The Shindig - An Archaeology Podcast

Monday, May 22, 2023

The 'First World War' and a Lost Tavern in George Washington's America - with Dr. Terence Christian

Season 2, Ep. 5
The story of a hidden Seven Years' War ('French and Indian War') time-capsule building in Pennsylvania and what it tells us about this vicious 18th-century North American conflict and the exact whereabouts of a young George Washington and his commander, General John Forbes. Join Dr. Terence Christian as he describes the war, George Washington's key role and the discovery of a lost building that Washington may have frequented during the Forbes Campaign.01:54 - The Seven Years War: was it effectively the first world war? What happened in North America?03:20 - French and British conflict over the strategic Ohio River Valley05:05 - How a young British colonial militia officer, THE George Washington, started the conflict07:45 - George Washington the battles of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity08:14 - Jumonville & Fort Necessity - How Washington 'didn't really mean to start a world war'10:19 - Washington and the Braddock Campaign and 'the start of a world war'11:20 - Dr. Terence Christian's commercial archaeology project of a 1750s mystery building survival12:45 - Washington the Surveyor and Braddock's Road to the French frontier14:43 - 'A confluence of stupidity' Britain and the disastrous Battle of Fort Duquesne17:03 - Return to Fort Duquesne - The Forbes Expedition, 175817:30 - Terence's Site: a building connected to Braddock's Road and Forbes of the Forbes Campaign18:30 - 'When [the building owners] pulled the walls down, they realized they had something far older'19:08 - The Project: a mysterious 3-sided log-built structure buried within later walls19:22 - Was this General Forbes' lost guns and gunpowder store from the lost Fort Bedford?19:58 - The commercial archaeology project begins - desk-based map regressions and site visits37:23 - Found! The last remnant of the Rising Sun tavern, central to Forbes' officers like Washington38:50 - Huge importance of this last structure relating to Forbes, Fort Bedford & the 'First World War'
Sunday, April 23, 2023

Early Medieval Bed Burials with Dr. Emma Brownlee

Season 2, Ep. 3
Burial in Your Bed, Early Medieval Style: Join Cambridge graves and cemetery expert Dr. Emma Brownlee as she talks about the archaeology and history of the fascinating phenomenon of early medieval bed burials from their Coptic Egyptian or Byzantine origins to the stunning 'Harpole Treasure' grave in 7th-century Anglo-Saxon England.01:43 - What is a bed burial? The where and when in early medieval Europe03:19 - Why bury your loved ones on a bed? Status and Emotion - providing comfort for eternal rest05:10 - Scandinavian bed burials were VERY comfortable, even having mattresses!06:15 - Bed burials: a huge investment of time and resources - often under monumental mounds07:40 - Beds are high-status - who is being buried in them? The boy buried in a cot in Cologne10:20 - Types of beds, from simple 'crate' beds to 'baluster' beds, and the differences in England13:00 - Were the beds heirlooms, or made bespoke for the burial?15:00 - Not Dead, Only Sleeping: bed burials providing comfort until the Resurrection16:50 - Origins: where and when do bed burials originate? Coptic Egypt? Eastern Roman Empire?18:55 - The grave goods in bed burials: the Cologne boy with weapons, helmet, and food offerings20:15 - Christian grave goods (burial artefacts) - beautiful high-status crosses in (English) bed burials22:14 - Why are Christians buried with grave goods?22:54 - England is different: *all* 7th century, *all* women, and had a distinct style of beds25:48 - English beds: how they are special - it's all about the eyelets28:00 - Beautiful grave goods: bed burials have 'much richer' artefacts than other burial types28:57 - Less is More: the wonderful Trumpington bed burial, including a cloisonné cross32:55 - Isotopic analysis - where were the 'English' bed burial women coming from - NOT England!35:10 - Amazing mobility of bed burial women: Christian rite imported from Continent by women34:45 - The Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England: women, conversion, and import of bed burials38:10 - The Famous Harpole Treasure (Bed?) Burial: *that* necklace, the silver cross, and a bed (?)42:30 - Emma's Favourite Finds: the Trumpington bed burialInterviewer: Dr. Tom HorneProducer and Editor: Luke Barry#archaeology #history #podcast #medieval #earlymedieval #graves #cemetery
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

A Slave-Built US Civil War POW camp (Part 2) - with Dr. Ryan K. McNutt

Season 2, Ep. 2
Part 2: Join archaeologist Dr. Ryan K. McNutt as he leads us through stories of human misery from both enslaved camp builder and Prisoner of War perspectives, informed by his directorship of the archaeology and history project at Camp Lawton, a slave-built open-air US Civil War POW Camp established in the horrific winter of 1864 by the Confederacy to hold Union Prisoners moved from hellish prisons like Andersonville.Meant to be Over By Christmas, the US Civil War lasted for four horrific years, leading to nightmarish conditions for POWs incarcerated within vast and poorly-planned prisoner of war camps. In Part 2 of this podcast, Ryan talks about:- Malnourishment, disease and death- (TW) PTSD- The wartime chronology of the site - Union invasion of the South- Today's outreach program(me) and African-American finds01:58 - local wildlife: alligators, mosquitos, tarantula-sized spiders03:48 - digging the archaeological site of Camp Lawton surrounded by alligators04:22 - POWs eating rodents like gophers and turtles to stave off starvation05:07 - snakes: desperate POWs capturing, skinning and eating a 6-foot snake06:04 - the horrors of malnutrition, disease, gangrene, blood poisoning, scurvy, smallpox, exposure09:55 - money: 'Your survivability is tied on how lucky you are to have money'10:28 - PTSD as a killer: the horrors of war and Camp Lawton POWs digging their own graves12:45 - POW mental health issues: letters home talk about 'other' prisoners' torment14:10 - boredom: keeping yourself busy with escape attempts, crafting (chess pieces)16:02 - wartime chronology: Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia and evacuating Lawton18:44 - Lawton evacuees' deadly winter journeys to new POW camps; some back to Andersonville20:10 - winter clothing in short supply: taking clothes off dead POWs23:39 - past and future archaeological finds at Camp Lawton: 'time capsule' site28:30 - investigating the African-American presence at and around Camp LawtonLinks:https://twitter.com/CampLawtonGSUhttps://cbss.georgiasouthern.edu/camp-lawton/from-the-director/
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