Commercial & research zooarchaeologist, artefact photography & palaeozoologist with Danu Ruadh Teoranta, Ireland 🇮🇪 P/T Res. Fellow, UCD Archaeology, Ireland 2024-25 #PALAEOIreland | #IrishCaveBones | 🏺 Co-PI @howlsandhooves.bsky.social
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I’ve always taken my photos for me, I was into photography when I was young but got back to it from birding. My enjoyment was almost wiped out by an ex and I didn’t pick up a camera for years. I’m glad people enjoy the images & if we know each other I’m happy to email any of my shots.
I’ve had to turn down the fifth student who contacted me this year, as they would like to work with me in my research area and apply for PhD scholarships and funding. Alas, not being a full time permanent university staff cuts me off from applying for funding & forming my own research lab. 🏺
Netanyahu is clearly hell bent on continuing the ethnic cleansing. How is it possible to negotiate a peace deal when one party routinely tries to kill negotiators from the other on foreign soil whenever there is the least sign of them agreeing to a reasonable deal? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Why are they so dark purple? I’ve never seen plums this dark rich purple before … they are gorgeous and I hope they taste good too
🤦🤷♂️
The both can’t understand why the other one is either in a crate or free. It will be basically 11.5 weeks of crate rest she will have done by the time she’s out. I really miss her around the house and the wake up calls. 😭😭😭 I hope this extra time works.
Poor Prince has another 2 weeks crate rest to do and she’s not liking it one bit. 😭😭😭
Pooka is settling in well and has become Prince’s apprentice. Another Siberian Forest cat as well. Great little explorer and full of fun and mischief! #kitten #SiberianForest #CatsofBluesky
A Palestinian boy in Gaza rescued his birds from under the rubble after Israeli forces destroyed Al-Ruya Tower in Gaza City.
Online applications are open for the Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery. Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn. Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie #Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland
All the money in the world but the intense *cringe* is free
All bending over backwards for their king and dictator, wondering how they can benefit in short- and longterm. Absolutely no integrity or morals in any of them 🤮 Let them be judged by the people.
‘Why us?’ ask last Catholic family in Belfast housing development plagued by intimidation
A long driving day today… left home at 9am and got home at 9pm, down to Castlepook cave to collect lots more bones and bags of sediment from Phil & Kez, who were excavating this past week. A flying visit but on way home had to stop to have power naps 10mins x 3 at different points.
I've just resigned from the EAA. Sad to leave an organisation I have been part of for decades, but collaboration with genocide is unthinkable. #stopthegenocide #stopapartheid @archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Considering the EAA’s contradictory statements and its position of holding volunteers responsible for limiting free speech, shaming the professional class, I will not present this year, will not renew my membership, and call for the Executive Board’s resignation.
@archaeologyeaa.bsky.social unfollowed and won’t be joining EAA. Your stance with Israel is despicable and disgraceful. Shame on you all for letting them attend EAA. You’re on the wrong side of history and condoning their abhorrent treatment of Palestinians. 🏺 #StopGenocide #FreePalestine 🇵🇸🇮🇪
Dear colleagues, some concerning news has been circulating this week in relation to the 2025 @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social Annual Meeting (Belgrade Virtual). We, the IAI Board, believe it is important to acknowledge & share this info. Please see the full statement, with links, here: buff.ly/8YG0WmV
Second craziest thing you'll read today: from 2026 I will be leading an @erc.europa.eu Starter Grant project. HERDPATH will explore how livestock and their pathogens co-evolved during the last 10,000 years. PhD advertisements to come! Press release below with one of the few good photos of me.
I will be recruiting two PhDs for my ERC Project HERDPATH - let's discover out how livestock and pathogens evolved together using #aDNA. Projects will be animal or pathogen focused but will be in dialogue. Details at my quaint website below. Deadline 3rd October. kevingdaly.github.io
Finally can say our @researchireland.ie COALESCE funded project (coming up to half way through now), joint project between @ucddublin.bsky.social & ATU Galway & lots of collaborators, including Dr Richard Jennings @ljmuofficial.bsky.social & 14CHRONO Our PALAEO-IRELAND project! 🏺 #PalaeoIreland
Mary Robinson: "The entire Israeli cabinet should be sanctioned." She contrasts the positive role of the EU and US in bringing a settlement to the north of Ireland with their posture here. @virginmedianews.bsky.social
So, Prince’s apprentice arrived & is settling in nicely & besties. Time to introduce ye to Pooka. Named after (many variations of spelling) Irish folklore mischievous spirit / ghost & Castlepooke cave where I do a lot of research 🏺 Coming up to 17wks old. #Kitten #SiberianForest #CatsofBluesky
A slap on the wrist ? Bad Putin, go sit in the corner and think about your actions. Good boy.
Iconic moment at the Downton Abbey premiere
Report finished and sent. Now, I’m on holidays. Yay!
And finally just the references to add in and then it’s done, send and I’m then I’m in annual leave and will sleep!
More coffee for the final push of figures and references ….
Why do tables and figures take so long to do …. Then the references at the end 😭 The end is in sight thankfully, just another few hours will wrap up this zooarch report, broken the 20k word count now!
BTC Call for Action - EAA EAA reversed its decision to exclude Israeli institutions complicit in the genocide of Palestinians after intimidation campaigns. Read & share the full statement: blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b...
📢 CALL TO ACTION | EAA Leadership Overturns Democratic Vote Following Threats Intimidation tactics forced the EAA to abandon solidarity with Gaza. Archaeologists: Cancel membership | Speak up | Share Full statement: blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b... #EAA2025 #Archaeology #Gaza
On a different note, Prince licked the ears and face of the newcomer a few times. Things bode well and may be the best love story between two cats that ever there was. When you see him you will understand, but not yet. Not yet. ☺️ he does have a name, a two fold meaning.
The tables and figures take time not that I can have too many either, enough to show the data to make the points. Then the final tidy up and read through, and then send. Then total switch off for next week and half while I recharge fully for winter filled with lots of work and paper writing!
On the home run with this zooarch report, finally. 17,677 words and counting …. Going to get it finished tonight and coffee will be my friend. I’ve purposely not drunk much earlier as I will need it later. I’m so exhausted and tomorrow is first day of holidays, yay! I moved them to finish this
🚨JOB ALERT!🚨 Postdoc position at #CpgSthlm on Microtine Palaeogenomics! Join our deep-time genomics project, funded by @erc.europa.eu, and help us explore lemming and vole evolution using ancient DNA from fossils spanning the last 2.6 million years 🐭🦴🧬 Apply here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
No, needs to be corrected!
Woohoo!!! That’s brilliant you have an office too! Students coming to class for Iron Age be like …. 👇
She looks magnificent now, she really filled out since last I saw her in person. Ireland is safe from bears!
The newbie can now jump up on chairs and the table where Prince’s crate is … this evening he did this and I was watching carefully just in case but him and Prince greeted each other through the bars, touching noses and sniffing a lot. He walked around the perimeter. All 😊. It’s looking good.
I’m tired now, it’s been a long day so will be going to bed in next hour. But I’ll be up quite early to ensure all is well. I will let him explore more of the house tomorrow.
No she’s not at the moment so first intros went well and second ones too. She watches him and naps and watches him etc 😂 I’ll let him settle for the next week before I show him to ye and also tell you his name. He has one. Not breeder name, my name for him. He’s chasing the flies around now 😆
After a good meeting between crate bars, with no hissing or growling, just interest, Prince is watching the newcomer carefully. #Caturaday #cats
Purposefully I am on annual leave from Monday for a week and half. Mainly cause he’s joining the household. And I need a break before the mad few months or work & research ahead until Xmas. Prince’s whole world changes tomorrow… hopefully for the better.
Still feeling ropey today … will see how I go. I’m burnt out and have had a few migraines lately even though I’m on preventative meds for them. My body is telling me it’s had an enough and needs a break. Next week I’m on holidays for a week and half. For a few days I’ll do nothing.
Bad migraine attack today - am still in recovery. Also might have a slight fever with a stomach bug. I’m totally exhausted and burnt out. Next week holidays and I’m going to ground. Likely sleep for a few days. Bed early tonight and tomorrow, finish this faunal report that seems unending.
Woohoo! They are in for a exciting journey with a wonderful teacher 🥳
1990s trance music on and keeping the writing going - oh yeah a party in my head of Medieval zooarchaeology animals!
It sure was !
Prince loves turbot too 😊 Bones separated from flesh (cooling) and in a pot for prep tomorrow, will soak overnight. A long night of finishing a report awaits me tonight. My day is not yet ended
It’s a simple but happier life now, here I Cavan. I’m finding myself again and it’s good. Prince came at the right time for me when I wasn’t even planning on getting any animal, let alone a cat that I had no experience of. And now from Saturday, there will be two! ☺️
Dinner and increasing my zooarch fish bone ref collection. A whole turbot 1.3kg. Roasting in the oven, plain and simple. It will feed me tomorrow too. ☺️ #zooarchaeology
Shameless promotion from #isba11 - I'll be hiring PhDs to start early 2026 (plus postdocs starting later), using #adna to study livestock and pathogen coevolution, particularly looking at inbreeding and immune gene evolution! Contact me at kevin[at]palaeome.org, full ad to come. Please share!
Dragon Tuesday, all welcome to join in! #DragonTuesday
Likely sold to Putin already
Due to the insanity of the orange dictator with his tariffs and charges. Will the people who support him, show their anger in the polls I wonder when reality starts to hit them? It’s been almost 8 full months and the next election seems so far away. Definitely put me completely off visiting USA.
The new tariffs are going to hit artists particularly hard if it means losing customers in the US, so I'd ask Irish people to please consider buying local, from Irish makers, where at all possible. Support that means little to a huge business makes a massive difference to small creators. We need ye.
This should be front page news, and every member of congress must say on the record if they approve of this. People will die because of this.
Just waiting for more mealy-mouthed tut-tutting, with no action from the EU. There needs to be the strongest sanctions and the ending of all trade agreements with this rogue regime, whatever the economic cost. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
What fun! Friday evening’s storytelling with Bréifne Yarnspinners and guests. A few photos of the tellers in action! #Storytellers #CavanArts #Ireland #CavanYarnspinners #CavanTownHall #Cavan
🤣🤣🤣 I have the calming spray … can’t remember what it’s called but sounds same as Feliway. I’ll spray the place. Thanks for the tips.
No worries 🤣
Is she’s passing thru Cavan, I’ll keep eye out for her !
Thanks for sending out the merch so fast! I love my new mug, the outer dolphin one is a present. Stickers have been affixed to computer and fridge already! I’ll tag you during the week when I use my mug. 😍
Any advice from your vast experience, of how to do intros between them on Saturday?
Prince normally jumped from back of yellow chair to top of fridge/freezer and one day, early this year as a kitten, she didn’t make it …. And that was the start of her knee issues
Yeah both top and bottom are affixed to wall - tried and testing with human and it ain’t coming off! New brother is BIG! He will be 16weeks when I collect him on Saturday and judging by photos from breeder, he’s a FLOOF MONSTER!
@cottage-pilates.bsky.social @apocalypsehere.bsky.social what ye think? 👆🏻
Phase 1 of cat wall furniture has been completed … a promising start. Inspected by Prince from her crate, she’s eager to explore. But not yet Princey, not yet.
