A daily briefing of the archaeology and history of sites around the world.
Apollo 11 Cave and Rock Art - Episode 051
On this episode, Emily Long shares information about one of the oldest examples of dated rock art in Africa, recovered from Apollo 11 Cave.
Links
Dimensional Lumber and Historic Archaeology - Episode 050
On today's episode we get to learn about dimensional lumber! It's actually a thing and can be used to date sites in the west or wherever you find posts and other lumber that dates to the first half of the 20th century.
Links
Standard Sizes
These are the nominal and actual sizes of lumber.
The Universal Transverse Mercator - Episode 049
Archaeologists use a map of the earth invented by the Army Corps over half a century ago. It's called the UTM grid and this is how it works and why we use it.
Links
Alcohol and Drug Addiction in Archaeology - Episode 048
On today's episode we're joined once again by Stuart Rathbone as he discusses a massive problem in archaeology on both sides of the Atlantic.
Links
The Munsell Book of Colors - Episode 047
On today's episode we learn about something every archaeologist uses - the Munsell Book of Color. What is it? How was it invented? We cover all this on today's episode.
Links
Images
Ocmulgee National Monument - Episode 046
On today's episode we learn about the tumultuous past of Ocmulgee National Monument. It's cultures survived for thousands of years on the site but could not survive the Spanish diseases of the 1500s.
Links
Poverty Point - Episode 045
On today's episode we talk about the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Poverty Point. It's an amazing place that everyone should see when traveling in the area.
Links
The Driver-Pedestrian Problem - Episode 044
On today's show Chris Webster talks about a well-known issue in archaeology. It's from a blog post he wrote back in February of 2016 and it's linked below. Comments welcome.
Links
James A Ford - Episode 43
Today we celebrate the life and work of Dr. James A. Ford, Archaeologist. James Ford worked on such notable sites as Ocmulgee National Monument in Georgia and Poverty Point in Louisiana.
References
Anne Stine Ingstad - Episode 042
On today's show we celebrate the life of Anne Stine Ingstad, the Norwegian archaeologist that discovered the famous Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
Links
Anarchism in Archaeology - Episode 041
On today's episode, Stuart Rathbone talks about anarchism in archaeology. It's a complicated subject and he tries to define it for the field and determine what it means and how it works.
Links
- Several chapters in Stuart’s book Archaeological Boundaries deal with anarchic and anarchist themes. The book can be downloaded for free or for a voluntary donation at;
- Another article by Stuart looking at the execution, burial and commemoration of two members of the Industrial Workers of the World can be found at;
- David Graeber’s excellent essay Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology can be downloaded for free at;
- The Society for American Archaeology special edition ‘Anarchy and Archaeology’ can be downloaded for free at;
- Anarchic anthropologist Brian Morris and Charles Macdonald have various papers available for free download;
- For an in depth and comprehensive account of the anarchist political movement Peter Marshall’s book ‘Demanding the Impossible’ is highly recommended. Harold Barclay wrote many relevant books but ‘Peoples without Government’ is probably the best place to start. For Pierre Clastres both ‘Society against the State’ and ‘Archaeology of Violence’ are both essential reading.
UAS Photogrammetry Basics, Hardware - Episode 040
Drone use in archaeology continues to increase in popularity. In archaeology, researchers are using drones to increase orthoimage resolution, record aerial videos, and develop digital elevation models and point clouds. These new types of media play into the ever-increasing web of digital documentation of archaeological sites, features, and human landscapes past and present. It is a good idea as data stewards to form a better understanding of how we record data and how to apply the right technology for the application at hand. In this episode, we compare a few UAS units, to see how we can make better use of their capabilities while learning about the perks and possible limitations of available hardware.
Links
Historical Archaeologist James Deetz - Episode 039
On today's show we celebrate the life of one of archaeology's greats - Dr. James Deetz. He is widely considered one of the fathers of historical archaeology and was a pioneer in many ways.
References
How To Fight An Academic - Mass Extinction - Episode 038
The discussion of ideas and theoreis is integral to developing and generating new ideas - most of the time this is done in conferences and by reviewing journals. However occasionally some papers are written about the same topic but take completely different angles to the same problem. There was a mass exticntion event at the end of the Late Pleistocene in modern day America - where a number of large mammals died off rather rapidly. The three papers examine to what extent, humans, climate change and an impact from outer space may have caused this event to happen.
References
- Firestone, 2007. Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling. PNAS, 104(41), pp. 16016-16021.
- Haynes, G., 2002. The catastrophic extinction of North American mammoths and madtodonts. World Archaeology, 33(3), pp. 391-416.
- Grayson, D. K. & Meltzer, D. J., 2003. A requiem for North American overkill. Archaeological Science, Volume 30, pp. 585-593.
Trowelblazer Mary Leakey - Episode 037
Mary Leakey was born on 6th February 1913 and went on to be a paleoanthropologist famously working at Olduvai Gorge with her husband and discovering 3.6mya fossilised footprints at Laetoli in Tanzania. This episode is based on two articles on the Trowelblazers website.
Links
- Article on Mary Leakey by Brenna Hassett on Trowelblazers website: http://trowelblazers.com/mary-leakey/
- Article on Mary Leakey and the Laetoli footprints by Gina Nerone, Lacey Alexander and Mary Mohr on Trowelblazers website: http://trowelblazers.com/mary-leakey-2/
Contact
Trowels! - Episode 036
On today's episode we talk about the mighty trowel - the most trusted and prized possession in most archaeologist's tool kits.
Types of Trowels:
- Pointed
- Square
- Leaf
Video Games as Archaeological Sites - Episode 035
On today's episode Andrew Reinhard talks about video games and archaeology. Can video games be archaeological sites?
Keet Seel, Navajo National Monument, AZ - Episode 034
Keet Seel is an amazingly well-preserved cliff dwelling at Navajo National Monument. Emily Long provides a description and the prehistory of this beautiful Ancestral Puebloan site.
Links
Atlatls with Dr Whittaker - Episode 033
On today we play the lecture portion of Episode 8 from the Archaeology Show where Dr. John Whittaker talks about his research with Atlatls - the ancient dart throwing device. For the rest of the interview check out Episode 8 of the Archaeology Show.
Lecture materials
- Slide presentation for lecture
- reduced image quality for upload size
- Lecture Text
Link
Dr William Fitzhugh - Episode 032
On today's episode we honor the life and birthday of Dr. William Fitzhugh, director of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian.
