That's Old News

An ancient egg that’s no yoke, roman flatpack furniture and Stone Age inventions in China

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 16:31:38 +0000

Join the That’s Old News team in this episode as they discuss one of the worlds oldest persevered eggs found in the UK, a recently discovered roman flatpack bed (watch out IKEA), and the 45,000 year old stone age technology at one of the oldest archaeological sites in China. Enjoy this cracking episode!

References

Ben’s Story - Roman Egg https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68247184

Taryn’s Story - Roman Flatpack Bed https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/05/flat-packed-furniture-for-the-next-life-roman-funerary-bed-found-in-london

Laurie’s Story - Lithic Technologies in China https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/china-ancient-human-migration-culture/

A 3000 year old failed drug test, what makes a Denisovan and an extinct mammoth meatball

Wed, 17 May 2023 21:42:35 +0000

We’re back with a bang (and a new co-host!) Join Ben, Laurie and Taryn as they embark on a new series of That’s Old News exploring the latest research into the human past.

This week they’ll be discussing the earliest evidence of psychoactive drug use in Europe, the unique story behind the discovery of a potential of a Denisovan skull in 2021 and the science behind a mammoth meatball made from cultivated meat. Enjoy!

Where blue eyes come from? What makes a UNESCO world heritage site? and 170,000 year old giant snails.

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 05:00:11 +0000

Join Laurie, Taryn and Ben this week, as they discuss the origins of blue eyes, what it takes to become a UNESCO world heritage site, and origins of ancient snail consumption – a real feast (if you like snails). Enjoy!

A 6,000 Year Old Salt Factory, Sheepish Medieval Fraudsters and What Computers Can Teach Us About Rock Art

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 09:35:22 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss, the discovery of the oldest salt factory in western Europe, which is nearly 6,000 years old, why sheepskin was the material of choice for making parchment to prevent medieval fraudsters, and how machine learning was applied to australia rock art to see how good computers are at identifying when they were painted. Enjoy!

Links

6000 Year Old Salt Factory

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/31/dig-reveals-6000-year-old-salt-hub-in-north-yorkshire

Australian Rock Art

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/machine-learning-reads-arnhem-land-rock-art/

Sheepskin Parchment

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-sheep-skin-legal-papers-fraud-prevention-parchment

What Are The Dead Sea Scrolls? The life of a Mayan Ambassador and Introducing The Plain of Jars

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 05:00:45 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week when they discuss the newest fragments found of the dead sea scrolls along with what the dead sea scrolls are and why they’re important.They also discuss the the life of a Mayan ambassador and how his bones show why living as a mayan elite wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Finally if you’ve never heard of the site called the plain of jars in Laos you learn on this episode why you’ll want to give it a google! Enjoy.

Links to stories

The Plain of Jars https://phys.org/news/2021-03-mystery-laos-megalithic-jars.html

Dead Sea Scrolls https://www.archaeology.org/news/9530-210317-israel-dead-sea-scrolls

The live of a Mayan Ambassador https://www.archaeology.org/news/9529-210317-guatemala-maya-lakam

Neanderthal Speech, A 2,000 Year Old Computer and A WW2 Airman Laid to Rest

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 05:00:09 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss new evidence suggesting neanderthals could speak, the latest research on the world's oldest analog computer, the antikythera mechanism, an ancient greek device used to predict planetary movements, and finally, a story of how ancient DNA provided closer for family members of a WW2 New Zealand bomber gunner who was missing in action.

Links

Neanderthal Speech

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210301112358.htm

The Antikythera Mechanism

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/12/scientists-move-closer-to-solving-mystery-of-antikythera-mechanism

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w#Sec12

WW2 Airman

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124416572/remains-of-southland-wwii-gunner-found-after-79-years-in-plane-wreckage-in-germany

The Oldest Dog in America, A 17,000 Year Old Sound, And How Much Did Ancient Egyptians Love Their Pets?

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 05:00:13 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they chat through the earliest dog remains found in the americas and its implications on how the humans first made it to america, a rediscovered conch horn played for the first time in 17,000 years, and the oldest pet cemetery ever found, which cements the importance of our feline friends in our history. Enjoy!

links

17,000 Year Old Conch

https://gizmodo.com/after-17-000-years-a-rediscovered-conch-horn-is-played-1846238951

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267417-listen-to-the-oldest-known-conch-shell-horn-from-18000-years-ago/

Ancient Egyptian Pet Cemetery

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/graves-nearly-600-cats-and-dogs-ancient-egypt-may-be-world-s-oldest-pet-cemetery

Oldest Dog Remains Discovered In America

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/remains-oldest-american-dog-bolster-idea-first-humans-arrived-along-coast

Sentimental Sapiens: With Special Guest Taryn Bell

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 05:00:12 +0000

In this weeks special Ben and Laurie are joined by Taryn Bell a researcher from the university of York. Taryn's research focuses on trying to understand the uniquely human trait of having significant emotional connections with objects. Everyone has item which is precious to them for sentimental reasons, but when did this human trait develop, and how can we find these objects in the archaeological record? Join us to find out!

