Matt Sponheimer

@[email protected]
297 Followers
290 Following
78 Posts

I do research on the ecology of early hominins and associated fauna in Africa. I also study living mammals, large and small, in South Africa.

Director of the Nutritional and Isotopic Ecology Lab (NIEL) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Google Scholarhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NbgDNMsAAAAJ
Research Gatehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matt-Sponheimer
ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8743-1123
NIELhttps://www.colorado.edu/lab/niel/
Matt SponheimerJul 5, 2023
Charlotte WalkerJul 4, 2023
I see the old “too many people are going to university to do Mickey Mouse degrees” trope is doing the rounds again. My son did a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance. Did he get a job in the creative industries? No. Is he earning a good salary? Also no. But he was greatly enriched by studying something he was passionate about for three years. What is wrong with just learning for learning’s sake? Education is not supposed to be merely a mechanism for churning out workers
Matt SponheimerJul 5, 2023
Guillermo Ramón Celis PhDJul 2, 2023
New here, hoping to continue engaging with colleagues and people interested in the past. If you’re interested in Oaxacan archaeology take a look at https://guillermoramoncelis.wordpress.com
Guillermo Ramón Celis

Archaeology and digital mapping in Oaxaca

Guillermo Ramón Celis
Matt SponheimerJul 5, 2023
BrettJul 4, 2023
I feel like #Threads would be much better served being used as an on-ramp to the Fediverse for normies and we should be providing ample resources to migrate them out of #Meta ASAP instead of preemptively blocking Threads completely. People on #Mastodon seem overly skittish and reactionary when we can use Threads to poison pill all of Facebook.
Matt SponheimerJul 3, 2023
DavidJul 3, 2023
#introduction … My name is David. Professionally, I am a self-employed #copywriter with a background in #anthropology and #ux. However, I also have a passion for #haiku poetry and #naturephotography, which I pursue as hobbies. When I'm not working, I love spending time #hiking, #kayaking, and practicing #martialarts. I decided to join this server because I hope to immerse myself in more Welsh content and continue my language studies. Diolch!
Matt SponheimerJul 3, 2023
Dr. Andrea HackerJul 3, 2023
I left the birdsite last year. Surprisingly, I don't miss it at all with its constant drama. It's nice to swing by #Bluesky or to check in here where such a lot of my colleagues are now. I learn from and about interesting folks and the tone on both sites is still friendly for the most part, it seems. #Twitter #exodus
Matt SponheimerJul 2, 2023
Sami CaseJul 2, 2023

Hi there! Finally made the journey over from Twitter. Here’s an #introduction in hopes of expanding my network on here!

My name is Sami and im a neuroscientist. My graduate research helped characterise how S1 neuronal network communication becomes altered with aging, is sexually dimorphic, and how these changes can influence gait.

I just started as an assistant professor at Colorado State University, where I teach #neuroscience, phys, and pharm for veterinary medicine/undergrad students. ♥️

Matt SponheimerApr 30, 2023
Grant Jun OtsukiApr 30, 2023
Some friction between Wiley and the philosophers. “P&PA has experienced escalating unreasonable demands from Wiley, including a demand that we massively increase the number of articles per year that we publish, essentially abandoning our editorial judgment and our control over the quality of our content.” The AAA and #anthropology should take note. @anthropology #openaccess https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2023/04/more-on-wiley-as-a-journal-publisher.html
More on Wiley as a journal publisher

There's a stunning comment on the earlier thread from Professor Anna Stilz, a political philosopher at Princeton who is the EIC of Philosophy & Public Affairs, that deserves wide notice: I am also a member of JPP's Editorial Board who...

Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
Matt SponheimerMar 2, 2023
Barbara J. KingMar 2, 2023
Intriguing essay on hunter-gatherer life and the nature of work by Vivek Venkataraman for Aeon Magazine. "Today, many of us are doing the wrong kind of work, one that rejects sociality, craft and meaning, turning people into machines. In contrast, the physical, mental and social are inextricably linked in hunter-gatherer work." #anthropology #work #humanevolution #capitalism https://aeon.co/essays/what-hunter-gatherers-demonstrate-about-work-and-satisfaction
What hunter-gatherers demonstrate about work and satisfaction | Aeon Essays

Hunter-gatherers don’t live in an economic idyll but their deep appreciation of rest puts industrialised work to shame

Aeon
Matt SponheimerFeb 28, 2023
Daniel LoxtonFeb 27, 2023

“#atlantis and the Apocalypse: The World of #Fringe Archaeology”
This #CBC Radio One doc on #pseudoarcheology is worth your time, not just for the specific ideas covered, but for underlining the multidisciplinary needs of #skepticism and #disinformation / #extremism research. Wanna understand white supremacy? Atlantis is part of that story. So is the New Age, space aliens, claims about the pyramids, the paranormal infotainment industry, and so on…

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6757733

Atlantis and the Apocalypse: The World of Fringe Archaeology | CBC Radio

A Netflix series called Ancient Apocalypse claims that a thriving civilization was wiped out during the Ice Age by comets and floods, but left humanity with science and technology. Experts call this "pseudo-archaeology." IDEAS unearths how pseudo-archaeology has been used to advance political and cultural ideas, and where it crosses over from pseudo-science to religious myth-making.

CBC
Matt SponheimerFeb 28, 2023
Dr. Holly WaltersFeb 27, 2023

Check out my latest contribution to The Familiar Strange! Today, my senior seminar students and I are discussing old anthropology textbooks from the 50s, 70s, and 2020!

I've also linked the syllabus for the course mentioned, Advanced Anthropological Theory, below.

https://thefamiliarstrange.com/2023/02/27/teaching-textbooks/

Teaching from the Textbooks: An Archaeology of the Current Historical Moment

On the last day of class, my advanced theory students would break up into small groups and each have the option of choosing one such old anthropology textbook from the box of them that I had select…

The Familiar Strange