We probably should have done this about 200 episodes ago, but it's time to lay down the (very very) basics of the evolution of the genus Homo. First of all, how does evolution work? Who were our ancestors, where did they live and when, and how did these populations adapt and branch into different species over time? This is part one of Anna's crash course on early humans, with a second installment coming to the premium feed soon! In that second half, we'll talk specifically about tool use as a "hallmark of human-ness" and cover some surprising examples of non-human tool users. Subscribe to the Dirtbags Only premium feed at https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/support for a 7-day free trial of ALL our bonus content, and support the show for just $5/month after that! To learn more: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html#:~:text=Some%20genetic%20calibrations%20place%20their,Homo%20antecessor%20or%20another%20species.https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-interactive-timelinehttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248416301361?via%3DihubBOOK RECOMMENDATION: Rutherford, AdamThe Book of Humans: A brief history of culture, sex, war, and the evolution of us

This week we venture off to Bronze Age Anatolia to pay a visit to the Land of Hatti, and snoop through the royal mailbags. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Want to support the show? SUBSCRIBE to our back catalog of bonus content for $5 a month after a one-week free trial at:&nbsp;https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/supportShow notes:The Hittites (The Met)The Hittite Language and Its Decipherment (Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies)The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia (via Google Books)EA 041 Artifact Entry (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative)&nbsp;The Amarna Letters&nbsp;Amarna the Place (AmarnaProject.com)Replica of Peace Treaty between Hattusilis and Ramses II (United Nations)The Treaty of Alliance between Ḫattušili, King of the Hittites, and the Pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt (The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology)&nbsp;The Hittites' fast war chariots threatened mighty Egypt (National Geographic)The Laws of the HittitesThe Hittites Serve Their Gods (Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship in the Hebrew Bible)The Religion of the Hittites (Biblical Archaeologist)Hittite Online (University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center)Luwian Scripts (LuwianStudies.org)Excavation in Turkey Leads to the Discovery of Ancient Indo-European Language From Kalašma (Artnet)Feb 2 online seminar: The Language of Kalašma: A New Branch of Anatolian (TORCH)<a href="https://www.livescience.com/61989-famed-archaeologist-created-fakes.html" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

It's another sponsored episode! Anna takes Amber through a short history of the blues, specifically as one of the many musical genres to come out of the African diaspora. We start by learning about the clave, which is both an instrument and a rhythm. Then, we wander through a little history, before Anna hauls out a guitar and tries to remember how scales work. What is a blue note? Was there really a deal with the devil at a crossroads? Is a hotdog without a bun just a hotdog? All this and more! Subscribe to our back catalog of bonus content (fresh helpings coming January 2024) for $5 a month after a one-week free trial at: https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/support Learn more at:The Story of Claves– from Spanish Ships to Today's Cuban bands (KCRW)Son Clave 3-2 &amp; 2-3 (watch &amp; learn) (via Youtube)What Is A Griot? (America’s Black Holocaust Museum)The Language of the Blues: GRIOT (American Blues Scene)Muslim roots of the blues: The music of famous American blues singers reaches back through the South to the culture of West Africa (SFGate)Roots of African American Music (Smithsonian)Blues (Britannica)What is the blues? (PBS)The Painful Birth of Blues and Jazz (Library of Congress)The Livelihoods of Traditional Griots in Modern Senegal (Africa: Journal of the International African Institute)The Music of West Africa

It's a listener-sponsored episode! (That's right, that's still a thing that we do). Anna whisks Amber along on a tour of Neolithic sites in the Orkney Isles, an archipelago off the coast of Scotland. Around 5,000 years ago, this place was a hub for new ideas. Come with us as we visit the houses at Skara Brae, the "hidden" Neolithic village that re-emerged in 1850 (CE). We also swing by the massive Ness of Brodgar site, and finish up at a newly discovered chambered tomb, all while learning what people were up to 5,000 years ago in the far north.To learn more: Ancient Genomes Indicate Population Replacement in Early Neolithic Britain - PMCSkara Brae | Leading Public Body for Scotland's Historic EnvironmentScotland and the indoor toilet - BBC News.Skara Brae - WikipediaSkara Brae - The Discovery and Excavation of Orkney's finest Neolithic SettlementArchaeology OrkneyArchaeology &amp; Other Sites | Orkney.comThe Ness of Brodgar ExcavationHeart of Neolithic Orkney - UNESCO World Heritage CentreOutstanding Lesser-known Archaeological Sites in Orkney - Dig It!Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)‘A Neolithic feat of engineering’: Orkney dig reveals ruins of huge tomb | Scotland | The GuardianCW: Images of human remainsSkeletons discovered in rare 5,000-year-old tomb in OrkneyNeolithic discovery: why Orkney is the centre of ancient Britain | Archaeology | The GuardianA massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain - PMCEXTREMELY thorough reports, reconstructions, and photos:https://canmore.org.uk/site/1663/skara-brae

This week, Amber is in Toronto giving a paper and running the podcast library booth at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association! But don't worry, we won't leave your ears hanging. That came out weird, sorry. Anyway! Here is a release of a fun bonus episode from November 2021!Anna takes Amber on a short but eventful journey into an investigation of Egyptian hieroglyphs located in eastern Australia. How did they get there? Did Egyptians reach Australia thousands of years ago? ARE THE CHICKENS A CLUE?? Plus, a detour into mummy drugs.&nbsp;For more information, check out:Bulgandry Aboriginal Art Site - This Place (Indigenous.gov.au)Hair Raising Cases in Hair Testing: Are ‘cocaine Mummies’ Real or Fake? (Cotsford Lab)New World Tobacco in Old World Mummies (Skeptoid)Rameses II and the Tobacco Beetle (Antiquity, via ResearchGate)Translated: This Is What The 5,000-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs In Australia Say (Humans Are Free)Egyptologist debunks new claims about 'Gosford glyphs' (ABC)Gosford Glyphs, Walking Track to Secret Treasures! (Kombi Lifestyle, with pics)Gosford Glyphs (Atlas Obscura)The Gosford glyphs, debunked (Australian Geographic)First rock art (National Museum of Australia)

Spooktober 2023 reaches its climax with a special Halloween treat. Amber shares a series of spooky stories from her own childhood back in Appalachia, but not without exploring the many roles of folklore in societies-- all of 'em! Four Functions of Folklore (The Journal of American Folklore)Why ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Frightened So Many Parents in the 1990s (Smithsonian)The Folklorist Behind Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (JSTOR Daily)Tailypo: A Ghost Story (Internet Archive)Tailypo (Storytelling for Everyone)The Best of Scary Stories for Stormy Nights (Internet Archive)The Bean-Nighe (Pan Book of Horror Stories)Ruth Ann Musick's Trunk of Tales: Lesson plans for The Telltale Lilac Bush and other WV Ghost Tales (Fairmont State University)The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales (University of Kentucky)The Greenbrier Ghost (AppLit Project)My West Virginia Family Ghost Story (WVU Libraries)Time and Again (Short Story Project)

Hellhole, and welcome to The Dirt! Spooktober continues with an exploration of portals to the underworld. We're bringing you some unexpected sounds from Siberia, a couple of incredible caves, and the science behind sacrificial bulls dropping dead in ancient Rome. Plus, the Medieval European origin of the Hellmouth! Get your spelunking gear and maybe a comforting blanket or two as we journey to the underworld together. To learn more and dig deeper:https://scratchpad.fandom.com/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_AM_-_Index_of_Guest_Appearanceshttps://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190503-the-deepest-hole-we-have-ever-dug#:~:text=Drilling%20was%20stopped%20in%201992,whole%20facility%20was%20closed%20down.https://www.wired.com/2014/01/an-artist-records-the-mysterious-rumblings-of-middle-earth/https://mymodernmet.com/krubera-cave/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/deepest-cave?loggedin=true&amp;rnd=1697313803769https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/getting-lost-cave-labyrinth-brain/582865/https://www.thedailybeast.com/welcome-to-hell-a-history-of-portals-to-the-underworldhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/people-lived-cave-78000-years-180969051/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04057-3https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-the-oldest-evidence-of-indoor-human-activity-deep-inside-a-desert-cavehttps://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba1219https://www.vice.com/en/article/epvbxk/archaeologists-found-an-ancient-entrance-to-the-underworld-under-a-church-in-mexicohttps://www.livescience.com/archaeology/maya-canoe-surrounded-by-animal-and-human-bones-found-in-portal-to-the-underworld-in-mexico<a...

Get your eye of newt and toe of frog ready, because something witchy this way comes! Amber is traveling once more for work, and Anna is dealing with some health issues, so we are releasing this Deep Cuts episode from 2020 where Anna tells Amber some witchy stories around the Spooktober campfire. More new Spooktober content coming soon! Witches of Cornwall (Archaeology)A Feminist Perspective on the History of Women as Witches (Dissenting Voices)'Witchcraft' Island Reveals Evidence of Stone Age Rituals (LiveScience)The ‘death whistle’ (MexicoLore.co.uk)

Welcome to SPOOKTEMBER! In previous years, Amber has treated Anna to a month of stories and studies from the ghoulish side of archaeology and anthropology. This year, since we moved to biweekly episodes, we're extending the season! This week, it's first of four lightly haunted topics with (!!!!) MINIMAL BUMMERS! We're talking about necromancy, the practice of communing with the dead via ritual. We explore a cave full of lamps and skulls, climb into a ghost pit, and flip through some Babylonian spellbooks. Let's ponder the OB together! Placement of ancient hidden lamps, skulls in cave in Israel suggests Roman-era practice of necromancy (Phys.org) (cn: images of human remains)Oil Lamps, Spearheads and Skulls: Possible Evidence of Necromancy during Late Antiquity in the Te’omim Cave, Judean Hills (Harvard Theological Review) (cn: images of human remains)​​The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (via Internet Archive)Talking Heads: Necromancy in Jewish and Christian Accounts from Mesopotamia and beyond (via Academia.edu)Second Millenium Antecedents to the Hebrew 'Ôḇ (Journal of Biblical Literature)How to perform necromancy with Irving Finkel (via YouTube)Fragment of a clay tablet (British Museum)Necromancy in Ancient Mesopotamia (Archiv für Orientforschung)In case you, like Anna, missed the orb-pondering meme:https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pondering-my-orb

This week, we're talking about urban archaeology! Archaeology in, around, and under cities. Humans have been building their living spaces on top of previous occupations for basically forever. When you translate that to a modern city environment, with every big construction project, you’ve got the possibility of encountering evidence of those previous occupations.&nbsp;In this episode, we cover a few examples of ways that urban archaeology adds richness to our understanding of how people in cities lived. What is a city? And importantly, is "city" the goal? Tune in to learn more! For further reading: Archaeology - African Burial Ground National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)African Burial Ground | NYPAPBig Dig - WikipediaThe Big Dig: project background | Mass.govHighway to the Past: The Archaeology of Boston's Big DigSecrets of the Three Cranes Tavern | BU Today | Boston UniversityConversations: Digging Under Beantown - Archaeology Magazine Archive“The Basis of Civilization – Water Science?” Rodda, J. C., and Ubertini, Lucio (2004). p. 161. International Association of Hydrological Sciences (International Association of Hydrological Sciences Press 2004).4,000-Year-Old Ceramic Drainage System Discovered in China | Sci.NewsResearch sheds new light on York's thriving medieval Jewish Communityhttp://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/norman/the-1190-massacreArcheologists discover array of Aztec artefacts under Mexico City | History News | Al JazeeraCamp Century - Nuclear Museum

This week: A brief catch-up sesh with Anna and Amber, who are both recovering from Covid (hence the late episode, sorry y'all!). Then, Amber guides us through her months of archival research, uncovering the real life and expeditions of her special boy, Wendell Phillips. Wendell Phillips was a self-proclaimed archaeologist, adventurer, and founder of the American Foundation for the Study of Man. He was also a significant catalyst for the beginning of Arabian archaeology as a discipline in the 1950s. Most contemporary accounts of Phillips reduce him to a cartoonish, smooth-talking cowboy-wannabe buffoon who stumbled into oil concessions that made him a gajillionaire. But there's way more to Wendell Phillips than that. Come pull at the threads of this story with us--they lead to some fascinating places.

Hi friends,We've got a real banger of an episode recorded and ready to edit, but ...Amber and Anna are both recovering from Covid. So things are moving a little more slowly than usual. Keep your ears ready, though, because this week's episode will be out soon, and it's a TREAT. Stay safe! We love you!

The Neolithic period in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) saw lots of changes happening. Hunter-gatherers gradually adopted a less schleppy lifestyle, embracing agriculture. This happened over thousands of years, and wasn't quite the dramatic "rise of cities and civilization" that often describes the Neolithic. But speaking of cities...what's up with those T-shaped pillars and animal carvings, huh? It's five years in, pals, and we're finally talking about Göbekli Tepe, with our signature flavor of "hey what about the people that lived there, though?" We discuss the idea of the "Neolithic Revolution," the brainchild(e) of archaeologist V.G. Childe, and the pitfalls of flattening time into "ages." Title drafts for this episode included:Let's GÖ(bekli Tepe)The Dirt is a T-shaped Pillar of the CommunityThe Revolution Will Be PodcastedShow notes: Neolithic Period - World History Encyclopediahttps://lens.idai.world/?url=/repository/eDAI-F_2020-2/eDAI-F_Clare.xmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._Gordon_ChildeGobekli Tepe - Download Free 3D model by rmark (@rmark) [5a4d25c]https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/new-karahantepe-settlement-may-be-older-than-gobeklitepe/newsGeometry and Architectural Planning at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey | Cambridge Archaeological JournalAn Investigation of Ancient Water Collection and Storage Systems Near the Karahantepe Neolithic Site Using UAV and GISThe phallus of the greatest archeological finding of the new millenia: an untold story of Gobeklitepe dated back 12 milleniums | International Journal of Impotence ResearchBread and porridge at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe: A new method to recognize products of cereal processing using quantitative functional analyses on grinding stones - ScienceDirect“HUNTING GROUND ECONOMY” AND THE ROLE OF SPECULATIVE “KNOWLEDGE”*** GÖBEKLİ TEPE KÜLThttps://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/death-rituals-social-order-and-the-archaeology-of-immortality-in-the-ancient-world/gathering-of-the-dead-the-early-neolithic-sanctuaries-of-gobekli-tepe-southeastern-turkey/4DD3B6952FED9057D595DE0E9D8C910F<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354865014_Buried_Buildings_at_Pre-Pottery_Neolithic_Karahantepe_Karahantepe_Canak_Comleksiz_Neolitik_Donem_Gomulu_Yapilari_2021"...

To celebrate our brand-new coming-soon sponsorship platform, Ghost, it's a release from the vaults of Patreon bonus episodes! Recorded around this time last year, when Anna was too hot and sweaty and dreaming of the ocean, this is a goofy look at some miscellaneous mariners' myths! Learn who Jenny Haniver is, and why Amber never wants to meet her. Brush up on your boating superstitions. Plus, hear about some of the fascinating/bonkers/incredible bonus material available for all new subscribers! Support us by listening, sharing episodes, leaving reviews, and--if you're so inclined, by joining us over on Ghost! We'll be sure to notify you as soon as the page is live. To learn more:Historiae animalium (Biodiversity Library)The Long, Strange Legacy of One of the World’s Earliest Fake Mermaids (Atlas Obscura)Jenny Haniver: The Original Fake Mermaid (OddFeed)What’s Behind the ‘No Bananas on a Boat’ Superstition? (Snopes)Top 20 Sailing Superstitions (New Zealand Maritime Museum)Umibōzu – The Sea&nbsp;Monk (Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai)Black Mermaids: The Waters Beyond Eurocentric Mythology (Tor)In case you missed it: Beginning August 2– the day our next episode drops— the full back catalog of The Dirt’s premium content will be available on Ghost at your choice of two tiers, at half the previous price. Plus new stuff! At regular intervals! More Dirt, less money! Current Patreon subscribers will receive instructions for accessing their complimentary subscription period. That will come to you at the email associated with your patreon pledge, as well as in the lil in-app inbox. You’ll also receive a promotional code that can be redeemed to honor those months or years during which y’all graciously shared your dollars or USD equivalent with us. That’s the part that’s taking more time because amber is not great at math and wrote this copy for me but doesn’t want to give the impression that I personally devalue her math skills. But she probably wouldn’t know it anyway if I did because of the bad at math thing. Ha! On ghost, subscribers will have the option to pay monthly or annually for one of two tiers. The first, at 5 American dollars each month, gives you access to Old News (explain) and Deep Cuts (explain). The second, at 10 buckaroonies, gets you Old News, Deep Cuts, AND Dirt After Dark. And if you like being parasocial, we also plan to start releasing some looser bonus content where we pal around and get a little loosey goosey. We’ve been hard at work writing and recording and sticking up acoustic tiles to make this next step and we are grateful and thrilled to have you join us in our fiiiifth year. Watch this space, by which I mean the notes field, and enjoy this episode. Oh wait, did I mention we’ll have a promotion that snags you a free trial? We sure will.

TRY THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK TO LEARN ABOUT THE PAST, FAST! We're talking scams, frauds, fakers, and pretenders this week. Anna just hauled a whole household halfway across the country and is still recovering. So Amber has stepped up with a super fun episode about some of the trickiest pretenders from history (ancient and modern). Tune into some Old Assyrian family drama, unwrap misleading mummies, discover a heroic art movement, and more! For further reading: Behistun Inscription (with English translation) (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative)&nbsp;Achaemenes (Encyclopedia Iranica)The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (Project Gutenberg)How Ancient Scammers Tricked Consumers (World of Chinese)The secret letters of history's first-known businesswomen (BBC Worklife)Women of Assur: and Kanesh Texts from the Archives of Assyrian Merchants (via WorldCat)Demosthenes’ Against Zenothemis (Perseus)Bottomry (Wikipedia)A Third of Animal Mummies Contain no Animals at All (Smithsonian)Disumbrationist School of Art (Museum of Hoaxes)Bogus pupil set to lose place at university (The Independent)Exclusive: Brian MacKinnon Tells The Herald ‘How I Was Unmasked’ (The Herald)Brandon Lee: The model school pupil who was a 30-year-old imposter (BBC)

If you don't like this episode, well, you can go kick rocks! Just... not these rocks, they're culturally significant. That's right, it's an episode about megaliths, monoliths, and other kinds of -liths that were placed on the landscape by humans. Y'all. There are so many big rocks. We spend some time thinking about cultural memory, heritage, and colonial dispossession of these monuments. We also cover the Stonhenge-ification of megalith sites, learn to tell a dolmen from an orthostat, and find some extremely cool desert kites (not the flying kind). So. Many. Big. Rocks. To learn more: MTV Arabia “Dabke Dude” promotional spot (via YouTube)Monumental Colonialism: Megaliths and the Appropriation of Australia's Aboriginal Past (Journal of Material Culture)Aspects of the Megalithic Era (Newgrange.com)Astronomy of Nabta Playa (African Skies)Interactive Map (Globalkites)Desert Monoliths Reveal Stone Age Architectural Blueprints (New York Times)The Use of Desert Kites as Hunting Mega-Traps: Functional Evidence and Potential Impacts on Socioeconomic and Ecological Spheres&nbsp; (Journal of World Prehistory)The Sailing Stones of Death Valley (National Park Foundation)Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)What Was Stonehenge For? The Answer Might Be Simpler Than You Thought. (New York Times)5 Strange Theories About Stonehenge (LiveScience)Indonesian Megaliths: A Forgotten Cultural Heritage (eBook via Google Play)Dolmens of Ancient Korea (World History Encyclopedia)Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites (UNESCO)Dolmens in Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa (Korea Cultural Heritage Administration)Identity and...

Hiya, friends! Amber is currently traveling in Saudi Arabia for work so we're re-releasing this extremely relevant episode on Arabian archaeology! We'll be back in your ears with new content soon. Amber takes Anna on a guided tour of her beloved Arabia. Learn about the varied mountains, deserts, and oases that are nowhere near as empty or inactive as Western explorers might have you believe. We examine the archaeology of Tell Abraq, get scammed by a guy named Ea-Nasir, solve the mystery of Magan (hint: not actually a mystery), and share insights from skeletal remains about community care and compassion thousands of years ago. Disappointingly, we still don't know what Dilmun onions are.

Hooray! It's the first of our episodes highlighting the work of our 2022 Pass The Mic travel grant recipients! Danielle Kabella works with communities in New Mexico that have historically had a complex relationship with substance use, recovery, and the legal system. Danielle's work focuses on recovery efforts of the past 50 years as a way to understand the changing relationship between recovery science, medicine, and the power of a community to re-shape that relationship. The Pass The Mic grant comes from listener support, and lets us fund travel and outreach trips for undergraduate and graduate students. To learn more, or to support the grant with a donation, head to thedirtpod.com/passthemic. Find Danielle on Twitter @dmkabellaTo learn more: Drug Ethnographies Michael Agar (1973) Ripping and Running: A Formal Ethnography of Urban Heroin AddictsPhilippe Bourgois (2003) In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio &amp; (2009) Righteous Dopefiend * is a photo essay Angela Garcia (2010) The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the Rio GrandeTodd Meyer’s (2013) The Clinic and Elsewhere: Addiction, Adolescents, and the Afterlife of TherapyKelly Knight (2015) Pregnant. Addicted. PoorHelena Hansen (2018) Addicted to Christ: Remaking Men in Puerto Rican Pentecostal Drug Ministries&amp; (2023) Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Heroin in AmericaNatasha Schull (2014) Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas * sts focusedNancy Campbell (2020) OD: Naloxone And The Politics Of Overdose *not an ethnography, but a history of technology and very STS focused Harm Reduction &amp; other Organizations Danielle works with: Sonoran Prevention Works (AZ)Casa de Salud (NM) * 1st ethnographic study with McNair ProgramTrans Queer Pueblo (AZ) bringing access to HRT/ primary care for migrants, etc.

Sick burn, breh--This week, Anna and Amber tackle the origins of fire use in the hominin archaeological record. We've taken a journalistic approach, so we've got What Fire, Where and When Fire, Why Fire, Who Fire, and How Fire. Plus, how do archaeologists look for evidence of fires that happened up to a million years ago? Amber also shares some Big Life Updates! To learn more: Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)When Did Early Humans Start Using Fire? To Find Answers, Scientists Enlist Artificial Intelligence (Smithsonian)Hidden signatures of early fire at Evron Quarry (1.0 to 0.8 Mya) (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)Fire Use (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology)The Earliest Example of Hominid Fire (Smithsonian)Sparking controversy, or putting out the fire? (Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution Community)Arsonist falcons suggest birds discovered fire before humans did (New Scientist)Phylogenetic rate shifts in feeding time during the evolution of Homo (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)Experimental Approaches to Archaeological Fire Features and Their Behavioral Relevance (Current Anthropology)Selection and Use of Manganese Dioxide by Neanderthals (Nature Scientific Reports)Fire Plow: Tips and Tricks (Fire and Fungi on YouTube)Bow Drill Friction Fire (Donny Dust on YouTube)

It was Anna's turn to get sick, so this week we bring you a portion of the most recent episode of our bonus series Dirt After Dark. Most of that episode is about Ashayana Deane, a purveyor of pseudoscience and ancient aliens accounts, and a very complicated lady. However, in the first part, Anna recaps some takeaways and opinions from the recent Faking it and Making it panel on pseudo-archaeology at the SAA meetings in Portland.

We're naming names this week! An aspect of studying the past that might surprise you, names can add some fascinating nuance to our understanding of people and places. What did ancient people call themselves and everything around them? What kinds of meanings can names hold? Hold onto your butts, it's time to think some big thoughts!

You know that cold that made Amber's voice all froggy? Turns out it was COVID. And the flu. But she's on the mend! And to give her time to fully recuperate, we're releasing a portion of the most recent episode of Old News, one of our premium content shows! This batch of news stories includes some Neanderthal food, some African archaeology, some Horse Guy stuff, and more!Support The Dirt:patreon.com/thedirtpodcastpaypal.me/thedirtpodcast.com(Ghost subsciption page COMING SOON!)For more on those news stories: Young Sudanese archaeologists dig up history as ‘west knows best’ era ends (The Guardian)Ancient Stone Tools Once Thought to be Made by Humans Were Actually Crafted by Monkeys, Say Archaeologists | Artnet NewsPrehistoric population once lived in Siberia, but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds (Live Science) (CW: human remains)Researchers in Vietnam Discovered That Two Deer Antlers Languishing in Museum Storage Are Actually 2,000-Year-Old Musical Instruments.The world's first horse riders found near the Black Sea (Phys.org)Dried Lake Reveals New Statue on Easter Island | Smart News| Smithsonian MagazineArchaeologists in Portugal Have Discovered the Remains of a Favorite Neanderthal Feast: Roasted Crab (Artnet)

Anna and Amber sit down to chat about the Denisovans, the human ancestors we didn't know we had until recently. Learn about what evidence we have for Denisovans, the traits for which we can thank them, and some of the mysteries that remain. Come for big reveals about what's in human DNA, stay for ample use of phrases like "bouts of interbreeding."To learn more, check out:Meet the Denisovans (Discover)First Confirmed Denisovan Skull Piece Found (Sapiens)The first known fossil of a Denisovan skull has been found in a Siberian cave (ScienceNews)Denisovans, A Mysterious Kind Of Ancient Humans, Are Traced To Tibet (NPR)Found: First Tibetan Evidence of Neanderthal Cousins, the Denisovans (LiveScience)Why Am I Denisovan? (National Geographic)We may have bred with Denisovans much more recently than we thought (New Scientist)A world map of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry in modern humans (ScienceDaily)DNA Shows The Denisovans Have At Least 3 Distinct Branches (Tech Times)Mum’s a Neanderthal, Dad’s a Denisovan: First discovery of an ancient-human hybrid (Nature)Denisovans and Neanderthals Interbred in a Giant Cave (Jstor Daily)Bone suggests ‘Red Deer Cave people’ a mysterious species of human (The Conversation)

This week, Amber is recovering from a nasty cold that has left her normally dulcet tones extremely froggy. So we've made lemons out of that germy lemonade (ew, sorry). It's an episode about the archaeology, prehistory, and history of the common cold! Learn how to tell if a skeleton had the sniffles, figure out if there are ghosts in your colon, uncover the great Vitamin C scam, and more! CONTENT WARNING: A case study from ancient Nimrud includes brief mention of a post-mortem treatment for burial that some listeners may find upsetting! For more on this episode's topics: Humans are 8% virus – how the ancient viral DNA in your genome plays a role in human disease and development (The Conversation)Prehistoric viruses smuggled genes into our DNA (Chemical &amp; Engineering News)Cold Virus Found To Manipulate Genes (ScienceDaily)Sequences capture the code of the common cold (University of Wisconsin)Common cold virus may predate modern humans, ancient DNA hints (Live Science)Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use (Nature Public Health Emergency Collection)Cowabunga! Horn reveals herbal mixtures used by medieval healers in South Africa (RFI)Africa's Medical History Revealed (Origins)Infectious Diseases in the Archaeological Record (Ember Archaeology)Disease concepts and classifications in ancient Mesopotamian medicine (Systems of Classification in Premodern Medical Cultures)The Life and Health of Assyrian Queens (Ancient Near East Today)Cold Sore Virus Detected in Ancient Human Remains (Archaeology)Common cold: The centuries-old battle against the sniffles (BBC News)Medical Practitioners: Ancient Legacy (Prof. Sean Taylor, MSU Moorhead)Ancient

We're doing something different this week while Amber is on a whirlwind tour of life admin stuff. In response to some of the conflict over Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse show on Netflix, Anna has been writing about the double-edged sword of creating archaeology content online. Social media can be a useful tool, but it can also be...well, not great. So, we figured, why not cover two types of content in one! The plan is to make a short series of minisodes out of the process of writing an article about archaeology for the public. We can talk to fellow content makers, editors, and others who contribute to the creative process. Let us know if you'd like to hear more of this kind of thing at thedirtpodcast@gmail.com! For extra context on archaeologists' response to Ancient Apocalypse: Anna's columns for SAPIENS: https://www.sapiens.org/?s=&amp;column%5B%5D=field-tripsThe Familiar Strange on pseudoscience: https://thefamiliarstrange.com/2022/11/21/victorian-pseudoscience/Open letter from the Society of American Archaeology to Netflix: http://saa.org/quick-nav/saa-media-room/saa-news/2022/12/01/saa-sends-letter-to-netflix-concerning-ancient-apocalypse-seriesElla al-Shamahi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ella_AlShamahi/status/1599474951823577088Dangers of pseudoscience: https://www.dw.com/en/netflix-ancient-apocalypse-series-marks-dangerous-trend-experts-say/a-64033733John Hoopes' comments on Hancock: https://news.ku.edu/2022/10/25/professor-can-comment-netflixs-ancient-apocalypse-how-pseudoarchaeology-can-reinforceAtlantis is a fictional city: https://www.thoughtco.com/platos-atlantis-from-the-timaeus-119667Bill Farley on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLFtC_OSpX4Flint Dibble's article on Ancient Apocalypse for SAPIENS: https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-apocalypse-pseudoscience/

This week, Anna has some big questions about the Pleiades, a group of bright, beautiful stars also known as the Seven Sisters. The myth of seven sisters that were turned into stars is remarkably consistent across multiple cultures. Also, it's always seven sisters, even though you can really only make out six with the naked eye. So what's going on? IS IT ALIENS?? No, of course not. It's much more interesting than that. Tune in to learn just how long humans have been telling each other stories under the stars. Resources for this episode:The Founding of the Seven Sisters (Vassar Encyclopedia)Pleiades (Wikipedia)How Many Pleiades Can YOU See? (Sky &amp; Telescope)Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites (Australian Archaeology)Why are there Seven Sisters? (Advancing Cultural Astronomy)The world's oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about 'seven sisters' stars may reach back 100,000 years (The Conversation)Story Of The "Seven Sisters" Unfolds Across Enormous Ancient Australian Rock Art Site (IFLScience)

We've discussed Neanderthals quite a bit on The Dirt (it's a whole section of Anna's contract). But while we've talked about their diet, their bodies, and their genes, we haven't spent much time thinking about their daily life, their living spaces, and the idea of "home." How did Neanderthals organize their domestic spaces? How do you make a cave cozy? How did people keep track of familiar places tens of thousands of years ago? What's cooking at Chez Neanderthal? Tune in to learn more! Show notes: Organization of residential space, site function variability, and seasonality of activities among MIS 5 Iberian Neandertals (Scientific Reports)Neanderthals in the Levant: Behavioural Organization and the Beginnings of Human Modernity (Google Books)Why this spot on the Jersey coast was like a magnet for Neanderthals (The Conversation)Sleeping Activity Area within the Site Structure of Archaic Human Groups Evidence from Abric Romani Level N Combustion Activity Areas (Current Anthropology)Variability of limestone knapping methods in Middle Palaeolithic levels M and Ob of Abric Romaní (Barcelona, Spain) (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences)Neanderthal Homes Were at The Cutting edge of Modern Living (University of Southampton)Palaeolithic wooden artefacts from the Abric Romani (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain) (ScienceDirect)The Paleolithic Age Cooked Up Creative Chefs (Sapiens)Vegetation and climate record from Abric Romaní (Capellades, northeast Iberia) during the Upper Pleistocene (MIS 5d−3) (ScienceDirect)Abundant molds of wooden remains were found in the Abric Romaní site evidences from 60,000 years old Neanderthal communities (IPHES News)Neandertal Behavior at the Middle Palaeolithic Site of Abric Romaní, Capellades, Spain (Journal of Field Archaeology)Neanderthals: an ecologically selective species? Experimental methods to research fire use in the Abric Romani rockshelter (UK Research and Innovation)<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13718562-800-science-good-housekeeping-neanderthal-style/"...

