Spencer Wells
@spwells.bsky.social
📤 636
📥 357
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scientist • author • explorer Lombok, Indonesia 🇮🇩 lombokdiaries.substack.com
All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history 🌎🌍🌏
aeon.co/essays/there...
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There are no pure cultures – we have always been global | Aeon Essays
All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history
https://aeon.co/essays/there-are-no-pure-cultures-we-have-always-been-global
about 5 hours ago
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Anatolia’s First Phoenician Find: Human-Faced Glass Beads and Baby Jar Burials Unearthed ⛏️🇹🇷
arkeonews.net/anatolias-fi...
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Anatolia’s First Phoenician Find: Human-Faced Glass Beads and Baby Jar Burials Unearthed - Arkeonews
Discover a historic first in Anatolia as archaeologists uncover Phoenician human-faced glass beads and rare baby jar burials at Oluz Höyük,
https://arkeonews.net/anatolias-first-phoenician-find-human-faced-glass-beads-and-baby-jar-burials-unearthed/
about 9 hours ago
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There is still good science being posted on X, despite Ⓜ️elon’s efforts to make it a…well, you know. The bot-posted precious metal silliness is absolutely ridiculous, though. 🤖📱
about 23 hours ago
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Ancient Puebloans kept macaws and parrots in great houses for ceremonial use ⛏️🦜🌎
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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Ancient Puebloans kept macaws and parrots in great houses for ceremonial use
In a recent study, Dr. Katelyn Bishop conducted a zooarchaeological and archival data reanalysis of macaws and parrots recovered from Chaco Canyon to better understand their depositional contexts, mat...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-puebloans-macaws-parrots-great.html
1 day ago
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“The bone skates would have allowed residents to travel efficiently across [the] frozen [Kerch Strait], likely for purposes related to trade, communication, seasonal movement, or economic activity.” ⛸️⛏️🇷🇺
arkeonews.net/archaeologis...
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Archaeologists Discover Ancient Horse-Bone Skates - Arkeonews
Archaeologists have discovered ancient horse-bone skates in Russia’s Kuban region, revealing how early communities adapted to winter conditions
https://arkeonews.net/archaeologists-discover-ancient-horse-bone-skates/
3 days ago
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Humans and other hominins in Sulawesi 50,000 years ago: 'These two populations may have met and interacted with each other' 💀🇮🇩
www.bbc.com/indonesia/ar...
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Manusia purba dan manusia modern kemungkinan bertemu di Sulawesi - BBC News Indonesia
Penelitian arkeologi di Sulawesi menemui babak baru dengan temuan krusial transisi antara masa hidup hominin atau manusia purba dan Homo sapiens puluhan ribu tahun lalu. Kedua spesies itu pernah hidup...
https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/articles/c9d9wzyn794o
4 days ago
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How did Bronze Age plague spread? A sheep might solve the mystery. 🦠🧬⛏️
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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How did Bronze Age plague spread? A sheep might solve the mystery
In the Middle Ages, a plague killed a third of Europe's population. Fleas carried the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, transmitting the Black Death from infected rats to millions of people.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-bronze-age-plague-sheep-mystery.html
4 days ago
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New Guineans and Aboriginal Australians descend from two groups who arrived 60,000 years ago, research suggests 🧬🌏
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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New Guineans and Aboriginal Australians descend from two groups who arrived 60,000 years ago, research suggests
A collaboration between the University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group and the University of Southampton's Center for Maritime Archaeology, has clarified the first settlement of New G...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-guineans-aboriginal-australians-descend-groups.html
5 days ago
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Merry Christmas from Lombok! 🎄🏝️🇮🇩
6 days ago
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“Until now, mainstream scholarship held that Oghuz Turkish only became a written language in the 13th century, following the spread of Arabic script during the Seljuk and post-Seljuk periods.” ⛏️🇰🇿
arkeonews.net/kultobe-insc...
