Augusta McMahon
@augustamcmahon.bsky.social
Mesopotamian archaeologist at Univ of Chicago; former Univ of Cambridge; ancient urbanism; Tell Brak and Nippur; Co-Editor, Iraq Journal; distance runner.
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Inscribed clay cylinders reveal Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration of the Kish Ziggurat
A new study presents two inscribed clay cylinders that bear direct textual evidence of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration work at the ziggurat of Kish...
More info: archaeologymag.com/2026/01/clay...
A new study presents two inscribed clay cylinders that bear direct textual evidence of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration work at the ziggurat of Kish...
More info: archaeologymag.com/2026/01/clay...
January 27, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Inscribed clay cylinders reveal Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration of the Kish Ziggurat
A new study presents two inscribed clay cylinders that bear direct textual evidence of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration work at the ziggurat of Kish...
More info: archaeologymag.com/2026/01/clay...
A new study presents two inscribed clay cylinders that bear direct textual evidence of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoration work at the ziggurat of Kish...
More info: archaeologymag.com/2026/01/clay...
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Board of Peace - Season 1
January 24, 2026 at 7:45 AM
Board of Peace - Season 1
I have eaten shark in Yemen (which sounds like a possible title for my memoirs), and it is delicious. It makes total sense that the Neolithic population of the region were onto it.
📰 Isotope analysis finds Neolithic people at Wadi Nafūn, Oman were regularly eating proteins from the top of the marine food chain, suggesting that prehistoric people in Arabia were hunting and eating sharks!
🏺 #ArchaeologyNews via @labrujulaverde.bsky.social
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/n...
🏺 #ArchaeologyNews via @labrujulaverde.bsky.social
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/n...
Neolithic Peoples of Arabia Fed on Shark Hunting 7,000 Years Ago
A team of researchers from the Archaeological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague has made a discovery of monumental proportions in the arid territory of Oman, specifically at the…
www.labrujulaverde.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:48 PM
I have eaten shark in Yemen (which sounds like a possible title for my memoirs), and it is delicious. It makes total sense that the Neolithic population of the region were onto it.
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
“It's disappointing to see universities fold under pressure to terminate faculty for expressing themselves online, as if the First Amendment is an expediency to be discarded at a whim.”
Professors fired for criticizing Charlie Kirk are returning to work
After Charlie Kirk's death, a wave of universities fired or censured staffers for criticizing him. Months later, some professors are returning.
www.usatoday.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:39 PM
“It's disappointing to see universities fold under pressure to terminate faculty for expressing themselves online, as if the First Amendment is an expediency to be discarded at a whim.”
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Am I a bad person for laughing at this?
January 3, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Am I a bad person for laughing at this?
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Hello!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
December 14, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hello!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
No no, do all this but stop in Mesopotamia. 😀
🏺 Top tip for British Museum visitors: go across the court, up rotunda stairs, cross bridge into upper floor, head past crowds aiming for Egypt and Mesopotamia, and go straight to Rooms 50 and 51 where the most stunning array of glories from later prehistory await you!
December 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
No no, do all this but stop in Mesopotamia. 😀
At minimum, she needs a decent carving knife and some spices. This ‘feast’ explains a lot.
November 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
At minimum, she needs a decent carving knife and some spices. This ‘feast’ explains a lot.
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Can’t believe all these people are running a marathon through "war torn" Chicago today
October 12, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Can’t believe all these people are running a marathon through "war torn" Chicago today
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
AAUP President Todd Wolfson unpacks the dangerous consequences of the Trump administration’s compact, which aims to exert ideological control over universities and colleges. As Wolfson makes clear, this partisan incursion into higher education affects ALL sectors.
@proftwolf.bsky.social
@proftwolf.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 8:55 PM
AAUP President Todd Wolfson unpacks the dangerous consequences of the Trump administration’s compact, which aims to exert ideological control over universities and colleges. As Wolfson makes clear, this partisan incursion into higher education affects ALL sectors.
@proftwolf.bsky.social
@proftwolf.bsky.social
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Babylonian map of the world (© The Trustees of the British Museum) and c. AD 1620 Portuguese map of Basra, Iraq (© Hugo Refachinho / CC BY-SA 4.0). Despite both depicting the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab river, they are completely different, showcasing maps' subjectivity
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
September 12, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Babylonian map of the world (© The Trustees of the British Museum) and c. AD 1620 Portuguese map of Basra, Iraq (© Hugo Refachinho / CC BY-SA 4.0). Despite both depicting the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab river, they are completely different, showcasing maps' subjectivity
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
This. Many colleagues want to be helpful but clearly should just say no. Nagging reviewers is the worst part of my editor job.
Peer reviewers are exhausted. It's common to spend *months* inviting reviewers, getting refusals, inviting more, maybe 12 or more, then 2 agree but 1 doesn't complete, so you go again. That's why your paper is in limbo. I'm very sorry, it's awful, but it's also an untenable academic labour issue.
September 7, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This. Many colleagues want to be helpful but clearly should just say no. Nagging reviewers is the worst part of my editor job.
No, we’d prefer to accept PhD applicants for 2026, but the previously lucky departments have joined with the unlucky in solidarity. Awesome colleagues! www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...
More UChicago Ph.D. Programs Will Pause Admissions
The arts and humanities dean said “nearly all” faculty leaders preferred “a broader pause for the division.” Some social sciences programs also aren’t accepting new students.
www.insidehighered.com
August 24, 2025 at 2:03 AM
No, we’d prefer to accept PhD applicants for 2026, but the previously lucky departments have joined with the unlucky in solidarity. Awesome colleagues! www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...
