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In November 2021 I started collecting signatures for an open letter to the British Museum’s Director and Trustees, arguing the case for ending their sponsorship relationship with BP. The response was excellent – there are 302 signatories to the letter as sent in February 2022, including academics, curators, museum and heritage professionals, commercial and public …

An open letter to the British Museum concerning BP sponsorship Read More »

Since taking the decision to avoid flying where possible, quite a few people have asked me for advice on how to plan overland travel in Europe, so I thought I’d write up a few tips to share. The first thing I’d say is: yes, in most cases it is more complicated to figure out overland …

Trans Europe Express: some advice for overland travel in Europe Read More »

A couple of weeks ago I flew back from a trip to visit my partner’s family. We had a nice time. It was also a milestone, because it was the last time that I am flying anywhere for the foreseeable future. In the end, this was not a difficult decision. That doesn’t mean that living …

On quitting flying Read More »

A lesson that archaeology has taught me repeatedly is that you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know how big it is. This goes for finishing a PhD, cooking dinner for an entire field team, or getting through the last crates of lithics before the museum closes down for the summer. You need to …

My carbon footprint: flights, damned flights and statistics Read More »

I started writing about decarbonisation and archaeology without a plan. I still don’t have a plan. But since publishing last week’s blogpost I’ve been very relieved to see that there is an appetite within our discipline for change and that I’m far from alone in thinking what I’m thinking. I’ve had some fascinating conversations and …

Decarbonising academia: what’s happening outside archaeology Read More »

I think a lot of us archaeologists like to think of ourselves as grown-ups when it comes to climate change. This is especially the case for people who, like me, work on the Palaeolithic. We know just how dramatically the climate has changed in the past. We know about the Greenland Ice Core Chronology, about …

Cognitive dissonance and archaeological practice Read More »