Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
@pickeringrobyn.bsky.social
Assoc. Professor University of Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦 Co-director Human Evolution Research Institute | geology, isotopes, U-Pb dating carbonates, human evolution, southern African palaeoclimates | equitable fieldwork | decolonisation |she/her
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Happy to be involved in this special issue and looking forward to exciting contributions from the geochronology community!
Calling all Quaternary Geochronology enthusiasts! I'm serving as a Guest Editor for @natureportfolio.nature.com (Scientific Reports) upcoming special issue and would be excited to see your submission. Learn more about the collection and how to contribute👇
www.nature.com/collections/...
www.nature.com/collections/...
Quaternary geochronology
This Collection invites submissions on the latest advances in quaternary geochronology.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Happy to be involved in this special issue and looking forward to exciting contributions from the geochronology community!
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
🧪🏺 WOWWWW
New dates in SE Asia for rock paintings - major implications:
- nature of early aesthetics, innovations
- relationship to oldest known Australian settlement?
- and (IMO) impacts claims that cave art in Europe >50 Ka is necessarily work of #Neanderthals
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New dates in SE Asia for rock paintings - major implications:
- nature of early aesthetics, innovations
- relationship to oldest known Australian settlement?
- and (IMO) impacts claims that cave art in Europe >50 Ka is necessarily work of #Neanderthals
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi - Nature
A hand stencil painted on a cave wall on a small island off the coast of Sulawesi more than 67,800 years ago suggests a very early occupation of Wallacea.
www.nature.com
January 21, 2026 at 7:07 PM
🧪🏺 WOWWWW
New dates in SE Asia for rock paintings - major implications:
- nature of early aesthetics, innovations
- relationship to oldest known Australian settlement?
- and (IMO) impacts claims that cave art in Europe >50 Ka is necessarily work of #Neanderthals
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New dates in SE Asia for rock paintings - major implications:
- nature of early aesthetics, innovations
- relationship to oldest known Australian settlement?
- and (IMO) impacts claims that cave art in Europe >50 Ka is necessarily work of #Neanderthals
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Want to help restore jobs and the integrity of our federal science workforce? Come join the fight! : www.standupforscience.net
January 21, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Want to help restore jobs and the integrity of our federal science workforce? Come join the fight! : www.standupforscience.net
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Breaking news and congratulations to the team, Sulawesi preserves evidence for the oldest art yet recorded, and strengthens claims for the early colonisation of Australia. At 68k BP this art is almost 30k years earlier than the accepted record for Europe. Bravo🏺🦣🎨
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Oldest cave painting could rewrite origins of human creativity
A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world's oldest known cave painting, researchers say.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 21, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Breaking news and congratulations to the team, Sulawesi preserves evidence for the oldest art yet recorded, and strengthens claims for the early colonisation of Australia. At 68k BP this art is almost 30k years earlier than the accepted record for Europe. Bravo🏺🦣🎨
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Four years ago, the underwater Hunga Tonga volcano 🌋erupted causing an explosive event that could be seen from space. Our researchers were among 159 scientists from 21 countries who published a report looking at the eruption’s far-reaching effects. Check out the report: https://bit.ly/4qUIaOW
January 15, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Four years ago, the underwater Hunga Tonga volcano 🌋erupted causing an explosive event that could be seen from space. Our researchers were among 159 scientists from 21 countries who published a report looking at the eruption’s far-reaching effects. Check out the report: https://bit.ly/4qUIaOW
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Imagine surviving in the Kalahari thousands of years ago—one of #Africa’s driest environments.
Evidence shows that early humans didn’t just endure it; they adapted with remarkable skill.
🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/surviving-the-drylands-stone-tools-as-evidence-of-early-social-networks
Evidence shows that early humans didn’t just endure it; they adapted with remarkable skill.
🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/surviving-the-drylands-stone-tools-as-evidence-of-early-social-networks
January 14, 2026 at 8:01 AM
Imagine surviving in the Kalahari thousands of years ago—one of #Africa’s driest environments.
Evidence shows that early humans didn’t just endure it; they adapted with remarkable skill.
🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/surviving-the-drylands-stone-tools-as-evidence-of-early-social-networks
Evidence shows that early humans didn’t just endure it; they adapted with remarkable skill.
🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/surviving-the-drylands-stone-tools-as-evidence-of-early-social-networks
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
📢 ONLY 1 WEEK LEFT 🫣to submit your abstract for #EGU26!
👇 Your next steps?
✔️Your Copernicus.org login details
✔️ An EGU membership (www.egu.eu/0ZFO4P/)
✔️ Your abstract🥳!