Join us for a tasting session along the timewine (TM) of human history! Is the human capacity to digest alcohol an evolutionary advantage? Are drunk apes chill apes? When did the first deliberate grape fermentation occur? How did a Greek wine cauldron end up in a Celtic burial in France? What's up with wine terms? Sip on all this and more in this week's episode. Many thanks to Rosie for sponsoring this one! If you would like to sponsor an episode on a topic of your choosing for a minimum donation of $25, head to paypal.me/thedirtpodcast. Be sure to include a message telling us the topic in the transaction! All proceeds from sponsored episodes go to The Dirt's outreach efforts and the Pass the Mic conference travel grant! This week's show notes: Five Turning Points in the Evolution of Wine (Sapiens)The Origins and History of Winemaking (ThoughtCo)History of Alcohol: A Timeline (ThoughtCo)The Origins and Ancient History of Wine (Penn Museum)This 8000-year-old jar holds traces of what may be Eurasia's oldest wine (Science)Oldest Evidence of Winemaking Discovered at 8,000-Year-Old Village (National Geographic)A Greek Treasure in France (New York Times)Vix Grave (Wikipedia)Wine and Rome (Encyclopaedia Romana)A Taste for Wine (Popular Archaeology)To Your Health, Caesar! Wine and the Gauls (Pointe-à-Callière Museum)Anthropomorphizing Wine in Our Current Climate (Anthropology News)Here’s Why You Should Visit Spain’s Basque Country (Wine Traveler)'Social Wine': Ethnic Identity and Wine Consumption in the Basque Diaspora in Barcelona (Spain) (Food, Drink and Identity in Europe)This Basque Winery Is Reinventing Vermouth With a Regional Grape (and Sustainable Methods) (Saveur)<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/america-drinking-alone-problem/619017/" rel="noopener...

Anna and Amber chat with Dr. Tracie Canada a socio-cultural anthropologist whose ethnographic research uses sport to theorize race, kinship and care, gender, and the performing body. We talk about the lived experiences of Black athletes, the role of sports in human society, the many health implications of a contact sport, and more. Find Tracie's work here: https://www.traciecanada.com/

Hello, and welcome to the new and improving Dirt Podcast! If you’re a longtime listener, welcome back and thank you so much for sticking with us. If you’re new to The Dirt, welcome! On normal episodes, we explore stories from archaeology and anthropology in a way that is hopefully accessible and entertaining for anyone, regardless of educational background. If you’re fascinated by the lives of people in the past, then this is a show for you!&nbsp;That said, this particular episode is a much more casual, unscripted one than we usually put out. We wanted to provide an update on our move from the Archaeology Podcast Network, our reasons for moving, and our upcoming plans for the show and beyond. So for anyone who’s less interested in a hang with your host pals, here’s the TC;DL (too chatty; didn’t listen).We’re moving our entire catalog of episodes from Soundcloud and APN to Captivate. This shouldn’t mean anything different for you, the listener–episodes should still go to the same RSS feed, so they’ll show up in your podcast player as usual. Anna is going to finish that process ASAP. It involves converting over 150 files from WAV to MP3, woof. The episodes will then all be on Captivate, and available for your listening pleasure. After that, it’s just a matter of making sure all the show notes are correct.You won’t hear ads, since we’re no longer on the APN feed, but you’ll hear the “whoosh” effect where the ads used to be. We’re going to gradually phase out our Patreon account, where we get most of our financial support, and switch over to Ghost. This is an open-source subscription platform that does not take a cut of patron money, unlike Patreon. This way, all of your support goes directly to us. We’ll also be changing some of the tiers so that more of the bonus content is available to those at some of the lower subscription tiers.&nbsp; We had a great time at the AAA conference in November, and had some substantial success with a podcast library booth! We’ve got some big plans for the future of The Dirt, but the quality of our research and our episodes won’t change (except for the better)Lastly, a few life updates, tangents, goofs, etc. So if that summary does it for you, we’ll see you back here soon with new content! If you want to listen in for the whole meandering conversation, just keep listening. Thank you again, friends–we’re excited for a fresh start!&nbsp;

This week, Anna and Amber have a Thing*: it’s an episode all about the Viking Age! Sail with us through an exploration of life during the Viking Age. We talk about the ships they sailed, the food they ate, and the helmets they DIDN'T wear. Plus, some very experimental archaeology, and Amber learns how the salami is made...and nothing will ever be the same.*Thing: An Old Norse word for an assembly of people convened for decision-making. Pronounced “ting.” To learn more, check out:How Vikings navigated the world (ScienceNordic)Did Vikings really wear horned helmets? (History.com)Viking food (National Museum of Denmark)Fondén, R. , Leporanta, K. and Svensson, U. (2007). Nordic/Scandinavian Fermented Milk Products. In Fermented Milks, A. Tamime (Ed.). doi:10.1002/9780470995501.ch7Holck, Per (August 2006). "The Oseberg Ship Burial, Norway: New Thoughts On the Skeletons From the Grave Mound". European Journal of Archaeology. 9 (2–3): 185–210Daily Life in the Viking Age (Norse Mythology for Smart People)Something rotten in Scandinavia : The world's earliest evidence of fermentation (Journal of Archaeological Science)World’s Earliest Evidence Of Food Fermentation Discovered In Southern Sweden (Message to Eagle)*Remember “thing” from our Mythconceptions episode?

This week, while Anna and Amber's actual selves will be on the West Coast, the show heads for the East Coast-- of Africa, that is! Take a whirlwind tour of the Swahili coast and the economic and cultural exchanges over land and sea it has enjoyed for more than a thousand years, before zooming in on the very powerful, and very cool, medieval sultanate of Kilwa Kisawani. To learn more:Making History: An archaeologist unearths the history of the Swahili States (Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin)East Africa: Five Million Years of History (The Public Medievalist)Early African History: fire, farming, Egypt, and the Bantu (Quatr.us)Collins &amp; Pisarevsky (2004). "Amalgamating eastern Gondwana: The evolution of the Circum-Indian Orogens". Earth-Science Reviews.Richard Pankhurst, An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia, (Lalibela House: 1961)Recipe for ambergris and eggsEarly Global Connections: East Africa between Asia, and Mediterranean Europe (Global Middle Ages)Kilwa Kisiwani: Medieval Trade Center of Eastern Africa (Thought.Co)A lost city reveals the grandeur of medieval African civilization (Gizmodo)Chami FA. 2009. Kilwa and the Swahili Towns: Reflections from an archaeological perspective. In: Larsen K, editor. Knowledge, Renewal and Religion: Repositioning and changing ideological and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African coast. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitututet.Fleisher J, Wynne-Jones S, Steele C, and Welham K. 2012. Geophysical Survey at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology 10(2):207-220.Pollard E. 2011. Safeguarding Swahili trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: a unique navigational complex in south-east Tanzania. World Archaeology 43(3):458-477.Pollard E, Fleisher J, and Wynne-Jones S. 2012. Beyond the Stone Town: Maritime Architecture at Fourteenth–Fifteenth Century Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 7(1):43-62Wynne-Jones S. 2007. Creating urban communities at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania, AD 800-1300. Antiquity 81:368-380.Wynne-Jones S. 2013. The public life of the Swahili stonehouse, 14th–15th centuries AD. Journal of Anthropological...

Halloween may be over, but Anna and Amber are keeping it spooky as they discuss curses and their consequences this week. Anna shares some tactics for recovering stolen tunics at Aquae Sulis (Bath, England), and what perils awaited medieval Javanese wrongdoers. Meanwhile, Amber looks at a ritual executioner from Australia, his highly collectible shoes, his supernatural counterpart, and the very real deaths that result from his work.To learn more about today’s subject, check out: The Curse of King Tut: Facts &amp; Fable (Live Science)Getting Even in Roman Britain: The Curse Tablets from Bath (Aquae Sulis) (Folklore Thursday)A Brief History of Bath, England (Local Histories)Roman Inscriptions of BritainAdams, Geoff W. “The Social and Cultural Implications of Curse Tablets [Defixiones] in Britain and on the Continent.” Studia Humanoria Tartuensia 7A, no 5. (2006):8-10.Cousins, Eleri H. “Votive Objects and Ritual Practice at the King’s Spring at Bath.” TRAC 2013: Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, London 2013. Ed. Hannah Platts, Caroline Barron, Jason Lundock, John Pearce, and Justin Yoo. Philadelphia, PA: Oxbow, 2014. 52-64.Cunliffe, Barry, and Peter Davenport, eds. The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath: The Site. Volume 1 of the Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. Oxford: OUCA, 1985.—. The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath: The Finds from the Sacred Spring. Volume 2 of the Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. Oxford: OUCA, 1988.Fagan, Garrett G. Bathing in Public in the Roman World. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005.Henig, Martin. Religion in Roman Britain. London: Batsford, 1984.Ireland, Stanley. Roman Britain: A Sourcebook. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008.Ogden, Daniel. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.Tomlin, R.S.O. “Voices from the Sacred Spring.” Bath History. Vol. 4. Ed. Trevor Facett. Bath, United Kingdom: Millstream, 1992.Versnel, H.S. “Prayers for justice, east and west: Recent finds and publications since 1990. ” Magical practice in the Latin West: Papers from the international from the international conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept.-1 Oct. 2005. Ed. by R.L. Gordon and Marco Simon. Leiden: Brill, 2010.Indigenous Australia Timeline - 1500 to 1900 (Australia Museum)A rare and unusual West Australia Aboriginal ritual kit (Bonhams)Late 19th-Century Australian Aboriginal Artifacts (Antiques Roadshow)The Native Tribes of Central Australia (University of Adelaide)Death and sorcery (Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology)<a...

This week, Anna and Amber hunker down around the campfire to talk about things that go bump in the night, and encounter some common themes from around the world. Amber fangirls over a baby-snatching Mesopotamian demon and stumbles upon a familiar monster in Native American myth, while Anna offers some DIY advice for combating medieval witches.To learn more about these (and other!) boogeypeople, check out: The Epic of Atraḥasis (Livius)Heffron, Yağmur. “Revisiting ‘Noise’ (rigmu) in Atra-ḫasīs in Light of Baby Incantations.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 73, No. 1 (April 2014), pp. 83-93.Michel, Cécile. “Une incantation paléo-assyrienne contre Lamaštum.” Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, Vol. 66, No. 1 (1997), pp. 58-64.Potts, D.T., D.L. Martin, K. Baustian and A. Osterholtz. “Neonates, infant mortality and the pre-Islamic Arabian amuletic tradition at Tell Abraq.” Liwa, Vol. 5, No. 9 (June 2014), pp. 3-14.Kinnier Wilson, J. V. . “Gleanings from the Iraq Medical Journals” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jul., 1968), pp. 243-247.Typhoid Fever and Paratyphoid Fever: Symptoms and Treatment (CDC)15 Bogeymen From Around The World (Listverse)Brightman, Robert A. “The Windigo in the Material World.” Ethnohistory, vol. 35, no. 4, 1988, pp. 337–379. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/482140.Nazare, Joe. “The Horror! The Horror? The Appropriation, and Reclamation, of Native American Mythology.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 11, no. 1 (41), 2000, pp. 24–51. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43308417.Waldram, J. (2004). Revenge of the Windigo: The construction of the mind and mental health ofNorth American Aboriginal peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Ahenakew, Cash. “The birth of the ‘Windigo’: The construction of Aboriginal health in biomedical and traditional Indigenous models of medicine.” Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices 5:1 2011.Forbes, J. D., &amp; Forbes, J. D. (2008). Columbus and other cannibals: The wétiko disease of exploitation, imperialism, and terrorism. New York: Seven Stories Press.Malleus Maleficarum (Wikipedia)Merrifield, Ralph. “Witch Bottles and Magical Jugs.” Folklore, vol. 66, no. 1, 1955, pp. 195–207. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1257932.Merrifield, Ralph. (1987). The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. B.T. Batsford, Ltd., London.Hoggard, Brian (2004), "The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic", in Davies, Owen; De Blécourt, William, Beyond the Witchtrials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-6660-3Manning, M. Chris (2012), Homemade Magic: Concealed Deposits in Architectural

This week, Anna introduces us to Bronze Age Britain and Amber tells us about the very, very unexpected discoveries at Cladh Hallan, Scotland. For maximum spookiness, don't read ahead: it's a real rollercoaster of a story about Bronze Age life, and death, and... after-death? Get ready, everyone. This one's nightmare fuel. To learn more (and see photos!), check out:Must FarmLatest archaeological finds at Must Farm provide a vivid picture of everyday life in the Bronze Age (University of Cambridge)History made: In an astonishing Bronze Age discovery a 3000-year-old community has been unearthed (CNN)The Prehistoric Village at Cladh Hallan (University of Sheffield)Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (BBC)"Frankenstein" Bog Mummies Discovered in Scotland (National Geographic)Ancient DNA typing shows that a Bronze Age mummy is a composite of different skeletons (Journal of Archaeological Science)Solved: the mystery of Britain’s Bronze Age mummies (The Conversation)Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (Antiquity)

We talk to REAL LIVE FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST Dr. Jon Bethard (University of South Florida) about his career path from bassoons to bioarchaeology, the many duties of a coroner, life in Transylvanian villages, vampires (maybe), and his important work helping to identify victims of political conflicts and natural disasters all over the world. Learn more about Dr. Bethard and his work at:University of South Florida Faculty ProfileThe Bioarchaeology of Inka Resettlement Practices: Insight from Biological Distance AnalysisDr. Jonathan Bethard on ResearchGateAbstract for paper, “Marginalized Motherhood: Infant Burial in 17th Century Transylvania”

This week we round out this month's coverage of indigenous Latin America with a look at the Ancestral Puebloans of the American Southwest. We couldn't fit 10,000 years of human experience and complexity into a single episode, so instead we highlight some architectural and engineering achievements, petroglyphs, and some of the mythological beings represented in them. Plus, the origins of the word "adobe" and a lengthy consideration of why the cultural appropriation of Kokopelli looms so large in our memory of the 1990s. To learn more, check out:Aztec Ruins National Monument--New Mexico NPS Historical Handbook No. 36, 1962 (Project Gutenberg)The Chaco Road System - Southwestern America's Ancient Roads (ThoughtCo)Native Languages of the Americas: Pueblo Legends and Stories (Native-Languages.org)Hopi Petroglyph Sites (CyArk)How Kokopelli, the Flute-Playing God, Conquered Pop Culture (Artsy)Books:Pueblo Gods and MythsKokopelli, Casanova of the Cliff DwellersChaco Handbook: An Encyclopedic Guide Chaco Canyon: Archaeologists Explore the Lives of an Ancient Society

This week Anna and Amber run through the history of the Rarámuri of Chihuahua, Mexico. It's more than just sandals and beer, folks! Plus, a rundown of some of the biomechanics of ultramarathon running, and a theory for how Homo sapiens successfully overran Europe.If you’d like to learn more about this week’s topic, why not start with:“The Tarahumaras,” from GEOG 571: Cultural Intelligence, Applied Geography, and Homeland Security (Penn State)The Sacred Corn Beer of the Tarahumara (NPR)Tarahumara Runner Lorena Ramírez Makes History at Spain’s Ultramarathon (Remezcla)Decorated Tarahumara Runner Calls on AMLO’s Support so She Can Continue Racing (Remezcla)The legend of the Tarahumara: Tourism, overcivilization and the white man's Indian (International Journal of the History of Sport)Harvard Professor Explains How the Tarahumara Run So Well in Those Sandals (Remezcla)Strike type variation among Tarahumara Indians in minimal sandals versus conventional running shoes (Journal of Sport and Health Science)1975 advertisement for The Earth ShoeAthletic shoes with reverse slope construction (Justia Patents)The science of elite long distance running (The Conversation)Early humans won at running; Neandertals won at walking (Phys.org)Choguita Rarámuri (Tarahumara) Phonology and Morphology (UC Berkeley Dissertation via eScholarship)

It’s Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month here in the United States! This week, we attempt to help you (and ourselves) be less wrong about the most famous early Latin American cultures. Amber provides a crash course on Aztec, Inca, and Maya history and the thorny issues of contemporary indigenous cultural identity, while Anna chimes in with fun facts and Very Cool Things about each group! To learn more, check out:I’m Latino. I’m Hispanic. And they’re different, so I drew a comic to explain. (Terry Blas, via Vox)Why Does Jared Diamond Make Anthropologists So Mad? (NPR)Spanish and Nahuatl Views on Smallpox and Demographic Catastrophe in Mexico (The Journal of Interdisciplinary History)From Náhuatl to Guaraní: 5 Apps to Help You Learn Indigenous Languages (Remezcla)Chicueyaco: Daily Life in a Nahua Village (Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine)Náhuatl: A fond farewell? (Unravel)Top 5 Ancient Aztec Inventions (How Stuff Works)Badianus Manuscript: An Aztec Herbal, 1552 (University of Virginia)The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire (Museum of the American Indian)The College Student Who Decoded the Data Hidden in Inca Knots (Atlas Obscura)Domenici, Viviano; Domenici, Davide (1996). "Talking Knots of the Inka" Archaeology. 49 (6)Jacobsen, Lyle E. "Use of Knotted String Accounting Records in Old Hawaii and Ancient China". Accounting Historians Journal‘Home Made’ Ancient Inca Instruments Replicas Perfectly Mimic Different Animals Using Nothing But Water (Get Lost to Be Found)Poqomchi’ conversation: importancia del idioama poqomchi' en nuestro medio (Endangered Languages Project)Mayan Scientific Achievements (History.com)El Caracol (Exploratorium)Cross-Legged Woman's Tomb Reveals Ancient Maya Kept Jaguars in Cages (Live Science)NOTE: 09/16/18: An earlier version of the show description referred to the Aztecs, the Inca, and the Maya as Mesoamerican cultures, which is incorrect....

It wouldn't be the internet if there weren't cats, so this week is the purr-fect op-paw-tunity to talk about Felis catus. Apologies (a-paw-logies? No? Ok, we'll stop) in advance, there's an odd crackling in the final minutes, but don't let that stop you from learning all about the history of kitties, their domestication, and some of their silly antics from the past several millennia.If you're still itching for more information, check out these sources:Domestic Cat&nbsp;(National Geographic)Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows&nbsp;(National Geographic)The Natural History of the Cat&nbsp;(Alley Cat Allies)Abbott, Ian; Department of Environment and Conservation (2008). "Origin and spread of the cat, Felis catus, on mainland Australia: re-examination of the current conceptual model with additional information"&nbsp;Conservation Science Western Australia Journal&nbsp;(7).Cats Are Ruthless Killers&nbsp;(Business Insider)The Crazy Story Of A Cat Named Tibbles Who Killed Off A Whole Species Of Bird&nbsp;(Business Insider)Curious Cat Walks Over Medieval Manuscript&nbsp;(National Geographic News)This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it&nbsp;(Gizmodo)This cat was reared for one reason: to be mummified&nbsp;(BBC)Early Taming of the Cat in Cyprus&nbsp;(Science)A Roman Era Pet Cemetery: 86 Cat Burials Discovered in Egypt&nbsp;(Ancient Origins)“Witch Cottage”? No. Cat Burial? Maybe.&nbsp;(Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives)The archaeology of the domestic cat&nbsp;(Current Archaeology)How cats conquered the world (and a few Viking ships)&nbsp;(Nature)Dogs and cats may have been involved in Maya rituals&nbsp;(The Economist)They’re talking about cats from the genus&nbsp;Panthera, not&nbsp;Felis<a...

What better time to discuss the domestication and use of Canis familiaris than here in the dog days of summer? Anna and Amber discuss recent research tracing how wolves evolved into the pups we know and love, the earliest dogs known in the archaeological record, the evolution of our relationship with them, and some Very Good Boys and Girls throughout history. Plus, medieval pet name suggestions, Amber chokes up about the Odyssey (typical), waggy little flop-eared foxes, and Anna’s Movie Minute takes on Alpha (2018).The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia&nbsp;(Popular Science)North America’s earliest dogs came from Siberia&nbsp;(Science News)Human Footprints at Chauvet Cave&nbsp;(Archeology)26,000-Year-Old Child Footprints Found Alongside Paw Prints Reveal Oldest Evidence of Human-Canine Relationship&nbsp;(Ancient Origins)Earliest Dogs in North America&nbsp;(Canadian Museum of Nature)America’s first dogs vanished after Europeans arrived, study finds&nbsp;(Washington Post)Ancient American dogs almost completely wiped out by arrival of European breeds&nbsp;(AAAS)The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas&nbsp;(Science)America's Oldest Dog Discovery Helps Solve Canine DNA Riddle&nbsp;(National Geographic)Prehistoric Puppy May Be Earliest Evidence of Pet-Human Bonding&nbsp;(National Geographic)Dog Love Isn’t A New Thing: Even Yudhisthir Refused To Enter Heaven Without His Loyal Dog&nbsp;(Scoop Whoop)Trut, L. (1999). Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment.&nbsp;American Scientist, 87 (2) DOI: 10.1511/1999.2.160Trut, L. (2001). Experimental Studies of Early Canid Domestication. In&nbsp;The Genetics of the Dog, A Ruvinsky and J. Sampson, eds.A Loyal Companion and Much More: Dogs in Ancient China&nbsp;(Ancient Origins)On the custom of burying dogs in prehistoric burials&nbsp;(Chinese Archaeology)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuwtiyuw" rel="noopener...

If you thought we were experts, well, that's about to change. This week, Anna and Amber wade out into the great unknown-to-them of British history and discuss Richard III and the events that led to the excavation of his remains from a parking lot in Leicester, England. Plus, the secret to Richard III's perfectly aligned teeth, other rulers whose final resting places remain a mystery, and the curse of Tamerlane's tomb (but also, his great eyebrows). BONUS: The premiere of the "Amber Googles It" theme tune!If you’d like to read more about what we discussed this week, check out the following links (and do yourself a favor and look at some baby rock badgers):Richard III&nbsp;(William Shakespeare)Richard III of England&nbsp;(Wikipedia)English Car Park Where Remains Of Richard III Were Found Declared A Monument&nbsp;(NPR)2012 Grey Friars excavation&nbsp;(University of Leicester)What the bones can and can’t tell us&nbsp;(University of Leicester)How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless&nbsp;(The Atlantic)Using forks and knives has changed the human face&nbsp;(Business Insider)The Richard III SocietyNew evidence: The bones of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ show no relationship to Richard III&nbsp;(Dr. John Ashdown-Hill Blog)Now Richard III’s skull may prove he DIDN’T kill princes: Mystery of the missing teeth could clear king of murder in the Tower&nbsp;(Daily Mail)Five missing kings and queens – and where we might find them&nbsp;(Independent)Lost Tombs: In search of history's greatest rulers&nbsp;(Archaeology)Digging up the past: famous exhumations throughout history&nbsp;(PRI)

This week, we fake it til we make it, tackling four archaeological hoaxes. Even when things aren't what they seem...they aren't what they seem. What's the deal with that stone giant in some guy's field? How can that mummified Persian princess be neither Persian nor a princess? Did someone stumble upon the final resting place of Jesus' little brother? Did Vikings inhabit Oklahoma in the 11th century? No. No, they did not.If you want to read more about these hoaxes and maybe-hoaxes, check out:Bogus! An Introduction to Dubious Discoveries (Archaeology)The Cardiff Giant Was Just a Big Hoax (Smithsonian)Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (Wikipedia)The Cardiff Giant (Farmers’ Museum)Special Report: Saga of the Persian Princess (Archaeology)Princess of Persia: 17 Years Ago, a Woman’s Mummy Was Rescued from the Antiquities Black Market. 21 Years Ago She Actually Died. (Reddit)A Mummy Hoax Might Be Wrapped up in a Modern Murder (Atlas Obscura)Alleged Forger of Holy Land Antiquities Held (Haaretz)Trial sheds light on shadowy antiquities world (Boston Globe)The art of authentic forgery (Haaretz)Jehoash Inscription (Wikipedia)Photos: The Bone Boxes of the 'Jesus Family Tomb' (Live Science)After 7-year saga, a surprising end to antiquities fraud case (Times of Israel)Israeli Antiquities Collector Talks About His Trial – and His Acquittal (Haaretz)Heavener Runestone (Atlas Obscura)

This week we're pushing our "um, actually" glasses up the bridge of our nose and busting some myths about archaeology. Was 30 the new 80 in the Paleolithic? Would someone from the Middle Ages be too short to ride a rollercoaster? Carbon dating is pretty precise, right? Can we tell if a skeleton is a lady? All this and more!To learn more about this week's topic, check out:The idea ancient people didn’t live until old age is a myth&nbsp;(Quartz)Life Span of Early Man Same as Neanderthals’&nbsp;(New York Times)Life Expectancy by Age, 1850–2011&nbsp;(Infoplease)Global Health Observatory (GHO) data: Life expectancy&nbsp;(World Health Organization)What Serena Williams’s scary childbirth story says about medical treatment of black women&nbsp;(Vox)&nbsp;Zollikofer, Christoph PE, et al.&nbsp;"Evidence for interpersonal violence in the St. Césaire Neanderthal."&nbsp;Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99.9 (2002): 6444-6448.Neanderthals Took Care of Deaf and Disabled Buddy Until Old Age&nbsp;(Ancient Origins)7,000-Year-Old Head Surgery: One of the Oldest Trepanned Skulls Discovered in Sudan&nbsp;(Ancient Origins)&nbsp;Trepanation: The History of One of the World's Oldest Surgeries&nbsp;(Mental Floss)&nbsp;Potts, DT, Al Naboodah, H, Hellyer, P. (2003)&nbsp;Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates. Trident Press.(And hey, don’t @ Amber: she knows there are indeed other Neolithic sites in the Oman Peninsula! Check out the work happening at sites like&nbsp;Al Ain&nbsp;and&nbsp;Qumayrah.)Molto, J. E., and C. L. Kirkpatrick.&nbsp;"How Short Is Short, and Why? A Probable Case of Proportionate Dwarfism From Egypt's Third Intermediate Period in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt."&nbsp;International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 28.1 (2018): 3-17.&nbsp;What is radiocarbon dating?&nbsp;(EarthSky)&nbsp;<a...

Vacation season is here, and Anna and Amber are island-bound: To the site of Liang Bua, Indonesia! Join them as they get to know Homo floresiensis, our diminutive extinct cousins in Flores, and discuss their place on our complicated, ever evolving human family tree. Plus, local lore about small, hairy cave-dwellers said to steal food and/or children, and a brief moment of Hobbit (TM) Drama.To learn more about this episode's topic, check out:Bibliography and 3D tour of Liang Bua Cave'Hobbits' on Flores, Indonesia (Smithsonian Institution)Homo floresiensis (Australian Museum)Van den Bergh, Gerrit D., et al. "Homofloresiensis-like fossils from the early Middle Pleistocene of Flores." Nature 534.7606 (2016): 245.Ten Years On, the Flores “Hobbit” Remains an Evolutionary Puzzle (Smithsonian)Where did we come from? A primer on early human evolution (Cosmos)Origins of Indonesian Hobbits finally revealed (ScienceDaily)Homo floresiensis (Smithsonian Institution)Hobbit makers ban uni from using ‘hobbit’ (Newshub)

Sink your teeth into this nutrient-dense episode, in which we discuss the recent discovery of bread(-like substances) in the Eastern Mediterranean from more than 14,000 years ago, and learn more about what one might actually have eaten in the Paleolithic. Plus, Anna tells us what we can learn from stuff stuck in your teeth, and we speculate wildly about Iberian vegan Neanderthals.For a deeper dive into this week's topic, check out:Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia, et al. "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan."&nbsp;Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences&nbsp;(2018): 201801071.&nbsp;http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/10/1801071115Boyadjian, C.H.C., Eggers, S., Reinhard, K., 2007. Dental wash: a problematic method for extracting microfossils from teeth.&nbsp;Journal of Archaeological Science. 34, 1622–1628.http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natrespapers/68/Weyrich, L.S., Duchene, S., Soubrier, J., Arriola, L., Llamas, B., Breen, J., Morris, A.G., Alt, K.W., Caramelli, D., Dresely, V., Farrell, M., Farrer, A.G., Francken, M., Gully, N., Haak, W., Hardy, K., Harvati, K., Held, P., Holmes, E.C., Kaidonis, J., Lalueza-Fox, C., de la Rasilla, M., Rosas, A., Semal, P., Soltysiak, A., Townsend, G., Usai, D., Wahl, J., Huson, D.H., Dobney, K., Cooper, A., 2017. Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus.&nbsp;Nature Letters.&nbsp;http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature21674Arlene M. Rosen and Isabel Rivera-Collazo, Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant.&nbsp;PNAS&nbsp;March 6, 2012. 109 (10) 3640-3645;&nbsp;https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1113931109

We POKE AROUND the subject of tattoos. What are the oldest ones? What do they mean? How were they made? This one gets under our skin.To learn more about tattoos and tattooing through the ages:&nbsp;&nbsp;Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos&nbsp;(The Siberian Times)Inside the World’s Only Surviving Tattoo Shop For Medieval Pilgrims&nbsp;(Atlas Obscura)Algeria's Tattoos: Myths and Truths&nbsp;(Pulitzer Center)Inked Heritage: Berber Women’s Tattoos In Algeria&nbsp;(HuffPo)Vegetius'&nbsp;De re militariCan Tattoos Be Medicinal?&nbsp;(Smithsonian.com)Scientists Have Mapped All of Ötzi the Iceman’s 61 Tattoos&nbsp;(Discover)Skin and Bone&nbsp;(Colin Dale, tattoo artist)FYI: What Makes Tattoos Permanent?&nbsp;(Popular Science)Deter-Wolf, Aaron; Robitaille, Benoît; Krutak, Lars; Galliot, Sébastien (February 2016). "The World's Oldest Tattoos".&nbsp;Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 5: 19–24.Gilbert, Steve (2000).&nbsp;Tattoo history: A source book&nbsp;(Paperback). New York, NY: Juno Books. ISBN 978-1-890451-06-6. Retrieved 10 July 2015.Jones, C. P. (1987). "Stigma: Tattooing and branding in Graeco-Roman antiquity".&nbsp;Journal of Roman Studies. 77: 139–155.Samadellia et al., (2016) Complete mapping of the tattoos of the 5300-year-old TyroleanIceman.&nbsp;Journal of Cultural Heritage&nbsp;16: 753-758

We're steppin' out to talk about some of the oldest human footprints ever found in North America, Europe, and Africa. We encounter a giant sloth hunt, and Amber and Anna have a series of existential crises as we dive deeper and deeper into the depths of time. Worry not, though: despite a strange audio glitch that suggests otherwise, Anna is not recording from beyond the grave. #notallslothsTo learn more about this week's topic, check out:The oldest footprints in North America are right where native historians said they should be&nbsp;(Washington Post)Oldest Human Footprints in North America Discovered&nbsp;(History&nbsp;Channel)Oldest Human Footprints in North America Discovered: Here's What They Reveal&nbsp;(LiveScience)Ancient Sloth Hunt Hinted at in 15,000-year-old Footprints&nbsp;(Science)Earliest Known Human Footprints in North America Found on Canadian Island&nbsp;(New York Times)850,000-year-old human footprints found in Norfolk&nbsp;(The Guardian)Happisburgh footprints&nbsp;on WikipediaLaetoli footprints&nbsp;on Wikipedia

Bienvenue, and welcome to Le Dirt! This week, we discuss the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone. We brush off our best French accents, geek out over dead languages, and realize that we are very, very bad at pop culture references.To learn more about the this week's episode, check out:Digitized versions of Champollion’s work (in French)Précis&nbsp;(1824)&nbsp;http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k117252fGrammaire egyptienne&nbsp;(1836)&nbsp;https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1047536sRobinson, Andrew. (2012)&nbsp;Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-Francois Champollion. Oxford University Press.Review of Cracking the Egyptian Code from&nbsp;The Independent&nbsp;(Brian Morton, 2012):&nbsp;https://www.independent.co.uk/…/cracking-the-egyptian-code-…

It's...maybe the most infamous episode of The Dirt! Strap on the barf bags, folks, because today we're talking about bog butter, ancient beekeeping, and where Classical poets thought baby bees come from. Plus, Amber shares a cautionary tale about licking things on an excavation. And hey--never put archaeology in your mouth.To learn more about this week's topic, check out:Carson, Rachel D. (2015).&nbsp;The Honey Bee and Apian Imagery in Classical LiteraturePoole, Federico. (2001). 'Cumin, Set Milk, Honey': An Ancient Egyptian Medicine Container (Naples 828).&nbsp;The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 87: 175-180.Stable URL:&nbsp;http://www.jstor.org/stable/3822380Honeybees Sweetened Life for Stone Age Humans&nbsp;(LiveScience)Honey in the Pyramids&nbsp;(National Geographic)Itinerant Etruscan Beekeepers&nbsp;(Archaeology&nbsp;Magazine)And on a final note: Seriously, folks, don’t eat archaeological material. Even if it wouldn’t kill you.

