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Our second interview with Tim Darvill and a riveting first-person deep dive through prehistoric archaeology from in-the-moment practical concerns of current practice, through to the more philosophical concerns confronting the modern day antiquarian.  We talk about Stonehenge, long barrows, bluestones, emerging narratives for the Neolithic, prehistory in the press ... and much more!

More for your money in this Prehistory Flash: we've expanded the format to include more than one item to help return us to more of the podcast style delivery. Hope you enjoy! There will be video versions to follow. This time: Pythagorian geometry in Mesopotamia 1,000 before Pythagoras New finds at King Arthur's Stone in Herefordshire and possibly the earliest coin factory in the world! 🔵 PATREON: We have a friendly and enthusiastic Patreon community helping us create our content through monthly subscription. Get access to exclusive (ad-free!) content, be on the inside track of what we're up to and help us build the channel at https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys 🔵 BUY ME A COFFEE: If you want to show some love to the Prehistory Guys but don't want the commitment of a monthly subscription, you can make a on off donation by following the link below. NOTE: all single donations are going forward to production of a new film next year: STANDING WITH STONES 2! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/prehistoryguys WEBSITE: https://theprehistoryguys.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprehistoryguys/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/prehistoryguys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prehistoryguys 

This is ground breaking research from the Balkans where researchers are piecing together the apparently widespread use of cosmetics as far back as six and a half thousand years ago. Tiny ceramic bottles have been excavated across a wide region of the Balkans and Transdanubia, and as long ago as the 1930s it was suggested that they might be for cosmetics or medicines. So Bine Kramberger from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Christoph Berthold and Cynthianne Spiteri from Eberhard Karls University at Tübingen in Germany have analysed a number of pots from various locations, to try to identify exactly what these tiny vessels contained.   🔵 PATREON: We have a friendly and enthusiastic Patreon community helping us create our content through monthly subscription. Get access to exclusive (ad-free!) content, be on the inside track of what we're up to and help us build the channel at https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys 🔵 BUY ME A COFFEE: If you want to show some love to the Prehistory Guys but don't want the commitment of a monthly subscription, you can make a on off donation by following the link below. NOTE: all single donations are going forward to production of a new film next year: STANDING WITH STONES 2! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/prehistoryguys WEBSITE: https://theprehistoryguys.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprehistoryguys/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/prehistoryguys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prehistoryguys

Welcome to another prehistory guys interview, introducing you to archaeologists and historians, all too often hidden behind the scenes, finding out what they’re up to while the world isn’t watching. This time we're talking with Dr Lee Bray, lead archaeologist for the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, south west England. Lee started out in geology before making the move into archaeology, and to Exeter University where he gained his doctorate in Romano British Iron production on Exmoor. Dartmoor is a special place for us, so we were very much looking forward to this conversation with Dr Bray, who has possibly the best job archaeology can provide. He didn't disappoint. Like what we're doing? There are 2 ways to support our work: 🔵 BECOME A PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys 🔵 ONE-OFF DONATION: https://www.paypal.com/biz/fund?id=QR2WYYNF4X84C   WEBSITE: https://theprehistoryguys.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprehistoryguys/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/prehistoryguys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prehistoryguys

12th feb 2021 BBc broadcast a programme hosted by Professor Alice Roberts called 'Stonehenge, the Lost Circle Revealed'. Both leading up to and afterwards, there was a flurry of headlines in the press ranging from the reasonably restrained to the outright sensational. To cut to the chase, the end result has been - to the dismay of many in the archaeological community and both Rupert and I - the the perception has been left with the general public that Stonehenge had a previous existence in the south Wales hills before it was transported wholesale to what is now Wiltshire. We followed up that broadcast with a short off-the-cuff show of our own on YouTube that attempted to redress some of the (what we regarded as) misleading elements of that programme. In some eyes, this was interpreted as an attack on the lead archaeologist featured in the BBC show, namely Prof Mike Parker Pearson. It was not. What MPP has done here is amazing and we hope by the time we’ve got to the end of this section in the podcast, you’ll get a sense of the high regard we’ve got for him. What we were trying to do however is point out that there was so much more nuance to the finds that have been made and the results that have been extracted. Moreover that there are other voices in the field that were ignored by the BBC and that all is not as simple as made out. All that said - the story is amazing, the questions it poses are mind bending and the picture of people in the late Neolithic and what they were up to remains just as enigmatic if not more so than before the gloss of certainty that was painted over this whole question of the origins of the bluestones of Stonehenge by the BBC programme. We just want to make it real again. Strip it back to the actual evidence and leave you - we hope - much more excited by just how much more complex this story is than the impression left by the BBC in this case. As ever - even with the detail we go into here - we've barely scratched the surface. This could have been a very long podcast indeed. However, let us know if you think we should do more on this! Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Welcome to another prehistory guys interview, introducing you to people, often hidden in the background, whose work is really making a difference to our understanding of humanity in prehistory "Today we’re talking with Dr Kenny Brophy Senior lecturer of archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Kenny’s work focuses mainly on the British Neolithic, particularly of Scotland, and he has written copiously about the many cursus monuments to be found there. "Kenny is passionate about bringing archaeology into the public domain and is equally interested in how people have engaged with ancient monuments throughout history. Pursuing this theme, he writes a regular blog under the title of The Urban Prehistorian, exploring the roles that megalithic and other prehistoric sites continue to play within society. "Apart from having directed numerous excavations in Scotland, he lectures widely and is always a captivating speaker. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did." KENNY'S PAGE AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/staff/kennethbrophy/  THE URBAN PREHISTORIAN:  https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/  THE COCHNO STONE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochno_Stone  Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

