Curt

@neoriffic

Archaeologist Work: CRM in BC, 🍁 Research: Ancient Southwest Asia Player/writer of TTRPGs, veteran, nerd. (he/him) Living and learning in the unceded territory of the K'ómoks First Nation. Trans Rights, BLM, MMIWG2S, Stop Asian Hate, Free Palestine

400 Folgt1.922 Follower806 Posts

Bluesky

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Curt@neoriffic· 13h

The Bilbo Baggins meme with the top frame with Bilbo smiling at something in his hands, saying, "Another rusty nail fragment? After all, why not?"

And the bottom frame with Bilbo frowning, saying, "Why shouldn't I bag it?"

Curt@neoriffic· 2d

Just got back from 8 days of fieldwork surveying, recording, and excavating in the Gulf Islands with a fantastic crew of brilliant and inspiring folks. Made some new friends, had more than our fair share of laughs, and even found some neat stuff. My work-cation from archaeology to do archaeology.

A bearded man wearing a ball cap and sun glasses, his beard being blown by the wind. He is sitting on a boat with an island in the background.

Curt@neoriffic· 22d

Hot dog! My "Learn to Read Ancient Akkadian, Vol. I" just arrived! I'll fit nicely on my hyper-focus shelf. Thanks, @digital-hammurabi.bsky.social! Looking forward to digging in! 🏺

A brown book with a broken cuneiform clay tablet with the title, "Learn to Read Ancient Akkadian: An Introduction for Complete Beginners, Volume 1," being held in front of a shelf full of other books on ancient Mesopotamian literature, language, and history.

Curt@neoriffic· Jul 1

The bronze caribou of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, erected after the Battle of the Somme where, on July 1, 1916, the Newfoundland Regiment sent 800 soldiers over the top. The following day, only 68 were present for roll call, with over 700 dead, wounded, or missing.

The regiment would later be granted the honourific "Royal" to their name; the only regiment to be awarded it during the war.

"It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further." - Commander of the 29th British Division, on the RNR at Beaumont-Hamel

Curt@neoriffic· Jun 4

Just finished reading @badancient.bsky.social 's 'The Far Edges of the Known World: A New History of the Ancient Past'. A refreshing look at ancient history from the perspective of those normally considered on the periphery, centering a much-needed spotlight on the margins that changed the world.🏺

The cover of a book called "The Far Edges of the Known World: A New History of the Ancient Past" by Owen Rees, with the title in thin blue letters against a white background below an old map/globe of the world.

Curt@neoriffic· May 24

Here's mine! Shocked at just how many spices start with the letter C.

A cupboard with 4 storage bins labeled A-C, C, D-N, and O-Z.

Curt@neoriffic· May 18

Other than the conference, I was able to catch up with new and old friends, hike up Ha Ling Peak, and stop at the Grassi Lakes petroglyphs on the way up. Absolutely stunning the entire way, even though my poor old lungs are used to operating at around sea level, and not at nearly 2,400 m asl.

A bearded man in shorts and a button up t-shirt standing in front of a small, clear blue lake surrounded by trees and a rocky cliff.

A cliff face, with very faded red designs you can barely make out. The most clear picture is of a human figure holding a circle aloft, found near the top of the rock face panel.

A selfie of a bearded man standing atop Ha Ling Peak, overlooking the city of Canmore in the valley far, far below, with a snow-capped mountain range on the opposite side of the valley.

Curt@neoriffic· May 18

My talk in particular focused on the ins and outs of popular YouTube channels dealing with archaeology. The long and the short of it is: there is lots of room for you to help fill the void with good info; and, if you can't yourself, support those that are with views, likes, shares, and comments.

A bearded man behind a podium giving a presentation, he looks absolutely uncertain, but I can assure you, he's only mostly uncertain.

Curt@neoriffic· May 18

The Canadian Archaeological Association Meeting in Canmore was a blast, and my session on 'Combating Anti-intellectualism and Pseudoarchaeology through Public Engagement' went very well. Though it was only 4 papers, each presentation was standing room only, with lots of follow-up discussions. 🏺

A bearded man speaking behind a podium, in front of a PowerPoint slide with the opening slide shown, called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Archaeology YouTube."

Curt@neoriffic· May 15

The rich Texan from The Simpsons, saying "The environment? Why, in Canada, we got rid of it. And everyone's been a lot happier."

