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Where in the World? Part Six: The Zooarchaeology of Antarctica - Ep 50
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Welcome to the final episode of our miniseries focusing on the zooarchaeology of various world regions. This episode is centred around Antarctica, focusing on the natural history and anatomy of the most prominent wild and domesticated species found throughout the continent. Tune in to learn about exploration expeditions gone wrong and interestingly named Guernsey cattle.
Transcripts
For rough transcripts of this episode go to https://www.archpodnet.com/animals/50
Links
- Headland, R. (2012). History of exotic terrestrial mammals in Antarctic regions. Polar Record, 48(2), 123-144.
- Kelly, N. et al. (2012). Strategies to obtain a new circumpolar abundance estimate for Antarctic Blue Whales: survey design and sampling protocols. IWC SC/64/SH10.
- Senatore, M. X. (2020). Things in Antarctica. An archaeological perspective. The Polar Journal, 10(2), 397-419.
- Skinner, L. A. (2014). Archaeological excavation and artefact conservation at the Heroic-Era expedition bases, Ross Island, Antarctica. Journal of Glacial Archaeology ISSN (online), 2050, 3407.
- https://polarjournal.ch/en/2021/06/24/antarctic-explorers-let-sled-dogs-starve/
- https://theconversation.com/cows-in-antarctica-how-one-expedition-milked-them-for-all-their-worth-81747
- https://www.courthousenews.com/scientists-sound-alarm-on-invasive-species-in-antarctica/
- https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/igy1/garden.html
- smithsonianmag.com/history/sacrifice-amid-the-ice-facing-facts-on-the-scott-expedition-96367423/
Contact
- Alex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitz
- Simona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLady
- Alex’s Blog: Animal Archaeology
- Music "Coconut - (dyalla remix)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY
Affiliates
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Milestone Celebration
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:00:14
Speaker
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Archaeo Animals, the podcast all about zoarchaeology. I'm your host, Alex Fitzpatrick, and with me, as always, Simona Pallado. And today is a very special episode.
Where in the World: Antarctica
00:00:29
Speaker
One, because it's the final installment of our mini-series that we've been doing for the last couple of months called Where in the World, where we finally break out of our British shelves and enter other parts of the world to take a look at the zoarchaeology there.
00:00:43
Speaker
But it's also due to me not being able to count. Today's our 50th episode. We should have done something special. I was going to do something special. And I mean, I think I've talked about it on this show, but I'm just I'm really bad at math and counting and numbers.
00:01:02
Speaker
I think it just like goes over our head as well because I think our first anniversary as well, they completely like went over our heads only after it went live. It's like, wait, so we've been doing this a year and we went with fish. Well, that was just cruel irony, I think. But yeah, I mean, so next episode, next episode, we will have our belated Happy 50th episode.
00:01:27
Speaker
celebration, which we have a very special thing planned. But yeah, so let's pretend this is like 49.5 and we'll get on to it because today's also unique, not only because it's the 50th episode, not only because it's the last installment of this miniseries, but we've been breaking each of these episodes into continents for ease. And today we'll be looking at the final one, which is Antarctica.
Human Presence and Archaeological Findings in Antarctica
00:01:57
Speaker
Might be a little short, this one. Yeah. There's a lot of brain stretching in this episode in terms of content, but I think we did a good job.
00:02:10
Speaker
Of course Antarctica itself is our most southern continent and literally sitting at the south pole of the planet. However, because otherwise it was going to be a real, really short episode, we'll be broadening our sight a little bit over to the Antarctic region surrounding the continent as well. So we'll include offshore islands, just the south Shetlands,
00:02:33
Speaker
South Orkneys, the South Sandwich Islands, among others. I got really confused for a moment when I first like read through the notes. That's like the Shetlands Orkneys. Wait, all the South Shetlands and the South Orkneys. Okay, we're real, real creative, guys.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of South XYZ islands will have in this episode. We'll be sure to make sure we specify. But yeah, I can understand why it might be a little confusing. Now, what makes this even trickier is that Antarctica has never had a
00:03:10
Speaker
quote unquote permanent human population. I mean, even today, the human population that does exist on Antarctica is mainly research staff, so they're not really there permanently. So what we would consider archaeology would be fairly contemporary, especially compared to the other episodes we've done.
00:03:29
Speaker
that said, there's still archeology that's being uncovered in exploring the kind of early years of human contact with the continent. So for example, the oldest human remains found so far were from an indigenous woman, likely from Southern Chile, who's been interpreted as a potential sealer who would actually die in the 1800s.
Impact of Seal Exploitation
00:03:50
Speaker
And there was like an entire sealing camp found in her body. So there is archeology per se, it's just definitely very
00:03:57
Speaker
contemporary in the grand scheme of things, but it is really important to understand because it's kind of telling us the story of this content that's been so out of reach for ages and how we've slowly got human contact with it.
