Melted marbles from Moria, the largest migrant camp in Europe, which burnt down in 2020. The material culture of border crossings is often intentionally erased. Preserving and studying it is essential to understanding this contemporary #archaeology 🏺 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

He laid out the m.o. of modern pseudo-archaeology, i.e., repeat false claims and never correct them: " “Chariots of the Gods” was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence."

🚨Urgent‼️ The EAA has doxxed members who have been working to reestablish justice, democracy and accountability in the association. This is a chilling move. We must take action. ALL EAA MEMBERS OUT FOR THE SPECIAL MEETING THIS FRIDAY JAN 9TH! #EAAforDemocracy

Archaeologists discover unique mosaic patolli board at Guatemalan Maya city. phys.org/news/2025-11...

Le patolli est un des plus vieux jeux de société d’Amérique. Le premier plateau de patolli en mosaïque jamais trouvé vient de l’être à Naachtun, une cité maya du Peten. Daté du Ve siècle ap. J.-C., il était intégré au sol d’une résidence phys.org/news/2025-11...

This fragment of #gaming board & counters were found at the #Trimontium fort site. Probably used by #Roman soldiers to play Latrunculi or Ludus Latrunculorum, the counters are made of recycled Samian ware & glass. 📷 Board & counters, Trimontium Trust Ludus latrunculorum, Spain CC BY-SA 4.0

We are glad to announce that the calls for our grant scheme have been published on our website. Find there all information about the application process for: -ITC Conference Grant -Short Term Scientific Missions -Dissemination Grants -Young Researchers and Innovators Conference Grant Link below

🚨IOF STEALING HERITAGE The IOF stormed the town of Al-Maza'a Al-Sharqiyah in the West Bank and stole an ancient column from it! Does the leadership of @asor-research.bsky.social - who had no problem hosting and partying with many 🇮🇱 archaeologists at their congress 2 weeks ago - have anything to say?

We found a game board on top of the Temple of Taffeh at @rmoudheden.bsky.social 😁

𝗪𝗮𝘁 𝘇𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗸 𝗱𝗮𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗽 𝗵𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝗸? Ism Daniel Soliman (RMO) troffen archeologen @apolitopoulos.bsky.social & @waltros.bsky.social (@unileiden.bsky.social) een bordspel aan op het dak van de tempel @rmoudheden.bsky.social 🎙️In deze podcast vertellen ze over de ontdekking⤵️ @leidencity.bsky.social

Academia Wrapped, 2025: Survived. Barely.

Also: The Spartans

Great doctoral student funding opportunity here that includes those who research on Cyprus. 🏺

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild Moufflon (Cyprus) Diamondback rattlesnake (Arizona) Humpback whale (Massachusetts) European hedgehog (Netherlands) American black bear (New York)

Will anyone at this year's conference ask for ASOR to be held to account for its active complicity with the archaeology-washing of apartheid and genocide in Palestine? How are they complicit, you might ask? Here's a refresher 🧵 1/

Some 1,500 years ago, a child was buried with a set of game pieces made of animal bones. Single game pieces are frequently found in early medieval graves in south-west Germany, but complete sets are rare. Found in Herbolzheim, 500-550 AD. 📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺 #archaeology

Black American soldiers literally dug these WWII graves. Traumatic. To acknowledge that fact at a cemetery they helped construct is something the Heritage Foundation cannot accept. As Veterans Day approaches, never forget that this country both compels and disrespects Black military service. Always.

1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️

BOYCOTT EAA-ATHENS 2026 🏺 This is not a BTC action but we are helping to disseminate this call, as the president of the EAA has shown great willingness for reprisals. Please distribute widely, particularly to offline colleagues.

Mamdani got a humanities degree. His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.

I ❤️ NY

Sticking with the maritime theme! This time a Minoan octopus vase inspired design. I'm hoping to display this one coming out of water, so I tweaked the angle. I have photographed this one, but I might wait and do it again tomorrow, because this is a very *wet* pumpkin (unintentional storytelling).

