{"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 Puzzling Case of Children’s Rattles in Early Bronze Age Syria, or, Here Kid, Shake This, Mom and Dad are Working","slug":"the-puzzling-case-of-children-s-rattles-in-early-bronze-age-syria-or-here-kid-shake-this-mom-and-dad-are-working","published_at":"2025-10-20T11:26:57+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259/the-puzzling-case-of-children-s-rattles-in-early-bronze-age-syria-or-here-kid-shake-this-mom-and-dad-are-working","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-week-in-the-ancient-near-east-3467259","url":"https://thisweekintheancientneareast.podbean.com/e/the-puzzling-case-of-children-s-rattles-in-early-bronze-age-syria-or-here-kid-shake-this-mom-and-dad-are-working/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/z3mt5hxs2pkhds8a/podcast_125_-_10_19_25_130_PM8f1rs.mp3","summary":"A new article has us talking about toys. Did the potters at Early Bronze Age Hama make rattles for their kids out of love or to maximize investment in their future labor output? It’s an episode that cuts to the heart of the whole ‘childhood’ scam! Come for the insights into Bronze Age childrearing, stay for the word of the day. It’s fructiform!","meta_description":"A new article has us talking about toys. Did the potters at Early Bronze Age Hama make rattles for their kids out of love or to maximize investment in the…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2441,"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-puzzling-case-of-children-s-rattles-in-early-bronze-age-syria-or-here-kid-shake-this-mom-and-dad-are-working/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-puzzling-case-of-children-s-rattles-in-early-bronze-age-syria-or-here-kid-shake-this-mom-and-dad-are-working.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}