This kinda reminds me of the work in The Archaeology of Utopian and Intentional Communities by @kozakavich.bsky.social, except instead of organizing built environments to escape ignorance, they built one to plunge headlong into it

Cali baby

As #TIPC4 is rapidly approaching (8-10 October register now for FREE: interactivepasts.com/the-interact...) we have all sorts of SUPER COOL stuff for this year's celebratory edition! A Game Dev panel, a Playful Archaeology Panel, workshops, pizzas, and of course amazing talks! Check the thread!

what's funny to me about the british heritage sector, right, is how left-leaning most of the sector workforce is, because of global standards of best practice, and then how incredibly right-leaning the money- and I don't mean grant bodies, I mean donors and top brass- is. outstanding disconnect

So let's see, "gold" is biological sex right, "pyrite" is... gender? and we're trading each for goods and services, but really the main point is one merchant gets to decide what the official currency is, also currency is a totally real thing and not a human construct. Ah yes, "simple" indeed.

How embarrassing to have someone from an institution with an extremely well respected medieval studies department sign this utter utter garbage.

Trying to feel our way towards an ultimate meaning of sites like Stonehenge is also confounded by the fact that even in prehistory it was built, modified and attended by a range of different people with different beliefs over a millennium - all those superimposed meanings are impossible to unjumble.

Early bird registration and bursary applications are now open for Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference 2025 in lovely York: tag2025.hosted.york.ac.uk/en/registrat...

If you know you know #archaeology

Rainstorm last night = Beautiful day today

“The big perspective change from ancient DNA study is that people living today are almost never the descendants of the people in the same place thousands of years before” news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

Zig zag has the best plan for a rainy Saturday.

I feel slightly strange about one of my archaeology dreams being made into a VR experience on display at the V&A

I love photos like this as it 1) shows how people live and work doing archaeology and 2) when the Proteomics come back with a bunch of weird results we know why

It’s been quite a week (+month, year etc), so here’s a little #FindsFriday / #FlintFriday treat for your timelines: a gorgeous little Mesolithic ‘mèche de foret’ (drill bit) from my desk. Retouched edges abraded to a smooth sheen by repeated use. 🏺🏛️

🏺 This thread is cute but also so useful to remember what Ötzi teaches us about dynamic temporal lives of prehistoric people: he died on an epic journey, carrying a huge range of kit with tools part-way through being made, and with embers and medicine in anticipation of his next fire, & his future.

Early in Sept we held “Creative, Critical and Practical Uses of Artificial Intelligence in Archaeology: the MAIA Training School at York” We covered ethics, LLMs, digital twins, visualising archaeology, and prefiguring uses of AI that forefront community & environment. maiacost.eu/2025/09/18/c...

Pop-up zine stand at our induction this week. I hadn't quite finished folding all of them and, without being asked, loads of my colleagues pitched in to help. 🥰

📢 @rijksmuseum.bsky.social's 2and3D Photography call for papers is still open—I recommend you throw your hat in the ring. 👍 I sit on the advisory board and it is one of my favourite heritage imaging conferences with a very welcoming and fun atmosphere! www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/... #GLAM3D

The Playful Archaeology panel (Oct.) 10 features @waltros.bsky.social, @clmorgan.bsky.social, and @archaeobruja.bsky.social! In this panel, archaeologists working with different forms of games and play will discuss the role of play, games and fun in archaeological theory and practice!

The next CAA-UK will be hosted by @cam-archaeology.bsky.social ! Very much looking forward to hearing the latest research from the current and the next generation of computational and quantitative archaeologists (not just from the UK) : uk.caa-international.org/caa-uk-2025-2/ (deadline 29/9/2025)

We have a small number of bursaries for this year's TAG - if you are speaking and fall into the unwaged category (students and those currently not in employment) please apply! Deadline 15th Oct.

Wherever you are, whatever your capacity, support your local antifascists. Many people have seen the scenes from London this last weekend as a wake up call. Whether you are a long time community organizer or completely new to this, we are glad you want to do something & welcome you into this space.

Great work here by @anthromac.bsky.social , and science illustrator @kjkillackey.bsky.social. (Compare to the shit AI slop some sites are pushing on this story).

