00:00 - Greetings & introduction 02:55 - A reverence for ‘things’ from the past 14:37 - A reverence for the people of the past 18:59 - Were people more spiritual in the past? 22:26 - William Stukeley’s legacy 26:53 - Making the past ordinary again! 30:40 - Exotic vs simple explanations 34:46 - Contingency and evolution vs intentional development 45:36 - The past as a mirror

WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/i9GJZB08Bx8

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In the past We have been told that Çatalhoyuk could have had up to 10,000 inhabitants at any one time - now this paper says maybe not so much. In fact, maybe less than 1,000 people lived there.

This is a pretty big deal and hopefully, we’ll be able to help explain why in the next forty minutes!

'How many people lived in the world’s earliest villages? Reconsidering community size and population pressure at Neolithic Çatalhöyük' available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278416524000047 

We look at an aspect of human behaviour that is rarely taken into account when trying to explain what our ancestors were up to.

The Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge Podcast is the place where we discuss matters of prehistory at a more conceptual and philosophical level, inspired by our research for the Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge Project https://www.buymeacoffee.com/prehistoryguys (also see below).

00:00 - Intro & Overview

03:20 - Elephants, water & stone

06:41 - Testing the premise at Göbekli Tepe

14:09 - Testing the premise at Stonehenge

25:09 - Where are the places of pilgrimage in early Neolithic S.E. Europe?

30:57 - Crete & Knossos?

32:54 - Human imprinting: a useful perspective?

37:26 - Grime’s Graves, Mont Viso, the Langdale axe factcories

43:23 - Outro

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And so it is with the topic of this discussion - obsidian: we had absolutely no idea how crucial this 'black stuff' was to the spread of farming from Anatolia and the fertile crescent into Europe until really examining the narrative of how the early pioneers first ventured out in to the Aegean and crossed to mainland Greece.

Our research has turned up all sorts of surprises and we hope you all enjoy this brief overview of the power of the trade in obsidian.

So that is what this show about: we so had our minds blown during our visit, we've got so much to talk about, and this is the first opportunity - probably the first of many - to share what we've taken away from our visit.

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In order to fulfil the promise of the project our prehistory focus has shifted over to the Levant and the Fertile Crescent.  And our tiny minds have been a little bit blown just a bit.

We've never accepted the idea of Göbekli Tepe as this 'Ground Zero' of civilization as it presents in the popular press and now largely in the public imagination, or even worse, that it must have been constructed by aliens (how could hunter-gatherers have made THAT?).

But of course, there is a story that leads up to Göbekli Tepe, the other Taş Tepeler (stone hills) and other sites; one that stretches back a further 10,000 years, right to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

We hope you enjoy this condensed overview of what came before Göbekli Tepe.

00:00:00 - Intro & show outline

00:04:24 - Why the Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge podcast?

00:10:46 - It didn’t all start with Göbekli Tepe

00:15:59 - Ohalo II

00:20:00 - The Epipaleolithic

00:23:18 - Archaeological sites of the area

00:26:05 - Zarzian Culture

00:27:04 - Available information about the Epipaleolithic

00:29:47 - Kharaheneh IV

00:32:58 - Natufian Culture

00:39:51 - Bread & beer?

00:43:27 - More about the Natufians

00:45:23 - Halizon Tachtit

00:47:04 - Tortoises

00:49:54 - The Younger Dryas

00:55:22 - Special buildings, silo storage and the Tas Tepeler sites

00:58:32 - Göbekli Tepe precursor sites

01:03:45 - Desert kItes and the hunting of gazelle

01:06:40 - Rounding up & goodbyes

For those of you who would like to take a closer look at some of the sites we discussed in the podcast, below is a list of some of the key settlements.

Ohalo II, northern Israel.

A 22,000 year-old site that was discovered when sea of Galilee dried to a very low level in 1989

The small settlement of oval houses also contained a single burial of a male between 35-40 years old

Due to the waterlogged conditions there was an unusually high level of preservation. Thousands of seeds and fruits showing that these people exploited over 100 different plant species with evidence that they lived there all year round.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohalo_II

Kharaneh IV, Jordan

The site’s main period of occupation was 21,000 to 18,500 years ago.

Traces of stone foundations for round huts - more widely known as hut circles.

Over time the site developed into a low mound covering over two hectares or five and a half acres.

The surface was littered with literally millions of discarded flints.

