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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · 6m

Thanks Seb!

Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · 8h

Paper alert 🎓🌿

I’m excited to share a new publication from my PhD

On-site plant-wax biomarkers + compound-specific isotopes show why relying on bulk δ13C of SOM can mislead in the tropics. Case study: Jwalapuram (S. India).

Read: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Huge thanks to all co-authors 🙏

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · 4d

As I wrap up my doctoral research, I find I have even more questions than when I began—and the picture keeps getting more complex.

Here’s a mint-fresh Levallois point core from the Baghor Coarse Member (~40–50 ka) in the Middle Son Valley (north-central India).

#HumanOrigins #Palaeolithic #India

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 7d

#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · 12d

A lot more is coming about the technological transitions, Toba's impact, and climatic context.

Hats off to @ekerdoncuff.bsky.social @priyamoorjani et al.'s outstanding work.

Do read the original paper - doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

P.S. A lot to wrap up in so little time, but looking fwd. to 2026.

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John Hawks @johnhawks.net · 12d

The genetics of South Asia are coming into focus, helping reveal how fast the avalanche of modern humans got going. This region has more Neanderthal genetic variation than any other, and a unique component of Denisovan ancestry never seen before.

www.johnhawks.net/p/deep-histo...

Deep history from the genomes of India

People carrying Neanderthal mixture entered the subcontinent after 50,000 years ago, meeting Denisovans

www.johnhawks.net

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 14d

Very sad. One of the world's great human beings.
#JaneGoodall

www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Jane Goodall, primatologist and friend to chimpanzees, dies at 91

She used her global fame to draw attention to the plight of dwindling chimpanzee populations and, more broadly, to the perils of environmental destruction.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tom Higham @tommyhigham.bsky.social · 14d

So excited to announce the lineup of speakers here @heasvienna.bsky.social for the 2025/6 academic year! We have some outstanding speakers for our three seminar series in Archaelogical Science, Ancient Genomics and Human Evolution & the Palaeolithic. All hybrid! Register now at HEAS.at

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Yarrow Axford @yarrowaxford.bsky.social · 14d

Note that @isotopes.bsky.social (with other methods) found that lakes lost hypolimnetic oxygen in three more (far-away) sectors of Greenland around the same time. Oxygen depletion was apparently widespread, in response to a few degrees of summer warming. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Aquatic plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes in Greenland lakes record shifts in methane cycling during past Holocene warming

δ2H values of aquatic plant wax reveal past Holocene warming led to expanded CH4 cycling in lakes across Greenland.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 14d

One more conceptual layer of the Bretskyan hierarchy: how organisms map on their range and environments or what is the geometry of their movement (as exemplified by dogs and cats).
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #EvoBio #Macroecology
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Ridge densities for canids and felids for the nine landscapes in which at least one species from each clade was tracked together.

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Michael Petraglia @mdpetraglia.bsky.social · 14d

Had some fun with this one! Based on a publication by @mariaguagnin.bsky.social and our terrific team! 🐪
m.youtube.com/shorts/7Pcec...

12,000-year-old road signs

YouTube video by Griffith University

m.youtube.com

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 18d

After two days of reading, thinking, and reading again, I think there are two possible ways to interpret the Yunxian cranium (note that @johnhawks.net and others have already shared some great, and often overlapping ideas): (1/4)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans

Diverse forms of Homo coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene. Whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades is debated. The ~1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is impo...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 18d

youtube.com/watch?v=MA1c...

Our common Neanderthal ancestor could be a million years old, says Chris Stringer

YouTube video by New Scientist

youtube.com

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · 19d

This non #FlintFriday and #FieldworkFriday, I would like to share this mint-fresh Quartzite handaxe from SE India, likely dating back to Middle Pleistocene.

Yes, it hurts to see that broken tip! Still, one of my best find.

I am field-sick, can't wait to go back.

#Acheulean #India #HumanOrigins

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Isabelle Crevecoeur @isabellecrevecoeur.bsky.social · 22d

‼️📣Extremely proud to see this great collaborative work out!

Oldest Shell Ornament Workshop in Western Europe at Saint-Césaire: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1...

#Prehistory #Archaeology #Chatelperronian #Shells #Beads #Homosapiens #Neandertal #Ornament

Details of discovery & implications ⏬ 🧵 1/20

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Matthew Collins @matthewcollins.bsky.social · Sep 1

Thanks to @isbarchaeology.bsky.social and @isba11.bsky.social for a great conference.

I mentioned the legacy of Henk Kars of VU who established ISBA

Geoarchaeology closed. Here is the link to the petition to save Earth Sciences @vuamsterdam.bsky.social

www.change.org/p/red-aardwe...

More than 500 international scholars attended ISBA 11. Here are many of them looking up at the camera in a large group shot

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

ISBA - Intl. Soc. for Biomolecular Archaeology @isbarchaeology.bsky.social · Aug 29

What a week! 🎉 Big thanks to @isba11.bsky.social for hosting an incredible ISBA conference — so well organized and full of great science.

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Seb Breitenbach @speleoseb.bsky.social · Aug 15

Interested in #Maya history, #climate change, #stalagmites and #drought, and the #SYP autosampler? Read the latest in our detailed work on a sample from #Tzabnah cave! 😎 kudos to all our collaborators in #Mexico!
@andy-baker.bsky.social @mwclimatesci.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Classic Maya response to multiyear seasonal droughts in Northwest Yucatán, Mexico

Stalagmite record reveals 1- to 13-year droughts in NW Yucatán from 871 to 1021 CE, a time of profound Maya cultural change.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Katerina Harvati @katharv.bsky.social · Aug 7

Job Alerts!🚨 We are looking to fill three Independent Junior Research Group Leader positions in the 'HUMAN ORIGINS' Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen
Application deadline: Sept. 10, Starting Jan. 1, 2026

1. Genotype-Phenotype interactions:
uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Independent Junior Research Group Leader (m/f/d, 100%)

uni-tuebingen.de

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Reposted by Gopesh Jha

Henry Gee @endofthepier.bsky.social · Aug 6

Stone tools from Sulawesi at least a million years old may be even more ancient than those found on Flores, suggesting an even earlier presence of hominins on Wallacea www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene - Nature

Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.

www.nature.com

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · Aug 5

Congratulations @nataliaeguez.bsky.social

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Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · Jul 29

From the archives:

Climate co-benefits of tiger conservation: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ancient DNA reveals genetic admixture in China during tiger evolution: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · Jul 25

Paper alert 📄

Led by Dr. Anil Devara.

That ~75,000-year-old Toba ash layer (YTT) in India? Our research shows it is not necessary if YTT is isochron! We found YTT at MVP (site) is significantly (40,000 years) younger than ~74ka mark.

Glad to be part of this work!

doi.org/10.1002/jqs....

Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) beds as a Late Pleistocene isochron in the Indian subcontinent? New geochronological and sedimentological insights

The ~75 ka Young Toba super-eruption was a catastrophic extreme event that spewed vast quantities of volcanic ash and aerosols and is argued to have caused a drastic volcanic winter, climatic upheava....

doi.org

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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · Jul 21

A 150,000-year lacustrine record of the Indo-Australian monsoon from northern Australia www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A 150,000-year lacustrine record of the Indo-Australian monsoon from northern Australia

Nearly two thirds of the world's population depend on monsoon rainfall, with monsoon failure and extreme precipitation affecting societies for millenn…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Gopesh Jha @gopesh.bsky.social · Jul 18

I love the title - cool paper!

TraCEr, at MONREPOS, LEIZA @tracer-leiza.bsky.social · Jul 18

Just out! Our new paper explores the complexities of conducting traceological analyses in Early Stone Age contexts at Gombore IB, Melka Kunture, Ethiopia
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Functional analysis of the lithic assemblage of Gombore IB (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): looking for traces of use, but finding post-depositional problems

Early Stone Age (ESA) archaeological complexes pose significant challenges for traceological analysis due to the preservation conditions of their cont…

www.sciencedirect.com

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