They used to "laugh and call him names." Now they're all dead

One thing social media platforms do is meld the British and US higher ed crises into one. I think there are similarities but, tbh, the UK feels much more like a catalogue of shambles and poor policy decisions than a real ideological attack—even if the consequences remain the same.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of opening up the results from a big batch of radiocarbon dates, and having them confirm all things you hoped and suspected but weren't quite sure about. Kudos to the amazing #ProjectARKK team for capturing all the stratigraphic and chronological subtleties

I've been cycling in the UK for 8 years now, but having started cycling in London regularly for the first time, I am stunned by the number of people cycling through heavy rush-hour traffic with headphones in (even over-ear noise-cancelling ones), sometimes while simultaneusly taking calls.

Was having a hard time coming up with something until the perfect one came to me: "Said to be from"

'Universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year, new analysis from the University and College Union (UCU) suggests.'

UKHE is a world class export sector, but has financial problems because the state both doesn’t want unis charging market rates to domestics and doesn’t want to subsidise them. To make up for this, unis have been forced to take on more foreign students, and the gov response is to punish them for it

Thrilled with the coverage our recent paper on copper metallurgy and iron invention is getting. Not so thrilled with this definitely-AI generated furnace image that was used to illustrate one of those pieces. Link to our article: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My recent work covered in Popular Mechanics! Excellent furnace photo (not even mine). www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

I'm all about "funny looking rocks"! Nice to see press coverage of my recent paper. www.popsci.com/science/iron...

New paper out today, showing how a little known site first excavated nearly 70 years ago helps us understand the origins of iron. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Currently writing the report for my @gerda-henkel-stiftung.de "Surviving the Crisis Years" grant, centred around our excavations of a LBA-EIA fortress in the Caucasus. It's amazing what we've accomplished in two years--so proud of my team! Photo: @shmills.bsky.social excavating the fortress gate.

I will never get over how sharply the Greater Caucasus range rises from the Alazani plain.

Very cool. We found an Abbasid dirham in my excavations in the Caucasus last summer.

A short drama in three parts: Day 1: "Would be cool for this paper to make a quick diagram to summarize the different Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani chronologies and cultural groupings for the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, seems like no one has ever done it."

Wow, the Etruscans must have really liked khinkali.

Nice piece by my PhD student Alex Rodzinka, covering our work with the ISIS Muon and Neutron Source. the-past.com/feature/what...

Our excavations at Dmanisis Gora have literally put it on the (Google) map. With a 5 star review! (and not by me). Google maps image was annoyingly taken during backfill, juuuuust too late to get us an end-of-season final photo from space.

There are many great names for archaeological sites, but the the name of a Bronze Age copper mine way up in the Caucasus mountains, "Zaargash" goes so hard. Sounds like the source for Sauron's copper supply.

Dr Sainsbury (@vsainsbury.bsky.social) just got back from a fieldtrip in Jordan exploring sites & analysing glass. Whilst at the @cbrl.bsky.social she joined a workshop on #recycling through time. #womeninstem & made it into The Jordanian Times! www.jordantimes.com/news/local/c...

Britain’s carnival of reaction nationalist theme park is going to be built by French businessmen with links to the far right and Putin. It’s entirely fitting with the bombastic but surface level understanding of history that informs the resurgent British far right.

🔊Calling all School of Archaeology staff, students, projects and alumni! So far I've found 27 of our School community on here, let us know if there are more! go.bsky.app/JX5CP1k

Another of the better pieces on my paper on Caucasus fortresses. Great to see such wide coverage. Can't wait to share more of the cool finds from the site. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

More coverage of our work! This one did a nice job of contextualizing the broader anthropological significance. www.newsweek.com/archaeology-...

New paper out today using aerial photogrammetry to study an exceptionally large and well-preserved fortress in southern Georgia! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Loving the fractal beauty of these #SEM images of copper ores!

Congrats to Cranfield PhD student Alex Rodzinka on her first peer reviewed paper, on neutron tomography of Iron Age Iranian daggers, out today #OpenAccess in JAS! Massive thanks to our partners at the British Museum and the ISIS Muon and Neutron Source. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Virtual Talk in the Cranfield Seminar Series in Archaeological Science: Thursday, June 6th at 3 pm (UK time) Rats and the Archaeology of Trade, Urbanism, and Disease in Historic Europe David Orton, University of York Register here for Zoom link: www.cranfield.ac.uk/events/event...

Cranfield Seminar Series in Arch Sci (virtual), 3pm (UK) March 21: Carolyne Douché (Oxford) on archaeobotany in Mesopotamia. Register here for Zoom link: www.cranfield.ac.uk/events/event...

Today, I'm giving a talk about South Caucasus metallurgy 1500-500 BC as part of a series on Eurasian Bronzeworking. 2 pm UK time here: us02web.zoom.us/j/85462794125

Glorious shot of the cyclopean hillfort of Dmanisis Gora in evening light this past summer. #ProjectARKK #Hillfortswednesday