1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: with you and Williams with us. General editors specializing and 4 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: writing about the ancient world and cultural heritage preservation. A 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: writer for more than three decades for National Geographic Magazine 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: and Digital News, she reports on new discoveries in the 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: latest research in archaeology from around the world. She's got 8 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical and Near Eastern 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: archaeology in Ma and West Asian archaeology with a minor 10 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: in Egyptology. And welcome back and her book is called 11 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: Lost Cities Ancient Tombs. Great job with the book, Anne, Oh, 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: thank you George, and thank you for having me back. 13 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: It's a pleasure. I'm always happy to talk about archaeology. 14 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: By the way, the pictures in the book are absolutely astounding. 15 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: I love them. You know. One of the great pleasures 16 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: of working with National Geographic teams is that they have 17 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: some amazing photo editors, and so it's always a pleasure 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: to see what they come up with. What caught your 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: fancy years ago when you got into this field. Oh wow, 20 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: well I got into it kind of by accident. I 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: went to college as an English major and ended up 22 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: hating the English department. But I took archaeology just as 23 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: a divisional requirement and I liked it, and I took 24 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: some more classes, and then when it became time to 25 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: declare a major, you know, I had enough classes to 26 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:44,119 Speaker 1: do that, and I just find it really interesting. I 27 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: I think it makes me feel connected to the great 28 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: sweep of human experience, and I think that's what this 29 00:01:53,520 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: book does as well. It the book showcases is that 30 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: really the highlights of human history, all of the you know, 31 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: the fun parts, And that's one of the things that 32 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: attracted me when I got into archaeology. Do you think 33 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: the archaeologists of today are on top of things? Would 34 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: you change anything? Well, I think the really interesting thing 35 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: that's coming on in archaeology right now is that there 36 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: are new technologies that are really revolutionizing the field that 37 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: I think are going to just crack the science wide 38 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: open in the next five, ten, fifteen years. And archaeologists 39 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:51,119 Speaker 1: now are very much aware of the fact that when 40 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: they dig, they're actually destroying something, and so they're very 41 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,959 Speaker 1: most professional archaeologists these days are very careful to gather 42 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: as much evidence as they possibly can for tests that 43 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: they can do right now and tests that might be 44 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: invented in the future, because you know, just think of 45 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: a generation ago some of the things that we couldn't 46 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: do that we can do now. And one of the 47 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: interesting things is that archaeologists are going back and looking 48 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: at evidence that was collected twenty thirty fifty one hundred 49 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: years ago, sitting in museum storehouses, and they're re examining 50 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: it with new eyes and new tests and finding new stuff. 51 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: So archaeologists in the field are very aware of that 52 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: trend and aware of just gathering everything that they possibly can. 53 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: The title of your book, Lost Cities Ancient Tombs tell 54 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: us about the Lost City's portion, where did they go? Well, 55 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: you know that I'm the specialist in ancient Egypt. So 56 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: you know, a temple isn't used anymore, and the sand 57 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: drifts and it covers up the ruins, and generations come 58 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: and go and the history of the temple passes out 59 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: of the oral tradition and nobody remembers that it's there. 60 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: I mean, it's there, but people have forgotten about it. 61 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: So I mean, that's what happens in Egypt. And that's 62 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: what happens in a lot of places. I mean, just 63 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: you know, the winds come, the earth covers stuff up, 64 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: or things like the Sutton Who burial that was the 65 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: subject of a Hollywood film a couple of years ago. 66 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: I mean, you know that burial was you know, purposely 67 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: dug into the ground. But you know, the people who 68 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 1: did it die, and their children die, and their grandchildren die, 69 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: and you know, pretty so nobody remembers that it's there, 70 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: and so then it's a surprise when it's found. Oh, 71 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: that's exactly what I'm going to ask you two next. 72 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: And that is, of course, what happened in the scheme 73 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,679 Speaker 1: of chronology where the pyramids were made, the sphinx was made, 74 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: whether it was five thousand and ten thousand years ago, 75 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: but where was that gap where there should be knowledge continuously, 76 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: Like you know, my grandfather told me that the pyramids 77 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: were built this way, and it's passed on and on 78 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: and on and on until we are here today. There 79 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: seems to be a massive gap there somewhere. What happened 80 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: to it? Well, in the case of ancient Egypt, you're 81 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: talking about history, that ancient history that spends three thousand years. 82 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: So that's an awfully long time to keep an oral 83 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: tradition going, you think. So yeah, and you know what happens, 84 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: I mean justin sort of passing in ration around the neighborhood. 85 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: You know, I tell the people next door, and they 86 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: tell the people across the street, and then they tell 87 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: the people down the street. And by the time it's 88 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: to the third set of people, well, you know, the 89 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: details change a little bit. So um, you know it's um, 90 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: the details change as they're passed on, and then people, 91 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: you know, maybe don't pass it on, or they don't 92 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: pass it on properly, or the next generation isn't interested 93 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: and they don't pass it on at all. Um, and 94 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: then people forget they move on. Don't you think though 95 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: that there'd be some architectural renderings on a piece of 96 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: papyrus or something. Well, you know they, I mean, they 97 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: just didn't build the pyramids out of their mind. They 98 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 1: obviously had a plan that they obviously had a plan, 99 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: and we don't know exactly what that was. They probably 100 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: had it written down somewhere. But papyrus doesn't last forever, 101 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: so you know, it got thrown away and um, you know, 102 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: the grandkids wrote their gross for the list on it, 103 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: and you know it got put in the papyrus trash 104 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: can and yeah or whatever. Yeah, and then the ancient 105 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: tombs Parson tell us about that. Oh my goodness. Well, 106 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: so then after the break in we'll get into specifics. Okay, 107 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: do you want me to talk about it right now 108 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: or just just give us a overview of the ancient tombs? 109 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: What were there? All? Right? I think you know, most 110 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: ancient cultures had some idea about the afterlife and made 111 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: preparations when they sent their dearly beloved into the next world. 112 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: And so there are tombs all over the world, and 113 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: it's always an interesting way to examine an ancient culture. 114 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: I mean, you're, in a way, you're getting a snapshot, 115 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: but you're getting a curated snapshot, which is, you know, 116 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: a little skewed. But if you can put that evidence 117 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: together with architectural evidence and other things that you find, 118 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: you know, you can get it sometimes a pretty nice 119 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: picture of what the culture was all about. Listen to 120 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at one am 121 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: Eastern and go to Coast to Coast am dot com 122 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: for more