Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 4d

Unique Bronze Box Depicting a Roman Temple Unearthed in the Canabae of Legio V Macedonica at Turda, Romania - Arkeonews

Archaeologists uncover a luxurious Roman domus and a one-of-a-kind bronze box in the civilian quarter of Legio V Macedonica at Potaissa

arkeonews.net

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Bernadette Arnaud @narudaaarnaud.bsky.social · 4d

Comment une nouvelle étude géoarchéologique redéfinit l’histoire du temple de #Karnak, près de Louxor, d’une île isolée au complexe religieux emblématique de l’#Egypte pharaonique. phys.org/news/2025-10...

Researchers unearth origins of Ancient Egypt's Karnak Temple

Researchers have carried out the most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of Egypt's Karnak Temple near Luxor—one of the ancient world's largest temple complexes and a UNESCO World Heritage site we...

phys.org

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Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · 6d

Turns out: Some of these T-pillars *do* have faces. 🙌

Iza Miszczak @izamiszczak.bsky.social · 6d

Türkiye’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, announced that archaeologists have uncovered a T-shaped pillar depicting a human face in Karahantepe—marking the first such discovery in history.

www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/1200...

12,000-year-old human-faced pillar unearthed in Karahantepe marks new chapter in archaeology - Türkiye Today

A human-faced T-shaped pillar found in Karahantepe marks a historic first, revealing early artistic expression from 12,000 years ago

www.turkiyetoday.com

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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 4d

This is a good read, especially Pääbo's clear-headed answer to the de-extinction question at the end.

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 5d

english.elpais.com/science-tech...

Svante Pääbo, father of paleogenetics: ‘The reason for the Neanderthals’ extinction lies in how numerous we’ve become’

The Nobel Prize winner in Medicine is investigating genetic changes that could have given our species a competitive advantage, and the possibility of extracting the genome of the Flores hobbit

english.elpais.com

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 6d

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

250 4.3K 11K

Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · 10d

#Archaeology is about people.

People like the #Gravettian hunter who, 30,000 years ago in southern Moravia, lost or dropped his pouch containing a well-used tool kit of stone blades and points, (including partially broken pieces he could've let go a lot earlier):

🏺 archaeology.org/news/2025/09...

News - Personal Toolkit of Ice Age Hunter Recovered - Archaeology Magazine

MORAVIA, CZECH REPUBLIC—Thousands of years ago, an Ice Age hunter set down a small pouch […]

archaeology.org

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Jørgen Holm @jholm.bsky.social · 11d

How Monumental Art Helped Humans Thrive in Arabia’s Harshest Desert
www.anthropology.net/p/how-monume...

How Monumental Art Helped Humans Thrive in Arabia’s Harshest Desert

Twelve-thousand-year-old engravings in northern Arabia reveal how early desert communities used monumental art to mark water, memory, and survival.

www.anthropology.net

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Jolijn Erven @jolijnerven.bsky.social · 13d

Interested in goats 🐐? Read our pre-print on ancient Irish goats and their connection to the Old Irish goat breed

Just look at this dashing individual, courtesy of the Old Irish Goat society

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Felix Riede @felixthehauskat.bsky.social · 13d

And now covered in @science.org by the fab @spoke32.bsky.social: www.science.org/content/arti.... Do check it out for yourself - the earliest evidence of mineral-based blue pigment in Palaeolithic Europe!

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Bernadette Arnaud @narudaaarnaud.bsky.social · 17d

Le plus ancien atelier de fabrication de parures en coquillages d’Europe de l’Ouest a été mis au jour sur le site #paléolithique de La Roche-à-Pierrot à Saint-Césaire en Charente-Maritime. Il est daté d’au moins 42000 ans. Via @CNRS www.cnrs.fr/fr/presse/le...

Le plus ancien atelier de fabrication de parures en coquillages d’Europe de l’Ouest

Le premier atelier de fabrication de parures en coquillages en Europe de l’Ouest a été découvert à Saint-Césaire (Charente-Maritime) par des scientifiques principalement du CNRS, de l’université de Bo...

www.cnrs.fr

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 17d

....and artifact traps therefore 😉😟

Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 18d

If it helps, we have a number of Iron Age pits filled with multiple thin, layers of organic rich soil, each one overlain with a deposit of crushed chalk

They're quite unlike the fill of *normal* storage pits

We think they may have been Durotrigian latrine pits

Mmmmmm

Section through the fill of an Iron Age pit showing the layers of fill, the darker deposits possibly being prehistoric poo

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 19d

Springsteen on America today. What an incredible statement.

www.instagram.com/reel/DJzU4EQ...

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Dr Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 21d

An important message from genetics. Only, archaeology shows it as a slow social mechanism. Not the mass migration events that we were told of in our youth. It’s Cunnington’s to and fro, individuals and small groups, the next valley, across the sea (and back). Movement over time. Small, cumulative.

