Dr Matt Pope
LightNews LightNews
banner
mattpope.bsky.social
Dr Matt Pope
@mattpope.bsky.social
8.3K followers 1K following 19K posts
Archaeologist & Associate Professor in Palaeolithic Archaeology at UCL, where we run the PaPa MSc programme.
Researching Neanderthal archaeology in La Mancheland & Western Doggerland, from Boxgrove to La Cotte.
Provide Geoarch expertise to ASE.
He/Him 🏺
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
mattpope.bsky.social
Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 21d
Applications are now open to join our 2026 Master's programme in human evolution. Covering the Palaeolithic, Palaeoanthropology & other key disciplines, the course is taught by experts from UCL and designed to equip you for a career in the deep human past. #PaPa
🦣🧪🏺
tinyurl.com/5duy6twh
Picture of 6 postgrad students sat at a table in a lab studying bones. Text says: The UCL Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic (PaPa) MSc programme is an established, pioneering course in human origins delivered by a world-leading university. It will bring you a deep and expert understanding of the scientific record of human evolution which powerfully combines opportunities for the study of palaeolithic archaeology, palaeoanthropology and wider scientific approaches to the early human story. Coordinated by UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology departments and drawing on expertise from across the University and other institutions, it will provide you with training in the specialisms of your choice, while also ensuring you are introduced to the wider scope of approaches to the study of human evolution.  Having run now for over 15 years, we have PaPa alumni actively leading a new generation of human origins research across the world. Our programme is a proven springboard to PhD programmes, careers in academia, archaeological science, specialist archaeological fieldwork, science media and much more.
mattpope.bsky.social
Today in #Palaeolunch we considered the evidence for cannibalism of gracile female Neanderthals and children from Goyet cave. Who was eating who? was this hunting, warfare, desperation or ritual? The latest study of the site takes our understanding a lot further. #PaPa 🦣🏺
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey
doi.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:56 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
Appros of nothing, The Sussex mammoth Map www.google.com/maps/d/edit?... 🦣🏺
Sussex Ice Age Map - Google My Maps
Mapping Pleistocene Sites and Neanderthal Artefacts in Sussex
www.google.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:34 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
More evidence today that the early prehistoric record is considered disposable in the UK planning system 🏺🦣😢
December 2, 2025 at 11:20 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
This is the world we also live in.
harrywallop.co.uk Harry Wallop @harrywallop.co.uk · 8h
Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard
December 2, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
harrywallop.co.uk
Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
uclarchaeology.bsky.social
#MondayMotivation - check out our videos over on YouTube!

@mattpope.bsky.social on a beautiful April day at London Zoo! Find out more about the PAPA MSc degree🪨

📹 youtube.com/shorts/elds7...
Find out more - Palaeoanthropology & Palaeolithic Archaeology MSc
YouTube video by UCL Institute of Archaeology (IoA)
youtube.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
Graffitti on the walls of Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds. Not far from where the family of Lawrence Oates of the ill-fated Scott expedition owned property. Your guess is as good as mine whether the two things are related but it certainly stopped me in my tracks.
Grey stone block, many with graffiti, one inscription reads, in a bold hand, L. Oates
November 30, 2025 at 4:53 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
May Cocidius bring Sunday blessings to you all. Enjoyed searching for and finding this one with my son at Allwoody near Leeds, West Yorkshire
#RockArt
#SacredStoneSabbath 🏺
Carved figure of a man on a a moossy rock. He has a tapering face with brow ridges and round eyes, holds a spear and shield
November 30, 2025 at 1:30 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
More perilous adventures in time and space.
Me and a dalek
November 30, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
uclarchaeology.bsky.social
An addition to #FocusFriday #FuturesFriday highlighting the taught Postgraduate Degree:

📜 Palaeoanthropology & Palaeolithic Archaeology MSc

📲 bit.ly/IoAPAPA

Coordinated by @mattpope.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

🎥 filmed on 1st April 2025 at London Zoo.

#LocalAndGlobal
November 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
Here's a wonderful thread spotlighting some of our brilliant MSc #PaPa students. Come and study human evolution with us! 🏺🦣
uclarchaeology.bsky.social UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 4d
It's the 2nd #FocusFriday & today we meet some @uclalumni.bsky.social from
Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology MSc

@ucl.ac.uk MSc Course Info & how to apply:
📲 bit.ly/IoAPAPA

Firstly meet David Miedzianogora PAPA 2023-24 & current PhD student @miedzianogora.bsky.social
David, with a sun hat and glasses on, sits on the ground holding an object and discusses that object with at least 1 other person. David has a notepad on his knee and a pen to his side. Photo Credit - David Miedzianogora PAPA 2024-25 An image of text reading: I was originally drawn to the PAPA degree due to the uniqueness of it being offered by both the Institute of Archaeology and UCL Anthropology, and it turned out to be a transformative experience for me. I ended up specialising on lithics, but people in my cohort were working on all aspects of the Palaeolithic since we could pick and choose from modules covering almost anything. The degree also ended up being a segue into the community studying human evolution in London, with guest lectures and volunteering opportunities – in my case, volunteering at the Palaeolithic collections held by the British Museum. Image showing text which reads: More important than all of that are the friendships that the degree led to by connecting me with people who shared my interests – these included other people on the degree, many of whom are still close friends, but also the opportunity to meet former and future cohorts through the organisation of informal socials. I eventually joined excavations in Spain, Kenya, and Germany, and worked for a year as a field archaeologist in Ireland. I am now back at the IoA as a PhD student, and can’t wait to see what future PAPA cohorts get up to! David Miedzianogora PAPA 2023-24
November 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
uclarchaeology.bsky.social
It's the 2nd #FocusFriday & today we meet some @uclalumni.bsky.social from
Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology MSc