Submit NOW: www.egu26.eu
📅 Deadline: 15 January 2026, 13.00CET
🎥: Lukas Hörtnagl on #imaggeo
👇 Your next steps?
✔️Your Copernicus.org login details
✔️ An EGU membership (www.egu.eu/0ZFO4P/)
✔️ Your abstract🥳!
Submit NOW: www.egu26.eu
📅 Deadline: 15 January 2026, 13.00CET
🎥: Lukas Hörtnagl on #imaggeo
January 8, 2026 at 10:57 AM
📢 ONLY 1 WEEK LEFT 🫣to submit your abstract for #EGU26!
👇 Your next steps?
✔️Your Copernicus.org login details
✔️ An EGU membership (www.egu.eu/0ZFO4P/)
✔️ Your abstract🥳!
Submit NOW: www.egu26.eu
📅 Deadline: 15 January 2026, 13.00CET
🎥: Lukas Hörtnagl on #imaggeo
👇 Your next steps?
✔️Your Copernicus.org login details
✔️ An EGU membership (www.egu.eu/0ZFO4P/)
✔️ Your abstract🥳!
Submit NOW: www.egu26.eu
📅 Deadline: 15 January 2026, 13.00CET
🎥: Lukas Hörtnagl on #imaggeo
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Happy to have participated for years in the sedimentological study of Thomas Quarry I which is featured today in @nature.com for having yielded hominin fossils with traits reminiscent of Homo sapiens.
rdcu.be/eX1Pm
@cnrsecologie.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social @nouvelleaquitaine.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eX1Pm
@cnrsecologie.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social @nouvelleaquitaine.bsky.social
Early hominins from Morocco basal to the Homo sapiens lineage
Nature - New hominin fossils from the Grotte à Hominidés at Thomas Quarry I (ThI-GH) in Casablanca, Morocco, dated to around 773 thousand years ago are similar in age to Homo antecessor,...
rdcu.be
January 7, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Happy to have participated for years in the sedimentological study of Thomas Quarry I which is featured today in @nature.com for having yielded hominin fossils with traits reminiscent of Homo sapiens.
rdcu.be/eX1Pm
@cnrsecologie.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social @nouvelleaquitaine.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eX1Pm
@cnrsecologie.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social @nouvelleaquitaine.bsky.social
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
"Archaeologists have much to learn from Indigenous communities... “living landscapes” or “existencescapes” are not only inhabited, constructed and interpreted through words, they are also lived and negotiated in practice"
✍️ Reviewed by Laura Pey 2/2
✍️ Reviewed by Laura Pey 2/2
January 7, 2026 at 5:35 PM
"Archaeologists have much to learn from Indigenous communities... “living landscapes” or “existencescapes” are not only inhabited, constructed and interpreted through words, they are also lived and negotiated in practice"
✍️ Reviewed by Laura Pey 2/2
✍️ Reviewed by Laura Pey 2/2
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
New work by HERI's @drpeechiwara.bsky.social & colleagues reviews Middle Stone Age evidence in #Africa to explore how early humans built complex social networks
Looking at context & patterns, the paper sheds light on the deep roots of human cooperation & collaboration.
doi.org/10.17159/saj...
Looking at context & patterns, the paper sheds light on the deep roots of human cooperation & collaboration.
doi.org/10.17159/saj...
January 7, 2026 at 8:01 AM
New work by HERI's @drpeechiwara.bsky.social & colleagues reviews Middle Stone Age evidence in #Africa to explore how early humans built complex social networks
Looking at context & patterns, the paper sheds light on the deep roots of human cooperation & collaboration.
doi.org/10.17159/saj...
Looking at context & patterns, the paper sheds light on the deep roots of human cooperation & collaboration.
doi.org/10.17159/saj...
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Women in science in #Africa 🌍
Christina Mutinda, a HERI PhD candidate at @UCT_news, explores how early humans adapted to changing environments.
Using fossils, isotopes and ecological clues, she reconstructs East Africa’s Early Pleistocene habitats, when Paranthropus boisei roamed.
Christina Mutinda, a HERI PhD candidate at @UCT_news, explores how early humans adapted to changing environments.
Using fossils, isotopes and ecological clues, she reconstructs East Africa’s Early Pleistocene habitats, when Paranthropus boisei roamed.
December 17, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Women in science in #Africa 🌍
Christina Mutinda, a HERI PhD candidate at @UCT_news, explores how early humans adapted to changing environments.
