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2024 End of the Year Review! - Pseudo 153
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It’s time to reflect on the highs and lows that 2024 has brought to the world of Pseudoarchaeology. As always, there are not any highs, but the competition to be the lowest of the lows is as fierce as ever!
Transcripts
- For rough transcripts of this episode go to https://www.archpodnet.com/pseudo/153
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Transcript
Introduction to Pseudo-Archaeology Show
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. You are now entering the pseudo-archaeology podcast, a show that uncovers what's fact, what's fake, and what's fun in the crazy world of pseudo-archaeology.
2024 Pseudo-Archaeological Lows with Dr. Andrew Kinkella
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the pseudo archaeology podcast, episode 153. I am your host, Dr. Andrew Kinkella. And tonight, 2024, the year in pseudo archaeological review, the highs, the lows, and you know it's really just going to be lows.
00:00:50
Speaker
OK, so welcome back, party people. I thought I would do my yearly now it's yearly because I did it one other time in 2023. My yearly take on. Just kind of what I've been working on over this past year, some of the highs and lows, and as we said in the intro, you know, there's like this race to the bottom on these, and that's what makes it fun.
00:01:15
Speaker
So you know what have I what have I been talking about? What have I been doing? I thought I would go through. Some of my episodes of the year, what I've done archaeologically over this year, really, as it relates to this, you know, you don't care about ancient
Reflecting on 2023: Indiana Jones and More
00:01:30
Speaker
Maya stuff. I know you. You're just here for the pseudo stuff. Typical.
00:01:37
Speaker
but you know i thought i might tell any fun kind of backstories in terms of what was happening when i did certain episodes you know and we'll just go from there we'll see well we'll see where this winding road takes us my friends so. I look back at the list you know of of the shows that i've done.
00:01:58
Speaker
over the year. And what's so crazy is so the 2023 year in review was episode 133, right? And this one I'm recording right now is 153. So with 20 episodes ah ahead, but right before 133 in December, episode 132 was on Indiana Jones and the temple of doom.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I swear when I look at that one, I'm like, that feels like a million years ago when I reviewed temple until, you know, I'm like, damn dude, that feels like a really long time. That's only been a year.
Piltdown Man and Scopes Monkey Trial
00:02:33
Speaker
That feels like at least two, but then right below it, I did Kong Tiki in early December 23. That feels like I did that one yesterday. I'm like, con Tiki was a year ago. That feels like it was like three months ago. So what we're already noticing,
00:02:51
Speaker
is I just, my grasp of time has just lost me. Like, it's it's sad. I know you don't wanna hear about that. You're like, can kill a man, your brain. Gotta watch out, dude. Maybe you should eat better. And you're probably right. But looking in terms of January 24, the first episode on here is on Piltdown Man.
00:03:18
Speaker
And funnily enough, the Piltdown Men episode took me a long time to do. It's what what I noticed cruising through some of the topics this year. It took me a long time to do some of the really like famous and or cliche themes. You know, I guess I would just get ideas for other things and I'd sort of push them back, you know, but I guess it just took me a while. And of course, Piltdown Man is the famous 1912 fake.
00:03:50
Speaker
that was done in England where they they made this fossil. They made it right. it It turned out to be like a recent human. But they stuck a human skull together with an orangutan jaw and fake the world out for only a mere 40 years.
Podcasting's Role in Understanding Archaeological Stories
00:04:11
Speaker
Cool classic story, you know. Oh, and then I then I sort of
00:04:17
Speaker
added to that one doing the Scopes Monkey Trial, episode 135. Again, these are two classic ah stories in anthropology, right? The Piltdown Man is the famous fraud, famous for how long it lasted. And then Scopes Monkey Trial is, of course, this kind of battle royale in the 1920s over the teaching of evolution.
00:04:43
Speaker
So, important ones. Ones I'm glad I did. ah Fun things to learn. These are these are kind of my more... Kinkella becomes serious and historical from time to time, if you can believe it.
00:04:59
Speaker
But then after that, so I did those and I did those because I teach bio anthropology, you know, and sometimes I'm like, man, I want to do a deep dive and just to some of these old concepts. I want to get a handle on them myself. It's like what's funny is I think.
00:05:16
Speaker
One of the reasons you guys listen to this podcast is to learn, you know, it's to learn the backstory of some of these famous stories. And one of the reasons I do them is so I forced myself to learn
Augustus Le Plongeon and Historical Context
00:05:26
Speaker
the stuff. Now, I already knew like Scopes, Monkey, Trial and I already knew Piltdown Man, but I didn't have a deep, ah a really deep kind of point by point knowledge of them. And now I do. And that's that's the nice part about doing this for me.
