1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. It's time 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: for Unearthed. I know there are folks who are very 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: excited about this because when we had a Saturday Classic 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: come out recently that had the word unearthed in the title, 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: heard from some excited people, and I was like, hold 8 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: on just a tiny bit longer until the actual new 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: unearthed stuff comes out, which is finally now. So if 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: you're new to the show, this is when we talk 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 1: about things that have been literally or figuratively unearthed over 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: the last few months. In this case, this is the 13 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 1: last quarter of this is two parts. Uh. Today we're 14 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: going to be talking about lots of updates to prior 15 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: episodes and some books and letters. Uh. Somehow the exhumations 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: and repatriation so been in part two of these for 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: a long time. I put him in part one this time, uh, 18 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: and then we'll talk about different stuff in part two 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: on Wednesday, and she's changing it up. Look out. Uh. 20 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: We have quite a few updates, but we are starting 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: on a more somber note to begin with. On August seen, 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: we did an episode called The Motherhood of Mamie Till Mobley. 23 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: She was the mother of Emmett Till, who was murdered 24 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: in Mississippi in nineteen fifty five after Caroline Dunham claimed 25 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: that he had grabbed her, threatened her, and made lewd 26 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: comments to her in her husband's grocery store. Emmett was 27 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: just fourteen at the time, and this was a particularly 28 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: brutal murder, one that was part of a pattern of 29 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: lynchings in which white men murdered black men and boys, 30 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: often after allegations of wrongdoing by white women. In a 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: tween episode of Unearthed, we talked about how the U. S. 32 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: Department of Justice had reopened the case and to Emmett 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: Sells murder. Let's follow the seventeen publication of a book 34 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: called The Blood of Emmett Till. The author of this 35 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: book had interviewed Caroline Donham and had reported that she 36 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: admitted to lying about her encounter with Emmett. When the 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: d o J announced that it was reopening this case, 38 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: some of the response to that announcement was understandably cynical. 39 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: The book had been out for more than a year 40 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: and a half at this point, so people were like, 41 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: why now. In December, the Justice Department announced that it 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: was closing the case again. Donham denied that she had 43 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: recanted her earlier testimony, and the FBI could not prove 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: whether that was true or not. The d o J 45 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: issued a release noting that if Donnam had lied to investigators, 46 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: that would be perjury, but perjury in state court is 47 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: not a federal matter, and the statute of limitations had 48 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: expired regarding both Donham's testimony in nine and an investigation 49 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: when the case was previously reopened in two thousand four. J. W. 50 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: Milum and Roy Bryant, who were both acquitted of this 51 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: crime but later confessed to it in a magazine article, 52 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: are both dead. The dj did not find any evidence 53 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: that would allow them to charge a living person with 54 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: a crime, so it closed the case again. The release 55 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: about this also noted quote in closing this matter without prosecution, 56 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,959 Speaker 1: the government does not take the position that the state 57 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: court testimony the woman gave in nineteen was truthful or accurate. 58 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: Descendants of Henrietta Lacks have filed a suit against Thermo 59 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: Fisher Scientific for its use of lax cells without her 60 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: or her family's consent and without compensation to them. These 61 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: cells were taken from LAX's body without her knowledge or permission, 62 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: while she was being treated for cervical cancer at Johns 63 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: Hopkins in nineteen fifty one. Most cells die really quickly 64 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: after being removed from the human body, but these kept 65 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: living and repre you sing. They became the first immortal 66 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: human cell line and were known as HeLa cells. They've 67 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: been part of all kinds of medical research. This includes 68 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: research into drugs and treatments that were then sold for profit. 69 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: According to coverage in the Washington Post, civil rights attorney 70 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: Ben Crump, who's representing the family, expects to file other 71 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 1: suits against other companies that similarly earned a profit from 72 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: LAX's cells. We have not done an episode about Henrietta 73 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: Lax specifically, but she was part of our Six Impossible episodes. 74 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: There's a book about that in which we recommended that 75 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: people who were interested in Lax the story read The 76 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: Immortal Life of Henrietta A. Lax. That's a book by 77 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: Rebecca Sclute. That episode came out on September six. Moving on, 78 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: in our year end Unearthed for we talked about archaeologists 79 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: starting work at the site of Williamsburg's first Baptist church. 