seasonality

Minerva
200

Researchers identify bird species on wall painting from Amarna palace

Kingfishers and pigeons had previously been identified amid this scene in the palace’s so-called ‘Green Room’, but new research has offered explanations of further details.

Left Like their modern counterparts, medieval calendars could be illustrated with temporally appropriate images. This leaf, from a lavish 15th century manuscript from Bruges, is decorated with an agricultural scene featuring peasants harvesting grain using sickles. Saints’ feast days are listed in the centre of the page.

Current Archaeology
380

Seasons, saints, and feast days

When exactly did we begin to lose touch with the natural cycle of the sun, the stars, and the seasons? Was it at the start of the Industrial Revolution, when people moved from land-based activities to working in factories?