John Lowe

@archaeocore.bsky.social

1949 Followers 236 Following

Archaeologist (as a living, not a personality). Philadelphian and proud of it (aren’t we all?) Mostly a reply guy (complimentary), also post about music and Philly sports. He/him/his.

A photo from the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Switch game. On the left is a white guy with glasses Mii wearing teal and purple 90s clothes and 5-panel hat, doing a break dance move and winking. On the right is a white woman with glasses wearing a similar outfit in red and yellow, also breakdancing and winking. The background is a graffiti art wall.
Photo of the moon, glowing a dark reddish orange, rising in the east behind the Walt Whitman Bridge. There is a band of smoke from the Phillies fireworks show at the top of the photo. The photo does not do justice to how cool the moon looks.
Ruby, a black-and-white cat, inside of a brown paper mailing bag, as cats are wont to do.
A photograph of two men and a little baby sitting on the front porch steps of a white clapboard house in 1972. On the left is a white male in his 60s with a buzz cut, black horned rim glasses, wearing a striped button down short sleeve shirt and dark slacks. That’s my grandpa Lowe. On the right is a white male in his late 20s with dark hair and sideburns. Also wearing a striped white button down short sleeve shirt, but tan slacks. That’s my dad. The baby has short brown hair, chubby cheeks, and is wearing a white outfit of some kind. He is sitting on the older man’s knee, and the younger man is holding his hand up. That’s me when I was around 8 months old.
A photo from June 27, 2010 of the bar at a Mexican restaurant in Austin, Texas. There is a line of three micheladas (a red drink that is a mix of beer and tomato juice, with salt and lime on the rim of the glass), two brown Pacifico bottles, and one Corona bottle. There is a basket of tortilla chips, and you can see the small dish of salsa partly obscured by the paper of the chip basket.
A photo of a dark blue pullover windbreaker with yellow/gold stripes at the bottom and white fleece lining. There is script chain stitching on the left chest side of the jacket (photo right) that reads J.D. This was one of my college nicknames due to there being 3 other freshmen named Jon/John in the history/political science emphasis.
A photo of me, a 50-something white cis male with white hair and bead and salt-and-pepper mustache. I have a lot of random tattoos on my arms. I am wearing a red t-shirts with the sleeves cut off, the design has the World Series trophy, the Phillies liberty bell logo, and text that says 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. There is art and books in the background.
A view of Philadelphia City Hall and other downtown Philly buildings through a window in a hospital room.
Selfie of a middle-aged cishet white guy, mostly white hair and beard, plastic frame glasses. Wearing a white t-shirt with a colorful hand-screened Sun Ra print by my friend Tim Kerr (I probably shouldn’t even be wearing this). A couple of pins are visible on my satchel strap: an anti-nazi pin with the “circle/slash” symbol over a swastika, and a Gritty pin.
A photo of faded cursive handwriting in an old book, the original is a color photos which I modified to a grayscale with changes to brightness and contrast to try and bring out the script
A photo looking over eastern south Philly showing row home roofs and a double rainbow. The rainbow on the left side is faint. While the one on the right is still very bright.
A photo of the band Speedy Ortiz, a 5-piece band at this point, playing a song on a stage with a wood panel backdrop. The singer and guitarist Sadie Dupuis is wearing a headband and veil, a sheer polka dot top, and a colorful print mini skirt.
A photo of d.ly’s dog, a large guy (gender neutral) with a yellowish-tan coat and whitish underbelly and black paw beans. Lounging super chill on a gray or brown sofa and a black pillow. I have crudely drawn sunglasses and a beer.
A photo of a chrome counter top at the so-called Ghost Energy bar at Citizens Bank Park. There is a sticker that reads Harry the K Forever, with a picture of Harry the K in a red sports coat holding a beer
Selfie of a cishet white male with a white beard, brown mustache and green plastic frame glasses. I am wearing a safety orange buff, a gray hoodie, andan orange safety vest for work. I am also wearing a vintage Philadelphia Phillies trucker style baseball hat, with the classic darker red color and chunky P logo
A selfie of me, cishet white male with a trimmed white beard, brown mustache. And glasses. I am wearing a trucker hat with the Utz potato chip logo and girl art on it. The front of the hat is white, the bill is red, and the back is blue. In the background is some of my record and art collection.
