On today's episode, Dr. Catherine Frieman (Australian National University) is on the show to talk about archaeological theory, gender identity and the role of women in prehistory, and the current state of public engagement in archaeogenetics and archaeology.

With reference to the 'Egtved' individual, dating to the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1390–1370 BCE), Cate helps us understand the history of archaeological thought surrounding the role of women in European prehistory. Not so long ago, a binary approach to interpreting sex and gender in the past sees women as passive in Bronze Age social economies. Her work and those of her colleagues challenge the field now to reintepret whether there is evidence that supports an assumption of heteronormativity, a lack of agency on the part of women, and whether drawing links between gender and idenity, status and economic roles are all that simple and unnuanced.

We also talk about aDNA analyses, and the loadedness of certain terms and ideas about the past genetic researchers have presented in recent decades. When it comes to migration narratives, or interpretations that speak about group belonging or unbelonging, Cate argues that it is important for archaeological scientists to take care in their communications. How can we ensure are not misinterpreted or misappropriated by racist and far-right readers of archaeogenetic studies?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

Cate is on Twitter if anyone has questions for her!

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help support the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or visit the Patreon page for details on how to give a little each month to this public anthropology and archaeology project!

Kevin Bird (Michigan State University) is a genomicist and evolutionary biologist, and, in this episode, we talk about genetic variation in plants, ancient hominins and modern humans!

Kevin studies a genetic phenomenon in plants known as 'polyploidy', which is when some plants have extra copies of genomes in each cell. What are some examples of polyploidy in the animal and plant kingdoms? What happens when you have two subgenomes within a genome, and how does subgenome dominance manifest itself as traits in the plant species or cultivars we recognize today? How is this knowledge useful for the agricultural industry? How can scientists carry out genomic selection using markers to breed plants and produce varied options in the food sector?

We also discuss the Human Genome Project, and the legacies that research left, fuelling recent interest in genetics among funding agencies and members of the public. Where does Kevin think there's room for improvement in how genomicists communicate findings about human diversity? What processes today and in the history of genomic research lead to current public understandings about 'race'?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

Kevin's website is on GitHub, his public blog posts are also on Arc Digital, and he himself can be contacted through Twitter.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help support the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or visit the Patreon page for details on how to give a little each month to this public anthropology and archaeology project!

In this episode, Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy (University of California, Berkeley) talks to us about ethnic studies, Filipino identity and culture, the history of nurses working in America, and history of Asian adoption into the United States.

What themes and topics do researchers in ethnic studies departments investigate and interrogate? What work does Cathy explore in her two volumes, Empire of Care and Global Families? How has the history of U.S. colonialism produced the currently high presence of Filipino nurses and other Asian-American diaspora? What teaching experiences and political events happening today have influenced, or continue to influence, future research directions for those in this field?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

You may find Cathy on Twitter or her university page.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

For this episode, Dr. Chris Stantis (University of Bournemouth) talks to us about her work using isotopic analyses to understand how people lived, moved and ate in the past. This is because stable isotope data can indicate for us clues about the environment surrounding ancient humans and what they were doing.

Currently, Chris is working on analyzing an Egyptian burial assemblage known as the Hyksos Dynasty who ruled c. 1638 –1530 BCE in the Second Intermediate Period. How can strontium and oxygen isotope ratios help us understand who was living at the site of Tell el-Dab'a and where they came from? How much tooth or bone is needed for isotopic analyses and how long does that process take? What are Chris' favorite aspects and biggest challenges of doing this scientific research and where are these investigations going next?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Chris, you can find her on Twitter or her university department page. You can also read up about one of her recent articles on The Conversation looking into breastfeeding practices in the Near East during the Bronze Age.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

For this Friday edition of the podcast, Dr. Kara Hoover (University of Alaska Fairbanks) talks all about a wide range of topics: the evolution of our sense of smell, human resilience and adaptability, studies of urban geography and social welfare, surveillance and much, much more.

How important does she see olfaction for humans navigating different ecological contexts? What is the interaction between biological resilience and cultural resilience? What are the applications or greater implications for us living today, especially populations living in urban environments with anthropogenic smells and other forms of pollution?

We also discuss her latest co-authored book chapter entitled, 'The Unseen'. From the book, How to Run a City Like Amazon and Other Fables, this short science-fiction story is her colleague Jeremy Crampton's and her imagination of a not-too-distant future where data-sharing will be near-universal, inspired by recent news stories of data leaks at Cambridge Analytical.

