By The Archaeology Podcast Network
Ethnocynology is the study of dogs in human cultural contexts. This podcast, hosted by anthropologist and comedian David Ian Howe, explores the history and archaeology of dogs, the roles of dogs in
... more
5
88 ratings
The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.
In this episode of ethnocynology David sits down with Dr Alyce Cannon for part two of their episode on dogs in ancient Greece.
In the previous episode, Dr. Cannon brought up some fascinating topics about dogs in the classical world, specifically Athens, after catching up on life for a bit.
At the end of the episode, he left it up to the audience to submit some questions for Dr. Cannon for part two.
In this episode, David asks Dr. Cannon about dogs and ancient Greek warfare, life at home, and whether or not dogs were kept as pets.
They then dive into the questions post by the audience in the previous episodes YouTube comments, one specifically regarding dogs, helping the disabled in the ancient world.
TranscriptsIn this episode of ethnocynology David sits down with recently minted PhD, Dr Alyce Cannon.
David and Elise have known each other for the past 5 years through their work talking about dogs on social media. Alyce is a Sydney Australia based classicist and archaeologist who did her research on the ancient world and human animal interactions in ancient Greece specifically.
David and Alyce begin by catching up on life and David congratulates her on recently achieving her status as a phd. They then catch up about the state of the world and American versus Australian culture.
The meat of the episode then begins where Elise starts talking about her dissertation (or thesis) regarding human and animal interactions in ancient Greece and how dogs appear in pottery, zooarchaeology, and in oral tradition. and specifically, the oral tradition is quite interesting as a lot of stories refer to dogs derogatorily, and how that changes to a more positive light over time.
They then end the episode on the subject of a future episode where dogs in Warfare and their roles in everyday life can be discussed.
Https://ww.instagram.com/historydoggos/
TranscriptsIn this episode of Ethnocynology with David Ian Howe, David gives an introduction to an idea he’s had for a while to discuss and explore the anthropological themes of apocalyptic fiction.
Apocalypse stories are often set in a bleak world, telling bleak stories. Yet they are fundamentally always HUMAN stories, using a bleak world to explore questions regarding philosophy, morality, and above all…what it means to be human.
But in these stories, the philosophical aspects of what it means to be human are often explored. Yet I think a reason we are so addicted to these stories is that we have a yearning to explore the lives of our past, zoological selves. It’s hard to write a story about the Paleolithic…the set design, the languages, the limited world restricted by the fear of shitty animation (mammoths, ice age fauna). Yet in [post apocalypse stories, we explore the world before civilization, by exploring the world after it. It’s far easier to portray English speaking humans behaving zoologically in the ruins outside of Boston, than it is a period piece set in Paleolithic France with proto-dene-Caucasian subtitles.
We yearn to live in a world without our modern complexities and burdens (last march of the Ents).
If you don’t believe me, think of how much money we spend on hiking, camping, and traveling to areas to spend a day, let alone a week a year outside? Then we must ask for PTO. We must pay for gas, or a plane ticket, or even a campsite – we literally pay to sleep in nature (albeit I don’t mind bc the money goes to keeping the area natural).
So in stories like the Last of US, I Am Legend, and Station Eleven, we explore stories In what I would call the Organic Apocalypse. A world reclaimed by nature, where the earth very much alive, green, and returned to it’s natural state, rid of the disease of humans.
TranscriptsIn this episode of Ethnocynology with David Ian Howe. David takes his listeners through a POV descriptions of what it’s like to scientifically excavate a large animal at an archaeological site.
Transcriptshttps://www.archpodnet.com/ethnocynology/3
Links:In this premiere episode of Ethnocynology with David Ian Howe, David speaks for 30 minutes straight with almost 0 pauses about his favorite subject—Ethnocynology. As well as the Colombian Exchange.
David begins by defining archaeology and Ethnocynology, and what they mean to him. Which then leads him to discussing what led him to studying the subject in general. Which he breaks into three parts:
Taking an intro to anthropology course
A history documentary called “Mankind”
A zooarchaeology class and a documentary about the flight distance hypothesis
He then rants about species, speciation, and how naming things can be problematic. This episode will be continued and clarified in episode 2.
TranscriptsIn part 2 of these premiere episodes of Ethnocynology with David Ian Howe, David speaks for another 30 minutes straight (with maybe 3 pauses) about his favorite subject—Ethnocynology.
David begins by recapping what he talked about last time; how he studied archaeology, and what led him to studying dogs.
He then starts this episode off with how he grew up with an aunt who is a veterinarian and how he always had a stream of dogs in and out of the house.
He then talks about his mentors and predecessors Dr. Brian Cummings who coined the neologism “ethnocynology,” and Dr. Angela Perri, who is the leading researcher in dog genetics.
David then talks about meeting Dr. Perri in Italy at a conference, and how he bombed his opening performance at the conference.
David then continues to discuss how he created the Ethnocynology Instagram, and how it was an outlet to teach the things he had learned in grad school.
TranscriptsFor rough transcripts of this episode, go to: https://www.archpodnet.com/ethno/02Links:Ethnocynology is the study of dogs in human cultural contexts. This podcast, hosted by anthropologist and comedian David Ian Howe, explores the history and archaeology of dogs, the roles of dogs in modern media, and the latest findings from archaeology in general.
Links:The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.
148 Listeners
44,770 Listeners
103 Listeners
6,258 Listeners
14,785 Listeners
24 Listeners
2,581 Listeners
1,579 Listeners
1,812 Listeners
809 Listeners
994 Listeners
8,024 Listeners
625 Listeners
3 Listeners
0 Listeners