This fortnight we’re joined by Dr. Ted Banning to discuss the Neolithic Revolution as part of our season on complexity. And the Neolithic Revolution is nothing, nothing if not complex. Ted helps us decipher the various PPNs and shares insights into how to think about intensification, domestications, and sociopolitical complexity. He also chats with us about what biographies of Canadian numismatists can teach us about nineteenth and early twentieth century society. Finally, we talk with Ted about his new book, Archaeological Reasoning: A Guide to Understanding the Past, which seeks to bridge the gap between introductory and upper-level archaeology classes.

Show Notes (a selection of Dr. Banning's Neolithic publications)

Archaeological Reasoning: A Guide to Understanding the Past: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/archaeological-reasoning-9798765157497/

Banning, E. B., & Byrd, B. F. (1984). The Architecture of PPNB ʿAin Ghazal, Jordan. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 255(255), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357072

BANNING, E. B., SIGGERS, J., & RAHIMI, D. (1994). THE LATE NEOLITHIC OF THE SOUTHERN LEVANT : HIATUS, SETTLEMENT SHIFT OR OBSERVER BIAS ? THE PERSPECTIVE FROM WADI ZIQLAB. Paléorient, 20(2), 151–164. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1994.969

BYRD, B. F., & BANNING, E. B. (1988). SOUTHERN LEVANTINE PIER HOUSES : INTERSITE ARCHITECTURAL PATTERNING DURING THE PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC B. Paléorient, 14(1), 65–72.

Coupland, Gary Graham, and E. B. Banning. 1996. People who lived in big houses : archaeological perspectives on large domestic structures, Monographs in world archaeology, no. 27. Madison, Wis: Prehistory Press.

Banning, E. B. (2000). The archaeologist’s laboratory : the analysis of archaeological data (1st ed. 2000.). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/b110579

Maher, L. A., Banning, E. B., & Chazan, M. (2011). Oasis or Mirage? Assessing the Role of Abrupt Climate Change in the Prehistory of the Southern Levant. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 21(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774311000011

Hit piece:

SAA Archaeological Record, “Publishing Regional Journals in the Americas: Surviving or Thriving” https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=862379&p=2&view=issueViewer

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

Do you find yourself pondering how the Canada-U.S. Border between New Brunswick and Maine was decided? Have you been searching for a factoid for your next party, like, say, where and when was the first autopsy conducted in North America? Are you aware that the episode title is not just a clever play on Oasis' 1995 smash hit, but references a visible supernova that really did occur on October 4-5, 1604, just on the cusp of what ended up being a rather cold and miserable for Champlain, De Monts, and their company of men? Well, grab your limes and lemons because Gabe and Ken are speaking with Dr. Steven Pendery about the archaeology and history of Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, this fortnight on the New Brunswick Archaeology Podcast.

Show Notes

Pendery, Steven R. (ed.). 2012. Saint Croix Island, Maine: History, Archaeology, and Interpretation. Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, No. 14. Augusta: Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the Maine Archaeological Society.

Pagan, Robert. 1797. Robert Pagan deposition about Doccas Island fort, 1797. Maine Historical Society, https://www.mainememory.net/record/9382/image/9382.

To pop some more Champlain, check out the NB Arch Pod S2E18 "champlain problems": https://rss.com/podcasts/nbarchaeology/1539447/

Hit Pieces

Herr, Sarah A. and Maria Gutierrez (eds.). 2026. Publishing Regional Journals in the Americas: Surviving or Thriving?

https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=862379&p=1&view=issueViewer

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

This fortnight your hosts are joined by David Black and Josh Cummings to talk about the Archaic period in New Brunswick. We also enjoyed some piping hot mugs of colonial flip. Our guests walk us through the current state of Archaic period research in New Brunswick, and then catch us up on the results of some of their recent collections research on intertidal collections.

