Why were some people in the past buried with stones over their necks?
Why were some pinned down, bound, or placed face down in graves?
And were they really “witches,” “vampires,” or “criminals”… or something far more complicated?

In this episode, we wander into the world of deviant burials: archaeological graves that break the “rules” of how people were normally buried. These unusual burials give us a window into fear, belief systems, social control, and the boundaries of community within ancient societies.

From medieval “vampire burials” in Eastern Europe to face-down interments across the globe, to Iron Age bodies weighted with stones, and even colonial American burials with decapitation or “binding,” we explore what these choices really meant. Spoiler: it’s often less about “punishing monsters” and more about social anxiety, disease, marginalization, and ritual protection.

Featuring insights for:

• Writers and world-builders

• Students of archaeology & anthropology

• True crime fans

• Horror creators

• Anyone fascinated by how societies manage fear

We’ll dive into what deviant burials actually tell us, and why the dead who break the rules continue to haunt our imagination today.

You can reach me at:motherofwolves4@gmail.com

Fieldnotesofthedead @ TikTok and Youtube

feildnotesfromthedead.com

Cheddar Man, one of the oldest nearly complete skeletons in Britain; became a cultural flashpoint when ancient DNA revealed he likely had dark skin, dark curls, and blue or green eyes. But what does his genome really tell us about identity, migration, and early post-Ice-Age Europe? And why did the public react so strongly to a scientific finding that surprised almost no anthropologist?

In this episode, Ki explores:

The discovery of Cheddar Man in Gough’s Cave

How ancient DNA was extracted from the petrous bone

What his traits actually mean (and don’t mean)

How early European hunter-gatherers really looked

Why ancient DNA challenges modern identity narratives

The difference between ancestry and nationalism

What this 10,000-year-old man teaches us about the human story

Cheddar Man isn’t a symbol or a controversy; he’s a window into a world where race didn’t exist, borders hadn’t been imagined, and identity meant something very different than it does today.

📧 Contact: motherofwolves4@gmail.com

🌐 Website: Field Notes from the Dead

🎥 YouTube: Field Notes from the Dead

📱 TikTok: @FieldNotesFromTheDead

Cheddar Man, ancient DNA, Mesolithic Britain, early European hunter-gatherers, skin pigmentation evolution, Gough’s Cave, British archaeology, race and identity, anthropology podcast, Field Notes from the Dead, forensic anthropology, ancient genomics, early Britain, Ki Roberts