00:04:14
Speaker
I guess how we've shaped it over time, if you will. For better or worse, I guess. And we'll get more into that. If you liked your politics, folks, then you'll love this episode. I don't know how much work has been done under archaeological conditions in Antarctica, because it probably would not surprise me if there would be even older remains in that.
00:04:39
Speaker
I think there probably is. There is a surprising amount of archaeology when I first started researching it. I really thought we were going to have to stretch it, but there's been a fair amount of archaeology done. Again, it's very contemporary in the grand scheme of things because I think the oldest stuff is about the 1800s. But who knows, really? I mean, you know, possibilities are endless in terms of their potentially being even older.
00:05:06
Speaker
you know, remain somewhere. But it's even if it's in the form of shipwrecks of populations trying to reach the continent and just go, no, we'll never mind.
Whaling and Archaeological Records
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, so we will start as we've been doing all these episodes with our kind of wild species that they're just there, usually don't mean anything more than they're there or they've been hunted. And let's be real, a lot of this episode will be talking about hunted species. And we will start with the Antarctic fur seal. Which again, confusing, nothing to do with gazelles.
00:05:45
Speaker
Yeah, there's gonna be some really interesting names as well in here. So it's a pinniped species or seal species that is technically located in the sub-antarctic regions that are, you know, just north of the actual Antarctic continent. Unsurprisingly, given its name, the fur seal has been mostly threatened by sealers hunting them for their furs. And interestingly, it's these sealers that actually provide much of the early archaeological record in the Antarctic region.
00:06:15
Speaker
excavations of 19th century ceiling camps at, say, the South Shetland Islands, for example, have actually revealed the kind of methods in which sealers would utilize their surroundings to create temporary shelters, either in natural occurrences like caves or through scavenging materials like whale bones and seal skins to create huts along with rocks.
00:06:38
Speaker
And, you know, seal skins, I think, will be another kind of recurring theme in this. Obviously, sealing kind of brought people to the continent, but seal skins themselves were utilized as the raw material for clothing such as footwear.
00:06:53
Speaker
although sealers also brought a fair amount of their own personal materials and items with them. And a lot of that is still found in the archaeological record there. But it's really interesting to kind of see that importance of seals in the Antarctic record, not just as the artifact itself, but like such a huge influence on how the archaeological record was created to begin with. The fact that the seals attracted humans, humans come here, and that starts that kind of record being created.
Geopolitical Interests in Antarctica
00:07:23
Speaker
and archaeology of sealers has actually been used as a framework by some archaeologists to kind of look at the way capitalism has eventually spread to Antarctica via, you know, the need for seal furs leading towards that geopolitical situation that I was kind of talking about earlier where many countries are kind of trying to exploit the continent for various reasons and ain't that just the way
00:07:49
Speaker
going away from the poor fur seals. Our next one, we have the equally poor blue whale. Bal noctera musculos, so hashtag muscly boy. Well, blue whales particularly muscula, I mean, they must be like all that sort of stuff. Well, like whales are all fat, right? That's why I feel kinship with them. I don't fat shame the whales.
00:08:24
Speaker
Blue whales are a species of baleen whale, meaning that they're those sort of massive plates of baleen as opposed to teeth. The baleen itself are very similar in appearance and feeling to actual sort of bristles of hair, like on your hairbrush or something. And they're actually made out of keratin, so like the same material that makes up our nails, hair, et cetera, which then gets stiffened through carcination.
00:08:39
Speaker
I said I feel kinship with them.
00:08:52
Speaker
baleen are used for what's called filter feeding where so basically price just more fish and krill gets sucked into the mouth with water which is then pushed out of the mouth through the baleen thus keeping the actual prey inside. Baleen which is sometimes mistakenly referred to as whalebone has also been utilized as raw material in tools, weapons and various forms of ornamentation and decor.
00:09:17
Speaker
As some of you may know, blue whales are in fact the largest living creature to have ever existed on the planet. So hashtag big muscly boys. And they've been known to be very, very difficult to hunt. But that's never stopped people, has it? No, and it definitely did not stop people out from nearly wiping them out in the Antarctic region, with approximately 330,000 blue whales killed in the 20th century. Well, this is a jolly episode.
00:09:47
Speaker
Yep. Capitalism and, you know, wiping out the species. The most fun episode. It's the same like you have, like, continent people arrive to the continent. People eradicate animals, so they just start again.
00:10:04
Speaker
But in fact, the whaling industry is what develops much of the archaeological record in the Antarctic region after sea-less. So I guess it's thanks to whaling that we get sort of this archaeology, although really hard to pick and rather have that whales alive and well. But such is life. And what we mostly tend to get is are the material remains that were left behind during these expeditions, particularly in the form of ship shipwrecks underwater.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, Antarctica is really interesting in that it is kind of just a history of exploitation. You know, you have the sealers come in and then the whalers come in. And now, you know, you do have research teams, which are presumably there for good reasons, but there's all this really intricate geopolitical stuff going on as well.
Domestic Animals in Antarctic Archaeology
00:10:50
Speaker
So not entirely.