After a curious coincidence in 1924, the world's weirdest paperweight was revealed to be the fossilized remains of one of our earliest ancestors.To learn more about today's topic, check out:Lee R. Berger, &amp; Ronald J. Clarke. (1996). The load of the Taung child. Nature, 379(6568), 778-779.Berger, L.R., Clarke, R.J., 1995. Eagle involvement of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Human Evolution 29, 275-299.Dart, Raymond A. (1925), "Australopithecus africanus: The Man-Ape of South Africa", Nature, 115: 195–199, doi:10.1038/115195a0.SA fossil murder mystery solved (BBC)Taung Child (Smithsonian)&nbsp;Australopithecus africanus&nbsp;(Smithsonian)

Meet your hosts, Anna and Amber, talk a little bit about archaeology, anthropology, and how we definitely do not study dinosaurs. Also, we air some hot takes on some of pop culture's most important "archaeologists."To learn more about today's topic, check out:Why Archaeologists Hate Indiana JonesStepping Through The Stargate: Science, Archaeology And The Military In&nbsp;Stargate SG1Archaeologists love Space and Aliens: The&nbsp;Stargate&nbsp;Series&nbsp;The Librarian&nbsp;Franchise (Wikipedia)

Anna and Amber rummage in the history fridge and pile up a Dagwood sandwich of tasty leftover Viking morsels. Learn about Viking games and sports, Norse trade systems, mythology and more! To learn more, check out:Games and Sports in the Viking Age (Hurstwic)Towns and Trading in the Viking Age (Hurstwic)And get your hnefatafl on with this printable board!

This week, Anna and Amber are in the holiday spirit and ready to celebrate Chrono-kah! A holiday that we just made up where we try to fathom the immensity of time! What's the difference between the Stone Age and the Paleolithic? When is North America finally going to enter the Bronze Age? Why do we call this year 2018? Were the early Middle Ages faked? Some of these questions are easier to answer than others. To learn more about what we discuss this week, check out these readings:It’s about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancient World Data. (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)Human Origins: Early Stone Age Tools (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)Human Origins: Middle Stone Age Tools (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)Human Origins: Later Stone Age Tools (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)Oceania, 8000–2000 B.C. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)Time Computations and Dionysius Exiguus (SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System)High and Low Chronologies of the Mediterranean Bronze Age (ThoughtCo)Bibliography: Absolute Chronology of the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the AegeanStatute of Westminster, The First (1275) (UK National Archives)Phantom time hypothesis (Wikipedia)

Anna and Amber can’t help you with your real medical complaints, but they’re here with a whole batch of knowledge* about what people used to do for their sniffles (and worse). So grab your tea, lozenges, and a mouthful of miscellaneous herbs and shuffle along with us as we explore ways in which diseases have been diagnosed and treated over the millennia. *Not medical knowledge! Go see a doctor!To learn even more, check out: Neanderthal healthcare practices crucial to survival (AAAS)Prehistoric 'Aspirin' Found in Sick Neanderthal's Teeth (National Geographic)Neandertal birth canal shape and the evolution of human childbirth (PNAS)Watching Ancient Hominins Giving Birth (written by Anna for Sapiens)Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus (Nature)I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria (British Museum)Medicine and Doctoring in Ancient Mesopotamia (Grand Valley Journal of History)Ugarit (Metropolitan Museum of Art)The Clay Models Used to Analyze Entrails in the Ancient World (Atlas Obscura)Origin and Development of Ayurveda (A Brief History) (Ancient Science of Life)A glimpse of Ayurveda – The forgotten history and principles of Indian traditional medicine (Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine)25 Ancient, Proven Home Remedies With Science Behind Them (Nursing Assistant Guides)Weapon salve, tooth hangers and other ‘sympathetic’ cures (Marieke Hendriksen)

Never heard of anthropodermic bibliopegy? That's about to change, friends! This week, Anna and Amber look at some unexpected objects made out of people, and discuss the effect of such objects on the living. Content note: We discuss modification of human remains, so please exercise discretion in listening.Our content warning goes double for this week’s show notes! As your editor (Amber) realized herself, discussing these places and objects is one thing, but looking at images of them is another entirely. We’ve noted where images of the materials in question are unavoidable, and we encourage you to remain mindful of the people involved in their production and exercise discretion. &nbsp;For the brave and curious among you, learn more by checking out:A Book by Its Cover (Lapham’s Quarterly)Digitized version of Narrative of the life of James Allen : alias George Walton, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the highwayman : being his death-bed confession, to the warden of the Massachusetts State Prison (Boston Athenaeum, CW: images of modified human remains)Anthropodermic book, 1789 (Mütter Museum, CW: images of modified human remains)Analyzing Alleged Human Skin Books Via Peptide Mass Fingerprinting (Anthropodermicbooks.org)Here Are the 8 Creepiest Churches Made of Bones (Ecophiles, CW: images of modified human remains)The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine (Smithsonian Magazine)Mummy as a Drug (Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine)Ancient Human-Bone Sculptors Turned Relatives Into Tools? (National Geographic News)The Gruesome History of Making Human Skeletons (Atlas Obscura)The Secret Lives of Cadavers (National Geographic, CW: anonymized images of human cadavers)Body Worlds: Philosophy (Body World Exhibition)Body Worlds: Plastination Technique (Body Worlds Exhibition)

Grab a cup of cocoa (or something stronger) and join Anna and Amber as they don their coziest jammies and tell the story of Mithras, the lesser-known Reason For The Season from the ancient world. Learn how religions shift through time and place, and why you might want to feast on bull meat in a cave with some Romans this holiday season.To learn more, check out: The Roman Cult of Mithras (The Tertullian Project)Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Mithras Mythology? (Cold Case Christianity)Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome (PDF)Clauss, Manfred (2001) The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his MysteriesWere Pagan Temples All Smashed Or Just Converted Into Christian Ones? (Forbes)Mithraism (Encyclopedia Iranica)On Mithra's Part in Zoroastrianism (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)Mithra iii. In Manicheism (Encyclopedia Iranica)Religious syncretism (Encyclopedia Britannica)Foltz, Richard (2010) Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization

Anna and Amber are keeping the festive mood alive this week with a wine and cheese platter for your ears, and boy howdy, is it a silly one... and we weren't even drinking! Learn about the world's oldest wine gunk and the many (many!) sizes of wine bottles, and then we'll discuss the difference between wine and "wine," and nibble on some stories about very, very aged cheese.Old Wine: An ancient timeline for great old wine (Snooth)Guide to Wine Bottle Sizes (Wine Folly)You Can (Probably) Still Drink the World’s Oldest Bottle of Wine (Gastro Obscura)Columella’s De Re RusticaDrinks in Ancient Rome (Facts and Details [no, really])The Wild Ancient Greek Drinking Game That Required Throwing Wine (Gastro Obscura)A History of Wine in America (UC Press eBooks)World's Earliest Wine (Archaeology)Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus (PNAS)The Wonders That Were Jiahu: The World’s Earliest Fermented Beverage (Penn Museum)Chateau Jiahu (Dogfish Head Brewery)Chemical and nutritional properties of 'tej', an indigenous Ethiopian honey wine: variations within and between production units (The Journal of Food Technology in Africa)The Origin of Wine (Scientific American)2,200-Year-Old ‘Rice Wine’ Found in China (SciNews)Ancient wine discovered in Chinese tomb (CBC)Ancient wine found in China (BBC)Sake Isn't a Rice Wine, and Four Other Myths Dispelled (Eater)Since 1700, Wine Glasses Have Gotten 7 Times Bigger (Gastro Obscura)<a...

In a very special mid-week release, Anna and Amber take a look at the handful of rad archaeological discoveries that happened in 2018 that they're resolving to learn more about in 2019. From that juicy sarcophagus in Alexandria, to the bajillion newly detected Maya structures in Guatemala, to the itty bitty bones of the newest addition to our hominin family tree, there's so much research coming our way!To learn more about what we want to learn more about, check out: The 10 Biggest Archaeology Stories of 2018 (LiveScience)Mysterious sarcophagus opened in Alexandria (CNN)Ancient Infant's DNA Reveals New Clues to How the Americas Were Peopled (The Atlantic)Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports)Scientists Stunned by a Neanderthal Hybrid Discovered in a Siberian Cave (The Atlantic)Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans (Nature)Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived on Amazon, available at your local independent bookstore!Ancient lowland Maya complexity as revealed by airborne laser scanning of northern Guatemala (Science)Iron Age Teenagers (Archaeology)The Dare Stones (Brenau University)Is This Inscribed Stone a Notorious Forgery—or the Answer to America’s Oldest Mystery? (National Geographic)Etzanoa Conservancy'Miracle' Excavation of 'Little Foot' Skeleton Reveals Mysterious Human Relative (LiveScience)A multiscale stratigraphic investigation of the context of StW 573 Little Foot and Member 2, Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa (bioRXiv)A multispectral imaging approach integrated into the study of Late Antique textiles from Egypt (PLOSOne)

Anna and Amber work their way up the trunk of our shared evolutionary tree, tackling the thorny issues of identifying our earliest mammal, primate, and hominin ancestors. We learn about the early development of bipedal walking, and really struggle (as usual) with the question of deep time, but this week it escalates to wondering how anybody knows anything. All we know is, we didn’t come from no monkey.To learn more about what we discuss this week, check out: These Rodent-Like Creatures Are the Earliest Known Ancestor of Humans, Whales and Shrews (LiveScience)Human Evolution Timeline Interactive (Smithsonian Institution)New faces of Aegyptopithecus from the Oligocene of Egypt (Journal of Human Evolution)Sahelanthropus: "The femur of Toumaï?" (John Hawks Weblog)Femur findings remain a secret (Nature)Geology and Paleontology of the Late Miocene Middle Awash Valley, Afar Rift, Ethiopia (Nature, via ResearchGate)The life history of Ardipithecus ramidus: A heterochronic model of sexual and social maturation (Anthropological Review, via ResearchGate)Ardipithecus ramidus and the evolution of language and singing: An early origin for hominin vocal capability (HOMO)Evolution: The First Four Billion YearsFetal load and the evolution of lumbar lordosis in bipedal hominins (Nature)Why Pregnant Women Don’t Tip Over (New York Times)

Anna heads further up the family tree (as Amber lags behind, gasping), and introduces us to our Australopith and Paranthropus relatives. You can always rely on us for our australo-pithiness: Anna gives us the scoop on Lucy's new neighbor Selam and tells us about why babies have such grabby little hands, while Amber grapples with the prospect of a world before people and realizes she might have met an extinct hominin at a party once.To learn (and see!) more, check out:Human Evolution Timeline Interactive (Smithsonian Institution)Human Fossils (Smithsonian Institution)Australopithecus africanus (Smithsonian Institution)Paranthropus aethiopicus (Smithsonian Institution)Paranthropus boisei (Smithsonian Institution)Paranthropus robustus (Smithsonian Institution)Who is Lucy the Australopithecus? Five facts you probably didn't know about oldest hominin ever discovered (The Independent)Newborn Reflexes (University of Rochester Medical Center)Palmar grasp reflex experiment from 1932 (YouTube)Darwinism in the Nursery (Southland Times)Infantile Atavism: Being Some Further Notes on Darwinism in the Nursery (British Medical Journal)

In this episode, we conclude our journey along the human timeline with a look at the genus Homo, of which we are all card-carrying members. Amber also contributes a brief study of human butts-- what's up with them?To learn more about our closest relatives, and ourselves:Human Evolution Timeline Interactive (Smithsonian Institution)Human Fossils (Smithsonian Institution)Exploring the fossil record: Homo habilis (Bradshaw Foundation)Homo erectus (Smithsonian Institution)Homo erectus (Bradshaw Foundation)Homo neanderthalensis (Smithsonian Institution)Why do we have butts? (Gizmodo)Ask evolution: Why do we have butt cheeks? (SBS)

We all do it. We've done it for millions of years. It's the Poopisode, a Very Special Sponsor pick! Anna and Amber discuss coprolites (archaeological poo), and some of the surprising things we've learned from it. Anna's pun game has rarely been stronger, and Amber...well, Amber survived this episode.If you want to learn more (and admit it, you do), check out: To Truly Know an Ancient Society, One Must Analyze Its Feces (Atlas Obscura)Paleoscatologists dig up stools 'as precious as the crown jewels' (The Guardian)What is the Maillard Reaction? (Science of Cooking)Divining Diet and Disease From DNA (Science)Archaeological coprolite science: The legacy of Eric O. Callen (1912–1970) (Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, via ResearchGate)Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey (Journal of Archaeological Science, via ResearchGate)What Discovery of Oldest Human Poop Reveals About Neanderthals' Diet (National Geographic)Recovering parasites from mummies and coprolites: an epidemiological approach (Parasites &amp; Vectors)The control of defecation in humans: an evolutionary advantage? (Techniques in Coloproctology)Probable human hair found in a fossil hyaena coprolite from Gladysvale cave, South Africa (Journal of Archaeological Science, via ResearchGate)How the Remnants of Human Poop Could Help Archaeologists Study Ancient Populations (Smithsonian)Paleomicrobiology: Revealing Fecal Microbiomes of Ancient Indigenous Cultures (PLOS ONE)Lewis and Clark expedition left a trail of heavy-metal laxatives (Offbeat Oregon)The Poop on Lewis and Clark (Sarah Albee Books)<a...

Every year, the American football season ends with the Big Game, but this week, Anna and Amber are superfans of a much bigger game: the 3500-year-old Mesoamerican ballgame. From its Olmec origins to the athletes keeping it alive today, learn all about how to play, why you might not want to (ouch), and what makes it so significant to past and present communities. To learn more about this week’s topic, check out: Scarborough, V. L., &amp; Wilcox, D. R. (1991). The Mesoamerican ballgame. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Whittington, E. M., &amp; Mint Museum of Art. (2001). The sport of life and death: The Mesoamerican ballgame. New York: Thames &amp; Hudson.Ballgame (NEH Summer Teachers Institute)The Mesoamerican Ballgame (Metropolitan Museum of Art)The Brutal and Bloody History of the Mesoamerican Ball Game, Where Sometimes Loss Was Death (Atlas Obscura)Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca, Mexico (PNAS)Maya Ritual and Myth: Human Sacrifice in the Context of the Ballgame and the Relationship tothe Popol Vuh (OpenSIUC)Popol Vuh (Mesoweb)Glyphs for “Handspan” and “Strike” in Classic Maya Ballgame Texts (The PARI Journal)Death Ball (National Geographic)Tlachtli (Polymer Science Learning Center)

Valentine's Day is upon us, and love is in the air-- love for relative and absolute dating methods, that is! Anna brings the science with C14 dating and its gang of radiometric friends, boggles minds with flipped magnetic poles and the last time archaeological material saw the sun, and finds some hot tree-ring takes in California. Meanwhile, Amber goes on a bit of a jag about ancient imperialism, makes a lot of jokes that even she hates, embraces the nihilism of climate change, and attempts to explain the law of superposition via cake. So, the usual— but that’s why you love us!Dating in Archaeology (The Canadian Encyclopedia)10 Chronometric Methods in Paleoanthropology (Handbook of Paleoanthropology, downloaded via ResearchGate)Everything Worth Knowing About ... Scientific Dating Methods (Discover)Redwood Cross-Section of Time (Roadside America) more like RUDE-side America, amirite?Explainer: what is radiocarbon dating and how does it work? (The Conversation)What is OSL? (Utah State University)K-12 Resources about Radiocarbon Dating (C14Dating.com)Research illuminates inaccuracies in radiocarbon dating (Phys.org)Radiocarbon, The Calibration Curve and Scythian Chronology (Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia, downloaded via Wayback Machine)Correlating the Ancient Maya and Modern European Calendars with High-Precision AMS 14C Dating (Scientific Reports)The bible and radiocarbon dating: Archaeology, text and science (via ResearchGate)The Iron Age Architecture at Hasanlu: An Essay (Expedition)East of Assyria? Hasanlu and the problem of Assyrianization, in Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period (via Academia.edu)<a...

It's another sponsored episode! This week, we bring you the fascinating (and sometimes delicious) topic of evolutionary anachronisms. What happens when two species co-evolve to support one another, but one goes extinct? What's up with that obscure, hipster fruit, the paw-paw, and why is Amber mad at NPR? What can blue jays tell us about human impulsivity? All this and more! Gallery of Megafauna FruitsForgotten fruits: Or, megafaunal dispersal syndrome and the case of the missing herbivores (Scientopia’s Guest Blog)Zerega, N.J.C., D. Ragone, and T.J. Motley. 2006. Genetic diversity and origins of domesticated breadfruit. In Darwin’s Harvest: New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops, ed. T.J. Motley, N.J.C. Zerega, and H.B. Cross. Columbia University Press, New York.Barlow, Connie. 2000. The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and other Ecological Anachronisms. Basic Books, New York, NY.This Once-Obscure Fruit Is On Its Way To Becoming PawPaw-Pawpular (NPR)Human diets drive range expansion of megafauna-dispersed fruit species (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)Impulsive behavior may be relict of hunter-gatherer past (EurekAlert!)Mischel, Walter; Ebbesen, Ebbe B.; Raskoff Zeiss, Antonette (1972). "Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 21 (2): 204–218. doi:10.1037/h0032198. ISSN 0022-3514. PMID 5010404.

Here at The Dirt, we talk a lot about the things that people leave behind, but we’ve not spent much time talking about what’s left behind of the people themselves. That changes this week, when Anna and Amber discuss excavating, storing, studying, and selling archaeological human remains, and take a look at some of the legal and ethical challenges involved. Content note: this episode contains descriptions of violence done to deceased people and discussion of trafficked human remains. To learn more about the topics discussed this week (and be advised that there are a lot of images of archaeological human remains included), check out:They Sell Skulls Online?! A Review of Internet Sales of Human Skulls on eBay and the Laws in Place to Restrict Sales (Journal of Forensic Sciences)Human Skulls Are Being Sold Online, But Is It Legal? (National Geographic)FAQ (Pandora’s Box UK)The Long Ethical Arc of Displaying Human Remains (Atlas Obscura)Human Remains: The Sacred, Museums And Archaeology (Public Archaeology)Prof. Bob Muckle on TwitterMourning an Aboriginal death (Creative Spirits)Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (Wikipedia)Grave Injustice: The American Indian Repatriation Movement and NAGPRANAGPRA as a Paradigm: The Historical Context and Meaning of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 2011 (Proceedings of the Ninth Native American Symposium)The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) (via National Parks Service)Repatriation and Traditional Care (Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology)Repatriation Office (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)Give Me My Father’s Body (1986), and the Dollop episode about MinikThe...

Kick off Women's History Month with a show all about some of the earliest representations of women in art! Anna introduces us to the Venus of Willendorf and her curvy comrades, and shares a research study with very modern take on ancient art. Meanwhile Amber bursts our bubble about the matriarchy and goddess religions in Old Europe, and discusses goddess worshippers of past and present at Çatalhöyük in present-day Turkey. Or, as Amber would insist we call it this month, Her-key.The Time of the Willendorf Figurines and New Results of Palaeolithic Research in Lower Austria (Anthropologie)The Oxford Companion to Archaeology (via Google Books)Venus Figurines of the European Paleolithic: Symbols of Fertility or Attractiveness? (Journal of Anthropology)Das Mutterrecht (auf Deutsch via Archive.org, English translation WorldCat entry here)The Marija Gimbutas Collection (Opus Archives and Research Center)The World of the Goddess - Marija Gimbutas (Youtube)The Myth of the Mother-Goddess (World Archaeology)Goddesses, Gimbutas and New Age archaeology (Antiquity)Catal-huyuk: A Neolithic Town (via Archive.org)Archaeologists and Goddess Feminists at Çatalhöyük: An Experiment in Multivocality (Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion)

It's almost officially springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, and the vernal equinox brings with it another reason to celebrate: Nowruz! Commonly known as Persian New Year, Nowruz has its roots in a millennia-old religion founded by a man named Zartosht whose ideas had a profound impact on the world. Anna introduces fire temples and what ancient writers had to say about Zoroastrianism, while Amber hypes the Bronze Age in Central Asia and suggests some ways in which Zoroastrian ideas have affected other religions. Nowruz: Traditions for Persian New Year (United States Institute of Peace: The Iran Primer)What life was like when Zoroaster lived? (Zoroastrian Kids)Avesta (Livius.org)Zoroastrians of Central Asia: Evidence from Archaeology and Art (FEZANA Journal via Academia.edu)Records of the General Conference, 31st session, Paris, 2001, v. 2: Proceedings (UNESCO)Ancient Sogdiana: A ‘Zoroastrian Stronghold’ (Avesta.org)Parsi Woman Excommunication Case (Supreme Court Observer)Early Chahar-Taqi Fire Houses and Temples (Heritage Institute)The culture and social institutions of ancient Iran (WorldCat.org)Ātaškada (Encyclopedia Iranica)Fire Altars and Fire Temples in the First Millennia BC/AD in the Iranian World (via ResearchGate)Zoroastrians in East Africa (The Zoroastrian Diaspora)The Obscure Religion that Shaped the West (BBC Culture)An Archaeology of Religion (via Google Books)A Rare Glimpse Inside A Zoroastrian Temple In New York (HuffPost)

Anna and Amber rummage around on the floor of history's closet to bring you a brief history of shoes from around the world! Learn why caves in the southwestern USA are full of shoes. Find a shoe museum near you for some sole-searching. Enjoy a description of Anna's favorite goofy historical fashion statement. All this and more! To learn more about this week’s topic, check out:First Shoes Worn 40,000 Years Ago (LiveScience)Why Are Some Caves Full of Shoes? (Sapiens)King Den's sandal label (Google Arts &amp; Culture)Taking a Closer Look at an Odd Pair of Very, Very Old Socks (Smithsonian.com)All About Shoes (Bata Shoe Museum)A boot from Tønsberg (Museum of Cultural History)Shoes and Pattens. Medieval Finds from Excavations in London: 2 (via Google Books)Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopedia (via Google Books)The Chopine (Helibrunn Timeline of Art History)Tour These Nine Top Shoe Museums (Footwear News)

Join Anna and Amber on a tour of third millennium BCE Mesopotamia, where they explore the Royal Tombs of Ur. It has everything: musical instruments, very extra jewelry looks, a Great Death Pit (!), a famous excavator with a flair for the dramatic, even a surprise find nearly a century later in a museum basement. Who was buried there? What makes these tombs so special? What did Sumerian music sound like? How great was that death pit?To learn (and see!) more, check out:Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (via Worldcat)Art of the Ancient Near East: Resources for Educators (via Worldcat)The Royal cemetery : a report on the predynastic and Sargonid graves excavated between 1926 and 1931 (via Worldcat)Assyrian King-Lists, the Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins (Journal of Near Eastern Studies)Woolley's Excavations (Ur Online)The Musical Instruments from Ur and Ancient Mesopotamian Music (Expedition)Musician's Recreation of Ancient Sumerian Songs Will Haunt You (io9)Queen Puabi jewellery (Nasvete)Jewelry from the Royal Tombs of Ur (Sumerian Shakespeare)Scanning the Deadheads (Penn Museum)What Do We Know About the People Buried in the Royal Cemetery? (Expedition 20)Human sacrifice and intentional corpse preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur (Antiquity, via Academia.edu)

This week's episode was inspired by news coverage of Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski, who, according to his skeleton, may have been intersex. But what does it mean to be intersex, and how do we incorporate this very real form of existence into our understanding of the archaeological record? Learn along with Anna and Amber from forensic archaeology, American history, Indigenous American culture, and a truly heart-wrenching tale from Iran. Revolutionary War Hero's Skeleton Suggests He Was Intersex (Forbes)What is intersex? (Intersex Society of North America)Was This Famous Revolutionary War Hero Intersex? (LiveScience)Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski might have been a woman or intersex (NBC News-- not great)Was the Revolutionary War Hero Casimir Pulaski Intersex? (Smithsonian)Two Spirit (Indian Health Service)A Cree doctor's caring approach for transgender patients (CBC)Engendering archaeology : women and prehistory (via WorldCat)Between Male and Female (Sapiens)Breaking the Borders/Violating the Norms: An Archaeological Survey of an Intersex in a Traditional Society, Bam (South Eastern Iran) (Sexuality &amp; Culture)

We’re moving! The Dirt is changing hosts and leaving the APN. However, you shouldn’t experience an interruption in your shows when they return. The feed should update automatically.From Chris Webster: I’ve really appreciated having the quality content from Anna and Amber on the APN! You’re a class act and put on an interesting and informative show. We’ll miss you for sure!ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetTee Public StoreAffiliatesWildnoteTeePublicTimeularMotion

Truly we are talking ancient history, since “Cladh Hallan: A Story in Several Parts” was episode 18, way back in 2018 when we still had no idea what we were doing and long before the content that was migrated to the APN feed. This may be the first time some longtime listeners (including you?) have heard this story, and we’ll round it out with some additional context for the subject matter. Find out what we sounded like before Anna really got the hang of sound editing!LinksMust FarmLatest archaeological finds at Must Farm provide a vivid picture of everyday life in the Bronze AgeHistory made: In an astonishing Bronze Age discovery a 3000-year-old community has been unearthed (CNN)The Prehistoric Village at Cladh Hallan (University of Sheffield)Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (BBC)"Frankenstein" Bog Mummies Discovered in Scotland (National Geographic)Ancient DNA typing shows that a Bronze Age mummy is a composite of different skeletons (Journal of Archaeological Science)Solved: the mystery of Britain’s Bronze Age mummies (The Conversation)Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (Antiquity)Goosebumps: Say Cheese and DIEAn Update on Bronze Age Mummies (The Independent)Death is not the end: radiocarbon and histo-taphonomic evidence for the curation and excarnation of human remains in Bronze Age Britain (Cambridge University Press)​​https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/death-is-not-the-end-radiocarbon-and-histotaphonomic-evidence-for-the-curation-and-excarnation-of-human-remains-in-bronze-age-britain/8D38788C8B9F4E69E579D31150EB0A90ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Theater as public entertainment has taken many forms throughout time and among different cultural groups. We’ll hop through various times and places to look at the places where performances were held, the types of pieces performed, and the role of theater as an emotional pocket dimension.LinksHistory of Theatre (Wikipedia)Tragedy (Wikipedia)Theater in Ancient Greece (Metropolitan Museum of Art)Indian Classical Dance (Wikipedia)Comparative mask study, ancient India and ancient GreeceExamples of Animals in Indian Classical Dance:https://in.tiktok.com/@achukuttannn/video/7131910942908091690?is_from_webapp=v1&amp;item_id=7131910942908091690&amp;lang=bn-INThe History of Chinese Shadow Art (Google Art and Culture)Shadow Plays (Wikipedia)The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-Colonial PeriodPerformance Archaeology - Michael ShanksMichael Shanks’ websiteGRID Performance Archaeology pageContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Candace is an anthropologist and ethnographer whose research focuses on the intersections of transnational migration, religion, race, and empire. We learned so much in this episode! It's always such a treat to have a guest with a perspective from one of the anthropological fields other than archaeology. We hope you enjoy it and we hope it gives you all lots to think about!Linkshttps://www.candacelukasik.comhttps://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aman.13602http://tif.ssrc.org/2022/02/18/religious-publicity-and-transnational-minority-politics/https://egyptmigrations.com/2017/06/25/land-migration-and-memory/ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

There have been an awful lot of news stories lately featuring “lost” sites or structures “revealed” by the effects of drought and climate change. Way to look on the positive side, I guess! We’ll take a look at some of these sites and more broadly, the effects of climate change on current archaeology. Both of your tired hosts were a bit punchy during recording, so this episode is ever so slightly goofy despite the gravity of the topic. But we hope you enjoy it!Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Drought is revealing archeological sites that were submerged when Lake Powell filled : NPR Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: WorldCat A fourth set of human remains is found at Lake Mead as the water level keeps dropping: NPR Lake Mead reveals sunken WWII-era boat as water levels plummet - CBS News Unexploded World War II bomb found in Italy's longest river as waters run dry - CBS News Hidden ancient Roman 'Bridge of Nero' emerges from the Tiber during severe drought | Live Science Drought Reveals Dolmen of Guadalperal, Popularly Dubbed ‘Spanish Stonehenge’ | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine When context is key: “Hunger stones” go viral, but news first broke in 2018 | Ars Technica Are 'Hunger Stones' Emerging Along Europe's Rivers Due to 2022 Drought? | Snopes.com The Bronze Age city in Iraq gifted to archeology by drought | Science ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

We meant to tackle this question before, but we can’t wait any longer! The Benin Bronzes have received media attention lately in a series of newsworthy announcements to repatriate them from various museums in North America and Europe to Nigeria. What are these alliterative artifacts, and how did thousands of them disappear from the Kingdom of Benin only to appear by the hundreds in museums overseas?Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution (via Bookshop) The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution (via Worldcat) History of Archaeological Research in the Yoruba-Edo Region of Nigeria: New Directions for Urban Earthenworks (William &amp; Mary ScholarWorks) Story of cities #5: Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace (The Guardian) Ron Eglash (TED) Benin Kingdom (Dallas Museum of Art) The Benin Bronzes Aren’t Just Ancient History. Meet the Contemporary Casters Who Are Still Making Them Today (Artnet) The Dating Game: The Scientific Analysis of Benin Copper-Alloy Art-From TL to ²¹°Pb (Open Access Journal of Archaeology &amp; Anthropology) This Art Was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned? (New York Times) The Benin Bronzes, Explained: Why a Group of Plundered Artworks Continues to Generate Controversy (ArtNews) Horniman to return ownership of Benin bronzes to Nigeria (Horniman Museum and Gardens) Benin Bronze ”permanently removed” from Jesus hall (The Cambridge Student) Major new archaeology project on site of new museum in Benin (British Museum Blog) Recovering the Brilliance of a Benin Bronze (Metropolitan Museum of Art) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet <a...

Anna saddles up to lead Amber on a faunal adventure! We’ll discuss the changes that happen when humans start influencing animal breeding. We’ll also cover the origin stories of a few of the most prevalent domesticated species. But don't worry, we cover some examples of "non-typical" domestication too, plus a case of animal coworkers. We’ll even tackle the question… have we humans domesticated OURSELVES??Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Domesticated animals, explained (National Geographic) Whence the Domestic Horse? (Science) Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas (PNAS) DNA traces cattle back to a small herd domesticated around 10,500 years ago (UCL) How Sheep Became Livestock (Science) Understanding the origins of European domestic pigs (Natural History Museum) The Domestication of Pigs: Sus Scrofa's Two Distinct Histories (ThoughtCo) Ancient Egyptians may have given cats the personality to conquer the world (Science) Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes (eLife) Early Holocene chicken domestication in northern China (PNAS) The earliest farmers of northwest China exploited grain-fed pheasants not chickens (Nature Scientific Reports) Buried with Snails (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) Insects: The Disregarded Domestication Histories (Animal Domestication) On Horseback Among the Eagle Hunters and Herders of the Mongolian Altai (New York Times) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates <a...

