Castles and Coprolites

I promise brand new images will be coming soon, but for now here is a micrograph from my old files, this time from my work with the Central Zagros Archaeological Project back in 2010, and is from ashy deposits in an external area at the Neolithic site of Sheik e Abad in Iran. This is a great example of a conjoined phytolith that is not particularly well silicified and/or has suffered erosion. The pattern of the cells is not very distinct, and quite 'faint', though you can just about make out the wave pattern of the long cells in places. For comparison, see this example of well-silicifed wheat phytoliths from Catalhoyuk, and this reference specimen of Setaria italica , both of which have very distinctive and well defined cell morphologies. The reason I chose this micrograph is that it is a very good example of how fragile phytoliths are. Despite being composed of silica, which is pretty resistant to decay, phytoliths are physically quite fragile. Think of it like glass - it i...

It's the end of August, and there have been some big changes...again! All so very sudden I've hardly had time to catch up. Just a couple of months ago, I posted a rather long discussion about leaving academia; after 7 years of postdocs I was no longer eligible for early career fellowships, and it was becoming harder and harder to up and move the family for yet another temporary position. There comes a time when, no matter how much you love your research, all those grown up things like getting a mortgage, childcare and schooling become part of the equation. So my family and I made the decision to move back to my hometown of Newcastle when my fellowship at Edinburgh came to an end, and I was lucky enough to get a job doing outreach and social media for Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle University. So it came as a big suprise when Newcastle posted an advert for a permanent lectureship with a geoarchaeology focus, just as we were packing our bags in Edinburgh. I can...