Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality And 21st Century Archaeology

In this episode we explore the role of archaeology in climate science, examining contemporary and ancient climate change. Our guests, Assistant Professor Dr. John Marston at Boston University’s Department of Archaeology and the Director of the BU Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, and Dr. Catherine West, Research Assistant Professor and the Director of the BU Zooarchaeology Lab, join Dr. Schuldenrein to discuss their cutting-edge research and methodologies. Pertinent and illuminating, Drs. Marston, West and Schuldenrein explore archaeology’s value to climate science and the affect contemporary climate change is having on archaeological sites, funding and research. Join in and learn more about fascinating conclusions being wrought from the study of human adaptation to climate and environmental change over time.

What do we really know about the Vikings? In this episode, Dr. Steve Ashby, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, discusses his fascinating research into the archaeology of everyday life in Viking-Age England, Scotland and Scandinavia. Dr. Ashby’s research on everyday hair combs found in many urban Viking-age sites illuminates details about social identity, craft, and trade heretofore poorly understood. Join in as Dr. Ashby explains his novel approach to artefact studies, using scientific and biomolecular techniques to help answer larger cultural and economic questions, including the date of the first contact between Scandinavia and the British Isles, the social drivers behind Viking raids, and the role of food culture in building identity groups. Join in as Drs. Schuldenrein and Ashby investigate the everyday objects that help to elucidate a people and a bygone age.

Archaeologist and museologist Dr. Asma Ibrahim joins the program to discuss the state of archaeology and heritage preservation in Pakistan. As one of the only female archaeologists operating in Pakistan, Dr. Ibrahim discusses her career path and the hardships she has had to overcome in pursuit of her goals. Though her work and research has spanned the globe, she has dedicated much of her professional life to advancing the preservation efforts of archaeological sites and traditional arts and crafts in Pakistan. She is the director and founding member of the Centre for Archaeological and Environmental Research and has carried out extensive research at various sites in the Indus Delta Area in Pakistan. Currently, she is serving as the Director of the State Bank Museum & Art Gallery Department in Karachi, Pakistan, a museum she helped create. Join the conversation to learn about this accomplished and inspiring archaeologist.

The prevalence of pipeline projects in CRM is bringing archaeologists into increasing contact with the material remains of industry and technology. However, as a field of inquiry, industrial archaeology is woefully understudied and underappreciated. In this episode, Dr. Timothy J. Scarlett of the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology Program at Michigan Technological University -- one of the only programs of its kind in the US – joins the program to discuss the current state of industrial archaeology. Inherently multi-disciplinary, industrial archaeology is noted for its ability to frame identity in both global and local contexts. The study and preservation of the industrial past links workers and their communities to the capitalist system, while at the same time grappling with individual adaptations largely absent from documentary record. Listen in as Drs. Schuldenrein and Scarlett discuss the necessity of industrial archaeological research to our evolving understanding of the past.

The Town of New Philadelphia, Illinois was founded by ex-slave Frank McWorter in 1836, making it the first town legally registered by an African American in the US. Frank and his wife Lucy bought, worked and sold acres of land to help raise the enormous sums needed to purchase the freedom of family members. Since 2002, excavations and public archaeology programs have helped to resurrect the story of New Philadelphia, implicating America’s fraught racial past and giving voice to African American actors largely absent from official histories. Currently, The National Park Service is conducting a special resource study to evaluate the site’s national significance and the feasibility of adding it a national park system slim on African American sites. Dr. Schuldenrein is joined in conversation by Dr. Christopher Fennell, Tara Pettit and Tokey Boswell to discuss the site and the NPS special resource study.

Joining Dr. Schuldenrein in this week's episode is award-winning author and George Washington University Classics and Anthropology professor Eric H. Cline. Specializing in biblical archaeology and the Mediterranean world of the Late Bronze Age (1700-1100 BC), Dr. Cline discusses his recent book, “1177: The Year Civilization Collapsed” and his current research as co-director of the Tel Kabri project in Israel. Drs. Schuldenrein and Cline journey back into the world of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, resurrecting the Egyptian, Minoan, Mycenaean and Babylonian civilizations, among others, to provide the context for one of the world’s first catastrophic collapses. Improving upon the prevailing Sea People invasion theory popularized in the late-19th century, Dr. Cline provides ample archaeological and textual evidence for a multi-causal explanation. Listen in to discover what events lead to the collapse and what happened to the Mediterranean world in the ensuing centuries.

