Seven Ages Audio Journal

In this episode, the Seven Ages team is joined by Chase Pipes of the Chasing History Youtube channel and podcast, as they continue the spring road trip and record live from the Spiro Mounds site in Oklahoma. Jason Pentrail, James Waldo, and Chase Pipes are joined by archaeologist and Spiro Archaeological Park Director Dennis Peterson. Dennis provides the team with a detailed explanation of the history of the Mississippian culture and excavations that have taken place over the years at the famed Spiro Mounds site.

Dennis Peterson has been the manager at Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center for 30 years. In May of 1985, he came to the site when it was still a part of the State Park system under the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department (transferred over to the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1991) and started interpreting the site to the public. He was involved in the excavations under the Oklahoma Archeological Survey and Oklahoma University from 1979 to 1982 and worked with the site and other locations in Oklahoma through the Survey from 1982 to 1985.

Spiro Mounds is one of the most important cultural and economic centers in the Mississippian world. It boasts one of the richest art and artifact collections in North America and is considered an international cultural treasure. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center preserves 150 acres of the site along the Arkansas River. The center offers interpretive exhibits, an introductory slide program, and a small gift shop. Visitors can explore nearly two miles of interpreted trails, including a one-half-mile nature trail.

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In this episode, the Seven Ages team is joined by Chase Pipes of the Chasing History Youtube channel and podcast, as they travel and record live from the Pinson Mounds site in Eastern Tennessee. Jason Pentrail and Chase Pipes are joined by Tennessee State Park Ranger Dedra Irwin, who explains all the details of this truly unique woodland-era mound complex.

Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park covers over 1,200 acres and contains at least 15 Native American mounds. In addition to Sauls Mound, the group includes Oxier Mound, the Twin Mounds, and Mound 31. Archaeological evidence suggests the mounds were both burial and ceremonial in purpose. Pinson Mounds is a national historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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This edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal Podcast begins with a discussion of the latest research concerning the peopling of the Americas. Next, the team catches up from all over North and South America as the Seven Ages and Chasing History Spring road trip wraps up.

We are then joined by Kent State University professor Dr. Metin Eren for an in-depth discussion on the efficacy of the Clovis projectile point in killing proboscideans. Eren, who holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, as well as an M.A. inExperimental Archaeology from the University of Exeter, an M.A. in Anthropology, from Southern Methodist University, and an A.B. in Anthropology from Harvard College, shares an academic perspective with the team about the world of experimental archaeology, and what we can learn from this ever-advancing discipline.

How can modern science be applied toward a deeper understanding not only of the Clovis projectile point, but also of the many other practices held by ancient Americans, and early people elsewhere around the world? The Seven Ages Research Associates dig into these, and many other questions with Dr. Eren on this special edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal.

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Metin Eren on Google Scholar

Hunter-Gatherer Behavior: Human Response During the Younger Dryas (Edited by Metin Eren)

In this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we discuss the latest news from the world of archaeology including the future of space archaeology as well as the discovery of the famed Shackelton ship The Endurance.

We are then joined by Austin J. Bell for an in-depth discussion on the famous and mysterious Key Marco Cat. Bell is the curator of collections for the Marco Island Historical Society and a consulting scholar at the Penn Museum. Austin discusses the details of this enigmatic artifact in his newest book The Nine Lives of Florida's Famous Key Marco Cat, available at the University Press of Florida.

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• Our Sponsor: The Smokey Mountian Relic Room
• The Nine Lives of Florida's Famous Key Marco Cat: University of Florida Press
• Marco Island Historical Society

In this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we lead off the discussion with news from around the world of archaeology, highlighting a 9,000-year-old shrine in Jordan and a new article from the Mammoth Trumpet Journal discussing perishable technologies with former SAAJ guests J.M. Advasio and Tom Dillehay. We then feature an in-depth interview with David Kilby of Texas State University and the Ancient Southwest Texas Project to discuss the Bonfire Shelter bison jump. David Kilby has a long history of archaeological work at famous sites such as Blackwater Draw, Murray Springs, Mockingbird Gap, Folsom, and the Rio Rancho Folsom site. Follow the Seven Ages Research Associates online: Twitter

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• David Kilby | Texas State University

On this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we lead off the discussion with a memorial to the late Tennessee archaeologist David Dean. Remembering David's life and work with us is a friend of the program, Chase Pipes of the Smoky Mountain Relic Room, along with fellow Tennessee archaeologists Jay Franklin and Zoen McLachlan.

