Something lovely for the weekend! Beautiful blue glass beads from the late Bronze Age 💙 Ploughed up by a farmer in Denmark in 1885, analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia, pointing to long-distance trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago. 📷 National Museum of Denmark #Archaeology

“‘It came out of a place of pure heartbreak. And heartbreak leads you to do something you wouldn’t normally do.’ What compelled Nezza to sing in Spanish that day, she explained, was looking out into the crowd and seeing people who, she felt, needed solidarity.” www.thebulwark.com/p/defiance-i...

These tiny 1/32nd gold ducats of Nuremberg are some of the smallest coins I’ve ever seen. They date to 1700 and weigh just 0.13 grams each. The two coins are from the Hunterian collection.

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape with Snow, 1888. Van Gogh painted this scene in late February of 1888, soon after he arrived in Arles in the South of France. While that region is generally known as a sunny clime, Van Gogh arrived during a record cold spell www.guggenheim.org/artwork/1486

Gingerbread 2025 Dumpster 🔥

Another AI impact I hadn’t thought about- yes, it’s really good at identifying plants and that’s a hard skill for students. But if humans stop being able to identify plants themselves, then there will be no experts to verify the AI identifications, and that matters.

Turns out, the reason we haven’t met our neighbors since moving in two years ago is that there hasn’t been snow to shovel since then…

Angels climbing the stairway to Heaven on the West front of Bath Abbey in Somerset, England, circa 1521.

Fiery road trip sunrise this morning as we try to beat the storm.

Merry Explaining How the Academic Job Market Is Going to Non-Academic Family Members Eve to all who celebrate!

The Mystic River tonight.

The Mystic River tonight.

Scientists say they have discovered 20 new species deep in the Pacific Ocean. Amazing! But sure let’s deep sea mine it. 🙄 apple.news/AFr-eXoFiQkS...

Colossal named its first "de-extinct" dire wolves for the fratricidal founder of a now fallen empire and the twin he did in. These names... they've been gnawing at me! So, I wrote about lupine Romulus and Remus and snow-white mythmaking for @g-ehr.bsky.social. g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky

I was scared to do this for years but I tried it last year for the first time and it's genius

A perfect memory for Winter Solstice. Nether Largie standing stones in Kilmartin, Scotland #StandingStoneSunday #Kilmartin #Scotland #WinterSolstice #pagan #witchsky #animism

Solstice d'hiver, 1961, Jean Paul Lemieux

Mom, I'm celebrating the winter solstice, when the sun dagger reaches the non-dog end of the sofa. It's not my fault you left your special soft blanket that I'm not allowed on in my sacred space.

What a lovely solstice tradition, video of sunrise at Newgrange, celebrating archaeology & heritage as well as the sun. I don't think it's a spoiler to point out that winter sunshine is not Ireland's strongest suit... I just learned about this today thanks to Bluesky. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRgu...

So reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can't fly, but they are VERY MAGICAL. For example, their EYES CHANGE COLOR during the year & they're one of the few large mammals that can see UV. Golden brown in summer, deep blue in winter. Let's talk about the unique visual adaptations of Rudolph and company.

From local stones to distant shells—Schleher & Turner show how Ancestral Puebloans at Lakeview used adornments to express who they were and where they belonged. doi.org/10.1080/0023... #Archaeology #Southwest #PuebloHistory #ChacoCanyon #SWArchaeology

Despite the blah title and the confusing art, this is a beautiful essay by an English professor that is both personal and scholarly and really does offer an explanation for why so many of us turn to these books over and over for comfort. Not paywalled 🎁

And just like that, SFWA capitulates. Keep fighting. It works.

I’m in paperback! 😭 📖

Despite the blah title and the confusing art, this is a beautiful essay by an English professor that is both personal and scholarly and really does offer an explanation for why so many of us turn to these books over and over for comfort. Not paywalled 🎁

It's so weird that the "surprise" "vote" happened yesterday but they had the external lettering, tarps, and crew all ready to go.

There is a wonderful brand new museum in town that we checked out yesterday. Learned a lot from the labels too. Favorite quote, from artist Charles H. Woodbury: “paint in verbs, not nouns.”

The Milk Carton Kids at the United in Westerly RI last night. These guys were the soundtrack for my dissertation writing, and it was so fun to finally see them in person.

Whatever make it 10 factor authentication.. I don't want to be able to sign into anything ever again

Was the overturning of the Mound Builders mythology in the late 19th century a "triumph for science?" I argue, no, it wasn't, and that this narrative framing should be abandoned in my latest in the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We only had a quick few minutes in the dinosaur galleries on our last day at the American Museum of Natural History, but those galleries are just so iconic. I’ve always loved the giant mystery arms…

Very wonderful news. I saw a conference presentation by folks from this museum recently— they are doing really great work and also engaging with the way history is repeating itself these days.

“The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, a group indigenous to Yosemite and California’s Mariposa County, has regained ownership of close to 900 acres of tribal land 175 years after their ancestors were evicted during the California Gold Rush in the 1840s.”

We only had a quick few minutes in the dinosaur galleries on our last day at the American Museum of Natural History, but those galleries are just so iconic. I’ve always loved the giant mystery arms…

I wrote a piece for @theconversation.com about the top dinosaur discoveries of 2025, featuring Zavacephale, Istiorachis, Spicomellus, Nanotyrannus and Huayracursor. Research from @tweetisaurus.bsky.social @valdosaurus.bsky.social, Lindsay Zanno and more: theconversation.com/the-best-din...

Our first snow of the year. It’s too beautiful for this sad day. 😔

Happy birthday to Jane Austen, and to this very on-brand Economist chart www.economist.com/christmas-sp...

Day 2 of research at the AMNH. We're examining pottery from Earl Morris's excavations at Aztec Ruins National Monument. More on that one of these days, but for now here's a touching thing from behind the scenes at the museum-- Margaret Mead's name is still on her old office door.

It’s a research trip, and our week has been busy, but what a fun time to be in New York!

I’m in New York for research purposes but I ran off for a couple hours to see the Divine Egypt exhibit at the Met. It’s all about representations of deities in Egyptian art, just gorgeous and super interesting with lots of information about each object.

Our first research day at the AMNH, examining pottery that was excavated at the Ancestral Pueblo site of Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico. This project has been years in the making… we’re here with three research grants and consent from 12 descendant communities.

“AI models not only point some users to false sources but also cause problems for researchers and librarians, who end up wasting their time looking for requested nonexistent records…”

I’m in New York for research purposes but I ran off for a couple hours to see the Divine Egypt exhibit at the Met. It’s all about representations of deities in Egyptian art, just gorgeous and super interesting with lots of information about each object.

It’s not labelled as such but this porcupine quillwork and birchbark miniature canoe I’ve just come across in Scotland is definitely Mi’gmaq and made for the tourist trade in the 19th century.

More than 70 vultures found dead on athletic fields in Ohio. They most likely died from bird flu. This isn't going away. www.wlwt.com/article/dead...

It's that time of year--now accepting nominations for the Gene Stuart Award, given by the SAA "to the author of the most interesting and responsible original story or series about about any archaeological topic published in a newspaper, magazine, or online publication." 🏺 www.saa.org/career-pract...

I forgot to say this isn’t paywalled 🎁 Really interesting article-he wasn’t credited for many of the movies he worked on