00:05:43
Speaker
So after that, I took this turn from there and I was like, you know what? I want to focus more on like the early pseudo-archaeology people because I find that kind of tracing pseudo-archaeology's history really, really fascinating and really tough at the same time. So I did Augustus Le Plungeon and I remember this guy there, there's a handful of people working in like the 18, oh, 1860s, 1870s, you know, where they have like silly ideas, which is why they make it onto this podcast. But somebody like Le Plungeon,
00:06:33
Speaker
who basically worked in the Maya area and did did some OK work, but his conclusions were terrible. I i don't.
00:06:44
Speaker
blame these guys nearly as much as the later day people like Graham Hancock, you know, or Eric Von Dineken, right? Like, I don't blame these guys nearly as much because they're working in like the 1870s. They don't have the kind of technology we do today. They can, while some of them like Le Plungeon specifically did hold on to his stupid ideas way too long.
00:07:06
Speaker
in the early days, you know, he had nothing to compare it to. So while it's a bit silly, this is the guy who, you know, took real work. He actually worked at real Maya sites, but then talked about these fantastical people who live there.
Atlantis, Mu, and Pseudo-Archaeological Challenges
00:07:21
Speaker
He just, he was basically, well, he was, he was out of his mind.
00:07:25
Speaker
But hey, I give them half a pass. And then after this, like I wanted to drill drill down and really do this. I did an episode on Atlantis, right? I hadn't done Atlantis. So crazy you guys. And obviously behind the scenes while I knew about Atlantis, Atlantis has so much to it, you know, that it's just,
00:07:53
Speaker
It's really difficult to give a straight story because you kind of have the historic meaning very, very early like Plato, you know, 2000 years old story of Atlantis. And then you kind of have.
00:08:08
Speaker
what I would call maybe the Atlantis revision, where it's then used in a like late 19th or early 20th century situation where Ignatius Donnelly gets into it and kind of you know they they rewrite Atlantis for a more modern audience, which is, of course, what keeps happening since then.
00:08:30
Speaker
so it's ah it's a Interesting, long, intricate story, honestly, dealing with the atlantic Atlantis to me is one of the definitely one of the hardest topics to deal with because there's just so much. Most of these other ones are pretty straightforward. that That's episode 137. And if you if you want to know like the deal with Atlantis, I recommend episode 137 after that.
00:08:54
Speaker
To give myself a break, dude, episode 138, the Lost Continent of Moe, where Atlantis has this deep history and is difficult. Moe, you guys, Moe is so stupid.
00:09:09
Speaker
So Mu is the idea that Mu is the idea that there's a there used to be a continent in the Pacific and it like fell under the ocean. And what's left is like the Hawaiian Islands and the Polynesian Islands. Those are those are the last the last little bits of the lost continent of Mo. But you know, you know who's ruined Mo?
00:09:33
Speaker
Geologists. That's who I blame. Geologists stood with their plate tectonics and their volcanic islands. You know, it's just ah Moo is pure. It is idiocy, but I had fun doing it because sometimes those single note dopey stories are some of the funnest ones for me because like Atlantis.
USS Hornet: A Personal Diversion
00:09:56
Speaker
I got to say Atlantis was kind of hard. Like it took so like, like again, behind the scenes, it took a lot of work. I'm like, how am I going to, how am I going to wrestle this ball? You know, there's just too much, but, but move. You're like, oh dude, I'll tell this story backwards and forwards. This is a piece of cake. You know, and it's light, it's lighthearted and it's silly and it's fun. After that, I threw in something different. I realized that sometimes I noticed, especially with my students,
00:10:24
Speaker
People like ship history, whether it's like sunken ships, you know, army treasure kind of stuff or anything to do with the sort of mysteries involving ships. So I did an episode on the Hornet, the USS Hornet, the aircraft carrier that's permanently stationed in in Alameda in the in the Bay Area because my father was a docent on the Hornet and I just kind of told the story of the Hornet and that was fun for me just to kind of remember my dad right my dad isn't around anymore and kind of remember visiting the Hornet with him and watching him do something that that he took pride in you know ah giving getting tours in that world so that was a was a fun one for me kind of behind the scenes but
00:11:11
Speaker
But then after you guys.
Flint Dibble vs. Graham Hancock on Joe Rogan
00:11:14
Speaker
Episode 140. This is where it gets serious. Yeah. This is where I reviewed Flint Dibble's appearance on the Joe Rogan experience, right? Four and a half hours, dude.
