A Life In Ruins

In this episode of A Life in Ruins Podcast, the lads sail themselves into the tempest that is the hoaxes, pseudoscience, and popular culture of Vikings in North America. We start off by going into the history and timing of the Viking Age and their settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and their short stay in Newfoundland. Then we get into hoaxes like the Vinland Map, the Kensington Rune Stone, and th...

On this episode of A Life in Ruins Podcast, we experiment with a new format. Each cohost will be taking a segment to talk about a topic within archaeology. Carlton will start us off, David will be the second segment and Connor will bore you to death in the third segment. Let us know if you like it! If you have left a podcast review on iTunes or Spotify, please email us at alifeinruinspodcast@gmail...

In this episode, Carlton goes rogue and does an episode by himself. No co-hosts, no guest, just Carlton letting out his thoughts. For episode 143, Carlton delves into People of the Americas, Clovis vs Pre-Clovis, and Pleistocene Megafauna extinctions. What starts off as a lecture in the first two segments definitely turns into a rant by the time he gets to talking about the “overkill” hypothesis....

On this episode of A Life in Ruins Podcast, we delve into the post-Boas anthropological theorists. We begin with an overview of four of Boas’s most well known students: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Edward Sapir and Alfred Kroeber. We then just focus on the history of archaeological theory beginning with the Culture Historical approach, New Archaeology, and the Post-Processual Critique. If you hav...

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Mason Brown, a guest assistant professor for Kathmandu University Department of Music and Affiliate Scholar for the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Asian Studies. We delve into his early interests in ethnomusciology/Tibetan culture and get into the details of what ethnomusicology is. Dr. Brown talks about music theory, pentatonic scales, and all the in...

We are back! All three cohosts return and start a new series of episodes on everyone’s favorite topic: Archaeology Theory! Before we delve into the theory, we start off by talking about feedback we have received from listeners about how we can improve our podcast. After we address that, we take a deep dive into a history of North American archaeological/anthropological thought and practice. This p...

On this episode, Carlton has a solo interview with a leading figure in Indigenous Archaeologies - Dr. Joe Watkins. Dr. Watkins is a Citizen of the Choctaw Nation and has been an advocate for archaeological collaboration with Indigenous Communities throughout his career as an archaeologist. Carlton explores Dr. Watkins' career in Archaeology and the history and continued importance of Indigenous Ar...

On this episode of A Life in Ruins Podcast, Carlton is off galivanting across Europe and you know what that means; chaos. Connor and David talk about megafauna, the overkill hypothesis and get real weird. Transcripts For rough transcripts of this episode go to https://www.archpodnet.com/ruins/138 Literature Recommendations Population reconstructions for humans and megafauna suggest mixed causes fo...

Well, it is that time of the year again. In keeping with tradition, the New Year's first episode features Archaeology Podcast Network owners Christ Webster and Rachel Roden. The three hosts catch up with their APN overlords, discussing the upcoming year for the APN, what show we gained and lost in 2022, and how the A Life in Ruins Podcast has been doing. If you have left a podcast review on iTunes...

On this episode of A Life in Ruins Podcast, the three lads are joined by Dr. Jesse Tune and Dr. Shane Miller to review Episode 6 of Graham Hancock's new show: Ancient Apocalypse. Before recording this podcast, the five of us watched the show together, took notes, and immediately recorded this episode. We outline the show's narrative, the sites Graham covers to support the disproven theories he per...

In this episode, Carlton interviews Daniel Riday, a tattoo artist specializing in traditional hand-poke and ancestral tattooing techniques. Daniel talks about his background in tattooing and how a simple Instagram DM to Dr. Aaron Deter-Wolf (@archaeologyink) propelled Daniel into becoming a collaborator in archaeological research on experimental tattooing methodologies. If you have left a podcast...

In this episode, Carlton interviews Dr. Jayne-Leigh Thomas, the Director of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act at Indiana University. We start with a conversation about their education and background in Anthropology and how they ended up with a Ph. D. from the University of Edinburgh. For the remainder of the episode, we delve into the mechanics of the Native American Grave...

