Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
@cultarchaeo.bsky.social
🇨🇦 (BC)Archaeologist & PhD student: Brother XII & the Aquarian Foundation | archaeology of conspirituality | landscape archaeology | pseudoarchaeology | far-right pseudo/archaeology (she/her)
https://bonesstonesandbooks.com/publication
https://bonesstonesandbooks.com/publication
Pinned
My author copy of the home of my recent chapter on far-right uses of pseudoarchaeology arrived today 🙌 Timely, given that a certain Netflix series with a season premiere date right around the corner makes an unfortunate appearance in here 👀
🏺
🏺
We already see literally this *exact* same claim from adults engaged in pseudoarchaeological content - that humans could not have [done whatever they're focusing on]. I worry about how difficult education on the past will become as kids who believe this begin to take notice of adults in popular
1/
1/
I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
We already see literally this *exact* same claim from adults engaged in pseudoarchaeological content - that humans could not have [done whatever they're focusing on]. I worry about how difficult education on the past will become as kids who believe this begin to take notice of adults in popular
1/
1/
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
This is happening on Thursday, btw!
🏺📜 Next month! I’ll be giving a talk about my recent work with @garstangmuseum.bsky.social at the Society for Museum Archaeology Conference in Liverpool. You can get tickets at the link below.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
November 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
This is happening on Thursday, btw!
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
*** ANNOUNCEMENT***
The #EAA warmly invites its members to attend a Special Meeting, which will be held online on Friday, 9 January 2026, from 15:00 to 17:00 CET. This Special Meeting has been convened by the EAA President following a written request from ten percent of the current membership.
1/
The #EAA warmly invites its members to attend a Special Meeting, which will be held online on Friday, 9 January 2026, from 15:00 to 17:00 CET. This Special Meeting has been convened by the EAA President following a written request from ten percent of the current membership.
1/
November 10, 2025 at 11:09 AM
*** ANNOUNCEMENT***
The #EAA warmly invites its members to attend a Special Meeting, which will be held online on Friday, 9 January 2026, from 15:00 to 17:00 CET. This Special Meeting has been convened by the EAA President following a written request from ten percent of the current membership.
1/
The #EAA warmly invites its members to attend a Special Meeting, which will be held online on Friday, 9 January 2026, from 15:00 to 17:00 CET. This Special Meeting has been convened by the EAA President following a written request from ten percent of the current membership.
1/
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Oh hey, that's me! Very much looking forward to giving this talk at ITU next week!
Friends! On November 19th at 16:00, in Auditorium 3 at the ITU, we are hosting a talk by Florence Smith Nicholls. The talk is titled How to be a video game archaeologist. You can read about it here: digitalplay.itu.dk/event/floren...
How To Be A Video Game Archaeologist - A talk by Florence Smith Nicholls | Center for Digital Play
How To Be A Video Game Archaeologist - A talk by Florence Smith Nicholls
digitalplay.itu.dk
November 10, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Oh hey, that's me! Very much looking forward to giving this talk at ITU next week!
I see a lot of pseudoarchaeology & pseudohistory in these spaces, used to begin the process of casting doubt that helps open doors to this pipeline. One influencer on TikTok, with 1.1 million followers, shares pseudoarch/hist Tartaria & Grand Canyon stuff to "question the narrative," as she puts it.
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls
How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I see a lot of pseudoarchaeology & pseudohistory in these spaces, used to begin the process of casting doubt that helps open doors to this pipeline. One influencer on TikTok, with 1.1 million followers, shares pseudoarch/hist Tartaria & Grand Canyon stuff to "question the narrative," as she puts it.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls
How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
This is one of the best explainers on the ongoing saga out of BC.
Too few mainstream news articles touch on the connections to the Convoy, or the fact that it’s really the same movement, with ostriches.
The farmers are saying this is just starting. it’ll be interesting to see where it goes now.
Too few mainstream news articles touch on the connections to the Convoy, or the fact that it’s really the same movement, with ostriches.
The farmers are saying this is just starting. it’ll be interesting to see where it goes now.
For months, I’ve been following a Canadian ostrich farm ordered to cull its flock after a bird flu outbreak. It was a cause célèbre for MAHA activists, a MAGA billionaire, and, of course, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The trucker convoy with birds ended last night. They lost. www.msnbc.com/news/news-an...
Why the conspiratorial right rallied around a flock of ostriches
The anti-vaccine, anti-government crusade to save "the miracle cure birds" is over — and the fringe activists lost.
www.msnbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
This is one of the best explainers on the ongoing saga out of BC.
Too few mainstream news articles touch on the connections to the Convoy, or the fact that it’s really the same movement, with ostriches.
The farmers are saying this is just starting. it’ll be interesting to see where it goes now.
