The Dirt Podcast

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, & 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Nature, 115: 195–199, doi:10.1038/115195a0.——— (1929), Australopithecus africanus: And His Place in Human Nature, Unpublished manuscript in the University of Witwatersrand archives.SA fossil murder mystery solved (BBC)Taung Child (Smithsonian) Australopithecus africanus (Smithsonian)

In our first episode, we introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about archaeology, anthropology, and how we definitely do not study dinosaurs. Also, hot takes on some of pop culture's most important "archaeologists."

Greetings, fellow workers! In observance of May Day, which in many parts of the world is a day for celebrating and acknowledging the struggles of workers in the labor movement. In that spirit, we bring you an episode about work.How do we define "jobs" in the archaeological record? What can skeletons tell us about what people did every day? What was it like to be a monument worker in ancient Egypt? Tune in for all this and more! Show NotesThe Eloquent Bones of Abu Hureyra (Scientific American)Neandertal Humeri May Reflect Adaptation to Scraping Tasks, but Not Spear Thrusting - PMChttps://phys.org/news/2012-07-unique-neandertal-arm-morphology-due.htmlEA5634 ostracon (British Museum)The Strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-Ninth Year (Journal of Near Eastern Studies) A letter of complaint to the Vizier To (Journal of Near Eastern Studies) Hard Work-Where Will It Get You? Labor Management in Ur III Mesopotamia (Journal of Near Eastern Studies) The Forgotten History of New York's Bagel Famines (Gastro Obscura)SWCA Environmental Consultants in Salt Lake City Join Teamsters (International Brotherhood of Teamsters)

It's time for part 2 of our exploration of the Anthropocene -- a period of time that has very wobbly boundaries and probably doesn't even exist? Can we define a chunk of geological time based on human impacts? People sure have tried! To learn more about what we cover in both parts, check out:Geologists Vote to Reject Anthropocene as an Official Epoch (Center for Field Sciences)Anthropocene (Oxford English Dictionary)GSA Geologic Time Scale v. 4.0The “Anthropocene” (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Newsletter)Anthropocene CurriculumHow Long Have We Been in the Anthropocene? (SAPIENS)Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use (Science)Humans versus Earth: the quest to define the Anthropocene (Nature)Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents (Nature)The Industrial Revolution kick-started global warming much earlier than we realised (The Conversation)The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology (via WorldCat)Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass (Nature)An anthropogenic marker horizon in the future rock record (GSA Today)The Technofossil Record: Where Archaeology and Paleontology Meet (Anthropocene Curriculum)Defining the Anthropocene (Nature)Davis, H., & Todd, Z. (2017). On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 16(4), 761–780. Whyte, Kyle. "Indigenous Climate Change Studies : Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene." English Language Notes, vol. 55 no. 1, 2017, p. 153-162....

Get ready for a two-part exploration of the proposed "Anthropocene" era. Can we define a chunk of geological time based on human impacts? When would that start--at the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s (CE)? Earlier? Later? More importantly...should we even try? Plus, we learn about industrial archaeology and get briefly derailed by a man named Frerb Hankbert. Make sure to stay tuned for the second installment!To learn more about what we cover in both parts, check out:Geologists Vote to Reject Anthropocene as an Official Epoch (Center for Field Sciences)Anthropocene (Oxford English Dictionary)GSA Geologic Time Scale v. 4.0The “Anthropocene” (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Newsletter)Anthropocene CurriculumHow Long Have We Been in the Anthropocene? (SAPIENS)Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use (Science)Humans versus Earth: the quest to define the Anthropocene (Nature)Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents (Nature)The Industrial Revolution kick-started global warming much earlier than we realised (The Conversation)The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology (via WorldCat)Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass (Nature)An anthropogenic marker horizon in the future rock record (GSA Today)The Technofossil Record: Where Archaeology and Paleontology Meet (Anthropocene Curriculum)Defining the Anthropocene (Nature)Davis, H., & Todd, Z. (2017). On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 16(4), 761–780. Whyte, Kyle. "

Turn around, bright eyes! In anticipation of the Great North American eclipse coming up on Monday, April 8, 2024, we're scooting in front of this topic like the moon in front of the sun. We're looking at some of the earliest record-keeping of solar eclipses, some eclipse history (eclipstory!) and some mythology and cosmology around the phenomenon. Plus...a truly delightful fact about the song Total Eclipse of the Heart. Sources:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-folklore-tells-us-about-eclipses-180964488/https://www.jstor.org/stable/15768https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001276245https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/how-did-the-ancients-predicted-eclipses-the-saros-cycle/https://ctext.org/shang-shu/punitive-expedition-of-yinhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/1006543https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_11621/?st=galleryhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/671227

A few select tidbits from the most recent episode on our premium feed. Support The Dirt and help us continue to make episodes! 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

