New paper out! 🐻 We analysed Atlas bears from northern Morocco using stable isotopes, ¹⁴C dating and ZooMS. The results point to a surprisingly plant-based (hyperherbivorous) diet 🌱#Paleo3 doi.org/10.1016/j.pa...

New paper out in "Quaternary Environments and Humans"🌾 Using stable isotopes and ¹⁴C dates from cereals and 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮 at Sultana tell (Romania), we explore crop management under hydroclimatic instability before the 5.9 ka event. doi.org/10.1016/j.qe...

New paper out! We present the earliest dated foxtail millet (Setaria italica) grain from Europe, broadly overlapping with the expansion of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) across Europe around 1500 BC. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I’m pleased to share that I’ve joined Historical Biology as a new Associate Editor! 😊 Looking forward to supporting research in molecular palaeontology and Quaternary faunas. #HistoricalBiology @historicalbiology.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/journals/ghb...

New paper alert 🚨 A study led by #CPGSthlm researchers found DNA from a bear in 9.6k year old lake sediments. This potentially rewrites the history of brown bears in Scandinavia! 🧬🐻🐾🏔️🧊 Check @officialernst.bsky.social thread 👉 bsky.app/profile/offi... OA article 👉 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I’m pleased to share a new University of Bucharest video on the Sultana–Malul Roșu site and the work of the ArchaeoScience Platform team, of which I am part.

Oldest evidence of a weasel reveals a Miocene origin of the Mustelinae (Mammalia, Carnivora) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @morphobank.bsky.social

#OnThisDay we celebrate Pi Day 🥧✨ Marked on March 14 (3.14), the day honors π—the mathematical constant that helps describe circles, waves, and so much of the world around us. Happy #PiDay to all who love math and curiosity!

📢 New paper out: we revisit the Atlas brown bear and the long, tangled history of its scientific description. From 19th-century travel testimony to fossil measurements, here is the story behind the “Atlas bear” 🧵 doi.org/10.5852/cr-p...

Deadline extended until 9 February! #EAA2026 #Session256

Turns out that if you use a broom to scratch yourself everyone thinks you're a weirdo but if a cow does it they end up in the cover of Current Biology

puffer fish gas bladder looks like a molar 👍🏻

I just thought everyone should see this

Born #OnThisDay in 1850, Sofia Kovalevskaya became the first woman in Europe to earn a doctorate in mathematics and a pioneer in analysis and partial differential equations. Join us in celebrating her brilliance and perseverance. 🌟

Yes, we all love body fossils of giant ground sloths. But how about fossil footprints of giant ground sloths? OFF THE SCALE EXCITEMENT!! New study of South American ground-sloth tracks & their classification by Silverio & colleagues. (Attn: @slothgirlmel.bsky.social @docsloth.bsky.social ) 🧪🦥🐾

Seven naturally mummified cheetahs found in caves northern Saudi Arabia show at least two subspecies once roamed the Arabian Peninsula, offering hope for future reintroduction of cheetahs to the peninsula. spklr.io/633218itZR @commsearth.nature.com 🌍 #EcoSky

How long did it take for T. rex to grow from a hatchling into a bus-sized bone-cruncher? Longer than we used to think! Maybe up to 40 years! Exciting new research by @histo-holly.bsky.social & team. My thoughts @cnn.com edition.cnn.com/2026/01/15/s...

This newly discovered Iron Age instrument may have been played in the Celtic resistance against the Roman Empire

KNM-ER 64061, most complete Homo habilis skeleton yet (Koobi Fora) shows primitive limb proportions: long forearms, thick cortices, small body mass & ~160 cm stature. Upper limbs like early Homo, but proportions differ from H. erectus Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🔴 La población ibérica de lobo será incluida en el Libro Rojo de las Especies Vulnerables. Esta decisión se apoya, según nuestro investigador Alberto Fernández Gil, «en un proceso científico reglado y en la mejor información disponible, muy alejado de decisiones políticas o territoriales».

📢Call for abstracts #EAA2026 Athens We invite contributions to our #Session256: COLLAPSE, MOBILITY, AND RENEWAL: RETHINKING THE CHALCOLITHIC–BRONZE AGE TRANSITION IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE AND THE BLACK SEA REGION 🗓 Deadline: 5 February 2026 🔗https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2026

Pretty cool www.bbc.com/news/article...

We couldn't help but put an archaeological twist on the Colour of the Year for 2026: Cloud Dancer 💭

On the Factor Fexcectorn and autism bicycle AI slop study: I got an answer from Springer Nature this morning that this scientific paper will be retracted! 🧪 Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...

🚨 PNAS Special Feature 🐕 We analysed genomes of historical German Shepherds to reveal how bottlenecks linked to WWII and the use of popular sires led to significant declines in genomic health. We also found an early 20th century wolf-dog hybrid! 🔗 Full paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Delighted to see our paper characterising the inbreeding history of dogs and wolves over the past 10,000 years published this week in @pnas.org. Work led by the excellent @katiabou.bsky.social, and co-supervised by me, Laurent Frantz and Fernando Racimo www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Wonderful days at #SVP2025, where I presented my work on the phylogeography and paleodiet of Iberian brown bears, and was a co-author on Dario Estraviz’s poster about Portugal’s bears. I absolutely loved the conference (best logo ever!) and the chance to visit Birmingham #2025SVP

Something lovely to start the week! 🐙🏺❤️ Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago! Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

1,400-year-old ice storage from Baekje Kingdom unearthed beneath Busosanseong Fortress in South Korea Archaeologists in South Korea have uncovered the first ice storage facility ever recorded from the Baekje Sabi period at the Busosanseong Fortress... More info: archaeologymag.com/2025/10/1400...

Early Neolithic farmers in Central Europe diversified cereal cultivation earlier than expected, study finds A new study has revealed that early farming communities in Central Europe began diversifying their cereal crops much earlier than previously thought... archaeologymag.com/2025/10/neol...

Let's have a little séance so we can thank the dead vultures who saved all these historical artefacts by nicking them for their nests! esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

Amazing results!

🦴🧬🦴🧬🦴 Abstract submission is now open for the 1st International Conference on Palaeogenomics! June 23–26 2026, in Stockholm. Join researchers from across the field for 4 days and >100 talks (+ poster sessions)! Submit abstracts here 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/abstracts/ Deadline: Nov 30th

The study of Tell Sultana-Malu Roșu (Chalcolithic, Romania), result of the collaboration between Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeoloy (Kiel University) and the ArchaeoSciences Platform (ASp) (University of Bucharest), is now published!🏺 doi.org/10.12766/jna...

I regret to announce that the collection has been cancelled, as STAR will cease publication 😔📚

78,000-year-old footprints from Neanderthal man, child and toddler discovered on beach in Portugal 🏺🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... At Monte Clérigo, dated to 78 ± 5 ka, trackways of three individuals demonstrate how Neanderthals navigated dune landscapes.

#EAA2025 Tomorrow at 14:45 (session 169, room 19) I’ll be talking about "Subsistence strategies in Copper Age Southeastern Europe: insights from δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotope analysis at Tell Yunatsite (Bulgaria)". See you there!

Essential reading. Neanderthals, hypercarnivores, and maggots: Insights from stable nitrogen isotopes | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I am pleased to present my new Article Collection, "Stable Isotope Approaches to Human–Aquatic Interactions in Archaeological Contexts.” invt.io/1txbh73aizn