Dr James Cole
@jamescolearch.bsky.social
Dean for the School of Applied Sciences; Principal Lecturer in Archaeology @uniofbrighton. Human evolution & prehistoric cannibals. @IgNobel prize winner 2018
Very pleased to have spent time with the ZOE team to discuss Paleo diets, reality versus modern 'health' take. Also some great advice from Federica Amati on what we should be eating for a health life style in the modern age: open.spotify.com/episode/0Cis...
And a video introduction link for the podcast with Zoe can be found here: www.linkedin.com/posts/jonath...
Millions of people follow the paleo diet. The idea is simple: eat like our ancestors did, and you'll be healthier. But scientists studying prehistoric diets are uncovering a major problem for th...
Millions of people follow the paleo diet. The idea is simple: eat like our ancestors did, and you'll be healthier. But scientists studying prehistoric diets are uncovering a major problem for the "p...
linkedin.com
Apropos of nothing I'm starting an occasional thread on the importance of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, to the story of human evolution. Its one of the most important Palaeolithic landscapes in Europe and we should celebrate that fact a lot more. Look out for updates #ClactonPrehistory 🏺🦣
I was very privileged to discuss elements of our paleo-diets with Jonathan Wolf and Federica Amati with for ZOE. Have a listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0Cis...
Is eating like our ancestors the key to better health? What the Paleo diet gets right, and the 5 ancient diet claims that are dangerously wrong for your heart and gut health | Dr James Cole & Dr Feder...
ZOE Science & Nutrition · Episode
open.spotify.com
New evidence of sharp-force trauma in Qafzeh-25 A taphonomic reassessment of Qafzeh 25 and its implications for violence, health and funerary practices🏺🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... The taphonomic study conducted here confirms Qafzeh-25 was deliberately buried h/t @qafzeh.bsky.social
Evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo🏺🧪 Mark Hubbe & Katerina Harvati @katharv.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Highlighting the importance of environmental constraints and possibly cultural behaviors as core drivers of human evolution.
📢 New #openaccess paper out! Exploring the evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo. 🧠💀 Check it out here: rdcu.be/fsgmj Congrats to Mark and Katerina @katharv.bsky.social for this work! ✨️ #humanevolution @humanorigins.bsky.social
Why don't humans eat each other? A new study in #PNAS shows that #cannibalism is an evolutionary dead end. A mathematical model by M. #Misiak & P. #Tureček demonstrates that its long-term practice triggers deadly epidemics and inevitable demographic collapse. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... #PTNCE
🏺 What we do as archaeologists & public scholars MATTERS ❤️
Rachel Pope@prehistorian.bsky.social · last mo.I’ve been at Chalke History Festival talking about Celts (people really love the Celts) and on Iron Age identity with Becky Wragg Sykes and Mel Giles. At the end of the latter, an elder lady commented “it’s the first time I’ve been able to see myself”. What a shift ❤️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Genetic diversity of late Neanderthals in northwestern Europe - Nature
Genetic sequencing of multiple late Neanderthals living less than 52,500 years ago provides an overview of genetic diversity and demonstrates that even low-coverage nuclear genome data can increase re...
nature.com
'University leaders have been urged to lobby firms to release environmental data connected to the use of artificial intelligence to help institutions get a handle on how increased reliance on the technology is impacting on climate goals.' 1/1
Universities ‘should demand emissions data’ from AI firms
Lack of transparency over environmental impact of technology leaves universities struggling to assess carbon footprint
timeshighereducation.com
Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!
A (badly needed!) success story for UK academia: we received the most ERC Advanced Grants this year (62). Other stats: success rate was 9.6%; applications up 31%; proportion awarded to women isn't provided but looks fairly low (~20% in life and physical sciences, ~35% social sciences and humanities)
ERC Advanced Grants: Nearly €840 million to support Europe’s leading researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has today announced the winners of its latest Advanced Grant competition. The funding, worth €838 million, will go to 319 leading researchers across Europe. The Adv...
erc.europa.eu
Amazing new paper with 🧬 from walls and cave paintings 🦣🏺🧪https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-74234-2
Investigating ancient human DNA preservation on cave walls and in rock art - Nature Communications
Ancient DNA can be preserved on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments and artifacts. Here, the authors investigate whether Palaeolithic wall art can preserve human DNA ...
nature.com
What Do Lithics Tell Us About How Pleistocene Hominins Survived? "Correlated changes in hominin fossil and lithic evidence appear at three major inflection points, ca. 3.4, 1.7, and 0.3 Ma."
