PODCAST

This Week in the Ancient Near East

thisweekintheancientneareast

The podcast that takes archaeology exactly as seriously as it deserves.

history

All Episodes

56:41

Where Did Babies Come from in the Iron Age, or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/06/28

Iron 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

55:48

Death on the Euphrates, or, a Kunga Line to Heaven?

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/06/14

Is the third millennium BCE burial mound at Tell Banat in north Syria a war memorial to the site’s defenders? What moves the living to take a random sample of human and animal bones and bury them in a mound that looms over their community? What is a kunga anyway and how does the modern sport of donkey basketball fit in? Our panelists are strangely eloquent, in an episode not to be missed. To learn more Pyramid-shaped mound holding 30 corpses may be world's oldest war

48:19

A Resurrected Date by Any Other Name Would Still...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/06/01

Resurrection genomics sounds fancy, even a little scary, but in this case it means cultivating date trees from ancient seeds and then sequencing their genes. What do we learn about the antiquity of this ever-popular fruit? And if dates are so great, how come the tree is the symbol and not the fruit? Our panelists are torn, yet characteristically sweet and sticky. To learn more Researchers Sequence Genomes of Revived 2,000-Year-Old Date

44:57

The Strange Story of the Roman Era Half Lamp, or A...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/05/19

The chance find of a strange Roman period half lamp in Jerusalem and the even chancier discovery that the other half is in Hungary has shocked the archaeological world. What is this strange light fixture and how can its separation lead to some high-class speculation about lamps, symbolism, and ancient psychology? What is light anyway, and why is it so darned good? Our panelists are incandescent in this episode. To learn more Matching half of 2,000-year-old lamp found in Jerusalem said located in

56:25

Solomon: Portrait of an Iron Age Onassis, or How to...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/05/05

A recent study proposes that the Biblical King Solomon orchestrated maritime trade across the Iron Age Mediterranean. Is there really evidence for this? And why didn’t the kingdoms of Israel and Judah create monumental art and architecture like their neighbors? Or, for that matter, write much stuff down? Our panelists are intrigued but not confident. To learn more Was King Solomon the ancient world’s first shipping

59:34

Which is the Best Bronze Age Note-Taking App, or Why...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/04/22

A tiny inscribed potsherd dating to the first half of the 15th century BCE from Lachish in southern Israel has six little letters. Is this the earliest alphabetic inscription in the southern Levant? Does it change the story of the alphabet? And who breaks nice pottery to write a note? Our panelists are puzzled, but not necessarily surprised. To learn more ‘Missing link’ in alphabet’s history said unearthed in Israel on Canaanite

51:48

Boozing in the Bronze Age, or, Narmer, He’s the King...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/04/06

The discovery of an industrial scale beer brewery at the early Egyptian site of Abydos demonstrates the role of alcohol in ancient societies. Was drinking your dinner on the ruler’s tab a way to keep workers fed, or maybe just to keep them from asking questions like ‘why are we building this stupid pyramid for this so-called king?’ To learn more Abydos beer factory: Ancient large-scale brewery discovered in Egypt https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56067717

49:06

Desert Caves Yield Ancient Faves, or, A Tisket, A...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/03/21

New excavations in caves along the west side of the Dead Sea have revealed fragments of Biblical texts along with astonishing prehistoric remains. They raise the question of how people were getting and out of these caves, hundreds of meters above the Dead Sea, and more importantly, why one of them brought along a basket the size of a minivan. Our panelists offer learned if contrasting opinions. To learn more Bible scroll fragments among dazzling artifacts found in Dead Sea Cave of

56:26

Mummy Murder Mystery, or, Hyksos Hippo Protestation...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/03/07

King Seqenere of the 17th Dynasty has some gruesome head wounds. Fighting the hated Hyksos might have been the cause of death for Egypt’s version of Sonny Corleone, but what about the snoring hippos? WHAT ABOUT THE HIPPOS?! To learn more Egyptian royal mummy shows pharaoh wasn’t assassinated—he was executed https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/ct-shows-ancient-egyptian-pharaoh-was-captured-in-battle-and-executed/

