That's Old News: Recent Episodes
Laurie & Ben
It's the latest news on the oldest stories. Join two (slightly clueless) fans of history and archaeology for a comical take on the latest news about the past from historical, archaeological and scientific research.
See some fake reviews below!
"There must be someone who likes stuff like this, surely" - Supportive friends and family
"It does a great job of keeping the cats calm when there's fireworks." - Barbara from number 32
"This is the trouble with using shuffle in store, you get stuff like this coming on" - Alan from PC World
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss, the discovery of the oldest salt factory in western Europe, which is nearly 6,000 years old, why sheepskin was the material of choice for making parchment to prevent medieval fraudsters, and how machine learning was applied to australia rock art to see how good computers are at identifying when they were painted. Enjoy!
Links
6000 Year Old Salt Factory
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/31/dig-reveals-6000-year-old-salt-hub-in-north-yorkshire
Australian Rock Art
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/machine-learning-reads-arnhem-land-rock-art/
Sheepskin Parchment
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-sheep-skin-legal-papers-fraud-prevention-parchment
Join Laurie and Ben this week when they discuss the newest fragments found of the dead sea scrolls along with what the dead sea scrolls are and why they’re important.They also discuss the the life of a Mayan ambassador and how his bones show why living as a mayan elite wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Finally if you’ve never heard of the site called the plain of jars in Laos you learn on this episode why you’ll want to give it a google! Enjoy.
Links to stories
The Plain of Jars https://phys.org/news/2021-03-mystery-laos-megalithic-jars.html
Dead Sea Scrolls https://www.archaeology.org/news/9530-210317-israel-dead-sea-scrolls
The live of a Mayan Ambassador https://www.archaeology.org/news/9529-210317-guatemala-maya-lakam
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss new evidence suggesting neanderthals could speak, the latest research on the world's oldest analog computer, the antikythera mechanism, an ancient greek device used to predict planetary movements, and finally, a story of how ancient DNA provided closer for family members of a WW2 New Zealand bomber gunner who was missing in action.
Links
Neanderthal Speech
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210301112358.htm
The Antikythera Mechanism
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/12/scientists-move-closer-to-solving-mystery-of-antikythera-mechanism
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w#Sec12
WW2 Airman
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124416572/remains-of-southland-wwii-gunner-found-after-79-years-in-plane-wreckage-in-germany
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they chat through the earliest dog remains found in the americas and its implications on how the humans first made it to america, a rediscovered conch horn played for the first time in 17,000 years, and the oldest pet cemetery ever found, which cements the importance of our feline friends in our history. Enjoy!
links
17,000 Year Old Conch
https://gizmodo.com/after-17-000-years-a-rediscovered-conch-horn-is-played-1846238951
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267417-listen-to-the-oldest-known-conch-shell-horn-from-18000-years-ago/
Ancient Egyptian Pet Cemetery
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/graves-nearly-600-cats-and-dogs-ancient-egypt-may-be-world-s-oldest-pet-cemetery
Oldest Dog Remains Discovered In America
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/remains-oldest-american-dog-bolster-idea-first-humans-arrived-along-coast
In this weeks special Ben and Laurie are joined by Taryn Bell a researcher from the university of York. Taryn's research focuses on trying to understand the uniquely human trait of having significant emotional connections with objects. Everyone has item which is precious to them for sentimental reasons, but when did this human trait develop, and how can we find these objects in the archaeological record? Join us to find out!
Links
Bell, T. and Spikins, P. (2018). The object of my affection: attachment security and material culture. Time and Mind11(1), 23-39. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1751696X.2018.14333
Join Laurie and Ben this week, as they discuss the recent revelations at Stonehenge which revealed that the blue stones found at Stonehenge were actually part of another stone circle 300 years earlier in wales. Enjoy!
Links
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/16/stonehenge-archaeology-documentary
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they speak about humans ability to judge weigh and it’s impact on early bronze age trade, the discovery of a new cursus on the Isle of Arran that’s reshaping neolithic Scotland, and what we can learn from dental plaque about the earliest milk consumption in Africa. Enjoy!
Hungry for more?
Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every Monday!
Links To The Stories
Bronze Age Jiggling https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210120151015.htm
A Cursus on Arran https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/new-stone-age-discovery-massive-island-ritual-site-3105420
Things You Learn When You Don’t Brush Your Teeth https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20682-3
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss the things people have been finding in their garden during the UK lockdown, new research showing what the Mayans use to smoke and the discovery of the worlds oldest animal cave paintings in Indonesia. Enjoy!
Hungry for more?
stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every monday!
Links to stories
Tudors in the Garden
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/09/tudor-coins-dedicated-to-three-of-henry-viiis-wives-found-in-family-garden
Mayan Marigold https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210115110339.htm
Worlds Oldest Animal Paintings https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264793-worlds-oldest-painting-of-animals-discovered-in-an-indonesian-cave/#:~:text=Stunning%20cave%20paintings%20discovered%20in,the%20Indonesian%20island%20of%20Sulawesi.
