Annemieke Milks

Last weekend I got out on my board for a wonderful session (just me and a few others out on the meanders). Today might be the last warm day before the temperature drops by quite a large margin so maybe I can fit one more in for 2025!

As do you. I recently had a non-archaeology academic colleague get wrapped into an email thread with archaeologists, and they messaged me to comment on how awful archs are to each other. 😬

That doesn't of course mean there's no scope for being critical, especially when a correction is in order, but one can be decent and fair in critiques.

Our wider research culture in archaeology is a shame, I hang on dearly to those collaborators that are decent, supportive (especially of early career researchers), share ideas, work well with others, and understand what 'constructive' feedback means. Every day I try to be that person for others.

exactly

lack of confidence

It's really interesting, isn't it. We know they provide important nutrients. What surprised me when doing the hammerstone experiment was that the grease and marrow was so liquid - not how we usually think of marrow. Outram also mentioned it in papers on horse.

Two key points from our paper: 1. We found wooden spears to be 'effective' on large prey, whether thrust or thrown. Results were pretty similar between the two. 2. We still think the Boxgrove horse was hunted! Just, that based on the experiments, that particular piece of evidence doesn't hold!

Thanks Marc, it's nice to finally get these experiments 'out there'.

A simple analytical model for Neanderthal disappearance due to genetic dilution by recurrent small-scale immigrations of modern humans - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - A simple analytical model for Neanderthal disappearance due to genetic dilution by recurrent small-scale immigrations of modern humans

Avoid jumping to conclusions about mechanisms behind large-scale genetic shifts in the past! This paper doesn’t prove that small scale migrations of Homo sapiens led to the gradual replacement of Neanderthal DNA but suggests this explanation is as good as any other.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Close-up image of a sand coloured stone, with a diagonal crack. The sand rock has a textured surface, and small spots of blue can be seen towards the centre of the stone. The background is grey.

Microscopic photo of the blue spots, that are irregular in shape and size and positioned diagonally across the image. The rest of the photo shows the rough sand coloured texture of the stone.

Time to update your Palaeolithic palettes... 🔵

Very proud to share our new research on the OLDEST use of blue pigment! We identified traces of azurite - a vibrant blue mineral - on a stone object around 14-13,000 years old. Why is this so exciting? 👇🏺

doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

By extension, this supports a recent proposal in the monograph on GTP17 that an entire group, including pregnant/lactating mothers and youngsters (for whom such fat and grease is especially necessary), may have been present and actively engaged.

Paper here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Rather, in terms of metrics and morphology, it matches best to impact from a hammerstone, likely used to access the liquid within-bone nutrients such as marrow and bone grease.

Through a series of experiments, microscopy, 3D analysis and statistics, we tested this hypothesis. We show that wooden spears - both in thrusting and throwing- are effective hunting weapons for large prey. However, we found it unlikely that this particular damage was caused by spear impact.

Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thank you!

Thank you!

Help maybe? I'm trying to finalise a grant budget and include some £££ for artistic reconstructions but I haven't had much luck getting estimated costs. I'd LOVE to pay real artists for this...but if I don't know how much to cost for I can't really budget for it.

@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!

3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution

2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.

Please share and apply!

www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Interested in post-doctoral research on hunter-gatherers with me at @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social? Main source of funding is from Research Ireland (see below). Deadline 23/10/25. Please contact me to discuss.

www.researchireland.ie/funding/gove...

Today I got to do something really fun that I've needed to do for a little while: Thanks to @kentwildlife.bsky.social I got to visit the original UK beaver release site to collect some beaver gnawed wood for my wood reference collection, and see this amazingly re-engineered landscape! 🦫🪵

🚨 We are hiring!! 🚨

The Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS' is looking for:

- a scientific coordinator

- a science communication officer

🚨 Deadline: September 15 🚨

See links for the full advertisements:

uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

🚨 Job alert!
The new Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS' is looking for a scientific coordinator to start as soon as possible.

Please see link for full advertisement text and information.

Deadline for applications: September 15

uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

We need a feminist palaeoanthropology that finally listens to all of us — HERI - Human Evolution Research Institute Palaeoanthropology asks profound questions: Who are we? What makes us human? Too often, answering these answers has been done by a privileged few. HERi Co-director Prof Rebecca Ackermann calls for tha...

And Palaeolithic archaeology, which remains hugely behind too. 'This is not about political correctness or ticking boxes....Diverse teams deliver better science: they ask different questions, challenge old assumptions, and produce richer, more nuanced insights.'
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

Of course. There are no perfect analogies for past behaviours, but experimentation helps us test theories with evidence, and have served to address some big (often weird) ideas that formed through the Western lens.

I love seeing experimental archaeology centred as a rigorous scientific approach to human evolution. It can sometimes be sidelined, methodologically, and represents impactful (if imperfect, like all avenues) and exciting opportunities to interpret human behaviour.

If I could move I'd be all over this...! What a great position.

I am extremely honored that our Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS' was selected for funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft!! This is incredible news and I look forward to exciting times ahead setting up this new Cluster!

I'm stepping down after 5 years as a co-chair, so please do vote for the new co-chair to join co-chairs Silje Evjenth Bentsen and Andrej Maczkowski!

orange cat standing in sink. text on reddit title says: yesterday he found cheese in the sink so now he’s looking for more sink cheese tag: ✨Floofy Orange ✨ (i.redd.it) submitted 7 hours ago by Melegie_ to r/OneOrangeBraincell subreddit 108 comments.

in a way aren't we all looking for more sink cheese where we found it yesterday