Phil Kenny, our lead and supervisor cave archaeologist, out in the bright, warm sunshine after working with the team deep inside the cave for 5hours. #CastlepookCaveProject2025 #IrishArchaeology #cavearchaeology #CSG Funded by @ria.ie & support from @researchireland.ie Cork County Council & CSG
Did you see this video showing the dangers to parents/relatives etc. really brings the point and danger home…
Folks, I'm going to say this once. You can freely and openly condemn Netanyahu and his cartel of war criminals and neofascists without being labelled "anti-Semitic". Don't let them tar you with that particular brush. That's the last refuge of these scoundrels, and it's not working any longer.
Just snoozing … chill…. #cat #SiberianForest
Deadly!
Looks amazing! Hope ye had a wonderful holiday together 🥳
Love this!!! 🤣🤣
I’m hoping he can spend some time in with her in the crate …. Under my watchful eye of course
And as for Maxwell … the sweet deal she cut with him - makes me sick and my skin crawls
Her new brother (no relation) is arriving next Saturday … should be fun 🥴 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻he’s a Siberian too but different colouring. Will be neutered early October. He will be 16 weeks ago when he arrives.
Thanks, I think so too. But every owner thinks their pets are gorgeous 😅😂 not biased at all! I only managed to clip one of her front paw’s nails today, before I got a warning gentle bite. We are out of practice. I’ll try get the a paw a day 😆 they are getting sharp & playtime is … bloody 🤣
#Caturaday #BlueskyCats #cats #CatsofBluesky 17 days left until Xray day on her knee … keep fingers and paws crossed for her! Through the bars ….
I was at my first story telling tonight hosted by the Bréifne Yarnspinners & it was FANTASTIC! A extremely enjoyable evening of stories told by expressive tellers. I got lost in each story. I also took a bunch of photos and if I get permission to share with the names of each teller, I will. #Cavan
Sept 9th is Xray day so until then and we see. Hopefully she will have healed and then no more crate and I can have my kitchen table back lol. So a little less than 3 weeks now. She really wanted out today. Tried escaping 3 times from cuddle time! Nearly got away the last time.
Prince is dying to get out of the crate now…. Very playful today with mini resting zoomies 🤣 #catsofBluesky #cats #BlueskyCats #SiberianForest
Witch (aka the flatfish flounder) is such a great name for a marine fish and lives in Irish seawaters. Its name in Irish is Leathóg Bhán (means white flathead). Also called grey sole. Lives on muddy sea beds in deep water offshore. Medieval people be fishing deep! #zooarchaeology 🏺
#June2026 Teaming up again with #IrishDogs4TheDisabled to raise funds for their expansion project. The charity is in the process of renovating a building that will allow them train more much needed assistance dogs which they provide free to the people who need them (mostly kids) Link to Follow.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 our cuddle breaks add up to about 2hrs a day, roughly! She sleeps most of the day and also watches the flies. When they go inside the crate, they don’t get out *murder mittens engaged* 😅. We all play catch my finger too, while she’s lying in the bed…but her nails starting to get sharp 😬 😹
Hard Sunday morning for some … #Blueskycats #cats #CatsofBluesky
I love the coauthors included a lot of the native Americans too with their names … here’s first part of the 86 coauthors … And cool study! 😍
Thanks, Fiona. She has such a cute sweet face and is so gentle. I hope the operation has too. We will know the week of Sept 8th.
#caturday #CatsofBluesky #BlueskyCats Prince says hi to everyone, from her recovery crate. Her back leg hair is regrowing. She’s doing well after her knee operation but another c.3.5weeks of crate rest before Xray to see how she healed.
Absolutely loved the new newsletter from Ulster Archaeological Society - brilliant and loved reading it over breakfast this morning. Well done to the editor @justrena.bsky.social & all contributors. 😁 @ulster-archaeology.bsky.social
Yep… living it internally at the moment 🤣
🤣🤣🤣
Looks like a proper train train! I didn’t know they had names … everyday is a learning day!