kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
@wedgie-bce.bsky.social
they/them and/or she/her
phd student umich
cuneiform + ritual + magic
+ animals + monsters
+ queer theory + decolonial theory
https://linktr.ee/wedgie_bce
phd student umich
cuneiform + ritual + magic
+ animals + monsters
+ queer theory + decolonial theory
https://linktr.ee/wedgie_bce
Come log in for a little lecture on my current work exploring kišpu "witchcraft" and gender!
We are excited to welcome @wedgie-bce.bsky.social on November 30th for our online speaker series!
#MedievalSky #MedievalHistory #Medieval #Skystorians #AcademicSky #HistorySky #EarlyModernSky #EarlyModernHistory #EarlyModern #MaterialCulture #Bodies #WhatsHistory #witchcraft
#MedievalSky #MedievalHistory #Medieval #Skystorians #AcademicSky #HistorySky #EarlyModernSky #EarlyModernHistory #EarlyModern #MaterialCulture #Bodies #WhatsHistory #witchcraft
Which ‘Witch’ is Which?, by Kelsie Ehalt
Eventbrite - Bodies and Being: The Pre-modern Body Project presents Which ‘Witch’ is Which?, by Kelsie Ehalt - Sunday, November 30, 2025 - Find event and ticket information.
www.eventbrite.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Come log in for a little lecture on my current work exploring kišpu "witchcraft" and gender!
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
I will remind folks those images of Nazi book burnings aren't burning just any books. They're burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld; a gay, Jewish doctor who created an institute dedicated to LGBTQ sex education and healthcare. And a man who pioneered gender affirming care surgeries.
US government orders 46 states to destroy trans education materials
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/27/trans-education-us-state-directive/?utm_content=1756312804&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/27/trans-education-us-state-directive/?utm_content=1756312804&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
US government orders states to destroy trans education materials
The US government has ordered 46 states and territories to destroy education materials referencing trans people.
www.thepinknews.com
August 29, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I will remind folks those images of Nazi book burnings aren't burning just any books. They're burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld; a gay, Jewish doctor who created an institute dedicated to LGBTQ sex education and healthcare. And a man who pioneered gender affirming care surgeries.
I'm fully in dissertation mode, so as a break from looking at 7th century BCE Akkadian texts and assemblage theory, I've really gotten into learning about the illuminations of medieval Hebrew manuscripts (this is my flavor of Elul studying I guess...). Will share some of my favorites on this thread:
August 29, 2025 at 5:04 AM
I'm fully in dissertation mode, so as a break from looking at 7th century BCE Akkadian texts and assemblage theory, I've really gotten into learning about the illuminations of medieval Hebrew manuscripts (this is my flavor of Elul studying I guess...). Will share some of my favorites on this thread:
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
For today's #MosaicMonday a hilarious #Roman mosaic depicting a boisterous #dog knocking over a basket and pulling out the contents.
Life without #dogs is possible but pointless! 😊
On display at the Archaeological Museum Irbid/Jordan.
🏺 📷
Life without #dogs is possible but pointless! 😊
On display at the Archaeological Museum Irbid/Jordan.
🏺 📷
July 14, 2025 at 6:37 AM
For today's #MosaicMonday a hilarious #Roman mosaic depicting a boisterous #dog knocking over a basket and pulling out the contents.
Life without #dogs is possible but pointless! 😊
On display at the Archaeological Museum Irbid/Jordan.
🏺 📷
Life without #dogs is possible but pointless! 😊
On display at the Archaeological Museum Irbid/Jordan.
🏺 📷
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Don’t forget the call for papers is open for our @socstudyofthepast.bsky.social conference Beyond Methodological Nationalism: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Abstract submissions by the end of July pls! 🍉
Abstract submissions by the end of July pls! 🍉
Society for the Study of the Past – Annual Meeting – Call for Papers
Society for the Study of the Past – Annual Meeting – Call for Papers ‘Beyond Methodological Nationalism’ Methodological nationalism – or the idea that “the nation/state/society is the natural social a...
docs.google.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Don’t forget the call for papers is open for our @socstudyofthepast.bsky.social conference Beyond Methodological Nationalism: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Abstract submissions by the end of July pls! 🍉
Abstract submissions by the end of July pls! 🍉
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
The @socstudyofthepast.bsky.social now has a YouTube channel, and if you would like to catch up on our event on Friday, ‘Archaeology and Apartheid’, you can do so here: m.youtube.com/channel/UCVI...
