The Archaeology Show

In this episode of The Archaeology Show, we follow three discoveries that reveal how much ancient meaning can survive—and how much can still elude us. First, we look at rare Neolithic obsidian arrowheads from central Anatolia, etched with one-of-a-kind geometric designs that took real effort to carve, yet remain impossible to interpret. Then we head deep into Spain’s Cova de les Dones, where a hidden chamber holds 120 L...

Please enjoy this episode of The Rock Art Podcast this week!

In this episode, Alan speaks with Stephen Alvarez about his new book, Rock Art: An American Story, exploring the enduring significance of rock art across North America. They discuss Indigenous perspectives, the sacredness of rock art sites, and how ancient imagery continues to connect people with place, culture, and history. The conversation also considers the challenges ...

This week, we’re exploring three archaeology articles in the news this week. First, we head to Rapa Nui, where new research into the mysterious Rongorongo script could reshape our understanding of when and how writing developed on the island. Then, we examine an Etruscan ritual well filled with offerings to the goddess Uni—and later, human remains. Finally, we travel to Denmark, where plans for an underground parking ga...

Join the APN crew for a monthly discussion of recent news articles. This month we look into two very different questions about archaeology and how we interpret the past. First, we dig into the growing role of AI and large language models in archaeological research, discussing hallucinations, data ownership, consent, open access, and why critical thinking is more important than ever. Then, we examine the case of a man who survived a...

This week we cover three new archaeology news stories! First up, a new LiDAR study in Brazil is revealing that the Amazonian ancient civilization of Aquiry may have been much larger than previously known. Then, a tomb in Poland that was opened in 1973 harbored a deadly fungus that caused the deaths of many of the researchers that worked on it, like a modern day Mummy’s Curse! And finally, archaeologists at Pompeii are reconst...

In today’s archaeology news episode, we discuss three articles, starting with a discovery at the Maya city of Xiulán, Guatemala: a small room interpreted as a scribe/astronomer workspace with 11 hieroglyphs naming Sak Ton Wax (“white-chested fox”) and more than 50 mathematical “micro texts” tracking Venus and Mars as the author. We then cover a report that President Trump reduced Grand Staircase–...

On today’s episode Chris interviews Dr. David Danzig from the Save Ancient Studies Alliance. It’s a great website dedicated to education and outreach. They’ve got a conference coming up on July 19th and 20th for people listening in real time. It’s free and open to all. Check out the livestream options at the links below.

Links

• Save Ancient Studies Alliance
• Virtual Conference

Transcr...

In this “Timelines: 1450” episode, we travel across continents and centuries to see what was happening at the same time in different places around the world: Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia, Machu Picchu in the Andes, and Constantinople in Turkey. Join us as we uncover their origins, uses, and the mysteries that still surround these awe-inspiring sites.

Links

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Ang...

Each month on the APN Discord channel the management of the APN will get together and discuss an article or two from recent archaeology and scientific journal publications. You can join live and free on the Discord and see our shining faces! We thought we’d use this show to present the audio from that first recording. We’re aiming for the first Monday of every month. Let us know what you think!

Links

https://ww...

This week we cover three archaeology stories in the news recently. First, ancient and unusual rock art in the Caucuses. Then we head over to Spain where researchers have excavated several graves at a monastery, including the queen who founded it. And finally, Natianal Geographic's June cover story is all about a long lost Incan city that may (or may not!) have been identified in Peru.

Links

• Scientists Found ‘Me...

In episode 330 of The Archeology Show, we discuss the latest controversy over the site of Monte Verde in southern Chile, long considered a cornerstone pre-Clovis site dated to about 14,500 BP. We summarize a March 2026 study led by Todd Surovell arguing the key occupation layer is much younger (about 8,200–4,200 years ago) based on geological and stratigraphic analyses, including an 11,000-year-old tephra layer allegedly bene...

Today we bring you three stories from the news. The first is about an overcrowded cemetery in Colorado and it brings into question other cemeteries that date back over 100 years and the accuracy of records. Next we head to Scotland where a man-made island has been shown to have much more interesting architecture than previously though - and it’s much older than researches believed. Finally, we talk about the archaeology being...

In this week’s episode, we cover three archaeology news stories. First up, a Nature-backed report on unusually old woodworking from Kalambo Falls, where waterlogged conditions preserved a wedge, digging stick, and notched logs dated by luminescence to about 476,000 years ago, suggesting advanced planning and challenging simple “Stone Age” assumptions. We then discuss a Pompeii discovery of two skeletons outside th...

In our latest episode, we unravel fascinating stories of ancient DNA in the news! Uncover the touching story of Anglo-Saxon siblings buried together over 1400 years ago. Then we look at groundbreaking research revealing how natural selection shaped more genes than we ever imagined. Finally, join our exploration of the mysterious origins of Neanderthals!

Links

• Anglo-Saxon burial holds an older sister cradling her litt...

Three discoveries, one shifting landscape: a mysterious buried structure beneath the ancient city of Buto, the newly identified tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II near the Valley of the Kings, and the remains of a massive Coptic monastery at Al-Qalaye. We dig into what the finds reveal about Egypt’s long arc—from dynastic power to Christian communities—and how modern tools are changing what archaeologists can see.

Li...

For decades, Monte Verde in southern Chile has been one of the most famous archaeological sites in the Americas. The site was widely accepted as 14,500 years old, making it one of the strongest pieces of evidence for human presence in the Americas before Clovis.

But what if that interpretation was wrong?

In this special episode, I sit down with Dr. Todd Surovell, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, to discuss ne...

This week on The Archaeology Show, we tour three very different windows into the ancient world: a 5,000-year-old tomb packed with remarkable treasures, a surprising discovery of upright-buried skeletons beneath a French school, and tens of thousands of Egyptian notes and receipts that capture everyday life in vivid detail. We unpack what these finds reveal about status and burial ritual, how archaeologists interpret unusual body po...

This week we are back with some News stories! First, we discuss evidence from an Iron Age cemetery in northern Vietnam showing intentional, permanent tooth blackening dating back 2,000 years. Then, we cover a 2,500-year-old Pazyryk culture burial in southern Siberia where CT scans of a mummified woman’s skull suggest a severe jaw injury was stabilized with surgical sutures. And finally, we summarize Bronze Age textile finds f...

From a 150-year-old alcohol bottle unearthed in Utah—where the “real treasure” might be what it once tasted like—to footprints in White Sands New Mexico which are more than 20,000 years old, this episode spans the surprisingly fragile side of archaeology. We also dig into a discovery being called the oldest clothing in human history, and what it can (and can’t) tell us about early humans, preservation,...