Too few mainstream news articles touch on the connections to the Convoy, or the fact that it’s really the same movement, with ostriches.
The farmers are saying this is just starting. it’ll be interesting to see where it goes now.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Hi Bluesky 👋
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Hi Bluesky 👋
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
NEW - The Trump admin has disbanded its federal cultural property investigations team and reassigned the agents to immigration enforcement, delivering a blow to one of the world’s leaders in heritage protection, according to multiple ppl familiar with the changes.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
The U.S. was a leader in cultural heritage investigations. Now those agents are working immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Investigations, the department’s investigative arm, once had as many as eight agents in its New York office investigating cultural property cases.
www.denverpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
NEW - The Trump admin has disbanded its federal cultural property investigations team and reassigned the agents to immigration enforcement, delivering a blow to one of the world’s leaders in heritage protection, according to multiple ppl familiar with the changes.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Thank you to all who attended, and to our wonderful speaker Dr. Andre Costopoulos for such an interesting talk!
Stay tuned for details for our next talk in early December, perhaps a little something about archaeogaming 👀
🏺
Stay tuned for details for our next talk in early December, perhaps a little something about archaeogaming 👀
🏺
Our first Speaker Series event of 2025 is coming up! Join us on Oct 30, 11:30 to 12:30 pm MT, to hear Dr. Andre Costopoulos talk about the evolution of UFO beliefs from WWII to today! Attend in-person in Tory 14-28, or join us online (registration in the next post). Hope to see you there! 🏺
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Thank you to all who attended, and to our wonderful speaker Dr. Andre Costopoulos for such an interesting talk!
Stay tuned for details for our next talk in early December, perhaps a little something about archaeogaming 👀
🏺
Stay tuned for details for our next talk in early December, perhaps a little something about archaeogaming 👀
🏺
Update on the Tri-Council info demands: personal info will be anonymized (good!). But the reasoning behind the demand for the info is concerning, the involvement of certain people is concerning, and the potential impacts to research is concerning. We should keep writing/drawing attention to that.
The 🇨🇦 Standing Committee on Science and Research passed a modified resolution this afternoon that the requested ricouncil applicant and reviewer data can be aggregated and anonymized. Thanks to the many researchers who signed letters pointing out legitimate data privacy concerns. 👏👏
November 6, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Update on the Tri-Council info demands: personal info will be anonymized (good!). But the reasoning behind the demand for the info is concerning, the involvement of certain people is concerning, and the potential impacts to research is concerning. We should keep writing/drawing attention to that.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
The 🇨🇦 Standing Committee on Science and Research passed a modified resolution this afternoon that the requested ricouncil applicant and reviewer data can be aggregated and anonymized. Thanks to the many researchers who signed letters pointing out legitimate data privacy concerns. 👏👏
November 6, 2025 at 12:22 AM
The 🇨🇦 Standing Committee on Science and Research passed a modified resolution this afternoon that the requested ricouncil applicant and reviewer data can be aggregated and anonymized. Thanks to the many researchers who signed letters pointing out legitimate data privacy concerns. 👏👏
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Excited to share that, with @cat-tebaldi.bsky.social , we’ve published a new article in New Media & Society!
We examine how far-right actors on X (formerly Twitter) instrumentalize wellness culture to spread reactionary ideology.
Thread below 🧵
We examine how far-right actors on X (formerly Twitter) instrumentalize wellness culture to spread reactionary ideology.
Thread below 🧵
The wellness pipeline: Tracing far-right health narratives on X - Piotr Marczyński, Catherine Tebaldi, 2025
This article examines how far-right groups advance political agendas through digital platforms, specifically by embedding reactionary ideology within health and...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Excited to share that, with @cat-tebaldi.bsky.social , we’ve published a new article in New Media & Society!
We examine how far-right actors on X (formerly Twitter) instrumentalize wellness culture to spread reactionary ideology.
Thread below 🧵
We examine how far-right actors on X (formerly Twitter) instrumentalize wellness culture to spread reactionary ideology.
Thread below 🧵
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Got the editors' blessing to share this news. My chapter "National Socialist Black Metal & the Usurpation of Greece and Rome" will appear in the forthcoming volume "Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right," edited by Helen Roche and @denisemccoskey.bsky.social!
November 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Got the editors' blessing to share this news. My chapter "National Socialist Black Metal & the Usurpation of Greece and Rome" will appear in the forthcoming volume "Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right," edited by Helen Roche and @denisemccoskey.bsky.social!
I'm glad to see this finally appearing in media. That this is happening is alarming and the potential outcomes could be devastating to Canadian researchers and research.