00:10:52
Speaker
goodwill, I guess. So it's very, it's very interesting. And I can imagine that if you're one of those nerds that likes politics and political sciencey things, Antarctica is probably an interesting case study in terms of international negotiation. I don't know, I don't really understand that stuff myself. So I will talk more about penguins. Yes, although I also want to say that's the first time we've talked about whales on the show.
00:11:20
Speaker
think we've covered Wales before, because I remember like mentioning sort of artifacts made out of whale bone. It might be during our sort of British archaeology mini series, because I think a lot during sort of the Scandinavian period. Yeah, you do tend to find items made out of whale bone and such.
00:11:41
Speaker
And to be fair, later on and earlier on, I think it's just the most common in that particular time period. We should do a full whaling episode, especially because I am very fascinated by whaling. My grandfather, my great-grandfather on the Norwegian part of my family was a whaler from Norway.
00:12:02
Speaker
We have a bunch of whaling stuff in our house, I think, still somewhere, but very interesting. And also, I always found whale bone to be the most aesthetically pleasing out of raw materials from animals, which is a bit morbid, but I think it's nice to look at. Bad to get from whales. Anyway, we're talking about penguins, which are my favorite animal on the entire world.
00:12:27
Speaker
So we'll talk about the emperor penguin instead. And I chose the emperor penguin because it's the tallest of all penguin species. And it's perhaps the ideal image conjured up when one thinks of penguins, which I do a lot because, again, penguins are my favorite animal.
00:12:45
Speaker
And they have a very distinct yellow-orange kind of ombre effect from their shoulders to their bellies. They're very cute. But sadly, we need to talk about dead emperor penguins because they actually factor into the archaeological excavations of expedition bases located on Ross Island at the site of the Terranova hut at Cape Evans. Archaeologists were actually able to recover the well-preserved remains of eight emperor penguins. And I've seen the photos and it makes me very sad.
00:13:13
Speaker
because they're very well preserved and they're just dead penguins. But they were killed and saved as food in light of severe rationing of food during a 1914 to 1917 stay by an expedition team that was unable to gather further supplies for three years. And again, that's another theme that will be talked about in this episode in people not knowing how to survive Antarctica.
00:13:38
Speaker
like people not packing enough supplies or people just getting stranded. And a lot of the worst parts kind of carried by the animals, sadly. And penguins are so cute, so it did make me really sad to see those pictures. Right now I'm picturing like a really bad reality, like stranded in Antarctica. I would simply just let the penguin eat me, to say. I mean,
00:14:07
Speaker
Probably would. I mean, they are fish. Yeah, no, they probably would. What is a human but a very big fish that's on land?
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, I think, I don't know, I just, like I said, we'll get into this in probably the next segment, particularly. But a couple themes that we're gonna hit here, obviously exploitation, and people not being prepared. And it makes sense. I mean, Antarctica was such a different kind of environment for a lot of people when they came here. And, you know, well, like I said, we'll talk a bit more about the kind of geopolitical
00:14:48
Speaker
issues with the fact that all these countries wanted to claim Antarctica for themselves. So there was basically kind of a race to, you know, claim land on the continent. But it was also the worst possible place to try and do anything at any speed. Yeah, so I guess many of them just yeah, just yeah.
Adaptation of Domesticated Animals
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, and like I said, we'll, we'll definitely talk about this in the upcoming segment because believe it or not, I was able to make a list of domestic kits in Antarctica. So if you want to take a guess as to what kind of species would be on that list, well, we take a break and we'll do that back with that segment.
00:15:32
Speaker
And we are back with archaeo-animals, the podcast all about zoarchaeology. We are talking about the zoarchaeology of Antarctica, of all places, as part of our mini-series, which is coming to an end, called Where in the Worlds.
00:15:48
Speaker
We are going to talk about domesticated animals because I found them, folks. I did the impossible, but we found them. But still, I found them. Because we thought, like, you know, you couldn't have possibly have heard enough about sheep. You're like, where's my sheep? I want to hear about some more sheep.
00:16:10
Speaker
And I said, by God, by God, we would find some domesticates to talk about. And to be fair, actually, no, we do, we do talk about sheep in this episode. I just remembered. So, you know what? Nevermind. I was gonna be like, oh, well, at least we have some different ones. Nope. It's the same ones, same species. We didn't even have to do this. We probably could have just replayed the same domestic segment from the last couple episodes. Boy, well, some of them are fantastic names.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yes, this is true. So let's get right into it. So obviously, we're not really talking about domestic kits that kind of sprung up from the continent, are we? Instead, we're kind of talking, I guess we're cheating a little bit, but these are domesticated animals that were introduced to Antarctica. So obviously, as we end the last segment,
00:16:58
Speaker
We were talking about how this history of Antarctica is a history of exploitation, and loads of humans coming in, and geopolitical issues, all this kind of stuff. So you have all these human visitors coming to the continent, and unsurprisingly, they brought their own animals as part of their expeditions. So basically this segment, and actually the case studies as well, will be showcasing how human-imposed movement of species can radically transform a zookeology
00:17:25
Speaker
So looking forward to zoo archaeologists in the thousand years trying to figure these ones out. Or in other words, like, let's bring this animal over here. What could possibly go wrong? I also just realized I gave you a break, Simona, and did not provide any scientific names because for the most part, we're not really talking about specific, very specific breeds or species. We're talking kind of broadly because lots of different types of these domesticated animals were brought over.
