iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Let’s talk coffins and pigment! I’m reading a paper by Batman in Chronique d’Egpte about the coffin of Nesmin at RISD. Nesmin’s coffin is gorgeous. And Bauman of course cited Cooney’s Cost of Death to quantify it… which deals with documents nearly a 1K yr earlier—The most expensive wood and pigment.

The coffin of Nesmin at RISD, early Ptolemaic., with liberal use of now blackened Egyptian blue and a golden mask

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Dr. Alexandra F. Morris @disabledarchaeo.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Happy to have been invited to give the inaugural lecture for The Classical Association in Northern Ireland 2026-2027 this Wednesday October 7 at 6:30 PM. Come if you wish to hear more about ancient disability and Alexander the Great:

Event poster in three panels. Left: a fragment of the clepsydra (water clock) of Philip III Arrhidaeus, in dark stone, incised with hieroglyphs, a cartouche, and a crowned king offering to two deities, one with a sun disc. Centre, in orange italics: "The Classical Association in Northern Ireland presents:". In bold: "All Our Yesterdays: Alexander the Great and Disability in Ancient Macedonia and the Ptolemaic World". Below: "Alexandra Morris (QUB), 27 University Square, room 01/003, 7 October 2026, 6:30 pm". Right: Alexandra, a white woman with long curly brown hair and blue-pink glasses, smiling against a cream wall. She wears a black velvet dress embroidered with silver suns, moons and stars, gold earrings and a long gold pendant necklace. Along the bottom: CANI logos and icons for YouTube, Bluesky, Instagram, Ko-fi, Mastodon, TikTok and X.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This thing is like a bayonetta boss. So eye-popping!

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My Egyptian religion class ended and I did not get the chance to discuss it— I found it LAST WEEK. I am enjoying this book. It reminds me of how reputation conscious Egyptologists can be. I have to recognize and fight my own biases WRT religion, but don’t want to be THAT sort of Egyptologist.

routledge.com

Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion

It is widely believed that the practice of ancient Egyptian religion ceased with the end of pharaonic culture and the rise of Christianity. However, an organised reconstruction and revival of the auth...

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I played Cyberpunk 2077 today and found it weirdly regressive…even for a video game—especially given the hype about being able to customize your genitalia. But can I make a butch gal in her thirties? No I cannot. Can I make a tall woman? Nope. Options are all pixie dream girl variants.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

All I really remember about Merneith is that her tomb is quite large and that Egyptologists always seemed keen to make her a regent instead of a king when her successors acknowledged her. So I’m thrilled to see this paper on her, complete with an imaging technique I’d like to try!

reddit.com

From the OutoftheTombs community on Reddit: A Woman Ruled Ancient Egypt as King 5,000 Years Ago, Research Claims

Explore this post and more from the OutoftheTombs community

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A student of mine took this screenshot of me, and I guess this pretty much sums up my academic career.

A picture on zoom of me saying “…But if we want to talk coffins, we can talk coffins because I love coffins.”

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A lot of folks in the humanities want to be seen as scientists— it’s a cachet thing, I think. For a long time, science got funded. Science is based on scientific method and scientists are trusted because they are thought to deal in facts.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Well, damn. It thinks I’m from Utah. I guess all of that careful dialect training I did was a waste of money. 😆

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I am playing the game Dimhaven right now and loving it. Someone else loved Obsidian and Zork Nemesis and I feel seen. I’m gonna put away my old lady nostalgia and get out my old lady rant now, though, because it is impossible to find a good written game walkthru these days!

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

YESSSS THE AUSTRALIAN CRYPTIDS ARE HERE

silly digital doodle of a drop beat, a carnivorous blood splattered red eyed koala sitting on an eucalyptus log, on a white background.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I’ve been wanting to learn how to work with “The Cheating Machine (Claude)” so I had it rewrite my personal website site in Hugo. Claude did a nice job rendering my CV in markup, but felt the need to summarize rather than copy the blog entries. I redid them by hand.

kmjegyptology.org

Kea Egyptologist

Personal website of Kea Egyptologist — researcher, writer, and academic.

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Andrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · 27/08/2026

Folks, it's time to call it: fund more Assyriology chairs if you want more Ea-nasir material

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

one day he be big and strong and sink MANY ship! ⛵

very silly digital doodle of a baby kraken on a white background, but it is a baby squid paralarva which is a seethrough squid like blob with a little orangey translucent organs, and two big sparkly eyes, he is thinking of a little toy boat

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Dr. Fim @fim.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Ansel Adams on assignment for IBM - one of my favourite shots. Not the usual landscape but the skill of a woman weaving magnetic core memory. The beat up nails captures total “woman in STEM” vibes.

