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Dr James Cole

@jamescolearch.bsky.social
1.8K followers 507 following 42 posts

Deputy Executive Dean @uniofbrighton. Human evolution & prehistoric cannibals. @IgNobel prize winner 2018

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Reposted by Dr James Cole
Dr Precious Chiwara @drpeechiwara.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Check out our paper on late Holocene microlithic backed tools from Zimbabwe.
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Reposted by Dr James Cole
Barbara J. King @bjking.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
On chimpanzee + bonobo mothers carrying dead infants, by @tpuschel.bsky.social + Reece Hammond. Length of time "depends on how strong their bond was, [mom's] life experience, the physical risks of holding onto the body and how quickly it naturally breaks down." #primates #deathstudies #anthropology
theconversation.com
Why do some chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants for months?
New research looks for patterns in this sad phenomenon.
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As a Zimbabwean archaeologist abroad it is always great to see the amazing archaeology from Zim - especially Stone Age archaeology, not that I'm biased or anything
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🏺🧪 🦣 Will absolutely be tuning in fo some of these excellent #HumanOrigins talks, hosted by one of my academic depts - online, open to all
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Ruth Mace @ruthmace.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Our Evolutionary Anthropology seminars start next Tuesday 6th with @kenjiitao.bsky.social on the evolution of kinship and demographic transition. NOTE new location: Engineering Bldg, Mallet Place (Room 1.20) 3.30-5pm followed by 🍷 in Anthropology. All welcome! www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...
ucl.ac.uk
Evolutionary Anthropology seminars
Exploring the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, biology, and culture through interdisciplinary research and debate.
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Shadreck Chirikure @chirikure.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
www.thebookseller.com/rights/hutch...
thebookseller.com
Hutchinson Heinemann wins five-way auction for Shadreck Chirikure’s How Africa Made the World
Hutchinson Heinemann has acquired How Africa Made the World: A History from the Beginning by Oxford professor Shadreck Chirikure.
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Reposted by Dr James Cole
Prof Chris Jackson @seismatters.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🔈 On October 13th I’m giving the Public Lecture at the Geological Society in London. ☢️ I’ll be talking about my current favourite topic: the geological storage of nuclear waste. The talk will be online too, so please join if you can! ➡️ @geolsoc.bsky.social www.geolsoc.org.uk/events/the-g...
geolsoc.org.uk
The geological disposal of nuclear waste and its role in the Energy Transition - Public Lecture | The Geological Society of London
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Exactly this
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Love Ig Nobel season: Buried underpants and a new definition of kissing win 2026 Ig Nobel prizes www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Buried underpants and a new definition of kissing win 2026 Ig Nobel prizes
The awards highlight weird, funny and improbable research that also makes you think.
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Reposted by Dr James Cole
MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
DNA from 5K year old French megalithic tomb reveals people buried before and after a population collapse were genetically unrelated, pointing to a major migration after a crisis. Population discontinuity in the Paris Basin linked to evidence of the Neolithic decline🏺🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The spread of Neolithic ancestry from Iberia.
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This is amazing. It only goes back to 2000 BC(!), but there were four solar eclipses visible from Stonehenge in the early Bronze Age - in 1981 BC, 1805 BC, 1796 BC and 1706 BC. I'm sure someone has calculated further back!
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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
These are probably the crispest cyanotypes I have achieved to date! Adapted from authentic range of knapped flint from various prehistoric archaeological contexts. Handmade A5 print tephraarts.etsy.com/listing/4555... #archeology #prehistory #prehistoric #flintknapping #archaeology
White line design showing scattering of knapped flint on blue background
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National Trust Archaeology @nattrustarch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
NT's Senior National Archaeologist Hannah Fluck was recently interviewed for Radio 4's Artworks series "Above and Below: The Battle to Save Britain's Prehistoric Art". Listen here: bit.ly/3SpgENM
bbc.co.uk
Artworks - Above and Below: The Battle to Save Britain's Prehistoric Art - BBC Sounds
Eleanor Barraclough explores the threat from climate change to our ancient creative past.
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
📢 A great opportunity!🏺🧪
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Congratulations @mattpope.bsky.social excellent news!
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I thought it was just me contemplating this today 🤣
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Very pleased to have spent time with the ZOE team to discuss Paleo diets, reality versus modern 'health' take. Also some great advice from Federica Amati on what we should be eating for a health life style in the modern age: open.spotify.com/episode/0Cis...
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
And a video introduction link for the podcast with Zoe can be found here: www.linkedin.com/posts/jonath...
linkedin.com
Millions of people follow the paleo diet. The idea is simple: eat like our ancestors did, and you'll be healthier. But scientists studying prehistoric diets are uncovering a major problem for th...
Millions of people follow the paleo diet. The idea is simple: eat like our ancestors did, and you'll be healthier. But scientists studying prehistoric diets are uncovering a major problem for the "p...
