Searching for lost cities in the Amazon sounds like something out of a Hollywood script – unless you’re University of Florida anthropologist Mike Heckenberger. He’s been visiting the Amazon for three decades, working with local tribes and uncovering a network of ancient cities in the jungle. On this episode, Mike joins host Cassie De Pecol to discuss what it ... Show More
Feb 2023
Himalayan Spy Mission | The Device | 1
<p>In 1965, with Cold War tensions escalating, the CIA and India’s Intelligence Bureau joined forces to spy on China’s budding nuclear program. Satellites and spy planes at the time were unreliable, so the agencies hatched an unusual plan: place a nuclear-powered spying device at ... Show More
47m 29s
May 2022
The Beginnings of Civilization in the Andes: The Mounds of Norte Chico
<p>The arid shoreline between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific seems like an unlikely place to host one of the world's earliest complex societies. But more than 5,000 years ago, the people of the Norte Chico Culture built cities, temples, and monuments that laid the foundation ... Show More
39m 17s
Nov 2022
The Battle of the Tollense Valley
<p>More than 3,000 years ago, two armies met in a titanic Bronze Age battle along a river in northern Germany. We don’t know why they fought or who won, but thanks to stunning archaeological discoveries, we know how they died, where they come from, and what their lives were like. ... Show More
40m 28s
Jan 2021
The Americas from Foraging to Agriculture, 10,000 BC-4000 BC
<p>The initial migrations to the Americas get most of the attention, but people didn't stop living there in the aftermath of those first movements of peoples; they spread out over the Great Plains and the forests of the eastern United States, south into the deserts and jungles of ... Show More
47m 18s
Oct 2021
The Canoe Con | El Dorado | 2
<p>The Darwins trick the police into thinking John’s dead and decide they need to flee the country.</p><p>Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. <a href="https://wondery.app.link/ ... Show More
45m 39s
Feb 2022
The Genetic Origins of Indigenous Americans: Interview with Professor Jennifer Raff
<p>Professor Jennifer Raff, a longtime friend of the show, returns to discuss her work on the genetic ancestry of America’s Indigenous peoples. We talk about Beringia, waves of migration, the troublesome relationship between science and Indigenous peoples, and her fantastic new b ... Show More
42m 47s