Naked Archaeology, from the Naked Scientists

We're back! And this month we start by taking a tour of the terribly glamorous ditches in East Anglia. Yes, the whole landscape is one giant piece of drainage archaeology! Plus, we talk about a Roman gladiatorial school, an Iron Age road, Australopithecus sediba and Acheulian tools. And in Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch hops over to Andalucia, where he and his mic just happen to find a rather large palace...

This month we return to some of the moist enjoyable archaeological interviews recorded this year. There's everything from alien donkeys, to Pompeiian poo, speared boxes and not-so-recent neanderthals!

This month: how a neat piece of statistical analysis has led to the construction of a prehistoric history; how satellites have revealed some hidden Egyptian pyramids; how autism could have been selected for amongst early humans; and how metals collected from the surface of the Greek island of Kythira can yield information about the people who forged them. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology, Tom takes us to the sea to explore several rather artistic lumps of concrete.

This month: the most recent Neanderthals in the Caucasus, the science of ceramic petrology, the truth about 'The Anthropocene' and Syrian hunting traps. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology we explore the uses of the National Monument and Historical Environment Records.

Researchers re-create the experiments carried out by Barnes Wallis on the bouncing bomb; we discuss the Texan pre-Clovis finds; the Nichoria bone earns its place at multiple points in history and we explore the massacre at Fin Cop hill fort. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology: how to go about doing a bit of zooarchaeology!

This month: Aegean warriors in art; the most genetically diverse people in the world; prehistoric Californian seafarers; Neanderthals building fires; and atlatls!

This month: current events in Egypt affecting ancient artefacts; Britons fashioning cups from skulls; games played in the Indus; and when humans behaved like humans. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch goes to Paul's place... to look at pollen.

This month's divested archaeology consists of the mitochondrial DNA of Europe's first farmers; how to identify plaster using infrared light; who the Denisovans were; what to expect from twelfth century chessmen and why the Arabo-Persian gulf is so important.

This month: why a Roman horse became a donkey; how part of Pompeii recently collapsed; how a Roman village survived underneath London; and what obesity meant to the Romans. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch explores how the Northern Irish 'peace lines' are archaeology.

We make our way to some of the least accessible bits of heritage this month: Naked Scientist Laura Soul treks to Machu Picchu and we hear about the fenced-off Palestinian heritage in Israel. Also this month: tracking down The Plague's bacterial DNA, sanding down a Norwegian Pompeii and a DIY archaeological survey!

This month we explore the dramatic burial of an El Zotz Maya king; he was seemingly interred with the remains of six sacrificed children. Also under the spotlight is the abandoment of the site if Kiuic, a mysterious Maya city which was deserted in the midst of construction. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch investigates a huge Roman mining settlement in Austria.

What did the Romans eat at their feasts? What came out the other end afterwards? This month we explore the toilets of Pompeii and the kinds of food eaten by its inhabitants. In the news this month: the oldest house in the UK; the HMS Investigator; and some very early human tool use. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology we find out how to put up buildings the Icelandic way.

Human remains are our main topic of interest in this month's Naked Archaeology. Diana and Duncan explore the nature of Bronze Age cremations, the repatriation of Yagan's head and how one might go about reconstructing the remains of King Tutankhamun. Plus, how the first settlers in the Americas may have been more numerous than previously thought, as another nine founding mothers have now been identified.

The diminutive, one-time inhabitants of Flores are probably the most famous early humans from this area of the world but where does H. floresiensis fit into our family tree? We discuss the gladiatorial burials recently unearthed in York, some Neanderthal-esque tools from Dartford and the Niah Caves: a spectacular system in Malaysia which has yielded some clues as to how humans make use of difficult environments. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology we bring out the lasers to analyse some Scottish beads.

This month on Naked Archaeology: when and how did the first humans make it to Australia? We unearth the evidence from archaeology and genetics. Also this month we discover that Neanderthals could be relations of ours, after all. Plus, in Back Yard Archaeology Diana ventures into her own back yard to find out what was so special about rabbit warrens.

This month on Naked Archaeology: the discovery of a possible link between genus Homo and Australopithecus - Aus. sediba; we find out how people first made it to Cyprus; which is the oldest building still in use and if Icelandic eruptions are a good thing. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology Tom and Duncan look through some wafer-thin slices of pot and meet Aegina's finest jug-maker!

How is it that the first farms, cities and writing all originated in Mesopotamia, now Iraq? We explore the so-called 'fertile crescent' and fanatical record-keeping in the ancient Near East. We find out how DNA from the body of Tutankhamun hints at his numerous illnesses and we also look at who paddled across the Mediterranean first. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch smelts his own iron!

This month we divest the darker world of black market archaeology. We find out how illicit antiquities can be tracked down after being lost for decades and how they can be returned to their country of origin. We explore the problems faced by curators in spotting artefacts with dubious histories. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology we visit a graveyard for a bit of typologising!

Neanderthals wore make-up too! We explore the cosmetics worn by early humans and Egyptians. Naked Archaeology this month also explores the discovery of Cleopatra's unfinished mausoleum and the curious orientation of Sicilian temples. Plus, in Backyard Archaeology we discover how medieval kings were also into their pre-history.

Mummified foetuses found in Tutankhamun's tomb go under the genetic spotlight to find out who they were and where they came from, we dig up the history of the domestication of the first crops, and have scientists discovered King Solomon's mines? Plus, in this month's Backyard Archaeology Tom Birch explores what a hole in the road can reveal...