A photo of church steeples in South Philly with a glowing purple golden and orange sunset in the background.
A ceramic white elephant with blue eyes, sitting up, holding its trunk up. On the belly reads “I <red heart> Bar Harbor Maine”. This is a souvenir bank.
Ruby, a tuxedo cat, is curled up on a blue sofa with her head tucked into her curled paw. Shes fluffy but also a little portly. She looks super cute.
A screenshot from Taryn Hatcher’s Instagram. “Cats out of the bag so I’ll keep this short and sweet as possible. Sadly I won’t be returning on Phillies coverage this season. At the conclusion of the 2025 season, I was told that my role on the sidelines at NBSCP was being eliminated moving forward. While the news was pretty heartbreaking, I have to acknowledge that it was a really fun run. I loved every second of it. I’m grateful for everyone who tuned in over the years, and for the wonderful people I’ve met along the way (heart emoji)”
A black tshirt on a blue background. The shirt has the drawing of a human rib bone, with text that reads “Zack Wheeler’s Rib”. There are some red flames and blue stars added for flair.
Screenshot of a donation acknowledgment. The main part is a Tetris-like background in various shades of yellow, in the center overlying is a design that looks like a mix between a sun and a flower with radiating lines and a heart in the center. Below is text that reads “Thank you for supporting the Everywhere Project”
A photo of a bunch of US coins sorted and stacked on a wooden shelf top. There is a ceramic bank in the image of an old, white man with glasses, a white mustache, and just a fringe of gray hair, wearing a green robe with yellow collar, blue striped pajama bottoms, and tan shoes. He is holding a white sign (presumably was intended as a newspaper idea) on his lap that reads Retirement Fund. In the background is a 7” holder with various DC comics characters. This is full of soul and R&B singles.
An image of Samoa Joe, a large Samoan professional wrestler wearing black trunks and knee pads and boots, walking to the left while Jon Cruz, a smaller professional wrestler wearing red tights, is in midair after having jumped from the top ropes. Jon Cruz had his arms spread in frustration and is looking at Samoa Joe as if saying “what the fuck, dude”
Me, cishet white male in his mid-50s although you can barely tell because I’m almost fully covered up. I have on an orange safety vest, a green puffer jacket, a white bandana tied across my face over an orange buff, a black hat, a grey hoodie with the hood up, and a white hard hat. My plastic glasses are steamed up and only my left eye (RIP) is visible. The bridge of my nose is the only other skin exposed. Not visible is the base layer shirt, cotton t-shirt, and fishing shirt I have on under the jackets, or the two pairs of base layer bottoms and thick cotton BDU pants I’m wearing. I am standing in a trench, in the background is a green 6-inch PVC sewer pipe and a large pile of back dirt.
A selfie of me, a cishet 50s white male with a white beard, brown and white moustache, and green plastic glasses. I’m wearing a black New Era fitted baseball hat with a design by my friend Leif Malone. The design is a stylized reddish-orange fox and white rabbit facing off head to head. There are some Halloween decorations in the background.
On the right is the album cover for The English Beat “I Just Can’t Stop It”, which is what the text reads. The album art is the bands faces in silhouette profiles, alternating black and white (and matching the “races” of the band members), with the far left being someone with glasses and a goatee playing a saxophone. They are outlined in fuchsia, which is the only color on the album cover. In the upper left is one of their logos, a drawing of a woman with a black bob and triangle earrings, wearing a fuchsia shirt with a musical note in white, a fuchsia and white striped knee length skirt, black tights, and shoes. She has a chunky fuchsia brackets on her right arm. She is dancing, with her hips swinging to her right and her knees swiveled to her left, arms held upright bent at the elbows, similar to the trademark “skanking” dance of ska music. Other things in the photo are a perler art of Jason from the Friday the 13th NES game, a drawing of a purple car with Prince’s symbol on his chest, a Playmobil guitar player, and a cat vinyl figure with a red white and blue cassette unraveling tape for a design. In the upper right is part of a painting of Curtis Mayfield, with lyrics from “Keep on Pushing”. This was done by my friend and mentor Tim Kerr.
A photo of me, a cishet white male in his 50s with gray/brown hair and beard and green plastic glasses. I am holding a Wawa Gobbler hoagie is my right hand: this has carved turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing on a white hoagie roll; I added mashed potatoes as well. Two bites have been taken out of the hoagie. The background has a small area of brick wall from our Philly rowhome and a skeleton poster.
