Shows
This Week in the Ancient Near EastDiving into the Mikvah at Ostia, Or, When is a Pool Not a Pool?The discovery of a mikvah or Jewish ritual bath in a house at Ostia Antica, the port of Rome, shows that Jews brought their practices wherever they went. After all, a ritual bath leaves you spiritually clean on the inside and a dip leaves you refreshed on the outside. But the Romans and Christians were also crazy about the water, so whose influence is washing over whom?
2025-06-0937 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastBeads, Bangles, and Bowls in Iron Age Judah, Or, Tchotckes Make the Man (and Woman)New research on Iron Age Judah has us asking questions, specifically about tchotckes. Just how elite does having an alabaster bowl make you as opposed to say, a bead? How about after you were pummeled by Assyrians? What was flair in the Iron Age anyway? Was fifteen the minimum? Brian, for example, has thirty seven pieces of flair, okay. And a terrific smile.
2025-05-2638 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastGetting Blood From a Stone (Arrowhead), Or, Waging Peace, Unsuccessfully, in the Neolithic?A new study of Neolithic arrowheads from the Negev shows they had human as well as animal residues on them. Like human blood and guts residue, not, oh I got a tiny little nick residue. Peaceful hunter-gatherers, amirite?
2025-05-1237 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastFinally, Some Evidence of the Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo, or, How to Excavate in the One Tiny Spot on Your Site That’s Sort of Undisturbed and Find Cool ThingsThe Pharaoh Necho has finally turned up at Megiddo (well, his guys have), which isn’t so surprising since the Bible says he killed King Josiah there. But this raises questions like, do pots equal peoples? Why did so many Greeks become mercenaries? And why did Judean kings make so many bad decisions? With a shoutout to our late friend and mentor Doug Esse!
2025-04-2846 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastNew Excavations in the Church at the Navel of the World, or, How to Dig in Jerusalem Without Things Blowing Up (Again)The new excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have us asking questions. What’s it like digging in the holiest place in the Christian world? Is it as stressful as it sounds? How many phases could there be in a 1700 year old building anyway? And was the Crusaders’ North Atlantic cod fresh or frozen?
2025-04-1437 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Case of the Late Iron Age Building in the Middle of the Desert Filled With Dead Young Women Probably Going to Yemen for Unclear and Possibly Unsavory Reasons, or Worst Vacation Ever?A late Iron Age building in the Negev Desert has us asking questions. Why is it filled with dead young women? Who were they and what were their connections with Yemen? Why don’t we call it The Yemen any more? And what does frankincense really smell like anyway?
2025-03-3134 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHezekiah Gets His Grooves Off, Or, Cult Consolidator or Cost Cutter?Newly published excavations of cultic rooms cut into the living rock of the City of David have us asking questions. Why are there big grooves cut in the floor? Who was crushing olives and/or grapes and for what? Why was the standing stone so skinny? And why did Hezekiah put this funky little place out of business? Spring cleaning or something else?
2025-03-1739 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastCarbs, The Lower Paleolithic Breakfast of Champions, Or, Pass the Acorns and Water Lillies, PleaseNew research shows that prehumans collected and prepared carb heavy foods around 780,000 years ago. So who says that processed foods are bad for you? After all, it made their brains bigger. With a shoutout to everyone’s favorite starch, the potato!
2025-03-0337 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Case of the Very Long Roman Legal Papyrus from the Judean Desert, Or, Do You Really Have to Pay Sales Tax on Slaves?The publication of a really long Roman legal document from the Judean Desert has us wondering about crime. Is changing a location on a contract really forgery? How about a little light counterfeiting of silver coins? Ok fine, but there’s sales tax on slaves? That makes all this even worse.
2025-02-1739 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Mysterious Giant Astronomical Observatory of Stone That Wasn't, or Rujm el-Hiri and the Spirit in the SkyYou know that giant prehistoric stone circle on the Golan Heights, Rujm el Hiri? Yeah, its not really aligned with the sun and stars and isn't the only big stone thing up there. So what is it? Beats us, but never underestimate the human need to get other people to pile up stones. And really, aren't we all aligned with the sun and stars?
2025-02-0340 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Art of Cursing Your Rivals in Ancient Athens, Or, How to Say #$@#!&! in GreekIn 4th and 3rd century BCE Athens lead curse tablets were snuck into cemeteries so the dead could take the messages to the underworld. Asking the departed to help put a hit on a business or romantic rival seems like a lot of responsibility. Pretty good business if you were a living sorcerer though.
2025-01-2039 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Early Alphabet (™) in Third Millennium Syria? Or, Spelling it Out, Lightly Baked EditionSome lightly baked clay cylinders from a late third millennium tomb in Syria have alphabetic markings. They’ve got us thinking. Does this mean -the- alphabet originated hundreds of years earlier than we thought? What is -the- alphabet anyway? Why did we think we understood any of this? Who, in fact, is lightly baked in this scenario?
2025-01-0654 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastBetween Death and Taxes in the 8th Century BCE, or Hezekiah’s Beltway PoliticsAn excavation in southern Jerusalem revealed a tax office belonging to Hezekiah. This raises a question, was Jerusalem really a capitol district and not just a city? A more pressing question, however, is why Hezekiah thought rebelling against the Assyrians was a good idea in the first place.
