One week into 2026, and this is as fitting as ever.

Another charge to hear the fabulous Letty playing a carnyx. #Archaeology 🏺

Thanks to @mythsbaby.bsky.social for a great conversation about my new book "The White Pedestal" on Greco-Roman Antiquity and White Nationalism, both out today! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Publication news! Very excited to share that this special issue of Mouseion, with a focus on "Breaking New Ground with Comics and the Ancient Mediterranean World," was just published! Natalie Swain deserves so much credit for organizing this and I'm really excited about all the pieces here!

The first Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies Seminar series, on Collaborative Archaeologies in (Post)Conflict Contexts, kicks off next week with Hiba Alkhalaf. All welcome! Sign up via the link: www.bbk.ac.uk/events?tag=1...

A manifesto for every university. Keep it present!

Trans rights are human rights and it's not negotiable, you fucks

I wrote a McSweeney's piece that's up today! www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its...

Beautiful thread on reflections out a train window

The great thing about end of term marking is I get so much cleaning done.

🚨PUBLISHED🚨 The #Archaeology of #Olive #Oil Production in #Roman & pre-Roman #Italy 🫒 READ: doi.org/10.1086/737823 ➡️Good data for Neolithic & BA olive exploitation & cultivation ➡️Possible earliest rotary olive crusher in the Med (7th c. BCE) ➡️Roman era oil prod widely & larger-scale across Italy 🧵

Plaques matter. A few yrs ago for @hyperallergic.com, I wrote on the import of museum labels. hyperallergic.com/can-art-muse... The reports on the new plaques written by Trump for the presidential portraits are worrying—but the political silence is even scarier 🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/u...

Excited to release the new minimal-computing Pausanias Reader in Progress: pausanias.opencommentaries.org/about (If you find an empty comment, that's the "in Progress" part) Enormous thanks to @eltonteb.bsky.social and the rest of Digital Periegesis team for their help with named entity linking!

Just back from a raucous fun-filled comedian-led carol service, all in aid of www.fiveforfive.co.uk (and the @goodlawproject.bsky.social). So nice to be part of something joyful and hopeful, and well worth an extra donation

Every university in the UK is currently trying to hang on long enough that a bunch of other universities go bankrupt before they do. Then, maybe the government will do something (fat chance) & there will be the chance at recruiting a few more students to ratchet up that staff:student ratio.

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

4th workshop on Women in the Archaeology of Greece CfP (31.12.2025) - Women Archaeologists and War Organized by @efathenes.bsky.social and @britschoolathens.bsky.social on 9 & 10 March 2026 www.bsa.ac.uk/events/call-... Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology

A year ago yesterday, everything changed for Syria. This January, Hiba Alkhalaf will speak at Birkbeck about "From Destruction to Recovery: Syrian Heritage, Fourteen Years On".

I talked to Rebekah Buchanan at New Books Network about JOKE FARMING, because it's a new book! Why not take a listen, and then maybe even buy the book after...? newbooksnetwork.com/joke-farming

Well, this is annoying. #AncientBluesky #reception

Interested in archaeological theory? PhD or postdoc? Have a think if you fancy coming to our inaugural summer school next year! Lots of theory and lots of fun over three days le.ac.uk/research/cen...

Just made OA, the rich photo collection of Fahreddin (Türkkan) Pasha (1868-1948) also offers a glimpse into monuments protected under the Ottoman legislation on antiquities. Here, the Comnenian fortification walls in Trebizond/Trabzon/Trapezounta. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology #ircica

Good morning, while everyone is waiting for the budget to be announced it’s a good time to say that immigration is a source of prosperity for the UK and painting Britain as a hostile state is sabotaging the country. Thanks!

Today’s xkcd made me cry. In a good way. xkcd.com/3172/

Current mood

I worked at McDonald's for 5.5 years during high school and my UG, and the shake machine was always breaking...

Have opinions and like to share them?

Some exciting speakers lined up for this series! #archaeology #heritage #syria

"Live updates on exactly which UK universities are on strike right now over huge job cuts"

Marching to Victoria Park! Come join the fight back! #ucu #leicester

On the train up for this. See you there! #ucu #strike

Personal note: London has been home for a very, very long time, but as of today, I am also officially a Brit - that is to say, a British citizen. I feel relieved and I feel grateful - but not, perhaps, in the forelock-tugging way GB News/Starmer expect a new immigrant to be.

Please spread the word: the 2026 application cycle for the Classical Summer School of the American Academy in Rome is now live! (Yours truly as Director for my final year). www.aarome.org/apply/2026-c...

For those of you who had ‘donatives’ on your end of empire bingo card, check to see if you’ve won

What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC. This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting. iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...

This is one of the best encapsulations of the joys of research and random happenstance I’ve ever heard. What a wonderful heartwarming kind and quirky species we can be. #science #tinyjoys m.youtube.com/watch?v=AA-1...

Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!

This looks to be an amazing talk! The work of these two pros is so inspiring and important. #AncientBluesky #Archaeology 🏺

“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the cage – And sings the taunting songs – That never stop – Yet, tonight, tonight – When you sleep – I will eat it.

New awareness campaign

50% of all UK universities have closed one or more courses. Almost 50% have cut a range of optional modules. Even this vastly underestimates the volume of reduction. All this warmed over government language about distinct strengths really just refers to reduction: which hits specialisation!

In an environment where it feels like the Humanities are under attack, a new programme in Classics and Ancient History is to be celebrated! 🎉

Shocking news from uOttawa: Greek & Roman Studies closed to new students without consultation. Teaching of ancient languages to end. Open letter coming soon - follow for how you can help. #DefendClassicsUOttawa #Ottawa #AncientHistory #SaveHigherEd #HigherEdCuts #AncientGreek #Latin

In case you didn’t believe the evidence of your own eyes, you can get some confirmation here

A welcome reprieve from politics and sleep deprivation.

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc