The Dirt Podcast

The Dirt Podcast

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The Dirt Podcast episodes

  • Let's Talk About (Inter)Sex

    This week's episode was inspired by news coverage of Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski, who, according to his skeleton, may have been intersex. But what does it mean to be intersex, and how do we incorporate this very real form of existence into our understanding of the archaeological record? Learn along with Anna and Amber from forensic archaeology, American history, Indigenous American culture, and a truly heart-wrenching tale from Iran.

    Revolutionary War Hero's Skeleton Suggests He Was Intersex (Forbes)

    What is intersex? (Intersex Society of North America)

    Was This Famous Revolutionary War Hero Intersex? (LiveScience)

    Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski might have been a woman or intersex (NBC News-- not great)

    Was the Revolutionary War Hero Casimir Pulaski Intersex? (Smithsonian)

    Two Spirit (Indian Health Service)

    A Cree doctor's caring approach for transgender patients (CBC)

    Engendering archaeology : women and prehistory (via WorldCat)

    Between Male and Female (Sapiens)

    Breaking the Borders/Violating the Norms: An Archaeological Survey of an Intersex in a Traditional Society, Bam (South Eastern Iran) (Sexuality & Culture)

    41 min
  • The Dirt Is Moving! Goodbye APN :(

    We’re moving! The Dirt is changing hosts and leaving the APN. However, you shouldn’t experience an interruption in your shows when they return. The feed should update automatically.

    From Chris Webster: I’ve really appreciated having the quality content from Anna and Amber on the APN! You’re a class act and put on an interesting and informative show. We’ll miss you for sure!

    Contact
    ArchPodNet

    • APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com


    • APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet


    • APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet


    • APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet


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    2 min
  • PROMO - Not just naked blue barbarians - Tea Break Time-Travel 4
    The Archaeology Podcast Network is taking a bit of a break for October, 2022. In the mean time, we’re introducing you to some of the other fantastic shows that we produce. Here’s an episode from Tea Break Time Travel about Scottish prehistory and the Pictish Beastie.
    This month Matilda focuses on the prehistory of Scotland, and specifically that enigmatic carved stone symbol known as the Pictish Beastie. Is it a dolphin? Is it an elephant? Is it a unicorn? To help uncover the mystery of this symbol and provide some background context about Pictish society is guest Hamish Findley Lamley, owner of Pictavia Leather. Join the journey to hear all about the different cultures in Scottish prehistory, the significance of standing stones, and why you would make a zebra-skin sporran.
    Links
    Pictavia leather website
    Aberdeen University "Northern Picts" project
    Guest Contact
    Hamish Findley Lamley
    insta: @pictavia.leather
    fb: /PictaviaLeather
    Contact the Host of Tea Break
    https://www.thearchaeologiststeacup.com
    insta: @the_archaeologists_teacup
    fb: /TheArchaeologistsTeacup
    twitter: @ArchaeoTeacup
    Contact The Dirt
    Email the Dirt Podcast: [email protected]
    ArchPodNet
    APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
    APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
    APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
    APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
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    56 min
  • PROMO - Spines in Peru, Decapitated Romans and Egyptian Notepads - The Archaeology Show 158
    The Archaeology Podcast Network is taking a bit of a break for October, 2022. In the mean time, we’re introducing you to some of the other fantastic shows that we produce. Here’s an episode from The Archaeology Show with three news articles from February 2022.
    This week we have three interesting archaeology news articles. First, spines excavated in the Chincha valley of Peru are threaded on reeds posthumously. Archaeologist speculate this may have been done by the family members of the data after looting by the Spanish occurred. In segment 2 we take a look at a cemetery in the UK with an unusually high number of decapitated bodies. And finally, it turns out that ancient Egyptians used broken pot sherds as a type of notepad that school children used to practice script writing.
    Links
    Native Peruvians threaded corpses’ spines on to sticks, study suggests
    Scientists found 192 spines threaded on poles in Peru, a macabre practice that may be a response to Europeans pillaging graves
    Decapitated skeletons of Roman 'criminals' found during England rail excavation.
    Fleet Marsten HS2
    Huge Discovery of 18,000 'Notepads' Documents Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
    Contact
    Email the Dirt Podcast: [email protected]
    ArchPodNet
    APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
    APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
    APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
    APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
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    41 min
  • More Parts of Cladh Hallan - Ep 210