80 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: This church was founded by enslaved in free black people 81 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: in seventeen seventies. The congregation met in places like a 82 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: brush harbor and a carriage house before the church structure 83 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: was built. In eighteen fifty six, when we talked about 84 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: this in archaeologists had found thousands of artifacts and evidence 85 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: of two graves. In October of this year, it was 86 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: announced that the team has unearthed the building's foundations, as 87 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: well as more than twenty additional graves. This work has 88 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: been happening as Colonial Williamsburg has been trying to emphasize 89 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: Williamsburg's black history during the colonial period, something that the 90 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: historical attraction really ignored in earlier decades. This even extends 91 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: to the church itself. When First Baptist Church moved to 92 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: a new building in nineteen fifty six, it was because 93 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: Colonial Williamsburg had bought the property to turn it into 94 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: a parking lot. Next project is underway to study the 95 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: mummies in the Capucine Catacombs in Sicily, specifically focusing on 96 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: mummified children there. It's too early to share any results 97 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: from this work yet, but it intends to try to 98 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: close a current gap in the research by using non 99 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: invasive imagery to study forty one mummified children and get 100 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: a better idea of their lives and how they died. 101 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: We talked about the Capuchin Catacombs in the episode six 102 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: More Impossible Episodes on September six, Turkey open shipwrecks from 103 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: the Gallipoli Campaign as an underwater museum in October. Until 104 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: this area had been guarded by the Turkish military because 105 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: of the presence of unexploded torpedoes and other weaponry among 106 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: the wrecks, but the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism 107 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: took control of the site in advance of the anniversary 108 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: of the Gliboli Campaign and worked to map the site 109 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: and mark the locations of any explosives and make the 110 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: area safer for public diving. So this is now the 111 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: Gallipoli Historic Underwater Park, with twelve of the sixteen ships 112 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: in the area open to the public for diving. One 113 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: of the future plans for the site is to install 114 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: plaques with QR codes at the rex so that divers 115 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: can use waterproof phones to see what these vessels used 116 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: to look like. The site was originally planned to open 117 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: during the summer, but that had to be delayed due 118 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: to the COVID nineteen pandemic. Our episode on the Gallipoli 119 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: campaign came out on November. UNESCO called on Britain to 120 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: return the Parthenon marbles to Greece. At a meeting of 121 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Return of Cultural Property 122 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: to its Countries of origin in September, the committee unanimously 123 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: adopted a decision acknowledging that Greece's demand for the marbles 124 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: be returned was quote legitimate and rightful. In October, a 125 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: UK government spokesperson issued a statement that set, in part 126 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: quote our position is clear the Parthenon sculptures were acquired 127 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: legally in accordance with the law at the time. The 128 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: British Museum operates in the pendently of the government and 129 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: free from political interference. All decisions relating to collections are 130 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: taken by the museum's trustees. This was also on the 131 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: agenda during a meeting between the British and Greek Prime 132 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: ministers in November. Also, the parson On Gallery was closed 133 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: to visitors for more than a year, including after the 134 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: British Museum reopened. After its closure due to the pandemic. 135 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: This led to questions and contradictory answers from the museum 136 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: about what has led to that closure and whether that 137 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: closure is related to a roof leak in the gallery 138 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: where the sculptures are housed. Our two part episode on 139 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: Lord Elgin and the Marbles came out on January and 140 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: two of twenty twenty. Next Up, researchers have analyzed and 141 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,319 Speaker 1: o'b Citian mirror belonging to John D, adviser to Queen Elizabeth. 142 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: The first prior host did an episode on John D 143 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: on October five eleven. This research was published in the 144 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: journal Antiquity. In our tober D used this mirror for 145 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: ritual purposes, including as a scrying object. Eighteenth century historian 146 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole described it as quote the black stone into 147 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: which Dr D used to call his spirits. This research 148 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: is confirmed that the mirror is of Aztec origin and 149 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: made a volcanic glass from Mexico. The same was true 150 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: of three other obsidian objects also held at the British Museum, 151 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: all of which were studied using geochemical analysis. This mirror 152 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: was probably made in the early sixteenth century, and it's 153 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: possible that it was commissioned by the Spanish to take 154 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: back to Europe. The Spanish knew that obsidian was religiously 155 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,559 Speaker 1: significant to the Aztecs, but we don't totally know how 156 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: it came into John D's possession. Everybody loves a shipwreck 157 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: and the Mary Rose sank in battle in fifteen forty 158 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: five and in n conservators raised it from the ocean 159 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: floor and took steps to conserve it. Today it is 160 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: in the mirror a Rose Museum. The Mary Rose was 161 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 1: part of prior Hosts episode five Shipwrecked Stories on April, 162 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: and it has also come up in previous editions of Unearthed. 163 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: Even though the water logged wood was treated to try 164 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,559 Speaker 1: to preserve it, there were still bacteria living in the wreckage. 