Really pleased this collaboration with @carlyschuster.bsky.social is finally published! We lean on queer feminist theory to discuss kinship as a dynamic set of relations and map their flow around funerary rites - we see burials as cannily assembled, not simple mirrors of the living world
🏺How we can talk about kin in the archaeological record in a world where establishing genetic relatedness with aDNA is relatively routine and perhaps become somewhat domineering in the conversation.
Archaeology is a driver of scientific innovation. Rather than being a perceived financial burden, it is actually a high-value investment that can improve human health and environmental sustainability. 🏺1/7
doi.org/10.11141/ia....
Can We Learn from the Indus Peoples’?
Talk this Thursday for those interested in Anthropology.
youtu.be/MXHsj2sU5l0
The special issue this is based on is now published - all papers are open access!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
What does an ancient civilisation built when it doesn't need palaces? Looking forward to discussing this question in a public conversation with the David Graeber Institute and Human Bridges project.
Tune in if you are keen!
#Inequality #Archaeology
davidgraeber.institute/a-civilizati...
From ancient Egyptian temples to the colonial destruction of Benin City, our #AfricanArchaeology collection contains tons of free and #OpenAccess research from across the entire continent! Check it out at www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
🏺 #Archaeology
Come to a free online panel on #MachineLearning and #archaeology, this Wednesday 6.30 pm AEST: events.humanitix.com/machine-lear...
We invite papers that help us use humanity's deep past to build a more sustainable future. Submissions start1 September.
If you have an idea for a paper, reach out to one of the guest editors!
link.springer.com/collections/...
@simonmair.bsky.social @jlmunson.bsky.social
What do archaeologists and ecological economists have in common?
Both disciplines know that GDP is problematic, and that we can learn more about human economies by measuring their material worlds
To bring these disciplines together, we are guest editing a collection for JAMT.
#sustainability
Had the pleasure of speaking to Amn Kaur about Mohenjo-daro's role in helping us understanding ancient #democracy on BBC Radio on Monday.
Tune in if you have a chance- we chat at about 30 minutes in.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
CfAS projects featured prominently at the Lessons from the Past conference!
It's no susprise; archaeological synthesis can contextualize pressing challenges and offer points of comparison that allow us to see what worked (and what didn’t) in the past.
www.archsynth.org/archaeologic...
The cover of Antiquity journal with a detailed terrain beside a body of water. Beside the cover is the text "Antiquity" and "Paper of the Month"
The Paper of the Month from @antiquity.ac.uk is "Detecting social differences in diet in medieval towns: isotopic evidence from Cambridge, England, c. AD 940–1538" by Alice K. Rose et al., available #openaccess!
📚 https://cup.org/4lGBVwG
#antiquity #archaeology #PaperOfTheMonth
Heading to Liverpool for the "Lessons from the Past" conference.
I'm presenting GINI work on how the #archaeology of #Inequality can shape debates about taxation today.
We close by drafting policy briefs to link the past to the UN #SDGs. #Sustainability
lessonsfromthepast.info/programme/
@uoyenvironment.bsky.social @uoyarchaeology.bsky.social
A deep time perspective reminds as that collective power-sharing isn't a modern luxury- it's a sustainable way to organise human life. @garyfeinerman.bsky.social @archaeojake.bsky.social @dl-arch.bsky.social @stasavage.bsky.social @dmcarballo.bsky.social @jlmunson.bsky.social
Inequality is a political choice: We found a clear correlation between autocratic governance and high material inequality. Collective systems, by contrast, tend to foster more equitable distributions of wealth.
Follow the Money: Governance is shaped by "fiscal financing." When rulers control "external" resources (like mines and loot from abroad), autocracy flourishes. When political systems instead rely on "internal" taxpayer support, power-sharing becomes a necessity.
Scale ≠ Despotism: Increasing population size does not automatically produce autocracy. Large, complex societies have successfully functioned through collective governance for centuries.
Many people think that democracy is a recent innovation, a quirk of ancient history in the Mediterranean that re-emerged in the modern era. Earlier societies were thus despotic and autocratic. The data show that many people are wrong.
Three key findings shift the conversation:
Democracy isn't a modern luxury—it's a political strategy with deep roots.
In our new study for Science Advances, we analyse 40 different societies and develop a framework for measuring human governance along a collective-autocratic axis.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Press release for our new paper!
“…people across the world created inclusive political systems, even under difficult conditions…An understanding of the hallmarks of autocracy and democracy can help identify threats and pump the brakes on burgeoning totalitarian regimes.”
phys.org/news/2026-03...
If you are in the UK Civil Service- a DD or aspiring DD - this is an opportunity to work with me, England’s Upland Communities and @DefraGovUK on system transformation - please share widely a fantastic opportunity for a brilliant candidate civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?j…
🔬A compelling reuse case for ADS data from @adamsgreen.bsky.social - medieval archaeological records from Wharram Percy repurposed to model early social metabolism and inform pathways beyond fossil fuel dependency ⬇️ #data #reuse
This work is made possible by the unique interdisciplinary environment at the @york.ac.uk, which bridges the @uoyarchaeology.bsky.social and @uoyenvironment.bsky.social.
But our study isn't all about the past. It's about building a new transdisciplinary framework for understanding how human societies can flourish within their environmental limits.
Our study brings a new approach to both #archaeology and #ecologicaleconomics, contributing to debates about social metabolism and medieval economics.
We find that it took massive inflows of both pottery and building stone to maintain the village's stock, which peaked around 1350 (around the same time as the Black Death), then plateaued—a pattern similar to some rural economies today.
By measuring pottery and building stone instead of assessing flawed monetary metrics like GDP, we highlight how a pre-fossil fuel economy actually functioned.
Using the incredible @ads-update.bsky.social's archive from the medieval village of Wharram Percy, we map out stocks and flows for over 500 years
@englishheritage.bsky.social