New paper! Just out in the Journal of archaeological Method and Theory: “The Bow-and-Arrow along the Southern Arc and Through to Oceania: Earliest Appearances, Archaeological Challenges, and Future Opportunities” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Now online in Topics in Cognitive Science! Work lead by the late Kristian Tylén and now carried on by Izzy Wisher. Was fabulous to be invited to work with these great people on this collection. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Marks and Meanings: New Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Visual Culture

“Marks and Meanings: New Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Visual Culture” brings together diverse, interdisciplinary perspectives on symbolic behavior. Each contribution presents new methodolog...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🚨 #CentresOfExcellence #CE26 announcement: ❗️Outcomes announced publicly for ARC Centres of Excellence 2026❗️ See ARC's RMS for list ➡️ https://rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/Report/a3f6be6e-33f7-4fb5-98a6-7526aaa184cf/288 /bot

EXCITING TIMES! ARCHE's COE "ARC Centre of Excellence for Transforming Human Origins Research" has made the cut! Looking forward to 7 years of research and collaboration with fabulous people from across the Global South! PhD Scholarships and Post Docs to come! www.arc.gov.au/news-publica...

ARC says they’ll announce Centres of Excellence outcomes tomorrow (Tuesday 9th Dec). This is more than 2 months late, most likely due to the new security checking requirements for ARC grants. Centres of Excellence grants also need to have been approved by the Minister.

Bit of press on our Amarna find: www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian whistle was likely used by police officer tasked with guarding the 'sacred location' of the royal tomb

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed a 3,300-year-old bone whistle carved out of a cow's toe, and it may have been used by an ancient "police officer."

livescience.com

New paper alert -- and excited about this one! Our recent work on the bone technology of Dynastic Egypt identified the first instances of a simple bone whistle at Amarna. Read here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

First Identification of Bone Whistle‐Use in Dynastic Egypt

Despite over 200 years of intensive academic interest in Pharaonic Egypt, little focus has been given to understanding the production, use, and diversity of the osseous material culture created by th...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

New paper out! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Cultural, economic, and settlement shifts over the last 9,000 years at Kakapel Rockshelter, Western Kenya

The spread of food production in sub-Saharan Africa involved multi-directional dispersals of domesticated plant and animal species, often associated with major migrations. The Lake Victoria Basin of e...

journals.plos.org

Ever wondered what the Palaeolithic sounded like? When did music and language begin? Here’s the podcast for you! Had a great time being part of this project: www.thresholdpodcast.org/hark-episode...

Hark Episode 13: Part of the Choir

Homo sapiens joined the story of life on Earth just 300,00 years ago. So when and how did we start making music and creating languages? In this episode, we explore these signature sounds and discover...

thresholdpodcast.org

New paper just out in JASR with Marlize Lombard — www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Bowhunting in the Magdalenian? A tip cross-sectional area exploration of five antler point types from southwest France

Over the past 40 years, several researchers have suggested that the bow-and-arrow may have been part of the Magdalenian hunting kit. Here, we present …

sciencedirect.com

WAC-10 is all go with many colleagues from everywhere!

Looks like weaving is off the cards for today….

Appreciating the focus on the reality for staff, who are not at fault for this marketised deathspiral and have fought it every step of the way, and universities as a public good. Not a transaction about individual students' future pay cheque, but a good that serves us all.

The Guardian view on campus cuts: academics pay a high price for Westminster’s mistakes | Editorial

Editorial: The government should not stand aloof as a crisis unfolds in our universities. A new settlement is needed

theguardian.com

Two more days to apply - deadline is Jan 15th!

Felix Riede@felixthehauskat.bsky.social · 2y ago

3) 2.5 yr postdoctoral position in Palaeolithic gene-culture coevolution. Together with a palaeogenomics postdoc, we seek to generate material culture data such that we can capture these ancient gene-culture cophylogenetic dynamics international.au.dk/about/profil...

Paola Villa, former Professor at @univbordeaux.bsky.social. Her meticulous critiques and dedication to archaeology made every work session a masterclass, leaving a legacy of trust, learning, and inspiration www.nature.com/articles/s41... @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social

Paola Villa (1939–2024) - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Archaeologist with a wide view of prehistory and a passion for innovative collaboration.

nature.com

Spent two weeks with the Amarna Project looking at fabulous archaeology with great people 🤩

Spears tipped with a multitude of 🦴 human bone 🦴 bipoints! In the Vanuatu National Cultural Centre

Reconstructing the chaine operatoire of Rochia bangles — Lapita tech in Vanuatu! In publication soon!

Back in the office…. “Downloading 1 of 739 emails”

Who were the first humans? How did we evolve? We tackle these big questions for young minds on @ABCscience 'Imagine this' podcast for kids out tomorrow 20 Dec! Talking #archaeology #HumanEvolution abc.net.au/kidslisten/pro…

Read about the 40,000 year long “Shell-beading traditions at Asitau Kuru (Timor-Leste)” out today! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

theconversation.com/humpback-wha...

Humpback whales hold lore for Traditional Custodians. But laws don't protect species for their cultu...

For Australia’s saltwater people, the migration routes of humpback whales represents an important songline

theconversation.com

Why #ContextMatters (not only, but particularly) in #archaeology 🏺: An archaeological artifact without its documented find context is … like an image ripped from a book (and the rest of the pages torn into shreds): something nice to look at, but missing the actual story about it.

Orange volume of bone and tooth tech! Everything you ever wanted to know about Indigenous Australian items but were afraid to ask… shop.aiatsis.gov.au/collections/...