Ralph Janik @ralphjanik.com · 22d

“Harvard geneticist David Reich said … increasingly sophisticated analysis of genetic material made possible by technological advances shows that virtually everyone came from somewhere else, and everyone’s genetic background shows a mix from different waves of migration that washed over the globe.”

Pure bloodlines? Ancestral homelands? DNA science says no. — Harvard Gazette

Geneticist explains recent analyses made possible by tech advances show human history to be one of mixing, movement, displacement.

news.harvard.edu

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 23d

Akward indeed. Sounds well-documented, but it is still hear-say. Unless the 'quoted' board members open up, let's keep calm.

(Dr) Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social · 23d

Well this is awkward....

Andy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · 23d

EXCLUSIVE: EAA PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF HELPING ORCHESTRATE PROTEST CAMPAIGN AGAINST HER OWN EXECUTIVE BOARD’S GAZA VOTE

thePipeLine with the extraordinary story of how the President of the European Association of Archaeologists is accused of helping orchestrate a campaign to overturn its Gaza vote.

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 23d

The tool that archaeogeneticists around the globe have been crying out for!

No more months spent laboriously cross-referencing genetic relatedness, osteological attributes and archaeological context whilst scribbling endless iterations of circles and squares!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fault-tolerant pedigree reconstruction from pairwise kinship relations

Pedigrees reconstructed from biologically related ancient genomes have revealed many insights into (pre)history. To our knowledge, all reported ancient pedigrees have been manually reconstructed, as e...

www.biorxiv.org

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 24d

Okay, that's it then. They already were annoying, but this is outrageous. Research gate is a more friendly alternative.

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rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 25d

1,900-year-old oil lamp that provided 'light in the journey to the afterlife' found in Roman cemetery in the Netherlands | Live Science
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

1,900-year-old oil lamp that provided 'light in the journey to the afterlife' found in Roman cemetery in the Netherlands

Archaeologists excavating in a Roman cemetery in the Netherlands have uncovered a unique oil lamp dating to the second century A.D.

www.livescience.com

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 25d

"a former museum curator advised [a collector] to keep the fact that he owned [a looted antiquity] on the down-low, investigators said. 'If you limit access to your emperor to dinner guests and clueless meter readers, you should be fine'..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/a...

Arrest Warrant Says Buyer of ‘Nude Emperor’ Bronze Knew It Was Looted

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 26d

Spain first of Eurovision ‘big five’ to decide on boycott if Israel participates

State broadcaster says it will withdraw from next year’s contest in Vienna unless Israel is excluded over Gaza war Spain has become the latest country to say it will not take part in next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel participates. Board members of the state broadcaster RTVE voted in majority favour of boycotting the contest if Israel is among the countries fielding an entry next year. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · 28d

arkeonews.net/ancient-dna-...

Ancient DNA From Turkish Cave Reveals 5,000-Year-Old Charcoal Therapy and Hidden Antibiotic Resistance - Arkeonews

The same study revealed that antibiotic resistance genes existed millennia before modern drugs, reshaping our understanding of ancient medici

arkeonews.net

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · Sep 12

Dutch television AVRO/TROS has decided not to participatie in the Eurovision songcontest 2026 if Isreal is admitted. Finally a Dutch organisation that dares to stand up againt genocide.

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Reposted by Harry Fokkens

Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · Sep 11

Read the original research articles in Antiquity 🆓
doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Title, authors and abstract of one of the articles.

Title, authors and abstract of the other article.

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · Sep 12

"Experts note that such complex burial designs are of great importance for understanding ancient funerary practices, social structures, and migration patterns in the region."

Interesting indeed, but instead of understanding read: 'hypothesising about'

Ticia Verveer @ticiaverveer.bsky.social · Sep 11

Archaeologists located around 150 tombs unlike any found before in the West Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Preliminary analysis indicates that the site dates back to the Early Iron Age.

Archaeologists uncover numerous ancient burial mounds in Kazakhstan

A unique archaeological site has been discovered in Kazakhstan's West Kazakhstan region, featuring approximately 150 burial mounds—monuments dating back to ancient times. The find is considered one of...

www.azernews.az

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Harry Fokkens @harryfokkens.bsky.social · Sep 11

Great stuff. Congratulations.

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Heide Wrobel Nørgaard @heidewnoergaard.bsky.social · Sep 11

In our Augustinus fundet project #MetalsandGiants, we published first results 🧪 in @plosone.org The #article describes a multi-proxy method that allows distinguishing between Sardinian, Iberian, and Levantine copper using osmium isotopes. We aim to understand metal trade in #bronzeage #Sardinia.
🏺

Multiproxy analysis unwraps origin and fabrication biographies of Sardinian figurines: On the trail of metal-driven interaction and mixing practices in the early first millennium BCE

This article presents a multiproxy investigation of metal samples obtained from 48 Nuragic figurines (so-called bronzetti) and three copper bun ingots. These objects originate from three prominent Sar...

journals.plos.org

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