qmackie
banner
qmackie.bsky.social
qmackie
@qmackie.bsky.social
Archaeologist (retd.), idiot looking for a village, used to run @uvicanthro on tw*tter, paleocoasts, dog!, yyj
Pinned
Hello Blue Sky. Just a nice picture from some long ago archaeological work in Haida Gwaii. I may revisit my blog soon and get back to the slow web. TTYS.
Is this actually "tool use" any more than a raccoon getting the lid off a garbage can or a bear destroying a punky log for the ants? The wolf does not make or bring a tool to this activity. www.timescolonist.com/local-news/r...
Video: Researchers observe wild wolves using tools on B.C. coast
A female wolf learned to pull fully submerged crab traps out of the water and eat the bait inside in what could be the first known potential tool use in wild wolves.
www.timescolonist.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by qmackie
MELTDOWN is an exploration of identity, gender power dynamics, work-life balance, competing goals and dreams, support for mental health, imposter syndrome, and the delights of writing.
https://bit.ly/41lawaq
##Science #Glaciers #Hydrology #Fieldwork #Memoir #WomenInSTEM
@snowhydro.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by qmackie
‘Dan Hicks told The Art Newspaper “While the UK's Culture Secretary continues to stall on progress on allowing national museums to make returns on a case-by-case basis, British non-national museums and even private individuals are moving ahead with returns"’
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/13/p...
Private collectors’ return of artefacts to Ghana highlights UK's inaction on restitution, heritage experts say
British art historian Hermione Waterfield and South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti have retuned objects to Ghana's Asante Kingdom
www.theartnewspaper.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM
RIP longtime B.C. Archaeologist Ian Wilson www.legacy.com/ca/obituarie... 🏺
Ian WILSON Obituary (June 10, 1946 - October 15, 2025) - Mill Bay, BC - The Times Colonist
View Ian R. WILSON's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.
www.legacy.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Underwater hunter-killer robots trained on images of sea urchins may be used to rehab Australian urchin barrens www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
AI robots to stop sea urchins turning seabed into 'moonscape'
A hidden environmental crisis lurks beneath the crystal clear waters of Australia's east coast as long-spined sea urchins wreak havoc on the coast. Now scientists are trialling a new solution.
www.abc.net.au
November 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
An ongoing series by Shawn Gilmore . . . collecting all known appearances of “narrative string theory” (string walls, walls and floors littered with paperwork by obsessives, etc.). 🗣️🧵🌌

www.vaultofculture.com/nst
November 6, 2025 at 1:21 AM
"a low-impact survey method was developed by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band ... cultural materials returned to their original location following in-field analyses.

.. as Sanchez reiterated in the morning meeting, "everything remains in place." @b-thom.bsky.social

www.miragenews.com/field-school...
Field School Merges Archaeology, Ecology, Tribal Rights
The UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History is helping shift the way archaeology happensStory and photos by Lexie Briggs • October 29
www.miragenews.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
No archaeologists.🏺
October 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Truth - Child Welfare - Economic Development - Gender - Land - Media

Indigenous writers on the TRC Calls to Action, 10 years later. 🇨🇦

thewalrus.ca/truth-and-re...
The Truth of Reconciliation | The Walrus
The TRC report, released in 2015, laid out ninety-four clear Calls to Action. Ten years later, Indigenous writers reflect on what has and hasn’t been achieved
thewalrus.ca
October 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
"Cordes knew that anytime a code was written, a new algorithm developed or a cryptocurrency exchanged, there was a new chance to encode Indigenous epistemology." #AI #Indigenous #highered

thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...
Ashley Cordes Is Indigenizing the Algorithm | The Tyee
AI, cryptocurrency and other tech are known for their disruptive potential. But an Indigenous media scholar insists they can also be systems of abundance.
thetyee.ca
September 30, 2025 at 5:29 PM
September 19, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Excellent brief review of the process which led to the recent Cowichan land claims court decision, by noted scholar of Indigenous:Crown legal relationships, Professor Hamar Foster

