1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 2: and I'm Holly Fry. 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,240 Speaker 1: It is time for Part two of this latest installment 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: of Unearthed. We talked about a lot of stuff with 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: animals and updates and other stuff in part one. Part two, 8 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: we've got some repatriations, just a whole bunch. 9 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 2: Of shipwrecks, a lot of shipwrecks. There's art. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: We're going to end with some things that seemed particularly 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: appropriate since it is October and Halloween season. As always, 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: we are starting off this second part of Unearthed with 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: the stuff that didn't categorize very well, but all seems 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: cool and interesting to me, and I always call that 15 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: the potpourri. An arrowhead dating back to between nine hundred 16 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: and eight hundred BCE, which has been in the collection 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: of Burn History Museum, was made of iron that came 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: from a meteorite. Although there are examples of people using 19 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: the metals from meteorites to make things in other parts 20 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: of the world, there have not been as many examples 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: from Central or Western Europe during this period. At least 22 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: there aren't that many yet. It is possible that other 23 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: examples have been overlooked, and this one was found as 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: teams intentionally tested objects from the collections of museums around Switzerland. 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: This particular one included aluminum twenty six isotopes that does 26 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: not occur naturally on Earth, but does exist in meteorites. Next, 27 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: archaeologists in Meredith, Spain, have unearthed an intricate for mosaic 28 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: featuring a depiction of Medusa's head, along with geometric patterns 29 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: and animal motifs all around the frame. The animals include 30 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: four peacocks, one for each season, and the depiction of 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: Medusa is believed to have been included as a protection 32 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: symbol for the household. Archaeologists in Peru have found what 33 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: they believed to be an open air dance floor that 34 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: could make a sound like thunder when it was danced on, 35 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: basically amplifying the sounds the dancers made as they moved 36 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: around that dance floor. It was built by layering clay 37 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: and guano, which left gaps that would reverberate when struck, 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: like by a dancer's foot. This platform was built sometime 39 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: between one thousand and fourteen hundred, not far from a 40 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: temple that may have been dedicated to a lightning deity. 41 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: So this is an interpretation of how this site may 42 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: have been used, but there's lots of existing evidence for 43 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: ritual dancing and belief in lightning and thunder deities in 44 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 1: the area next. Roughly one point four million years ago, 45 00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: early human ancestors were making these limestone spears about the 46 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: size of a tennis ball, and there's been debate about 47 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: these things, like were our ancestors deliberately trying to shape 48 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: the limestone into spheres or was this the byproduct of 49 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: using stones as tools for pounding or grinding, sort of 50 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: like gradually forming them into spheres over time just by 51 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: using them for that purpose. New research at Hebrew University 52 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: of Jerusalems suggests that this was likely a deliberate effort 53 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: at sphere making. They came to this conclusion after using 54 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: three D analysis to reconstruct the geometry of one hundred 55 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: and fifty of these limestone spheroids. Over time, these pieces 56 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: of limestone became more and more spherical, but not smoother 57 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: like riverstones do, as they're shaped by sediment and running water. 58 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: It's still not known why these were made, though, like 59 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: they don't appear to have been an accidental byproduct of 60 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: tool making, but they could have been intended for use 61 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: as tools, or maybe they were projectiles, or maybe our 62 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: ancestors just thought they were neat like that. That's always 63 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: an option proto croquet. We have talked about archaeological sites 64 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: found ahead of the construction of stores and roads and railroads, 65 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: but now we have one discovered at the future site 66 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: of a rocket launch pad. This is on the island 67 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: of Unst Shetland in the UK and based on the 68 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: presence of burned bones, pits and arrangements of boulders, it 69 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: was likely a cremation cemetery. This is the first time 70 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: a cremation cemetery has been excavated in the Shetland Islands. 71 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: And in our last little bit of randomness, we have 72 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: this addition's installment of things discovered by children at school. 73 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: An eight year old in Bremen, Germany found an eighteen 74 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: hundred year old silver denarius while digging in the school sandbox. 75 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 2: At least all the English. 76 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,040 Speaker 1: Language reporting of this says it was in the school sandbox, 77 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: but there's also a video interview with him which is 78 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: in German, where he is digging as he sort of 79 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: shows the interview where what he was doing it doesn't 80 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: look like the kind of structured sandbox that you might 81 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: see it a playground, but just like in the dirt, 82 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: the boy whose name is Bjarn took the coin home, 83 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: but eventually he and his family contacted an archaeologist. Eventually 84 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: that coin was identified as from the reign of Emperor 85 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: Marcus Aurelius and it is one of only three such 86 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: coins to be found in Bremen. Next, we have some returns, repatriations, 87 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: and repatriations. 88 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 2: It seems like. 89 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: There have gradually been more of these as a trend 90 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: from one installment of on Earth to the next. Looking 91 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: back at some prior years of these episodes, sometimes there 92 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 1: were not any repatriations mentioned at all. Some of this 93 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: increase has come from criminal investigations to people who amassed 94 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: or sold large collections of illegally acquired objects. I think 95 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: there's been more effort into like pursuing criminal activity of 96 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: things that were more recently looted in recent years. Some 97 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 1: of this is also connected to institutions reevaluating their own 98 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: collections and how they acquired the objects in those collections. 99 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: So what we are about to talk about is not 100 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: every single return that was mentioned over the course of 101 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: the last three months, but more of like a selection 102 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: of them. First, at the end of June, the Chrysler 103 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia returned a monolith to Nigeria. 104 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: But what made headlines at the start of July was 105 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: what the museum received in return, which was a resin 106 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: facsimile from a not for profit organization called Factum Foundation 107 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: for Digital Technology and Preservation. As its name suggests, Factum 108 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: Foundation is devoted to digitally recording and preserving the world's 109 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: cultural heritage, including creating facsimiles of recorded objects that are 110 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: visually indistinguishable from the original. This monolith is a Bocor monolith, 111 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: and these are stone sculptures representing ancestors that were carved 112 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. A lot of these 113 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: monoliths have been stolen from Nigeria and then placed in 114 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: museums in other countries, and this is the first one 115 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: to have been repatriated. The Chrysler Museum returned it after 116 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: finding photographic evidence that it had still been in Nigeria 117 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty one, meaning that its removal from the 118 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: country was illegal under Nigerian law. The Factum Foundation has 119 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: been recording and making facsimiles of these monoliths since twenty sixteen, 120 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: working very closely with Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments. 121 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: The Netherlands has repatriated more than four hundred and seventy 122 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: five objects to Sri Lanka and Indonesia, including the first 123 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: ever repatriations from the Reis Museum, where six of the 124 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: objects were being held. Many of these items were taken 125 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: to the Netherlands while these regions were under Dutch colonial authority. 126 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: This is part of an ongoing effort to return objects 127 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: that were taken from former colonies when they were under 128 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: Dutch control. In March, a woman in England sold the 129 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: contents of her garden shed to a salvage company, and 130 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: among the items in the shed were two stone statues. 131 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: The salvage company decided to research those statues before selling them, 132 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: and they turned out to be two tenth century stone 133 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: idols of female deities that had been stolen from a 134 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: temple in India. That theft happened sometimes between nineteen seventy 135 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: nine and nineteen eighty two. Both of these stats have 136 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: now been returned to India. They will likely be placed 137 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: in the National Museum in New Delhi, where two other 138 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: statues from the same temple currently are as. I understand 139 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 1: it like all of the statues from this temple were 140 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: stolen and it's not realistic to try to like return 141 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: them to that original site, so they're going to the museum. 142 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: The University of Manchester is returning one hundred and seventy 143 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: four items to the Aboriginal and Indiyaqua community of Groot Island, 144 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: off the northern coast of Australia. This follows years of 145 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: discussions with the Anandiyaqua Land Council and the Australian Institute 146 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. These items were 147 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: acquired in the nineteen fifties by Peter Worsley, who at 148 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: the time was a PhD student in anthropology. He bought 149 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: or traded for these items while building relationships with the 150 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: local people and andi Yaqua representatives have said people may 151 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: not have understood that from Worsley's point of view, he 152 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: was a quiet baring them permanently. This return took place 153 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: at Manchester Museum, but it followed a three year process 154 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 1: in which representatives from the museum had traveled to Groot 155 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: Island to speak with the Anendoyaqua people there. Australian National 156 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: University is repatriating an amphora to Italy, one depicting Heracles 157 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: an a lion that's been a key part of the 158 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: university's collection. The university bought this amphora in nineteen eighty 159 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: four in what's been described as a good faith purchase 160 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: from Sothebys, but eventually Italian authorities notified the university that 161 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: the amphora was connected to an art dealer who had 162 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: been selling illegally acquired art. An investigation into the rest 163 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: of the collection found other pieces that had also been 164 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: illegally removed from Italy, so plans are being made to 165 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: return those as well. While the university and the Italian 166 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 1: government are expected to finalize an agreement for the return 167 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,559 Speaker 1: of this amphora by the end of year, the plan 168 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: is for it to remain at Australian National University for 169 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 1: four years for research and teaching purposes before it actually 170 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: goes back. And lastly, the National Museum of Scotland has 171 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: returned a totem pole that was stolen from the Nizga 172 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: First Nation in the nineteenth century. An anthropologist and museum 173 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: curator named Marius Barbo had been taking pictures of culturally 174 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: and historically interesting objects around Canada and sending those pictures 175 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: to museums around the world. The National Museum of Scotland, 176 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: then known as the Royal Scottish Museum, offered to pay 177 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: Barbou for the pole, and while most of the local 178 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: people were away hunting or fishing, he cut it down 179 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: and removed it from the area by raft. These totem 180 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,479 Speaker 1: poles are regarded as living beings, so this was particularly egregious. 181 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: Last August, a delegation traveled to Scotland to ask for 182 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: the poll's return, and plans were underway to return it 183 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: by desc of twenty twenty two. About four hundred people 184 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: attended a welcoming ceremony at the end of September of 185 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: this year. This totem pole is now in the Niskan 186 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,719 Speaker 1: Nation at the Niskan Museum, and its former space in 187 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: the National Museum of Scotland is going to remain empty, 188 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: sort of as a starting point for conversations about how 189 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: this totem pole was stolen and why it was returned. 190 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: We're going to get to shipwrecks next, Tracy, we are 191 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break first though. Okay, 192 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: we've got a bunch of shipwrecks this time around. 193 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 2: First. 194 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: The latest dives at the Antikytheris shipwreck took place between 195 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,839 Speaker 1: May nineteenth and June eighteenth of this year, with findings 196 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: being reported starting in July. A lot of this work 197 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: has been focused on surveying and mapping the wreck itself, 198 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: including areas that have not been explored before. Divers visited 199 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: the site and also used remote controlled drones to gather data. 200 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: The team has also continued to unearth things like statues, glassware, 201 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: and pottery from the reck site. One piece of marble 202 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: that they found might be the beard that goes to 203 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: the head of a Heracles statue that was discovered at 204 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:28,839 Speaker 1: the site last year. Some newly discovered ceramic fragments also 205 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: suggest that there might be another wreck of an older, 206 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: smaller ship in this same area. This is part of 207 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: a five year study of the site, and all the 208 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: data being gathered now is being compiled with data from 209 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,680 Speaker 1: earlier work at the wreck. The goal is to create 210 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: a comprehensive three D model of the site. Next, a 211 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: couple of Roman shipwrecks made the news this time around 212 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: One dates to the first or second century BCE and 213 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: was found off the port of Chivitevekya. It is one 214 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,439 Speaker 1: of many ships that have been found full of hundreds 215 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: of mfoa. Most of thoseore intact. We don't yet know 216 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: what these particular ones are holding, but it's a type 217 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,679 Speaker 1: of jar that was usually used for things. 