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Betsy Bevis

@vulpicula.bsky.social
1.7K followers 2.7K following 188 posts

Archaeology & Art History. She/her. Late Antiquity. Gaul, Hispania, etc. Mosaics of questionable quality. Villas no one has heard of (yet). Premodern textiles. Cats, cooking, knitting. First-gen, Neurospicy. Impossible love child of Ms. Frizzle & Mae West.

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Reposted by Betsy Bevis
Asperas Bompar @asperasbompar.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Wakanda tariffs going to get doubled now
bbc.com
US government lists fictional nation Wakanda as trade partner
Officials say it was an error to add the fictional nation from Black Panther to the list.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The problem with needing to go to the local art supply store while running errands is that in addition to the things I had planned to buy, I get *bright ideas* that require materials. And they have things like “mystery paint” grab bags and how could I resist?
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
I just have to express my gratitude for whoever put a pharmacy vending machine in the O’Hare Multi-Modal Travel Center. That bottle of DayQuill is a lifesaver. #TravelCold
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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Fashy Tech Bros: Back in Roman times, men were men. Just conquering the world with the boys, no time for woke feminist soi boi bullshit. Actual Roman who fought Hannibal: I'd like to share my recipe for poppyseed cheeseballs with you (Cato Agr. 79)
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🇵🇸Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer🖖🏳️‍🌈 @nuclearanthro.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
😻😻😻CLEANSING THERMONUCLEAR FIRE IS CANCELED FOR THE MORNING! HOORAY ADORABLE BRÖTCHEN BABY MURDER HIPPO!😻😻😻
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Archaeology in the movies: Treasure! Intrigue! Punching Nazis! Archaeology in real life: … there is so much dirt in my bra that I maybe should have undressed over the sieve, just in case there were artifacts in there…
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Archaeology in the movies: Treasure! Intrigue! Punching Nazis! Archaeology in real life: … there is so much dirt in my bra that I maybe should have undressed over the sieve, just in case there were artifacts in there…
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
The Orpheus mosaic from Villa Pesquero (near Badajoz, Spain) really should be better known. Sure, it’s huge, but it also has a derpy owl, a quilted elephant, and a sphinx with fabulous wings.
Large fragments of a Roman mosaic mounted on a museum wall. The octagonal space in the center of the mosaic is an image of Orpheus taming animals through music. Detail of the Orpheus mosaic, with a derpy owl. Detail of the Orpheus mosaic: an elephant whose skin is patterned in “quilted” diamonds. Detail of the Orpheus mosaic: a partial figure of a sphinx. Her wings are made from  bright green and blue glass tesserae and sparkle in the light.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Alums of Hampshire College are doing exactly what a liberal arts education prepares its students for, questioning what they’ve been told and finding different ways forward. I just pledged to Hampshire Next — a coalition reimagining the Hampshire experiment. Join me: hampshirenext.org
hampshirenext.org
Hampshire Next — Reimagining the Hampshire experiment
A coalition is raising $10M+ in pledges by May 16 — to buy time, gather the community, and reimagine what Hampshire can be next.
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Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The study points to using libraries and visiting museums as bringing these enormous brain health benefits ... who would have thought? Well, librarians and museum folk for a start ... www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%, study finds
Cognitive health in later life is ‘strongly influenced’ by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments, say researchers
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
I leave very soon and for my annual stint at the excavation of a Roman villa in Portugal (the Santa Susana Archaeological Project.) Watson will not be tagging along, so while I pack he is making sure that I have an adequate supply of cat hair on my stuff for the next several weeks.
An orange tabby cat with white paws, chest, and muzzle lounges among orange packing cubes in a partially-packed suitcase. He is grooming so enthusiastically that he has turned one of his ears inside out.
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Curtis Dozier @curtisdozier.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
"Majors in nutrition, art history and philosophy all outperformed STEM fields when it comes to employment prospects, according to a recent analysis of labor market outcomes of college graduates by major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York."
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Audrey Watters @audreywatters.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
On cheating 2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/dishonor-cod...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com
Dishonor Code
Tressie McMillan Cottom recently offered a neat little summary of how universities have responded to generative AI: "Academics initially lost our minds over the obvious threats to academic integrity. ...
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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
The scope of issues confronting research and scholarship is 😱🤯 among them for publications the profusion of AI slop. But the direct political intervention in funding and publishing research as well as in libraries and universities shows this to be a 360 crisis.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Watson takes his TA duties seriously. 😉🐈
A ginger tabby cat with white splashes on his face and white paws and chest lounges on a stack of Roman art tests. The head of the 1st century BCE sculpture called The Tivoli General is visible just below his outstretched paw.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
This is why universities are “the enemy”, why the arts need to be defunded, why humanities degrees are a “waste of time”. You cannot have authoritarianism without manipulating history first.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
beaver's return
Comic by Stephen Collins for the Guardian. Script as follows:

Scene is a British WOODLAND by a RIVER. A NATURALIST is stood next to a cage, and TV NEWS REPORTERS are filming him and the cage. 

