Haircombs and Vikings: The Archaeology of Everyday Life
April 5, 2017
Hosted by Dr. Joseph Schuldenrein
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Episode Description
What do we really know about the Vikings? In this episode, Dr. Steve Ashby, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, discusses his fascinating research into the archaeology of everyday life in Viking-Age England, Scotland and Scandinavia. Dr. Ashby’s research on everyday hair combs found in many urban Viking-age sites illuminates details about social identity, craft, and trade heretofore poorly understood. Join in as Dr. Ashby explains his novel approach to artefact studies, using scientific and biomolecular techniques to help answer larger cultural and economic questions, including the date of the first contact between Scandinavia and the British Isles, the social drivers behind Viking raids, and the role of food culture in building identity groups. Join in as Drs. Schuldenrein and Ashby investigate the everyday objects that help to elucidate a people and a bygone age.
Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality and 21st Century Archaeology
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
This show targets an audience interested in archaeology. It explores myths surrounding this exotic, often misunderstood field and acquaints listeners with the contemporary practice of unearthing the human past. Themes range from Dr. Schuldenrein’s own “Indiana Jones”-like adventures in the land of the Bible to his team’s archaeological forensics effort to unearth Kurdish mass graves in Iraq. That undertaking helped convict Saddam Hussein in 2006. Topical issues contribute to the evolution vs. creationism controversy based on updated fossil records and innovative DNA studies. An episode highlights the main funding source for archaeology in the U.S. (Hint: the oil and gas industry). Experts reveal the latest high-tech approaches to buried archaeological landscapes that provide clues to understanding climate change, past, present and future.
Dr. Joseph Schuldenrein
Joseph Schuldenrein is president and senior scientist of Geoarcheology Research Associates (GRA) in Yonkers, New York. He has been a Visiting Scholar at New York University since 1996. His professional expertise is in geoarchaeology, a sub-discipline that introduces earth science techniques to traditional archaeological excavation. Joe has worked extensively across North America and the Old World. He received his doctorate in 1983 at the University of Chicago. Recent research in North America has concentrated on the urban archaeology of New York City and Native American landscapes of the Atlantic Coast. Joe’s projects in South Asia have ranged from Human Origins investigations to the beginnings of civilization of the Indus Valley. During the Iraq war Dr. Schuldenrein’s team helped direct a forensic archaeological mission in support of the Saddam Hussein prosecution. His newest venture is an assessment of Cultural Heritage Sites in war-torn Afghanistan (2011). Dr. Schuldenrein publishes widely in numerous archaeological and geological journals. He is a reviewer for American Antiquity, Geoarchaeology, and Quaternary Science Reviews. He has acted as Principal Investigator or Consulting Scientist for grants awarded by the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory. Dr. Schuldenrein has been interviewed for PBS, as well as national and regional TV and radio outlets over the past 30 years.
Episode Directory
April 2017
- 4/19/2017: Encore: Shipwrecks and Science: The Emergence of Underwater Archaeology Listen Now
- 4/12/2017: Climate Change and Archaeology Listen Now
- 4/5/2017: Haircombs and Vikings: The Archaeology of Everyday Life Listen Now
