EasterE.g

Updates from AHRC-funded project: The Easter E.g. - Shifting Baselines and Changing Perceptions of Biological and Cultural 'Aliens'.

[Adrian Bott @Cavalorn]

An absolute FEAST of up to the minute scholarly information on Easter, hares, goddesses, paganism, and sundry goodness from my colleagues on the Easter Project, Luke John Murphy and @CarlyDigsIt!

https://t.co/mJLAzHKzgl

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@romanpalace @binneNichtHier Brilliant!!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@binneNichtHier @romanpalace @shtefie It gets some mention in this lecture! https://t.co/teGO7NF5z3

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@Dr_Fishbones @romanpalace @Gfdheritage @ahrcpress For the moment we’ve published it here https://t.co/zBw3XAC1uH but we’re drafting the paper now!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

We C14 dated the earliest evidence for Britain’s #Easter animals. Chickens and brown hares first arrive in the Iron Age (C5th BC) followed by the rabbit (C 1st/2nd AD) @romanpalace After post-Roman extinction, rabbits were reintroduced in the C13th AD @Gfdheritage @ahrcpress

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

We were just thinking the same thing!

[Fishbourne Roman Palace @romanpalace]

@CowpNewtMuseum This is the ultimate win-win situation. We, and our friends from @AHRCEasterEg LOVE hares! 🥰

[Rhiannon Jenkins @GeneralRhivous]

Spent all my life* believing rabbits were a Norman addition to Britain

*The last 2 years

Kinda shook though

[English Heritage @EnglishHeritage]

Why do we hide eggs at Easter? 🥚 And why, at one point, was there an Easter hare, not a bunny? 🐰
https://t.co/20rkoAaP4a

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@LondonerAlex @Cavalorn Rabbits, yes. Brown hares also seem to go through a population crash in the post-roman period. The portable antiquities scheme @findsorguk has very few hare artefacts in that period but plenty dating to Roman and later medieval periods. Something definitely going on!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@Elena1701A It’s a pretty new finding! We’re seeing it with some other species too. Writing the publication soon!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

For #EasterMonday the story of Britain’s original #Easter bunny: the brown hare. An introduced species that has enriched biodiversity and human culture. See full 3-min animation by @niznozify https://t.co/LWkU9DBV4r @ahrcpress @HPT_Official

[Dr Francis Young @DrFrancisYoung]

Perhaps the hardest thing about being a historian of belief is knowing that humans will believe *absolutely anything* unassailably, while others around you still touchingly trust in the power of evidence and argument to change deeply held views

[Archaeology Chester @ArchaeologyChe1]

Our brand-new Twitter account has 700 followers and still growing! Please RT in support of ArchaeologyChester! @ArchaeologyChe1

[Richard Jones @rlcjones]

Easter eggs you say?

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@carlosfnorena @FlintDibble @romanpalace @Gfdheritage @ahrcpress Lots of finds! But these are the earliest for the island of Britain.

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@PaulAda78947688 Excellent point!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@Tdal1369 @bbc5live @BBCSounds So much ‘received wisdom’ in circulation. We’ve been trying to find evidence for the origins of our Easter traditions. Some of our findings are summaried here https://t.co/zBw3XAC1uH happy Easter!

[EasterE.g @AHRCEasterEg]

@mattjcoward @bbc5live @BBCSounds We know very little about the origins of the different customs surrounding Easter but our project has been looking into many of them. We’ve been tweeting some of our findings and this is quite a nice summary https://t.co/zBw3XAC1uH

[BBC Radio 5 Live @bbc5live]

➡️ Did you know that the Easter Bunny is descended from the Easter Fox? 🦊

Historian of religion, Luke Murphy told us that the German Easter Fox delivered eggs on Easter Sunday long before rabbits were involved🥚🥚 🥚

🎧 Listen back on @BBCSounds for more Easter facts

[Adrian Bott @Cavalorn]

Here are several reasons why I think it's important to counter the 'Easter was pagan' rubbish with properly sourced & attributed facts.

1. Bogus history obscures real history, and the real history is not just rich and interesting, it tells us who we are and how we got here.

[Adrian Bott @Cavalorn]

The Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess https://t.co/4Ww827YH6l