IT'S BACK! Rupert & I are delighted to present you with a recording of us producing our first audio podcast after a long break. We're back to our old format with Pushing Back the Boundaries, news, a central topic and finishing off with Stonehead of the Month and a bit of Whimsy. Scroll down for links to some source material. There is a video version of this podcast at https://youtu.be/fEegOLUPfk4 PUSHING BACK THE BOUNDARIES Long distance trading of exotic foods in prehistory https://phys.org/news/2020-12-food-south-asia-revealed-east.html NEWS DNA from Neolithic in present day population in Western Canada https://www.abroadintheyard.com/dna-links-aboriginal-woman-canada-and-200-x-great-grandaughter/ Bronze Age Lovers? https://www.livescience.com/romeo-and-juliet-skeletons-israel.html Baby and Puppy burial https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/15/2000-year-old-remains-of-infant-and-pet-dog-uncovered-in-france MARITIME TRAVEL IN PREHISTORY Seagoing explorers 35,000 years ago - Modern day Japan https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-humans-sea-voyage-japan-ryukyu-island-migration Peopling of the Caribbean Islands https://phys.org/news/2020-09-archaeologists-step-by-step-path-people-caribbean.html Polynesians and Native Americans https://phys.org/news/2020-07-polynesians-native-americans-contact-european.html List of ancient ships on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_ships STONEHEAD OF THE MONTH: Amanda Hart Coninium Museum https://coriniummuseum.org/ 'Stone Age to Corinium' launch https://youtu.be/M_pcK_kRdY8 WHIMSY Oldest sword known was thought to be medieval https://www.livescience.com/ancient-anatolian-sword-in-venetian-monastery.html The thumbnail image for this video incorporates an image from theTanum petroglyphs, Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Carvings_in_Tanum Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Despite any number of challenges over the past six years, including more recently the Covid lockdowns of course, Amanda has kept driving the project of giving the museum a complete overhaul and redesign, and with her team has created a breathtaking set of galleries that cover the full span of human history in the Cotswolds. One thing that makes Amanda so rare, is that she is a museum director with archaeology in her veins. She studied archaeology at university and has been involved on excavations of the Bronze Age sites in the Maroni Valley on Cyprus. Ultimately she turned this back to her love of museums, bringing a unique slant on how archaeology could be presented to the public. "We think that what Amanda has achieved at Corinium is nothing short of extraordinary and this interview is our way of helping celebrate her dedication and devotion in bringing prehistory to a wider audience." Corinium Museum website is here: https://coriniummuseum.org/ Watch the online opening of the new museum here:  Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In fact, some of Tom’s recent research has even shed light on different funerary practices in the Bronze Age, revealing some fascinating discoveries about ways that people related to, or looked after the remains of their departed. (We first reported on this in a piece in the Prehistory Show #3. https://www.patreon.com/posts/prehistory-show-42771218) Tom's work is really bringing some clarity to the huge genetic shifts which took place in the major transition periods of the past and it’s remarkable how the study of ancient DNA is opening so many windows into the past. As is so often the case, we could have talked long enough to make half a dozen interviews. We hope you enjoy this one. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The aim of these two chaps is to transform the economy of Caithness, no less - up in the North East corner of Scotland! And the medium by which they're going to achieve this? By building an Iron Age Broch of course!Crazy? Not so fast. There's method in their madness, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out why. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