Using fossils, isotopes and ecological clues, she reconstructs East Africa’s Early Pleistocene habitats, when Paranthropus boisei roamed.
Christina Mutinda, a HERI PhD candidate at @UCT_news, explores how early humans adapted to changing environments.
Using fossils, isotopes and ecological clues, she reconstructs East Africa’s Early Pleistocene habitats, when Paranthropus boisei roamed.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
In a similar vein as the “don’t cite a paper you didn’t read” article earlier, I quite like Stephen’s take here on AI for writing.
I *could* ask AI to read papers for me, I *could* ask it to draft my text, but I choose not to, because the process IS the point. Even - especially! - when it’s hard.
I *could* ask AI to read papers for me, I *could* ask it to draft my text, but I choose not to, because the process IS the point. Even - especially! - when it’s hard.
New blog post: Spiritual Bypass, but with GPUs. The "Machinal Bypass," when AI becomes a shortcut around the work that makes us human, and why some tasks should feel a little hard. blog.stephenturner.us/p/machinal-b...
Spiritual Bypass, but with GPUs
The "Machinal Bypass," when AI becomes a shortcut around the work that makes us human, and why some tasks should feel a little hard.
blog.stephenturner.us
December 21, 2025 at 5:38 PM
In a similar vein as the “don’t cite a paper you didn’t read” article earlier, I quite like Stephen’s take here on AI for writing.
I *could* ask AI to read papers for me, I *could* ask it to draft my text, but I choose not to, because the process IS the point. Even - especially! - when it’s hard.
I *could* ask AI to read papers for me, I *could* ask it to draft my text, but I choose not to, because the process IS the point. Even - especially! - when it’s hard.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Where AI is concerned I still can’t get beyond its being a rapacious consumer of water and built on intellectual piracy. Those two things should be enough to damn it to hell.
December 21, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Where AI is concerned I still can’t get beyond its being a rapacious consumer of water and built on intellectual piracy. Those two things should be enough to damn it to hell.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Friends with dogs: Aw shit I left food on the table and the dog ate it. This was entirely foreseeable. 🤦♂️
Friends with cats: Aw shit I forgot to change my Wi-Fi password after saying it out loud recently and now my cats are mining cryptocurrency and charging me rent. 🤦♀️
Friends with cats: Aw shit I forgot to change my Wi-Fi password after saying it out loud recently and now my cats are mining cryptocurrency and charging me rent. 🤦♀️
December 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Friends with dogs: Aw shit I left food on the table and the dog ate it. This was entirely foreseeable. 🤦♂️
Friends with cats: Aw shit I forgot to change my Wi-Fi password after saying it out loud recently and now my cats are mining cryptocurrency and charging me rent. 🤦♀️
Friends with cats: Aw shit I forgot to change my Wi-Fi password after saying it out loud recently and now my cats are mining cryptocurrency and charging me rent. 🤦♀️
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Time for another science carol! 🎄
Some researchers stuck a duck to a rock, so we sang a song about it. As you do!
Some researchers stuck a duck to a rock, so we sang a song about it. As you do!
December 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Time for another science carol! 🎄
Some researchers stuck a duck to a rock, so we sang a song about it. As you do!
Some researchers stuck a duck to a rock, so we sang a song about it. As you do!
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
Do you hold an EU or Swiss passport and speak English fluently? Your help will be needed at #EGU26!
Our conference provider and partner Copernicus is looking for conference assistants.
👉 Apply here by 5 January 2026: egu.eu/4DNZDO
📸 Florian Heine on #imaggeo
Our conference provider and partner Copernicus is looking for conference assistants.
👉 Apply here by 5 January 2026: egu.eu/4DNZDO
📸 Florian Heine on #imaggeo
December 20, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Do you hold an EU or Swiss passport and speak English fluently? Your help will be needed at #EGU26!
Our conference provider and partner Copernicus is looking for conference assistants.
👉 Apply here by 5 January 2026: egu.eu/4DNZDO
📸 Florian Heine on #imaggeo
Our conference provider and partner Copernicus is looking for conference assistants.
👉 Apply here by 5 January 2026: egu.eu/4DNZDO
📸 Florian Heine on #imaggeo
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
To make sure that we are heading in a direction our members want, we created a very short #survey about what you think our strategic priorities should be over the next 5 years.
We want to hear from you🙌!
📝Fill out the survey here by 23 January 2026: egu.eu/1CYT8Y
📸 by Xinyu Li on imaggeo.egu.eu
We want to hear from you🙌!