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Reposted by Dr James Cole
Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Apropos of nothing I'm starting an occasional thread on the importance of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, to the story of human evolution. Its one of the most important Palaeolithic landscapes in Europe and we should celebrate that fact a lot more. Look out for updates #ClactonPrehistory 🏺🦣
Map from White et al 2023 showing the distribution of ice age deposits in the vicinity of Clacton-on-Sea https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016787823000603
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I was very privileged to discuss elements of our paleo-diets with Jonathan Wolf and Federica Amati with for ZOE. Have a listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0Cis...
open.spotify.com
Is eating like our ancestors the key to better health? What the Paleo diet gets right, and the 5 ancient diet claims that are dangerously wrong for your heart and gut health | Dr James Cole & Dr Feder...
ZOE Science & Nutrition · Episode
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
New evidence of sharp-force trauma in Qafzeh-25 A taphonomic reassessment of Qafzeh 25 and its implications for violence, health and funerary practices🏺🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... The taphonomic study conducted here confirms Qafzeh-25 was deliberately buried h/t @qafzeh.bsky.social
Drawing of the Qafzeh 25 skeleton in place and picture of the skull (Qafzeh archives).
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo🏺🧪 Mark Hubbe & Katerina Harvati @katharv.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Highlighting the importance of environmental constraints and possibly cultural behaviors as core drivers of human evolution.
Neurocranial morphological variation across OTUs in the Homo sapiens lineage showing the morphological trends represented in the first four Principal Components and the centroid size, and their fit to the evolutionary models tested based on Akaike weights.
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Harvati Lab @harvatilab.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
📢 New #openaccess paper out! Exploring the evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo. 🧠💀 Check it out here: rdcu.be/fsgmj Congrats to Mark and Katerina @katharv.bsky.social for this work! ✨️ #humanevolution @humanorigins.bsky.social
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PTNCE @ptnce.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Why don't humans eat each other? A new study in #PNAS shows that #cannibalism is an evolutionary dead end. A mathematical model by M. #Misiak & P. #Tureček demonstrates that its long-term practice triggers deadly epidemics and inevitable demographic collapse. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... #PTNCE
Human facial remains from Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK), dating to around 14,700 years ago. Cut marks indicate that the flesh was removed, providing evidence of prehistoric cannibalism.
Image: José-Manuel Benito Alvarez / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
🏺 What we do as archaeologists & public scholars MATTERS ❤️
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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Genetic diversity of late Neanderthals in northwestern Europe - Nature
Genetic sequencing of multiple late Neanderthals living less than 52,500 years ago provides an overview of genetic diversity and demonstrates that even low-coverage nuclear genome data can increase re...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
'University leaders have been urged to lobby firms to release environmental data connected to the use of artificial intelligence to help institutions get a handle on how increased reliance on the technology is impacting on climate goals.' 1/1
timeshighereducation.com
Universities ‘should demand emissions data’ from AI firms
Lack of transparency over environmental impact of technology leaves universities struggling to assess carbon footprint
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Kate Wong @katewong.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
A (badly needed!) success story for UK academia: we received the most ERC Advanced Grants this year (62). Other stats: success rate was 9.6%; applications up 31%; proportion awarded to women isn't provided but looks fairly low (~20% in life and physical sciences, ~35% social sciences and humanities)
erc.europa.eu
ERC Advanced Grants: Nearly €840 million to support Europe’s leading researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has today announced the winners of its latest Advanced Grant competition. The funding, worth €838 million, will go to 319 leading researchers across Europe. The Adv...
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Reposted by Dr James Cole
Dr Geoff M Smith @geoffreymsmith.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Amazing new paper with 🧬 from walls and cave paintings 🦣🏺🧪https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-74234-2
nature.com
Investigating ancient human DNA preservation on cave walls and in rock art - Nature Communications
Ancient DNA can be preserved on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments and artifacts. Here, the authors investigate whether Palaeolithic wall art can preserve human DNA ...
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Roberto Sáez @robertosaezm.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
What Do Lithics Tell Us About How Pleistocene Hominins Survived? "Correlated changes in hominin fossil and lithic evidence appear at three major inflection points, ca. 3.4, 1.7, and 0.3 Ma."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
What Do Lithics Tell Us About How Pleistocene Hominins Survived?
Hominin fossils and lithic evidence can, considered together, shed light on major changes in hominin evolution. Correlated changes in hominin fossil and lithic evidence appear at three major…
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Andy I.R. Herries at La Trobe Archaeoogy @ozarchaeomaglab.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
A new ~2 Ma hominin cranium just discovered at the Drimolen hominin site in South Africa as part of a newly funded @arc-gov-au.bsky.social project to @ltuarchaeology.bsky.social @latrobe.edu.au and University of Johannesburg. The first year of joint Drimolen-Kromdraai excavations.