00:17:55
Speaker
And, you know, just giving you a break, Simona, don't worry. That's okay. I might just remember the scientific names of the domesticates. Okay. Well, then what's the scientific name for sled dogs?
Ecological Impact of Imported Species
00:18:07
Speaker
Well, probably not specifically sled dog, but it'll just go under dogs. It'll be Candice Familiaris. Okay, I guess you just love doing scientific names so much. I won't take that away from you. But yeah, I mean, we have talked about dogs before, but we haven't talked about sled dogs. So important. You can't see it, but I'm pointing at the screen informatively.
00:18:31
Speaker
Anyway, these dogs would be harnessed to a sled, obviously, in a pack. And they were trained to pull the sled across snow environments. So unsurprisingly, this was kind of the main choice of transportation for some of the earliest expeditions of Antarctica. Now, sled dog breeds were often selected due to their strength, their speed, and their ability to handle cold temperatures. So a lot of breeds that were chosen were things like huskies.
00:19:01
Speaker
Now, unfortunately, and boy, is this segment gonna slightly be a bummer. Yeah, slow dogs often found themselves meeting the worst possible fates in Antarctica. Many were not provided the food necessary for them to survive, leading most of them to die of starvation. Others found themselves cold during expeditions due to a lack of supplies and resources. And in fact, some expeditions found themselves turning to their dogs when food ran out.
00:19:31
Speaker
Not fun. It's not exactly bold, though, is it? Like the cartoon adaptation? No. No, it's not. But yeah, I mean... But to make that even jolly, yeah? Yeah, maybe. Dogs weren't the only ones that met such horrible fate, so please, Sandy, cover your ears.
00:19:58
Speaker
But my dogs were sat right next to me. So just like, yeah, just show me your ears. Don't listen to this bit or the previous bit or any of it, really. But yeah, dogs were the only animals that were brought over to Antarctica as a means of transport. Ponies were also brought for reasons. I mean,
00:20:16
Speaker
ponies. This was the strategy for the Terranova expedition, a particularly ill-fated expedition where the main party of explorers, including its captain Robert Farken Scott, all died attempting to return from the South Pole.
00:20:31
Speaker
So out of all the choices, because choices they were, that's not made for the trip, including attempting to use a mixed transport strategy of sled dogs and ponies at the same time. First slight flaw in that plan is that the person that was charged with acquiring the ponies didn't know much about horses, so the animals themselves were not
00:20:55
Speaker
particularly fit for purpose. Second issue, the snow shoes that were brought along for the ponies, because they would be absolutely necessary for them to move through the snow, did not actually fit all of them.
00:21:07
Speaker
So unsurprisingly, much like the slept dogs, many of them ended up in horrible fates, just eaten by said slept dogs, drowned and or eaten by orcas, etc, etc. So I guess that's more like never ending story.
Antarctic Treaty and Invasive Species
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, and I wanted to, you know, point out the Terranova exhibition in particular, because
00:21:28
Speaker
is that expedition we were talking about previously, people were racing towards the South Pole. Robert Falcon Scott's expedition was one of the ones that was racing. There's another one who's, I just already completely forgot who the other person was, but it was two teams basically racing. This guy, Scott, was like, well, we got to get there as fast as possible, so I'm going to pick the most incompetent people to make the decisions.
00:21:57
Speaker
And then they all died, so didn't work out for anyone across the board. But I guess some orcas got fed. Also some sled dogs. Well, I think the sled dogs also eventually died, so. But with a full belly. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:19
Speaker
Well, I'm laughing a lot, but it's more of a nervous lack. It's just, oh dear. It's pretty horrible. Yeah. This is not a fun segment. And frankly, it doesn't get any better because if the animals weren't just dying of poor choices, they were dying because they were being culled. And that's basically the last two examples we have on this segment.
00:22:42
Speaker
So we had to do it. We had to bring sheep along because I think we we've maybe almost talked about sheep in every single episode of this miniseries. Might be one that we haven't. But we might have like left it out for Oceania. Yeah. Because like are not sheep again.
00:23:03
Speaker
There's a reason why these are the domestic species. They're very fit for purpose, for the most part, except for Antarctica, apparently. And that's the lesson that we're learning today, is that domesticates, they work well in most places, but not Antarctica. So sheep were alongside animals for transport.
00:23:28
Speaker
They were brought in not to do any of those kind of, you know, sledding or anything. They were just brought along for longer occupations in the Antarctic. You know, once you got there and you had to stay there, many people needed to have these kind of domestic kits. So, for example, many of the whalers who took up business in the region would establish these whaling stations on the various Antarctic islands, bringing along domesticated species as well.
