Join us for this fascinating conversation with Lara Maiklem who is a mudlark. She searches for lost and forgotten objects on the foreshore of the river Thames in London. She has been mudlarking for almost 20 years, searching and finding lost items including Tudor shoes, medieval pins, Roman pots, Georgian wig curlers and modern wedding rings. We talk with Lara about objects she has found along with her collection, research, and curation processes. She has written, Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames and can be found on Facebook and Twitter (@LondonMudlark) and on Instagram (@London.Mudlark). Her book is now available in paperback with a color plate section and a gorgeous new cover!  

 

To learn more:

Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames https://wwnorton.com/books/mudlark?fbclid=IwAR1U_ExZnU7-W3g-ziM1n9q_-Y7bH7bTXuLMlFfPxNdm_s5y6nionnSk3QY

Join us as we talk with archaeologist Scott Carpenter about his career, including his time as Chief of Cultural Resources at Yosemite National Park, the excavation of a cache of obsidian artifacts, his work with indigenous communities, and his documentation of a portion of the Lewis and Clark trail. 

 

To learn more:

Return the National Parks to the Tribes https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/

From Cliff to Cache: Analysis of a Middle Archaic Obsidian Cache from Southwestern Montana lithics-chapter10 (2).pdf

Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks https://www.amazon.com/Dispossessing-Wilderness-Indian-Removal-National/dp/0195142438

Join us for this lively conversation with Dr. Kelly Dixon, an archaeologist who studies boomtowns, colonization, colonialism, extractive industries, human-environment interactions, landscape transformations, and marginalized populations. We discuss her work excavating the Boston Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada and the resulting book, Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology And History In Virginia City where Kelly discusses the excavation of four historic saloons in Nevada’s Virginia City and how the artifacts from this handful of drinking establishments, affiliated with a range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, offers a new perspective on everyday life in the mining West.

 

To Learn more: 

Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City by Kelly Dixon

The Materiality of Freedom: Archaeologies of Postemancipation Life by Jodi A. Barnes

Join us as we talk with archaeologists, Matt Stirn and Rebecca Sgouros about how they have followed their love of archaeology, photography and tea (yes tea) to interpret and bring archaeology to the public. Matt Stirn holds an MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Paleoecology, and specializes in understanding how humans adapted to high elevation landscapes around the world. He has directed several archaeological research projects in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and has been involved in excavations on four continents. He is a member of the Sigma Xi Research Society, a National Fellow for The Explorer’s Club and currently has ongoing archaeological research in Wyoming, Greece, and Italy. Rebecca is an environmental archaeologist and educator. She is a freelance archaeologist focusing on projects in the Rocky Mountains, specifically the Tetons, Gros Ventre, and Wind River Ranges in Wyoming. Current projects include investigating life and food choices at high altitudes, paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Tetons, ice-patch archaeology survey along the Continental Divide, and an ancient food & diet study using biomolecular and experimental archaeology techniques . . .  and Rebecca owns an online tea company called Tea Hive! We have a conversation about the importance of bringing history and archaeology to the public, through all the methods Matt and Rebecca bring to the table in their work and their research. Join us for this fun and fascinating conversation! 

 

To Learn More:

 

Tea Hive https://www.myteahive.com/

 

Matt Stirn Photography https://www.mattstirnphoto.com/

 

In the Land of Kush https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sudan-land-kush-meroe-ancient-civilization-overlooked-180975498/

 

Yaupon: the Rebirth of Americas Forgotten Tea http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210223-yaupon-the-rebirth-of-americas-forgotten-tea

 

Sabu-Jaddi: The Site Revealing the Sahara's Verdant Nast http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200607-sabu-jaddi-the-site-revealing-the-saharas-verdant-past

Join us as we discuss historic inscriptions, ghost signs, rock art, DStretch, petroglyphs and pictographs. During the 19th and 20th centuries, emigrants on the Northern Plains engaged in a communication behavior that left messages carved, incised, and painted onto the physical landscape. Often mingling with indigenous pictographs and petroglyphs, the emigrants' messages are called "historic inscriptions" and exist in the form of names, dates, text, and ideographs. Historic inscriptions relay information on identity and cultural value and are a new way of interpreting how people reacted to the landscape of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century west. Tim Urbaniak is a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University (MSU-Billings).  Join us for this fascinating conversation!  

