Thin End of the Wedge
Jon Taylor
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Top 10 Thin End of the Wedge Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Thin End of the Wedge episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Thin End of the Wedge for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Thin End of the Wedge episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
39. Saana Svärd: Digital Assyriology in Helsinki
Thin End of the Wedge
12/01/21 • 34 min
Saana introduces us to the Centre of Excellence in Helsinki. She explains the new tools her team is developing to help us understand the meaning of Akkadian words. How can they help cuneiform specialists? And how can they make cuneiform resources more accessible to other specialists?
3:45 The Centre of Excellence
6:38 team goals
11:44 what digital Akkadian tools can do
19:50 why two tools?
23:23 sources and consequences
26:29 what might the future hold?
ANEE: https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/projects/centre-of-excellence-in-ancient-near-eastern-empires
Saana's university page
Fear in Akkadian pdf
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
24. Ariane Thomas: a curator’s life at the Louvre
Thin End of the Wedge
04/13/21 • 40 min
The world’s first Assyrian museum opened in 1847 in Paris, at the Louvre. Since then, the Louvre has curated one of the most important collections of antiquities from the ancient Middle East. What is the modern approach to curation there? Ariane discusses the curatorial role, from displays, research, combatting illegal antiquities, heritage protection, and partnerships with colleagues and institutions in the Middle East.
2:29 what a curator at the Louvre does
4:12 display at the Louvre
12:28 how research fits in
15:50 acquisitions and combatting illegal antiquities
20:40 Louvre’s activities in the Middle East
25:50 about the department of Ancient Near Eastern Antiquities
30:01 what the future might hold at the Louvre
Ariane in the news: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Presse/Communiques-de-presse/Nomination-d-Ariane-Thomas-a-la-tete-du-departement-des-antiquites-orientales-du-musee-du-Louvre
On the Louvre website: https://www.louvre.fr/recherche-et-conservation/departement-des-antiquites-orientales
Louvre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MuseeLouvre
Louvre on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/louvre
ALIPH: https://www.aliph-foundation.org/
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
23. Heather Baker: Babylonian houses and housing
Thin End of the Wedge
03/24/21 • 30 min
Many of us have spent a lot of time at home this year. What would that have been like in ancient Babylon? Heather talks about housing in the first millennium BC. What were houses like, who lived in them, and how did they use them? She discusses what houses meant to Babylonians, and how they were split and reconstituted by the family.
2:34 where was housing in the city?
4:13 where did people want to live?
6:42 did houses have kerb appeal?
8:54 a typical house
12:17 how rooms were used
15:13 who lived in a typical house?
18:09 keeping a family home
22:04 what about water?
26:01 how did you find where someone lived?
https://www.nmc.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/heather-d-baker
https://hcommons.org/members/apkallatu/
https://utoronto.academia.edu/HeatherDBaker
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
12. Gojko Barjamovic: International trade
Thin End of the Wedge
12/09/20 • 35 min
Gojko reveals the amazing scale and scope of international trade in the ancient Middle East. And the incredible detail in which we can study it. The Assyrian trade network was not the exception we used to think it was. The traders’ business records document a system that has much to offer wider historical study.
2:39 what is trade?
5:10 about the Old Assyrian Colony Period
9:31 what the ancient archives tell us
12:49 was Assur normal or exceptional?
17:44 the significance of the scope and scale of the trade
21:52 who were these traders?
30:43 the relation between trade and political organisation
Academia: https://harvard.academia.edu/GojkoBarjamovic
University page: https://nelc.fas.harvard.edu/people/gojko-barjamovic
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube:
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
11. Carlos Gonçalves: The human face of Mesopotamian maths
Thin End of the Wedge
12/02/20 • 31 min
Carlos introduces us to the social setting of Mesopotamian maths. What form did maths take? Who used it and what for? Are Mesopotamian practices related to what we know from other ancient cultures, or from the modern world? Carlos explains how our understanding of Mesopotamian maths has changed over the years.
Academia: https://usp-br.academia.edu/CGon%C3%A7alves
2:19 about Mesopotamian maths
5:34 the oldest maths
10:10 connections to other ancient cultures, and to the modern world
14:57 how they wrote numbers
17:22 how Mesopotamians thought about numbers
23:51 changing modern understandings of Mesopotamian maths
28:42 Carlos' work
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WedgePod
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
10. Licia Romano: Death and Burial in Sumer
Thin End of the Wedge
11/24/20 • 29 min
Licia talks about her work at the Sumerian site of Abu Tbeirah in southern Iraq. She explains what the burials found there, and elsewhere in Iraq, tell us about the beliefs and practices of the Sumerians. Why are bodies oriented to the western horizon? And why are the heads sometimes missing?
