Oscar Lozada

@oz-of-the-ancients

Prehistoric archaeologist and hunter-gatherer of interestingness 🏹🌾 | Sharing my love of all things ancient 🏺🏛️ | PhD student at Cambridge studying the Neanderthals of Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan

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Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 19

Just poking through the bushes... The Callanish stones on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland 📸 My own 🏺 #StandingStoneSunday #archaeology #photooftheday

Looking through a gap in the gorse bushes to see standing stones on a scrubland hillside, under a cloudy sky

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 18

The Byzantine Basilica of Demech, an early Christian church in Carthage, for #RomanSiteSaturday It was built by the Vandal rulers of Carthage (or by Justinian's men after his invasion) around 530 CE It was once covered in religious mosaics, of which a couple survive 📸 Me 🏺 #archaeology

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 17

This cute little box was made around 1450 BC in Ancient Egypt! #FindsFriday It has sliding doors on the top, decorated with thin pieces of animal bone Such boxes were popular for keeping cosmetic equipment, which may be what this was used for 📍Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 📸 Mine #archaeology🏺

A small wooden box with sliding panels on the top, with decorated pieces of pale bone on the top, sitting in a museum case

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 16

Argentina be like: 😭

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 15

This little Georgian-era bridge crosses the ancient, perfectly-circular, ditch of Wandlebury Iron Age Hillfort, near Cambridge #HillfortsWednesday It once led the way into the country estates of the Earl of the Godolphin, though is now part of a park 📸 Mine #archaeology 🏺

A low stone bridge over a dirt path with overgrown vegetation and trees on either side

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 14

"Moria... you fear to go into those mines... ..the dwarves delved too greedily and too deep... ..you know what they awoke in the darkness..." #TombTuesday 📍A chamber in the Holm of Papay Neolithic tomb, one of the remotest tombs in Britain, in the far north of Orkney, Scotland 📸Me🏺 #archaeology

A dark angular opening in a tomb wall, made of large slabs covered in green algae. On the floor are thousands of small brown pebbles

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 12

#StandingStoneSunday The Callanish III stones in the wilds of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland 📸 Mine #archaeology 🏺

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 7

Viking runes or modern graffiti? My heart says one, yet my head says another... 📍 Spotted on the wall of Unstan Chambered Tomb in Orkney, Scotland #TombTuesday 📸 Mine #archaeology 🏺

A drystone wall of heavy blocks covered in algae, with rune-like scratches along the side of one in the middle

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 6

"Flowers flowers on the wall, who is the smelliest of them all?" 🌸💩 Medieval fleur-de-lys carved on the walls of Norwich Castle latrines! Evil spirits were thought to enter castles up the toilet shafts, so these daisy wheels warded them off! #MedievalMonday 📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology

Cramped photo inside a medieval castle alcove, with the left carved with flowers in stylised spiral patterns, while at the back of the alcove is a slit window letting in light

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 5

#StandingStoneSunday Close-up of the Comet Stone, an odd little standing stone close to (but well outside) the huge Ring of Brodgar, in the Orkney islands of #Scotland I'm not sure why it's called the Comet Stone but that's what it's always referred to as 🤔 📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology #photooftheday

A small standing stone embedded in long grass in a field, with a grey-blue lake in the background

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 4

Part of the gatehouse of Littlecote Roman Villa in Wiltshire, built 290-300 CE when the villa was the hub of a large farming community The internal rooms may have been used as a gatekeeper's lodge and/or storage areas #RomanSiteSaturday 📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology #photooftheday

The low ruins of a Roman building in a grassy field under a large tree, with several other large trees behind

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 3

So this is what they meant when they said the guards were 'horsing around'... #FindsFriday A medieval Nine Men's Morris game board (a popular strategy game in the middle ages) with a horse decoration 📍Found at Castle Acre castle, Norfolk, now in Norwich Castle 📸 Mine #archaeology #photooftheday🏺

A cracked stone tablet with three concentric rectangles carved into it forming a gaming board, with the simple stylised carving of a horse in the centre

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jul 1

Check out the roots on this one! Clinging to the inner bank of Wandlebury Hillfort in Cambridgeshire #HillfortsWednesday 📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology #photooftheday

A tree with many gnarled surface roots on the edge of a slope in a wood

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 30

Turns out it wasn't just the Bronze Age when people built huge burial mounds - the Romans did it too! I had no idea these existed! #TombTuesday This is one of the Bartlow Hills in Cambridgeshire, 7 huge tombs from 1st/2nd century CE Who were they built for? 🤔 📸Mine #archaeology #photooftheday🏺

A huge grassy mound surrounded by trees under a blue sky with whisky clouds, ringed by a path at the base, viewed from above on top of an adjacent mound

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 27

Two weeks ago I gave a talk at the Festival of Humanism on #climatechange, how it's shaped human evolution and how to counter climate deniers An absolutely mammoth topic that I tried to squeeze into 40 mins! 😅 Here's a couple of photos, by Alavari Jeevathol & Olly Hunter #festivalofhumanism🏺

A view from behind an audience, looking towards a stage where I'm speaking from behind a lectern, with a slideshow to the left

