A Life In Ruins

In this episode, we are chatting with Dr. Alex Garcia-Putnam who is the Assistant State Physical Anthropologist for the Department of Archaeology and History Preservation in Washington State. And how did we come across Dr. Garcia-Putnam? Well he is a UW graduate of course! We start out by recapping how we know each other and talk about Alex's awesome experience returning to US from Canada.

Alex talks about his experience growing up as a professors kid and how he got hooked on archaeology. We then discuss Alex's change of dissertation topic caused by the COVID19 pandemic and also discuss how bioarcheology can be used to talk about very relevant and interesting topics. We finish off talking about all the places he has worked as a bioarcheologist.

Literature Recommendations

• Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Website
• 2012 The Bioarchaeology of Violence edited by Debra L. Martin and Ryan P. Harrod
• 2014 The Anthropology of Plague: Insights from Bioarchaeological Analyses of Epidemic Cemetaries by Sharon N. DeWitte
• 2015 The Land of Open Graves by Jason De León
• 2021 Health, Stress, and Demography at Charity Hospital Cemetery #2 (AD1847-1929) by Garcia-Putnam, A., C. Halling, and R. Seidemann. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
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In this episode, we are joined again by Duel Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology and Cognitive Science, Lana Ruck. Lana first appeared on Episode 16, then Episode 41, and recently appeared on Episode 79. But on this episode, rather than talk about pseudoscientists or nerd out over paleo-anth with Ella, we’re going to catch up with Lana about her dissertation and the academic job market and why each pot and pan needs its own shelf in the kitchen. We recap her dissertation topic and talk about the effect the pandemic had on her data collection. Lana then talks about having to return money from the NSF and we finish out by talking about the academic job market and Lana's future trajectory.

Literature recommendations:

• Professor Is In 

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
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For this episode, we are joined again by Dr. William Taylor, who first appeared on the podcast in episode 25. We start out by discussing Dr. Taylor's COVID experience as a new professor and how his museum projects had to change to adapt to the new COVID landscape. We then delve into the research surrounding the Lehi horse. Dr. Taylor explains his methods of analysis and how they can be used to tell us about individual specimens, while also contributing to the larger discipline. We then talk about his research on early horse domestication at the Botai site.

Literature Recommendations

• 2021 Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai by William Timothy Treal Taylor and Christina Isabelle Barrón-Ortiz (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86832-9)
• 2021 The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasion Steppes by Pablo Librado et al.
• (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04018-9)
• 2021 Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Lehi Horse: Implications for Early Historic Horse Cultures of the North American West by William Timothy Treal Taylor et al.
• (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/interdisciplinary-analysis-of-the-lehi-horse-implications-for-early-historic-horse-cultures-of-the-north-american-west/1359793C6DF51AD9C1D7968F94B55D1C)
• 2015 Equine cranial morphology and the identification of riding and chariotry in late Bronze Age Mongolia by William Timothy Treal Taylor et al.
• (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283196273_Equine_cranial_morphology_and_the_identification_of_riding_and_chariotry_in_late_Bronze_Age_Mongolia)

Guest Contact

• Email Dr. Taylor: [email protected]
• Instagram: @cuarchaeozoology 
• Facebook: facebook.com/CUArchaeozoology 
• Twitter: @wtt_taylor 

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
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In this episode of A Life in Ruins (originally recorded in the summer of 2020), Carlton chats with Rock Art Specialist Emily Van Alst and Lana Ruck, who teaches a course in Pseudoarchaeology. The three take a deep dive into Episode 14 - Our Ruined Lives with Bernie Taylor, to deconstruct Mr. Taylor's arguments and claims he made on the show. We review the individuals whom Mr. Taylor "name-drops" throughout his interview to sus-out their expertise and contextualize how they're being used in Mr. Taylor's arguments.

Lana illustrates the pseudoscience techniques and tactics that he employs, such as appeals to authority, inciting skepticism of the scientific process, and deflection of topics. Emily brings her expertise on Rock Art research to provide background and contemporary thought and method to the topic. The broad point that Carlton, Emily, and Lana make is that CONTEXT is important, and the purpose of this conversation is to respectfully provide context to Episode 14 and the claims that were made.

Guest Contacts

• Lana's Twitter: @LanaRuck
• Lana's Instagram: @LanaLately
• ScIU's Instagram: @sciublog
• Emily Twitter: @emilyvanawesome
• Emily Instagram: @emilyvanawesome

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
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• Website: www.alifeinruins.com 
• Ruins on APN: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins 
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In this episode of A Life in Ruins, Connor does a solo interview with Dr. Bryon Schroeder. Dr. Schroeder was originally on Episode 15, where he discussed his career in archaeology and regaled us with tales about Texas archaeology that were sometimes, quite disturbing. Connor wanted to continue to talk with him about his research because it is very interesting. We talk about some of the work in caves he has been doing, his work with sloths, and catch up about the mummy we discussed in the original episode. This episode was originally recorded in July of 2020.

