What Is Collapsing?

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What is it that induces collapse? And how much do we know about that from an archaeological point of view? This is something i think a lot about, and actually is the subject of a book that i'm working on right now. When we say collapse, it's s collapse for the most elite of society. Most of those cultures, in some way, shape or form, still continued or continue to this day. We have to ask ourselves what is collapsing? So i prefer the word evolve. Evolution can be good or can be bad. But we have to ask, what survives and how, and what is collapsing now, and what's making people so uncomfortable?...

What can new technology tell us about our ancient past? Archaeologist and remote sensing expert Sarah Parcak has used satellite imagery to discover over a dozen potential pyramids and thousands of tombs from ancient Egypt. A professor of anthropology and founding director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Sarah’s work combines technology, historical study, and cultural anthropology to advance discoveries about the past while navigating the political and ethical dilemmas that plague excavation work today.

She joined Tyler to discuss what caused the Bronze Age Collapse, how well we understand the level of ancient technologies, what archaeologists may learn from the discovery of more than a hundred coffins at the site of Saqqara, how far the Vikings really traveled, why conservation should be as much of a priority as excavation, the economics of looting networks, the inherently political nature of archaeology, Indiana Jones versus The Dig, her favorite contemporary bluegrass artists, the best archaeological sites to visit around the world, the merits of tools like Google Earth and Lidar, the long list of skills needed to be a modern archaeologist, which countries produce the best amateur space archaeologists, and more.

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Recorded February 25th, 2021 Other ways to connect

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