NEW When #Neanderthal remains were discovered in Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, the fragile and crushed condition of the bones prevented detailed analysis. A year of conservation work helps explore the complex mortuary practices observed at the site. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

First 3 replica Roman, London 555, Amphorae made for a client, each approximately 1 metre tall. 2 more amphora types to make, a total of 13 pots. 🏺Unfortunately the process is not quite as fast as it appears here. See lots of our other replicas potted-history.co.uk or commission us. #archaeology

Last week to register for the Unravelling the Palaeolithic conference in London! Tickets are available for in person, and online. Hope to see lots of people there!

The Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026 (preliminary) conference program is now available! Join us 19th/20th June for two days of excellent presentations on all things Palaeolithic, Palaeoanthrolopology, and Pleistocene. Tickets on sale until 7th June. sites.google.com/view/unravel...

🚨I couldn’t be happier to share that today I’m officially starting my own research group at the Human Origins Cluster of Excellence in Tübingen (@humanorigins.bsky.social)!🚨We’ll explore drivers of genetic, phenotypic and cultural evolution by integrating evidence from many fields in creative ways 🧬

A year ago today my teenage daughter underwent a 5.5 hour spinal fusion. Scary, painful, and a challenging multi-month recovery needing lots of at-home care. No regrets: today she's strong, tall, healthy. A million thanks to the incredible healthcare team of 2 surgeons, 40+ nurses, and physios!

We are pleased to share our new paper on the Iberian Aurignacian. We employed a quantitative approach to explore techno-typological variability and test its spatio-temporal dimension. @palomadelalasca.bsky.social Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Call for papers deadline extended to 10 April 2026! You’ve got more time to get your abstract in for Unravelling this year at UCL If you were on the fence before now's the time to turn your research into a submission Don’t miss out!

One of 2 key reasons I've just had a grant application rejected was a reviewer's perspective that experiments involving human participants don't give viable data on technologies of other Middle Pleistocene human species (I acknowledge this limitation in the application). I'd love some wider views...

I'm excited for this next week, Thursday March 26th - tickets still available! sussexpast.co.uk/day-events/b...

Wonderful - a different window into the archaeology of childhood!

I'm SO honored to give this year's Unravelling the Palaeolithic keynote at UCL (where my archaeology journey started) for a conference that supports postgrads and early career researchers focusing on the Palaeolithic. I can't wait to hear from the next wave! Register, submit, spread the word!

Book your tickets and join us for the 2026 Long Man Lecture with @archaeologyuk.bsky.social President Raksha Dave

Repeatedly the UK government have sought to save smaller British industries, while ignoring the huge university sector which has enormous impacts, in a university city for example

This is how I started out in archaeology - a brilliant program!

Difficult to resist the urge to tweet 'told you so' every I see a headline like this. And so I've decided not to resist that urge at all! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Help recognize people who have gone above and beyond in communicating and countering misinformation about human evolutionary science by nominating them for the 2026 Evolution in the Public Eye award! Self-nominations allowed too. Deadline extended until February 7th! forms.gle/VXJgczHA1irD...

I love how accurate the reconstruction is: she is carving a small alder trunk, in the right direction on the basis of the toolmarks we documented on the tool, with the landscape, palaeolake and fauna in the background all rooted in the evidence from Marathousa 1. Thank you Katerina & Gleiver!👏

The artwork that illustrated our PNAS paper on the oldest wooden tools was made by Gleiver Prieto, who has also worked with me on illustrations for previous projects, including the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Marathousa 1. Gleiver's art really brings Pleistocene Megalopolis to life ✨ 🤩

I waited in for a full WEEK for a refurbished laptop from @backmarketofficial.bsky.social to be delivered by DHL. I don't know whether the driver has stolen the item or is just incompetent, but Backmarket won't help either. Good news: I can request a chargeback from the bank so I can get my £ back!

Die bisher frühesten bekannten Holzwerkzeuge, die Menschen nutzten, stammen aus Griechenland. Ein Forschungsteam der Universitäten Tübingen und Reading sowie der Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung hat rund 430.000 Jahre alte Belege entdeckt: 👉 uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/…#Archäologieie

Thank you @andrewcurry.com for covering the research and to colleagues for contributing their thoughts! Artistic reconstruction by G. Prieto of a Palaeolithic woman producing a digging stick at the Marathousa site from a small alder tree trunk with a small stone tool (copyright K. Harvati).

