Seven Ages Audio Journal

On this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, the team focuses on one of the earliest and greatest mysteries in early American History: the famous Lost Colony of Roanoke. Joining us to discuss this historical mystery is Phillip Evans of The First Colony Foundation, a North Carolina 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that, according to its website, is "dedicated to conducting archaeological and historical research, combined with public education and interpretation, relating to the story of America's beginnings with the attempts by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish English colonies at Roanoke Island in the 1580s under his charter from Queen Elizabeth I." We discuss the Foundation's efforts to utilize archaeology in resolving the mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

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

• The First Colony Foundation Online
• Our Sponsors: The Smoky Mountain Relic Room

On this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we discuss the ancient Mississippian city of Cahokia, its mysterious collapse, and cultural significance in pre-Columbian North America. Joining us to discuss the riddle of Cahokia and its decline is Tim Pauketat, the Illinois State Archaeologist and a professor of Anthropology and Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Pauketat is the Director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, one of the largest archaeological research units in the United States. He was trained in global archaeology at the University of Michigan but has chosen to focus on the peoples and history of eastern North America and the Plains. Director Pauketat has published extensively on his research at the ancient city of Cahokia and other medieval-era sites along the Mississippi, having written or edited 16 books, including The Archaeology of Ancient North America, Medieval Mississippians, and Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City. We discuss the ancient earthworks of the site, and what archaeology tells us about the mysterious rise and fall of this ancient American city.

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

• Timothy Pauketat at the University of Illinois
• Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi
• Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (Case Studies in Early Societies)
• Our Sponsors: The Smoky Mountain Relic Room

"Cahokia" image in this episode's art by Michael Hampshire, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

On this special edition of the podcast, we go in search of answers to one of American Archaeology's most enduring mysteries: the enigmatic Clovis people and their unique technology. Who were the hunters that designed the fluted projectile point, regarded by some as "America's first invention," and what happened to them and their technology at the end of the last ice age? Did they truly vanish, or does the rise and sudden disappearance of what archaeologists call Clovis represent something far more complex?

Our investigation of the Clovis enigma takes us back to the first decade of the 20th century with the discoveries at Folsom, New Mexico, followed by those at Blackwater Draw, which effectively put Clovis on the map. We then examine archaeological perspectives on the Clovis people, including who they were, how and when they arrived in the Americas, and what makes their highly specialized technology so significant. Finally, we also explore the lingering shadow of "pre-Clovis" sites that predate the appearance of these distinctive fluted lithic points.

Our exploration of the Clovis enigma leaves us with more questions than answers, and stands testament to why archaeologists remain fascinated with this enigmatic cultural manifestation, their technology, and their lasting imprint on the world of the Ancient Americas.

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

• Carolina Bays and Ice Age Carolinas - NASA Earth Observatory
• Randy Daniel's Book: Time, Typology, and Point Traditions in North Carolina Archaeology: Formative Cultures Reconsidered (Archaeology of the American South: New Directions and Perspectives)
• Our Sponsors: The Smoky Mountain Relic Room

On this special "After Dark" edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, the gents join for an after-hours gathering in the Cross-Tyme Pub, as we explore the more esoteric side of archaeology and humanity's past. With that, our focus during this discussion has to do with the archaeology of magic.

We are joined by Dr. C. Riley Augé, the University of Montana's Anthropological Collections Facility curator and instructor of many archaeology and cultural anthropology courses, such as "Myth, Ritual, and Religion." She specializes in the anthropological and archaeological study of belief systems where her research and national and international publications emphasize the emotive and sensorial aspects of ritual behaviors and religious and magical beliefs. She was awarded the Society for Historical Archaeology 2016 Kathleen Kirk Gilmore Dissertation Award for her work on gendered magic, which is the basis for her book The Archaeology of Magic: Gender and Domestic Protection in Seventeenth-Century New England.

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

• C. Riley Auge: University of Montana
• The Archaeology of Magic: Gender and Domestic Protection in Seventeenth-Century New England

On this special holiday edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, after the team recaps some of the top archaeological stories of 2020, we are then joined by guests Andy Hemmings and Jim Dunbar, for a discussion of archaeological work being conducted along Florida's waterways.

Andy Hemmings grew up in Minnesota around the Twin Cities. In 1991 he graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Anthropology, and after doing contract archaeology for a time, he worked in the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department before heading to graduate school at the University of Florida. Hemmings received his Anthropology Masters in 1999, and Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Florida, followed by a Post-doctoral Fellowship with the Gault Project at the University of Texas.

Jim Dunbar is an archaeologist with a research focus on Paleoindian (and pre-Clovis) populations, primarily in Florida. He was an employee with the Bureau of Archaeological Research and is now engaged full-time in archaeological research. He has an extensive publication record and completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2012. His research includes the excavations at Wakulla Springs (funded by National Geographic), as well as the Norden site, Page-Ladson on the Aucilla River, and dozens of other sites. And, as we have heard, he has probably seen more Paleoindian sites than anyone in Florida.