(Uploaded Again - Hi folks so fans were experience technical difficulties when listening to the latest episode, so we've uploaded it again. we're also been working with our platform to resolve this issue.)
In this weeks show Laurie and Ben chat through the discovery of thousands of cave paintings recently found in the Amazon, new evidence from Spain suggesting early hominids could have hibernated. And, a new hypothesis suggesting wolves were domesticated due to the excess meat from human hunting activities. Enjoy!
Hungry for more?
Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every other Monday!
In this weeks show Laurie and Ben chat through the discovery of thousands of cave paintings recently found in the Amazon, new evidence from Spain suggesting early hominids could have hibernated. And, a new hypothesis suggesting wolves were domesticated due to the excess meat from human hunting activities. Enjoy!
Hungry for more?
Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every other Monday!
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through how researchers managed to show how snails weren’t used to make the colour purple in Roman Egypt (who knew you could make the colour purple from snails if the first place) and the first ever water powered industrial complex from 2nd Century AD France. Enjoy!
Links
Roman Purple
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201121104311.htm
Roman Watermills
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74900-5
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201113141812.htm
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they look at how Ancestral Puebloans survived by melting ice from lava flumes, the first evidence of an association between the use of Psychedelics and ancient cave art and how a 9,000 year old female skeleton is revolutionizing theories on who did the hunting. Enjoy!
Links
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/woman-hunter-ancient-andean-remains-challenge-old-ideas-who-speared-big-game
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201118080741.htm
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/11/18/2014529117#ref-4
https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2020/11/19/2014529117.DCSupplemental
It’s anthropology week this week, and Ben and Laurie are joined by George Brill, an adventure athlete, wilderness explorer and practical anthropologist. In this episode, George talks about his time living with a small village of Batek hunter-gatherers on the borders of the Malaysian jungle. One of Peninsular Malaysia’s Orang Asli—‘original peoples’, the Batek are famed anthropologically for their peaceful society and gender egalitarianism. They’re also famous climbers which allows George to speak about his other passion, human locomotion, understanding the how and why humans move the way they do. Don't listen if you're afraid of heights!
Interesting in learning more about George?
check out this link - https://www.georgebrill.co.uk/batek-lastoftheforestpeople
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they chat through the earliest example of dairy production in south-central Asia, new evidence revealing how Mayans made their water safe to drink, and an introduction to the Harappans; an ancient society with no emperor, no army but a population bigger than ancient China. Enjoy!
Links
Indus valley dairy production
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72963-y
https://www.archaeology.org/news/9151-201020-indus-valley-dairy
Mayan Water Purification
Introduction to the Harrapans
Join Ben and Laurie this week for another voyage into the past. We discuss the oldest Eurasian balls, how to reconstruct the Mediaeval gut microbiome, and how the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon warlord has shaken up our understanding of post-Roman Britain. Enjoy!
Links
Ancient Leather Balls
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201012103140.htm
Gut Microbiome
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005005927.htm
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2019.0576
Anglo-Saxon Warlord
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005005929.htm
In a different format for this episode, Laurie and Ben are joined by Nik Hochstein Cox. Nik is an archaeological adventurer who’s discussing his latest research at the forgotten WW2 Japanese fortress on the island of Kolombangara in the Solomon islands. Enjoy!
If you want to find out more about Nik's research at Kolombangara check out his site - https://forgottenfortress.com/
This week Laurie and Ben chat through discoveries from the Mediterranean shedding new light on dog domestication, the latest genetic research into the Viking world, and the mysterious bronze age battle of Tollense valley, the largest prehistoric battle in northern Europe. Enjoy!
Links
Dog Domestication
https://www.archaeology.org/news/9021-200911-italy-paleolithic-dogs
http://jacksonvillefreepress.com/but-what-is-that-in-human-years-20000-year-old-remains-of-a-dog-may-be-the-worlds-oldest-pet/
Viking Genetics
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916113544.htm
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/september/viking-dna.html
Battle of Tollense Valley
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2019/10/puzzling-artifact-found-tollense-europe-oldest-battlefield/
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through new discoveries that shed light on how the Bronze Age people of Britain commemorated their dead, new research into the origins of human lactase persistence and the mysterious case of Walrus remains buried with 3 human skulls in a victorian graveyard, enjoy!
Links
Bronze Age Burial Practices
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/01/bronze-age-britons-keepsakes-parts-dead-relatives-archaeologists
Lactase Persistence
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31187-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220311878%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/12031_ENG_HTML.php
Walrus
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08qbzsm/the-walrus-found-in-a-human-grave
Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through, the 3D reconstruction of the now destroyed,Temple of Bel, through tourist pictures and AI. 15,000 year old art found in Jersey, and the Storegga Slide - the mesolithic tsunami that devastated the UK and Norway.