2024-12-2341 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Mesopotamian Map of Mystery, Or, From Babylon to the Boondocks and Back Again, HopefullyA wonderful newish video about the famous 6th century Babylonian tablet showing a map of the world has us thinking. Sure, there are a bunch of Mesopotamian field and building plans, more of a zoning and taxes thing, but why aren’t there more maps? Maybe they knew that no matter where you go, there you are.
See the video here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUxFzh8r384
2024-12-0939 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHow to Go from Spindle Whorls to Wagon Wheels in Just 6,000 Years, or Rotational Energy and the Wheel of DestinyNew studies on the origins of the wheel have us wondering, why did it take thousands of years to go from 10th millennium BCE spindle whorls in Israel to 4th millennium BCE wheels in the Carpathian mountains, were rollers and copper mining really involved, and how much rotational energy is really provided courtesy of Fred Flintstone’s two feet?
2024-11-2540 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastReading Eclipses for Fun and Profit, or from Divine Intervention to Priestly Protection Racket in the Old Babylonian PeriodSome Old Babylonian tablets warn about lunar eclipses and their dire consequences. Drought! Famine! Lions! Surprisingly, the priests had rituals to prevent those consequences. Wait, you don’t seem surprised. With a shoutout to Madame Marie, seer of the Jersey Shore!
2024-11-1139 min
This Week in the Ancient Near East(How) Long Reign Hezekiah, or A 100th Episode for the Ages!For our momentous 100th episode we’re talking about the age old question, does chronology matter? A bunch of tiny seal impressions seem to have solved the question of when our old friend Hezekiah reigned. Though definitely stolen, they might even be real, probably. Maybe. So we’ve got big problems of reality and morality going for us, which is something.
2024-10-2843 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Neolithic Shaman Girl from Çemka Höyük, or Terrapin Station in the Tenth MillenniumA Neolithic shaman burial at Çemka Höyük in southeastern Turkey? Why not! Somebody had to be a guide to the spirit world. But why are they always buried with tortoises? Aurochs, sure, weasels, um, ok. Our contestants are stumped and offer wild speculations. So business as usual.
2024-10-1440 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHow to Dye a Fabric in the Middle Bronze Age, Or, See, I Told You Those Gross Little Bugs Were Good For SomethingA red dyed textile from a Middle Bronze Age cave in the Judean Desert has us wondering, sure, boiled squished insects are colorful, but how did they go from, eww, gross, to, hey maybe I could dye some fabric with them and make myself pop? With psychologically revealing ruminations on our contestants’ favorite colors!
2024-09-3038 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Tale of the Egyptian Scribes and their Bad Knees, Or, If You Can Build a Pyramid You Can Build a TableOld Kingdom scribes kneeled or sat on the floor so their knees, backs and hips were as screwed up as ours. But did they have a trusted firm of personal injury lawyers pushing through the red tape to get them the Worker’s Comp benefits they were owed? Let’s hope so.
2024-09-1629 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Deepwater - Like Really Really Deep- Late Bronze Age Shipwreck or, Down to the Sea in Sunken Canaanite ShipsA Late Bronze Age shipwreck 90 kilometers off the coast of Israel has us asking, what were they doing way out there and if your ship sinks, how do you make an insurance claim without texts? Anyway, why are there are no Canaanite sea shanties? No, really.
2024-09-0231 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHorsing Around the Ancient Near East in the Third Millennium BCE, Or, Let Me Get You Off of That Kunga and onto a Brand New Palomino!New evidence suggests horses were domesticated over a thousand years later than previously thought, around 2200 BCE, which would mean they caught on pretty fast with wealthy Near Easterners. Still, who wouldn't love a pony? Who wouldn't love a person that had a pony? With touching childhood memories of horsemanship!
2024-08-1945 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Waxy Buildup at Iron Age Horvat Tevet, Or, Does This Beeswax Make me Look Canaanite or Israelite?Horvat Tevet was a village in the early Iron Age Galilee. Caananite, Israelite, who knows? They liked beeswax though. Make of that what you will. With a shoutout to The Bangles and a completely incongruent Lightning Round!
2024-08-0548 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastWelcome to Çatalhöyük, Population ? Or, Does Size Matter, Neolithic EditionToday we’re talking about research suggesting Çatalhöyük was way less populous than once thought, like, hundreds and not thousands of people. How many people does it take to get stuff done anyway, and what’s up with all the frescoes and cow heads? Come for the Neolithic, suffer through a deep dive with Patrick McGoohan, Mayberry, and Lake Wobegone!
2024-07-2253 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Case of the Missing Branch of the Nile That Everyone Sort of Knew Had to be There Right Next to the Pyramids, or, You Can See a Lot of Cool Stuff from Space or Maybe With a Really Tall LadderNew research shows that a long vanished branch of the Nile came right up to the pyramids at Giza, which made it easier to make deliveries. You’d think someone would have noticed that a branch of the river vanished but what do we know. Maybe it was one of those slowly, then all at once situations.
2024-07-0833 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastAnd Now Even Iron Age Jerusalem Gets Radiocarbonated! Or, Hezekiah Climbs the Hallstadt PlateauA new collection of radiocarbon dates from Jerusalem has clarified the westward expansion of the city in the Iron Age and helped archaeologists overcome the Hallstadt Plateau. You know, that dull and listless part of the radiocarbon curve? So why are we arguing so much? It’s a regular three ring circus, but with a shoutout to the real king of Jerusalem, B.B. King!
2024-06-2452 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastFor Fuller, Redder Bronze Age Lips, or, It's That Lipstick from IranThis week we’re talking about the discovery in Iran of a carved stone tube containing glittery red lipstick. Was it for women or men? Was it for fancy people or regular folks? Was it garish or tasteful? Who are we to judge? One way or another, pop is the word of the day!
2024-06-1040 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Tale of Two Cities, Which Happen to be from the Hellenistic Period and are Located on the Euphrates River Only a Few Miles from Each Other, or, Dura Europos and its One SisterToday we’re talking about the possibility that the famous site of Dura Europos – you know, the giant Hellenistic multicultural walled city with a synagogue, church and temples etc., had a twin, just six kilometers down the Euphrates River. A twin in Bucks County, Pennsylvania would be more surprising but you take what you can get.
2024-05-2747 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThat Sunny Little Temple at Tel Azekah, or, The Temple’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear ShadesThe Late Bronze Age temple at Tell Azekah in the Judean Shephelah has us wondering, why does it face the sun, why is it so small, how often was it used, and how could you possibly have a wedding there? Not that we’re looking for a place, mind you. With an obvious and well deserved shoutout to Timbuk 3!
2024-05-1350 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Love Call of the De-Extincted Mammoth, or, Ethics in Paleo-genomic Research (for Fun and Profit)Today we’re talking about efforts to recreate woolly mammoths, apparently in order to 1) combat climate change, 2) cure cancer, and 3) re-wild the tundra. Our first reactions are, what? But our second reactions are a deep dive into the ethics of paleo-genomic research. Finally, there’s a shoutout to everyone’s favorite giant armadillo tank, Tarkus, and a rare reference to Tasha Yar. So there’s something for everyone.
2024-04-2937 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Case of the Roman Medical Instruments from Southwest Turkey, Or, The Doctor Will See What’s Left of You NowA Roman medical office in southwestern Turkey has us talking medicine. Were the same instruments used for cataracts and hemorrhoids? What kind of insurance did gladiators have anyway? Our contestants are concerned about sanitary conditions, however. With an inevitable shoutout to Theodoric, Barber of York.
2024-04-1537 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHow to Get a Good Night’s Sleep in Antiquity, or Sleeping with the Television on in the Ancient Near East?What was sleep like in antiquity and was it really that different from today? Aside from all the sheep next to you, the guy knapping flint at midnight, and having to climb a ladder and run across the rooftops in order to go to the bathroom, that is.
2024-04-0144 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastRemember That Time When Alexander the Great Became Ningirsu? Or, Naming Rights in MesopotamiaA temple dedicated to Alexander the Great at the Mesopotamian site of Girsu has us asking questions. Was this the meta-crossover event of the century or just some guys in an office making some plaques for a foreign chump passing through? Our contestants disagree but give a special shoutout to Molly Pitcher, heroine of the New Jersey Turnpike!
2024-03-1843 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHow to Decorate a Philistine Temple, or, Flower Power Tell es Safi StylePlant remains from the Philistine temples at Tell es Safi (aka Gat) have us asking questions. Sure they’re lovely seasonal items but were they tastefully displayed? How about those strong parallels in Greece? And for the very first time the listener stops by with an unexpected tale of a visit to tunnels beneath Nineveh, newly liberated from ISIS!
2024-03-0452 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastDog Days of Domestication, or, Humans and Canines from Prehistory to the PresentToday we’re talking about what it means when dogs wags their tails, and then working backward about 15,000 years to the question of their domestication. Sure dogs help, herd and guard us humans, but in the process did they help us learn to love? If Scooby and Shaggy are any indication, then the answer is clear. With a special shoutout to Tucker, ace goldendoodle of the Upper West Side!
2024-02-1947 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHello Assyriological Computer, Or, Artificial Intelligence and the Ancient Near East?The growing ability of Artificial Intelligence to transliterate and translate Mesopotamian texts has us asking questions. Will AI be a force for good, putting texts into the hands of the people or will it throw folks out of work and let charlatans push out nonsense? You're asking us? Anyway, as a bonus, our contestants offer touching memories of their first encounters with Assyriologists!
2024-02-0538 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastListening to Ancient Greek Sanctuaries, Or, The Past Was a Noisy CountryPsychoacoustic search at the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Lycaion shows that the builders constructed an entire site around sound. You could hear everything from the cheap seats, but was the experience really social rather than acoustic? With special shoutouts to The Who, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Boston area favorite, Human Sexual Response!
2024-01-2244 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Neolithic Canoes of Capri, Or, Have Obsidian, Will Travel?Like most people, the find of an obsidian core on the seafloor off Capri has us asking, how did a chunk of the Neolithic period’s favorite shiny stone get to the bottom of the Mediterranean and, was a sunken canoe involved? After answering “who knows,” our (non-sailing) contestants are left to ponder the bravery of those who sailed in the Neolithic and ask, was it such a big deal?
