Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾

Talking yesterday evening with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social at the launch of his new book Invisible Rivals (yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... )

Nearly 50 years since David 'Analytical Archaeology’ Clarke died tragically young. A sunny day seemed the right time to pay a much overdue visit to where he is buried in Great Chesterford. Still much missed - not just for what he would have contributed but as a brilliant, witty and cheerful person.

Yes, Iain, I really can’t complain about the new view - different but still marvellous, especially on a sunny winter’s day.

The tree gradually going. Sad to see it disappearing limb by limb, but the skill (and machinery) of the team is impressive.

For more than 30 years I have looked out of the window over the desk in my office and seen this magnificent tree in all its seasonal variety. Sadly it is too sick (and dangerous!) to survive, and this week will be cut down. Like losing an old friend.

“Handy’s legacy is his defence of the company as an evolving community of people rather than a machine or set of contracts… the organisation of the future [needs] to be flexible, decentralised and built on trust rather than formal hierarchy”

Wasn’t that what universities used to be…

and for those too young to remember, here’s an overhead projector (courtesy of wikimedia commons)

Throwing out old folders I came across one full of overhead projector sheets. Brought back many memories. Not great quality but does the business, and lectures could be prepared in a fraction of the time when you’re not looking for the perfect image of a baby chimpanzee for powerpoint

Pleased (and surprised!) to announce the publication of my new book ‘Notes from Ivory Flats: Reflections on the Changing Landscape of Academic Life’.

The site is a collapsed cave – not easy to dig or understand. The Dongzhi County government have built a massive shelter and wonderful museum for the site, and provided support for the science.

Just back from a fabulous workshop in Dongzhi County in China on the Hualongdong hominin and its site. This is a 300,000 year old fossil (well, several actually!) that adds to the richness and complexity of Asian hominins in the Middle Pleistocene.
(Photo of the cast in Hualongdong Museum)

King’s College Cambridge has just announced a Research Fellowship on the topic of Symbiosis and/or Coevolution for early career researchers.

www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/work-a...

...vast emptiness and then you come across wonderful lithics🏺

Taking up Rebecca's request, not really a site, but I've always been more off-site. The Fazzan in the Libyan Sahara is beyond beautiful...🏺