Dan Diffendale
@diffendale.bsky.social
archaeologist, at the moment studying volcanic tuff as a building material but interested in all old trash
ΟΣΟΝ ΖΗΣ ΦΑΙΝΟΥ
he/him
Pisa
🥖🌹
simultaneously more and less fun than profile suggests
ΟΣΟΝ ΖΗΣ ΦΑΙΝΟΥ
he/him
Pisa
🥖🌹
simultaneously more and less fun than profile suggests
Pinned
Dan Diffendale
@diffendale.bsky.social
· Nov 10
diffendale's collections on Flickr
The safest and most inclusive global community of photography enthusiasts. The best place for inspiration, connection, and sharing!
www.flickr.com
my collection of about 14,000 photos (and growing) of ancient Mediterranean (broadly construed) archaeological subjects with Creative Commons license available here:
www.flickr.com/photos/dandi...
www.flickr.com/photos/dandi...
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
New year, new Rhea!
Rhea Classical Reviews is excited to share that we have officially been designated as a 501c3 organization! Obtaining this tax-free, non-profit status opens the door for us to expand, as well as apply for grants and secure funding to support our internal and external operations.
Rhea Classical Reviews is excited to share that we have officially been designated as a 501c3 organization! Obtaining this tax-free, non-profit status opens the door for us to expand, as well as apply for grants and secure funding to support our internal and external operations.
January 1, 2026 at 8:48 AM
New year, new Rhea!
Rhea Classical Reviews is excited to share that we have officially been designated as a 501c3 organization! Obtaining this tax-free, non-profit status opens the door for us to expand, as well as apply for grants and secure funding to support our internal and external operations.
Rhea Classical Reviews is excited to share that we have officially been designated as a 501c3 organization! Obtaining this tax-free, non-profit status opens the door for us to expand, as well as apply for grants and secure funding to support our internal and external operations.
2025 in numbers:
82,386 photos taken
65 museums visited1
1¾ moves between apartments
1 handful of talks given and things published
1 course in urban speleology
1 disastrously bad job interview
82,386 photos taken
65 museums visited1
1¾ moves between apartments
1 handful of talks given and things published
1 course in urban speleology
1 disastrously bad job interview
January 1, 2026 at 2:29 PM
2025 in numbers:
82,386 photos taken
65 museums visited1
1¾ moves between apartments
1 handful of talks given and things published
1 course in urban speleology
1 disastrously bad job interview
82,386 photos taken
65 museums visited1
1¾ moves between apartments
1 handful of talks given and things published
1 course in urban speleology
1 disastrously bad job interview
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
In 2019, the rate of fatal police shootings in the US was 3.1 per million residents. By contrast, the rate in France was 0.14 per million, and in Germany, it was lower.
In Germany, police officers discharged a total of 85 bullets at people in the entire year of 2011.
In Germany, police officers discharged a total of 85 bullets at people in the entire year of 2011.
I’ve said it and I believe it is true
There is a willful forgetting and suppression of the memory of the hundreds of protests that shook this nation for the past decade and a half. So while Canadians and European laypeople whine “Americans don’t do anything,” the Americans are actively suppressed
There is a willful forgetting and suppression of the memory of the hundreds of protests that shook this nation for the past decade and a half. So while Canadians and European laypeople whine “Americans don’t do anything,” the Americans are actively suppressed
December 28, 2025 at 4:59 AM
In 2019, the rate of fatal police shootings in the US was 3.1 per million residents. By contrast, the rate in France was 0.14 per million, and in Germany, it was lower.
In Germany, police officers discharged a total of 85 bullets at people in the entire year of 2011.
In Germany, police officers discharged a total of 85 bullets at people in the entire year of 2011.
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Looks like the goat got windsheared!
December 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Looks like the goat got windsheared!
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
The winds are hard enough that Gävlebocken fell.
December 27, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The winds are hard enough that Gävlebocken fell.