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NATURALIST:
And now It is my great honour 

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NATURALIST:
to reintroduce the first wild beaver 
back into Britain 

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[Cut to the BEAVER’S CAGE. Its door is open and the Beaver is leaned nonchalantly up against the opening, smoking a cigarette.]

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BEAVER:
Well, well, well.

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BEAVER:
Look who's come crawling back.

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BEAVER:
Got a rubbish ecosystem have ya? 

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BEAVER:
Not happy with the *critical anti-flood infrastructure* engineered by the flippin *badgers*?

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BEAVER:
I almost didn't recognise you without one of my ancestors on your head…

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BEAVER:
First you wipe us out… now you ask us to come back and build dams for free…
You actually expect me to be *pleased* don’t ya? 

NATURALIST:
I'm so sorry I…I…

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BEAVER:
“Ooh la la, the Brits have come crawling back…”
Do I look like *Michel flippin’ Barnier*?

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NATURALIST:
I-if there’s some kind of… *remuneration* we could offer I-I’m sure…

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BEAVER [throwing cigarette to the ground]:
Unlimited pond weed, two tickets to Abba Voyage. 

NATURALIST:
Done.

[ends]
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Midterm season — grading is piling up, and I’m presenting a conference paper in a couple of weeks, various things I’ve promised to organize are heating up. I have downtime scheduled for 4:15 pm on the 14th and for about 20 hours on the 22nd. 🤪
View of a terribly messy desk. Organizational supplies, to do lists, a tea mug and teabags, research materials, and spinning supplies for a class on ancient textiles are piled haphazardly. The interior of my mind is much the same.
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Sesame Street really tells the story of America: - Created for PBS to educate young (especially Black!) children - Becomes a beloved institution cherished by the entire country - Gets privatized and kicked to premium cable due to budget cuts - Unionization leads to mass layoffs What a country!
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Sara McDougall @sarannmcd.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
slate.com/news-and-pol... “This particular faux-medieval aesthetic depicts wealth and power while criticizing a certain other—more tech-y, maybe more tacky, definitely more male—version of wealth and power.” @lollardfish.bsky.social @profgabriele.com #medievalsky
slate.com
Every Era Has Its Own Way of Thinking About the Middle Ages. Here’s 2025’s.
Tapestries, stone walls, chain mail, crossbows. This era’s medieval mashup has it all.
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The Black Trowel Collective @blacktrowel.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Don't Panic! How to fight fascism as an archaeologist. Hey, archaeologists! As archaeologists, we tend to be the doing sort, the busybodies shoveling and sorting, keeping and caring, custodians of time, places, people, it's time to lean into that! blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2024/11/13/d...
blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com
Don’t Panic! How to Fight Fascism as an Archaeologist
Hey, archaeologists! As archaeologists, we tend to be the doing sort, the busybodies shovelling and sorting, keeping and caring, custodians of time, places, people. It’s time to lean into that, to …
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Valentine’s Day might be a Hallmark holiday, but this love story from StoryCorps is too delightful not to share. storycorps.org/animation/wi...
storycorps.org
Wild in Love
When Jackie and taxidermist Bud went on their first date in 1954, Jackie knew she was in for an adventure. “Wild in Love,” takes you for a ride on their 68 years of love.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Just an adorable cat photo.
An orange and white cat sleeps on top of an open cookbook with one paw tucked under his chin.
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Isis Naucratis @isisnaucratis.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Thank you to Rafi Greenberg for his open letter to his colleagues participating in next week's grotesque occupation archaeology conference taking place in Jerusalem His letter was shared via @EmekShaveh's newsletter. It is quoted in full here (# 72): everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/c...
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com
Classicists and archaeologists on Gaza: A (not so) silent archive
How are Antiquity scholars and organizations responding to Israel’s campaign of annihilation of Gaza’s past, present and future? What do Classicists, ancient historians and archaeologists, whose wh…
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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 05/02/2025
A young researcher who made headlines last year for using AI to decipher a Greco-Roman scroll is reportedly part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by President Trump.
hyperallergic.com
Why Is There an Ancient Rome Researcher on Musk’s DOGE Staff?
Luke Farritor, who used AI to decode a Greco-Roman scroll from Pompeii, is reportedly part of the team leading Musk’s chaotic takeover of government systems.
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David Frum @davidfrum.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
We've reached the chapter in Gibbon where the mad emperor is appointing magicians, acrobats, and paid agents of the Persians to the highest offices of state.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
This whole thread is important and worth reading. The “anti-DEI” push is just racism in action.
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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Supporting each other through difficult and challenging times theresearchcompanion.com/supporting-i... Free, gentle, practical and bonding suggestions for anyone impacted by university changes, cuts, closures, threats and dangers #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #PhDSky #gradschool #PhDChat #PhDHelp
theresearchcompanion.com
Supporting each other through difficult and challenging times - The Research Companion
Science, healthcare and education are threatened worldwide. Here are some starter ideas for ways to work together to share and save vital information. And to care for one another.
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Brian J. Reiser (he/him) @reiserbrianj.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
#AcademicSky An important statement from the American Association of University Professors @aaup.bsky.social on "Against Anticipatory Obedience." Please read. www.aaup.org/report/again...
aaup.org
Against Anticipatory Obedience
The statement that follows, prepared by a joint subcommittee of the Association’s Committee on College and University Governance and Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, was approved for public...
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Bliz @blizzic.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
The following men are taking part in Musk's coup. - Akash Bobba - Edward Coristine - Luke Farritor - Gautier Cole Killian - Gavin Kliger - Ethan Shaotran Do not forget their names. www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
wired.com
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Today was the official start of the spinning project in my class Textiles, Gender, and Labor in the Ancient Mediterranean. I got to bring the _fun_ supplies to class. 😊🐑☁️🧶
A pile of supplies for hand spinning wool and making hand spindles, including prepared wool roving, completed spindles, and wooden wheels used for spindle whorls.A spindle with a terracotta whorl and a small amount of spun wool.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
One of my students brought me a tiny replica of a Mycenaean psi figurine from their semester in Greece. I’m feeling very appreciated today. 🥰
A tiny terracotta figurine, representing a woman with her arms raised, stands in front of a stack of post-it notes.
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ICArEHB @icarehb.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Great news from Onlaah project! Our collaborative MOOC on African Archaeology and Heritage has reached nearly 2,000 students worldwide! 🌍🎉 Together, we’re making African heritage more accessible and inspiring the next generation of archaeologists. 📚✨ #ONLAAH #HeritageEducation
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Fishbourne’s social media manager is on point this morning.
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Olga Byrska @obyrska.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
That’s that.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Oh goody! It’s pre-semester, teaching-disaster dream season. 🙄 Where’s my classroom? Where are my syllabi? What do you mean women aren’t allowed in that building?
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Nathan Nun @nathannun.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
War is off the table! I'm back to making some artwork after a busy holiday season. Here is some rough work for a poster in the works. I did an ink drawing of this one I think it was two years ago and have been meaning to make it a poster since. Now is the time.
A rough, coloured, sketch for a poster design. The poster is a cat poster in the style of a 1950's soviet propaganda poster. A large, orange, cat in worker overalls holds a red flag in one paw while the other sweeps away models of war machines from a table he looms over. Government officials and military officers sitting around the table are surprised, outraged, and scared. The slogan on the flag reads "Workers Demand Justice and Peace."
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Fishbourne Roman Palace @romanpalace.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
We're surprised this guy doesn't look happier that he won the game of Trivial Pursuit. #MosaicMonday
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Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
I have updated the Academic Workload Tracker for 2025. I strongly encourage all academics to track how long you actually work, and at what tasks. It's a crucial way to counter the deliberate wage-theft of obfuscatory university workload models. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
Academic Work Tracker Template v2.2 (2025)
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Io Sol Invictus….. or whichever deity this mosaic was meant to represent. Or all of them — gleeful syncretism, FTW! (The Christ-Helios Mossic, from the ceiling of Tomb M in the Vatican necropolis. ca. 3rd century CE.)
A partial mosaic showing a young man with tousled curls, a radiate halo, an orb in one hand, and a flowing cloak riding a four-horse chariot across a metallic gold background. The scene is bordered with a thick wreath of green grape vines. 