For the first half of the first millennium CE, Himyar was based in what is today Yemen and flourished thanks to its role in inter-regional trade. We’ll discuss the political landscape of ancient southern Arabia, the conversion of the Himyarite dynasty from polytheism to Judaism, and recently published research on environmental factors that contributed to the Himyarite state’s decline and eventual conquest.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Zafar/Yemen - a Brief Summary (via Heidelberg University) Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (via Wikisource) Zafar, Capital of Himyar, Ibb Province, Yemen: First Preliminary Report: Summer 1998 and Autumn 2000, Second Preliminary Report: 2002, Third Preliminary Report: 2003, Fourth Preliminary Report: 2004 (Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen) Arabia and Ethiopia (Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity) Zafar, Capital of Himyar, Seventh Preliminary Report, February–March 2007-2008 A Late Antique Christian king from Ẓafār, southern Arabia (Antiquity) Non-Destructive Chemical Analysis of Old South Arabian Coins, Fourth Century BCE to Third Century CE (Archaeometry) Droughts and societal change: The environmental context for the emergence of Islam in late Antique Arabia (Science) Megadrought Contributed to Fall of Jewish Kingdom in Arabia, Rise of Islam, Study Suggests (Ha’aretz) Speleothems (Paleoclimatology) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Anna is sick this week, so we've been unable to record new episodes. But rather than leave you hanging, we're releasing a lightly trimmed version of the latest episode of Old News. We've got human bone jewelry, the first Black Baptist church in colonial America, alleged art crimes, some seriously inclement weather, and more!Old News is one of our monthly bonus episodes that comes with the Absolute Dirtbag tier over at Patreon.com/thedirtpodcast, so head over there if you want to support the show and get access to FOUR YEARS' WORTH of bonus content.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Human bones used for making pendants in the Stone Age (Phys.org) French Authorities Detain Two Archaeologists, Including a Louvre Curator, as Part of an Ongoing International Art-Trafficking Dragnet (Artnet) Excavation of graves begins at site of colonial Black church (NBC News, AP) First Baptist Church Excavation Project (Colonial Williamsburg website) 5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China (Xinhua) Rare coffee beans dating back 167 years ago found by archaeologists working on the Metro Tunnel project (9News) Jawbone Discovered in Spain May Be Oldest Known Hominin Fossil (Archaeology) A massive tsunami destroyed the Spanish city of Seville in the 3rd century, new study finds (El Pais) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

This week, Anna and Amber debut a new (occasional) series: Site-Seeing! There are so many archaeological sites out there, and some of them tend to overshadow others. In order to learn about and showcase some lesser-known sites, your hosts will each present a brief exploration of a site previously unknown to either of them. This time, we feature Djenné, an ancient city in what is today Mali, and Ban Chiang, in what is today Thailand.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Djenne-Djenno (World History Encyclopedia) Old Towns of Djenné (UNESCO) Djenné, Mali (BlackPast) Djenné (Encyclopedia Britannica) A Tribute to Islam, Earthen but Transcendent (The New York Times) Initial Encounters: Seeking traces of ancient trade connections between West Africa and the wider world (Afriques) Great Mosque of Djenné (Khan Academy) Storage vessel from Northeastern Thailand (Asian Art Museum) The Ban Chiang Project - Background (Institute of Southeast Asian Archaeology) Carabel type pot (Institute of Southeast Asian Archaeology) Ban Chiang Pottery and Rice (Expedition) Ban Chiang National Museum The Ban Chiang Project - Metals Database (Institute of Southeast Asian Archaeology) South California Museum Raids (2008) (Trafficking Culture) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

We've asked this on the show before, but..what did the past smell like? In this episode, we talk about some of the ways that researchers are finding and recreating some ancient aromas. We also get speculative about smellscapes and honk the Clown Horn of Orientalism at some perfumes. Get your sniffers ready, this one's fun!Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links How our sense of smell evolved (ScienceDaily) Does Archaeology Stink? Detecting Smell in the Past Using Headspace Sampling Techniques (Rose Malik) Odeuropa Ancient “smellscapes” are wafting out of artifacts and old texts (ScienceNews) Eau de Cleopatra (Near Eastern Archaeology) Copal: the Blood of Trees: Sacred Source of Maya and Aztec Incense (ThoughtCo) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

To wrap up our inaugural Summer Blockbuster series, Amber leads us on a mission to Pandora with Avatar (2009). Rather than exploration of the culture of the indigenous Na’vi population (or maybe in addition to), we’ll examine some of the philosophical underpinnings of the franchise and discuss the book that completely changed Amber's intellectual trajectory.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links “Avatar” Advertising Invades “Bones” Episode “The Gamer in the Grease” (Wall Street Journal) Do You Speak Na'vi? Giving Voice To 'Avatar' Aliens (NPR) An interview with Paul Frommer, Alien Language Creator for Avatar (Unidentified Sound Object) Some highlights of Na’vi (University of Pennsylvania Language Log) Avatar: an all-purpose allegory (Foreign Policy) Avatar (Rotten Tomatoes) Avatar: A Marxist Saga on the Far Distant Planet (Communication, Capitalism, and Critique) Orientalism (via Bookshop.org) An Introduction to Edward Said, Orientalism, and Postcolonial Literary Studies (Amardeep Singh) Orientalism and power: When will we stop stereotyping people? (BBC Ideas, via YouTube) Watching Avatar through a Postcolonial and Orientalist Lens (via Academia.edu) Jairo Funez on Twitter Edward Said - Framed: The Politics of Stereotypes in News (Al Jazeera English, via YouTube) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Amber guides Anna through the jungle of the 2006 film Apocalypto...but hopefully a little less racistly than director Mel Gibson did! We’ll talk about human sacrifice, what was (and was not) going on in Maya culture in the 15th century CE, and the movie’s ending that couldn’t be more on the nose if it went “boop!”Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links The Story of Civilization (via Wikipedia) With help from a friend, Mel cut to the chase (The Washington Post) Mel Gibson criticizes Iraq war at film fest (Today) Is Apocalypto Pornography? (Archaeology) Relativism, Revisionism, Aboriginalism, and Emic/Etic Truth: The Case Study of Apocalypto (The Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research: Reporting on Environmental Degradation and Warfare) The perduring Maya: new archaeology on early Colonial transitions (Antiquity, via ResearchGate) Maya Resistance to Colonial Rule in Everyday Life (The Latin American Anthropological Review) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Welcome to a month of Summer Blockbusters, where we talk about the archaeology in movies that aren't Indiana Jones! This week, it's the 2021 film The Dig, starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. We'll talk a bit about the film, but mostly about the real site portrayed in it--the Anglo Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo. This site was key to rewriting the understanding of post-Roman Britain, and was especially meaningful as a symbol of English national identity during WWII.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Here’s the True Tale Behind Netflix’s Buzzy New Carey Mulligan Archaeology Drama, ‘The Dig (Artnet) The True History Behind Netflix’s ‘The Dig’ and Sutton Hoo (Smithsonian) The Dig: Who was Sutton Hoo archaeologist Basil Brown? (BBC) The Dig (CautionSpoilers.com) What Netflix ‘The Dig’ Gets Right And ‘Slanderously’ Wrong About The Sutton Hoo Story (Forbes) The Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (British Museum) The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, Volume 1: Excavations, Background, the Ship, Dating and Inventory (via WorldCat) Whetstone or Sceptre? (medieval.eu) An Introduction to Early Medieval England (C.410–1066) (English Heritage) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

“The Sea Peoples” is a term that refers to a seafaring culture of unclear origin that bopped around the eastern Mediterranean and adjoining areas around 1200-900 BCE. There are ancient Egyptian murals and reliefs that depict battles against these unnamed adversaries, but no definitive labels or helpful texts. So who were the Sea Peoples? We’ll discuss some theories, and probably not reach any conclusions apart from “wow people really care a lot about this, huh?”Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Sea Peoples (World History Encyclopedia) Ask a Near Eastern Professional: Who are the Sea Peoples and what role did they play in the devastation of civilizations that occurred shortly after 1200 BCE? (Ancient Near East Today) Gaston Maspero and the Sea Peoples (SciHi) Rapid Change of Climate Did Not Cause the Fall of the Akkadian Empire (Ancient Near East Today) Who Were the Sea People? (ThoughtCo) Philistine (people) (Encyclopedia Britannica) Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines (Science Advances) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Y'all, it has been a TOUGH WEEK. You can tell because Anna somehow manages to get the episode intro WRONG after doing it correctly nearly 200 times. But we're just gonna keep swimming! We couldn’t do a month-at-sea theme without talking about shipwrecks. And it’s not just pirate ships and the Titanic, either. We’ll discuss all kinds of underwater assemblages and the ways in which shipwreck archaeology helps us understand travel, life, commerce, connectivity, and more.Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Dokos shipwreck (Wikipedia) Oldest Intact Shipwreck Discovered in the Black Sea (Smithsonian Magazine) Ancient Shipwreck (Archaeology) The Oldest Intact Shipwreck “Odysseus” was an Ancient Greek Vessel (Greek Reporter) Stamnos - The Siren Vase (British Museum) How the world's deepest shipwreck was found (BBC Future) Made in China (National Geographic) The Belitung Shipwreck (SEAArch) Silk Roads Programme (UNESCO) NOAA, partners discover wreck of 207-year-old whaling ship (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) The Science of Shipwrecks (North Carolina Sea Grant) Episode 86 - Check Yourself Before You Shipwreck Yourself (The Dirt) How scientists keep ancient shipwrecks from crumbling into dust (Popular Science) Giant freeze dryer to preserve famous shipwreck (The History Blog) Sustainable Nanotechnologies for Curative and Preventive Wood Deacidification Treatments: An Eco-Friendly and Innovative Approach (Nanomaterials) The Salvage (Vasa Museet) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store...

Ahoy! We’re still at sea, the ocean is still None of Our Business, and yet we’re learning so much about it! This week, we’ve got a special guest to guide us. Christine Bassett is currently a program coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Program Office (NOAA). Christine collects data from ancient Arctic shell middens to reconstruct climate and sea ice levels for archaeological sites in the Aleutian islands. Tune in to learn how she’s turning thousand-year-old clams into a climate thermometer!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links The Unalaska Sea Ice Project Follow Christine on Twitter @ClamsAndClimate ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Terra nullius is a Latin phrase meaning “nobody’s land,” but historically it has tended to mean something closer to *grabby hands.* What does it mean when a place is considered no one’s? Are there still places where people aren’t? Are there places where we've never been? The answers may surprise you.Members, check out an extended edition of this episode here.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Rockall (Wikipedia When Will It Get Too Hot for the Body to Survive? (Slate) The Alaskan Island That Humans Can’t Conquer (Smithsonian Magazine) The bones that could shape Antarctica’s fate (BBC Future) Three High-Altitude Peoples, Three Adaptations to Thin Air (National Geographic) Tibetans inherited high-altitude gene from ancient human (Science) Sama (Encyclopedia Britannica) The Identity and Social Mobility of Sama-Bajau (Sari) Explorer Reaches Bottom of the Mariana Trench, Breaks Record for Deepest Dive Ever (LiveScience) What Land Did Europeans Actually Discover? [Infographic] (Popular Science) The Wilderness Act (Wilderness Connect) Son Doong 360 (National Geographic) The last unmapped places on Earth (BBC Future) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote <a...

Welcome to episode one of our themed month: The Dirt at Sea! The oceans (and seas and lagoons and fjords and so on) have provided people with food and other resources for hundreds of thousands of years. We’ll be discussing some examples of this from the archaeological record. We’ll also investigate how archaeology can get at the relationship between people and the big blue – and it’s much more than just reconstructing ancient coastlines.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Living Ocean (NASA Science) Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers (Science) Neanderthals Really Liked Seafood (Smithsonian) Indigenous oyster fisheries persisted for millennia and should inform future management (Nature Communications) North American and Australian Indigenous Communities Farmed Oysters for 5,000-10,000 Years (Sci-News) Research Shares Importance Of Studying Indigenous Oyster Farming History (Tasting Table) Indigenous oyster fisheries were ‘fundamentally different’: Q&amp;A with researcher Marco Hatch (Mongabay) Cetacean exploitation in Roman and medieval London (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports) Guidance Note for Dealing with Stranded Whales, Dolphins and other large Marine Wildlife on Kent Coast (Kent City Council) Seeking Prehistoric Fermented Food in Japan and Korea (Current Anthropology) Thule Winter House (The Canadian Encyclopedia) Ancient seafarers may have hunted whales around the world (Science) Archaeologists Unearth Hollowed-Out Whale Vertebra Containing Human Jawbone, Remains of Newborn Lambs (Smithsonian) The Earliest Shell Fishhooks From The Americas Reveal Fishing Technology Of Pleistocene Maritime Foragers (American Antiquity) <a...

There are surprising intersections between video game creation and archaeology, and that, of course, comes along with the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of mining ancient history for content creation. Neither Anna nor Amber really grew up playing video games, so we are extremely lucky to have a guest expert, Dr. Bill Farley, Associate Professor of Anthropology at South Connecticut State University. Bill will be our guide on the subject. The Toad to our Mario Party. Right? That’s a thing, right?Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.LinksBill's YouTube channelContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

First used to describe religious movements that emerged in Melanesia following contact with Allied military personnel in World War II, cargo cults are sects and ritualized behaviors intended to summon outsiders (and their stuff) back and bring about a new age. We’ll explore theories for why they come about, discuss some examples of cargo cults in the traditional definition, and consider what parallels might exist in other cultures.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Cargo cults (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology) How “Cargo Cult” Is Born: Scientific Angle on an Old Subject (Pacific Islands Monthly, via Trove) 50 Years Ago: Cargo Cults of Melanesia (Scientific American) The Cargo Cults (Air Force Magazine) Strange Stories of John Frum (Cargo Cult, via JSTOR) In John They Trust (Smithsonian Magazine) 'Cargo Cults' and the Prince Philip Movement (CenSAMM) Prince Philip: the unlikely but willing Pacific deity (The Guardian) Prince Philip: The Vanuatu tribes mourning the death of their 'god' (BBC News) Cargo Cult Science (Caltech Library) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

We’ve had plenty of instances on the show (in the main feed and especially in Old News) of archaeological research bearing out information that existed already in the historical and oral traditions of Indigenous groups. We’ll discuss some examples of this, and we’ll also examine the relationship of Indigenous science and knowledge with the Western systems that actively invalidate and exclude them.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries (Smithsonian) Folklore and earthquakes: Native American oral traditions from Cascadia compared with written traditions from Japan (Geological Society London Special Publications, via ResearchGate) Lost Apes Of The Congo (Time) Intentional Fire-Spreading by “Firehawk” Raptors in Northern Australia (Journal of Ethnobiology) Why These Birds Carry Flames In Their Beaks (National Geographic) The Birds That Start Fires: Using Indigenous Ecological Knowledge to Understand Animal Behavior (PLoS) Tribal History (Crater Lake Trust) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (via WorldCat) Zoe Todd thread on Braiding Sweetgrass (Twitter) Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science (via WorldCat) Indigenous Fire Practices Shape our Land (National Parks Service) Knowledge of medicinal plants at risk as languages die out (The Guardian) Cultivating Connection: Restoring Clam Gardens (Biohabitats) Jessica Hernandez on...

This week, Amber's under the weather, so Anna goes solo with special guest Dr. Naomi Martisius. Naomi tells us how she deciphers clues about human behavior by looking at tiny tiny VERY tiny portions of animal bone surfaces under a microscope. We’ll get into her undergraduate discovery that re-wrote a part of prehistory (no, really), and her work on the extremely cool bone artifacts and ornaments from Bacho Kiro Cave, in what is today Bulgaria.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Naomi's Bacho Kiro paper in the Journal of Human Evolution--available for free until June 25th! Amber's Fundraiser for Holler Health Justice ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

BONUSHello, friends! We’re moving our episode schedule slightly—episodes will now be coming out on Wednesdays!! But in the meantime—This is a shortened version of a much longer chat that's available to our Patreon members (link below to join and support the show)! Anna and Amber chat about some changes in their personal lives, plus some updates to The Dirt. We also FINALLY answer our own interview questions:1. What's the best thing about anthropology?2. What moment from human history/prehistory or the history of anthropology would you want to go back in time to see?This is a departure from our usual episodes, so if you're not a big fan of parts of the show where we get chatty...this one might not be for you!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.LinksSupport The Dirt on PatreonContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Settle in for a HEFTY episode, folks! This week, Amber and Anna examine the world of the Neo-Assyrian empire. This means some substantial time spent context-setting, thanks to the complex nature of early Mesopotamian politics, religion, warfare, and state propaganda. Then we look further at that carefully crafted state propaganda and its influence on Assyriology. THEN we get into a bit of archaeology, and finally, discuss the Neo-Assyrian legacy and descendant communities. What a ride!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.*LISTENER NOTE* We discuss some pretty graphically violent art in this episode, starting around time stamp 35:00. Content warning for war crimes and sexual assault--skip ahead about 25 minutes.Links Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (via WorldCat) Ideology and Propaganda in Assyrian Art (Power and Propaganda: A Symposium on Ancient Empires) The Assyrians — The Appalling Lords of Torture (Medium, cn illustrations of graphic violence) Assurnasirpal II, king of Assyria (r. 883-859 BC) (Nimrud: Materialities of Assyrian Knowledge Production) Object: The Banquet Scene (The British Museum) Assyria: Lion hunts, Siege of Lachish and Khorsabad (The British Museum) Ancient salmu and the (Post-) Modern Scholar (JAGNES, via Academia.edu) Early Excavations in Assyria (Metropolitan Museum of Art) A History of the Ancient Near East (via WorldCat) Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History (via WorldCat) Marxist Historiography and the Ancient Near East (What’s Left of Marxism: Historiography and the Possibilities of Thinking with Marxian Themes and Concepts, via Google Books) Ancient near Eastern History from eurocentrism to an Open World (ISIMU: Revista sobre Oriente Próximo y Egipto en la antigüedad 2) Approaching ancient Assyria through archaeology leads to new insights (Universiteit Leiden) <a...

On a listener-sponsored episode, Anna and Amber tackle the archaeology and historical context of maroon communities. These are societies formed by self-liberated Africans during the period when the slave trade was a huge part of the world economy. We discuss some archaeological case studies, and then really think long and hard about what it means to reconstruct these lives, and who has historically done so.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingInterested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.Links Maroon Communities in the Americas (Slavery and Remembrance) Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (US Fish and Wildlife Service) Landscape of Power: Freedom and Slavery in the Great Dismal Swamp Region (via Vimeo) Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom (Smithsonian) Archaeology of Marronage in the Caribbean Antilles (Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, link to PDF download) Maroons under Assault In Suriname And French Guiana (Cultural Survival) Marronage Perspective for Historical Archaeology in the United States (Historical Archaeology) Desolate Place for a Defiant People : the Archaeology of Maroons, Indigenous Americans, and Enslaved Laborers in the Great Dismal Swamp] (via WorldCat) Music of the Maroons (Smithsonian Folkways, via Youtube) Meet the legendary community that fought for its freedom in Jamaica (National Geographic) Maroons: Rebel Slaves in the Americas (Smithsonian Folklife) Maroon Archaeology beyond the Americas: A View from Kenya (Historical Archaeology) And follow Prof. Ignacio Gallup-Diaz on Twitter! ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet <a...

In a SURPRISE THIRD INSTALLMENT of our discussion of sci fi and archaeology, we talk about two giants of world building, Octavia E Butler and Ursula K LeGuin. We also talk about a few fictional anthropologists of TV and cinema.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingLinks Speculative Fiction (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature) Fractured Fairy Tales (Rocky and Bullwinkle Wiki) Indian Epic Poetry &amp; SF Origins (SciFi Fantasy Network) Read Mahabharata as science fiction: C Radhakrishnan (Deccan Chronicle) Vimana Aircraft of India: More Sloppy Scholarship from David Childress (Jason Colavito) Separating fact from ancient Indian science fiction (Live Mint) The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad (Japanese Fairy Tales, via Lit2Go) Hafele–Keating experiment (Wikipedia) The Lucian of Samosata Project Abdallah the Fisherman and Abdallah the Merman (Wikisource) The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. LeGuin) The Dispossessed (Ursula K. LeGuin) Ursula Le Guin’s Speculative Anthropology: Thick Description, Historicity and Science Fiction (Theory, Culture &amp; Society) How Ursula Le Guin’s Writing Was Shaped by Anthropology (Sapiens) Introduction: Speculative Anthropologies (Society for Cultural Anthropology) The Parable Series (Octavia E. Butler) Thinking Parabolically: Time Matters in Octavia Butler’s Parables (Society for Cultural Anthropology) Why So Many Readers Are Turning to Octavia Butler’s Apocalypse Fiction Right Now (Slate) Octavia Butler (Society for Cultural Anthropology) <a...

We're back! And we're continuing our exploration of science fiction in archaeology AND anthropology in science fiction. Last time, we talked to author Pat Edwards about world-building and storytelling--this time, we tell the stories. Amber gets speculative, Anna spins some yarns, and we investigate the Thousand and One Nights. Show notes coming soon!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Connect with James on Twitter: @paleoimagingContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

(ENCORE) This week, Anna and Amber decided to clean up their act and take a look at the history of bathing and hygiene. We’re dipping our toes into Roman baths, sweating through Finnish and Russian saunas, discussing the shrewd marketing behind the “Halitosis Effect,” and more. Plus, what even IS soap, anyway?Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Links A natural history of hygiene (Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology) Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences) The First Soap - The first recorded evidence of soap making (Soap History) Out of the Vapors: A Social and Architectural History of Bathhouse Row More Than a Bath: An Examination of Japanese Bathing Culture (Claremont Colleges) Self-Reflection in the Tub: Japanese Bathing Culture, Identity, and Cultural Nationalism (Asia Pacific Perspectives) Dip into the history of the Japanese 'system bath' (Japan Times) Networking Naked With Finland's Diplomatic Sauna Society (The Atlantic) A `working' bath: Finland's answer to negotiations. SAUNA DIPLOMACY (Christian Science Monitor) The Standard Guide to Global Bathing Cultures (Standard Hotels) The History and Science Behind Your Terrible Breath (Smithsonian) Fighting bad breath -- a battle through centuries (Los Angeles Times) Who invented the toothbrush and when was it invented? (Library of Congress) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

In this re-release of an EARLY classic, take a whirlwind tour of the Swahili coast and the economic and cultural exchanges over land and sea it has enjoyed for more than a thousand years, before zooming in on the very powerful, and very cool, medieval sultanate of Kilwa Kisawani.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Links Making History: An archaeologist unearths the history of the Swahili States (Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin) East Africa: Five Million Years of History (The Public Medievalist) Early African History: fire, farming, Egypt, and the Bantu (Quatr.us) Collins &amp; Pisarevsky (2004). "Amalgamating eastern Gondwana: The evolution of the Circum-Indian Orogens". Earth-Science Reviews. Richard Pankhurst, An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia, (Lalibela House: 1961) Recipe for ambergris and eggs Early Global Connections: East Africa between Asia, and Mediterranean Europe (Global Middle Ages) Kilwa Kisiwani: Medieval Trade Center of Eastern Africa (Thought.Co) A lost city reveals the grandeur of medieval African civilization (Gizmodo) Chami FA. 2009. Kilwa and the Swahili Towns: Reflections from an archaeological perspective. In: Larsen K, editor. Knowledge, Renewal and Religion: Repositioning and changing ideological and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African coast. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitututet. Fleisher J, Wynne-Jones S, Steele C, and Welham K. 2012. Geophysical Survey at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology 10(2):207-220. Pollard E. 2011. Safeguarding Swahili trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: a unique navigational complex in south-east Tanzania. World Archaeology 43(3):458-477. Pollard E, Fleisher J, and Wynne-Jones S. 2012. Beyond the Stone Town: Maritime Architecture at Fourteenth–Fifteenth Century Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 7(1):43-62 Wynne-Jones S. 2007. Creating urban communities at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania, AD 800-1300. Antiquity 81:368-380. Wynne-Jones S. 2013. The public life of the Swahili stonehouse, 14th–15th centuries AD. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(4):759-773. Wynne-Jones S, and Fleisher J. 2012. Coins in Context: Local Economy, Value and Practice on the East African Swahili Coast. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 22(1):19-36. Zhao B. 2012. Global Trade and Swahili Cosmopolitan Material Culture: Chinese-Style Ceramic Shards from Sanje ya Kati and Songo Mnara

Pat Edwards is an author, game builder, and creator of all kinds of sci-fi and fantasy content. We all sit down and puzzle through some questions about the boundaries between archaeological interpretation and fiction, the use of anthropological tropes in pop culture, and strategies for drawing from the archaeological record for fictional world-building. We had a blast with this unconventional topic, and we hope you enjoy listening!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!LinksPat EdwardsContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We're bouncing back from some bumps in the road this week, and bring you a short and sweet episode about some of the history and archaeology of two sweet substances--maple syrup and sugarcane.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Hello, lovely listeners--a whole bunch of life stuff has smacked us right in the face recently. Thank you so much for your patience and continued support--we really love you. This week's classic episode is all about mounds and the people that built (and absolutely did not build) them.Links Cahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis (via WorldCat) Cahokia Mounds Watson Brake, a Middle Archaic Mound Complex in Northeast Louisiana (American Antiquity) 12th-Century Cahokia Was a “Melting Pot” (Archaeology) Cahokia and the Excavation of Mound 72 (Lithics Casting Lab) The Ancient Mounds of Poverty Point: A Place of Rings (via WorldCat) Moundbuilders (Newberry) Early pottery: Technology, Function, Style, and Interaction in the Lower Southeast (via WorldCat) White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities (Smithsonian)Check out Ken Feder’s take on the myth of the moundbuilders over on Archaeological Fantasies. He’s also the author of this week’s Dirt Book Club entry, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Amber's traveling for work this week, so we bring you a perfectly dry-aged episode from years past. We bring you a fascinating, poignant, and thoroughly delightful interview with Very Special Guest Lynne Engelbert, a handler with the Institute for Canine Forensics. Learn what the talented pups at the ICF do for a living and prepare to be amazed!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.LinksInstitute for Canine ForensicsContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

How do we know what people ate in the past? How did they make their food? How did food fit into the social aspect of life in the past? We discuss old old recipes, spicy Sichuanese history, an herbal mystery, how food changed our faces, and more!Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.Links Stone Age spices (NPR) Garlic Mustard Phytoliths (PLOS One) Oldest Noodles Found in China (BBC) Decoding Ancient Recipes (BBC) Roman food blogger Apicius (Wikipedia) History of Spice in Sichuan (University of Illinois) Why Revolutionaries Love Spicy Food (Nautilus) Cooking Before Ceramics (The Atlantic) Monte Testaccio (Archaeology Magazine) Oyster Middens (Atlas Obscura) Oyster Midden Exhibit (University of Maine) Silphium, an Herbal Mystery (BBC) What is Silphium? Early Dilmun Diet (Journal of Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy) Facial Changes due to Diet (PLOS One) Changes in Skull Features (PNAS) How Forks Gave us Overbites (The Atlantic) Lynne Olver’s Food Timeline (Eater.com) Virginia Tech Saves the Food Timeline (Eater.com) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: <a...

We dive into Dr. Samuel Redman’s latest book, Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology. Amber and Anna (mostly Amber) have lots of questions about the seemingly paradoxical 19th- and 20th- century urge by American scholars to “rescue” objects and even human remains from “disappearing” Indigenous groups. It’s a fascinating window into anthropology viewed as a moral and academic obligation, and the social underpinnings of the development of the discipline in the US. And! You can enter to win your very own copy of Ghosts and Prophets! Harvard University Press generously hooked us up with three copies to give away. The promotion is running via Twitter and Instagram, so keep an eye out for those posts for the extremely low-effort rules for entering.Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot!Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.Links Prophets and Ghosts (via WorldCat) Samuel J. Redman (UMass Amherst) Wendy Red Star’s 1880 Crow Peace Delegation (Birmingham Museum of Art) Wendy Red Star’s Children of the Large-Beaked Bird (MASS MoCA) Blanket Stories: Transportation Object, Generous Ones, Trek (Marie Watt Studio) Publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Smithsonian Institution) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, we explore yet another place that’s not a backwater or influenced by aliens! In 1986, two pits were excavated at the site of Sanxingdui (Three Stars Mound) in what is today China’s Sichuan province. These two pits, and six more uncovered in 2021, were full of bronze, jade, gold, and ivory objects that appear to have been “sacrificed” (burned or broken) before burial. The artifacts were made in a style never before seen in Chinese material culture. What was going on at Sanxingdui, and why was the site abruptly abandoned thousands of years ago? We can tell you right off the bat that it wasn’t aliens, but you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out more! Interested in learning about how to use X-Rays and similar technology in archaeology? Check out the linked PaleoImaging course from James Elliot! Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information. Links and Sources Seismic Shift (Archaeology) Large Standing Figure, Sanxingdui Museum (Art and Archaeology dot com) A Preliminary Report on the Standing Bronze Figure from Sacrificial Pit Number Two, Sanxingdui (Early China, via JSTOR) New finds at Sanxingdui Ruins show creative power in ancient China (Xinhua Net) Sanxingdui relics: What is the secret of the bronze heavenly tree? (CGTN) Mysterious Sanxingdui Ruins reveal more stunning relics (Global News) Mystery of Ancient Chinese Civilization's Disappearance Explained (LiveScience) Sanxingdui: researchers say newly found sites in China date back as far as 3,200 years (South China Morning Post) Historical discovery revives wild theories of an alien civilisation in ancient China, but experts say no way (South China Morning Post) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, we bring you the MIRACLE OF BIRTH. Join Amber and Anna for a brief frolic through some ancient birthing wisdom and evidence of pregnancy and childbirth in the archaeological record. We're also joined by the brilliant Dr. Natalie Laudicina, who takes us on a fascinating and slightly terrifying journey through the surprisingly complicated landscape of the primate birth canal. Content warning: some of the subject material in this episode may be upsetting, but we try to give listeners a heads up.Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We’re finally introducing our producer, Jenna Hendrick, in an episode! Jenna has been working with us behind the scenes on our social media posts and some of the nuts and bolts of episode organization for several months now. We chat about popular media portrayals of human life in the Paleolithic, and how those affected popular perception of the human past.Tune in to the full episode on Patreon for our best/worst Pop-Paleo Awards show!Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

It's another January Hiatus episode--this time a cleaned-up excerpt from Dirt After Dark. Amber drags Anna back to Arabia, where we discuss possibly its most famous inhabitant of all time: the Queen of Sheba. We look at the source material and the archaeology before really getting into it to discuss racism, misogyny, and--of course--camels.Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.Links 1 Kings 10: The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon 2 Chronicles 9: The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon Surah an-Nami The kingdoms of ancient South Arabia In search of the real Queen of Sheba Camel bones challenge the timing of some Bible stories How black women were whitewashed by art The Queen of Sheba’s Hairy Legs Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam Bilquis, Queen Of Sheba, And American Gods ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Recently, Anna and Amber sat down with Rachel Watkins, a biological anthropologist and scholar-activist whose research centers on social and biological histories of Black Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. Learn about the social history of biological anthropology, the exemplary case studies with which Dr. Watkins has worked, why you shouldn't discount the creepy things small children sometimes do, and so much more!Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code DIRT. Click this message for more information.Links Rachel Watkins Faculty Profile (American University) Rachel J. Watkins on ResearchGate The Mismeasure of Man (WW Norton) The Cobb Collection (W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory) Watch Now! African Diasporic Activist Scholarship: Beyond the Enlightenment, Toward the Democratization of Science (Wenner-Gren Blog) Science and Freedom (Washington History) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We hope you enjoy this great interview from the archives. If you're doing cool research, and want to talk about it on the show, drop us a note at thedirtpodcast@gmail.com!Anna and Amber sit down with Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Paleolithic archaeologist and author of the book "Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art." We talk about Rebecca's education and her love for all things ancient, and she resolves some common misconceptions about our Neanderthal cousins. "Kindred" just came out in the States, so pick up a copy of your very own for an amazing synthesis of current Neanderthal knowledge.Start your own podcast with 30% off Zencastr for the first 3 months with The Dirt! Click anywhere on this paragraph.Links Neanderthals Among Mammoths: Excavations at Lynford Quarry, Norfolk (via Archaeology Data Service) Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (European Commission) Trowelblazers Rebecca Wragg Sykes ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We're closing out the year with a cozy episode about heartwarming things in the archaeological record. That’s right, we’re just going to find examples of nice things that people did and made in the past and tell you all about them. It’s a little year’s-end treat for us all. There's some discussion of Dads Being Dads, some loud opinions from Anna's neighbor's dog, and an all around good time.Start your own podcast with 30% off Zencastr for the first 3 months with The Dirt! Click anywhere on this paragraph.Links Stone-age toddlers had art lessons, study says (The Guardian) Cat Left a Pawprint in a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Roof Tile (Smithsonian) 2000-Year-Old Paw Print Proves Cats Never Cared About Your Stuff (Bored Panda) Curious Cat Walks Over Medieval Manuscript (National Geographic) On Lebanon border, salvage op rappels 2,000-year-old vessels down sheer cliff (Times of Israel) Rembrandt masterpiece thought lost is found after falling off wall (CNN) For a Surprisingly Long Time, Humans Have Kept Mementos of Dead Loved Ones (ScienceAlert)) Tradition of keeping mementos in memory of loved ones dates back at least 2,000 years, study shows (Science Daily) Digging In The Dirt Really Does Make People Happier (Forbes) These archaeologists helped quell a COVID surge in Madagascar (Nature) Amazing Artefacts: The Amber Bear Of Slupsk (Digventures) Faience aryballos (oil flask) in the form of a hedgehog (Met Museum) The Tell Asmar Sculpture Hoard of Prayerful People (ThoughtCo) Sharjah Archaeology Museum (Sharjah Museums Authority) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote <a...

When does “The Past” start, and how far back does it go? How long did it take people to get places in the past? How do we attempt to hold the vastness of time and geography in our minds? Not well, especially in an audio medium, but we’re excited to blow your minds.Links The Greatest Animal War (Nautilus) The last slave ship survivor and her descendants identified (National Geographic) How Far Can A Horse Travel In A Day? (8 Facts) (Deep Hollow Ranch) RGS-IBG Expedition Handbook (Royal Geographical Society) Speed Under Sail of Ancient Ships (Transactions of the American Philological Association) An Ordinary Ship and Its Stories of Early Globalism: World Travel, Mass Production, and Art in the Global Middle Ages (Journal of Medieval Worlds) Royal Road (Livius.org) ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World (Stanford University) Modeling Ancient Population Structures and Movement in Linguistics (Annual Review of Anthropology) Convergent geographic patterns between grizzly bear population genetic structure and Indigenous language groups in coastal British Columbia, Canada (Ecology and Society) Human mobility and innovation spreading in ancient times: a stochastic agent-based simulation approach (EPJ Data Service) Optimising human community sizes (Evolution and Human Behavior) Size of human groups during the Paleolithic and the evolutionary significance of increased group size (Behavioral and Brain Sciences) The Oaxaca Barrio in Teotihuacan: Mortuary Customs and Ethnicity in Mesoamerica's Greatest Metropolis (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on...

This week, we bring you another episode from behind the Patreon paywall. Sure, the title is a stretch, but it's hard coming up with a topical joke about portraiture! This month we dive into some early examples of representing individuals in ancient art from several times and places. Amber inexplicably takes umbrage with the entirety of Byzantine art, and both hosts question what is a face and what is a couple of lines that sorta look like a face.Links The oldest known portrait of a human—usually interpreted as a woman—sculpted from mammoth ivory (via ResearchGate) 26,000 years of capturing the human face (Inspiring Ancestry - Genealogy &amp; DNA) The woman from the Dolní Věstonice 3 burial: a new view of the face using modern technologies (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences) Archaeologists Discover an Ancient Portrait of Young Jesus in an Abandoned Israeli Church (Artnet) The Oldest Modernist Paintings (Smithsonian) Scientists Analyze Faiyum Portrait Pigment (Archaeology) Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits From Roman Egypt (The Met) Egyptian Mummy Portrait Mysteries Solved (Artsy) Old Masters (The Guardian) The diagnosis of art: facial nerve palsy in ancient Rome (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

There are a lot of misconceptions in archaeology that are often perpetuated simply because people don’t think about how the information they take for granted came to be. How do archaeologists know what people were doing in the past? Actually, how do we know anything at all? How do we know what didn’t happen? Tune in and find out!Links Archaeologists Dig For Clues (via WorldCat Is there a Solutrean-Clovis Connection in the American Colonization? (ThoughtCo) Who really discovered America? The Solutrean hypothesis is the latest in a long line of theories about the discovery of the New World (Skeptic) Five Breakthrough Signs of Early Peoples in the Americas (Sapiens) The Buttermilk Creek Complex and the Origins of Clovis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas (Science) People Were Chipping Stone Tools in Texas More Than 15,000 Years Ago (Scientific American) Rejecting the Solutrean hypothesis: the first peoples in the Americas were not from Europe (Guardian) Man the Hunter, Woman the Gatherer? The Impact of Gender Studies on Hunter-Gatherer Research (A Retrospective) (The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers) Mammoth FAQ (We Hunted the Mammoth) Man the Hunter. The First Intensive Survey of a Single, Crucial Stage of Human Development—Man's Once Universal Hunting Way of Life (via Google Books) Female hunters of the early Americas (Science Advances) Did prehistoric women hunt? New research suggests so (The Conversation) This Prehistoric Peruvian Woman Was a Big-Game Hunter (Smithsonian) Whole-genome sequencing of Atacama skeleton shows novel mutations linked with dysplasia (Genome Research) The Starchild Project (New England Skeptical Society) Oldest case of leukemia discovered: Prehistoric female skeleton shows signs of this cancer (ScienceDaily) Leukemia in Ancient Egypt: Earliest case and state-of-the-art techniques for diagnosing generalized osteolytic lesions (International Journal of Osteology) A history of true civilisation is not one of monuments (Aeon) <a...

This week, Amber is finishing grad school applications and Anna had some vaccine booster side effects, so we bring you an excerpt from an episode of Dirt After Dark! Amber brings Anna (kicking and screaming) along on an exploration of some space weirdos who interpreted various bits and pieces of archaeology and ethnography to show that there's another mystery planet out there, and it's out to get us. And also bring us civilization? Anyway, it gets really weird, and we hope you enjoy the ride.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We’re shaking things up this year, and instead of doing a ThanksViking episode, we’re peeking into the world of Maya and Aztec art and writing. The Maya wrote using a system of around 800 glyphs--the Aztecs used as many as 2,000. We won’t get to ALL of these, but we’ll talk about how these writing systems developed, how they were used, and the role they played in the lives of the Aztec and Maya people.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Come along for an exploration of anti-languages and the qualities that make them successful in building community and maintaining safety among the people that develop them. From occupational jargon to survival as a marginalized group to being hip with the kids, we tour a few of these languages, and subject everyone to a 16th century dialogue with translation.Links O latín dos canteiros en Cabana de Bergantiños (Madrygal, in Galician) Anti-Languages (American Anthropologist) The Language of the Underworld and its Sociolinguistic Significance (Contributions to the Study of Language, Literature and Culture) The secret “anti-languages” you’re not supposed to know (BBC Future) The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars: With a Vocabulary of Their Language (via Google Books) A caveat or warning for common cursetors, vulgarly called vagabonds. Whereunto is added, The tale of the second taking of the counterfeit crank (via Google Books) Uncovering Thieves’ Cant, the Elizabethan Slang of the Underworld (MentalFloss) Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (via Project Gutenberg) A brief history of Polari: the curious after-life of the dead language for gay men (The Conversation) The Polari Bible (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) Putting on the Dish (via YouTube) Putting on the Dish Screenplay (Brian and Karl) This Month in Linguistics History: Lavender Language/Linguistics (Linguistic Society of America) Cants And ‘Anti-Languages’ — The Hidden World Of Secret Languages (Babbel Magazine) Verlan - French Slang (ThoughtCo) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic <a...

Anna takes Amber on a short but eventful journey into an investigation of Egyptian hieroglyphs located in eastern Australia. How did they get there? Did Egyptians reach Australia thousands of years ago? ARE THE CHICKENS A CLUE?? Plus, a detour into mummy drugs.&nbsp;For more information, check out:Bulgandry Aboriginal Art Site - This Place (Indigenous.gov.au)Hair Raising Cases in Hair Testing: Are ‘cocaine Mummies’ Real or Fake? (Cotsford Lab)New World Tobacco in Old World Mummies (Skeptoid)Rameses II and the Tobacco Beetle (Antiquity, via ResearchGate)Translated: This Is What The 5,000-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs In Australia Say (Humans Are Free)Egyptologist debunks new claims about 'Gosford glyphs' (ABC)Gosford Glyphs, Walking Track to Secret Treasures! (Kombi Lifestyle, with pics)Gosford Glyphs (Atlas Obscura)The Gosford glyphs, debunked (Australian Geographic)First rock art (National Museum of Australia)

Anna and Amber are joined by wonderful Special Guest, Kyle Jordan! Kyle is a disabled Egyptologist interested in themes of religion, magic and identity in the Egyptian world, with a specific focus on the appearance and interpretation of disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology as a discipline. We had a wonderful-- and long-- conversation with Kyle about how Egyptians viewed the embodiment of disability, how perception of disability in archaeology has changed (and how it still needs to change), and more.Listener note, we mistakenly discuss the dialogue of a man and his ka, which was in fact between a man and his ba. This dialogue is on the subject of suicidal ideation, so please take care or skip forward at about [41:04.000].Links Follow Kyle on Twitter! "Disability in Ancient Egypt - the Case of Geheset" (via YouTube) "Disability in Ancient Egyptian Myth and Literature" (via YouTube) Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: Tutankhamun and Disability (via Semantic Scholar) Dialogue of a Man with His Soul (Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive) (cn discussion of suicidal ideation) Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology Westcar Papyrus: Khufu and the Magician (Ancient Egypt Online) Human History Gets a Rewrite (The Atlantic) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Thanks to everyone who came out to our virtual live show! This is the edited audio of that event. We talk about the role of ritual in daily life, how our big round human brains have evolved the ability to think about abstract meaning and ritual significance, and the theory underpinning all of this. We also take a trip to two incredible archaeological sites to think about how the people living there might have thought about the unknown and unseen in their lives. Whoa.Links Emile Durkheim: religion – the very idea, part 3: ritual, ancient and modern (The Guardian) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice ‘Materiality, Belief, Ritual – Archaeology and Material Religion’. An Introduction (Material Religion) Materiality: An Introduction (UCL Anthropology) Materiality (Society for Cultural Anthropology) How Did Belief Evolve? (Sapiens) The evolution of modern human brain shape (Science Advances) A Shocking Find in a Neanderthal Cave in France (The Atlantic) Neanderthals Built Mysterious Stone Circles (National Geographic) Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France (Nature) Athens in Pieces: What Really Happened at Eleusis? (New York Times) The Psychedelic Cult That Thrived For Nearly 2000 Years (Gizmodo) mysteries, Eleusinian (Oxford Classical Dictionary) Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) The Ritual Path of Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries (Rosicrucian Digest) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We explore the evolutionary roots of fear, and the science of how it works. Why do some people love thrills and chills, while others don't? Why does fear make us stinky? And how can we think about something as personal and ephemeral as fear in the archaeological record?Links Why We Physically Feel Fear (University of West Alabama) The biology of fear- and anxiety-related behaviors (Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience) What Happens in the Brain When We Feel Fear (Smithsonian) Humans can smell fear - and it's contagious (NBC News) Humans Respond to Scent of Fear (LiveScience) The Powerful Smell of Fear Doesn’t Smell Like Anything At All (Inverse) Alexithymia and emotional reactions to odors (Nature: Scientific Reports) Instructed fear learning, extinction, and recall: additive effects of cognitive information on emotional learning of fear (Cognition &amp; Emotion) Monsters on the Brain (Social Research) What we fear most: A developmental advantage for threat-relevant stimuli (Developmental Review) Playing With Fear: A Field Study in Recreational Horror (Psychological Science) Why is it fun to be frightened? (The Conversation) Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? (The Atlantic) Our age of horror (Aeon) - cn image of human remains The Archaeology of Anxiety: The Materiality of Anxiousness, Worry and Fear (via Google Books) The Architecture of Fear: San Sabá’s Lasting Impact on Spanish Colonial Mission Construction as Exemplified at Mission San Lorenzo in Real County, Texas (The Digital Archaeological Record) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic <a...

This week, we lift our spirits (oooOOOooo) with a round-up of monsters. We explore their origins and effects on us, with examples ranging from memories of very real things in the past to a hypothesis that doesn't quite have legs (unlike griffins).Links Why we'll always be obsessed with – and afraid of – monsters (The Conversation) Why the scariest monsters look almost human (Wellcome Collection) Why We Still Need Monsters (Nautilus) Why Are So Many Monsters Hybrids? (Nautilus) A History of Monsters (Aeon) Why do we want to feel sorry for monsters that scare us? (Gizmodo) Why Frankenstein is the story that defines our fears (BBC) Neanderthals, Scandinavian trolls, and troglodytes (Norwegian American) Ōnamazu (Yokai.com) Namazu-e: Earthquake catfish prints (Pink Tentacle) Namazu (World History Encyclopedia) Giant catfish and a legacy of disaster in one of the world's most seismically active regions (Phys.org) Folklore and earthquakes: Native American oral traditions from Cascadia compared with written traditions from Japan (Geological Society, London, Special Publications via ResearchGate) Why Protoceratops almost certainly wasn't the inspiration for the griffin legend (Mark Witton) Griffin Bones (American Museum of Natural History) Andrewsarchus, "Superb Skull of a Gigantic Beast" (American Museum of Natural History) Jumbies of the West Indies (The Brown Geeks) Rare Book Library Summons Tales of World’s Oldest Monsters (Smithsonian) The evolution of monsters in children’s literature (Nature) A Visual History of Society’s Monsters (Hyperallergic) The Nazi Werewolves Who Terrorized Allied Soldiers at the End of WWII (Smithsonian) Doin’ The Mash (Tedium) The strange tale of ‘Monster

This week, we're taking a turn for the cryptid and spooking local with the legend of West Virginia native son, the Mothman. For a little over a year leading up to December 1967, sightings of a winged humanoid with glowing eyes were reported in and around Point Pleasant, WV. Since then, Mothman has evolved from evil omen to legend to meme. In this episode, we’ll explore the legend, collective memory, and the power of portents.Links Paranormal Activity in West Virginia (Marshall University) Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend (West Virginia Book Company) Mothman myth rooted in Messenger reporter's work (Athens Messenger) Is the Mothman of West Virginia an Owl? (Audubon Society) Silver Bridge tragedy still haunts river city residents (Charleston Gazette-Mail) Tu-Endie-Wei State Park (WV State Parks) Point Pleasant, West Virginia: Making a Tourism Landscape in an Appalachian Town (Southeastern Geographer) West Virginian Urban Legends and Their Impact on Cultures Both Local and Abroad (Bowling Green State University) The Mothman and Other Strange Tales: Shaping Queer Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse in Online Social Media Communities (University of Kentucky) UFOs Were Born Among America’s Cold War Fears (Foreign Policy) Welcome To The 'TNT Area,' Home Of The Mothman (NPR) Federal Facilities Restoration Program (WV Dept of Environmental Protection) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

SPOOKTOBER HAS BEGUN! This week, we discuss the trope in myth, legend, horror, and adjacent genres of feral children. We won't be directly discussing actual cases of trauma, neglect, or child abuse, but rather the place of the bestial feral child in the mythology of different ancient cultures all the way up to a more recent timeline. Why do these stories interest us, spook us, and who's the real monster here?Links Register for our International Archaeology Day Live Show on October 16! Black Doves Speak: Herodotus and the Languages of Barbarians (Center for Hellenic Studies) How Young Children Learn Language (Scholastic) Flint Dibble on Wolf’s Milk and More Guide to the classics: the Epic of Gilgamesh (The Conversation) Between gods and animals: becoming human in the Gilgamesh epic (Aeon) The History of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, translated by Simon Ockley Rewriting the Savage: The Extraordinary Fictions of the "Wild Girl of Champagne" (Eighteenth-Century Studies) The Wild Girl, Natural Man, and the Monster (via WorldCat) Why Sasquatch and Other Crypto-Beasts Haunt Our Imaginations (Anthropology of Consciousness) Feral Disorders and Colonial Exclusions: Animal Reared Feral Children, Discourses of Animality, and the Treatment of Animals in Colonial India (via Academia.edu) Wild stories: why do we find feral children so fascinating? (The Guardian) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber are joined by Andrew Gurza, disabled content creator and fellow podcaster, to talk about disability and care in the ancient world. We talk with Andrew about the need for disabled voices in archaeology, his path to podcasting, and some archaeological case studies that show that humans have always taken care of one another.Links Andrew Gurza's website Ancient Bones That Tell a Story of Compassion (NY Times) Ancient Bones Offer Clues to How Long Ago Humans Cared for the Vulnerable (NPR Goats and Soda) Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndrewGurza_ ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Dr. Danielle Macdonald specializes in the prehistory of Western Asia and the stone tools that people made and used in their everyday lives. That’s right, three years in, we’re finally doing an episode on lithics! We’ll also talk about Danielle’s path to anthropology and her ongoing work at the site of Kharaneh IV in what's today Jordan.Links Follow Danielle on Twitter! Danielle Macdonald (University of Tulsa) Kharaneh IV Website Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology (MIT Press) Eccentric flint (Wikipedia) Flint Knapping a spear head from English Flint with Will Lord (YouTube) Knapping a Blade Core using a Rocker Punch by Craig Ratzat! ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

It’s the episode title that’s been making us giggle for months! We’re FINALLY examining the famous Chalcolithic ice-mummy just in time for the 30th anniversary of hikers stumbling upon his body. We’ll explore the archaeological methods and evidence that tell us about who Ötzi was, what his life was like, and how he died. Umlauts will, no doubt, abound.Links Chalcolithic Europe (Wikipedia) Scientists Reconstruct the Glacial Conditions During Ötzi the Iceman’s Lifetime (Columbia Climate School) Chalcolithic Period: The Beginnings of Copper Metallurgy (ThoughtCo) Ötzi, the Iceman (ThoughtCo) What We Can Learn From Ötzi the Iceman’s Hunting Pack (Smithsonian) DNA Analysis Reveals What Ötzi the Iceman Wore to His Grave (Smithsonian) Before He Died, Ötzi the Iceman Ate a Greasy, Fatty Meal (Smithsonian) Lactose Intolerant, Before Milk Was on Menu (New York Times) Mosses Expand the Story of Ötzi the Iceman’s Final Journey (Smithsonian) Frozen moss reveals fatal final journey of 5,300-year-old ice mummy (CNN) Scientists Have Mapped All of Ötzi the Iceman's 61 Tattoos (Discover) [cn: images of human remains] Who Killed the Iceman? Clues Emerge in a Very Cold Case (New York Times) Hear the Recreated Voice of Ötzi the Iceman (Smithsonian) Ötzi the Iceman: Examining New Evidence from the Famous Copper Age Mummy (Expedition) Ötzi, the Iceman (Archaeology) [cn: images of human remains] 13 Cool Facts About Ötzi the Iceman (Mental Floss) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote <a...

Remember that time we did a whole series on the human family tree and then finished talking about evolution forever because we were all done? HA! OF COURSE WE AREN'T DONE! There have been some amazing new discoveries in the human fossil record since that series dropped, so we're here to update you on what our family shrubbery looks like now. We journey to Siberia, the Philippines, China, and other places, and our story gets a whole lot more complicated! We love to see it.Links Human Evolution Interactive Timeline (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History) Are Homo sapiens and Neanderthals the same species? (Stefan Milo, via YouTube) ​Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (National Human Genome Research Institute) First portrait of mysterious Denisovans drawn from DNA (Nature) Biggest Denisovan fossil yet spills ancient human’s secrets (Nature) New clue to human evolution's biggest mystery emerges in Philippines (CNN) Indigenous Filipino Group Has Highest Known Denisovan Ancestry (The Scientist) Ancient tools and DNA discovered in a Tibetan cave shed unprecedented light on humans' most enigmatic ancestor, the Denisovans (Business Insider) Denisovans: The ancient humans who share our ancestry (New Scientist) Philippine Ayta possess the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world (Current Biology) A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines (Nature) Homo luzonensis: New human species found in Philippines (BBC News) New species of ancient human discovered in the Philippines (National Geographic) Homo naledi (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History) Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa (Evolutionary Biology) The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa (Evolutionary Biology) Homo naledi is only 250,000 years old – here’s why that matters (New Scientist) New type of ancient human discovered in Israel (BBC News) <a...

This week, Amber tells Anna the story of Nabonidus, King of Babylon, who, mid-kinging, tootled off to the Arabian desert for a decade to worship the moon god, Sin. But is that the whole story? Of course not. Tune in to learn what Nabonidus was maybe really doing out there.Links Cuneiform inscription from last king of Babylon discovered in Saudi Arabia (LiveScience) Mesopotamia (World History Encyclopedia) Video: The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire - Marian H Feldman (TED-Ed via YouTube) A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC (via WorldCat) The Reign of Nabonidus King of Babylon 556-539 BC (Yale Babylonian Collection) The Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus (Anatolian Studies) Qedar (Livius) The Archaeology of Prehistoric Arabia: Adaptation and Social Formation From the Neolithic to the Iron Age (via WorldCat) New Discoveries at Sela, the Mountain Stronghold of Edom (Ancient Near East Today) First evidence of Nabonidus in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the region of Taymāʾ (Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 31 via Academia.edu) The Cyrus Cylinder (World History Encyclopedia) Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam (via WorldCat) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber take a tour of some of the libraries of the ancient world. We visit Mesopotamia for the origins of writing and the heartland of administrative paperwork, hit up Africa for the oral traditions of the Griots, browse the stacks of oracle bones in China, and...yes, talk about the Library of Alexandria.Links The Origins of Writing (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) Writing (World History Encyclopedia) Hidden women of history: Enheduanna, princess, priestess and the world’s first known author (The Conversation) Archives and Bookkeeping in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III period (Comptabilités) Hard Work-Where Will It Get You? Labor Management in Ur III Mesopotamia (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, via CDLI) OIP 92. Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Oriental Institute Publications) Persepolis Fortification Archive (Oriental Institute) A Heritage Threatened: The Persepolis Tablets Lawsuit and the Oriental Institute (Persepolis Fortification Archive Project) Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Livius.org) The Library of Ashurbanipal (ThoughtCo) A Library Fit for a King (British Museum) The Library of Alexandria Is Long-Gone – And All Around Us (Daily Beast) The Life and Death of the Library of Alexandria (Literary Hub) The Great Library of Alexandria (James Grout) Chinese Oracle Bones (British Library) History of Library Developments in China (IFLA) Zhou Period Literature (ChinaKnowledge.de) The History of Chinese Literature (China Highlights) What Is a Griot and Why Are They Important? (Culture Trip) African Music: A People’s Art (via WorldCat) The Four Surviving Maya Codices (ThoughtCo) Maya codices: invaluable cultural heritage burned by the Inquisition in 1562 (Yucatan Times) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: <a...

It's our 150th episode! Wow! This week we're starting our Back To School series with a short primer on stratigraphy. How do archaeologists divide a site into time periods? How did people first figure out that layers of sediment accumulate over time through different processes? How many dirt/soil/sediment puns is Anna capable of making in roughly forty minutes? We’ll find out.Links Stratigraphy: Earth's Geological, Archaeological Layers (ThoughtCo) Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology (WGBH) About Sir Charles Lyell (University of Edinburgh) Charles Lyell (Encyclopedia Britannica) The Blasphemous Geologist Who Rocked Our Understanding of Earth’s Age (Smithsonian) Harris Matrix (Wikipedia) The Harris Matrix Tool for Comprehending the Archaeological Past (ThoughtCo) How to Read a Munsell Color Chart (Munsell Color) Atapuerca (Don’s Maps) Chicken Bones May Be the Legacy of Our Time (Smithsonian) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, we’ve got an episode that started off as a funny title and became a topic. There are many possible reasons for abandoning a site, and there are plenty of examples from the archaeological record. We’ll look into evidence for climate change, conflict, natural disaster, and other reasons for abandonment (not all at once; that sounds like a really bad place to live). Plus, Anna and Amber do Dickens.Links What does panarchy even mean? (Foresight Design Initiative) A Canaanite palace was abandoned 3,700 years ago. Archaeologists finally know why. (National Geographic) Study: Scant evidence that ‘wood overuse’ at Cahokia caused local flooding, subsequent collapse (Washington University in St. Louis) Human Poop Reveals That Climate Change Caused The Fall Of Cahokia, A Medieval Native American City (Forbes) 10 Deserted Places and Why They Were Abandoned (MentalFloss) Internet Archaeology: Behold the Most Hilarious Abandoned Websites (Wired) Ghost Towns ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber sit down with archaeologist, podcaster, and member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Carlton Shield Chief Gover. We talk about his path to archaeology, an Indigenous perspective on archaeology as history and heritage, how to prank your site supervisor, and more!ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

In this installment of Field Season, Amber and Anna take a trip to the semi-mythical world of cinematic archaeology. Who inspired the character of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.? Did the Indiana Jones franchise leave a lasting impression on archaeology? Plus--we've got a whole roundup of fellas that likely influenced the American public's perception of what an explorer should look like.Links How Indiana Jones Actually Changed Archaeology (National Geographic) The Casual Colonialism of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones (Hyperallergic) 2 Archaeologists, Robert Braidwood, 95, And His Wife, Linda Braidwood, 93, Die (New York Times) Linda Braidwood (TrowelBlazers) Raiders of the Lost Journal: The Hunt for the Real Indiana Jones (Oriental Institute) Roy Chapman Andrews and the Kingdom of the Cretaceous Skulls (Scientific American) The real-life Indiana Jones was from Wisconsin (The Bozho) Badass? This Guy Was the Real-Life Inspiration for Indiana Jones (Adventure Journal) Roy Chapman Andrews: A Real Life Indiana Jones (MentalFloss) From the State Historian: Discovering the Explorer Hiram Bingham III (History.org) Finding Machu Picchu: A Look at Explorer Hiram Bingham, A Real-Life Indiana Jones (National Geographic) Who was the real Indiana Jones? -- EXCLUSIVE (Entertainment Weekly) Our Very Own Indiana Jones (Northwestern University) Walter A. Fairservis, 73, Dies; Was Archeologist and Author (New York Times) Science: Journey to Afghanistan (Time) ‘Fighting like angry sheep’: Wendell Phillips in the Gulf (National Archives) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates <a...

Anna and Amber are joined this week by Allyson Blanck, a Classical archaeologist and advocate for accessibility and inclusivity in the field. Learn about best practices for accommodating archaeologists with disabilities in the field, the changes that are already underway in the discipline, and how much farther we need to go. Plus, some excellent dog content and a discussion of ancient cranial surgery!Links Allyson on Twitter: @ablanck_page https://classics.arizona.edu/people/ablanck ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

How do we capture a sense of the experience of living in a landscape of the past? What did the past smell like? What did it feel like? How can we understand ancient people's mindsets, perceptions, intentions, and emotions? Will Anna end up deeply confused? Tune in to find out!Links A History of Archaeological Thought (via WorldCat) Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) How Can Phenomenological Methodologies help us understand past Landscapes? (The Post Hole) A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments (via WorldCat) Archaeological Theory: An Introduction (via WorldCat) Phenomenology in Practice: Towards a Methodology for a 'Subjective' Approach (European Journal of Archaeology, via ResearchGate) Experiencing the past? The development of a phenomenological archaeology in British prehistory (Archaeological Dialogues) Investigating Neolithization of Cultural Landscapes in East Asia: The NEOMAP Project (Journal of World Prehistory) Performance Space, Political Theater, and Audibility in Downtown Chaco (Acoustics) Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded (Nature) Mapping an archaeology of the present: Counter-mapping at the Gummingurru stone arrangement site, southeast Queensland, Australia (Journal of Social Archaeology) Mapping an archaeology of the present: Counter-mapping at the Gummingurru stone arrangement site, southeast Queensland, Australia (via Academia.edu) Counter mapping at the Gummingurru stone arrangement site (via Academia.edu) Gummingurru in the Landscape (Prezi) A Phenomenological Approach to the Kom El-Shuqafa Catacombs (Cornell eCommons) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote

On this sponsored episode, Anna and Amber talk about the Nazca culture of coastal Peru. There's SO much more to talk about than the famous Nazca Lines. There's gorgeous ceramics, ingenious irrigation, trophy heads, cactus tripping, and much more!Links The Puquios of Nasca (Latin American Antiquity) Cahuachi: New Evidence for an Early Nasca Ceremonial Role (Current Anthropology, via ResearchGate) Ritual Uses of Trophy Heads in Ancient Nasca Society (Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru,) Traditional Medicinal Plant Use in Northern Peru: Tracking Two Thousand Years of Healing Culture (Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine) Nasca Ceramics: Ancient Art from Peru’s South Coast (Peabody Museum of Archaeology &amp; Ethnology) Nazca Pottery (World History Encyclopedia) Nasca Ceramic Iconography: An Overview (The Studio Potter) 2,000-Year-Old Nazca Line Featuring Lounging Cat Found in Peru (Smithsonian) 2,000-Year-Old Cat Etching Found at Nazca Lines Site in Peru (New York Times) Peru’s Nazca Line etchings depict bird species not native to the area (PBS) Identifying the bird figures of the Nasca pampas: An ornithological perspective (Journal of Archaeological Science) The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes (The Atlantic) Ancient Nazca people of Peru created own demise (Seattle Times) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Ella al-Shamahi is a paleoanthropologist, National Geographic Explorer, evolutionary biologist, stand-up comic, and author of the new book The Handshake: A Gripping History. And NOW, she's a guest on The Dirt Podcast! We chat about how she came to anthropology, learn about the biological and cultural roots of the handshake, about science's Geography Problem, and what it's like to be a capital-E Explorer.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

People in the past looked up at the stars and planets, too. How did ancient cultures perceive the night sky? How did they explain the movement of celestial bodies? How did astronomy figure into ancient religion, calendars, city planning, and more? Was it aliens? Nope, but it was pretty much all math. Sorry.Links Decoding European Palaeolithic Art: Extremely Ancient knowledge of Precession of Decoding Göbekli Tepe With Archaeoastronomy: What Does The Fox Say? (Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry) Celestial Fertility Guide (Science) GIFs Show Constellations Transforming Over 150,000 Years (Wired) The world's oldest observatory? How Aboriginal astronomy provides clues to ancient life (ABC) Nabta Playa: The World's First Astronomical Site Was Built in Africa and Is Older Than Stonehenge (Discover) Nabta Playa and Its Role in Northeastern African Prehistory (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology) Megaliths and Neolithic astronomy in southern Egypt (Nature) Satellite Imagery Measures of the Astronomically Aligned Megaliths at Nabta Playa (Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry) Five Solstice Sites That Aren’t Stonehenge (Sapiens) Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts (Archive for History of Exact Sciences) The History of Trigonometry- Part 1 (NRICH) Enuma Anu Enlil (Tablet 50) (British Museum) The Theory of Knowledge and the Practice of Celestial Divination (Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World) Knowledge of Planets in the Third Millennium BC (Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society) Vedānga Jyotisha (Encyclopedia.com) Vedānga Jyotisha (Indic Civilization Portal) Chinese astronomy: a guide to ancient stargazing in China (BBC Sky At Night Magazine) July 4, 1054: Crab Nebula Makes a Spectacular Debut in the Heavens (Wired) The Dunhuang Star Atlas (International Dunhuang Project) Book copied on silk, Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena (Hunan Museum) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast:...

