Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality And 21st Century Archaeology

Researchers recently conducted radiocarbon tests on the bones of 30 scarlet macaws, originally excavated in 1897, stored at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. Their findings are causing the previous theories about the development of civilization in Mesoamerica to molt away. The macaw skeletons were much older than previously thought. While no one is ruffled by the data, a different understanding of trade and society is being hatched. The result of the findings suggests that Chaco Canyon economic growth and reach may actually have been the driving force behind its cultural and religious sophistication and not vice versa. Joining the Indy Team today is Dr. Adam Watson, lead author of this new study, and he will explain the importance of the fledgling discovery and bring the details of the project to roost with you our listeners.

Conflict Archaeology or the Archaeology of Battlefields is a sub-discipline that has risen to the forefront since the 1980s. Despite a growing national fascination with wartime chronicles and military strategies the archaeology of the actual sites of conflicts remains fairly unknown to the public. What can we learn from site excavations that are not documented by written accounts and broadly researched academic studies? What types of material remains are characteristic of battlefield sites and do they inform on events in ways that research and eyewitness accounts cannot? This week's guest, Dr. Douglas Scott, a renowned expert in the field, whose work on the Little Big Horn (“Custer’s Last Stand”) revolutionized formerly accepted interpretations of that dark chapter in American history. Dr. Scott explains how archaeological method and theory can be applied to battlefield excavation sites and considers how we can apply archaeological perspectives to modern and current world conflicts.

UNESCO’s Underwater Cultural Heritage program “encompasses all traces of human existence that lie or have lain underwater and have a cultural or historical character.” This is an active scientific group that seeks to support research and preservation effects around the globe. With the changeability in the weather and coastal areas longevity uncertain the work UNESCO does is of paramount importance. Joining us today is the Programme Specialist of the Cultural Heritage Protection Treaties Section, Dr. Ulrike Guerin. Join us Indy fans as we get in the deep end and find out what underwater heritage is all about.

Indiana Jones Myth Reality and 21st Century Archaeology is driven to interest and inform its audience. The realities of working as an archaeologist can floor you and sometimes shift your interests into neutral. One of the most exciting aspects of archaeology is literally getting into history. The future of professional archaeology may be the union between project work and public outreach. Today the Indy Team is joined by an archaeologist who does exactly that. Pull over and set your engines in park because we have quite a story revving up for you: the CT Dept. of Transportation and archaeological outreach!

Not many have heard of Etzanoa. Not yet that is. Researchers believe they have discovered the “great settlement,” described by the explorer Don Juan de Oñate. Etzanoa was said to stretch for 5 miles and house 20,000 ancestors of the Wichita tribe near the confluence of two rivers. In a study led by our guest today, Dr. Don Blakeslee, they confirmed that Etzanoa once straddled the banks of the Walnut River in modern Arkansas City, Kan. Findings suggest that the size of this settlement rivals that of Cahokia, a site considered to be the largest Native American settlements in the U.S. Get cozy and settle in while we hear about the details of this monumental discovery.

The Hart Island Project is a public charity that assists family in locating people who disappear onto Hart Island. Toward that end, we host an on-line database of burials since 1980 in an on-line museum called the Traveling Cloud Museum.The museum has interactive features assigning each person buried a clock of anonymity that can be stopped by a visitor who adds a story, photo, link or epitaph. Each person’s profile lists a plot that takes the visitor to a map of the island and displays where that person is buried. The week of July 6th, a class action lawsuit was settled permitting families to visit grave sites. The Hart Island project is hoping to get New York City to rethink the burial process and develop a landscape plan for Hart Island to become a public park. Burials on Hart Island are natural burials where human remains decompose within 25 years returning nutrients to the land. - Melinda Hunt https://www.hartisland.net/about

About a year ago the Iowa Dept. of Transportation discovered a sinkhole near Interstate 380 in Cedar Rapids. They found the sinkhole was the site of a 150 year old beer cave. Back in the 1850s Cedar Rapids built extensive beers caves to age and store beer under the breweries. The caves were abandoned following Prohibition. While the interstate has not been damaged, the Iowa DOT is planning to seal up the cave. The space is partially filled with debris and poses safety risks to people. Most importantly, officials don’t want the sinkhole to get bigger. Researching Iowa's beer caves is exciting because it enables archaeologists to study the community’s past. The brewery caves, the history of their use, and their construction provides information about 19th century industries, immigrant lifeways , and the ongoing social and the economic evolution of Iowan cities. For our interview today, the Indy team is joined by Brennan Dolan, from Iowa DOT, to tell us about the project.

On July 20th the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation filed a civil rights action in federal court against the state of New Jersey. The case was brought forward because the Christie administration was attempting to rescind the State recognition of the tribe whose recognition has been established since 1980 and 1982. A key issue of the case is that the State may be motivated by an irrational, stereotype-driven prejudice of an Indian casino, despite the Tribe's charter explicitly prohibiting gaming. Representing the Tribe and joining us today is Greg Werkheiser. Together we will discuss the intricacies of the case and the legal processes used to protect Tribe's identities in the United States.

While pirates have always been a source of public fascination, piracy has seen a recent surge in both news headlines and popular culture, including the newly-released film Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks. While the term pirate readily conjures up a variety of images, including peg-legs, nefarious skull and cross bone flags, and squawking parrots, pirates cannot be separated from treasure. But what do we really know about pirates? Most of our understanding comes from popular fictional characters like Long John Silver or Captain Hook. Such images, however beloved, have complicated our understanding of these already mysterious historical figures. So who were these figures and what kind of “treasures” did they leave at the bottom of the sea? Join us and Dr. Frederick Hanselmann, from Texas State University, as we discuss his work on shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the difficulties of archaeological excavation underwater.

~Big Apple City jeans/ Routes with the LIRR/ The LES lookin’ so blurrrr/ They looked below/They looked below/Next thing you know/ RAAD went low low low low low low low~ New York City is scheduled for some seriously exciting changes. A new public park space in one of the least green parts of the City, The Lower East Side. James Ramsey and RAAD is looking to open up the city with an entirely unique space. They’re going to convert the underground Williamsburg Trolley Terminal into an underground park. Being interviewed today is Mr. Ramsey himself to clue us in on the project and the research of the historic site they plan to rejuvenate.

The hills are alive, with the sound of music! With songs they have sung with a history or thousands of years actually! Music, the instruments, and its impact on daily life has left a mark throughout time and it is archaeomusicologists that study that history. Though music itself is intangible there are those who reconstruct the texts and objects left behind. Tuning life back into the legacy of music. Joining the Indy Team today is Dr. Richard Dumbrill the founder of International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusiocology. Together we will pluck out particular points of interest in the field of study. Get ready to jam.

Mayan collapse? Why did they not take a sit down break? Perhaps the famed collapse of this ancient empire is not what researchers previously believed. Dr. Anne Pyburn certainly thinks so. The research of Mayan Archaeology and Culture has increased greatly over the past decades. With this research comes new or better understanding of how that society worked. And Dr. Pyburn's point is that the empire did work, and our preconceived notions of the collapse are not quite correct. Pull up a chair, pour a glass of spiced coco, and perhaps some maize and hear what this past society may have really been about!

Generally, archaeologists like to not be equated with Indiana Jones. That's just not Reich. The field of archaeology is vast and only a few archaeologists research Nazis; most (if not all) archaeologists do not fight them. A few months ago the research of one archaeologist was shared via The Washington Post. Was he a Nazi fighter? No, but Dr. Daniel Schavelzon has conducted research on the route some Germans fleeing Nazi Germany after its fall took in the wilds of Argentina. Heil-ing for the hills so to speak. He has uncovered some bunkers that indicate how far into Argentina's interior Nazi or Nazi sympathizers fled and based on the buildings and artifacts he has uncovered how they lived. Goose step over and tune in to our special interview with Dr. Schavelzon!

Be it Nazis, religious artifacts, and whips, or scales, snarls, and beasts movies capture the imagination of audiences. They also direct attention to the fantastic side of archaeology and paleontology. Nearly thirty years ago Indiana Jones inspired and infatuated audiences with archaeology and the field expended with public interest. In a similar way, interest was also increased in paleontology on the heels of the Jurassic Park franchise. This type of hype and attention does have its drawbacks. The realities of the work archaeologists and paleontologists do (i.e. glorified construction work, rough environmental conditions, and vagrant lifestyle at times) is overlooked or portrayed inaccurately for the sake of a good plot line. Joining us today is Dr. Mark Loewen, paleontology research associate at the University of Utah. He can speak to the awesomeness and pitfalls of Jurassic World and illuminate the realities the study of paleontology, a sister field of archaeology.

