanRiemenschneider - c. 1510

Linden wood, originally painted.

“The high quality of the sculpture suggests it was done by the master himself” - museum caption

Mainfränkisches Museum, #Würzburg

#Woodensday
#WoodcarvingWednesday
A young female figure with long flowing hair, holding a chalice. “With her oval, softly modeled face, she displays the features characteristic of Riemenschneider's female heads.” - Museum
November 5, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A terracotta bust of a girl wearing a crescent-shaped pendant, known as a lunula, which was typically worn by females.
Lunula pendants were believed to possess apotropaic qualities, meaning they were intended to ward off evil. The moon was a symbol associated. ..🧵1/2

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
Small bust figurine made of light-colored stone or clay, depicting a female figure with large almond-shaped eyes, a rounded face, and patterned lines suggesting hair or a headdress, wearing a crescent-shaped pendant. Displayed against a dark background.
November 1, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
Two examples of a distinctively Romano-British artefact: the sinuously gorgeous dragonesque brooch for #FindsFriday 😍

These particular copper alloy beauties, inlaid with red and blue enamel, were found in Faversham #Kent c 1895

© Trustees of the British Museum

#Roman #Archaeology
Two copper alloy brooches with double-headed, long-eared, hare-like ends, inlaid with red and blue enamel decoration, both stained green after centuries in the soil
October 31, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
#ReliefWednesday!
A Roman marble relief of a warship. Found in the necropolis of Praeneste (Latium), late 1st century BC.
The relief presumably belonged to the tomb of a Roman veteran who had served on Octavian’s side at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
A marble relief depicting a Roman warship with rows of oars and soldiers on board. The figures wear helmets and carry shields, while the ship features ornate carvings, including a decorative prow and architectural elements like a tower. Displayed against a blue-lit museum background
October 29, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
ullamr.bsky.social
@classicstober.bsky.social Day 22 of #ClassicsTober25: Judge. The Judgement of Paris Amphora is an Attic black-figure amphora. It is held by the Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon and is attributed to the London B76 Painter, active at Athens in the second quarter of the sixth century BC. #ClassicsTober
October 22, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A grave of a Roman physician in Bingen dating to the 2nd c. AD contained a remarkable set of medical instruments, including cupping cups with a stand in the shape of a grapevine.
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2

📷 me

🏺
A display of two ancient bronze cupping cups hanging from a delicate, metal stand in the shape of grapevine with a round base. The cups have a weathered greenish patina. The setup is showcased against a dark background.
October 22, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
alisonfisk.bsky.social
The Royal Game of Ur is the world’s oldest playable boardgame!

Played by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago!

It is a two-player race game, the rules of which have been deciphered from a cuneiform tablet.

Game from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. 📷 British Museum

#Archaeology
British Museum photo showing a two-player board game with gaming counters known as the Royal Game of Ur. Dated c. 2,500 BC. The game board is composed of a hollow box made of wood adorned with shell plaques. There is a drawer at one end for storing game pieces and dice. The top of the board is covered with twenty square-shaped off-white shell plaques, each bordered with dark-blue lapis lazuli. The shell squares are intricately decorated with blue inlaid patterns including dots inside circles and eye-shapes. Five squares are inlaid with flower-shaped rosettes with red limestone and blue lapis lazuli petals. The game board is roughly rectangular in shape. Viewed from above in the photo, on the left side of the board is a block of 12 squares made up of 4 across by 3 down. On the right side of the board is a block of 6 squares made up of 2 across by 3 down. The two blocks are joined by two squares extending between the second square down on the end row of the left block and the second square down on the first row of the second block. Dimensions H: 2.40 cm, L: 30.10 cm, W: 11 cm, (W 5.70 cm at narrowest part) Beneath the board are 14 disc-shaped gaming counters. On the left are 7 white pieces, inlaid with 5 spots of blue lapis lazuli. On the right are 7 black pieces inlaid with five white spots. Between the game pieces are three tetrahedron-shaped dice. L to R: Dark blue, brown, cream.
October 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
bwallower.bsky.social
#TerracottaTuesday 🏺
Brilliant trozzella with roosters from Egnazia necropolis, mid C5 BC, a classic Messapian form.
Trozzella - 'little wheels' in local dialect - refers to sculpted circles on handles.
Messapian people inhabited Egnazia in Puglian 'heel' of Italy from C8 BC until Roman conquest.
A terracotta ceramic vessel with a full rounded body, then angling into a smaller neck. Handles are created using a) two straight near vertical segments of terracotta between 2 round wheels attached where the vessel begins to narrow towards the neck, and then, b) at the top of each of these, using another pair of wheels to mark the join where remaining straight segments are connected, then connecting at an angle back to the top of the neck. Decoration is in dark red and orangey red, with dots and lines in geometric patterns, and two rosters facing each other in the centre of the bulbous body. The vessel has a slightly protruding rim and a tubular base.
September 30, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Children loved to play with toys in #Roman times too: some 1,800 years ago, a child in Cologne was buried with a terracotta horse with a rider on wheels. It was certainly a much-loved which the child was also supposed to play with in the afterlife.

📷 Römisch-Germanisches Museum Köln
🏺 #archaeology
The picture shows a terracotta horse with a rider on four wheels.
September 29, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Roman horse terracotta figurine found in Rottweil, dating 2nd or 3rd century AD.
Horse figurines served as offerings in sanctuaries or domestic shrines and occasionally as grave goods. Their use and meaning shift depending on context but reflect associations ... 🧵1/2

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
A close-up of a clay figurine of a horse
September 25, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Roman hair pins made of bone were widely used by women to secure and decorate their hair. These pins typically featured a tapered shaft and could be plain or ornately decorated with heads shaped like busts, animals, plants, or geometric forms. Hair pins are ... 🧵1/2

🏺 #archaeology

📷 me
Two Roman hairpins with carved busts at the top, each showing a woman with an elaborate hairstyle, both displayed upright on a stand.
September 24, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by TheSleepyBear
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Two Roman finds from Rottweil (my beautiful hometown 😊): vessels in the shape of boars, dating 2nd century AD. They were used to hold oil.

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
Two small animal-shaped figurines resembling boars, made of brownish clay. The one on the left has upright ears and a rounded body, while the one on the right has a looped handle on its back. Both are displayed on a gray surface.
September 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM