This Week in the Ancient Near East

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.

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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?

en

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.

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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

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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?

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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!

en

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.

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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.

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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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29:47

The Tale of the Egyptian Scribes and their Bad Knees,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/09/16

Old 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.

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31:42

A Deepwater Late Bronze Age Shipwreck or, Down to the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/09/02

A 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.

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45:19

Horsing Around the Ancient Near East in the Third...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/08/19

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!

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48:41

A Waxy Buildup at Iron Age Horvat Tevet, Or, Does...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/08/05

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!

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53:35

Welcome to Çatalhöyük, Population ? Or, Does Size...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/07/22

Today 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!

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33:59

The Case of the Missing Branch of the Nile That...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/07/08

New 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.

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52:45

And Now Even Iron Age Jerusalem Gets Radiocarbonated!...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/06/24

A 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!

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40:53

For Fuller, Redder Bronze Age Lips, or, It's That...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/06/10

This 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!

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47:13

A Tale of Two Cities, Which Happen to be from the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/05/27

Today 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.

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50:52

That Sunny Little Temple at Tel Azekah, or, The...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/05/13

The 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!

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37:01

The Love Call of the De-Extincted Mammoth, or, Ethics...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2024/04/29

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.

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