Great blog by Nick on some of the large numbers of rock crystal finds we have been getting on the A66 excavations! Who doesn't like a shiny rock?

Norse Bells! I have been making a new batch, so if you need more vikings AND jingle in your life, look no further! #vikings #archaeology

This was excellent!

Got to see these beauties from Halton today! Ought to be in Lancaster museum by rights, but ofc it belongs to the BM, but it is temporarily on loan to the Museum of Liverpool until the end of the month, with some other excellent highlights of early medieval hoards from the North West! #archaeology

This is too good!

I think that's all this is about right? As as craftspeople or specialists with engage with each other, we gain an insight into technique and can keep an eye out for it. Just today a colleague shared a lead sword pommel model with me, after I'd had this conversation last year with them!

Absolutely; object types/form/function change through periods and crafts people are of course they're using techniques most appropriate for them. There even seem to be workshops making certain objects in certain ways in vogue; sheet metalwork in 8-9th century Ireland for example!

Depends; mostly solid but I do think some of the multi-part moulds for hollow cast objects maybe for making a white metal master to create a breakable mould with the higher temperature required for other metals. Again it's difficult talking generalities as it doesn't apply to all periods/topics

Yes I agree. Or at least in the areas I've studied casting is a very primitive and primary part of the process. Most of the work being done by drawing out and sheet work, incision and graving and embossing etc on top, particularly early medieval insular belts horn fittings and ringed pins

I wonder; I could believe either at this point. I think the literature has been so fixed on 'lost wax' as a concept, that no one spoke to crafts people about bees wax. I am one and have spoken to many about it, all snorted as I did!

Yeah, some viking lozenge brooches and others @jk-viking.bsky.social published in her identities book likely too. It's the best material to modify with engravings and additions too.

We do have some manx clay ones that we published that are clearly not all two piece though, as they have a heavily grogged binder. Some of these are most likely have been 'lost wax'

You use lead in clay moulds; that's how it works. Stone could be either for making bronze directly, or for making lead alloy masters to make clay mould around; it depends on the stone. BA stone moulds I have looked at seem to be direct bronze casting in.

I also think this is one reasons why the #vikings were fans of it too!

Lead in casting processes is massively overlooked too. I see so much about 'lost wax' but that's the process now, not a literal description of the past. Modern jewellers wax is VERY different to beeswax, which is awful. TL:DR; I think they used lead, and I think I'm starting to gather proof!

Bringing the Living to Viking Death: VALHAll:A 2026 Living history brings the Viking Age to life, but it alsoconnects our mortalities to those of the Viking-period past through the material evidence of graves and mortuary monuments. I see this as &#…

Bringing the Living to Viking Death: VALHAll:A 2026 howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2026/02/24/b...

Image of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age logo with the words We Are Back! beneath.

Welcome to the brand-new social media page for the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age! The longship has set sail for new shores as we have parted ways with X (Twitter) and are setting up camp here on Bluesky. Follow along for updates on upcoming events, new research, and all things Viking Age!

Archaeology On The A66: Reconnecting the past, present & future YouTube video by Oxford Cotswold Archaeology

What if your daily drive was 2,000 years in the making? 🚗⏳

🔗👉 youtu.be/eRm3akdUQGE

Watch the full video now! 👀

@nationalhighways.bsky.social
@cotswoldarch.bsky.social

#archaeology #a66ntp #ocaarchteam #cumbria #heritage

Me three... I mean I guess it's admired in that it makes *some* of the awful stuff here visible and accessible, but I'd rather cure the disease that admire treatments for some of the symptoms!

Thank you mate! Should be a great day, and looking forward to seeing what shines you'll be showing us too!

Sneaky peak from my and @bryderiet.bsky.social talk at the Vallhall:A conference this Thursday! #vikings #reenactment

It's so frustrating, watching our heritage disappear into private collections, usually overseas.

It's been a genuine privilege to work with such excellent colleagues putting this video together. I'd really appreciate you giving it a watch at some point, then we can justify making more content like this in future! #archaeology #cumbria #history

A great opportunity for artists in Cumbria to engage with our archaeological work!

Archaeology Awards Voting - Current Archaeology Voting has now opened for the Current Archaeology Awards! Which people, projects and publications deserve recognition?

Our book 'Life in the Viking Great Army' is a contender for Current Archaeology's Book of the Year... so this is a last call for the voting from me.

If you'd like to put us forward, then please follow the link below - and thank you!

Thank mate!

If you know any 16-18 year olds interested archaeology or think it might be for them; look into our free ace courses. They do a range of great activities which gives them a taster or archaeology!

Looking at some reproduction viking oval brooches I have made, and seeing the variation and also some thoughts on how they look and the significance of keeping them in circulation in the early medieval period. #viking #earlymedieval #archaeology

There is a lot of drivel out there, as with any field, but it's easy to overlook the genuinely excellent and ground breaking work being undertaken, much if which is as academically grounded as anything in a journal. As you say, the Thegns team being an excellent example of this! #livinghistory

They run right through Tess; pretty unchanged. I guess it's that long tradition, when unimpeded by Rome etc