218 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 2: Like wine or oil. 219 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: The other is known as the Kappa Corso TiO and 220 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: it sank between Italy and France, also roughly two thousand 221 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: years ago. This wreck was discovered a little more than 222 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: a decade ago and has been explored since then. So 223 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: this work focused on documenting changes to the wreck over 224 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: time and removing some of its contents for analysis. There 225 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: were mphoa on this ship as well, along with a 226 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: lot of glass tableware like bowls and bottles. Researchers have 227 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: been studying the oldest known European shipwreck in South Australia. 228 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: That ship is called the South Australian. It is an 229 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: English bark that sank in eighteen thirty seven. The wreck 230 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: was found in twenty eighteen, but then the COVID nineteen 231 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: pandemic delayed plans to send people to study it. Although 232 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:09,160 Speaker 1: this ship was originally a packet ship and it carried 233 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: about eighty people to the Australian colony, it mostly worked 234 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: as part of the whaling industry. It basically functioned as 235 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: a platform for removing the blubber from harpooned whales. Work 236 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: at this wreck is ongoing and it's historically and archaeologically 237 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: important in several ways, including the vessels overall age, the 238 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: fact that it was one of the earlier ships to 239 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: bring colonists to Australia, and its function as part of 240 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: the shore based whaling industry. It's also one of only 241 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: two English packet ships to go through this kind of 242 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: archaeological study. Next, divers in the Saint Lawrence River spotted 243 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: what turned out to be the compass platform from the 244 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: deck of the Empress of Ireland. That is a wreck 245 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: we have gotten requests to cover on the show. We 246 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: have not yet done an episode on that, so maybe 247 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: this discovery will bump that up the list. The sinking 248 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: of the Empress of Ireland has been described as the 249 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: worst peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history. 250 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 2: More than a. 251 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: Thousand people died after the Empress of Ireland collided with 252 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: another ship in May of nineteen fourteen. The compass platform 253 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: had been removed from the wreck in the nineteen nineties 254 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: and then dropped back into the water while it was 255 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: being brought back to shore. Efforts to find it at 256 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: the time were unsuccessful. If you're like, didn't they look 257 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: very hard? The river right there is really wide. It 258 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: was a month's amount of. 259 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 2: River bottom to try to search. 260 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: The divers who spotted this thought that it might be 261 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: just an upside down table, and photos made their way 262 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: to maritime historian David Sampierre, who had been studying the 263 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: Empress of Ireland for thirty years and immediately realized what 264 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: it was. After a two year search, maritime historians have 265 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: found the largely intact wreck of the Trinidad, which sank 266 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: about ten miles away from Algoma, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan. 267 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: The Trinidad was used to carry coal, iron, and grain 268 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: across the lake, although apparently its owners did not keep 269 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: up with its maintenance and repairs very well. It had 270 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,679 Speaker 1: been leaky for years when it started seriously taking on 271 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: water in May of eighteen eighty one. Its crew decided 272 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: to abandon ship and escaped In a small boat, although 273 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: a dog who was on board sadly did not survive. 274 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,120 Speaker 1: This wreck was spotted using sonar scans and then there 275 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: was a thorough survey. Apart from the masts and rigging 276 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: having fallen, this ship is largely intact, like when you 277 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: look at images of it, it just looks kind of 278 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 1: like a boat sitting there on the floor. This includes 279 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: the crew's personal effects, all still being in place, and 280 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: dishes are still stacked in the cabinets. 281 00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:58,400 Speaker 2: No fish stole them. 282 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: Next, a piece of wood bought at a garage sale 283 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,719 Speaker 1: has been identified as coming from the USS Main. It 284 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: had been donated to the Pascak Historical Society in New Jersey, 285 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: but there were no clear records about where it had 286 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 1: come from. Staff had doubts about whether it was authentic 287 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: or not. The word purported was even on the sign 288 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: identifying it in the museum's display. Retired history teacher Christopher 289 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: Kirsting decided to see if he could figure out the truth, 290 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: and his search wound up involving a curator at Arlington 291 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: National Cemetery, which is home to the USS Main Memorial, 292 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: and a retired Navy captain and USS Main expert named 293 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: Steve Whittaker. Whittaker examined the wood and the paint flex 294 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: and compared those to historical records, and then compared the 295 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: wood itself to photos of the main as it was 296 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: being salvaged. This piece of wood was a match for 297 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: a spar that had been cut from the mast during 298 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:00,400 Speaker 1: salvage operations. The spar was returned to the Historical Societciety, 299 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: which then gave it to Arlington National Cemetery, seeing that 300 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: as a more. 301 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 2: Appropriate home for the artifact. 302 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: In September, Ocean Exploration Trust's expedition vehicle Nautilus took an 303 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: expedition to Papahano Mokuakia Marine National Monument to study three 304 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: historically significant shipwrecks from the Battle of Midway. There was 305 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: the York Town, which was an American ship, and two 306 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: Japanese vessels, the Akagi and the Kaga. All three of 307 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 1: these were aircraft carriers. Remotely operated vehicles were used to 308 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: take high resolution photos and videos of all three of 309 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: the res This work was done in collaboration with the 310 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages the National Monument, 311 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: and was part of a greater effort to study the 312 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: area and guide decisions into how the monument should be 313 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: managed and conserved. The Akagi's location was determined during a 314 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: mapping survey in twenty nineteen, but this expedition was the 315 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: first time that anybody has actually wily seen it with 316 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,199 Speaker 1: their eyes since it sank, and this was also the 317 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: first real time look at the Yorktown. There were more 318 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: than one hundred experts on hand watching the footage as 319 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,879 Speaker 1: it was being recorded, to both offer interpretations of what 320 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: they were seeing and to guide where the vehicles and 321 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: the expedition should go from there. So this next discovery 322 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: isn't a shipwreck, but it came from one. Back in 323 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, a recreational scuba diver off the 324 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: coast of Sweden found a metal object that turned out 325 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,440 Speaker 1: to be a muzzle loading shipboard cannon. The wreck it 326 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: came from has not been found, but research published in 327 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: August suggests that this may be the oldest European cannon 328 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 1: ever found. This comes thanks to a piece of cloth 329 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: that was stuck in the powder chamber, probably left over 330 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: from the last charge loaded into it. That cloth dates 331 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: back to the fourteenth century, which makes this the oldest 332 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:02,880 Speaker 1: shipboard cannon discovered to date. This research also looked at 333 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: the cannon itself, finding that it was made from a 334 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: copper alloy that really is not ideal for making cannons. 335 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: It probably would have cracked under intense use. In one 336 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: of my favorite quotes, I read this entire unearthed research 337 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,439 Speaker 1: in the words of Steffen von Arben, maritime archaeologists at 338 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: the University of Guttenberg, quote, Clearly, the person who cast 339 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: the cannon did not have the necessary knowledge and understanding 340 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: of the properties of various copper alloys. And in one 341 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: last thing that also isn't a shipwreck, but is sort 342 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,959 Speaker 1: of shipwreck adjacent divers have retrieved the engine from an 343 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: airplane from Lake Huron, one that was being flown by 344 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: Tuskegee airman Frank Moody when he was killed during a 345 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: training accident. One of the machine guns malfunctioned and damaged 346 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,639 Speaker 1: the plane's propeller, and that is what caused the crash. 347 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: Although Moody's body washed ashore a few months after his 348 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: the wreckage of the plane was not found until twenty fourteen. 349 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: The retrieval of the engine is part of an ongoing 350 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: effort to bring all of the wreckage up from the 351 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: floor of the lake. And this has been a year's 352 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: long process, since pieces of this plane are scattered over about. 353 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 2: A half a mile. 354 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 1: The engine and the other parts of the plane will 355 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: eventually be on display at the Tuske Airman National Historical 356 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: Museum in Detroit. We have another quick break and then 357 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:45,199 Speaker 1: talk about art. Now we have some art things. A 358 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: few years ago, a woman bought a painting at Savers, 359 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: which is a chain of secondhand stores. And I think 360 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: diehard Savers fans might be upset that I just called 361 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: it a chain of secondhand stores instead of the religious 362 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: experience that it can be right. 363 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 2: She liked the frame, just thought it was frame. This 364 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 2: frame she liked. 365 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: She put it in a closet, forgot about it until 366 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: doing some spring cleaning, and then, after finding it again, 367 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: posted a picture of it on a Facebook group, and 368 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: that wound up catching the eye of an art conservator 369 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: who realized this was a work by painter and illustrator N. C. 370 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 2: Wyeth. 371 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,320 Speaker 1: This was one of four possible cover designs for the 372 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: cover of Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona. That novel came 373 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: out in eighteen eighty four, and that painting and that 374 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: frame were bought at Savers for four dollars, but the painting, 375 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,199 Speaker 1: once it was recognized, sold at auction in September for 376 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety one thousand dollars. Next, excavations at 377 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: the ancient city of Maastris on the Black Sea have 378 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,480 Speaker 1: found an almost complete life size statue of a water nymph, 379 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: assuming that water nymphs are the same size as people, 380 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: dating back to about the second century. The only things 381 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,879 Speaker 1: that are missing are the left side of her nose 382 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: and her right hand. This is a really beautiful statue. 383 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: This missing right hand would have been holding the handle 384 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: of what looks like a pitcher. Her left hand is 385 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: holding fabric that sort of draped around her lower hips. 386 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,719 Speaker 1: This statue is going through a conservation process and there 387 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: are plans to place it in a museum. Back in 388 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, we talked about a van go painting that 389 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: had been stolen from a museum on van Go's birthday 390 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: while the museum was closed due to the COVID nineteen pandemic. 391 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: We later had an update that art detective arsur Brand 392 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: had received proof of life photos of the painting, and 393 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: now the painting, which was Van Goes's the parsonage garden 394 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: at noonan in spring has been returned. An anonymous tipster 395 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: dropped it off at Brand's apartment, wrapped in bubble wrap 396 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: and carried in an Ikea bag. This was not the 397 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: person who had originally stolen it. That perpetrator was identified 398 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: through DNA evidence left behind at the scene and was 399 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 1: fined and imprisoned. Next, we have a few things that 400 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: are related to ancient art. Researchers from Spain and France 401 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: have been studying ochre from a cave in Ethiopia where 402 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: people processed it for at least forty five hundred years, 403 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: starting about forty thousand years ago. Ochre is a name 404 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: for mineral pigments, usually in tones of red and yellow, 405 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: and historically it's been used for a lot of different purposes, 406 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 1: including making art and bodily adornment. This research has documented 407 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: how people processing ochre in the cave gradually modified their 408 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: tools and techniques. During the earlier period that the cave 409 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 1: was in use, people seemed to have sought out the 410 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,920 Speaker 1: highest quality raw materials that they could find, but over 411 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: time transitioned to lower quality materials that were more readily 412 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,959 Speaker 1: available in their local environment, and then adjusted their techniques 413 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: to compensate for that difference. This is the only site 414 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: discovered so far that has preserved such a long time 415 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: span of continuous ochre production, so it's the first time 416 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: researchers have really been able to study this kind of progression. Next, 417 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: a cave in Spain known as Covidonus, which was already 418 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: well known to locals and hikers, has been discovered to 419 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: contain more than one hundred ancient paintings and engravings. The 420 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: first discovery of artwork in this cave was actually made 421 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, but the findings weren't announced until 422 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: this year. This artwork is at least twenty four thousand 423 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: years old, with at least nineteen different types of animals depicted. 424 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: Researchers have described this find as particularly significant due to 425 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: the number of images, the variety of techniques used to 426 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 1: make them, and the fact that many of them were 427 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,880 Speaker 1: made using clay rather than ocre or another mineral pigment. 428 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,919 Speaker 1: People basically got red clay off the cave floor and 429 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: used it to paint with their hands and fingers, and 430 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: there are not many surviving examples of Paleolithic artwork that 431 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: was made this way, and in our last art find, 432 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: Researchers in Namibia have worked with indigenous tracking experts to 433 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: examine engravings of human and animal tracks in rock art 434 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: in the Doro Nawis Mountains, and they found that these 435 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: engravings of these tracks were just incredibly precise and detailed. 