Reposted by Kate BrittonDr Izzy Wisher @izzywisher.bsky.social · 15/06/2026So… exciting job news 🎉 Very happy to announce I’ll soon be joining the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research! Over the next 3 years, I’ll be exploring how artistic traditions changed over the Palaeo-Meso transition - did art play an active, adaptive role in response to climate changes? 9455
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Printing our first test bone in our RICHeS funded Ark of the North lab - next stop, a whole bear skeleton! This system will allow for efficient sharing of reference collections, bolstering zooarchaeology and palaeontology in Scotland and beyond 🦴 🐻 @ukri.org 070
Reposted by Kate BrittonMarina Silva @marinasdsilva.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Our preprint is now out, looking at genomic history and selection in Britain, with a focus on the Roman and early medieval periods. Comments welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @boothicus.bsky.social @leospeidel.bsky.social @pontus-skoglund.bsky.socialbiorxiv.org 14419
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 23/02/2026Congratulations to Dr Sarah Barakat who passed her PhD viva today! Sarah’s doctoral research has made a major contribution to our understanding of the use of sulfur isotopes in tracking range use in Late Pleistocene fauna. Well done Sarah! (And here’s the obligatory theme cake…) 3192
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Amazing to be part of this! Never had an archaeological emergancy before - truly a once in a lifetime site! www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...independent.co.ukDog walkers discover 2,000-year-old human footprints on beachArchaeologists say the human and animal prints were made at the height of the Roman Empire 0228
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 14/01/2026PALaEoScot is in Orkney this week working with Dr Ben Elliott sampling bone from early Mesolithic site, Tarradale. Project PhD student Tayla Sanders is looking at mammalian faunal biodiversity in Scotland at the end of the Ice Age and during the Mesolithic - watch this space! 0152
Reposted by Kate BrittonFrido Welker @fridowelker.bsky.social · 18/12/2025This is an amazing figure, showing the power of ZooMS taxonomic corrections in isotopic study design. 3115
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 18/12/2025And the power of isotopes in highlighting problematic IDs! And not forgetting the morphological IDs that guided initial sampling! Honestly, fab to see all these methods used together to better understand their collective capabilities - a pleasure working with everyone on this study :) 020
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 18/12/2025In a small number of cases we had some very strange outliers after all our isotope data came in - but zooms to the rescue! 100
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 18/12/2025A lovely and simple scatter plot showing clear species groupings and also how distinct reindeer were in terms of their total range! 000
Reposted by Kate BrittonSarah Barakat @sarahbarakat.bsky.social · 17/12/2025So excited to announce the publication of this paper which is the first to come from my PhD! Combing data from the PleistoHERD and DeerPal project we analyse carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in ungulate bones from the Aquitaine Basin dating between the Ante-Quina and Quina periods. 3219
Reposted by Kate BrittonSarah Barakat @sarahbarakat.bsky.social · 17/12/2025Sulfur isotope analysis shows differences in range use between ungulates with known differences in home range sizes today. This is shown well in reindeer compared to all other fauna. We also integrate important ZooMS data to optimise palaeoecological interpretations. 171
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 17/12/2025New paper alert! Sulfur isotopes evidence Late Pleistocene faunal spatial ecology - 100s of data points, years of combined research effort, and an isotope-zooarch-zooms collab. Congrats to @sarahbarakat.bsky.social who led this to fruition! @ukri.org @leverhulme.ac.uk doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...doi.orgRedirecting 0122
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 03/12/2025In Edinburgh this week for PALaEoScot, meeting specialists at NMS with our Edinburgh-based project zooarchaeology post-doc Alicia Sanz-Royo. We’re spending the week exploring the wonderful animal remains of the Assynt bone caves - kicking the day off with breakfast at an aptly-named cafe! 150
