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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

@lemoustier.bsky.social

24K followers 820 following 3.8K posts

Archaeologist, word-witcher, scicomm, consultancy 📚 KINDRED: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death & Art 🖋️ MATRIARCHA: Prehistory Re-imagined 🏛️ Honorary Researcher U. Cambridge & U. Liverpool 1/4 @trowelblazers.bsky.social Rep: PEW Literary

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 26m

🧪🦣🏺 Strong criticisms of recent study claiming super-ancient origin forlineage leading to H. sapiens, which is contradicted by DNA that points strongly to a last common ancestor more like 600,000 years ago rather than +1 million.
Also, geopolitics & nationalism often intersect with #HumanOrigins

Manuel Will @manuelwill.bsky.social · 1h

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen? | via BR24
br.de/nachrichten/... @br24.de
#Evolution #Anthropology

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen?

Bisher waren Forschende sich weitgehend einig: Der Homo sapiens hat sich einst in Afrika entwickelt und von dort aus verbreitet. Eine neue Studie über die Rekonstruktion eines fossilen Schädels aus Ch...

br.de

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 35m

This is is course good news but its tempered by so much carnage.
I still think a single democratic state offers a way forward, with a long term reconciliation process centring on building a future for all children in the region.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 48m

The Israeli military said Friday that a cease-fire had come into effect at noon and that its soldiers were repositioning themselves within Gaza. Here's the latest: nyti.ms/43feq5J

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3h

He deserves the widest adoration
(I have no idea if he was in personality some sort of cad or sociopath so that comment is purely for aesthetics 😆)

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3h

they give you a 30 day trial (which isn't consecutive but cumulative) so you can really try it out

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3h

well can't vouch for it creating BETTER writing habits but it helps me produce MORE chaos, and find things WITHIN my chaos 😂
seriously, absolutely worth the money just for the search function, but the double-pane is so useful, and ability to see and organise all files (chapters, sub-sections)

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3h

Upping the game, presenting one of my favourite #HistoricalHotties, Holbein's sketch of Simon George, 1530s (I much prefer it to the finished portrait). 🗃️

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3h

🙄 I wouldn't acknowledge my spellchecker in my books any more than I would my pen or my keyboard. That's because they are inanimate tools. not colleagues or collaborators.

[I might however acknowledge *the human developers* of Scrivener, as creators of this fantastic writing project software!]

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 16h

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 21h

yes the power differential is always an issue with this kind of context

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 1d

Noticed the other week that there's not nearly enough #HistoricalHotties content here on Bluesky, so am posting one of the OGs, Antinous
(amirite @emmasouthon.bsky.social )

Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 2d

Marble bust of Antinous depicted as Dionysus with a bronze vine wreath on his head.
The bust, found at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, was part of Marquis Giampietro Campana's collection and was regarded as one of his finest sculptures. Emperor Alexander II of Russia bought it in 1861 for the Hermitage.

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Reposted by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 1d

In @thetimes.com letters page today

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 1d

"Turnips and radishes outraged"

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 1d

not weird

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

🧪🏺🗃️ Did not know that the brilliant HERI does podcasts!
Series 1 also sounds excellent, on colonial anthropology in the Kalahari

Screengrab of page for Unburied Season One. Image shows a graphic of a hole dug into orange sandy sediment.
Text:
"Unburied Season 1: Built from Bones.

Season one of the Unburied series retraces the footsteps of Dr. Rudolf Pöch, an Austrian anthropologist who traveled through the Kalahari in the early 20th century.

The series investigates how Pöch dug up graves and took the remains from more than 170 indigenous people and used the bones for race science, to justify white supremacy.

Unburied seeks to understand what happened in the Kalahari and how those events have shaped the lives of the indigenous communities in the Kalahari and the world at large."

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

typo- Palaeolithic, not Neolithic :-)

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Reposted by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Corinne Fowler @corinnefowler.bsky.social · 2d

1. On political gaslighting. Yesterday Jenrick defended his comments on Handsworth by lashing out at 2 pieces of work I was centrally involved with to imply it's people like me who are divisive, not him...

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

Looks fab

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

🏺 And of course, Anthropology including Archaeology is so powerful because we use all kinds of data and analytical methods which bring together humanities AND sciences.

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

Anthropology should replace RE as mandatory at state schools: faiths are just one facet of the extraordinary ways people have chosen past & present to organise their lives and express identity - from households to states, craft to economy, or dealing with death. Anthropology opens minds & hearts.

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

English, Anthropology, Sociology... removing these options for the majority would of course help the class war substantially, by preventing most people from learning more in understanding and appreciating the real diversity of humanity, culture and its communication

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

yes, two separate questions, protecting those children whilst not causing harm to other children.
I suspect the majority of state funded Church of England or Church of Wales schools aren't actually doing the former, but certainly are risking the latter.

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

not sure that's right, the Society of Authors is a trade union and many of its members including me are self-employed

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks for this interesting perspective, I see the need within religious extremist contexts.
But massive number of state-funded faith schools is far beyond the amount needed to ensure such children's protection, and opens up other kids to proselytising and damaging experiences. How to balance this?

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

upon closer research apparently one can claim utilities installation and furnishings but not decoration and not structural stuff, and yes, capital gains would apply, although you can claim some relief as small business.

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

I suppose that's true

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

hah!