00:23:56
Speaker
So this was the case for the Kergallen Islands, where sheep were first introduced in 1909. And as of 2014, sheep still remained on the island, although there's been a campaign to cull the population for the purposes of when serving the native species there. So it's kind of a tough decision.
00:24:19
Speaker
And, you know, I didn't think we were going to have to talk about cats in this part, but apparently there's a colony of feral cats on the Cregallan Islands as well.
Unique Animal Stories: Guernsey Cows
00:24:31
Speaker
So domesticates really, really got around in the Antarctic region. In spite of all odds, because it's not, you know, the easiest of climates and yet, you know, life finds a way. It's very interesting, actually, to like kind of compare these two side by side in that
00:24:49
Speaker
You know, you have sled dogs and horses that, I mean, I guess in what respect they were getting put through the ringer. They were going through the environment pulling sleds and being visa burden and whatnot. So they had it really tough. And then you have all these other domestic kids that didn't necessarily have to do any of that kind of hard work. And they apparently flourished. Although, again, I think, you know,
00:25:15
Speaker
these domestic kids really weren't brought on the continent proper. They were kind of in the islands around it. So not, I mean, it's still cold, don't get me wrong, but not potentially not as bad in terms of
00:25:28
Speaker
rough climate. Yeah, like not full blown South Pole. No, like they were, they're still in the area. So it's definitely still cold. It's surprising that a lot of these species kind of just chilled out. But yeah, actually sheep, sheep seem to have this determination to kill themselves. They'll do just anything in their power. Oh, is that a cliff? Let me just run towards it and off it and see what happens.
00:25:58
Speaker
Yeah, so I wonder how they were so forthright in staying alive in this case. Very interesting. And I mean, I think I'm not sure I couldn't find any up to date information as to whether or not there's still sheep there. It seems like they were calling a lot of these sheep, but who knows, to be honest, there might still be one out there.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yeah. Well, if you do know, or if you've been to Antarctica, please like, tweet at us at rqanimals and tell us more about sheep in Antarctica. If you're a sheep in Antarctica, please let us know. We'd love to interview you. Also, how do you know how to use a podcast? That's amazing. There's so much we need to ask you. That's how they made it out there so long. Oh my gosh. But yeah, the final domestic that as
00:26:51
Speaker
spread across Antarctica is the pig, which, similarly to sheep, they were also brought along with by whalers and scientists setting up permanent stations on various islands around the Antarctic region. Now, one of the islands has become so overrun with pigs by the mid to late 19th century that it was eventually named Ilocochon, or pig island.
00:27:20
Speaker
I mean, it was also home to sheep, cats and rabbits, all of which were absolutely all introduced as well. But I guess mainly pigs, which have since all been eradicated, I should expect. So the pig island is the pigless island now. No more pig island.
00:27:48
Speaker
It just delights me. It delights me to no end. It's just the pig island that was in the Arctic. How did that go through my whole life? 29 years of my life without knowing that there was a pig island in the Antarctic.
00:28:04
Speaker
And it's kind of like, it's the redemption arc, because we've gone, you know, from like, from New Shetland, South Shetland and South Orkley, which is just, you know, like names of archipelagos that were already there, we're just a south added to it, to Ilo Crochon, creativity, like plus 100%. I'm gonna go down there and put more pigs on there.
00:28:26
Speaker
They can't stop me. Well, they can't, but the protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic Treaty can't stop you. I mean, they're basically native species now on Pig Island. You're telling me that pigs are not native to Pig Island? You're out of your mind. I have a case.
00:28:47
Speaker
But yeah, there was, Simona is RIFO. In 1998, there was the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, and that was enacted. And it basically created a ban on bringing non-native species to the continent. That being said, it has not stopped invasive species from taking a hold. And obviously, we've done a whole episode on invasive species. You can listen to that. But it happens. It's very hard not
00:29:16
Speaker
to have that happen, let's be real. Where people go, species kind of follow in some way or another. Now, unsurprisingly, most of these are marine invertebrates that probably came along via ships. So your crabs, mussels, barnacles, algae. But there is a worry that rodents may eventually make their way over, such as rats. So who knows? You might have a
00:29:41
Speaker
Rat Island. I'm trying to remember what the word for rat in French is and I'm blanking. I know French. I think it's also like... Oh boy. But yeah, I mean, you know, makes sense. Oh, that's all right. My translator is on point. I asked for the French for rat and he gave me the Italian and be like, oh yeah, no, new Latin language, close enough. They'll do. Yeah, I mean, oh, Raton.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah, or just yet.
00:30:15
Speaker
Say it's still spelled rat, but rap. Languages are silly. And yet so beautiful because it gave us Pig Island. And I'll never get off this high. You know what? Actually, I'm glad that our 50th episode turned out to be this because it gave us Pig Island. We're celebrating our 50th anniversary. 50th anniversary. 50th episode. We're not that old yet. But we're celebrating it on Pig Island.