Again to quote myself, obnoxiously, if you are English and live in a community where this is happening, help to take them down. Immigrants have been doing a lot of this work. We need your help.

So, way more interesting than flags, I found out today that the English called them the “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles” which made me cackle in absolute glee. Honestly wtf

So, flags. People who aren’t in England may not have heard, but right wing nationalists are taking advantage of England’s fascinating and complicated relationship with its flag. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 +

This is unacceptable, but also predictable - the most recent in a long line of institutional and governmental failures to stand up to the far-right. Instead, remember We Keep Us Safe. Look for ways to support the most marginalised, fold antifascist praxis into your work, find your role and organise.

Apropos of nothing, here's some posters I made for outside my office in case anyone wants them. Text on one edited from @blacktrowel.bsky.social, the other from an Eco article (both cited of course). If you'd like the PDF files, just email me. #antifascist #AncientBluesky 🏺

I just emailed notice that I’ll be giving up my allotment this winter. I’ve been at the plot for 13 years. I’m a bit gutted but I have space at home now and it’s just too much. 😭

Just to say I have received help from loads of people, including the most excellent librarians you could possibly ask for. I've passed on the information to the student. THANK YOU!

Bluesky historians - I have a student that has made a transcription of 'The Arctic Moon' a short-lived hand-written polar newspaper from 1881 housed in the National Archive. She'd like to share it or to archive it. Any suggestions?

This Saturday 13th September, stand up to Tommy Robinson and don't give the fascists an inch. Gather from 12pm at the NW Corner of Russell Square, WC1B 📌 London is antifascist 🏴🚩 #London #Antifascist #Antifascism #Antifa #UK

My 2025 Digital Creativity postgraduate module examines Ian Armit's Cults of the Head Project. We will do worldbuilding exercises to make a meaningful digital intervention, interpreting the assemblage that Reb Ellis-Haken has been painstakingly documenting: media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/iarmit

Everyone who thinks "if I was in power I could do it differently" on some level rejects the fundamental anarchist insight that there is no way to come to power in this system without being or becoming the kind of person who reproduces it

The doorway to the passage from Shambles to the market at 37 Shambles, York for #ADoorableThursday. Drawn on site & then coloured in and taken apart with a pencil later. #ArchitecturalIllustration #drawing #sketchbook #ArtYear

GOOD MORNING! 🖤

The easiest part of my job is being fighty and mean to powerful people when they are wrong. The hardest part of my job is being constructive and kind to people with less power than me when they are wrong.

Being a Director of digital labs mostly means I move a lot of tables and write grants for other people to do cool stuff, but it was a good day today.

What exactly is #archInk? It started in 2018 by Dr. Katherine Cook with daily drawing prompts exploring archaeological themes. The goal is not to create perfect "art" but should be rather seen as a daily practice connecting with archaeology and each other through creative practices 1/3

We are starting to move an initiative from concerned EAA members, mainly from Spain… if you are/were and are interested to support it, sign and share! forms.gle/cTp7BXiUD1qC...

The c. 4200-3600 BC Trypillia settlements of Europe were so-called 'mega-sites', having populations of up to 10,000 people. Evenly-sized houses suggest that they were egalitarian, meaning large populations did not necessarily cause higher inequality. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Reading the EAA meeting transcripts, still pretty stunned at a colleague quoting Goebbels. Amongst many other things. Good times in archaeology

“Post a perfect album from the 90s” So many to choose from….

@zenakamash.bsky.social is the best of us

Up next on CBeebies it’s Monster Time with Antonio Gramsci

My friend brought me back some Kraft Mac and cheese from the states after I hadn’t had it for 20+ years. We had a box last night and it was pretty much as I remembered. My daughter hated it

I wrote a piece for the Guardian games newsletter this week on my PhD research into preserving play experiences, and why I think that the most archaeological games are those that that actually make you *think* like one 🏺 www.theguardian.com/games/2025/s...

Really hoping that his replacement doesn't consistently interrupt women more than men on the show. Once you notice it, it's really hard to miss.

BTC Call for Action - EAA EAA reversed its decision to exclude Israeli institutions complicit in the genocide of Palestinians after intimidation campaigns. Read & share the full statement: blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b...