My latest at @hyperallergic.com looks at the new Homer papyrus on mummified remains from Oxyrhynchus—& what the press got wrong initially. Thanks to Celsiana Warwick, @robertamazza.bsky.social, @sentantiq.bsky.social & Leah Mascia (+ @christinajriggs.bsky.social & edits by @valentinadl.bsky.social).

Fucking incredible. Play this for every university administrator in the nation. She says AI is the next “industrial revolution” and all the students BOO loudly. And then when she says “a few years ago, AI was not part of our lives” they all CHEER. She is shocked by their reactions. I am not!!!

Prices and provenance of papyri recently sold or for sale facesandvoices.wordpress.com/2026/04/02/p...

Last was "Stolen Fragments" by @robertamazza.bsky.social. This is a riveting academic mystery, going on a mind-boggling tour of the tangled world of trade in ancient artifacts and the development of a massive scandal at its center. Highly recommend Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (8/8)

Now available for preorder, with promo code TCCCR2026, "The Cambridge Companion to Classics and Race," a major intervention against the decades-old orthodoxy of the alleged anachronism of "race" and "racism" for the study of the ancient past. www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

It should not take a court order to get a toddler out of a prison.

Where is the Sappho Brothers Poem papyrus? We only know that it is LOST. Again. #Sappho #classics #papyrology facesandvoices.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...

My review of @robertamazza.bsky.social’s “Stolen Fragments”—an excellent piece of detective work and a thoughtful commentary on our responsibilities as stewards of cultural heritage—is available OA in Manuscript Studies. I loved this book and I think you will too :)

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...

Indimenticabili ❤️ youtu.be/sppynyZh9AI?...

Fascinating world of ancient #glass ! A small-scale but colourful mosaic glass inlay depicting an Ibis. This inlay, originating from a workshop in Roman-era Egypt, was discovered in Tawern, near Trier, Germany. The ibis was considered a sacred animal of Thoth, the Egyptian deity...🧵1/2 📷 me 🏺

We’re thrilled that @robertamazza.bsky.social is at the CSMC today! Tonight, she will give a talk on ‘Papyrology and Reparations’, addressing the regimes of violence, injustice, and inequality that papyrology has been enmeshed in since colonial times. Hybrid event, all welcome! uhh.de/csmc-mazza

‘Thanks to journalists such as Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues who risked their lives, for over six hundred days the genocide has been live-streamed for the world to see. And yet we are told we must wait for the experts.’ Stefan Tarnowski on Gaza and the media: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/au...

Currently compiling a mailing list for my blog. If you would like to be added to the list to receive updates about new posts and related presentations, please send me a brief message at the address given here:

Okay I'm going to join in. One like, one fact/opinion about portrait panels/Roman Egypt.

When students are better than those who teach them...

By the way, it's a very interesting podcast, thank you for working on that with the BBC! For those who haven't listened to it yet: pca.st/6qsrnxx4

Second Rare Inscription Honoring Justinian and Theodora Unearthed in Kosovo’s Ancient City of Ulpiana - Arkeonews arkeonews.net/second-rare-...

This was an incredible season to record. I would like to thank our season 4 guests for sharing their wisdom and making our fields better through their scholarship and advocacy. They demonstrate everyday that things do not need to go on as they always have.

Project Brazen, producer of the “Dynamite Doug” podcast, has published 3 letters illustrating some of the historic collaboration between London dealer Spink & Son and indicted trafficker Douglas Latchford. There are many interesting details. Here are a few. (Thread) shorturl.at/jabhT

This seems to have resonated on here too (I cannot tell you how happy this makes me) so I'll add some of the reasoning: I asked a lot of friends & family who are not academics (often not readers of non-fiction what they would do if they wanted to know more about a topic they were interested in). 🧵

See also Nadia Abu El-Haj's _Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society_ (2002)

The needs of our communities cannot be subject to the whims of the wealthy. Charity is no substitute for taxation.

Check out this gorgeous Sri Lankan purple sapphire ring found in a medieval castle in Slovakia. It might have belonged to a bishop. 🏺🧪

Fascinating feature in @theobserveruk.bsky.social about identifying counterfeit objects from contemporary luxury goods to ancient papyrus. @msrachelcooke.bsky.social and @donnalferguson.bsky.social speak to experts on spotting fakes. observer.co.uk/style/featur...

What’s next on ‘Collecting Religion?’ Kathryn Barush digs into Major Arcana iconography, working across historical collections & her own. Read “Shuffle the Codex: Collecting tarot cards as medieval pilgrimage narratives” here: collectingreligion.wordpress.com/2025/06/09/s...

What a gorgeous postdoc - for a moment I thought they were looking for a papyrologist with Latin AND Greek AND Demotic, which seemed like a LOT for 34k, but there are TWO jobs on this great project - phew! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNL359/p...

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Excellent reporting on the surge in looting in Syria post-Assad. Featuring @atharproject.bsky.social. @counteringcrime.bsky.social @museumofloot.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

a must listen for anyone who loves museums! When and why were cultural &anthropological museums founded? What is the connection to empire & colonialism? Listen to learn about museum origins & what we can do to move museums in more ethical directions 👏 #PeoplingThePast #CulturalHeritage #MuseumLife

Case of the Day: Head of Alexander In February 2018, the Manhattan DA's office seized this long-missing head of Alexander from dealer Alan Safani's Safani Gallery, in NYC. Excavated from the Basilica Emilia in the Roman Forum some time after 1909, it was stolen from Museo Forense in 1958.

I think I'd honestly like to know how someone justifies this with their faith www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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New episode featuring superstar Heba Abd el Gawad #peoplingthepast #egyptology #colonialism🔥🔥🔥👇👇👇

I was dreaming of being a guest of #PeoplingPodcast @peoplingthepast.bsky.social and then it finally happened! Follow them NOW 🔥❤️👇

Intervista ad Enrico Livrea su La Repubblica di oggi, con alcune riflessioni sulla diatriba con Sebastiano Timpanaro.

Outrage as Buddhist relics go under the hammer in Hong Kong. "The Dhamma teaches us not to take others' possessions. Auctioning these objects to the highest bidder is inconsistent with their spiritual value." www.sundaytimes.lk/250504/news/...

It is my enormous pleasure to share the most recent issue #ResDiffJournal: Res Diff 2.1 (2025) With contributions from Maia Kotrosits (@maiakotro.bsky.social), Chance Bonar (@chancebonar.bsky.social), Chiara Bozzone and Daniela Negro, Erin Lam #openaccess resdifficiles.com/res-diff-2-1...

Auction by Sotheby's of ancient Indian gems ‘imbued with presence of Buddha’ condemned www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

🔥 Powerful talk by Katie Paul on the key role of Facebook as facilitator in antiquities, human remains, drug etc. trafficking and war crimes. I especially agree on policies "just window dressing for PR" @peoplingthepast.bsky.social @atharproject.bsky.social @anthropaulicy.bsky.social

The #PeoplingPodcast is BACK! Today, to kick off Season 4, we are joined by Katie Paul to discuss the role of Facebook in the illicit antiquities trade, and how the company has been complicit in the sale and destruction of cultural heritage. Listen here: peoplingthepast.com/2025/04/29/p...

Happy Easter. Here's how the controversial Italian Marxist Pier Paolo Pasolini depicted the resurrection in his masterful IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO (The Gospel According to Matthew, 1964).

Lecture by @robertamazza.bsky.social at the Weston Library in Oxford about the Sappho papyrus preserving the so-called Brothers Poem. facesandvoices.wordpress.com/2025/02/02/t... youtu.be/ljUzE8zVgek?...

BIG: Qatari royal Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani won his lawsuit against Phoenix Ancient Art, which sourced items for his Al Thani Collection, over the false provenance of £4.1 million of ancient artefacts www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

This is useful, from Scientific American Biology doesn’t give us a simple binary model of sex Society, law and infrastructure needs to catch up so that everybody can have privacy, dignity and safety www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-...