Everything you have ever wanted to know about Southeastern archaeology, but were too afraid to ask. Dr. David G. Anderson, a practitioner and academic with decades of experience in the Southeastern US and Caribbean, talks with Dr. Joe Schuldenrein about current research, new methodologies, and recent advances in the archaeology of the southeastern United States. Using synergistic approaches to archaeological research and collaborative digital resources, Dr. Anderson explores the development of cultural complexity in Eastern North America, climate change and its effect on human society, and other important topics. Importantly, the application of Dr. Anderson’s methodologies to the broader discipline allows practitioners to synthesize data in real time, enhancing the construction of regional archaeological timelines and our understanding of North America’s past. Listen in as Drs. Schuldenrein and Anderson discuss the fascinating history of the Southeastern US and its archaeology.

In 2016, the Buffalo Trace Distillery hired Kentucky archaeologist Nicolas Laracuente to lead an excavation of the remains of a late-19th century production facility buried and long forgotten underneath the floor of the active distillery. Dubbed the “Bourbon Pompeii,” these largely intact structural remains offer a unique glimpse into the heritage and history of bourbon production in Kentucky. Laracuente, in addition to his official job with the Kentucky Heritage Council, volunteers much of his time to the Jack Jouett Archaeology Project-a public archaeology and oral history program- and to excavations of farm and abandoned distilleries around the state. Emphasizing the importance of tailoring research to regional interests and history, Laracuente’s work provides a template for the efficacy of archaeology to local communities. Listen in as Dr. Schuldenrein and Laracuente discuss Bourbon Pompeii and Laracuente’s extracurricular work as the self-styled Bourbon Archaeologist.

The world’s largest organization dedicated to the archaeology of the modern world turns 50 in 2017. Join us as Dr. Schuldenrein talks with Society for Historical Archaeology President Dr. JW Joseph about the importance, history and future of the SHA. In a reflection of the value of professional organizations like the SHA to the discipline, Dr. Joseph provides a necessary critique of archaeology’s relationship with African-American history, research and descendant communities. In particular, he offers a mandate for practitioners to uphold our unique position as stewards of all American pasts and to reaffirm our commitment to protect and herald histories of the disenfranchised. Listen in as Dr. Schuldenrein and Dr. Joseph discuss African-American archaeology as well as public interest in African-American sites and the issues involved in trying to create a new NPS park.

In the lead up to the presidential inauguration on Jan 20, 2017, Dr. Joe Schuldenrein and special guest Dr. Kimball Banks explore the role the federal government plays in archaeological compliance and legislation. Starting with the Antiquities Act of 1906, the US government has been in the business of enacting legislation aimed at protecting America’s cultural and archaeological heritage. But how does it work? What are the various agencies that regulate projects in the US and how do they operate? With 26 years of experience working as a federal archaeologist in a variety or agencies and positions, Dr. Banks offers his expertise in negotiating this complicated and oftentimes confusing bureaucratic landscape.

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 drastically changed archaeology by creating new and novel ways of building a career. Where once the blueprint of success was rooted in academia, now archaeologists are employed in a variety of jobs in applied anthropology and cultural resource management. Instructive for students and professionals alike, Dr. Joe Schuldenrein and frequent contributor Dr. Stanton Green discuss changes in career paths, job opportunities, funding and educational training in archaeology over the past 50 years. Perhaps most importantly, Drs. Schuldenrein and Green assess the efficacy of current teaching methods in graduate programs, asking if academia is providing sufficient training for today’s archaeologists.

A special episode devoted to the Dakota Access Pipeline. The DAPL, Energy Transfer Partners 1,170 mile pipeline traversing parts of North and South Dakota, threatens water sources and culturally significant sites in and around the Standing Rock Reservation. Protests over the placement of the pipeline through tribal land is but the most recent episode in almost 200 years of strife between the Great Sioux Nation, or Oceti Sakonwin, and the US government regarding native sovereignty and rights. Dr. Schuldenrein, in conversation with archaeologist Dr. Thomas F. King, discusses archaeology's role in the DAPL and larger issues surrounding historic preservation's relationship to native groups and their cultural interests. Dr. King has over 50 years of experience in federal and CRM archaeology and his firm, Thomas F King, PhD, regularly consults with native and local communities. Join in as Drs. Schuldenrein and King assess archaeology in Native America.

