Dr Rachel Pope
@prehistorian.bsky.social
Rankin Reader in European Prehistory • Vice President, The Prehistoric Society • knowledge production ⛏️
Resolving the structure of prehistoric society • unpicking patriarchal assertion from present to past • digs hillforts, Celts
Personal account #NUFC 🇵🇸
Resolving the structure of prehistoric society • unpicking patriarchal assertion from present to past • digs hillforts, Celts
Personal account #NUFC 🇵🇸
Pinned
Dr Rachel Pope
@prehistorian.bsky.social
· Sep 26
Documenting the profession: Recording historic access and retention issues for women in UK archaeology | Archaeological Dialogues | Cambridge Core
Documenting the profession: Recording historic access and retention issues for women in UK archaeology
www.cambridge.org
New paper. Recording the female experience of UK archaeology 1990-2010. Anne Teather and I document how an industry EDI agenda evolved in the 1990s and was dismantled, uncovering the ramifications of that for women archaeologists over the next decade.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#openaccess✅
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#openaccess✅
Has Trump been arrested yet?
January 4, 2026 at 5:27 AM
Has Trump been arrested yet?
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
I'm confused: Was this about arresting and prosecuting a corrupt despotic dictator responsible for murderous drug trafficking and narco-terrorism, or was it about the United States seizing control of a foreign nation's strategic resources? Not to worry, I'm sure the press will find out.
Pete Hegseth, "Finally a Commander and Chief the world respects and Americans deserve"
"President Trump is deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us"
"This is America first"
"This is peace through strength"
"President Trump is deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us"
"This is America first"
"This is peace through strength"
January 3, 2026 at 5:42 PM
I'm confused: Was this about arresting and prosecuting a corrupt despotic dictator responsible for murderous drug trafficking and narco-terrorism, or was it about the United States seizing control of a foreign nation's strategic resources? Not to worry, I'm sure the press will find out.
This has Putin and Netanyahu all over it. Trump *admires* their politics. This clutch of awful men are still engaged in empire.
January 3, 2026 at 5:24 PM
This has Putin and Netanyahu all over it. Trump *admires* their politics. This clutch of awful men are still engaged in empire.
Two unusual things on the mountain this morning: a skein of geese flying south (late) and a whole flock of ewes have lambed (early).
January 3, 2026 at 9:27 AM
Two unusual things on the mountain this morning: a skein of geese flying south (late) and a whole flock of ewes have lambed (early).
If raping children isn’t enough reason for the American people to impeach him, hopefully the unprovoked bombing of a neighbour will be.
January 3, 2026 at 7:29 AM
If raping children isn’t enough reason for the American people to impeach him, hopefully the unprovoked bombing of a neighbour will be.
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
Stellenbosch University and University of Calgary researchers studied 73 people and found that hidden chemical changes in blood clots can clearly separate Long COVID, POTS, and Long COVID-POTS, offering the first molecular fingerprint for each.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Post-translational modifications within fibrinaloid microclot complexes distinguish Pre-COVID-19 Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Long COVID, and Long COVID-POTS and reveal disease-specific ...
Background: Pre-COVID-19 Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PC-POTS), Long COVID, and their overlap (LC-POTS) are chronic post-viral conditions marked by debilitating symptoms despite frequent...
www.biorxiv.org
December 31, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Stellenbosch University and University of Calgary researchers studied 73 people and found that hidden chemical changes in blood clots can clearly separate Long COVID, POTS, and Long COVID-POTS, offering the first molecular fingerprint for each.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
Very pleased that the Durotriges Project pit burials have been cited by the BBC as one of the top UK archaeological discoveries of 2025 alongside @buarchanth.bsky.social 13th century *Mortar Wreck* and @arcdurham.bsky.social work on the Iron Age Melsonby Hoard 😊👍
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
December 30, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Very pleased that the Durotriges Project pit burials have been cited by the BBC as one of the top UK archaeological discoveries of 2025 alongside @buarchanth.bsky.social 13th century *Mortar Wreck* and @arcdurham.bsky.social work on the Iron Age Melsonby Hoard 😊👍
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
1/2
Took a 30 min break from driving today when the sky cleared and stopped by Beaghmore Stone Circles, not far from Omagh.
Carbon dated to around 2,600 - 2,900 BC, with 7 circles (6 pairs) plus 10 stone rows & 12 burial cairns. 1,269 stones total.
Ground was still frosted in the shade
Took a 30 min break from driving today when the sky cleared and stopped by Beaghmore Stone Circles, not far from Omagh.
Carbon dated to around 2,600 - 2,900 BC, with 7 circles (6 pairs) plus 10 stone rows & 12 burial cairns. 1,269 stones total.
Ground was still frosted in the shade
December 16, 2025 at 10:11 PM
1/2
Took a 30 min break from driving today when the sky cleared and stopped by Beaghmore Stone Circles, not far from Omagh.
Carbon dated to around 2,600 - 2,900 BC, with 7 circles (6 pairs) plus 10 stone rows & 12 burial cairns. 1,269 stones total.
Ground was still frosted in the shade
Took a 30 min break from driving today when the sky cleared and stopped by Beaghmore Stone Circles, not far from Omagh.
Carbon dated to around 2,600 - 2,900 BC, with 7 circles (6 pairs) plus 10 stone rows & 12 burial cairns. 1,269 stones total.
Ground was still frosted in the shade
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
December 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
Reminder that Xmas is 12 days long. Rest.
December 28, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reminder that Xmas is 12 days long. Rest.
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.
December 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.
The reason I love Catherine Cookson is that she’s clearly read Jane Austen, and builds a similar Georgian heroine. Except as a northerner her heroine’s an orphan who raises nine siblings in a cave, and sends her little brothers down the mine, and is sexually assaulted and still just gets on with it.
December 27, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The reason I love Catherine Cookson is that she’s clearly read Jane Austen, and builds a similar Georgian heroine. Except as a northerner her heroine’s an orphan who raises nine siblings in a cave, and sends her little brothers down the mine, and is sexually assaulted and still just gets on with it.
And Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley on a comedy set. No release. #Amandaland
Keep Melvyn Bragg in a radio studio.
December 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
And Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley on a comedy set. No release. #Amandaland
Everyone knows that the academic’s capacity for work expands exponentially
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 26, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Everyone knows that the academic’s capacity for work expands exponentially
A happy day to the folk keeping our Iron Age faiths alive, and to all the lapsed who like to honour tradition anyway, and to the pagans tying us back instead to our Neolithic respect for the earth and skies around us. To everyone, 🕊️❤️ and no more war. x
December 25, 2025 at 9:21 AM
A happy day to the folk keeping our Iron Age faiths alive, and to all the lapsed who like to honour tradition anyway, and to the pagans tying us back instead to our Neolithic respect for the earth and skies around us. To everyone, 🕊️❤️ and no more war. x
Ah bugger, the prehistorians and archaeologists didn’t get that memo.
historians are far too deferential to scholars from other disciplines rampaging into the field without having done the reading
December 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Ah bugger, the prehistorians and archaeologists didn’t get that memo.
Keep Melvyn Bragg in a radio studio.
December 24, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Keep Melvyn Bragg in a radio studio.
Ah this is good. It’s shameful how this disease has been psychologised over the years. I’m happy to have campaigned on Long Covid if it contributed in any small way to ME being taken more seriously ❤️
The largest study so far into the genetics of chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, has implicated 259 genes – six times more than those identified just four months ago
Chronic fatigue syndrome seems to have a very strong genetic element
The largest study so far into the genetics of chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, has implicated 259 genes – six times more than those identified just four months ago
www.newscientist.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Ah this is good. It’s shameful how this disease has been psychologised over the years. I’m happy to have campaigned on Long Covid if it contributed in any small way to ME being taken more seriously ❤️
Peak District done. Decompressing programme is on. 🎅🏽
December 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Peak District done. Decompressing programme is on. 🎅🏽
Right, one last day lads.
December 23, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Right, one last day lads.
One Peak District day down and one to go. Then 🎅🏽
December 22, 2025 at 4:35 PM
One Peak District day down and one to go. Then 🎅🏽
Busy year here. I helped this lovely lot below on the nature of Neolithic society in Ireland.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 22, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Busy year here. I helped this lovely lot below on the nature of Neolithic society in Ireland.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
Reposted by Dr Rachel Pope
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 21, 2025 at 8:39 PM
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.