00:11:29
Speaker
And I thought it was important to do that. i I I know Flint in the tiniest way, meaning that we're always in the the same arenas with the pseudo archaeology stuff. And knowing is only really we've I've basically written little notes to him while he was live streaming is like, hey, can calla what's up? You know, we I think we we know each other's backstory and stuff more than and we've actually talked together.
00:11:58
Speaker
But I just had so much pride in Flint for doing that, you know, for going up against dopey old Graham Hancock, you know, on the Joe Rogan experience and just like laying it down. And I thought saw Flint. I thought Flint did such an amazing job. He did so well. I was worried.
00:12:19
Speaker
You know, I thought he might just get hammered. I thought it might just not come out good, but I thought he did so well and so did everyone else. And of course, sadly and embarrassingly, Joe Rogan has had his pseudoscience bullshit artists back on to try and tear Flint a new one. Well, Flint's not there, of course. The ultimate ultimate chicken shit move, you know, did that. And that's just happened very recently and in the last couple of weeks kind of thing.
00:12:48
Speaker
And Flint has gotten all this pushback, totally undeserved, like just sad. They are so such chicken shits. i just I just can't get over it. But i'm so I'm so glad that, again, Flint did that. I hope he just stands strong and keeps doing it because, of course, the the dopey fools of this world, like Graham Hancock you know and his cadre of pseudoscience, bullshit artists,
00:13:13
Speaker
well just They'll never stop because this is all they have. and and and I totally have, I just want to say like total shame to Joe Rogan because you know what? I don't mind Joe Rogan.
Debunking Lighthearted Claims: Yonaguni Submarine Ruins
00:13:23
Speaker
I don't mind the Joe Rogan podcast. I totally get it. like I wish Joe Rogan the best in terms of his podcast and all that stuff. I'm not here to like try and burn down his podcast or something. I'm like good for him.
00:13:35
Speaker
but He knows better, dude. and And somebody like him being that chicken, it's really too bad. Really, really poor look. So, dude, Flint, keep fighting the good fight. So after my pain and tension of dealing with Flint Dibble on the Joe Rogan podcast, I took a break for myself again and I'm like, you know, remember that time?
00:14:01
Speaker
Remember that time when I talked about the Lost Continent of Mo and it made me feel good because it was really stupid? I decided to feel good again, my friends. And I did the Yonaguni submarine ruins for episode 141. That's another it's a geological formation. That's another one that's just totally stupid. And it's but because the geology is very blocky.
00:14:24
Speaker
It's supposed to be the remains of some super pyramid, like under the ocean, basically right off the coast of Japan. And of course it's not. Again, though, dude, easy, relaxing, you know? Just take a minute and feel your toesies in the sand and have a sip of a cool drink and listen to the foolishness of the Yannaguni submarine ruins.
Real Archaeological Sites: Malta's Temples
00:14:52
Speaker
Ah.
00:14:55
Speaker
You know, when I returned, if I'm not too relaxed, I'll keep going. All right, welcome back to the pseudo-archaeology podcast, episode 153. And I have been discussing 2024, the year in review. And I've been talking a little bit about the behind the scenes situation as I make these various episodes and kind of what I thought what's happened over this year. You know, it's fun for me to just take a minute and Think back. And so I was totally just chilling out a minute ago over the Anaguni submarine ruins. But you know what? If you make a chill one, then what happens, my friends? You got to grind yourself down again, which is what I did doing. I did the Bimini Road for Episode 142. First, I can't believe
00:15:53
Speaker
I hadn't done this one before. I think I touched on it, but I never did a ah solo episode on it. The Bimini Road, as I call it to my students, the stupid, stupid Bimini Road. The Bimini Road, actually, I see, it's so funny. Looking at the list of episodes, I see my thinking in this. It was, I did the Anaguni submarine ruins, which is a geological formation that's very blocky. And I'm like, continuing.
00:16:22
Speaker
on geological blockiness, Bimini Road. Bimini Road is much more famous. Bimini Road is the geological formation that's in the Caribbean, right, off the coast of Bermuda. It's only in like 20 feet of water or something. It's pretty shallow. And they've been saying for years and years that this is some sort of ancient road. This gets wrapped up in the Atlantis mythology from time to time, but of course it has nothing to do with any of that. it is Utterly, obviously a geological formation. Human beings didn't make it at all. And that's it. That one bums me out because it's had legs, meaning it just keeps going. But a big reason for that is the Graham Hancock keeps selling that when he keeps talking about it. And it's just it's sad because it's it sucks so bad. They should they should let that one go. It's it's terrible, but. They won't. Then.
