The Dirt Podcast

This week we venture off to Bronze Age Anatolia to pay a visit to the Land of Hatti, and snoop through the royal mailbags.    

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Show notes:

The Hittites (The Met)

The Hittite Language and Its Decipherment (Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies)

The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia (via Google Books)

EA 041 Artifact Entry (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative) 

The Amarna Letters 

Amarna the Place (AmarnaProject.com)

Replica of Peace Treaty between Hattusilis and Ramses II (United Nations)

The Treaty of Alliance between Ḫattušili, King of the Hittites, and the Pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt (The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology) 

The Hittites' fast war chariots threatened mighty Egypt (National Geographic)

The Laws of the Hittites

The Hittites Serve Their Gods (Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship in the Hebrew Bible)

The Religion of the Hittites (Biblical Archaeologist)

Hittite Online (University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center)

Luwian Scripts (LuwianStudies.org)

Excavation in Turkey Leads to the Discovery of Ancient Indo-European Language From Kalašma (Artnet)

Feb 2 online seminar: The Language of Kalašma: A New Branch of Anatolian (TORCH)

Famed Archaeologist 'Discovered' His Own Fakes at 9,000-Year-Old Settlement (LiveScience)

Arguments for the Authenticity of the Luwian Hieroglyphic Texts from the Mellaart Files (TALANTA)

The rise and fall of the Hittite state in Central Anatolia: How, when, where, did climate intervene? (La Cappadoce méridionale de la Préhistoire à l'époque byzantine)

It's another sponsored episode! Anna takes Amber through a short history of the blues, specifically as one of the many musical genres to come out of the African diaspora. We start by learning about the clave, which is both an instrument and a rhythm. Then, we wander through a little history, before Anna hauls out a guitar and tries to remember how scales work. What is a blue note? Was there really a deal with the devil at a crossroads? Is a hotdog without a bun just a hotdog? All this and more!

Subscribe to our back catalog of bonus content (fresh helpings coming January 2024) for $5 a month after a one-week free trial at: https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/support

Learn more at:

The Story of Claves– from Spanish Ships to Today's Cuban bands (KCRW)

Son Clave 3-2 & 2-3 (watch & learn) (via Youtube)

What Is A Griot? (America’s Black Holocaust Museum)

The Language of the Blues: GRIOT (American Blues Scene)

Muslim roots of the blues: The music of famous American blues singers reaches back through the South to the culture of West Africa (SFGate)

Roots of African American Music (Smithsonian)

Blues (Britannica)

What is the blues? (PBS)

The Painful Birth of Blues and Jazz (Library of Congress)

The Livelihoods of Traditional Griots in Modern Senegal (Africa: Journal of the International African Institute)

The Music of West Africa

It's a listener-sponsored episode! (That's right, that's still a thing that we do).

Anna whisks Amber along on a tour of Neolithic sites in the Orkney Isles, an archipelago off the coast of Scotland. Around 5,000 years ago, this place was a hub for new ideas. Come with us as we visit the houses at Skara Brae, the "hidden" Neolithic village that re-emerged in 1850 (CE). We also swing by the massive Ness of Brodgar site, and finish up at a newly discovered chambered tomb, all while learning what people were up to 5,000 years ago in the far north.

To learn more:

Ancient Genomes Indicate Population Replacement in Early Neolithic Britain - PMC

Skara Brae | Leading Public Body for Scotland's Historic Environment

Scotland and the indoor toilet - BBC News.

Skara Brae - Wikipedia

Skara Brae - The Discovery and Excavation of Orkney's finest Neolithic Settlement

Archaeology Orkney

Archaeology & Other Sites | Orkney.com

The Ness of Brodgar Excavation

Heart of Neolithic Orkney - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Outstanding Lesser-known Archaeological Sites in Orkney - Dig It!

Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)

‘A Neolithic feat of engineering’: Orkney dig reveals ruins of huge tomb | Scotland | The Guardian

CW: Images of human remains

Skeletons discovered in rare 5,000-year-old tomb in Orkney

Neolithic discovery: why Orkney is the centre of ancient Britain | Archaeology | The Guardian

A massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain - PMC

EXTREMELY thorough reports, reconstructions, and photos:

https://canmore.org.uk/site/1663/skara-brae

This week, Amber is in Toronto giving a paper and running the podcast library booth at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association! But don't worry, we won't leave your ears hanging. That came out weird, sorry. Anyway! Here is a release of a fun bonus episode from November 2021!

Anna takes Amber on a short but eventful journey into an investigation of Egyptian hieroglyphs located in eastern Australia. How did they get there? Did Egyptians reach Australia thousands of years ago? ARE THE CHICKENS A CLUE?? Plus, a detour into mummy drugs. 

For more information, check out:

Bulgandry Aboriginal Art Site - This Place (Indigenous.gov.au)

Hair Raising Cases in Hair Testing: Are ‘cocaine Mummies’ Real or Fake? (Cotsford Lab)

New World Tobacco in Old World Mummies (Skeptoid)

Rameses II and the Tobacco Beetle (Antiquity, via ResearchGate)

Translated: This Is What The 5,000-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs In Australia Say (Humans Are Free)

Egyptologist debunks new claims about 'Gosford glyphs' (ABC)

Gosford Glyphs, Walking Track to Secret Treasures! (Kombi Lifestyle, with pics)

Gosford Glyphs (Atlas Obscura)

The Gosford glyphs, debunked (Australian Geographic)

First rock art (National Museum of Australia)

Spooktober 2023 reaches its climax with a special Halloween treat. Amber shares a series of spooky stories from her own childhood back in Appalachia, but not without exploring the many roles of folklore in societies-- all of 'em!

Four Functions of Folklore (The Journal of American Folklore)

Why ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Frightened So Many Parents in the 1990s (Smithsonian)

The Folklorist Behind Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (JSTOR Daily)

Tailypo: A Ghost Story (Internet Archive)

Tailypo (Storytelling for Everyone)

The Best of Scary Stories for Stormy Nights (Internet Archive)

The Bean-Nighe (Pan Book of Horror Stories)

Ruth Ann Musick's Trunk of Tales: Lesson plans for The Telltale Lilac Bush and other WV Ghost Tales (Fairmont State University)

The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales (University of Kentucky)

The Greenbrier Ghost (AppLit Project)

My West Virginia Family Ghost Story (WVU Libraries)

Time and Again (Short Story Project)

Hellhole, and welcome to The Dirt! Spooktober continues with an exploration of portals to the underworld. We're bringing you some unexpected sounds from Siberia, a couple of incredible caves, and the science behind sacrificial bulls dropping dead in ancient Rome. Plus, the Medieval European origin of the Hellmouth! Get your spelunking gear and maybe a comforting blanket or two as we journey to the underworld together.

To learn more and dig deeper:

https://scratchpad.fandom.com/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_AM_-_Index_of_Guest_Appearances

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190503-the-deepest-hole-we-have-ever-dug#:~:text=Drilling%20was%20stopped%20in%201992,whole%20facility%20was%20closed%20down.

https://www.wired.com/2014/01/an-artist-records-the-mysterious-rumblings-of-middle-earth/

https://mymodernmet.com/krubera-cave/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/deepest-cave?loggedin=true&rnd=1697313803769

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/getting-lost-cave-labyrinth-brain/582865/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/welcome-to-hell-a-history-of-portals-to-the-underworld

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/people-lived-cave-78000-years-180969051/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04057-3

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-the-oldest-evidence-of-indoor-human-activity-deep-inside-a-desert-cave

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba1219

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epvbxk/archaeologists-found-an-ancient-entrance-to-the-underworld-under-a-church-in-mexico

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/maya-canoe-surrounded-by-animal-and-human-bones-found-in-portal-to-the-underworld-in-mexico

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlymiller/2019/08/09/skulls-analyzed-from-the-mayan-sacred-cenote-show-that-human-sacrifices-were-sourced-from-far-and-wide-across-mexico-in-1000-ad/?sh=12d34a7ae8b7

https://www.livescience.com/61871-maya-underworld-found-longest-submerged-cave.html

https://www.science.org/content/article/roman-gate-hell-killed-its-victims-cloud-deadly-carbon-dioxide

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3046829?typeAccessWorkflow=login&seq=8

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O90891/the-last-judgement-panel-unknown/

https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_tiberius_c_vi

Get your eye of newt and toe of frog ready, because something witchy this way comes! Amber is traveling once more for work, and Anna is dealing with some health issues, so we are releasing this Deep Cuts episode from 2020 where Anna tells Amber some witchy stories around the Spooktober campfire. More new Spooktober content coming soon!

Witches of Cornwall (Archaeology)

A Feminist Perspective on the History of Women as Witches (Dissenting Voices)

'Witchcraft' Island Reveals Evidence of Stone Age Rituals (LiveScience)

The ‘death whistle’ (MexicoLore.co.uk)

Welcome to SPOOKTEMBER! In previous years, Amber has treated Anna to a month of stories and studies from the ghoulish side of archaeology and anthropology. This year, since we moved to biweekly episodes, we're extending the season! This week, it's first of four lightly haunted topics with (!!!!) MINIMAL BUMMERS! We're talking about necromancy, the practice of communing with the dead via ritual. We explore a cave full of lamps and skulls, climb into a ghost pit, and flip through some Babylonian spellbooks. Let's ponder the OB together!

Placement of ancient hidden lamps, skulls in cave in Israel suggests Roman-era practice of necromancy (Phys.org) (cn: images of human remains)

Oil Lamps, Spearheads and Skulls: Possible Evidence of Necromancy during Late Antiquity in the Te’omim Cave, Judean Hills (Harvard Theological Review) (cn: images of human remains)

​​The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (via Internet Archive)

Talking Heads: Necromancy in Jewish and Christian Accounts from Mesopotamia and beyond (via Academia.edu)

Second Millenium Antecedents to the Hebrew 'Ôḇ (Journal of Biblical Literature)

How to perform necromancy with Irving Finkel (via YouTube)

Fragment of a clay tablet (British Museum)

Necromancy in Ancient Mesopotamia (Archiv für Orientforschung)

In case you, like Anna, missed the orb-pondering meme:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pondering-my-orb

This week, we're talking about urban archaeology! Archaeology in, around, and under cities. Humans have been building their living spaces on top of previous occupations for basically forever. When you translate that to a modern city environment, with every big construction project, you’ve got the possibility of encountering evidence of those previous occupations. In this episode, we cover a few examples of ways that urban archaeology adds richness to our understanding of how people in cities lived. What is a city? And importantly, is "city" the goal? Tune in to learn more!

For further reading:

Archaeology - African Burial Ground National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)

African Burial Ground | NYPAP

Big Dig - Wikipedia

The Big Dig: project background | Mass.gov

Highway to the Past: The Archaeology of Boston's Big Dig

Secrets of the Three Cranes Tavern | BU Today | Boston University

Conversations: Digging Under Beantown - Archaeology Magazine Archive

“The Basis of Civilization – Water Science?” Rodda, J. C., and Ubertini, Lucio (2004). p. 161. International Association of Hydrological Sciences (International Association of Hydrological Sciences Press 2004).

4,000-Year-Old Ceramic Drainage System Discovered in China | Sci.News

Research sheds new light on York's thriving medieval Jewish Community

http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/norman/the-1190-massacre

Archeologists discover array of Aztec artefacts under Mexico City | History News | Al Jazeera

Camp Century - Nuclear Museum

This week: A brief catch-up sesh with Anna and Amber, who are both recovering from Covid (hence the late episode, sorry y'all!). Then, Amber guides us through her months of archival research, uncovering the real life and expeditions of her special boy, Wendell Phillips.

Wendell Phillips was a self-proclaimed archaeologist, adventurer, and founder of the American Foundation for the Study of Man. He was also a significant catalyst for the beginning of Arabian archaeology as a discipline in the 1950s. Most contemporary accounts of Phillips reduce him to a cartoonish, smooth-talking cowboy-wannabe buffoon who stumbled into oil concessions that made him a gajillionaire. But there's way more to Wendell Phillips than that. Come pull at the threads of this story with us--they lead to some fascinating places.