First visit to @naturalis.bsky.social since return of Homo erectus type specimen.

Rita Verdonk-coaching 1. Walgelijke, strafbare dingen zeggen 2. De ophefmachine even laten draaien 3. Ingaan op uitnodigingen die altijd weer komen & doen alsof je ‘t anders had bedoeld Redacties laten zich bespelen door extreemrechts Jetten, treed op tegen Gidi M. en sluit samenwerking uit! FFS.

A hominin presence here ~ 242 Kya Evolving entanglements with highland southern Africa: Site formation, initial chronology, and occupational pulsing during the Middle Pleistocene at Likonong Shelter, Lesotho🏺🧪 K. Pazan, @robertpatalano.bsky.social et al link.springer.com/article/10.1...

It is with deep sadness that Dr Marianne Moen and I resigned our positions as Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Archaeology this morning. What follows is the letter we sent to the EAA's executive board, outlining the reasons for our resignation 1/n

Renewable energy remains more cost effective for climate and health outcomes than direct air capture except under highly optimistic technology improvements, according to a study in Communications Sustainability. go.nature.com/3P2suvJ 🧪

This is now what passes for “science” from the BBC. Hackneyed cliches, faux mystery, factually incorrect statements. 1. Archaeologists are, once again, “baffled” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Katerina gave a talk yesterday in Leiden as part of the “Experimental Archaeology Days”! ✨ She presented the recently published paper on the oldest handheld tools from Marathousa 1 🪵🔍- truly exciting work! What a wonderful symposium! 🙌🎉 @katharv.bsky.social #Archaeology #academia #science 🏺

A study in Nature Communications shows that hominins were consistently and specifically procuring a single kind of raw material to make stone tools at the South African site of Jojosi between 220 and 110 thousand years ago. go.nature.com/4cyKgiX 🏺🧪

📰 Did #Neanderthals hunt European pond turtles for their shells? 🏺 #ArchaeologyNews via @smithsonianmag.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

Hooray! Our @britishacademy.bsky.social Prehistoric Policies project now has a website 👇👇👇👇. PP examines how & why contemporary environmental policy makes claims about the deep time human past, and why that matters!

An inscription from a temple to Serapis in York, possibly built during the stay of the emperor Septimius Severus and family c.208-211 CE. The northern-most attested temple to an Egyptian god, the York temple may have also housed shrines to Isis, Harpocrates and Anubis. 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

Gave a talk also on behalf of colleague Fulco Scherjon on Agent Based Modelling of Bandkeramik farmer expansion ~7000 years ago Transformations conference organised by @hanshuisman.bsky.social (Thanks!) www.weleer.nl/transformati... 📷 @welmoedo.bsky.social who gives a keynote tomorrow!

Et tu, Freek Vonk? Dutch popular science presenter Vonk has apparently markets a children's metal detector. Detecting in Holland is a tragedy of the commons; treasure hunting is legal in the top 30 cm of soil. After registration, finds can be traded freely. www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/free...

ACTION ALERT⚠️ Dept. of Interior is trying to rush through a revocation of Biden’s public law protecting lands around Chaco Canyon from new oil/gas leases. They’ve given only 7 day for public comment, during Easter/Passover. Thread 🧵 below on why you should care, but here’s a link to comment! 🏺

The Leiden botanical gardens have updated their #Dutch #Peat #Bog display to be scarily reminiscent of the state of Dutch nature. Lekker gewerkt! @boerburgerbeweging.bsky.social @vvdonline.bsky.social

Seems super-relevant in view of novelty lapel-pins and Apartheid death penalty laws currently making the news. www.youtube.com/watch?v=h242...

The past years I attended and presented at a series of excellent conferences organised by @unileiden.bsky.social African Studies Research Master students. This will be the final time as budget cuts mean the end of this globally recognised excellent programme. ascleiden.nl/news/mining-...

A happy (or sinister?) #Roman mosaic crocodile, basking on the banks of the Nile 🐊 #MosaicMonday 🏺 #AncientBlueSky

Antibacterial properties of experimentally produced birch tar and its medicinal affordances in the Pleistocene

Is dit een herhaling door #NWO van de farce die we in Leiden hebben gehad? Hoelang trappen we nog in dit soort borrelpraatissues in plaats het echt te hebben over de staat van wetenschap en academische vrijheid in NL? www.nwo.nl/bijeenkomste...

The Archaeological Society of Alberta (ASA) has lost its annual provincial funding and designations. Write or call your MLA and express your support. For more info and a letter template, visit: arkyalberta.com #archaeology #heritage #alberta #albertaarchaeology #albertaheritage

F1 as archaeological parable on progress. The move to electricity a clear innovation (and saving the planet). Some adapt (e.g. Hamilton), some are like silent film actors, failing to adapt to sound. Verstappen's career is languishing as he can only perform with the primitive and old-fashioned. 🏎️🏺

Kiespijn terugkijken kan hier (shorttrack terugkijken weet ik niet): npo.nl/start/serie/...