165 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: Conservators learned fairly recently that some of these bacteria were 166 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: secreting zinc sulfide nanostructures, which could turn acidic when exposed 167 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: to the air. This is threatening the wreck. The polyethylene 168 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: glycol that was used to preserve the ship can also 169 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: form acidic byproducts when breaking down over time. Researchers have 170 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: used X rays with scanning electron microscopy to pinpoint exactly 171 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: where the problem areas are this is still a work 172 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: in progress. It has basically let conservators see where the 173 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: problem is so they can figure out how to address it. 174 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: We still have a few more updates and we will 175 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,319 Speaker 1: get to them after we take a quick sponsor break 176 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: now that we're back from the break. The latest round 177 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: of work at the Anti Catheras shipwreck site has concluded. 178 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: Although there were some objects that were brought to the surface, 179 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: this was really mostly a planning effort getting ready for 180 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: a project that will span from so there was a 181 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: lot of mapping work along with completing a three D 182 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: high resolution model of the site. One thing that they 183 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: have flagged for a future study is a partial statue 184 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: that's trapped under a boulder. The Anti Catheras shipwreck is 185 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: something else that makes a lot of appearances on Unearthed, 186 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: and our episode on the mechanism that it's named for 187 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: came out on July. The Neolithic city of Catay has 188 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: come up on several installments of Unearthed. The latest discovery 189 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: there involves what kind of fabrics its residents typically used. 190 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: The two biggest contenders have long been wool and linen, 191 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: but according to research published in the journal Archaeology, it 192 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: was neither of those. Instead, it was bass fiber, which 193 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: comes from trees. It's in the layer between the bark 194 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: and the wood. Moving on, in November, the Louisiana Board 195 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: of Pardons overwhelmingly voted to posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy. Homer 196 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: Plessy intentionally violated Louisiana's separate car law, which segregated its 197 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: street cars in eight The resulting legal action went to 198 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, and the court established that segregation was 199 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: legal as long as the segregated facilities were equal. The 200 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: final step in the pardon process is the approval of 201 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: Governor John Bell Edwards. As of recording this episode, Edwards 202 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 1: has not given that approval, but he had stated that 203 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,559 Speaker 1: he planned to do so, hopefully at a formal ceremony 204 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: that would include members of the Plessy family. Our episode 205 00:12:55,200 --> 00:13:00,680 Speaker 1: on Plessy Versus Ferguson came out on February and other news, 206 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: The Boston Globe has reported a new clue in the 207 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Heist Paul Callin Tropo told the 208 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: Globe that in his friend Bobby Denaty came to his 209 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: office and showed him a finial in the shape of 210 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: an eagle. The fennel seemed to be one of the 211 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: thirteen pieces of art that had been stolen from the 212 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 1: museum in a very famous heist. After their conversation, Donaty 213 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: wrapped this fennel up and he left, but then he 214 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: was murdered the following year. Callin Tropo never saw him again. 215 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: Although this account is newly revealed, the possible connection between 216 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: Denaty and the heist is not new. He was identified 217 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: as a potential suspect back in and his name has 218 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: come up in other investigations into the heist. Our episode 219 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: on the Gardener Museum Heist most recently came out as 220 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 1: an update on April. We have talked about the system 221 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: of residential boarding schools that separated Indigenous students in the 222 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,840 Speaker 1: US from their families and an act of cultural genocide 223 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: in several previous episodes. On December seven, the Department of 224 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: the Interior and the National Indian Boarding School Healing Coalition 225 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: announced a memorandum of understanding relating to sharing records and 226 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: other information. The Department will create a report due by 227 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: April one that will focus on historical records, especially on 228 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: burial sites. As part of all this, and in our 229 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: last update of one, the Gilgamesh dream tablet, which has 230 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: been discussed on more than one edition of Unearthed, was 231 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: formally repatriated to Iraq in a formal ceremony at a 232 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: Rocks Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that happened in December. 233 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: We are going to move on now to books and letters. 234 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette kept up a correspondence 235 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: with Swedish count Axel von Ferston. He was her confidante 236 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: and there were rumors that he was also her lover. 237 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: They kept at this correspondence secretly while the royal family 238 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: was held at Tweelery Palace in seventeen nine one and 239 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: seventeen two. During that time, the family made a failed 240 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: escape attempt. Some of these letters are in the French 241 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: National Archives, but it's tricky to learn a lot about 242 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: this period in her life because parts of them have 243 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: been scribbled out. Researchers have now used X ray fluorescent 244 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: spectroscopy to read the scribbled out parts of eight letters. 