A lot of overlap with subjects for which PhD admissions are paused for 2026 at UChicago. We are not unionised.
A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.
August 19, 2025 at 8:49 AM
A lot of overlap with subjects for which PhD admissions are paused for 2026 at UChicago. We are not unionised.
No PhD admissions for Middle Eastern Studies at UChicago in 2026. MES includes modern and all aspects of the ancient Near East: cuneiform languages, Egyptology, archaeology 🏺 www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...
UChicago Freezing Ph.D. Admissions for Multiple Programs
The indebted institution tasked committees of faculty and staff with planning for changes. But this week, a dean forged ahead and announced broad cuts. Two other units are also pausing admissions.
www.insidehighered.com
August 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
No PhD admissions for Middle Eastern Studies at UChicago in 2026. MES includes modern and all aspects of the ancient Near East: cuneiform languages, Egyptology, archaeology 🏺 www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...
UChicago’s phoenix is flying backwards into the ashes. #AcademicSky www.chronicle.com/article/they...
They’re Killing the Humanities On Purpose
The crisis is not one of resources but of values.
www.chronicle.com
August 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM
UChicago’s phoenix is flying backwards into the ashes. #AcademicSky www.chronicle.com/article/they...
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
The government is “using levers of power that are completely unrelated to the underlying allegations…Cutting off research for diabetes, cancer, heart disease will not improve the safety of Jewish faculty & students on campus & will not address antisemitism.”
—Mia McIver, AAUP Executive Director
—Mia McIver, AAUP Executive Director
With Grant Cuts, Trump Pressures UCLA to Make Deal
Like it did for prestigious private universities, the administration has cut off federal grants for UCLA, alleging it failed to address antisemitism. The UC system must tell the DOJ by today whether i...
www.insidehighered.com
August 5, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The government is “using levers of power that are completely unrelated to the underlying allegations…Cutting off research for diabetes, cancer, heart disease will not improve the safety of Jewish faculty & students on campus & will not address antisemitism.”
—Mia McIver, AAUP Executive Director
—Mia McIver, AAUP Executive Director
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
FEATURED JOB: Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship [Up to 3-Year Appointment] College of Arts & Sciences, Cornell University - New York
networks.h-net.org/jobs/68922/c...
#edusky #academicsky #humanities #socialsciences
networks.h-net.org/jobs/68922/c...
#edusky #academicsky #humanities #socialsciences
August 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
FEATURED JOB: Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship [Up to 3-Year Appointment] College of Arts & Sciences, Cornell University - New York
networks.h-net.org/jobs/68922/c...
#edusky #academicsky #humanities #socialsciences
networks.h-net.org/jobs/68922/c...
#edusky #academicsky #humanities #socialsciences
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
If you want to hear the latest news from one of Iraq's most iconic sites, and how excavations work, episode 77 is for you
So nice to chat to @jonjtaylor.bsky.social about our 2025 #Nippur excavations. Check out Episode 77! www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/
Episode list - Thin End of the Wedge
COMING SOON! Tina Greenfield — zooarchaeology Augusta McMahon — Chicago excavations at Nippur The Lagash Archaeological Project — fieldwork at Lagash Jana Mynářová — cuneiform in Egypt Christina Tsoup...
www.wedgepod.org
July 29, 2025 at 8:40 AM
If you want to hear the latest news from one of Iraq's most iconic sites, and how excavations work, episode 77 is for you
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
New volume of IRAQ Vol. 86 (2024) www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @universitypress.cambridge.org @augustamcmahon.bsky.social @petramcreamer.bsky.social
July 22, 2025 at 1:11 AM
New volume of IRAQ Vol. 86 (2024) www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @universitypress.cambridge.org @augustamcmahon.bsky.social @petramcreamer.bsky.social
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Reposted by Augusta McMahon
Day 3 of the Summer Institute begins!
“Academic freedom is a job condition, not a privilege…this is a matter of democratic education.”
—Rana Jaleel, Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure, Morning Plenary “Protecting Academic Freedom: How to Build an Effective Issue Campaign.”
“Academic freedom is a job condition, not a privilege…this is a matter of democratic education.”
—Rana Jaleel, Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure, Morning Plenary “Protecting Academic Freedom: How to Build an Effective Issue Campaign.”
July 19, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Day 3 of the Summer Institute begins!
“Academic freedom is a job condition, not a privilege…this is a matter of democratic education.”
—Rana Jaleel, Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure, Morning Plenary “Protecting Academic Freedom: How to Build an Effective Issue Campaign.”
“Academic freedom is a job condition, not a privilege…this is a matter of democratic education.”
—Rana Jaleel, Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure, Morning Plenary “Protecting Academic Freedom: How to Build an Effective Issue Campaign.”
So nice to chat to @jonjtaylor.bsky.social about our 2025 #Nippur excavations. Check out Episode 77! www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/
Episode list - Thin End of the Wedge
COMING SOON! Tina Greenfield — zooarchaeology Augusta McMahon — Chicago excavations at Nippur The Lagash Archaeological Project — fieldwork at Lagash Jana Mynářová — cuneiform in Egypt Christina Tsoup...
www.wedgepod.org
July 10, 2025 at 2:59 AM
So nice to chat to @jonjtaylor.bsky.social about our 2025 #Nippur excavations. Check out Episode 77! www.wedgepod.org/episode-list/