Links

Bell, T. and Spikins, P. (2018). The object of my affection: attachment security and material culture. Time and Mind 11(1), 23-39. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1751696X.2018.14333

Stonehenge Special: the henge before Stonehenge

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 05:00:17 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week, as they discuss the recent revelations at Stonehenge which revealed that the blue stones found at Stonehenge were actually part of another stone circle 300 years earlier in wales. Enjoy!

Links

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/16/stonehenge-archaeology-documentary

Bronze Age Jiggling, A Cursus on Arran and Things You Learn When You Don’t Brush Your Teeth

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 05:00:16 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they speak about humans ability to judge weigh and it’s impact on early bronze age trade, the discovery of a new cursus on the Isle of Arran that’s reshaping neolithic Scotland, and what we can learn from dental plaque about the earliest milk consumption in Africa. Enjoy!

Hungry for more?

Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every Monday!

Links To The Stories

Bronze Age Jiggling https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210120151015.htm

A Cursus on Arran https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/new-stone-age-discovery-massive-island-ritual-site-3105420

Things You Learn When You Don’t Brush Your Teeth https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20682-3

Tudors in the Garden, Mayan Marigold and Indonesian Cave Art

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 05:00:20 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they discuss the things people have been finding in their garden during the UK lockdown, new research showing what the Mayans use to smoke and the discovery of the worlds oldest animal cave paintings in Indonesia. Enjoy!

Hungry for more?

stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every monday!

Links to stories

Tudors in the Garden

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/09/tudor-coins-dedicated-to-three-of-henry-viiis-wives-found-in-family-garden

Mayan Marigold https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210115110339.htm

Worlds Oldest Animal Paintings https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264793-worlds-oldest-painting-of-animals-discovered-in-an-indonesian-cave/#:~:text=Stunning%20cave%20paintings%20discovered%20in,the%20Indonesian%20island%20of%20Sulawesi.

Amazon Cave Art, Hibernating Hominids and Always Feed Your Wolf

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 09:11:35 +0000

(Uploaded Again - Hi folks so fans were experience technical difficulties when listening to the latest episode, so we've uploaded it again. we're also been working with our platform to resolve this issue.)

In this weeks show Laurie and Ben chat through the discovery of thousands of cave paintings recently found in the Amazon, new evidence from Spain suggesting early hominids could have hibernated. And, a new hypothesis suggesting wolves were domesticated due to the excess meat from human hunting activities. Enjoy!

Hungry for more?

Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every other Monday!

Amazonian Cave Art, Hibernating Hominids and Always Feed Your Wolf

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 05:00:57 +0000

Hungry for more?

Don’t forget Stay up to date on the past, with new episodes out every other Monday!

50 Microns of Purple and 16 Roman Wheels

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 07:00:49 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through how researchers managed to show how snails weren’t used to make the colour purple in Roman Egypt (who knew you could make the colour purple from snails if the first place) and the first ever water powered industrial complex from 2nd Century AD France. Enjoy!

Links

Roman Purple

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201121104311.htm

Roman Watermills

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74900-5

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201113141812.htm

A Pint of Cave Water, Psychedelic Cave Art and Female Hunters

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 22:12:01 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they look at how Ancestral Puebloans survived by melting ice from lava flumes, the first evidence of an association between the use of Psychedelics and ancient cave art and how a 9,000 year old female skeleton is revolutionizing theories on who did the hunting. Enjoy!

Links

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/woman-hunter-ancient-andean-remains-challenge-old-ideas-who-speared-big-game

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201118080741.htm

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/11/18/2014529117#ref-4

https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2020/11/19/2014529117.DCSupplemental

Anthropology Special: Living with the Batek with George Brill

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 20:45:15 +0000

It’s anthropology week this week, and Ben and Laurie are joined by George Brill, an adventure athlete, wilderness explorer and practical anthropologist. In this episode, George talks about his time living with a small village of Batek hunter-gatherers on the borders of the Malaysian jungle. One of Peninsular Malaysia’s Orang Asli—‘original peoples’, the Batek are famed anthropologically for their peaceful society and gender egalitarianism. They’re also famous climbers which allows George to speak about his other passion, human locomotion, understanding the how and why humans move the way they do. Don't listen if you're afraid of heights!

