The Archaeology Podcast Network Feed

In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr Christian Bentz and Dr Ewa Dutkiewicz about their research on early systems of conventional signs. They explore how recurring symbols in rock art and mobile artifacts may reflect shared visual communication as far back as 40,000 years ago, and what this reveals about early human cognition and culture. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www...

Love never dies; it’s not just a musical sequel to Phantom of the Opera, it’s the ancient story of love, murder, loss, a great journey, resurrection, and love again. Even if it’s only part-time. Isis and Osiris are so well-known that much of their origins are lost to time (for now), but we can still follow them to today. Thank you for supporting me by listening during this PODCASTATHON CHARITY EPI...

In this episode, George is joined by archaeologist and podcaster Matilda (Tilly) Siebrecht to explore what artefacts can really tell us about the human mind. These aren’t just ancient objects — they’re decisions, habits, and lived experiences. From tool use to decorative beads, George and Tilly discuss how material culture reveals: • How people thought and learned • The role of skill, repetition,...

It’s time for part two of Matilda’s chat with textile archaeologist Ronja Lau! After discussing the background to Ronja’s current work in the Duerrnberg salt mines, the two delve deeper (pun intended) into the most interesting and surprising results of the project. Spoiler alert: it turns out that Iron Age Duerrnbergians enjoyed the look of a purple pin-striped suit! Transcripts For rough transcri...

Ash and Tilly continue their discussion on archaeo-construction with experimental archaeologist and living historian Caroline Nicolay. Together, they outline the details of how to complete their quest of reconstructing a Fallohide seasonal settlement for the Anduin Fallohide Fellowship of Museums and Antiquity. Listen in to hear all about upside-down baskets, thatching (at a pinch), and why you ne...

In this episode of the EXARC Show, Jess Shaw hosts a lively talk on heritage interpretation with Caroline Nicolay from Pario Gallico. What does the term cover? What forms can it take? How accurate should it be? What is the role of buildings and why are they important? Caroline is a professional living historian with a unique range of interests and experience. Links View the official transcript All...

In this episode of The Great Plains Archaeology Podcast , Carlton is joined by Aaron Brien (Apsáalooke), Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Crow Tribe, for a powerful conversation on history, memory, and responsibility. Grounded in Aaron’s experiences growing up with Crow oral traditions, the discussion explores how storytelling serves as a living practice, one that maintains relationshi...

In 1976 near the ruins of the ancient capital Yin, archaeologists rediscovered the tomb of Fu Hao and it transformed our understanding of the Shang Dynasty. Most royal tombs were ravaged by looters, but the final resting place of Fu Hao remained perfectly preserved. Now we know in addition to her duties as queen, she was also a military general, priestess, and she managed lands of her own. For Wom...

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) is a surreal documentary by Werner Hertzog offering viewers an unprecedented glimpse of Europe’s oldest Palaeolithic art inside France’s Chauvet Cave. As we step into the cave, we cross a threshold between present and past, waking and dreaming, fact and truth... sanity and insanity... A place where juggling archaeologists dream of lions, perfumers find caves by smel...

In this episode of Ethnocynology, David hosts a panel of guests, including Drs. Shane Miller, Spencer Pelton, Jesse Tune, and Carlton Gover, to discuss the recent Monte Verde paper by Surovell et al. They discuss the recent paper, the synopsis, and address the many professionally published comments and critiques of the paper, as well as the conversation of the paper on the YouTube video of the pre...

In this episode, George is joined by archaeologist Professor Duncan Garrow to explore how archaeologists turn fragments of evidence into meaningful stories about the past. From soil layers to artefacts and landscapes, they discuss how we piece together human lives from what remains—and the creativity, curiosity, and pattern recognition that make this possible. The conversation also touches on how...

I have decided to stop using David Hurst Thomas’ 2000 book Skull Wars in my classes because it is a bit old at this point. But it’s still great, and gives an excellent overview of relations between archaeologists and the Native community, including many Pseudoarchaeological beliefs from the 19th and early 20th centuries! Transcripts Message for Simplecast: For rough transcripts of this episode hea...

