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Posts by Ellen Laird

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Illuminating cave art

I’m on the @manymindspod.bsky.social podcast! We covered a lot in this one - from Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, missing fingers in hand-stencils to children drawing in caves. If you’re (somehow) not tired of hearing me talk about cave art, give it a listen! open.spotify.com/episode/2pVl...

1 week ago 36 13 1 2
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Arbor Low by Monyash for #standingstonesunday

2 weeks ago 8 2 0 0
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The stylish and instantly-recogniseable lotus-shaped chimney pots on Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's 1859 Moray Place in the Strathbungo area of Glasgow.

#glasgow #architecture #strathbungo #alexandergreekthomson #chimney

3 weeks ago 29 5 0 0
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Cup & Ring stone on Standing Stones Rigg. N. Yorkshire Winter Solstice 2025 #StandingStoneSunday

3 weeks ago 25 5 0 0
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Brightwell Barrow: a Bronze Age bowl barrow in South Oxfordshire, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book.

3 weeks ago 90 21 0 0
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What do you make of this?

1 month ago 11 4 6 0
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Prehistoric cup and ring carvings at Whitehill Farm, near Faifley in West Dunbartonshire. 📸 My own. #RockArt #Prehistory #Archaeology #WestDunbartonshire

1 month ago 164 26 3 2
Tertia and Joana lead a fieldtrip to see local rock art in Faifley, West Dunbartonshire during the RSE funded rock art workshops in 2025 © ScARF

Tertia and Joana lead a fieldtrip to see local rock art in Faifley, West Dunbartonshire during the RSE funded rock art workshops in 2025 © ScARF

Are you interested in Neolithic and Bronze Age rock art?

Join us at Kilmartin Museum on the 16th of May for a free, hybrid event led by the wonderful Tertia Barnett and @joanavaldez.bsky.social.

In-person places are limited, so book soon if you're interested!

More information: bit.ly/4s85XMi

1 month ago 29 15 0 1
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Cup-marked kerb stone of the north-east burial cairn at the Clava Cairns - a wonderful Bronze Age cemetery near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #ClavaCairns #Archaeology #Highlands

1 month ago 134 15 2 0
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Three standing stones nestled together on green grass against cloudy skies.

Three standing stones nestled together on green grass against cloudy skies.

Lundin Links standing stones. Three enormous standing stones on the fairway at the Ladies Golf Course in the East Neuk of Fife #StandingStoneSunday

1 month ago 21 2 0 1
Aconites, scilla, crocus, and snowdrops on the floor of the wood.

Aconites, scilla, crocus, and snowdrops on the floor of the wood.

Carpets of spring flowers at Cambo, Fife, yesterday

1 month ago 5 0 1 0
Three characterful standing stones on a grassy golf links as clouds scud past.

Three characterful standing stones on a grassy golf links as clouds scud past.

Lundin Links standing stones, on the fairway of the Ladies Golf Club, East Neuk of Fife. Tall and striking! StandingStoneMondaytoo

1 month ago 10 0 0 0
Ancient rock art connecting communities | Future Makers Ep 3
Ancient rock art connecting communities | Future Makers Ep 3 YouTube video by UKRI Stories

Between 2017-22 I was a Post-doc researcher with Scotland's Rock Art Project.

The project was funded by the AHRC and recently the @ukri.org invited us to feature their new Future Makers series.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPsR...

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2 months ago 21 9 1 0
A stone with spiral carvings in a dark chamber

A stone with spiral carvings in a dark chamber

#TombTuesday rare Neolithic tomb art from a Welsh passage grave: multiple spiral motifs inside the Boyne Valley-style cruciform chambers of Barclodiad y Gawres in Ynys Môn/Anglesey

📷 My own, winter 2023

2 months ago 127 26 2 2
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The remains of Cairn Holy II - one of two Neolithic chambered cairns which overlook Wigtown Bay in Dumfries & Galloway. The Clyde-type chambered cairn was traditionally thought to be the tomb of Caldus, the mythical Scottish King. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Archaeology

2 months ago 134 30 0 0
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A day early for #StandingStoneSunday because there’s a lichen heart on this one. The remaining upright stone at Ardnacross on the Isle of Mull.

2 months ago 74 8 1 0
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West Woods Polissoir No.1: A find from the 2007 survey of West Woods by the Wiltshire Archaeology & Natural History Society's Archaeology Field Group, this is the polissoir listed as find C009 - "Part of a pollisor (sic) on a cut sarsen".

