Harry Fokkens
@harryfokkens.bsky.social
Em. Professor of European Prehistory at Leiden Universty. Interested in the cultural transformations in the 3rd Millennium BCE
Original study: B. Romero González et al., The genomic identity of early smallpox in South America, Science 393(6810), 2026. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The genomic identity of early smallpox in South America
Smallpox was a major driver of population collapse in the Americas after European contact, yet the genetic identity of the causal strains remains unknown. Here, we report the first ancient smallpox ge...
science.org
My take on what the evidence of a population replacement looks like, and what we actually see in Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age Britain. www.sarsen.org/2026/08/popu...
Population Replacement Evidence
What a population replacement looks like, and what we actually see in Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age Britain By around 2000 BC, more than nin...
sarsen.org
There are some interesting modelling papers which show how social organisation could explain some of the changes over the long term, although obviously this doesn’t mean these models are necessarily correct, just showing what’s feasible. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck - Nature Communications
Prior work has identified a male-only effective population size bottleneck 3-5000 years ago. While violent competition has been proposed as a cause, the authors here show that a segmentary patrilineal...
nature.com
40 years since I last visited this iconic "Bell" barrow at Toterfout-Halve Mijl, excavated in 1950 by Willem Glasbergen. Urns and this barrow were a corner stone for the idea that it builders were immigrants from Wessex.
You don't have to be in a foreign country for a beautiful sunset.
NEW Archaeologists uncover the earliest direct evidence for lead smelting in prehistoric Iberia, indicating early metallurgists were experimenting with different metals and shedding light on an often overlooked resource. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology
Nine Basque caves, 500 painted figures, one hidden rule: bison face left, horses face right, and it’s not about handedness. New network analysis finds real grammar in Paleolithic cave art. #Paleoanthropology #CaveArt #Archaeology www.anthropology.net/p/bison-face...
Bison Face Left, Horses Face Right: A Hidden Grammar in Magdalenian Cave Art
A network analysis of 500 figures across nine Basque caves finds that Paleolithic artists weren’t just choosing what to paint, but following rules about how
anthropology.net
Read the new research in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
The introduction of fish to the Scandinavian mountains by hunter-fisher-gatherers 5000 BC | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The introduction of fish to the Scandinavian mountains by hunter-fisher-gatherers 5000 BC
doi.org
Anthropology.net@anthropology.net · 2w ago7,000 years before farming reached Scandinavia, hunter-gatherers carried live trout past waterfalls to stock fishless mountain lakes. Newly dated fish traps at Lake Tesse, Norway show planned ecosystem management long before agriculture. 🐟🏔️🦴 #Archaeology #Mesolithic @antiquity.ac.uk
Associate Professor Dr Sada Mire's research is now on permanent display at the new National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington DC! 📸 Dr Mire pictured with Her Deepness Dr Sylvia A. Earle (Credit: National Geographic Society) #NationalGeographic #Wagar #SadaMire #Archaeology #Reseearch
Sada Mire’s research featured at new National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington DC
Associate Professor of Heritage Studies Dr Sada Mire’s research on the heritage and peace-building traditions of the Horn of Africa is on permanent display at the new museum.
ucl.ac.uk
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Connecting Communities: Limburg Ceramics as Boundary Objects in the Social Networks of Early European Farmers | Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society | Cambridge Core
Connecting Communities: Limburg Ceramics as Boundary Objects in the Social Networks of Early European Farmers
cambridge.org
For almost a century, scholars believed there were as few as 200,000 people in #Australia when the first British colonists arrived in 1788. New research suggests that estimate was off by several million. A related study links the devastating arrival of smallpox to the "First Fleet." @science.org 🧪
British ‘First Fleet’ brought smallpox to Australia—and may have killed millions
Two papers pin the deadly disease’s introduction on British colonists and suggest the continent held far more people than previously believed
science.org
I'm not into football at all, but please let the Belgians win. If only to annoy that corrupt narcessist in the white house.
Ancient DNA can be preserved on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments and artifacts. A study in Nature Communications investigates whether Palaeolithic wall art can preserve human DNA for study. go.nature.com/44uyl0J 🏺🧬🧪
So heres the skinny on Ballynahatty. Its a massive ritual landscape where i suspect people have farmed since they decided the Lagan Valley was an awfully nice place to be dunroamin! www.rte.ie/news/ulster/...
4,000-year-old stone circle discovered near Belfast
A previously unknown 4,000-year-old stone circle has been discovered by students from Queen's University working alongside schoolchildren from east Belfast.
rte.ie
Mel Giles is a friend and colleague of many at UCD School of Archaeology. She was fellow Lecturer in 2001/2002 and an Postdoc Fellow with us in 2002/2003 as well as serving as an External Examiner and on interview boards. We are delighted to hear of her Europa 2027 award www.prehistoricsociety.org
