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The next lecture at the Prehistoric Society will be streamed on YouTube, and it looks like anyone can join. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed these lectures during lockdown, but the professionals couldn’t wait to go back to meeting in person (it’s a small world, and they all know each other). Looks like membership complained, because this one is in person but broadcast, too.

Anyhoo, this one is called “Into the woods: new methods for studying Palaeolithic organic technologies” (button for the lecture is at the link, but I think it’s just their regular YouTube channel). It’s October 16 at 5:00 GMT (noon EST).

Not a lot of paleolithic wood survives, of course, but sometimes conditions are just right. They’re going to be talking about stuff like a 400,000-year-old yew spear from Clacton on Sea, and a whole 300,000-year-old settlement in Schöningen Germany.

You’d be amazed at the things they’re uncovering about really ancient artifacts. One lecture I remember vividly analyzed fingerprints in ceramics. By analyzing the size of the prints, they could work out that the rough clay troughs for drying seawater into salt were made by adult men. But the food vessels were made by women, who then encouraged a variety of children to press a thumb into the clay. You can make up whatever story you like about that!

It’s a really weird period in archeology. New technologies (and plain good observation, like the clay pot study above) are uncovering an astonishing wealth of new data about prehistory. Alongside this good clean science, actual archeologists are spinning highly fanciful interpretations.

I hate to point it out, but the majority of doctors of archeology are now women. They’re forever trying to paint our ancestors as a peaceful matriarchy (just ignore the tooth marks on that thighbone).

Have a good weekend, everyone!