This week, we talk about the first (known) human arrivals in this region, waaaay way down at the tip of South America, and the archaeological remains that tell us how they lived. We've got a cave of hands, commentary from Charles Darwin, old old feet, fish ears, and SO much more!Links Peopling time, spatial occupation and demography of Late Pleistocene–Holocene human population from Patagonia (Quaternary International, via ResearchGate) The initial peopling of Central Western Patagonia (southernmost South America): Late Pleistocene through Holocene site context and archaeological assemblages from Cueva de la Vieja site (Quaternary International) New Light on the Ancient Human Populations of Patagonia (Popular Archaeology) Patagonia (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian) 500 years after Ferdinand Magellan landed in Patagonia, there’s nothing to celebrate for its indigenous peoples (The Conversation) Junius Bird (Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology) Junius Bird Collections from Sites Rockshelter 1, 2 and 3 (Beagle Channel, Patagonia, Chile) (tDAR) South American Archaeological Collection (American Museum of Natural History) Antiquity and Migrations of the Early Inhabitants of Patagonia (Geographical Review) La Cueva de las Manos (Cave of Hands) (Atlas Obscura) Scientists in Chile have found a 15,000-year-old footprint, the earliest sign of humans' presence in the Americas (CNN) Macrauchenia (Wikipedia) Oldest Human Footprint in Americas May Be This 15,600-Year-Old Mark in Chile (LiveScience) A late Pleistocene human footprint from the Pilauco archaeological site, northern Patagonia, Chile (PLOSOne) Characterizing seasonal fishing patterns and growth dynamics during the Middle and Late Holocene in the Strait of Magellan (Chilean Patagonia): Sclerochronological analysis of tadpole codling (Salilota australis) vertebrae (The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, via ResearchGate) Ancient Peoples in Patagonia Who Adapted to Changing Climate Offer Insights for Today (Columbia...

In 1953, archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon and her team uncovered human skulls covered with plaster and decorated with shells to resemble human faces. These Neolithic artifacts may be one of the earliest known examples of human portraits. In this sponsored episode, we’ll dig into the discovery, the site of Jericho itself, and the lives of the people who buried the skulls in the first place.Links Dame Kathleen Kenyon’s Excavations (msu.edu) Biography of Dame Kathleen Kenyon (Archaeology Magazine) The John Garstang Excavations (University of Liverpool) Jericho (worldhistory.org) The Jericho Skull (National Geographic) The Jericho Skull reconstruction (The British Museum) Early History of Jericho (Auja Ecological Center) Why Walls? (Time Magazine) Canaanite and Lebanese DNA (The New Scientist) DNA study at Jericho (American Journal of Human Genetics) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Listeners, once again, life has come at us like a poorly written simile, so we're releasing a previous Patreon episode. And once again, we are so deeply grateful for your patience and support. Thank you for sticking with us. As an extension of March Madagascarness, we head back to the island with our (ill-fitting) primatology hats on. Anna put together a fun script about giant extinct lemurs, tiny not-extinct lemurs, and even creepy aye-aye fingers, but somehow Amber managed to have a full on meltdown about a lemur named Maki.Links Graveyard of Giant Lemurs Discovered Underwater in Madagascar (National Geographic) Human population boom led to Madagascar’s megafauna extinction: Study (Mongabay) A new interpretation of Madagascar's megafaunal decline: The “Subsistence Shift Hypothesis” (Journal of Human Evolution) The Aye-Aye and the Finger of Death (Pacific Standard) Scientists Discover New Species of Mouse Lemur (SciNews) Lemur Missing, Possibly Stolen, From San Francisco Zoo (NPR) ‘There’s a lemur!’ 5-year-old helps crack SF Zoo theft case (AP) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

It's Amber's birthday episode! Since she loves historiography, we're taking it back to one of the earliest historians, Herodotus. How did he think about the past, and how did that influence historians who came after him? What did he get right, and what did he get wrong? What's up with that weird boat, those mummy enemas, the flying snakes, and the giant ants? Listen and find out!Links Herodotus (World History Encyclopedia) Guide to the classics: The Histories, by Herodotus (The Conversation) Herodotus (Livius.org) Herodotus’ Histories (Livius.org) The Histories (Perseus) From Herodotus to H-Net on WorldCat 2,500 Years Ago, Herodotus Described a Weird Ship. Now, Archaeologists Have Found it. (LiveScience) 10 Historical Facts That Herodotus Got Hilariously Wrong (Listverse) Herodotus on the gold-digging "ants" (Livius.org) The Winged Snakes of Arabia and the Fossil Site of Makhtesh Ramon in the Negev (Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, via JSTOR) Herodotus on the phoenix, on the horned serpent, and on winged snakes (Hyde and Rugg) DNA Boosts Herodotus’ Account of Etruscans as Migrants to Italy (The New York Times) Darius, Herodotus and the Scythians (British Museum Blog) The Real Amazons (New Yorker) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We haven’t covered much archaeology from the Amazon Basin on the show, but this week, that changes! Instead of being the primitive groups early European explorers reported on, people lived in the Amazon Basin region for thousands of years by adapting to their landscape as well as modifying their environment to suit their needs! Somehow, we suspect that you, listeners, are not shocked.Links Amazon People (World Wildlife Fund) People of the Amazon (Ascent of the Amazon) Who Lives in the Amazon? (Amazon Aid Foundation) The Archaeology of Anthropogenic Impacts on the Amazon (Harvard University) The legacy of 4,500 years of polyculture agroforestry in the eastern Amazon (Nature Plants) Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like clock faces (LiveScience) Ancient farmers transformed Amazon and left an enduring legacy on the rainforest (ScienceDaily) Archaeologists Discover Some of the Amazon’s Oldest Human Burials (Smithsonian) Persistent Early to Middle Holocene tropical foraging in southwestern Amazonia (Science Advances) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeula

This week, Anna and Amber celebrate some of the lesser-known mummies of the world. Amber shares her hometown mummies, while Anna spins the stories of a smoke-dried philosopher, a legendary Lama, and...a winery? Plus, one Egyptian mummy thrown in for good measure.Links Jeremy Bentham (Crime Museum) English Philosopher’s Dressed-Up Skeleton Goes on View in New Glass Display (Smithsonian) Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon (Atlas Obscura) Jeremy Bentham’s Head Is Coming Out of Its Box and Under the Microscope (Atlas Obscura) Nightmarish mummies attracting curious to rural Philippi (West Virginia Explorer) Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum The Mystery Behind Russia's Buddhist "Miracle" (The Culture Trip) Ivolginsky Datsan (Atlas Obscura) Summum Pyramid (Atlas Obscura) First-known pregnant mummy discovered (Live Science) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

We’ve been remiss in discussing the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) anywhere in the world, so we’re fixing that by spotlighting one particular technology in what is today the US states of Michigan and Wisconsin, and some of the world’s earliest coppersmiths. Plus, a very salty discussion of the pseudoscience and *bad* historical takes behind some alternative theories for the Old Copper Complex's creators.Links Old Copper Culture (Milwaukee Public Museum) Ancient Native Americans were among the world’s first coppersmiths (Science) On the Timing of the Old Copper Complex in North America: A Comparison of Radiocarbon Dates From Different Archaeological Contexts (Radiocarbon) Miners Left a Pollution Trail in the Great Lakes 6000 Years Ago (Eos) Copper mining on Isle Royale 6500– 5400 years ago identified using sediment geochemistry from McCargoe Cove, Lake Superior (The Holocene, via ResearchGate) Mining on Minong: Copper Mining on Isle Royale (Michigan History) Understanding the copper heart of volcanoes: Scientists find link between volcanism and the formation of copper ore (Science Daily) How Cold Working Strengthens Metal (ThoughtCo) The exceptional abandonment of metal tools by North American hunter-gatherers, 3000 B.P. (Scientific Reports) An Exercise in Poo-Tility: Scientist Tries to Make a Knife Out of Poop (Mental Floss) Review: How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America (Journal of World History) Bronze Age Part II: The Case of the Missing Copper (Chapelboro.com) MacIntosh Stone - Nahma, Michigan (Michigan Back Roads - Oddities) Reviewing Gavin Menzies' "Atlantis" (Pt. 4) (Jason Colavito) The State of Our Knowledge About Ancient Copper Mining in Michigan (The Michigan Archaeologist) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, we've got one more past Patreon episode for you! Thank you all for your patience as we get back into the swing of things. We'll be back with your regularly scheduled new episodes in May. But for now, we're all horses, all the time. Amber gives you an unbridled (har!) look at the Hittite Horse Training Texts, which are much more than just Kikkuli (remember him?). After that, we veer from horsemanship to horse-man-’ship. First there’s a glimpse into the legal mind of the Hittites, and then some interesting commonalities across Indo-European societies and an overview of equine lives in antiquity. Ohhh neigh.Links Kikkuli (International Museum of the Horse) Mitanni (Livius) These Asian hunter-gatherers may have been the first people to domesticate horses (Science) The Kikkuli Text. Hittite Training Instructions for Chariot Horses in the Second Half of the 2nd Millennium B.C. and Their Interdisciplinary Context Catalogue of Hittite Language (Konkordanz der heithitischen Keilschrifttafeln) Hittite Laws (Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor) Hittites, Horses, and Corpses (The Early Nature of the Bible) The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and Transformations Ancient origins of horsemanship (Equine Veterinary Journal) Horse Gear from Hasanlu (Expedition) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber are playing catch-up after attending the SAA conference, recovering from vaccine shots, and life in general. We'll be taking the rest of April off for a short break. In the meantime, please enjoy a cleaned-up version of a Dirt After Dark episode where Anna treats Amber to the story of the Roman emperor Caligula's absurd pleasure boats on a tiny, tiny lake.Links Nemi Ships: How Caligula's Floating Pleasure Palaces Were Found and Lost Again (Discover) Divers to scour lake for Emperor Caligula’s 2,000-year-old pleasure ship (Washington Post) A missing mosaic from Caligula’s ship served as a coffee table in NYC home for 45 years (The Vintage News) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

A follow-up and expansion to episode 99, People of Size, Anna and Amber explore other categories of largeness and how they’re represented in the archaeological record. We discuss fat bodies that are coded male, the strength and bulk of sumo wrestlers, and cultural and historical shifts in the aesthetic of the male body.Links Professor Chris Forth on fatness (University of Kansas) Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy (Herman Pontzer) Japanese Sumo Wrestling (The Independent) Shinto origins of sumo (Wikipedia) The sumo diet (sumo.usa) Average body fat percentage (Wikipedia) How Strong Were Ancient People? (Discover Magazine) Late Pleistocene swimmers compared to modern athletes (Journal of Human Evolution) The male image in art history (Artsy.com) The forgotten history of fat men’s clubs (NPR) Anatomy of The Incredible Hulk (Scientific American) Using X Men to teach about hominin speciation (Great Lakes Ethnohistorian) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Recently, Anna and Amber sat down with Rachel Watkins, a biological anthropologist and scholar-activist whose research centers on social and biological histories of Black Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. Learn about the social history of biological anthropology, the exemplary case studies with which Dr. Watkins has worked, why you shouldn't discount the creepy things small children sometimes do, and so much more!Links Rachel Watkins Faculty Profile (American University) Rachel J. Watkins on ResearchGate The Mismeasure of Man (WW Norton) The Cobb Collection (W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory) Watch Now! African Diasporic Activist Scholarship: Beyond the Enlightenment, Toward the Democratization of Science (Wenner-Gren Blog) Science and Freedom (Washington History) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Anna and Amber bring you some bonus April foolery in the form of spooky cursed objects and haunted places. What's up with the Victorians and their creepy parlor displays? Can physics explain a haunted statue? Who asked Alexander Graham Bell about any of this? Apologies if the sound quality is different for this one, friends--Anna's laptop might've had an April Fools' curse of its own going on!Links Spinning statue at Manchester museum (Manchester Evening News) 10 Haunted Museums (ArtNet) Are Ghosts Haunting the British Museum? (The Economist) Creepy Museum Object Challenge (Smithsonian Magazine) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Amber and Anna discuss some of the different rituals, ceremonies, and traditions associated with coming of age in cultures around the world and throughout time. From tossing baby teeth up to the roof to tying a vine to your ankles and jumping off a wooden tower, it's all fascinating.Links Young People's Conceptions of the Transition to Adulthood (Youth &amp; Society) Voice Changes for Boys During Puberty (Very Well Family) Right–left and the scrotum in Greek sculpture (Laterality, via ResearchGate) 13 Amazing Coming of Age Traditions From Around the World (Global Citizen) Rite of Passage (Cultural Anthropology) The Excruciating Bullet Ant Glove Test Of The Mawé People (All That’s Interesting) What It's Like to Get Stung by the World's Most Painful Insect (Esquire) Seijin No Hi: Celebrating Japanese Youth’s Rite of Passage (Savvy Tokyo) Meet Vanuatu's land-diving daredevils, who inspired bungee jumping (CNN Travel) Coming of Age Rituals (Hudson County Community Colleges Libraries) Girling the girl and boying the boy: the production of adulthood in ancient Mesoamerica (World Archaeology) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Amber and Anna examine how different ancient cultures viewed children and childhood. We’ll also discuss how the archaeological interpretation of the lives of children in the ancient past has shifted as we’ve gained more and more evidence.Links Children Are Not Small Adults: Significance of Biological and Cognitive Development in Medical Practice (Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine) Childhood – an historical perspective (Good Childhood Blog) Cultural Relativism (Cultural Anthropology) Why babies in medieval paintings look like ugly old men (Vox) Role and Importance of Children in the Middle Ages (ThoughtCo.) Childbirth, Childhood and Adolescence in the Middle Ages (ThoughtCo.) Children in the ancient Middle East were valued and vulnerable — not unlike children today (The Conversation) The composition of a Neandertal social group revealed by the hominin footprints at Le Rozel (Normandy, France) (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) Neanderthal children's footprints offer rare snapshot of Stone Age family life (ABC News Neanderthal children shivered and suffered in ancient Europe (Science) Neanderthal children grew and were weaned similar to us (EurekAlert) What ancient footprints can tell us about what it was like to be a child in prehistoric times (The Conversation) Prehistoric children as young as eight worked as brickmakers and miners (Nature) 400,000-year-old 'School of Rock' Found in Prehistoric Cave in Israel (Ha’aretz) These Miniature Tools Taught Ancient Children How to Hunt and Fight (Smithsonian) Archaeology and Developmental Psychology: A Brief Survey of Ancient Athenian Toys (American Journal of Play) What prehistoric toys can tell us about human evolution (ABC News) Why Ancient Toys Are Elusive Artifacts (Discover) Is It Ritual?

This week, Anna and Amber journey to the island of Madagascar. Yeah, sure, there were once man-sized lemurs there, but we’re talking about the people of Madagascar, how and when they arrived on the island, their history, archaeology, and more! Plus, Anna discovers that maps are super useful.Links Malagasy? Or is it Madagascan? Our research provides the answer (The Conversation) Indian Ocean: Five Island Countries (Library of Congress) Madagascar: Precolonial Era, Prior to 1894 (via the Wayback Machine) Researchers confirm timeline of human presence on Madagascar (Phys.org) Ancient Madagascar Shows Humans Make New Places Suit Them (Futurity) Genomic landscape of human diversity across Madagascar (PNAS) What are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)? (MedlinePlus) Ancient rice 'first evidence' Madagascan ancestors crossed Indian Ocean from South-East Asia (ABC) Ancient crops provide first archaeological signature of the westward Austronesian expansion (PNAS) The culture history of Madagascar (Journal of World Prehistory) Chapter 15 - The Austronesian Expansion and the First Malagasy Cultures (The Worlds of the Indian Ocean) Time and the ancestors: Landscape survey in the Andrantsay region of Madagascar (Antiquity, via ResearchGate) Toward a just and inclusive environmental archaeology of southwest Madagascar (Journal of Social Archaeology, via ResarchGate) Madagascar / The Great Island: Contemporary Artists from Madagascar (Google Arts + Culture) Madagascar of to-day (Internet Archive) Situating Madagascar: Indian Ocean dynamics and archaeological histories (Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, via ResearchGate) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This episode happens to fall within Anna's birthday week, so Amber has very kindly indulged Anna's childhood love of knights, castles, magic, and adventure. This week, we're exploring Arthurian legend, and some of the...unique legacies it has left behind. We firmly establish that Arthur had TWO different swords. We also confirm that no, Robin Hood was not a Knight of the Round Table. Plus, the Yelp review that made Amber laugh until she cried.Links Guide to the classics: the Arthurian legend (The Conversation) King Arthur: Myth-Making and History Was There A Real King Arthur? (Archaeology) King Arthur’s Ancestor, the Legendary Brutus of Troy, Is Focus of New Biography (Children of Arthur) The Literary Development of the Arthurian Legend (World History Encyclopedia) The Legendary King: How the Figure of King Arthur Shaped a National Identity and the Field of Archaeology in Britain (via Digital Commons) Great Riddles in Archaeology: King Arthur, Camelot, and the Quest for a Holy Grail (Penn Museum) Archaeologists Have Uncovered a Massive Palace at The Legendary Birthplace of King Arthur (Science Alert) How Medieval Times survives in the digital age (Toronto Star) Zounds, Milady! (Slate) Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture The Utopian Vision That Explains Renaissance Fairs (Bloomberg CityLab) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

If you were a pre-Homo sapiens hominin, the place to see and be seen was Africa in what is today colloquially known as the Cradle of Humankind. True to form, we're late to the party, but come along with us anyway for a tour of the cave sites that revolutionized paleoanthropology.Thank you to everyone who came out to the live show!Links When Did Homo Sapiens First Appear? (Discover) Oldest Homo sapiens bones ever found shake foundations of the human story (The Guardian) Scientists discover the oldest Homo sapiens fossils at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (Phys.org) Caves of Hercules (Atlas Obscura) The Caves of Hercules – The Map of Africa (Barclays Travel) Skull Fossils in Cave Show Mix of Human Relatives Roamed South Africa (The New York Times) Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa (Science) Newly discovered fossil documents small-scale evolutionary changes in an extinct human species (Washington University in St. Louis) ‘Little Foot’ hominin emerges from stone after millions of years (Nature) World’s oldest camp bedding found in South African cave (Science) Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa (Science) 200,000 years ago, humans preferred to kip cozy (Science Daily) First Use of Poison (Archaeology) When the Sea Saved Humanity (Scientific American) Early Tools Were Born From Fire (Science) Ancient hominins used fire to make stone tools (Phys.org) South Africa’s Blombos cave is home to the earliest drawing by a human (The Convo) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

In this super long, super exciting installment of Dirt After Dark, we pick up where we left off in our volcanoes episode and take a look at volcano-informed myth and culture in fact and fiction (and the things that fall somewhere in the middle) before jumping feet first into an exploration of the trope of volcano sacrifices. Plus, we tackle tiki culture and Amber finds a new favorite movie.&nbsp;Current Eruptions (Smithsonian National HIstory Museum Global Volcanism Program)The Golden Bough (Project Gutenberg) - Chapter 8: The Worship of Volcanoes in other Lands.Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (via Google Books)Yadnya Kasada festival - in pictures (The Guardian)Here's what it's like to get thrown into a volcano (Popular Science)The Unlikely Philosophy of Joe Versus the Volcano (Tor.com)The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary &nbsp;- entry "tiki"Tiki bars are built on cultural appropriation and colonial nostalgia. Where’s the reckoning? (Los Angeles Times)Lovely Hula Lands: Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture (Border/Lines)Is Tiki "Cultural Appropriation"? (Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy)The Real and the Fake: Polynesian Culture and How We Perceive It (Critiki News)On Culturally Thoughtful Tiki (Critiki News)

In this super long, super exciting installment of Dirt After Dark, we pick up where we left off in our volcanoes episode and take a look at volcano-informed myth and culture in fact and fiction (and the things that fall somewhere in the middle) before jumping feet first into an exploration of the trope of volcano sacrifices. Plus, we tackle tiki culture and Amber finds a new favorite movie.&nbsp;Current Eruptions (Smithsonian National HIstory Museum Global Volcanism Program)The Golden Bough (Project Gutenberg) - Chapter 8: The Worship of Volcanoes in other Lands.Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (via Google Books)Yadnya Kasada festival - in pictures (The Guardian)Here's what it's like to get thrown into a volcano (Popular Science)The Unlikely Philosophy of Joe Versus the Volcano (Tor.com)The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary &nbsp;- entry "tiki"Tiki bars are built on cultural appropriation and colonial nostalgia. Where’s the reckoning? (Los Angeles Times)Lovely Hula Lands: Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture (Border/Lines)Is Tiki "Cultural Appropriation"? (Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy)The Real and the Fake: Polynesian Culture and How We Perceive It (Critiki News)On Culturally Thoughtful Tiki (Critiki News)

This year is the 20th anniversary of the first publication of the Human Genome Project, and the 10th anniversary of the Neanderthal Genome Project. Since both of these projects began, DNA research has changed what we know about the human story more than we could ever possibly have imagined. Come learn about a tiny fraction of this knowledge with us, and listen to our brains explode.Links Protein Synthesis: an Epic on the Cellular Level (Internet Archive) Human Genome Project Information Archive 1990–2003 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Human Genome Project FAQ (National Human Genome Research Institute) Game of chances: inheritance is a question of probability, not destiny (The Guardian) Why Race Is Not a Thing, According to Genetics (National Geographic) How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About Human Difference (The Experiment Publishing) The Neanderthal DNA you carry may have surprisingly little impact on your looks, moods (Science) Neanderthal DNA highlights complexity of COVID risk factors (Nature) Neanderthal DNA in Modern Human Genomes Is Not Silent (The Scientist) Multiple lines of mysterious ancient humans interbred with us (National Geographic) Denisovan DNA in the genome of early East Asians (Max Planck Gesellscheft) The complete genome sequence of a Neandertal from the Altai Mountains (Nature) The Contribution of Neanderthals to Phenotypic Variation in Modern Humans (The American Journal of Human Genetics) Evidence found of Denisovans interbreeding with humans in Southeast Asia more recently than thought (Phys.org) The CRISPR-baby scandal: what’s next for human gene-editing (Nature) In a possible step forward for gene therapy, Stanford researchers made mice glow like fireflies (Stanford News) Neanderthal-like ‘mini-brains’ created in lab with CRISPR (Nature) 3 Human Chimeras That Already Exist (Scientific American) This Woman Is Her Own...

Let’s lean into our fear of pyroclastic flow and talk about the traces that volcanoes can leave in the archaeological record. Turns out, it’s a lot more than buried cities. We’ll also take a look at how volcanoes manifest in the myths and legends of various cultures.Links Hawaiian Myths Tell A Story About Volcanic Activity At Kilauea (Forbes) Volcano Myths and Rituals (American Scientist) Why ancient myths about volcanoes are often true (BBC) The Harmful Pseudoarchaeology of Mythological Atlantis (Women Write About Comics) Santorini eruption: new theory says ‘pyroclastic flows’ caused devastating Bronze Age tsunamis (The Conversation) The A.D. 79 Eruption at Mt. Vesuvius (UCSD Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics) Tephrochronology and its application: A review (Quaternary Geology) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week's episode is a listener-sponsored one! Ancient hunter-gatherers are often painted as egalitarian, with all members contributing to the needs of the group. But what does evidence from prehistory say about things like access to nutrition, or care for the sick or injured? Are there cases where some individuals were clearly treated differently from others? How far back can we go to find clues? Stay tuned, sleuths.Links Did agriculture create inequality? (Scientific American) Hunter-getherer envy (SAPIENS) Issues with using modern forager groups as proxy for ancient ones (Evolutionary Anthropology) The earliest deliberate burial? (SAPIENS) Sunghir burials (SAPIENS) Different types of burials at Sunghir (Antiquity) Status-symbol scapulae? (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna introduces Amber to the site of Boxgrove, in what is now Sussex, England. It's one of the oldest known hominin sites in the UK, and features the remains of our early relative, Homo heidelbergensis. Join us to learn more about the Muddle in the Middle, the world's hardest jigsaw puzzle, and the molecular clock.Links The man who died half a million years ago (Current Archaeology) We may now know what our common ancestor with Neanderthals looked like (New Scientist) Boxgrove Project Blog The Middle Pleistocene human tibia from Boxgrove (Science Direct) Flint formed in chalk (The Geological Society) Boxgrove: how we found Europe’s oldest bone tools – and what we learned about their makers (The Conversation) Europe’s Oldest Bone Tools Hint at Early Hominin Sophistication (Smithsonian Magazine) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

It's a bonus episode! Anna and Amber are joined by some of the wonderful folks at One Star Archaeology (Twitter: @1starchaeology, Instagram: @onestarchaeology) for dramatic readings of internet reviews of archaeological sites.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Seasons greetings! And by that we mean we're wrapping up 2020 by sitting down with Dr. Chris Stantis, who uses stable isotope analyses to learn how people lived in the ancient past. We discuss the real story of the Hyksos Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt. Were they the pushy invaders they've been made out to be? Or is there more to the story? (There's more to the story). Not only ALL THIS, but Dr. Stantis convinces Amber and Anna to love those pesky little atoms--stable isotopes!Links Who were the Hyksos? Challenging traditional narratives using strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of human remains from ancient Egypt (PLOSOne) The Foreigner as Scapegoat: Lessons from Ancient Egypt and Today (Chris Naughton dot com) Additionally, Dr. Stantis has the following recommendations for those interested in learning more about the Hyksos: The Ascendancy of the Kushite Kingdom of Kerma in the Post Middle Kingdom Era: Revisiting the Second Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt (Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley) Dr. Danielle Candelora’s research on Hyksos and “race” in scholarship ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Amber takes Anna on a guided tour of her beloved Arabia. Learn about the varied mountains, deserts, and oases that are nowhere near as empty or inactive as Western explorers might have you believe. We examine the archaeology of Tell Abraq, get scammed by a guy named Ea-Nasir, solve the mystery of Magan (hint: not actually a mystery), and share insights from skeletal remains about community care and compassion thousands of years ago. Disappointingly, we still don't know what Dilmun onions are.Links Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Theatrical Trailer (YouTube) The Archaeology of Prehistoric Arabia: Adaptation and Social Formation from the Neolithic to the Iron Age (via WorldCat) The Seafaring Merchants of Ur (Journal of the American Oriental Society) Meet The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC (Forbes) Ancient Magan: The Secrets of Tell Abraq (Ancient Ports - Ports Antiques) Before the Emirates: an Archaeological and Historical Account of Developments in the Region c. 5000 BC to 676 AD (from United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective) Lesley of Tell Abraq (Bronze Age 2400 - 2000 BC) (Sketchfab) Bioarchaeology of compassion: Exploring extreme cases of pathology in a Bronze Age skeletal population from Tell Abraq, U.A.E. (Digital Scholarship@UNLV) Qal’at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun (UNESCO) Looking for Dilmun (Archive.org) Young Woman With Disabilities Found In Artifact-Packed Bronze Age Burial (Forbes) - cn, images of human remains ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Amber and Anna delve into the massive site of the first Chinese Emperor's burial complex. Were there flowing rivers of mercury? Maybe. Are there thousands of terra cotta soldiers? Definitely. Do we understand how metal detectors work? Kind of! Plus, some thumb-related Art Crime, and Anna finally apologizes for attributing Hey Ya to Snoop Dogg when it is absolutely by Outkast. How embarrassing. WARNING: Episode contains spoilers for Waiting for Godot.Links Who was the Chinese emperor behind the terra-cotta warriors? (National Geographic) The Mercury Rivers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Skeptoid) Flowing rivers of mercury (Chemistry World) Mercury and health (World Health Organization) Making the Warrior: The Qin Terracotta Soldiers in Age of Empires (The Met) Chinese terra cotta warriors had real, and very carefully made, weapons (Washington Post) What You Need to Know About the Terra-Cotta Warrior's Stolen Thumb (National Geographic) The army that conquered the world (BBC Culture) The Secret Tomb of China's 1st Emperor: Will We Ever See Inside? (LiveScience) Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (UNESCO) Surface chromium on Terracotta Army bronze weapons is neither an ancient anti-rust treatment nor the reason for their good preservation (Nature) Archaeologists Excavate 200 More Chinese Terracotta Warriors (Smithsonian) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber head to ancient Central Asia for a sponsored episode in which they explore the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Come along and learn why there’s BMAC stuff all over the place! Visit Gonur and the man that wants to be buried in its deserts! Consider the who and the why of the BMAC and its collapse (psst it wasn’t a collapse)! Meet some Horse Guys!Links Bactria (Encyclopedia Iranica) Margiana (Livius) Archaeology Wordsmith Central and North Asia, 2000–1000 B.C. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley (via Google Books) Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection On the Origin of Metallurgical Technologies in the Bronze Age (Powder Metallurgy and Metal Ceramics) The Middle Asian Interaction Sphere (Expedition) Central Asia's Lost Civilization (Discover) The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization (Oxford University Press) Early evidence for horse utilization in the Eurasian steppes and the case of the Novoil’inovskiy 2 Cemetery in Kazakhstan (Journal of Archaeological Science) What Language Was Spoken by the People of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex? (“At the Shores of the Sky": Asian Studies for Albert Hoffstädt) The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia (Science) Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of the Oxus Civilization in Southern Central Asia (Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber bring you the result of episode planning by two hosts who have had a VERY long year and who refuse to back down from a dumb joke. We're talking Mersons of Interest, aquatic apes, men who wear fish, and more! Make sure to listen through the end for...what can only be described as a musical masterpiece.Links Are mermaids real? (NOAA National Ocean Service) Did Human Evolution Include a Semi-Aquatic Phase? (The Scientist [not the Coldplay song]) The African ape-like foot of Ardipithecus ramidus and its implications for the origin of bipedalism (Elife) The Neanderthal Ear—Prone to Irritating Infections (Sapiens) Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous, Sometimes Sexy History of the Mermaid (Wired) An Archaeological Puzzle on the Danube (The New York Times) Lepenski Vir (Atlas Obscura) The genomic history of southeastern Europe (Nature) The Ichthyophagi: Fishing for Monstrosity in Alexander Romances (EsoterX) Olaus Magnus (Strange Science) Olaus Magnus, A Description of the Northern Peoples, 1555: Volume III, Volume 3 (via Google Books) The Mythology of Kingship in Neo-Assyrian Art (via Google Books) Neo-Assyrian fish-apkallu wall panel relief (British Museum) Neo-Assyrian apkallu figurine (British Museum) Berossus on the Creation (Livius) Oannes: The Best Evidence for Ancient Aliens? (Jason Colavito) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Anna and Amber embark once again into the Viking Age, this time with the help of Neil Price's excellent book Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. Come learn about the origins of Ragnarok, Viking sorcery, and more!ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber engage in some light speleology to give you a glimpse of the Ellora Caves--a shared Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sacred site in India. What makes a place feel sacred and special, and why are so many caves viewed as sacred places around the world and throughout time? Plus, Amber's review of Werner Herzog's opus In the Cave of Forgotten Dreams. We are all crocodiles looking back into the abyss of time, friends.Links Ellora Caves (UNESCO World Heritage Sites) Vignettes of Ajanta &amp; Ellora (Google Arts and Culture) Ellora Cave Temples Ellora Caves (Atlas Obscura) Hinduism Primer Buddhist Caves - Ellora (Lonely Planet) Hindu Caves (Lonely Planet) Jaina Caves at Ellora (Sahapedia) Jain Caves (Lonely Planet) The Sacred Cave (Sweet Briar College) Sacred Caves of the World: Illuminating the Darkness (The Changing World Religion Map) Mayan Caves: Places of Sacred Rituals (National Geographic) Virtual Visit - La Grotte Chauvet Visit the Cave - Lascaux 10 sacred caves around the world (National Geographic) The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent (via WorldCat) Royal Patronage and Religious Tolerance: The Formative Period of Gupta—Vākāṭaka Culture (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber have dealt you an excellent hand of examples of gambling, and the archaeology and anthropology thereof! Listeners, we hope you'll bear with us on this episode. We recorded on day three of the 2020 electoral vote counts, and we've both lost our minds. Come along on this ride with us as we explore what evidence we have for gambling in the archaeological record, and what we can learn from the types of games people play.Links Gambling (Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology) There’s no such thing as a natural-born gambler (The Conversation) Gambling Across Cultures: Mapping Worldwide Occurrence and Learning from Ethnographic Comparison (International Gambling Studies) Per Binde - On Gambling Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (The Interpretation of Cultures) When The Gambler Came To Chaco (American Archaeology) Sociopolitical, Ceremonial, and Economic Aspects of Gambling in Ancient North America: A Case Study of Chaco Canyon (American Antiquity) Visitors to Northern Australia: Debating the History of Indigenous Gambling (International Gambling Studies, via ResearchGate) Macassan History and Heritage (Australian National University) Where to gamble on the medieval Adriatic? (Medievalists.net) Queen Elizabeth I Held England’s First Official Lottery 450 Years Ago (Smithsonian) Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (New Yorker) Gaming among Enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and its uses in Navigating Social Interactions (W&amp;M ScholarWorks) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Anna and Amber sit down with Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Paleolithic archaeologist and author of the book "Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art." We talk about Rebecca's education and her love for all things ancient, and she resolves some common misconceptions about our Neanderthal cousins. "Kindred" just came out in the States, so pick up a copy of your very own for an amazing synthesis of current Neanderthal knowledge.Links Neanderthals Among Mammoths: Excavations at Lynford Quarry, Norfolk (via Archaeology Data Service) Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (European Commission) Trowelblazers Rebecca Wragg Sykes ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

For the final spooky episode of 2020, Amber and Anna take on the extremely frightening topic of live burials. We discuss the forensic evidence that indicates that a person might have been buried alive, talk about some archaeological contexts for live burials, and cover some real and probably-not-so-real accounts from history. This one's got some real ups and downs, so buckle up.Links The Live Burial: A multidisciplinary approach to the identification and exploration of live burials (via Academia.edu) (CN: graphic images of human remains) The Bride escaping live burial in Kill Bill Vol 2 (YouTube) Casts of Pompeii (Archaeology) Plaster Citizens of Pompeii (Atlas Obscura) Volcanic Ash (National Geographic) EarthWord – Nuée Ardente (USGS) Mount Vesuvius Boiled Its Victims’ Blood and Caused Their Skulls to Explode (Smithsonian) (CN: images of human remains) Frozen Mummies from Andean Mountaintop Shrines:Bioarchaeology and Ethnohistory of Inca Human Sacrifice (BioMed Research International, via ResearchGate) (CN: images of human remains) Violence in pre-Columbian Panama exaggerated, new study shows (Phys.org) (CN: images of human remains) The History of Ancient Nubia (Oriental Institute) Retainer Sacrifice in Egypt and in Nubia (The Strange World of Human Sacrifice) Buried but Alive? Interpreting Post-depositional Bone Movement, Anxieties over Death and Premature Burial (Lund Archaeological Review) Four People Who Were Buried Alive and How They Got Out (MentalFloss) PICS: Remember the Mansfield man buried alive for five months (Chad.co.uk) Esmeralda Lundius Staff Bio (Durham University) The 'Pompeii' of the Western Front: Archaeologists find the bodies of 21 tragic World War One German soldiers in perfectly preserved trenches where they were buried alive by an Allied shell (Daily Mail) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app,...