A photo looking west over part of South Philly; the roofs of rowhomes along with some treetops are in the lower half. The upper half is bands of glowing red, orange, and gold along with thin, long gray clouds making for a spectacular sunset that is casting a golden hue over the neighborhood as it gets dark. In the distance, I think can hear the Philly Elmo drumline.
A photo of the playing field at Citizens Bank Park from the 100 seats with fans in the foreground.
A photo of an album cover. It is red with cartoon artwork of a bald male wearing sunglasses. He has his mouth open wide with clenched teeth, one tooth is missing and there is a toothpick on the other side. He is wearing a black suit jacket, white dress shirt, and black tie with a crescent moon. The text reads “SKAFACE” (the album title) across his forehead. At bottom, reads Ska Face An All-American Ska Compilation. Below is a list of the bands and their hometowns. Notable are Toasters, Bim Skala Bim, Scofflaws, Donkey Show, Let’s Go Bowling, and No Doubt (from 1988 way before they were famous and possibly their first song released).
In this photo from 2016: On the left is me, a cishet white male with short salt and pepper hair and a trimmed beard, black glasses. Wearing a white dress shirt, a skinny black tie (with Space Invader print), and black pants. On the right is my wife Dena, a cishet white female with shoulder-length reddish hair, plastic frame glasses, and a white flower in her hair. She is wearing a knee length sleeveless white dress and holding a bouquet of flowers, a mix of red and white roses with some yellow and greens to complement. We are in a courtroom with white walls and wooden chairs.
Photo of South Philadelphia showing a large thunderstorm moving in. The top of the photo is a large dark gray cloud. On the left, it is clear below the cloud, then one small band of rain falling, and a small clear patch. The right half below the clouds is a solid wall of rain.☔️
A photo of me, a white male with white hair and brown plastic rimmed glasses. I am kissing Wendy, a beautiful tabby cat with sweet eyes and a ring striped tail. RIP Wendy Lowe Hughes Lowe, aka Wendybug, aka Wendell, aka Wends, aka Wubba. 2013-2025.
A photo a a box of cereal, H-E-B Cerealology brand Cinnamon Mocha cereals the box is black with various logos on it. There is a photo of the cereal in a bowl with a metal spoon. The cereal is dark brown and tan flakes, dark brown granola chunks, and dark chocolate curls.
Photo of a tuxedo cat (black and white) with golden eyes. Her right eye is wonky from birth, the lid doesn’t fully open and has a nick. Her face is mostly black, with a white streak on the forehead. Her front paws and body are white. She is sitting on a winter-themed scratch pad that was a Christmas present for her and our other cat Wendy.
Movie poster for Porky’s. “Keep an eye out for the funniest movie about growing up ever made!” With an image of an eye peeping through a hole in a shower wall, and a woman’s leg and arm.
Photo of a horse crippler cactus, a short, wide, round green cactus about 8-10 inches wide, 3-4 inches tall. The thorns are bunches in a star shaped pattern with 8 thorns. The thorns are thick, strong, and curve inward. This, and the wide, low nature of the plant is how it got the name horse crippler. The pot is a black plastic pot like you get from a garden store when you buy a plant, I believe it is a foot fall. The pot is sitting on a red terracotta drain tray but I don’t remember if that was on the porch with the plant when it was stolen.
Middle aged cishet white male with some tattoos, white beard, wearing a red white and blue Utz trucker hat and a white 7 Seconds New Wind t-shirt with artwork of a silhouetted person with a vague sunset. I am holding two copies of the recent reissue of the 7 Seconds “New Wind” album, which has a yellowish brown cover with a photo of a baby surrounded by 7 Seconds 7” records, and text that says “7 Seconds” in the band stencil print style, and “New Wind” in an italic font with blank spaces to simulate something in motion. In the background is some artwork and part of my record collection.
A photo of two Canadian geese (gray and white bodies, black necks, black and white heads) with a gosling, which is a dusty yellow and fuzzy, to their left. They are on a grassy patch in a construction trailer office area, with a tan dusty area to their right and a paved area above.
Photo of a very colorful orange and red sunset below cloudy gray skies with part of the scoreboard and centerfield stands of Citizens Bank Park below.
