Valeska Becker
LightNews LightNews
banner
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Valeska Becker
@valeskabecker.bsky.social
950 followers 1.2K following 48 posts
Sticks, stones, and broken bones
Archaeology, archaeozoology, general curiosity
Posts Replies Media Videos
valeskabecker.bsky.social
I recently read Umberto Eco's essay "Ur-Fascism"; I think everybody should read it, e.g. here:
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umbe...
If this seems too long for you, I have extracted the most important parts. Have fun, read them and who knows? You may spot some Ur-fascism right around the corner 😘
1. Cult of tradition Dreaming of the ”good old days, when everything was in order”; “Judeo-Christian values”; romanticization of antiquity 2. Rejection of modernism Rejection of ”modern-day depravity”; wish to discard pluralism, human rights and equality 3. Action for action’s sake Action without much reflection; too much thinking, academia, science is unmanly, woke, weak 4. Getting rid of distinction Disagreement is seen as treason, not as a way to improve knowledge 5. Fear of difference Racism, anti-LGBTQ+, against diversity in any shape 6. Appeal to a frustrated middle class Appealing to individual / social frustration of a middle class suffering from economic hardships or feelings of political humiliation and in fear of pressure from lower social classes 7. Obession with a plot Feeling of being cheated by one or many international foes, resulting in xenophobia; nationalism 8. Identification of enemies and painting them as both too strong and too weak Keeping followers in fear of imagined enemies while making them believe, at the same time, they can overcome their enemies 9. Life as permanent warfare Pacifism as trafficking with the enemy; life is lived for struggle 10. Contempt for the weak; populism Supporters are the best, everybody else is despicable; the masses need a strong ruler; every subordinate leader despises their own underlings 11. Heroism Impatience to prove oneself; cult of death 12. Hypermasculinity Disdain for women, intolerance and condemnation of “nonstandard” sexual habits; love for weapons 13. Selective populism Disregard of the individual, view of citizens as “The People”, with the leader as their “interpreter”; disdain for government institutions 14. “Newspeak” Impoverished vocabulary, only elementary syntax to limit instruments for complex and critical reasoning; deletion / banning certain words
April 23, 2025 at 12:05 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
This news is fake: Dire wolfs have not returned. Rather, a tiny number of genes of grey wolves were edited using CRISPR to create some few resemblances to dire wolf genes (fur color, musculature). For more info:

arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...
Cover of TIME magazine, featuring an image of a gene-edited grey wolf and falsely labeling it a dire wolf.
April 9, 2025 at 9:19 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
#Archaeology also deals with animals and human-animal relations and changes in animals in the course of time. Animals are not static, modern domesticates are custom-tailored ... cf. cow on the left, from 1888, and on the right, from 2015. Note shape of back, horns, udder size, overall frame 😔
Black-and-white photography, Danish cow, 1888, with a stocky build, sturdy legs, medium-sized udder, slightly concave back and horns. Modern-day Holstein cow, with quadrangular frame, no horns, very large udder and slender legs
March 6, 2025 at 8:29 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
At Herculaneum, a human skeleton was found killed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, whose brain had, due to heat of a pyroclastic flow and subsequent fast cooling, turned to organic glass. 😮

rdcu.be/ecccO
Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE
Scientific Reports - Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE
rdcu.be
March 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
🦎 Animal #576 🦥
I figured it out in 1 guesses!
🟩
🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 10.2

metazooa.com
#metazooa

😂 so smart!
Metazooa
Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!
metazooa.com
February 26, 2025 at 8:59 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Sonntag ist Wahl in Deutschland. Geht mal besser wählen, sonst könnte es blöd kommen, und das hatten wir ja schon mal. 😊
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPv...
Jan Böhmermann – “Faschismus is back” | ZDF Magazin Royale
YouTube video by ZDF MAGAZIN ROYALE
www.youtube.com
February 21, 2025 at 9:05 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Deutschland: "Wir können nicht richtig abschieben, viele Länder nehmen ihre kriminellen Bürger nicht zurück!"
Auch Deutschland: "Die deutschen IS-Kämpfer in syrischen Gefängnissen nehmen wir nicht zurück, danke." 🫠
February 12, 2025 at 8:49 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
My favorite artefact from the Magdalenien, ca. 15.000 years BP: a spear-thrower from Le Mas d'Azil, carved from reindeer antler, showing three life-stages of a horse: from foal to adult to dead, possibly skinned or defleshed animal 😍
a spear-thrower from the Magdalenian site of Le Mas d'Azil, carved from reindeer antler, depicting images of a foal head, an adult horse head and a dead, skinned or defleshed horse head.
February 3, 2025 at 2:22 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Meanwhile, #Denmark is reacting subtly and sensibly to Trump's ambitions regarding #Greenland.
Translation help: kage = cake; kvaj = idiot 😂
A picture of little cakes in the shape of Donald Trump's head, titeled "Donald Trump kvaje kage", which translates to "Donald Trump idiot cake".
January 30, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Valeska Becker
buechereienwien.bsky.social
Die Schriftstellerin Hanna Sukare erzählt im @derstandard.at von ihrem alten Nachbar und Freund in der Leopoldstadt, der wieder Angst hat. www.derstandard.at/story/300000...
Mein Freund Arthur und der ehrliche Bergsteiger Kickl
Die Schriftstellerin Hanna Sukare erzählt von ihrem alten Nachbar und Freund in der Leopoldstadt, der wieder Angst hat und von Herbert Kickl, der ihm Angst macht
www.derstandard.at
January 27, 2025 at 2:53 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
I have been on Bluesky for a while now, but had kept my Twitter account (I am not calling it X) in hopes of change. Today, I deactived it, since the platform is run by a neonazi skyhigh on drugs. F*** this. ☠️
January 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
A Monday #MementoMori: The Wheel of Life in Verdings, Südtirol, depicting how it goes 😜 from infancy to death.
Image from a small cemetery church at Verdings, Südtirol, northern Italy, depicting death turning a giant wheel, with the stages of life depicted on the outside: from infancy over youth to adulthood to death.
January 20, 2025 at 10:25 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
The Enigma of the Absence of Figurative Representations in the Neolithic of Northern Europe: Where Are the Figurines?: www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/01/t...
The Enigma of the Absence of Figurative Representations in the Neolithic of Northern Europe: Where Are the Figurines?
For centuries, the Neolithic has been associated with a rich artistic heritage, particularly in regions like Southeast Europe, where clay figurines have been abundant and representative. However, a ne...
www.labrujulaverde.com
January 20, 2025 at 8:09 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
#Neolithic Conference alert 📣: On May 22-25, 2025, the second Conference on the Emergence of the Neolithic in Europe takes place in Zadar, Croatia:
conference.unizd.hr/ene2025/
Would be delighted to meet all Neolithic archaeologists there!!! 🌞 Please share and distribute!
2nd Conference on the Emergence of the Neolithic in Europe – Sveučilište u Zadru | University of Zadar
conference.unizd.hr
January 15, 2025 at 2:03 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Merkwürdig: Die #AfD, die so bedacht auf Männlichkeit, Stolz und Ehre ist, propagiert gleichzeitig Unterordnung unter und blinden Gehorsam gegenüber Putin. Ist das männlich? 😵‍💫
Naja, was weiß ich schon, ich geh mal lieber zurück an den Herd 🤪
January 15, 2025 at 8:52 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Animals were important in prehistory! Depictions of leopards abound in ancient #Çatalhöyük, showing how important they were - however, among over a million animal bones, there was only one from a leopard (a claw). There may have existed a taboo on killing them 🥰🐆
A relief on a wall in Çatalhöyük, with two spotted leopards facing each other. A drawing of a human figure on a wall in Çatalhöyük. The person is holding a bow and wears a leopard skin as a sort of loincloth. A stamp seal from Çatalhöyük, depicting a spotted leopard.
January 9, 2025 at 8:33 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
In the Middle Neolithic of Austria, Moravia, Slovakia and Hungary, hundreds of figurines were made in a specific way: their body parts were individually shaped and then put together, which made them easy to break - maybe their only purpose.
The figurine from Falkenstein could be reconstructed 😍
An anthropomorphic figurine from Falkenstein, Lower Austria, with a slender body, slightly accentuated hips, outstretched arms and traces of red and black paint on the head, neck, chest and thighs; date: 4600-4500 BC
December 18, 2024 at 8:50 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations—one can do either this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it—you will regret both."

Why, thanks for the optimism, Søren Kierkegaard 😊
A sketch of young Søren Kierkegaard
December 13, 2024 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Valeska Becker
ucph-soa.bsky.social
✨ We are hiring!

Assistant Professor European/North European Iron Age & Medieval/Renaissance archaeology (500 BC - 1500 AD). Particularly digital methods.

Permanent position from Sept 2025
Research & teaching focus
Located in beautiful Copenhagen 🇩🇰
Tenure track to Associate Prof after 6 years
Tenure-track assistant professor in archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen
employment.ku.dk
December 3, 2024 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Valeska Becker
levostregc.bsky.social
Roses are redde
Noble are the manatees
Yf we wante a bettir future
Teach artes & humanityes
December 2, 2024 at 7:26 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Just a little something I read today:
"The feeling of being superfluous and the fear of being insignificant lead to totalitarianism" (Hannah Arendt).
➡️ Reminder: You are not superfluous or insignificant. If you feel that way, it is most often due to economic conditions that value competition. 😘
November 29, 2024 at 11:37 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Another example of the parallel depiction of life and death: a stone statue from PPN #Karahantepe, depicting a seated male with an erect phallus. Note the ribs and clavicles alluding to death, whereas the face and the seated posture display life.
To learn more, check out the app "StoneMounds".
A larger-than-life stone figurine (2.45 m) of a seated male, holding his penis, with bones like ribs and clavicles clearly showing
November 25, 2024 at 8:58 AM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Behold this pretty cattle figurine from the early LBK site of Szentgyörgyvölgy-Pityerdomb (I kid you not, the name is awesome).
You can read up on the site here:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Cattle figurine made from red clay, with a pierced nose and decorated with zigzag incised lines
November 20, 2024 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Valeska Becker
flintdibble.bsky.social
Confirmation that another big wave of harassment is about to come my way. Joe Rogan is hosting the two pseudoarchaeology YouTubers who have been non-stop lying about me. Episode should likely drop tomorrow

We have to speak up and support each other

Anti intellectualism is the real cancel culture
flintdibble.bsky.social Flint Dibble @flintdibble.bsky.social · Nov 18
This place could not have picked up at a better time. Unfortunately, it looks likely that I will soon be slandered again on Joe Rogan's podcast, leading to another wave of harassing trolls

Apologies if any make it here and go after my colleagues or followers
November 19, 2024 at 12:10 PM
valeskabecker.bsky.social
Life on the front ... and death on the back. #Neolithic figurine from #Catalhöyük, Türkiye, depicting a pregnant woman from one side and a skeletonized person from the other side, with ribs, shoulder blades, the spine and the pelvic bones showing.
Source: www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_repo...
November 19, 2024 at 12:38 PM