The Dirt Podcast

Jul 06 2024 271 ep. 56 mins 831
The Dirt Podcast artwork

Join Anna and Amber; friends, archaeologists, and big nerds, for an exploration of the lives of people in the past.

  Education  Science
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It Didn't Come From No Monkey: The Taung Child

Jul 06 2024 18 mins  
After a curious coincidence in 1924, the world's weirdest paperweight was revealed to be the fossilized remains of one of our earliest ancestors.To learn more about today's topic, check out:Lee R. Berger, & Ronald J. Clarke. (1996). The load of the Taung child. Nature, 379(6568), 778-779.Berger, L.R., Clarke, R.J., 1995. Eagle involvement of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Hu

Welcome to The Dirt!

Jul 06 2024 22 mins  
In 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."

Get to Work!

May 07 2024 58 mins  
Greetings, fellow workers! In observance of May Day, which in many parts of the world is a day for celebrating and acknowledging the struggles of workers in the labor movement. In that spirit, we bring you an episode about work.How do we define "jobs" in the archaeological record? What can skeletons tell us about what people did every day? What was it like to be a monument worker i

Greetings from the Anthropocene (Part 2)!

Apr 23 2024 67 mins  
It's time for part 2 of our exploration of the Anthropocene -- a period of time that has very wobbly boundaries and probably doesn't even exist? Can we define a chunk of geological time based on human impacts? People sure have tried! To learn more about what we cover in both parts, check out:Geologists Vote to Reject Anthropocene as an Official Epoch (Center for Field Sciences)Anth

Greetings From the Anthropocene!

Apr 09 2024 40 mins  
Get ready for a two-part exploration of the proposed "Anthropocene" era. Can we define a chunk of geological time based on human impacts? When would that start--at the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s (CE)? Earlier? Later? More importantly...should we even try? Plus, we learn about industrial archaeology and get briefly derailed by a man named Frerb Hankbert. Make sure to stay tu

Total Eclipse of The Dirt

Mar 26 2024 68 mins  
Turn around, bright eyes! In anticipation of the Great North American eclipse coming up on Monday, April 8, 2024, we're scooting in front of this topic like the moon in front of the sun. We're looking at some of the earliest record-keeping of solar eclipses, some eclipse history (eclipstory!) and some mythology and cosmology around the phenomenon. Plus...a truly delightful fact abo

Premium Feed TEASER! Tools and Fire: Not Just For Humans

Mar 23 2024 7 mins  
A few select tidbits from the most recent episode on our premium feed. Support The Dirt and help us continue to make episodes! Subscribe to our back catalog of bonus content (fresh helpings coming January 2024) for $5 a month after a one-week free trial at: https://the-dirt-podcast.captivate.fm/support

Extremely Specific Hats

Mar 06 2024 46 mins  
We're back! Hi! Sorry for the unplanned hiatus--we missed you, too. This week, we've got a delightful sponsored episode featuring the most specific and niche topic we've ever covered. It's hats! 18th-century naval knit hats recovered from shipwrecks! See? Extremely specific. But FASCINATING! We get into the knitty gritty (HA) and also talk about fabric conservation, a smidge of und

New Olds : 5 Recent Archaeological Discoveries

Feb 06 2024 60 mins  
Anna walks Amber through a sampler platter of recent archaeological news stories. We talk about inner ears and gibbon arms, chromosomes galore, Medieval dogs, the Ishtar gate of Babylon, ancient hunter-gatherer poop, and more! We need your support!!Help us keep the show going by subscribing to our premium feed for just $5/month after a 7-day free trial! Your generous support lets u

Human Evolution 101 (Part 1)

Jan 16 2024 67 mins  
We probably should have done this about 200 episodes ago, but it's time to lay down the (very very) basics of the evolution of the genus Homo. First of all, how does evolution work? Who were our ancestors, where did they live and when, and how did these populations adapt and branch into different species over time? This is part one of Anna's crash course on early humans, with a sec