📝Fill out the survey here by 23 January 2026: egu.eu/1CYT8Y
📸 by Xinyu Li on imaggeo.egu.eu
December 12, 2025 at 11:12 AM
To make sure that we are heading in a direction our members want, we created a very short #survey about what you think our strategic priorities should be over the next 5 years.
We want to hear from you🙌!
📝Fill out the survey here by 23 January 2026: egu.eu/1CYT8Y
📸 by Xinyu Li on imaggeo.egu.eu
We want to hear from you🙌!
📝Fill out the survey here by 23 January 2026: egu.eu/1CYT8Y
📸 by Xinyu Li on imaggeo.egu.eu
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
THREAD.
A collection of photos I have taken of excellent cats I have met on walks.
You will find the captions to the photos in the alt text.
A collection of photos I have taken of excellent cats I have met on walks.
You will find the captions to the photos in the alt text.
December 12, 2025 at 10:25 AM
THREAD.
A collection of photos I have taken of excellent cats I have met on walks.
You will find the captions to the photos in the alt text.
A collection of photos I have taken of excellent cats I have met on walks.
You will find the captions to the photos in the alt text.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
"Today Earth is warming about 10 times faster than it did 56 million years ago, which may make it even harder for modern plants to adapt"
December 11, 2025 at 7:19 PM
"Today Earth is warming about 10 times faster than it did 56 million years ago, which may make it even harder for modern plants to adapt"
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
1. No. Not like this.
2. Some of us come from cultures where we have always spoken with our elders and ancestors. We certainly never needed the intervention of digital age technology to do so.
2. Some of us come from cultures where we have always spoken with our elders and ancestors. We certainly never needed the intervention of digital age technology to do so.
IN DEPTH | If you could speak to your dead grandmother forever, would you?
If you could speak to your dead grandmother forever, would you?
www.independent.co.uk
December 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
1. No. Not like this.
2. Some of us come from cultures where we have always spoken with our elders and ancestors. We certainly never needed the intervention of digital age technology to do so.
2. Some of us come from cultures where we have always spoken with our elders and ancestors. We certainly never needed the intervention of digital age technology to do so.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
HERI’s Dr Rieneke Weij has led a rare update of U-Th & U-Pb dating in palaeoscience.
Published with our Dr Tara Edwards, the review highlights advances & potential for carbonate geochronology — and the implications for #humanevolution research.
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
Published with our Dr Tara Edwards, the review highlights advances & potential for carbonate geochronology — and the implications for #humanevolution research.
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
December 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
HERI’s Dr Rieneke Weij has led a rare update of U-Th & U-Pb dating in palaeoscience.
Published with our Dr Tara Edwards, the review highlights advances & potential for carbonate geochronology — and the implications for #humanevolution research.
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
Published with our Dr Tara Edwards, the review highlights advances & potential for carbonate geochronology — and the implications for #humanevolution research.
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
I have three copies of Climate Champions by @rachelsarah.bsky.social to give away! I bought a bunch when they came out (I’m in it). This book, targeted at middle and high schoolers, features biographies of a diversity of women working on climate action across disciplines.
December 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
I have three copies of Climate Champions by @rachelsarah.bsky.social to give away! I bought a bunch when they came out (I’m in it). This book, targeted at middle and high schoolers, features biographies of a diversity of women working on climate action across disciplines.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
This cover by @wynonamutisi.bsky.social.
Cozy edition this week. Get it while it's chill.
Cozy edition this week. Get it while it's chill.
All Protocol Observed
Welcome to Issue 223 of The Continent
In this dumpster fire of a year, we’re still finding what’s worth saving — sport, art, community, and joy across Africa.
Read it here: bit.ly/223_TC
Welcome to Issue 223 of The Continent
In this dumpster fire of a year, we’re still finding what’s worth saving — sport, art, community, and joy across Africa.
Read it here: bit.ly/223_TC
December 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
This cover by @wynonamutisi.bsky.social.
Cozy edition this week. Get it while it's chill.
Cozy edition this week. Get it while it's chill.
Reposted by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering
And as they're all in one place now: @theguardian.com's picks for books of 2025, including my poetry selections. Usual caveats re letting one of you down with my choices apply: www.theguardian.com/culture/ng-i...
The best books of 2025
New novels from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ian McEwan, plus the return of Slow Horses and Margaret Atwood looks back … Guardian critics pick the must-read titles of 2025
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:16 AM
And as they're all in one place now: @theguardian.com's picks for books of 2025, including my poetry selections. Usual caveats re letting one of you down with my choices apply: www.theguardian.com/culture/ng-i...