www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...
Comment: Cowichan land decision was a long time coming
The reckoning it represents is the product of decades of ­ignoring a constitutional ­obligation that pre-dates section 35 of the 1982 Constitution.
www.timescolonist.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Traces of blue Indigo, derived from inedible plants (e.g., Woad), at a 34,000 year old site in the Caucasus points to very early plant-based dyes and pigments. Article includes nice video of replicative experiments. phys.org/news/2025-09... 🏺
Traces of blue indigo on 34,000-year-old grinding tools suggest new Paleolithic plant use scenarios
An international research team coordinated by Ca' Foscari University of Venice has identified the presence of indigotin—a blue dye compound—on stone pebbles dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. This ...
phys.org
September 2, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Canadian geoscientists are planning to revise formal geological unit names to eliminate culturally insensitive or offensive terms. Open Access. cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.... 🏺⚒️
September 2, 2025 at 6:45 PM
The 1891 opening of Port Pirie / Broken Hill lead mine and Smelter in South Australia showed up almost immediately in Antarctic Ice. theconversation.com/lead-polluti... #anthropocene
September 2, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Over-reliance on International students for cynical financial reasons (high tuition) was administrative malpractice at BC Universities, yet the consequences are falling only on faculty and staff.

www.timescolonist.com/local-news/w...
'Wake-up call': Decline of international students forces layoffs, program suspensions at B.C. schools
The University of Victoria, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University and Langara College have reported international enrolment declines of as much as 60 per cen...
www.timescolonist.com
September 1, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Archaeology of Skateboarding at Kelvin Wheelies in Glasgow. More info here: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a... 🏺🛹
August 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
This older article is making the rounds again via @kottke.org - interesting that once again a spectacular find was languishing on museum shelves, this time for 90 years. Gift link. 🏺 🎵🐚 #archaeology

www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/s...
Hear the Sound of a Seashell Horn Found in an Ancient French Cave (Published 2021)
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
So casual: "Stories of murders passed down by Yamatji elders confirmed by cipher hidden in 1850s journals of prominent Western Australian pastoralist Major Logue. Now descendants on both sides want to break the shame and silence." @b-thom.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
August 5, 2025 at 8:43 PM
"... in a beautiful twist of expectations, scientists have now found that the louder the monkey’s calls, the smaller the monkey’s balls."🐒🏑 #primatology #anthropology

www.vice.com/en/article/t...
The Louder the Monkey, the Smaller Its Balls, Study Finds
Howler monkeys can be well-endowed in the voice box or the family jewels, but not both.
www.vice.com
August 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
A significant step towards enhanced marine stewardship and the safeguarding of culturally significant ocean spaces to [...] "assert our rights and manage our core marine territory as the saltwater people of Tsawout"

www.vicnews.com/local-news/t...
Tsawout Nation goes high tech to safeguard historic waters of Saanichton Bay
The buoy, nicknamed 'QEN'T Junior' was deployed on July 4
www.vicnews.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:26 PM
@historicalmarker.bsky.social This sign may miss a lot of nuance ….
Weather beaten and vaguely creepy interpretive sign that was once at the site of Camp Release in Minnesota, now on the porch at the Chippewa County Historical Society in Montevideo.
July 31, 2025 at 2:49 AM
[the Kula ring ] was a strictly ceremonial system geared to enhancing the prestige of male elites [....] ensconced in an atmosphere of pretend hostility between the parties.

Trump explained, by Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai(!)

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The key to understanding Trump? It’s not what you think
Everything the US president does is for money – and in serving his avarice, he’s managed to triumph over the market
www.theguardian.com
July 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
It's an archaeological Culturally Modified Tree (CMT) - write a site report 🏺
I don't 100% know what it is yet, but I would write this book.
July 29, 2025 at 3:40 AM