Dr. Smiti Nathan
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smitinathan.bsky.social
Dr. Smiti Nathan
@smitinathan.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1.9K following 84 posts
Archaeologist 🏺 & Public Educator 🧪

Academic research: archaeology, Bronze & Iron Age Oman, Ancient Ethiopia, archaeobotany, GIS, remote sensing, ethnoarchaeology

https://smitinathan.com
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smitinathan.bsky.social
Here’s a sneak peek of a project launching next week!

🎙️ Curiosity Meets The Past is a new video podcast where I talk with folx about the unexpected stories behind objects, places, and people 🏺

Want a one-time email notification of the launch? Click here:
newsletter.smitinathan.com/podcast-laun...
Illustrated podcast cover for “Curiosity Meets The Past,” created by Laura Fajín Riveiro. It shows a stylized side profile of host Dr. Smiti Nathan wearing gold hoop earrings and a scarf, facing left. Surrounding her are illustrated motifs like a ceramic pot, ancient architecture, leaves, and abstract shapes evoking time and memory. The background features warm terracotta, gold, and teal hues. The podcast title appears in bold charcoal grey colors with a shadow in the top right.
June 20, 2025 at 2:42 AM
smitinathan.bsky.social
My article on Oman's ancient towers for SAPIENS Magazine has now been translated into Spanish, French, and Portuguese! 🏺 🧪

Check out the link below:
www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

#archaeology #Oman #ArabianArchaeology
screenshot of Smiti Nathan's Sapiens Magazine article titled, "Piecing Together the Puzzle of Oman's Ancient Towers". There is a blurb and a picture. In the bottom right corner, a blue box is highlighting where a person could click to change the translation.
December 13, 2024 at 2:32 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
#ThrowbackThursday to my doctoral dissertation.
📸: This is a charred date palm fragment 🌴 I love this picture because you can see the vascular bundles. While I might not visit the microscope as much these days, I always love to nerd about plants 🌱
#archaeology #archaeobotany #anthracology
charred date palm fragment. You can actually see some vascular bundles!
December 5, 2024 at 2:23 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
A piece of copper slag from an ancient mining site in Oman. Slag is a by-product you can get during the metal smelting process. The green specks are some trace bits of copper.
#archaeology #archaeometallurgy #ArabianArchaeology #Oman
A piece of copper slag from an ancient mining site in Oman being held by a hand. The green specks are some traced bits of copper.
December 2, 2024 at 2:22 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
Underneath a ginkgo tree 🍂
Underneath a ginkgo tree that has yellow leaves
November 25, 2024 at 9:38 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
#ThrowbackThursday: Watching how Omani bread is made (aka Khubz) during my ethnoarchaeological fieldwork trip🏺
November 21, 2024 at 2:06 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
Finding visuals for our #archaeology YouTube videos is painstaking and fun 🏺 Check out this public domain gem we found on Wikimedia Commons.
@wikieducation.bsky.social @wikimedia.bsky.social
🐈🐱😻😺🐈‍⬛
It's in the first seconds of our video on how house cats & the ancient world: youtu.be/7AFMO9Pbch8
Black and white photo of a cat with a hat. It's in a frame with the caption "Mouse Trap" Source Image details: English: Image from Kittens and Cats: A First Reader (1911) by Eulalie Osgood Grover with the caption: "‘THE MOUSE TRAP’" Date 1911 Source Project Gutenberg ebook 61852 via Internet Archive and Distributed Proofreaders Author Rotograph Company
November 20, 2024 at 2:45 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
Say hi 👋 if you parent a child who randomly loses socks 🧦 #TextileTuesday

Perhaps ancient Egyptian parents could relate to that, too? This is a single, nalbound, 1700-year-old children's sock from Antinoupolis, Egypt 🏺

#Archaeology #MaterialCulture
Credit: British Museum, Asset #1613100356
Asset number 1613100356 Description Full: Front Sock for the left foot of a child with separation between the big toe and four other toes worked in 6 or 7 colours of wool yarn (several S-spun strands, Z-plied) in a single needle looping technique sometimes called naalebinding and worked from the toe upwards. Each toe is made separately from dark green wool (10 rows). The two toes are then joined and worked in bands of the following colours: salmon pink (4 rows), purple (4 rows), bluish-green (4 rows), dark red (6 rows), green (2 rows). The sole of the heel is then worked. The heel section is worked in bands of salmon pink (3 rows), purple (3 rows), dark blue (2 rows), salmon pink (8 rows), purple (4 rows), yellow (4 rows). A welt across the instep marks where the loops are worked in the round. The top edge is continuous and curls over; a loose thread of red wool forms part of a tie or tassel at the centre front. © The Trustees of the British Museum
November 19, 2024 at 2:41 PM
smitinathan.bsky.social
These are flamingo wall paintings from an old house in an oasis village in Oman. I took this picture while doing #ethnoarchaeology 🏺 there back in 2016. The family left this house after building a new one on the outskirts of the oasis.

Why 🦩? They just liked the look of them.
Painted flamingos on a wall in an oasis village in Oman
November 19, 2024 at 2:52 AM