The Agora Bone Well: An Illinois Farm Girl becomes a CSI Archaeologist of an Ancient Greek Mass Grave (Lynn Snyder) - a podcast by Rob Mellon

Dr. Lynn Snyder a Zooarchaeological Researcher who has worked for the Smithsonian and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece describes how a farm girl from a small town in Illinois became one of the world's preeminent zooarchaeologists.  She discusses her early studies and what motivated her to become an archaeologist.  The discussion focuses on her book, The Agora Bone Well and her work at the Agora in Athens, Greece.  She details the location of a mass grave in an ancient Athenian well.  The discovery of the remains of hundreds of infants and dogs in the well led to a group of archaeologists attempting to unearth the real truth of the Bone Well.  Her team in effect became Crime Scene Investigators for a mass grave that was used centuries ago.  She speaks about how the Greeks treated newborn infants, the Greek child naming ceremony, and how the first few days of life in the ancient world were truly perilous.  Dr. Snyder goes into great detail about the study of the skeletal remains of dogs in the well.  She explains ancient purification rituals and the difficulty of examining the bones from the Bone Well which had been altered by bronze deposits dumped into the well by ancient Greek artisans.  She finishes with the three hypothesis for the mass grave 1) Epidemic 2) Infanticide and 3) Natural Mortality.  Listen to find out what the team of archaeologists concluded about the reason for the ancient mass grave in the Agora Bone Well.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Single-Wide American IPA, Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, MO

BOOK:  The Agora Bone Well

MUSIC:  Bones Fork

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