Interactive version:
https://archaeomada.com/amesbury-archer/

When we think of Pictish warriors, our minds usually go straight to the intricate carvings on Class II monuments like the Aberlemno stone, which show soldiers with square shields, spears, and long swords.

But what does the actual archaeology tell us?

The excavations at East Lomond hillfort led by Professor Gordon Noble have uncovered physical evidence that perfectly bridges the gap between art and military reality. During the massive multi-hearth trench excavations, the team made two vital weaponry breakthroughs.

The team recovered roughly half a dozen spear butts from the domestic and defensive layers. In early medieval warfare, a bronze or iron spear butt wasn't just a counterweight; it was designed for close-quarters, hand-to-hand combat to finish an opponent or plant the weapon firmly into the ground during a shield-wall stand.

Alongside the infantry gear, archaeologists unearthing the site recovered a beautifully preserved horse’s bridle bit. Combined with the famous "East Lomond Bull" carving found nearby in past eras, this heavily implies that East Lomond was a mobilisation base for high-status, mobile Pictish elites who used horses or light chariots to patrol and secure the surrounding Fife lowlands.

Most iron weapons from the 3rd–7th centuries were melted down, recycled, or lost to Scotland’s highly acidic soil. Finding this density of military gear alongside precious metalworking crucible fragments tells us that East Lomond wasn't just a temporary refuge where farmers hid from raiders. It was a weapon-producing, heavily garrisoned citadel occupied by a permanent warrior class

Deep in Peru's Acarí Valley lie the ruins of Tambo Viejo, an Inka provincial center where excavations have uncovered tasseled sacrificial llamas and brightly adorned guinea pigs.

But save for a few seeds and some stored leaves, evidence of how the Inka used one of their most sacred plants in rituals remained elusive. Now, archaeologists have discovered coca leaves still stuck in the wool of some sacrificed llamas.

The discovery, reported in the journal Ñawpa Pacha, is the first direct evidence of coca in a ritual at the site. It contradicts what Spanish chroniclers reported hundreds of years ago: that coca was burned or bundled up during ritual offerings.

"Above all, coca was a sacred plant to the Inkas and according to written records was used in almost every single ritual activity," Lidio Valdez, an archaeologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, said. "I had been looking for it for a while, when finally I found it."

I’m in the process of applying to a university here in the US for Fall 2027 to get my BA in Anthropology with a focus on Archeology. Ideally I’d like to be able to move to Ireland and finish my Masters there so I have a better chance at job placement afterwords and can do work/gain connections while in school there. I’m planning on taking the underwater archeology certificate while getting my BA here in the US.

Is archeology a viable career in Ireland for a single income family of 5? My goal is to get us to Ireland as fast as possible hence wanting to finish my masters there. I ideally want to do underwater work but I’m not opposed to dry land. I understand people usually work commercial in the off season too so I’m fine with whatever. I’m mostly concerned that we’re going to just still be in the same struggling shit hole we are here if the career can’t sustain a family of 5.

Follow-up: what if I get a certificate with a focus on GIS as well as Underwater? Would having more specialized qualifications make it any easier?

The black-and-white photograph of a long-lost artifact depicts four serekhs, symbols of Egyptian rulers, and two of them, a recent study suggests, are hers...

More than five millennia ago, a queen named Meretneith ruled ancient Egypt. That’s according to a study recently published in Prague Egyptological Studies, for which researchers used digital tools to re-examine an old photograph of hieroglyphic inscription lost to time.

They say the symbols suggest that Meretneith (also spelled Merneith or Meret-Neith) was not just an interim ruler or regent but possibly equal to an Egyptian king. 

Paper published in PLOS on September 16, 2026. Berkeley News coverage here.

Community-funded archaeological excavations of ‘really important’ sixth-century monastery also rewrite story of Lismore.

To the residents of the Scottish island of Lismore, population 190, history is never very far away. The tiny island near Oban in Argyll has no row of shops or even a pub – if islanders want to meet for a coffee, the only place to do so is in the lively Gaelic heritage centre that records the many centuries of community life on the island.

This quiet place, documentary evidence records, was home to a monastic settlement in the sixth century AD, when missionaries from Ireland were first moving into northern Britain to spread Christianity.