245 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: They looked for the presence of different elements used in 246 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: the inks, along with using statistical analysis and other techniques 247 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:41,160 Speaker 1: to further clarify those results. Historians who have reviewed the 248 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: revealed text has said that the letters show a lot 249 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: of affection for the Count, but they don't conclusively say 250 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: one way or the other whether the Queen and the 251 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: Count were having an affair. However, this research has suggested 252 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: who did that redacting and that it was the Count himself. 253 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: One of the challenge aspects with this research was how 254 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: similar the inks were that they were trying to separate 255 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: out to get a look at and after the original 256 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: writing and the redaction was done using the exact same ink, 257 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: suggesting that the Count did the scribbling himself, either as 258 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: he was making the copies of these letters or shortly 259 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: after copying them. This research was published in the journal 260 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: Science Advances in October under the title two d macro 261 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: XRF to reveal redacted sections of French Queen Marie Antoinette's 262 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: secret correspondence with Swedish Count excels on Person another correspondence news. 263 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: A team of researchers from M I T and King's 264 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: College London have been researching letter locking techniques. That is 265 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: a process of folding letters in a way that they 266 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: make their own envelope and then cutting a piece of 267 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: the paper and folding it through itself to make a 268 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: lock that, like seals, the letter shut the safeguarded the 269 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: letter because you could only open it by destroying that 270 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: paper lock, so it was impossible to read somebody else's 271 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: letter without them knowing it had been tampered with. These 272 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: locks could be incredibly intricate. A video that the team 273 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: released in ten shows a letter lock modeled after the 274 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: one on Mary, Queen of Scott's last letter. The folding 275 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 1: and cutting processes obviously slow for the sake of video clarity, 276 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: but even with that in mind, it takes about thirty 277 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: steps and four minutes to complete. Studying letter locking is 278 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: really challenging. This practice was most prevalent in the sixteenth 279 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: and seventeenth centuries, and so the letters involved are old 280 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 1: and fragile, and then often at least part of the 281 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: lock is missing since it was destroyed when the letter 282 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: was opened. Unopened letters with intact locks do exist, but 283 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: they're extremely rare. But after studying about a dozen locks, 284 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: including those on letters by Mary, Queen of Scott's, Elizabeth First, 285 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: and Catherine de Medici, the team has published the Spiral 286 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: locked Letters of Elizabeth the First and Mary, Queen of 287 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: Scots that was published in Electronic British Library Journal. In 288 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: addition to illustrating specific locks using step by step diagrams, 289 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: this paper proposes a generic version of the spiral locks. 290 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: This is also an open access paper, so you can 291 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: go check out all these locks yourself if you want. Okay, 292 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: I'm waiting and I'm aching for someone to make like 293 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: a cricket file that we can I'll have a locked 294 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 1: letter um because it sounds amazing. A document known as 295 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: Chronica Universalist was discovered in it Is by Milanese friar 296 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: Galvinnius Flama, and it dates back to thirteen forty five. 297 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: While working with the document, professor Paolo Kisa of the 298 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,480 Speaker 1: University of Milan found a passage that seems to describe 299 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: the continent of North America. Flamma describes sailors from Denmark 300 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,119 Speaker 1: in Norway traveling to Iceland and beyond that a place 301 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: called Grolandia presumably Greenland, and then further west another land 302 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: named Marco Latta, where giants live. Kaisa believed that marco 303 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: Latta is the same place that the Norse described as Markland. 304 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,879 Speaker 1: That was a place west of Greenland, probably what we 305 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: know today as Newfoundland or Labrador. This doesn't mean that 306 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,479 Speaker 1: anybody from the Mediterranean, where this document was written, had 307 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: actually traveled there themselves, but it does suggest that at 308 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,360 Speaker 1: least some people from the area had heard of it 309 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: all the way back in thirteen forty five, almost a 310 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:42,680 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years before Columbus's voyages. This was published 311 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 1: in the journal Terre Inconnite at the end of September, 312 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: but it didn't make mainstream news coverage until October. Moving on, 313 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:56,400 Speaker 1: archaeologists from County Clare, Ireland, have found Ireland's oldest ink 314 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: pen at ca her Connell Castle ring Fort. This is 315 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: made of a hollow bird bone with a copper alloy 316 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,360 Speaker 1: nib and it dates back to the eleventh century. At 317 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: that time, literacy was most associated with the clergy, but 318 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: this seems to have belonged to lay people. So archaeologists 319 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,199 Speaker 1: wanted to confirm that this really was a pen, not 320 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: some other object that would not have had to do 321 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: with literacy, so they made a replica of it, and 322 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: it did indeed work as a dip pen that you 323 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: would dip into your ink. Uh. This suggests that literacy 324 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: may have been more common outside the clergy at this 325 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:37,719 Speaker 1: point than was previously thought, especially among wealthier people, and 326 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,359 Speaker 1: in our last bit of books and letters. According to 327 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: Dr Irving Finkel, curator of the Middle Eastern Department of 328 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 1: the British Museum, the oldest ever drawing of a ghost 329 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: has been discovered on a thirty five hundred year old 330 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,920 Speaker 1: Babylonian clay tablet. This tablet was part of an exorcist's 331 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,200 Speaker 1: instructions on how to get rid of ghosts by transferring 332 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: the ghost into a figurine aid by the exorcist. The 333 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: drawing shows what appears to be a male ghost with 334 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: his hands tied and the rope appearing to be held 335 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: by a woman. This tablet has been in the collection 336 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: of the British Museum since the nineteenth century, but it 337 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,160 Speaker 1: had never really been studied before now. The first translation 338 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: of its uniform text was apparently incorrect, and then the 339 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,400 Speaker 1: space where this drawing is looks empty unless it's lit 340 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,239 Speaker 1: from above at the right angle, so the drawing in 341 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: particular was tricky to spot. And the text ends with 342 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: the magnificent phrase do not look behind you creeped me 343 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: out a little bit when I was working on this. 344 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: I love it so much. We now have a couple 345 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: of interesting finds involving toilets. First, in Smyrna, near Turkey's 346 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: western coast, archaeologists have found what they believe is the 347 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,160 Speaker 1: actor's rest room from a theater. The space had room 348 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,200 Speaker 1: for about twelve toilets arranged as a you, with eats 349 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: that were about sixteen inches high, so just about standard 350 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: in height. Right, it isn't a standard toilet in the 351 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: US between sixteen and seventeen. I haven't. I haven't done 352 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: any toilet work on my house recently. You gotta renovate, 353 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: pull out, and reinstall a toilet once in a while. 354 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: Um in Jerusalem, archaeologists have found a twenty seven year 355 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 1: old toilet and indoor toilet would have been a luxury 356 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: on its own at this point, and this one seems 357 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: to have been particularly nice, with the seat made to 358 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: be comfortable to sit on and a very deep septic 359 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: tank underneath. As is often the case with these kinds 360 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: of fines, there's lots to examine in that septic tank, 361 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: including animal bones and pottery that could offer some insight 362 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,199 Speaker 1: into what the people of the household ate and drink. 363 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,400 Speaker 1: We also have a few pieces of DNA research talk 364 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: about this time around first researchers have studied the DNA 365 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: of mummies that were in the Tareem Basin in western 366 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: China in the nineteen nineties. These mummies were preserved naturally 367 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: in the desert, and archaeologists had found their facial features, dress, 368 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: and hair color unusual for the region. That had fed 369 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: into the idea that perhaps these had been people who 370 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,360 Speaker 1: had migrated into this area from somewhere else. The prevailing 371 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: hypothesis has been that these were Indo Europeans, but when 372 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: researchers evaluated the DNA from the thirteen oldest mummies at 373 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: one burial site, they found that they were a genetically 374 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: distinct ancient North Eurasian people. It's not clear why this 375 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,679 Speaker 1: one group of people remained so genetically isolated, but the 376 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: people of the Tareem Basin also developed a unique and 377 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 1: distinctive culture. For example, they buried many of their dead 378 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: in wooden coffins shaped like boats with marker shaped like oars. 379 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,959 Speaker 1: And our next bit of DNA research, the US military 380 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: has ended a six year project to identify the remains 381 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: of soldiers and marines from the USS Oklahoma who died 382 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: in the bonding of Pearl Harbor. They were doing this 383 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: using DNA and dental records. This project identified three fifty 384 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: five sailors and marines, but ultimately there were thirty three 385 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: crew members who could not be identified. The remains of 386 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 1: these marines and sailors were reinterred at the National Memorial 387 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:25,199 Speaker 1: Cemetery of the Pacific. Autosomal DNA analysis has confirmed that 388 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: Ernie La Pointe is the great grandson of Tatonka Yotake, 389 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: also known as Sitting Bull, making him and his sisters 390 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: the Lakota Leader's closest living relatives. This analysis started with 391 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,159 Speaker 1: a lock of Tatonka Yotak's hair, which had been in 392 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: the collection of the Smithsonian for more than a century 393 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,879 Speaker 1: before being returned to the family in two thousand seven. 394 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: The family burned most of the hair in a religious ceremony, 395 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: but kept part of it for future analysis. It had 396 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: been stored at room temperature at the Smithsonian, which had 397 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: caused it to degrade, so it took fourteen years for 398 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: research ers to find a technique that would work. This 399 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: research was done not just to confirm the points ancestry. 400 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: Currently to Tonka yo Takes burial site is in South Dakota. 