I’m really excited that I was asked to be a part of this CBC documentary, as part of The Nature of Things series. It comes out (in Canada…) this Friday. While I haven’t seen it in its entirety yet, there’s a nice clip here of Harry Hughes throwing a replica of Schöningen Spear II. YouContinue reading “Documentary: The Real Neanderthal”
Category Archives: Science Communication
Did prehistoric women hunt? New research suggests so
For a long time, it was assumed that hunting in prehistoric societies was primarily carried out by men. Now a new study adds to a body of evidence challenging this idea. The research reports the discovery of a female body, buried alongside hunting tools, in the Americas some 9,000 years ago. The woman, discovered inContinue reading “Did prehistoric women hunt? New research suggests so”
Skills Shortage! Or The Replicator’s Conceit
Experimental archaeology has run as a thread throughout my postgraduate studies, and I’ve conducted a number of different types of experiments on Pleistocene hunting weapons. Something that was clear early on in designing my experiments is that we have a present-day skills shortage in terms of how humans used early hunting spears. Once upon aContinue reading “Skills Shortage! Or The Replicator’s Conceit”
What’s in a name? Defining prehistoric weaponry
I have researched Palaeolithic weapons for almost 10 years and (miraculously) I still love writing and talking about them. I’ve written up some basics below on prehistoric weaponry, including some definitions, classifications, and a few archaeological ‘firsts’. But I want to think very briefly first why we need these definitions and classifications. We use definitionsContinue reading “What’s in a name? Defining prehistoric weaponry”
Tiwi throwing spears
For better or for worse (a bit of both I think), ethnographic research and ethnohistoric accounts have played an important role in how we have interpreted the archaeological signatures that people from the past have left behind. This is nowhere more true than the study of how recent hunter-gatherer groups have manufactured, curated, and usedContinue reading “Tiwi throwing spears”
Sticks and Stones 