Moa ate kōwhai

Moa skull with kowhai foliage

A little over 700 years ago, humans finally discovered the last habitable place on Earth, Aotearoa-New Zealand (Wilmshurst et al., 2011; Mulrooney et a;, 2011; Bunbury et al., 2022). They found a land where large flightless birds (including the now-extinct moa) abounded, and even the driest parts were covered in forest. Neither lasted long. The… Continue reading Moa ate kōwhai

The mid 7th-century Gaponovo Costume of Russia

3D Graphic of a woman wearing the 'Gaponovski costume' from the 5-7th century of Russia. Copyright, the author (Mike Pole).

In the mid 7th-century someone wrapped 411 objects in a cloth, and buried them in a pit, near what is now the Kursk region of Russia. They obviously never came back to get them, so presumably, things did not end well. The hoard was accidentally rediscovered centuries later, and then published in a report edited… Continue reading The mid 7th-century Gaponovo Costume of Russia

Flax/Harakeke – New Zealand’s Resource Curse

New Zealand flax - red flowers in the foreground, and the fibrous leaves behind. Image: Mike Pole.

The Musket Wars? Shortly after Europeans began operating in Aotearoa-New Zealand (c. 1807-1837), a series of conflicts among the indigenous Maori dramatically escalated. I had a vague knowledge that the fighting had a devastating impact, but only when I read Chris Trotter’s (2007) ‘No Left Turn’, did the scale sink in. Of that fighting, he… Continue reading Flax/Harakeke – New Zealand’s Resource Curse

The Sixth-Century Treasure of Untersiebenbrunn, Austria

3D Graphic of a woman wearing polychrome fibulae from the 6th century burial of Untersiebenbrunn, Austria. Copy right, the author (Mike Pole).

An elite woman who read ‘Migration Woman Vogue’. In January 1910, gold jewellery and bones were accidentally uncovered near the village of Untersiebenbrunn, in Austria (the site is roughly between Vienna and Bratislava, in neigbouring Slovakia). The priceless archaeological site was ransacked by locals before word made its way to professionals. At least some of… Continue reading The Sixth-Century Treasure of Untersiebenbrunn, Austria

ChatGPT Makes Shit Up

Fossil leaf from the Miocene Manuherikia Group, Bannockburn, New Zealand

An academic asks ChatGPT about New Zealand’s Miocene Manuherikia Group Your narrator dips his toes into this ChatGPT thing With a nod to Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians – ‘I know what I know, if you know what I mean’. One subject where I’m comfortable that I do know what I’m talking about, is… Continue reading ChatGPT Makes Shit Up

Tuataras in Central Otago

Tuatara bones from the Cromwell Gorge, Central Otago, New Zealand.

Bleached moa bones projected out from the steep bank of the nearly dry gully. This was exciting, as there were clearly several bones, and perhaps an entire skeleton waited to be uncovered. However, the layer of bones was under more than a meter of schist gravel and sand. That would require some serious digging, and… Continue reading Tuataras in Central Otago

1066 and the Dead Parrot (The weird things going on in the margins of the Bayeux Tapestry)

I like to see things for myself. It can give me a sense of place or scale that one doesn’t get from books or the internet. It also gives a chance to spot something new, that whoever might have photographed the original, wasn’t thinking about. Like most people of generally British Isles background, I was… Continue reading 1066 and the Dead Parrot (The weird things going on in the margins of the Bayeux Tapestry)

Time-Travel in a Time of COVID-19

Norricum-Pannonian costume with fibulae.

What’s a guy to do during lock-down? I’ve chosen to time-travel back to around the first and second centuries AD. At that time the Roman Empire stretched over much of Europe, and along the southern Mediterranean as well. In two of its provinces, Noricum and Pannonia (roughly covering what is now parts of Austria, Slovenia,… Continue reading Time-Travel in a Time of COVID-19

Bob Carter, Greenhouse Warming, and One Alarmed Palaeontologist

I met Bob Carter after one of my fossil-collecting mates, Duncan McLeod, came across some shell fossils in a ‘marl pit’ on his parents farm property near Winton, southern New Zealand. This was about 1974-1975 when I was at primary school. I traveled from my home in Alexandra to stay with Duncan and collect some… Continue reading Bob Carter, Greenhouse Warming, and One Alarmed Palaeontologist

How to Thoroughly Confuse Everyone about Prescribed Burning in Australia

In the last couple of days, something of a ‘blue’ has developed among some Western Australian fire experts over ‘Prescribed Burning’ – the deliberate lighting of fires as part of fire management policy. On Jan 22, Byron Lamont and Tianhua He published a short opinion piece in ‘WAtoday’ called ‘Why prescribed burns don’t stop wildfires’.… Continue reading How to Thoroughly Confuse Everyone about Prescribed Burning in Australia