A woman with extremely short painted nails weaving magnetic core memory. A series of rows and columns of wires in a grid.

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#Hedgehog alert! A great favourite - and a great photo. (I've tried several times but mine haven't turned out well.)

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

could AI come up with unhinged nonsense such as this? I don't think so! #NoAI

really silly doodle of a pink velvet worm wearing a blue baseball cap and holding a lollipop talking to his grampa, cthulhu, who is grean with glasses, greying tentacles and sitting in a brown armchair with a blue blanket over his legs, on the wall behind them there is a sign that says LIVE LAUGH LOVE with an attached postit that turns it into LOVEcraft and a Hallucigenia doodle that says heart grandma.

three mothmen, but their wings are anatomically more correct to various moths, making this almost a #SciArt piece
- shy little transparent wing moth mothman
- cheeky bubble but peach pink winged moth mothman
- angry orange plume moth mothman, the wings are horizontal

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

🦀 see a crab, post a crab 🦀 A crab on the bank of the Nile river.

A small black crab on a concrete background.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Everywhere has to be famous for something, and I’m glad my hometown is famous for this and the big pink statue of Dinah the Chamber of Commerce dinosaur rather than some horrific murder.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

RIP Sam Neill. I’ll remember him most for his role as Cardinal Woolsey in The Tudors and also as Dr Wier from Event Horizon and the million industrial songs I listened to as an angsty teen which sampled his lines.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

It is satisfying to 3d print - model and have it turn out well enough to show off. I will add this to my collection of fantastic things I’ve painted that are just to weird for anyone to run a game with. You can print and paint your own here: www.myminifactory.com/users/FoundF...

A fish with human legs and a big fur coat. She’s dolled up in 1920’s style!

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I have done and redone the paint on this model so many times. It’s my second larger model. She’s an aberrant mind sorcerer who is half mindflayer and likes it. I think she was originally a Druid? Anyway it’s not done yet but I’m proud of it.

A painted figure of a girl with white eyes and a magic swirls around her hands.

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I know this is the internets and people be vent posting, but can you not disrespect invertebrates by comparing them to human politicians? invertebrates did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Last week, I had the privilege of building a model of the Cartonnage of Meresamun, a “Singer of the Interior of Amun,” and daughter of Akhamun. I was able to build the back of the model by shooting through a glass table, which is why there are some reflection artifacts. #cartonnage #isac #uchicago

sketchfab.com

E10797 Egyptian Cartonnage of Meresamun - 3D model by ISAC Museum, University of Chicago (@uchicagoisac)

Material: Cartonnage, Paint, Containing Human Remains Period: Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22 (945-715 BCE) Provenance: Unknown (Probably Theban West Bank) ISAC Registration Number: E10797 M...

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Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: I have obtained a photo of the cursed vandals who are sullying American's reflecting pool.

Algae of the genus Desmodesmus, which scientists have confirmed is the type that turned the pool green

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ascalaphid @ascalaphid.com · 20/06/2026

brother gregor's catch of the day

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I got this image in the first Trump regime. I think in anticipation of the inevitable media coverage of the US’s MOU with Iran, it’s time to trot it out again.

A relief from a temple in Egypt showing Rameses II smiting a prisoner with a beard while walking on another one. It says: “I won Kadesh, by a lot” - Rameses II, 1274 BCE

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Gallica BnF @gallicabnf.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

🐙 Amateurs de pieuvres et de poulpes, plongez dans cette sublime Histoire naturelle des céphalopodes (1835-1848) ! c.bnf.fr/YmO 📚 Un document à retrouver dans les Sélections Gallica rassemblant les plus beaux ouvrages de zoologie illustrés. gallica.bnf.fr/selections/f...

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

With AI-infused search, the internet has returned to its natural state: 1998. When people figured out how to game search results, every search returned a stew of irrelevant garbage intermixed with porn and warez. It’s like an abandoned building being overtaken by nature.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

It’s not real hieratic but I love the spirit of it.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

“People who could buy and sell you / Share in a joke that they will never tell you / You think you’re dialed in but someone’s got to win / Which means someone’s got to lose / It’s probably you. / It’s probably you.” youtu.be/pqYPuQuFnak?...

youtu.be

Cream and Bastards Rise - Harvey Danger

YouTube video by SeñorMeechio

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Curators! Collectors! Dealers! Scholars! All behaving badly and hoping nobody notices! An awesome read and a reminder of the institutional forces those wishing to decolonize museums are up against.

theatlantic.com

The Mystery of the Golden Coffin

How did $65 million of allegedly stolen antiquities wind up in two of the world’s greatest museums?