2:25 about Abu Tbeirah
3:14 why excavate at Abu Tbeirah?
6:50 where were the dead buried?
14:56 the orientation of bodies
18:18 grave goods
21:10 after death
24:58 how burials are excavated
Academia: https://wwwuniroma1.academia.edu/LiciaRomano
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Licia_Romano
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbuTbeirah/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abu_tbeirah/?hl=en
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WedgePod
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
70. Simo Parpola and the State Archives of Assyria project
Thin End of the Wedge
10/11/24 • 29 min
This episode was recorded live at the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale conference held in Helsinki in July 2024.
Simo Parpola reflects on his long and momentous career. He explains how he became an assyriologist, and how he came to focus on the Assyrians. A key collaboration led to one of the most significant projects in assyriological history. What was it like to study large groups of tablets in the days before bulk digitisation? How did they identify so many joins remotely? Simo then discusses what has brought him satisfaction, and offers advice to younger scholars. He also explains what else he has dedicated his time to.
2:19 why assyriology?
4:38 why study the Assyrians?
7:49 origins of the project
12:24 early digital technology
13:33 joining fragments
17:17 looking back
19:04 dream finds
20:54 reaction to other projects
21:28 finding support for the project
23:32 combining traditional and innovative thinking
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
76. Tina Greenfield: Zooarchaeology in Mesopotamia
Thin End of the Wedge
05/14/25 • 45 min
Tina explains what animal teeth and bones can tell us about life in ancient Iraq. What did people eat? And what did those animals eat? How were flocks and herds managed? What does this tell us about status and economy? We learn what new strands of evidence are provided by scientific analyses.
3:12 about zooarchaeology
4:17 state of play
7:33 cow teeth and society
10:35 why the difference between texts and zooarchaeology?
14:43 feeding cattle
19:02 animal movement and management
26:13 how to get this information
32:06 stress in bones
37:15 how to learn
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
56. Nicholas Reid: The Big House
Thin End of the Wedge
06/29/23 • 30 min
Nicholas explains about imprisonment in ancient Iraq. Were there prisons? Who would be confined, how long for, and why? What would someone do in prison? And whose interest did confinement serve?
2:08 confinement in ancient Iraq
5:11 were there prisons?
7:45 why would you be confined?
8:53 for whose benefit?
10:01 the religious dimension
14:11 sources
15:29 life in confinement
18:15 labour in confinement
19:58 could you tell if someone was imprisoned?
21:17 jail terms
23:54 the longer historical picture
Nicholas's Academia page
Nicholas's book on prisons
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
48. Amanda Podany: A New History of the Ancient Near East
Thin End of the Wedge
10/05/22 • 39 min
How can 3000 years of history, documented by a mountain of sources, be surveyed clearly in a single book? Amanda tells us all about her new history of the ancient Middle East. Why did she use micro-histories? Who among the people in her book made the biggest impacts on her?
3:36 why micro-histories?
7:46 finding the non-elites
11:38 who did Amanda empathise with?
13:22 who did she feels sorry for?
16:56 who made her laugh?
19:40 whose story to tell?
21:43 history from limited data
26:11 writing a synthesis
30:26 why this book?
32:52 the author's hopes
Amanda's Academia page
Music by Ruba Hillawi
Website: http://wedgepod.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @wedge_pod
Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod
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FAQ
How many episodes does Thin End of the Wedge have?
Thin End of the Wedge currently has 78 episodes available.
What topics does Thin End of the Wedge cover?
The podcast is about History, Archaeology, Podcasts and Education.
What is the most popular episode on Thin End of the Wedge?
The episode title '66. Rune Rattenborg, Seraina Nett, Gustav Ryberg Smidt: Geomapping Cuneiform' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Thin End of the Wedge?
The average episode length on Thin End of the Wedge is 37 minutes.
How often are episodes of Thin End of the Wedge released?
Episodes of Thin End of the Wedge are typically released every 19 days, 18 hours.
When was the first episode of Thin End of the Wedge?
The first episode of Thin End of the Wedge was released on Sep 23, 2020.
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