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Todd Braje

@tbraje

Executive Director, University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History; archaeologist; historical ecologist; author Understanding Imperiled Earth; science communicator

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03.12.2024
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Latest posts by Todd Braje @tbraje

A person wearing a background University of Oregon cap taking a photo of an archaeological trench. Text overlay is "New Challenge Unlocked A Decade of Ducks Give 5.15.25."

A person wearing a background University of Oregon cap taking a photo of an archaeological trench. Text overlay is "New Challenge Unlocked A Decade of Ducks Give 5.15.25."

We've received 20 gifts & unlocked our first challenge gift! Next up: 40 individual gifts for $1000.00.

15.05.2025 18:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A picture of two students relaxing in camp chairs. A blazing campfire lights their faces with an orange-red glow. Overlay text reads "Ducks Give Send students to field school. 2025 challenge gifts 20 gifts=$500 unlocked. 40 gifts = $1000 unlocked. 60 gifts = $10000 unlocked."

A picture of two students relaxing in camp chairs. A blazing campfire lights their faces with an orange-red glow. Overlay text reads "Ducks Give Send students to field school. 2025 challenge gifts 20 gifts=$500 unlocked. 40 gifts = $1000 unlocked. 60 gifts = $10000 unlocked."

"The field of archaeology is changing, and if your desire is to attend a field school that will prepare you for real world archaeology, while simultaneously making connections and friendships that will last a lifetime, look no further." #DucksGIve tinyurl.com/yc73v9z2

14.05.2025 19:49 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
In a trench filled with sandbags, two young University of Oregon students use shovels, brushes, and dustpans to do archaeology things. A white overlay reads "A decade of Ducks Give 5.15.25."

In a trench filled with sandbags, two young University of Oregon students use shovels, brushes, and dustpans to do archaeology things. A white overlay reads "A decade of Ducks Give 5.15.25."

This Thursday: #DucksGive. This 24-hr campaign uses challenge gifts to drive @uoregon.bsky.social student success.

Our focus: scholarships to archaeological field school. Many of you field school is not only critical for your career, it's EXPENSIVE. Let's make it more accessible; stay tuned. 🏺

12.05.2025 23:49 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Mediterranean hunter-gatherers voyaged across the open sea 8500 years ago New discoveries on Malta show people settled remote islands before the rise of farming

www.science.org/content/arti...

09.04.2025 19:14 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave Monday morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

For our museum, the communities that have the most to lose with these cuts are the rural communities throughout OR. IMLS funding helps us bring our education team and outreach to places far afield from Eugene. We all lose with these cuts, but some more than others...

www.npr.org/2025/03/31/n...

08.04.2025 18:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And now we fiddle

03.04.2025 15:00 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Annual Dinner and Talk The museum's annual dinner and talk. Tickets on sale now!

There is still time to join us for our Annual Dinner on April 24: mnch.uoregon.edu/learn/annual...

02.04.2025 23:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Todd Braje: β€œUnderstanding Imperiled Earth: How Our Past Can Guide Our Future” Todd Braje is the executive director of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon specializing in long-term human-environmental interactions, the archaeology of maritime s...

Very excited to see wonderful colleagues, students, and folks at the U. of Georgia next week: calendar.uga.edu/event/todd-b...

16.01.2025 00:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Wildfire climate connection Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last ...

ABC, NBC & CBS dedicated about 16 minutes of airtime last night to the California wildfires without once mentioning climate change.

Since the news failed do it's job, here's a short summary of the role of climate change and wildfire risk:

www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfir...

08.01.2025 20:03 πŸ‘ 39848 πŸ” 14765 πŸ’¬ 1228 πŸ“Œ 657
From the Director: Announcing the Thomas J Connolly Fund | MNCH Fieldnotes

Support us at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History:
blogs.uoregon.edu/mnchfieldnot...

27.12.2024 05:05 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt In the waterways connected to the Great Lakes, researchers uncover boats that tell the story of millennia of Indigenous history

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/arch...

26.12.2024 17:22 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Clay vessels, creamy yellow in colour, with black hand painted decoration.

Top left - Minoan Marine Style pithoid jar with many handles decorated in the Minoan Marine Style, with octopuses, tritons, rocks, and coral. Height 55 cm. From Zakros. 1500-1450 BC.