2 months ago 10 1 1 0
Leaden grey cloud with standing stones skylined. Capstone of chamber floats in air, while orthostats of entrance stand taller.  Foreground dull green in low light.

Leaden grey cloud with standing stones skylined. Capstone of chamber floats in air, while orthostats of entrance stand taller. Foreground dull green in low light.

Leaden grey cloud sky with flashes of steely blue and violet. Standing stones of entrance lean inwards, seemingly propping each other. skylined. Capstone of chamber glimpsed behind. Distant views to sea beyond

Leaden grey cloud sky with flashes of steely blue and violet. Standing stones of entrance lean inwards, seemingly propping each other. skylined. Capstone of chamber glimpsed behind. Distant views to sea beyond

And treasure, those still moments of reawakening ...

Cairn Holy 2 Dumfries and Galloway

#TombTuesday #ArchaeologyLife #Archaeology #prehistory #Scotland @archscot.bsky.social @megalithic.bsky.social @stoneclub.bsky.social

2 months ago 47 7 0 0
Three mossy standing stones stand in a line in scrub between a field and road.

Three mossy standing stones stand in a line in scrub between a field and road.

Dyke Rowe, single stone row south of Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway #StandingStoneSunday

stonerows.wordpress.com/gazetteer/re...

2 months ago 14 0 0 0
A stark, bare landscape of flat ground, ploughed field and stream under a grey sky is enlivened by detailed studies in the foreground of the plants and flowers of February

A stark, bare landscape of flat ground, ploughed field and stream under a grey sky is enlivened by detailed studies in the foreground of the plants and flowers of February

“February. Another cold, dead month, or so it seems. The elms are bare against the sky, the plough-ground is naked and wet, and still as brown as the sodden leaves.
Yet the world is waking up”.

Artists: Edith Hilder, Rowland Hilder (ShellGuide, 1955)

2 months ago 401 65 5 3
Two standing stones forming entrance to chambered cairn. Ante-chamber and chamber comprising lower stone slab boxes in foreground. Distant sky is orange and dark with Mmorning sunrise, green pastures and woodlands below.

Two standing stones forming entrance to chambered cairn. Ante-chamber and chamber comprising lower stone slab boxes in foreground. Distant sky is orange and dark with Mmorning sunrise, green pastures and woodlands below.

And at some places, we can feel closer to the rhythms of the world...

Cairn Holy 1 chambered cairn is a remarkable monument which has been visibly revisted and reused for nearly six thousand years.

#prehistory #TombTuesday @archscot.bsky.social @the.stone.club @megalithic.bsky.social

2 months ago 42 7 1 0

That's a shame, though it's good to be out 😊

2 months ago 1 0 1 0

Lovely photo. Any rock art?

2 months ago 1 0 1 0
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Snowdrops!

2 months ago 3 0 0 0
Four large, one-metre-high, boulders forming a square on rough grassland. The hills of northern Arran can be seen in the background.

Four large, one-metre-high, boulders forming a square on rough grassland. The hills of northern Arran can be seen in the background.

A square amongst so many circles? Machrie Moor 4 on #Arran, #StandingStoneSunday … More pics on @megalithic.bsky.social here www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?...

2 months ago 45 4 0 0
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A blackbird is purchased on the ground of a wooded bank near a lake on a misty winter day. Overhead, hazel catkins droop.

A blackbird is purchased on the ground of a wooded bank near a lake on a misty winter day. Overhead, hazel catkins droop.

“When we see the hazel catkins turn yellow, we know that spring is not far off”

Writer: EL Grant Watson
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

2 months ago 431 82 10 4
The dolmen in snow

The dolmen in snow

Trethevy Quoit, Cornwall, is a well-preserved portal dolmen, a burial chamber with four upright overlapping granite slabs forming the sides of the chamber and lateral stones at the front and back. These monuments were constructed in the early Neolithic period (3700-3300 BC). #StandingStoneSunday

2 months ago 125 22 0 1
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The remains of South Clettreval Chambered Cairn in North Uist. The cairn dates to the Neolithic and is located on the southern slopes of Cleitreabhal a Dheas. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #Archaeology #NorthUist

2 months ago 127 22 0 0

Beautiful rock art 😊

2 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Good morning from beautiful Dumfries and Galloway ☀️

2 months ago 34 3 4 0