Dr Matt Pope

Strong Bagpuss Elephant Vibes

Oh god yes, I am ready to give someone my £££ for a little stuffed Vogelherd mammoth

Does he have a message for us?

A monochrome tattoo in the style of an archaeological illustration of one of the Vogelherd mammoths, on the forearm of a middle aged woman, juxtaposed against some very natty red Christmas pyjamas with lynxes in green jumpers on them

Like this guy?!

I'd like to read your PhD. I'm also now thinking about having some aurignacian stitching as tattoos

Excited we are going to be discussing this at Palaeounch next week. In this Aurignacian ivory mammoth I can't get away from seeing a model of a stitched up toy mammoth. Did Auriganican kids have cuddly toys sewn from megafaunal hide? 🦣🏺

The UCL Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic (PaPa) MSc programme is a pioneering course in human origins delivered by a world-leading university. It will bring you a deep and expert understanding of the record of human evolution combining opportunities for the study of palaeolithic archaeology, palaeoanthropology and wider scientific approaches to the early human story. Coordinated by UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology departments and drawing on expertise from across the University and other institutions, it will provide you with training in the specialisms of your choice. Having run now for over 15 years, we have PaPa alumni actively leading a new generation of human origins research across the world. Our programme is a proven springboard to PhD programmes, careers in academia, archaeological science, specialist archaeological fieldwork, science media and much more.

Applications are now open to join our 2026 UCL Master's programme in human evolution. Covering the Palaeolithic, Palaeoanthropology & other key disciplines, the course is designed to equip you for a career in the deep human past. #PaPa 🦣📷https://tinyurl.com/5duy6twh

Possible Arrowheads from 80,000 Years Ago in Uzbekistan Are Rewriting Where Homo sapiens Came From Tiny stone fragments in a Central Asian rock shelter are challenging the standard story of how our species first entered Europe

Possible Arrowheads from 80,000 Years Ago in Uzbekistan Are Rewriting Where Homo sapiens Came From
open.substack.com/pub/anthropo...

Like the Neronian might be below a Neanderthal layer at Grotte Mandrin?

Is there any certainly at all that these were made by Neanderthal people? 🦣🏺

we need a mash up of our photos for the perfect dusty tropical moonset 🌕🏝️

Great colour to yours!

The Full Moon setting out west

Well given they drew on their previous research in this one, they might oblige us next year

We muddled through but we did at one point say "if only Tom was here"

Ha!

It's very cool stuff, his dating work is so transformative, his and Rogers impact on the British Upper Pal is still being felt.

Happy to help, research frameworks need solid, enforceable specifications to go with them, otherwise rarely anything happens and cheaper options prevail.

"It is worth at this point taking a look at our nearest European neighbours. In Northern France new Palaeolithic archaeological sites are being found on a regular basis,unlike in southern England, despite having broadly analogous capture points. How
and where are these being found?"

"They often work to minimum guidelines in order to win the job; therefore, those minimum guidelines need to set the bar at an appropriate level to gain maximum value from the resource while still being economically viable. That is why the nested
approach is advocated."

"The absence of statements regarding the need to discover new sites at this time (19thc) emphasises that discovery of sites was a de facto" but "since the 1940s the rate of discovery has all but collapsed, leaving archaeologists with no option but to re-examine the same aging sites and datasets."

"Consequently the notion of a successful Palaeolithic assessment of a site can mean ifferent things to different practitioners, development control
officers and curators. a factor currently exacerbated by recent cuts to, and restructuring of, local, district and county Planning Departments."

"When undertaken, these typically follow standardised procedures used
for later prehistoric and historic archaeological investigations where the frameworks
and methodologies do not always apply to the Palaeolithic archaeological resource."

Some quick quotes "the profession is hampered by lack of recognised standards for
fieldwork undertaken as part of development control investigations, even to the level
of what should, or should not, be included in desk-top evaluations and field
assessments."

Gosh it has been over ten years since we published The British Palaeolithic post-ALSF: Core Principles for Future Enhancement, Expansion and Engagement. It rather got buried and forgotten about. 🏺🦣
discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/15...

Extented deadline to March 20th! ✨✨

A dramatic colourful image of Stoneghenge. The stones are sillouetted in black against a firey-covered sky. The grass is a luminescent green. A robed druid-like figure stands in shadow in front of the stones holding a staff. On a hill in the distance (which does not exist in reality) are a group of shadowy men on horseback, one wielding what can only be described as a long 'thing'.

This Week! On Age of Stonehenge! All the different ways in which this image is wrong, the development of the Chacolithic Britain, defined not just by metalworking but migrations of Beaker-associated groups and interactions with local people who are in the middle of a massive monument binge.

Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased Sex biases in admixture and other demographic processes are recurrent features throughout human evolution. For admixture between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), sex bias has been p...

Today in Palaeolunch we are discussing Platt et al. 2026 Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased 🦣🏺🧬https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6774

Yes they are. in almost every case it has been the specifics of the district and how they then flag it up to County or the covering consultant

I'll text you