Muons and the Terracotta Army, Mesolithic Baby burial and Pseudoscience in Jordan - TAS 150

What this episode covers

This week we discuss three very different archaeological news stories! First, archaeologists in China plan to use Muons to "see" inside the unopened and presumably un-looted tomb of China's first Emperor Qin Shi Huang. His tomb is protected by the famed Terracotta Army, but has remained unopened due to preservation concerns. The second article is about a European Mesolithic baby burial, and the great care with which she was buried. Finally, we head over to Jordan to learn about recent research that was twisted to "prove" the story of the city of Sodom in the Bible, and how this is dangerous pseudoscience that damages the archaeology of the area. Links * Segment 1 * Cosmic rays could unearth secrets of Terracotta Army tomb [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cosmic-rays-could-unearth-secrets-of-terracotta-army-tomb-rvm6wjflx] * Seeing deeper with atmospheric muons: From archaeology to geology [https://phys.org/news/2021-12-deeper-atmospheric-muons-archaeology-geology.html] * Segment 2 * Baby Buried With Care 10,000 Years Ago Found in Italian Cave [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/10000-year-old-burial-of-baby-found-in-italian-cave-180979224/] * Earliest modern female human infant burial found in Europe [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/earliest-modern-female-human-infant-burial-found-europe] * Segment 3 * When Biblically Inspired Pseudoscience and Clickbait Cause Looting [https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/tall-el-hamman/] Contact * Chris Webster * [email protected] ArchPodNet * APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com [https://www.archpodnet.com/] * APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet * APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet * APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet * Tee Public Store [https://www.teepublic.com/stores/archaeology-podcast-network?ref_id=5724] Affiliates * Wildnote [http://www.wildnoteapp.com/] * TeePublic [https://www.teepublic.com/?ref_id=5724&ref_type=aff] * Timeular [https://timeular.com/ref/chriswebster/]