Alasdair Brooks

@alasdairbrooks

Curator of the Museum of Baptism, Bethany Beyond the Jordan Foundation; editor of the SHA journal Historical Archaeology; likes 19th-century ceramics, music, and a good history book.

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Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jul 13

Currently dipping into medieval representations of the Baptism of Jesus for work. Am particularly taken by these two illuminated manuscript illustrations from the 10th-century Benedictional of St. Aethelwold and the 12th-century Tétraévangéliaire bohaïrique Copte 13.

Miniature of the Baptism of Christ from the c.970 Benedictional of St Æthelwold (British Library, Add MS 49598). At the centre, John baptises a nude Jesus (his modesty protected by the River Jordan, which rises hillock-like at the appropruate moment) while choirs of angels sing their praises and a gilded dove descends from heaven. At the four corners of the gilded miniature are stylised floral designs vaguely resembling 4-leaf clovers. No doubt an expert in 10th-century English art (which I am very much not) could unpick the symbolism of the latter a bit more carefully; I'm mainly just admiring the design.

A page from the c.1178-1180 Tétraévangéliaire bohaïrique Copte 13 (Bibliothèque nationale de France; this page f.6v). It's the full illuminated page, written in Bohairic Coptic. The main decoration takes up slightly over a quarter of the centre of the page, showing the batpism of Jesus by John the Baptist, with a white dove and the hand of God the Father descending from Heaven. Two angels also sing their praises. Slightly unusually, the illustration is wider than tall, so you do get a bit more of a sense that the baptism is in a river, complete with some riverside vegetation and four fish.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jun 29

#mosaicmonday The central design of the 8th-century mosaic at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Madaba, Jordan. Madaba is best-known for the famous Madaba Map, but the city's two archaeological parks contain glorious - and more complete - mosaics of their own. #archaeology #jordan

The central roundel of the 8th-century Church of the Virgin Mary, Madaba, Jordan. The design consists of an outer circle, within which is a ring made out of interlocking circles. There is then an inner circle which encompasses two interlocking squares at a 45 degree angle from each other. At the very centre is another circle with an inscription to the Virgin Mary in Greek in four verses of hexameter. Translated, this reads (or at least according to a translation from people who know better than me it reads): "Beholding Mary, the virginal mother of God (theometor), and the one she bore, Christ, the King of All, the only son of the only God, purify your mind and body, and acts, so that by pure prayers you the merciful God himself"

See also this (admittedly very long) link:

https://portal.sds.ox.ac.uk/articles/online_resource/E02477_Floor-mosaics_with_Greek_inscriptions_from_the_rotunda_church_of_Mary_Mother_of_Christ_S00033_in_Madaba_Roman_province_of_Arabia_Jordan_with_a_poem_praising_Mary_as_the_Mother_of_God_and_possibly_indicating_the_presence_of_her_image_/13822214

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jun 14

Trying to demonstrate to a junior colleague earlier today the dangers of using ChatGPT for, well, just about anything. But thought I would share the two maps of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1180 it generated for us so I could prove the point since it proves the point so well... Abominations both.

ChatGPT-generated map purporting to show the borders of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1180. I don't know where to start with the mistakes, but Tyre appears twice, the County of Edessa (which collapsed in 1144) borders the kingdom to the north, the Fatimid Caliphate (which ended in 1171) still exists, while the County of Tripoli has vanished, and the Principality of Antioch seems to have become a Muslim territory that's moved inland and lost its Mediterranean coast. Also, the Dead Sea, Sea of Galiee, and River Jordan are not quite the right shape, not quite in the right place, and not quite correctly shown in relation to each other. It's appallingly bad.

The second of two ChatGPT-generated maps showing the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1180. It's just as bad as the previous one, though in very different ways. The Fatimid Caliphate (abolished 1171) still exists. The Great Seljuk Sultanate still seems to control the vast majority of the region. Latakia seems to have gone for a wander. Antioch and the Principality of Antioch are now landlocked and east of the County of Tripoli. While the Dead Sea and Red Sea are mostly the right shape and the right location, the Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberas has shrunk and has some exciting new rivers flowing into it from the north. God knows what psychedelic fever dream this has been conjured out of.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jun 11

'Only Roman mosaic that clearly shows a football', you say? But if 'Roman' is a place rather than a period, I give you the Foro Italico in Rome; conceding it's maybe just a wee bit too fascist for some tastes - at least means it thematically fits the present tournament.