    Truly we are talking ancient history, since “Cladh Hallan: A Story in Several Parts” was episode 18, way back in 2018 when we still had no idea what we were doing and long before the content that was migrated to the APN feed. This may be the first time some longtime listeners (including you?) have heard this story, and we’ll round it out with some additional context for the subject matter. Find out what we sounded like before Anna really got the hang of sound editing!

    Links

    • Must Farm


    • Latest archaeological finds at Must Farm provide a vivid picture of everyday life in the Bronze Age


    • History made: In an astonishing Bronze Age discovery a 3000-year-old community has been unearthed (CNN)


    • The Prehistoric Village at Cladh Hallan (University of Sheffield)


    • Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (BBC)


    • "Frankenstein" Bog Mummies Discovered in Scotland (National Geographic)


    • Ancient DNA typing shows that a Bronze Age mummy is a composite of different skeletons (Journal of Archaeological Science)


    • Solved: the mystery of Britain’s Bronze Age mummies (The Conversation)


    • Mummification in Bronze Age Britain (Antiquity)


    • Goosebumps: Say Cheese and DIE


    • An Update on Bronze Age Mummies (The Independent)


    • Death is not the end: radiocarbon and histo-taphonomic evidence for the curation and excarnation of human remains in Bronze Age Britain (Cambridge University Press)


    • ​​https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/death-is-not-the-end-radiocarbon-and-histotaphonomic-evidence-for-the-curation-and-excarnation-of-human-remains-in-bronze-age-britain/8D38788C8B9F4E69E579D31150EB0A90


    Contact

    1 hr 18 min
  • The Dirt Gets Theatrical - Ep 209

    Theater as public entertainment has taken many forms throughout time and among different cultural groups. We’ll hop through various times and places to look at the places where performances were held, the types of pieces performed, and the role of theater as an emotional pocket dimension.

    Links

    • History of Theatre (Wikipedia)


    • Tragedy (Wikipedia)


    • Theater in Ancient Greece (Metropolitan Museum of Art)


    • Indian Classical Dance (Wikipedia)


    • Comparative mask study, ancient India and ancient Greece


    • Examples of Animals in Indian Classical Dance:


    • https://in.tiktok.com/@achukuttannn/video/7131910942908091690?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7131910942908091690&lang=bn-IN


    • The History of Chinese Shadow Art (Google Art and Culture)


    • Shadow Plays (Wikipedia)


    • The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-Colonial Period


    • Performance Archaeology - Michael Shanks


    • Michael Shanks’ website


    • GRID Performance Archaeology page


    Contact

    1 hr 13 min
  • Finding Our Religion with Dr. Candace Lukasik - Ep 208

    Candace is an anthropologist and ethnographer whose research focuses on the intersections of transnational migration, religion, race, and empire. We learned so much in this episode! It's always such a treat to have a guest with a perspective from one of the anthropological fields other than archaeology. We hope you enjoy it and we hope it gives you all lots to think about!

    Links

    • https://www.candacelukasik.com


    • https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aman.13602


    • http://tif.ssrc.org/2022/02/18/religious-publicity-and-transnational-minority-politics/


    • https://egyptmigrations.com/2017/06/25/land-migration-and-memory/


    Contact

    1 hr 10 min
  • The Dirt Dries Out - Ep 207

    There have been an awful lot of news stories lately featuring “lost” sites or structures “revealed” by the effects of drought and climate change. Way to look on the positive side, I guess! We’ll take a look at some of these sites and more broadly, the effects of climate change on current archaeology. Both of your tired hosts were a bit punchy during recording, so this episode is ever so slightly goofy despite the gravity of the topic. But we hope you enjoy it!

    Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.