2024-01-0829 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIron Age Gezer gets Radiocarbonated, or, From Archaeology to Text, to Text, and Back Again to, Wait, What?In our triumphant return we’re laser focused on new radiocarbon dates from destructions at Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Gezer in Israel. These destructions might be the doing of better dated Egyptian kings like Merneptah, and could link back to events described in the Bible. So not really like a laser, more bouncing around like a ping pong ball.
2023-12-2540 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Note to Our ListenerThis Week in the Ancient Near East is taking a short break while one member of our plucky band recovers from a nasty illness. We’ll be back soon with all new episodes and the same old schtick!
2023-10-0400 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Prehistoric Spanish Cave of Drugs, Death and Fun! Or, the Clan of the Cave Hair?A burial cave on the Western Mediterranean island of Minorca dating to 1000 BCE contained 200 individuals and wooden boxes of dyed human hairs. The hairs were full of drugs, which leads our contestants to ask just what kind of parties were going on down there and why we weren’t invited. A few flashbacks to the 1970s result.
2023-09-1343 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Toilets of Iron Age Jerusalem, A View from Below, or, Dysentery and the Bible?Excavation of Iron Age cesspits in Jerusalem has us thinking many things. These include 1) wow, they actually recovered protozoa that caused dysentery, how’d they do that, and, 2) umm, Jerusalem elites were really unhealthy. Our contestants try to keep the juvenile humor to a minimum.
2023-08-3045 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Copper Age Princess of Iberia? Or, I Want to Live With A Cinnabar GirlA new article suggests that an elite Copper Age burial in southern Spain belonged to a young woman, not a man, and that society was a matriarchy. Our contestants are a little conflicted about reconstructing society starting with a single tooth, but it sounds a bit like Barbie Land, which is cool with us.
2023-08-1641 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Late Roman Cave of Necromancy and Intrigue, or, A Backdoor to the Underworld in Beth Shemesh?A cave near Beth Shemesh in Israel seems to have been a Late Roman portal to the underworld. How do we know? Did the detached skulls tell us? Our contestants take pro and anti-necromancy stances, but in a good way.
2023-08-0242 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Bird Calls of Prehistory, or the Squeaky Flutes of the NatufianA new report on Natufian aerophones from Eynan-Mallaha has us wondering, what’s an aerophone? It’s a bone with holes, sort of like a flute or a bird call. So are humans replicating bird sounds to catch birds or to make music? Is all this ritual or is it just hunting? All the same, really, isn't it?
2023-07-1954 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Stone Receipts of Early Roman Jerusalem, or, Economic History on the RocksA new inscription from Jerusalem’s Pilgrim’s Road looks like a receipt from the Early Roman period. It’s also on a piece of stone, which seems difficult to file. We’ve got Emily Dickinson and emojis, religious observance, and the suspicious relationship between writing and literacy. With a special shoutout to Major Deegan and his expressway!
2023-07-0452 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Dismembered Hands of Avaris, or How Do You Say “The Sound of One Hand Clapping” in Egyptian?Pits with dismembered hands at the Hyksos site of Tell el Dab’a/Avaris have us asking, what is it with ancient Egypt and dismemberment? Sure the king wants to permanently defeat his enemies – really, who doesn’t want that - but isn’t all this hand chopping business just, well, performance art? It’s our most hands on episode yet!
2023-06-2056 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastWhat Pairs Well with Extreme Desert Conditions? or New Evidence for Wine in the Late Antique NegevThe discovery of grapes pips at Late Antique Avdat in the northern Negev has us asking questions, like who makes wine in the desert anyway, and how do you get the wine from the desert to the people? Is this a story of wine fancying monks or Breaking Bad style middlemen? Pour a glass and settle in with our contestants!
2023-06-0655 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIron Age Religion East of the Jordan, Or, Ammon, Moab, and Edom Have Entered the Chat.A new report on Iron Age temples in Jordan has us puzzled. How different are the cults to national gods and their shrines on both sides of the Jordan River, you know, really? And if a Moabite walked into a Judean bar, would you know? Watch us go from a very small building to huge questions about world religions!
2023-05-2353 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Little Tavern at Lagash, or, The Real Craft [and Beer] Revolution?The discovery of a tavern at Early Dynastic Lagash has us asking questions. Who drank there, who ran the joint, and how did you pay come to mind, along with the obvious problems of drunks and pickled eggs. With a special shoutout to wise bartenders everywhere from Siduri to Sam Malone!
2023-05-0947 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastNew Jerusalem Inscription Points to (Previously Known) Iron Age Spice Trade, Or, Solomon and Sheba Get Spicy?The discovery of an Iron Age pot in Jerusalem with an inscription in a South Arabian language has us flustered. We knew there was an ancient spice trade between the Levant and Yemen, but does this mean that Solomon and Sheba were real? It’s a spicy discussion with breathless notes of labdanum. Come for the world systems theory, stay for all the aunts in a cloud of Shalimar!
