Just because a book might be fiction doesn't mean that the archaeology and history you read in them is, too. Listen to archaeologists and authors talk about the real history behind your favorite books.

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Boy with the Bronze Axe - Episode 23

Literature Meets Real History and Archaeology

The Boy with the Bronze Axe by Kathleen Fidler is set in the Neolithic Orkney settlement of Skara Brae. Though written for children this book is also really interesting for adults thinking about how interpretations of Skara have changed over the years. Kim talks to Orkney resident and specialist Caroline Wickham-Jones about the archaeology behind the book when it was written in 1968 and how it could be updated for the 21st century

Guests

Caroline Wickham-Jones https://www.mesolithic.co.uk/contact-me/

Host: Kim Biddulph @kimbiddulph

Links

Archaeologists preparing a raft to take cores in the loch of Skaill. This picture also illustrates how different Skara Brae is from the era depicted in The Boy With The Bronze Axe . The picture is taken by Sue Dawson and the work is funded…

Archaeologists preparing a raft to take cores in the loch of Skaill. This picture also illustrates how different Skara Brae is from the era depicted in The Boy With The Bronze Axe . The picture is taken by Sue Dawson and the work is funded by Historic Environment Scotland.

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The First Drawing and Stone Age Boy - Episode 16

Two children's picturebooks are the subject of episode 16 of Prehi/stories. Picturebooks may be the first contact children have with prehistory, so we're looking at how two of the best, The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein and Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura, represent the remote past. In this episode my guests are Ghislaine Howard, a painter of powerful and expressive means whose works chart and interpret shared human experience. Her drawing Pregnant Self Portrait 1987 was part of the British Museum's exhibition Ice Age Art: arrival of the modern mind in 2013. I also talk to Andrew Needham, Associate Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology and Post-Doctoral researcher on the Templeton funded 'Hidden Depths: The Ancestry of our Most Human Emotions' project at the University of York.

LINKS:

A short film, Ice Age Art: The Female Gaze, featuring Ghislaine Howard can be found at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2hv2ssmB_MU

Ghislaine Howard: The Human Touch, Paintings Drawings and Prints 1980-2016, published by Manchester School of Art in association with Martin Heaps on March 16th 2017. For further information contact raffi@collectart.co.uk or visit www.ghislainehoward.com

Some of the following may be behind a paywall, but some are open access.
Women and Children in art
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-015-9265-8
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/div-classtitleevidence-for-cave-marking-by-palaeolithic-childrendiv/091A61EF12E5E703412D3CE9A49568DA
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43184971?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ojoa.12052/abstract

Pal Art beyond Europe
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440313000757
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027737911630508X
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7521/full/nature13422.html
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248409000207
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6053/219

Early Pal domestication of the dog
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981716301127
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440311003499

Neanderthal art
http://www.nature.com/news/neanderthals-made-some-of-europe-s-oldest-art-1.15805
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/37/13301.full
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/3/1023.full

Contact:


@kimbiddulph @schprehistory
Andrew Needham @andyneedhamarch
https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/research/research-students/needham/
http://york.academia.edu/AndyNeedham
Ghislaine Howard @ghislainehoward @ghislainehowar4
http://ghislainehoward.com/

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Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver - Episode 2

My guests are Matt Ritchie, Forestry Commission Scotland's archaeologist, Donald Henson, studying for a PhD in Public Perceptions of the Mesolithic at York University, and James Dilley of Ancient Craft and about to embark on a PhD as well. matt quickly disabuses me of the notion that Wolf Brother is set in the Scottish Mesolithic (which is the only reason I had him on in the first place) and then we chat about the wondrous period of hunter-gatherers, wildwoods, and magic in the forest.

Book Details

  • Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, published in 2005 by Orion Books.
  • Mezolith by Ben Haggarty, published in 2010 by Random House.

Guest Contact Details

  • Donald Henson: dh625@york.ac.uk
  • James Dilley: Twitter - @ancientcraftUK
  • Matthew Ritchie: matthew.ritchie@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Be sure to rate and subscribe here or on iTunes! Ratings help the podcast get noticed so more can enjoy. Thanks!


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Stories and Prehistory: An Introduction to the Podcast - Episode 1

I talk to Tristan Boyle, host of the Anarchaeologist Podcast and the instigator of my podcasting career, and get him to care about stories in archaeology. The sage words of Game of Thrones author, George R. R. Martin are invoked, and, we inquire quite why Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age, is the only one to think of having soft trousers. Plus a bit of Aesop's Fables thrown in for good measure.

Book Details:

Guest Contacts:

  • Tristan Boyle: @anarchaeologist on Twitter

Be sure to rate and subscribe here or on iTunes! Ratings help the podcast get noticed so more can enjoy. Thanks!

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Fiction related to archaeology and history and the stories and science behind.

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