The Archaeology Show

In this week’s episode, we cover three archaeology news stories. First up, a Nature-backed report on unusually old woodworking from Kalambo Falls, where waterlogged conditions preserved a wedge, digging stick, and notched logs dated by luminescence to about 476,000 years ago, suggesting advanced planning and challenging simple “Stone Age” assumptions. We then discuss a Pompeii discovery of two skeletons outside the city walls near Porta Stabia, including a man apparently shielding his head with a terracotta bowl and carrying an oil lamp, and we debate the benefits and risks of an AI-generated scene reconstruction. Finally, we examine Peru’s Monte Sierpe “Band of Holes,” over 5,200 aligned pits mapped by drones and analyzed via microbotanical remains, with a study proposing early market use and later Inca-style accounting patterns resembling quipu, while we question how and why such a vast system was built and used.

Links

Segment 1

World’s oldest wooden structure was built by an unknown species, nearly 200,000 years before modern humans evolved (earth.com)

Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago (Nature)

Segment 2

This Man Fled Pompeii as Mount Vesuvius Erupted. Archaeologists Found Him 2,000 Years Later, Holding a Bowl to Protect His Head and a Lamp to Light His Way

Segment 3

Study suggests these 5,200 holes dug into a mountain were some form of ancient accounting (earth.com)

Indigenous accounting and exchange at Monte Sierpe (‘Band of Holes’) in the Pisco Valley, Peru (Cambridge University Press)

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Chris Webster

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Rachel Roden

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In our latest episode, we unravel fascinating stories of ancient DNA in the news! Uncover the touching story of Anglo-Saxon siblings buried together over 1400 years ago. Then we look at groundbreaking research revealing how natural selection shaped more genes than we ever imagined. Finally, join our exploration of the mysterious origins of Neanderthals!

Links

Anglo-Saxon burial holds an older sister cradling her little brother after they both died 1,400 years ago, possibly of an infectious disease

Natural Selection Shaped Hundreds More Human Genes Than We Thought, Massive Ancient DNA Study Finds

Are Neanderthals descendants of modern humans?

Contact

Chris Webster

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Rachel Roden

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RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

ArchPodNet

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Three discoveries, one shifting landscape: a mysterious buried structure beneath the ancient city of Buto, the newly identified tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II near the Valley of the Kings, and the remains of a massive Coptic monastery at Al-Qalaye. We dig into what the finds reveal about Egypt’s long arc—from dynastic power to Christian communities—and how modern tools are changing what archaeologists can see.

Links

Mysterious Structure Found Buried Beneath an Ancient Egyptian City

The last missing tomb from this wealthy Egyptian dynasty has been found

Archaeologists Discovered the Remains of One of the Largest Christian Monasteries Ever

Contact

Chris Webster

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Rachel Roden

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RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

ArchPodNet

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For decades, Monte Verde in southern Chile has been one of the most famous archaeological sites in the Americas. The site was widely accepted as 14,500 years old, making it one of the strongest pieces of evidence for human presence in the Americas before Clovis.

But what if that interpretation was wrong?

In this special episode, I sit down with Dr. Todd Surovell, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, to discuss new research that re-examines Monte Verde using modern geoarchaeological methods. The results suggest that the famous site may actually be much younger than previously believed, dating to the Holocene rather than the Ice Age.

If true, this would mean that Monte Verde is not evidence for pre-Clovis humans in South America, and it could force archaeologists to reconsider one of the most influential discoveries in American archaeology.

We discuss:

The history of the Monte Verde discovery

Why it reshaped textbooks in the 1990s

How new geological and dating analyses challenge the original interpretation

What this means for Clovis-first vs. pre-Clovis models

Why independent verification and skepticism are essential in science

This episode explores how science evolves—and how even the most famous discoveries can be re-examined.

Links

Video Version to follow along

Surovell’s Study

Surovell’s UW Page

davidianhowe.com

Davidianhowe.com/store

Contact

Chris Webster

[email protected]

Rachel Roden

[email protected]

RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

ArchPodNet

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This week on The Archaeology Show, we tour three very different windows into the ancient world: a 5,000-year-old tomb packed with remarkable treasures, a surprising discovery of upright-buried skeletons beneath a French school, and tens of thousands of Egyptian notes and receipts that capture everyday life in vivid detail. We unpack what these finds reveal about status and burial ritual, how archaeologists interpret unusual body positions, and what “boring” paperwork can tell us about work, money, and people behind the monuments. Three discoveries, one big question: what survives—and what it can still say.

Links

Segment 1

Archaeologists Discovered a 5,000-Year-Old Tomb Filled to the Brim With Ancient Treasures

Segment 2

Ancient skeletons sitting upright found at French school. See photos.

Segment 3

What Archaeologists Found Written on Those 43,000 Egyptian Notes and Receipts

Upper Egypt site has now yielded more than 43,000 inscribed pot sherds, a record-breaking trove of information

Contact

Chris Webster

[email protected]

Rachel Roden

[email protected]

RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

ArchPodNet

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