Replication as Salvation: The Politics of Open Science and the Recurring Allure of Scientism in Deep-Time Lithic Studies

📢 New paper on #replication in #Palaeolithic stone artefact analysis: I argue we must be more careful how we mobilize replication concepts in #lithic studies, co-negotiate strong notions of science in the process, and tend to forget about other research goals and normative concerns 🏺🧪

rdcu.be/faXvP

El perro más antiguo del mundo era un cachorro, vivió hace 16.000 años en Turquía y comía pescado Un análisis genético revela que los canes ya convivían estrechamente con humanos del Paleolítico y, en dos yacimientos, fueron enterrados como los muertos humanos

[8/8] Les chiens sont donc largement diffusés en Eurasie occidentale dès le Paléolithique final. Par ailleurs, ils accompagnent les mobilités humaines sans leur être parfaitement superposés. Leur histoire est liée à celle des hommes, mais ne s’y réduit pas. #dogdomestication #Palaeolithic #Eurasia

Dogs were widely distributed across western Eurasia during the Palaeolithic - Nature Analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from archaeological canid remains found across Europe and Anatolia shows that a genetically homogeneous dog population was already widely distributed acro...

[1/8] Des chercheurs montrent qu’au Paléolithique supérieur final, des chiens étaient déjà présents d’un bout à l’autre de l’Europe occidentale et de l’Anatolie, ce qui révèle une diffusion bien plus ancienne et bien plus large qu’on ne le pensait.
#dogdomestication #Palaeolithic #Eurasia

Shaped Around the Fossil: Acheulean Handaxes and the Strange Stones of Sakhnin Valley A new site in northern Israel reveals Lower Palaeolithic handaxes crafted around fossils—a find that reopens the debate over how early humans perceived stone.

A valley in northern Israel has produced 10 handaxes deliberately shaped around fossils and geodes, unprecedented for a single Acheulean site. What did early humans see in strange stone? #Palaeolithic #Acheulean #HumanEvolution www.anthropology.net/p/shaped-aro...

Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Vienna We expect to have confirmation about successful applicants by 3 June. If you have not heard back from your potential supervisor by this date, let us know (please do not email the supervisor again).

Now Open! - #MSCA Postdoctoral #Fellowships 2026 – Support Programme of @univie.ac.at

Contact me for #Palaeolithic projects!

careers.univie.ac.at/en/research-...

Neanderthals May Have Used Tar as Medicine, New Research Shows Research shows Neanderthals likely used birch tar to treat wounds and infections 200,000 years ago, expanding understanding of prehistoric healthcare practices.

Neanderthals May Have Used Tar as Medicine, New Research Shows

#Neanderthals #Archaeology #AncientHistory #Palaeolithic #AusNews

thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-18-neand...

We’re delighted to announce Dr Annemieke Milks as keynote speaker for Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026 at UCL on 19 June!

Her work on early weapon systems, wood technologies and childhood in prehistory is reshaping how we understand Palaeolithic societies.

#palaeolithic #geoarchaeology

Our DiPA (Dialogues in Pleistocene Archaeology) will continue on March 18th, at 10.30.
Josh London (SHEP) will talk about Upper Paleolithic craft traditions and regional exchange networks.
Zoom registration possible!
#paleomonrepos #archaeology #palaeolithic #paleolithic #leizarchaeology

🔥New paper out now in Science Advances 🔥
News from the straight-tusked elephants from Neumark-Nord!
An international team has uncovered spectacular insights into life histories of some elephants by analysing their tooth enamel.
Read now 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#archaeology #palaeolithic

"Two tribes": Handaxe shape variation shows distinct regional cultural groups in southeastern Britain between 424 000 and 374 000 BP - White - Journal of Quaternary Science - Wiley Online Library This paper examines regional and chronological variations in Acheulean handaxe morphology during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (c. 425–365 ka BP) in Britain. Using a data set of 737 handaxes from 13 secure....

A new paper out in Early View today in which we explore the earliest evidence for two contemporaneous cultural groups in Britain in Marine Isotope Stage 11...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#palaeolithic #archaeology #acheulean #handaxes #lithics #lithicanalysis

📚🗂️⏳EAZ 17 (1), 1976, is now available in our digital archive!
The issue covers the evolution of early Homo, hunting behaviours in the Lower #Palaeolithic and research on the Vedic Soma sacrifice.
www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...
#archaeology #ethnography #anthropology #research #StoneAge #eaz

'Humans 40,000 years ago developed a system of conventional signs'.

A PNAS #Palaeolithic paper to read.