How much are MPs entitled to know about research grants? Not as much as they think. A parliamentary committee is asking for researchers' personal information in what seems like an anti-DEI crusade, by @picardonhealth.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... via @theglobeandmail.com
Opinion: How much are MPs entitled to know about research grants? Not as much as they think
A parliamentary committee is asking for academics’ private information on a strange anti-DEI crusade
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I'm glad to see this finally appearing in media. That this is happening is alarming and the potential outcomes could be devastating to Canadian researchers and research.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
🏺📜 Next month! I’ll be giving a talk about my recent work with @garstangmuseum.bsky.social at the Society for Museum Archaeology Conference in Liverpool. You can get tickets at the link below.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
October 8, 2025 at 11:31 AM
🏺📜 Next month! I’ll be giving a talk about my recent work with @garstangmuseum.bsky.social at the Society for Museum Archaeology Conference in Liverpool. You can get tickets at the link below.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/society-fo...
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
📜 This is also happening in about two weeks as well! I’ll be chatting about my previous museum collections work with local communities.
www.tickettailor.com/events/museu...
www.tickettailor.com/events/museu...
November 5, 2025 at 12:31 PM
📜 This is also happening in about two weeks as well! I’ll be chatting about my previous museum collections work with local communities.
www.tickettailor.com/events/museu...
www.tickettailor.com/events/museu...
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space 🧪 🏺 🔭 #SpaceArchaeology
25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space
Archaeologists have studied how astronauts use the International Space Station to improve its potential future successors.
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:12 AM
25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space 🧪 🏺 🔭 #SpaceArchaeology
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
I would really love to see Canadian media writing about this deeply unethical overreach that is an attack on EDI and will put thousands of Canadian researchers at risk should their confidential information be handed over. Plus, Steven Pinker is involved, that element is concerning enough on its own.
If you have or have had Tri-Council funding you, too, may be concerned about this Parliamentary Committee request for confidential data.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Council EDI Data
Why do we need urgent action to protect our data?
The mandate of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research is to review and report on topics relating to science and research in ...
docs.google.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I would really love to see Canadian media writing about this deeply unethical overreach that is an attack on EDI and will put thousands of Canadian researchers at risk should their confidential information be handed over. Plus, Steven Pinker is involved, that element is concerning enough on its own.
The Indigenous knowledge statement was made by Eric Kaufmann, multi-time author at Quillette and director of the "Centre for Heterodox Social Science." He teaches an online public course about "woke," featuring readings from Christopher Rufo, James Lindsay, Richard Hanania, to name just a few.
November 2, 2025 at 9:46 PM
The Indigenous knowledge statement was made by Eric Kaufmann, multi-time author at Quillette and director of the "Centre for Heterodox Social Science." He teaches an online public course about "woke," featuring readings from Christopher Rufo, James Lindsay, Richard Hanania, to name just a few.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Highlights include a dude saying that 'females, black, and brown researchers are less productive' (I wonder why, maybe because more work is put on our shoulders??), & that 'elevating Indigenous knowledge to the level of science is a threat to the pursuit of truth' 🫠😭.
November 2, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Highlights include a dude saying that 'females, black, and brown researchers are less productive' (I wonder why, maybe because more work is put on our shoulders??), & that 'elevating Indigenous knowledge to the level of science is a threat to the pursuit of truth' 🫠😭.
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
Holy guys. I've been reading more about this & it is So Scary. We need diversity in research. We need everyone's voices & ideas. #cbc #academia @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social
I've been reading this meeting record on the topic & it is Chilling.
www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...
I've been reading this meeting record on the topic & it is Chilling.
www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...
November 2, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Holy guys. I've been reading more about this & it is So Scary. We need diversity in research. We need everyone's voices & ideas. #cbc #academia @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social
I've been reading this meeting record on the topic & it is Chilling.
www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...
I've been reading this meeting record on the topic & it is Chilling.
www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...
I would really love to see Canadian media writing about this deeply unethical overreach that is an attack on EDI and will put thousands of Canadian researchers at risk should their confidential information be handed over. Plus, Steven Pinker is involved, that element is concerning enough on its own.
If you have or have had Tri-Council funding you, too, may be concerned about this Parliamentary Committee request for confidential data.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Council EDI Data
Why do we need urgent action to protect our data?
The mandate of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research is to review and report on topics relating to science and research in ...
docs.google.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I would really love to see Canadian media writing about this deeply unethical overreach that is an attack on EDI and will put thousands of Canadian researchers at risk should their confidential information be handed over. Plus, Steven Pinker is involved, that element is concerning enough on its own.
I've got tables at two christmas markets later this month and I've been having fun playing around with materials and colours to add a little bit of whimsy to my candle holders 😍
November 2, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I've got tables at two christmas markets later this month and I've been having fun playing around with materials and colours to add a little bit of whimsy to my candle holders 😍