The New Brunswick Archaeology Podcast

This fortnight we’re joined by Dr. Ted Banning to discuss the Neolithic Revolution as part of our season on complexity. And the Neolithic Revolution is nothing, nothing if not complex. Ted helps us decipher the various PPNs and shares insights into how to think about intensification, domestications, and sociopolitical complexity. He also chats with us about what biographies of Canadian numismatist...

Do you find yourself pondering how the Canada-U.S. Border between New Brunswick and Maine was decided? Have you been searching for a factoid for your next party, like, say, where and when was the first autopsy conducted in North America? Are you aware that the episode title is not just a clever play on Oasis' 1995 smash hit, but references a visible supernova that really did occur on October 4-5,...

This fortnight your hosts are joined by David Black and Josh Cummings to talk about the Archaic period in New Brunswick. We also enjoyed some piping hot mugs of colonial flip. Our guests walk us through the current state of Archaic period research in New Brunswick, and then catch us up on the results of some of their recent collections research on intertidal collections. Show Notes Black, D.W., an...

In this special two-interview episode, we are joined by Brian Fritz (Quemahoning LLC) and Chelsea Colwell-Pasch (Colbr Consulting) for back-to-back interviews about techniques they are using for deep archaeological testing in eastern North America. They each discuss the equipment they’ve designed to conduct deep testing in the region, what sort of projects deep testing is valuable for, and some of...

This fortnight we’re joined by Matt Betts, who argues that reports of culture-history’s death may have been premature. So tonight we’ve got paradigms and epi-paradigms, systematics, evolutionary theory, and Matt even explains why archaeological theory is like a Chinese buffet. It’s like if your grad school culture history class was not only fun, but edgy. So come be theoretically subversive and tu...

This fortnight we’re joined by Dr. Madeleine McLeester for a special love potion themed Valentines day episode. So whether you need a “bagger” to seduce your crush or you’re wondering how to interpret that graffiti on the brothel wall, we’ve got just the V-Day programming you’ve been looking for. We also talk about medicinal plants and landscape knowledge. So put out the roses, pour yourself a nic...

This fortnight, we're back from our winter recording hiatus to bring your an interview we recorded before the winter, but an intro and outro that's as fresh as the 90 km/h chinook winds. Gabe and Ken spoke to Kelley Berliner who is the Eastern Regional Director at The Archaeological Conservancy about what her job entails (everything from real estate to alien bunkers under a river), how the archaeo...

This fortnight we’re traveling with the Northeastern Archaeological Survey van to Fort William Henry and Lake George New York for a recap of the 2025 Eastern States Archaeological Federation Meeting held in Lake George, New York in November of 2025. In addition to commentary from Gabe and his colleagues and students on the ride through the snowy Northeast, you’ll hear from... Linda Seminario (DNRE...

It’s the holidays! This fortnight, Gabe and Ken are sitting around the table at The Cardinal Room and talking food, drink, music, movies, and even a little bit of archaeology. We then turn it over to Producers Emanuel and Cody who dive into the creative process, AI and the singularity, and your song suggestions for the holidays. Pour yourself a festive beverage (some suggestions, below), listener,...

This fortnight we're getting biblical, and as we thread the needle between Hannukah and Christmas, we figured what better way than to head back to the source material. That's right, it's the Early Woodland in the Levant (aka the Iron age) and we've got Dr. Kevin McGeough (University of Lethbridge) on the Pod to talk about the Ark of the Covenant. Ken and Gabe have read Kevin's new book Readers of...

This fortnight, Ken and Gabe sit down with Alexandre Pelletier-Michaud to discuss one of the most recognizable sites in New Brunswick archaeology, the Bristol-Shiktehawk Site. We delve into George Frederick Clarke, caches, Early Woodland ceremonialism, craft production, and Alex and Gabe come dangerously close to making us the New Brunswick pseudoarchaeology podcast. They're not Solutrean, but the...

Set your clock a half hour ahead, because today on the New Brunswick Archaeology podcast we’re talking to Don Holly about Newfoundland and, especially, the Beothuk. Whether you’re interested in agency and history in hunter-gatherer studies, or you want to know about some of the earliest Indigenous-European interactions in North America, you won’t want to miss this show. Don also reflects on the le...