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 26/11/2025Hippos?! In Devon?! Check out this fully-funded PhD opportunity @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social focused on the isotope ecology of the non-analogue faunal communities of MIS5e Britain @ukri.org NERC/BBSRC funded via QUARTILES - open to U.K. & international applicants! 🦛 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...findaphd.comQUARTILES DLA CASE: Hippo and hyena haven: Exploring the isotope palaeoecology of a non-analogue ecosystem in MIS5e Britain at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.comPhD Project - QUARTILES DLA CASE: Hippo and hyena haven: Exploring the isotope palaeoecology of a non-analogue ecosystem in MIS5e Britain at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com 185
Reposted by Kate BrittonAntiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 11/10/2025NEW Bone fragment with butchery marks from Middle Palaeolithic (260–45 ka cal BP) Ormagi Ekhi, Georgia. The cave was a hibernation site for cave bears, but the butchery indicates humans are responsible for the accumulation of most faunal remains. Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺#Archaeology 1162
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 11/10/2025PALaEoScot is at the British Cave Research Association Science Symposium in Bristol today, spreading the word about the amazing MIS3/MIS2 faunas of Reindeer Cave, Assynt - great line up too! #archaeology #caving #pleistocene 140
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 02/10/2025At a recent outreach event we tried a bit of living prehistory to bring the final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in Scotland to life - we opted for some body paints, sticking to white, black and red. Turns out we could have added blue! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.orgThe earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe | Antiquity | Cambridge CoreThe earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe 020
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 30/09/2025Châtelperronian cultural diversity at its western limits: Shell beads and pigments from La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...pnas.orgPNASProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans... 010
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 09/09/2025Test audience for these wonderful colouring sheets our new PhD student Tayla has prepared for our event on Sunday 14th at UoA. Tayla is joining PALaEoScot to work on fragmentary bones from late glacial-early Holocene sites in Scotland using molecular approaches - she’s quite the artist too! 1132
Reposted by Kate BrittonDepartment of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social · 04/09/2025Ever wondered what life was like at the end of the Ice Age? What did people eat? How did they make tools? Come and meet the PALaEoScot team at Explorathon on Sept 14th 11am-4pm at UoA’s King’s College in Old Aberdeen and meet our living prehistorians at their camp! Link below ⬇️ 2105
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 04/08/2025PalaeoScot is down in Pembroke for the week - it’s a PalaeoScot-PalaeoWales collab! We’ve done some isotope work at Wogan Cavern over the last few years and it’s great to finally see the site & to check out a potential new cave with some of the Wogan team too 👀 🦣 🦌 @ukri.org 050
Reposted by Kate BrittonDr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 27/07/2025www.birdguides.com/news/natural...birdguides.comNatural England chair backs lynx reintroductionTony Juniper, chair of Natural England, says he is keen to see lynx reintroduced to Britain, backing a proposed trial in Northumberland. However, government legal blocks and strong opposition from she... 052
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 27/07/2025Would love to have you up here! And I have a scheme re: writing we talked about last year… are you still on Twitter? I cannot find a way of DM’ing on here 🤔 110
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 27/07/2025(Very) Late to the party but enjoying it immensely - wonderful words @lemoustier.bsky.social would recommend KINDRED to anyone interested in learning more about Neanderthals, visiting the other-worlds of the past, or learning more about the process of field and research archaeology 160
Reposted by Kate BrittonChris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 26/07/2025www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comArchaeology funding to protect Ice Age hunt site Fetcham SpringsFetcham Springs in Surrey is "nationally significant", says the Surrey County Archaeological Unit. 0194
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 26/07/2025A memorable, creative and restorative week at Moniack Mhor for a writing retreat. Met some wonderful people, was fed like a Queen and broke out of the academic writing bubble just a little bit - like a spa for the brain! 120
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/07/2025This week #PALaEoScot has been part of a team testing this wee rock shelter, hopeful for signs of Late Glacial/early Holocene archaeology (or palaeontology!). So far just some cracking lithology (literally) and a very friendly dog - but watch this space! 🦴 🦌 🦣 🪨 @ukri.org @willmills.bsky.social 0103
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 02/07/2025The data from the MALDI is looking good! So great to be collaborating with @archaeoprotein.bsky.social to help us work out the kinks ❤️ 020
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 02/07/2025Mesolithic! An Corran or Oronsay I think, but maybe something sneaks in a little earlier 🤔 (sorry I only know what’s in the isotope literature…). We’ve just got a project ZooMS-ing unidentified bones from early Holocene (and Pleisto…) sites so we’ll let you know if we find anything people-y… 120
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 02/07/2025Spotting her first MALDI plate! Thanks to @archaeoprotein.bsky.social for offering this wonderful training opportunity to @sarahbarakat.bsky.social and helping us further develop our ZooMS capacity in Aberdeen @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social - and for running our first PALaEoScot samples with us! 0205
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 17/06/2025Lovely to see some experimental archaeology for our PalaeoScot project! 020
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/06/2025Yes! Although earlier (have directly dated the remains) and cows 🤯 We now have ~45 sr and o measurements from human burials too, from Pictish sites across Scotland, and those are eye-opening too! (No Scandinavians though if I recall correctly!) Pictish movements are super fun! 030
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/06/2025The data aren’t published yet - hot off the mass spec! Majority match different parts of Scotland, but indeed a few show very elevated strontium isotope ratios combined with low oxygen well outside what we get in British env waters today - were still digesting this! @northernpicts.bsky.social 150
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/06/2025This week we also had a full-day PALaEoScot team meeting and welcomed our new PhD student, Tayla! It was wonderful to hear updates on the incredible lithics, palaeontological and palaeoenvironmental work the team is doing, and to discuss what’s next & to have bit of social time together too! 🦣 040
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/06/2025Thanks to @orshicz.bsky.social and lots of others! 010
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 08/06/2025This week I’ve scoured letters at NMS for glimpses of Pleistocene animals; celebrated Medieval life at an exhibition opening; & been immersed in prehistoric landscapes at the Europa in Reading. Archaeology is so rich and varied. Thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge & passion this week!🏺🦣 170
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 07/06/2025And now to the main event - the Europa lecture from Martin Bell - route-ways and paths as ‘entanglement made manifest’ for human and non-human entities. Movement is the ‘connective tissue between sites’ - inspirational! @prehistoricsociety.bsky.social 0152
Reposted by Kate BrittonCambridge University Press - Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org · 06/06/2025Enjoy #openaccess articles on #prehistory and #prehistoric #archaeology from Cambridge, marking The Prehistoric Society Europa Conference 2025 in Reading this weekend: 🔎 cup.org/4dQdVmE 062
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Great coverage of the Edinburgh’s First Burghers exhibition in the Scotsman - it has been brilliant to see this HES-funded work go from the lab to exhibition! @orshicz.bsky.social @boothicus.bsky.social www.scotsman.com/heritage-and...scotsman.comThe faces of Edinburgh's first residents brought to life 900 years onThe faces tell a story of the early days of Edinburgh. 0258
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 07/06/2025For the penultimate talk at the Europa meeting we have Richard Bunning on trackways and water transport in the Somerset Levels - pondering how humans navigated and understood the very different worlds of marsh land, wetland, high ground and sea @prehistoricsociety.bsky.social 081
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Staying on the theme of connections to other worlds at Europa and to Bronze Age landscapes in Wales and the deliberate deposition of weapons and other metalwork with (a virtual) Chris Griffiths @prehistoricsociety.bsky.social 082
Kate Britton @whatkatiedigs.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Now a ‘slice of Danish’ (his words), Niels Nøtkjær Johannsen on the fascinating landscapes and graves of Neolithic Jutland. More animals too - cattle burials, along with perhaps near-invisible carts that could have traversed local trackways in death as in life @prehistoricsociety.bsky.social 071
