The Dirt Podcast

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On this Very Special Episode in honor of International Archaeology Day, Anna and Amber (and coming soon, Dr. Potts!) take a look at all the things that can happen to an object, animal, or person as it decays, preserves, and transforms, becoming a part of the archaeological record.

This week, Anna introduces us to Bronze Age Britain and Amber tells us about the very, very unexpected discoveries at Cladh Hallan, Scotland. For maximum spookiness, don't read ahead: it's a real rollercoaster of a story about Bronze Age life, and death, and... after-death? Get ready, everyone. This one's nightmare fuel.

We talk to REAL LIVE FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST Dr. Jon Bethard about his career path from bassoons to bioarchaeology, the many duties of a coroner, life in Transylvanian villages, vampires (maybe), and his important work helping to identify victims of political conflicts and natural disasters all over the world.

In recognition of Indigenous Peoples' Day, let's talk about the Taíno population of the Caribbean islands who first encountered Christopher Columbus in the fifteenth century, and the metamorphosis of Taíno identity from contact with Europeans through today. Plus! Fun word facts GALORE and some very special body-part-based navigation. And what IS a vomit spatula, anyway? Over on Patreon, Amber and Anna also delve into the archaeology that surrounds Admiral Don Cristóbal Colón's voyaging to and around the Americas.

This week we round out this month's coverage of indigenous Latin America with a look at the Ancestral Puebloans of the American Southwest. We couldn't fit 10,000 years of human experience and complexity into a single episode, so instead we highlight some architectural and engineering achievements, petroglyphs, and some of the mythological beings represented in them. Plus, the origins of the word "adobe" and a lengthy consideration of why the cultural appropriation of Kokopelli looms so large in our memory of the 1990s.

Anna and Amber attempt a run-through of the history of the Rarámuri of Chihuahua, Mexico. It's more than just sandals and beer, folks! Plus, a rundown of some of the biomechanics of ultramarathon running, and a theory for how Homo sapiens successfully overran Europe.

We attempt to help you (and ourselves) be less wrong about the most famous early Latin American cultures. Amber provides a crash course on Aztec, Inca, and Maya history and the thorny issues of contemporary indigenous cultural identity, while Anna chimes in with fun facts and Very Cool Things about each group!

It wouldn't be the internet if there weren't cats, so this week is the purr-fect op-paw-tunity to talk about felis catus. Apologies (a-paw-logies? No? Ok, we'll stop) in advance, there's an odd crackling in the final minutes, but don't let that stop you from learning all about the history of kitties, their domestication, and some of their silly antics from the past several millennia.

What better time to discuss the domestication and use of canis familiaris than here in the dog days of summer? Anna and Amber discuss recent research tracing how wolves evolved into the pups we know and love, the earliest dogs known in the archaeological record, the evolution of our relationship with them, and some Very Good Boys and Girls throughout history. Plus, medieval pet name suggestions, Amber chokes up about the Odyssey (typical), waggy little flop-eared foxes, and Anna’s Movie Minute takes on Alpha (2018).