Society for the Study of the Past
This is the YouTube channel for the Society for the Study of the Past, a new subject organisation aimed at doing history in solidarity with the occupied and the oppressed. You will find recordings of ...
m.youtube.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:28 PM
The @socstudyofthepast.bsky.social now has a YouTube channel, and if you would like to catch up on our event on Friday, ‘Archaeology and Apartheid’, you can do so here: m.youtube.com/channel/UCVI...
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
OIC 22, text 12 (the price of renting a bed):
"Since the first of the month of Arahsamnu, Warad-Ilabrat rented a bed belonging to Belshunu for 5.5 grains of silver."
This tiny receipt was excavated at Nippur, located in southern Iraq. It is about 3,750 years old: lodging is a very old industry.
"Since the first of the month of Arahsamnu, Warad-Ilabrat rented a bed belonging to Belshunu for 5.5 grains of silver."
This tiny receipt was excavated at Nippur, located in southern Iraq. It is about 3,750 years old: lodging is a very old industry.
June 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
OIC 22, text 12 (the price of renting a bed):
"Since the first of the month of Arahsamnu, Warad-Ilabrat rented a bed belonging to Belshunu for 5.5 grains of silver."
This tiny receipt was excavated at Nippur, located in southern Iraq. It is about 3,750 years old: lodging is a very old industry.
"Since the first of the month of Arahsamnu, Warad-Ilabrat rented a bed belonging to Belshunu for 5.5 grains of silver."
This tiny receipt was excavated at Nippur, located in southern Iraq. It is about 3,750 years old: lodging is a very old industry.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Everyone is throwing out examples of Iraq War-era mass derangement so I might as well throw in Amanda Bynes doing a peace sign on a movie poster being photoshopped out for fear of being seen as an antiwar statement
June 19, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Everyone is throwing out examples of Iraq War-era mass derangement so I might as well throw in Amanda Bynes doing a peace sign on a movie poster being photoshopped out for fear of being seen as an antiwar statement
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
V interesting thread. Archaeologists, this also involves us. Permission to excavate & appropriate land used similar legal systems. Results of said excavations then used to 'prove' historic claims to land etc, I
I.e archaeology is complicit, so we need to stop pretending we're not.
I.e archaeology is complicit, so we need to stop pretending we're not.
The Refute Zionists Superficial Argumentation Starter Pack:
I make this thread because I am tired of having to repeat myself over and over. If in the future new things come to light, new stuff will be added. But copy paste will be nicer than repeating. It will be a Q and A form. Use if you want idc
I make this thread because I am tired of having to repeat myself over and over. If in the future new things come to light, new stuff will be added. But copy paste will be nicer than repeating. It will be a Q and A form. Use if you want idc
June 12, 2025 at 7:10 AM
V interesting thread. Archaeologists, this also involves us. Permission to excavate & appropriate land used similar legal systems. Results of said excavations then used to 'prove' historic claims to land etc, I
I.e archaeology is complicit, so we need to stop pretending we're not.
I.e archaeology is complicit, so we need to stop pretending we're not.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
A couple of months ago, I posted a checklist of things one could do to be useful in these days of rising fascism.
Here’s Part Two of that list—more focused on ways to protect you and those in your tightest circles of care.
Part One is embedded and also skeeted below.
Here’s Part Two of that list—more focused on ways to protect you and those in your tightest circles of care.
Part One is embedded and also skeeted below.
Care for yourself and others!
Checklist 2.0
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
A couple of months ago, I posted a checklist of things one could do to be useful in these days of rising fascism.
Here’s Part Two of that list—more focused on ways to protect you and those in your tightest circles of care.
Part One is embedded and also skeeted below.
Here’s Part Two of that list—more focused on ways to protect you and those in your tightest circles of care.
Part One is embedded and also skeeted below.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
We may never know everything about the past, but we do know how to say in Akkadian 'Speak out, revolt' (tisiʾā tuqumta)!
