In this week’s episode, we cover three archaeology news stories. First up, a Nature-backed report on unusually old woodworking from Kalambo Falls, where waterlogged conditions preserved a wedge, digging stick, and notched logs dated by luminescence to about 476,000 years ago, suggesting advanced planning and challenging simple “Stone Age” assumptions. We then discuss a Pompeii discovery of two skeletons outside the city walls near Porta Stabia, including a man apparently shielding his head with a terracotta bowl and carrying an oil lamp, and we debate the benefits and risks of an AI-generated scene reconstruction. Finally, we examine Peru’s Monte Sierpe “Band of Holes,” over 5,200 aligned pits mapped by drones and analyzed via microbotanical remains, with a study proposing early market use and later Inca-style accounting patterns resembling quipu, while we question how and why such a vast system was built and used.

Segment 1

• World’s oldest wooden structure was built by an unknown species, nearly 200,000 years before modern humans evolved (earth.com)
• Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago (Nature)

Segment 2

• This Man Fled Pompeii as Mount Vesuvius Erupted. Archaeologists Found Him 2,000 Years Later, Holding a Bowl to Protect His Head and a Lamp to Light His Way

Segment 3

• Study suggests these 5,200 holes dug into a mountain were some form of ancient accounting (earth.com)
• Indigenous accounting and exchange at Monte Sierpe (‘Band of Holes’) in the Pisco Valley, Peru (Cambridge University Press)

Chris Webster

• chris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com

Rachel Roden

• rachel@unraveleddesigns.com
• RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

• APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
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In our latest episode, we unravel fascinating stories of ancient DNA in the news! Uncover the touching story of Anglo-Saxon siblings buried together over 1400 years ago. Then we look at groundbreaking research revealing how natural selection shaped more genes than we ever imagined. Finally, join our exploration of the mysterious origins of Neanderthals!

• Anglo-Saxon burial holds an older sister cradling her little brother after they both died 1,400 years ago, possibly of an infectious disease
• Natural Selection Shaped Hundreds More Human Genes Than We Thought, Massive Ancient DNA Study Finds
• Are Neanderthals descendants of modern humans?

Chris Webster

• chris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com

Rachel Roden

• rachel@unraveleddesigns.com
• RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

• APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
• APN Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWBhb2T2ed
• APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
• APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
• APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
• APN Shop

• Motion

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Three discoveries, one shifting landscape: a mysterious buried structure beneath the ancient city of Buto, the newly identified tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II near the Valley of the Kings, and the remains of a massive Coptic monastery at Al-Qalaye. We dig into what the finds reveal about Egypt’s long arc—from dynastic power to Christian communities—and how modern tools are changing what archaeologists can see.

• Mysterious Structure Found Buried Beneath an Ancient Egyptian City
• The last missing tomb from this wealthy Egyptian dynasty has been found
• Archaeologists Discovered the Remains of One of the Largest Christian Monasteries Ever

Chris Webster

• chris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com

Rachel Roden

• rachel@unraveleddesigns.com
• RachelUnraveled (Instagram)

• APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
• APN Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWBhb2T2ed
• APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
• APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
• APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
• APN Shop

• Motion

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