Lovecraft, Blavatsky, and Presentation Challenges
00:17:19
Speaker
I kind of I do these sometimes where the next one is the megalithic temples of Malta and I forget why I did this. I think it was because I do these TV shows every so often and I will say that 2024 was very big for me in terms of TV shows. Over the summer, I was on a show for TMZ called Strange and Suspicious. I ah did interviews for stuff that I think ended up on Discovery Channel, on the History Channel, kind of a lot for me. 2024 was by far the most crowded in terms of doing doing television appearances, which I always really enjoy. And TV is an idea about that.
00:18:09
Speaker
It's just it's where I'm interviewed about topics on archaeology and I'm kind of a talking head, right? You would call me an expert presenter. And so i've I did those. Strange and Suspicious though was a group, was kind of a group project. And I really enjoyed my cast mates. It was sort of a round table discussion on kind of mysteries of the day, you know. But I think Megalithic Temples of Malta was one of the topics I was supposed to talk on one of these TV shows about. And so what happens is I'll do a bunch of background research
00:18:45
Speaker
because I need to talk about it, you know, and be recorded at a TV studio. And then I'm like, dude, I got all this background research. I'll like parlay it into the podcast, you know, because while the megalithic temples of Malta are real, but you can look it up. You could listen to the show. It's number 143. So this is real archaeology. The only thing that makes it pseudo archaeology is they'll tack on obvious false bullshit stories, you know, like, Oh, the temples are all aligned to the North star or whatever it may be. You know, they're, they're all aligned showing the procession of the earth over the last 44,000 years. All this alignment silliness always be very wary of alignments in archeology, even when real archeologists talk about them.
00:19:40
Speaker
You have to have really, really good proof if you're dealing with alignments. I mean, they like alignments of structures to things like winter solstice, summer solstice, north star, you know this kind of stuff.
00:19:53
Speaker
Basic alignments are easy and many, many ancient people could do them. so Something like Alignment to the North Star is no big deal, but more complex things.
Amelia Earhart Myths and TV Experience
00:20:04
Speaker
What's funny is just sort of depending on where you stand, you can kind of align anything to anything. So just beware of alignments.
00:20:14
Speaker
Which brings us to episode 144. 144 and 145 go together. So episode 144, I did one on HP Lovecraft and episode 145, I did Helena Blavatsky. These guys were both hard. They were both hard to do. These are people that are much more ah related to like the occult, you know, and this kind of thing. HP Lovecraft,
00:20:41
Speaker
is really a science fiction writer. And if you're a fan of stranger things, that whole vibe of the upside down world, that whole kind of idea of that sort of place, that's Tim, you know, that's HP, that's Lovecraftian, if that makes sense. But his, his influence on kind of pop culture bleeds into the pseudo archeology of the time, bleeds into these false stories, you know, giving, trying to give some sort of substance to these stories that are intrinsically false. Helena Blavatsky is largely the same.
00:21:19
Speaker
Helena Blavatsky is sort of, again, famous woman kind of of the occult. So not pseudo archaeologist over the top, but just, just an obvious charlatan and fraud, you know, but she wraps into this world. And again, they were tough because they're both people who have these kind of wide ranging lives and Many things they were famous for aren't necessary pseudo archaeology. You know, they were hard to do. I don't know if I gave them a good a good summary of or or not. It's tough. I find new things. This happens sometimes, you guys, like as I make these shows.
00:22:03
Speaker
I do try and do my best. I do take it seriously. yeah Underneath all the jokes. I know, I know. Hm. Embarrassing. But I do try and give what I like to call steel in the walls, you know? Give you something to like learn. And sometimes after I make these shows, I'll learn something new or I'll see something new and I'll be like, damn it. You know, I'll be like, oh, if I could have known that or said that, that would have been so much better, but you do what you can.
00:22:33
Speaker
So which brings us to 146. Amelia Earhart. So Amelia Earhart. On the surface, you're like, how's this relate to pseudo archaeology? Make any sense? But. I think the finding the attempt to find her plane is is actually very archaeological underwater archaeology 101.
00:23:01
Speaker
And to find remains, you know, if there's any remains on some of the islands or whatever, all very archaeology one on one stuff. But the pseudo part comes with all the other fake stories that are sort of mushed in to the Amelia Earhart story. That
Debunking Ancient Electricity Myths
00:23:19
Speaker
one I did because we did a segment on Strange and Suspicious on Amelia Earhart and that when I did that, it was kind of my time to shine on that show. That was the best segment I did, I think. And, you know, when you're working with like nine other people.