#BREAKING: Israel just bombed right next to the ancient temple of Baalbek, a UNESCO listed site in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley When ISIS bombed Roman temples in Palmyra, Syria, the west launched an international coalition that send them fleeing to the ends of the Earth

At least this records that folks were appalled by the sale... #Archaeology #Treasurw #Detecting 🏺 metro.co.uk/2026/03/06/s...

EU politicians should follow SA's example and stop brownnosing Trump. “I do think the Afrikaner policy is racist,” Ramaphosa told the Times. “It is that racist sort of demeanor that we want to be able to whittle down so that he can see the truth of the situation.” www.huffpost.com/entry/cyril-...

"It was an honour to see expert collectors taking these coins into their care," Really?? REALLY? and there was me thinking you just enjoyed making a fast buck, with at least two of the most important coins now off to the USA... #Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure 🏺 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🦴 Passionate about fossil mammals and human evolution in Africa? Develop your #PhD with #ICArEHB through the #FCT #PhD #Fellowships 2026. 🔗 More info: www.icarehb.com/fct-phd-fell... #Archaeology #Paleoecology #HumanEvolution #ScienceCareers #PhDLife

New #jobs at @uni-kiel.de within the @clusterroots.bsky.social advertised: one doctoral & two postdoctoral positions. The postdoc positions are for any projects relating to archaeological science and are explicitely looking for for applicants from Africa and Asia: www.uni-kiel.de/en/cluster-r...

Terrible headline (this is NOT what the new research - link below - shows!), terrible AI image! Argh! Here’s the actual research: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Where do I start?! 1/4

🧪🏺 Seen a few cases of gen- #AI art creeping into #archaeology & #HumanOrigins publications recently, this is not a trend we should engage in or simply accept... sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/defaul...

Archaeologists seek better pay after many ‘bled out of the profession’ due to low wages

Airport bookshop at Johannesburg: perceptive categorisation

Tomorrow afternoon I will present the results of our work on Middle and Later Stone Age archaeology at Umhlatuzana 🏺 I promise an AI-free ppt! You can watch it live online here: www.youtube.com/live/Zo-mLI9... (Provided the spare tyre I just put on the car holds for about 370 km)

Proud that after five years of careful analysis and discussion our paper "Lasting Lower Rhine-Meuse forager ancestry shaped Bell Beaker expansion" has now been published.

De enige AI die we willen!✨🏺

The Association of Archaeologists in Greece, representing all the archaeologists with permanent contracts in the state sector, is withdrawing its participation in the organizing of the @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social conference in Athens..Open letter, in English, below. archaeol.gr/anoichti-epi...

Between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago, South African societies radically reorganised their stone tool technology. Does this reflect cognitive evolution, or something else? Our analysis at Umhlatuzana suggests the latter. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

With the extension of the EAA 2026 deadline, it may be good to reiterate the need for a boycott of the event until the EAA executive steps down.

1/3 New recommendation: Shumon T. Hussain (2025). The Loss of Typological Innocence: Pluralism in the Epistemology and Ontology of Archaeological Typo-Praxis. v3 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology doi.org/10.5281/zeno... @shumon.bsky.social 🧪🏺

🖐️ Handmotieven in een grot op Sulawesi mogelijk de oudste grotkunst ooit gevonden 🌍 De datering is 'absoluut spectaculair', vertelt @dussel.bsky.social (@unileiden.bsky.social) in @trouw.nl, maar wie de kunst maakte blijft zeer onzeker. @dearcheoloog.bsky.social @leidenarchaeo.bsky.social

@avrotros.bsky.social asked me what the use of commercial DNA testing for Neanderthal ancestry is? Does it tell you anything about the state of your health? Functionally, knowing your percentage seems meaningless. radar.avrotros.nl/artikel/test...

Amazing new ages for human handprints in Sulawesi at 70,000 years-old. 🏺 I was asked to provide context for Dutch newspapers. I radmire the work, but think it calls for a serious evaluation of the possibility of other humans than Homo sapiens making some of the art. www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/h...

A group of current and past EAA members and action groups are calling for a (first) Counter Conference open online meeting for all of you to join to get information, voice your concerns and discuss next steps (date TBA).

Tired of excuses and obfuscation from the EAA Executive? Want a collegial and supportive society fit for its members? Then #boycottEAA Read our call for voting and boycotting below! If you want a detailed description of the events so far please read: drive.google.com/file/d/1jdGO...

Told you so...

The Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the National Museum, Bloemfontein (South Africa) is inviting applications for the James Brink Field School in Pleistocene Archaeology and Palaeontology. For more info see image below :)🦣⛏️

Fossilised ideas from 2024 In 2023/4 I wrote a book review. Due to mission creep it expanded into a review article changing understanding of the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic over the last 20 years. Publication took so long that I completely forgot about it. poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?...