2023-04-2552 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Book of the Dead Club, Or, If a Lion-Hippo-Crocodile Comes to the Door, Don’t Open It.A 52 foot long Book of the Dead sounds like a super deluxe edition, but if you’re traveling from death to judgment and into the afterlife you can’t be too careful. But did anyone in ancient Egypt actually believe this stuff? What about the non-believers? Where did they fit in? Our contestants slide effortlessly into Spinoza mode, but still worry a little about Ammit, devoureress of the dead.
2023-04-1149 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIt’s This Week in the Ancient Near East at the Movies! The Special Inadvertent Pre-Holiday Biblical Epic Edition!In 1923 Cecil B. De Mille made The Ten Commandments on a huge Egyptian set in the California dunes, which archaeologists have excavated. So obviously we’re asking, what’s the deal with Biblical movies? Ripping yarns or morality tales with Nazi punching? And would a picture about the backbreaking scientific tedium of real archaeology be a crowdpleaser? With a special shoutout to our friends Donny Osmond and Walter Benjamin!
2023-03-2855 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Archaeology of Ancient Fingerprints, or Profiling Potters for Fun and ProfitFingerprints on ancient pottery? Like from the potters? Ok, we’re not cops but we are a little curious. Who are these potters at Byzantine Moza, Tell Leilan, Tell en Nasbeh, Tell es Safi, and other Bronze and Iron Age sites around the Near East? Who's producing what and why are they using child labor to decorate pottery? Maybe we really should call the cops.
2023-03-1440 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Mediterranean Metal Mystery, or, Those Tin Ingots from Uzbekistan? Yeah, Well, They’re at the Bottom of the OceanCentral Asian tin in a Late Bronze Age shipwreck at the bottom of Mediterranean raises questions like, “who brought the tin thousands of kilometers west from what’s now Uzbekistan,” and “who’s tin was it when the boat sank.” Ok, they’re not questions like, “what is best in life” or “are you going to eat that sandwich” but they’re what we’ve got.
2023-02-2857 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHow I Made Your Mummy, Or, A Special Blend of Herbs and Spices with a Side Order of Sun Dried CrocodilesThe discovery of a 26th Dynasty mummification workshop has shown that exotic ingredients came from as far as India and Africa. Is this just an early version of Goop, rich people getting sold on weird ingredients just because the poors were catching up? But then how do we explain the sun dried crocodiles? Go ahead, we’ll wait.
2023-02-1454 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastCrime Grips Uruk, Sheep and Tunic Stolen!, Or, Law and Order: Neo-BabyloniaThis is the city, Uruk. I was working the day shift out of the Eanna Temple when the call came in about a missing sheep and tunic. We picked up the perp pretty quickly and he started to sing, so we rolled up 39 of his pals. But word came down that the great and the good were putting up bail. That’s when the king got involved and things got interesting.
2023-01-3147 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastWhat’s Cooking in the Middle Paleolithic and Is It Toxic? Or, Soak, Pound and Char Your Way to Better Health!In the Middle Paleolithic dinner included plants like bitter vetch and mustard. The problem is these plants are toxic. So who figured out that you had to soak, pound and char them before eating? More importantly, what happened to the folks who didn’t figure it out? Come for the helpful cooking hints, stay for the incisive comments on wraps!
2023-01-1753 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastNew Inscriptions from Hezekiah’s Chunnel? Or, If An Inscription Drops in a Newspaper Does it Really Make a Sound?New Biblical era inscriptions allegedly by Hezekiah are making waves in the newspapers. They raise many questions like, where’s the full scholarly publication, and, how about a decent picture at least? Is that how we do it now, just talk about stuff in the papers before producing the goods? How do we know if something is real and spectacular if it isn’t reviewed by a jury of one’s peers? Our contestant are washing the delicates in public!
2023-01-031h 03
This Week in the Ancient Near EastApocalypse When? A Very Special This Week in the Ancient Near East One Part Docu-Drama in Response to Something You Might Have Seen On NetflixAncient Apocalypse on Netflix has been watched like 25 million times and archaeologists are up in arms. It’s worlds in collision! It’s an unsolved mystery! But really, what’s the big deal? Is crazy talk about a vanished civilization dangerous or ludicrous? Our contestants disagree amusingly on many issues. THAT’S WHY THEY SHOULD HAVE A NETFLIX SERIES!
With a special guest appearance by Simon McCorkingdale, as Manimal!
2022-12-2755 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Lice Combs of Lachish, Or, Bless This Beard and All Who Dwell Within ItAn ivory lice comb found at Iron Age Lachish is actually from the Middle Bronze Age and contains the first complete Canaanite sentence. It talks about lice. Didn’t see that coming. So obviously we argue about hair care products and the connection between literacy and nearsightedness.
2022-12-1352 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastBorn on the (Mesopotamian) Bayou, or Welcome to Lagash; There is No Lifeguard on Duty, Swim at Your Own RiskNew data shows that cities in southern Mesopotamia were often islands in the stream divided by canals with lots of open spaces. What does it mean for early urban life if you have to take a gondola to work? Did kids learn to swim at Sumerian YMCAs? Who knew that urbanism was such a splash?