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

• NEWS: The Top 10 Archaeological discoveries 2020
• JUDITH JESCH ONLINE: University of Nottingham Bio Page

On this edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, the team is joined for a wide-reaching discussion about ancient Scandinavia, Viking culture, and ancient texts by Professor Judith Jesch.

Jesch was educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania (USA), as well as Durham, where she received her BA in English Language and Medieval Literature, and Oslo, Norway, as part of the Leverhulme Study Abroad Studentship. Finally, she received her Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies in London at UCL. Before coming to Nottingham in 1985, Jesch worked as a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main (Germany). "During my time at Nottingham," she tells us, "I have been Head of the School of English Studies (2001-4), and was promoted to Professor of Viking Studies in 2002." The team enjoys quite a deep discussion on Viking Studies, runology, and much more with Professor Jesch on this holiday edition of the podcast.

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

• NEWS: Archaeologists in Norway find rare Viking ship burial using GPR
• JUDITH JESCH ONLINE: University of Nottingham Bio Page

On this special Legacy Series edition of the Seven Ages Audio Journal, we celebrate International Archaeology Month with one of the most influential American archaeologists today: J.M. Adovasio, who led cutting edge excavations at Pennsylvania's Meadowcroft Rockshelter for several successive seasons beginning in the early 1970s.

J. M. Adovasio received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1965 and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Utah in 1970. Since that time, he has served as a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution (1972 – 1973) and as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh (1973 – 1990). Adovasio is generally considered to be the world's leading authority in the arena of perishable artifact analysis. Since 1970, he has published books, book chapters, manuscripts, and technical papers numbering more than 400. These notably include The Invisible Sex (with Olga Soffer and Jake Page). He is also the author of Strangers in a New Land: What Archaeology Reveals About the First Americans, which is one of the most visually appealing and, arguably, simply one of the finest books on Paleoindian archaeology in the Americas.

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

• NEWS: How the Vampire Got His Fangs: An incisive history of a Halloween snarl
• J.M. ADOVASIO: James Adovasio - Archaeological Institute of America
• The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory
• The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery
• Strangers in a New Land: What Archaeology Reveals About the First Americans

On this edition of the program, Jason, James and Micah lead off with some discussion about recent discoveries in archaeology, which included a trove of Islamic coins that were unearthed during a salvage dig by archaeologists in Israel. We are then joined by a friend of the program, Doug Sain, Ph.D, a professional archaeologist who has overseen fieldwork throughout the southeastern United States, and who spent years working with lithic materials retrieved from the controversial Topper archaeological site in South Carolina.

Douglas Sain obtained his doctorate at the University of Tennessee, specializing in lithic technology and Paleoindian Archaeology. He received his Master's degree in Anthropology from Eastern New Mexico University and his Bachelor of Science degree from Appalachian State University. His thesis research documents Clovis blade technology and Technological organization at the Topper Site (38AL23) in Allendale County South Carolina. Beginning in 2005, he worked as a site supervisor at the Topper site in Allendale County, South Carolina, and with Dr. Al Goodyear, has published on Clovis blade technology in the Central Savannah River Valley of South Carolina. His dissertation research focused on Paleoindian lithic technology and the pre-Clovis component at the Topper Site.

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

• NEWS: Early Islamic gold coins unearthed by archaeologists in Israel
• PAPERS BY DOUG SAIN, Ph.D.
• Clovis Blade Technology at the Topper Site (38AL23): Assessing Lithic Attribute Variation and Regional Patterns of Technological Organization
• Pre Clovis at Topper (38AL23): Evaluating the Role of Human versus Natural Agency in the Formation of Lithic Deposits from a Pleistocene Terrace in the American Southeast

On this edition of the program we lead off with a discussion about new findings in a Texas cave which researchers think may challenge theories about an ancient climate change event in Paleoindian America. Then later in the program, we are joined by Dr. David Carballo of Boston University, who discusses his new book Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain (Oxford University Press). In his book, Dr. Carballo looks at the fall of the Aztec Empire before the Spanish, and the way this pivotal turning point in America set the stage for a more globalized world.

David is a specialist in Mesoamerican archaeology, focusing particularly on the prehispanic civilizations of central Mexico. Currently, ongoing projects at the ancient city of Teotihuacan include the Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga, Teotihuacan (PATT), and the Proyecto Plaza de las Columnas. The first seeks to understand urbanization, neighborhood organization, and the daily life of commoners through excavations and geophysical prospection within a southern district of the city. The second is focused on palace compounds and is aimed at understanding the city's political economy.

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

• Dr. David Carballo's page at Boston University's website
• Academia.edu Webpage
• Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain