We’re losing so many legends in archaeology. Here is a lovely tribute to Tony Marks, who died in August. He was incredibly encouraging to me, and supported our work revisiting the Nubian technology he first characterised. He will be missed.

www.icarehb.com/portfolio/in...

Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!

We introduce Carli Peters, researcher and biomolecular archaeologist at icarehb.bsky.social
Carli studies ancient human–animal interactions using palaeoproteomics and ZooMS to extract and identify ancient proteins from bone fragments.

It was a fantastic season! Very thankful to @lausanrom.bsky.social and @jorios.bsky.social !!!

In another exciting news I am kicking off a new project generously supported by the @royalsociety.org 🙏

The title tells you the whole story: “SOUTHERN DUSTSCAPES – Reconciling scales of past dust fluxes and their impact on climate in the Southern Hemisphere.”

#LoessIsMore #Dust #Quaternary

Matrix logo featuring a hand and two human heads, one form neanderthal and another of a modern human. The color is red and the logo and writing is white

The MATRIX Project, ERC Starting Grant, led by @veraaldeias.bsky.social and based at @icarehb.bsky.social, explores the replacement of Neanderthals by early modern humans by analyzing intact blocks of sediment as archives of ancient DNA, proteins, and lipids.
Follow us and visit matrix.icarehb.com

👥 Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!
🔬 Today: Vera Aldeias, PI of Matrix and a geoarchaeologist decoding past human behaviour through sediments.
🧬 Vera’s team uses ancient DNA & proteins in soils to trace modern humans’ arrival in Europe & Neanderthals’ disappearance.

👥 Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!

We introduce Hussein Kanbar, postdoc researcher and experimental geochemist at @icarehb.bsky.social
Hussein explores how DNA moves, binds, and survives in soils and sediments.
His work builds bridges between archaeology, geochemistry, and genetics.

🧪🏺🦣 Hugely exciting area for faunal & hominin ID using tiny fragments of bone within sediment sample blocks, allowing attribution to micro-layers: crucial to advance knowledge in Palaeolithc sites, especially those already excavated.
Sites tested: Bacho Kiro Cave, La Ferrassie, and Quinçay

New methods on the block: Taxonomic identification of archaeological bones in resin-embedded sediments through paleoproteomics Abstract. The integration of biomolecular studies of past organisms with geoarchaeological studies can significantly improve our understanding of the relat

📄 New paper 📣 of @matrixerc.bsky.social & @welkergroup.bsky.social! We show that microstratigraphic-scale #paleoproteomics works in intact sediments - opening new ways to explore ancient ecosystems & hominin behaviour 🌍🦴
@erc.europa.eu @icarehb.bsky.social 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Hace 45-70 ka los neandertales de El Castillo (España) usaban materia prima local, pero también adquirida a grandes distancias.
Neanderthal mobility over very long distances: The case of El Castillo cave (northern Spain) and the ‘Vasconian’ Mousterian

Wrapping up another amazing field season in #AmaldaIII with this fantastic team @jorios.bsky.social @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social Antxieta Arkeologi Taldea, Martin Arriolabengoa

Here we are #AmaldaIII with @jorios.bsky.social @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social and Antxieta Arkeologi Taldea group
📷 from the cave by @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social

📣Our new paper presents new a high-resolution luminescence and radiocarbon chronology for the Naisiusiu Beds at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. This site is crucial for understanding the cultural and biological evolution of Homo sapiens in the Late Pleistocene.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Wonderful HEAS Road Trip to Willendorf, Nussdorf and Traismauer! - We explored the prehistoric and Roman archaeology of the Traisen and Wachau valleys.
@heasvienna.bsky.social @rebaysalisbury.bsky.social @dominikhartmann.bsky.social @uhaunivienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at @palarchgroup.bsky.social

HEAS Member awarded FWF grant for project “Residential Mobility in Upper Palaeolithic Europe” - HEAS HEAS Team Leader Philip R. Nigst has been awarded an FWF Principal Investigator grant for his project REMO (Residential Mobility in Upper Palaeolithic Europe) along with collaborators Marjolein D. Bos...

HEAS Member @philipnigst.bsky.social has been awarded an FWF grant for the project “Residential Mobility in Upper Palaeolithic Europe”

@palarchgroup.bsky.social
@uhaunivienna.bsky.social
@fwf-at.bsky.social

👇

Alicona images (10× lens) of specimens from Amud (A, B) and Kebara (C, D), with examples of the associated profile diagrams showing the variables measured at the mid-point of the cut-marks studied, with: in (B2), the width of the incision on the surface (WIS), the depth of the incision (D), the opening angle of the incision (OA); in (D2), the floor radius (Rd) of the incision. Note: due to the difference in scale between the X- and Y-axes, the circle used to calculate the floor radius (Rd) appears elliptical.

Cut from the same cloth?
Comparing Neanderthal processing of faunal resources at Amud and Kebara caves (Israel) through cut-marks analyses 🏺🧪
www.frontiersin.org/journals/env...

Suggests distinctive butchering between Amud and Kebara caves despite comparable occupation, lithics, and resources.

Very excited to receive an ERC Starting Grant to study the earliest archaeological and biomolecular evidence of Homo sapiens in NW Europe

Watch this space for new positions in Bristol in 2026! 🎉

#HorizonEurope #ERCStG

Considering the EAA’s contradictory statements and its position of holding volunteers responsible for limiting free speech, shaming the professional class, I will not present this year, will not renew my membership, and call for the Executive Board’s resignation.

#1 New Publication! Kumar Akhilesh, Susana Rubio-Jara, Joaquín Panera, Manuel Santonja, Alfredo Pérez-González, Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Patricia Bello-Alonso & Shanti Pappu. 2025.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-025-00224-3#citeas
Read this thread...

Reconstructing Skills and Strategies of Hominins During the Early Acheulean: Behavioral Flexibility in Handaxe Production at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Abstract Technological strategies for biface manufacture adopted during the Acheulean represent a significant shift in the Lower Palaeolithic. The appearance of intentional bifacial shaping indicates ...

New Publication! Kumar Akhilesh, Susana Rubio-Jara, Joaquín Panera, Manuel Santonja, Alfredo Pérez-González, Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Patricia Bello-Alonso & Shanti Pappu. 2025.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-025-00224-3#citeas

Animals don’t just live in their environments—they transform them. And in doing so, they may also shape their own evolutionary trajectories. Our new paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution introduces a framework for zoogeochemical niche construction. A thread 👇

I feel exactly the same! Really enjoying chatting about caves, carnivores and extictions. Looking forward to working together!

Photograph of a man in a red caving helmet, light blue jacket and grey trousers inspecting a bone assemblage in the middle of a cave passage.

We’re delighted to be hosting Dr Meir Orbach (AKA @meirzooarch.bsky.social) on a Rothschild Fellowship this year. Meir is working with Prof Hannah O’Regan on lateglacial faunas and extinction. #archaeology #caves #zooarch 🧪🏺

Carnivores, caves, #fossils and #archaeology. I’m really enjoying chatting with Meir about the Pleistocene and the beasties that inhabited it. Nothing like a bit of #Quaternary #palaeontology to start the #palaeoecological thoughts going again. It’s great to have you join us in Nottingham, Meir!

Mechanical experiments are in progress at TraCEr by @eduardopaixao.bsky.social, testing the impact of different raw materials on the crushing of raw tubers.
This study is part of broader research on early human behavior and percussive tool use at the Acheulean site of Melka Wakena, Ethiopia

The first week of excavations and stratigraphic documentation at Dalarik-1 Cave was very successful! The trip to Kalavan village - and the homonymous Palaeolithic sites - was the best treat for a day-off! A stop at Gutanasar volcano was a must! @humendylab.bsky.social #TransCause

Volcanos, glacial lakes, #Kalavan, and new friends #Armenia @humendylab.bsky.social

@arikmalinsky-b.bsky.social @norarch.bsky.social @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social @lausanrom.bsky.social @dr-eva-martellotta.bsky.social

Back to Armenia, back to Dalarik-1 Cave, with a large international team from Armenia, Spain, Israel, Greece, France, Portugal, Italy & beyond! Let the excavation of this unique Middle Pleistocene site start! 🎉 #TransCause @humendylab.bsky.social

Here we are! #TransCause team in Armenia @humendylab.bsky.social