That's thanks to one of the earliest Flood myths, Atra-hasis, composed nearly four thousand years ago.
That's thanks to one of the earliest Flood myths, Atra-hasis, composed nearly four thousand years ago.
My folks are visiting Armenia, so naturally they asked about Mount Ararat and that really means they wanted to better understand the reception history of Bronze Age political myths:
May 23, 2025 at 1:32 PM
We may never know everything about the past, but we do know how to say in Akkadian 'Speak out, revolt' (tisiʾā tuqumta)!
That's thanks to one of the earliest Flood myths, Atra-hasis, composed nearly four thousand years ago.
That's thanks to one of the earliest Flood myths, Atra-hasis, composed nearly four thousand years ago.
For those of you whose nerdiness is at the intersection of ancient history and Dungeons and Dragons, check out this awesome project my dear friend is working on!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...
Pharaohs and Phantasms: An Archaeology TTRPG
Pharaohs and Phantasms is a TTRPG in which you create historical fantasy stories through the eyes of an archaeologist.
www.kickstarter.com
June 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM
For those of you whose nerdiness is at the intersection of ancient history and Dungeons and Dragons, check out this awesome project my dear friend is working on!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/115...
New long video on a letter from Marduk-šapik-zeri to the Assyrian king, which introduces us to the specializations of cuneiform scholarship in the 1st millennium BCE: kalûtu, āšipūtu, asûtu, and barûtu!
youtu.be/L4kibw0tDHU
youtu.be/L4kibw0tDHU
Specialized Cuneiform Scholarship in 7th cent. BCE Assyria: Science, Divination, Magic, Medicine
YouTube video by wedgie_bce
youtu.be
June 4, 2025 at 6:28 PM
New long video on a letter from Marduk-šapik-zeri to the Assyrian king, which introduces us to the specializations of cuneiform scholarship in the 1st millennium BCE: kalûtu, āšipūtu, asûtu, and barûtu!
youtu.be/L4kibw0tDHU
youtu.be/L4kibw0tDHU
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Another fun Akkadian word that lives on: sofa
Akkadian ṣuppu, "thick, compacted (of textiles)" > Aramaic ṣippā/ṣuppā, "carded wool" > Arabic, Turkish "ṣuffa" > sofa
Akkadian ṣuppu, "thick, compacted (of textiles)" > Aramaic ṣippā/ṣuppā, "carded wool" > Arabic, Turkish "ṣuffa" > sofa
March 12, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Another fun Akkadian word that lives on: sofa
Akkadian ṣuppu, "thick, compacted (of textiles)" > Aramaic ṣippā/ṣuppā, "carded wool" > Arabic, Turkish "ṣuffa" > sofa
Akkadian ṣuppu, "thick, compacted (of textiles)" > Aramaic ṣippā/ṣuppā, "carded wool" > Arabic, Turkish "ṣuffa" > sofa
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
In 1748 BCE, a man feels so “discredited” by a woman named Amertum that he declares before 13 witnesses:
“As long as she talks, I will not bring her into my house.”
It’s a flawlessly preserved legal record of a bizarre situation.
“As long as she talks, I will not bring her into my house.”
It’s a flawlessly preserved legal record of a bizarre situation.
February 13, 2025 at 7:59 PM
In 1748 BCE, a man feels so “discredited” by a woman named Amertum that he declares before 13 witnesses:
“As long as she talks, I will not bring her into my house.”
It’s a flawlessly preserved legal record of a bizarre situation.
“As long as she talks, I will not bring her into my house.”
It’s a flawlessly preserved legal record of a bizarre situation.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Hot take: we can do better than "trans people have always existed!" I say, actually it's CISNESS that is the newfangled, upstart invention. It's not that trans people existed before. It's that the whole cis/trans binary is rubbish. Hear me, a pre modern historian/ Talmud scholar, out...
February 13, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Hot take: we can do better than "trans people have always existed!" I say, actually it's CISNESS that is the newfangled, upstart invention. It's not that trans people existed before. It's that the whole cis/trans binary is rubbish. Hear me, a pre modern historian/ Talmud scholar, out...