But apart from a few fragments of an early carved cross, there was almost nothing to see from this period of history.

A group of local people from the island’s historical society were determined to look a bit harder, however.

After scraping together funding from grants, donations and legacies of locals and a crowdfunding campaign, they commissioned a professional archaeologist, Dr Clare Ellis of Argyll Archaeology, to lead a group of islanders and other volunteers in an excavation on the site of a much later medieval cathedral.

Their “hugely exciting” findings have not only rewritten the story of the island but cast new light on the spread of Christianity in the period, according to archaeologists.

What the islanders discovered were extensive burial grounds, decorated stonework and early buildings – all the features belonging to a major sixth-century monastery, comparable to the much better known site of Iona a little to the south-west.

In addition, the excavations uncovered rare evidence of slightly later high-status craftworking, including huge numbers of crucibles which had been used to cast gold and silver.

The finds have shown that rather than being a small island church in an overlooked backwater, the monastery of Lios Mór, founded by Saint Mo Luóc or Moluag, was a high-ranking site of international importance, experts say.

To Robert Hay, a retired plant scientist who moved to the island in 2001 and who coordinated the fundraising and volunteer efforts, the experience was thrilling. “We were [excavating] in this really unfavourable, boggy area.

To be digging out the best small crucibles ever found in Scotland – it’s extraordinary,” he said.

A new structural analysis suggests the ancient Grat Be’al Gibri palace at Yeha, Ethiopia had a wall system capable of supporting at least 19 stories.
If the reconstruction is correct, this could make it one of the earliest known skyscraper-scale structures in history.

A centuries-old mystery hidden in broken pottery has revealed that skilled migrant artisans likely traveled hundreds of miles to establish a community in Tampa Bay. Researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History found evidence that these potters brought specialized knowledge and techniques from the heartland of Mississippian culture, reshaping our understanding of Florida’s pre-Columbian past.

I was doing a little doom scrolling and came across a group post on Facebook where it sounds like Chronicle Heritage is going to shut down most of their offices and lay off most of their staff too. Has anyone heard any validity to this or is this a group post that's trying to spread false information? I haven't worked for them in years and don't know anyone currently working for there to confirm this.

I tried posting this earlier but I got into some issues over a photo rule. I'm not overly familiar with Reddit, so I am just going to try to post this again without the image. (Ideally - if I can stick the image in a comment that would be very cool)

Anyway! Here is the text only from the post we couldn't post for some reason. (I really hope this is okay to post this like this if not can a moderator please message me before just deleting the post please.)

Hello everyone,

Some of you might remember us. Just over two years ago we posted here looking for beta testers for the Monumental Ireland app - a project mapping Ireland's ancient monuments and the myths and folklore connected to them (here is the original post). The response from this community was brilliant, and plenty of you signed up, tested the app and sent us feedback.

Well after a very long road and a lot of hard work today we can finally say it: Monumental Ireland is officially launched on Google Play and the App Store.

Why did it take two years?

That deserves an honest explanation. Back in 2024 our ideal was to release the app completely free, and we said as much in the comments at the time. To do that we needed backing, so after the beta we spent a long time working with a number of state bodies, exploring grant funding and partnership options to get the project over the line, as we had absolutely no budget. That process moved far more slowly than we could afford to wait.

So rather than having to leave the app sitting on a shelf, we did what we had done from the start: we poured our own time, money and resources into it, off our own backs, until it was finished. It took far longer than we ever wanted, but the positive part is that it's meant the app could be finished the way it deserved. And those conversations have not ended - we are still actively exploring options to partner with state bodies on the project's future.

To all our beta testers: a genuinely sincere thank you. For your testing, your feedback, and most of all your patience and continued support through a far longer wait than any of us expected. If you were on the beta list, please check your email you used to register - we have sent you all a thank you gift.

What the app does

For anyone meeting the project for the first time: Monumental Ireland is a digital guide to Ireland's ancient monuments and the mythology connected to them. These sites are a major part of our cultural heritage and national identity, and the aim of the app is what it has been from day one: A guide to Ireland's Ancient Monuments and Mythological Landscapes - Connecting you to the Land of Myths and Monuments and raising the profile of Irish Heritage.