436 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: They analyzed five hundred and thirteen engravings and the indigenous 437 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: experts said they could identify a specific species, a sex, 438 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: and an age group for more than ninety percent of 439 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: the engraved prints. So these seem like very detailed, actual 440 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 1: engravings of prints that people would see, not as like 441 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: geometric patterns, which is how they had sort of been 442 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: classified previously. So with all of that information, some clear 443 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: patterns of our ed prints of adult animals were more 444 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: common than juveniles, and prints of male animals were more 445 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: common than female. But researchers don't know for sure what 446 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: was driving any of these preferences. 447 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 2: That we can speculate, but it's speculation. Uh. 448 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 1: Last, we're going to close out this autumn installment of 449 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: Unearthed with a few things that seem thematically appropriate for 450 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: October when we often are talking about things that are 451 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,920 Speaker 1: a little more eerie or macabre. First, researchers studying Roman 452 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: era artifacts in a cave in Israel believe that these 453 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: may have been used to try to speak with the 454 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: dead or to worship underworld deities. This site is home 455 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: to more than one hundred oil lamps, as well as 456 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: vessels and coins, and three human skulls. Many of these 457 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: items were in really hard to reach crevices in the cave. 458 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: The cave itself also has a really deep shaft at 459 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: one end, which may have been seen as an entrance 460 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: to the underworld. In last year's autumn installment of On Earth, 461 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: we talked about the discovery of a burial site in 462 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: Poland that was being described as a vampire burial. A 463 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: woman had been buried with a padlock on her big 464 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: toe and her neck pinned under a sickle. Another burial 465 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: from the same cemetery made headlines in August. This time 466 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: it's the body of a child, buried face down, also 467 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 1: with a padlock on his foot. This child's grave was 468 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: only about five feet from the one that we talked 469 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: about last year, and in both cases these were probably 470 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: precautions that were taken to try to prevent the deceased 471 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: from returning from the land of the dead. As we 472 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: talked about last time. Discoveries like this always get a 473 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: lot of vampire burial headlines. It's very likely that these 474 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: were just people whose community was regarding with distrust for 475 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: some reason. It's possible that both of them were just 476 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: being mistrue ostracized, and recent work at this specific burial 477 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: site suggests that other people buried there may have had 478 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: similar stories. One headline went so far as to call 479 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: this the grave of the damned. So far, more than 480 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,280 Speaker 1: thirty burials have been discovered at this site, and a 481 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: lot of them are unusual in one way or another. 482 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: For example, the bones of three other children were found 483 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: in an area not far from this one, and they 484 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 1: were all kind of scattered, suggesting that their bodies may 485 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: have been desecrated. Researchers also found part of a jawbone 486 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: with green staining on it that suggests that a person 487 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: may have been buried with a coin in their mouth. 488 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: Another similar burial made news in August as well. This 489 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: one onearthed during the National Highway A fourteen Cambridge to 490 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: Huntington improvement scheme. Excavations for this project took place between 491 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and twenty eighteen. The examination of the findings 492 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: has been ongoing. So this body, in particular was a teenager, 493 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: probably a girl of about fifteen, who was buried face 494 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: down and may have had her ankles bound together. Analysis 495 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: of her skeletons suggests that she was malnourished in her 496 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: childhood and also had a spinal joint disease that was 497 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: exacerbated by the manual labor she had to do to 498 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: survive from a very young age. So her being buried 499 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: face down, possibly with her feet bound together, similarly suggests 500 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: that she was seen as suspicious or somehow different from 501 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: the rest of the community, but she also seems to 502 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: have been buried as a symbolic act. The pit where 503 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: she was buried had previously held a post for the 504 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: entry gate of the early medieval community of Connington, but 505 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: this settlement was eventually abandoned, and as people moved away, 506 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: they dismantled and removed that gait. It's possible that this 507 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: pit that was left behind was used as a burial 508 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 1: site for the sake of convenience, since it had already 509 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: been dug, but it's also possible that she was buried 510 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: there as sort of a symbolic end to the community. 