Since 2011 the Syrian civil war, with armed confrontations between regime and various opposition forces, led to a traumatic process that has strained the ethnic and social fabric of the country. Much of Syria lies in ruins, and also its archaeological heritage has been a major casualty of the conflict, especially regarding the deliberate destruction and systematic looting of antiquities by forces of the so-called Islamic State terror organization. I had the pleasure to discuss some of the intricate details of these actions with Dr Amr Al-Azm on this episode of archaeological context.

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Looting and destruction of Syria’s antiquities by ISIS – With Dr Amr Al-Azm - S2E3

The stone age site of Herxheim in Western Germany is counted among the most important and at the same time enigmatic prehistoric localities of Europe, because in the ditches surrounding an Early Neolithic settlement, the skeletal remains of hundreds of individuals were found. But these were not proper burials, as the bones were smashed beyond recognition and the skulls shaped to bowl-like artefacts. Soon after this discovery, the possibility of ritualized mass cannibalism was debated, as all the evidence hints to complex ceremonies taking place at this site. To find out more, I had a discussion with my friend Dr. Andrea Zeeb-Lanz on this episode of archaeological context.

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Stone age Cannibals? Examining the 7000-year-old ritual site of Herxheim – With Dr Andrea Zeeb-Lanz - S2E2

The unprovoked Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 marks the largest armed conflict in Europe since the second World War, and at least six million Ukrainians had to flee their home country. This ongoing war also damaged or destroyed many archaeological sites and museums featuring the rich cultural heritage in eastern and southern Ukraine. My friends Dr Pavlo Shydlovski and Dr Marta Andriiovych talk about their their experiences and share evidence of the looting of artefacts on this episode of archaeological context.

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Targeting of Ukrainian archaeological heritage - With Dr Pavlo Shydlovski and Dr Marta Andriiovych - S2E1

Welcome back to another episode of 23 minutes archaeology, where we continue with part 2 of or look at Ötzi, the prehistoric Iceman. Because soon after the recovery of the mummy, and its significance was understood, the site of his discovery at the Tisenjoch-mountain was extensively researched. In the process, many parts of Ötzis equipment were found and uncovered from the ice. 
And for us archaeologists, these finds are truly invaluable. Because as you may remember from last episode, Ötzi was not formally buried, but unexpectedly torn from life. Additionally, not only his body, but also his clothing and equipment was frozen in ice and therefore preserved over the millennia. This gives us the unique opportunity to get an unaltered picture of the different objects used in everyday life, over 5000 years ago. Afterwards we continue our conversation with Dr. Albert Zink and also focus more on the tattoos discovered all over Ötzis body.

Reverences:

 * Maixner et al. (2018), The Iceman's Last Meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals
 * Fleckinger Ed. (2011), Ötzi 2.0: Eine Mumie zwischen Wissenschaft, Kult und Mythos
 * Möckli (2011), Medizinische Untersuchungen und Ergebnisse an Ötzi 

website: https://23minarch.com [http://23minarch.com/]

Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

The Iceman Ötzi P2 - Examining 5000-year-old survival equipment - With Dr Albert Zink (S01E08)

The Iceman, this may sound like the name of a wrestler or comic-book hero, but today we’re actually talking about one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Exactly 30 years ago in 1991 this now world-famous mummy was discovered accidentally, in the Ötztal Alps between Austria and Italy, at an altitude of 3210 meters. At the time of discovery, it was unclear what a sensational find the frozen body represented. But after the effective age of the mummy of over 5000 years was proven, media interest was enormous. The German speaking media gave the individual the name Ötzi (from the Ötztal mountain range). In the English-speaking world, he was named "The ice man", or "Man from the ice".
In these 30 years since his discovery, Ötzi's body have been studied by many different sciences, from archaeology, anthropology medicine, forensics, botany and so on. And I am very happy to present to you my conversation with Dr. Albert Zink, head of the institute for mummy studies at the European academy in Bolzano and actually in charge of preserving the body of the prehistoric Iceman.