This fortnight we're going deeper than we have--and maybe any of you have--before into geoarchaeology and the necessity for deep testing. Gabe and Ken chat with Dr. Heidi Luchsinger, RPA (Precision Geoarchaeology Inc/ERM) and Karl Kibler, RPA (Cross Timbers Geoarchaeological Services) about the Society for American Archaeology's Geoarchaeology Task Force. We talk about the importance of geoarchaeo...

If you, like us, have ever been bewildered by the Early Woodland, this is the show for you. This week we’re joined by Dr. Jess Robinson, the Vermont State Archaeologist, and while "The radiocarbon dates are not voluminous", his knowledge about the Early Woodland is. A maple creemee is of course different from an ice cream, but is Middlesex the same as Adena? And as if that wasn’t enough excitement...

This fortnight, we sit down with his dudeliness, Dr. Gary Coupland (Prof. Emeritus, University of Toronto), ostensibly to talk about complexity but in doing so have to ask, what really is complexity? We’re talking status inequality, a wealth of beads, and the best way to cook salmon. Unfortunately, Ken didn’t remember to ask Gary how the Leafs will do this year, but we can be reasonably assured th...

This fortnight, just like the September weather, a Canadian cold front is movin' in as we sit down to talk with Dr. Jonathan Fowler (St. Mary’s University) to talk about le Grand dérangement, and how historical archaeology is exploring Acadian deportation stories at Grand-Pré National Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jonathan tells us about terrestrial geophysics, the irony in the sou...

This fortnight, get ready to learn about pre-Contact Indigenous agriculture that was much, MUCH more widespread than previously thought. Maddie McLeester (Dartmouth College) joins us to describe using LiDAR to identify extensive raised bed farming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This work, recently published in Science, suggests a ubiquity of Indigenous farming that was previously unrealized. Maddi...

Just when you thought Season 3 was over, we come roaring back with a BONUS ep. This fortnight, Gabe and Ken are shedding our love of time travel for timeliness by delving into the contemporary challenges for the North American archaeological industry. Your co-hosts are talking with Society for American Archaeology President Christopher Dore about the sector-wide challenges archaeologists are facin...

We're back from a brief hiatus and a couple of fortnights. In this episode, Gabe and Ken have dusted off their trowels and are in the field talking with our crews and students about the projects we're working on right now. And no, the update from the Chili's in the Calgary airport didn't make the hifi experience (I did give the Premier of NB an NB Arch Pod sticker) but for the first time ever, we'...

This fortnight we’re joined by Christian Theriault, the PEI Provincial Archaeologist, and Dr. Helen Kristmanson of L’nuey to chat about the latest in the archaeology of Prince Edward Island. It’s the perfect prelude to a summer trip to the island, and the perfect thing to listen to while you cross the Confederation Bridge. Show Notes Archaeology and Palaeontology PEI: https://www.princeedwardislan...

This fortnight Gabe and Ken talk to friend of the show, colleague, and dear fried, Trevor Charlemagne Dow (Ecofor Consulting/UNB). We discuss our recently released paper Backdirt and Bureaucracy Revisited: An Analysis of Research Trends in New Brunswick’s Archaeology Practice Using Historic Data . Worry not about the 2023 date on the paper, listeners, it's as fresh as a daisy and we're talking arc...

This fortnight we’re joined by Dr. Matt Betts, the Curator of Eastern Archaeology at the Canadian Museum of History and the former head of the Canadian Archaeology Association’s Climate Change Committee to talk about some of the climate threats to the terrestrial and underwater archaeological record. Matt discusses the analytical challenges and inequalities introduced by climate change’s effects o...

This fortnight, Gabe and Ken dial across one of the 4-OCEANS that make up the initiative Dr. Thomas Royle (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) joins us to talk about. We're getting into NISP and MNI, sharkaeology, and how big data can reveal the evolving palates of early Colonial period Virginians. Cast a line because there's no trout about it, if you've gadidae off this weekend, grab...

The New Brunswick Archaeology Podcast is on the road again! This fortnight, Ken is reporting from the first ever Canadian Cultural Resources Association Meeting in Toronto (and, of course, from an airport Chilis). Not only does Ken provide sober analysis and insight, he also gave a talk himself (we’ll post that along with his interview of himself some other time). If you’re interested in the futur...

This fortnight, we’re joined by Dr. Michael O’Rourke, the Climate Change Archaeologist for the Northwest Territories (NWT) government for our next instalment in our climate change series. Mike walks us through some of the unique climate change concerns facing NWT, and the innovative approaches he is involved with to address the crisis. Show Notes Lipe, W. D. (1984). Value and meaning in cultural r...