Author: sarakrubeck
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Farming began in a carbon-starved world
Written by Mudit Joshi Almost every headline about carbon dioxide is about harm. More CO₂ warms the climate. As the ocean absorbs it, seawater turns more acidic, which is a problem for corals and shell-builders. The 2025 Planetary Health Check counts seven of nine planetary boundaries as crossed, with ocean acidification the newest. The proposed…
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Building a South African pollen reference collection
Written by Alexandra Vasilyeva During my stay in South Africa, I used a day off from fieldwork to prepare a few modern pollen samples for a reference collection at North-West University. The fieldwork aimed to explore pollen-vegetation relationships in southern Africa. These links are not straightforward; however, understanding them is essential for trustworthy pollen-based land-cover…
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Beyond the Squeeze: More than Terraces
Written by Tawanda Mushweshwe Walking Through Zimbabwe’s Ancient Farming Landscapes at Ziwa National Monument This blog follows my earlier AGRI-DRY reflection, “Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?”, which explored the challenges of preparing for and conducting archaeological fieldwork in Zimbabwe. This time, I want to share what those months in the field revealed about one…
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Fieldwork concluded: Sampling for pollen in South Africa
In September, AGRI-DRY doctoral researcher Alexandra Vasilyeva from the University of Glasgow carried out her final fieldwork campaign. With her team, she travelled across parts of South Africa’s North West Province, surveying a range of vegetation types around the Vredefort Dome and further north. The main goal was to collect surface soil samples for pollen…
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Beyond the University Walls: My Fieldwork Journey in Ethiopia
Written by Wudu Abiye Abebaw When I started my PhD journey, I knew it would involve long hours of reading journal articles, working on my laptop, and trying to make sense of complex research questions. But my project also took me across agricultural fields, up steep hills, through narrow rocky paths and into some seriously…
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AGRI-DRY in Mpumalanga: Highlights from ASAPA 2026
Written by Kayla Mac Conachie In July 2026, members of the AGRI-DRY project travelled to the University of Mpumalanga in Mbombela, South Africa, to participate in the biennial conference of the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA). Held from 5–9 July, ASAPA 2026 brought together archaeologists, heritage practitioners, students and researchers working across Southern…