It’s time to venture into the mines! But make sure you are well dressed… This episode, Matilda chats with textile archaeologist Ronja Lau all about her work looking at Iron Age clothing from the Duerrnberg salt mines. Tune in to hear all about the history of textile archaeology, the importance of salt in preserving clothes, and why you should support archaeological research! Transcripts For rough...

For decades, Monte Verde in southern Chile has been one of the most famous archaeological sites in the Americas. The site was widely accepted as 14,500 years old, making it one of the strongest pieces of evidence for human presence in the Americas before Clovis. But what if that interpretation was wrong? In this special episode, I sit down with Dr. Todd Surovell, professor of anthropology at the U...

This week on The Archaeology Show , we tour three very different windows into the ancient world: a 5,000-year-old tomb packed with remarkable treasures, a surprising discovery of upright-buried skeletons beneath a French school, and tens of thousands of Egyptian notes and receipts that capture everyday life in vivid detail. We unpack what these finds reveal about status and burial ritual, how arch...

It’s time to get out our plastering trowels out, because this episode Ash and Tilly are (re)joined by experimental archaeologist and archaeo-construction expert Caroline Nicolay. Together, the three tackle the quest of reconstructing a Fallohide (hunter-gatherer hobbit) seasonal home for the Anduin Fallohide Fellowship of Museums and Antiquity. But all is not as simple as it seems… Listen in to he...

On this week’s episode, Carlton recounts his recent trip to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is the home of the Three Affiliated Tribes: Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. While recounting his recent trip, Carlton dives back into Middle Missouri Archaeology. Transcripts For rough transcripts of this episode go to https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/great-...

The hosts consider the positives in the current state of CRM and academic archaeology. As anthropologists we are especially conscious of how society impacts our discipline and at times can trend towards the negative and get mired in the fear of what lays ahead. In this episode, we discuss how any challenge can be used for opportunity and how change and progress is best effectuated through a positi...

This week we are back with some News stories! First, we discuss evidence from an Iron Age cemetery in northern Vietnam showing intentional, permanent tooth blackening dating back 2,000 years. Then, we cover a 2,500-year-old Pazyryk culture burial in southern Siberia where CT scans of a mummified woman’s skull suggest a severe jaw injury was stabilized with surgical sutures. And finally, we summari...

In celebration of Women's History Month, this episode is about four lesser-known goddesses of the ancient Egyptian afterlife whose primary roles were to protect, nourish, and occasionally punish those within the city of the dead. While famous deities often dominate pop culture, these four goddesses offer a unique window into how the Egyptians viewed the natural world and the social roles of mortal...

We’re back with more caveman TV commercials! From deodorant to veganism to car insurance, it seems like prehistoric people have been exploited to sell everything. All this commercialism seems to be getting to us and this episode kinda devolves into an anti-capitalist rant. So go plant a garden, buy local, and eat the rich! (This is Part Two of a two-part episode) Links Watch our Caveman Advertisem...

In this episode, David sits down in Nashville with archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf, a leading researcher in the archaeology of tattooing and co-editor of Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing . They explore how tattoos function as deep cultural expressions across human societies, from Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,000-year-old tattoos to newly documented tattooed mummies in Peru. The conversation dives i...

In episode 161, Chris Webster and Dr. Alan Garfinkel discuss decolonization in archaeology and rock art studies, arguing that researchers must take Indigenous perspectives seriously as Native communities gain more political and intellectual influence. They emphasize that Indigenous cosmologies often frame rock art meaning through interconnected energy, reciprocity, and life-death cycles rather tha...

Welcome to Season 2 – Episode 1! In the first episode of Season 2, we explore one of the most fundamental questions in archaeology and human history: What is a human? Every person who has ever lived has experienced the world through a nervous system — a biological inheritance that long predates modern humans themselves. In this episode, we look at how the human nervous system evolved over millions...

As the seasons change, it’s time to swap out your wardrobes for those clothes that have been stuffed at the back of the shelf or in a box in the attic. And to celebrate this activity, Matilda dives this episode into the archaeology of clothing! But what actually is clothing? What is the oldest evidence we have for the creation of clothing? And what is the link between a bog, an artic tundra, and a...