Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by qmackie

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

@lemoustier.bsky.social

🧪🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration.
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.

JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

screengran of figure from paper showing four different generated images of a "day in the life of a Neanderthal". All images contain significant inaccuracies from physical characteristics (extremely primitive) to material culture (glass containers), and the lack of women and children is also obvious.

February 13, 2026 at 6:09 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

An all time lives taken to ink expxended ratio

Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 5d

Taught about the "decision to use the atomic bomb" a bit today, and the thing the students were audibly the most surprised by was Nagasaki being written in, by hand, on the penultimate draft of the strike order, after Kyoto had been definitely removed from the list for the final time.

February 13, 2026 at 12:10 AM

Reposted by qmackie

Letters of Note

@lettersofnote.com

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

There is both good and bad news for Canada's bird populations in this attractive document with really good figures and graphs naturecounts.ca/nc/socb-epoc... #birds #birding 🦆🦉🪺

The State of Canada’s Birds Report

Canada’s birds have stories to tell. See how they are doing, how their populations have changed, and what you can do to help.

naturecounts.ca

February 12, 2026 at 6:01 AM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

University of Alberta seeks to drop its IDE (DEI) hiring policies:

"While the current policy includes aspirational language about fair recruitment and the removal of barriers, [UofA] has found in practice that qualified candidates may still face barriers.." #highered www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

U of A looks to remove EDI from hiring policy | CBC News

The University of Alberta is proposing to eliminate Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) from its hiring policy, a year after the school initially said it was moving away from the term.

www.cbc.ca

February 10, 2026 at 5:43 AM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Dr Sean Carleton, U.Manitoba, ( @seancarleton.bsky.social ) speaks to @sfuarchaeology.bsky.social re: Residential School Denialism

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnfE...

Truth Before Reconciliation: How to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism

YouTube video by SFU Archaeology

www.youtube.com

February 9, 2026 at 9:59 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Some interesting examples of a new wave of Indigenous Canadian Architecture (ungated)

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/r...

‘Now We Have a Voice’: Indigenous Architects Redesign Canada

www.nytimes.com

February 9, 2026 at 7:11 PM

Reposted by qmackie

Dr. Angry Anarchist (Free 🇵🇸)

@archhelmer.bsky.social

I'm helping run an archaeological field school on the Oregon Coast this summer! Please share with any interested students! 🏺

Flyer with photos of archaeological fieldwork. Flyer text:
Indigenous Methodology: Southern Oregon University Summer Archaeological Field School SOAN 375, 23 June - 15 July, 2026

Spend the Summer doing the archaeology on the Oregon Coast!

This Field School is an intensive four week, 4-credit course (SOAN 375, 4 credits, + $250 fee) where students participate in archaeological investigations on the beautiful Oregon coast. The Field School will introduce students to archaeological method and theory, remote sensing, survey, excavation, GPS use, artifact identification, stratigraphy, and public and Tribal outreach through fieldwork, field trips, and guest speakers. Students will learn about collaborative work, and the use of low-impact and decolonizing methodologies developed and favored by Oregon's Tribal people. Work will take place in Coos and Curry County in two, 10-day sessions on either side of the 4th of July weekend. Students will participate in archaeological test excavations, geophysical survey, and pedestrian survey.

For more information, contact:

Mark Axel Tveskov, PhD

Professor, Sociology and Anthropology Department

tveskovm@sou.edu

Flyer text:
Additional information:

Participants will camp together during the field school. The project will take place in two sessions: June 23-July 2, and July 6-July 15, with a break in between for the 4th of July weekend. Participants will live in tents at a field camp on the rainy Oregon coast, so students should be prepared for inclement, wet, and muddy conditions. Food will be cooked communally and the camp maintained by all participants. Transportation to and from Ashland at the beginning and end of both sessions is provided, but students are welcome to bring their own transportation as well. Students will need to provide their own camping gear and field clothing (including boots), but food and archaeology gear will be provided. The area provides many amazing opportunities for hiking and exploration.

All participants must be able to meet the strenuous physical and social demands of archaeological excavation and hiking under rugged field conditions in the rain and mud of the Oregon coast. All participants will be working and living together in close quarters, and the ability to get along with others is essential. The class is open to students of any background, with the only prerequisites being an interest in archaeology and an ability to work hard as part of the team. All participants are expected to understand and follow Southern Oregon University Student Code of Conduct

All students must obtain instructor approval to enroll in the class. Enrollment is limited. Students should contact Mark Axel Tveskov at tveskovm@sou.edu for an application

The deadline for priority acceptance is May 1, 2026

February 7, 2026 at 4:45 PM

Reposted by qmackie

Joanne Hammond

@joannehammond.bsky.social

BC legislators passed the law UNANIMOUSLY in 2019, when EVERY MLA from EVERY party voted for it as a route to reconciliation. Eby's plan to rewrite DRIPA and have the Supreme Court put limits on it is a shameful betrayal of First Nations and an unacceptable return to the colonial status quo.

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act) establishes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [151KB PDF] (UN Declaration) as the Province’s framework for reconciliation, as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

Passed unanimously in the B.C. legislature on November 26, 2019, the Declaration Act came into force on November 29, 2019. B.C. is the first jurisdiction in Canada to formally adopt the internationally recognized standards of the UN Declaration.

screen cap from https://declaration.gov.bc.ca/
The Declaration Act mandates government to bring provincial laws into alignment with the UN Declaration and to develop and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration in consultation and co-operation with Indigenous Peoples.

February 6, 2026 at 9:46 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Profile of South African paleontologist Lazarus Kgasi. How many Indigenous BC archaeologists have similar untapped potentials? And could advance in the profession parallel to a traditional academic pathway?🏺

www.npr.org/2026/02/04/g...

Screenshot from the article of text and a picture of Kgasi sitting on an exposed bedrock outcrop, the text reads:

"He did clerical work. He tried his hand as an auto mechanic. Then, on a whim, in 2000, he applied for a job as a fossil digger in the Cradle of Humankind. "I just picked it up as a random job," he says.

Kgasi was joining the ranks of the numerous Black men who, over the years, dug out fossils for white researchers (some from South Africa and others from overseas) who examined and identified them — and then took credit for them.

February 7, 2026 at 8:34 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Over half of grades at Harvard are an "A", Profs to vote on a proposal to limit these to 20% of grades. (open link) #highered 👩‍🎓

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

Harvard Proposes Capping A’s to Curb Grade Inflation

www.nytimes.com

February 6, 2026 at 6:20 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

"Beyond our family’s cultural roots in Japan, where people eat 9,000 tons of sea urchin roe every year, the overpopulation of this less-than-cuddly sea tribble tells a very California story of ecological urgency that is tied up with Japanese American history, too."

sfstandard.com/2023/02/06/s...

Sorry Not Sorry—It’s Our Moral Imperative To Eat Sea Urchins

Foraging on the coast, as Japanese American families in California have done for generations, is increasingly important for the environment.

sfstandard.com

February 6, 2026 at 1:18 AM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

best of internet right here 🎹🐈

Rico Monkeon @monkeon.co.uk · 15d

Sorted out some caching on my Koyaanisqatsi generator because Giphy just told me off for hammering their API. Took them 8 years to notice!
www.monkeon.co.uk/gifaanisqatsi/

Gifaanisqatsi

A random Koyaanisqatsi generator made out of Giphy gifs.

www.monkeon.co.uk

February 2, 2026 at 6:53 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

R-squared of 0.981 is hard to argue with, really.

Source: tylervigen.com 〽️📉

Line graph showing a very close [spurious] correlation between two variables measured from 2008-2022. The two variables are "Distance between Saturn and Earth" and "number of Walmart stores worldwide"

January 31, 2026 at 11:09 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Another piece on ethics of airborne lidar for archaeological purposes: informed consent, and mapping as a colonial process.🏺 @b-thom.bsky.social (open access in American-Antiquity)

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Images of Indigenous people attending the Metzabok community meeting re proposed aerial lidar mapping in their territory

January 31, 2026 at 8:32 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Dr Brian Thom @b-thom.bsky.social of @uvicanthro.bsky.social weighs in on the current controversies in BC Archaeological practice and offers a useful comparison to Japanese practice 🏺🇯🇵 #archaeology

www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

Comment: B.C. archeological sites are not a ‘misfortune’

The Heritage Conservation Act is in urgent need of reform.

www.timescolonist.com

January 31, 2026 at 8:22 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

The darker side of LiDAR: overlooking or erasing Indigenous people theconversation.com/aerial-lidar... #archaeology #lidar 🏺

Aerial lidar mapping can reveal archaeological sites while overlooking Indigenous peoples and their knowledge

Aerial lidar raises ethical questions because it can collect data remotely without the knowledge or consent of Indigenous and descendant populations that are on the ground.

theconversation.com

January 30, 2026 at 5:31 AM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Another year of archaeological field school planned at Tse'k'wa (“Rock House” in Dane-zaa Záágéʔ), also known as Charlie Lake Cave, in NE BC www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... 🏺

Archaeology field school planned this spring for ancient cave near Fort St. John, B.C. | CBC News

One of over 57,000 known archaeological sites in the province, Tse'k'wa is a record of 12,500 years of human settlement and environmental change dating back to the last ice age. It's a sacred space to...

www.cbc.ca

January 29, 2026 at 9:42 PM

Reposted by qmackie

Michael Petraglia

@mdpetraglia.bsky.social

An artistic impression of what we uncovered at Xigou and a snapshot of what life was like in central China 100,000 years ago www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

160,000-year-old sophisticated stone tools discovered in China may not have been made by Homo sapiens

Archaeologists have found the oldest known evidence of hafted tools in East Asia, and they challenge a previously held assumption about stone tool use.

www.livescience.com

January 27, 2026 at 7:57 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Premier of BC: [the Heritage Conservation Act] "isn’t working for anybody. It’s not working for property developers, it’s not working for First Nations and it’s not working for the natural resources sector.” 🏺 @b-thom.bsky.social www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

Why two skulls unearthed in B.C. could be harbingers for future archeological woes

Last June, landscapers working on a site in Kamloops, B.C., came upon a troubling discovery — two human skulls and jawbones.

www.ctvnews.ca

January 27, 2026 at 7:54 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Four CEOs in 5 years and the RBCM still seems rudderless and unfocused. New interim leader looks to change that. 🏺

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Royal B.C. Museum interim CEO acknowledges there’s more to do on diversity, reconciliation | CBC News

Ry Moran is the museum’s fourth CEO since 2021, when then-CEO Jack Lohman stepped down after allegations of racism from Indigenous staff.

www.cbc.ca

January 26, 2026 at 8:55 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Dear American friends: seems like a good time to revisit these 2016 rules for surviving an autocracy, most importantly, "Your Institutions Will Not Save You" www.nybooks.com/online/2016/...

Autocracy: Rules for Survival | Masha Gessen

In the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is n...

www.nybooks.com

January 24, 2026 at 8:00 PM

qmackie

@qmackie.bsky.social

Archaeological processes in BC have many points of failure, many stemming from a "security through obscurity" mindset @b-thom.bsky.social 🏺

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Former Vancouver Island real estate agent fined $66K after failing to disclose archaeological significance | CBC News

B.C.'s financial services regulator has fined a former Vancouver Island real estate agent $66,500 after she failed to disclose that a property she sold was listed as archaeologically significant.

www.cbc.ca

January 24, 2026 at 7:15 PM

Reposted by qmackie

John Hawks

@johnhawks.net

I'm really impressed with this new work on rock art from Sulawesi, dated to more than 68,000 years ago. I know it will be controversial but I predict that this will end up being the first signs that scientists recognize of Denisovans in the region.

www.johnhawks.net/p/rock-art-m...