401 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: It's in an area that he wasn't culturally connected to, 402 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: and which the Point has described as being desecrated. The 403 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: point hopes that these remains can be exhumed, tested to 404 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: confirm that they did belong to his great grandfather, and 405 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 1: then reburied somewhere more appropriate. We should note here that 406 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,159 Speaker 1: there are nuances to the use of DNA analysis to 407 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: confirm Indigenous family relationships. Different Indigenous nations have different perspectives 408 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,400 Speaker 1: on when and whether it's appropriate to use DNA research, 409 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: and of course individual Indigenous people have their own opinions 410 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: as well. Requirements for providing DNA evidence also imply that 411 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: DNA is superior to Indigenous nations own records, but often 412 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: when it comes to something like repatriating a person's remains, 413 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: especially when it involves a non indigenous organization or government, 414 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: DNA evidence can back up Indigenous records and histories that 415 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: have already documented the family connections involved. There are also 416 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: a lot of ethical considerations to DNA research more generally, 417 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: and an ethical code for DNA research was just published 418 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: in the journal Nature in October. So we're gonna pause 419 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: here for another sponsor break, and then we'll come back 420 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: for repatriations. Next up. We are going to talk about 421 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: some repatriations from the last quarter of In October, the 422 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,880 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Museum of African Art removed ten works of art 423 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: from the Kingdom of Benin from display. These ten are 424 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 1: amongst sixteen works at the museum that are known to 425 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: be connected to the raid on the Kingdom of Beneath, 426 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 1: in which British colonial forces looted thousands of works of art. 427 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: There are many other pieces at the Smithsonian which might 428 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: have come from this rate as well, but those connections 429 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: haven't been traced and confirmed yet. The museum is currently 430 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: negotiating with Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments on 431 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: a repatriation plan for these pieces. New York's Metropolitan Museum 432 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: of Art returned three pieces of Benin artwork to Nigeria 433 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: in November, including to sixteenth century brass plaques in a 434 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: fourteenth century brass head. These had originally been in the 435 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 1: UK and had actually been repatriated previously in nineteen fifty, 436 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: but then we're purchased by a private collector and later 437 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: donated to the met These artworks and the Kingdom of 438 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: Benin and the raid in all of that has come 439 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: up on several previous episodes of Unearthed and other episodes 440 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,119 Speaker 1: of the show, so there is a forthcoming episode on 441 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: all of this dedicated just to it. The Government of 442 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: France repatriated twenty six objects from the Kingdom of Dahomey 443 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: to Benin in November as well. These are part of 444 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: the Royal Treasures of abam May and include the doors 445 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: of the Palace of Abba May. We've done an episode 446 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: on the Palaces of abam May on the show before. Yeah, 447 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,200 Speaker 1: that's also gets into the kingdom itself, which to be clear, 448 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: this is not the same kingdom as Benin. The Kingdom 449 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: of Benin was in what's now Nigeria. Kingdom of Dahomey 450 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:36,159 Speaker 1: is and what's and now. Another collection of objects was 451 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: returned to Ethiopia in November. The items being returned this 452 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: time came from Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, but most 453 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 1: of them had been taken by the British Army in 454 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight. These pieces included a ceremonial crown, two 455 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: silver embossed horned cups, a shield and other items. Ethiopian 456 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: officials described this as the largest repatriation of artifacts to 457 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: the tree so far. The Ethiopian government is also advocating 458 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: for the return of a long list of other objects 459 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: as well, including tablets representing the ark of the Covenant. 460 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: During the expedition in which the British Army had taken 461 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: these objects, they also attacked the fighting force of Emperor 462 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,840 Speaker 1: to a drowse. The second the Emperor had been losing 463 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: ground and support among his nobility, and he ultimately took 464 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: his own life. In the face of all this, a 465 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: British Army officer took his son, Prince Ala Maehu to England, 466 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: where he died at the age of eighteen and was 467 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: buried at Windsor Castle. In addition to the other cultural 468 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: and artistic objects the Ethiopian government is trying to have returned, 469 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: they are also asking for the prince's remains. The US 470 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: has returned more than nine hundred objects to Molly. These 471 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Speaker 1: objects are presumed to have been stolen and falsely described 472 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: as replicas in their paperwork. The first group of them 473 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: was spotted in two thousand nine when they arrived at 474 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: the port of Houston as part of an illegal shipment. 475 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: Because have included axe heads, funerary urns, and pots. The 476 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: Denver art museum is repatriating four Khmer objects to Cambodia. 