Pre History - the archaeology of the ancient Near East
27 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 249 ratingsThe Near East - the region known politically as the Middle East - is the home of both a long and eventful history as well as a much longer and fascinating prehistory. Here on Pre History I will cover the story of the Near East as we know it from the archaeological study of what people left behind as hunter-gatherers turned into farmers, as villages turned into cities, and as empires rose and fell.
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Episodes
Episode 26: Samarra
December 01, 2022 15:05 - 31 minutes - 34.8 MBAs we finish off the Neolithic we must first go backwards to one of the less well known but vastly important cultures of the Neolithic Near East - the Samarra. As the first known Neolithic culture of Southern Mesopotamia the Samarra gave rise to many developments which underpinned the later civilisations of this part of the ancient Near East. It is also an ancient culture for which we have perhaps as many questions as answers. Hopefully more answers will come in time as more sites are excava...
Episode 25: The Neolithic Comes to Transcaucasia
August 01, 2022 19:38 - 43 minutes - 43.7 MBIn the east of Anatolia and off to the north of Mesopotamia is the southern Caucasus, which is also known as Transcaucasia. This region combines being one of the last parts of the Near East to have mobile hunter-gatherers, and one of the first regions of the Near East to practice copper metallurgy. In between we have the sixth millennium cal BCE, when Transcaucasia has its own unique Neolithic. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me...
Episode 24: Early Chalcolithic Anatolia
June 06, 2022 08:54 - 44 minutes - 45.3 MBAfter all of the arguments that we saw for the Wadi Rabah as to whether it was part of the Late Neolithic or part of the Early Chalcolithic, this time we shall have a look at Anatolia in the first half of the sixth millennium cal BCE - which is widely agreed here to the Early Chalcolithic. Unlike the more widespread cultures of the Halaf or the Wadi Rabah, each of which spanned multiple modern-day countries, Anatolia in the Early Chalcolithic is home to multiple smaller cultures across its d...
Episode 23: Wadi Rabah
May 15, 2022 17:18 - 39 minutes - 40.5 MBIn this episode we head south to look at one of the major cultures of the Southern Levant during the sixth millennium BCE - the Wadi Rabah. While there is a lot that we know about the Wadi Rabah culture, there is also a lot that we argue about. Really, a lot. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 22: Halaf
March 03, 2022 10:50 - 1 hour - 64.3 MBThe Halaf culture was first discovered on the eve of the first world war at Tell Halaf in eastern Syria. The beautifully made and elaborately decorated pottery of this culture made it a sensation in the archaeology of the ancient Near East in the early twentieth century, as no one had previously imagined that small and simple farming villages could have produced such beautiful vessels, nor in such large numbers. What is equally impressive today at the beginning of the twenty-first century is...
Episode 21: Cyprus Goes the Way of the Khirokitia Culture
November 17, 2021 16:00 - 39 minutes - 41.6 MBAfter having a look at the seventh millennium BCE across Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia, it is time to come back to Cyprus and see how life changed here after 7000 cal BCE. After the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic on Cyprus we see the development of the Khirokitia culture. Unlike with the regions which we have talked about on the mainland, the Khirokitia culture lasts not only until 6000 cal BCE but until at least 5300 or 5200 cal BCE, giving us a two thousand year view of life on Cy...
Episode 20: Mine! Advances in the Seventh Millennium BCE
September 16, 2021 17:05 - 35 minutes - 37.9 MBNow that we have seen how societies changed over the seventh millennium BCE in Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia it is time to have a look at a couple of important and common developments that we see in these regions during this later part of the Neolithic. While groups of people across these regions seem to drift apart during the seventh millennium, there are a couple of things that archaeological cultures across these parts of the Near East - and others - seem to have in common, develop...
Episode 19: The many faces of Late Neolithic Mesopotamia
August 25, 2021 14:43 - 1 hour - 77.2 MBNow that we have had a look at the seventh millennium BCE in Anatolia and the Levant, this time I want to have a look at the change from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Pottery (or Late) Neolithic across the large area of Mesopotamia - the land between the rivers. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 18: The Levantine Pottery Neolithic
July 16, 2021 16:15 - 46 minutes - 50.6 MBFollowing our look at the change into the Pottery (or Ceramic) Neolithic in Anatolia, this time we are having a look at the Pottery Neolithic (also the Late Neolithic) in the Levant. Actually, this is the Pottery Neolithic of two Levants - the northern and southern Levant. Here we have two different sets of changes after 7000 cal BCE, happening in two regions right next to one another where some things are surprisingly similar despite major differences to the timing of changes and the fashio...
Episode 17: Ceramic Neolithic Anatolia
June 12, 2021 10:36 - 42 minutes - 45.7 MBWith the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic the Near East moved into the Pottery Neolithic - also called the Ceramic Neolithic or Late Neolithic depending on the region. Today we can have a look at this change into the Ceramic Neolithic across Anatolia. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 16: Collapse? The end of the PPNB
April 19, 2021 15:42 - 33 minutes - 36.1 MBToday we say goodbye to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B with a look at the collapse of the PPNB world system. Of course, as it is still up in the air as to whether we ever actually HAD a PPNB world system, we can also have a look at whether or not we actually have a PPNB collapse. Have a listen and tell me what you think. Does the PPNB collapse, or not? If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 15: Cyprus
March 01, 2021 10:33 - 30 minutes - 31.7 MBNow that we have had a good look at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in most of the Near East, this time we are travelling over to Cyprus. Cyprus also has a Pre-Pottery Neolithic, but it isn't exactly what we might expect based on what we know about the Neolithic in the rest of the Near East. Looking at the wonderful Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Cyprus changes the way that we think about the process of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and Neolithic life, in all of the Near East. If you have any questions or...
Episode 14: Social Bubbles and Social Networks in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
February 14, 2021 10:53 - 23 minutes - 24 MBNow that we have seen how people moved over to growing rather than gathering their own food, and settled into villages with the birth of communal village life, we can have a look at some of the other developments happening across the Near East during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. We can also see how the scale of these changes happening across the Near East has impacted how we understand the scale of social networks between people and between communities in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Depending, ...
Episode 13: It takes a village to make the Neolithic
February 01, 2021 17:18 - 30 minutes - 31.4 MBThis week we are looking at what life was like in Neolithic settlements, and how these have changed from the first permanent houses that we found in the Late Epipalaeolithic. Both time periods have houses, and in some cases the houses are not all that different. However, in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic we no longer just get houses, we get villages - and the village life that goes along with it. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on...
Episode 12: Domestication on the Hoof in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
January 11, 2021 17:28 - 19 minutes - 30.3 MBLast week we looked at the move from collecting to growing our own food during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic by discussing the process of plant domestication. This week we complete this change in how we fed ourselves by looking at the process of domesticating food that has a tendency to wander off a bit more than plants do - animals. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 11: Bright Ideas? Growing your own food in the Neolithic
January 05, 2021 18:06 - 27 minutes - 42.1 MBThis week we will be starting on the Neolithic, the last of our three stone ages. As a lot of big things happen in the Neolithic, we can't do everything in one episode so I am breaking it up and spreading the Neolithic across a series of episodes which will deal with the different big events. This week, we start with the first of these big changes: the change from gathering our food to growing it ourselves. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected]...
Episode 10: Settling into the Late Epipalaeolithic
December 29, 2020 15:17 - 30 minutes - 45.3 MBLast time we looked at whether or not we could really think of the earlier Epipalaeolithic as being something distinctly different from the later Upper Palaeolithic. This week we look at the later Epipalaeolithic, which is definitely different from the Upper Palaeolithic and even pretty distinct from the earlier Epipalaeolithic. We look at the end of the ice age and the beginning of the Holocene, some animals which we domesticated - or which may have domesticated us - and how we settled down...
Episode 9: Why do we have an Epipalaeolithic?
December 05, 2020 09:41 - 23 minutes - 35.7 MBThe Epipalaeolithic - the period from the Last Glacial Maximum to just before the beginning of farming - is an awkward period to characterise in the prehistory of the Near East. Mostly this is because the division between the Upper Palaeolithic and the earlier part of the Epipalaeolithic is a bit murky. This week we will look at this division, and see what changes, and what actually does not change as we move into the Epipalaeolithic. If you have any questions or comments you can email me a...
Episode 8: Eating and Social Networking in the Upper Palaeolithic
November 30, 2020 16:06 - 27 minutes - 41 MBThis week we continue our look at the Upper Palaeolithic of the Near East with a look at what people were eating, and how they were eating it. Life is not just about food though, even for Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. So, we will also look at how Upper Palaeolithic people dressed and decorated themselves, visited with other people and swapped goods and ideas in their extensive social networks. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the w...
Episode 7: Inventing the Upper Palaeolithic
November 22, 2020 13:22 - 29 minutes - 44 MBLast week we said goodbye to our cousins the Neanderthals and stood along as the only people species in the Near East. This week we shall see what we humans got up to in the Upper Palaeolithic now that we had the whole place to ourselves. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 6: Humans, Neanderthals and the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition
November 15, 2020 14:17 - 26 minutes - 39.9 MBThis week we say goodbye to the Middle Palaeolithic. Modern humans have migrated out of Africa and into the Near East, and this time they mean to stay. Have a listen to what we know about the change for the Middle Palaeolithic Near East of the Neanderthals to the Upper Palaeolithic Near East of us modern humans. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 5: Middle Palaeolithic Humans in Arabia
November 07, 2020 16:53 - 22 minutes - 34.4 MBThis week we look at the last stage of the Middle Palaeolithic. After looking at Neanderthals last week, here we get into what we know by contrast about humans in the Middle Palaeolithic, and what we have learned so far about a new, up-and-coming area of archaeological research into humans in the Middle Palaeolithic - the Arabian Peninsula. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 4: Neanderthals
October 31, 2020 17:01 - 40 minutes - 60 MBIn this episode we continue in the Middle Palaeolithic, looking at our cousins the Neanderthals. This episode examines what we know about Neanderthals, and what mistakes which we made about them in the past that have led to the popular view of Neanderthals being so very wrong. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.
Episode 3: Making the Middle Palaeolithic
October 23, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 37.4 MBIn this episode we move into the Middle Palaeolithic, looking at how life changed in the Near East after about 215 thousand years ago. Changes in the way that people moved around, particularly a change to the use of caves for camps or base-camps means that we are starting to get more information about the structure of daily life in the past, at least compared with what we know from the Lower Palaeolithic. Have a listen to this first look at what we know about life in the Middle Palaeolithic,...
Episode 2: The Lower Palaeolithic
October 17, 2020 05:00 - 29 minutes - 45.3 MBArchaeological evidence for people in the ancient Near East begins with the Lower Palaeolithic. When Homo erectus wandered out of Africa and spread out across other continents they left traces of their lives across our region. Here we discuss what we know about the first people to call the Near East home - how they lived, what they ate, and how they changed through time. If you have any comments or questions you can reach me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypod...
Episode 1: A long and short prologue
October 10, 2020 08:28 - 44 minutes - 45.9 MBBefore we begin with the first people in the ancient Near East, here is a prologue of everything which people got up to beforehand. This is a brief coverage of everything that we know about human evolution from our last common ancestor with chimpanzees and gorillas up to the appearance of humans.
Intro
October 08, 2020 09:20 - 1 minute - 1.51 MBIf anyone wants to learn more about our human story before the start of our history, welcome to PreHistory, a podcast on the archaeology of the ancient Near East (Middle East). This is an introduction to the podcast and a very brief idea of what I will be covering in forthcoming episodes. Stay tuned for the first episode of PreHistory this coming weekend. If you have any questions or comments you can find me at [email protected] or on the website at prehistorypodcast.com