A black and white mosaic of various men playing football. It might look cute, but unfortunately it's from the fascist-era Foro Italico in Rome, so really isn't that innocent.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jun 5

Alright, I do rather like Norway's pre-World Cup team photo. And not a horned helmet in sight anywhere. @fakehistoryhunter.net will likely be pleased.

It's the Norwegian men's football team. Except it's also a group of Vikings holding Viking weapons and colourful round shields posing by a small dock in a dramatic mountain-lined fjord, with three Viking longboats visible on the water (one close, one in the distance, one inbetween)

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 31

#5debutalbums2026 Surprised I haven't seen anyone else nominate Ethel Cain's extraordinary 2022 debut Preacher's Daughter yet. Calling it 'Lana Del Rey meets dark Southern Gothic concept album' might be doing it a disservice, but will have to do. And when I write 'dark', I mean _really_ dark.

The cover of Ethel Cain's 2022 debut album 'Preacher's Daughter'. It's a deliberately out of focus photograph of a young white woman with black hair sitting in a chair while leaning on a small side table, and in front of wood-panelled walls, directly under a picture of Jesus. She is wearing a white dress and white shoes. Her body language looks awkward and defensive - which is entirely in keeping with the mood of the concept album, which is about a preacher's daughter running away from home. Spoiler: it doesn't end well.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 27

Sunset over Palestine/the West Bank, from the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea. No ecological or political metaphors intended. Just a really spectacular sunset.

Sunset over Palestine as seen from the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. In the centre, the last rays of the sun form a bright orange semicircle. The rest of the sky is varying shades of deeper orange. The hills of the West Bank from a dark band in the middle of the photo. The waters of the Dead Sea dominate the foreground, the low waves a sort of dark blue-orange-grey in colour.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 25

#5DebutAlbums2026 : La Symphonie des éclairs by Zaho de Sagazan. It's possible you only know her for singing Édith Piaf's 'Sous le ciel de Paris' at the start of the 2024 Olympic closing ceremony, but her 2023 debut album is a triumphant merger of electronic Krautrock and French chanson.

The cover of Zaho de Sagazan's 2023 debut album 'La Symphonie des éclairs'. A drawing of a young woman wearing a blue top, with pale blue skin and greenish-blue hair is playing what appears to be a Moog synthesizer, with lots of complicated knobs, dials, and buttons. She's twisting one button with her left hand while pusing another at a lower level with her right hand. The synthesizer is photo-realistic but is almost entirely black, with the the controls in white. The synthesizer merges into the background of the album cover, which is almost all black, with some dots and circles of white; its unclear if these are stars, lights, or just a design feature. The album name is written in large red font directly above the woman's head, with the artist's name in much smaller font directly below the word 'éclairs'. The name of the album translates to 'the symphony of lightning'.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 9

Give me your favourite non-Trek performance from a Star Trek actor: LeVar Burton, the video to Cameo's Word Up. Give us music, we can use it We need to dance We don't have the time For psychological romance (It's like, how much more 80s could this be? And the answer is none. None more 80s).

A young Geordie La Forge - sorry, LeVar Burton - at the start of the video to the 1986 Cameo song Word Up! He's dressed as a detective in a trenchcoat and fedora, and wearing a tie. He's holding a microphone, and demanding that Cameo give themselves up because the police have the place surrounded. He's standing in front of two police officers in uniform (one of whom will later show himself to be a surprisingly good dancer), and next to a crowd. Spoiler: Geordie - sorry, LeVar - will not be successful in arresting the codpiece-wearing Larry Blackmon.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 3

#5DebutAlbums9599 Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot Mark Linkous left us an extraordinary body of work before his untimely death.

