Birds in archaeology

🪷Lily pad frog 🪷 This #MosaicMonday we’re enjoying the sparky cuteness of this little frog enjoying their lily pad amongst the water birds in this Nilotic scene. #AncientRome

It's finally #FindsFriday!! Here's a cute little terracotta vase in the shape of a duck to celebrate.🦆🏺 This duck dates to the 6th century BCE and is of East Greek origin. It can be seen on display at The Met.

A fibula (decorative pin for fastening garments) decorated with a water bird, dating 5th century BC. Found at the Heidentor near Egesheim. Water birds frequently appear as ornaments since the Bronze Age. They had a special significance in the perception... 🧵1/2 #archaeology 🏺

🧵/4 Onto the mosaics then, and while i can't get around every tessera on the site, Bignor does have some of the very finest anywhere in Britain beginning with, this: the Ganymede mosaic #MosaicMonday 🏺AncientBluesky

#ReliefWednesday 🏺 Nilotic scene of riverine life in Egypt from luxury C1 villa in Rome - once painted. Among birds, crocodiles + hippo, 2 muscular/wild haired people in boat could be a parody on Egyptians, popular post Anthony+Cleopatra - or just a racist take on pygmies. #Roman #Terracotta at BM

🌱Spring🌿 Today was the first real sign of spring in Sydney with a beautifully warm 29 degree sunny day. We’re celebrating with this wonderfully detailed mosaic from the The Late Antique Roman villa at La Olmeda (Pedrosa de la Vega, Spain). #MosaicMonday #AncientRome

These stunning golden #duck heads flanking the head of Hathor were found in the royal tomb at Qatna/#Syria, dating 15th/14th century BC. The unique object may have been part of a cosmetic container. National Museum Damascus #archaeology 🏺 🦆

Fabulous Visigothic eagle brooch, AD 501-533. One of a pair of prestigious eagle brooches worn at shoulder height to fasten clothing. From Alovera, Guadalajara, Spain. Bronze, gold and glass. 📷 Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid #Archaeology

Some 3,300 years ago, an ancient Egyptian artist painted this humorous illustration of a cat herding geese on a flake of limestone. From Deir el-Medina, Thebes, Egypt. 📷 Egyptian Museum, Cairo. #Archaeology

Explore more fibulae in Antiquity, with this recently discovered Aucissa-type fibula from the 1st century AD #Roman port of Berenike, Egypt. Popular in the army, was this a soldier's reminder of home or a keepsake from a posting elsewhere? Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Lovely naturalistic scene of birds and a butterfly in a papyrus thicket, carved by an ancient Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago! Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me #ReliefWednesday #Archaeology

And this vessel with an owl eating a snake is just utterly fantastic. It would have been produced sometime before 800 AD.

It’s #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay 🦉❤️ To celebrate here’s an Ancient Greek clay aryballos (perfume flask) in the shape of a little owl! Dated c. 640 BC. The Louvre, Paris 📷 by me #OwlishMonday #Archaeology

We have researcher, John Stewart, visiting today. He's looking at some of our bird bones (crane, to be precise). But more importantly, he bought his dog with him. 😍

Two little quail chicks carved on a limestone plaque over 2,000 years ago. Look closely to see a third chick sketched in ink! From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC. 📷 Met Museum www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #ReliefWednesday #Archaeology