00:23:37
Speaker
And you're talking about a bunch of topics. You never know. You never know what will kind of hit where the kind of cameras will fall on you if you have something to say that will ah translate decently like there's plenty of times. There's all the times, my friends, when I have something to say about archaeological stuff. But sometimes what I have to say may not necessarily be as interesting as what someone else has to say, or it might not necessarily fit in. It might not edit in right. You know, and I know I know my fellow cast mates that we all had the same problems. We were actually very close as a cast. i I just I can't overstate how much fun I had and how much enjoyment I had on that show and getting to know and interact with the other cast members. It was really great. We're all very similar, kind of a science communicator ish type of people.
00:24:31
Speaker
And that can be a vanishingly small world. So just, you know, just eating lunch with those guys or something. It was fun because we all could just kind of bro out over what this life is like. But anyway, I had learned a decent amount about Amelia Earhart and I felt really strong on her and ah i really enjoyed I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed doing this podcast on that. It was spurned by some new evidence from um very deep sonar scans of the area.
00:25:05
Speaker
There was a very tough to see kind of sonar scan that may or may not have been Amelia Earhart's plane. And it's still I think it's still up in the air. It could go either way. It could just as easily be just a rock. In fact, I saw some report very like honestly, you guys, like two days ago or something where they might have done more ah survey and found out that it was indeed a rock outcrop or something. I'm not sure, but It definitely could go either way, but the reason I was so jazzed about it was that's the right place to look for Amelia Earhart's plane is deep under the ocean right where it sank. There's all these other pseudo stories about Amelia Earhart and they cloud our knowledge of her. So even if those guys didn't find the plane and it was a rock out crop,
00:25:58
Speaker
I still applaud them for doing the right thing. And I'm telling you, if they just keep up with the sonar at those deep, those scans at that deep, deep depth, they'll find it over time. If they keep looking, they'll hit they'll hit it.
Critique of The Atlantis Puzzle Movie
00:26:12
Speaker
Which, oh, so after that one. i did I did two in a row that also go together. I did the Dendra light and the Baghdad battery. So the Dendra light is that classic image from i from the Temple of Dendra in Egypt of what looks like to be Egyptians holding light bulbs. But if you take more than two seconds to look, you realize it can't be a light bulb because the filament is a snake, first off.
00:26:42
Speaker
And it's obviously a like a like a flower that's about to bloom. And there's all kinds of symbolism that goes with it. It's symbolic of Horace. And there I break that down in the in the podcast. That's that's 147. That was fun for me because I'd known about the Denver light forever as so many of us do. Right. We've all seen that image of like the two Egyptian guys both holding what looks like these light bulbs. And of course, it has nothing to do with light bulbs at all.
00:27:12
Speaker
But I did want to, that's one where I wanted to learn for myself. And so I just did a bit of a deep dive into the dendro light. And fun, straightforward, simple, positive, you know, feeling good. Not like being brought down after dealing with the Joe Rogan podcast, being brought up, being elevated. Same goes for the Baghdad Battery, right? 148, because these go together because of the ancient electricity idea.
00:27:41
Speaker
Right, which is which is, again, utterly silly and been debunked 4000 times. So while the Dendro light is just a carving basically having to do with with Horace and this kind of thing, the Baghdad battery is just simply a jar that you use to hold a scroll. That's it. It's a scroll holder, but based on the fact that there were two different metals used in inside of it. They're like, Oh, if you fill it up with like citrus juice, you could get a low current, which is true, but it was not used in that form. And the current's very weak and you couldn't really do anything with it. You know, people like, Oh, it wasn't used for electroplating. No, because there's nothing from that time period that was electroplated.
00:28:34
Speaker
So, yeah, the easy, straightforward, fun for me to learn the ins and outs. Our last couple that bring us up today to to date, I should say. Episode 149, I was asked to basically review a movie. This was really weird. I couldn't quite figure out why they asked me.
00:28:58
Speaker
But they were very kind, the production company, and asked me to review this movie called The Atlantis Puzzle. And they gave me a, I think it was on Netflix, or maybe it was Prime, I can't remember. But you know I said, okay. And they're like, oh, we have new evidence for Atlantis, new evidence. And I'm like, oh boy. you know But I have to say, the the main producer of the movie was thoughtful, he was professional. And so because of that, I was like, okay.