The cover of Sparklehorse's debut album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. A slightly out of focus picture of blue sky and clouds, with the edge of something more out of focus and green to bottom left. Prominent to the right is a slightly unsettling smiling clown mask that seems to be floating in the air. The whole is framed in such a way to look a bit like an old slide photograph. The name of the band is written in uneven font towards the bottom at an angle, mixing font size and lower case and upper case letters. Parts of the album name are also visible. Sparklehorse leader Mark Linkous battled with depression and addiction for much of his life; the album cover almost feels like an expression of both.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· May 1

Post your warning sign

An anti-speeding warning sign in Doha, Qatar, photographed in 2013. On a shield-shaped sign attached to a lamp post, and above images of speed dials, is the caption "Overspeed Leads to Perdition!!" Yes, the two exclamation marks are in the original. The sign is also over a smaller direction sign for supermarket, but somehow that feels extraneous here.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Apr 20

So, since #MosaicMonday is apparently a thing... Here's a large section of the c.785 floor mosaic of St Stephen's Church, at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Umm ar-Rasas, Jordan - the largest (almost) intact mosaic floor in the country. Photograph taken by me last week #Archaeology

A large section of the c. AD 785 mosaic floor of the Church of St Stephen, UNESCO World Heritage site of Umm ar-Rasas, Jordan. The central design features circles of vines around a series of images. Most of those images would have featured humans, and have been erased in the early medieval period by rearranging the tesserae, likely to adhere to Muslim restrictions on figurative art when these were subsequently enforced more strictly rather than due to Byzantine iconoclasm (Christians in the Caliphate were generally opposed to iconoclasm, and the mosaic was created in the iconoclastic period anyway), though a bunch of grapes in a basket remains visible in the centre. The first border to the floor is dark, and features water scenes with boats (the boat crews again erased via rearranging the tesserae), fish and cities. The second border features representations of cities and their names, including Caesaria and Madaba. The third and final outer border features geometric shapes. The apse mosaics in the distance are also geometric patterns. As mosaics go, it's a good set, and one of the most spectacular in Jordan.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Apr 19

Let's follow up with another view of Umm Qais/Gadara. Lush hillside wildflower meadows are probably not what you associate with the Middle East, but this was the view today looking away from the city's ampitheatre towards the decumanus maximus (the row of columns in the distance).

Umm Qais (Classical Gadara), Jordan, in April 2026. We are looking across a green hillside meadow heavily dotted with yellow wildflowers and scattered with trees. In the distance can be seen a row of columns showing the route of the decumanus maximus, or main east-west street. It's a much more lush and verdant scene than you might expect in the Middle East, even allowing for the spring rain we had this year.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Apr 19

Umm Qais (Classical-period Gadara), Jordan, earlier today. Ruins of a Byzantine-era church foreground, the Sea of Galilee visible in the middle distance, and the occupied Golan Heights to the distant right. On a clear day you can apparently see Mount Hebron in Lebanon as well.

The ruins of Umm Qais, the Classical-period city of Gadara in modern Jordan. The ruins of a Byzantine Church, with some columns in various states of repair, are visible in the foreground. The view in the distance is arguably just as interesting. Everything is lush and green due to spring rain, with yellow flowers colouring the middle distance. In the far distance can be seen (from left to right), a hill in Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, and the occupied Golan Heights. On a clear day it's apparently possible to see Mount Hebron in Lebanon as well; but today it was grey and overcast, so we couldn't see that far.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Apr 10

The dramatically-situated hilltop fortress-palace of Mukawir / Machaerus overlooking the Dead Sea, as visited yesterday. This is where (according to Josephus) John the Baptist was executed following Salome's dance. (And all that greenery... it's been a damp spring here in Jordan).

Mukawir photographed from the visitor car park. The fortress-palace sits on the flat top of a truncated cone that almost looks like a volcano, though the geology is absolutely not volcanic (layers of sedimentary rock are clearly visible). The path that leads visitors to the top of the hill (by winding around the rear) is visible to the left; another, smaller, path leads to the right; this leads to a series of caves that may be the fortress's original prison cells (and therefore the possible location of John the Bapti's imprisonment and execution). Given the desert location, there's a perhaps surprising amount of green visible; Jordan has received 130% of its average annual rainfall for the first three months of the year.

The view from the top of Mukawir towards the Dea Sea and Palestine (that's the West Bank in the distance, not Israel, so it's unambiguously Palestine). Beige hills with flecks of green vegetation and a dry stream bed are visible in the foreground. In the distance can be seen the horizontal blue line of the Dead Sea, and in the further distance the other side of the rift valley - the rising hills of the West Bank - can just about be hazily seen, with some scattered clouds above them. The entire area is quite dramatic.