Also interesting here is that these people apparently socialised in some way with other more distant groups. archaeologists have also found beads here made from marine shells which came from the mediterranean and the red sea - which are 125 and 250 miles away respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharaneh_IV

El Wad, Mount Carmel, northern Israel

A cave settlement dating to around 14,500 years ago. As the community grew in size, the area outside the cave was terraced to allow the building of circular stone huts with paved floors.

It was the excavations at El Wad in the 1920s that prompted Dorothy Garrod to name these people the Natufians after recognising similarities between the stone tools found at El Wad and her previous excavations at Shuqba cave near Wadi en-Natuf.

Interesting that excavations have shown that some Natufian graves were reopened specifically to remove the skull of the deceased

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Wad

Tel Abu Hureyra - northern Syria

Established about 13,000 years ago but abandoned before the end of the younger dryas. Then reoccupied around 10,800 years ago.

The site is significant because the inhabitants of Abu Hureyra started out as hunter-gatherers but gradually moved to farming, making them the earliest known farmers in the world. Cultivation started at the beginning of the Younger Dryas period and evidence uncovered at Abu Hureyra suggests that rye was the first cereal crop to be systematically cultivated. In light of this, it is now believed that the first systematic cultivation of cereal crops was around 13,000 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Abu_Hureyra

Hilazon Tachtit, Western Galilee, Israel.

Hilazon Tachtit Cave is a burial ground from the Late Natufian culture (12,000-12,400 cal BP). It is located on the northern bank of the Hilazon stream in the western Galilee in Israel. The Late Natufian layer was revealed in the central area of the cave, in a depression in the bedrock. The site was excavated between 1997-2008 by Professor Leore Grosman.

The cave served as a burial ground for at least 28 individuals, of all ages. The majority of the burials are found within three pits, which served as collective burial places; two burials were interred in structures which were excavated into the bedrock, and one other individual was buried on the high ground between the two structures. These last three burials were fully articulated, while the burials in the pits were buried whole, but at a later time, the pits were opened, and the long bones and skulls were removed.

One particularly noteworthy burial is that of an elderly woman with congenital and age-related deformities. Amongst numerous other burial goods, her grave contained a lot of animal remains including at least 50 complete tortoise shells. Other fragments suggest there could have been as many as 90 tortoises in total. Her grave also contained another human foot.

https://archaeology.huji.ac.il/hilazon-tachtit-cave

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Sometimes, those thoughts become worthy topics for a wider audience and this is one of those instances. Here, Michael & Rupert ask if the word 'henge' has an impact on the way we view our circular earthworks in the UK.

KENNY BROPHY INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/f6yQcGzqccg

More fingerprints on pottery have been found at the Ness of Brodgar and it turns out that they all belong to young adult men and that the most recent print to be found belonged to a thirteen year old boy!

A team of archaeologists from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen have discovered a long barrow, built around 3,800BC on the legendary Říp Mountain in the Czech Republic.

Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence applied to LIDAR technology has led to the discovery of ancient Shell Rings on Daws Island, South Carolina.

00:00 - Intro & Titles

00:23 - Ness of Brodgar Fingerprints

04:23 - A Long Barrow in the Czech Republic

09:27 - Patreon/Buy Me a Coffee appeal

10:56 - Shell Rings, machine learning and A.I.

15:30 - Finishing up

The argument over the A303 Stonehenge Tunnel doesn't go away and although it may seem that the general consensus is that it's a bad idea, that impression is incorrect. One authoritative archaeological voice is that of Tim Darvill's and here we present a view from someone who was in at the inception of the scheme to restore the Stonehenge landscape to be in keeping with the dignity of the site.

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Back in February we received an email from whoever deals with Tim Darvill's press releases with an embargoed link to his new paper: 'Keeping Time at Stonehenge'. We felt honoured to be included in a trusted circle - and normally would have done something about it by now, but, as you know, circumstances have been difficult lately and so we're a bit late to the game with this one. 

Anyway, here is our breakdown of Professor Darvill's hypothesis that Stonehenge (in Stage 2 - 2,500BC) was constructed to be a monumental perpetual calendar whose purpose was to keep in pace with the solar year. We hope we add some clarity to other reports that have been in the press and that you end up with enough information to make a judgement for yourself about the strength of this idea.

LINK TO THE ORIGINAL PAPER AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...

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Dr. Lee Clare is the research co-ordinator and archaeologist in charge of the excavations at Göbekli Tepe. He took on the position of research coordinator of the DFG long-term project at Göbekli Tepe in 2015, and in 2019 moved to the DAI’s Istanbul Department where he is now acting consultant for prehistoric archaeology.

The image of Göbekli Tepe in the wider world has become a bit distorted over time as far as we can tell and has not kept up with the most recent discoveries and interpretations. We thought we’d go straight to the source and talk to the man who can give us the very latest on the excavations and current views one of the oldest megalithic site in the world.

We truly were thrilled to be able to talk with Lee (from his home in Istanbul) and are very excited at the prospect of one day being able to visit the site and expand our knowledge further.

There is an extended version of this interview with more questions answered available to Patreon supporters here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/gobekli-tepe-dr-62006084

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The main reason we wanted to get her on, though is that Sue is the author of a fantastic new piece of research on the Mega Henge complex at Mount Pleasant in Dorset.

Alice will need no introduction for many of you, but to understand why we were so thrilled that she agreed to be on the show, as per Rupert's intro:

Before becoming a writer and presenter, Alice’s career began as a medical doctor, she went on to become a university lecturer, teaching human anatomy, developing a particular expertise, and doing a PhD in paleopathology (the study of disease in ancient human remains). Through a circuitous route, this led to her working as a bone specialist with the renowned archaeology series Time Team and then on to presenting SEVERAL OF her own land mark television series.

She has won numerous awards, perhaps most notably being the first recipient of the Royal Society David Attenborough Award in 2020. Her books are always a joy to read and her latest title, Ancestors, The Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials is so relevant to everything the Prehistory Guys are about, that it seemed the perfect time to get her on to talk about that, along with her thoughts about many other aspects of her work.

We hope you enjoy our chat as much as we did…

We talk about Stonehenge, long barrows, bluestones, emerging narratives for the Neolithic, prehistory in the press ... and much more!

• Pythagorian geometry in Mesopotamia 1,000 before Pythagoras
• New finds at King Arthur's Stone in Herefordshire
• and possibly the earliest coin factory in the world!

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Tiny ceramic bottles have been excavated across a wide region of the Balkans and Transdanubia, and as long ago as the 1930s it was suggested that they might be for cosmetics or medicines. So Bine Kramberger from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Christoph Berthold and Cynthianne Spiteri from Eberhard Karls University at Tübingen in Germany have analysed a number of pots from various locations, to try to identify exactly what these tiny vessels contained.

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This time we're talking with Dr Lee Bray, lead archaeologist for the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, south west England.

Lee started out in geology before making the move into archaeology, and to Exeter University where he gained his doctorate in Romano British Iron production on Exmoor.

Dartmoor is a special place for us, so we were very much looking forward to this conversation with Dr Bray, who has possibly the best job archaeology can provide.

He didn't disappoint.

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Both leading up to and afterwards, there was a flurry of headlines in the press ranging from the reasonably restrained to the outright sensational. To cut to the chase, the end result has been - to the dismay of many in the archaeological community and both Rupert and I - the the perception has been left with the general public that Stonehenge had a previous existence in the south Wales hills before it was transported wholesale to what is now Wiltshire.

We followed up that broadcast with a short off-the-cuff show of our own on YouTube that attempted to redress some of the (what we regarded as) misleading elements of that programme.

In some eyes, this was interpreted as an attack on the lead archaeologist featured in the BBC show, namely Prof Mike Parker Pearson. It was not. What MPP has done here is amazing and we hope by the time we’ve got to the end of this section in the podcast, you’ll get a sense of the high regard we’ve got for him.

What we were trying to do however is point out that there was so much more nuance to the finds that have been made and the results that have been extracted. Moreover that there are other voices in the field that were ignored by the BBC and that all is not as simple as made out.

All that said - the story is amazing, the questions it poses are mind bending and the picture of people in the late Neolithic and what they were up to remains just as enigmatic if not more so than before the gloss of certainty that was painted over this whole question of the origins of the bluestones of Stonehenge by the BBC programme.

We just want to make it real again. Strip it back to the actual evidence and leave you - we hope - much more excited by just how much more complex this story is than the impression left by the BBC in this case.

As ever - even with the detail we go into here - we've barely scratched the surface. This could have been a very long podcast indeed. However, let us know if you think we should do more on this!

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"Today we’re talking with Dr Kenny Brophy Senior lecturer of archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Kenny’s work focuses mainly on the British Neolithic, particularly of Scotland, and he has written copiously about the many cursus monuments to be found there.

"Kenny is passionate about bringing archaeology into the public domain and is equally interested in how people have engaged with ancient monuments throughout history. Pursuing this theme, he writes a regular blog under the title of The Urban Prehistorian, exploring the roles that megalithic and other prehistoric sites continue to play within society.

"Apart from having directed numerous excavations in Scotland, he lectures widely and is always a captivating speaker. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did."