The 2016 presidential election and the Dakota Access Pipeline are two key issues facing American archaeology today. Join Dr Schuldenrein as he explores how the Trump administration and a republican controlled congress may impact archaeology and historic preservation, including threats to federal legislation. Currently, cultural and environmental protections are at the forefront of the protests levied by the Standing Rock Sioux and their advocates against the Dakota Access Pipeline, Energy Transfer Partner’s 1,172-mile crude oil pipeline threatening water quality and native sites in the Dakotas. Though the recent easement denial order by the Army Corp of Engineers has successfully halted construction of the DAPL for the time being, Trump’s alleged infrastructure plan may again force the issue come January. Listen in as Dr. Schuldenrein takes on archaeology’s role in the DAPL controversy and what we can expect to happen to the pipeline in 2017.

Almost 900 hundred years ago, hundreds gathered at North America’s only city, Cahokia, to take part in a funeral. As the crowds gathered, two bodies were carefully prepared and laid to rest on top of a cloak, while dozens of ritual human sacrifices were arranged in surrounding pits. Finding the remains in 1960 revolutionized archaeologists’ understanding of Native American groups, but current research carried out by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey has transformed our understanding of this major urban center. Join us as we talk with Tom Emerson, Kristin Hedman, and Eve Hargrave about their recent research on these burials, and how it has dramatically altered our understanding of the roles of class and gender in early Native American groups. We’ll be discussing who was buried in the mounds, where they came from, the evidence for increasingly violent ritual burials, and what this tells us about the power and downfall of North America’s largest pre-European center.

As excavators carefully brushed away the dirt, the eyes of Alexander the Great stared back at them unblinking. For many archaeologists it would have been the find of a lifetime, but by 2015 Dr. Jodi Magness and her team were used to finding unexpected. Since 2012 their team has returned to the site of Huqoq, unearthing an unexpected cultural fusion of Biblical and Classical figures and stories. Most surprising has been the finds at the heart of the site’s spiritual center. Excavations in the synagogue have revealed a number of stunning mosaics that extraordinarily depict mythical and historical figures among the religious scenes. Join us tonight at 6 PM EST as we talk with Dr. Magness about the latest finds from the site of Huqoq, and discover a site where archaeology and apocrypha converge.

When asked to be a judge on 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty Dr. Todd Disotell said yes. Cryptozoology—the search for animals that may not exist, such as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster—isn’t one of his key research interests, but TV appearances enable him to talk about science in front of a huge audience. Working on the show also forced him to create new methods. Because the Bigfoot show was filmed at remote campsites, Disotell had to develop a portable DNA lab and figure out the best way to quickly analyze a high volume of samples. “It led to a technique we had never done before called environmental DNA sampling,” he says. Join us tonight as we talk with Dr. Disotell about his work with DNA, the quest for Bigfoot,and what it can tell us about ourselves!'

It’s an election year in the U.S. and many are anxiously wondering what November will bring. While the presidential race is in full swing (or sling—and you thought OUR jobs were dirty!) archaeologists, like the rest of the nation, are wondering whether the new president will REPresent their values or DEMonstrate a commitment to their goals. The past is a hot topic in the political realm right now: even as archaeology, along with other science, funding has been systematically cut and undermined by proposed legislation, representatives from both sides are calling upon visions of the past to inspire and influence the voters. Join us tonight as Dr. Schuldenrein discusses whether the current political climate can Make Archaeology Great Again or if the future will trump the past. And May the Odds Be Ever in Our Favor.

One of the key issues in the debate of Evolution vs. Creationism centers on antiquity of events and the ability to determine them without “reasonable doubt”. Over the past half century plus, and especially in the last 20 years archaeological science has established and trial tested numerous dating techniques with various degrees of success. Dating is absolute, meaning it can be measured accurately and precisely or relative, that is linked to events in a comparative sense. The former is scientific by any measure, while the latter is based on logic and reason, yet still very reliable and scientific. For absolute dates, the older techniques (pardon the pun) have been through numerous trials and have been perfected to a large degree. New techniques are emerging and are fine tuned by specialists every day. Today’s episode reviews some of these techniques and asks the listener to judge if they are compelling or not.

Science and religion are often at ideological loggerheads concerning natural and human history. In this episode, Dr. Schuldenrein argues that archaeology is uniquely able to provide a bridge between traditional biblical understandings of the creation of the world and scientific theory and data. Using personal experience as an archaeologist in the Holy Land, Dr. Schuldenrein examines some of his most influential projects to demonstrate the remarkable way archaeology can illuminate the historical and scientific foundation for many of the bible’s stories. Was there an actual flooding event that archaeologists can isolate that corresponds to the story of Noah’s Arc? What other events might be present in the archaeological record? Join in as Dr. Schuldenrein appeals to people on both sides of the ideological spectrum, providing a middle ground where science and religion intersect.