"Initially, his research was authorised by Ukraine. But when Russia annexed the peninsula in March 2014, the work continued without Kyiv's consent and carried on after the full-scale invasion eight years later."
Trailer for the National Theatre's 2018 production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar. 🏺🏛
Enough politics. It is publication day for the paperback edition for The Far Edges of the Known World; it's a book that has been described in reviews as both strikingly and refreshingly original.
So if you fancy reading about the ancient world from a different perspective - give it a read!
"The University of Buckingham’s Centre for Heterodox Social Science (CHSS), where Goodwin took up a visiting professorship in early 2025, lists the organisations on its website under the heading 'Our Network.' All are described as 'mission-aligned.'"
A very brief search though the Epstein files has some interesting insights about his interest in archaeology. It’ll take a bit to untangle his personal connections and funding initiatives but it is clear Epstein had strong interests in archaeologies of cultural evolution and environment adaption 1/2
And Epstein also was heavily involved in the Zionist project of using archaeology in the overtly political claim of land / deny Palestinian hist connections to place. The interconnections of his political aspirations and misuses of academia to support it, require a lot more investigation (2/2).
"Pharaonism is also useful as a mode of rule, legitimating the authority of a narrow caste. In lieu of a credible, future-oriented political project, past glories can be invoked to present the ‘New’ society as perfectly continuous with the old."
Nihal El Aasar on Cairo's new Grand Egyptian Museum.
It also ripped off the works of Robert Charroux, Louis Pauwels, and Jacques Bergier so much that von Däniken was forced to acknowledge that. You can see his "acknowledgement" in the intro to his 2nd book, where he briefly states that he and they are simply "asking the same questions." 2/2
What many folks may not know about von Däniken's writing premiere: his original Chariots manuscript was so bad that it was edited and largely re-written by Wilhelm Utermann, who was a Nazi. Which I would say did not actually make the book any better.
1/2
Famed pseudoarchaeological content creator Erich von Däniken, best known for his popularization and promotion of ancient aliens claims, has died at age 90.
Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right, edited by Helen Roche and Denise Eileen McCoskey
Got the editors' blessing to share this news. My chapter "National Socialist Black Metal & the Usurpation of Greece and Rome" will appear in the forthcoming volume "Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right," edited by Helen Roche and @denisemccoskey.bsky.social!
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
I've signed this - it's imperative that archaeologists challenge the uses of the past to justify and perpetuate genocide, and to apply our reseasrch and teaching expertise to critique, investigate and challenge those conducting genocide.
An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I'm just back from a week of carrying out portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in Greece. 🏺🏛
I've often wondered if the primary benefits of elite education are knowing when to be quiet for personal gain and how to manage or avoid cognitive dissonance while ignoring injustice. It sure seems like elite universities are going all in on punishing their students who haven't learned those lessons
UK ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Please sign this open letter to UK Archaeological associations to urge solidarity with trans archaeologists and action in light of the horrendous EHRC guidance:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
"There is immense variation between individuals within a biological sex. Biological sex itself (not just gender) is a spectrum – and it really shouldn't be a big deal. If you don't like trans people then just be honest about your prejudices."
Museums in the UK are increasingly having to deal with requests to access or get information on human skeletal remains from Britain in their care because the people requesting access have been told they have a specific genetic connection to an ancient individual.
There is an academic job market / labor mobility if you're a tenured prof at an Ivy. The rest of us will have to suffer the end of the American university system as we know it.
I was going to say Uroš Matić, but it turns out he's based in Austria.
A Statement by Colonel The Right Honourable Mark Antony Will Follow Shortly. 🏺🏛
youtu.be/fytCo8YQf0k?...
My response to Cambridge University Press wishing me to sign away my work to train AI.
As a human rights scholar, I've read countless reports where both Western media + prominent human rights organizations term this as an "enforced disappearance" when this happens in other countries. Wild (and completely unsurprising) how the same terminology is missing when it's happening in the US
Now available for preorder - The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World by G. E. M. de Ste. Croix
"It might have been like this? Experimental archaeology: Making, understanding, storytelling" by Prof Aidan O'Sullivan
This talk was recorded as part of the Garrod research seminar series hosted by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research on 11 November 2021.
youtu.be/x9FIEoWrZyg?...
Wave of Mutilation: Violence & Warfare.