477 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: The museum had acquired these objects between two thousand and 478 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: two thousand five, but they had been looted from Cambodia 479 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies. The art dealer who sold these 480 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 1: pieces to the museum was indicted in connection to a 481 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: vast looting network in ten but died the following year 482 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:31,239 Speaker 1: before he could stand trial. These pieces include statues of 483 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: Hindu and Buddhist religious figures, as well as a prehistoric 484 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: bell that was believed to be part of a set 485 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: used to call warriors to battle. A private collector has 486 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: returned a piece of a Maya steely that disappeared from 487 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: an archaeological site in the nineteen sixties. This piece depicts 488 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,719 Speaker 1: the masked head of an ancient Maya leader, and the 489 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: collector plans to auction it off in twenty nineteen, but 490 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: when Guatemalan authorities saw the listing, they called for the 491 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 1: piece to be returned. The collector did return this piece voluntarily, 492 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,400 Speaker 1: although coverage of this does not deteril how they came 493 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: to possess it in the first place. And lastly, billionaire 494 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt has been banned from purchasing 495 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: antiquities for the rest of his life as part of 496 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: an agreement to return one d eighty objects that were 497 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: smuggled out of eleven different countries. Steinhardt purchased them without 498 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: regard to their legality, and this agreement means he will 499 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 1: have to stand trial. In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney 500 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: Cyvance Jr. Said, quote, for decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a 501 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality 502 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought 503 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across 504 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: the globe. Investigations into this were a joint effort involving 505 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 1: authorities in Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, 506 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: and Turkey. Stolen objects are now being returned to these countries. Alright, 507 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: it's time for everyone's favorite, we heart exhumations. Uh, And 508 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: we have a few exhamations to talk about. In October, 509 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 1: police in Belgium exhumed remains of seventeen victims of the 510 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,520 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six boas Decaisier mining disaster. Only about ten 511 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 1: people who were in the mind when it caught fire survived. 512 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: Two hundred sixty two people were killed. The seventeen bodies 513 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: being exhumed were the ones who could not be identified. 514 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,560 Speaker 1: The hope is to use DNA evidence to confirm who 515 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: they are by comparing their DNA to living relatives, but 516 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: a few of the miners listed as missing after the 517 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: disaster had no known relatives. Exhumations at the bon Secour 518 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: Mother and Baby Home in tomb Ireland are slated to 519 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: begin this year. The Mother and Baby Home has come 520 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: up on several prior installments of unearthed Nearly eight hundred 521 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: children are known to have died while this home was 522 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,959 Speaker 1: in operation, but there were no burial records for them, 523 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: and part of the burial site is believed to be 524 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: a disused septic tank. In late November, authorities exhumed the 525 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: body of Poland's Commander in Chief, Edward Smigrids, who died 526 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: suddenly in December of n but there have been a 527 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: lot of unanswered questions about his cause of death and 528 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: when he actually died. There has been speculation that he 529 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: may have been poisoned and that his body was embalmed 530 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: to hide evidence of that crime, or even that this 531 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: was not his body and that he really escaped and 532 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,200 Speaker 1: died much later. It is, of course too early to 533 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: have any results of that investigation yet. And lastly, there 534 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 1: have been a couple of recent calls to exhume particular 535 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: historical figures. German singer Roberto Blanco has called for the 536 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: remains of Ludwig von Beethoven to be exhumed for racial 537 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: DNA testing, and Joseph Stalin's grandson has called for his 538 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: body to be exhumed to determine whether he was poisoned, 539 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: as well as for him to be reinterred alongside his 540 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: wife rather than at the Kremlin. Now we have two 541 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 1: different signs about archipelagos that Europeans thought were uninhabited when 542 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: they first arrived there and also didn't seem to have 543 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,879 Speaker 1: evidence of previous settlements. But it turns out people did 544 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: live there much earlier. Yeah, it's uh, it's easy to 545 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 1: sound real judge with this, but really this was challenging 546 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 1: evidence to find. First Portuguese sailors arrived in the Azores 547 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: in four seven, they believed it had never been inhabited. 548 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: It didn't seem like it had ever been inhabited, but 549 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:44,120 Speaker 1: it's possible that people lived there seven hundred years before that. 550 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of 551 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 1: Sciences examined sediment cores taken from several lakes on these islands. 552 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: The cores suggests that between seven hundred and eight fifty 553 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: there were livestock there, like cows and sheep. These were 554 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 1: not animals that would have lived there unless there were 555 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,799 Speaker 1: humans there. These same years also saw an increase in 556 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:11,880 Speaker 1: residues from large fires and a corresponding decrease in the 557 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,240 Speaker 1: native tree pollen. One hypothesis is that these were North 558 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,840 Speaker 1: seafarers and that they arrived in the Azores due to 559 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: shifting climate the temperatures and winds that encouraged exploration from 560 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: the northeast Atlantic. Similarly, Europeans first arrived in the Falkland 561 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,799 Speaker 1: Islands in sixteen ten and similarly believed them to have 562 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: never been inhabited, but it looks like people may have 563 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: actually lived there hundreds of years earlier. The similar reasoning 564 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: at work here. There's a sudden increase in evidence of 565 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:46,359 Speaker 1: large fires, including around the years one fifty and four ten, 566 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: as well as in seventeen