Curt@neoriffic· Apr 16

A Simpsons meme with Milhouse showing Bart Jeremy's cake book (on Julian Augustus) and saying, "Remember Julian? He's back, in cake form!"

Curt@neoriffic· Apr 5

Penny enjoyed her Easter Sunday walkies in the woods today, and so did I. 🐰

A yellow lab pup in the woods wearing a big grin, with her tongue out, and wearing bunny ears.

Curt@neoriffic· Mar 27

One Friday afternoon in Wainwright, Alberta, I was chatting with a Brit who thought he was going to spend his weekend hitchhiking to Niagara Falls and back. *insert spit take* I explained to him, "Uh... No, you won't. You'll make it to Winnipeg, *maybe* as far as Thunder Bay, before you're AWOL."

A map showing the distance between Wainwright, AB and Niagara Falls, ON, is about 4.5 times the width of the entire United Kingdom (sans Northern Ireland) East-West, PLUS the entire length of the United Kingdom North-South.

Curt@neoriffic· Mar 21

Though tis been many moons since I last chanced my fate o'er the briney embrace of the Deeps, some things you never forget, things you should avoid. Such as whatever's going on in this photo I took this morning on my way to work.

A photo of a sailboat half-submerged in the Salish Sea and listing heavily to starboard.

Curt@neoriffic· Mar 8

Can I offer you a video of Penny enjoying her walkies through a temperate rainforest in these tryin' times?

Curt@neoriffic· Feb 10

Are you an archaeologist or heritage professional concerned with the increasing use of pseudoarchaeology to erode faith in expert opinion, rewrite history, or prop up supremacist ideologies? This Call for Papers is for you! Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference! Link in the reply.

Curt@neoriffic· Jan 16

Let's get this party started!🏺🇨🇦 Looking for papers for #CAA2026 How do you share archaeology? What has been your experience navigating the muddy waters between pseudoarchaeology and real research? How can we do better as a field, a discipline, and community to combat anti-intellectualism?

A screenshot of the session abstract for "Combatting Anti-intellectualism and Pseudoarchaeology through Public Engagement"

Organized by me!

There is nothing unique about Canada’s education system that inoculates its population from anti-intellectualism. At home and abroad, funding is being gutted in the name of cost savings and the health of millions is being influenced by anti-science populism rather than data-driven expertise. Archaeology is not immune to these problems. As Humanities and social sciences programs across the world are being decimated, heritage conservation and cultural resource management are reaching a crisis point where there is more archaeology required than there are archaeologists to do it. So, what are archaeologists doing to combat the growth of anti-intellectualism?

1/2

The continuing popularity of pseudoarchaeological television and streaming programmes, along with social media apps full of pseudoscientific videos, suggests a public interest and demand for archaeology. However, uncontested by genuine archaeological research, these media merely serve to contribute to anti-intellectualism, spreading objectively and demonstrably false ideas as plausible if not probable by conflating “just asking questions” with rigorous scientific inquiry. Additionally, as generative AI art becomes more sophisticated, the effort required to produce pseudoarchaeological content is becoming increasingly trivial and risks dominating the popular narrative of human history, feeding into denialism, erasure, and anti-science rhetoric.

Archaeology requires researching, writing, citing, and quality presentation. In other words, it takes time, a luxury unavailable to many of those best positioned to share their expertise. This, and the constant need for online promotion and engagement, make it unfortunate, if not unsurprising, that many professional archaeologists choose to avoid public engagement through popular media.

However, the problems of anti-intellectualism are not going away on their own. This session invites papers that examine how archaeologists are sharing archaeology. Where are we succeeding and how can we overcome obstacles? How can we collectively, as a community and discipline, support one another to combat pseudoarchaeology, anti-intellectualism, denialism, and erasure?

2/2

Curt@neoriffic· Jan 16

Super proud of my wife and her team for snagging a gold medal at the 2026 Canadian Whiskey Awards with their ultra-limited batch Suburban Unruly Whisky! 🏅🥃 (Already sold out forever, in case you were wondering.)

A screenshot of the announcement from the CWA website showing Unruly Whisky: Suburban awarded a Gold!

A hand holding a bottle of whisky labeled Unruly Whisky: Suburban Whisky, by Wayward Distillery.

