The Prehistory Guys

However, she has a particular passion for Iron Age torcs, running a website with restorer Roland Williamson called The Big Book of Torcs. https://bigbookoftorcs.com/ There's no-one better with whom to explore the detail and peculiarities of these magnificent artefacts than Tess and 'talking torcs' is the central theme of this discussion. And then - chocolate torcs anyone? No time to explain ... li...

Elizabeth Dale A.K.A. 'The Cornish Bird' can trace her heritage in Cornwall back more than 500 years. As you probably know, from a megalithic point of view, Cornwall is one of the most densely packed areas in the whole of the UK and if you visit Lizzie's blog 'The Cornish Bird' https://cornishbirdblog.com, you're sure to find her writing beautifully about ancient sites both familiar and strange, m...

It was an absolute delight talking with Caroline & Tom about their insights into what it was like living in the Iron Age. This is archaeology from the other end of the barrel; actually living and working with the available foods, materials, pigments and technology gives an insight into prehistoric life that simply looking at archaeological remains cannot. The depth of archaeological knowledge thes...

We met Seren in 2019 at the Prehistoric Society’s 'Landscapes of the Dead' conference at the Society of Antiquaries in London where she gave a fantastic talk. In fact, the first thing Rupert said to Michael after her presentation was that he really wished she had been one of his lecturers! It really is no surprise that Seren was the youngest person ever to be invited to give the very prestigious G...

We do try to bring you wide ranging areas of study and this month we’re delighted to be joined by Professor Duncan Garrow of Reading University We met Duncan at the Landscapes of the Dead conference back in November 2019 and knew we had to get him on the show. Apart from being a great speaker, he is another frontline archaeologist who makes you reconsider all sorts of things you thought you knew....

True to form, The Prehistory Guys chase down another media headline to find the hidden treasure! In this case, news of a new date for old London conceals the real story: the first use of a new and exciting archaeological dating technique for pottery. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of the great archaeologist. For megalithic enthusiasts, his influence has been profound and that holds true for us and the podcasts and films we make. We couldn't let the moment pass without saying a few words. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Prehistory Guys talk to environmental archaeologist and conchologist (snail expert) Dr Mike Allen, lecturer at Oxford University and research fellow at Bournemouth University. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In December 2019 reports began to appear in the media about the discovery of an anomaly in the Callanish landscape on Lewis that pointed to a 5,000 year old lightning strike being the inspiration for the famous monument. The discovery was made by the Calanais Virtual Reconstruction Project, a joint venture led by the University of St Andrews with standing stones trust Urras nan Tursachan and the U...

A couple of podcasts back, we interviewed Professor Bruce Bradley - he of the Solutrean Hypothesis in Paleolithic America. Truth be told, the impetus to contact Bruce Bradley came about because we'd noticed that an outfit called 'Seven Ages Research Associates' in the States had just published an interview with him. It was a bit "if they can - why don't we?" - so we did. Well, one thing led to ano...

  In 1980, archaeologist Julian Richards was invited to direct the 'Stonehenge Environs Project' which had been conceived to better understand the landscape surrounding the monument and to work out ways in which it could be better managed and preserved for the future. Part of the work involved the partial excavation of a small henge on Coneybury Hill, to the south-east of Stonehenge. This proved f...

  Please support The Prehistory Guys on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys Though we say this ourselves, this interview with Professor Timothy Darvill OBE, should be required listening for all serious students of archaeology and fascinated amateurs alike. From his own early childhood beginnings in the discipline, to his thoughts on the purpose and future of archaeology, Tim delves...

Specially for patrons at the STONE $3 and above levels, here is the first in a new series of exclusive podcasts for your enjoyment.  "Every week we’ll be choosing a megalithic site that’s maybe a bit off the beaten track - perhaps some of the slightly less known or less visited ones, giving them a few minutes in the spotlight, doing what we can to create a little portrait for you of what they’re a...