RE the whole Zohran’s aunt thing: My very white Irish/German grandparents from New Jersey were called aunt and uncle by the (also white) children of their best friends so yeah this is just very broadly a stupid “scandal” 🙄

How about we seriously engage with games and play preservation beyond nostalgia then? Video games as culturally and temporally constituted assemblages?

Breaking News: Brown University became the second college to reject a White House deal offering preferential treatment for federal grants.

Anti immigration protest in Amsterdam A truly devastating zoom out by the camera here. We are the Netherlands! - all fifty of us!

⚒️🧪 Fiery eruption of Otman-Bozdagh mud volcano in Azerbaijan! The Otman-Bozdagh mud volcano erupted at ~8:27am local time today (11/10/25). Three eruption phases of between 4-12 minutes were recorded over an ~40 minute period. Video source: @_yagha_

Back from lunch and ready to play some archaeology with our panel featuring the inimitable @clmorgan.bsky.social @archaeobruja.bsky.social and @waltros.bsky.social

Ready for session 3 of the first day of #TIPC4 (phew that was a lot of numbers)! @katexe.bsky.social is talking about 'functional' cross-dressing in ancient Rome video games!

Next up @waltros.bsky.social talking about ancient board games in contemporary video games!

My talk is next!

Second session of the day has just started! Louise Bedford will be talking about an archaeologist's journey into game design!

Coming up, Archaeogaming and Indigenous Representation, by Juan Hiriart! Make sure to tune in over at www.twitch.tv/streamingthepast

My hot take about being evidence informed is that if you're not following emerging/junior scholars in an area you're going to miss the best stuff

"More than just sportswear" - read former MA Heritage & Museum Studies student Stijn van Gerrevink's article on football shirts as heritage: footballmakeshistory.eu/football-shi...

🎮 At #CAA2026 in Vienna, Aris Politopoulos & I are co-hosting a session on archaeology + play! We’ll explore inclusivity, ethics, critical limits—and how archaeogaming can challenge dominant narratives. Blog post 👉 itsmoreofacomment.com/2025/09/26/b... #Archaeogaming #DigitalHeritage

yeah we're into LLMs (Large Lamb-bridge Models)

Please please please everyone (pls reskeet) who is involved with a uni/college academic program (broadly speaking) conected to games Could you write a quick comment + links if any apply to what you and your institution are doing in that sphere? I need to show what's out there. 1/ #AncientBluesky 🗃️

Breaking news: Netherlands to return the Dubois collection of fossils to Indonesia

Ancient art has suggested that brown bears were among the animals that gladiators fought back in Roman times, but a scientific research team working in Serbia has now found direct evidence of this in bones. buff.ly/gDXBi9U

📢 We are excited to participate in this year's Berlin Science Week with an exhibition "Cosmic Games: Real Gods Play Dice" and a workshop "Playing with the Past: Reconstructing Ancient Games". @mpiwg.bsky.social 🔗 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/cosmic... 🔗 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/playin...

Free registration requested to attend in person; more details can be found in Linktree or on website: interactivepasts.com/the-interact... @costprogramme.bsky.social #universityofleiden #ca22145 #costaction #costprogramme #archeaology #digitalhumanities #gamedevelopment

Join us for The Interactive Pasts Conference 4: The Fellowship of Past and Play 8–10 October at the Leiden University Faculty of Archaeology and on Twitch! Playful workshops, exciting talks, two great panels, and a games exhibit await! See thread below for links!

Woop woop, 1 week left for registrations, 2 weeks (give or take) for the actual conference!!!! Register now!

Interested in how to use AI with archaeological methods to study games? Come listen to GameTable Vice Chair Walter Crist talk about some examples for the Archaeological Institute of America Central Arizona Society Lecture Series, Thursday, September 25 at 1800 MST! Zoom in Linktree!

Digital Approaches to a Qing Chinese Boardgame. Online lecture by Prof. Elisabeth Kaske from the University of Leipzig. Part of the Ludic Languages of Asia lecture series hosted by Jacob Schmidt-Madsen at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Sept 24th - 10:00 - 11:00 CET