seventy, which was after Europeans 567 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:54,920 Speaker 1: that had established settlements there. Other evidence of earlier settlement 568 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: includes a projectile point similar to ones that were used 569 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,760 Speaker 1: by indigenous people's on the South American continent, and mounds 570 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: of bones that show evidence of human activity. Their current 571 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,720 Speaker 1: conclusion is that indigenous people from South America made brief 572 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,879 Speaker 1: visits to the islands rather than establishing long term settlements there, 573 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: meaning that it would have been harder for Europeans to 574 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: see evidence of that once they got there in the 575 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: seventeenth century. It's also possible that these South American visitors 576 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,840 Speaker 1: introduced the wara to the islands. This is the only 577 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: land mammal considered to be native to the Falklands, and 578 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,920 Speaker 1: it's also called the Falkland Island dog or the Falkland 579 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: Islands wolf. It hasn't been entirely clear how this animal 580 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 1: got to the island, but Europeans hunted them to extinction 581 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,839 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century. Earlier research has suggested that they 582 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: have walked across an ice bridge, but this latest research 583 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: suggests that maybe folks from South America brought them along 584 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 1: and we have a final random occurrence to end on. 585 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,880 Speaker 1: In October, the Westbrook Main Police Department reported that a 586 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: nineteenth century grave stone had been found in the middle 587 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:11,480 Speaker 1: of a local road. The stone read Mrs Mary, wife 588 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:16,719 Speaker 1: of David Pratt, died January one, eighteen forty, age fifty nine. 589 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,880 Speaker 1: It appears that this stone belonged to Mary Pratt of Yarmouth, Maine, 590 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 1: who had been buried at the old Baptist Cemetery there. 591 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: The most likely scenario is that her grave had been 592 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: marked with this stone at the time of her death, 593 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,719 Speaker 1: and that it was replaced when her husband died in 594 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one and was buried alongside her. There is 595 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,279 Speaker 1: a stone at their graves now that commemorates both of them, 596 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 1: although it's not clear how this stone wound up in 597 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: the road. A hundred and sixty years later. Westbrook police 598 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,000 Speaker 1: stressed that they did not believe foul play was involved. However, 599 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: The Boston Globe noted in its reporting that this is 600 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: one of a string of strange happenings in Westbrook, comparing 601 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,400 Speaker 1: the town to something out of a Stephen King novel. 602 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,360 Speaker 1: In ten there was a very large snake, as in 603 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,920 Speaker 1: a ten foot long snake that was reported to be 604 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,760 Speaker 1: living along the presump Scott River and was nicknamed Wessey 605 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,839 Speaker 1: or the presump Scott Python. This was followed by a 606 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:18,160 Speaker 1: strange disc of ice forming in the same river over 607 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:25,120 Speaker 1: the winner of followed by on landslide. So, at least 608 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: in the Boston Globe's opinion, tombstone was just the latest 609 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:35,239 Speaker 1: thing the snake brought it. Um, We're gonna have more 610 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 1: unearthed next time, but in the meantime, do you have 611 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,240 Speaker 1: listener mail? Real quick listener mail from Jenny. Jenny wrote 612 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:45,279 Speaker 1: and said I'm catching up on last month episodes and 613 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,920 Speaker 1: had to write in about your mother Goose episode and 614 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: one of my favorite jokes on Sesame Street. Back in 615 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,719 Speaker 1: the eighties when I was primed Sesame Street age, they 616 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:57,040 Speaker 1: had a segment called the Ladybugs Picnic, and it's accounting 617 00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: song about all the things the ladybugs do on their 618 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,879 Speaker 1: nick like sack races and the like. But there's also 619 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 1: a great line in there about how they quote talk 620 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: about the high price of furniture and rugs and fire 621 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 1: insurance for ladybugs. Just so morbidly dark and hilarious all 622 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: at the same time. As an adult, it makes me 623 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,560 Speaker 1: laugh every time I hear it and thought you might 624 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,360 Speaker 1: enjoy it as well. Thanks for the great listening, Jenny. 625 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,719 Speaker 1: Thanks Jenny for telling us about this. When I read 626 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:25,799 Speaker 1: this email, I was like, I've never heard of this 627 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,280 Speaker 1: song before in my life, and then when I clicked 628 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:30,400 Speaker 1: on the YouTube link, I was like, no, wait, I 629 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:35,279 Speaker 1: definitely have. I remember this from my childhood that was 630 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: similarly prime Sesame Street age. Maybe not quite in the eighties, 631 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: but definitely in the late seventies. So thanks Jenny for 632 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,799 Speaker 1: this note and for the YouTube link. Uh It's on 633 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 1: Sesame Street YouTube page if you want to look at it, 634 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: if you want to send us a note. We're a 635 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,279 Speaker 1: history podcast at I heart radio dot com and we're 636 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:58,279 Speaker 1: also all over social media at missed in History, which 637 00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: is where you'll find our Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest 638 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:05,360 Speaker 1: and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on 639 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,720 Speaker 1: the iHeart radio app or wherever you like to get podcasts. 640 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:16,279 Speaker 1: Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of 641 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,560 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 642 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 643 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,280 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.