However, she has a particular passion for Iron Age torcs, running a website with restorer Roland Williamson called The Big Book of Torcs. https://bigbookoftorcs.com/ There's no-one better with whom to explore the detail and peculiarities of these magnificent artefacts than Tess and 'talking torcs' is the central theme of this discussion. And then - chocolate torcs anyone? No time to explain ... listen on! 😊 http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/ Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elizabeth Dale A.K.A. 'The Cornish Bird' can trace her heritage in Cornwall back more than 500 years. As you probably know, from a megalithic point of view, Cornwall is one of the most densely packed areas in the whole of the UK and if you visit Lizzie's blog 'The Cornish Bird' https://cornishbirdblog.com, you're sure to find her writing beautifully about ancient sites both familiar and strange, many well off the beaten track. For a change we thought you'd love to hear from someone who's approach is not academic, someone who appreciates the stones for their own sakes - as they stand in and characterise the landscape in which she lives. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It was an absolute delight talking with Caroline & Tom about their insights into what it was like living in the Iron Age. This is archaeology from the other end of the barrel; actually living and working with the available foods, materials, pigments and technology gives an insight into prehistoric life that simply looking at archaeological remains cannot. The depth of archaeological knowledge these two have, coupled with their experience of hands-on dealing with the realities of day-to-day Iron Age life, illuminates not only a period just before the Romans arrived, but probably way before that, the Bronze Age and maybe even the Neolithic. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We met Seren in 2019 at the Prehistoric Society’s 'Landscapes of the Dead' conference at the Society of Antiquaries in London where she gave a fantastic talk. In fact, the first thing Rupert said to Michael after her presentation was that he really wished she had been one of his lecturers! It really is no surprise that Seren was the youngest person ever to be invited to give the very prestigious Golson Lecture at Australia National University in Canberra in 2018. Seren's specialities are science in archaeology and public archaeology, and her work on the mesolithic neolithic transition is something we’re interested in as well. However, we're particularly fascinated by what she has to say about a site that we're slightly (infamously!) connected to - Bryn Celli Ddu. Together with Ffion Reynolds, she has been lead archaeologist on the excavations there over the last 5 years. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We do try to bring you wide ranging areas of study and this month we’re delighted to be joined by Professor Duncan Garrow of Reading University We met Duncan at the Landscapes of the Dead conference back in November 2019 and knew we had to get him on the show. Apart from being a great speaker, he is another frontline archaeologist who makes you reconsider all sorts of things you thought you knew. Duncan Garrow teaches later European prehistory (with a particular focus on Britain) and archaeological theory. His research interests include the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition; long-term histories of deposition; burial practices; the interpretive potential of radiocarbon dating; the integration of developer-funded and university-based archaeology; archaeological theory; and interdisciplinary approaches to material culture. In this interview, we grill him about Neolithic 'argonauts' and migrations across the Channel and the western seaways, Rupert's favourite: crannogs - and the amazing UK Grave Goods project he is involved with in assocation with the British Museum. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

True to form, The Prehistory Guys chase down another media headline to find the hidden treasure! In this case, news of a new date for old London conceals the real story: the first use of a new and exciting archaeological dating technique for pottery. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of the great archaeologist. For megalithic enthusiasts, his influence has been profound and that holds true for us and the podcasts and films we make. We couldn't let the moment pass without saying a few words. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Prehistory Guys talk to environmental archaeologist and conchologist (snail expert) Dr Mike Allen, lecturer at Oxford University and research fellow at Bournemouth University. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In December 2019 reports began to appear in the media about the discovery of an anomaly in the Callanish landscape on Lewis that pointed to a 5,000 year old lightning strike being the inspiration for the famous monument. The discovery was made by the Calanais Virtual Reconstruction Project, a joint venture led by the University of St Andrews with standing stones trust Urras nan Tursachan and the University of Bradford and supported by funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. They were not on the hunt for ancient lightning strikes however. The anomaly was thrown up by a magnetometry scan of one of the Callanish sites - Airigh na Beinne Bige, otherwise know as Site XI. Can we infer that the whole Callanish site was erected because of a lightning strike? It's a nice idea - but can it withstand the merciless glare of investigation by The Prehistory Guys?  Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A couple of podcasts back, we interviewed Professor Bruce Bradley - he of the Solutrean Hypothesis in Paleolithic America. Truth be told, the impetus to contact Bruce Bradley came about because we'd noticed that an outfit called 'Seven Ages Research Associates' in the States had just published an interview with him. It was a bit "if they can - why don't we?" - so we did. Well, one thing led to another and one day we got an invitation from Jason Pentrail, one of the three associates, to hook up and produce some back-to-back interviews with each other. They'd interview us for their podcast and we'd interview them for ours. Here's our side of the deal! Although their remit is very much broader than ours (histrory, archaeology, science and culture) it turns out we are very much on the same page as far as communicating what may be going on behind the scenes in academia within our spheres of interest. If this chat is anything to go by, there is much for us to exchange and we feel that we've barely scratched the surface as far as us talking to each other is concerned. Watch this space. In this brief chat, we talk about their various areas of interest, Bruce Bradley, bridging the gap between amateur and professional archaeologists and their favourite archaeological sites in the USA and more. Enjoy. Help support us and join our Patreon community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.