By Archaeology Podcast Network
All the history we read in the history books can begin to seem a little mundane, but history also has a Flipside. Each month we take an historical event anniversary and, admittedly sometimes tenuou
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The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.
The discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule is one of the most important scientific advancement events of our history, because of it we can trace genetic ancestries, determine relation, alter or determine the most appropriate agricultural species for a region, develop targeted medicines, etc. etc. etc. This is a significant anniversary that we at The Flipside are privileged to be able to explore with Dr. Maria Nieves-Colón, who is an educator and anthropological geneticist at the University of Minnesota, the lab that Dr. Nieves-Colón is a scientist with there produces some truly exceptional research. This was a truly wonderful and informative discussion, that was genuinely inspiring. Ancient DNA is an important aspect of our toolkit which does not hold all the answers but can enhance our interpretation as archaeologists.
LinksIntro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ContactThe discovery of the Tomb of Pharoah Tutankhamun is one of the most celebrated discoveries in Egyptology and perhaps archaeology in general. This month is a significant anniversary of that discovery and we at The Flipside are privileged to be able to explore this topic with Dr. Daniela Rosenow and Prof. Richard Parkinson, who are both educators at the University of Oxford and custodians/researchers of the Griffith Archive. For those who are not already aware the Griffith Institute Archive is one of the most significant UK-based collections to explore the cultures of Ancient Egypt. In particular the Archive houses the complete excavation records including journals, reports, object cards, drawings and photographs of Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Working with these materials Dr. Rosenow and Prof. Parkinson have curated an exhibition entitled Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive, this provides an exceptional exploration of previously neglected aspects of the Archive and asks questions about how the Archive itself came to be and highlights the absence from the narrative of the Egyptian people. The discussion this month was truly exceptional and insightful and I for one am sure that it will influence my future practice and the way in which I think about archaeology.
LinksIntro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ContactThe author of Dracula, Bram Stoker, like many of his peers and subsequent literary generations took significant inspiration from the more gruesome details of our histories, surprisingly this extends beyond folkloric influence to a core of archaeological examples, broadly referred to as 'deviant burials'. From actual exemplar of these 'victims' comes our tendency towards monster-making. This episode is inspired by the 125th Anniversary of the publishing of the standard vampire-literature text, the one everyone has heard of... Dracula, on 26th May 1897. How close is this text to a historical reality of the 'Vampire', reality I should clarify in regard to actual belief resulting in pre- and post- mortem persecutions of real people... people who were often othered and scapegoated to sooth the real everyday realities of fear... varying from disease, political control, war, famine, rebellion against societal normalcy. Joining me this episode is Dr. Sorcha Ni Fhlainn a senior lecturer in Film Studies and American Studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University, the puzzles presented by cultural media are endlessly fascinating and Dr. Ni Fhlainn is an expert at decoding them!
NOTE: Keep your eyes (...and ears) peeled for an October Bonus Episode on Vampire Studies, the rest of this episode and reading recommendations for Spooky Season!
MusicIntro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ArchPodNet20th December - Episode 7 - 95th Anniversary, Agatha Christie Disappears For 11 Days. (3rd December 1926)
It is quite common for mystery to be associated with the festive season, in particular, adaptions of Agatha Christie's famous work have had a place as Christmas reading or nowadays watching since they were first published. This is a tradition which holds today with my own family and in honor of the season we want to share it with you! This episode is luckily then inspired by the 95th Anniversary of the most mysterious event in Christie's own life, her disappearance for 11 days whereupon she reappeared with apparent amnesia, on 3rd December 1926. But how is archaeology involved... well, in quite a few ways actually, Christie was a pretty brilliant archaeologist-in-training, was married to a professional archaeologist, was a fixture at many Middle and Near Eastern sites, and wrote quite a bit of insightful narrative surrounding archaeology in her fiction novels. Joining me this episode is Dr. Rebecca Mills a lecturer in Communications and English at the University of Bournemouth, also Agatha Christie aficionado. From my family to yours, Merry Christmas, Yule, or simply Happy Holiday Season, may next year be utterly brilliant for all of you!
Dr. Mills has rather brilliantly also provided a further reading list below:
Graphic biography: The Real Life of Agatha Christie, by Anne Martinetti and Guillaume Lebeau, illustrated by Alexandre Franc, translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero, 2016)
J.C. Bernthal, Queering Agatha Christie: Revisiting the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (Palgrave 2016)
Christopher Prior, 'An Empire Gone Bad: Agatha Christie, Anglocentrism and Decolonization' in Cultural and Social History: The Journal of the Social History Society Volume 15:2 (2018)
More about Christie's young women: Merja Makinen, Agatha Christie: Investigating Femininity (Palgrave 2006)
Rebecca Mills and J.C. Bernthal, editors, Agatha Christie Goes to War (Routledge 2021)
More about Death on the Nile and Appointment with Death: Brittain Bright and Rebecca Mills, 'The Revelations of the Corpse: Interpreting the Body in the Golden Age Detective Novel' in New Perspectives on Detective Fiction
Mystery Magnified, edited by Casey Cothran and Mercy Cannon (Routledge 2015)
Brittain Bright, Beyond the scene of the crime : investigating place in Golden Age detective fiction (Doctoral Dissertation, Goldsmiths University 2015) https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.650408
Nadia Atia has a forthcoming chapter on Orientalism in Christie's work in the forthcoming Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (November 2022)
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This episode is extremely scientific, and inspired by the 162nd Anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin's epic tome 'On The Origin Of Species', which hit the public on the 24th November 1859 and caused quite a stir. Everyone of you has probably already heard of this book, but what relevance does this research have on archaeology, well, it impacted how we see the developmental processes of societies, material culture and archaeological environments. So it's a pretty big deal! Everything from human niche construction, developments in pottery, a new exciting interdisciplinary project, population thinking vs typological thinking and so much more! Joining me this episode is Prof. S. Shennan a lecturer in Theoretical Archaeology at University College London.
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This Spooky Season episode is inspired by the 405th Anniversary of Ben Johnson's Comedy 'The Devil is an Ass', which appeared first on stage on the 1st October 1616. This play was and is rather special, as it mocks superstition and witchcraft belief, and makes The Devil himself and his lesser demons appear rather behind the times. In the Enlightened Age of the 1600s, the denizens of hell just don't know how to tempt like they once did. This discussion contains everything from the Witchcraft Trials including mention of Pendle, landscapes of superstition, the folklore of archaeology, symbolism within the persecution, and much, much more! Joining me this episode is Prof. D. Purkiss a lecturer in English Literature and History at the University of Oxford.
WARNING: This episode does discuss the witchcraft persecution and some aspects of ritual sacrifice. It goes with the topic, but some people might find these aspects a little disturbing.
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This discussion which occurred this episode is sure to keep anyone thinking for quite some time, inspired by the 58th Anniversary of the US, UK and Soviet Union Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, when any nuclear testing with the exception of that underground was by agreement ceased. This episode discusses nuclear archaeology... which includes everything from nuclear techniques to commentary on the ethics of nuclear to the rather intriguing notion of a 'curated nuclear archaeological site'. Perhaps most importantly this episode we find out that all archaeologists are essentially experts on past societies, wait for it... waste products! And it always sounded so glamorous too. All of this is discussed with Prof. R. Joyce, whose book certainly inspired the direction of this discussion. In advance, thanks for listening!
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This episode turned out to be rather the diverse discussion, inspired by the 76th Anniversary of the WWII Potsdam Meeting, where the fate of Germany was decided by the Allied Powers and a whole country was physically divided. This includes everything from trying to define the differences between a border, boundary or frontier, to modern vs archaeological comparison, is Trump's Wall in anyway comparable to Hadrien's Wall... or is it just the disappointing cousin at the metaphorical dinner party? All of this is discussed with Prof R. Hingley, whose name has become quite synonymous with any and all research into the most famous frontier of all time, Hadrien's Wall.
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This episode turned out to be rather the diverse discussion, inspired by the 108th Anniversary of the death of Emily Wilding Davison, suffragette, teacher and martyr in her last act of defiance. Everything from the lady herself to the wider suffragette movement, women's rights reception, our own personal heroes in the fields of history, archaeology and heritage and well... what exactly is the state of the situation now. All discussed with the help of Dr D. Atkinson & Dr B. Hassett, TrowelBlazer's in their own right!
Music
Intro/Outro Music - Creative Commons - "Fantasia Fantasia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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All the history we read in the history books can begin to seem a little mundane, but history also has a Flipside. Each month we take an historical event anniversary and, admittedly sometimes tenuously, extract a discussion topic from it, then we ask guests from the history, archaeology and heritage spheres to sit down and have a chat with us about it... no holds barred; these discussions could head off in any number of tangents. Ever wondered how suffragette martyr Emily Wilding Davison, a little-known hieroglyph specialist and the modern gender pay-gap are linked, well except from all being in one single episode of Flipside that is... listen and find out! And as always, stay safe, and we'll see you on the Flipside! #OnTheFlipside
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.