Show Notes

• Black, D.W., and J.A. Cummings 2025. “...gathering pebbles on a boundless shore...”—The Rum Beach Site and Intertidal Archaeology in the Canadian Quoddy Region (third iteration/definitive edition). UNB Libraries, Scholar Research Repository. Link: https://unbscholar.lib.unb.ca/items/11515990-9c7a-459b-8869-f81aeb7fcbd1
• Cummings, J.A., and D.W. Black 2024. Evidence for Late Maritime Archaic period occupations in interior riverine New Brunswick. Available online: https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/arts/_assets/documents/anth/late-archaic.pdf
• Black, D.W., and E.L. Hubert 2020. The Birch Islands Cache: Unusual Moorehead Burial Tradition Flaked Stone Assemblage. Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin 60(2):9–33.
• Sanger, David, William R. Belcher, and Douglas C. Kellogg. 1992 . Early Holocene Occupation at the Blackman Stream Site, Central Maine. In Early Holocene Occupation in Northern New England, edited by Brian S. Robinson, James B. Petersen, and Ann S. Robinson, pp. 149-161. Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, Vol. 9. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta.
• Petersen, James B. 1991. Archaeological testing at the Sharrow site : a deeply stratified early to late Holocene cultural sequence in central Maine. Occasional publications in Maine archaeology, Vol. no 8. Maine Archaeological Society : Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta, Me.
• Black, David W. 1997. A Native Artifact from the Ocean Floor Near Indian Island. Fieldnotes: The Journal of the New Brunswick Archaeological Society 3(2):5-7.
• Sanger, David. 2009. "Foraging for Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the Gulf of Maine." In Painting with a Broad Brush: Papers in Honor of James V. Wright, edited by David L. Keenlyside and Jean-Luc Pilon, 1-36. Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Hit Pieces

Surovell, Todd A., César Méndez, Juan-Luis García, Christopher Lüthgens, Jay M. Thompson, and Claudio Latorre. 2026. A mid-Holocene age for Monte Verde challenges the timeline of human colonization of South America. Science 391(6791):1283-1288. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw9217

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

In this special two-interview episode, we are joined by Brian Fritz (Quemahoning LLC) and Chelsea Colwell-Pasch (Colbr Consulting) for back-to-back interviews about techniques they are using for deep archaeological testing in eastern North America. They each discuss the equipment they’ve designed to conduct deep testing in the region, what sort of projects deep testing is valuable for, and some of their success stories.

We also have a very special live hit piece with Michelle Bebber and Chris Wolff about their new edited volume, “From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Metal Tool Production and Use by Indigenous Hunter-Gatherers of North America”.

Show Notes

Quemahoning https://www.quemahoning.com/

Colbr https://colbr.ca/

ArchaeologyX https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMifBopbH05ySFOBLr3df1w

Hit Pieces:

From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BebberFrom

Society for American Archaeology - Geoarchaeology Task Force: Statement on Deep Testing for Terrestrial Sites and Professional Qualifications for Geoarchaeologists in Cultural Resources Management in the US (2025) https://www.saa.org/common/Uploaded%20files/saadocs/CareerPractice/SAA%20Statements%20and%20Guidelines/saa-gtf-statement-on-deep-testing-and-qualifications-for-geoarchaeologists-07mar25.pdf

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

This fortnight we’re joined by Matt Betts, who argues that reports of culture-history’s death may have been premature. So tonight we’ve got paradigms and epi-paradigms, systematics, evolutionary theory, and Matt even explains why archaeological theory is like a Chinese buffet. It’s like if your grad school culture history class was not only fun, but edgy. So come be theoretically subversive and tune in.