@ucl.ac.uk MSc Course Info & how to apply:
📲 bit.ly/IoAPAPA

Firstly meet David Miedzianogora PAPA 2023-24 & current PhD student @miedzianogora.bsky.social
David, with a sun hat and glasses on, sits on the ground holding an object and discusses that object with at least 1 other person. David has a notepad on his knee and a pen to his side. Photo Credit - David Miedzianogora PAPA 2024-25 An image of text reading: I was originally drawn to the PAPA degree due to the uniqueness of it being offered by both the Institute of Archaeology and UCL Anthropology, and it turned out to be a transformative experience for me. I ended up specialising on lithics, but people in my cohort were working on all aspects of the Palaeolithic since we could pick and choose from modules covering almost anything. The degree also ended up being a segue into the community studying human evolution in London, with guest lectures and volunteering opportunities – in my case, volunteering at the Palaeolithic collections held by the British Museum. Image showing text which reads: More important than all of that are the friendships that the degree led to by connecting me with people who shared my interests – these included other people on the degree, many of whom are still close friends, but also the opportunity to meet former and future cohorts through the organisation of informal socials. I eventually joined excavations in Spain, Kenya, and Germany, and worked for a year as a field archaeologist in Ireland. I am now back at the IoA as a PhD student, and can’t wait to see what future PAPA cohorts get up to! David Miedzianogora PAPA 2023-24
November 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
I just found my copy of this. I don't have any children to read it too right now, so I'm just going to read it myself.
November 28, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
tessmachling.bsky.social
Oh. My. Goodness.

It is really real. Museum theft advent calendar!!

www.playmobil.com/en-gb/advent...

#Archaeology 🏺
November 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
rakshadigs.bsky.social
Tonight on #Hiddenwonders we go to Essex join a mission to recover the remains of 2nd Lt Lester Lowry a project run by @cotswoldarch.bsky.social on behalf of the DPAA

9pm More 4 or catch-up up on @channel4tv.bsky.social 4OD #Archaeology #WWII #History #Aviation #Militaryhistory
November 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
toriherridge.bsky.social
On the Origin of Species was published on this day in 1859.

It really did change the world, and the way much of humanity views our place in nature.

I spoke to Radio 4's Opening Lines about it's importance -- both to science, and to me on a personal level

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Opening Lines - On the Origin of Species - BBC Sounds
John Yorke investigates Charles Darwin’s world-changing book On The Origin of Species.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
phillewis.bsky.social
Breaking: Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old.
www.whatimreading.net
November 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
Align it properly and it's totally a Winter Solstice-appropriate garden decoration for the festive season. ❄️🏺
cjfrieman.bsky.social Catherine Frieman @cjfrieman.bsky.social · 8d
Is that... is that an inflatable light up Stonehenge????

Oh no i want one
November 24, 2025 at 8:42 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
In regularly scan sensitive landscape on Google Earth have just seen that a really sensitive parcel of land, with provable Palaeolithic archaeology was developed last year. I really hope a brilliant programme of evaluation took place. Otherwise its another total failure. I'll find out Monday 🦣🏺
November 23, 2025 at 1:24 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
I'm hosting the next @sussexpast.bsky.social online this Tuesday, 25th, finishing November off with what appears to be the rediscovery of Harold Godwinson's Xanadu, right here on the Sussex coast. Join me in welcoming Dr Duncan Wright telling us about this fascinating discovery!
shorturl.at/uVIpt
Scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry showing high status houses, people feasting and people on horses
November 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
Basically there is a slow moving band of rain from northern Spain to Sweden. The Paris Basin is getting the worst of it but it's quite unpleasant here. 🌧️
November 22, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
gregjenner.bsky.social
Boris Johnson took 4 days off as NHS warned of escalating Covid crisis www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Boris Johnson took four days off as NHS warned Covid could ‘overwhelm’ system
Files show then PM was walking dog, riding motorbike and hosting guests as pandemic planning stalled in ‘lost month’
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
mattpope.bsky.social
A late breakfast accompanied by a rapid defeat in the Ashes. Not great for the digestion.
November 22, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by Dr Matt Pope
On Tuesday at RAG 🌑
UCL anthropologist Jerome Lewis will be reporting back on his experience in Belem at COP30 when he helped to launch the Flourishing Diversity Manifesto.
radicalanthro.c.im.ap.brid.gy Radical Anthropology @radicalanthro.c.im.ap.brid.gy · 13d
Everybody welcome LIVE and ZOOM
🌒Tues Nov 25 🌓 18:30 (UTC London)
'The Flourishing Diversity Manifesto'
Jerome Lewis

LIVE Archaeology 612, 6th Floor Archaeology Institute, Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY
ZOOM ID 952 8554 1412 passcode Wawilak
A group of Ashininka women and men sit in discussion by a river with a green hillside sloping behind. They wear woven robes and feathered headdresses.
November 22, 2025 at 7:41 AM
mattpope.bsky.social
Keeping cosy here 🔥🍷
November 21, 2025 at 6:51 PM