PODCAST

This Week in the Ancient Near East

thisweekintheancientneareast

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

history

All Episodes

01:02:30

The Dead Sea Scrolls Computer Dating Service, Or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/06/23

New research combines radiocarbon dating and artificial intelligence to examine the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of which turn out to be a bit older than expected. Is this a big rewrite of history or small rejiggering? Anyway, one of us harbors grave doubts, the other is excited about 1 Maccabees, and the third just keeps shouting the word ‘disaggregation!’

37:07

Diving into the Mikvah at Ostia, Or, When is a Pool...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/06/09

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?

38:41

Beads, Bangles, and Bowls in Iron Age Judah, Or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/05/26

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.

37:50

Getting Blood From a Stone (Arrowhead), Or, Waging...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/05/12

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?

46:17

Finally, Some Evidence of the Pharaoh Necho at...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/04/28

The 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!

37:50

New Excavations in the Church at the Navel of the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/04/14

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?

34:47

The Case of the Late Iron Age Building in the Middle...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/03/31

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?

39:12

Hezekiah Gets His Grooves Off, Or, Cult Consolidator...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/03/17

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?

37:38

Carbs, The Lower Paleolithic Breakfast of Champions,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/03/03

New 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!

39:03

The Case of the Very Long Roman Legal Papyrus from...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/02/17

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.

40:20

The Mysterious Giant Astronomical Observatory of...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/02/03

You 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?

39:46

The Art of Cursing Your Rivals in Ancient Athens, Or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/01/20

In 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.

54:24

The Early Alphabet (™) in Third Millennium Syria? Or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/01/06

Some 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?

41:20

Between Death and Taxes in the 8th Century BCE, or...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/12/23

An 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.

39:55

The Mesopotamian Map of Mystery, Or, From Babylon to...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/12/09

A 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

40:56

How to Go from Spindle Whorls to Wagon Wheels in Just...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/11/25

New 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?

39:55

Reading Eclipses for Fun and Profit, or from Divine...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/11/11

Some 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!

43:59

(How) Long Reign Hezekiah, or A 100th Episode for the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/10/28

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.

40:06

The Neolithic Shaman Girl from Çemka Höyük, or...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/10/14

A 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.

38:19

How to Dye a Fabric in the Middle Bronze Age, Or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/09/30

A 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!

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