{"podcast":{"title":"This Week in the Ancient Near East","slug":"this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259","podcast_index_feed_id":3467259,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/thisweekintheancientneareast/feed.xml","website_url":"https://thisweekintheancientneareast.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10480554/logo_2a3wj6.jpg","author":"thisweekintheancientneareast","episode_count":142,"summary":"The podcast that takes archaeology precisely as seriously as it deserves. Two real professors of archaeology and one guy from a fake institution discuss cutting edge archaeological discoveries at a high professional level using technical knowledge and stuff. A scholarly podcast for the discerning listener, it’s handmade, artisanal, and bespoke! Critics say, “A cheeky and irreverent take,” and “the good kind of shenanigans.” Other critics say, “damaging to archaeology,” and “deeply discreditable.” High-level discourse informed by neo-Brechtian, Deleuzian, or post-post processual theory, or just more BS from a couple of bored, middle aged hacks? You be the judge! Why not check out this index of our back episodes? You can search by topic! https://airtable.com/app4eECJAuksSYpBP/shr7BSxqWQSYLmMnE/tblXQSGflnYHvVgcE/viwtg2OTzwxogcQ7G Who are the Panelists? JP Dessel is the Steinfeld Associate Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He is the author of Lahav I. Pottery and Politics The Halif Terrace Site 101 and Egypt in the Fourth Millennium B.C.E. (2009). Rachel Hallote is Professor of History and coordinator of the Jewish S…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T02:18:46.561182+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259"},"episode":{"title":"The Case of the Elephant Bone in Third Century BCE Spain, or, Babar Says, You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry","slug":"the-case-of-the-elephant-bone-in-third-century-bce-spain-or-babar-says-you-wouldn-t-like-me-when-i-m-angry","published_at":"2026-04-06T11:24:20+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259/the-case-of-the-elephant-bone-in-third-century-bce-spain-or-babar-says-you-wouldn-t-like-me-when-i-m-angry","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259","url":"https://thisweekintheancientneareast.podbean.com/e/the-case-of-the-elephant-bone-in-third-century-bce-spain-or-babar-says-you-wouldn-t-like-me-when-i-m-angry/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/xc3jweydcqim3g92/podcast_137_-_4_5_26_109_PM8ewsn.mp3","summary":"The discovery of an elephant bone in third century BCE Spain has us asking questions. Was the circus in town or was it a war elephant, like one of those Hannibal used to climb the Alps? But where did it come from and how did Carthaginians learn to drive them? After all, the trunk is in the front.","meta_description":"The discovery of an elephant bone in third century BCE Spain has us asking questions. Was the circus in town or was it a war elephant, like one of those H…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2163,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259/episodes/the-case-of-the-elephant-bone-in-third-century-bce-spain-or-babar-says-you-wouldn-t-like-me-when-i-m-angry/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259/the-case-of-the-elephant-bone-in-third-century-bce-spain-or-babar-says-you-wouldn-t-like-me-when-i-m-angry.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}