Archaeological training starts in the field. We're looking for a Fieldwork Technician to support excavation training, field schools, and student experience across UK archaeological projects. Apply now: bit.ly/ucl-ft #UCLArchaeology #ArchaeologyJobs #Fieldwork

Job Vacancy: Fieldwork Technician

The UCL Institute of Archaeology currently has a vacancy for a Fieldwork Technician (Ref: B03-03090)

bit.ly

I know I keep pointing this out but: if you want immigrants to contribute to British society, integrate across community lines, become engaged civic actors, you actually *want* them to get citizenship, and as soon as possible in fact!

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The ridiculous extension of the wait for settled status isn't about putting up barriers to arrival, it's about putting up barriers to integration for people who have already been here for years. It's agreeing with Farage that these people should be treated with suspicion - and leaving it at that.

Drops on snowdrops

Congrats to @gabemoshenska.bsky.social on his comprehensive history and analysis of the Ea Nasir copper merchant meme. @uclarchaeology.bsky.social once again showcasing its excellence in all things archaeometallurgical. 😉 journal.equinoxpub.com/JCA/article/...

Also…

a black and white penguin with an orange beak stands on a table

ALT: a black and white penguin with an orange beak stands on a table

media.tenor.com

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 10mo ago

✨A monument of Delos ✨ If you’ve ever wondered where the Roman fascination for phalluses came from, look no further than Delos. The Greek island is home to some monumental phallic sculptures dedicated to the god of wine and revelry, Dionysus.

Well look at that! Our Caucasus mega fortress paper made Antiquity's most read list! Feels good to be in such distinguished company. #ProjectARKK

Antiquity Journal@antiquity.ac.uk · 10mo ago

Don't forget to explore our collection of 2025's most-read #archaeology, covering great research on diverse topics, from West African ancestry in medieval England to prehistoric Siberian tattoos 🏺 It's completely FREE for the rest of the month: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

1688 as the last successful invasion of Britain is a hill I will die on. Another one: Eastern Rome (Byzantium) was a remarkably successful and resilient state, not a pale shadow of the Principate.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Here’s a fun top five: things that are consensus among historians but are essentially unknown by the public. Richard I, a bad king of England. Roman Empire, fell in 1453. Paul, more important than Jesus. Witch burning, a modern phenomenon not a medieval one. Britain last invaded in 1688. Yours?

They used to "laugh and call him names." Now they're all dead

One thing social media platforms do is meld the British and US higher ed crises into one. I think there are similarities but, tbh, the UK feels much more like a catalogue of shambles and poor policy decisions than a real ideological attack—even if the consequences remain the same.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of opening up the results from a big batch of radiocarbon dates, and having them confirm all things you hoped and suspected but weren't quite sure about. Kudos to the amazing #ProjectARKK team for capturing all the stratigraphic and chronological subtleties

I've been cycling in the UK for 8 years now, but having started cycling in London regularly for the first time, I am stunned by the number of people cycling through heavy rush-hour traffic with headphones in (even over-ear noise-cancelling ones), sometimes while simultaneusly taking calls.

Was having a hard time coming up with something until the perfect one came to me: "Said to be from"

'Universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year, new analysis from the University and College Union (UCU) suggests.'

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens

University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

bbc.co.uk

UKHE is a world class export sector, but has financial problems because the state both doesn’t want unis charging market rates to domestics and doesn’t want to subsidise them. To make up for this, unis have been forced to take on more foreign students, and the gov response is to punish them for it

Antoine Vernet@antoinevernet.com · last yr.

The CAS debacle is testament to how anti-business the government is willing to be: let's turn away students who pay upward of £40k in tuition for a year of study in the UK

Thrilled with the coverage our recent paper on copper metallurgy and iron invention is getting. Not so thrilled with this definitely-AI generated furnace image that was used to illustrate one of those pieces. Link to our article: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My recent work covered in Popular Mechanics! Excellent furnace photo (not even mine). www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

A 3,000-Year-Old Furnace May Have Accidentally Started the Iron Age, Scientists Say

This global shift may have come as a result of smelters looking for ways to increase copper yields.

popularmechanics.com

I'm all about "funny looking rocks"! Nice to see press coverage of my recent paper. www.popsci.com/science/iron...

This ‘funny-looking rock’ holds 3,000 years of Iron Age secrets

Experimenting with copper may have led to our eventual breakthroughs with making iron.

popsci.com

New paper out today, showing how a little known site first excavated nearly 70 years ago helps us understand the origins of iron. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Currently writing the report for my @gerda-henkel-stiftung.de "Surviving the Crisis Years" grant, centred around our excavations of a LBA-EIA fortress in the Caucasus. It's amazing what we've accomplished in two years--so proud of my team! Photo: @shmills.bsky.social excavating the fortress gate.

I will never get over how sharply the Greater Caucasus range rises from the Alazani plain.

Very cool. We found an Abbasid dirham in my excavations in the Caucasus last summer.

Lars S. Sørensen@handansken.eurosky.social · last yr.

Just because you need more archaeological finds in your feed. As FLO, you know it is serious, when metal detectorists call you on a Sunday afternoon asking to hand in finds right away.

A short drama in three parts: Day 1: "Would be cool for this paper to make a quick diagram to summarize the different Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani chronologies and cultural groupings for the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, seems like no one has ever done it."

Wow, the Etruscans must have really liked khinkali.

Dan Diffendale@diffendale.bsky.social · 2y ago

La pera, "the pear," or "pietra acheruntica" (from the Acheron river of Hades), set up along via S Martino in Pisa, is actually an Etruscan marble tomb marker from around 500 BCE, moved here in the middle ages from a necropolis west of the city. Today it serves as a canine territorial marker... 🏺

Nice piece by my PhD student Alex Rodzinka, covering our work with the ISIS Muon and Neutron Source. the-past.com/feature/what...

What can we learn from trafficked finds? Revealing the results of neutron tomography of Iranian swords | The Past

Recovering an assemblage of trafficked prehistoric swords from Iran presented an opportunity to undertake scientific analysis of these weapons. The results ...

the-past.com

Our excavations at Dmanisis Gora have literally put it on the (Google) map. With a 5 star review! (and not by me). Google maps image was annoyingly taken during backfill, juuuuust too late to get us an end-of-season final photo from space.

There are many great names for archaeological sites, but the the name of a Bronze Age copper mine way up in the Caucasus mountains, "Zaargash" goes so hard. Sounds like the source for Sauron's copper supply.

Dr Sainsbury (@vsainsbury.bsky.social) just got back from a fieldtrip in Jordan exploring sites & analysing glass. Whilst at the @cbrl.bsky.social she joined a workshop on #recycling through time. #womeninstem & made it into The Jordanian Times! www.jordantimes.com/news/local/c...

Britain’s carnival of reaction nationalist theme park is going to be built by French businessmen with links to the far right and Putin. It’s entirely fitting with the bombastic but surface level understanding of history that informs the resurgent British far right.

Far-right links and Putin praise: fears over £600m UK history theme park plan

French family behind project visited Kremlin in 2014 to discuss building ‘Tsarland’ in annexed Crimea

theguardian.com

🔊Calling all School of Archaeology staff, students, projects and alumni! So far I've found 27 of our School community on here, let us know if there are more! go.bsky.app/JX5CP1k

Another of the better pieces on my paper on Caucasus fortresses. Great to see such wide coverage. Can't wait to share more of the cool finds from the site. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Archaeologists just mapped a Bronze Age megafortress in Georgia

This recently mapped Bronze Age fortress is just one among hundreds.

arstechnica.com