The actual remains of the fortress-palace as they looked on 9 April 2026. A couple of (reconstructed from original materials) columns stand over low ruined walls and a central courtyard. Four interpretive panels explaning the site to visitors can also be seen (one in the foreground, three in the background). A fair amount of low green plants can also be seen - it won't look nearly this green in a couple of months. Hills and scattered clouds can be seen in the distance. To be honest, the surviving archaeology isn't hugely impressive. But it's worth visiting the site for the dramatic setting, the amazing views, and the historical associations. And it only costs 1.5 JD for non-residents - bargain!

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Mar 23

#5DebutAlbums1519 and something of a minor golden era for debut albums from Brighton-based rock bands fronted by women. Yonaka - Don't Wait 'til Tomorrow Black Honey - Black Honey

Cover of Don't Wait 'til Tomorrow, the debut album from Brighton-based band YONAKA (stylised all in capitals). The cover is mainly black, but has a big red circle in the middle with a big white 'Y' in the middle, superimposed over the repeating letters (in lighter red) 'dwtt', presumably the initials of the album title. The title is written out in full in white capitals below the circle. The band name is written vertically to top left of the circle. To bottom right, in much smaller font, is a list of the album tracks and their duration over one of those irritating 'parential advisory explicit content' notices. Yes, lead singer Theresa Jarvis swears a lot; get the smelling salts.

The cover of the self-titled debut album from Brighton-based band Black Honey. It's essentially a close-up of a woman's mouth; red lipstick, mouth slightly parted, top teeth visible, tongue licking the top lip. The name of the band is written in contrasting blue over the centre.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Mar 14

Signs that you might be middle-aged; sadly, the seem all too true...

How do you know when you're middle-aged?

These 10 tell-tale signs...

1) You don't understand what young peasants are talking about
2) You struggle to read Chaucer in weak candlelight
3) You hate rowdy taverns
4) You constantly worry that you might have the Black Death
5) You don't know or care who Blondel is sleeping with
6) You tell your wife that Crusaders seem to look younger every year
7) You struggle with new technology such as the heavy plough and the longbow
8) You find Gothic architecture too modern
9) You keep forgetting who the King is
10) You dream of buying a second hovel in France

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Mar 5

#5debutalbums8589 and Grant Hart's 1988 debut solo album Intolerance. Bob Mould had the more successful post-Hüsker Dü career, but I would take Hart's Intolerance - in all its glorious rough-edged messy beauty - over anything Mould's done solo or with Sugar.

The cover to Grant Hart's 1988 debut album intolerance. It consists of apparently random newspaper cuttings plastered across a red background. Samples of some of the cuttings include "Under the big tent!", "poetry and sound louder bolder WANT", "ROCK POP" (the former superimposed on the latter" "Everyday Everyday Every Year Every Year", "It started as a couple of pages on a legal pad", and "Run Run Run Run". There are also a couple of mentions of Minneapolis. It's difficult to get across the messy anarchic energy of all of the newspaper clippings in alt text, but they sort of reflect the messy anarchic energy of the album itself.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Mar 1

#5DebutAlbums8589 and the debut album by the great lost American guitar band of the late 80s and early 90s: Thin White Rope's Exploring the Axis. Better - and more terrifying - albums were to come, but this successfully sets the base template.

The cover to Thin White Rope's 1985 debut album Exploring the Axis. It's mostly black and white. The band name is written across the top. The album name is written along the edge of a black square that encompasses most of the cover. In the bottom left is an outline sketch of a... I've never been entirely sure. I think it's supposed to be a dog, but it's rather impressionistic. A red dot obscures part of the 'dog', making it difficult to decide if it's a nursing female or the dot is partly obscuring something else. As I said, it's rather impressionistic. At least the 'dog', which is sitting on its hind legs, has recognisable legs and a face.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Feb 27

This has, inevitably, now been edited out; but earlier today the top of Matt Goodwin's Wikipedia page briefly looked like this:

A screenshot of the top of the Wikipedia page of ReformUK by-election candidate. This has now been edited out, but the opening paragraph briefly concluded with the sentence "He unsuccessfully stood for election in the constituency of Gorton and Denton in a by-election following his nomination by ReformUK, splitting the loony vote for Sir Oink A-lot and the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Feb 15

#5debutalbums0509, and presumably Raising Sand (2007) is eligible as the first of the two Robert Plant & Alison Krauss collaboration albums.

