In recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let's talk about the Taíno population of the Caribbean islands who first encountered Christopher Columbus in the fifteenth century, and the metamorphosis of Taíno identity from contact with Europeans through today.
Read MoreThis week we round out this month's coverage of indigenous Latin America with a look at the Ancestral Puebloans of the American Southwest.
Read MoreThis week Anna and Amber run through the history of the Rarámuri of Chihuahua, Mexico. It's more than just sandals and beer, folks! Plus, a rundown of some of the biomechanics of ultramarathon running, and a theory for how Homo sapiens successfully overran Europe.
Read MoreTo kick off Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month, we attempt to help you (and ourselves) be less wrong about the most famous early Mesoamerican cultures. This week, it’s a crash course on Aztec, Inca, and Maya history, the thorny issues of contemporary indigenous cultural identity, and some Very Cool Things, ancient and modern!
Read MoreIt wouldn't be the internet if there weren't cats, so this week is the purr-fect op-paw-tunity to talk about felis catus.
Read MoreAnna and Amber discuss recent research tracing how wolves evolved into the pups we know and love, the earliest dogs known in the archaeological record, the evolution of our relationship with them, and some Very Good Boys and Girls throughout history.
Read MoreIn this excerpt from our Patreon episode, Grace Veatch (Emory University) walks us through her research at Liang Bua, and introduces us to the many, many things rat bones can tell us.
Read MoreIf you thought we were experts, well, that's about to change. This week, Anna and Amber wade out into the great unknown-to-them of British history and discuss the life, demise, and afterlife of Richard III.
Read MoreThis week, we fake it 'til we make it, tackling four archaeological hoaxes. Even when things aren't what they seem...they aren't what they seem.
Read MoreAs a thank-you for getting us to 3,000 listens in under two months (!!!!!!), we released a quick bonus episode—a teaser of some of the stories from this month’s Old News roundup! We couldn't do it without you.
Read MoreThis week we're pushing our "um, actually" glasses up the bridge of our nose and busting some myths about archaeology. Was 30 the new 80 in the Paleolithic? Would someone from the Middle Ages be too short to ride a rollercoaster? Carbon dating is pretty precise, right? Can we tell if a skeleton is a lady? All this and more!
Read MoreVacation season is here, and Anna and Amber are island-bound: To the site of Liang Bua, Indonesia! Join them as they get to know Homo floresiensis, our diminutive extinct cousins in Flores, and discuss their place on our complicated, ever evolving human family tree. Plus, local lore about small, hairy cave-dwellers said to steal food and/or children, and a brief moment of Hobbit (TM) Drama.
Read MoreSink your teeth into this nutrient-dense episode, in which we discuss the recent discovery of bread(-like substances) in the Eastern Mediterranean from more than 14,000 years ago, and learn more about what one might actually have eaten in the Paleolithic. Plus, Anna tells us what we can learn from stuff stuck in your teeth, and we speculate wildly about Iberian vegan Neanderthals.
Read MoreThis week, we do a little POKING AROUND on the subject of tattoos. What are the oldest ones? What do they mean? How were they made? This one gets under our skin, one could say.
Read MoreWe're steppin' out to talk about some of the oldest human footprints ever found in North America, Europe, and Africa. We encounter a giant sloth hunt, and Amber and Anna have a series of existential crises as we dive deeper and deeper into the depths of time. Worry not, though: despite a strange audio glitch that suggests otherwise, Anna is not recording from beyond the grave. #notallsloths
Read MoreBienvenue, and welcome to Le Dirt! This week, we discuss the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone. We brush off our best French accents, geek out over dead languages, and realize that we are very, very bad at pop culture references.
Read MoreStrap on the barf bags, folks, because today we're talking about bog butter, ancient beekeeping, and where Classical poets thought baby bees come from. Plus, Amber shares a cautionary tale about licking things on an excavation. Hey--never put archaeology in your mouth.
Read MoreAfter a curious coincidence in 1924, the world's weirdest paperweight was revealed to be the fossilized remains of one of our earliest ancestors.
Read MoreIn our first episode, we introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about archaeology, anthropology, and how we definitely do not study dinosaurs. Also, hot takes on some of pop culture's most important "archaeologists."
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