Cows as Geopolitical Tools
00:30:40
Speaker
And hopefully you, the listener, are there with us mentally.
00:30:44
Speaker
on Pig Island. So she was like a meditation thing, picture Pig Island. Yeah, although I know that the French, you know, there is just a jussepacoi about the French, just the ilo cochon.
00:31:03
Speaker
So yeah, you know, as our French listeners angrily start emailing us about how poor our pronunciation is on French, which, you know, not surprised, sound like a French teacher from way back when, we'll take a break and we will come back with our case studies, which, I mean, slightly less depressing-ish. There's some real nice creativity there. Yeah. See you after the break, folks.
00:31:31
Speaker
And we are back with archaeo-animals, the podcast all about zooarchaeology. We are talking about the zooarchaeology of Antarctica, of all places, as part of our final episode of our Aware of the World mini-series. And I mean, I guess it's the 50th episode, so should we do our bit about the case studies or what?
00:31:54
Speaker
Ah, go on. I mean, more than case studies, because we won't be covering sort of archaeological sites per se. I guess we'll be covering more like interesting stories surrounding animals in Antarctica.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah, because, you know, we I'll give us credit. We were able to do basically a full length episode on Antarctica, which seemed impossible before we started researching. And there actually is a lot of interesting stuff to talk about when it comes to this archaeology and archaeology of the continent. But, you know, not necessarily as much that we could fill our case study. So instead, I just found some
00:32:37
Speaker
kind of fun animal stories to say, you know, who doesn't love a story about cows? And that's the thing I was thinking about when we were doing our last segment. I was like, we didn't get any cows in, did we? And then I remembered, oh, wait, we have a whole case study dedicated to cows, baby. Yeah, because I mean, within I mean, I think we're keeping on sort of our series of very interestingly named cattle.
00:33:07
Speaker
If any of you have listened to our previous episode of the mini series focusing on Oceania, we gave a notable mention to Nickers. These are Steer, isn't he? Steer, technically. So yeah, the Steer Nickers hailing from Australia. And now we have some similarly very interestingly named animals, because again, you know, like along with sheep and pigs and dogs and
00:33:35
Speaker
cats and rabbits and a host of other domesticates, cows were indeed also brought to Antarctica.
00:33:43
Speaker
And the particular breed of cattle that we've decided to cover for one of these case studies are the Guernsey cows, specifically the cows that US Admiral Richard E. Byrd took to Guernsey to Antarctica in 1933. So he brought three cows with him on his second expedition, and they were named Klondike Gaenira,
00:34:09
Speaker
Deerfoot Guernsey Maid and my personal favourite, Foremost Southern Girl. It's just, it's so specific that it couldn't just be Southern Girl. It has to be the Foremost Southern Girl. And I guess they'd run out of steam by the end of it because a calf was actually born during the trip and they just named it Iceberg, which is fitting.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's fun. I mean, but it could be like most esteemed iceberg. Yeah, I'm surprised you think some people were like, Oh, that's like in bad taste because Titanic was only like what 20 years previous. Oh,
00:34:53
Speaker
I don't know if I just thought about that now. This is one person going, I don't know about this. But yeah, I mean, Guernsey cows are from, as the name suggests, very cattle that is not native to Antarctica. None of the cattle is native to Antarctica. But they're actually native to the island of Guernsey and they're known for their particularly rich milk, which they were then exported in the United States around the 20th century.
00:35:23
Speaker
So these cows were brought over for a year, so as part of the working dairy, and also as kind of a novelty media stunt for the US to stake its claim on the continent. It's again going on, as we discussed before, that several nations tried to sort of like attempt at different points in time to sort of stake their claim of Antarctica.
Cultural Symbolism of Dairy
00:35:45
Speaker
And you see sort of France, Norway, the United Kingdom, again, like some of many countries that were trying to sort of carve a piece of Antarctica for themselves. But the Hughes Doctrine stated that claims had to be made via settlement as opposed to discovery. So, of course, having domesticated animals on the land would aid in such a claim. Of course, aside from geopolitical use, another claim was that the cows were vital for solving the milk problem of the expedition.
00:36:14
Speaker
Just yes and no, because powdered milk was available at that point. But there you go. Again, also like part of it was there was a media element to it as so in the 1930s, sort of fresh milk and the dairy sectors were sort of turned into icons, sort of Americana, purity, health and nationalism. I need to emphasize this as the American on this podcast, because
00:36:38
Speaker
Honestly, even talking to my partner, he's always just like, what's the deal with milk in America? Like, big dairy is a real thing. And like, I had such a choke hold, especially like even for me growing up in the 90s.
00:36:54
Speaker
dairy, like milk being pushed as a very important, vital thing. You know, we had the Got Milk campaign and things like that. And I mean, me and my partner have been watching YouTube videos of like old American commercials, adverts, as you say here, and almost like 70% of them are milk and dairy.