A photo of me, 50-something cishet white male with a while beard, brown mustache, and brown plastic rimmed glasses. I’m wearing a white t-shirt that reads Philadelphia Phillies with a Liberty Bell in black. I’m wearing a baseball hat, powder blue with red bill. In the background over my right shoulder is part of a replica of the 1980 World Series trophy, and in the rear is a brick wall with gold letters.
A blurry photo of a 16-ounce light blue beer can with a view of the playing field at Citizen’s Bank Park, home of the Fightins, in the background. The can text is hard to make out, but the logo is a 3-leaf clover reading Levante Brewing Company, and the name of the beer is Cloudy & Cumbersome.
A screenshot of the retro baseball cap for the Phillies game tonight. The main part of the hat is powder blue, the classic 70s Phillies color. The bill is red. The hat patch is white with a red stitched outline. Top line is a condensed serif font reading PHILADELPHIA. Below is a powder blue line. Below that is Est., then the Phillies flared P logo with the baseball design for the hole in the P, and then 1883. Below that is another powder blue line that is covered by the bottom of the logo. Finally, the bottom reads PHILLIES in the same condensed serif font. There is a white cord at the base of the main hat part, above the bill.
Selfie of me, a 50-something cishet white male with salt-and-pepper (mostly salt) hair and beard, brown mustache, and brown plastic rimmed glasses. I’m wearing a black t-shirt that reads “The Lone Star State” in an arc, with a red rope pattern circle on top, over a blue field with a white star, and then ALL ELITE over the AEW logo. The non-visible parts of the shirt are “Wrestling” below the logo, then red and white fields for the remainder of the Texas flag, and finally “TEXAS” with a star on either side in an arc at the bottom of the circle. I’m holding a gold can of beer in a hot pink looser with a silhouette of a woman (AEW wrestler Jamie Hayter) and a striped circle behind her, below which reads DRINK THE in an extreme font, and below that HAYTERADE. Both are merchandise items I bought at an AEW Dynamite taping in Austin, Texas when I still lived there.
Me, a cishet 50-something white male with short white beard, salt and pepper mustache, and plastic rim glasses. I’m wearing an orange baseball hat (it says Philly Dream but sun washes out the words) and a green t-shirt with a cartoon of Baby Groot, the wood alien creature from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I’m holding a pint glass with a yellowish beer, in this case a delicious Prima Pils from Victory Brewing.
Photo of me, a cishet white middle age male with ruddy skin from either being outside or a slight reaction to something in the roasted turkey cold cuts. I have a white beard and a brown mustache and soul patch, which is kinda weird. I am wearing brown plastic rimmed glasses. I am also wearing a baseball cap, which is the Utz potato chip company logo and Utz girl mascot on a white background, with a red bill, and a blue mesh back because I prefer classic trucker style hats. It’s a really cool looking hat, and Utz are great chips. Among the things visible in the background are an original “zombie” artwork by Kepi Ghoulie (from the Groovie Ghoulies), a Peanuts print by Mondo. This has Linus sitting on the ground listening to records on a portable phonograph with a music note in a sound bubble above it. Lucy is storming in crabbily, with a large all caps speech bubble reading “I DON’T WANNA LISTEN TO THOSE RECORDS.. I WANNA LISTEN TO MY RECORDS!” A small chunk of my vinyl collection is also visible below the artwork, on a custom record shelf I bought almost 20 years using money from the first bonus I ever got at work.
My wife Dena, a cishet white woman with slightly longer than shoulder length brown hair with bangs. She has glasses. Shes wearing a Black Milk Animal Crossing dress but you can’t tell very well because of the red lights in the bar. She is drinking. A cocktail called a CBGB, which is served in a 12-oz metal can with stickers on it. The visible sticker is what we think is Lydia Deetz’s haircut from Beetlejuice. It is her birthday (Dena, not Lydia, although it could be because I don’t think that’s established in Beetlejuice lore).
Selfie of me, a middle-aged cishet white male with salt-and-pepper (mostly salt these days) with freshly trimmed hair, faded on the side and longer on top with a small side part. I have brown glasses and a mostly white beard and weirdly still brown mustache. I’m wearing a white t-shirt. The visible text reads “7 Seconds”, as it is a shirt for my favorite hardcore band. There is an off-white background.
