Material Culture, Microhistory and Mayhem. The Past and Stuff is a casual and irreverent podcast by Dr. Ashley Bozian and Dr. Tracey Cooper. Each week we challenge each other to identify an historical object, and then discuss what it can tell us as a unique window on the past. Expect an unexpected mesh of connections and terrible jokes, as a two very serious academics (not!), one a Armenian-American millennial and the other a British Gen Xer, have too much fun while trying to understand each other and the history of the world.

Show Notes Episode Two: Prehistoric Pee and Pinot

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Show Notes Episode Two: Prehistoric Pee Pee and Pinot

In this episode Ashley Bozian and Tracey Cooper delve into whether or not cut marks on prehistoric bone are evidence of cannibalism, explode the myth of man the hunter and woman the gatherer, explore the earliest known winery and think long and hard about the earliest (42,000-yearr-old) anatomically accurate penis pendant.

Tracey’s Stuff in the News

Michael Le Page, “The Myth That Men Hunt While Women Stay at Home is Entirely Wrong,” New Scientist, on-line article, June 28th 2023, accessed June 30th 2023, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2380011-the-myth-that-men-hunt-while-women-stay-at-home-is-entirely-wrong/

Abigail Anderson, Sophia Chilczuck, Kaylie Nelson, Roxanne Ruther, Cara Wall-Schaffer, “The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s Contribution to the Hunt Across Ethnographic Contexts,” Plos One, June 28, 2023, accessed on June 30th 2023, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287101

Nick Carne, “Men Hunt and Women Gather. But Not Always,” Cosmos, 6 November 2020, accessed June 30 2023, https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/men-went-hunting-women-gathered-but-maybe-not-always/

Randall Haas, James Watson, Tammy Buanasera, John Sothon, Jennifer C. Chen, Sarah Noe, Kevin Smith, Carlos Viviano Llave, Jelmer Eerkens and Glendon Parker, “Female Hunters of Early Americas, Science Advances, Vol 6, Issue 45, Nov 4 2020, accessed June 30 2023 at DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd0310

Ashley mentioned the work of William Costello on Incels (Involuntary Celibates). William Costello “Levels of Well-Being Among Men Who Are Incel (Involuntary Celibate),” Evolutionary Psychological Science 8 (2022), 375-290. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-022-00336-x

Tracey’s Piece of Stuff

Solange Rigaud, Evgeny P. Rybin, Arina M. Khatsenovich, Alain Queffelec, Clea H. Paine, Byambaa Gunchinsuren, Sahra Talamo, Daria V. Marchenko, Tsedendorj Bolorbat, Davaakhuu Odsuren, J. Christopher Gillam, Masami Izuho, Alexander Yu. Fedorchenko, Dashdorjgochoo Odgerel, Roman Shelepaev, Jean-Jacques Hublin & Nicolas Zwyns, “Symbolic Innovation at the onset of the Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia shown by personal ornaments from Tolbor-21 (Mongolia),” Scientific Reports 8, 12 June 2023. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36140-1

Jennifer Nalewicki, “42,000-year-old anatomically accurate penis pendant is world’s earliest known depiction of human genitalia,” Live Science, 21 June 2023, accessed 7/3/2023. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/42000-year-old-anatomically-accurate-penis-pendant-is-the-worlds-earliest-known-depiction-of-human-genitalia

“Graphite,” Wikipedia, accessed 7/3/2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite

“Graphite Stone,” Minerals Kingdoms, accessed 7/3/2023, accessed 7/3/2023, https://www.minerals-kingdom.com/stones-virtues/graphite-stone/

Kathryn Emily van de Weil, Fascinum: the apotropaic phallus of Campania in the Ancient and Modern Imagination, PhD Thesis, University of Warwick, 2019.

https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/145588/

Agence France-Presse, “Average Penis Size Revealed in Study,” The Guardian, 4 Mar 2015. https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/145588/

Jennifer Pahlk, “The IRA is Our Best Shot at Tackling Climate Change – But Only If WE Don’t Squander It,” Time Magazine, 27 June 2023, https://time.com/6290582/inflation-reduction-act-climate-change-implementation/

Richard Pallardy, “Zombie Worms Devour Shark Teeth that Fall to the Ocean Floor,” New Scientist, 25 June, 2023. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2379383-zombie-worms-devour-shark-teeth-that-fall-to-the-ocean-floor/

Ashley’s Stuff in the News

Franz Lidz, “Cannibalism, or ‘Clickbait’ for Paleoanthropology?” New York Times, July 1, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/science/archaeology-hominids-cannibalism.html .

Pobiner, Briana, Michael Pante, and Trevor Keevil. “Early Pleistocene Cut Marked Hominin Fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya.” Scientific Reports 13 (2023), https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35702-7#Abs1

Ashley’s Piece of Stuff

Barnard, Hans et al. “Chemical Evidence for Wine Production around 4000 BCE in the Late Chalcolithic Near Eastern Highlands.” Journal of Archaeological Science 38, no. 5 (2011): 977-84. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440310004115?fr=RR-2&ref=pdf_download&rr=7e11165cfe4043fd .

James Owen, “Earliest Known Winery Found in Armenian Cave,” National Geographic, January 12, 2011, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/110111-oldest-wine-press-making-winery-armenia-science-ucla?rnd=1688418625043&loggedin=true

Thomas H. Maugh II, “Ancient Winery Found in Armenia,” Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2011, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-11-la-sci-ancient-winery-20110111-story.html

U.S. Mission Armenia, “Ambassador Mills Opens U.S. Government-Funded Areni Cave Preservation Project,” U.S. Embassy in Armenia, September 19, 2017, https://am.usembassy.gov/areni-cave/

McGovern, Patrick E. Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009. 

Music Credits:

Background Music: Stars (Extended) by Vlad Gluschenko | https://soundcloud.com/vgl9

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Intro/Outro Music composed from free music clips by Tracey Cooper using Bandlab.

Cover Art

Photo by Tracey Cooper .