The Human History Podcast: The Ancients

Episode 2! The Akkadians: Sargon the Great to the Gutian Invasion covers one of the most  impressive empires of the ancient world, and likely the first multinational empire in human history. In this episode I dive in to the origin story of the man who began the empire around 2334BC - Sargon the Great. We'll discover how it's thought he went from a position in the gardens of King Ur-Zababa of the 4th Dynasty of Kish to his most trusted advisor--eventually establishing one of the most prominent empires of the ancient world after Ur-Zababa loses his city to King Lugalzaggesi of Umma. I'll talk about the rise of Sargon's grandson, Naram-Sin, the Akkadian Empire's most effective and prolific ruler, and the eventual fall of the Akkadian empire due to famine and an invading force of Gutians from the north and east.  Join me on this adventure into 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamia and discover a people who, though they only ruled for a short time, left an indelible mark for all of human history.

Hey all!  This is the first installment of The Human History Podcast: An Interlude Weekly Roundup Series. Each week (hopefully) will be bringing you a rundown of some of the week's most interesting archaeological finds from around the world.  This week's stories: 1. Demon Drawing Spotted on Assyrian Clay Tablet https://www.archaeology.org/news/8333-200103-assyrian-demon-drawing https://www.livescience.com/assyrian-demon-tablet-found.html 2. New Translation of Viking Runestone Shows Climate Fears in 9th Century  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200108161329.htm https://phys.org/news/2020-01-vikings-erected-runestone-climate-catastrophe.html 3. Secrets of 2,600 year old human brain found preserved in Iron Age man decapitated skull revealed https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/health/ancient-heslington-brain-scn-trnd/index.html https://phys.org/news/2020-01-clues-year-old-brain-survived-modern.html 4. Roman-Era Cemetery Discovered in Southwest England https://www.archaeology.org/news/8340-200108-england-roman-cemetery 5. Always counterclockwise: Puzzle of early Neolithic house orientations finally solved https://phys.org/news/2020-01-counterclockwise-puzzle-early-neolithic-house.html

Welcome to the first installment of The Human History Podcast: An Interlude. This is a place for shorter episodes on interesting topics like the top archaeological finds of the decade and also weekly roundups on archaeology news and discoveries.  This first episode is going to be my list of The Top 5 Archaeological Finds of the Decade (2010-2019). There was a new henge found at stonehenge (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2010/07/22july-stonehenge.aspx), a new civilization discovered in the Guatemalan jungle (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-honduras-lost-city-monkey-god-maya-ancient-archaeology/), discovery and confirmation of the remains of King Richard III (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-32054214), one of the most complex water engineering project in the ancient world discovered in China (https://www.pnas.org/content/114/52/13637), and a 5,000 year old city discovered in Israel (https://www.livescience.com/ancient-city-discovered-israel.html). Other sources for this episode: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-10718522 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/7/100723-stonehenge-woodhenge-twin-timber-circle-gaffney-science/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882

Welcome to Part 2 of this very first series for The Human History Podcast. Last time we introduced the Sumerians and heard about some of history's most lasting figures, including Gilgamesh and Abram (Abraham). In part 2 we're going to take a dive into some of the key events and innovations of the ancient Sumerians, including the settlement of the world's first city, the development of writing, the invention of the wheel, and some of the first stone architecture and large stone structures in the ziggurats. Grab a beer, a glass of wine, or a cocktail, and sit back and let me tell you even more about the fascinating people who are the ancient Sumerians. SHOW NOTES: Check out our Instagram page @ HumanHistoryPod to see images of the ziggurats!