00:29:29
Speaker
And I watched it and the movie is well made. The shots look good, all that kind of good stuff. But the ultimate sort of reveal for the Atlantis puzzle is Atlantis was the Rashad structure, which is this geological formation in the middle of Africa. And it's like the worst. Like I literally, when when that review came, it was one of those moments where I gutturally went, oh,
00:30:04
Speaker
You know, because it's so dumb. And so I was like, damn it. And it's funny, you know, as as a double major in archaeology and film, I know and I understand that making a shitty movie takes just as much time and effort and passion as making a good one. So i I feel for those guys, but I'm saddened at the same time that they spent so much trouble telling an utterly bullshit story.
00:30:34
Speaker
So, man, couldn't that money and time been spent on something better?
Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z
00:30:39
Speaker
Which brings us to the lost city of Z, which we will deal with when we return. Hello and welcome back to the pseudo archaeology podcast, episode 153. And we have been going over the year 2024. Remember it? Sure you do, because you're in it just barely.
00:31:03
Speaker
And I've come down to the last handful of episodes for this year. And then I thought I'd end up, you know, just with a couple last kind of thoughts and feelings on how this year has gone for me in terms of pseudo-archaeology. So episode 150 was ah Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z. This is another one that I really liked, I liked doing some of these historic ones, focused ones. I had read the lost city of Z and also I had been tapped by another one of the TV shows to do an interview specifically on the lost city of Z. And that was, that was, I really enjoyed that interview. I do have to say, you know, behind the scenes, doing the TV stuff,
00:31:52
Speaker
man, you never know how it's going to go. It's and I've done again, quite a few of these and you just never know. Sometimes you feel so good and you get there and it just all falls down. Other times you feel tired or just, you know, kind of flimsy, but then it goes great and everything in between. And also what happens is you can also think it's gone great. I've totally done this. Well, I've walked out of the studio and I've been like,
00:32:21
Speaker
nailed it. But then I'll see it on TV like months later and I'll be like, Oh, oh, man. Oops. You know, so you don't you just I'm telling you guys all you can do is just kind of give it your best shot. Hope for the best. Be as professional and and prepared as you reasonably can and then just let the dice roll. I've had I feel so fortunate that I've had every permutation of experience, you know, in that world. But I'll say for the velocity of Z. I haven't seen this yet, right? Because I just I did it recently, like maybe a month or two ago. And it felt really good, you guys. The interview felt like it just went really well. So I'm I'm very curious to watch. I usually hate watching myself.
00:33:15
Speaker
And I just, I tend to, I do want to watch what I'm in in terms of just being a professional and being able to critique it professionally. But a lot of times I have like trepidation and I'm like, Oh God, I don't want to see myself. But that one, this one, it's a rarity for me. I'm like, I totally want to see this. I want to see how this goes. Even if it's crappy, I'm just so curious, you know, of, of how I look, how I came across, and ah do I seem energetic, do I seem myself, you know? So that was fun and telling the story of Percy Fawcett is fascinating because Percy Fawcett is one of those extremes where he he was an explorer of the Amazon and he went multiple times. I feel a closeness to him because of my experiences in the jungles of Belize.
00:34:03
Speaker
but he did some stuff that was really, really smart and did some things that were really, really dumb. Ultimately, which kills him and his son. So it's like, that was dumb and his son's friend.
00:34:14
Speaker
extra dumb. But the reason why it's on the pseudo show is the idea of Lost City of Z is like over the top. But there were some interesting aspects with that. Great. That's a great one.
Review of Ancient Apocalypse Season Two
00:34:24
Speaker
Interesting topic. So rounding it out after that, I just did recently episode 151 was Graham Hancock. He did ancient apocalypse two. And so I did a review of that.
00:34:38
Speaker
If I was forced to sit in a chair and watch either Ancient Apocalypse season one or Ancient Apocalypse seasons two, I'd actually prefer to watch season two.
00:34:50
Speaker
And it's just because that it had season two had several kind of newer finds, newer archaeological things. So he didn't have time to throw maximum bullshit on him. So if he talked about something like like the Amazon, like like new Lidar in the Amazon, his set up.
00:35:09
Speaker
of LiDAR in the Amazon is fine, and talking about cultures in the Amazon is fine. He's just at the end, he goes, you know, oh, and that's how it relates to my crazy idea that there was a super civilization 10,000 years ago, you know, is the so the ending is stupid, but the setup's okay. Season one, for me, sucked a lot worse because it was all those old stupid stories like Bimini Road and Piri Rees Map, all that crap that just starts as bullshit, and you are utterly wasting your time beginning to end.
