Welcome back to our weird weather. 16 today, 0 tomorrow and rain for all of it 😂

The front cover of an academic book entitled Indigenous Archaeology in Two Hemispheres.

The book has arrived! It features 15 case studies on current research written by Indigenous archaeologists, Indigenous community members and their partnered archaeologists, ECRs and senior scholars. A good look at the diverse work undertaken under the umbrella of Indigenous archaeology in the 2020s.

Been there and you will be glad you did this in a couple weeks time. The alternative is to watch them get really sick first, which is a horrible process.

Happy Butter Lamb day for those who are busy creating.

My British railcard just expired and it is just another sad reminder that I have no idea when I can return to my research as I have no idea how long it will take to sort a British passport that I never knew I needed (or ever really wanted). I am happily Canadian.

It’s nuts. I have none of the stuff required. My mom died when I was a kid and lost my father a long time ago too. I haven’t copies of their birth certificates, marriage certificates or passports. This is going to take ages. From everything I have read so far it is even harder to renounce.

Neil I can’t figure this stuff out. In my family some kids were born in the uk and some in Canada to our UK parents. All raised here with Canadian passports - now we are considered dual citizens and have to apply for UK passports? Is that right. Last year I got an ETA which no longer sounds useable.

Front cover of the book Indigenous Archaeology in Two Hemispheres

Good news - a new book. Bad news - the publisher got the Table of Contents wrong in the promo material. Trust me though, it has some great papers! Hopefully new promo material soon.

Another typically topsy-turvy week at the university. One of my PhD students submitted a great dissertation, another was awarded a prestigious postdoc - all while my colleagues are planning a fund-raiser because the uni can’t afford $5000 Canadian to support the archaeology field school next year.

As I move toward this research full time, and leave my field work years behind I hope that we can prioritize practices of reclamation and repatriation that support well-being of Indigenous communities through the incredibly joyful and incredibly difficult encounter with their pasts.

Any attempt to reconcile past collections practices needs to include a full list of belongings and not just ancestors. Contacts need to be developed with care not just and email and full research on their collections needs to be undertaken. Care for the well-being of communities must be part of this

These collections are significant to home communities in self-determination, healing and reconciliation. Encountering these collections brings great joy and a reconnection with traditional knowledges, and also overwhelming grief at what was removed without their knowledge.

I have found collections everywhere I have looked, and most have not even been looked at since they were initially accessioned. The curators have never seen the material and they have had no idea that they were in charge of ancestors hidden in deep and old storage.

Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways

The report on the # of ancestors in UK museums is a good step, but only a first step. I have spent 20 years trying to track collections of ancestors and belongings for one small comminity - Nunatsiavut, an Inuit community in northern Labrador, Canada which was looted extensively in the 19th century.

Canada and France have a joint Museum Assistance Program which can be used to locate belongings and ancestors and help Indigenous communities visit and build the relations with institutions and curators that are essential to the discovery and repatriation process. Does the UK have anything similar?

Lot’s of ways for our students to share too. It’s been a while since we had anybody from UCD visit the archaeology department here at MUN…www.icuf.ie/scholarships/craig-dobbi...

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

Photo shows 5 Greenlandic women in their national dress with beaded yokes. In the late 1920s Norway sought to possess East Greenland. Norwegian knitting designer Annichen Sibbern Bøhn designed a sweater which mimicked the Greenlandic beaded yoke. And that's how yoked sweaters became a thing. 🧵

My condolences Neil.

Julia, many of the clothing and jewelry designers from the show have insta or webpages highlighting their work. It’s worth checking them out for their beauty. I have some Victoria’s Arctic Fashion mitts that are among my favourite things.

Merry Christmas Neil to you and your fur family from mine (Indy, Salah and Gracie)

Based on slightly different criteria I get Jaws and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ll take the second.

@nmkennedy.bsky.social I though you might enjoy this if you hadn’t seen it yet

I keep meaning to get Unruly! David Mitchell is always a bit of fun.

The walk book looks like a lovely holiday read! I have been spending a lot of time with Arctic histories (some great work done in recently), women in Egyptian archaeology, and bicycle touring of places I would like to spend time in. Just finishing “The Mother Tree” and need something more uplifting.

In the past few years I have read much more non-fiction than fiction. And of all kinds - though travel, food, adventure and histories dominate. Most leans toward the academic, but still has a pleasing narrative. I need new suggestions please.

closeup of a "no stopping" sign (black octagon inside red circle with diagonal line) on which someone has stencilled "thinking about tomorrow"

good advice any day

#Toronto

In Vancouver I found many places with a single, large facility open to everyone. It worked. This summer I was struck by how open UK toilets were at sites we visited. “Women’s” frequented by dads with kids, male attendants…no one cared. It’s insulting and damaging to everyone to segregate anyone.

Sorry to hear this Sarah. Thinking of you and your family.

One of the most beautiful places on earth as far as I am concerned.