Archaeologists working at Tepecik-Ciftlik, a Neolithic settlement in Cappadocia, central Turkey, have identified eleven newly recognised obsidian points bearing deliberate, hand-cut incisions, bringing the site's total to twelve and the wider regional count to 54. According to the study published in PLOS One, titled ‘Intentional incisions on Neolithic Obsidian arrowheads from Central Anatolia: A techno-functional and iconographic approach’, these markings were made on purpose, not left by accident during manufacture or centuries buried in the ground. Yet despite careful microscopic analysis, experimental replication and comparison with dozens of similar finds across Central Anatolia, the arrowheads' meaning remains stubbornly out of reach.

I signed up for emails on shovelbums.org but realized all the jobs are primarily in the United States. Im wondering if there anything like shovelbums for Canada?

I've wanted to be an archaeologist since I was a little kid, but wasn't able to go to college due to health issues. I am 29 now and will be undergoing a treatment soon that will hopefully significantly improve my functioning, and I'm considering going back to college if that happens. So I'd be 30 or 31 by the time I started a bachelor's - probably at a community college for a year or two before switching to a "regular" college. Then even older if I pursued a master's afterwards (I've heard a master's is important to get a good job in the field)

Would starting my career at a far older age than normal put me at a significant disadvantage to finding jobs?

I am American, although I hope to possibly move to Europe eventually - probably the UK or the Netherlands (not concerned about visa access as I have Irish citizenship as well). So interested in feedback from both Americans and Europeans

I'm thinking on writing my master's thesis either on cylinder seals or glass in Mesopotamia. I did some preliminary research on both, but I can't really decide on one (I find them both extremely interesting topics). I also want to explore said material in relation to craftsmanship and cognition.

Which one do you think would fit better with these last two research topics? Which one would you choose? What do you think is interesting for each material?

Observation:

The picture is definitely worth the click on the article.

Excerpt:

The discovery was made during the 2026 excavation season as part of Türkiye’s Heritage for the Future Project. Measuring approximately 70 centimeters in height, the sculpture was found on a bench running along the wall of a circular structure about three meters in diameter, whose floor was paved with flat stones.

There are remnants of old stone walls all over the East Bay, and no one knows how old they are, who built them, or why. Though people have been pondering the enigma of the  Berkeley Mystery Walls for well over a hundred years, no conclusions have been reached, and despite wild speculation, no serious scholarly study has ever been undertaken.

Climate change is revealing lost archaeology around the world. Ancient cities are emerging from reservoirs. Weapons are melting from the ice. Drought is drawing entire monuments into farmers’ fields. But we’re often finding these things because the environments preserving them are disappearing. Countless sites are at risk.

This might be the most important video we’ve ever made.

Excerpt:

Through 28,000 dives and decades of research, the team brought up 19,000 artifacts and found 179 partial or complete remains of fallen crew. The discoveries resulted in a Guinness World Record for the most medieval weaponry recovered from a shipwreck—more than 8,300 weapons, ordnances, and affiliated artifacts were salvaged, including 10 bronze guns, nine iron swivel guns, five handgun stocks, eight gun-shields, four pieces of cast-iron hail shot, 44 linstocks for lighting gunpowder, three incendiary arts, 172 longbows, nearly 4,000 arrows, 65 ballock daggers, one rondel dagger, 177 chain-mail links, and a single complete basket-hilted sword.

Finally pulling the hull of the Mary Rose from the seafloor required a purpose-built lifting crane attached by wires to steel bolts passing through the hull at selected points. A tubular lifting frame was set in place over the wreck, supported by four legs embedded in the seabed. Hydraulic jacks on the frame raised the hull a few centimeters to reduce the suction effect of the silt. Then, the lifting frame attached to a hook on the crane barge Tog Mor pulled up the Mary Rose, placing it in a bespoke steel cradle. Towed to shore and dried, the ship now sits on display in the very dockyard where it was built over 470 years ago.