00:35:38
Speaker
Worst case, season two had a couple things where you're like, well, I could learn something for five minutes before I go down this deep dark hole of foolishness.
Recording Challenges and Editor's Role
00:35:48
Speaker
And then finally we did the Menendez murders, episode 152, where I just wanted to talk about my little tick because the Menendez had been in the news and how I knew, I knew one of the, one of the people involved with the case. You know, I just knew him cordially as a, as a classmate. And so I did that. And funnily enough behind the scenes, I'd actually done.
00:36:11
Speaker
The Menendez Murders won first. It was going to be episode 151. But for whatever reason, the third segment didn't record. Like, oh, and that makes me so pissed. I'm like, damn it. So I actually recorded the whole thing over again.
00:36:29
Speaker
And then Rachel Roden who diligently edits all this stuff, good for her. Dude, can you, again, let's take a moment and just feel her pain in terms of having to edit me. Isn't that pain so intense listeners? Has anyone moved to tears yet? I know I am. It's somebody has to go through my babblings.
00:36:58
Speaker
Oh my God. There's a level in hell for that and I'm pretty sure it's pretty deep. But anyway, so Rachel had to stitch together episode 152, which was 151, right? The Menendez murder. So yeah this is this is my little like apology to my listeners that I believe segment one and two are from my original recording and segment three is from my rerecording. So if you see that I say something twice or it seems kind of weird,
00:37:28
Speaker
It's the technology man. You know, it's it's hard to match a couple things. I thought I thought Rachel did a fantastic job in making that thing live after technological difficulties. So that's what I remember most about talking about the Menendez murders now, technological difficulties, which brings us to today.
00:37:49
Speaker
How is this year been for me in terms of. Sort of, I don't know, being a what a science communicator in the most general sense and archaeology communicator, most definitely. It's been really good. It's been really good. i've Outside of this, I've had certain projects crash and burn.
00:38:12
Speaker
which is crazy to just watch the fire that that makes after you're part of a project and he just eats it. You guys, I'm talking crashing to a mountain kind of thing, but I've also had a lot of projects go really well, you know, and I, that's sort of one of the themes of this year for me is like, just keep doing it. You'll see interviews of me where I talk about that. I've really,
00:38:35
Speaker
come to that conclusion, you know, of those of us in the science communicating world or in archeology telling me stories need to just keep doing it. You do it and you do it and you do it and you do it. The, the public's, um, memory of this stuff is so short that even if you do something that really sucks, just do another one is fine and just do it again, right? Just get it out there. I've totally learned that I've had lots of fun.
00:39:02
Speaker
working with people like Frederick Truschman on Ancient Aliens. You know, he always interviews me every so often and we kind of bro out. I've had fun on screens of the Stone Age. You can go check that out if you want. Just Google it. Screens of the Stone Age where a bunch of anthro people just review funny. look Well, they just review various movies that have kind of an anthro bent to them. Very similar to this, you know, so they pull me along.
Science Communication Journey and Future Plans
00:39:30
Speaker
every so often. I've really had fun. I loved, as I said before, doing Strange and Suspicious. I've loved just being interviewed for all these various TV shows. I don't mind if these TV shows are seen as somehow lesser, you know? Oh, no, oh, Kincola, they're on the History Channel. Oh, how dare you? I don't care. I'll be on 56 shows that are on the History Channel. I don't care at all. It's about getting out there. Now, as you guys know, I'll never say anything wrong. I won't be like, and that's why Atlantis is real, you know? But...
00:40:06
Speaker
any project that people are trying to get off the ground. I'm like, that's cool. Let's, you know, let's try it out that as again, as long as it's not like and that's why aliens are everywhere. Right. I would never do that, but I'll work on just about anything. We got to get out there. Yeah. Speaking of getting out there, I thought that Flint Dibble and Frederick Truschman and a bunch of other people got together and did the hashtag real archaeology thing a couple of weeks ago. Thought that went great. That's where real people like us make a bunch of these shows and we put hashtag real archaeology, you know, as a sort of as a counterpoint to stuff like ancient apocalypse. And I thought that too was a smashing success that we should do more often. I was really proud of those guys for getting that together and really happy to be a part of it.
