Well, gearing up today for the next paper by moving all 1100+ references to a new computer...

Hey hey bluesky! I finally logged back in and blocked the 300 spam accounts that tried to follow me. Sigh. Das boot 🥾

100% agree - we were blown away by the variety, depth, and sensitivity of all of our speakers! So excited to see what #storytelling can continue to offer to #archaeology in future #TAG2025

And with that, we're done for the year! 🎄🎅🎁 So long, and thanks for all the fish, @tag2025york.bsky.social That conference was so many things - challenging, exhausting, funny, inspiring, and exciting. Really exciting. I can't thank the organisers enough 🙏 Now, excuse me... i'm off to pass out.

they should invent a kind of writing where it doesn't feel physically painful

Ok this storytelling session at #TAG2025 is getting better and better! Peter Lawson telling stories with a rebec 🎶

Our recent work at Burnswark hillfort was included in @digitscotland.bsky.social top archaeological discoveries in Scotland 2025!! We found a large settlement within the fort, and remodelling of the ramparts after a Roman attack @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social @glasgow.ac.uk #HillfortsWednesday

New science demonstrates how orangutans learn what to eat in their rainforest habitat. Read the latest scientific blog from guest writer Dr Elliot Howard-Spink: www.orangutanlandtrust.com/post/orangut... @ehowaspi.bsky.social

1/12 Consciousness and attention in honeybees This study provides evidence of consciousness-like states in bees, revealing strong and fascinating parallels with vertebrate awareness. I will try to explain it in a few "tweets". (paper) www.cell.com/iscience/ful... by @catherinemacri.bsky.social

TAG York has been fab - lots of amazing discussions with lovely people, feeling inspired and exhausted in equal measure. Thanks to the speakers in our session, and thanks so much to the organisers @tag2025york.bsky.social - hope we can match your high standards next year in Exeter!

It's the final day of @TAG2025_York 😭 It's not all bad news, though, as our collection of Contemporary #Archaeology and Theory is still FREE until the end of the month 🏺 www.cambridge.org/core/journal... Massive thanks to all the organisers and volunteers for putting together a fantastic event!

Absolute blinder of a session!

Storytelling as Creative Archaeological Practice (session 26) absolutely stupendous presentations! @tag2025york.bsky.social #TAG2025

Banging to see this yesterday 💚🙌

CONGRATULATIONS to the @trowelblazers.bsky.social for their incredible contributions to the field. Praxis baby, praxis

Alumnus @theneanderoll.bsky.social presenting to a full room in the Invisible Threads session at #TAG2025: Love Letters from the Oldowan🧡🧡

Feeling a bit excited because @tag2025york.bsky.social kicks off tomorrow! Can't wait to catch up with old friends, give a couple of presentations, and spend a week chatting about all things archaeology. Sneak peek of my first presentation - Tuesday!

@tag2025york.bsky.social starts next Monday @york.ac.uk! We'll be there, so make sure to say hello, get your hands on some coveted #Archaeoswag and learn how you can publish your #archaeology research in Antiquity! 🏺

📢 Registration is now open! 📢 Sign up for in-person attendance before 31 October 2025 to get Early Bird prices. Waged delegate fee is £110 Unwaged delegate fee is £40 More information and links to register can be found on the TAG York website: tag2025.hosted.york.ac.uk/en/registrat...

Evolution (abridged)

Letting the Archaeology side down by also actually liking Palaeontology. Here's my little beach find collection.

I'm excited (and nervous) to be presenting at @tag2025york.bsky.social this year! Can we find signs of ancient emotions hidden among the earliest archaeological assemblages? Image: Sterkfontein Oldowan tools - 1.7-2.2ma Sampled from Kuman, K., 1994. doi.org/10.1006/jhev... #TAG2025

Very pleased to see our paper now out in Communications Biology! 🥳

Apologies for the hiatus. Life got challenging, and I just couldn't face wading through the 1000s of Bot / AI slop accounts that were trying to follow me. That being said, I quite enjoyed eating matchmakers and slamming the block button like a death metal, double bass drum solo.

me, stepping up to give my intro lectures like

Registration for in-person or online participation for our symposium is still open!

