Sphinx Thinks

Dr Trish Biers is Curator of the Duckworth Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. We discuss her early start in the field and where her interests have taken her - across the world in a variety of incredible positions from the Smithsonian Institute to right here in Cambridge.We cover everything from repatriation and paleopathology to advice on studying in the US vs the UK and getting into a career in osteology.

Dr Emily Emmott is a lecturer in Human Behavioural Ecology at UCL. Specialising in extended and institutional child-rearing systems (such as parenting, grand-parenting, schooling and social care provisions) and their implications for health and wellbeing (including health-related behaviours. We discuss the limitations of taking an evolutionary perspective on childrearing, the burden on intensive parent systems on caregivers, and gender differences in parental investment and offspring prospect...

Professor Matthew Collins is a Niels Bohr Professor at the University of Copenhagen and the McDonald Chair of Palaeoproteomics at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. We discuss his journey to becoming a leading academic in the field, and his interests within the discipline.Within the world of biomolecular archaeology we track through palaeoproteomics and its applications, the integration of scientific disciplines into archaeology, and...

Professor Cameron Petrie is professor of South Asian and Iranian Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. We discuss his journey to becoming an archaeologist, and finding his field, as well as his present work in the region.In the Indus region, we discuss the relationship between the settlers in the past and how they interacted with their environment - as well as what this means for the future of sustainable research.Check out the website www.sphinxthinks.com for more on archaeology and an...

Movement, mobility and migration - what can these facets of human behaviour in the archaeological record tell us about our past social relationships? Dr Amy Clark - lecturer and researcher at Harvard University - joins me to discuss this topic as well as her research in Morocco. Amy discusses what the structures and spatial distributions of groups across a landscape can tell us about group size, relationships and movement. We cover what evidence is used to explore these patterns in the archae...

Cognition, culture and environment - how do they work together to influence primate behaviour? What can tool use and behavioural patterns tell us about primate society? Studying primates provides one of the best insights into the evolutionary origins of human behaviours. To truly understand how and why certain behaviours are adopted (and differ) in primate species, a combination of factors must be considered. If you want to learn about tool use, nesting and behavioural patterns, if you want t...

From agriculture to human culture and society, there is more to zooarchaeology than just bones! Discover what we know about the human past from zooarchaeology and how we use animals to decipher history...When and why was agriculture adopted so differently across the globe? How can we use zooarchaeology to explore domestication and feasting? What does zooarchaeology tell us about status and human society? In this episode Peter and I discuss all of these questions and explore much more about th...

The earliest period in our human past - the Palaeolithic. This fascinating period covers human evolution and our early innovations as Homo Sapiens. The Palaeolithic really encompasses everything about us as a species...Why did humans develop art? When do we first see cave art? When did humans start burying the dead? Professor Paul Pettitt and I discuss all this and much more in the episode - it's all about the Palaeolithic!Follow @thesphinxthinks on Instagram, @sphinx_thinks on Twitter ...

Neaderthals are plagued with stereotypes - brutish, simple and less human hominids. However, evidence increasingly suggests they were capable of abstract thought and compassion just like us.What evidence do we have of Neaderthal compassion? How can we learn about the cultures of our ancestors through archaeology? How can studies of health in the past inform our understanding of health today? For all this and more, join me and Dr Emma Pomeroy as we discuss Shanidar Cave and osteoarchaeology......

Archaeology tells us about the human past, but it's not all dirt and digging. We can explore how human biology has changed through time, through skeletons and sampling, it's all about bioarchaeology!Ever wondered how healthy people were in the past? Why we know where prehistoric people have lived and travelled? Or even what an Egyptian ate for breakfast? Then today's episode is for you. Rebecca and I discuss how we can find out about the biology, behaviour and even cultures of people in the p...