Science article on the discovery here from @andrewcurry.com with great recon art by G. Prieto www.science.org/content/arti... 3/3

It was such a privilege to get to work on this amazing material from an incredible site and team - now the earliest handheld wooden tools in the archaeological record, taking evidence back to 430,000 years! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Such a pleasure to share our latest article on the wooden tools from Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis), the oldest known in the world at 430 ka. Congratulations to the team! Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece) | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Usually, stones and bones get all the attention, but wood was part of the toolkit too, and the evidence is growing! 🪵 A new paper by @annemiekemilks.bsky.social et al. reports the earliest handheld wooden tools (~430 ka) from Marathousa 1 (Greece)! @harvatilab.bsky.social 🦣🧪🏺

This year I have the privilege of lecturing in lithics, experimental archaeology, human evolution, early prehistory, and the European Lower Palaeolithic at U. of Reading. It's a lot...but also, very exciting to be in a position to share my knowledge and experience with students!

Al contrario que el desarrollo prolongado en el neurocráneo de H. sapiens y H. erectus, en Au. afarensis y P. robustus los patrones de desarrollo son variables: Complex and diverse patterns of neurocranial development in Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo

Academia doesn't have a healthy work culture, and neither does America. So imagine my (total lack of) surprise when I got proofs for an article ON Christmas day from a big American journal, followed by email reminders to do them w/in 48 hours. Nope nope nope. I am on vacation. Enjoy your breaks!

I am very happy to see this published! Congratulations 🥳 to Okopi Ade, it was a pleasure to have you in our lab at @tracer-leiza.bsky.social @paleomonrepos.bsky.social @leizarchaeology.bsky.social We all learned a lot

Last weekend I got out on my board for a wonderful session (just me and a few others out on the meanders). Today might be the last warm day before the temperature drops by quite a large margin so maybe I can fit one more in for 2025!

Our wider research culture in archaeology is a shame, I hang on dearly to those collaborators that are decent, supportive (especially of early career researchers), share ideas, work well with others, and understand what 'constructive' feedback means. Every day I try to be that person for others.

Two key points from our paper: 1. We found wooden spears to be 'effective' on large prey, whether thrust or thrown. Results were pretty similar between the two. 2. We still think the Boxgrove horse was hunted! Just, that based on the experiments, that particular piece of evidence doesn't hold!

Avoid jumping to conclusions about mechanisms behind large-scale genetic shifts in the past! This paper doesn’t prove that small scale migrations of Homo sapiens led to the gradual replacement of Neanderthal DNA but suggests this explanation is as good as any other. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Time to update your Palaeolithic palettes... 🔵 Very proud to share our new research on the OLDEST use of blue pigment! We identified traces of azurite - a vibrant blue mineral - on a stone object around 14-13,000 years old. Why is this so exciting? 👇🏺 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear..... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Help maybe? I'm trying to finalise a grant budget and include some £££ for artistic reconstructions but I haven't had much luck getting estimated costs. I'd LOVE to pay real artists for this...but if I don't know how much to cost for I can't really budget for it.

@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised! 3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution 2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions. Please share and apply! www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Interested in post-doctoral research on hunter-gatherers with me at @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social? Main source of funding is from Research Ireland (see below). Deadline 23/10/25. Please contact me to discuss. www.researchireland.ie/funding/gove...

Today I got to do something really fun that I've needed to do for a little while: Thanks to @kentwildlife.bsky.social I got to visit the original UK beaver release site to collect some beaver gnawed wood for my wood reference collection, and see this amazingly re-engineered landscape! 🦫🪵

🚨 We are hiring!! 🚨 The Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS' is looking for: - a scientific coordinator - a science communication officer 🚨 Deadline: September 15 🚨 See links for the full advertisements: uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet... uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

🚨 Job alert! The new Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS' is looking for a scientific coordinator to start as soon as possible. Please see link for full advertisement text and information. Deadline for applications: September 15 uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

And Palaeolithic archaeology, which remains hugely behind too. 'This is not about political correctness or ticking boxes....Diverse teams deliver better science: they ask different questions, challenge old assumptions, and produce richer, more nuanced insights.' www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

If I could move I'd be all over this...! What a great position.

I'm stepping down after 5 years as a co-chair, so please do vote for the new co-chair to join co-chairs Silje Evjenth Bentsen and Andrej Maczkowski!

Just 1 week left to apply! 🙏 Pls share with anyone you think might be interested. If there are any Q's, get in touch! 👉 3x PhD position: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html 👉 2yr Postdoc position: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....