00:37:18
Speaker
based okay i have no idea yeah it's it's something that i don't think if you're not from america i don't think you know and i think even if you're from america you may just think that's normal but like watching all this stuff with my partner and he's just like i don't get it like why is there so many because you know we watch a lot of like 90s commercials so like stuff like you know drink milk every day that gives you strong bones or like
00:37:44
Speaker
the best cheese ever made or things like that. And it's like, yeah, there's just like, they would love me so much that you would just have so many adverts about milk, just literally just milk and dairy. It's very strange. That's interesting, because where I'm from, well, I've not lived in a country of origin for quite some time now, but I remember most of the adverts being cars and all medication. Cars and medication. Yeah, that too.
00:38:11
Speaker
But yeah, it's something, it is, I mean, you know, we don't have the capacity to really get into it, but it is kind of problematic in that it is definitely based on this idea of purity and health and American nationalism. And, you know, especially in the 30s, this was a big thing. So it makes sense that this was a huge stunt as part of their kind of geopolitical
00:38:34
Speaker
chess game that they were playing with other countries by bringing these cows and being like, oh, look, you know, the Cal American this is, there's nothing more American than an exported cow or an imported cow. Cow, cow, cow and cow across. Yeah. But I just wanted to emphasize that because I don't think people realize how big of a thing this is in America. And kind of like, I don't know if it still is. Obviously, I also had lived in America and I've
00:39:00
Speaker
a fair amount of time, almost a decade now. But I mean, like I said, even the 90s, which I like to maintain were not that long ago. You still soar. I mean, and I'm lactose intolerant. So I really felt kind of put out by this. But I mean, massive posters like the of the Got Milk campaign was very popular. Just going like you mock me. You know what the Got Milk campaign was, Simona?
00:39:27
Speaker
So? Got milk. You know what that was. I think I've heard of it in English class. You've got sort of briefly referred to, but just something about just drink milk is very good for you. Drink milk. Have you drunk any milk yet? Drink some milk now. Drink milk. Yeah, it was I don't know if it was anywhere else if it was in the UK or anything. But in America, it was just like they would get celebrities to basically like pretend to drink a thing of milk and they would have like a milk mustache.
00:39:52
Speaker
And so like my main memory was in our gym in my elementary school, there's a big picture of Michael Jordan with a glass of big glass of milk and a milk mustache and says, got milk. And that was kind of the thing, but they were just like posted everywhere in the nineties. Again, extremely lactose intolerant cannot drink milk. So just felt rude.
00:40:17
Speaker
Actually, according to dairyfoods.com, in 2010, UK launched its own version of Got Milk. 2010? That's so long. I don't think we had it, but I know about the Got Milk from America, I think. Yeah, that would make sense. Wait, I think I might have a David Beckham one, two seconds.
00:40:43
Speaker
I mean David Beckham was famous in America too. Yeah. Allegedly. I've just linked it there. And when your actual reaction to this, Vinny Jones? Oh God. Oh my gosh. That was brilliant. No, so thanks for putting this in perspective because I knew I forgot milk campaign ad, but
00:41:11
Speaker
didn't realize it was that big a deal. It's extremely wild and it's extremely funny to see it take place in something that you know very early on and but again you can see with that context how it really
00:41:26
Speaker
would have been kind of a power move. And, you know, that's the other thing about these cows, they were good media. The bird expeditions were all privately funded. So having a stunt like this got sponsors really good coverage. And the cows were actually seen as celebrities of the time. So, you know, it's not really a zoo archaeology, but it's a case study in animal kind of symbolism. And let's be real, you could probably find remains of the dairy somewhere, maybe, but
00:41:52
Speaker
You know, it's that thing we always talk about. It's not just about the bones, it's about the way you see the animals.
00:42:00
Speaker
But speaking of the way to see the animals, I want to see a poster of Foremost Southern Girl. This is true, yes. Have there been promotional material? Yeah, I mean, there are some pictures. I just can't figure out which one is Foremost Southern Girl. Now, if anyone out there wants to draw Foremost Southern Girl, maybe with a got milk poster type thing, send it to us on Twitter.
Hamster Experiments and Biological Clocks
00:42:24
Speaker
We love to see fan art of our podcasts, which I
00:42:29
Speaker
Could it be an episode of our, you know, cartoon series that never happened, of like, Generals Apophilus Granarios and Pliny the Elder that travel through time so they could recover the Generals like human body back? And so while their prime jumps, they're in Antarctica and like foremost Southern Girl helps them back onto the time traveling ship. I mean, if producers are out there listening to this, you know, get in touch.
00:42:57
Speaker
This is a goldmine. And we could have, you know, Big Dairy in America can sponsor us, clearly. I'll drink some milk and get violently ill afterwards for that. Who cares?
00:43:19
Speaker
Anyway, let's hit up our last case study before we finish this episode. We're moving away from cows to an animal we haven't really talked about. And let's talk about the hamster experiments. So during the 1960s, of course,
00:43:36
Speaker
Karl Hamner from UCLA and Giri Raj Singh Sirohi, who was actually the first citizen from India to visit Antarctica. They ran experiments on the continent to see if certain species got their dinural senses from the rotation of the Earth. Dineral senses are basically the kind of biological clocks.