Show Notes:

• Betts, Matthew W, and M Gabriel Hrynick. 2021. The Archaeology of the Atlantic Northeast. University of Toronto Press.
• Lyman, R. Lee, Michael J. O'Brien, and Robert C. Dunnell. 1997. The Rise and Fall of Culture History. Plenum Press

Hit Piece

• Low, Kayla. 2026. Ceramics of the fisheries: an analysis of Breton coarse earthenwares in the North Atlantic from the 16th to the 19th centuries. MA Thesis, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland https://memorial.scholaris.ca/items/e88a78ed-5c64-4927-b337-d31b8788b082
• THE NB ARCH POD WILL BE LIVE IN CANMORE at the CAA ANNUAL MEETING!
  • When: Thursday, May 7th, 7:00-9:00 PM
  • Where: Grizzly Paw Pub, 622 8th Street https://share.google/36cC2wrjL8i2LdRKy
  • RSVP: https://canadianarchaeology.com/caa/annual-meeting/field-trips
  • Fundraising for the CAA Scholarship Fund: send us a screenshot or receipt of your donation of $25 or more to get an exclusive NB Arch Pod apron! https://canadianarchaeology.com/caa/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=17

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

This fortnight we’re joined by Dr. Madeleine McLeester for a special love potion themed Valentines day episode. So whether you need a “bagger” to seduce your crush or you’re wondering how to interpret that graffiti on the brothel wall, we’ve got just the V-Day programming you’ve been looking for. We also talk about medicinal plants and landscape knowledge. So put out the roses, pour yourself a nice glass of sparkling Covassier, put the roses in a vase, and remember the reason for the season.

Show Notes

• Paulette, Tate. 2024. In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford. ”https://global.oup.com/academic/product/in-the-land-of-ninkasi-9780197682449?cc=ca&lang=en&
• Seifert, Donna J. 1991. Within Site of the White House: The Archaeology of Working Women. Historical Archaeology 25(4):82-108.
• Seifert, Donna J., and Joseph Balicki. 2005. Mary Ann Hall’s House. Historical Archaeology 39, (1):59-73.

Hit Piece

• McLeester, M. 2026 “All Plants Are Medicine”: Historical Menominee Medicinal-Plant Collection Practices, Wisconsin, U.S.A.. Historical Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-025-00585-0

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

This fortnight, we're back from our winter recording hiatus to bring your an interview we recorded before the winter, but an intro and outro that's as fresh as the 90 km/h chinook winds. Gabe and Ken spoke to Kelley Berliner who is the Eastern Regional Director at The Archaeological Conservancy about what her job entails (everything from real estate to alien bunkers under a river), how the archaeological conservancy secures, protects, and preserves archaeological sites, and weighs in once again on the merits of Ohio.

Show Notes:

• The Archaeological Conservancy: https://www.thearchcons.org/
  • https://www.youtube.com/@TheArchaeologicalConservancy
• Amundsen-Meyer, L., et al. (2026). Canada has too few professional archeologists, and that has economic consequences. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.p5af3xtus
• Dave Leslie on cemetery GPR https://deathetseq.com/
• Madsen, D. B., Davis, L. G., Williams, T. J., Izuho, M., Iizuka, F. (2025). "Characterizing the American Upper Paleolithic." Sci Adv 11(43): eady9545. 10.1126/sciadv.ady9545

Credits:

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces: Justin Hoenke

This fortnight we’re traveling with the Northeastern Archaeological Survey van to Fort William Henry and Lake George New York for a recap of the 2025 Eastern States Archaeological Federation Meeting held in Lake George, New York in November of 2025. In addition to commentary from Gabe and his colleagues and students on the ride through the snowy Northeast, you’ll hear from...

• Linda Seminario (DNREC) on salvage archaeology and public archaeology
• Zac Singer (State of Maryland) on the MD Fluted Point Survey
• Emily Draicchio on Black Loyalists in NB
• Sydney Dufresne (Salve Regina) on Geophysics at Revolutionary War era sites in Newport, and
• Mandy Ranslow (ConnDOT).

And stay tuned! Next year’s meeting is in Connecticut.

ESAF: https://esaf-archeology.org/index.html

Credits

Sponsors: APANB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Producers: Emanuel Akel (Audio Engineer); Cody Pai (Video/Socials)

Music Credits: Intro/Outro (Remix): Emanuel Akel, Original Title/Hit Pieces:Justin Hoenke