David Wengrow to give the Tanner Lectures on Human Values for 2026 @utah.edu entitled 'The Elementary Forms of Human Freedom.'

More here:

📱 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...

Image: @davidwengrow.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk Institute of Archaeology (Image credit: Tom Jamieson)

#LocalAndGlobal

Very much looking forward to this
Book Discussion: ‘Indian Archaeology After Independence’ by Himanshu Prabha Ray + Ajay Yadav, also featuring @willdalrymple.bsky.social and Shailendra Bhandare. Nehru Centre London.
www.nehrucentre.org.uk/events/book-...

I am deeply honoured by this invitation to deliver The Tanner Lectures on Human Values next Spring. My topic: ‘The elementary forms of human freedom.’
tannerlectures.org/lectures/the...

Apropos, my letter in this month’s LRB concerning their recent piece.

Ukrainian edition on the way ✊🏻
#TheDawnOfEverything
#DavidGraeber

On the 5th anniversary of his death, David Graeber’s unwilling exile from US academia has a particular salience. This account of what happened in 2005, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, is worth reading in the perspective of 2025.
www.chronicle.com/article/a-ra...

Very interesting. Some years ago I tried to trace the early phases of this conjuncture, at least in outline. Good luck with it.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...

In the 1950s scholars wrote about the “vitalist” aspects of ancient Egyptian & Mesopotamian cosmology: the non-human world was animate, personified. Then, in the 70s, they traced the origins of extractive, imperial regimes to these same civilisations. What’s fascinating imo is that both can be true.

Hats off to fellow archaeologists who stayed on the other platform to combat misinformation - it’s actually a remarkably unselfish and thankless thing to do .. so thanks.

"The true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues" KEN FOLLETT
"Anyone looking for an intelligent, balanced and accessible account of Rapa Nui should read his book"
PROF CHRIS GOSDEN
Out September 11 – Pre-order now
amazon.co.uk/Island-Edge-...

Many congratulations!

icymi

“neither love nor friendship can exist without freedom, and that none of these terms has any real meaning without truth..”

this piece delves deep & covers a lot of ground and is defs worth a read & discussion

My thoughts today with family and friends of Prof. Michael Rowlands. Mike shaped the fields of archaeology, anthropology, cultural heritage and material culture studies - his critical, comparative approach leaves a profound mark on the study of Europe, Africa, and China
www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology...

Next on my reading list. As in: today. Now.

‘To understand the appeal of the far right today we need to examine the origins of the fascist myth of primordial male kinship.’ @davidwengrow.bsky.social on excellent form here. www.eurozine.com/seeds-of-ano...

Good article. Also a great cautionary tale about what happens when you build stories that leave half the population (women) out of the picture.

On far-right attempts to repurpose the past - an important (and timely!) piece by @davidwengrow.bsky.social

'What if, for once, we could bring ourselves to look this history of the nation in the eye? Could we discover something about the beginnings of the path we now find ourselves on again, or even how to get off it and learn to speak a different language of human politics, before it’s too late?"

Excellent article from David Wengrow. Given how much the far right and white supremacists have co-opted history and prehistory, as well as "race science", this should be required reading for anyone interested in how we combat fascism seeping its vile way into perceptions of the archaeological past.

I really enjoyed this. Made me wonder about the link between fascism and systems of monogamy (than centre on ideas of woman as other).

To understand the appeal of the far-right today we need to examine the origins of the fascist myth of primordial male kinship.
New essay, out today @eurozine.bsky.social
www.eurozine.com/seeds-of-ano...

Besessen von Kameradschaft, Loyalität, Gewalt und Tod: Über das sich hartnäckig haltende Bild von archaischen Männerbünden.

Ein Vortrag von @davidwengrow.bsky.social, Professor der Archäologie und Bestsellerautor

www.woz.ch/2526/anth...

Since this was published, another month passed.
arablit.org/2025/05/30/h...

Who was NG10 and what was the world they lived in? The sister paper to our CAJ paper is now out in Antiquity and the cover image no less! Working on these papers with this group, has been one of the richest academic experiences I have had in my career. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...