Cover of the 2007 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss album 'Raising Sand'. It's a black and white photograph of the two artists looking relaxed and happy off-centre to the right (with Plant more or less in the centre, and Krauss to the right). Plant still has his long curly Led Zeppelin hair, but also has a short beard and mustache. Krauss has long hair. I can never work out if they're standing in front of a body of water or a large expanse of sand. The artist names and album title are to the left of Plant.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jan 15

#5DebutAlbums9094 Curve - Doppelgänger I've come to crush your bones I've come to make you feel old I've come to mess with your head It'll make you feel good

The cover of Curve's 1992 debut album Doppelganger. The name of the band and album is superimposed over a red-tinted photograph of discarded plastic doll parts. It looks vaguely creepy; it's supposed to.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Jan 12

I see you and raise you... The obvious answer here is to have the cat play the bagpipes...

Image of an anthropomorphic kilt-wearing cat playing the bagpipes in a Roman ampitheatre. See, every now and then AI can give us something fun, cute, and innocent, unlike over at Grok.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Dec 20

Stealing this from a LinkedIn post, but I suddenly felt represented...

Black and white cartoon of two parents talking to their son in their living room, with the caption "Listen, we know your dream is to become an archaeologist, we're just asking you to consider a career with more job security, like a street performer, or a poet".

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Dec 16

#5albums25 The Dream by The Favors 1970s California Laurel Canyon lives on, via Billie Eilish's brother Finneas and collaborator Ashe, with gorgeous harmonies and soaring choruses; except that most of the songs seem to be about New York State rather than LA. And why not?

The cover to The Dream, the debut album by the Favors. The cover is in black and white (well, really grey and white); Finneas O'Connell (brother of Billie Eilish) stands above and behind second band member Ashe. Finneas looks to the viewer's right, Ashe to the left. The band name is at upper left in a very 1970s font, the album name at upper right in the same very 1970s font. How much more 1970s could you get? The answer is none, none more 70s.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Dec 14

#5albums25 Strange Love by Bleak Squad Australian indie rock royalty supergroup (including Mick Harvey of the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds) makes gloriously ramshackle album that the sort of people who vote on these lists would probably love.

The cover of Strange Love, the debut album by Australian indie rock supergroup Bleak Squad. And it looks precisely like what you'd expect it to look like. The four band members - three men and a woman (Mick Harvey, Mick Turner, Adalita and Marty Brown) - stand in a dark room, their faces lit from the right. They're all wearing black and none of them are smiling; because that's precisely what we'd expect from an indie supergroup of people in their 50s and 60s. God forbid anyone in an indie supergroup should look like they're having fun. In the top left corner, in fairly small text, the name of the band is in white font, and the name of the album is in red font. Did I mention that everything is very dark and black, and the band are all wearing black? Even the carpet on the floor looks like it's mainly black. Wouldn't want to belabour a point, would we?

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Dec 10

This brand-new museum, which is due to open in 2030, is part of a new initiative backed by the Jordanian government to significantly redevelop the UNESCO site best known for being the traditional location of Jesus’s baptism by John the Baptist. 2/2

Me at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bethany Beyond the Jordan in October 2025. If I look uncomfortable, it's because it was in the mid 30s Celsius and humid. I'm standing in front of the Byzantine-period ruins by the traditional site of Jesus's baptism, though these are large obscured by me, two other tourists, and a massive rectangular memorial to the site to left foreground.

A stone sign near the River Jordan reading "Jordan River" in English and Arabic. Well, obviously the Arabic actually reads "نهر الأردن". Everything looks very light brown and beige.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Dec 10

Personal news... I'll be leaving Re-Form Heritage early in 2026 to take up to role of Curator of the Museum of Baptism at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bethany Beyond the Jordan. 1/2

Byzantine-era archaeological remains at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bethany Beyond the Jordan. In the background, a modern wooden structure protects the main church. Steps then lead down to the pool of water that is the traditional site of Jesus's baptism. The foundations of four large piers that would have supported the chapel that was located over the baptism site can be seen in the foreground, as can a pool of water at the actual traditional baptism site that would have been under the chapel supported by those piers.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Nov 11

Album cover, you say? Here you go:

The cover to the self-titled debut album by the archaeology-themed rock band "Thunder of Eels". It features a circular blue mosaic on a brick wall. At the centre of the blue circle is an admittedly not 100% convincing eel that looks slightly menacing. It's sort of a mix of an indie rock album cover and a bad 1970s prog band album cover.

Alasdair Brooks@alasdairbrooks· Oct 29

I chose wisely.