Since April last year, when I published my last blog post, a great deal has happened in the world of palaeoanthropology: claims and counterclaims about ritual burial for Homo naledi, the discovery of the first structural use of wood (predating the arrival of H. sapiens by some 400,000 years!), and genomic evidence of a severe bottleneck in our ancestors’ population about a million years ago which, according to the scientists who uncovered it, almost spelled the end of us.

Before I move on to these topics, however, an apology. The reason I have not written any posts for such a long time is that 2023 was a year of running around and turning about. AJ and I originally intended to return to Australia from Laos at the end of June last year, but for reasons beyond anyone’s control her replacement at her international school was unable to take up the post. AJ agreed to stay on for another six months, so we ended up staying in Laos until the week before Christmas 2023. We spent six months at the start of the year preparing for the move – selling off goods and packing what we could for coming home – only to find ourselves unpreparing, so to speak, and unpacking and buying good back for an extended stay. That was followed by another six months repreparing, repacking and reselling … well, you get the idea.

AJ and I are now, however, back in Australia, ensconced in Wagga Wagga for the next year or so. After that, fingers crossed, our last move will be to our ‘always’ home in Mollymook on NSW’s south coast for a long and fruitful retirement. Unless something else happens and we end up moving overseas again …

Anyway, future posts – as in near future posts (promise) – will cover those matters palaeoanthropological listed above. As well, I hope to put up an interview with someone who has led an extraordinary life strangely – even bizarrely – intertwined with Abba’s Dancing Queen.