Sure, maybe you've heard of the River Ordeal, or trial by fire, but have you heard of Trial by Bean? How about the Ordeal of the Turf? In this Spooktober installment, Amber walks Anna through the ways that those accused of crimes have proven their innocence (or not!) throughout history and all over the world.Links Why the trial by ordeal was actually an effective test of guilt (Aeon.com) The Laws of King Athelstan 924-939 A.D. (Internet History Sourcebooks) Trial by ordeal: When fire and water determined guilt (BBC News) River Ordeal—Trial by Water—Swimming of Witches: Procedures of Ordeal in Witch Trials (Witchcraft Mythologies and Persecutions, via Academia.edu) The Law of Hammurabi and Its Audience (Yale Journal of Law &amp; The Humanities) The Code of Hammurabi (Yale University Avalon Project) Poisonous plants: Calabar beans were used to determine guilt in prehistoric trials. (Slate.com) The State and Pre-Colonial Demographic History: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Madagascar (The Journal of African History) Cerbera manghas (Wikipedia) Ātash (Encyclopedia Iranica) Ordeal in Iceland (Scandinavian Studies) Common superstition, swearing of oath and ordeal of Koren (The Sangai Express) Sassywood (Journal of Comparative Economics) Historical Techniques of Lie Detection (European Journal of Psychology) Bisha’a (Wikipedia) Ordeal of the bitter water (Wikipedia) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

For decades, American horror has been haunted by the specter of the "Indian Burial Ground." This week, we look at the roots of the phenomenon, the history behind some of the most famous instances, and Indigenous responses to the trope. Plus, Amber serves the worst Maine accent while trying to explain the plot of Pet Sematary, and bullies you all into checking out her Book Club recs.Links Why Every Horror Film of the 1980s Was Built On ‘Indian Burial Grounds’ (Atlas Obscura) The Indian Burying Ground (Poetry Foundation) The Suburban Horror of the Indian Burial Ground (The National Review) Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places (via WorldCat) ‘Winchester’ Continues Hollywood’s Tradition of Mining Native American Suffering for Ghost Stories (Wear Your Voice Magazine) Bury My Guilt in an Indian Burial Ground (Medium) Horror Older Than America: Whitewashing Native Tales For A Mass-Market Audience (Northwest Public Broadcasting) This Essay Was Not Built On an Ancient Indian Burial Ground (Off Screen) Twisting Conventions: A Feminist Indigenous Perspective on the Horror Genre (Off Screen) Jeff Barnaby on Blood Quantum and colonialist zombies (Seventh Row) Podcast Ep. 39: Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls &amp; Blood Quantum (Seventh Row) Blood Quantum (2020) Official Red Band Trailer HD (via YouTube) Reservation Reelism: Redfacing, Visual Sovereignty, and Representations of Native Americans in Film (via WorldCat) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Amber eases Anna into Spooktober with some archaeological accounts of hands in... unexpected places.Links The Second Intermediate Period: The Hyksos (slide show, via Brown University) Severed Hands Discovered in Ancient Egypt Palace (LiveScience) Stone Age Horror! Pit Filled with Severed Limbs Uncovered (LiveScience) A farewell to arms: a deposit of human limbs and bodies at Bergheim, France, c. 4000 BC (Antiquity) Hand of Glory (Whitby Museum) Strange stone age skull-hands burial in Brazil has anthropologists stumped (News.com.au) The Oldest Case of Decapitation in the New World (Lapa do Santo, East-Central Brazil) (PLOSOne) Ancient Roman ‘hand of god’ discovered near Hadrian’s Wall sheds light on biggest combat operation ever in UK (The Independent) Archaeologists Make Rare, Gruesome Find in Portugal (MentalFloss) Canadian researchers say they can explain these imprints of disfigured human hands (National Post) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber get ready for the spooky season by talking about some of the ways that people in various cultures have protected themselves from bad luck, ill will, and evil. Load up on garlic, toss some salt over your shoulder, and join us!Links The strange power of the ‘evil eye’ (BBC Culture) The Evil Eye: An Account of this Ancient &amp; Widespread Superstition (via WorldCat) Apotropaic Plants in the Persian Folk Culture (Iran &amp; The Caucasus) 21 Food Superstitions You Should Really Know About (Bon Appetit, oof) Indigenous People Want Brands To Stop Selling Sage And Smudge Kits (HuffPost) Native Americans Troubled By The Appropriation And Commoditization Of Smudging (Beauty Independent) American Indian Religious Freedom Act (NOAA) Burning Sage May Not Be Cultural Appropriation — But It Isn’t Very Sensitive, Either (Bustle) Prayers, Amulets, and Charms: Health and Social Control (African Studies Review) Folk Figures (Western Folklore) Spheres of Influence: The Magical History of the Witch Ball (Inner Lives) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Amber and Anna bring you three of the best-known archaeological sites from Ancient Egypt. These sites tell us a whole lot about life in the past--not just for the pharaohs and the elites, but the workers who built them. We also dip our toes into Ancient Egyptian cosmology and zip through the dynastic timeline!ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast; thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Anna and Amber finally get some much-needed linguistics help from Dr. Chris Donlay. We talk about his unconventional academic path and his work recording and studying endangered languages! Plus, he schools us on how language shapes our perception of the world, how old spoken language *might* be, and what to do with a linguistics degree.ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

The second half of Anna and Amber's conversation with librarian and research guru Tasha Bergson-Michelson. This week, we chat about the value of critical thinking, combatting misinformation in our social circles, and how to hack Wikipedia for the greater good. Plus, some unexpected facts about ice cream parlors and fog!ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Amber and Anna sit down to chat with the incomparable Tasha Bergson-Michelson, a librarian and educator. Research is a skill that is learned, and Tasha teaches us how to up our game. We learn about the process of good research, how to avoid sketchy sources, and the best ways to get started on any research project. We enjoyed talking with Tasha so much that we did it a whole bunch! Next week, we'll bring you the second half of our conversation.Contactthedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, on a sponsored episode, Anna and Amber examine the traces left by the various ancient cultures called "Illyrians." We've got some architecture, coin-nerdery, a smattering of religion, and a complicated political legacy. It all makes for an excellent entry in our collection of supporting characters from the Classical world!Links The Illyrians on WorldCat Discovery of ‘Lost City’ in Albania Thrills Archaeologists (Balkan Insight) Image of a Liburnian Ship on Wikimedia Commons Nadin-Gradina Archaeological Project Gallery A Liburnian Necropolis from Nadin, Croatia (Institute for Study of the Ancient World) Illyrian Temples Found At Ancient Doclea In Montenegro (Archaeology News Network) Who are the Illyrians? The Use and Abuse of Archaeology in the Construction of National and Trans-National Identities in the Southwestern Balkans (via ResearchGate) Ancient Illyria : An Archaeological Exploration on WorldCat ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber take on archaeological illustration. That's right-it's an audio episode about an entirely visual topic! This'll go well. We cover the merits of hand drawing vs. photography, reveal some stories from our own...mixed experiences, and investigate the very cool technique of photogrammetry.Links Pencils and Pixels: Drawing and Digital Media in Archaeological Field Recording (Journal of Field Archaeology) Why Archaeological drawing is still so important (New Archaeology) A Simple Photogrammetry Rig for the Reliable Creation of 3D Artifact Models in the Field: Lithic Examples from the Early Upper Paleolithic Sequence of Les Cottés (France) (Advances in Archaeological Practice) A Simple Method for Reliable Creation of 3D Artifact Models in the Field (Leakey Foundation) @SamScansStuff on Twitter IF/THEN Collection ‘Visual competence’ in archaeology: a problem hiding in plain sight (Antiquity) The Profession (Graphic Archaeology Group) Science and Art in Archaeological Illustration (Columbia College) Scientific Illustration | Time Team America (PBS) Resources (Graphic Archaeology Group) Approaches to Archaeological Illustration, A Handbook by Mélanie Steiner (via Digital Epigraphy) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, on a short but fun episode, Anna and Amber investigate some of the massive figures cut into the chalk landscape of the Southern UK. Who made them? How old are they? Why are there so many horses?Links Cerne Abbas Giant is NOT prehistoric and may have been created just a few hundred years ago before becoming a propaganda tool for William of Orange, snail shells reveal (Daily Mail) England’s 7 most intriguing chalk figures and the stories behind them (Wanderlust) Chalk Hill Figures (Historic UK) Southern England Chalk Formation (Wikipedia) An Introduction to Prehistoric England (Before 43 BC) (English Heritage) Bronze Age discovery reveals surprising extent of Britain’s trade with Europe 3,600 years ago (The Conversation) Bronze Age Britain (BBC) Footprints, Size 10, From Britain’s Bronze Age (The New Yorker) The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe (Nature) Boom and bust in Bronze Age Britain: major copper production from the Great Orme mine and European trade, c. 1600–1400 BC (Antiquity) Against All Odds, England’s Massive Chalk Horse Has Survived 3,000 Years (Smithsonian) England’s Enormous Chalk Figures (Atlas Obscura via Google Earth) Britain's Spectacular (and Sometimes Mysterious) Hill Figures (Gizmodo UK) Why Is the Kiwi’s Egg So Big? (Audubon) ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Since back-to-school season is rolling around again, let's return to our annual tradition of busting myths and righting wrongs! This time, we cover pyramid construction (and curses), the Genghis Khan family reunion, the end of James Cook, Stonehenge, the Dark Ages, and more. This episode is not to be myth-ed.Links Enter to win Dirt merch This 4,500-Year-Old Ramp Contraption May Have Been Used to Build Egypt's Great Pyramid (LiveScience) How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built? (LiveScience) Was It Really a Mummy’s Curse? (JSTOR Daily) Tomb of Pennut - Amada (Osirisnet) 'Bent' pyramid: Egypt opens ancient oddity for tourism (The Guardian) Ancient Egyptian tomb warnings, curses and ghosts (National Museums Scotland) Whence Came Stonehenge’s Stones? Now We Know (The New York Times) We owe it all to superstud Genghis (The Guardian) Did Genghis Khan really kill 1,748,000 people in one hour? (How Stuff Works) 1 in 200 Men Are Direct Descendants of Genghis Khan (Discover) Genghis Khan's Genetic Legacy Has Competition (Scientific American) 1.5m Chinese 'descendants of one man' (BBC News) The genetic imprint of Niall of the Nine Hostages (Irish Times) A Y-Chromosome Signature of Hegemony in Gaelic Ireland (American Journal of Human Genetics) Mythbusting Cook: Fact fiction and total fallacy (Australian National Maritime Museum) Cooktown's Indigenous people help commemorate 250 years since Captain Cook's landing with re-enactment (ABC) How the foolish rumour that Hawaiians ate Cook began (National Indigenous Television) The ‘Dark Ages’ Weren’t As Dark As We Thought (LitHub) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular...

This week, for our ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE, Anna and Amber bend their brains around the archaeology of the future and the future of archaeology. What will excavation look like in 100, 1,000, or 5,000 years? What about human evolution? Human culture? Language? We come up with more questions than answers, and have a great time doing it. THANK YOU for getting us to Episode 100!Links Chicken Bones May Be the Legacy of Our Time (Smithsonian) The broiler chicken as a signal of a human reconfigured biosphere (Royal Society Open Science) Changes in the lead isotopic composition of blood, diet and air in Australia over a decade: Globalization and implications for future isotopic studies (Environmental Research) Dietary Heterogeneity among Western Industrialized Countries Reflected in the Stable Isotope Ratios of Human Hair (PLoS One) The Future of Archaeology Is 'Spacejunk' (The Atlantic) The Future of Archeology Is Plastic (Medium) The past, present and future of human evolution (Nature) What May Become of Homo sapiens (Scientific American) Edible Insects and Human Evolution (via Project MUSE) Dougal Dixon - After Man (A Zoology of the Future) 1981 (Monster Brains blog) Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (via WorldCat) How Afrofuturism Can Help the World Mend (Wired) The Long Now Foundation What will English language look like in the future? (Oxford Academic on YouTube) What will the English language be like in 100 years? (The Conversation) Esperanto (Encyclopedia Britannica) Incubus (1966) on YouTube Hello (Adele Cover) - Esperanto version (YouTube) Pleistocenese: A Language of 40,000 Years Ago (Justin B. Rye) Futurese: The American Language in 3000 AD (Justin B. Rye) Beyond Biohazard: Why Danger Symbols Can’t Last Forever (99% Invisible) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular <a...

Amber and Anna explore perceptions of human body shape in different times and places. What’s the difference between fatness and obesity? Why should we look askance at BMI? What is UP with Peter Paul Rubens and his damp, shiny nudes? And more!Links The Bizarre and Racist History of the BMI (Medium’s Elemental) A History of Obesity, or How What Was Good Became Ugly and Then Bad (Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease) The evolution of human fatness and susceptibility to obesity: an ethological approach (Biological Reviews) A Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions (Clinical Oncology News) Obesity in the paleolithic era (Hormones) Obesity in the Neolithic Era: A Greek Female Figurine (Obesity Surgery) The significance of Sarah Baartman (BBC) Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia (via Worldcat) Socio-cultural norms of body size in Westerners and Polynesians affect heart rate variability and emotion during social interactions (Culture and Brain) How paradise became the fattest place in the world (CNN) How a Powerful Obesity Gene Helped Samoans Conquer the South Pacific (Gizmodo) A thrifty variant in CREBRF strongly influences body mass index in Samoans (Nature Genetics) “Un-Hottentoting the Queen of Punt” (via Academia.edu) The Expedition to Punt (Nova) Queen of Punt (Clinical Infectious Diseases) When Fat Was in Fashion (New York Times) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, on a special sponsored episode, Anna and Amber explore some of the lesser-known Italic cultural groups that were peripheral to Ancient Rome. We seek out Samnites and uncover Umbrians. We also take a brief tour of Etruscan wine country.ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

These hips don't lie. Amber and Anna talk with paleoanthropologist Mayowa Adeboyega about her research on the evolution of the pelvis. Mayowa also gives us some insights on the experience of being Black in academia, and how she uses science communication and the occasional silliness to make anthropology more accessible.ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Amber and Anna are holding their very own Pod Pride Parade this week! We talk about the possible genetic influences behind human sexuality and discuss instances of queerness in archaeology (and some TRULY bad takes from news outlets). We also discuss gay icons from ancient history, badass queer archaeologists, and more!Links No ‘gay gene’: Massive study homes in on genetic basis of human sexuality (Nature) Genetics of Sexual Behavior Sexuality Studies in Archaeology (Annual Reviews in Anthropology) The Oldest Known Gay Man? (ABC News) First homosexual caveman found (Telegraph) 'Gay Caveman' Story Overblown, Archaeologists Say (LiveScience) Is That Skeleton Gay? The Problem With Projecting Modern Ideas Onto The Past (Forbes) Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay? (University of Liverpool) Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (University of Cardiff) Queering Hippolytus: Asexuality and Ancient Greece (Notches) Sapphistry on the Spoil Heap: Lesbianism and Female Homosociality in Early Archaeology (TORCH) In Han Dynasty China, Bisexuality Was the Norm (JSTOR Daily) Feminisms, Queer Theories, and the Archaeological Study of Past Sexualities (World Archaeology) Historical archaeology (The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber chat with researcher, author, science communicator, founding TrowelBlazer, and wearer of many hats, Dr. Brenna Hassett! We learn that we've all got a mouthful of clocks, that women have always been a part of the digging sciences, and that networks truly matter.Links Dr. Brenna Hassett (UCL) @brennawalks on Twitter TrowelBlazers Built on Bones: 15,000 Years of Urban Life and Death And Dr. Hassett mentioned two books by Angela Saini: Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story Superior: The Return of Race Science ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber have foraged up an episode all about hunting and gathering. We also examine anthropology and ethnography, and the problematic origins of these disciplines. We discuss the Grandmother Hypothesis, wax rhapsodic about salmon, and...Amber tells another honey story.Links Hunter-Gatherers (Foragers) (Human Research Area Files) Hunter-Gatherer Culture (National Geographic) What Is a Hunter-Gatherer? Variation in the Archaeological Record of Eastern and Southern Africa (Journal of Archaeological Research) Hunter-gatherer studies and human evolution: a very selective review (American Journal of Physical Anthropology) The Ethnohistory and Anthropology of ‘Modern’ Hunter-Gatherers (The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers) AnthroBites: Scientific Racism (AnthroPod) Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories (UNM Digital Repository) Whales and humans linked by 'helpful grandmothers' (BBC) Why Grandmothers May Hold The Key To Human Evolution (NPR) The Evolutionary Importance of Grandmothers (The Atlantic) The Surprisingly Sticky Tale of the Hadza and the Honeyguide Bird (Atlas Obscura) Honey, Hadza, hunter-gatherers, and human evolution (Journal of Human Evolution) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber voyage to the island of Rapa Nui, famous for its monumental stone heads, and for the idea that its islanders caused their own collapse through environmental exploitation. Turns out, that's probably not what happened! Tune in to learn more about what archaeology and anthropology can tell us about the real stories of the Rapanui people.Links A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (Journal of Archaeological Science) Rethinking Easter Island’s Historic “Collapse” (Sapiens) The Archaeology of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania) Indigenous World 2019: Rapa Nui (Easter Islands) (IWGIA) Rapa Nui (Easter Island) monument (ahu) locations explained by freshwater sources (PLOSOne) Easter Island Statue Project The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island (Journal of Archaeological Science) Easter Island Mystery Solved? New Theory Says Giant Statues Rocked (National Geographic) Object: Hoa Hakananai'a ('lost or stolen friend') (British Museum) Rock art of Easter Island : symbols of power, prayers to the gods (via WorldCat) Cristián Moreno Pakarati (Rapa Nui Pioneers Society) Tangata Manu, The Bird-Man and its Origins (moeVaruna) The Soft, Warm, Wet Technology of Native Oceania (Whole Earth Review) Easter Island land dispute clashes leave dozens injured (BBC News, 2010) Police evict Rapa Nui clan from Easter Island hotel (BBC News, 2011) Fighting for Survival on Easter Island (Cultural Survival) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Anna and Amber fill your brain mug with piping hot knowledge about the archaeology, genetics, and culture behind some of our favorite morning drinks. Links A history of coffee: Coffee botany: Origins of coffee: First writings on coffee: World's oldest tea: Tea and the Silk Road Tea origin story: Tea genetics: History of yerba mate: Yaupon use by Indigenous Americans: Yaupon archaeological residues: ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Description: Anna and Amber make a long-overdue trip to Australia this week. How did humans get there? How long ago did they arrive? What have they been doing since then? We cover these and other big brain-exploding topics for your education and entertainment!Links Humans First Arrived in Australia 65,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests (The New York Times) Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago (Nature) The first genomic history of Australia’s peopling (ScienceDaily) The spread of people to Australia (Australian Museum) Mungo Lady and Mungo Man (Visit Mungo) A 42,000-year-old Man Finally Goes Home (Smithsonian) Aboriginal &amp; Torres Strait Islander collection timeline (Australian Museum) Explore cultural objects, art &amp; technology (Australian Museum) Identifying Aboriginal Sites (Aboriginal Heritage Office) Indigenous Archaeology: Historical Interpretation from an Emic Perspective (Nebraska Anthropologist) Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (AIATSIS) ‘Dreamtime’ and ‘The Dreaming’ – an introduction (The Conversation) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

We've talked tiny plants, but this week we're going EVEN SMALLER. Anna and Amber chat with Dr. Kristen Wroth, who studies plant micro-remains like phytoliths to learn about ancient human behavior. We talk about favorite plants, field stories, and more!LinksPhytoliths: What They Are and What They Tell Us (Environmentalscience.org) Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologists (via WorldCat) Dr. Kristen Wroth on ResearchGate Dr. Kristen Wroth on Academia.edu ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliatesWildnoteTeePublicTimeularFind this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

We took paragraphs from two very out-of-date archaeology papers and took out lots of key words. Then, listeners sent in their own word lists, with which we filled in those paragraphs! The results were very silly, and we had a lot of fun!Stay tuned for upcoming live events, and come hang out with us on our stream!Links twitch.tv/thedirtpodcastContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Like most of you, we've been staying at home for the past several weeks, so we thought--what better way to distract our listeners from THEIR households than a look at OTHER people's households! Anna and Amber talk about how archaeologists' concept of "house" and "home" and "living space" has shifted over the years, and take a look at some ancient examples of home life.Links The Archaeology of Household: An Introduction (via ResearchGate) Processual Archaeology (ThoughtCo) Post-Processual Archaeology (ThoughtCo) Archaeological houses, households, housework and the home (via ResearchGate) Syllabus - ARCH 2320 Household Archaeology in the Ancient Near East and Beyond Household Studies in Complex Societies (Oriental Institute Seminars) A Child's House: Social Memory, Identity, and the Construction of Childhood in Early Postclassic Mexican Households (American Anthropologist) Gender, Social Networks, and Labor Disputes: Household Archaeology at the Industrial Mine Camp (DU Digital Commons) Colorado Coal Field War Project (University of Denver) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Cue the tense cinematic score. We’re talking about art crimes, both solved and unsolved! Heists, forgeries, and criminal masterminds abound, as we discuss the “value” of art, and why the black market for art and antiquities continues to thrive.Links 8 of the Most Notorious Art Forgeries in History (Mental Floss) Museum's Collection Of Purported Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Are Fakes, Experts Say (NPR) All of the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls Are Fake, Report Finds (Smithsonian) The Ten Most Notorious Art Forgers Of All Time (Sleek) Family of forgers fooled art world with array of finely crafted fakes (The Independent) Fälschermuseum Diary of the Hitler Diary Hoax (New Yorker) Schtonk! (Wikipedia) The Global Fight Against Black Market Antiquities Intensifies (The Medialine) Networks can stop the black-market antiquities trade (ShareAmerica.gov) Are amazon and ebay the new black market? Archaeologists warn against ancient artifacts sold online (Newsweek) Illegal trade in antiquities: a scourge that has gone on for millennia too long (The Conversation) The Archaeologist as Titan (New York Times) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

This week, Anna and Amber talk about those pesky Big Questions: How are we here? Why are we here? Where do dragons come from? Turns out, people have been coming up with explanations, myths, and stories for questions like this since prehistory. Links Here There Be Dragons: Etiologies Creation Stories from around the World: Encapsulations of some traditional stories explaining the origin of the Earth, its life, and its peoples The Origin of Dragons (Anthropos) Dragons: A Brief History of the Mythical, Fire-Breathing Beasts (LiveScience) Cyclops Myth Spurred by 'One-Eyed' Fossils? (National Geographic) 10 Mythological Perspectives On Menstruation (Listverse) Religion and Women (via Google Books) Menstruation (Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961) Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars (via Google Books) Ancient mantis-man petroglyph discovered in Iran (Phys.org) Iconography of the Indus Unicorn: Origins and Legacy (Harappa.com) Now we know the reason for the narwhal's tusk (Mother Nature Network) The Travels of Marco Polo (Wikisource) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Anna and Amber venture beneath the waves this week to bring you an episode about shipwrecks and underwater archaeology! We visit a few of the most famous ships in Davy Jones' Locker, Amber learns that underwater archaeology means more than "just pick it up from the bottom," and Anna dusts off that pirate accent.Links The popular “pirate accent” is based on Robert Newton’s performance in the movie Treasure Island (The Vintage News) Underwater Archaeology (NOAA) More Than Just Archaeology Underwater (Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology) Uluburun Late Bronze Age Shipwreck Excavation (Institute of Nautical Archaeology) Queen Anne’s Revenge Project Archaeology of Titanic (Archaeology) RMS Titanic (Archaeology) Surveying the Titanic (Real Archaeology) Antikythera Shipwreck (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Ancient Skeleton Discovered on Antikythera Shipwreck (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Antikythera Shipwreck Yields New Cache of Treasures, Hints More May Be Buried at Site (Smithsonian) The Mary Rose: The Excavation and Raising of Henry VIII's Flagship Hatch, the Mary Rose dog Conservation of Cultural Materials from Underwater Sites (Archives and Museum Informatics) Conservation for Underwater Archaeology (tDAR) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

The grass is always greener on the other side (of the Holocene). What is today a vast and inhospitable home to many people and creatures was, between ten and five thousand years ago, a lush environment replete with lakes, forests, and grasses. We examine the first clues that suggested a Green Sahara to researchers, explore the technologies and societies that lived there, and contemplate what the Sahara’s past might suggest about its future.Links Megalakes in the Sahara? A Review (Quaternary Research) Saharan Dust Blows Across the Atlantic (NOAA) The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC : new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali) (Antiquity) Ounjougou Technological and Cultural Change Among the Last Hunter-Gatherers of the Maghreb: The Capsian (10,000–6000 B.P.) (Journal of World Prehistory) Capsian (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology) The 8,000-year-old dugout canoe from Dufuna (NE Nigeria) Africa’s oldest boat set for exhibit in Nigeria (Africa Times) First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium BC (Nature) History of the Domestication of Cows and Yaks (ThoughtCo) Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations (American Journal of Human Genetics) End of the African Humid Period (NOAA) End of the African Humid Period (Nature) Climate Change in North Africa: The Past is Not the Future (Climatic Change) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Settle into your comfiest chair for Book Club with Anna and Amber this week. We talk about our favorite books, movies, and TV shows with archaeological or anthropological themes! We've also got some tips for listeners on how to get your literary fix while you're sheltering in place.Links 8 Home Library Apps to Keep Your Book Collection Organized (Book Riot) Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore (InsideHook) An Update From Emily Powell (Powell’s Books) National Emergency Library (Archive.gov) Crocodile on the Sandbank Lest Darkness Fall Motel of the Mysteries Compass The Last Neanderthal The English Patient Anil’s Ghost The Golden Goblet ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This year's April Fool's Day episode is on the biggest thing that never was: giants! Dive normal-sized-headfirst into conspiracy theories and hoaxes surrounding giants in the archaeological record, and meet some giants that didn't exist in Saudi Arabia, India, the Caucasus, and Appalachia.Links Did the Smithsonian Destroy Thousands of Giant Human Skeletons? (Snopes) "Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax (National Geographic) “Flashpoints &amp; Giants” (Coast to Coast AM) Steve Quayle (RationalWiki) Giants and Bonus Potatoes (Knowledge Fight) Was 19th Century apewoman a yeti? 6ft 6in Russian serf who could outrun a horse was 'not human', according to DNA tests (Daily Mail) Scholars debunk myth of prehistoric giants in West Virginia (West Virginia Explorer) Giant Amerindians: Fact or Fantasy? (Southeastern Archaeology) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Anna and Amber chat with Dr. Madelynn von Baeyer about archaeological plants. How do you find 'em? What can they tell us? What's the best archaeological plant? And what does any of this have to do with MUMMIES?!?Links Madelynn von Baeyer Bio Early Lives: The Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age at Çadır Höyük (Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology &amp; Heritage Studies) Three Ancient Egyptian Coffins at Harvard University (Sketchfab) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

Anna and Amber chat with Dr. Briana Pobiner, a researcher and educator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program. We talk favorite hominins, meat science, evolutionary education, how to get the most out of a frolic through the museum, and some of the zillion other things Dr. Pobiner does.Links Briana Pobiner (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) Briana Pobiner (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) Acknowledging students’ concerns about evolution: a proactive teaching strategy (Evolution: Education and Outreach) Accepting, understanding, teaching, and learning (human) evolution: Obstacles and opportunities (American Journal of Physical Anthropology) Dietary Detective: Smithsonian Scientist Briana Pobiner (Smithsonian Institution Youtube) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

In this episode, Amber and Anna talk about talking. It’s finally an episode on linguistics! We think about Neanderthal speech, wrestle with syntax and semantics, and have a whole language family reunion.Links What is Speech? What is Language? (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) The Neanderthal Throat—Did Neanderthals Speak? (Sapiens) Introduction to Linguistics (UCLA Linguistics) Glottolog Map of Indo-European Languages (Wikimedia) The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (via Google Books) The Origins of Proto-Indo-European: The Caucasian Substrate Hypothesis (Journal of Indo European Studies) Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe (Nature) Mysterious Indo-European homeland may have been in the steppes of Ukraine and Russia (Science) Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European (Archaeology Magazine) Language Isolates and Their History, or, What’s Weird, Anyway? ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber take a look at foodways in the archaeological record of North America. What does archaeological evidence say about what was cooked, who was cooking, and what vessels were used to prepare and store food? What evidence is there for recreating ancient and pre-contact diets? How does this fit in with contemporary food sovereignty movements among Indigenous people? How great are potatoes? All this and more! Links Archaeological Studies of Cooking and Food Preparation (Journal of Archaeological Research) Reconstructing sexual divisions of labor from fingerprints on Ancestral Puebloan pottery (PNAS) Traditional Foods in Native America (CDC) Countryman: Foraging California's Wild Side What is mak-’amham? (Cafe Ohlone) Investigating the function of prehistoric stone bowls and griddle stones in the Aleutian Islands by lipid residue analysis (Quaternary Research) One of the Oldest Spuds In the World Is Poised For a Comeback (Heated by Medium) North American Indian Recipes – Acorn Recipes &amp; Facts! (The People’s Paths) Native American Food (Arkansas Archaeological Survey) The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook: Recipes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (via WorldCat) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber are joined by Dr. Damien Huffer, a bioarchaeologist and crime fighter. Dr. Huffer’s work was featured way, way back in Episode 36, “The Unsettling Business of Curating Human Remains,” and Anna and Amber are keen to learn more. How does one get into this line of work? What makes people want to own parts of other people? What’s being done to stop trafficking, and what lies ahead?Links The Bonetrade Project Alliance to Counter Crime Online Bringing Them Home: The Repatriation of Priceless Human Remains and Artifacts to Cambodia (SAFE: Saving Antiquities for Everyone) Fighting trade in human remains antiquities (Saturday Paper) This Archaeologist Uses Instagram To Track The Human Skeleton Trade (Forbes) The Insta-Dead: The rhetoric of the human remains trade on Instagram (Internet Archaeology) The Dirt Episode 36: The Unsettling Business of Curating Human Remains ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

