Sonia Zakrzewski

Sonia Zakrzewski

@soniaz.bsky.social

FSA Professor of Bioarchaeology at @unisouthampton.bsky.social, biological anthropology, archaeology, paleopathology... Archaeological dead bodies, identity, disability. Ancient Egypt, medieval Spain, Saxons in England.

4.4K followers1.2K following1.7K posts

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Adam Rutherford
@adamrutherford.bsky.social

Michael Atiyah 🇪🇬: Fields Medal 1966 (also Abel Prize 2004), for K-theory. Ahmed Zewail 🇪🇬: Nobel for Chemistry 1999, for his work on femtochemistry. Omar M. Yaghi 🇯🇴: Wolf Prize 2018, Nobel for Chemistry 2025, for his work on reticular chemistry Naguib Mahfouz 🇪🇬: Nobel for literature 1988

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Hetan Shah
@hetanshah.bsky.social

Stop what you are doing and look at this lovely story. A photography student in the 80s took pictures of punks and mods on the street in Preston. He’s now tracked them down and photographed them again. The pictures and stories are really ❤️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukEmotional reunions as photographer recreates shots 46 years onSam Hill spent months tracking down the "special generation" he photographed as teenagers in 1980.

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Sam Freedman
@samfr.bsky.social

Incredible. Student List are candidates selected by groups of students to form an anti-corruption party. Another youth-led movement overthrowing an authoritarian government in Europe.

Europe Elects@europeelects.bsky.social

Serbia: The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS-EPP) has admitted defeat in today's parliamentary elections. The Student List (SL-*) has won a majority of votes. #Serbia #Srbija #Izbori2026

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Henry Mance
@henrymance.ft.com

Yes, but your two big ideas so far have been police and crime commissioners and Brexit. Shall we check on them first?

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Will Jennings📉🗳️
@drjennings.bsky.social

Most academics will read this story in a very different way to how it is being reported. "So, I get caught up in a political scandal and I have my admin load reduced? Where do I sign up?"

Helen Warrell@helenwarrell.bsky.social

James Orr, former head of policy at Reform, steps back from his management roles at Cambridge University after “media scrutiny” — new from @financialtimes.com FREE for first 300 readers as.ft.com/r/48a445fd-6...

as.ft.comas.ft.com
Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

So now that we have a smaller household, should we get an air-fryer? I do bake quite a lot, especially with pastry of different varieties. Is it really worth it when we bake so much from scratch? Anyone got advice?

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

'The truth is that grimly ratcheting immigration down to next to nothing has come at extraordinary fiscal and social cost, and if the aim was to destroy Reform’s raison d’etre then it hasn’t worked.'

theguardian.comImagine if, for once, Labour decided to tell the truth about immigration | Gaby HinsliffOur economy needs it. The NHS needs it. And making foreign workers’ lives more miserable – as the home secretary plans to do – will undermine integration, says the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Leaving aside the rampaging elephant in the room of the degradation of access to the Library's collections since the cyberattack, my main question on reading this is why historians are still posting on X, a platform that incites violence against humans of many 'sorts' and monetises misogyny.

timeshighereducation.comBritish Library to turn reading rooms into paid-for workspacesAreas dedicated to science and social science in national institution to be ‘repurposed’, sparking the ire of scholars

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Charlotte Lydia Riley
@lottelydia.bsky.social

University of Nottingham, right now, is cutting 560 jobs. Do we need to rebrand universities as very large, very clean, land-based oil rigs to get government support?

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org

From the govt's press release: "The developer estimates that Jackdaw will create 27 new direct jobs and safeguard 273 existing jobs that would otherwise be lost." Odd that so much is made about this being good for jobs. Your nearest out-of-town supermarket likely generates more jobs.

Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

Thinking of studying #archaeology? Come along to the University Archaeology day on Monday 26 October in Leicester. Free for all to attend. 🏺🦴🧪

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Sarah May
@sarahmay1.bsky.social

When we're reporting on HE job losses we should be reporting on supply chain and indirect spending at the same time

Miriam Brett@miriambrett.bsky.social

Securing a thriving long-term future for oil and gas workers is imperative, but ‘drill baby, drill’ won’t deliver it. Employment in Scotland supported by the oil and gas sector fell significantly between 2014 and 2023, despite hundreds of new licences being awarded in that time.

Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

And the comments responding to the article are horrific reading. They certainly provide the evidence that one respondent wanted. Yuk.

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social

"This hatred, it’s like a cancer. It spreads because people will always say, ‘Oh, it’s just the illegals.’ It’s not. “From what I experienced, it was anyone who was remotely different, different creed, different colour, different sexuality.” www.theargus.co.uk/news/2665180...

theargus.co.ukActor describes 'abysmal racism and homophobia' he faced in ChichesterAn assault on a cast member of a play in Chichester was "just the tip of the iceberg" of the "racism, xenophobia and homophobia" the cast faced in the town, an actor has claimed.
Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

Reminds me of a pile-on I received in the other place in the distant past. A BIG name said Britain was the least racist country he knew. I disagreed & was challenged to name less racist countries - so I did. Leading to a pile-on... And I have pale skin. Imagine the reaction if I was dark-skinned?

Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

Somehow I can't see Farage being booed will ever make it on to the BBC.

Robert Hutton@roberthutton.co.uk

"There is a big fishing fleet here in Portsmouth," Nigel Farage tells a Reform rally in Plymouth, which actually boos in response.

Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

And the actual academics at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, are fighting to stop AI usage of their teaching materials and lecture recordings. ASU also do LOTS on online teaching. A colleague teaches 400 online (ancient Egypt)

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Extensive use of AI intended to keep costs down. Presumably Arizona however will be as liable to the vagaries of the international student visa regime as UK universities. It's a very tricky market to navigate.

ft.comUS university offers cut-price UK degree for international studentsArizona State University aims to expand to an annual intake of up to 4,000 students in Britain in the coming years
Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

Family memorial service in Suffolk today for my uncle. Very pleased that despite many more people being at it than at actual (relatively small) funeral, the **** who wore a Reform badge to that was not there today. FFS my uncle arrived in UK as a refugee! Worked as surgeon in NHS. #Refugeeswelcome

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Henry Mance
@henrymance.ft.com

But there's a 50% chance they are a woman ?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "You have Mohammed, Mohammed, Mohammed, Mohammed, Mohammed. Everybody is basically. If you're in doubt about somebody's name from the Middle East, just say 'Mohammed.' You have about a 65% chance."

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Patrick Ness
@patricknessbooks.bsky.social

The NHS Guidance on trans people in hospital will protect zero women but will badly harm trans people. What a hateful disgrace and will be remembered by future generations as a stain on us all.

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Dan Sohege
@danielsohege.bsky.social

One of the common arguments from so called "gender criticals", transphobes, is "what rights are trans people losing". The answer is so many. Just today we have seen in practice that trans people are being excluded from healthcare., to add to public spaces, education etc. It all costs lives.

Dan Sohege@danielsohege.bsky.social

The EHRC chair either does not understand the principle of rights, or has decided to gaslight trans individuals while stripping those rights. The EHCR code undermines, and, arguably in several ways, outright violates rights for trans individuals, including Articles 8, 11, and 14 of the ECHR. 1/

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Emily Coco
@emilycoco.bsky.social

We're looking for a postdoc to work with me and @mariesoressi.bsky.social at Leiden University to investigate how Pleistocene landscapes shaped hominin movement across Europe! 🌍 Remote work possible 💻 GIS, R, spatial modeling & archaeology Apply by 6 November: share.google/F3RzCygiry7e...

careers.universiteitleiden.nlPost-doctoral Researcher: Agent-Based Modelling of Pleistocene Landscape Connectivity in EuropePost-doctoral Researcher: Agent-Based Modelling of Pleistocene Landscape Connectivity in Europe

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Kate Astbury
@100days1815.bsky.social

The police are investigating. They will have their lines of enquiry. Please share this image widely so that everyone knows what it looked like.

Historical Marker Ahead@historicalmarker.bsky.social

This stinks that a plaque at an English castle acknowledging Caribbean prisoners of war got taken right after it went up. It’s an insult to those who got it placed and the memories of the people it commemorates. Usual motive for something like this is: 1. We hate “woke” 2. Want the metal for scrap

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Leonardo Carella
@leonardocarella.bsky.social

In other words, a 10 percent contraction in one of Britain’s most successful exports. If it were steel or fish or other infinitely less profitable sectors, people would be having a meltdown.

Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social

Visa applications to study in the UK fell by 10.3 per cent for the key recruitment month of September, new Home Office figures show. @jgro-the.bsky.social reports #highered #visas #internationalstudents #edusky https://ow.ly/3LSs50ZVPAE

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Rob Ford
@robfordmancs.bsky.social

It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?

Edward@fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social

Anecdotally what seems to be happening is that the Home Office is refusing all student visa applications from certain countries. The Treasury should have told them to knock if off years ago but at this point the FCO needs to tell them to stop trying to cause an international incident.

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Dan Snow
@thehistoryguy.bsky.social

This a million times. People of colour being dragged on to debate maniacs about imaginary labels & race science is an abomination. proper ‘how German are you’ Nazi shit Note that people like me with white migrant parentage never asked to defend our identity Englishness. Is. A. Made. Up. Thing

Sathnam Sanghera@sathnam.bsky.social

Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played

Sonia Zakrzewski reposted

Alex Hall Hall
@alexhh.bsky.social

I thought I had seen it all, but this is an astonishing new low, putting the US in the company of Iran, Afghanistan and N Korea. I abhor the death penalty. The idea that kids, including my own, might see such an execution shocks me to the core. Abhorrent, barbaric, sick, warped, cruel and twisted.

E. Lee van Cleef@workerbee3.bsky.social

www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-h...

huffpost.comPete Hegseth Wants You To Watch The U.S. Government Execute A Man By Firing SquadThe defense secretary couldn’t contain his bloodlust when discussing making a firing squad execution available to the public.
Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

Think this will appeal also to the zooarchs and bioarchs around! 🏺🦴🧪🐄🐑

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Registration link is now available for the 1st seminar of the 2026-27 season of the IHR's London Group of Historical Geographers. Join us to explore historical geographies of skill in the past. Free, hybrid in-person/online and open to the public. #Skystorians

history.ac.ukLines in pleasant places: the skill of butchery and the geography of the carcassLondon Group of Historical Geographers
Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

I wish I could say that I was surprised by the resurgence of race science and eugenic ideas. This book tops it off. Complete and utter trash (I deleted my actual word of choice as I try really hard not to swear online...)

Rebecca Sear@rebeccasear.bsky.social

A new Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology has just been published, in which it is claimed that the human species is polytypic: not only is race biologically meaningful but the races are distinct enough to be considered subspecies. Published by Elgar. In 2026.

Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social

🏺🇺🇸 Grrrrrr!

Feena van@feenavan2099.bsky.social

"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"

gadgetreview.comTrump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than StonehengeArizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.