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
Folks are shocked that their institutions, after professing commitments to climate justice and DEI, are now caving to Trump and scrubbing all references.
It's brutal.
And it's the smallest taste of what our students felt when their universities called in the cops b/c they protested a genocide.
It's brutal.
And it's the smallest taste of what our students felt when their universities called in the cops b/c they protested a genocide.
February 11, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Folks are shocked that their institutions, after professing commitments to climate justice and DEI, are now caving to Trump and scrubbing all references.
It's brutal.
And it's the smallest taste of what our students felt when their universities called in the cops b/c they protested a genocide.
It's brutal.
And it's the smallest taste of what our students felt when their universities called in the cops b/c they protested a genocide.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
“Do not bend your neck for that which cuts necks.”
A Sumerian proverb, as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
A Sumerian proverb, as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
February 7, 2025 at 1:31 PM
“Do not bend your neck for that which cuts necks.”
A Sumerian proverb, as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
A Sumerian proverb, as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
I am often moved by how cuneiform tablets give glimpses into the lives of everyday people.
One of my favourites is of a physician name Rabâ-sha-Marduk who lived in the 1200s BCE. This medical therapy for headaches ("seizing of the temple") is signed by him cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/28...
One of my favourites is of a physician name Rabâ-sha-Marduk who lived in the 1200s BCE. This medical therapy for headaches ("seizing of the temple") is signed by him cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/28...
February 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I am often moved by how cuneiform tablets give glimpses into the lives of everyday people.
One of my favourites is of a physician name Rabâ-sha-Marduk who lived in the 1200s BCE. This medical therapy for headaches ("seizing of the temple") is signed by him cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/28...
One of my favourites is of a physician name Rabâ-sha-Marduk who lived in the 1200s BCE. This medical therapy for headaches ("seizing of the temple") is signed by him cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/28...
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
I also have a little video of a talk I gave four years ago. In this video, I give a more detailed description of what entrails reading (extispicy) was like for the Mesopotamian world:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJD-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJD-...
Mesopotamian Extispicy - Lecture, Feb. 4 (GenEd 1112)
YouTube video by Andrew Deloucas
www.youtube.com
February 6, 2025 at 10:55 AM
I also have a little video of a talk I gave four years ago. In this video, I give a more detailed description of what entrails reading (extispicy) was like for the Mesopotamian world:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJD-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJD-...
Can’t wait to read this new book making Mesopotamian history human and accessible!
advance copies have arrived and if it looks like i’m trying to hug it, that’s because i am 🥹
February 5, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Can’t wait to read this new book making Mesopotamian history human and accessible!
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
À propos of nothing: Here is an open-access primer on ancient & medieval Palestine feat. @moudhy.bsky.social @gmandreou.bsky.social @chancebonar.bsky.social @alexianafry.bsky.social @archaeologuest.bsky.social @stephenniem.bsky.social @nabalkattu.bsky.social @luxmea.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3h52peyh
#EOPalestine
A Primer on Ancient and Medieval Palestine Cover art: Katherine Blouin; block print based on a rabbit motif from a Late Antique Gazan mosaic Starting from September 16, 2024, Everyday Orientalism w…
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com
February 5, 2025 at 9:19 PM
À propos of nothing: Here is an open-access primer on ancient & medieval Palestine feat. @moudhy.bsky.social @gmandreou.bsky.social @chancebonar.bsky.social @alexianafry.bsky.social @archaeologuest.bsky.social @stephenniem.bsky.social @nabalkattu.bsky.social @luxmea.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3h52peyh
Reposted by kelsie ehalt 𒆠𒂖𒋛
the fascists are looking to rigidly define gender not just to punish trans people like they claim but to lay the groundwork for the oppression of all women. when gender is legally mutable, it is harder to use it to restrict people’s rights.
they want to build a cage around you, made from our bones
they want to build a cage around you, made from our bones
January 31, 2025 at 3:52 PM
the fascists are looking to rigidly define gender not just to punish trans people like they claim but to lay the groundwork for the oppression of all women. when gender is legally mutable, it is harder to use it to restrict people’s rights.
they want to build a cage around you, made from our bones
they want to build a cage around you, made from our bones