Then for the remainder of the program, the team is joined by Bretton Giles and Shawn Lambert, who are the co-editors of a new anthology entitled New Methods and Theories for Analyzing Mississippian Imagery. Bretton T. Giles is an assistant research professor in sociology, anthropology, and social work at Kansas State University. Shawn P. Lambert is an assistant professor of anthropology and senior research associate with the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University.

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• THE BOOK: New Methods and Theories for Analyzing Mississippian Imagery

Approximately 3600 years ago, new evidence may indicate that a cosmic airburst leveled the ancient city of Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age site in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea.

On this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we are joined by returning guests Malcolm Lecompte, Christopher R. Moore, and for his first appearance, Timothy Witwer for an in-depth discussion about their paper, "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea."

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• THE PAPER: A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea.
• MORE FROM MOORE: A giant space rock demolished an ancient Middle Eastern city and everyone in it – possibly inspiring the Biblical story of Sodom

In this episode of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we continue our series on the enigmatic site of Göbekli Tepe in Anatolia, Turkey, as we are joined by Martin Sweatman, Ph.D., author of the book Prehistory Decoded and a number of research publications related to Göbekli Tepe.

Sweatman's academic background is in statistical mechanics, the physical theory that links the properties of particles to the properties of matter. He heads a research group is mainly interested in theoretical aspects of classical statistical mechanics, as well as the design of new kinds of advanced material or engineering process. Typically, this involves developing or using Monte Carlo molecular simulation or classical density functional theory methods.

However, Sweatman's study of the rock carvings at Göbekli Tepe have brought statistics into the study of this ancient site, which expands the possibilities as far as their meaning to the ancient hands who carved them.

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• Our Sponsors: The Smoky Mountain Relic Room
• Martin Sweatman, Ph.D. Website
• Prehistory Decoded (Paperback) - Martin Sweatman
• Episode Art: "Vulture Stone, Gobekli Tepe, Sanliurfa, South-east Anatolia, Turkey (CC 2.0/Wikimedia Commons)

Göbekli Tepe is arguably one of the most captivating archaeological sites in anywhere in the world, not just for its age, but for its artisanship. The location is perhaps best known not just for its age, but for the iconic pillar structures that are a mainstay of the site. In this special edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we look at this enigmatic ancient site, and what its discovery has meant for Archaeology in the 21st century.

Joining us to discuss her work at the site is Sarah Kielt Costello, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of the Humanities Program at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the State University of New York, Binghamton and her M.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. Her research areas include Mesopotamian and Cypriot prehistory and museum and heritage studies. She is a co-editor of several volumes, and her work is also published in the journals Cambridge Archaeological Journal and Antiquity.

Dr. Costello has excavated in Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, and Greece and in 2013 participated as a Fulbright Fellow in the Summer Session at the American School of Classical Studies. In 2021, she was awarded a University Faculty Fellowship in recognition of exemplary teaching, research, and service to UHCL. We discuss her work at Göbekli Tepe on this edition of the podcast, and what can be derived about the ways of life in the ancient world from the study of this site's captivating art and monumental structures.

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Below are links to stories covered on this edition of the podcast:

• Our Sponsors: The Smoky Mountain Relic Room
• Sarah K. Costello at the University of Houston Clear Lake
• Object Biographies: Collaborative Approaches to Ancient Mediterranean Art (Menil Collection, 2021)
• Seals and Sealings in the Ancient World (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
• Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World
• Episode Art: "Göbeklitepe Şanlıurfa" by Beytullah else (CC 4.0/Wikimedia Commons)