Paige Madison
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fossilhistory.bsky.social
Paige Madison
@fossilhistory.bsky.social
4.2K followers 370 following 240 posts
Science writer. Writing a book on hobbits and human origins. Editor PBS Eons. History of science PhD.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Paige Madison
markwitton.bsky.social
Over the next few hours/days I'll be uploading lots of new #paleoart to Patreon. First up is this #Neanderthal fellow looking whimsically over his shoulder, wondering if he locked the door to his cave. Lots of discussion about his appearance and clothes at
www.patreon.com/posts/142405... #sciart
As the snow falls in front of the setting sun, Thag the Neanderguy pauses mid-step and looks behind him. He's thinking about the third series of Twin Peaks again. "Maybe it _was_ about the bunny", he ponders. But while Thag misses some of the nuances of event TV, he understands fashion very well. He's wearing all this season's newest Neanderthal gear, carrying his two dead rabbits in a looped strap alongside his thick, fur-lined boots. A pouch is slung over his left shoulder, containing various flints and bone tools. He's warm and stylish in his gloves, trousers, coat and shawl, and he's accented the whole ensemble with a cumberbund-type affair that he doesn't know what to call, but _who cares_: it looks cool. He realises that his body type has no significant waist, but this gives his body an important upper-lower divide. Even way back then, in the Pleistocene, you had to dress the body you had, not the body you wanted.
October 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
#OnThisDay in 2004, we were introduced to "a stranger from Flores," a new species of human called Homo floresiensis. @chrisbstringer.bsky.social's thoughts at the time on the big (or small) surprise: go.nature.com/34s9xbM 🏺🧪
Cover of the 28 October 2004 issue of Nature magazine featuring the skull and jaw of Homo floresiensis. A researcher’s hand steadies the small, brown-stained skull, which rests beside a lower jaw on a white surface. The headline reads “Short for her age: Third Asian Homo species reveals diversity of Pleistocene humanity.”
October 28, 2025 at 11:12 AM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
'Excavated with colonial labor and shipped to the Netherlands, the famous fossil is being repatriated to Indonesia along with 28,000 other fossils.' 🏺
'Java Man,’ the first Homo erectus discovered, is finally going home
Excavated with colonial labor and shipped to the Netherlands, the famous fossil is being repatriated to Indonesia along with 28,000 other fossils.
www.nationalgeographic.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
The fossils of a potential ancestor, Orrorin tugenensis, were found #OnThisDay in 2000 in Kenya. The bones give us hints about early experiments in walking upright. 🏺
Fragmented fossilized femur bones attributed to Orrorin tugenensis, arranged against a black background. The pieces include multiple partial shafts (3) including a mostly complete femur, and fragments, showing varying degrees of preservation and reddish-brown mineralization,
October 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
arctomet.bsky.social
Prang, T.C., Tocheri, M.W., Patel, B.A. et al. Ardipithecus ramidus ankle provides evidence for African ape-like vertical climbing in the earliest hominins. Commun Biol 8, 1454 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Ardipithecus ramidus ankle provides evidence for African ape-like vertical climbing in the earliest hominins - Communications Biology
Morphometric analyses of ankle bones provide evidence that humans evolved from an ancestor with vertical climbing adaptations like those of chimpanzees and gorillas.
doi.org
October 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Revisiting old Liang Bua documentaries and getting a kick out of this scene. 🏺
October 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
veraaldeias.bsky.social
📄 New paper 📣 of @matrixerc.bsky.social & @welkergroup.bsky.social! We show that microstratigraphic-scale #paleoproteomics works in intact sediments - opening new ways to explore ancient ecosystems & hominin behaviour 🌍🦴
@erc.europa.eu @icarehb.bsky.social 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
New methods on the block: Taxonomic identification of archaeological bones in resin-embedded sediments through paleoproteomics
Abstract. The integration of biomolecular studies of past organisms with geoarchaeological studies can significantly improve our understanding of the relat
academic.oup.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Paige Madison
lemoustier.bsky.social
Short article I wrote* on recent advances in the story of early Homo sapiens is now available online!

*commissioned as accompanying BBC Human series, although tbh I did not love their Neanderthal episode :-(

www.sciencefocus.com/science/huma...
We didn’t conquer the world alone. This is humanity’s untold origin story | BBC Science Focus Magazine
We’re discovering there were more characters, and more acts, in the tale of how Homo sapiens spread across the globe.
www.sciencefocus.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
mattpope.bsky.social
Great interview with Svante Pääbo Source: EL PAÍS English
search.app/WcjQz
🏺🦣🧪 🧬
Svante Pääbo, father of paleogenetics: ‘The reason for the Neanderthals’ extinction lies in how numerous we’ve become’
The Nobel Prize winner in Medicine is investigating genetic changes that could have given our species a competitive advantage, and the possibility of extracting the genome of the Flores hobbit
search.app
October 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
heriuct.bsky.social
The #TaungChild has been silent for over 2 million years — until now.

Our new podcast takes you back to 1924 #SouthAfrica, where one fossil would upend colonial narratives to centre human origins #Africa.

🌍Unburied Season 2: The Taung Child
🔗 Listen: linktr.ee/arcdocs
October 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
That was something else.
A woman stands in front of a grand stone building with ornate balustrades and columns. Behind her, a large vertical banner shows the face of an Australopithecus afarensis fossil reconstruction, advertising an exhibition titled Lucy & Selam. The woman is smiling slightly at the camera, with long blonde hair and a nose ring, wearing a dark jacket.
October 3, 2025 at 3:20 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
In case you missed it, I went to Prague to visit Lucy for her first-ever appearance in Europe and wrote down a few thoughts: open.substack.com/pub/paigemad... 🏺
Circling Lucy
Bowing to ancient bone fragments in a hushed room
open.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
#OnThisDay in 2009, after years of preparation, Ardipithecus ramidus was unveiled. The stunningly old 4.4 million-year-old fossils from Ethiopia were introduced as "a new kind of ancestor."
Fossilized skeletal remains of Ardipithecus ramidus, against a black background. The partial skeleton includes the skull, pelvis, arms, hands, legs, and feet, with many bones fragmented but laid out in ~approximate anatomical position.
October 2, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Paige Madison
deadbovids.bsky.social
The world has lost one of the biggest figures in Anthropology, Biology, and Conservation to have ever lived. Science will be an emptier place without her, and I can only take solace in knowing that she has inspired entire new generations of researchers who will continue her work. Rest in peace, Jane
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Oct 1
JUST IN: Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91
Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
n.pr
October 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
#OnThisDay in 1861, Charles Darwin wrote to his friend "But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything." n.pr/3kVZvon
Black-and-white portrait photograph of an older man , darwin, with a long, full white beard and receding hairline, wearing a dark coat. He looks to the right in a serious, contemplative pose. A small piece of handwritten text in cursive ink on paper, difficult to read but appearing to say: “But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything.”
October 1, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
lemoustier.bsky.social
🏺🧪🦣
Brilliant writing from Paige - what does it mean to encounter a being from such ancient times, who holds so much meaning in material remains?
"Each visit to see her feels like paying respects, but also like taking notes on a conversation that is ongoing between the present and the past."
Photo of outside of museum building, with classical porrico, in the gaps between the columns are hung large pennants for the exhibition, with a hominin face in the centre. Photo by Paige Madison.
September 30, 2025 at 11:41 AM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Our famous ancestor Lucy is on display in Prague. I visited the exhibit and wrote up some early thoughts about the experience:
paigemadison.substack.com/p/circling-lucy
📸Czech Tourism
A life-like reconstruction of the fossil hominin “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) created by Élisabeth Daynès. She is shown standing upright with dark hair and skin, gazing slightly to the side. She is holding green foliage to her lips. The rest of the room is dark.
September 30, 2025 at 10:55 AM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Prague’s history spans centuries, but what I’m here chasing is measured in millions.
📍Aria Hotel Prague
A narrow courtyard enclosed by ornate, historic buildings with cream-colored walls decorated in geometric and sculpted patterns. The upper floors feature arched windows and frescoed arches beneath a red-tiled roof. Sunlight strikes one corner, while above, a patch of blue sky and white clouds is visible.
September 30, 2025 at 9:20 AM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Netherlands to return 'Java Man' fossils to Indonesia. 🏺 www.dw.com/en/netherlan...
Netherlands to return 'Java Man' fossils to Indonesia – DW – 09/26/2025
The Netherlands will give back the "Java Man" fossils that were taken "against the will of the people" from colonial Indonesia. The fossils were the first to show links between apes and humans.
www.dw.com
September 29, 2025 at 6:20 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Prague’s oldest Baroque garden, the Vrtba, has stood carved into this hillside since 1720. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, it's situated within a neighborhood first mapped in 1257. Centuries of history 🤯
📍Aria Hotel Prague
View of the Vrtba Garden in Prague, a terraced Baroque garden built into the slope of Petřín Hill. Green hedges, statues, and stairways rise in levels up the hillside, with the white and yellow buildings, red rooftops, and green domes of Malá Strana visible beyond. The sky is blue with white, puffy clouds spread throughout.
September 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
A grand place for Lucy to make her European debut.
📍 Národní muzeum
Grand interior of the National Museum in Prague, featuring a sweeping marble staircase lined with red carpets, ornate columns, and golden lamps. Busts of historical figures line the upper level beneath a decorative arched gallery, and the ceiling is made of elaborately patterned glass panels that let in natural light. Visitors walk up and down the staircases, giving a sense of scale to the opulent architecture.
September 28, 2025 at 1:00 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Honestly a little speechless. Looking forward to spending the next few days here. 🏺
📍Narodni Muzeum
The front façade of the National Museum in Prague, with ornate statues, columns, and a fountain in the foreground. Large vertical banners hang between the columns, one reading “Lucy & Selam” and another showing a hominin face, advertising the exhibition inside. The sky above is overcast.
September 27, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
martamlahr.bsky.social
#ESHE2025
Elizabeth Veatch ‘Behavioural complexity in Homo floresiensis reconsidered’
Did H floresiensis hunt & use fire? NO!
Tapho– Komodo Dragon prey bones fr Atlanta!
3D study of 3200 bones w marks fr Liang Bua: most match Komodo Dragons; a few actual c/m - scavenging.
🔥? ~10K rat bones 😳… NONE
September 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
fossilhistory.bsky.social
I'm a bit confused as to why dwarfing is still so often assumed. Another leading idea is that the hobbit evolved from a small-bodied ancestor, no shrinking of bodies or brains required. Also, this study unfortunately missed the withdrawal of fire evidence in 2016. theconversation.com/hobbits-of-f...
Hobbits of Flores evolved to be small by slowing down growth during childhood, new research on teeth and brain size suggests
New research on the size relationship between brains and wisdom teeth suggests that bigger brains aren’t necessarily the driving force in human evolution.
theconversation.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Paige Madison
martamlahr.bsky.social
#ESHE2025
Andrea Lukova ‘Reconstructing loading from the internal bone structure of the Homo naledi foot’
Signature of climbing in the naledi foot?
Close look at the talus and 1st MT
Human-like features – BUT!! Also climbing traits in talus – suggesting climbing was key element of locomotion!
September 25, 2025 at 10:32 AM