#Bryher

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[ghousttm]

Hmjjhj help

[stargatelov3r]

encouraged by @1989nihil i will from now on start to ramble about my thesis here. posts concerning the topic will be tagged with "asile's thesis journey" although i could probably also tag it as "asile's slow descend into madness," but just in case you want to flag that tag :) but i swear there is some madly interesting stuff that i'm reading about!!

for example, it's so fun to read stuff like "‘Woman? Is there such a thing even as a woman sensed from the inside?’, she had demanded in the New Freewoman in 1913, ‘Never in the course of a long life have we felt “There, I felt that as a woman.” Always things have been felt as individual and unique, as much related to other women as to other men.’" (Dora Mardsen) or "I wish I was (born) a boy," "I wish I could do [thing] like a boy" (Bryher, freely quoted) because I cannot help but think "oh, buddy, i have news for you"

[violettesiren]

If I bring my loneliness To your arms,— This is not love. If I bend my head, Heavy with life, to meet your strength, forgive me,— (Would you hold me for a moment without speaking) This is not love. It is rest. A truth in dream, To slip aside our solitude at meeting, It is an hour we give to one another,— Not love.

Episode by Bryer (Annie Winifred Ellerman)

[jaspoodlesypp]

I got FIVE LEAGUE POINTS in a single run!!!

[mannytoodope]

[city-of-ladies]

"Dr Sarah Stark, a human skeletal biologist at Historic England, said the findings provided “evidence of a leading role for a woman in warfare on iron age Scilly.”

“Although we can never know completely about the symbolism of objects found in graves, the combination of a sword and a mirror suggests this woman had high status within her community and may have played a commanding role in local warfare, organising or leading raids on rival groups.”

Stark added: “This could suggest that female involvement in raiding and other types of violence was more common in iron age society than we’ve previously thought, and it could have laid the foundations from which leaders like Boudicca would later emerge.”"

[actual-changeling]

Still in London (and stuck in the heat rip me) and there is a bookstore called Gay's The Word that is filled to the brim with all kinds of queer books and queer books ONLY.

As one does, I had to put myself on a leash on only buy 5 new books I am incredibily excited about. So in case anyone is looking for new reading material, here's the list:

The Story of Silence by Alex Myers about a nonbinary knight "finding the courage to be who they are"

The Butch Monologues by Laura Bridgeman which is a collection of contemporary real-life stories exploring, well, butch and gender experiences

No Modernism without Lesbians by Diana Souhami, a collective biography about Sylvia Beach, Natalie Barney, Bryher, and Gertrude Stein and the Modernist movement

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, which I think many people already know–time travelling, science fiction, queer love, and existential crises

It Came From the Closet is a collection of twenty-six essays under the theme of queer reflections on horror, and I think that really tells you everything you need to know about it; critical, humorous, historical, and defined by personal experiences

They also have a website where you can browse and buy said books, pins, and more! It's a great way of buying queer books from queer people.

[edrurysz]

Helaena Targaryen, Aegon’s doomed, haunted queen and mother to his children...a weaving // with much credit and love to @gedwimora for inspo + a playlist

Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Canto IV (1818) / Esteben and the Witch, "When that Head Splits" (2013) / H.D., "For Bryher and Perdita" (1921) / Dacia Maraini, Dreams of Clytemnestra (tr. Tim Vode) (1989) / Gertrud Kolmar, “Allenburg,” Dark Soliloquy: The Selected Poems (1975) / M83 & Susanne Sundfør "Oblivion" (2013) / sculpture by Antoni Parera i Saurina (1906) / Andromeda, Arthur Rackham / detail of The Unicorn in Captivity (1495) / illustration by Helen Stratton from Fairy Tales of Hans Andersen (1908)

[ladyniniane]

"For decades archaeologists have puzzled over whether the stone-lined burial chamber, which was discovered in 1999 on Bryher, contained the remains of a man or a woman.

Excavations revealed a sword in a copper alloy scabbard and a shield alongside the remains of the sole individual, objects commonly associated with men. But a brooch and a bronze mirror, adorned with what appears to be a sun disc motif and usually associated with women, were also found. The grave is unique in iron age western Europe for containing both mirror and sword.

Now a scientific study led by Historic England has determined the remains are that of a woman, a discovery that could shed light on the role of female warriors during a period in which violence between communities is thought to have been a fact of life."

(...)

“Although we can never know completely about the symbolism of objects found in graves, the combination of a sword and a mirror suggests this woman had high status within her community and may have played a commanding role in local warfare, organising or leading raids on rival groups.”

Stark added: “This could suggest that female involvement in raiding and other types of violence was more common in iron age society than we’ve previously thought, and it could have laid the foundations from which leaders like Boudicca would later emerge.”"

[lacolombejaune]

Bryher by Claire Henley ~ https://www.clairehenleyart.co.uk

[cor-ardens-archive]

I am more and more grateful, really deeply touched by books, flowers, fruits and all the rest, dear Fido. But I want to be a sort of caterpillar, as I said, for a year or so, or later weave myself up in threads and wait for myself to hatch.

H.D. to Bryher, Nov. 13, 1935

[coochiequeens]

Women’s history just got richer

Iron Age remains found on the Isles of Scilly belonged to a female warrior, according to the authors of a new study that challenges long-held assumptions about the historical role of women in warfare.

Ever since the burial site was discovered in 1999 at a farm on the British island of Bryher, scientists have been at odds as to whether it belonged to a man or a woman. But thanks to a modern technique that involves analyzing the proteins found in tooth enamel, archeologists say they finally have an answer. 

"We found that this 2,000-year-old burial — one of the richest burials in the southwest of Britain — was a female, or a woman," human skeletal biologist Sarah Stark told As It Happens guest host Aarti Pole.

"It really is opening the door to this hidden female warrior."

Stark works for Historic England, a public agency dedicated to the preservation of historical sites, which led the study into the Iron Age remains. The findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The sword and the mirror 

Iron Age graves with swords usually belong to men, while those with mirrors tend to belong to women, says Stark. But the Bryher burial site contains both. 

"This is something that really sets the Bryher burial apart," Stark said. "This kind of tipped us off into knowing that this person — this woman — was of significance."

She and her colleagues suspect she was "someone that was organizing, commanding or leading in warfare at this time."

Stark says there's a lot we don't know about Iron Age Britain before the arrival of Romans — but one thing we know for sure is that violence and warfare was common.

"We see that men and women were engaging in kind of violent activities based on the trauma that we've seen in other bones in surrounding areas," she said. "So it's not out of the ordinary to think that both men and women should be able to defend themselves."

This presence of both a sword and a mirror in the grave confounded researchers for the last two decades. (Historic England Archive)

It's not just the sword that's connected to war, she says, but potentially the mirror too. 

"To be able to signal to others through beams of light would be a huge advantage, both in either warning … others your in party of a potential attack, or co-ordinating an attack," she said.

Archeologist Bettina Arnold, who was not involved with the study, cautioned against assuming the presence of a sword means the person was a warrior.

Arnold, a University of Wisconsin Milwaukee professor who studies the Iron Age, says it's not uncommon to find weapons buried with women or various types of leaders. They symbolize that "you are protecting your community," she said.

"It's probably more likely a symbol of authority, and of a particular kind of leadership role," Arnold said. "That doesn't necessarily mean they were actually riding into battle."

These Iron Age human remains from Bryher were too fragmented and deteriorated to obtain DNA. (Historic England Archive)

Mirrors, she said, have also been associated with religious or spiritual roles, including fortune telling.

Arnold says she doesn't doubt the existence of female warriors in history, and that, in fact, men may have also been wrongly assumed to be soldiers because of the weapons found in their graves.

To be certain about any individual case, she says you would require multiple lines of evidence, such as markings on the remains that indicate an individual had been in combat.

Tooth technique a real 'game changer'

The human remains found at Bryher, however, are badly fragmented and poorly preserved. That's why previous attempts to determine sex using DNA failed.

But this time, the researchers turned to the teeth. 

"Tooth enamel is the hardest and most durable substance in the human body. It contains a protein with links to either the X or Y chromosome, which means it can be used to determine sex," co-author Glendon Parker, a toxicology at the University of California at Davis, said in a press release.

Analysis of the Bryher remains show a 96 per cent likelihood the bones belonged to a female.

"Given the degraded state of the bones, it's remarkable to get such a strong result. It makes you wonder what could be discovered by re-visiting other badly degraded burials," Parker said.

Aerial view of Bryher island, part of an archipelago known as the Scilly Islands in the United Kingdom. (Dan Turdean/Shutterstock)

The same technique was recently used to reclassify 5,000-year-old remains from an ornate Spanish tomb from male to female.

Arnold called the tooth enamel technique "a total game changer" that's more cost-effective than DNA testing, and more accurate than interpreting objects found in graves. 

Stark says it "opens a huge realm of possibilities where we might start, again, uncovering ... more hidden female warriors."

"We might find it's actually quite common," she said. "We've just been kind of missing them."

Changing historical narratives about gender

This study comes as scientists are re-evaluating many long-held assumptions about gender roles throughout history.

In one recent study, published in June, researchers dispel what they call the "myth" that men were primarily hunters and women were gatherers in early human populations. 

And in 2017, advanced DNA analysis was used to identify a Viking warrior's remains as female.

In the latter case, some archeologists argued those remains could have belonged to someone who, in today's parlance, would be considered transgender or non-binary. 

"That's part of the problem, too, that we're projecting our own ideas — you know, the sort of binary system that we're still kind of tied to, unfortunately — projecting that into the past. And I think you miss a lot that way," Arnold said.

Stark agreed it's something worth considering.

"It's something we want to be quite mindful of when we sort of start to think … in terms of gender and identity, and taking kind of our modern constructs and applying them to the past," she said.

[violettesiren]

Light, Very welcoming, The trees bend forward To meet Adventure, Its mulberry blossoms lifted To a March-blue sky.

A sharp rustle of wind Slips the ivy From its stem of wrinkled silver, Slaps the ivy-veins (Flat as a summer field Of parched green-yellow) Softly against the moss, Harshly against the boughs.

Handfuls of green blossoms Blow into mulberry, Almost touch The scilla-blue clouds. The tree strains In an air full of eagerness Struggles, and is held.

Adventure Presses the strong curves hollowed with cloud. But the green and mulberry blossoms, And the silver stem, Dare not answer.

March Adventure by Winifred Bryher

[penpalkingdom]

Hey guys! I've submitted before, but I moved around a bit here on tumblr so I thought to throw my hat into the ring again here!

My name is Bryher and I just turned 25! I'm looking for either an email or snail mail penpal.

Things to expect from me:

- I love decorating letters and doing long rambly letters (sometimes 2+ pages...oops).

Song playlists! (I love creating playlists based on like...vibes yknow?)

Washi tapes! (Pls take my washi tape...i have...so much)

Fun extras! (Stickers n such! Theres no expectations to give any back, its just nice to share the love!)

Hobbies and Interests:

Reading, gardening, music, history, baking, video games!

Media I like:

Yellowjackets, hannibal, greys anatomy (only on season 3 y'all), Outlander, Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, The Last of Us (videogame), Outer Worlds, Stardew Valley, Planet Zoo, CIV IV, etc.!

Things I'm looking for:

Similar interests obviously, but if we aren't totally the same thats fine, I'd love to get to know you!

LGBT friendly and open-minded!

And thats it folks! I honestly don't care about anything else, so hit me up on tumblr bits-of-a-star-gone-wrong or on discord at Peppermint#6745 . I can't wait to hear from you! 🌻🌼💐😄