The Dirt Podcast

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! Contact Email the Dirt Podcast Affiliates 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.  Contact Email the Dirt Podcast Affiliates 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 Mete...

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...

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...

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 (Ho...

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 Peo...

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 Microbiol...

Deep Cuts from October episodes. Contact Email the Dirt Podcast Affiliates 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 K...

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 Neander...

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, a...

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 )   The bow of a World War II submarine was discovered off the coast of the Aleutian Islands (CNN) Ancient DNA fr...

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. Links Is Bigfoot Real? The Long Strange Story of Our Search for Bigfoot (Popular Mechanics) People...

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 prop...

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. Links Scales from Around the World (How Music Really Works) A B...

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. Contact Email the Dirt...

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! Links Archaeology, folklore, and the skeletal remains of a hellhound (Strange Remains) Leiston: Are these the bones of devil dog, Black Shuck? (East Anglia Dail...

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. Links Top Signs of Animal Domestication (ThoughtCo) Early Date f...

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. Links Basic Concepts: Pottery in the Archaeological Record (Archaeology Review) [ https://ahotcupofjoe...

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! Links Samuel 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-...

It’s all about mounds and moundbuilders on this week’s episode with Anna and Amber. 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...

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 possibi...

[Ghost of Amber Future here, I think we talked about these stories?] https://www.livescience.com/65760-visigoth-reccopolis-city-revealed.html https://www.livescience.com/65728-neolithic-human-made-islands.html https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190612165603.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190605142602.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529122145.htm h...