From the Pueblo settlements in the American Southwest to the Burning Man festival, archaeologists look at how crowded ancient and modern gatherings alike and reveal cities as “social reactors” where human interaction drives both creativity and stress.

This is the fifteenth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Archaeology shows how ancient cities functioned as early “megamachines,” revealing long-standing parallels between urban networks of power, technology, and today’s debates about AI.

This is the fourteenth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Archaeology shows how forgotten excavations and archives hold the “lost cities” of the discipline, where unfinished urban discoveries still reshape our understanding of the ancient world.

This is the thirteenth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Archaeology can reveal how ancient urban networks shaped craft and fine art, and how they are inseparably woven with city life.

This is the twelfth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

How many cities are there? Archaeology’s drive to count cities and societies shows how numbers can clarify (complicate) our understanding of the ancient world.

This is the eleventh episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

As humanity faces increasingly dire environmental crises, looking for answers in archaeological research may prove fruitful.

This is the tenth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Archaeological research can be slow, this is especially true if the site is a sprawling metropolis, and this careful pace of excavation often reshapes what we thought we knew entirely.

This is the ninth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Long before modern comforts, the changing seasons shaped when cities lived, worked, traded, and even fell to disaster. Archaeology can reveal exactly these rhythms in minute detail.

This is the eighth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

Archaeologists love to disagree about what makes a city: Is it the size? The population density? Or is it something harder to quantify like the exchange of ideas that shape urban life?

This is the seventh episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.

From ancient Egypt to Viking ports, fragments of glass reveal the hidden networks that connected cities, crafts, and people across millennia.

This is the sixth episode of Urban Opinion, a podcast where we dive into the fascinating world of past cities.

This podcast is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. It is based on columns written by Rubina Raja and Søren Sindbæk, originally published in Current World Archaeology magazine. Find out more at the-past.com.

The research is based on work conducted at the DNRF-funded Center for Urban Network Evolutions, based at Aarhus University. Thanks to Matthew Symonds of CWA. Idea development by Rubina Raja, Sine Saxkjær, and Julia Steding. Logo design by Sine Saxkjær. Produced by Videnslyd and hosted by Eleanor Quasebarth Neil.