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Kara, you can find her on Twitter or her university department page. She has a website, The Smell of Evolution, where she blogs as well.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

Today, Dr. Luíseach Nic Eoin (Nature Ecology & Evolution) shares with us her work as Senior Editor for a renowned scientific journal. We discuss what editorial work involves and how she works with scholars to release new findings to the greater scientific community.

With a background in studying ancient plants and stone tool use in the past, how did Luíseach join the world of journal editorship after attaining her DPhil? What are the main challenges of the job and how does she see scientific editing will change in the coming years? What makes a submitted paper a good paper in the eyes of journal article editors?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Luíseach, she is contactable via Twitter. You can check out the latest research in Nature Ecology & Evolution through their journal website and follow them on Twitter or Facebook as well for updates. The article we mention on the episode about one-billion-year-old multicellular algae was published early last week and can be found here.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

In this episode, Dr. João Carlos Moreno de Sousa (Laboratory of Human Evolutionary Studies, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo) takes us through his work in Paleoindian archaeology, prehistoric Brazilian stone tool analyses and science communication.

Hunter-gatherer sites excavated by archaeologists have long been considered to contain either the Itaparica or Umbu traditions of stone tools. This depended on where in Brazil theses sites were located and if their assemblages contained either 'projectile points' or lesmas (a lesma is a slug-shaped unifacial tool with one pointed tip and biconvex edges. A closer look at these Paleoindian lithic industries by JuCa and his collaborators has revealed that: (a) these traditional categories of stone tool actually subsumed a greater diversity of lithics than what was known, and (b) there were some industries yet that had yet to be classified under earlier simpler models.

We also speak about his thoughts on archaeology outreach in Brazil, and especially as a response to recent political events and cuts in governmental funding for archaeological research and science.

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for JuCa, you can find him on Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out his YouTube channel Arqueologia em Ação and the website Arqueologia e Pré-Historia.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

On this episode of the Arch and Anth Podcast, Dr. Felicia Fricke (University of Kent; University of Leiden) talks about her work looking at the history of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean and integrating approaches from archaeology, osteology and oral histories.

Her research focuses on the lifeways of enslaved people on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curacao, St Eustatius, and St Maarten/St Martin. How are findings from burial goods and material culture informed by interviews with community members on the island today? What are anthropologists missing from the research by not performing qualitative study together with quantitative study?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions, you can find Felicia's contact information and followe her work on ResearchGate and Academia.edu.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

For a very special hundredth episode, the host of the Arch and Anth Podcast, Dr. Michael B. C. Rivera, is interviewed himself by the first guest he had on the podcast, Dr. Sarah-Louise Decrausaz (University of Victoria; link to Sarah-Louise's episode here).

Michael is a biological anthropologist, specializing in the study of human remains for understanding life in the prehistoric past. On this episode, Michael talks about the work involved in planning research in these areas and what first inspired him to pursue bioarchaeology.

We also talk about some of the problems with underrepresentation, a lack of diversity and problematic behavior in the discipline, and how those in the field may be able to help themselves and others who face such challenges. Michael explains what his motivations were for starting this podcast too, and what he hopes could happen with this public archaeology and anthropology project in 2020.

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram, and read more about his background on his About page.

Sarah-Louise can be found on Twitter and the YouTube channel 'Humans in 5', where she co-hosts an anthropology outreach show with episode 75's guest, Dr. Michelle Cameron.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.

In this episode, Professor Dame Sue Black (Lancaster University) discusses her current role as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Engagement, and her previous work as Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee and in forensic anthropology working for British and international organizations.

When preparing evidence for a criminal court case or war crime investigation, what steps are required by the forensic anthropologist to present carefully recorded and analyzed details surrounding an event? When working in Kosovo, what combination of witness testimonies, circumstantial evidence and biological data is used to determine what happened to those who died during the recent conflict? How may looking at human variation in external hand morphology be a useful approach in solving unique cases of crime? What first inspired Sue to pursue this line of work, and how has she seen the field of forensic science develop in the last few years?

** CONTENT WARNING: In this episode, there is mention of ethnic-based conflict, gun violence, policework involving investigations of rape or child sexual abuse, and the detailed work involved in the recovery and analysis of human remains. If this content causes discomfort, it is advised to stop listening or skip this episode altogether. **

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Sue, you can find her on Twitter and on her Lancaster University webpage.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

If you liked this episode and you want to help contribute to the show, please visit the Patreon page for details on how to do that.