00:43:58
Speaker
of organisms which account for activity during the day and sleeping during the night. So for this experiment, the rotation of the Earth was modified through the use of turntables. So the research team brought along several species as part of their experiments, bean plants,
00:44:15
Speaker
cockroaches, fruit flies, cockle bear plants, bread mold fungi, as well as 19 hamsters. So the actual results of the experiment were negligible, you know, or whatever. But the hamsters were eventually kept on as pets afterwards, and they actually had several litters of babies being born, and they technically count as the first recorded births of any species on the continent.
00:44:43
Speaker
Although I guess realistically, we have to end on a bit of a bummer because most of the young died or even more horrifically were eaten by the parents, which I learned in writing this episode is a issue among many hamster breeds. So glad I did not keep hamsters as a child. That would be horrifying. No, I think rabbits do that as well. What do we have? Pigs do that.
00:45:13
Speaker
Like sometimes if they've done for a reason or another, they decide that their young cannot reach adulthood or they're not fit enough. They just, something just snaps and they just kill them all. Yeah, I think my mom used to feel like that about me. So I guess I don't understand it at all. But you're here now. Yeah, much to her, Sugrin. But it's not all sadness because three did survive until midwinter.
00:45:40
Speaker
So I mean, in retrospect, it's a bigger and better run than many of the other animals we've talked about today. But the remains of the others are likely some are on the continent, ready to extremely confuse some future zoo archaeologists. And that really, I shout out to them, there's a lot going on in this continent. I hope they figure out what big dairy was. Otherwise, it's not going to make sense.
Reflection on Zoarchaeology Challenges
00:46:09
Speaker
But Godspeed to those people. Do you think the turntables are still there? I'm just trying to think about all these animals and plants on a lazy Susan in Antarctica spinning around. Was it fast or slow? How slow does that have to be to match the rotation of the Earth? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Because it can be really fast. So it must be like a lazy Susan, like a hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, slowly.
00:46:38
Speaker
like a rotating cake stand, you know? Maybe they use us a cake stand now. Who knows? I don't know. It seems like anything goes in Antarctica, including any species, even if there's a trinity in place. But yeah, so we did it. We made it through the world. Simona, any last thoughts and remarks about our wild trip through all of the continents? No.
00:47:08
Speaker
Be tired. Be tired from this trip that we've taken. Just tired of all the death to balance. Yeah, I mean, kind of a bummer episode to end on. I mean, we had to talk about Antarctica. I thought it would be a funny way to end the series, but I mean, it's tough. It's tough to live in Antarctica. It's tough for humans even today. I don't understand why anyone does it, but I guess it's good that they do it because we learn a lot.
00:47:35
Speaker
That's science! It's for science and all that. I mean, it's like how I also don't understand why anyone would want to be an astronaut. I love comfort. All that seems too much. Well, I guess maybe we have to do a zoo archaeology of space soon. I mean, I would love to do a zoo archaeology of the Xenomorph. Home among us, wouldn't I? We'll have to talk later about that, because I also kind of want to do one.
00:48:04
Speaker
xenomorph. But that is neither here nor there, because it's in space. And I think... Fictional. Yeah, and fictional. So we'll hold that thought. And if people really want to hear that, let us know because you can contact us at archaeoanimals on Twitter. We are also obviously on any kind of podcast
00:48:26
Speaker
platform where we get your podcasts, tell your friends about us, subscribe to us or follow us. I figure out what the terminology is these days. Leave us a review. That's great. Otherwise, you can just send the link around. We are obviously at unarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com. And yeah.
00:48:47
Speaker
Obviously, we're happy to hear about what you want us to talk about. For our next episode, we will be belatedly celebrating our 50th episode. So for those of you who have stuck around since one, first of all, shout out to my mom. I assume she's the only one who has. And two, thanks a lot. We've been doing this for a weirdly long time, actually, because I think we're at what, almost five, four years now.
00:49:14
Speaker
Over four years. I think it was four years. We started May 2018.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah, so we've been doing this a while, and we've now finally hit 50 episodes. We may be slow, but we are full of value. We get there. Slow and steady wins the whatever podcast race. I don't know. This has been Alex with Patrick. We will see you next episode otherwise. I don't know, whatever. Bye. Bye.
00:49:51
Speaker
Thank you for listening to RQ animals. Please subscribe and rate the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. You can find us on Twitter at RQ animals. Also, the views expressed on the podcast are those of ourselves, the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent those of our institutions, employers, and the RQ podcast network. Thanks for listening.
00:50:17
Speaker
This episode was produced by Chris Webster from his RV traveling the United States, Tristan Boyle in Scotland, DigTech LLC, Culturo Media, and the Archaeology Podcast Network, and was edited by Laura Johnson. 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 chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.