There are two basin stones in the right hand recess of the chamber at Newgrange. The upper one is exquisitely carved from Mourne granite. the lower one is too big to have been brought inside after the monument was built so the chamber must have been built around it.

A long-term accomplishment of Justinian was the establishment of silk production in the Roman Empire “in a fascinating tale of industrial espionage” whereby monks acting as imperial agents “managed to acquire the secret of silk production” & smuggle them back in bamboo canes The

The 22 x 31-inch radar plot was made by Private Joseph L. Lockard at the Opana Radar Station on the morning of December 7, 1941. It indicated a large number of aircraft approaching the island of Oahu. archives.gov/legislative/fe… #PearlHarbor

The largest known species of ammonite is Parapuzosia seppenradensis from the Late Cretaceous. The largest specimen found is 1.8 meters in diameter (but is also incomplete). Here's a slightly smaller one. [📸 Paul Williams]

Nightmarish anecdotes from the set up the Wizard of Oz: getpocket.com/explore/item/t…

Ford cars were finished/painted on the assembly line. This resulted in "Fordite," a baked, accumulated collection of lacquer and paint that is now rare and collectable: messynessychic.com/2021/07/01/the…

The one December 7 event that will never be forgotten: loc.gov/item/today-in-…

Nifty 50s and more: Crazy-but-true stories behind the fads, toys & holiday joys of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s fill the #Boomer Book of Christmas Memories, goo.gl/L8dx2q

#OnThisDay: Sixty years ago today, it was #MovingDay for the Johnsons as they moved into the #WhiteHouse. 📷 Cecil Stoughton & Yoichi Okamoto | 12/07/1963 | #WashingtonDC

Wow. Never seen the back of this sculpture before. Guennol Lioness (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guennol_L…) also known as Div Shir ("Lion Demon") is an ancient anthropomorphic sculpture made in Elam (Iran) between 3000BC and 2800BC. I mentioned this sculpture in oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2021/11/sagitt…

Another of the #MetMuseum’s collection has been returned to Turkey today - a fragmentary bronze portrait of the Roman emperor Caracalla. #lootedart Already removed from the Met’s online catalogue - bad practice! 😡 📸 my own

A metal detectorist in the mountains of south-central Norway has discovered a Byzantine gold coin depicting Jesus that was likely minted between A.D. 977 and 1025 and was perhaps carried by King Harald Hardråde (reigned A.D. 1046–1066). archaeology.org/news/11980-231…

The history of figgy pudding, or Christmas pudding if you prefer, going all the way back to the Middle Ages. mentalfloss.com/posts/christma…

How would the world be different if Neanderthals peopled it - instead of us? getpocket.com/explore/item/8…

A Neolithic hand ax made its way into a 15th century painting in France .... Interesting. arstechnica.com/science/2023/1…

Off Capri, chiseled obsidian that was being transported in the Neolithic found by divers. So far, it's a shipwreck site without a ship (more investigations to come) and the obsidian has been recovered: livescience.com/archaeology/ch…

On this date in 43 BC, Cicero was murdered by agents of Mark Antony, pulled from his litter and beheaded while trying to leave for Macedonia.

Before there were humans, around 476,000 years ago, someone was building a wooden structure in Africa - changing everything we thought we knew (again!) archaeology.org/issues/537-fea…

Xrays reveal details about the 12th or 13th century Crusader sword found by a diver in Israel in 2021: timesofisrael.com/sword-overboar…

A tale that surrounds you with the #Celtic world of ancient France, filled with powerful #druids, fearless warriors, noisy ghosts, and mystical events! Death Speaker: A Novel of Ancient Gaul, in print or Kindle: goo.gl/gtV7VQ