 Reverences:

 * Maixner et al. (2018), The Iceman's Last Meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals
 * Fleckinger Ed. (2011), Ötzi 2.0: Eine Mumie zwischen Wissenschaft, Kult und Mythos
 * Möckli (2011), Medizinische Untersuchungen und Ergebnisse an Ötzi 

Website: https://23minarch.com [http://23minarch.com/]
Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

The Iceman Ötzi P1 - A prehistoric murder case – With Dr Albert Zink (S01E07)

I grew up loving the film “gladiator” with Russel Crow and Joaquin Phoenix. And probably since the beginning of film, gladiators were an integral part of the display of ancient Rome. Take the figure of Spartacus for example; probably his first appearance on the screens was in an Italian silent movie from 1913, then came the masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick in 1960 or the more recent, the tv-series “Spartacus, Blood and Sand”. 

One mutual element these films have, are brutal displays of duels and dramatic deaths of gladiators in the arena. In the last episode we focused on how one became a gladiator and what their diet actually was. Now, let’s focus on the gritty stuff, the chances of surviving an encounter in the arena, injuries and finally, actual causes of death! Additionally, I tried to find out if there is also evidence for female gladiators. In order to investigate these questions, we turn to the gladiator graveyard in ancient Ephesus and continue our conversation with the researcher, who analyzed these excavated skeletons Dr. Fabian Kanz.

Reverences:

 * Lösch et al. (2014), Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD) – Implications for Differences in Diet
 * Meller, Sampaolo (2013), Gladiator. Looking on death every day
 * Kanz, Grossschmidt (2009), Dying in the Arena: The Osseous Evidence from Ephesian Gladiators
 * Nossov (2009), Gladiator. Rome’s bloody spectacle
 * Ville (1981), La gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien

website: https://23minarch.com [http://23minarch.com/]

Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

Dying in the Arena - Analyzing Skeletons of Roman gladiators P2 – With Dr Fabian Kanz (S01E06)

Maybe you know the movie “The Game changers” by UFC-fighter James Wilks. The premise of this documentary was him finding out, that roman gladiators ate very little to no meat. Before this, James Wilks was sure that animal protein was essential for the upkeep of energy levels, the growth of muscles and the healing from injuries. But after reading recent research papers on the subject, he was convinced that the gladiators had a predominantly plant-based diet during training and fights in the arena. Which in term led him to promote a vegan diet for modern day top athletes in his movie.

But is this actually true, were the gladiator’s “vegan”? In this episode we will lock at primary sources, results from analyzed bone samples and talk with Dr. Fabian Kanz, the researcher, who wrote the article James Wilks based “The Game changers” on and who is actually featured in the movie alongside people like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Reverences:

 * Lösch et al. (2014), Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD) – Implications for Differences in Diet
 * Meller, Sampaolo (2013), Gladiator. Looking on death every day
 * Kanz, Grossschmidt (2009), Dying in the Arena: The Osseous Evidence from Ephesian Gladiators
 * Nossov (2009), Gladiator. Rome’s bloody spectacle
 * Ville (1981), La gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien

Website: https://23minarch.com

Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

Fighting in the Arena - Analyzing Skeletons of Roman gladiators P1 – With Dr Fabian Kanz (S01E05)

As the title already indicates, in this episode we examine the diet of “Celtic warriors”. First, I present the late Iron Age cemetery of Münsingen and highlight why this site from Switzerland became such an important reverence point for Celtic archaeology: because based on the evolution of the characteristics of the fibulae grave goods a so-called typo-chronology could be established. Then we talk with Dr. Sandra Lösch, who was the supervisor of a recent research project on the diet of these late Iron Age individuals.