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Wonder what Archaeologists and Antiquity Scholars did (or not) about Palestine in 2025? Here's a 80-item timeline!
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/a...
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/a...
Archaeologists and Antiquity Scholars on Palestine in 2025: An Archive
cover art and post: Katherine Blouin How are Antiquity scholars and organizations responding to Israel’s campaign of annihilation of Palestine’s past, present and future? What do archaeologists and…
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Wonder what Archaeologists and Antiquity Scholars did (or not) about Palestine in 2025? Here's a 80-item timeline!
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/a...
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/a...
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
starting (realistically) in about an hour
a conference being organized by colleagues here in Pisa the next three days, which it will be possible to follow online
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
«Between saying and doing». Ancient (Co)-Production processes and cross-craft interactions between theory, praxis and modern interpretative models | ScuolaNormaleSuperiore
The conference explores whether and how ancient artisans collaborated, shared knowledge, and adapted skills across crafts between the Classical and Roman periods. Using texts, artefacts, and material ...
www.sns.it
December 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
starting (realistically) in about an hour
a conference being organized by colleagues here in Pisa the next three days, which it will be possible to follow online
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
«Between saying and doing». Ancient (Co)-Production processes and cross-craft interactions between theory, praxis and modern interpretative models | ScuolaNormaleSuperiore
The conference explores whether and how ancient artisans collaborated, shared knowledge, and adapted skills across crafts between the Classical and Roman periods. Using texts, artefacts, and material ...
www.sns.it
December 9, 2025 at 4:32 PM
a conference being organized by colleagues here in Pisa the next three days, which it will be possible to follow online
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
#ArchaeologyBlueSky ⚱️
www.sns.it/it/evento/be...
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Honestly we are much more sheep than wolves - intensely political, terrified of anything new in the environment, and extremely hostile to outgroup sheep who arrive as newcomers and try to join the flock.
November 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Honestly we are much more sheep than wolves - intensely political, terrified of anything new in the environment, and extremely hostile to outgroup sheep who arrive as newcomers and try to join the flock.
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
People who say "we're wolves not sheep" have never seen two ewes trying to murder each other over relative status in the flock before they give birth, and then all their friends and family picking sides because being friends with the winner will raise THEIR status, until there is a massive brawl
Revenge/physical combat was how people settled things for literally millions of years, it's normal human behavior, we're wolves not sheep, the government project trying to social engineer us and domesticate us into sheep has been unsuccessful
November 18, 2025 at 7:07 PM
People who say "we're wolves not sheep" have never seen two ewes trying to murder each other over relative status in the flock before they give birth, and then all their friends and family picking sides because being friends with the winner will raise THEIR status, until there is a massive brawl
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
A post that started out about orthography and monograms, and ended up being about obscure aspects of Roman religion. livyarrow.org/2025/11/18/b...
Broken Bar A (?)
The obverse monogram on RRC 298/1 is typically resolved as AP for Apollo, although Veovis is another proposed identification of the deity, and those prefer this ID sometimes question if this readin…
livyarrow.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
A post that started out about orthography and monograms, and ended up being about obscure aspects of Roman religion. livyarrow.org/2025/11/18/b...
tfw you flub coordinate systems, but the park border in central Anatolia might as well run through Piazza del Popolo
November 18, 2025 at 3:23 PM
tfw you flub coordinate systems, but the park border in central Anatolia might as well run through Piazza del Popolo
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Several minute piece on the BBC.
Lots of detectorists.
No archaeologists.
No-one from PAS.
No-one from museums.
No discussion of the costs or responsibilities involved.
😡
#Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure #BBC #News
Lots of detectorists.
No archaeologists.
No-one from PAS.
No-one from museums.
No discussion of the costs or responsibilities involved.
😡
#Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure #BBC #News
November 13, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Several minute piece on the BBC.
Lots of detectorists.
No archaeologists.
No-one from PAS.