 

To Learn More:

Historic Inscriptions https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4410/

3D Scanning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e9ELzAWIII

Carbon County Historical Society presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7RRoNYb7J8

Join us as we take a deep dive into the science of human origins with Dr. William Kimbel, Director of the Institute of Human Origins based at Arizona State University. We discuss Dr. Kimbel's research on human origins, specifically the period between 2.5 and 4 million years ago - during which our own genus Homo emerged from smaller-brained ancestors. We talk specifically about Lucy (Lucy is a hominin ancestor that lived in east Africa between 3 and 3.9 million years ago, and she is “famous” because her skeleton is remarkably complete – 40 percent – and because she changed the way we understood the evolution of bipedalism. She is a member of the species known as Australopithecus afarensis. We also talk about another well-known Australopithecine species found in South Africa – A. africanus – which lived between 2.7 and 2.3 million years ago. And last but not least, we focus in on Ardi (Ardipithicus ramidus), a remarkably complete skeleton, which also came from Ethiopia and dates to 4.4 million years ago. This is a fascinating discussion about our deep genealogy, join us and learn more about how we became human. 

 

To Learn More:

Institute of Human Origins https://iho.asu.edu/

Fossil Men by Kermit Pattison

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - What does it mean to be human? 

In this episode, we talk with Jerry Williams about a television series he has created called, Bozeman, that features the history of Bozeman's town founder, John Bozeman and his good friend, William McKinzie. We discuss his research in Georgia and Montana, and how this story plays out on the national stage at a critical time in our country's history from the 1860s to the 1870s.

Join us as we discuss a myriad of topics with Extreme History Project board member, Shane Doyle. Shane is a member of the Crow Nation and is a life-long educator. He's a scholar and an activist, working to bring indigenous knowledge to the forefront in every project he does. We talk about his involvement with the Anzick archaeological site, the peopling of the Americas, and indigenous people in Yellowstone National Park. Join us for this fascinating conversation! 

 

To learn more: 

 

The Last Indian War by Elliott West

The Lost History of Yellowstone https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lost-history-yellowstone-180976518/

Join us for our conversation with Nikki Manning and Kate Gonzales as we discuss urban archaeology in Missoula, Montana. Kate and Nikki have both been involved in recovering artifacts from a vacant lot in the heart of Missoula's red-light district through their capacity as graduate students within the Department of Anthropology at the University of Montana. These artifacts tell us about the women and men who worked and lived in this district. Through the archaeological record, they have learned about women's hygiene and birth control methods used in the district by studying the bottles coming out of the ground. We discuss these artifacts and their uses, you'll be surprised what lysol was used for in the 19th century! We also discuss Nikki's book, Underground Missoula and her continued look at underground spaces and what they can and cannot tell us about Missoula's historic Chinese community. Kate's master's thesis work at the University of Montana focuses on female prostitution through the lens of historical archaeology methods and a feminist theoretical perspective to explore intersections of gender, class, ethnicity, and age. archaeology of historic red-light districts. Nikki is currently working towards a doctorate studying an interdisciplinary approach to historic preservation that includes research in the fields of urban archaeology, architectural history, and heritage conservation. Join us for this fascinating conversation on urban archaeology and the importance of community outreach and education. 

 

To Learn More: 

 

Underground Missoula by Nikki Manning

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/beneath-missoula-remnants-19th-century-red-light-district-and-chinatown-180974230/

 

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8462-200218-montana-missoula-chinatown

 

https://missoulian.com/news/local/archaeologists-uncover-pieces-of-missoula-s-red-light-district-chinese/article_f0e8d9dd-a6dd-595a-9ce2-e3e1d9ed709d.html