Top right - flask decorated in Minoan β€˜Marine Style’’ with an octopus with tentacles writhing around the body of the vase. Additional motifs indicate the seabed. Height 27cm. From Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC

Bottom left - jar decorated in marine style with an octopus among rocks. From Knossos Little Palace, 1450-1370 BC

Bottom right - krater decorated with a stylized octopus, 1370-1300 BC.

Clay vessels, creamy yellow in colour, with black hand painted decoration. Top left - Minoan Marine Style pithoid jar with many handles decorated in the Minoan Marine Style, with octopuses, tritons, rocks, and coral. Height 55 cm. From Zakros. 1500-1450 BC. Top right - flask decorated in Minoan β€˜Marine Style’’ with an octopus with tentacles writhing around the body of the vase. Additional motifs indicate the seabed. Height 27cm. From Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC Bottom left - jar decorated in marine style with an octopus among rocks. From Knossos Little Palace, 1450-1370 BC Bottom right - krater decorated with a stylized octopus, 1370-1300 BC.

Something lovely for the weekend!

Marvellous clay pots with octopus decoration made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete about 3,500 years ago! πŸ™β€οΈ

Heraklion Archaeological Museum. πŸ“· by me

#Archaeology

21.12.2024 12:00 πŸ‘ 1275 πŸ” 303 πŸ’¬ 37 πŸ“Œ 30

This is a mola, bought in the San Blas Islands in Panama in 1973 in the tourist trade.
Molas are made through reverse appliquΓ© and appliquΓ©! Layers of cloth are sewn loosely together and the the design is cut through the top layer(s).

20.12.2024 00:17 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Two sitting cat silhouettes covered in white and brown fur. The eyes are red beads and the nose is a small black bead. They are tied together with a blue string coiled behind them.

Two sitting cat silhouettes covered in white and brown fur. The eyes are red beads and the nose is a small black bead. They are tied together with a blue string coiled behind them.

Another cat gem from the Jensen Artic Collection: this yo-yo (Inpuiaq: igruuraak) made for the tourist trade by an Inuit artist. #indigenousart

18.12.2024 22:29 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A group of students and faculty holding up flags from the Unversity of Oregon and University of Nevada. They are in front of huge rock faces.

A group of students and faculty holding up flags from the Unversity of Oregon and University of Nevada. They are in front of huge rock faces.

American Archaeology published a wonderful look into our field schools and how they contribute to Great Basin archaeology and changing the scientific understanding of people in North America. The article includes THREE GENERATIONS of University of Oregon students! 🏺πŸ§ͺhttps://shorturl.at/O4Zj5

12.12.2024 22:12 πŸ‘ 47 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A six inch long chuck of sandy beige rock. A darker brown bone is visible running a long the bottom of it, with 8 1/2 beautifully preserved dark brown teeth protruding up like the teeth of a hair comb.

A six inch long chuck of sandy beige rock. A darker brown bone is visible running a long the bottom of it, with 8 1/2 beautifully preserved dark brown teeth protruding up like the teeth of a hair comb.

This #FossilFriday is the oldest fossil on display in the museum. It's a mosasaur jaw originally collected in Niobrara, Kansas and is about 100 million years old.

Those impressive teeth were used to hunt sharks, shellfish, and mollusks. #paleosky #paleontology πŸ§ͺ

13.12.2024 18:11 πŸ‘ 44 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
A blouse made up of dark blue fabric. The sleeves have pink ribbon cuffs and the majority of the torso of the blouse is covered in bright red, orange, and green striped fabric that makes up the shape of two adorable cats.

A blouse made up of dark blue fabric. The sleeves have pink ribbon cuffs and the majority of the torso of the blouse is covered in bright red, orange, and green striped fabric that makes up the shape of two adorable cats.

😻This mola is a child's blouse, bought in Panama. "Mola" is a Kuna word with several meanings, but often referring to a brightly colored upper garment. This style of garment developed from an earlier tradition of body painting.😻

17.12.2024 21:48 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Understanding Imperiled Earth: How Archaeology and Human History Can Inform Our Planet's Future Buy Understanding Imperiled Earth: How Archaeology and Human History Can Inform Our Planet's Future on Amazon.com βœ“ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

The 'Alalā, which went extinct in the wild decades ago, has been re-introduced on Maui: www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2...

Interested in the extinction of Hawaiian birds and why the past matters for addressing our global biodiversity crisis? Read more here: www.amazon.com/Understandin...

18.12.2024 00:24 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0