Contact for Guest

• Email Dr. Schroder
• Center for Big Bend Studies website
• Center for Big Bend Studies Instagram: @centerforbigbendstudies
• Center for Big Bend Studies Facebook

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
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• Website: www.alifeinruins.com 
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In this episode, we are chatting with Dr. Robert Lassen, a Principal Investigator for AmaTerra Environmental. Robert received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee where he specialized in lithic technology and studied Clovis and Folsom archaeological cultures. He has worked at a multitude of sites throughout the Republic of Texas, including Gault. He's also worked at the Topper site in South Carolina. Robert is an expert flintknapper and was also David’s Human origins TA at the University of Tennessee. We talk about his inspiration from the goonies and his early years digging in the playground. Robert tells us about his experience with Texas archaeology and his love of lithic technology. We then delve deeply into why Texas archaeology is so cool and underappreciated and then close out with his experiences at the Gault site.

Literature recommendations

1) 2013 The Prehistory of Texas By Timothy K. Perrtula

2) 2010 First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America by David J. Meltzer

3) Texas Beyond History Website

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
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• Website: www.alifeinruins.com 
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ArchPodNet

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Something's afoot. There is, yet again, another controversial preclovis find. This time, away from the West Coast and in New Mexico. The controversy surrounds human footprints found in White Sands National Park that are dated between 23 and 21 kya.

To discuss these possible pre-Clovis footprints, we invited Dr. Jesse Tune and Dr. Shane Miller on the show to contextualize the data. We begin with an open discussion about the recent published report and try to understand what the researches found at the site. We then chat about their controversy, how it’s hit the mainstream media, and what the ramifications of the repaint are for archaeology.

The conversation then turns into a open dialogue about scientific biases, as well as the role of Indigenous oral traditions and their incorporation into scientific theories.

Literature recommendations

• 2020, Bennett et al., Walking in mud: Remarkable Pleistocene human trackways from White Sands National Park (New Mexico), Quaternary Science Reviews
• 2018 Bustos et al., Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt? Human-sloth interactions in North America, Supplmentary Materials, Science Advances
• 2021 Rachal et al., Lake levels and trackways: An alternative model to explain the timing of human-megafauna trackway intersections, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico, Quaternary Science Advances
• 2021 Bennett et al., Evidence of humans in North Americaduring the Last Glacial Maximum, Science
• 2020 Ardelean et al., Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum, Nature

Links

• Earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas found at White Sands National Park
• Oldest human footprints in North America found
• The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
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Dr. Devin Pettigrew comes back on the show to talk about his doctoral dissertation on atlatl and bow weapon system ballistics. Devin first appeared on the show as a guest host back in episode 18.2 and then again as a guest for episode 19. You may also recognize him if you've checked out our YouTube channel.

We start off by talking about the dissertation process, what Devin's research question was, the methods behind his experiments, and data collection. We have an interesting conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of controlled vs uncontrolled experiments. Of course, that disgusting goat carcass gets brought up, but, Carlton is able to control his gag reflex. We close out the episode with a discussion on the results of Devin's doctoral research and how they relate to modern-day hunting practices in the West as well as raw material collection in the "Pre-white" times.

Literature recommendations:

http://basketmakeratlatl.com/

Guest Contact

Email: [email protected]

Instagram @ar.atlatl

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ARatlatl

Website: http://basketmakeratlatl.com/

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
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ArchPodNet

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In this episode of A Life in Ruins, we provide information about undergraduate and graduate school. We start off joking about our favorite episodes (all of them are our favorite) and then dive into things to consider when applying to undergraduate and graduate programs. We talk about our differing experiences in undergrad and the positives and negatives of each of our experiences. Importantly, we dive into how to research graduate programs, and factors surrounding how to choose a school are then discussed. We then wrap it up with other ridiculous conversations.

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
• Facebook: @alifeinruinspodcast 
• Twitter: @alifeinruinspod 
• Website: www.alifeinruins.com 
• Ruins on APN: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins 
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ArchPodNet

• APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com 
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Affiliates

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On this episode of A Life In Ruins Podcast, we are joined by an early A Life in Ruins guest, Dr. David S. Anderson, to talk about the Origins of early states in Mesoamerica. Dr. Anderson first appeared on our show in episode 11 to talk about pseudoscience in archaeology, and we are excited to have him back on the show to discuss with us the real perpetrators of Central American megalithic structures and ceremonial centers. Dr. Anderson enlightens us about theories surrounding the emergence of complex civilization in Central America and then we delve into the Olmec and other Preclassic civilizations. We then get our minds blown about the size/scope of the El Tigre Pyramid and discuss some other Late Preclassic Maya sites. Dr. Anderson then teaches us about all things Maya.

Literature Recommendations

• Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica by Christopher Pool
• The First Maya Civilization: Ritual and Power Before the Classic Period by Francisco Estrada-Belli
• Discovering the Olmecs: An Unconventional History by David C. Grove

Contact for Guest

• Dr. Anderson's Twitter: @DSAArchaeology 
• Dr. Anderson's Instagram: @DSAArchaeology 

Contact

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast 
• Facebook: @alifeinruinspodcast 
• Twitter: @alifeinruinspod 
• Website: www.alifeinruins.com 
• Ruins on APN: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins 
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ArchPodNet

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