511 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: Regardless her burial seems to have been one of the 512 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: last things that the community did before abandoning the settlement. 513 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: And finally, an article published in the journal Analytical Chemistry 514 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: in August is titled Count Dracula Resurrected Proteomic Analysis of 515 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,959 Speaker 1: Lad the Third the Impaler's Documents by EVA technology and 516 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: mass spectrometry. This article discusses the use of both ethylene 517 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: vinyl acetate and mass spectrometry to study the peptides in 518 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: proteins on three letters Vlad the Third wrote on rag 519 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: paper between fourteen fifty seven and fourteen seventy five. The 520 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: researchers include a pretty big caveat here, which is that 521 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: other people probably handled these letters and it is not 522 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: entirely part possible to separate any proteins they may have 523 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: left behind from Vlad the Thirds. So they found various 524 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: peptides and proteins related to environmental factors in Wilakia, where 525 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: Vlad lived. That includes peptides from various fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects, 526 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: and plants. But some of the proteins were definitely of 527 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: human origin, and those proteins suggested that Vlad experience some 528 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: inflammation of his respiratory tract or his skin. All three 529 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: of the letters also had peptides associated with blood, and 530 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: the letter from fourteen seventy five also had proteins associated 531 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: with tears, which, according to these researchers, suggested that he 532 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 1: may have experienced hemilacria. In other words, that the stories 533 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: about Vlad the Impaler crying tears of blood may actually 534 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,960 Speaker 1: have been true. Bump, bump, bum, that's the best October 535 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: finish I can imagine. Yeah, that's uh uh. I have 536 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: a little piece of email listener mail to take us 537 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: out of this unearthed. 538 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:14,600 Speaker 2: This is one. 539 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: It's from July and I just straight up overlooked it 540 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: and I did not see it until this morning. 541 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 2: Somehow. 542 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,400 Speaker 1: This is from Michael, and Michael said, hello, fellow history nerds. 543 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 1: So I was listening to your two parter on the 544 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: Dictionary Wars while flying back to Connecticut to visit family 545 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,839 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and loved the part where 546 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: Noah Webster bought Benedict Arnold's old house because it was 547 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: unsurprisingly affordable. A few days later, we met up with 548 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,320 Speaker 1: a friend who was the principal at a high school 549 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: in New Haven. 550 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 2: She let us park at the school. 551 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: After hours while we walked around the city, and when 552 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,919 Speaker 1: we got there, she pointed over to a fenced off 553 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,520 Speaker 1: area in the parking lot. Quote, that's where they're excavating 554 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: Noah Webster's house. It used to belong to Benedict Arnold too. 555 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,239 Speaker 1: I totally flipped out and told them all about the 556 00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: episode we just listened to. I present you now with 557 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: a very uninteresting picture of the spot, taken at night. 558 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,840 Speaker 1: The tile floor was visible at the time, but the 559 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,360 Speaker 1: rest still look like a parking lot at a random 560 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: high school. I know you all like pictures of furry creatures, 561 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 1: but hopefully an adorable and stoic bearded dragon will do instead. 562 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: It does indeed love a bearded dragon. Yes, thank you 563 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,160 Speaker 1: all for the entertainment. I never wanted to listen to 564 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: nonfiction podcast before you all. You were my first GRATZI, 565 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: So thank you so much Michael for this email. I 566 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: so we've talked about a number of different houses associated 567 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,359 Speaker 1: with Noah Webster at this point. Some of them are 568 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 1: still standing, some of them are not. I didn't actually 569 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 1: realize that this was one that was no longer standing, 570 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:49,080 Speaker 1: and there is. 571 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 2: Indeed archaeological work going on there. 572 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: Just at this high school parking lot, which I was 573 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: unaware of at all until getting this email. And then 574 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: we have just beautiful, beautiful bearded dragon Saudie Pie, hanging 575 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: out on some newspaper with what looks like a little 576 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 1: bull of snacks behind. So thank you so much for 577 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,399 Speaker 1: sending this. I'm sorry that somehow I because I read 578 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: all of those other emails, and I even read some 579 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 1: of the other ones that were sort of arounded in 580 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:22,640 Speaker 1: the inbox, and stumbled across this one this morning and 581 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 1: was like, I don't remember this at all. I somehow 582 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,319 Speaker 1: overlooked it. 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