2022-11-2947 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA 25th Dynasty Egyptian Cheese Fit for the Afterlife, or, Why Expiration Dates MatterThe discovery of cheese in a 25th Dynasty Egyptian tomb made us realize, everybody loves cheese. But what is cheese, really? And whether a spreadable chevre or a squeaky halloumi, how did people even survive it before pasteurization? Our panelists stand proudly with the cheese.
2022-11-1549 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Little Iron Age Papyrus That Could, Go from Jerusalem to Montana and Then Back to Jerusalem, or, Call Him Ishmael?A little smidgeon of a papyrus has returned from Montana to Jerusalem. Does it date to the Iron Age? Is it real? Does it contain the word Ishmael? How did it get to Montana? Our contestants are confused, as usual. Maybe more than usual, which is saying a lot.
2022-11-0146 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Uncomfortable Ivory Decorated Chairs of Iron Age Jerusalem, or, Wait, There Were Elephants Wandering Around in the Iron Age?The find of ivory decorations for furniture in Iron Age Jerusalem raises many questions. Where does the furniture come from and why does it look so uncomfortable? Were these diplomatic gifts or local knockoffs? Were there really elephants wandering around Syria in this period? Isn’t that what we should really be talking about?
2022-10-1853 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Archaeological Puzzle of Playing in the Past, Or, Bronze Age Barbie Bonanza?A recent article on a button-like toy has us wondering, what are toys anyway and what are they for? Were there actually children in the past? And what is playing, really? No, really, what is playing? And that’s where things started getting sticky for us.
2022-10-0449 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastSticky Fingers in the Valley of the Kings, or Howard Carter and the Case of King Tut’s TombThe upcoming 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb has us talking about the discoverer, Howard Carter, who seems to have had sticky fingers and a propensity to fudge the story of his find. Ethics? Morals? Does it matter? Look at all that nice stuff!
2022-09-2045 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIntroducing Opium, the Late Bronze Age Miracle Cure! Or, Smacked into a Trance in the Second Millennium BCENew research shows that certain Late Bronze Age pots from Cyprus really did contain opium, which isn’t too surprising since they’re shaped like opium poppies. What’s going on? What was all this opium for? Was everyone in the past on drugs? Sure looks that way.
2022-09-0643 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastCult of the Head or Cult of the Dead? Or, Human Sacrifice in the Neolithic, What? Eww!A new article on Neolithic skulls raises questions, like just how did all those skulls get separated from the bodies? Were there human sacrifices in the Neolithic or were there “ancestor cults,” whatever those were? Our contestants must dodge the ick factor to get to the Truth.
2022-08-2357 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Archaeology of Finger Licking Goodness, or, Why Did the Chicken Cross the Planet?New data that show the chicken was domesticated vastly later than previously thought have shattered the poultry paradigm. Moreover, chickens were elite pets for centuries before someone decided to toss them in a pot. The myths of the archaic bird die hard in this fast moving and delicious episode.
2022-08-0952 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Mystery of King Tut’s Sky Iron Knife, or, How Much Would You Pay for a Knife Like This?A new analysis has shown King Tut’s knife was made of sky iron, that’s right, iron from the sky, you know, like from a meteor, the kind from outer space. What’s so special about iron anyway and what’s the deal with diplomacy and gift giving in the Late Bronze Age? And why are we talking about bellbottoms and personal computers?
2022-07-2655 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Secret Aramean or Maybe Assyrian Underground Cult Site at Başbük: Stairway to Heaven or Rec Room of the Gods?The underground cult site at Başbük in southeastern Turkey has us wondering, why depict Aramean deities in an Assyrian style? Is this an Iron Age cult site or a rich guy’s rec room? Or is it both? Mukīn-abūa of Tušhan, you sly dog.
2022-07-1234 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastFeeding Spice Caravans in the Negev, or Midnight at the Oasis, Try the Oysters and CrabsThe discovery of oysters and crabs at Nabatean and Roman caravan sites in the Negev has us thinking, what’s going on here? What do we learn about trade and traders from food remains? Have we been too focused on the exports and not enough on the imports? One thing is for sure, you gotta eat.
2022-06-2745 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Archaeology of Big Giant Stone Heads, Sardinian EditionThe giant stone sculptures of boxers found in a first millennium BCE Sardinian cemetery have our contestants puzzled. Are these protective deities or just slightly oversized sports heroes? And why does every culture around the world first pile stones and then carve them? Didn’t they have anything better to do with their time?
2022-06-091h 01
This Week in the Ancient Near EastEau de l’antiquité, or, The Past is a Stinky CountryNew research has begun to reconstruct the smell of ancient perfumes from Egyptian tombs. But rich folks always try to smell better. The bigger question is what did the past smell like as whole? Our contestants detect zesty notes of burning dung and a cloying variety of herbs and spices.
2022-05-2459 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastTake the Last Boat to Carthage and I’ll Meet You at the Tophet. Or, Who Were the Phoenicians and Why Did They Do Something As Dangerous as Sail West?A Phoenician cemetery in Spain has us talking about, well, the Phoenicians. Who were they, where did they come from, and why do we even call them Phoenicians in the first place? Isn’t that sort of ‘othering’? And where does famed character actor Michael J. Pollard fit in?