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 26

#FindsFriday A fabulous little shabti made of faience, from Egypt around 600 BC The inscription is a magic spell for a man called Psamtek, enabling the shabti to do agricultural work for Psamtek in the afterlife! 📍Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 📸 Mine #archaeology #ancienthistory #photooftheday🏺

A blue Egyptian figurine standing on a red museum stand

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 24

Knap Hill in Wiltshire, with its clear earthen banks, was first thought to be an Iron Age hillfort But it was excavated in 1908 by archaeology power-couple Ben and Maud Cunnington, who showed it was a Neolithic enclosure - the first to be identified 📸 Me #HillfortsWednesday (sort of) #archaeology🏺

Looking across a low valley to a grassy hill where earth banks are visible at the top of the hill. Cows graze in the field in the foreground

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 23

#TombTuesday This is the tomb of Queen Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror and first Norman queen of England! Unlike William, her bones survived the French Revolution as the nuns hid them away from revolutionaries! 📍Abbaye aux Dames, Caen, France 📸 Me #archaeology #photooftheday🏺

A black stone tomb in the floor of a church with a large glass panel protecting it, and a sign in french in front

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 21

An absolute obelisk of a standing stone here, I love how straight this has been cut, very satisfying 📍Stones of Stenness, Orkney Islands, Scotland #StandingStoneSunday 📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology #photooftheday

A standing stone with straight sides and pointed top in a green field

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 17

#HillfortsWednesday A test pit dug by the stables of the 18th century manor house (now demolished), home to the Earl of Godolphin It was built inside Iron Age Wandlebury Hillfort, Cambridgeshire But its major landscaped gardens probably destroyed much of the #archaeology 😤 📸 Me #photooftheday 🏺

A square pit dug in a grassy field surrounded by an orange plastic fence. Behind is a large 18th century building with a clock tower in the centre

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 16

Visiting the tomb of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley (+ mother, father & husband) in Bournemouth as part of the #FestivalOfHumanism Mary and her family were all early secularists & freethinkers Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft is seen as a founding #feminist philosopher! #TombTuesday #HumanistsUK🏺

A group of people gathered around a set of tombs in a cemetery, in front of a large church

A tomb with the names of Mary Shelley, her parents and and several others inscribed. A few flowers have been laid on top

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 14

When this fallen stone was re-erected in 1938, archaeologists found the bones of a 14th century man underneath! He was found with barber's scissors, so is now called the "Avebury Barber Surgeon" Was he flattened by it or was he buried? 🤔 #StandingStoneSunday 📍Avebury, Wiltshire 📸Me #archaeology

A large wide standing stone in a green grass field under a bright blue sky

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 13

Fascinating talk by @drcarpineti.bsky.social at #FestivalOfHumanism today! All about the worrying ethics of space & Musk's freedom to send whatever he wants up there Clearly we desperately need an update to the 2-page Outer Space Treaty of 1967 - which still applies today!! #Humanists2026

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 12

Feeling down after a rainy few days? This guy sure is! This is part of a Bellarmine Jar (named after a Catholic cardinal), which were popular in Tudor England This piece was found in Avebury, Wiltshire, in 1953 and is now in the local museum #FindsFriday 📸 Me #archaeology #photooftheday🏺

The neck of an old brown jar decorated with the face of an old man, sitting on a bed of small stones

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 10

The outer defences of Barbury Castle in Wiltshire, still remarkably well preserved on this northern side #HillfortsWednesday 📸 Me 🏺 #archaeology #photooftheday

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 9

A #TombTuesday from #PrideMonth! 🏳️‍🌈 The view after the rains from Cuween chambered tomb (the mound to the left), a 5000 year old Neolithic tomb in Orkney, Scotland 📸 Mine #archaeology #pride #photooftheday 🏺

A grassy mound on the left behind a fence, overlooking a large valley in the distance with a rainbow overhead

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 7

#StandingStoneSunday The Menhir des Demoiselles near the village of Colombiers-sur-Seulles in Normandy, France 🇫🇷 It's not far from a large well-preserved Neolithic tomb, so may be the same age They're some of the few surviving Neolithic monuments in Normandy 📸 Mine #archaeology #photooftheday 🏺

A small standing stone in long grass under a cloudy sky, with sun just poking through the clouds

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 5

Look closely and you can see dozens of cut marks in this skull of a young bull 👀 #FindsFriday They were made by Neolithic people removing flesh with stone tools, probably for a feast 5000 years ago! 📍 Found in the ditches of Windmill Hill, Wiltshire 📸 Me #archaeology #photooftheday🏺

The damaged bare bone skull of a bull with damaged horns on each side, sitting on a museum stand.

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· Jun 3

#HillfortsWednesday What's left of the outer defences of Wandlebury Hillfort, south of Cambridge It's now a lovely shaded footpath in a country park 📸 Mine #archaeology #photooftheday 🏺

A gentle-sloped ditch passing under trees in a forest.

Oscar Lozada@oz-of-the-ancients· May 29

In 1938 Alexander Keiller lifted one of the fallen Avebury stones and found the skeleton of a 14th century man! He had these coins and pair of scissors so was nicknamed the Barber surgeon! Was he crushed by a fallen stone, or deliberately buried beneath it? 🤔 #FindsFriday 📸 Me 🏺 #archaeology