 

Reverences:

·      Moghaddam et al. (2016), A bioarchaeological approach to the Iron Age in Switzerland: stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human remains

·      Moghaddam et al. (2016), Zur Ernährung und Sozialstratigraphie der Kelten aus Münsingen-Rain

·      Moghaddam et al. (2014), Social stratigraphy in Late Iron Age Switzerland: stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of human remains from Münsingen

·      Martin-Kilchner (1973), Zur Tracht- und Beigabensitte im keltischen Gräberfeld von Münsingen-Rain 

·      Hodson (1968), The La Tène Cemetery at Münsingen-Rain


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Meat for Warriors - The diet of Celtic individuals from the Iron Age – With Dr Sandra Lösch (S01E04)

This episode is one of the major reasons why I decided to start recording a podcast in the first place. We will remain with prehistoric nomadic steppe tribes, which are attributed to the umbrella term of Scythians, but shift our focus, from present day Ukraine, some 5000 km to the east, to one of the most remote regions on earth, the Siberian region of the Altai mountains. There, over two-thousand-year-old mummies have been discovered, perfectly preserved in ice. These frozen individuals were covered in amazingly detailed tattoos and allowed for remarkable research. So, I hope I’ll be able to give you an account of why I’m so fascinated by these mummies, and then, we’ll continue our conversation with Dr. Gino Caspari and talk about his experiences, excavating grave mounds in remote regions in Siberia.

 

Reverences:

·      Simpson/Pankova Eds. (2017), Scythians. Warriors of ancient Siberia

·      Liesowska (2014), Iconic 2,500 year old Siberian princess ‘died from breast cancer’, reveals MRI scan

·      Siberian Times (2012), Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos

·      Badenkov (2006), The Frozen tombs of the Altai mountains

·      Polosmak (1996), Menschen aus dem Eis Sibiriens

·      Rudenko (1970), Frozen Tombs of Siberia

 

Links: 23minarch.com [https://linktr.ee/23_minutes_archaeology]

Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

Scythians in the Steppe P2 - The ice maiden from Siberia - With Dr Gino Caspari (S01E03)

For Episode 2 we come to a topic, which fascinates me since many years: The mysterious Scythians who lived in the Eurasian steppe, some 2500 years ago. I’ll begin with a quick overview of these people from the antiquity and thanks to the preserved writings of the Greek author Herodotus, we have the unique opportunity to learn about them almost from first hand. I then compare Herodotus statements about the burial habits of the Scythians with actual archaeological evidence from excavated grave monuments in order to test the validity of the antique author. After this overview and comparison, I will talk with Dr. Gino Caspari about his experience’s excavating grave sites in the Eurasian steppe and the Scythians in general.

Reverences:

 * Simpson/Pankova Eds. (2017), Scythians. Warriors of ancient Siberia
 * Parzinger (2004), Die Skythen
 * Rolle et al. (1991), Gold der Steppe
 * Rolle (1980), Die Welt der Skythen
 * Rolle (1972), Neue Ausgrabungen skythischer und sakischer Grabanlagen in der Ukraine    und in Kazachstan
 * Herodotus HIV

Links: https://linktr.ee/23_minutes_archaeology

Support: patreon.com/23minarch [http://patreon.com/23minarch]

Scythians in the Steppe P1 - Examining the statements from Herodotus – With Dr Gino Caspari (S01E02)

Uncover the mysteries of the past on Archaeological Context with Dr Noah. From deciphering the symbolism of tattoos found on prehistoric mummies to uncovering the heartbreaking tales behind the looting of Syria’s antiquities or the food and training habits of Roman gladiators, each episode offers a captivating exploration of the fascinating world of archaeology. Join me as we explore intriguing research from around the globe, going beyond mere objects and excavations to uncover the rich cultural and scientific contexts behind archaeological discoveries. With engaging overviews based on published research and enlightening conversations with leading experts, this podcast offers a fresh perspective on our shared and diverse cultural heritage. Subscribe now and embark on a journey of discovery with Archaeological Context.