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John Murray

@kabweordie.bsky.social

320 followers 680 following 36 posts

PhD Candidate at ASU. Faculty at GCCAZ. Stone tools, Middle Stone Age, paleoanthropology, PC gaming, skateboarding. Will mostly post flintknapping🙃

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Nov 25

Hey everyone! I figured I should do a quick introductory post. I am a PhD candidate in archaeology 🏺 at Arizona State University and a OYO faculty member at Glendale Community College in biological anthropology.

I am broadly interested in lithic technology and early Homo sapiens archaeology 1/5

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Jul 30

Excited that our paper is finally out!

We test the suitability of LA-ICP-MS for sourcing South African silcrete and show that it has comparable results to solution ICP-MS.

Importantly, heat treatment did not impact source separation.

50 days free link: shorturl.at/bDMs5 🏺🏺

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Reposted by John Murray

Ben Marwick @benmarwick.bsky.social · Jun 18

Is archaeology a science? 🧪

Here's my new paper that has a go at answering this question by analysing 10,000 journal articles:

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lHjN_6yUM...

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Reposted by John Murray

Julien Riel-Salvatore @julienrs.bsky.social · Jun 4

🏺🦣

Julien Riel-Salvatore @julienrs.bsky.social · Jun 4

Shot of the inside of Arma delle Manie. Visible in the back are dry stone wall structures and presses for olive oil and wine production, showing the cave's use historically as well. Below all this, however, lie sweet, sweet Neolithic and especially Paleolithic deposits (38-130,000 yrs BP).

Inside of a large cave (Arma delle Manie, Finale Ligure, Italy), with some dry brick structures and fragments of olive oil & wine presses in the visible part of the back. The mouth of the cave is covered by a lush vegetation, including trees and vines. Photo by Fabio Negrino.

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Palesa @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social · May 29

Hello,

Our paper on enamel proteins from Paranthropus robustus has finally been peer reviewed, please have a read here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Paranthropus robustus has been puzzling scientists since its discovery in 1938 in South Africa, where a high number of fossils have been found.

Enamel proteins reveal biological sex and genetic variability in southern African Paranthropus

Paranthropus robustus is a morphologically well-documented Early Pleistocene hominin species from southern Africa with no genetic evidence reported so far. In this work, we describe the mass spectrome...

doi.org

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · May 27

There are some good sellers here! But nothing too great local. I typically buy my chert/flint from Texas sources.

John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · May 26

Heat-treated silcrete Still Bay point (sand bath method) 🏺🏺

Gave me a little trouble with some internal flaws but happy with it overall

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · May 24

Single platform cores on heat-treated silcrete (ember method) 🏺🏺

John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · May 7

Thanks Julien!

John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · May 7

Had a lot of fun writing this piece for The Conversation. Much different than writing an academic article. The editors were amazing to work with and super helpful! 🏺🏺

theconversation.com/was-it-a-sto...

Was it a stone tool or just a rock? An archaeologist explains how scientists can tell the difference

With a little guidance and a lot of practice, even you can make stone tools the way our oldest ancestors did – and learn to recognize the signs of a deliberately made tool.

theconversation.com

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Feb 28

Hahahah I wish they did. They did complain a lot though throughout the process 🤣

John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Feb 28

My students did great refitting this core I knapped yesterday! 🏺🏺

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Feb 23

Practiced some Levallois while volunteering for ASU’s open door event 🏺 #flintknapping

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Feb 15

Obsidian preform with an incipient cone in the middle of it. 🏺🏺

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Jan 30

Heat-treated silcrete 🏺🏺

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Jan 25

Final demo handaxes before I swap shifts with Nic! 🏺🏺

If you’re in the area, Nic will be here until 5!

John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Jan 25

First demo piece finished 😃

Reposted by John Murray

Matt Peeples @pattmeeples.bsky.social · Jan 23

Thanks again to @kabweordie.bsky.social for helping with this flint knapping video demonstration for my online students. I had way too much fun editing this video and adding the intro. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anho...

ASU ASB335 Flint Knapping Demonstration

YouTube video by Matthew Peeples

www.youtube.com

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Pathways of the Past @pathwaysofthepast.bsky.social · Jan 25

I made this Fort Ancient point out of a piece of Ste. Genevieve chert. Arrowpoints like this were made in Kentucky from 1000-1750 CE. This particular variation would have been made by Fort Ancient people during the later part of that date range. #flintknapping #archaeology

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Jan 25

Knapping demo for the opening of a new exhibit at the AZMNH in Mesa called THRIVE: The First People Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

Come by! Nic or myself will be here until 5 pm. 🏺🏺

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Mark Grabowski @markgrabowski.bsky.social · Dec 26

Resignation of the Journal of Human Evolution Editorial Board: We are saddened to announce the resignations of The Joint Editors-in-Chief, all Emeritus Editors retired or active in the field, and all but one Associate Editor. Press release below.

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Katerina Harvati @katharv.bsky.social · Jan 2

Please see the PaleoAnthropology journal www.paleoanthropology.org. It is a community owned, peer reviewed open access online journal, which covers all the topics that JHE did.
No publication fees, no subscription. The way forward.

PaleoAnthropology

www.paleoanthropology.org

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Jørgen Holm @jholm.bsky.social · Dec 29

This week the editorial board of the Journal of Human Evolution issued a press release announcing their joint resignation, leaving the journal without any evident future. The journal has been a property of the publishing conglomerate Elsevier since the company acquired Academic Press ...

A sad end for the Journal of Human Evolution

A joint statement announces the resignation of the entire editorial board, while disclosing for the first time the use of AI in article production.

johnhawks.net

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Lucy Timbrell @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social · Dec 16

Just published in Quaternary International, our paper (led by the wonderful @soleneboisard.bsky.social) presenting modelled climate frameworks for the Middle and Later Stone Age in northwestern Africa: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa

This paper examines climate conditions in Northwest Africa for Marine Isotope Stage 4, 3, and 2 (71,000–11,000 years ago) and their impact on the dist…

www.sciencedirect.com

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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · Dec 19

Cool! That primarily what my diss focuses on. This one was a controlled heating experiment in an electric kiln. I did a slow ramp up to 350C over 5 hours and then held it for 12 hours and let it cool slowly after that.

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