In the early first millennium BCE, the city of Hasanlu was destroyed in a single, terrible day. Excavations reveal murdered civilians and a citadel engulfed in fire, but who was responsible for destroying this town on the road to everywhere in Iron Age Western Asia? This week, Anna and Amber tell Hasanlu's story, and of the academic drama that followed its excavation (and continues to this day).Links Ḥasanlu Teppe (Encyclopedia Iranica) Tell (mound) (Encyclopedia Britannica) Hasanlu Publication Project Hasanlu in the Iron Age (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) Rediscovering Hasanlu (Expedition) Special Issue: East of Assyria--The Highland Settlement of Hasanlu (Expedition) The Excavation of Hasanlu: An Archaeological Evaluation (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research) Last Day at Hasanlu (Expedition) Iran's Pompeii: Astounding story of a massacre buried for millennia (New Scientist) The Hasanlu Lovers (Penn Museum) Lovers, Friends, or Strangers? New Thoughts on a Museum Icon (Penn Museum) East of Assyria? Hasanlu and the Problem of Assyrianization (in Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period) Warfare at Hasanlu in the Late 9th Century B.C. (Expedition) Urartu (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) Who Destroyed Hasanlu IV? (Iran) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna gets out her box of slides from her recent trip to Bulgaria. We discuss some of the deep history (and prehistory) of Bulgaria, as well as some mythology and folk traditions. Then, we have a chat about some of our favorite ways to experience different communities and cultures when we travel. (Hot tip: EAT EVERYTHING)Links Late Neandertals and Early Modern Humans in Western Europe (Max Planck Gesellschaft) Levallois Technique - Middle Paleolithic Stone Tool Working (ThoughtCo) Zagreus (GreekMythology.com) Wine Traditions (BulWine) Kukeri, Bulgaria's Bizarre Festival of Monsters (Culture Trip) Surreal Pictures Show Bulgaria’s Masked Dancers Warding Off Evil Spirits (National Geographic) Kukeri – An old and scary Bulgarian tradition (Free Sofia Tour) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

Anna and Amber are joined by forensic archaeologist Kimberlee Moran to talk about the unique story of the First Baptist Church cemetery in Philadelphia, PA. Our story this week has twists, turns, and more information about preserved brains than you might think possible!Links Kimberlee Moran (Rutgers University - Camden) Arch Street Project Old bones found - and nobody's in charge (Philadelphia Inquirer) (cn images of human skeletal remains) A Colonial-Era Cemetery Resurfaces in Philadelphia (The New York Times) (cn images of human skeletal remains) Dr. Moran discussing forensic archaeology on NPR’s You’re the Expert Contact Email the Dirt Podcast Affiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

We're back! Anna and Amber are marching to a very special beat this week, as we talk about sound-induced trances and other ways in which people achieved altered states in the past. Tune in, turn on, and join us!ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular

This week is a little different! As we head into a brief holiday break, we want to show our fellow archaeologists some love. We took to Twitter, and in this episode we share some fieldwork stories from you, our listeners! Amber and Anna also share their own field experiences. ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

Time to throw the devil horns and apply superfluous umlauts to vöwëls, because this week The Dirt is totally metal! Metallurgy, that is. How and when did humans first use metals, and what can we learn about them? Some come straight from the ground, others from far, far away, some from a combination of raw materials, and some? Some come FROM OUTER SPACE.Links King Tut’s Dagger Was Made From a Meteorite (Smithsonian) The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade (Meteoritics and Planetary Science) Greenland's Iron Age came from space (Science Nordic) New Respect for Metal's Role in Ancient Arctic Cultures (Science) Robert E. Peary and the Cape York Meteorites (Polar Geography) The Dollop Episode 240: North Pole Madness On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe (Journal of Archaeological Science) Prehistoric Balkans Were 'Faking' Gold 6,500 Years Ago (Ha’aretz) Theorizing Bronze-Age Intercultural trade : the evidence of the weights (Paléorient) Exchange Systems and Trade Networks in Anthropology and Archaeology (ThoughtCo) Antikythera Shipwreck Yields New Cache of Treasures, Hints More May Be Buried at Site (Smithsonian) High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object (Nature Communications) Lost Wax Casting Process (National Sculpture Society) How Was Iron Smelted in Ancient Israel? Researchers Build Kilns to Find Out (Ha’aretz) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

This week, Amber and Anna wade into the moral circle. When it comes to deserving help and care, who counts? What does that care look like, and how can we see evidence for it in the historical and archaeological record? We do our best to wrap our brains around all this and more.Links Should animals, plants, and robots have the same rights as you? (Vox) Lake Erie now has legal rights, just like you (Vox) Expanding the moral circle: Inclusion and exclusion mindsets and the circle of moral regard (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) A Brief History of Charitable Giving (Visual.ly) Ancient Bones That Tell a Story of Compassion (New York Times) Calculated or caring? Neanderthal healthcare in social context (World Archaeology) Brutal Brawls And Cranial Surgery Discovered On Ancient Skeletons From Lake Titicaca (Forbes) How the poor became blessed (Aeon) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

This week Anna and Amber told you we’re going to the park, but really it’s a trip to the v-e-t in an episode all about evidence for animal care and veterinary medicine in the archaeological record. Learn how archaeologists assess animal welfare from bone analysis, ancient Egyptian animal medicine, a snapshot of life on a medieval French farm, and more, including 2nd millennium BCE pro tips on how to get your horse absolutely jacked.Links Prehistoric Puppy May Be Earliest Evidence of Pet-Human Bonding (National Geographic) Excavating the history of ancient veterinary practices (Veterinary Record) The Kikkuli Text. Hittite Training Instructions for Chariot Horses in the Second Half of the 2nd Millennium B.C. and Their Interdisciplinary Context (Peter Raulwing, via Academia.edu) Kikkuli (International Museum of the Horse) A Quick History of Veterinary History (Canidae) Care or Neglect?: Evidence of Animal Disease in Archaeology One and the same? An investigation into the connection between veterinary and medical practice in ancient Egypt (in Mummies, magic and medicine in ancient Egypt) Lahun Veterinary Papyrus Early Egyptians Revered Lowly Donkeys (New York Times) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

It’s the second half of our two-episode series on Japan! This week, Amber and Anna explore some of the traditions and material culture surrounding Japanese food. We research rice, sample sake, banter about bento, and MAYBE MAKE THE BEST SERIES OF PUNS EVER HEARD ON THE SHOW.Links Rice in Japan: History, Kinds of Rice and Cooking and Eating Rice (Facts and Details) How Japanese Traditions Work (How Stuff Works) Rice: It's More Than Food In Japan (Stanford SPICE) A Brief History of Japanese Sake (Culture Trip) Brewing Behind Barbed Wire: An Archaeology of Saké at Amache (Digital Commons @ DU) The Japanese Ghost Town Buried Deep in a Canadian Forest (Gastro Obscura) The controversial history of the bento box (Timeline) Sampuru: Japanese Food Models (Tofugo) The Japanese Tea Ceremony (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) The Story Behind the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Culture Trip) Ancient Pottery Reveals Japanese Hunter-Gatherers’ Taste for Fish (SciNews) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

This week, it’s a sponsored episode (thanks Elizabeth!) and part one in a two-part series on ancient Japan. This week—the Jomon, prehistoric Japanese hunter-gatherers, and their descendants, the Ainu indigenous people. Also, some bears.Links Spotlight on Research: What Can Archaeology Tell Us About the Prehistory of the Japanese Islands? (Hokkaido University) The Untold Story of Japan’s First People (Sapiens) A-hunting we will go! (Heritage of Japan) Tattooing Among Japan’s Ainu People (Lars Krutak) Ainu Decorative Needlework (TRC Leiden) 20 Vintage Portraits of Japanese Ainu Women With Their Traditional Tattooed Lips (Heritage Daily) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

This week, Anna and Amber decided to clean up their act and take a look at the history of bathing and hygiene. We’re dipping our toes into Roman baths, sweating through Finnish and Russian saunas, discussing the shrewd marketing behind the “Halitosis Effect,” and more. Plus, what even IS soap, anyway?Links A natural history of hygiene (Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology) Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences) The First Soap - The first recorded evidence of soap making (Soap History) Out of the Vapors: A Social and Architectural History of Bathhouse Row More Than a Bath: An Examination of Japanese Bathing Culture (Claremont Colleges) Self-Reflection in the Tub: Japanese Bathing Culture, Identity, and Cultural Nationalism (Asia Pacific Perspectives) Dip into the history of the Japanese 'system bath' (Japan Times) Networking Naked With Finland's Diplomatic Sauna Society (The Atlantic) A `working' bath: Finland's answer to negotiations. SAUNA DIPLOMACY (Christian Science Monitor) The Standard Guide to Global Bathing Cultures (Standard Hotels) The History and Science Behind Your Terrible Breath (Smithsonian) Fighting bad breath -- a battle through centuries (Los Angeles Times) Who invented the toothbrush and when was it invented? (Library of Congress) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

Deep Cuts from October episodes.ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

Spooktober winds to a close once again, and we end with a mystery. Bundle up and join Anna and Amber at Roopkund Lake, where bones scatter the shore and speculation and science meet. Who were the people whose skeletal remains keep appearing in a remote lake in northern India? How did they get there? How might we find out?Links Nanda Devi Raaj Jat Yatra (Uttarakhand Tourism) 10 Things You Should Know About Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra (eUttarakhand) Roopkund Lake (EcoIndia) There's A Frozen Lake In India That's Full Of Skeletons. What On Earth Happened Here? (IFL Science) Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India (Atlas Obscura) Mystery Solved - The Skeleton Lake of India (Science, Dummy) cw: human remains Inside Roopkund Lake, The Curious Indian Lake Where Skeletons Wash Ashore (All That’s Interesting) Tourists to Roopkund trek back with human skeletons (The Indian Express) The Mystery of ‘Skeleton Lake’ Gets Deeper (The Atlantic) Biomolecular analyses of Roopkund skeletons show Mediterranean migrants in Indian Himalaya (Phys.org) ContactEmail the Dirt PodcastAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

Come along for a look at the anthropology of “evil,” some of the psychological designations that true crime podcasts might neglect, some wildly speculative thoughts about the roots of human evil, and how scores on “psychopath tests” vary across societies. Plus, the earliest cold case murder, Machiavelli on Machiavellianism, and unfortunately, the entirely unwelcome reappearance of the Evil Neanderthal theory.Links Cultural Relativism (WIkibooks) How evil is a socially constructed concept: Evil across societies (The Manitoban) Demons, Dybbuks, Ghosts, &amp; Golems (My Jewish Learning) Psychiatric labeling in cross-cultural perspective (Science) The Anthropology of Evil The Nature of Evil (Huffington Post) The Stigma of Personality Disorders (Current Psychiatry Reports) Personality Disorders (The Mayo Clinic) Why It Pays to Be a Bit of a Psychopath (LiveScience) Successful cavemen were serial killers (New York Post) The Criminal Psychopath: History, Neuroscience, Treatment, and Economics (Jurimetrics) Quick and Dirty: Some Psychosocial Costs Associated with the Dark Triad in Three Countries (Evolutionary Psychology) A world shrouded in darkness: Accounting for variance in the Dark Triad traits around the world (ANU) This Author Thinks We Might Be on the Verge of a New Generation of Serial Killers (Vice) World's Oldest Cold Case: A 430,000-Year-Old Murder Victim Found In Pit Of Bones (Forbes) Unraveling the True Machiavelli (JHU Arts &amp; Sciences Magazine) 500-year-old arrest warrant for Machiavelli discovered (Archaeology.wiki) Monster Talk episode with Jon Ronson discussing the Psychopath Test ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

This week, head south to the misty, mysterious island of Chiloé, Chile, where Amber tells Anna a story of a powerful cult of warlocks that held the island in their grip in the late 19th century CE. But, as in all good horror stories, the true villain is possibly something else entirely. Sit down for a hearty meal of the spookiest spaghetti and explore indigenous Mapuche governance, colonization, and whether the ghost stories of Chiloé might be more meaningful than they seem.Content warning: there is a brief scene describing graphic violence, but we’ll warn you when it’s time for sensitive ears to skip ahead.Links Into the Cave of Chile’s Witches (Smithsonian) The Myths and Mythologies of Chiloe, Chile's Most Haunted Island (Culture Trip) Myth and Magic Infuse Chilean Island (NPR) Invunche (Chiloé Mitologico) The Cave of Quicaví (VoiceMap Tours) La Enfermadad de todos en El Cuerpo Propia: Brujeria y performatividad del Tribual de la Raza Indigena en Chiloé (Universum) Rhetorical Imperialism (Digital Commons @DU) Shamans' Pragmatic Gendered Negotiations with Mapuche Resistance Movements and Chilean Political Authorities (Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power) Imbunches and Other Monsters: Enemy Legends and Underground Histories in José Donoso and Catalina Parra (Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies) Reyes Sobre La Tierra: Brujería Y Chamanismo En Una Cultura Insular. Chiloé Entre Los Siglos XVIII y XY Pueblos Originarios - Indigenous Populations of Chile Map The Cinematic Spell in an Island of Uncertainty (Anthrovision) Lore Episode 25, “The Cave” ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.comAffiliates Wildnote Digital Marketing Course TeePublic Timeular

OLD NEWS IS BACK and slightly older than usual, dear listener! This month, we look at lovers, fighters, sports fans, sippy cups, and so much more!Viking Drinking Hall in Scotland (Archaeology Magazine)Ancient Egyptian Yeast (Archaeology Magazine)Woodstock Archaeology (Time)&nbsp;The bow of a World War II submarine was discovered off the coast of the Aleutian Islands (CNN)Ancient DNA from Roman and medieval grape seeds reveal ancestry of wine making (Science Daily)Age of Discovery ship found perfectly preserved in Baltic Sea (The Independent)Indigenous petroglyphs found for 1st time in Newfoundland (CBC)This Young Man and Woman Were Buried Face-to-Face 4,000 Years Ago in Kazakhstan (Live Science)'Lovers of Modena' Buried Hand-in-Hand Turn Out to Be Men (Live Science)Forgotten Sculpture of Alexander the Great Found in Greek Museum’s Storage (Greek Reporter)Skeleton of Ancient Sports Fan and Head-Shaped Jar Found in Bulgarian Grave (Live Science)Babies Drank from Ancient 'Sippy Cups' Thousands of Years Ago (Live Science)15th-Century Scottish Warrior Who Died in a Clan Feud Was Buried with 5 Extra Heads (Live Science)Genome of nearly 5000-year-old woman links modern Indians to ancient civilization (Science)Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement (ScienceDaily)

It's here! Spooktober is here! Your (g)hosts kick off the month with an exploration of things that go bump in the woods, and discuss what anthropology has to say about Bigfoot. Turns out, a whole lot. There’s skepticism, mild skepticism, and then there's theory that may finally break Anna altogether.LinksIs Bigfoot Real? The Long Strange Story of Our Search for Bigfoot (Popular Mechanics)People Have Been Chasing Bigfoot for 60 Years—Here's How It Began (History.com)Bigfoot 411Them + UsHomo heidelbergensis (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)Bigfoot Culture and Belief of Sasquatch in the United States (Esri)The Science Behind Bigfoot an Interview With Dr. Jeff Meldrum (BYU-Idaho Radio)Are Other Hominins (Hominoids) Alive Today? (Relict Hominid Inquiry)Bigfoot DNA (Monster Talk)We Burn as Many Calories as Hunter-Gatherers, So What Makes Us Fat? (Time)How many humans would it take to keep our species alive? One scientist's surprising answer (NBC News)Bigfoot Skepticism (Monster Talk)ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, Anna and Amber welcome Very Special Guest Ken Feder (Central Connecticut State This week, Anna and Amber welcome Very Special Guest Ken Feder (Central Connecticut State University) to talk all things archaeological and pseudoarchaeological. Amber and Anna ask Ken about teaching strategies! Hot takes from critics! The real impact of archaeological research on living communities! The proper way to say 'Thames!' And more! Plus, why you should buy all of Ken’s books.LinksAncient America: Fifty Archaeological Sites to See for Yourself“Outcasts” Build Their Own Village in 18th-Century Barkhamsted (Connecticut History)Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone MasonrySteph Halmhofer and Bones, Stones, and BooksArchaeological Fantasies Kenneth Feder’s Faculty BioContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, Anna and Amber sing you a little tune about musical instruments in the archaeological record, and the ways that we can access ancient music today. From the discoveries of the earliest known flutes, to jamming out with Homer, to some mind-blowing takes on sound and silence, consider it our first movement in this composition. LinksScales from Around the World (How Music Really Works)A Biological Rationale for Musical Scales (PLOSOne)A Voice from the Past (The New Yorker)The European Music Archaeology Project Recreates Instruments of Old (New York Times)Ice and Longboats: Ancient Music of Scandinavia (European Music Archaeology Project, Volume 2)Ancient Greek music: now we finally know what it sounded like (The Conversation)8 Oldest Musical Instruments in the World (Oldest.org)Brookhaven Lab Expert Helps Date Flute Thought to be Oldest Playable Musical Instrument (Brookhaven National Laboratory)Oldest Greek Fragment of Homer Discovered on Clay Tablet (Smithsonian)Sing like you mean it! - the Linguistics of Tonal LanguagesListen to Sappho Read By Stephen G. Daitz (The New Yorker Podcast)Hear What Homer’s Odyssey Sounded Like When Sung in the Original Ancient Greek (Open Culture)Homer Multitext Project We can tell where a whale has travelled from the themes in its song (New Scientist)ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

Snuggle on down in your jimjams with a mug of your favorite warm beverage, as Anna tells Amber a bedtime story about a great moment in archaeological discovery. This week, we travel back to 17th century Sweden, where a professor named Olof Rudbeck changed the world with his research. No spoilers, so check out thedirtpod.com for this week's show notes and recommended reading.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, Anna and Amber tackle some questions submitted from you, the listener! It's a lightning round of stories about ghost puppers, citizen archaeology, glimpses of what happens behind closed doors, Stone Age musicians, and much more!LinksArchaeology, folklore, and the skeletal remains of a hellhound (Strange Remains)Leiston: Are these the bones of devil dog, Black Shuck? (East Anglia Daily Times)What To Do If You Find A Site (Archaeological Society of Virginia)Moundville Archaeological ParkSwimming in the Sahara (Discover Magazine)How Climate Change May Have Shaped Human Evolution (Smithsonian Magazine)Earliest music instruments found (BBC News)A Vest Pocket Guide to Brothels in 19th-Century New York for Gentlemen on the Go (New York Times)A Guide to Houses No Gentleman Would Dare to Frequent (New York Times)Pre-Incan Civilizations in Peru (Kuoda)ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

Anna and Amber talk about animal bones and what you can learn from them about domestication! Learn about how selective breeding affects animals' bodies (and also learn that Amber is very afraid of pigs). We also take a detour into Spookytown with some bizarre Iron age animal burials, and top it off with a lovely story about a kitten.LinksTop Signs of Animal Domestication (ThoughtCo)Early Date for Horse Domestication in Kazakhstan (Current World Archaeology)The boneyard of the bizarre that rewrites our Celtic past to include hybrid-animal monster myths (The Independent)Ritual and Burial: The Strange and Elaborate Ways Humans Prepared Animals for the Afterlife (Ancient Origins)Ancient bobcat buried like a human being (Science)ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, we’re talking ceramics! Anna and Amber explain how bits of pottery aren’t called shards, but do hold lots of secrets (and sometimes blood!), the role of ceramics in archaeology, evidence for amateur and student potters, and how Amber clearly didn’t miss her calling as a ceramic artist.LinksBasic Concepts: Pottery in the Archaeological Record (Archaeology Review)[https://ahotcupofjoe.net/2007/01/basic-concepts-pottery-in-the-archaeological-record/]Ancient Chinese pottery confirmed as the oldest yet found (The Guardian)[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/28/ancient-chinese-pottery-oldest-yet]Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) in the Study of Archaeological Ceramics (Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis)[https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199681532.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199681532-e-24]Thule tradition (University of Waterloo)[http://anthropology.uwaterloo.ca/ArcticArchStuff/thule.html]Ceramic Technology of Arctic Alaska: An Experimental and Adaptive Craft (Teal Sullivan)[http://www.tealsullivan.com/ceramics/arcticpottery/]How to Make an Unfired Clay Cooking Pot: Understanding the Technological Choices Made by Arctic Potters (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory)[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653111?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]Muweilah (Universes in Universe)[https://universes.art/en/art-destinations/sharjah/archaeological-sites/muweilah]Prehistoric Children Working and Playing: A Southwestern Case Study in Learning Ceramics (Journal of Archaeological Research)[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/jar.57.4.3631354]The Dirt Book Club!When Clay Sings (via WorldCat) [https://www.worldcat.org/title/when-clay-sings/oclc/340283]ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

Hey everyone! We're experiencing some technical difficulties with one of our computers. We'll be back with regular weekly episodes just as soon as we figure that out. In the mean time, check out the other great episodes in our back catalogue and on the Archaeology Podcast Network.

This week, Anna and Amber take their inspiration from an archaeological news story and dive into some hidden treasures!LinksSamuel Pepys’ 1666 diaries about his beloved parmesan [http://www.pepys.info/1666/1666sep.html] (Pepys.info)Grave of 'real-life Asterix' who fought Caesar found amid trove of weapons and possessions in West Sussex [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/22/real-life-asterix-fought-caesar-found-amid-trove-weapons-possessions/] (The Telegraph)Archaeologists find richest cache of ancient mind-altering drugs in South America [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/archaeologists-find-richest-cache-ancient-mind-altering-drugs-south-america] (Science)Clovis-era Tool Cache 13,000 Years Old Shows Evidence Of Camel, Horse Butchering [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225132355.htm] (Science Daily)Under Maryland Street, Ties to African Past [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/science/21arch.html] (The New York Times)A Cache of 18th-Century Rockets Discovered in India [https://www.archaeology-world.com/a-cache-of-18th-century-rockets-discovered-in-india/] (Archaeology World)A Dog Named Monty Has Dug Up a Rare Cache of Bronze Age Artifacts in the Czech Republic [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dog-archaeologist-czech-republic-1351412] (ArtNet)ContactsEmail the Dirt Podcast

It’s all about mounds and moundbuilders on this week’s episode with Anna and Amber.LinksCahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis (via WorldCat)Cahokia MoundsWatson Brake, a Middle Archaic Mound Complex in Northeast Louisiana (American Antiquity)12th-Century Cahokia Was a “Melting Pot” (Archaeology)Cahokia and the Excavation of Mound 72 (Lithics Casting Lab)The Ancient Mounds of Poverty Point: A Place of Rings (via WorldCat)Moundbuilders (Newberry)Early pottery: Technology, Function, Style, and Interaction in the Lower Southeast (via WorldCat)White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities (Smithsonian)Check out KenFeder’s take on the myth of the moundbuilders over on Archaeological Fantasies. He’s also the author of this week’s Dirt Book Club entry, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science andPseudoscience in Archaeology.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, we play some of the Classics: a look at Troy, the Trojan War, and its discovery. Enter Heinrich Schliemann, the archaeologist (nope) who excavated the site of Hisarlik, in present-day Turkey, found evidence of the end of the Iliad (nope), went on to excavate other Homeric heroes (again, nope), and completely changed the game for public interest in archaeological research and the possibility that Homer was based on historical events (actually, this one is true). Come for Amber attempting to recite the Aeneid, stay for Anna throwing books in disgust.ContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

[Ghost of Amber Future here, I think we talked about these stories?]https://www.livescience.com/65760-visigoth-reccopolis-city-revealed.htmlhttps://www.livescience.com/65728-neolithic-human-made-islands.htmlhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190612165603.htmhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190605142602.htmhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529122145.htmhttps://www.archaeology.org/news/7769-190619-puppy-dog-eyeshttps://www.archaeology.org/news/7771-190619-chimps-crab-fishinghttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/05/chimpanzees-eat-tortoises-smash-shells/https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/revealed-the-sophisticated-painting-techniques-of-ancient-artists-who-created-these-fantastical-images/https://www.heritagedaily.com/2019/05/declining-fertility-rates-may-explain-neanderthal-extinction-suggests-new-model/123863https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-myth-of-masada-how-reliable-was-josephus-anyway-1.7375157

Amber's too cold, Anna's too hot, and we've both lost our dang minds! In an effort to think about something other than the summer heat, this week we're offering you a sampler platter of some of the amazing archaeology from the Arctic regions up north! Learn how people got to the Arctic, what some of them did when they got there, and what's happening to Arctic sites now in light of global warming. Also hyenas. Refreshing!LinksThe Peopling of the Americas: Evidence for Multiple Models (Discover)Late Pleistocene exploration and settlement of the Americas by modern humans (Science)Beringia (National Parks Service)These First Americans Vanished Without a Trace — But Hints of Them Linger (LiveScience)The ancient people in the high-latitude Arctic had well-developed trade (EurekAlert)Do Canadian Carvings Depict Vikings? Removing Mammal Fat May Tell (LiveScience)How Did Prehistoric Hyenas Reach the Americas? Through the Arctic (Ha’aretz)As the Arctic Erodes, Archaeologists Are Racing to Protect Ancient Treasures (Smithsonian)The Unalaska Sea Ice Project (Boston University Zooarchaeology Laboratory)What Clam Thermometers Tell Us About Past Climates (Sapiens)Clamshells and Climate Change: What seal bones and clamshells teach us about past climate (The Brink)Digging for butter clams in Dutch Harbor, Alaska (Youtube)The Dirt Book Club!The earth is faster now: indigenous observations of Arctic environmental change, by Igor Krupnik and Dyanna JollyThe last imaginary place: a human history of the Arctic world, by Robert McGheeContactEmail the Dirt Podcast

This week, it's a topic that's incredibly relevant and important, and...not the least bit fun. It's climate change! We're here to combat misinformation and to tell you what we know about past global climate change, how we know it, and what that means for our future.

We wrap up our whirlwind tour of African Empires this week with the later part of the timeline. Anna and Amber travel to Timbuktu, the Solomonid Empire, the Fatimid Caliphate and more! We also cover the Scramble for Africa, which sounds fun and madcap, but is...the opposite of that.

Amber and Anna dip their toes into the vast history of the African continent. In this first installment of a two-episode series, we look at some pre-Classical civilizations. Learn about foreign queens and imported baboons, and why camels are great for business AND religion. And remember! It's never a collapse.

This week, Amber and Anna explore Angkor Wat, the legendary Cambodian temple complex. Who built it? What happened? Did the civilization collapse? (Spoiler: no.) Was it rediscovered after being forgotten for centuries? (Spoiler: also no.) Come for the history, stay for the alien spider beings!

This week, we bring you the MIRACLE OF BIRTH. Join Amber and Anna for a brief frolic through some ancient birthing wisdom and evidence of pregnancy and childbirth in the archaeological record. We're also joined by the brilliant Dr. Natalie Laudicina, who takes us on a fascinating and slightly terrifying journey through the surprisingly complicated landscape of the primate birth canal. Content warning: some of the subject material in this episode may be upsetting, but we try to give listeners a heads up.

Anna and Amber are both traveling this week, so instead of leaving your feeds bereft, we've got an episode of Old News for you to enjoy!

It's another Very Special Sponsored Episode this week! We're talking prehistoric animals of all shapes and sizes (and by all sizes we mean mostly TOO BIG). Learn about giant birds hunted by the first people on New Zealand, the giant sea scorpion that will haunt Amber's dreams, and, well, probably more than you ever wanted to know about woolly mammoth butts.

This week, we bring you a fascinating, poignant, and thoroughly delightful interview with Very Special Guest Lynne Engelbert, a handler with the Institute for Canine Forensics. Learn what the talented pups at the ICF do for a living and prepare to be amazed!

This week, Anna and Amber sit down to chat about the Denisovans, the human ancestors we didn't know we had until recently. Learn about what evidence we have for Denisovans, the traits for which we can thank them, and some of the mysteries that remain. Come for big reveals about what's in human DNA, stay for ample use of phrases like "bouts of interbreeding."

It's another Very Special Sponsored Episode this week, about the archaeology of protest, revolt, and rebellion. Join Anna and Amber alongside coal miners in West Virginia, Jewish rebels in the first century CE, enslaved Africans in the Danish Virgin Islands, and more stories of human defiance and resilience in the face of oppression.

Psst. Do you want to buy some archaeology? WELL WE DON'T HAVE ANY TO SELL YOU, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE WRONG. But that hasn't stopped other people from doing it! Join us this week for a Very Special Sponsored Episode on the antiquities black market, the harm it does to archaeology and to real living people all over the world, and some of the folks doing extremely cool things to protect cultural heritage.

Join Anna and Amber on an excursion to the Indus Valley, and an exploration of some of the ancient societies therein. Learn about the thrills of city planning and indoor toilets, experience the mystery and absurdity of the Indus "unicorn," and enjoy a surprising number of Anna's best seal impersonations.

This week's episode was inspired by news coverage of Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski, who, according to his skeleton, may have been intersex. But what does it mean to be intersex, and how do we incorporate this very real form of existence into our understanding of the archaeological record? Learn along with Anna and Amber from forensic archaeology, American history, Indigenous American culture, and a truly heart-wrenching tale from Iran.

Join Anna and Amber on a tour of third millennium BCE Mesopotamia, where they explore the Royal Tombs of Ur. It has everything: musical instruments, very extra jewelry looks, a Great Death Pit (!), a famous excavator with a flair for the dramatic, even a surprise find nearly a century later in a museum basement. Who was buried there? What makes these tombs so special? What did Sumerian music sound like? How great was that death pit?

Hello, and welcome to The Dirt, a podcast all about dinosaurs! Since we’re archaeologists (and thus don’t study dinosaurs, ahem) we know nothing about this subject, so for this special April Fools’ Day episode, Anna sits down with paleontologist Chris Capobianco from Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. Learn about how quickly a fossil forms, the process of preparing fossils for research or exhibition, what dinosaurs really looked like, how exactly one goes about becoming a paleontologist, and what the future may hold for the discipline (and humanity.

Our very first LIVE SHOW, from Cosumnes River College in Sacramento! In honor of Women's History Month, we celebrate the life and career of Helen Hunt Jackson, the raddest lady activist and author you've never heard of. In her lifetime, Jackson was a vocal and tireless advocate for Native American rights during the federal land grabs of the 1800s.

Anna and Amber rummage around on the floor of history's closet to bring you a brief history of shoes from around the world! Learn why caves in the southwestern USA are full of shoes. Find a shoe museum near you for some sole-searching. Enjoy a description of Anna's favorite goofy historical fashion statement. All this and more!

It's almost officially springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, and the vernal equinox brings with it another reason to celebrate: Nowruz! Commonly known as Persian New Year, Nowruz has its roots in a millennia-old religion founded by a man named Zartosht whose ideas had a profound impact on the world. Anna introduces fire temples and what ancient writers had to say about Zoroastrianism, while Amber hypes the Bronze Age in Central Asia and suggests some ways in which Zoroastrian ideas have affected other religions.

It's been hectic over at The Dirt HQ! Rather than leaving your feeds dark for a month, here's a Patreon-exclusive episode from earlier this year: Last month, you joined us on a tour of human evolution, and our many ancestors therein. We also shared a bit from Dirt After Dark about pseudoarchaeology and its racist underpinnings. For this month’s Deep Cuts, why not a bit of both? We present to you the Piltdown Man, the most contentious human ancestor there never was.

Kick off Women's History Month with a show all about some of the earliest representations of women in art! Anna introduces us to the Venus of Willendorf and her curvy comrades, and shares a research study with very modern take on ancient art. Meanwhile Amber bursts our bubble about the matriarchy and goddess religions in Old Europe, and discusses goddess worshippers of past and present at Çatalhöyük in present-day Turkey. Or, as Amber would insist we call it this month, Her-key.