Episode 32

[Poop Joke Here]: Fossil Feces in Archaeology

We all do it. We've done it for millions of years. It's the Poopisode, a Very Special Sponsor pick! Anna and Amber discuss coprolites (archaeological poo), and some of the surprising things we've learned from it. Anna's pun game has rarely been stronger, and Amber...well, Amber survived this episode.

If you want to learn more (and admit it, you do), check out:

To Truly Know an Ancient Society, One Must Analyze Its Feces (Atlas Obscura)

Paleoscatologists dig up stools 'as precious as the crown jewels' (The Guardian)

What is the Maillard Reaction? (Science of Cooking)

Divining Diet and Disease From DNA (Science)

Archaeological coprolite science: The legacy of Eric O. Callen (1912–1970) (Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, via ResearchGate)

Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey (Journal of Archaeological Science, via ResearchGate)

What Discovery of Oldest Human Poop Reveals About Neanderthals' Diet (National Geographic)

Recovering parasites from mummies and coprolites: an epidemiological approach (Parasites & Vectors)

The control of defecation in humans: an evolutionary advantage? (Techniques in Coloproctology)

Probable human hair found in a fossil hyaena coprolite from Gladysvale cave, South Africa (Journal of Archaeological Science, via ResearchGate)

How the Remnants of Human Poop Could Help Archaeologists Study Ancient Populations (Smithsonian)

Paleomicrobiology: Revealing Fecal Microbiomes of Ancient Indigenous Cultures (PLOS ONE)

Lewis and Clark expedition left a trail of heavy-metal laxatives (Offbeat Oregon)

The Poop on Lewis and Clark (Sarah Albee Books)

How to Reconstruct Lewis and Clark’s Journey: Follow the Mercury-laden Latrine Pits

Archaeologists Test Feces From Roman Latrine, Find Roundworm And Dysentery (Forbes)

Poozeum

'Poop Talk' Cuts to the Evolutionary Roots of Shame With Toilet Humor (Inverse)

Groom of the Stool (Wikipedia)

Nearly a Billion People Still Defecate Outdoors. Here’s Why. (National Geographic)

Life without toilets: the photographer tackling a global taboo (The Guardian)

Farmworker Housing Linked to Consumer Demand for Safe Food (Food Safety News)

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The Dirt Podcast
Archaeology, Anthropology, and our shared human past.

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The Dirt Podcast

As science communicators in anthropology and archaeology, we hosts of The Dirt acknowledge that we hold a position of considerable privilege and opportunity, and commit ourselves to continuous learning, unlearning and reflection. We recognize that our disciplines, as well as our own lives, are rooted in and propped up by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and dispossession.

We now reside on the stolen ancestral territory of the Shawnee and Haudenosaunee and on the lands of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations, but over its lifetime, The Dirt has also been produced on the unceded traditional territory of the Piscataway Conoy and Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, as well as that of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Patwin and Miwok peoples and all those dispossessed by Cession 296. We offer our show as a platform for Indigenous scholarship, history, and cultural expression, through citation and conversation, and we welcome the opportunity to host and compensate Indigenous scholars of archaeology and anthropology as interview guests.

Likewise, we encourage all listeners who reside in settler-colonial states to learn about on whose land they reside, their place in the ongoing process of colonization, and how to contribute materially to reparations and Indigenous sovereignty.