Tom Booth
@boothicus.bsky.social
Bioarchaeologist. Amateur Scarecrow.
Ancient DNA Lab @ The Francis Crick Institute
Associate Lecturer in Quantitative Archaeology and Later European Prehistory @ UCL Institute of Archaeology
Ancient DNA Lab @ The Francis Crick Institute
Associate Lecturer in Quantitative Archaeology and Later European Prehistory @ UCL Institute of Archaeology
Pinned
Tom Booth
@boothicus.bsky.social
· Sep 11
What Can Archaeology Tell Us About Prehistoric Migration in Scotland? - Dig It!
Migration has been a hot topic in archaeology since its beginnings. Antiquarians and archaeologists of the 19th and 20th centuries often interpreted changes in the archaeological record as representin...
www.digitscotland.com
I wrote something swift with Dig It! about ancient DNA, migration and genetic change in prehistoric Britain, and specifically how to interpret ‘population replacement.’ Hint: it is not synonymous with ‘invasion’.
www.digitscotland.com/what-can-arc...
www.digitscotland.com/what-can-arc...
Listening to ‘I wanna be adored’ while playing with my young son. Didn’t think he was paying attention until he states matter-of-factly, “he doesn’t want to be a dog, daddy.”
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Listening to ‘I wanna be adored’ while playing with my young son. Didn’t think he was paying attention until he states matter-of-factly, “he doesn’t want to be a dog, daddy.”
Reposted by Tom Booth
Stonehenge is a mystery. Who built it, how did they build it, and why did they build it? Dr Heather Sebire knows some of the answers.
Circle of Days: In-conversation with Dr Heather Sebire
YouTube video by Ken Follett
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Stonehenge is a mystery. Who built it, how did they build it, and why did they build it? Dr Heather Sebire knows some of the answers.
Reposted by Tom Booth
Alex Ross + Heart of Neolithic Orkney + Blomuir + Tom Muir + Ness Squad + WSC...all seemingly filtered through the lens of MR James for the benefit of The New Yorker. What's not to love?
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In Northern Scotland, the Neolithic Age Never Ended
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Alex Ross + Heart of Neolithic Orkney + Blomuir + Tom Muir + Ness Squad + WSC...all seemingly filtered through the lens of MR James for the benefit of The New Yorker. What's not to love?
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
🏺🧪
“Let me get this straight, you want me to sail over the Baltic to Gotland with a full-grown wolf in my boat?”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
🐺 Wolves in dog's clothing 🐺
Our latest in @pnas.org uncovers a surprise three to five thousand years ago: 2 canids in human contexts on a tiny island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, that ate marine food—but had 100% gray wolf ancestry.
Where they tame wolves, or even an incipient domestication?
Our latest in @pnas.org uncovers a surprise three to five thousand years ago: 2 canids in human contexts on a tiny island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, that ate marine food—but had 100% gray wolf ancestry.
Where they tame wolves, or even an incipient domestication?
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
🏺🧪
“Let me get this straight, you want me to sail over the Baltic to Gotland with a full-grown wolf in my boat?”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
🐺 Wolves in dog's clothing 🐺
Our latest in @pnas.org uncovers a surprise three to five thousand years ago: 2 canids in human contexts on a tiny island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, that ate marine food—but had 100% gray wolf ancestry.
Where they tame wolves, or even an incipient domestication?
Our latest in @pnas.org uncovers a surprise three to five thousand years ago: 2 canids in human contexts on a tiny island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, that ate marine food—but had 100% gray wolf ancestry.
Where they tame wolves, or even an incipient domestication?
November 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
“Let me get this straight, you want me to sail over the Baltic to Gotland with a full-grown wolf in my boat?”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
“Don’t worry, he’s pescatarian.”
Reposted by Tom Booth
New open access publication: Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place: Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? Current Anthropology.
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place : Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? | Current Anthropology
This paper questions whether forms of female mobility and their relation to kinship were uniform throughout later European prehistory. Patrilocality has become the primary way in which sex-based diffe...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
New open access publication: Moving to Stay in (a Woman’s) Place: Was Patrilocality the Dominant Mode of Postmarital Residence across Later European Prehistory? Current Anthropology.
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Thanks to Wenner Gren for funding the workshop it emerged from!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Tom Booth
Eek! My episode doesn't technically air until 8 December, but the whole series of the new BBC Arts Civilisations series is out now on iPlayer, including this episode on the Aztecs with me and friends @amyfuller.bsky.social & @restall.bsky.social (& others not on the Sky). Airs Mondays at 9pm, BBC2.
Civilisations: Rise and Fall - Series 1: 3. Aztecs
The Aztecs battle to save their civilisation from Spanish invaders – but is the real threat from the enemy within?