KENNY'S PAGE AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/staff/kennethbrophy/ 

THE URBAN PREHISTORIAN:  https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/ 

THE COCHNO STONE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochno_Stone 

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Rupert & I are delighted to present you with a recording of us producing our first audio podcast after a long break. We're back to our old format with Pushing Back the Boundaries, news, a central topic and finishing off with Stonehead of the Month and a bit of Whimsy.

Scroll down for links to some source material.

There is a video version of this podcast at https://youtu.be/fEegOLUPfk4

PUSHING BACK THE BOUNDARIES

Long distance trading of exotic foods in prehistory https://phys.org/news/2020-12-food-south-asia-revealed-east.html

NEWS

DNA from Neolithic in present day population in Western Canada https://www.abroadintheyard.com/dna-links-aboriginal-woman-canada-and-200-x-great-grandaughter/

Bronze Age Lovers? https://www.livescience.com/romeo-and-juliet-skeletons-israel.html

Baby and Puppy burial https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/15/2000-year-old-remains-of-infant-and-pet-dog-uncovered-in-france

MARITIME TRAVEL IN PREHISTORY

Seagoing explorers 35,000 years ago - Modern day Japan https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-humans-sea-voyage-japan-ryukyu-island-migration

Peopling of the Caribbean Islands https://phys.org/news/2020-09-archaeologists-step-by-step-path-people-caribbean.html

Polynesians and Native Americans https://phys.org/news/2020-07-polynesians-native-americans-contact-european.html

List of ancient ships on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_ships

STONEHEAD OF THE MONTH: Amanda Hart

Coninium Museum https://coriniummuseum.org/

'Stone Age to Corinium' launch https://youtu.be/M_pcK_kRdY8

WHIMSY

Oldest sword known was thought to be medieval https://www.livescience.com/ancient-anatolian-sword-in-venetian-monastery.html

The thumbnail image for this video incorporates an image from theTanum petroglyphs, Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Carvings_in_Tanum

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One thing that makes Amanda so rare, is that she is a museum director with archaeology in her veins. She studied archaeology at university and has been involved on excavations of the Bronze Age sites in the Maroni Valley on Cyprus. Ultimately she turned this back to her love of museums, bringing a unique slant on how archaeology could be presented to the public.

"We think that what Amanda has achieved at Corinium is nothing short of extraordinary and this interview is our way of helping celebrate her dedication and devotion in bringing prehistory to a wider audience."

Corinium Museum website is here: https://coriniummuseum.org/

Watch the online opening of the new museum here: 

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Tom's work is really bringing some clarity to the huge genetic shifts which took place in the major transition periods of the past and it’s remarkable how the study of ancient DNA is opening so many windows into the past.

As is so often the case, we could have talked long enough to make half a dozen interviews. We hope you enjoy this one.

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And then - chocolate torcs anyone? No time to explain ... listen on! 😊

http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/

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It really is no surprise that Seren was the youngest person ever to be invited to give the very prestigious Golson Lecture at Australia National University in Canberra in 2018.

Seren's specialities are science in archaeology and public archaeology, and her work on the mesolithic neolithic transition is something we’re interested in as well. However, we're particularly fascinated by what she has to say about a site that we're slightly (infamously!) connected to - Bryn Celli Ddu. Together with Ffion Reynolds, she has been lead archaeologist on the excavations there over the last 5 years.

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We met Duncan at the Landscapes of the Dead conference back in November 2019 and knew we had to get him on the show. Apart from being a great speaker, he is another frontline archaeologist who makes you reconsider all sorts of things you thought you knew.

Duncan Garrow teaches later European prehistory (with a particular focus on Britain) and archaeological theory. His research interests include the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition; long-term histories of deposition; burial practices; the interpretive potential of radiocarbon dating; the integration of developer-funded and university-based archaeology; archaeological theory; and interdisciplinary approaches to material culture.

In this interview, we grill him about Neolithic 'argonauts' and migrations across the Channel and the western seaways, Rupert's favourite: crannogs - and the amazing UK Grave Goods project he is involved with in assocation with the British Museum.

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The discovery was made by the Calanais Virtual Reconstruction Project, a joint venture led by the University of St Andrews with standing stones trust Urras nan Tursachan and the University of Bradford and supported by funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. They were not on the hunt for ancient lightning strikes however. The anomaly was thrown up by a magnetometry scan of one of the Callanish sites - Airigh na Beinne Bige, otherwise know as Site XI.

Can we infer that the whole Callanish site was erected because of a lightning strike? It's a nice idea - but can it withstand the merciless glare of investigation by The Prehistory Guys? 

