Michelle Langley

3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian whistle was likely used by police officer tasked with guarding the 'sacred location' of the royal tomb Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed a 3,300-year-old bone whistle carved out of a cow's toe, and it may have been used by an ancient "police officer."

Bit of press on our Amarna find:

www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

First Identification of Bone Whistle‐Use in Dynastic Egypt Despite over 200 years of intensive academic interest in Pharaonic Egypt, little focus has been given to understanding the production, use, and diversity of the osseous material culture created by th...

New paper alert -- and excited about this one!

Our recent work on the bone technology of Dynastic Egypt identified the first instances of a simple bone whistle at Amarna. Read here:

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

Cultural, economic, and settlement shifts over the last 9,000 years at Kakapel Rockshelter, Western Kenya The spread of food production in sub-Saharan Africa involved multi-directional dispersals of domesticated plant and animal species, often associated with major migrations. The Lake Victoria Basin of e...

New paper out! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Hark Episode 13: Part of the Choir Homo sapiens joined the story of life on Earth just 300,00 years ago. So when and how did we start making music and creating languages? In this episode, we explore these signature sounds and discover...

Ever wondered what the Palaeolithic sounded like? When did music and language begin? Here’s the podcast for you!

Had a great time being part of this project:

www.thresholdpodcast.org/hark-episode...

Bowhunting in the Magdalenian? A tip cross-sectional area exploration of five antler point types from southwest France Over the past 40 years, several researchers have suggested that the bow-and-arrow may have been part of the Magdalenian hunting kit. Here, we present …

New paper just out in JASR with Marlize Lombard —

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

WAC-10 is all go with many colleagues from everywhere!

Looks like weaving is off the cards for today….

The best part of reseach

The Guardian view on campus cuts: academics pay a high price for Westminster’s mistakes | Editorial Editorial: The government should not stand aloof as a crisis unfolds in our universities. A new settlement is needed

Appreciating the focus on the reality for staff, who are not at fault for this marketised deathspiral and have fought it every step of the way, and universities as a public good. Not a transaction about individual students' future pay cheque, but a good that serves us all.

(Guess what my pet project is at the moment 🔎🤓)

I have just recently discovered that very little work has actually been done on Egyptian material culture… and especially if it’s not made of something shiny!

Two more days to apply - deadline is Jan 15th!

Paola Villa (1939–2024) - Nature Ecology & Evolution Archaeologist with a wide view of prehistory and a passion for innovative collaboration.

Paola Villa, former Professor at @univbordeaux.bsky.social. Her meticulous critiques and dedication to archaeology made every work session a masterclass, leaving a legacy of trust, learning, and inspiration www.nature.com/articles/s41... @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social

Spent two weeks with the Amarna Project looking at fabulous archaeology with great people 🤩

Spears tipped with a multitude of 🦴 human bone 🦴 bipoints! In the Vanuatu National Cultural Centre

Reconstructing the chaine operatoire of Rochia bangles — Lapita tech in Vanuatu! In publication soon!

Back in the office…. “Downloading 1 of 739 emails”

www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/p...

Who were the first humans? How did we evolve? We tackle these big questions for young minds on
@ABCscience 'Imagine this' podcast for kids out tomorrow 20 Dec!

Talking #archaeology #HumanEvolution

abc.net.au/kidslisten/pro…

Read about the 40,000 year long “Shell-beading traditions at Asitau Kuru (Timor-Leste)” out today!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Humpback whales hold lore for Traditional Custodians. But laws don't protect species for their cultu... For Australia’s saltwater people, the migration routes of humpback whales represents an important songline

theconversation.com/humpback-wha...

Cartoon-style infographic illustrating the importance of archaeological find contexts and emphasising that undocumented unsystematic excavations would destroy this context and lose important information telling archaeologists much more about the past than retrieved objects alone.

Why #ContextMatters (not only, but particularly) in #archaeology 🏺:

An archaeological artifact without its documented find context is … like an image ripped from a book (and the rest of the pages torn into shreds): something nice to look at, but missing the actual story about it.

Orange volume of bone and tooth tech! Everything you ever wanted to know about Indigenous Australian items but were afraid to ask…

shop.aiatsis.gov.au/collections/...