Back in 1944, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal warned that there was a dangerous tension at the heart of American society: The “American Creed”, as he defined it, her founding documents, ideology, and the identity of Americans were based in concepts of equality of opportunity and universal kinship, but its economic and social reality was founded…
This John Hawks twitter “moment” should be treated in all ways as an academic contribution
Just yesterday, I was on one of my hobby horses, arguing that we live in a post-journal academic world but don’t quite realize it yet. Today, I find this twitter moment from John Hawks. Contributions like this one, no matter who they are from, must be considered full academic contributions, on a par with refereed…
The post-journal academic publishing landscape
As I have argued before, the post-journal academic world is here. We no longer have to build it. The post-journal era of academic publishing does not involve a radical change in the way we do our work, and it doesn’t involve a rejection of academic principles. On the contrary, it is an affirmation of those…
Is there an 18 000 year old occupation at Monte Verde?
Following my evaluation of the recent Santa Elina potential find of glacial era artefacts in South America, @CDWren asked me about the claim of 18 000 year old material at Monte Verde. The short version is that I think the material from Monte Verde is convincing until about 14 000 years ago. Beyond that, it…
Two modified osteoderms from a Pleistocene layer
Vialou et al’s Peopling South America’s centre: the late Pleistocene site of Santa Elina, should really be titled Two modified osteoderms from a Pleistocene layer. The authors claim evidence of occupation of central South America going back almost 24 000 years, which would push back settlement by at the very least 10 000 years. There…
ArcheoThoughts 