The Speaking Archaeologically Podcast

How do communities protect their cultural heritage while embracing modern development? In this episode, we explore the tensions and synergies between conserving historic places and meeting today’s needs.

Join us as we look at the challenges and opportunities of heritage conservation in a rapidly changing world.

Archaeological sites attract millions of visitors each year: But what does tourism mean for the sites themselves? What is at stake when the past becomes a destination?

In this episode, we explore how archaeology and tourism intersect, balancing preservation with popularity.

Join us as we dig into the delicate relationship between cultural heritage and the tourism industry!

In this episode, we look at an issue that makes every archaeologist wince with sadness: the loss of heritage sites!

Join us as we discuss the challenges that one faces while looking at conservation of historical sites, especially when looking at collaborative public archaeology projects.

Join Dr. Shriya Gautam as she unpacks the basics of evolutionary psychology in this new series! Discover how the brain and the body influence each other. In this exciting follow up episode to the first part, dive into the world of the evolution and understand why humans behave in a certain manner.

Join us for a very interesting conversation about the role of the digital in public archaeology with Dr. Sara Perry (UCL).

In this episode, Dr. Perry reflects on the paradoxes her team has experienced in recent digital participatory work that they have been doing at different international sites. Herein, the idea of public participation is embraced, and digital practices and technologies are seen as a means to facilitate it, but when results begin to infringe too much on normative methods and extant power structures, support for participation dwindles and becomes notably undemocratic.

Join Dr. Shriya Gautam as she unpacks the basics of evolutionary psychology in this new series! Why do people behave in a certain way? What about unlikely, unexpected behaviour? What is the role of biology in terms of influencing human behaviour?

Tune in to know more about this interesting field of evolutionary psychology!

Why do we really drink alcohol? Why is male violence so prevalent across human history? And how much of our behavior is shaped by ancient instincts we don’t even realize we have?

In this explosive episode of Speaking Archaeologically, we crack open the world of evolutionary psychology — the science that explores how our minds evolved to solve the challenges of survival and reproduction. 

You have heard us talk about the misidentified sculptures and paintings in the last episodes. But how does one break the cycle of the wrong provenance?

Tune in as Ms. Shriya Gautam brings our 'Provenance in Museums' series to a close by discussing the ways in which all of us can contribute towards tackling the case of the wrong provenance!

Our saga of the wrongly identified objects continues in this special episode. Join us as we take a look at a painitng depicting Rustum and Sohrab from the famous Persian epic, Shahnama.

But is it Rustum and Sohrab? Or perhaps a different scene altogether?

Tune in to unravel the mystery of the provenance of this particular museum object!

In this special episode, we take a closer look at the figure of the crying woman. Or is she crying really? Let's find out!

Join Ms. Shriya Gautam as she unpacks the Ashtanayikas, the heroines, in Indic Art. Discover how the nayikas are often wrongly identified and why is that so.