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Kültöbe Inscription Found by Chance in Kazakhstan Pushes Oghuz Writing Back Four Centuries - Arkeonews
The Kültöbe Inscription, accidentally discovered in a village school museum in Kazakhstan, proves that the Oghuz Turks used writing four
https://arkeonews.net/kultobe-inscription-found-by-chance-in-kazakhstan-pushes-oghuz-writing-back-four-centuries/
7 days ago
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Late Miocene megalake regressions in Eurasia 🌊🌏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Late Miocene megalake regressions in Eurasia - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Late Miocene megalake regressions in Eurasia
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-91001-z
9 days ago
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No Mortar, No Cement, No Metal – How Sardinia’s Nuragic Towers Have Defied Gravity for 3,500 Years ⛏️🏰🇮🇹
arkeonews.net/no-mortar-no...
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No Mortar, No Cement, No Metal - How Sardinia’s Nuragic Towers Have Defied Gravity for 3,500 Years? - Arkeonews
No mortar, cement, or metal—yet Sardinia’s Nuragic towers have stood for 3,500 years. New scientific research reveals the ancient engineering and physics behind these gravity-defying Bronze Age struct...
https://arkeonews.net/no-mortar-no-cement-no-metal-how-sardinias-nuragic-towers-have-defied-gravity-for-3500-years/
10 days ago
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7 of the Most Fascinating Archaeological Finds of 2025 ⛏️
www.history.com/articles/arc...
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7 of the Most Fascinating Archaeological Finds of 2025
Neanderthal fingerprint art was among the discoveries.
https://www.history.com/articles/archaeology-discoveries-2025
11 days ago
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“By sequencing the DNA, the research team was, on a weekly basis, able to identify the presence of 2,700 organism groups within several miles of the station, and track how their populations increased or decreased over 34 years.” 🧬💨
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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DNA caught on old air filters reveals hidden past of ecosystems
DNA captured on air filters and stored since the 1960s acts as an ecological time capsule, according to a recent publication in Nature Communications. The findings show that tiny fragments of genetic ...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dna-caught-air-filters-reveals.html
13 days ago
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Stories from traditional knowledge combined with archaeological work trace 2,300km of Songlines 🗺️🇦🇺
theconversation.com/stories-from...
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Stories from traditional knowledge combined with archaeological work trace 2,300km of Songlines
Rock art images show Songlines reached from Murujuga beside the Indian Ocean to the eastern Simpson Desert, 2,300 kilometers away.
https://theconversation.com/stories-from-traditional-knowledge-combined-with-archaeological-work-trace-2-300km-of-songlines-269400
13 days ago
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8.2 ka event triggered social transformation, not destruction, at China's Jiahu site ⛏️🇨🇳
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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8.2 ka event triggered social transformation, not destruction, at China's Jiahu site
In a recent study, Dr. Yuchen Tan and colleagues examined the response of the North China Plain settlement of Jiahu to the abrupt climatic 8.2 ka event. They found that Jiahu not only survived but als...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ka-event-triggered-social-destruction.html
14 days ago
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A Warming Arctic May Be Changing Polar Bears’ DNA 🧬🐻❄️ Wild…
nautil.us/a-warming-ar...
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A Warming Arctic May Be Changing Polar Bears’ DNA
A Warming Arctic May Be Changing Polar Bears’ DNA: Some polar bears have shown surprising genetic changes that may help them adapt.
https://nautil.us/a-warming-arctic-may-be-changing-polar-bears-dna-1254348/
15 days ago
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New biomolecular technique uncovers millet in medieval Ukrainian dental calculus 🌾🦷 Very cool.
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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New biomolecular technique uncovers millet in medieval Ukrainian dental calculus
A study has, for the first time, identified minute traces of broomcorn millet consumption directly from human dental calculus, offering an unprecedented window into medieval diets and expanding the to...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-biomolecular-technique-uncovers-millet-medieval.html
15 days ago
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Little Foot hominin fossil may be new species of human ancestor 💀🇿🇦
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
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Little Foot hominin fossil may be new species of human ancestor
Australian researchers think the skeleton found in South Africa is not the same species as two found in the same South Africa cave system
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/15/little-foot-hominin-fossil-may-be-new-species-of-human-ancestor
16 days ago
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Romania confirms first leprosy cases in over 40 years, two more under investigation 🦠🇷🇴 Yikes…
www.romania-insider.com/romania-lepr...