No-one from museums.
No discussion of the costs or responsibilities involved.
😡
#Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure #BBC #News
Lots of detectorists.
No archaeologists.
No-one from PAS.
No-one from museums.
No discussion of the costs or responsibilities involved.
😡
#Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure #BBC #News
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Turns out I still have a picture of Igl se Wighættefagol for when I fostered him for the holidays and took him to see Pictish stones.
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Turns out I still have a picture of Igl se Wighættefagol for when I fostered him for the holidays and took him to see Pictish stones.
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
20 odd years later, I think about her* often
*The phrase "þæt wæs gōd cyning".
*The phrase "þæt wæs gōd cyning".
November 13, 2025 at 7:30 AM
20 odd years later, I think about her* often
*The phrase "þæt wæs gōd cyning".
*The phrase "þæt wæs gōd cyning".
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
and, not for nothing, there is a further acute moral injury in becoming so used to it all, and so used to it not mattering, that you begin to think of terrible crimes with real victims along the lines of "maybe this will be what hurts him politically"
November 12, 2025 at 11:48 PM
and, not for nothing, there is a further acute moral injury in becoming so used to it all, and so used to it not mattering, that you begin to think of terrible crimes with real victims along the lines of "maybe this will be what hurts him politically"
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
Delighted that from January 2026 all research articles published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org will be Open Access
view.updates.cambridge.org?qs=85c24bbd7...
view.updates.cambridge.org?qs=85c24bbd7...
Cambridge University Press
view.updates.cambridge.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Delighted that from January 2026 all research articles published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org will be Open Access
view.updates.cambridge.org?qs=85c24bbd7...
view.updates.cambridge.org?qs=85c24bbd7...
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
New book on Indo-European Afterlives (dowloadable as an Open Access PDF)! :
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
Indo-European Afterlives | Stockholm University Press
<p>This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, historical linguistics and comparative mythology to explore how early Indo-European communities imagined death and what lies beyond. From poet...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se
November 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
New book on Indo-European Afterlives (dowloadable as an Open Access PDF)! :
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
I'm generally pretty calm, and I try to give people benefit of the doubt, but the time I just spent trying to provide constructive feedback in a peer review before arriving at the references and realizing that many were simply invented out of thin air, surely from use of genAI, has me hopping mad
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I'm generally pretty calm, and I try to give people benefit of the doubt, but the time I just spent trying to provide constructive feedback in a peer review before arriving at the references and realizing that many were simply invented out of thin air, surely from use of genAI, has me hopping mad
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
My piece out now in the new PMLA: Marxism, Cultural Studies, and the Rise of Indigenous Studies
Marxism, Cultural Studies, and the Rise of Indigenous Studies | PMLA | Cambridge Core
Marxism, Cultural Studies, and the Rise of Indigenous Studies - Volume 140 Issue 3
www.cambridge.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:19 PM
My piece out now in the new PMLA: Marxism, Cultural Studies, and the Rise of Indigenous Studies
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
Reposted by Dan Diffendale
i have concluded that frecciarossa executive class is hilarious and we need it urgently on amtrak:
-huge evil villain chairs
-next seat is two counties over
-big stupid conference room you can book
-food is good enough
-chairs can swivel, recline, etc.
-bizarrely cheap
-huge evil villain chairs
-next seat is two counties over
-big stupid conference room you can book
-food is good enough
-chairs can swivel, recline, etc.
-bizarrely cheap
November 7, 2025 at 1:20 PM
i have concluded that frecciarossa executive class is hilarious and we need it urgently on amtrak:
-huge evil villain chairs
-next seat is two counties over
-big stupid conference room you can book
-food is good enough
-chairs can swivel, recline, etc.
-bizarrely cheap
-huge evil villain chairs
-next seat is two counties over
-big stupid conference room you can book
-food is good enough
-chairs can swivel, recline, etc.
-bizarrely cheap