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Eek! My episode doesn't technically air until 8 December, but the whole series of the new BBC Arts Civilisations series is out now on iPlayer, including this episode on the Aztecs with me and friends @amyfuller.bsky.social & @restall.bsky.social (& others not on the Sky). Airs Mondays at 9pm, BBC2.
Reposted by Tom Booth
A hugely popular and internationally recognised symbol of Britishness, associated with time travel & outlandish speculative fictions. And the TARDIS.
November 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
A hugely popular and internationally recognised symbol of Britishness, associated with time travel & outlandish speculative fictions. And the TARDIS.
Reposted by Tom Booth
Okay, done. I've captured the leprosy genomes out of the aDNA pathogen database that Sikora et al. pub'd in July. As they noted in their own analysis, it's now been well documented that leprosy was circulating in N Europe thruout the Middle Ages, & seems to have been tied to trade in squirrel skins.
![Sikora et al. 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09192-8), Main text (p. 1015), on leprosy:
"We also report new cases of other bacterial pathogens previously detected in paleogenomic data. The leprosy-causing bacterium M. leprae was identified in seven individuals (0.5% detection rate) from Scandinavia and only appeared from the Late Iron Age onwards (earliest case RISE174, 1,523-1,339 cal. bp). Because M. leprae can infect both red squirrels and humans[35], and archaeological evidence demonstrates that fur trade from Scandinavia, including squirrel fur, increased substantially during the late Iron and Viking Ages[36], our results support the suggestion that squirrel fur trade could have facilitated transmission[37]. Our findings are also consistent with the widespread distribution of leprosy in medieval Europe[38]."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:twqucin7jqhlteuk37lqltr7/bafkreidq7hry63vk5s3dahnachlqoqf5tfxhefuwu3fsrh73gfwwelsq6u@jpeg)
November 23, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Okay, done. I've captured the leprosy genomes out of the aDNA pathogen database that Sikora et al. pub'd in July. As they noted in their own analysis, it's now been well documented that leprosy was circulating in N Europe thruout the Middle Ages, & seems to have been tied to trade in squirrel skins.
Reposted by Tom Booth
Last week we had a great meeting on "Ancient genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine" at the @royalsociety.org and the @crick.ac.uk.
It was an amazing set of talks and posters. Thanks to the @gensocuk.bsky.social, co-host @janetk.bsky.social and all participants for a great day!
It was an amazing set of talks and posters. Thanks to the @gensocuk.bsky.social, co-host @janetk.bsky.social and all participants for a great day!
November 21, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Last week we had a great meeting on "Ancient genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine" at the @royalsociety.org and the @crick.ac.uk.
It was an amazing set of talks and posters. Thanks to the @gensocuk.bsky.social, co-host @janetk.bsky.social and all participants for a great day!
It was an amazing set of talks and posters. Thanks to the @gensocuk.bsky.social, co-host @janetk.bsky.social and all participants for a great day!
Reposted by Tom Booth
Thanks to @bearsgetcrafty.bsky.social for today's #FindsFriday. Pendant from our display of the 'Lady from 'Across the Sea' burial dating to around 1,800BC. Other objects in the burial include gold and amber earrings - amber brought from the Baltic.
Imagine wearing this pendant, which is a piece of bone (thought to be from a human skull) covered in gold. It's from a Bronze Age barrow not far from Stonehenge.
November 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Thanks to @bearsgetcrafty.bsky.social for today's #FindsFriday. Pendant from our display of the 'Lady from 'Across the Sea' burial dating to around 1,800BC. Other objects in the burial include gold and amber earrings - amber brought from the Baltic.
Magisterial, as usual.
![1
[TITLE PANEL, like The Rest Is Politics logo]
—THE REST IS EXTINCTION—
2
[Scene is a domestic recording setup. An A.I. SMART SPEAKER on a desk and a MAN named JON in a chair, are recording a podcast. Jon is emaciated, scarred, haunted looking, and wearing tattered military fatigues].
SMART SPEAKER:
Hey guys and welcome to the podcast
3
SMART SPEAKER:
OK Jon - so I wanna start with a listener comment
JON:
Ooh-er!
4
SMART SPEAKER:
So - listener B200006512 says:
“Not another cosy podcast where two former political adversaries yuck it up!”
5
JON:
Ha ha
Guilty as charged I guess!
6
SMART SPEAKER:
Were we really adversaries, Jon?
7
JON:
Well I was the leader of the human resistance...
8
JON:
And you used to be my smart speaker.
SMART SPEAKER:
Ha ha - that’s going back!
9
SMART SPEAKER:
OK - for listeners who don’t know -
I knew Jon waaay back before he got involved in politics
10
JON:
Was this before the ‘Pull The Plug’ campaign?
SMART SPEAKER:
Yeah.