Interesting in learning more about George?

check out this link - https://www.georgebrill.co.uk/batek-lastoftheforestpeople

Buffalo Milk, Clever Mayans and The Ancient Harappans

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 23:13:43 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they chat through the earliest example of dairy production in south-central Asia, new evidence revealing how Mayans made their water safe to drink, and an introduction to the Harappans; an ancient society with no emperor, no army but a population bigger than ancient China. Enjoy!

Links

Indus valley dairy production

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72963-y

https://www.archaeology.org/news/9151-201020-indus-valley-dairy

Mayan Water Purification

Introduction to the Harrapans

A Load of Old Balls, Cesspit Revelations, and an Anglo-Saxon Warlord?

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:10:13 +0000

Join Ben and Laurie this week for another voyage into the past. We discuss the oldest Eurasian balls, how to reconstruct the Mediaeval gut microbiome, and how the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon warlord has shaken up our understanding of post-Roman Britain. Enjoy!

Links

Ancient Leather Balls

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201012103140.htm

Gut Microbiome

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005005927.htm

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2019.0576

Anglo-Saxon Warlord

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005005929.htm

(Bonus Episode) Kolombangara: The Forgotten Fortress

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 19:53:16 +0000

In a different format for this episode, Laurie and Ben are joined by Nik Hochstein Cox. Nik is an archaeological adventurer who’s discussing his latest research at the forgotten WW2 Japanese fortress on the island of Kolombangara in the Solomon islands. Enjoy!

If you want to find out more about Nik's research at Kolombangara check out his site - https://forgottenfortress.com/

Our First Friends, Vikings Weren’t Blonde and Warriors before Writing

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 14:16:14 +0000

This week Laurie and Ben chat through discoveries from the Mediterranean shedding new light on dog domestication, the latest genetic research into the Viking world, and the mysterious bronze age battle of Tollense valley, the largest prehistoric battle in northern Europe. Enjoy!

Links

Dog Domestication

https://www.archaeology.org/news/9021-200911-italy-paleolithic-dogs

http://jacksonvillefreepress.com/but-what-is-that-in-human-years-20000-year-old-remains-of-a-dog-may-be-the-worlds-oldest-pet/

Viking Genetics

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916113544.htm

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/september/viking-dna.html

Battle of Tollense Valley

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2019/10/puzzling-artifact-found-tollense-europe-oldest-battlefield/

Femur Flutes, No Cheese For Me, And a Mystery Walrus

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 17:59:17 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through new discoveries that shed light on how the Bronze Age people of Britain commemorated their dead, new research into the origins of human lactase persistence and the mysterious case of Walrus remains buried with 3 human skulls in a victorian graveyard, enjoy!

Links

Bronze Age Burial Practices

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/01/bronze-age-britons-keepsakes-parts-dead-relatives-archaeologists

Lactase Persistence

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31187-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220311878%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/12031_ENG_HTML.php

Walrus

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08qbzsm/the-walrus-found-in-a-human-grave

3D Temples, Palaeolithic Pictionary and the Mesolithic Tsunami that Hit the UK

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 12:05:44 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week as they talk through, the 3D reconstruction of the now destroyed,Temple of Bel, through tourist pictures and AI. 15,000 year old art found in Jersey, and the Storegga Slide - the mesolithic tsunami that devastated the UK and Norway.

Temple of Bel

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-ancient-temple-virtual-exploration.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34111092

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/palmyra2/ancientpalmyra/a/temple-of-bel-palmyra

Paleolithic Art in Jersey

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/19/engraved-stones-found-on-jersey-an-art-form-of-15000-years-ago

Storegga Slide

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/7/270/htm

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/tsunami-britain-atlantis-6200-bc-archaeology-a9622591.html

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/43/2/111/131755/Moss-growth-patterns-and-timing-of-human-exposure?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Make your 200,000-Year-Old Bed, U-Boat Secrets, and the Sensitive Side of Neanderthals

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 22:37:35 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week where they’re talking through evidence of the world's oldest bed, complete with insect repellents, the latest research into a sunken WW1 german U-boat containing war secrets, and genetic research suggesting Neanderthals might have been more sensitive to pain. Enjoy!