Curt@neoriffic· Jan 13

Turns out it wasn't as bad as I lost sleep over. The drywall needs replacing, but the leak is coming from a vent. It's not even that bad. But the torrential rain we've been having turned a no biggie to a biggie. I think I've bought myself some time to learn how to fix it. It's been a long day. 😮‍💨

A photo of the vent in my attic where the leak is coming from with a red arrow pointing to a drip of water captioned "the culprit".

Curt@neoriffic· Jan 3

Unless the only thing said after "Maduro was bad, but" is "look at all the fuckin' OIL!" You are unequivocally the victim of one of the flimsiest and ham-fisted propaganda campaigns I have been alive to witness.

A chart from VisualCapitalist.com showing the world's largest oil reserves. The largest section on the chart, labelled Venezuela with 303 billion barrels of oil, is circled in red.

Curt@neoriffic· Jan 3

Me, when the recipe calls for one (1) clove of garlic:

My hand holding a single clove of garlic that is just absolutely massive.

Curt@neoriffic· Dec 31

Looking at leash wraps for my dog and I keep thinking, "Why don't we do this for people?" (It's me. I'm people.)

A dog leash wrap-around that is yellow with black lettering saying, "Anxious. Give me some space."

Curt@neoriffic· Dec 30

Jesus. H. Yikes. In about 1.5 years, it's gone from "No students, you can't take pictures of these lecture slides, they are my intellectual property," to...

The "all your base are belong to us" meme, but instead reads: "All your slide are belong to us."

Curt@neoriffic· Dec 25

It is time. #HappyChristmasEve

A decorated christmas tree beside a TV with The Muppets Christmas Carol playing, with the scene showing the mice on a cart of hay saying, "No cheeses for us meeces."

Curt@neoriffic· Dec 21

🎶It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas... 🎶

A hand holding a glass shaped like a moose's head by the antler. The head is filled with a creamy egg nog and rum with fresh grated nutmeg on top.

Curt@neoriffic· Dec 6

It's a couple of years old now, but it's new to me this year. Can't get enough of it.

Zeal & Ardor's album Zeal & Ardor

Two black hands against a white background, one hand pointing up with two fingers and the other pointing down

Curt@neoriffic· Nov 21

Ah, yes. The three subfields of Anthorpology: Cultral, Biological, and Archaocalogy Oh, AI, never change. 😂

Detail from one of the example badges in the original post, with several words spelled incorrectly.

Curt@neoriffic· Nov 15

I've been really enjoying your updates on your Mesopotamian TTRPG! This post in particular got my creative juices flowing, thinking about the etiology of why there are undead in this world. Just havin' a little fun. 😋

Too late did Anu realize the severity of his misjudgment. Indeed, he already knew it was too late, far too late, to do anything about it.

At first it had seemed like such a trivial thing. This was not the first time Ishtar's temper had resulted in her petulant whining for some mortal or another to be struck down. But this time felt different, and not merely because a demigod was the focus of her rage. Ishtar was like the potter's kiln; blasting and radiating. Consuming. No amount of appeasement would quench her fury.

Ishtar's charms were known from the Great Sea to the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris. But they were not infallible. She did not win over the hearts of every mortal that set eyes upon her; it was rare, but it did happen. And each time Ishtar would be infuriated, demanding sacrifice. Demanding death. Nevertheless, Anu was certain Ishtar's hate would burn itself out as it always did.

Such a small thing it seemed now, to allow Ishtar this one favour. How could Anu have taken seriously Ishtar's threat to throw open and tear down the gates of Kur and let the dead walk again amongst the living? It was outrageous, obscene even. Yet, as Ishtar stormed off silently seething, Anu felt a pang of genuine fear of what this goddess might be capable of in her passion.

Whoever this Gilgamesh was, Anu mused as more reports of undead filling the dusty streets below reached his throne room, perhaps it would have been a smaller price to pay to grant Ishtar use of the Bull of Heaven to end him.

Curt@neoriffic· Sep 18

It was a hard two weeks, but I'm finally on my way back home after my fieldwork shift. Made some new friends, got to catch up with some old ones, and got some good archaeology done.🏺

A smiling bearded man (me) wearing a high-vis vest and a ball cap, reclining on glacial outwash gravel and cobbles, next to mountain willow, with willow in the middle ground, and a mountain with a glacier on it in the background.

Curt@neoriffic· Sep 13

Some days, the view from the office is just grand.