To support those who qualify for the unwaged registration fee. Includes: Free registration + £200 to help cover UK travel, accommodation costs, or support caring responsibilities. Open: early September Deadline: early October If you have any questions email [email protected]

This aurochs bone from a ~10,000-year-old wetland 🇩🇰 is engraved with probable human figures. Wetlands' preservational qualities provide a valuable source of organic material such as bone and wood. However, they are at risk from climate change 🏺 🔗 from 2022 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

The demographic drivers of cultural #evolution in #bird song CurrentBiology

"sketch of the historical background that still shapes contemporary studies into the psychology of gender/sex identity in infants and toddlers" doi.org/10.1002/ajhb...

The first recorded strike in history took place almost 3,200 years ago! The ‘Strike Papyrus’ recounts that in year 29 of the reign of Ramesses III (c. 1157 BC) royal tomb workers at Deir el-Medina downed tools over pay and working conditions! Museo Egizio, Turin 📷 me #AncientBlueSky 🏺 #Archaeology

How we explain the past is always a complex negotiation between our modern assumptions (which we cannot escape when we study or view history) and the genuine historical intentions of the people living in the past.

The new series of @pnas.org articles on the history of inequality require some careful reading. The identical data set leads some to agree and others to disagree with Dawn of Everything... What's going on? Here are some initial thoughts.

The young female was about a meter tall when she died, making her even smaller than adults from other diminutive early human species, including the famous Lucy and the hobbit. 🏺🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d44...

Aurignacian groups at Isturitz (France) adapted to a shifting environment upon their arrival in Western Europe ∼42,000 years ago www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A great thread by Kory Bing on species we've pulled back from the brink.

I worked supporting SureStart centres across the whole of North East Lincolnshire right before the crash of 2008. There was one in every community, including some of the poorest areas of England. This feels so far removed from the current situation it's unreal.

Is anyone writing a history of Sure Start? @sarahcrook.bsky.social wondering if you know? There's lots of fairly dry policy and evaluation stuff but feels like a great lens through which one cld write the history of early 21st century Britain

Wow. I just am so grateful for the amazing systems from @elife.bsky.social for review, and from @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social that have made it possible to open up the scientific evidence on some of the most challenging problems in human origins. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

also...be sure to check out the amazing work on the figures/images....Visualizations make a difference. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Our revision of the Homo naledi burial paper is out. A massive amount of work by the whole team. Grateful to @elife.bsky.social and the reviewers for input; for a change (the oft dreaded) Reviewer 2 made my day. This is a huge paper (literally) & sets the evidential bar high. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

OMG, for some reason, these have emotionally slapped me. I love the greying dude 🥹

2025 has been brutal 💀 My father was in the last 1% of people still at home in the late stages of the Alzhiemers. Queue crisis teams, hospital admissions, emergency depts, social workers... Each wk has brought massive emotional & physical challenges. But inside that time, i've written a new paper.

Making a diagram related to mating dances in birds, and these are my first options. 👌

For your #FlintFriday dose of lithics, here are some beautiful cleavers from the Upper Son Valley 🇮🇳 The wide variety and high quality of raw materials used indicates early hominins were adaptable and skilled at making use of the landscape. Which is your favourite? 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Western Europe’s oldest human face discovered in Spain by CENIEH Director @mmartinont.bsky.social #ICTSNews #Pink theconversation.com/western-euro...

It's been far too long since we posted a cute animal artefact for #FindsFriday! With the SAA around the corner this Moche stirrup vessel felt like the perfect find!🏺🐸

Call for abstracts: I’m putting together an edited book on archaeology and horror. Details below. Contact me for full CFP or to discuss potential submissions. 🏺👻🧟🏛️