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Tom Booth

@boothicus.bsky.social
6.1K followers 3.5K following 2.1K posts

Bioarchaeologist. Amateur Scarecrow. Ancient DNA Lab @ The Francis Crick Institute Associate Lecturer in Quantitative Archaeology and Later European Prehistory @ UCL Institute of Archaeology

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Reposted by Tom Booth
Dr Alex Fitzpatrick @animalarchaeology.com · 29/09/2026
average day doing prehistoric funerary archaeology tbh
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Coming to a cinema near you!
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Reposted by Tom Booth
Tim Daw @timdaw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I've put a new tool online: a 3D flyover of the Stonehenge landscape, not just Stonehenge but also Woodhenge and the new Bulford post alignment. It runs in your web browser, no app to download. Details: www.sarsen.org/flyover
sarsen.org
Stonehenge Landscape Flyover
Fly over the Stonehenge landscape, and watch the sun rise in 2500 BC I've put a new tool online: a 3D flyover of the Stonehenge landscape...
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
‘Digital’ does not mean ‘immortal’.
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Solid critical review 10/10
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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.co.uk · 25/09/2026
A little late for #FindsFriday but I’ve finally started working through this year’s artefacts from #CerneAbbey At 22mm it's tiny but this fragment of Anglo-Saxon window glass is not only unusual but also really important for our interpretation of the site Just goes to show, size isn’t important
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is why you don't just dig things up. Look at the amazing info we've got now: We know how it was all placed in ground & we have all of it, none damaged & conservation possible both as excavated & after. We can also look at the soil, for organics, pollen etc. #Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure 🏺
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Tim Daw @timdaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The claimed solstitial alignment of Woodhenge is not supported by the layout of its posts. Details: www.sarsen.org/2026/09/wood...
Plan of Woodhenge with solstitial alignments marked
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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Faculty position in pathogen genetics here with us in Cambridge: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
cam.ac.uk
Assistant/Associate Professor in Pathogen Genetics
Applications are invited for an Assistant or Associate Professorship in Pathogen Genetics to be held in the Department of Genetics. We are searching for a talented individual with a track record of fu...
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Cambridge Archaeological Unit @cambridgearch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The 2020-21 Over Needingworth excavations revealed an area of preserved wooden stakes/posts and stake/postholes, with 58 being fully excavated and recorded. Dating to the Roman period the stakes and posts reflected use of the land when the area had transformed from a prehistoric dry land to fen.
A wooden stake in situ that is in the process of being excavated with a black and white scale bar.
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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I nearly didn't post this one from Private Eye. Then thought 'Go on. @justrena.bsky.social would have loved it'. I hope so.
Man and woman in front of a wall of skulls. Woman says 'Investing in crypto is something else, dear. What you've done is buy an ossuary'.
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Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Outstanding new review of ALL of the currently available DNA evidence for the peopling of the Americas, led by Bethany Potter (and the amazing @jenniferraff.bsky.social!): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Remarkable collection of papers out today from PsychAD, a consortium studying biological mechanisms in dementias & serious mental illnesses. They created a single-cell brain atlas of 6.3 million nuclei from ~1,500 donors. Datasets, analysis tools & resources freely available to research community.🧪👇
nature.com
PsychAD Consortium
The PsychAD Consortium investigates the biological mechanisms behind neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and serious mental ...
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Scott D. Haddow @sdhaddow.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New paper on the first two intact human burials found at Göbekli Tepe. These burials have been known about for some time; information on them has been presented at conferences and lectures over the last several years, but it's nice to finally see them in print 🏺 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org
First burials give insights into mortuary rites at Göbeklitepe, Early Neolithic Türkiye
Since the beginning of excavations at Göbeklitepe, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site in southeastern Türkiye, fragmented human bones have been recovered from the fill of the special (monumental) buil...
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
From 18 October there will be a new exhibition at the Museum of Cambridge devoted to folklore (and supported, among others, by the @folkloresociety.bsky.social)
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Society of Antiquaries of Scotland @socantscot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
OCTOBER LECTURE: History in Our Bones: Uncovering Stories of Disability Through Time Through Pictish case studies, discover a project which is restoring disabled people as participants in the social worlds of the past at this free hybrid event on 15 October: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-in...
Facial reconstruction of a man with a beard and a large bump on his face; overlaid text reads: October lecture
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Cambridge Archaeological Unit @cambridgearch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The first phase of Over Needingworth’s Barrow 20 involved an in-situ cremation event followed by the construction of a turf mound. The cremation took place directly on the buried soil surface and left traces of the pyre remains.
An overhead drone shot showing a round barrow in the process of being excavated. Four slots one in each quadrant are present and the dark ring of the ditch is visible at the edge of the barrow.
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Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The newly discovered cuneiform tablet fragment contains text from a section of the Treaty of Kadesh related to the treatment of Hittite and Egyptian refugees in the Bronze Age (circa 1269 BC). 🧪🏺
livescience.com
'We have found traces of peace, thousands of years old': Fragment of world's oldest known peace treaty found in Turkey
Archaeologists excavating in the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusha have uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest peace treaty, signed around 1269 B.C.
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Registration for TAG is now open!
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ancient🧪🐝 Bee Gee-nomes. academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
academic.oup.com
Museum specimens reveal the genomic consequences of long-term population decline in an insect pollinator
Abstract. Global insect pollinator populations are under threat, with reported declines attributed to increasing habitat loss, pesticide use, and disease.
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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’m back on Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 at 9: Carlo Rovelli on philosophy and physics, Lavinia Greenlaw on difficulty in poetry, and James Graham’s new play about John Maynard Keynes. Stick that heady mix in yer podcast pipe. How lucky we are to have the BBC.
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
How did we ever figure out who was English before DNA sequencing technology?
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Yemeni Anthropomorphic Stele ain’t saying nothing to no copper, see?
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Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bronze Age hillfort in Morocco: theconversation.com/history-is-b...
theconversation.com
History is being rewritten at an archaeological site in Morocco. What the discovery of an ancient wall tells us
Communities in the north-west Maghreb were able to coordinate large construction projects thousands of years ago.
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Honestly FFS. All context, all organics, anything of any archaeological significance gone. Just like that. But hey, it's shiny, eh? This has to stop. 🤬 This is why: bigbookoftorcs.com/2024/09/11/d... #Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure 🏺
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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Somehow this bluesky post now has a date of transmission (29th October) and official artwork.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Former PM Rishi Sunak in the Sunday Times challenges the rise of ethno-nationalism in British politics, as an argument within the right about Britishness being about ancestry, DNA and ethnicity www.thetimes.com/article/e89d...
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Tim Daw @timdaw.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Deceptively simple: Stonehenge as blocks on the real contoured surface — orbit on your phone, tap for coords, sun & moon for today or c. 2500 BC. A lot of work so it feels easy. timdaw37.github.io/stonehenge-b...
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
🏺 🦣 Nice paper on later E. European Upper Palaeolithic mammoth ivory figurine production & aesthetics. The Mezin-type geometric designs are so beautiful, and their placement on the (apparently) female figurines might indicate tattooing or scarification traditions. www.nature.com/articles/s40...
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Drake meme: the rapper Drake takes issue with ‘Stonehenge’ but expresses warm feelings towards ‘Lozenge’.
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Dan Herbert @danherb10.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is excellent news flagfen.org.uk/news/funding...
flagfen.org.uk
Funding secured for excavation to unlock secrets of Bronze Age Flag Fen site in Cambridgeshire - Flag Fen
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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's not always that quiet at #Tinkinswood 👼 😱😱 #DoctorWho #Archaeology
Quantum locked tour guides stand atop a Neolithic long barrow in order to greet unsuspecting tourists
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Ruth Watson @ruthwatson.eurosky.social · 17/09/2026
One for your list of admirable women in archaeology @prehistorian.bsky.social
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ah, Bonnie - strong memories of this and I’ve discussed it a fair bit since given it was one of the earliest, very public attempts by a UK far right politician to use ancient DNA in service of their ideology.
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
‘Driving past Stonehenge’ playlist being activated on BBC 6Music later for those who are interested in indulging.
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Kenny Brophy @urbanprehistorian.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Booking has opened for the 2026 Neolithic Studies Group conference in London on 16th November. Theme? Farmers, farming practices and farming tools. Loads of great papers and posters, and you can attend in person or watch online. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/nsg2026-fa...
eventbrite.com
NSG2026: Farmers, farming practices & farming tools
The theme of the 2026 Neolithic Studies Group day conference is farming - from practice to ideology - drawing on new research & discoveries.
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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Tim Daw @timdaw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Which Neolithic megaliths were hauled long-distance, and which just used the nearest outcrop? An interactive gazetteer of every petrographically-matched haul in Europe — Stonehenge included, easy to exclude. www.sarsen.org/2026/09/euro...
European Anthropic Megalithic Transport Interactive Gazetteer
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Dr Katy Whitaker (she/her) @artefactual.eurosky.social · 13/09/2026
I’ve not seen this before @reblambert.bsky.social
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Mark Knight 🍉 @markknight63.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
##BlueSkyArtShow #Undulating The Fen Basin (after Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures)
Black & white peak map of the Fen Basin, Eastern England

https://anvaka.github.io/peak-map/?fbcl...#7.68/47.727/-122.574
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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 10/09/2026
Exciting news on the #BoxOfficeBears project! You can read more of the team's research on bear baiting in Antiquity, where they explored its importance in Shakespearean England 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org
What does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’ | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
What does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’ - Volume 99 Issue 404
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include: 1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc 2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So satisfying to see my mortal enemy forced to study psychotherapy at the tallest building in London. It’s Shard and Freud-er
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🏺 🧪 🦣 Very cool, at this stage in our knowledge every new site is genuinely impactful. I'm not sure we can make predictions about precision of technological capabilities from a piece of forearm, but these (v. nice) lithics are what I'd expect from the wide range we see in #Neanderthals
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Greger Larson @gregerlarson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So you found the remains of a complete pelagic shark buried with clear intention. Is that shark domestic? No? What if you found a buried canid? Definite dog! Right? Or maybe not. Congrats to Ali Siegenthaler and Sophy Charlton on this super fun paper! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Marc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Spat out my tea reading this review of The Uprising. The what of what now? Popular understanding of medieval history has taken a hell of a pounding in recent weeks. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/se...
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“These findings establish Bianfu Cave as a Denisovan locality yielding the most abundant remains of this hominin group outside Denisova Cave in Siberia. The results fill a critical geographic gap in the documented distribution of Denisovans & refine understanding of their evolutionary history.”🙌💀🔬🧪👇
nature.com
Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China - Nature
Identification and proteomic analysis of bone fragments and teeth from an excavation in Southwest China provide insight into the evolution and phenotype of Denisovans and fill a geographical gap in th...
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Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Betel Nut, Betel Nut, Betel Nut.
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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
For a change, some Really Good News.
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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Delighted to be kicking off some 1400 year anniversary talks for the conversion of Deira (Yorkshire) in Pocklington on the 30th October For £5 you get to enjoy a talk about what Yorkshire was like before Christianity! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/little-kin... + you’ll be supporting a small museum
eventbrite.co.uk
Little Kingdoms of Yorkshire
Renowned author, Alex Harvey, is giving a talk entitled 'Little Kingdoms of Yorkshire: Post-Roman Pocklington & Beyond
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