Katherine Piper
@katherinepiper.bsky.social
Retired Egyptologist/archaeologist now heckling. Occasional roundhouse builder and regular volunteer at Flag Fen Archaeology Park. Currently @theees.bsky.social bake sale, formerly archives and events volunteer. Dog servant. Spooky. AuDHD.
Pinned
First run through at an #Egyptology Starter Pack. Let me know who I need to add!! #Archaeology #AncientMediterranean
go.bsky.app/ypboLQ
go.bsky.app/ypboLQ
I don’t really do much Egyptology stuff these days, but it’s good to see more people (and institutions!) making their way over here. It would be nice if more of Egyptology Tw*tter made the great migration …
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Labour has comprehensively trapped itself by agreeing to play entirely by their opponents’ rules.
The game is fixed so the only move that’s ever available is more and worse cruelty, while at the same time no level of cruelty will ever be enough to win.
A moral & political death-spiral.
The game is fixed so the only move that’s ever available is more and worse cruelty, while at the same time no level of cruelty will ever be enough to win.
A moral & political death-spiral.
Lots of Labour MPs asking Mahmood tonight to rule out child detention. She won’t rule it out. That’s because forced removals of families will mean children in detention for periods.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
November 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Labour has comprehensively trapped itself by agreeing to play entirely by their opponents’ rules.
The game is fixed so the only move that’s ever available is more and worse cruelty, while at the same time no level of cruelty will ever be enough to win.
A moral & political death-spiral.
The game is fixed so the only move that’s ever available is more and worse cruelty, while at the same time no level of cruelty will ever be enough to win.
A moral & political death-spiral.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Indentured servitude as government policy? Great! Great news!!
Watching the Mahmood announcement and debate. Tory backbencher (Karen Bradley) suggests putting refugees into debt and making them repay during the rest of their lives. Mahmood says she’ll think about it.
November 17, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Indentured servitude as government policy? Great! Great news!!
Reposted by Katherine Piper
How big a piece of shit would you have to be to buy the confiscated jewelry of asylum seekers at a government auction?
November 17, 2025 at 10:35 AM
How big a piece of shit would you have to be to buy the confiscated jewelry of asylum seekers at a government auction?
Reposted by Katherine Piper
We wake to mornings of cold magic. Exhale dragon-breath, crunch frost-frozen leaves as we walk. The year is dying. We feel it as rush of ghosts, a shivering that foretells the blade of ice upon its neck. No wonder this is the season where folklore burns bright. – #DAKilroy, 1982 #Folklore
November 17, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Katherine Piper
One of the main defences of detecting I hear is that they discover things we wouldn't know about otherwise.
Stuff sitting on a shelf in somebody's house is lost to us. Stripping it of context strips or of meaning = It'd probably be better off left in the ground.
Stuff sitting on a shelf in somebody's house is lost to us. Stripping it of context strips or of meaning = It'd probably be better off left in the ground.
"I've never sold a single item & I've found thousands of coins."
'he keeps his finds carefully arranged in a display cabinet at his home.'
...that's just one #detectorist.
Multiply that by perhaps 40,000 people - that's an awful lot of artefacts.
#Archaeology 🏺
www.bbc.com/news/article...
'he keeps his finds carefully arranged in a display cabinet at his home.'
...that's just one #detectorist.
Multiply that by perhaps 40,000 people - that's an awful lot of artefacts.
#Archaeology 🏺
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The Surrey Metal Detecting Club sees membership leap in six years
Founded with 60 members in 2019, the Surrey club now has more than 3,000 members across the county.
www.bbc.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:23 AM
One of the main defences of detecting I hear is that they discover things we wouldn't know about otherwise.
Stuff sitting on a shelf in somebody's house is lost to us. Stripping it of context strips or of meaning = It'd probably be better off left in the ground.
Stuff sitting on a shelf in somebody's house is lost to us. Stripping it of context strips or of meaning = It'd probably be better off left in the ground.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Just wilful performative cruelty that is entirely out of step with the majority of British people.
How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?
How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?
November 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Just wilful performative cruelty that is entirely out of step with the majority of British people.
How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?
How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?
Reposted by Katherine Piper
This feels like a real, are we the baddies, moment for the people in the Labour Party who still consider themselves soft left
The Sun has been told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will on Monday propose confiscating jewellery, watches, necklaces from asylum seekers to meet asylum costs
This reflects the most controversial aspect of the Danish scheme - the Jewellery Law. The toughest Labour MPs thought this was OTT
This reflects the most controversial aspect of the Danish scheme - the Jewellery Law. The toughest Labour MPs thought this was OTT
November 17, 2025 at 8:08 AM
This feels like a real, are we the baddies, moment for the people in the Labour Party who still consider themselves soft left
I forgot to post this on Friday, but: a moment of appreciation for the spectacular Must Farm cake made by the Flag Fen café’s Kate Ferry. I had no idea how Kate was going to pull off the brief she was given, but she nailed it. And it was delicious!
November 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
I forgot to post this on Friday, but: a moment of appreciation for the spectacular Must Farm cake made by the Flag Fen café’s Kate Ferry. I had no idea how Kate was going to pull off the brief she was given, but she nailed it. And it was delicious!