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

It’s gardening season! Do your friends and neighbors know about the positive ecological impact we can have by planting native plants?? Help get the conversation started with our Native Plants t shirt! (Modeled by our buddy @wowthanks.bsky.social) Get one at squidfacts.net

A handsome blonde man in Jeffrey Dahmer glasses and absolutely covered in tattoos looks moody with a black T-shirt on, it says plant native plants with a stained glass window with a woman inside surrounded by plants

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Whelp I’m happy to have an organized file structure locally and on the cloud which acts as the source for my canvas site. I can just send my students a link to it. Now if only I had tracked grades locally….

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

So was the “sleeper” always meant to be Osiris or did the word “wakeful one” just look like “Osiris?” That question requires more research, but my gut says “why not both?”

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

It is clear that they thought this passage was important though, because it is included in the Saite redaction of the Book of the Dead, and the passage has been clarified by permanently changing a few characters. “The Wakefull One” is Osiris, who “wakes without sleeping in Heliopolis.”

A picture of Osiris rolled onto his belly on his bed and sitting up. His mummy wrappings are loose. Isis and nephthys are still mourning.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

In the 18th dynasty, some copies of BD 89 (like Maiherpri and Nebseny) but not others (P Nu) mention “The Wakefull one who will awaken and the sleepers who will sleep.” This passage is difficult and each copy is a little different grammatically. The words “Osiris” and “Wakeful one(s)” look alike.

Spell 89 from the papyrus of Nebseny, BM 9900. A cute line drawing shows the ba bird embracing the deceased, perched on his chest.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Book of the Dead Spell 89 helps the ba-soul of the deceased return to its corpse. The ba-soul is the part of the soul that can travel out into the world. The spell tells us that Ba souls also accompany the solar boat across the sky.

A human headed bird flies over a mummified person lying on a lion headed bed. The deceased’s wide eyes make him seem happy to see his soul.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I’d like to shout out there that when I was working in tech in the ‘aughts, people in Silicon Valley thought Palantir was evil, and the bar where exciting becomes scary in terms of software there has always been much higher.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

This country, the United States of America, was not bad. At its best, it had vision and aspiration. It wasn’t perfect for everyone, and we had a lot of things to work on, but for many, maybe even most people, it was pretty good. I’m sad that’s probably over, and wondering why we threw it away.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I took a class on designing Intarsia Knit Mitts, and picked for my design the floral collar of Irethoreru from the 3D model of his coffin. So analog-> digital-> analog…and then I took a picture and put it online.

A screenshot of the floral collar of an Egyptian coffin, which has been used to design wool mittens, shown before being sewn and on my hands

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Hidetoshi 秀俊 @hidet0shi.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

High speed monstrum (dynamic water/composition study) (I'm not sorry) #paleoart #tullimonstrum #sketch

Tullimonstrum, speeding close to the sea's surface. A second Tullimonstrum follows not far behind. The waves and water effects are dynamic, reflecting the high speeds reached by Tullimonstrum.

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Boss, just got a new tranche of things that are no longer relevant. Yeah they fell out of the news cycle. Haven't been mentioned in years. Yeah, it's Russian. And the Middle East. And the digital. Sounds like everything's just been completely sorted out, in that respect. Germany, also wrapped up.

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Lyn Green @wadjetweret.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

#Caturday post Blue faience ring with a seated cat Ca. 1390 BCE Art Institute of Chicago

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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

I’m furious that AI has gone this way. I was one of its biggest early fans and adopters. But without serious and major regulation, it’s become a theft machine to steal people’s lives, likenesses, identities, and jobs. WE CAN SAY NO.

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Kea Johnston @kjohnston.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

OMG the National Museum in Warsaw has the papyrus of Bakai on display after years in storage. Bakai was a royal nurse in the 18th dynasty, likely of Amunhotep II. Her papyrus is one of the few belonging to an 18th Dynasty woman. This pic is from their Instagram linked below. More pics there.

An Egyptian drawing on papyrus of a man with the head of a rabbit with knives in both hands

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Ryan Lambie @ryanlambie.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I've just had an amazing idea

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