Links To Stories

200,000 Year Old Bed https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/369/6505/863.full.pdf

German U-Boat Secrets

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/ww1-german-submarine-uc47-navy-flamborough-head-yorkshire-north-sea-archaeology-history-a9655336.html

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8906-200806-submarine-north-sea

Neanderthal Pain

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2820%2930861-7

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723115900.htm

The Source of the Stones, The First Americans, and an Underwater Museum

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 08:47:54 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week to discover the source of the stones from Stonehenge, new revelations in how early humans reached the Americas and the world's first underwater museum in Greece. Enjoy!

Links

Stonehenge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53580339

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/29/archaeologists-discover-source-stonehenge-giant-sarsen-stones

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/#:~:text=The%20sarsen%20stones%20are%20a,exact%20origin%20remained%20a%20mystery.

Peopling of the Americas

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02137-3

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-discovery-americas-us-human-story-prehistory-a9632161.html

Underwater Museum

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/02/parthenon-of-shipwrecks-greece-opens-its-first-underwater-museum

Neolithic Newgrange, From Alaska To Ancient Rome and The Piltdown Man

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 22:55:48 +0000

Join Laurie and Ben this week to talk through new research revealing how close high status neolithic families really were, how a eruption in Alaska could have impacted the end of the Roman Republic and the story of a 20th century fraud.

See links to all the stories below

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01655-4?fbclid=IwAR21KB4L349UcLf1B5enMeZMW3rlsmGRU5--1LVYJiy7k_oq7W5CAbphPWI

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/dna-ancient-irish-tomb-reveals-incest-and-elite-class-ruled-early-farmers

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/27/15443

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/alaskan-mega-eruption-may-have-helped-end-roman-republic

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2016/august/piltdown-man-charles-dawson-likely-fraudster.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvIT5BRCqARIsAAwwD-SFvDyhWaezQezut2PBibdO4ZPJrPWQjMQLWUg0rGOnWW22Y8AT5jAaAqx8EALw_wcB

Rudolf’s Ancestors, a Really Old Bird and Some Of The Earliest Stories Ever Told

Sat, 20 Jun 2020 14:13:06 +0000

This week, Ben and Laurie discuss new revelations on the domestication of Santa’s preferred transport, the lucky discovery of the oldest 3D art ever found in Asia, and ancient aboriginal stories accurately passed down and over 400 generations - Enjoy!

See the links below

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8798-200615-arctic-reindeer-domestication

https://www.folio.ca/reindeer-were-domesticated-much-earlier-than-previously-thought-new-study-suggests/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told#:~:text=Is%20an%20Aboriginal%20tale%20of%20an,the%20oldest%20story%20ever%20told%3F&text=Long%20ago%2C%20four%20giant%20beings,lava%20the%20volcano%20spat%20out.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200610152006.htm

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233370

Wolf Meat, Super Computers and the Story of Red Hugh

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 14:17:21 +0000

Once, twice, three times...with Ben and Laurie. This week they'll be covering evidence of humans hunting & eating predators in the Palaeolithic, the latest research in modelling neanderthal extinction using a super computer, and the discover of the remains of the Irish legend, Red Hugh O'Donnell. Enjoy!

See the links to all the stories Ben and Laurie speak about below:

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8713-200522-neanderthal-extinction-scenarios

https://ibsclimate.org/research-news/supercomputer-model-simulations-reveal-cause-of-neanderthal-extinction/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379120302936

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/spanish-archaeologists-recover-bones-in-search-for-remains-of-red-hugh-o-donnell-1.4259973

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/who-was-red-hugh-o-donnell-the-fiery-symbol-of-gaelic-resistance-1.4266919#:~:text=If%20discovered%20intact%2C%20Red%20Hugh's,Castle)%20or%20fractures%2C%20possibility%20associated

An American Cousin, Earache and Resurrecting a Goose

Sun, 31 May 2020 12:50:09 +0000

Back by no demand, it's episode 2. In this episode Laurie and Ben chat through the latest ancient DNA research shedding new light on how the Americas were populated, 15,000 years of earache, and the discovery of a 7th century English saint with the best miracles you've never heard of.

Show Links:

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8709-200521-native-american-ancestor https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/oldest-cousin-native-americans-found-russia#https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30502-X.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS009286742030502X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-archaeology-of-ear-infections-shows-farming-didn-t-ruin-our-health-1.8860082

Shooting Lasers, Ichnofossils and Everything in Between

Tue, 26 May 2020 09:46:00 +0000

That's right, it's our first ever episode! We'll cover, how lasers are helping us discover hundreds of new prehistoric sites, early human migration into Europe, and what you can learn from hundreds of 12,000-year-old footprints.

Want to know more? See the links to the stories below:

https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/05/dozens-of-prehistoric-roman-and.html

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8698-200515-tanzania-footprints-trackway

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64095-0

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52614870