In this episode, Carlton talks with Josh Wolford about his background in anthropology and his work on the relationships between Anishinaabe cosmology and the geologic/climactic events in the upper Great Lakes. Specifically on how they relate, where this fits in anthropology, ethno-geoarchaeology, and how we can look at other Indigenous creation stories for clues to our Paleolithic past. If you hav...

In this episode, Carlton has a solo interview with Ashleigh Thompson, a Tribal Citizen of the Red Lake Ojibwe and Ph. D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. The episode begins with Carlton asking about Ashleigh's background in Anthropology: where she went to school, what degrees she obtained, and how her multidisciplinary background has become advantageous in her work. We then...

Honestly, Carlton is writing this episode description the night before the episode releases and he completely forgot most of what we talked about. Generally, the three fill each other in on what they've been up to since September, why the APN went on hiatus in October, how Carlton is handling being a new professor (spoiler alert: he's still considering buying a boat and becoming a "Sea Person"), a...

Just a heads-up, this episode was recorded back in September before the APN went on a brief recording hiatus. Chris and Rachel deserved the time off. This episode was recorded after Carlton and David had watched episode 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Since then, the show has wrapped up. In this episode, Carlton and David try to talk about the archaeology of Middle Earth. But they...

On this episode of A Life In Ruins podcast Connor and David sit down with Matt Stirn, a professional archaeologist, photographer and journalist. After catching up, the podcast as usual begins with how Matt got into archaeology. And as you might’ve guessed, he’s involved with Wyoming archaeology, and got his start when he was only 13 years old. Matt ended up doing fieldwork in Colorado with Dr. Ric...

The Archaeology Podcast Network is taking a bit of a break for October, 2022. In the mean time, we’re introducing you to some of the other fantastic shows that we produce. Here’s an episode from The Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast about the Cerutti Mastodon site. The 130,000-year-old Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego is a place where you can definitely find mastodons, but were people there at the same...

The Archaeology Podcast Network is taking a bit of a break for October, 2022. In the mean time, we’re introducing you to some of the other fantastic shows that we produce. Here’s an episode from The Archaeology Show about Sutton Hoo and the Netflix film, “The Dig”. With the recent release of The Dig, a Netflix film focused on the excavation of the incredible Anglo-Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo,...

On this episode of a Life in Ruins Podcast, Connoe is joined by Dr. Alex Garcia-Putnam and Christine Halling to talk all things bioarcheology. We start off by delving into Christine's career in archaeology/anthropology and take about how her and Alex met. We then dive into their jobs, what they do and how buried remains can move miles or so during natural disasters in Louisiana. We finish out our...

In this episode, Carlton and David are joined by six-time veteran guest Stefan Milo to discuss the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II. The lads talk about the controversy surrounding the existence of the monarchy, the global political quagmire of removing the Royal Family from leadership, and their general reactions to the news of the Queen's passing. If you have left a review of the podcast on...

On this episode of the podcast, Connor and David sit down and chat with veteran guests Drs. Jesse Tune and Shane Miller to discuss the recent LSE mounds paper. They first dive into how Jesse and Shane have been on the show multiple times, and that they always have an educated and constructive conversation. Beginning with an overview of Southeastern archaeology and mound history, they then dive int...

In this episode, Carlton is joined by Chance Ward, an M.A. student in Museum and Field Studies at CU Boulder and a Tribal Citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The two start the episode with a discussion on how Chance got into Anthropology at Fort Lewis College. We then delve into his post-undergrad career in CRM and working for the Southern Ute Tribe. Carlton investigates why Chance chose CU...

In this episode, Connor and David take the reins while Carlton settles into his new position at in Bloomington. After establishing Connor hasn’t seen Amazon’s “The Rings of Power” yet, they decide to delve into the topic of “how to not be offended by bad science.” The two spend the 3 segments discussing how the media inaccurately advertises scientific research, and how that affects scientists Inte...

ENCORE: To kick off the new year, the boys invite Dr. Shane Miller (Mississippi State University; Ep. #21) and his friend Dr. Jesse Tune (Fort Lewis College) to investigate the controversy surrounding the Cerutti Mastodon Site. The conversation is a holistic discussion from different perspectives about evidence, ethics, Indigenous Sovereignty, and good science. Guest Contacts Dr. Shane Miller, Twi...