Bordeaux Diaries: First fortnight
The first two weeks of my postdoc here have been excellent, it feels so great to be back as part of an institution, and I'm starting to feel at home in France, despite also missing my family back...
View ArticleThe last Neandertals: Excavations at La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire
I was lucky enough to be invited by Brad Gravina who works at the PACEA lab to come to the first new excavations at one of the most important Neandertal sites in the world: La Roche-à-Pierrot, more...
View ArticleWildlife Interlude: butterflies and moths in the southern Haut Loire
Part of the joy of fieldwork is travelling to new landscapes, and discovering new and wonderful things: geology, scents, local foods, architecture and of course wildlife. There's a lot going on just...
View ArticleDay of Archaeology 2013
Yesterday was this year's Day of Archaeology, a global blogging event where archaeologists write about what they're doing. 2011 and 2012's blogs both had posts from me, and this year's is an...
View ArticleSpectacular Skies in the Haute-Loire
Mountain regions are known for their extreme weather. Although the Massif Central, where I am right now on fieldwork, isn't full of towering peaks like the Alps, it is a very extensive and high...
View ArticleGeological Road Trip: Volcanic landscapes of the Massif Central
Geology and geography are fundamental to archaeologists in understanding the landscape contexts that people of the past lived within. While climate and environments have drastically altered over the...
View ArticlePhotographing doors in Le Puy-en-Velay
It was a long time ago that I discovered the beauty of traditional French architecture, especially in small towns, and photographing it has been a pursuit most times I've visited. I've got a special...
View ArticleNeandertals, Handaxe Traditions, Social Landscapes
Just a quick post as my good friend and colleague Karen Ruebens has been hitting the headlines with the publication of her PhD research, which I've mentioned in previous blog-posts. Amazingly the...
View ArticleAdventures in Silcrete: "It's flint Jim, but not as you know it!"
Something that everyone who works in the archaeology of deep prehistory has to get to grips with is the technology of stone tools, or lithics. This includes thinking about the ways in which people...
View ArticleKaren Ruebens' "Regional Behaviour in Late Neandertals" paper published
The paper by my colleague Karen Ruebens on regionality in biface traditions among late Neandertals has now been published in Journal of Human Evolution. Full title is : "Regional behaviour among late...
View ArticleSaint Pierre-Eynac: studying a silcrete source
It's been a little while since I last wrote about my postdoc project, mainly because of finishing (or almost finishing) fieldwork, and then coming back to Bordeaux to get moved in. Various other...
View ArticleToothbrushes & microscopes: tools for studying tools
One of the things that is wonderful about archaeology is the breath of different fields of enquiry it spans, and the fact it is both a science and humanities subject. Trying to uncover ancient human...
View ArticleBook review: "Lost Animals- Extinction and the photographic record"
Thanks to my lovely editor at Bloomsbury, Jim Martin (now heading up their very exciting new popular science imprint, Sigma), I was sent a copy of a book to review late last year which looked...
View ArticleOld things and new things
Just a quick post for any readers looking out for updates on the postdoc project- the first output will be presented at the upcoming SAA (Society for American Archaeology) conference in Austin, USA...
View ArticlePolishing turds: social contexts of Neandertal coprolites
Finally we have something I've been waiting for for a while- Neandertal poo. Aside from providing journalists with various amusing headlines ("What the crap?"; "Poop scoop" etc.), this new research...
View ArticleReturn to the Massif Central
Just a very quick post to say I'm officially back from maternity leave, and have rolled straight into fieldwork! I'm back in the Haute-Loire region for a month. We will be starting excavations at the...
View Article2014 Centenary of the Mousterian
I started this post in July, but since then life and work got rather intense, and so it's been delayed... but now it can be added to in a very satisfying way. Back in summer I was lucky enough to be...
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Cosmos magazine interview
I meant to post this last year when it actually took place, but in between waiting for image permission, going on maternity leave and having the baby, it got postponed!In late 2013 I was approached by...
View ArticleTRACETERRE project poster, SAA 2014
A quick post here as I wanted to get this up a little while ago. In April, in my absence (due to new motherhood), my colleague Vincent Delvigne went to the Society for American Archaeology conference...
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Silcrete as a lithic material in global context: session call for papers
Next year I'll be running a session at "On the Rocks", the 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials, in Barcelona.Read more »
View Article#Real10000BC : This Is Not The Mesolithic
The new reality TV series 10,000 BC (Channel 5) is obviously, despite claims about 'making history fun', really more about seeing what a mix of people do when placed in harsh physical and social...
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The White Mountain: Saint-Pierre-Eynac fieldwork, 2014
My poor blog has been neglected again due to workload, family life, and a huge amount of travelling over the past 8 months. So this report for 2014's fieldwork in the Massif Central region is horribly...
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2017? Bring It On
*Emerges from cave, looks about cautiously, sniffs the air*This blog has been hibernating while it felt like my life was going into overdrive the past 18 months, with the end of my postdoc,...
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Wherefore Art Thou, Neanderthal?
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View ArticleANNOUNCING: rebeccawraggsykes.com
Over years since I started writing online, this blog has been a fantastic way to establish a voice and develop what I want to say. Since my postdoc ended in 2015, things have been incredibly busy with...
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