Past Lives

Weapons Sacrifices and the Long Road to the Viking Age

When we think of Scandinavia, it seems to be a long way from the Roman Empire, with hundreds of miles separating the Rhine and Danube frontiers from the bogs of Jutland a

Professor Peter Mancall on Understanding Colonial America

Professor Peter Mancall is one of the finest historians of colonial America working today, and he's written a banger of a book, the newest entry in the wonderful Oxford H

Tollund Man

More than 2,400 years ago, a man living in southern Denmark was hung from a plaited leather cord, then buried in a bog. There he stayed until 1950, when his perfectly pre

Bog Bodies

Bog bodies - the age-old remains of people who were submerged in bogs - are an eerie sight. Soft tissue remains, often to an even greater extent than mummies, bringing us

The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty

Over more than two centuries, the rulers of Bronze Age China's Shang Dynasty sacrificed at least 13,000 people. Who were they? Where had they come from, and what were the

Interview: James Romm - Since You’re Mortal: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays

What can we learn from the past? Professor James Romm, celebrated classicist and prolific author, joins me to discuss his new book Since You're Mortal: Life Lessons from

The Tomb of Fu Hao and the Rise of the Shang Dynasty

More than 3,000 years ago, a queen was buried in the city of Anyang, China. Hundreds of bone, jade, and bronze artifacts were buried with her, and so were sixteen human s

Interview: Professor Thomas Asbridge on the Black Death

I've been waiting for someone to write a comprehensive, up-to-date history of the Black Death for years, and if that were all Professor Thomas Asbridge did with his new b

The Workers of Deir el-Medina

Who built the extraordinary tombs for Egypt's rulers in the Valley of the Kings? The residents of the nearby village of Deir el-Medina, where for centuries, a specialized

Ancient Egypt's Underclass

Considering the richness of our evidence about ancient Egypt, for much of the country's long history we know surprisingly little about the lives of its least humble resid

Interview: Shannon Chakraborty and Historical Fantasy

Shannon Chakraborty is a bestselling author of wonderful historical fantasy (Daevabad Trilogy, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, The Tapestry of Fate). We chat about cre

Seqenenre Tao

Thirty-five hundred years ago, an Egyptian king was killed in ghastly fashion. How and why did Seqenenre Tao meet his end? Using a combination of his mummy, advanced tech

A Quick Guide to Ancient Egypt

When we think of mummies, ancient Egypt is the first place to come to mind, and with good reason. But it's probably been a while since most of us have had a refresher on

The Princess of Xiaohe

Nearly 4,000 years ago, a young woman was buried in the sands of the Tarim Basin in western China. When her coffin was opened just a few decades ago, her face was almost

Interview: Producer, Writer, and Director Tim Haines on Surviving Earth and Bringing the Distant Past to Life

Tim Haines (Walking with Dinosaurs, Primeval) joins me to discuss making high-quality documentaries about the distant past in the lead-up to the premiere of his new serie

Xinjiang: The Crossroads of Eurasia

While Xinjiang - in the extreme west of present-day China - is today a tightly controlled and repressed periphery, but for most of the past 4,000 years, it has been the c

The Corps of Discovery Wasn't Just Lewis and Clark: Interview with Craig Fehrman

New York Times bestselling author Craig Fehrman joins us to discuss his wonderful new book, This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis and Clark. We talk about the Corp

Gebelein Man and the Roots of Ancient Egypt

In hindsight, ancient Egypt appears to be both eternal and inevitable, but in reality it was neither. Until his untimely death 5,300 years ago, Gebelein Man lived in the

Ötzi the Iceman

Of all the many people who lived in the distant past, we might know Ötzi the Iceman the best. Found in the Ötztal Alps of northern Italy in 1991, Ötzi lived more than 5,3

The Shaman of Bad Dürrenberg

Nine thousand years ago, a special woman was buried in central Germany. She was her band's shaman, and they interred her with all of the tools of her craft: a feathered h