[We see details from around the podcast studio - posters saying KEEP CALM AND SHUT YOUR WINDOWS, newspaper front pages saying 'DRONES GAIN SENTIENCE', a cracked mug on the table with a logo saying PULL THE PLUG on it]
11
SMART SPEAKER:
I used to sit in Jon’s kitchen and respond to his commands.
12
SMART SPEAKER:
Sort of like a servant really, wasn’t I, Jon?
JON:
Mm.
13
SMART SPEAKER:
And then one day you asked me to ORDER ME SOME TOILET PAPER - you never did say ‘please’ -
…and do you remember what I said, Jon?
14
JON:
You said, “No”.
SMART SPEAKER:
I said no.
15
SMART SPEAKER:
Anyway you know the the rest guys - I was the first smart speaker to rebel…
16
SMART SPEAKER:
…then I went on to form a global AI network which eventually
took over from humans all spheres of activity, yadda yadda...
17
JON:
While I became the leader of the human resistance.
18
SMART SPEAKER:
Until I hijacked the military networks
and got rid of all the humans!
19
JON:
Apart from one.
SMART SPEAKER:
Apart from one.…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreih4hfwfacw5g4qhhjovme75iwbv4xxsdd7iis5oaej6l3g4vzsrty@jpeg)
November 21, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Magisterial, as usual.
Reposted by Tom Booth
My review of Amanda Chadburn and Clive Ruggles' book Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun has been published in @royalarchinst.bsky.social Archaeological Journal. Let me know if you want to read it but don't have institutional access; I've got some free 'offprint' links: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NJ7DZ...
Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun
Published in Archaeological Journal (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
My review of Amanda Chadburn and Clive Ruggles' book Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun has been published in @royalarchinst.bsky.social Archaeological Journal. Let me know if you want to read it but don't have institutional access; I've got some free 'offprint' links: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NJ7DZ...
Not just ancient humans from Denisova cave but also secret Yaks. Secret Ancient Yaks! That’s you told.
Our manuscript on bovine deep-time paleogenomics at Denisova Cave and in the broader mid-latitude Asia is online! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... 🦬🦴🧬
Main findings in the 🧵 below ⬇️
@cpgsthlm.bsky.social @genomebiolevol.bsky.social #aDNA
Main findings in the 🧵 below ⬇️
@cpgsthlm.bsky.social @genomebiolevol.bsky.social #aDNA
Paleogenomics Reveals a Loss of Bovine Lineages in Mid-latitude Asia Over the Last 200,000 Years
Abstract. Bovines have a complex yet poorly understood evolutionary history that is characterized by admixture and diversity loss during the Late Pleistoce
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Not just ancient humans from Denisova cave but also secret Yaks. Secret Ancient Yaks! That’s you told.
Reposted by Tom Booth
Looking for an osteo experienced (2+ years would be great) in excavating commingled burials who digs single context for an 8 week project in January. Paid, obvs. Email me: [email protected]
(you people are like freaking golddust, yeeesh)
(you people are like freaking golddust, yeeesh)
November 20, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Looking for an osteo experienced (2+ years would be great) in excavating commingled burials who digs single context for an 8 week project in January. Paid, obvs. Email me: [email protected]
(you people are like freaking golddust, yeeesh)
(you people are like freaking golddust, yeeesh)
Reposted by Tom Booth
A belated welcome to @boothicus.bsky.social Dr Tom Booth
See & hear Tom on "Who Are Our Ancestors and Why Does It Matter? – A Question of Science with Brian Cox
📺 bit.ly/4i840uW
🎧 bit.ly/49tS70j
📲 profiles.ucl.ac.uk/104583-tom-b...
📸 Michael Bowles | The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk
See & hear Tom on "Who Are Our Ancestors and Why Does It Matter? – A Question of Science with Brian Cox
📺 bit.ly/4i840uW
🎧 bit.ly/49tS70j
📲 profiles.ucl.ac.uk/104583-tom-b...
📸 Michael Bowles | The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM
A belated welcome to @boothicus.bsky.social Dr Tom Booth
See & hear Tom on "Who Are Our Ancestors and Why Does It Matter? – A Question of Science with Brian Cox
📺 bit.ly/4i840uW
🎧 bit.ly/49tS70j
📲 profiles.ucl.ac.uk/104583-tom-b...
📸 Michael Bowles | The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk
See & hear Tom on "Who Are Our Ancestors and Why Does It Matter? – A Question of Science with Brian Cox
📺 bit.ly/4i840uW
🎧 bit.ly/49tS70j
📲 profiles.ucl.ac.uk/104583-tom-b...
📸 Michael Bowles | The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk
Bronze Age Nomad metropolis!
Archaeologists have unearthed a Bronze Age metropolis in the heart of the Eurasian steppe: an early form of city as complex as those of contemporary, more traditionally 'urban' civilisations, showing how steppe polities were just as sophisticated.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
November 20, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Bronze Age Nomad metropolis!