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A synthesis of developments in human evolution Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution🧪 @jamescolearch.bsky.social, @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Hominin timeline with potential genetic introgressions (original figure).
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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Another new report on wild chimpanzee plant tool use, this time breaking down the fundamentals of fishing for algae in Guinea (part of the @mbchimp.bsky.social project). It comes with a figure on fishing techniques that doubles as dance instructions 💃🏺🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Figure from the research paper ‘The Forms and Structures of Chimpanzee Algae Fishing’ published in the American Journal of Primatology. A photo of an adult chimpanzee dipping a long stick into a pond, accompanied by a younger individual, is above a schematic of stick actions including dunk, sway, flick and swivel.
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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Up to 7km deep. 1200km long. Almost 500 fossil whales, some over 5 million years old. An epic new finding that shows how much unknown natural treasures the sea floor holds 🧪🐋 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone - Nature
Researchers uncovered an enormous deep-sea accumulation of whale remains in the southeastern Indian Ocean, showing long-term, specialized ecosystems and an extensive fossil record that offers new insi...
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Oxford Archaeology @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
We are on the lookout for Geoarchaeologists to join the Oxford Archaeology team 🔭 For the full job description and information on how to apply, visit tr.ee/GeoArchs #geoarchaeology #heritagecareer #archaeologyjobs
A job advert for our Geoarchaeologist role featuring a photo of an archaeologist stood by a lake with mountains in the background.
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Come join our team in Exeter! We're looking for a Lecturer in Archaeology for a three year teaching post, focusing particularly on practical skills and fieldwork (closing date 30 June): careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/95...
careers.exeter.ac.uk
Lecturer in Archaeology ​(Education and Scholarship) in Exeter | University of Exeter
View details and apply for this Lecturer in Archaeology ​(Education and Scholarship) vacancy in Exeter. Lecturer in Archaeology (Education and Scholarship) This full-time post is avail...
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
An excellent postdoc opportunity at @cenieh.bsky.social🏺🧪
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Dr Huw Groucutt @huwgroucutt.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Nice New Scientist piece by Michael Marshall discussing my research www.newscientist.com/article/2529...
newscientist.com
What really happened when ancient humans migrated out of Africa
The out-of-Africa migration, in which ancient humans went on to inhabit every other continent except Antarctica, may not have been one moment in time, but a long and slow process. Columnist Michael Ma...
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Cedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
A very good read: “Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution” Review by @jamescolearch.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @matejahajdi.bsky.social @chrisbstringer.bsky.social 🧪💀 rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Recent progress in studies of the last million years of human physical and behavioural evolution
This article presents a synthesis of recent developments in the study of human evolution over the past five years. It begins with an overview of hominin species nomenclature and diversity, followed b...
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
New paper alert: such a privilege to work with the amazing @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, and @chrisbstringer.bsky.social on a new review paper for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
New paper alert: such a privilege to work with the amazing @elliescerri.bsky.social, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, and @chrisbstringer.bsky.social on a new review paper for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026 @unravellingpalaeo.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
We are looking forward to welcoming @annemiekemilks.bsky.social on the 19th June to deliver the keynote at Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026. The lecture: From Sticks to Social Worlds: Rethinking Palaeolithic Technology through Wood will be the perfect end to the first day. Book your place! 🏺🦣
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🏺 From 2024 but I missed it: "A 7,000-year-old multi-component arrow poison from Kruger Cave, South Africa" Organic residues inside a bovid bone, in which were embedded bone points = poison arrow 'quiver' Poison made from multiple plants. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Buy Buy it now! You won't be disappointed* *well, you might, but let's not worry about that for now
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Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Are you in or around Clacton this Thursday evening? I'll be talking to the Clacton & District Archaeological Society about the importance, under-celebration & possible mis-characterisation of the Clactonian: The only Palaeolithic industry named after a British locality.🦣🏺 www.clactonhistory.co.uk
Feather edge of the Clacton Channel Deposits in the West Cliff (see Fig. 1): a. GCR excavations, April 1987 (after Bridgland et al. (1988); b. Details of GCR Section F4; c. Flint flake found in situ in Section F4, located in part b (drawing by P. Harding, reproduced from Bridgland, 1994).
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Lorna Richardson @lornarichardson.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
On the vague chance anyone is in Oxford today & wants to hear more about my research into archaeological misinformation, deviant archaeology & the far right, I'm giving the Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material & Museum Anthropology in the Lecture Theatre at 12. Discussion after!
anthro.ox.ac.uk
PRM Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Listen out to BBC R4 #InsideScience tonight to hear my brief thoughts on this very cool tooth! 🧪
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Dr James Cole @jamescolearch.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Not in line with the original post, but it struck me that this is perhaps a really good visualization of hominin evolution?
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