We're back! Hi! Sorry for the unplanned hiatus--we missed you, too. This week, we've got a delightful sponsored episode featuring the most specific and niche topic we've ever covered. It's hats! 18th-century naval knit hats recovered from shipwrecks! See? Extremely specific. But FASCINATING! We get into the knitty gritty (HA) and also talk about fabric conservation, a smidge of underwater archaeology, and FOSSILIZED FABRIC! Tune in or miss out! Audio note: Something funky happened with this recording, and there was a lot of unpleasant buzzing in a few spots. Anna fixed it as much as possible, but it does mean the audio quality is a little different on this one. SHOW NOTES: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toboggan-tuque-knit-hat-regionalismhttps://www.heddels.com/start-here/https://www.curiousfrau.com/2009/08/16/knitted-mans-hat-from-the-ship-qgagianaq/https://www.qaronline.org/blackbeard-sails-again-conservation-textiles-queen-annes-revenge-shipwreck/openhttps://www.abc.se/~pa//mar/wrak32.htmhttps://carnegiemnh.org/archaeological-textiles-eastern-us/https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/what-did-they-wear/textile-preservation/https://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/en/news/what-mechanisms-are-responsible-preservation-archaeological-textiles-over-thousands-years

Anna walks Amber through a sampler platter of recent archaeological news stories. We talk about inner ears and gibbon arms, chromosomes galore, Medieval dogs, the Ishtar gate of Babylon, ancient hunter-gatherer poop, and more! We need your support!!Help us keep the show going by subscribing to our premium feed for just $5/month after a 7-day free trial! Your generous support lets us pay for the services we use to host our audio feed and our website -- plus all the outreach and special programming we do! Sign up here to get our ENTIRE back catalog of premium episodes: https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/supportTo learn more:How did humans learn to walk? New evolutionary study offers an earful | ScienceDailyTo see some gibbons bopping around in the trees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rdn26Hpdwo&ab_channel=SmithsonianChannelPrehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from ancient DNA | ScienceDailyDogs in the middle ages: What medieval writing tells us about our ancestors' petsThe Devonshire Hunting Tapestries | Unknown | V&A Explore The CollectionsArchaeomagnetism Dates Construction of Babylon's Ishtar Gate - Archaeology MagazineBabylon's Ishtar Gate may have a totally different purpose than we thought, magnetic field measurements suggest | Live ScienceDNA from preserved feces reveals ancient Japanese gut environmentMetagenomic analyses of 7000 to 5500 years old coprolites excavated from the Torihama shell-mound site in the Japanese archipelago | PLOS ONE

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. Want to support the show? SUBSCRIBE to our back catalog of bonus content for $5 a month after a one-week free trial at: 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) The Amarna Letters 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) 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)

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 & 2-3 (watch & 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 & 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. 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&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

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. 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

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 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) 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 (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 & (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& (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 & 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 & 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! 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 & 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 Egyptian Medicine: A Systematic Review (Philosophy, Social and Human Disciplines)

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=&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 & 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)

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)

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! 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. 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!

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 & 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 & 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)

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., & 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 (National Geographic)Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows (National Geographic)The Natural History of the Cat (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" Conservation Science Western Australia Journal (7).Cats Are Ruthless Killers (Business Insider)The Crazy Story Of A Cat Named Tibbles Who Killed Off A Whole Species Of Bird (Business Insider)Curious Cat Walks Over Medieval Manuscript (National Geographic News)This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it (Gizmodo)This cat was reared for one reason: to be mummified (BBC)Early Taming of the Cat in Cyprus (Science)A Roman Era Pet Cemetery: 86 Cat Burials Discovered in Egypt (Ancient Origins)“Witch Cottage”? No. Cat Burial? Maybe. (Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives)The archaeology of the domestic cat (Current Archaeology)How cats conquered the world (and a few Viking ships) (Nature)Dogs and cats may have been involved in Maya rituals (The Economist)They're talking about cats from the genus Panthera, not Felis

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 (Popular Science)North America's earliest dogs came from Siberia (Science News)Human Footprints at Chauvet Cave (Archeology)26,000-Year-Old Child Footprints Found Alongside Paw Prints Reveal Oldest Evidence of Human-Canine Relationship (Ancient Origins)Earliest Dogs in North America (Canadian Museum of Nature)America's first dogs vanished after Europeans arrived, study finds (Washington Post)Ancient American dogs almost completely wiped out by arrival of European breeds (AAAS)The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas (Science)America's Oldest Dog Discovery Helps Solve Canine DNA Riddle (National Geographic)Prehistoric Puppy May Be Earliest Evidence of Pet-Human Bonding (National Geographic)Dog Love Isn't A New Thing: Even Yudhisthir Refused To Enter Heaven Without His Loyal Dog (Scoop Whoop)Trut, L. (1999). Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment. American Scientist, 87 (2) DOI: 10.1511/1999.2.160Trut, L. (2001). Experimental Studies of Early Canid Domestication. In The Genetics of the Dog, A Ruvinsky and J. Sampson, eds.A Loyal Companion and Much More: Dogs in Ancient China (Ancient Origins)On the custom of burying dogs in prehistoric burials (Chinese Archaeology)

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 (William Shakespeare)Richard III of England (Wikipedia)English Car Park Where Remains Of Richard III Were Found Declared A Monument (NPR)2012 Grey Friars excavation (University of Leicester)What the bones can and can't tell us (University of Leicester)How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless (The Atlantic)Using forks and knives has changed the human face (Business Insider)The Richard III SocietyNew evidence: The bones of the ‘Princes in the Tower' show no relationship to Richard III (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 (Daily Mail)Five missing kings and queens – and where we might find them (Independent)Lost Tombs: In search of history's greatest rulers (Archaeology)Digging up the past: famous exhumations throughout history (PRI)