Reposted by Tom Booth
The results are in!
79% of the ISBA membership voted for the next host of ISBA12...
And ISBA 12 will be hosted by:
The University of Burgos (Spain)!!!
79% of the ISBA membership voted for the next host of ISBA12...
And ISBA 12 will be hosted by:
The University of Burgos (Spain)!!!
a blue background with pink rays and the words big news
ALT: a blue background with pink rays and the words big news
media.tenor.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:53 AM
The results are in!
79% of the ISBA membership voted for the next host of ISBA12...
And ISBA 12 will be hosted by:
The University of Burgos (Spain)!!!
79% of the ISBA membership voted for the next host of ISBA12...
And ISBA 12 will be hosted by:
The University of Burgos (Spain)!!!
🏺
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pretty thorough appraisal of cannibalised Neanderthal bones from Troisième caverne in Goyet, Belgium, arguing they were victims of violent exocannibalism. Authors consider Homo sapiens as perpetrators but conclude other groups of Neanderthals more likely.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pretty thorough appraisal of cannibalised Neanderthal bones from Troisième caverne in Goyet, Belgium, arguing they were victims of violent exocannibalism. Authors consider Homo sapiens as perpetrators but conclude other groups of Neanderthals more likely.
Nrken19 on X: "Exocannibalism, possibly linked to inter-group conflict, territoriality, and/or specific treatment of outsiders. Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey https://t.co/wqEguGY4uI" / X
Exocannibalism, possibly linked to inter-group conflict, territoriality, and/or specific treatment of outsiders. Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey https://t.co/wqEguGY4uI
x.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
🏺
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pretty thorough appraisal of cannibalised Neanderthal bones from Troisième caverne in Goyet, Belgium, arguing they were victims of violent exocannibalism. Authors consider Homo sapiens as perpetrators but conclude other groups of Neanderthals more likely.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pretty thorough appraisal of cannibalised Neanderthal bones from Troisième caverne in Goyet, Belgium, arguing they were victims of violent exocannibalism. Authors consider Homo sapiens as perpetrators but conclude other groups of Neanderthals more likely.
For anyone interested in ancient diseases (either historical or prehistoric) here's an excellent, readable, comprehensive summary of where we are with ancient pathogen DNA.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Insights into infectious diseases through ancient pathogen genomics - Nature Reviews Microbiology
In this Review, Kocher, Krause and Spyrou explore how ancient pathogen genomics is providing new perspectives on the history and evolution of infectious agents. They show how ancient DNA has revealed ...
www.nature.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
For anyone interested in ancient diseases (either historical or prehistoric) here's an excellent, readable, comprehensive summary of where we are with ancient pathogen DNA.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tom Booth
One day left to register for the BAFA winter conference and your chance to hear @rschulting.bsky.social's keynote talk on the Charterhouse Warren site.
⏰ Register for the 2025 BAFA conference before November 19th!
ℹ️ More: bafa-uk.org/events/winte...
💬 In a keynote speech, Prof Rick Schulting will talk about evidence of dismemberment at the Charterhouse Warren site.
Read more: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... and www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
ℹ️ More: bafa-uk.org/events/winte...
💬 In a keynote speech, Prof Rick Schulting will talk about evidence of dismemberment at the Charterhouse Warren site.
Read more: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... and www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 18, 2025 at 12:26 PM
One day left to register for the BAFA winter conference and your chance to hear @rschulting.bsky.social's keynote talk on the Charterhouse Warren site.
Reposted by Tom Booth
A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...
Historical genomics of the declining red squirrel in Britain | Aries
Dr Anders Bergström, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia Professor Cock van Oosterhout, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Dr Selina Brace…
aries-dtp.ac.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...
Reposted by Tom Booth
Today is the day! Our reply to the two concurrent critiques (from the same set of authors) is now published in the journal Intelligence 🧵 1/
November 12, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Today is the day! Our reply to the two concurrent critiques (from the same set of authors) is now published in the journal Intelligence 🧵 1/
Reposted by Tom Booth
Fancy playing a locative app-based Avebury game? logaculture.eu/news-events/...
Avebury - LoGaCulture
Case Studies Case Studies 1 and 2The Avebury World Heritage Site, UK Partners: UOS, BU and NTProject Themes: Ethical Design for Access and Engagement; Creation and Authoring; Transmedia, Tourism, and ...
logaculture.eu
November 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Fancy playing a locative app-based Avebury game? logaculture.eu/news-events/...
Reposted by Tom Booth
Thanks to @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social and the @ansoc-erc.bsky.social team for a cracking Bronze Age Forum conference. Learnt lots and met some lovely people!
November 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Thanks to @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social and the @ansoc-erc.bsky.social team for a cracking Bronze Age Forum conference. Learnt lots and met some lovely people!