Reposted by Katherine Piper
For Shabana Mahmood to attack some of the most cruelly treated people in the world as having won a "golden ticket" because they manage to get to and claim asylum in Britain is unforgiveable.
A new, far right, low for which I can think of no precedent, by any UK Government.
A new, far right, low for which I can think of no precedent, by any UK Government.
November 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM
For Shabana Mahmood to attack some of the most cruelly treated people in the world as having won a "golden ticket" because they manage to get to and claim asylum in Britain is unforgiveable.
A new, far right, low for which I can think of no precedent, by any UK Government.
A new, far right, low for which I can think of no precedent, by any UK Government.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Two jackals on a stele, dedicated to the cult of the Emperor Nero, showing a combination of Egyptian iconography and a Greek inscription. From Asyut (Greek - Lycopolis, Wolf city), home to a major temple dedicated to Wepwawet, a canine god. 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky
November 15, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Two jackals on a stele, dedicated to the cult of the Emperor Nero, showing a combination of Egyptian iconography and a Greek inscription. From Asyut (Greek - Lycopolis, Wolf city), home to a major temple dedicated to Wepwawet, a canine god. 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Have to say I find the proposals to take away the route to permanent settlement of refugees both shocking and repulsive. It's code for 'whatever you do and contribute you can never become one of us so we won't allow you to try.' Racism, pure and simple.
November 15, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Have to say I find the proposals to take away the route to permanent settlement of refugees both shocking and repulsive. It's code for 'whatever you do and contribute you can never become one of us so we won't allow you to try.' Racism, pure and simple.
Today is the day! I am immensely proud to have been a part of this project. It has been an honour and a privilege to help put Dorothy back together, and I can’t wait for people for people to be able to see the result of all of Mary’s hard work on these very special boats.
Three of the log boats discovered during the Must Farm palaeochannel excavations are going on display at Flag Fen Archaeology Park. Nine boats were found with dates ranging from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Rare Bronze Age log boats on display in Peterborough first
The boats
www.bbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Today is the day! I am immensely proud to have been a part of this project. It has been an honour and a privilege to help put Dorothy back together, and I can’t wait for people for people to be able to see the result of all of Mary’s hard work on these very special boats.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
November 12, 2025 at 10:59 PM
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Hey so “underage girls” are…children. The word you’re looking for is children. They’re not like, women-in-waiting or women-lite or whatever. They’re children. I think some of you are very uncomfortable with what that means for you but it is still true.
November 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Hey so “underage girls” are…children. The word you’re looking for is children. They’re not like, women-in-waiting or women-lite or whatever. They’re children. I think some of you are very uncomfortable with what that means for you but it is still true.
I genuinely hope Rama Duwaaji is enjoying the internet having a field day with her design.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 AM
I genuinely hope Rama Duwaaji is enjoying the internet having a field day with her design.
Good evening to everyone except my dog, who has decided to introduce standing on my toes into her asking for treats routine.
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Good evening to everyone except my dog, who has decided to introduce standing on my toes into her asking for treats routine.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Reposted by Katherine Piper
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Yes and yet several European countries are embracing a far-right worldview that would burn these policies to the ground, so let’s be not be smug or complacent here - particularly as Mamdani‘s pro-immigration stance is radical by European standards.
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ -- Critics of New York City’s mayor-elect have said his pledges of free bus service and universal childcare are unrealistic, but in Europe it’s a given www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’
Critics of New York City’s mayor-elect have said his pledges of free bus service and universal childcare are unrealistic, but in Europe it’s a given
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Yes and yet several European countries are embracing a far-right worldview that would burn these policies to the ground, so let’s be not be smug or complacent here - particularly as Mamdani‘s pro-immigration stance is radical by European standards.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
The Carpow logboat on display in Perth Museum 🏴 It was found in the Tay Estuary near Perth and dates to around 1000 BC, in the Late Bronze Age.
#Woodensday #logboat #oak #prehistory #scotland #archaeology
#Woodensday #logboat #oak #prehistory #scotland #archaeology
November 5, 2025 at 8:24 AM
The Carpow logboat on display in Perth Museum 🏴 It was found in the Tay Estuary near Perth and dates to around 1000 BC, in the Late Bronze Age.
#Woodensday #logboat #oak #prehistory #scotland #archaeology
#Woodensday #logboat #oak #prehistory #scotland #archaeology
Reposted by Katherine Piper
In the UK, a judge has decided that fascism, as a deeply held belief, is a protected characteristic - drawing on similar rulings for transphobia
I suppose it was only a matter of time, once judges decided that transphobia was protected under the Equality Act, before they decided that full blown fascism was (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...).
November 5, 2025 at 8:26 AM
In the UK, a judge has decided that fascism, as a deeply held belief, is a protected characteristic - drawing on similar rulings for transphobia
Reposted by Katherine Piper
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
November 5, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
The nice thing about having a birthday that falls around the time Americans have elections is that sometimes you wake up and find that they’ve made Barack Obama president or Zohran Mamdani mayor of New York City, which is an excellent start to the day.
November 5, 2025 at 6:19 AM
The nice thing about having a birthday that falls around the time Americans have elections is that sometimes you wake up and find that they’ve made Barack Obama president or Zohran Mamdani mayor of New York City, which is an excellent start to the day.
Reposted by Katherine Piper
November 5, 2025 at 5:45 AM