What Do Lithics Tell Us About How Pleistocene Hominins Survived?
Hominin fossils and lithic evidence can, considered together, shed light on major changes in hominin evolution. Correlated changes in hominin fossil and lithic evidence appear at three major…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A new ~2 Ma hominin cranium just discovered at the Drimolen hominin site in South Africa as part of a newly funded @arc-gov-au.bsky.social project to @ltuarchaeology.bsky.social @latrobe.edu.au and University of Johannesburg. The first year of joint Drimolen-Kromdraai excavations.
A synthesis of developments in human evolution Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution🧪 @jamescolearch.bsky.social, @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Another new report on wild chimpanzee plant tool use, this time breaking down the fundamentals of fishing for algae in Guinea (part of the @mbchimp.bsky.social project). It comes with a figure on fishing techniques that doubles as dance instructions 💃🏺🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Up to 7km deep. 1200km long. Almost 500 fossil whales, some over 5 million years old. An epic new finding that shows how much unknown natural treasures the sea floor holds 🧪🐋 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone - Nature
Researchers uncovered an enormous deep-sea accumulation of whale remains in the southeastern Indian Ocean, showing long-term, specialized ecosystems and an extensive fossil record that offers new insi...
nature.com
We are on the lookout for Geoarchaeologists to join the Oxford Archaeology team 🔭 For the full job description and information on how to apply, visit tr.ee/GeoArchs #geoarchaeology #heritagecareer #archaeologyjobs
Come join our team in Exeter! We're looking for a Lecturer in Archaeology for a three year teaching post, focusing particularly on practical skills and fieldwork (closing date 30 June): careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/95...
Lecturer in Archaeology (Education and Scholarship) in Exeter | University of Exeter
View details and apply for this Lecturer in Archaeology (Education and Scholarship) vacancy in Exeter. Lecturer in Archaeology (Education and Scholarship) This full-time post is avail...
careers.exeter.ac.uk
An excellent postdoc opportunity at @cenieh.bsky.social🏺🧪
HigherJobz@higherjobz.bsky.social · 2mo agoMSCA Fellowship at CENIEH, Spain 🇪🇸 in African Acheulean archaeology. Research early human evolution, stone tools & Pleistocene studies. Excellent postdoc opportunity. Apply 👉 higherjobz.com/african-ache... #Archaeology #MSCA #Postdoc #HumanEvolution #ResearchJobs #AcademicJobs @cenieh.bsky.social
Nice New Scientist piece by Michael Marshall discussing my research www.newscientist.com/article/2529...
What really happened when ancient humans migrated out of Africa
The out-of-Africa migration, in which ancient humans went on to inhabit every other continent except Antarctica, may not have been one moment in time, but a long and slow process. Columnist Michael Ma...
newscientist.com
A very good read: “Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution” Review by @jamescolearch.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @matejahajdi.bsky.social @chrisbstringer.bsky.social 🧪💀 rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution
This article presents a synthesis of recent developments in the study of human evolution over the past five years. It begins with an overview of hominin species nomenclature and diversity, followed b...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New paper alert: such a privilege to work with the amazing @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, and @chrisbstringer.bsky.social on a new review paper for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New paper alert: such a privilege to work with the amazing @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, and @chrisbstringer.bsky.social on a new review paper for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
We are looking forward to welcoming @annemiekemilks.bsky.social on the 19th June to deliver the keynote at Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026. The lecture: From Sticks to Social Worlds: Rethinking Palaeolithic Technology through Wood will be the perfect end to the first day. Book your place! 🏺🦣
🏺 From 2024 but I missed it: "A 7,000-year-old multi-component arrow poison from Kruger Cave, South Africa" Organic residues inside a bovid bone, in which were embedded bone points = poison arrow 'quiver' Poison made from multiple plants. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Buy Buy it now! You won't be disappointed* *well, you might, but let's not worry about that for now
Alex Harvey@alexharvv.bsky.social · 2mo agoI saw this in Leeds Waterstones yesterday! *i took a pic to remind me to buy it at some point*
