The Extreme History Project: The Dirt on the Past

Extreme History Happenings

Join Nancy and Crystal as they delve into women's history month and talk about vice districting during the 1890's in relation to red-light districts and prostitution in the west! They also talk about what's coming up this summer for the Extreme History Project, the new podcast logo, and upcoming podcast interviews.

Pictographs and Petroglyphs with Montana Archaeologist Sara Scott

Join us as we discuss rock art in Montana with archaeologist, Sara Scott. Our conversation revolves around the Hellgate Pictograph Site in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. This rock art site has an extensive area of finger lines, hand prints, geometric designs, dots, and animals such as snakes, turtles, and lizards. There are representations of human-like figures with distended bodies that may represent shaman figures in trance and soul flight. Many of the figures show evidence of prehistoric scraping and scratching which was deliberate and concentrated in the center of the rock art motifs. We also talk about Pictograph and Ghost Caves, located within Pictograph State Park. We discuss the archaeological context of these two caves and how we have come to know more about these important places and the people who used them.

 

For more information,

 

Hellgate Pictograph Site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/hlcnf/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5373556

Pictograph Cave State Park: https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/pictograph-cave/

Fremont Culture: https://www.crowcanyon.org/index.php/archived-news/691-meet-the-fremont-the-ancestral-pueblo-people-s-northern-neighbors

Moving Forward in Conservation by Looking Back

Join us as we talk with Laurel Angell about her research on America's twentieth century conservation movement and the missed opportunities that led it to become both exclusionary and politically polarizing. Laurel grew up in Yosemite National Park, and has herself worked as a Park Ranger before obtaining a degree in environmental law and working on conservation policy initiatives under the Obama administration. Laurel is currently a doctoral candidate in History at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT and remains active in local and national policy initiatives targeted at creating broader and more inclusive conservation goals. 

The Dirt on the Past: Validating Places of History and Memory

Join us for our conversation with Diana Hernández and Dr. Portia Hopkins as we discuss their work through the National Collective Memory Institute to validate and reconcile history of places that have been neglected and undervalued. We focus on their work to preserve historic sites belonging to communities of color and their mission to develop spaces to reconcile our nation’s past in an effort to rehabilitate our collective memory.

 

To learn more: https://www.nationalcollectivememory.org

Indigenous Archaeologist, Joe Watkins, on the Past as Present

Join us as we talk with archaeologist Joe Watkins about Indigenous Archaeology and his current role as President of the Society for American Archaeology. We discuss experimental archaeology in the form of building and living in a pit house for a year, his research with the Ainu of Japan, and so much more!

 

For more information,

 

Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Practice - https://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Archaeology-American-Scientific-Archaeologies/dp/0742503291

 

The Story of the Choctaw Indians: From the Past to the Present - https://www.amazon.com/Story-Choctaw-Indians-Present-American/dp/1440862664

Redlining the West: The Spacial Geography of Inequity

Join us this week as we talk with graduate student, Kerri Clement, about her participation in a research project on the persistent spatial structure of inequality in urban neighborhoods, specifically in Denver, Colorado. We discuss redlining, inter-generational wealth inequality, and spatial segregation - all a result of the Jim Crow era that has persisted to the present. 

 

For more information:

 

Mapping Inequality Website https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=5/39.1/-94.58 

The Dirt on the Past: Amazons, the Lives and Legends of Warrior Women

Join us for our fascinating discussion with Stanford scholar, Adrienne Mayor, about her book, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World. We discuss the realities and myths behind these legendary women recently popularized by the popular Wonder Woman films. We get to the heart of the word, Amazon, discussing its origins. We have a meaningful conversation around Scythian burials and the archaeological evidence presented in these tombs, that of women warriors buried with quiver and arrows, iron spearheads and lance points , knives, and pebble missiles for a sling buried next to them in these Kurgan mounds. The skeletal remains of these women show they actively participated in battle with the grisly evidence marking their bones in the way of arrowheads burrowed in long bones, battle-ax marks cleaved into their skulls, and ribs slashed by swords. We also talk about Amazon tattoos, often depicted in Greek vase painting and on mummified individuals depicting geometric patterns and animal motifs.

"Venus" Figurines: The myths, facts, and objectification surrounding those voluptuous ladies

Join Nancy and Crystal as they travel back to the ancient world and discuss Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic female figurines and how scholars have interpreted these curvaceous ladies through time. They talk specifically about the male gaze and how this has influenced the way we see these figurines and statues today. They talk specifically about the Venus of Willendorf, the Venus of Malta, Maltese Temples, the Goddess Movement of the 1970s and 1980s, archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and her influence and research, and the backlash to the Goddess movement.

 

To learn more,

 

https://stratigraffiti.com/2019/03/23/the-venus-myth/

The Dirt on the Past: Indigenous Archaeology, Crow War Shields, and the Potency of the Past

Join us for a conversation with Aaron Brien as we discuss his views on Indigenous Archaeology, his life-changing experience viewing historic Apsáalooke/Crow War Shields at Chicago's Field Museum, his new job as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) for the Crow Nation, and so much more.

 

To learn more, see the additional resources below.

 

Tribal Research Specialists Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS85NTMxNTIucnNz

 

Ishbinnaache Chikituuk: An Examination of a Crow War Shield at the Chicago Field Museum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgl4D4OibfQ&t=5s

 

Apsáalooke Woman and Warriors Companion Book - https://store.fieldmuseum.org/products/apsaalooke-women-and-warriors-book 

The Dirt on the Past: History of the Chinese Experience in the West

Join us as we talk with Mark Johnson about his research on Montana's historic Chinese community. He is working to uncover this important history and present it through a global lens and in the voice of the Chinese people who lived and died in Montana. In this episode, we have a wide-ranging conversation about the historic Chinese experience and Mark's work to document the long-silenced voices.

To learn more,

Follow this link to watch a presentation by Mark Johnson on the 1905 Special Chinese Census in Montana/Idaho. This was a presentation given at the Western History Association 2020 Annual Conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4X4x90a_HE

 

In Their Own Words: Translating Documents from Montana's Chinese Community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGNngOlHpMY

 

Becoming Chinese in Montana: The Chinese Empire Reform Association & National Identity among Montana's Chinese Communities. https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/public_lectures_mtech/104/