Martin Porr

Posts are not meant to be endorsements

Surprising partner preference found in matings between Neanderthals and modern humans Male Neanderthals tended to pair up with female modern humans, but whether intercourse was consensual is unclear

Just coming back to this study and story from a few days ago... They have already produced a wide range of reactions... 🤔

www.science.org/content/arti...

AI has powerful uses for First Nations oral cultural knowledge. Here’s how In oral cultures, knowledge must be collectively maintained. AI can help people engage in dialogue with their heritage.

theconversation.com/ai-has-power...

In the final paper, André Tomás Santos (2026) builds on Philippe Descola’s work and introduces a new perspective in the attempt to assign a cosmological domain to the makers of much of Upper Palaeolithic art in Western Europe.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

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In the third paper, Shumon T. Hussain engages with the topic of animal–human relations during the European Palaeolithic, extending the discussion beyond ‘ontology’ itself.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

@shumon.bsky.social

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In the second paper, Gianpiero Di Maida is seeking to overcome the impasse reached in the long-standing debate over Neanderthal cognitive capacities and rather focusing on their being-in-the-world as inferred from the available archaeological record.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

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In the first paper, Benjamin Alberti investigates the issue of anthropomorphism in ceramic production during the first millennium AD in Northwest Argentina through the lens of alterity.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

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Our Open Access special issue on "An Ontological Turn for Archaeology?" in the EAZ journal is now complete and can be accessed via the link below!

This is a small but precious collection of papers.

Hope that you will find it useful and inspiring.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

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‘It’s time for healing’: remains of Aboriginal ancestors traded as curiosities are on their way home to country Returning the stolen bodies of Indigenous Australians is ‘the most important act of reconciliation’, but museums can’t keep pace with the rate of surrender

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘Remarkable’ Mithaka cultural landscape featuring Australia’s oldest houses placed on national heritage list Aboriginal site featuring ancient quarry sits on transcontinental trading route connecting Gulf of Carpentaria to Flinders Ranges

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Careers at CDU | Charles Darwin University Discover career opportunities and find useful information about working at CDU.

Charles Darwin University is looking for a Lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges and Heritage, which will suit an anthropologist or archaeologist with a focus on Australia.

Continuing Full Time, Teaching Focused, Level A/B
A$76,604 – A$137,659 pa

Details here:
www.cdu.edu.au/careers-cdu

The paper is a contribution to a special issue on "An Ontological Turn for Archaeology?" with further great papers, all available in OA as well.

It is great to be able to facilitate this together with my co-editor Gianpiero Di Maida.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

Just published in the EAZ in open access!

Please have a look at this great new paper by @shumon.bsky.social on "Zoo-Ontologies: Materiality and Visuality in the Multispecies Tangle".

This paper is now free to download via the EAZ website.

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

This is a monumental achievement and I am happy to have been able to facilitate it for the EAZ journal together with the other co-editors. The paper is now available in open access. Congratulations to all involved!

As the abstract outlines, this paper is the first publication jointly co-authored by archaeologists and members of the Yagan and Selk’nam Indigenous Communities/peoples from Tierra del Fuego, based in Argentina and Chile!

Please have a look at this new collaborative research paper by Danae Fiore and colleagues on their important work with Indigenous communities in Karukinka/Usin (Tierra del Fuego).

www.eaz-journal.org/index.php/ea...

What France's famous cave replicas can teach Australia about rebuilding lost heritage Five years after Rio Tinto destroyed a 47,000-year-old sacred rock shelter to expand an iron ore mine, an ambitious rebuild is underway drawing inspiration all the way from France.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Who speaks for the dead? Rethinking consent in ancient DNA research Ethical guidelines for ancient DNA need to protect past, present and future generations.

theconversation.com/who-speaks-f...

Alterity and Human Evolution: Deep-Time and Multispecies Perspectives on Difference and Variation | Berghahn Books Independent Publishing since 1994

I hope that you will all find the result equally inspiring and enriching for yourself and the fields of palaeoanthropology, human evolutionary studies, and Palaeolithic archaeology.

www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Abadia...

It also helps, of course, to collaborate with Oscar, who is a master in the academic editing business and I learned so much again from him. I want to thank him and all the contributors and the editorial team at Berghahn for supporting and contributing to this project.

Coming in April 2026!

This truly fabulous volume will be published early next year and putting this together was just a great journey. It allowed working together with many amazing scholars from different parts of the world and I profited so much from reading and engaging with all the chapters.

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa handback a symbol of land rights 40 years on When you drive towards Uluṟu and see the stark, red monolith on the horizon, or stand at its base and look up at its striking, powerful enormity, time stands still.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

'Java Man,’ the first Homo erectus discovered, is finally going home Excavated with colonial labor and shipped to the Netherlands, the famous fossil is being repatriated to Indonesia along with 28,000 other fossils.

www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

Did humans kill Australia's ancient megafauna? Bone study prompts rethink Palaeontologists say there is no hard evidence in the fossil record that extinct Australian megafauna were butchered by First Nations people.

www.abc.net.au/news/science...

It’s Time to Replace “Prehistory” With “Deep History” Archaeologists in Southeast Asia are pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives.

www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

The epic story of Australia and its first peoples — like you've never seen it The story of Australia and its peoples is vast and deep. It's one you should know, but possibly one you've never been told. Well, not like this anyway.

www.abc.net.au/news/deeptim...

Paleolithic painters had the blues Two recent studies shine light on the earliest known artistic usages of blue pigment

I was invited to provide some comments on the fascinating story below, which discusses the earliest known examples of the use of blue pigment during the European Palaeolithic. Interesting results with some intriguing implications.

www.science.org/content/arti...

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In Human Origins Research, Communities Are the Missing Link A paleoanthropologist reflects on relationships between researchers and communities living around sites relevant to human evolution.

www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...