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Romania confirms first leprosy case in over 40 years, three more under investigation
Update: Corina Criste, director of the Cluj Public Health Directorate (DSP), told Agerpres on Friday, December 12, that a second case of leprosy detected in Cluj-Napoca has also been confirmed. Accord...
https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-leprosy-case-dec-2025
17 days ago
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Huge undersea wall dating from 5000 BC found in France 🤿⛏️🇫🇷
www.bbc.com/news/article...
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Huge undersea wall dating from 5000 BC found in France
The 120 metre wall was either a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels, archeologists believe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk7lg1j146o
19 days ago
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“The scientists do not know exactly what has caused this pandemic, but Cano said humans were ‘probably involved’ in the distribution of the disease. Current theories about its transmission include shipping, changes to currents and abnormal wave activity.” 🦠🪸
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
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Sea urchin species on brink of extinction after marine pandemic
Ecologically important Diadema africanum almost eliminated by unknown disease in Canary Islands
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/11/sea-urchin-species-on-brink-of-extinction-after-marine-pandemic
20 days ago
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Cats' purrs reveal who's who better than their meows 😺
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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Cats' purrs reveal who's who better than their meows
A new study by researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the University of Naples Federico II shows a domestic cat's purr reveals far more about its individual identity than its meow. Whil...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cats-purrs-reveal-meows.html
20 days ago
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Personal risk tolerance has sweeping implications for how societies evolve ⚠️🌍
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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Personal risk tolerance has sweeping implications for how societies evolve
In his biography of Elon Musk, historian Walter Isaacson describes a game of Texas Hold "Em poker in which Musk went all in—on every hand.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-personal-tolerance-implications-societies-evolve.html
21 days ago
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Sperm from donor with cancer-causing gene was used to conceive almost 200 children 🧬👶 Li-Fraumeni - yikes…
www.bbc.com/news/article...
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Sperm from donor with cancer-causing gene was used to conceive almost 200 children
Some children have already died and only a minority who inherit the mutation will escape cancer in their lifetimes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgmy90z991o
21 days ago
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1,500-Year-Old Church-Like Structure Offers New Insight into Christian–Zoroastrian Relations in Northern Iraq ⛏️🔥⛪️🇮🇶
arkeonews.net/1500-year-ol...
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1,500-Year-Old Church-Like Structure Offers New Insight into Christian–Zoroastrian Relations in Northern Iraq - Arkeonews
Archaeologists from Goethe University have uncovered 1,500-year-old evidence of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Zoroastrians
https://arkeonews.net/1500-year-old-church-like-structure-offers-new-insight-into-christian-zoroastrian-relations-in-northern-iraq/
21 days ago
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“Before AI grows to full scale, every nation must confront a mirror. The question is not how fast AI can be adopted, but what kind of people we wish to be.” 🤖🪞🌏
www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025...
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AI is not the risk. Our habits are - Academia - The Jakarta Post
A nation’s relationship with technology is forged in childhood, where habits of curiosity, perseverance and independent reasoning are either nurtured or suppressed.
https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025/12/10/ai-is-not-the-risk-our-habits-are.html
21 days ago
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Congratulations
@mdpetraglia.bsky.social
! ⛏️🌏🇦🇺
add a skeleton here at some point
22 days ago
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The ‘hobbits’ mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago. Our new study reveals what happened to their home ⛏️💀🇮🇩
theconversation.com/the-hobbits-...
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The ‘hobbits’ mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago. Our new study reveals what happened to their home
For a million years, one of humanity’s last cousins lived on an island in Indonesia. Why did they disappear?
https://theconversation.com/the-hobbits-mysteriously-disappeared-50-000-years-ago-our-new-study-reveals-what-happened-to-their-home-268668
22 days ago
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Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast 🤿⛏️🇪🇬
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
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Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast
First-century luxury vessel matches description by the Greek historian Strabo, who visited city around 29-25BC
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/08/ancient-egyptian-pleasure-boat-found-archaeologists-alexandria-coast
23 days ago
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How a fatal virus sparked Pulau Ubin’s mouse-deer boom 🦠🦌🇸🇬
www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...