We have to confess we are not as knowledgable about American prehistory as we would like to be. But how could we have done better to begin educating ourselves than to talk to celebrated American archaeologist, Professor Bruce Bradley? Until recently Emeritus Professor of Prehistory and Director of the Experimental Archaeology Masters Programme at the University of Exeter, Bruce has a remarkable c....

The Prehistory Guys are very proud to share with you this fantastic interview with Dr. Alison Sheridan, recently retired Principal Archaeological Research Curator at the National Museums of Scotland. As you'll find out in the first minutes of this podcast, Alison's C.V. is simply spectacular. If there's such a thing as an A-List archaeologist, she is a prime example of what that looks like - not o...

  Ancient craft and brewing specialist Merryn Dineley, together with her brewing expert husband Graham join us to discus how the general unawareness of the way beer is brewed leads to the evidence for it in prehistory being overlooked. Once the process is understood, then the existence of large vessels, like the Grooved Ware pot from Durrington Walls above, suddenly makes sense, as do some of the...

Earlier in December, news articles began to show up reporting the discovery of very old cave art on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. What is significant about the find is that it pushes back the date of the earliest figurative painting a long way, such that this REPRESENTATIVE cave art in Indonesia is of a similar age to the first know ABSTRACT art in Europe. True to form, Rupert and Michael d...

We're kicking off our regular interview features with our good friend and colleague Dr. Rick Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, Oregon. The photo above is of Rick standing in front of West Kennet long barrow back in September this year when we were on the 'Backbone of Neolithic Britain' tour. The tour was instigated by Rick and we were delighted to collaborate with him org...

Does our ancient landscape lie to us? Well, there is a sense in which we are deceived ... or is it we who deceive ourselves? Michael and Rupert discuss how our natural instinct for creating meaning out of what we see might lead us a little astray. All this and the regular magazine slots in the latest episode of what is now THE PREHISTORY GUYS podcast! Help support us and join our Patreon community...

When things don't seem so great in the present, it's easy to idealise the past. Not so fast! Archaeology has thrown light on some remarkable and truly brutal events in European prehistory recently. It seems that 7,000 years ago a particular phase of angst and conflict in the Neolithic 'Linearbandkeramik' (LBK) culture of central Europe was kicking off and led to some horrific examples of man's inh...

If we're talking about standing stones and the Neolithic, then we have to talk about origins ... and if we talk about origins we have to talk about the Middle East and Anatolia. If we talk about the Middle East and Anatolia, the names Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe seem to come up. But Tell Qaramel? Tell es-Sultan? Motza? Maybe nearer to home on the Danube; Lepinski Vir? By merely scratching the surf...

It seems ages since we last posted a podcast. But it's only just over a month - it must be that we've been incredibly busy! And some of that business is down to Michael's excursion to Orkney to take part in a three-day field archaeology course at the Cairns Broch dig on South Ronaldsay. Yes, the new trowel was well and truly broken in and in this episode, Rupert grills Michael about his adventure...

Since we began this podcast in March 2018, archaeological facts and finds have been coming at us fast and furious - so much so that it's becoming hard to keep track of what happened where and in what order! So, in an effort to claw back some clarity, we've begun compiling a Timeline of Prehistory. The simple question: "what was going on in the rest of the world when megalith building was happening...

Back in November 2018, we found ourselves sitting on the front row for the a lecture in the Wiltshire Museum by Dr. Katharine Walker of Bournemouth University entitled 'Taking Sides, Scandinavian Flint Axe type in Britain'. This wasn't really an accident because, as you probably know, the subject of axe-heads, their meaning, production and trade is one that we find ourselves returning to often in...

We tend to thing of our ancient monuments as being special, unique places. But when you begin to count them, it slowly dawns on you that for our ancestors, they were commonplace. In Standing with Stones podcast number 14, Michael and Rupert discuss this aspect of our heritage - and ask whether appreciation of their ubiquity changes our appreciation of them. As well as our regular features, 'Questi...