Lucy Koster
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lucyjkoster.bsky.social
Lucy Koster
@lucyjkoster.bsky.social
Postdoctoral researcher at AMGC VUB (BBLab) using isotope analyses to investigate the lives of city dwellers in the medieval Low Countries. Happiest with my two cats or reading a good book. Views my own.
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Welp here we are again, fresh out of Archaeologists for Skype a Scientist matches.

This fall, we have matched 248 groups with Archaeologists for online Q&As. I have 38 more groups who need a match, but I'm out of Archaeologists!

Archaeologists! Please volunteer
www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html
a woman is smiling and holding a cup that says help me .
Alt: a woman is smiling and holding a cup that says help me .
media.tenor.com
September 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Excited to be giving a talk this Thursday for the Badenoch Heritage Festival on Croftgowan (the sometimes-forgotten site from my PhD!

www.eventbrite.com/e/fragments-...
Fragments of Life: Insights into Croftgowan
Following the archaeological dig at the Pictish barrow cemetery at Croftgowan in 2021, Lucy Koster will tell of the latest findings.
www.eventbrite.com
September 16, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
🗣️ New paper! 🗣️

The mobility patterns of the population of Gallo-Roman Tienen (Belgium) are keeping you up at night? Wondering if there is more than mobility reflected in these 87Sr/86Sr results? This is very relatable, and conveniently, I have the right paper for you! It's accessible right there 👇
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
September 5, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Ever wondered what life was like at the end of the Ice Age? What did people eat? How did they make tools? Come and meet the PALaEoScot team at Explorathon on Sept 14th 11am-4pm at UoA’s King’s College in Old Aberdeen and meet our living prehistorians at their camp! Link below ⬇️
September 4, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
BTC Call for Action - EAA

EAA reversed its decision to exclude Israeli institutions complicit in the genocide of Palestinians after intimidation campaigns.

Read & share the full statement: blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b...
September 2, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
We are on our way to @isba11.bsky.social 🚅 Ready for a week of archaeology and science
🏺🦴🦷🧪⚛️🥼🍝🍕
August 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
A slightly more accessible route in to our research on Neolithic Ireland and the early breakdown of genetic kin as an organising principle for burial, as early at 3600 BC (from memory) - due to increasing mobility.

Thanks for the heads up @pennybickle.bsky.social 👍🏼
The last piece associated with the brilliant team effort to rethink aDNA results and social relations in Neolithic Ireland is in this month’s Current Archaeology magazine with an absolutely gorgeous cover image of Newgrange (credit: Ken Williams) archaeology.co.uk
Current Archaeology
Britain's favourite archaeology magazine
archaeology.co.uk
August 14, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Also - come and get my job! Which I’m still partially doing, but someone needs to take up the slack/ allow me to send them to far flung locations to retrieve mysterious ancient samples. See the World*!

*mainly Britain.

crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
(Senior) Laboratory Research Scientist - Bioarchaeologist
Salary for this Role: LRS level from £36,535 per annum plus benefits SLRS level from £45,700 per annum plus benefits Job Title: (Senior) Laboratory Research Scientist - Bioarchaeologist Reports to: Po...
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
August 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Our bioavailable strontium baseline for Corsica is out! ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges from 0.7075 to 0.7169 and was established from 245 plant & soil leachate samples from 125 sites.

Check out the article here lnkd.in/e6pDJFCY
and the dataset can be downloaded from the IsoArcH database here lnkd.in/eFNS5Xbw
August 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Impromptu talk by @lucyjkoster.bsky.social on determining animal versus human bone on trench, following up on yesterday's training our volunteers had with our reference collection.
July 8, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
After a rainy few days, we're finally getting into the nitty gritty and delving into the silty sand.
July 8, 2025 at 9:01 AM
I had a wonderful time celebrating my PhD and saying goodbye to @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social last week! Especially grateful to @flinklinus.bsky.social and @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social for being excellent supervisors and seeing me off!
July 7, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Taking a couple of weeks away from @brusselsbioarch.bsky.social for fieldwork at @sedgefordarch.bsky.social in Norfolk! Our human remains volunteers have made an excellent start so far and I will be spamming updates as we go 😊💀💀
July 7, 2025 at 9:15 AM
I've had the best time in Aberdeen! I'm sad to be leaving but excited for everything to come in Belgium ☺️
Last day in Aberdeen! Wishing you all the best in your new postdoctoral job Lucy @lucyjkoster.bsky.social @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social
June 2, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Meet Patxi Pérez Ramallo, new SHOC member! Patxi will be working as a postdoctoral researcher on the Make-Up of the cities project under the supervision of Bart Lambert. Click on the link below to read his bio.
shoc.research.vub.be/en/patxi-per...
PATXI PEREZ RAMALLO JOINS SHOC
SHOC welcomes new member Patxi Pérez Ramallo! Patxi will be working as a postdoctoral researcher on the Make-Up of the cities project under the supervision of Bart Lambert.
shoc.research.vub.be
April 24, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Honestly, same.

People are like "well you *must* be smart with a PhD!". Absolutely not, I am merely obsessively interested in an extremely niche topic and far more stubborn than is good for my health, and otherwise I am content to bumble through my life, occasionally walking into walls.
One of the best parts of getting old has been the realization that I am much less smart and competent than I was led to believe when I was younger and accepting that fact has reduced my stress level so much. I think everyone should embrace their stupidity
April 18, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
This is useful, from Scientific American

Biology doesn’t give us a simple binary model of sex

Society, law and infrastructure needs to catch up so that everybody can have privacy, dignity and safety

www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-...
Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic
Biologists now think there is a larger spectrum than just binary female and male
www.scientificamerican.com
April 17, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Biological sex is messy. It’s isn’t a simple case of XX and XY. It’s far more complicated than that. So how can you define a woman based on biological sex? What is meant by ‘biological sex’? This ruling by the UK Supreme Court is just so stupid, dangerous and a travesty for trans women, 1/
April 16, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
I would like to say that I have never felt that trans women's rights in any way reduce my rights as a cis gendered woman.
April 16, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
The law needs to catch up with our understanding of human biology - this book is out early next month and is v illuminating: if we can cope as a society with the embodied complexities of how people develop and experience a spectrum of sexualities, then we can cope with a gender-sex spectrum
April 16, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Solidarity with the trans community from this ally today! With those ace, intersex, & all who see themselves LGBTQIA+, too! I expected the SC ruling tbh (it's not a liberally minded outfit) but I'm also putting this out there because even biological sex is massively complex & certainly not binary.
April 16, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
'What’s the problem? Well, pretty much everything. These aren’t species returned from extinction.'

@oxfordgeography.bsky.social's Dr Richard Grenyer argues that extinction is, for the time being, a symptom of our global economic system ⬇️
Why ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves are a Trojan horse to hide humanity’s destruction of nature
Extinction is, for the time being, forever – and a symptom of our global economic system.
theconversation.com
April 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Inside me there are two wolves. One of them has a 15 genome edits the other 20 genome edits. Neither of them is a dire wolf.
April 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
NO THEY ARE NOT DIRE WOLVES.

These animals do not have their ecosystem to return to.

These animals do not have a real pack to rear them.

And DO NOT BE BAMBOOZLED- storing and archiving animal's genetic material is NOT an effective bulwark against the human-driven planetary extinction crisis.
a couple of wolves are playing with each other on the ground .
Alt: a couple of wolves are playing with each other on the ground .
media.tenor.com
April 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Lucy Koster
Truth.
March 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM