Show and Tell Abraq - Ep 120

This week, Amber takes Anna on a guided tour of her beloved Arabia. Learn about the varied mountains, deserts, and oases that are nowhere near as empty or inactive as Western explorers might have you believe. We examine the archaeology of Tell Abraq, get scammed by a guy named Ea-Nasir, solve the mystery of Magan (hint: not actually a mystery), and share insights from skeletal remains about community care and compassion thousands of years ago. Disappointingly, we still don't know what Dilmun onions are.

Links

• Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Theatrical Trailer (YouTube)

• The Archaeology of Prehistoric Arabia: Adaptation and Social Formation from the Neolithic to the Iron Age (via WorldCat)

• The Seafaring Merchants of Ur (Journal of the American Oriental Society)

• Meet The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC (Forbes)

• Ancient Magan: The Secrets of Tell Abraq (Ancient Ports - Ports Antiques)

• Before the Emirates: an Archaeological and Historical Account of Developments in the Region c. 5000 BC to 676 AD (from United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective)

• Lesley of Tell Abraq (Bronze Age 2400 - 2000 BC) (Sketchfab)

• Bioarchaeology of compassion: Exploring extreme cases of pathology in a Bronze Age skeletal population from Tell Abraq, U.A.E. (Digital Scholarship@UNLV)

• Qal’at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun (UNESCO)

• Looking for Dilmun (Archive.org)

• Young Woman With Disabilities Found In Artifact-Packed Bronze Age Burial (Forbes) - cn, images of human remains

Contact

• Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Affiliates

• Wildnote

• TeePublic

• Timeular

Mausoleum? I hardly know 'em! - Ep 119

This week, Amber and Anna delve into the massive site of the first Chinese Emperor's burial complex. Were there flowing rivers of mercury? Maybe. Are there thousands of terra cotta soldiers? Definitely. Do we understand how metal detectors work? Kind of! Plus, some thumb-related Art Crime, and Anna finally apologizes for attributing Hey Ya to Snoop Dogg when it is absolutely by Outkast. How embarrassing. WARNING: Episode contains spoilers for Waiting for Godot.

Links

• Who was the Chinese emperor behind the terra-cotta warriors? (National Geographic)

• The Mercury Rivers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Skeptoid)

• Flowing rivers of mercury (Chemistry World)

• Mercury and health (World Health Organization)

• Making the Warrior: The Qin Terracotta Soldiers in Age of Empires (The Met)

• Chinese terra cotta warriors had real, and very carefully made, weapons (Washington Post)

• What You Need to Know About the Terra-Cotta Warrior's Stolen Thumb (National Geographic)

• The army that conquered the world (BBC Culture)

• The Secret Tomb of China's 1st Emperor: Will We Ever See Inside? (LiveScience)

• Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (UNESCO)

• Surface chromium on Terracotta Army bronze weapons is neither an ancient anti-rust treatment nor the reason for their good preservation (Nature)

• Archaeologists Excavate 200 More Chinese Terracotta Warriors (Smithsonian)

Contact

• Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Affiliates

• Wildnote

• TeePublic

• Timeular

BMAC: The Best Bronze Age Complex You've Never Heard Of - Ep 118

This week, Anna and Amber head to ancient Central Asia for a sponsored episode in which they explore the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Come along and learn why there’s BMAC stuff all over the place! Visit Gonur and the man that wants to be buried in its deserts! Consider the who and the why of the BMAC and its collapse (psst it wasn’t a collapse)! Meet some Horse Guys!

Links

• Bactria (Encyclopedia Iranica)

• Margiana (Livius)

• Archaeology Wordsmith

• Central and North Asia, 2000–1000 B.C. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History)

• Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley (via Google Books)

• Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection

• On the Origin of Metallurgical Technologies in the Bronze Age (Powder Metallurgy and Metal Ceramics)

• The Middle Asian Interaction Sphere (Expedition)

• Central Asia's Lost Civilization (Discover)

• The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization (Oxford University Press)

• Early evidence for horse utilization in the Eurasian steppes and the case of the Novoil’inovskiy 2 Cemetery in Kazakhstan (Journal of Archaeological Science)

• What Language Was Spoken by the People of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex? (“At the Shores of the Sky": Asian Studies for Albert Hoffstädt)

• The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia (Science)

• Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of the Oxus Civilization in Southern Central Asia (Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road)

Contact

• Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Affiliates

• Wildnote

• TeePublic

• Timeular

Fish People - Ep 117

This week, Anna and Amber bring you the result of episode planning by two hosts who have had a VERY long year and who refuse to back down from a dumb joke. We're talking Mersons of Interest, aquatic apes, men who wear fish, and more! Make sure to listen through the end for...what can only be described as a musical masterpiece.

Links

• Are mermaids real? (NOAA National Ocean Service)

• Did Human Evolution Include a Semi-Aquatic Phase? (The Scientist [not the Coldplay song])

• The African ape-like foot of Ardipithecus ramidus and its implications for the origin of bipedalism (Elife)

• The Neanderthal Ear—Prone to Irritating Infections (Sapiens)

• Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous, Sometimes Sexy History of the Mermaid (Wired)

• An Archaeological Puzzle on the Danube (The New York Times)

• Lepenski Vir (Atlas Obscura)

• The genomic history of southeastern Europe (Nature)

• The Ichthyophagi: Fishing for Monstrosity in Alexander Romances (EsoterX)

• Olaus Magnus (Strange Science)

• Olaus Magnus, A Description of the Northern Peoples, 1555: Volume III, Volume 3 (via Google Books)

• The Mythology of Kingship in Neo-Assyrian Art (via Google Books)

• Neo-Assyrian fish-apkallu wall panel relief (British Museum)

• Neo-Assyrian apkallu figurine (British Museum)

• Berossus on the Creation (Livius)

• Oannes: The Best Evidence for Ancient Aliens? (Jason Colavito)

Contact

• Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com

Affiliates

• Wildnote

• TeePublic

• Timeular

Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!

Thanksviking II: The Vikinging - Ep 116

Anna and Amber embark once again into the Viking Age, this time with the help of Neil Price's excellent book Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. Come learn about the origins of Ragnarok, Viking sorcery, and more!

Contact

• Email the Dirt Podcast

Affiliates

• Wildnote

• TeePublic

• Timeular

Find this show on the educational podcast app, Lyceum.fm!