Episode 149 - I Gotta Go: Archaeology of Abandonment

This week, we’ve got an episode that started off as a funny title and became a topic. There are many possible reasons for abandoning a site, and there are plenty of examples from the archaeological record. We’ll look into evidence for climate change, conflict, natural disaster, and other reasons for abandonment (not all at once; that sounds like a really bad place to live). Plus, Anna and Amber do Dickens.

• What does panarchy even mean? (Foresight Design Initiative)

• A Canaanite palace was abandoned 3,700 years ago. Archaeologists finally know why. (National Geographic)

• Study: Scant evidence that ‘wood overuse’ at Cahokia caused local flooding, subsequent collapse (Washington University in St. Louis)

• Human Poop Reveals That Climate Change Caused The Fall Of Cahokia, A Medieval Native American City (Forbes)

• 10 Deserted Places and Why They Were Abandoned (MentalFloss)

• Internet Archaeology: Behold the Most Hilarious Abandoned Websites (Wired)

• Ghost Towns

Photo: The abandoned Italian hill town of Craco. Public domain, CC BY-SA 3.0