2022-05-1058 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA ‘Dark Age’ Shipwreck Mystery, or When Your Cargo Absolutely, Positively Has to Get There Eventually Between the Byzantine and Umayyad Period Unless the Ship SinksA Late Byzantine/Early Islamic shipwreck off the coast of Israel has us donning our Speedos once again. Wasn’t this tramp steamer aware of the momentous political and social changes taking place on land? Who cares when you’ve got walnuts and broken glass to deliver!
2022-04-2647 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastEven More Strange and Wonderful Finds from Iron Age Jerusalem, or, You Brought Home Champagne! No, it’s Vanilla Flavored Wine.Wine flavored with vanilla? Why would any self respecting Jerusalemite touch the stuff except to show off? Anyway, it pairs well with other weird stuff found in Iron Age Jerusalem like shark fossils, dried fish, and writing so why not?
2022-04-1253 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastHar Adir, Where the Iron Age Air is Clear, or How to tell a Fortress from a Bird Watching SanctuaryThe early Iron Age site of Har Adir in the mountains of the Upper Galilee is back in the news. Was this an 11th century fortress of a local polity or a bird watching sanctuary? How can we tell the difference? What is a polity anyway? One thing’s for sure, don’t get us started about ‘Dark Ages.’
2022-03-3055 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastTattoo Who? Or, From Egypt with InkThe discovery of tattoos on an upper class woman from ancient Egypt has us asking, are these magical, medical, or a right of passage? But what about the tattooed criminals in ancient Greece? Maybe this tattoo thing goes different ways. The main thing is that people in the past looked more like modern Brooklynites than we realized.
2022-03-1645 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Xbox of the Early Bronze Age? Or, All That’s Left is a Board of Stone.A stone game board from Oman has us puzzled. Is this rare find a signpost in the evolution of human cognition or a flat rock with divots? What are games anyway? New ways to think or old ways to kill time? It’s all a game to you people, isn’t it?
2022-03-0355 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastA Crusader Mass Grave at Sidon, or Blunt Force Trauma Makes the ManA mass grave of Crusaders at the Lebanese site of Sidon raises many questions about identity, mobility, and warfare in the 13th century. But it fits right in with our understanding of human cruelty, what with the beheadings and all, so at least there’s that.
2022-02-1751 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastTwo Synagogues at Magdala, or, was Mary in the Multipurpose Room?Magdala had two synagogues, or did it? How many did they need and how often did they go to synagogue anyway? Is this just a post-Enlightenment conceit about pre-Enlightenment religiosity? But which is more important, the room with the services or the one with the bingo?
2022-02-031h 01
This Week in the Ancient Near EastGarbage Dump of the GodsWhat happens when a temple, say, Hatshepsut’s New Kingdom temple at Deir el Bahari, throws out offerings? Are there good and bad types of garbage? Let’s face it, archaeologists will take what they can get. But isn’t “precious rubble” the name of one of Barney and Betty’s kids?
2022-01-2046 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Strange Case of the Neo-Assyrian Armor in the Chinese Tomb, or The Ballad of the One Off WonderNeo-Assyrian leather armor? In a Western Chinese tomb? It’s a classic, what’s up with that situation. Is it really Neo-Assyrian? How do we know? If so, how did it get there? What can we make of a sample of one? Why are we talking about Ricardo Montalban? It’s an episode so filled with questions that we’re literally bubbling over.
2022-01-0555 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastEven More New Amazing Iron Age Finds from a Cult Site West of Jerusalem, or, To Gaze Upon the Knees of GodA slightly lopsided Iron Age cult site just outside Jerusalem? Little human figurines, big silos, and now the stone legs of a cult statue? What’s going on beneath the highway overpass at Motza? But why is anyone surprised about another temple in Judah? Wouldn’t surprise be an indictment of our entire educational system?
2021-12-2352 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Curse of the Mummy’s Double Chins, or, It’s Better to Look Good than to Feel GoodA new study uses DNA from Egyptian mummies to literally reconstruct their faces. Oddly enough, they look like Egyptians. Is this accurate? Is it ethical? One way or another, they’re pretty good-looking. And isn’t that the main thing? Anyway, what’s with all the mummified cats?
2021-12-0851 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIt’s the Very Nearly Live from ASOR 2021 Conference With Extra Special Guests Edition! Part 3-The Last WaltzYes, we’re still here at ASOR, but now we’re interrogating an entirely new crowd about the question of conferences, namely Dr. Margaret Cohen, Professor Alexandra Ratzlaff and Professor Andrea Berlin. The questions are mostly the same, but the answers from these three leading female scholars are quite different.
2021-11-2535 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIt’s the Very Nearly Live from ASOR 2021 Conference With Extra Special Guests Edition! Part 2-After HoursWhat happens when a bunch of archaeologists start drinking bourbon and let their graying hair down? It’s an after hours edition with the one and only Professor James Hardin, who rather charmingly, can’t stay on script. He takes us to some surprising places, including some related to archaeological storytelling.
2021-11-2442 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIt’s the Very Nearly Live from ASOR 2021 Conference With Extra Special Guests Edition! Part 1-The Ballroom TapesA conference you say? That’s right, we’re here in Chicago at the ASOR meeting with a host of guests, luminary scholars with names like Professor Eric Cline, Dr. Matthew Adams (the one with a J.), Dr. Yorke Rowan, and Professor Morag Kersel. The topic - conferences and conference experiences. There are some important lessons here.