Register now for our free online workshop hosted by the #COEXIST project and @archaeoprotein.bsky.social: Maximising data from #Palaeolithic bone. Exciting program on chronology, diet, taphonomy and method advancement:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🦣🧪🏺

🌍 Could prehistoric communities have reorganised in response to earthquakes?
#ICArEHB researchers Barbieri, Sánchez Martínez, Belmiro, Galfi, Horta, Cascalheira & Bicho find earliest evidence of seismic adaptation at Vale Boi.
🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s125...
#Palaeolithic #Iberia #HumanAdaptation

Anthony E. Marks (1938–2025): Pioneer of the Palaeolithic - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology -

🪨 What made Anthony Marks one of the most influential Palaeolithic archaeologists of the 20th century?
#ICArEHB researchers Jeff Rose & Nuno Bicho (w/ Usyk & Winchell) pay tribute in Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.
🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s419...
#Palaeolithic #Archaeology

🏺 Still, a lot of the old #HumanOrigins / #Palaeolithic archaeology community has not transitioned to here, and it's a major loss of what was a vibrant network for sharing and discussing new AND old research & ideas

This deep red, heart-shaped handaxe may already have been ancient when it was swept into Ice Age deposits around half a million years ago. It was found in Suffolk, where finds of this age are rare outside river gravels, making this an exceptional discovery.
#FindsFriday #Palaeolithic #Valentine

Now Open: SSH Doctoral Recruitment Call 2026

40+ fully funded 4yr PhD positions @univie.ac.at

careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/p...
(Application Deadline 2 Mar 2026)

Contact me for #Palaeolithic projects!

palaeo.univie.ac.at

This mysterious object from Kent is a bifacially worked axehead or handaxe. It resembles a #Mesolithic transverse or tranchet axehead, however given it's heavily worn condition and the gravel from which it was recovered it may be a #Palaeolithic handaxe of an unusually elongate form.
#archaeology

The Perks and Perils of Replicability | American Antiquity | Cambridge Core The Perks and Perils of Replicability

Together with Krist Vaesen, I have written some words of caution about #replication in lithic analysis. We fear that the way the issue has been taken up in #Palaeolithic #archaeology can narrow the scope of disciplinary inquiry 🏺🧪🦣

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Reevaluating Hand Stencil Phenomena in Cave Art: A Step Forward towards the Characterization of Symbolic Patterns during the Upper #Palaeolithic in Europe.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #globalmuseum #caveart

🪨A Palaeolithic Neanderthal Levallois spearhead cleverly made to incorporate a fossilised bivalve mollusc shell. Dating to between c.400,00-40,000 BC.
#Archaeology #FindsFriday #Palaeolithic #Neanderthal #Levallois #Lithics #Wirral

Penascosa 5. Photo: A. T. Santos. CC BY 4.0

🧩📢New publication! #EAZ 59 (2)
A.T. Santos advances current debates around Upper #Palaeolithic #rockart by shifting the focus from imagery alone to the social appropriation of space, integrating landscape, spatial practice, ontology.
doi.org/10.54799/OAK...
#archaeology #anthropology #art #heritage

🪨An Acheulean (Mode II) handaxe from the Lower Palaeolithic dating to c.425,000-250,000 BC. It is 18.5cms in length and 10cms at its widest and fits perfectly in the hand for its purpose.
#Archaeology #FindsFriday #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Wirral

📏🪨For those wishing to see the giant handaxe with scale here it is 👇
Also on the website 👉 prehistoricwirral.com/giant-handax...
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Wirral

Pronounced increase in biface knapping skill half a million years ago in Britain Flake scar patterning indicates Acheulean knappers were attempting to make thin, symmetrical handaxes with regular edges. In this study we quantify th…

Our latest paper on the pronounced increase in handaxe knapping skill present between the earliest Acheulean and that appearing in MIS 13 in Britain is now out in JAS: Reports.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#archaeology #palaeolithic #openaccess #handaxes

🪨Giant mystery: a Palaeolithic giant handaxe from Wirral. Read more 👀📖➡️ prehistoricwirral.com/giant-handax...
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Gianthandaxe #Wirral

Exploration of evidence for #numerical thinking in the #Palaeolithic

#archaeology #cognition

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/...

🪨🦣It’s that time of year when it’s out with the Oldowan…three flint pebble tools-a scraper/planer, side scraper and awl and a chopper. From a Lower Palaeolithic occupation site now built upon sadly.
#FindsFriday #FlintFriday #Archaeology #Lithics #Palaeolithic #Wirral

#FindsFriday #FlintFriday
🪨🔥🏹Hot stuff, a heated flint Levallois arrowhead thought to be made by Neanderthals and dating to c.400,000 BC and earliest evidence of archery? Part of a burnt flint assemblage. #Archaeology #Neanderthals #Palaeolithic #Lithics #Humanhistory #Wirral