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How a fatal virus sparked Pulau Ubin’s mouse-deer boom
The island is now the easiest place in the world to encounter the greater mouse-deer. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/how-a-fatal-virus-sparked-pulau-ubins-mouse-deer-boom
23 days ago
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China’s new secret weapon in biotech race: Tibet animal poop with newfound germs 🧬🦠🏔️🇨🇳
www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
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China’s new secret weapon in biotech race: Tibet animal poop with newfound germs
Scientists discover native herbivore faeces contain microbial species that could help develop gene-editing tools, reduce methane emissions.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334476/chinas-new-secret-weapon-biotech-race-tibet-animal-poop-stranger-germ
25 days ago
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56 million years ago, the Earth suddenly heated up – and many plants stopped working properly 🌡️☘️
theconversation.com/56-million-y...
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56 million years ago, the Earth suddenly heated up – and many plants stopped working properly
It could be a sign of what’s to come.
https://theconversation.com/56-million-years-ago-the-earth-suddenly-heated-up-and-many-plants-stopped-working-properly-270291
26 days ago
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The 23rd IPPA Congress - Sessions ⛏️🌏 Really looking forward to this…
www.ippasecretariat.org/ippa2026/ses...
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Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association - Sessions
Sessions and Themes
https://www.ippasecretariat.org/ippa2026/sessions
26 days ago
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How volcanic eruptions set off a chain of events that brought the Black Death to Europe 🌋🦠
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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How volcanic eruptions set off a chain of events that brought the Black Death to Europe
Clues contained in tree rings have identified mid-14th-century volcanic activity as the first domino to fall in a sequence that led to the devastation of the Black Death in Europe.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-volcanic-eruptions-chain-events-brought.html
27 days ago
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10-thousand-year-old genomes from southern Africa change picture of human evolution 🧬🌍
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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10-thousand-year-old genomes from southern Africa change picture of human evolution
In southern Africa, a group of people lived in partial isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. This is shown in a new study based on analyses of the genomes of 28 people who lived between 10,200...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-thousand-year-genomes-southern-africa.html
27 days ago
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It’s been a while since I shot a sunset with my real camera…🌅🏝️🇮🇩
27 days ago
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Lithic Miniaturization and Technological Innovation on the Southern Dispersal Route Out of Africa ⛏️🇴🇲 Fascinating new paper by
@abu-werda.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Lithic Miniaturization and Technological Innovation on the Southern Dispersal Route Out of Africa - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
Over the past fifteen years, the Dhofar Archaeological Project has mapped 272 Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic sites in southern Oman, each exhibiting some extent of Nubian Levallois technology. T...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-025-00235-0
28 days ago
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Bronze Mask Pendants, Tiger Motifs and Elite Horse Gear: Rare 4th-Century BC Ritual Complex Discovered in the Southern Urals ⛏️🇷🇺
arkeonews.net/bronze-mask-...
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Bronze Mask Pendants, Tiger Motifs and Elite Horse Gear: Rare 4th-Century BC Ritual Complex Discovered in the Southern Urals - Arkeonews
A rare 4th-century BC ritual complex has been uncovered in the Southern Urals, revealing bronze mask pendants, tiger motifs, elite horse gear and unprecedented artifacts that illuminate the ceremonial...
https://arkeonews.net/bronze-mask-pendants-tiger-motifs-and-elite-horse-gear-rare-4th-century-bc-ritual-complex-discovered-in-the-southern-urals/
29 days ago
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New discoveries reveal Tell Abraq's role in ancient Persian Gulf trade ⛏️🇦🇪
phys.org/news/2025-12...
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New discoveries reveal Tell Abraq's role in ancient Persian Gulf trade
If there were a place that could be called the archaeological almanac of Saudi Arabian culture, it would be Tell Abraq, located on the west coast of the United Arab Emirates. This area contains traces...
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-discoveries-reveal-abraq-role-ancient.html
30 days ago
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Fascinating talk by Emma Pomeroy on the Shanidar Neanderthals - the archival photographs in particular were amazing. And as always, many thanks to
@heasvienna.bsky.social
for making their seminar series available online! ⛏️💀🇮🇶
about 1 month ago
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Inside the Ostrich Effect: How Ignorance Has Become a Survival Strategy 🤦♂️
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Inside the Ostrich Effect: How Ignorance Has Become a Survival Strategy
Research suggests our tendency to ignore bad news isn’t irrational — it’s self-preservation, and could help explain why older people are often happier.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-28/we-all-ignore-bad-news-behavioral-science-calls-it-the-ostrich-effect?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NDQyOTc1NiwiZXhwIjoxNzY1MDM0NTU2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNkZXVFhLSVVQVEswMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCRjY3ODZEOEJFMzA0MjU2OUE0RUNFRkRBQTdBRTY0MyJ9.-xP4-oR5V6WEI8olfR5K_BF7xDoLLdrDXrWINBGKj30&embedded-checkout=true
about 1 month ago
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Ancient Chinese DNA shows gender bias in human sacrifice ritual 4,000 years ago 🧬⛏️🇨🇳
www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
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Ancient Chinese DNA shows gender bias in human sacrifice ritual 4,000 years ago
Sacrificial victims in mass burials were mostly male, while burial attendants for nobles or elites were overwhelmingly female, study finds.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334599/ancient-chinese-dna-shows-gender-bias-human-sacrifice-ritual-4000-years-ago
about 1 month ago
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The countries with the most threatened species in the world 🦧🦏🐅 Indonesia at #2…
www.cntraveller.in/story/the-co...
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The countries with the most threatened species in the world
Where biodiversity is most at risk, according to the latest IUCN Red List data
https://www.cntraveller.in/story/the-countries-with-the-most-threatened-species-in-the-world/
about 1 month ago
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Domestic cats haven't been around as long as we thought 🧬🐈
www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
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Domestic cats haven't been around as long as we thought
A new study has uncovered some key milestones in feline domestication.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/580277/domestic-cats-haven-t-been-around-as-long-as-we-thought
about 1 month ago
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Dating a North American rock art tradition that lasted 175 generations ⛏️🎨🌎
phys.org/news/2025-11...
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Dating a North American rock art tradition that lasted 175 generations
The Pecos River murals are a stunning collection of monumental, multicolored rock paintings in limestone rock shelters across southwest Texas and northern Mexico. They depict human-like figures that r...
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-dating-north-american-art-tradition.html
about 1 month ago
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Who built a mysterious ancient city in western China? ⛏️🇨🇳
www.science.org/content/arti...
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Who built a mysterious ancient city in western China?
DNA recovered from people buried at the site reveals surprises
https://www.science.org/content/article/who-built-mysterious-ancient-city-western-china
about 1 month ago
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"When the central lowlands were hit by drought, this may have triggered a cascading series of crises: wars between cities over resources, the collapse of royal dynasties, mass migrations, disruption of trade routes, and so on." ⛏️🇬🇹
phys.org/news/2025-11...
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The collapse of Maya civilization: Drought doesn't explain everything
Between 750 and 900 CE, the population of the Maya lowlands in Central America experienced a major demographic and political decline which, according to the scientific literature, coincided with repea...
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-collapse-maya-civilization-drought-doesnt.html
about 1 month ago
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The real reason states first emerged thousands of years ago 🌾📜
theconversation.com/the-real-rea...
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The real reason states first emerged thousands of years ago – new research
New findings add weight to the theory that states didn’t just spring up from any kind of farming – it had to be grain.
https://theconversation.com/the-real-reason-states-first-emerged-thousands-of-years-ago-new-research-268539
about 1 month ago
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"The findings are really striking—they provide strong evidence that humans and golden retrievers have shared genetic roots for their behavior.” 🐕🧑
phys.org/news/2025-11...
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Golden retriever and human behaviors are driven by same genes, researchers discover
A study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge provides a window into canine emotions, revealing why some golden retrievers are more fearful, energetic or aggressive than others.
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-golden-human-behaviors-driven-genes.html
about 1 month ago
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