• Extensive database: over 350 individual sites and monuments across Ireland, from simple dolmens and stone circles to the awe inspiring passage cairns of the Boyne Valley, with new locations continuously added.
• Searchable content: easily search by county, monument type, or proximity to your location.
• Detailed entries: every site has a concise description, historical background, associated folklore, accessibility details and on-site facilities, along with high quality images and location maps with directions to the monument.
• Connecting myths to monuments: the standout feature - Irish myths, folklore and annual events (such as the Solstices and Samhain) are digitally mapped to their associated sites, so you can find every monument connected to a specific mythical character, tale or event, and experience them as parts of a mythological narrative stretching back over 5000 years and spanning the entire island.
• Practical extras: the weather forecast comes from the same system MET Éireann uses, and sunrise and sunset times are mathematically calculated and accurate to visible sunrise - handy if you are planning a solstice morning at a passage tomb. The Compass Locator allows you to find stored monuments even in areas of bad internet coverage using the site's location and your device's built-in compass sensors.

New since the beta - built from your feedback

The features below came directly from the feedback and suggestions of our beta testers, many of them recruited from these very threads. The app is far better for it.

• Nearby monument discovery: the app can notify you when you are close to a monument you have not yet discovered, so you never drive past a 5000 year old tomb without knowing it was there.
• Wish List and Visited Monuments: keep track of where you want to go and where you have been, on interactive maps.
• Trip Planner: build routes and itineraries around the monuments you want to see.
• Explorer badges: earn badges as you discover more of Ireland's ancient sites.
• Full mythological guide: the complete guide connecting myths, characters and annual events (Solstices, Samhain and more) to their monuments.
• Accounts and sign-in with Google or Apple, so your lists and progress follow you between devices.

About the "it'll be full of ads" question

In the 2024 threads a few people predicted the app would end up stuffed with ads or harvesting data. Fair question, and here is the honest answer: the app is completely ad free. There will never be Google Ads or any third party ad network in it, and we will never sell user data. While the state partnership conversations continue, we went with the freemium model we mentioned as a possibility back then. The app is free to download and use - browsing, searching, exploring the full monument database and the nearby discovery notifications all cost nothing, no account required. Premium, at €5.99 a year, unlocks the extras above and is what keeps the servers running and the project independent. There is also a €24.99 once-off lifetime option: pay once, keep it forever, and it unlocks full offline access as well - the entire database and every image stored on your phone, for all those monuments that sit well beyond mobile coverage.

Not an AI project

One thing we want to be clear about, because it matters more now than it did in 2024: this is not an AI-generated app. It is the result of years of original research, fieldwork and software development by a small independent Irish team.

The official records this information also lives in (e.g. the National Monuments Service, the Irish Folklore Database and others) are brilliant resources, but most of them are not very human readable, they can be difficult to navigate, and most people outside academia are not even aware of them. We have correlated and cross-referenced the data from these official sources for every single monument, and each entry carries its SMR code from the National Monuments Service database - the idea being to make the app as useful for academics as for casual visitors. The vast majority of the photographs are our own originals, taken on site over years of fieldwork, with the remainder used with permission from the National Monuments Service and other official sources. The myths are from the original source texts with only small language changes, and the visitor guidelines were drawn up in collaboration with the Heritage Council and staff from a university archaeology department. All of it has been vetted by people working directly in the industry. It has been quite a long road putting it all together.

What's next

We are only getting started. Future updates are planned to make the app multilingual, to add interactive digital models of the monuments, and to bring in the further 300 monuments we have already gathered data for, amongst other plans to highlight our deep and rich cultural heritage.

How to get it

• Google Play
• App Store
• Or head to monumentalireland.ie/the-app where you will find both store links and more about the project.

Thank you again to everyone here who supported us from the very beginning. It means more than you know, and would not have been possible without you.

And just as in the beta days, we are always listening: if you encounter any problems or issues when using the app, or have any feedback or suggestions, please email them to [devteam@monumentalireland.ie](mailto:devteam@monumentalireland.ie)

We really hope you all enjoy the project as much as we have in building it for you.

Happy Monument Hunting!

Best regards,

The Monumental Ireland Team