Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes
@lemoustier.bsky.social
Archaeologist, word-witcher, scicomm, consultancy
📚 KINDRED: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death & Art
🖋️ MATRIARCHA: Prehistory Re-imagined
🏛️ Honorary Researcher U. Cambridge & U. Liverpool
1/4 @trowelblazers.bsky.social
Rep: PEW Literary
📚 KINDRED: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death & Art
🖋️ MATRIARCHA: Prehistory Re-imagined
🏛️ Honorary Researcher U. Cambridge & U. Liverpool
1/4 @trowelblazers.bsky.social
Rep: PEW Literary
Definitely claiming I could see rosy & emerald aurora-glow behind the clouds last night (or at least, my camera could pick it up 😅)
November 13, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Definitely claiming I could see rosy & emerald aurora-glow behind the clouds last night (or at least, my camera could pick it up 😅)
🏺 Look at this gorgeous Iron Age jug from Cyprus whose spout is formed by another jug held by a tiny woman!
#Matriarcha
#Matriarcha
November 12, 2025 at 5:58 PM
🏺 Look at this gorgeous Iron Age jug from Cyprus whose spout is formed by another jug held by a tiny woman!
#Matriarcha
#Matriarcha
🏺🗃️ Just applied on behalf of @trowelblazers.bsky.social for something v exciting 🤞
November 12, 2025 at 4:47 PM
🏺🗃️ Just applied on behalf of @trowelblazers.bsky.social for something v exciting 🤞
📚🗃️ Another good stay at @gladlib.bsky.social, esp. pleased to see this research about their strong links to both Transatlantic slave economy & colonial indentured labour. Made me look twice as I had my coffee too..
(truly, the fuss made about this kind of thing at National Trust sites is pathetic)
(truly, the fuss made about this kind of thing at National Trust sites is pathetic)
November 7, 2025 at 9:07 PM
📚🗃️ Another good stay at @gladlib.bsky.social, esp. pleased to see this research about their strong links to both Transatlantic slave economy & colonial indentured labour. Made me look twice as I had my coffee too..
(truly, the fuss made about this kind of thing at National Trust sites is pathetic)
(truly, the fuss made about this kind of thing at National Trust sites is pathetic)
Back at wonderful @gladlib.bsky.social for a week of intensive work, weaving through the threads of #Matriarcha 📚✒️
(women and horses; writing-the-self; Neolithic violence; origins of stories)
(women and horses; writing-the-self; Neolithic violence; origins of stories)
November 4, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Back at wonderful @gladlib.bsky.social for a week of intensive work, weaving through the threads of #Matriarcha 📚✒️
(women and horses; writing-the-self; Neolithic violence; origins of stories)
(women and horses; writing-the-self; Neolithic violence; origins of stories)
"I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to - I want to smell dark matter!... I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws! And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me!"
November 1, 2025 at 10:53 AM
"I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to - I want to smell dark matter!... I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws! And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me!"
And costume to match... Happy Halloween 🕸️
October 31, 2025 at 9:46 PM
And costume to match... Happy Halloween 🕸️
Are you looking for some mid-late 90s vaguely-maudlin-yet-still metal tunes for your Halloween dusk pre-party vibe?
You're welcome
You're welcome
October 31, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Are you looking for some mid-late 90s vaguely-maudlin-yet-still metal tunes for your Halloween dusk pre-party vibe?
You're welcome
You're welcome
Excited to announce that @flintdibble.bsky.social & I are planning something fun on FEASTING THROUGH TIME for the Dec 9th Cardiff edition of @robinince.bsky.social 's #NineLessons - a festive science variety show, for charity!
Book here:
www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...
Book here:
www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...
October 29, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Excited to announce that @flintdibble.bsky.social & I are planning something fun on FEASTING THROUGH TIME for the Dec 9th Cardiff edition of @robinince.bsky.social 's #NineLessons - a festive science variety show, for charity!
Book here:
www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...
Book here:
www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...
🏺🗃️ Brilliant few days in Cambridge w/ @toriherridge.bsky.social & Emma Pomeroy for #ExcavatingGarrod - some highlights as we work through archive material gathered so far
- DG writing from Palestine field camp after Newnham fellowship award
- Mary Kitson Clark on dig visitors
- Belinda the donkey
- DG writing from Palestine field camp after Newnham fellowship award
- Mary Kitson Clark on dig visitors
- Belinda the donkey
October 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
🏺🗃️ Brilliant few days in Cambridge w/ @toriherridge.bsky.social & Emma Pomeroy for #ExcavatingGarrod - some highlights as we work through archive material gathered so far
- DG writing from Palestine field camp after Newnham fellowship award
- Mary Kitson Clark on dig visitors
- Belinda the donkey
- DG writing from Palestine field camp after Newnham fellowship award
- Mary Kitson Clark on dig visitors
- Belinda the donkey
🏺🗃️ In Cambridge again with @toriherridge.bsky.social & Emma Pomeroy for our #ExcavatingGarrod project, working through Paris archive records while having a cup of tea from Newnham's celebratory DG mug
October 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
🏺🗃️ In Cambridge again with @toriherridge.bsky.social & Emma Pomeroy for our #ExcavatingGarrod project, working through Paris archive records while having a cup of tea from Newnham's celebratory DG mug
London transit vibes
October 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
London transit vibes
Upping the game, presenting one of my favourite #HistoricalHotties, Holbein's sketch of Simon George, 1530s (I much prefer it to the finished portrait). 🗃️
October 10, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Upping the game, presenting one of my favourite #HistoricalHotties, Holbein's sketch of Simon George, 1530s (I much prefer it to the finished portrait). 🗃️
🧪🏺🗃️ Did not know that the brilliant HERI does podcasts!
Series 1 also sounds excellent, on colonial anthropology in the Kalahari
Series 1 also sounds excellent, on colonial anthropology in the Kalahari
October 8, 2025 at 10:21 AM
🧪🏺🗃️ Did not know that the brilliant HERI does podcasts!
Series 1 also sounds excellent, on colonial anthropology in the Kalahari
Series 1 also sounds excellent, on colonial anthropology in the Kalahari
🧪 Long but important piece, underlining unprofessionalism from Colossal Biosciences in their responses.
As to 'mystery sources', whoever is paying to place these articles, in the past year the same PR websites & even same authors published smears of critics AND positive pieces on Colossal.
As to 'mystery sources', whoever is paying to place these articles, in the past year the same PR websites & even same authors published smears of critics AND positive pieces on Colossal.
October 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
🧪 Long but important piece, underlining unprofessionalism from Colossal Biosciences in their responses.
As to 'mystery sources', whoever is paying to place these articles, in the past year the same PR websites & even same authors published smears of critics AND positive pieces on Colossal.
As to 'mystery sources', whoever is paying to place these articles, in the past year the same PR websites & even same authors published smears of critics AND positive pieces on Colossal.
Just utterly embarrassing nonsense. Willing to bet that you'd get much more interesting interactions with a #Neanderthal than any LLM predictive text algorithm could manage
October 1, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Just utterly embarrassing nonsense. Willing to bet that you'd get much more interesting interactions with a #Neanderthal than any LLM predictive text algorithm could manage
🏺🧪🦣
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."
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."
September 30, 2025 at 11:41 AM
🏺🧪🦣
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."
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."
More irresistible industrial ruination beauty 😍
September 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
More irresistible industrial ruination beauty 😍
🏺🗃️ Might officially be a prehistorian but am also rather partial to some handsomely moody industrial heritage
(here the iron foundry at Blists Hill, Shropshire)
(here the iron foundry at Blists Hill, Shropshire)
September 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
🏺🗃️ Might officially be a prehistorian but am also rather partial to some handsomely moody industrial heritage
(here the iron foundry at Blists Hill, Shropshire)
(here the iron foundry at Blists Hill, Shropshire)
🦣🏺 Fantastic talk on Sirogne, a site I've been excited about since I included it in #Kindred!
MNI 10 individuals, all ages except infants, many back teeth but no cranial remains (unlike fauna), & *body processing*.
[feels like every #Neanderthal skeletal site has its own unique pattern!]
#ESHE2025
MNI 10 individuals, all ages except infants, many back teeth but no cranial remains (unlike fauna), & *body processing*.
[feels like every #Neanderthal skeletal site has its own unique pattern!]
#ESHE2025
September 26, 2025 at 3:44 PM
🦣🏺 Fantastic talk on Sirogne, a site I've been excited about since I included it in #Kindred!
MNI 10 individuals, all ages except infants, many back teeth but no cranial remains (unlike fauna), & *body processing*.
[feels like every #Neanderthal skeletal site has its own unique pattern!]
#ESHE2025
MNI 10 individuals, all ages except infants, many back teeth but no cranial remains (unlike fauna), & *body processing*.
[feels like every #Neanderthal skeletal site has its own unique pattern!]
#ESHE2025
🏺🦣
Watching online @katharv.bsky.social talk about Apidima at #ESHE2025 , extremely important and intriguing site: what is the taphonomic context of these two skulls of different ages?
Watching online @katharv.bsky.social talk about Apidima at #ESHE2025 , extremely important and intriguing site: what is the taphonomic context of these two skulls of different ages?
September 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
🏺🦣
Watching online @katharv.bsky.social talk about Apidima at #ESHE2025 , extremely important and intriguing site: what is the taphonomic context of these two skulls of different ages?
Watching online @katharv.bsky.social talk about Apidima at #ESHE2025 , extremely important and intriguing site: what is the taphonomic context of these two skulls of different ages?
September 26, 2025 at 9:16 AM
🏺 Always intrigued about potential that such things existed in prehistoric settlements. Identifying multi-storey buildings from stone remains are one thing, but organic superstructures might not preserve.
e.g. what if these Neolithic house models aren't symbolic, but show real architecture?
e.g. what if these Neolithic house models aren't symbolic, but show real architecture?
September 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
🏺 Always intrigued about potential that such things existed in prehistoric settlements. Identifying multi-storey buildings from stone remains are one thing, but organic superstructures might not preserve.
e.g. what if these Neolithic house models aren't symbolic, but show real architecture?
e.g. what if these Neolithic house models aren't symbolic, but show real architecture?