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A couple of podcasts back, we interviewed Professor Bruce Bradley - he of the Solutrean Hypothesis in Paleolithic America. Truth be told, the impetus to contact Bruce Bradley came about because we'd noticed that an outfit called 'Seven Ages Research Associates' in the States had just published an interview with him. It was a bit "if they can - why don't we?" - so we did.

Well, one thing led to another and one day we got an invitation from Jason Pentrail, one of the three associates, to hook up and produce some back-to-back interviews with each other. They'd interview us for their podcast and we'd interview them for ours. Here's our side of the deal!

Although their remit is very much broader than ours (histrory, archaeology, science and culture) it turns out we are very much on the same page as far as communicating what may be going on behind the scenes in academia within our spheres of interest.

If this chat is anything to go by, there is much for us to exchange and we feel that we've barely scratched the surface as far as us talking to each other is concerned. Watch this space.

In this brief chat, we talk about their various areas of interest, Bruce Bradley, bridging the gap between amateur and professional archaeologists and their favourite archaeological sites in the USA and more. Enjoy.

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In 1980, archaeologist Julian Richards was invited to direct the 'Stonehenge Environs Project' which had been conceived to better understand the landscape surrounding the monument and to work out ways in which it could be better managed and preserved for the future. Part of the work involved the partial excavation of a small henge on Coneybury Hill, to the south-east of Stonehenge. This proved fruitful in many ways and the Coneybury Henge now stands as a significant monument in its own right.

However, lying just outside the henge, the magnetometer survey revealed an 'anomaly' which turned out to be a large pit, 2 metres across and 1.2 metres deep containing a huge collection of Neolithic pottery, animal bones and flint tools, deposited around 3900BC, over a thousand years before the henge was built.

The sheer volume of the deposits is intriguing, but the unique mix of lithics and animal bones in the pit perhaps tell the story of one particular event that happened in this landscape one day, six thousand years ago.

The paper from which we have taken our information “A Meeting in the Forest: Hunters and Farmers at the Coneybury ‘Anomaly’, Wiltshire can be accessed at Cambridge University Press.

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Though we say this ourselves, this interview with Professor Timothy Darvill OBE, should be required listening for all serious students of archaeology and fascinated amateurs alike. From his own early childhood beginnings in the discipline, to his thoughts on the purpose and future of archaeology, Tim delves into the detail of his work on the Cotswold Long Barrows, the Neolithic Isle of Man, the Preseli Bluestones and, of course, Stonehenge itself.

We were privileged to record this interview with Professor Darvill in his home in Bournemouth where he is Professor Of Archaeology And Director Of The Centre For Archaeology And Anthropology at Bournemouth University. We are so pleased to be able to share this intensive journey across the landscape of British prehistoric archaeology of the past decades in the company of one of its foremost influencers. 

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"Every week we’ll be choosing a megalithic site that’s maybe a bit off the beaten track - perhaps some of the slightly less known or less visited ones, giving them a few minutes in the spotlight, doing what we can to create a little portrait for you of what they’re about and some of the impressions we’ve taken away from them".

First site we've chosen is a little favourite of ours from Dartmoor in Devon. Fernworthy Stone Circle (also known as Froggymead). It seems to have undergone a bit of a change of character recently as we know it as an enclosed, wooded monument, but recently the plantation trees have been cut down and now the site is open - more like it was back before the 1930s. 

Whichever way, it's a special place and we hope we do it justice in this short pice (16m 38s)

N.B. In the podcast we only mentioned two cairns associated with the circle. There are in fact five. 

ABOVE: Fernworthy (Froggymead) circle located by the red pin.

ABOVE: As the site appeared in 1907

ABOVE: As the site appeared to us filming in 2007

ABOVE: Part of the stone row to the north of the ring, showing the tiny stones. The ring can be glimpsed through the trees. Again, this is from 2007.

We have to confess we are not as knowledgable about American prehistory as we would like to be. But how could we have done better to begin educating ourselves than to talk to celebrated American archaeologist, Professor Bruce Bradley?

Until recently Emeritus Professor of Prehistory and Director of the Experimental Archaeology Masters Programme at the University of Exeter, Bruce has a remarkable c.v., having involved himself with stone-age technologies and experimental archaeology, the archaeology of the North American Southwest and Great Plains, the Upper Palaeolithic of Russia and France and is currently focused on the early peopling of the Americas.

He is one of the foremost flint knapping experts in the world and the insights into prehistoric lithic working practises perfectly placed him to formulate the 'Solutrean Hypothesis', his controversial theory that some parts of the North Eastern coast of America could have been populated by migrating people from the region of the Pyrenees and Northern Spain during the last glacial maximum.

We talk to him about his career, his current work and outline the story of Clovis and Pre-Clovis culture in the Americas as it is currently understood. We then turn to the idea for which he is best known, the 'Solutrean Hypothesis'.

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The Prehistory Guys are very proud to share with you this fantastic interview with Dr. Alison Sheridan, recently retired Principal Archaeological Research Curator at the National Museums of Scotland.

As you'll find out in the first minutes of this podcast, Alison's C.V. is simply spectacular. If there's such a thing as an A-List archaeologist, she is a prime example of what that looks like - not only in terms of her output and influence, but in the extraordinary breadth of her study.

Her special area however, is the crossover period between the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in Britain and Ireland. In this interview you'll find out what makes her thesis on how the Neolithic 'package' made it across from the continent 6,000 years ago both compelling and controversial and discover her passion for the life archaeological!

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Ancient craft and brewing specialist Merryn Dineley, together with her brewing expert husband Graham join us to discus how the general unawareness of the way beer is brewed leads to the evidence for it in prehistory being overlooked. Once the process is understood, then the existence of large vessels, like the Grooved Ware pot from Durrington Walls above, suddenly makes sense, as do some of the details inside many excavated ancient and Neolithic buildings up and down Britain and beyond.

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True to form, Rupert and Michael dig a little deeper, celebrating the find, but making sure we don't get bogged down in some of the assumptions and presumptions that may skew our understanding of what this represents.

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We're kicking off our regular interview features with our good friend and colleague Dr. Rick Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, Oregon.

The photo above is of Rick standing in front of West Kennet long barrow back in September this year when we were on the 'Backbone of Neolithic Britain' tour. The tour was instigated by Rick and we were delighted to collaborate with him organising this huge adventure and we're delighted to say that we'll be doing it again next year. The point is though that we got to know Rick rather better and found out that (as well as being a great guy!) he's quite a mover and shaker in the world of archaeology and very much aligned to our way of thinking in terms of how it gets communicated.

And communication is really something that shines out in this conversation as (via the Columbia River, obsidian dating, Iran, prehistoric migration, and Malta) we arrive at the subject of the development of language in prehistory.

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Does our ancient landscape lie to us? Well, there is a sense in which we are deceived ... or is it we who deceive ourselves? Michael and Rupert discuss how our natural instinct for creating meaning out of what we see might lead us a little astray.

All this and the regular magazine slots in the latest episode of what is now THE PREHISTORY GUYS podcast!

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When things don't seem so great in the present, it's easy to idealise the past.

Not so fast!

Archaeology has thrown light on some remarkable and truly brutal events in European prehistory recently. It seems that 7,000 years ago a particular phase of angst and conflict in the Neolithic 'Linearbandkeramik' (LBK) culture of central Europe was kicking off and led to some horrific examples of man's inhumanity to man being left in the archaeological record.

Rupert and Michael duck the crime scene tape and take a peek under the sheet ...

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If we're talking about standing stones and the Neolithic, then we have to talk about origins ... and if we talk about origins we have to talk about the Middle East and Anatolia. If we talk about the Middle East and Anatolia, the names Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe seem to come up. But Tell Qaramel? Tell es-Sultan? Motza? Maybe nearer to home on the Danube; Lepinski Vir?

By merely scratching the surface of the subject of ancient settlements, Michael & Rupert have their minds quietly blown taking on the implications of the timescales involved in relation to our own, home-grown developments in the British Neolithic.

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Yes, the new trowel was well and truly broken in and in this episode, Rupert grills Michael about his adventure and actually manages to extract some interesting information from him about the dig and his hands-on archaeological experience. (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition).

NOTE: if you're interested in following up on the background to the topics covered in this podcast, for the monthly subscription rate of $1 a month, you can have access to the show notes for this show, and much more content besides, by becoming a member on Patreon. Go to the Patreon page for this podcast and become one of our valued Patreon supporters now! 

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Since we began this podcast in March 2018, archaeological facts and finds have been coming at us fast and furious - so much so that it's becoming hard to keep track of what happened where and in what order!

So, in an effort to claw back some clarity, we've begun compiling a Timeline of Prehistory.

The simple question: "what was going on in the rest of the world when megalith building was happening in Britain?" has thrown up some surprising facts. In order to give some context to the Neolithic and early Bronze Age this side of the Channel, we explore what was going on in the world from 8,000 to 2,000 BC. 

We hope you find it as eye-opening as we did!

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Back in November 2018, we found ourselves sitting on the front row for the a lecture in the Wiltshire Museum by Dr. Katharine Walker of Bournemouth University entitled 'Taking Sides, Scandinavian Flint Axe type in Britain'. This wasn't really an accident because, as you probably know, the subject of axe-heads, their meaning, production and trade is one that we find ourselves returning to often in the podcast. We kept in communication with Dr. Walker after the talk and we were very pleased when she agreed to do a Standing with Stones podcast interview with us.

In it, we chat about her work, her experiences and the insights that pursuing her fascination with neolithic axeheads has given her.

Dr Katharine Walker is a prehistorian specialising in the Neolithic of northwest Europe and is a Visiting Research Fellow at Bournemouth University. She gained a first class degree in Archaeology from the University of Bristol; an MA in the European Neolithic from Cardiff University, funded by the AHRC; and a PhD from the University of Southampton entitled ‘Axe-heads and Identity: an Investigation into theRoles of Identity Formation in Neolithic Britain.’

And that’s about all you need to know for the time being - Oh, that and the fact that we recorded the interview in the saloon of a 43 ft sailing boat in Southampton marina.

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We tend to thing of our ancient monuments as being special, unique places. But when you begin to count them, it slowly dawns on you that for our ancestors, they were commonplace. In Standing with Stones podcast number 14, Michael and Rupert discuss this aspect of our heritage - and ask whether appreciation of their ubiquity changes our appreciation of them.

As well as our regular features, 'Question Time' this month sparks a debate as to the utility of the Aubrey Holes at Stonehenge; were they used to predict lunar and solar eclipses? Or is there number and form merely contingent on chance and location?

NOTE: if you're interested in following up on the background to the topics covered in this podcast, for the monthly subscription rate of $1 a month, you can have access to the notes for this show, and much more content besides, by becoming a member on Patreon. Go to the Patreon page for this podcast and become one of our valued Patreon supporters now! 

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As you'll have guessed already, this month we're off to Cumbria and the Lake District to wander the Great Stone Circles, ponder their purpose and hopefully enlighten you about their grandeur and importance. Oh, and of course, there'll be a boundary pushed, some news, a new stonehead, a question answered and a little whimsey. 

By the way, if you're interested in the show notes, we've moved them to the Patreon page for this podcast and will be continuing to do so in the future. Patreon supporters will have exclusive access to them from now on as a reward for their support (along with many other perks!). If you want to access the show notes, follow the link and become one of our valued Patreon supporters now! It needn't cost you more than $1 a month. SHOW NOTES HERE.

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"Dartmoor is one of my favourite places in the whole of England, and I've been exploring here for over twenty years. Three hundred and sixty five square miles of rolling moors, with a huge variety of prehistoric structures. It's so unspoilt - in archaeological terms - it gives us a much clearer idea of what the whole country used to be like".

So says Rupert at the beginning of the Dartmoor segment of our 2008 film 'Standing with Stones'. Twelve years on from the making of the film, we muse on what's special about this magical place and give some useful pointers about getting the most out of a visit to the moors.

PLUS: domesticated dogs from 14,000 years ago; megaliths of the Westrn Sahara; Secrets of the Ice; 12,000 year old petroglyphs from India - and, of course, our regular features.

SHOW NOTES AT STANDINGSTONES.NET

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A few weeks ago in the middle of February 2019, articles began appearing in the media linking Stonehenge, sailors and the megalithic culture of Brittany. To us, something didn't smell quite right about that and it didn’t take long to find out that most of these articles were, in one way or another, misrepresenting, and at worst completely mangling a serious, deep and very painstaking piece of academic research by Dr. Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

In a book published in 2015 and in a recent short paper, Dr. Schulz Paulsson describes how the radio carbon dates taken from nearly two and a half thousand megalithic and pre-megalithic sites in Western Europe show a radiation of a megalithic culture in the 5th and 4th millenia BC  from North West France and in particular coastal Brittany down the Atlantic seaboard and round into the Mediterranean.

How better to clear up any misunderstandings than to talk to the source of the work herself? And so it was a great honour when Dr. Schulz Paulsson agreed to be on our show.

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This month we take an inward look at part of the process that went into the making of Standing with Stones; just how did we choose which sites to include in the film? It's a response to the oft-asked question: "Why the heck did you leave (insert personal favourite site here) out?" We do our best to answer.

PLUS:  A VERY ancient tiara, a submerged settlement in the Hebrides, a 4,000 year old child's rattle and for the grown-ups - a 4,000 year old board game. Oh, and the Stonehead of the Month is a dog.

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Was there a Beaker revolution? Both Rupert and Michael are surprised to find that despite a lot of detailed archaeological and genetic evidence, there is much confusion as to what exactly was going on in Britain and Northern/Central Europe 4,500 years ago. However, what is clear is that big changes happened, especially in Britain - where wholesale population change occurred over a few hundred years. What are we to make of this?

Plus:Neolithic beasts of burden, Mesolithic chewing gum, The Folkton Drums and an exhibition of archaeological howlers. And Michael and Rupert fight for the "Grouchy Hat'!

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In a very special 1 hour 45 minute extended episode (you have been warned), Michael & Rupert explore the science of archaeoastronomy and surprise themselves at how long they are able to talk on the subject. However, there's still time for pushing a boundary, some news, a question, a Stonehead of the Month and a fascinating bit of neolithic audio whimsey.

Show notes not available at time of publication but will be available soon at https://www.standingstones.net/sws-009-archaeoastronomy

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At last! Megalithic podcast No. 8! All the regular slots - pushing back boundaries, news, Stonehead of the Month etc. PLUS: We know that Neolithic trade took place; the question is how? Rupert & Michael perform a reverse 2½ somersault with 2½ twists and attempt some answers to the question. 

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Welcome to megalithic podcast No. 7! All the regular slots - pushing back boundaries, news, Stonehead of the Month etc. PLUS: Rupert & Michael throw caution to the winds and risk serious cranial injury by delving into how science helps us to understand the past. Hold onto your heads ...

For full show notes, please go to 

STANDINGSTONES.NET

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Our sixth megalithic podcast - in which we push back a boundary, report some news, answer a question and elect a well-deserved Stonehead of the Month.PLUS: Rupert & Michael travel the world from Gobekli Tepe to Co. Sligo and back in a wide ranging discussion about what we know of megaliths in the wider world and what we can begin to understand from the stones of distant lands.

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Anthony Murphy will be well known to many of you as the host of the Mythical Ireland website - but even more people recognise him now as the man who discovered a new henge monument less than a kilometre away from Newgrange and that will now take its place in the pantheon of Brú na Bóinne monuments.

Rupert and Michael ask Anthony what it's like to discover a new henge and how it came about, but more importantly, delve into the fascinating relationship between the archaeological, the mythical and the astronomical that is uniquely displayed by the Boyne Valley monuments - if, as Anthony does, you know where to look!

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As ever - we push back a boundary, report some news, answer a question and elect a well-deserved Stonehead of the Month.PLUS: Michael reports on a visit to Cornwall, revealing hidden features of Roughtor and Boscawen-Un and he a and Rupert discuss the problems and dangers of the assumpions we sometimes make when viewing our ancient monuments.

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Welcome to the Standing with Stones podcast episode number 4! In this show, you'll hear a lot about a brand new Long Barrow in Shropshire and Rupert and Michael discuss the distinction between Stone Circles and Circles of Stone. Confused? You won't be ...

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Here is episode 3 of the Standing with Stones podcast.  With some boundary pushing, news, a serious deep dive into Aubrey Hole No. 7, to say nothing of prehistoric sea levels, a new Stonehead of the Month, and a little bit of whimsey to finish up with. We hope you enjoy it.

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This month we are announcing that from May 2018 we will be doing a regular mid-month Facebook Live broadcast, where you can log on and listen, send in questions and messages, or even call in and join the discussion. These will take place on the second Wednesday of each month, Starting at 8.00pm UK time.

We are also introducing a new regular item called Pushing Back The Boundaries: In last month’s podcast we mentioned the discovery of the human jawbone in northern Israel, which pushed our out-of-Africa timeline back by around 50,000 years. Well, with increasing regularity, archaeologists around the world are making discoveries which push human history further and further back in time. So we decided to introduce this new section, to bring you our favourite boundary-breaker for the month.

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As As you’ll hear, we’ve come up with a format for the show that we hope works, and wiill remain for future episodes. Regular sections will be:Part 1 – a news section where we will take you through our favourite discoveries and updates.Part 2 – The main section in which we will discuss one or two main themes in greater depth.Part 3 – Question time, where listeners can ask us anything archaeology related which we’ll do our best to answer. And a monthly accolade called Stonehead of the Month, where we give a shout out to a passionate megalith-lover who has come to our attention. Do feel free to nominate someone and send us a photo if you have one, or even sing your own praises if you dare!Part 4 – Wrapping up the show with a bit of humour. One or two of the funnier items that have caught our eyes in recent weeks.

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