Is he Christ? Is he Helios? Is he Dionysus? Is he a deified emperor or Alexander the Great? The iconography draws from all of them.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Words needed for this time of year (end of semester grading).
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
NGL, I had no idea that Illinois was redesigning its state flag. This design, with a version of the Piasa bird petroglyph that overlooked the Mississippi near Alton, IL, was not one of the ten finalists, but I wish it were. It’s Maryland levels of delightfully crazy.
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
I know we all realize this, but to underline the point: AI is predicated on exploitation, environmental degradation, and financial speculation. It should be the antithesis of everything we stand for as professors. Also, how the fuck are you going to ask your students to do their work if you won't?
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
'When Notre-Dame reopened on 7 December, it was thanks, in part, to the efforts of 175 researchers with expertise across a range of disciplines: acoustics, art, data, history, archaeology, anthropology.' Example of why blue-skies research matters for 'real-life' problems we've not yet imagined. 1/2
timeshighereducation.com
The academics who helped breathe new life into Notre-Dame
Five years after a devastating fire, the Paris cathedral has finally reopened, with the help of a vast team of researchers
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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 05/12/2024
Students should study the humanities not because it makes them better workers but because it rips you open and breaks your brain and changes everything you thought you knew. I *promise* you this. I *promise* it has this ability, no matter how smart you think you are. I have seen it countless times.
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
This is a fascinating thread about science, folklore, oak trees, and climate mitigation. (Also frogs 🐸) #Folklore #Climate
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Betsy Bevis @vulpicula.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Happy holidays, #ClassicsSky
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Anyone who thinks the Parthenon friezes would be somehow less well exhibited or preserved outside of London needs to check their biases and go visit the Acropolis museum in Athens. Which is incredible, and is ready and waiting to receive them. Oh yeah there's a fantastic pinball museum nearby too.
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