00:40:57
Speaker
Having done so much this year was very busy for me, you guys. Just even just in my day job as as college professor and doing all this outreach stuff. I've learned that. Check this out. How is this for cliche? I've learned that money isn't everything. That is one thing I've learned this year. And. It's pretty shallow in terms of how I learned it and what I mean by that, it's not like it's not
00:41:31
Speaker
because I'm fighting my health. No, no, no, no, right? It's because I've been in debt for a really long time, you know? Not horrible debt, not drowning debt, but what a pain in the ass on my back this is kind of debt. And I think a lot of you guys know what I mean, right? That kind of thing. And about a year ago, a year and a half ago, I was like, I am going to deal with this. And so I really have, and especially over this year,
00:42:00
Speaker
I've worked a lot. I've just taken like, you know, an extra class in the college I've taken. Oh man. I've worked at other colleges to teach still more. I've had all this TV stuff. I've just, I've done more work this year than I ever have. And so I've made more money than I ever had. and Again, that doesn't make me rich. It just, it's more than usual because I've worked a lot.
00:42:25
Speaker
But I found that and I have got my debt much closer to under control. Like I'm doing way better, you guys, which is which just makes me happy. But life is limited. And I did find over this last year, I just worked so much that I really am getting kind of frazzled. And it's really hard. Like there were certain things that I was starting to enjoy less because I was just doing too much of it like teaching. I love teaching. I never don't enjoy teaching.
00:42:55
Speaker
But it was so much that I was just getting tired. You know, I was just getting just tired, exhausted. I mean, you guys, i I would teach like eight classes a semester, which is unheard of. And I was just like I was losing my voice, all this stuff that happens when you just physically talk too much. And in the new year for me, I'm still going to work on my debt, but now I'm in such a good spot.
00:43:23
Speaker
I'm gonna work a little less. I'm gonna deal with the last bits of my debt like a little slower. you know, and that's going to be okay. Like I'm really looking forward to that. So I'm looking forward to turning it down from 11 back to like 9.5 or something. That'll just be nice. I can already feel it. I already feel like more energetic, you know, cause I'm like, okay, semester's almost over next year. I'm not going to work as much. I do worry about my taxes. Oh my God. But I'm looking forward to that. And for this next year,
00:43:58
Speaker
for the future, the the kind of the near future.
Listener Engagement and Future Projects
00:44:01
Speaker
I look forward to continuing this podcast. I really dig it. I really like your guys' suggestions. If you have suggestions for stuff that you want me to talk about in the coming year, the easiest way is just to write them like, like get in touch with me on my YouTube channel, like, like just put a comment on like one of the latest videos and then I'll see it. Like put it on and Especially put it on a video that has not that many watches, you know, couple of my most recent videos only have like 250 views or something at the moment. So if you just put a comment, it doesn't have to go to the video, just like, hey, can color for your pseudo archeology podcast? You should do this. Just put it down and hopefully I'll see it, you know, that it's easier for me to see like that. And so I'm always curious. ah You can you can always
00:44:48
Speaker
um email me at my various email accounts or whatever but the YouTube thing can work pretty well and I'm always again I'm always open to suggestions I'm not here to say that I do them a hundred percent of the time because they might not just quite work for the show but I do them a lot I really take my listeners ah opinions like to heart you know I'm like oh that's a great idea more often than not they're great ideas so just just ask me I'm always into it or at very least putting it on the list to do as I as i get closer you know as as time moves on. so That's what I want to do. i hope I hope the new year for myself brings more of the TV stuff. you know that That stuff has just been really enjoyable for me.
00:45:33
Speaker
I've been a little slow on my YouTube channel, but I think I'll get back to that more because I'll have a bit more time, which will be nice. I'm really into that. I'm into doing more of the YouTube, you know, and obviously podcast just get more of a handle on it, do more of it. I i am in the works for doing a pseudo archaeology book. We'll see how that goes. I'm already behind, of course.
00:46:01
Speaker
But I just have so much stuff to do. But that maybe by the end of this year, this year coming the end of 2025, maybe that maybe it may come out then. I don't know. But. No matter what, this stuff, it's been a really enjoyable ride, you guys. I really dig doing this stuff. I dig your feedback. And I'm in good shape. And I absolutely hope the same for you. And with that, I'll talk to you guys next time.
00:46:35
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the pseudo archeology podcast. Please like and subscribe wherever you'd like and subscribe. And if you have questions for me, Dr. Andrew Kinkella, feel free to reach out using the links below or go to my YouTube channel, Kinkella teaches archeology. See you guys next time.
00:46:56
Speaker
The Archaeology Podcast Network is 10 years old this year. Our executive producer is Ashley Airy, our social media coordinator is Matilda Sebrecht, and our chief editor is Rachel Rodin. The Archaeology Podcast Network was co-founded by Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle in 2014 and is part of CulturoMedia and DigTech LLC. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.