Archaeologists are constantly looking for materials and evidence of land use to illuminate past human activity. One aspect of archaeological research that has been gaining attention is the evidence of resistance and power among those previously assumed to be powerless. Some have assumed those who were enslaved or indentured were static within those roles. In so assuming, those oppressed peoples were (and are) denied their agency and the gravity of their experiences glazed over. Studies of African Diaspora and ethnographic study have brought forward forgotten histories and experiences that have been neglected in American history. Today we talk with none other than Dr. Terrance Weik, who addresses these particular issues in his book The Archaeology of Antislavery Resistance, and get a better idea of agency, culture, behavior, and ability that is not generally attributed to enslaved or otherwise oppressed peoples.

Past episodes have demonstrated that archaeology overlaps with broader questions of contemporary life. Our recent programs considered the obvious links between archaeology and religion as well as ethics. The question of evolution vs. creationism is an obvious arena in which the human fossil record can be drawn upon to question traditional Judaeo-Christian concepts of our origins. Religion is also not taboo, as archaeological remains of the Biblical period document a material culture consistent with Old and New Testament descriptions but cast doubt on the veracity of specific events and the identities of charismatic figures. Archaeology has also been swept up in political conflicts in a variety of places, scenarios, and venues. Findings have been used in situations ranging from local development conflicts (as a wedge pitting economic vs. preservation interests) to more global venues leading, in extreme cases, to outbreaks of wars and the destruction of cultures and populations.

Herring Run Park is an urban oasis in Northeast Baltimore—375 acres of woodlands that is. This area is of particular interest to us today because some exciting excavations have taken place there. Archaeologists Lisa Kraus and Jason Shellenhamer organized a nine-day dig and uncovered the remnants of an estate owned by Baltimore merchant and politician William Smith. Smith bought the land in 1770 and the manor burned down in 1865. Urban digs are rare, so this project has been particularly exciting. Truly uncovering history close to home...more or less literally in some people’s back yards. Joining the Indy Team today are Dr. Kraus and Mr. Shellenhamer to share their findings and comment on the importance of community archaeology!

Before Europeans arrived on the North American continent, the central Mississippi River Valley formed the core of an extensive prehistoric urban network. Villages and cities flourished in the Midwest and Southeast U.S., extending north to Canada and south to the Gulf of Mexico. The Native Americans built extensive ceremonial and burial mounds that rivaled the cities of the Incas and Aztecs. Their culture, known as the Mississippian, thrived in urban complexes where archaeological research has unearthed the evidence of a complex agrarian society with unique funerary practices and a sophisticated socio-economic structure. Monks Mound rises 70 ft. above the Mississippi River floodplain in East St. Louis, Illinois and stands as a testament to those whose civilization remains as enigmatic as it is monumental. In this episode, we explore the foundations of the Mississippian culture, its rise, florescence and eventual demise in the wake of the Euroamerican conquest of the Americas.

What’s your favorite commodity? Various researchers have explored the impact certain goods have had historically, culturally, economically, socially, religiously etc. Today pull up a chair and stuff your pipe because we are chatting about tobacco and smoking. The Indy Team is joined by three guests Drs. Rafferty, Fox, and Tushingham who have all spent time researching different aspects of tobacco use throughout history and pre-history. Tobacco was used in the America for religious, shamanic, or spiritual purposes. After the European discovery of the Americas, tobacco spread as far as Asia and was used as a trade item. Tracking the use and trade of this particular commodity really can inform our understanding of past (pre-historic and historic) communities and their cultural organization. Inhale this conversation and see how this commodity has shaped our world!

In this week's episode, the Indy Team takes a look at the archaeology of alcohol and its impact on society and culture. We are joined by professor Dr. Frederick H. Smith, who speaks with us about the role of alcohol in the Caribbean and specifically Barbados. In particular, we discuss alcohol's relationship to capitalism and the fostering of colonial agendas, as well as its use as a stimulant by communities and people confronting the anxieties of the a rapidly modernizing world.