A dark yellow translucent beer with a thin white head of foam, filling about 40% of a clear glass beer mug. There is a worn wooden tabletop below, a plastered wall in the background, and my white fingers gripping the mug handle. This is the Second Wish pale lager from Second District brewing on Bancroft and McKean in South Philly.
A view of south Philly row homes and a church from my rooftop, glowing from streetlights. The sun is setting in the background, with bands of red, orange, gold, and off white facing upwards towards a medium blue sky. The moon is visible in the upper part of the photo.
A green and purple meadow full of bluebonnets, with a line of trees in the background. In the center of the photo is me, a cishet white male. I am lying on my stomach in the flowers, propped up on my elbows with my legs up and crossed behind me. I am parodying a traditional “high school senior picture” pose. I am wearing a yellow baseball hat with a green bill, a long sleeve orange shirt, and an orange safety vest. You can only see the bottoms of my hiking boots, but I am also wearing camo army pants and most importantly canvas snake guards! I am holding a yellow Rite in the Rain field notebook in front of me, as though writing in a journal.
A photo of Ruby, a tuxedo cat (black and white, mostly black on top and white underneath in this case). She is sitting in a white cardboard box with flowers on the side that has scratching pads in it. The box is on a staircase, made of light tan wood with white facings. The box, and Ruby, are partly in the sunlight that is coming in from the glass window area over our front door. She has since been moved down one step, as the sun rises and moves lower into the house. Ruby is named after Shiner Ruby Redbird beer, a light wheat beer with Texas ruby red grapefruit flavor and a hint of ginger. It’s the best beer Shiner makes. But we also call her Ruby Soho.
A photo of an asphalt road. There is faint red utility marking paint that reads “Looking Good”. In the lower left corner is the pointy part of an arrow in red utility marking paint. I have never seen a utility marking crew write something like this, so maybe it was just someone trying to make the rare person walking around this Gateway complex in Gettysburg feel a little better.
Photo of me, a middle-aged cishet white male with a gray beard and hair and dark brown glasses and an orange baseball hat. I am pointing to the t-shirt I am wearing, a black shirt that reads Unstoppable (in gray font) TUSH PUSH (in a large bold jagged font, white letters with gray highlights). The graphic is a green, gray, and white tank with letters reading 92%, and there are various generic Philadelphia Eagles football players on and around the tank. The tank is rolling over gray football helmets, with visible logos including the Dallas Cowboys star, the New England Patriots, and the KC football team arrowhead (CHANGE THE NAME). At bottom in white letters reads If everyone could do it and below, in green, Everyone would (italicized) do it. Go Birds!
A photo of graffiti on the same SEPTA maps as the helpful bus connection data. This graffiti reads Free Luigi Take Cherelle And someone else drew a heart around the Free Luigi portion.
Photo of a portion of a SEPTA map in a Philadelphia subway station. The focus of the photo is the southern part of the Broad Street Line, shown as a thick orange line, with white circles for the stops, along with black text for each of the stop names. For the portions south of, and including the City Hall stop, someone has used a black sharpie to add the relevant connecting bus lines available at that stop. The City Hall section is within a box with a line connecting to the stop, due to the number of available bus connections. Below this box, someone else has written “Thank You”
Photo of a white hand with a beer can. It is orange and has an image of a white make with a white t-shirt with orange sleeves and a lightning bolt design, gray pants, and a cast on the lower left leg. He appear to have slipped and fallen; and is surrounded by hops; there are beer kegs to the right. Main text reads: Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company above the art and Citra Crutch west coast style IPA below the art.
A white hand holding a can of beer. It is blue, letters at top read Real Ale Brewing. Below is a sun motif with a starburst in the middles and the words Solar Myth. Below the sun reads Belgian White, and then Belgian Style Wheat Ale is written on a green “land” background.
A square, blue background “announcement” post. Text reads (all in caps): Donations Needed! South Philly Code Blue Warming Center DiSilvestro Recreation Center 1701 S 15th St Hand sanitizer - socks -gloves - hot hands -lip balm - deodorant - baby wipes - toothbrushes - toothpaste - tea - hot cocoa - ramen - granola bars - bananas - clementines - Uncrustables donations accepted after 4 pm Financial donations: Venmo @melissa-inzaris