    Links
    • Drought is revealing archeological sites that were submerged when Lake Powell filled : NPR
    • Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: WorldCat
    • A fourth set of human remains is found at Lake Mead as the water level keeps dropping: NPR
    • Lake Mead reveals sunken WWII-era boat as water levels plummet - CBS News
    • Unexploded World War II bomb found in Italy's longest river as waters run dry - CBS News
    • Hidden ancient Roman 'Bridge of Nero' emerges from the Tiber during severe drought | Live Science
    • Drought Reveals Dolmen of Guadalperal, Popularly Dubbed ‘Spanish Stonehenge’ | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
    • When context is key: “Hunger stones” go viral, but news first broke in 2018 | Ars Technica
    • Are 'Hunger Stones' Emerging Along Europe's Rivers Due to 2022 Drought? | Snopes.com
    • The Bronze Age city in Iraq gifted to archeology by drought | Science

      • Contact
      ArchPodNet
      • APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
      • APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
      • APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
      • APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
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          • 38 min
        • What's Benin Going On? - Ep 206

          We meant to tackle this question before, but we can’t wait any longer! The Benin Bronzes have received media attention lately in a series of newsworthy announcements to repatriate them from various museums in North America and Europe to Nigeria. What are these alliterative artifacts, and how did thousands of them disappear from the Kingdom of Benin only to appear by the hundreds in museums overseas?

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          Links
          • The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution (via Bookshop)
          • The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution (via Worldcat)
          • History of Archaeological Research in the Yoruba-Edo Region of Nigeria: New Directions for Urban Earthenworks (William & Mary ScholarWorks)
          • Story of cities #5: Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace (The Guardian)
          • Ron Eglash (TED)
          • Benin Kingdom (Dallas Museum of Art)
          • The Benin Bronzes Aren’t Just Ancient History. Meet the Contemporary Casters Who Are Still Making Them Today (Artnet)
          • The Dating Game: The Scientific Analysis of Benin Copper-Alloy Art-From TL to ²¹°Pb (Open Access Journal of Archaeology & Anthropology)
          • This Art Was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned? (New York Times)
          • The Benin Bronzes, Explained: Why a Group of Plundered Artworks Continues to Generate Controversy (ArtNews)
          • Horniman to return ownership of Benin bronzes to Nigeria (Horniman Museum and Gardens)
          • Benin Bronze ”permanently removed” from Jesus hall (The Cambridge Student)
          • Major new archaeology project on site of new museum in Benin (British Museum Blog)
          • Recovering the Brilliance of a Benin Bronze (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

            • Contact
            ArchPodNet
            • APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
            • APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
            • APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
            • APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
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                • 1 hr 6 min
              • Animals With Jobs (How Domestication Works)

                Anna saddles up to lead Amber on a faunal adventure! We’ll discuss the changes that happen when humans start influencing animal breeding. We’ll also cover the origin stories of a few of the most prevalent domesticated species. But don't worry, we cover some examples of "non-typical" domestication too, plus a case of animal coworkers. We’ll even tackle the question… have we humans domesticated OURSELVES??

                Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info.

                Links

                • Domesticated animals, explained (National Geographic)


                • Whence the Domestic Horse? (Science)


                • Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas (PNAS)


                • DNA traces cattle back to a small herd domesticated around 10,500 years ago (UCL)


                • How Sheep Became Livestock (Science)


                • Understanding the origins of European domestic pigs (Natural History Museum)


                • The Domestication of Pigs: Sus Scrofa's Two Distinct Histories (ThoughtCo)


                • Ancient Egyptians may have given cats the personality to conquer the world (Science)


                • Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes (eLife)


                • Early Holocene chicken domestication in northern China (PNAS)


                • The earliest farmers of northwest China exploited grain-fed pheasants not chickens (Nature Scientific Reports)


                • Buried with Snails (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)


                • Insects: The Disregarded Domestication Histories (Animal Domestication)


                • On Horseback Among the Eagle Hunters and Herders of the Mongolian Altai (New York Times)


                Contact
                ArchPodNet

                • APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com


                • APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet


                • APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet


                • APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet


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                1 hr 11 min

              About The Dirt Podcast

              From the publisher's feed

              Join Anna and Amber; friends, archaeologists, and big nerds, for an exploration of the lives of people in the past.