2021-11-231h 01
This Week in the Ancient Near EastSo You Need a Stone Floor For Your Hittite Temple? I Know a Guy.Making a floor isn’t rocket science, but style and execution count for a lot. The terrazzo floor at the 15th century Hittite sanctuary at Uşaklı Höyük might be the earliest mosaic floor, or does that honor belongs to the Minoans? What is the relationship between power and taste? Why are the triangles blue and what does the god Teshub really think about ‘oatmeal’ as a color?
2021-11-0347 min
This Week in the Ancient Near East11,500 Year Old Cultic Site With Huge Stone Circles, Pillars, and Skulls Mystifies Easily Mystified Archaeologists, Or, Gimme That Really, Really, Really Old Time ReligionWhere does religion come from? How did hunter-gatherers build early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey? What’s with the gigantic carved stone pillars and the defleshed human skulls anyway? What is religion, really? Why am I asking you? It’s an episode as profound as it is, well, mystifying.
2021-10-1954 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastMiddle Bronze Age Site Smashed by Exploding Comet, Film at 11, Or, Who You Crushing with that Cosmic Debris?Was a Middle Bronze Age site near the Dead Sea pulverized by a cosmic air burst at 1650 BCE? Say what? The science is compelling, from the shocked quartz to the melted iridium. But was all this remembered, maybe in a Biblical story about a site in the Jordan Valley pulverized by fire from the sky? That’s the tricky part.
2021-10-0154 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastNew Underwater Discoveries in the Nile Delta, or, Our Ship Sank, but We Brought You a Fruit BasketA ship graveyard, a sunken ship, and a fruit basket? Our contestants take a voyage to the bottom of the sea to discuss finds from the Nile Delta and ask the important questions like, what is the connection between fruit baskets and death, and how did Iron Age maritime insurers stay in business?
2021-09-2452 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastIt’s the End of Summer Archaeology Super Mega Fun Round-Up Episode!Missing basilicas, poison rats, and Trojan Horses? Holy Jerusalem earthquake Batman! Yes, that too and more in our end of summer stranger than fiction fantastic archaeology ripped from the headlines roundup episode! Our contestants are on the clock and it’s like Hollywood Squares without Paul Lynde! Or is it?
2021-09-1041 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThat’ll Do Iron Age Pig, That’ll Do, or, Jambon in JerusalemFirst sharks and now pigs? What’s going on in Iron Age Jerusalem with all these non-kosher species? Were Judeans in the shadow of the Temple noshing on something naughty or are there other explanations? Are there ever! Our panelists' speculations are unbridled in this laughter filled episode.
To learn more
https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/cryptic-2700-year-old-pig-skeleton-found-in-jerusalems-city-of-david-673989
2021-08-2535 min
This Week in the Ancient Near East(Almost) Biblical Writing, or How to Go From Lunchboxes to Bureaucracy in Only 300 Years.It’s only four little letters, well maybe five, but another tiny Iron Age inscription has raised more than a few eyebrows. What’s the significance of this latest scribble? Is it the name of a biblical character, or the name of a guy who didn’t want his lunch stolen? And why are our panelists talking about being stuck in a suburban cul-de-sac?
To learn more
Five-letter inscription inked 3,100 years ago may be name of biblical judge
https://www.timesofisrael.com/five-letter-inscription-inked-3100-years-ago-may-be-name-of-biblical-judge/
2021-08-1155 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastThe Gospel of “Who the Heck Falls for This Stuff?”The ‘Gospel of Jesus’ Wife’ is the latest high profile example of a forged ancient text. Scholars should have known better, but hey, where’s the fun in that? When Fox Mulder meets Elaine Benes the sparks fly and scholarship takes it on the chin. Our panelists are there ringside, sagely opining.
To learn more
A Scholarly Screw-Up of Biblical Proportions
https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-scholarly-screw-up-of-biblical-proportions
2021-07-2849 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastAnd That’s How We Solved the Mystery of the Fossil Shark Teeth in Iron Age JerusalemA bunch of 80 million year old shark teeth in Iron Age Jerusalem have set the archaeological world ablaze. What are they doing there along with 10,000 fish bones and six and a half tons of pottery? It’s gotta be a joke, right? Do our panelists speculate wildly or do they jump the shark?
To learn more
Cache of 80-million-year-old shark teeth found in Solomon-era site in Jerusalem
https://www.timesofisrael.com/cache-of-80-million-year-old-shark-teeth-found-in-solomon-era-site-in-jerusalem/
2021-07-1450 min
This Week in the Ancient Near EastWhere Did Babies Come from in the Iron Age, or, Biblical Archaeology Smokes a Cigar in the Waiting RoomIron Age figurines in the Southern Levant depict naked women and not a lot else. The usual explanations are goddesses or magical devices related to fertility. But isn’t everything sort of related to fertility? What were mostly male Biblical Archaeologists missing? Probably quite a bit. Our panelists wax eloquent in this family friendly episode.
To learn more
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-birth-rites-in-canaan-the-enigma-of-the-figurines-1.9892078
2021-06-2856 min