Temple of Bel
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-ancient-temple-virtual-exploration.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34111092
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/palmyra2/ancientpalmyra/a/temple-of-bel-palmyra
Paleolithic Art in Jersey
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/19/engraved-stones-found-on-jersey-an-art-form-of-15000-years-ago
Storegga Slide
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/7/270/htm
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/tsunami-britain-atlantis-6200-bc-archaeology-a9622591.html
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/43/2/111/131755/Moss-growth-patterns-and-timing-of-human-exposure?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Join Laurie and Ben this week where they’re talking through evidence of the world's oldest bed, complete with insect repellents, the latest research into a sunken WW1 german U-boat containing war secrets, and genetic research suggesting Neanderthals might have been more sensitive to pain. Enjoy!
Links To Stories
200,000 Year Old Bed https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/369/6505/863.full.pdf
German U-Boat Secrets
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/ww1-german-submarine-uc47-navy-flamborough-head-yorkshire-north-sea-archaeology-history-a9655336.html
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8906-200806-submarine-north-sea
Neanderthal Pain
https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2820%2930861-7
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723115900.htm
Join Laurie and Ben this week to discover the source of the stones from Stonehenge, new revelations in how early humans reached the Americas and the world's first underwater museum in Greece. Enjoy!
Links
Stonehenge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53580339
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/29/archaeologists-discover-source-stonehenge-giant-sarsen-stones
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/#:~:text=The%20sarsen%20stones%20are%20a,exact%20origin%20remained%20a%20mystery.
Peopling of the Americas
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02137-3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-discovery-americas-us-human-story-prehistory-a9632161.html
Underwater Museum
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/02/parthenon-of-shipwrecks-greece-opens-its-first-underwater-museum
Join Laurie and Ben this week to talk through new research revealing how close high status neolithic families really were, how a eruption in Alaska could have impacted the end of the Roman Republic and the story of a 20th century fraud.
See links to all the stories below
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01655-4?fbclid=IwAR21KB4L349UcLf1B5enMeZMW3rlsmGRU5--1LVYJiy7k_oq7W5CAbphPWI
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/dna-ancient-irish-tomb-reveals-incest-and-elite-class-ruled-early-farmers
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/27/15443
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/alaskan-mega-eruption-may-have-helped-end-roman-republic
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2016/august/piltdown-man-charles-dawson-likely-fraudster.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvIT5BRCqARIsAAwwD-SFvDyhWaezQezut2PBibdO4ZPJrPWQjMQLWUg0rGOnWW22Y8AT5jAaAqx8EALw_wcB
This week, Ben and Laurie discuss new revelations on the domestication of Santa’s preferred transport, the lucky discovery of the oldest 3D art ever found in Asia, and ancient aboriginal stories accurately passed down and over 400 generations - Enjoy!
See the links below
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8798-200615-arctic-reindeer-domestication
https://www.folio.ca/reindeer-were-domesticated-much-earlier-than-previously-thought-new-study-suggests/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told#:~:text=Is%20an%20Aboriginal%20tale%20of%20an,the%20oldest%20story%20ever%20told%3F&text=Long%20ago%2C%20four%20giant%20beings,lava%20the%20volcano%20spat%20out.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200610152006.htm
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233370
Once, twice, three times...with Ben and Laurie. This week they'll be covering evidence of humans hunting & eating predators in the Palaeolithic, the latest research in modelling neanderthal extinction using a super computer, and the discover of the remains of the Irish legend, Red Hugh O'Donnell. Enjoy!
See the links to all the stories Ben and Laurie speak about below:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8713-200522-neanderthal-extinction-scenarios
https://ibsclimate.org/research-news/supercomputer-model-simulations-reveal-cause-of-neanderthal-extinction/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379120302936
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/spanish-archaeologists-recover-bones-in-search-for-remains-of-red-hugh-o-donnell-1.4259973
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/who-was-red-hugh-o-donnell-the-fiery-symbol-of-gaelic-resistance-1.4266919#:~:text=If%20discovered%20intact%2C%20Red%20Hugh's,Castle)%20or%20fractures%2C%20possibility%20associated
Back by no demand, it's episode 2. In this episode Laurie and Ben chat through the latest ancient DNA research shedding new light on how the Americas were populated, 15,000 years of earache, and the discovery of a 7th century English saint with the best miracles you've never heard of.
Show Links:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8709-200521-native-american-ancestorhttps://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/oldest-cousin-native-americans-found-russia#https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30502-X.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS009286742030502X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-archaeology-of-ear-infections-shows-farming-didn-t-ruin-our-health-1.8860082
That's right, it's our first ever episode! We'll cover, how lasers are helping us discover hundreds of new prehistoric sites, early human migration into Europe, and what you can learn from hundreds of 12,000-year-old footprints.
Want to know more? See the links to the stories below:
https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/05/dozens-of-prehistoric-roman-and.html
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8698-200515-tanzania-footprints-trackway
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64095-0
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52614870