59:50

The Mysterious Case of the Purple Shmattas in the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/02/25

Around 1000 BCE, purple dyed textiles were the in thing at the Negev copper mining site of Timna. But how did textiles dyed with purple made from Mediterranean snails get there and who wore them? Were they fit for a king or just glad rags for nomads? And how does Vandelay Industries figure in? Our contestants are frankly baffled. To learn more Biblical ‘royal purple’ found at Timna offers look at King David

56:03

Underwater Olive Adventures, or, From the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/02/09

The discovery of a 6,600 year old cache of olives off the shore of Israel raises questions: Olives? Underwater? What? Who was the first person to eat an olive, and how does the Assyrian Empire (eventually) figure in? And why do our panelists keep talking about fat tailed sheep and the history of writing? To learn more Israeli teams discover ancient olive-eating practices below the

53:58

The Other Kind of Throne, or, So What's the Deal with...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/01/31

Archaeologists rarely speak about toilets, mostly because there isn’t that much evidence. We’ve got plenty of pits, lots of pots, but only a few carefully carved stone seats. Which is fit for a king? To learn more Toilet Found in 3,000-Year-Old Shrine Verifies Bible Stories Against Idol Worship https://www.newsweek.com/toilet-discovered-middle-ancient-jerusalem-shrine-written-bible-king-hezekiah-712800

01:02:20

The Bronze Age Goes Bananas, or, By Your Teeth They...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2021/01/05

What does the discovery of exotic species such as bananas, soybeans and turmeric in the second millennium BCE Southern Levant tell us about trade, tastes and smells in the past? And does the fact that the discovery comes from scraping the teeth of dead people say more about the potential of microarchaeology or about the need for flossing? Our panelists agree about flossing, but not about bananas. To learn more Exotic foods reveal contact between South Asia and the Near East during the second

51:10

Coroplasticus Deus Antiqui, or, What Does God Really...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2020/12/20

Does a tenth century BCE figurine from a site near Jerusalem depict the god Yahweh? How would we know? Archaeological finds don’t come labeled, or do they? And how does this relate to the end of the Enlightenment and the Existential challenge facing the Humanities? Our panelists are divided. To learn more Archaeologist claims to find 10th cent. BCE graven images of Yahweh https://www.timesofisrael.com/face-of-god-archaeologist-claims-to-find-10th-cent-bce-graven-images-of-yahweh/

58:55

Cosmic Debris, or New Adventures in the Origins of...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2020/12/20

Did a comet break up over earth 12,800 years ago causing glaciers to melt and prompting humans to invent agriculture? What was it like to have your village suddenly heated to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit? How would this event have been culturally encoded by anyone who wasn’t cooked and/or pulverized? Our panelists have nano-diamonds on the souls of their shoes and tell all. To learn more A Comet May Have Destroyed This Paleolithic Village 12,800 Years

46:31

High Times in the Iron Age, or Wait, What Were We...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2020/12/20

Cannabis and frankincense residues on an altar found in an ancient Israelite temple? Were the ancestors of Jews going one toke over the line? Why the heck did this tradition end? This changes everything, man, and our panelists are really into it. Well, maybe after a snack. To learn more Cannabis was used for religious rites at a biblical site in Israel, study finds https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/world/tel-arad-shrine-israel-cannabis-study-scn/index.html

45:10

Squeaky Clean, or The Rediscovery of Soap in the Past

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2020/12/20

An ancient soap factory found in a Bedouin village leads our panelists to ask the age-old question, what’s it doing there? Why is it a soap factory anyway? And just what is soap anyway? With guest star Dr. Bronner and a recursive discussion on the role of Irish Spring in the Troubles, this an episode that can’t be missed! To learn more Earliest soap factory in Israel, discovered in Negev, shows seeds of early

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