[fundgruber]

Pine rhizome. Photo David Read

[roambarefoot]

Preserving birds at the Field Museum. Chicago, 2019

[shamashreshusur]

podcast about ancient mesopotamia

i just finished re-recorded episodes 1-10 of my podcast on the ancient near east, so there's never been a better time to start from the beginning!

come listen to me read ancient myths with my friends!!

SEASON 1: NEOLITHIC

1: Introduction & Natufian Syro-Palestine, 13000-9600 BCE (Atrahasis)

2: Göbekli Tepe & Early Neolithic cereal domestication, 9600-8000 BCE (Ninurta vs Asag)

3: Early Neolithic Upper Mesopotamia, 9600-7000 BCE (Telipinu)

4: Jericho & Early Neolithic Palestine, 9600-7000 BCE (Joshua, Jesus & Satan)

5: Early Neolithic Iran & livestock domestication, 8200-6500 BCE (Animal proverbs, Enkidu)

6: Çatalhöyük & Late Neolithic Anatolia, 7400-5500 BCE (Nergal & Ereshkigal)

7: Life, death, dinner parties, & the first pottery in Syria, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna, Enki, & Ereshkigal, part 1)

8: Gender, marriage, & property in Late Neolithic Syria, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna & Ereshkigal, part 2)

9: Late Neolithic daily life: farming, herding, cooking, weaving, & brewing, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna & Dumuzi, part 3)

10: Late Neolithic Iran & the Susiana plain, 6800-4700 BCE (Sumerian proverbs)

SEASON 2: CHALCOLITHIC

17: Tell Brak: Mesopotamia’s first city, 4500-3600 BCE (Antigone & the death of Enkidu)

18: The fall of Tell Brak & the Middle Uruk expansion, 3800-3400 BCE (Enmerkar vs Ensuhkeshdanna)

19: Late Uruk Iran & Uruk influence on Egypt, 3400-3100 BCE (Enmerkar & the lord of Aratta, part 1)

20: Late Uruk expansion outside Iran, 3400-3100 BCE (Enmerkar & the lord of Aratta, part 2)

22: Uruk environment & state formation, 3800-3100 BCE (Hoe vs Plow)

23: City-states in Late Uruk Mesopotamia, 3400-3100 BCE (Hymns to Inanna)

24: The invention of writing & the Late Uruk industrial revolution, 3400-3100 BCE (Babel & Nisaba)

26: Feasting in Late Uruk Mesopotamia, 3400-3100 BCE (Lugalbanda, part 1)

SEASON 3: EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD

31: Introduction to Early Dynastic Sumer (& the historical Gilgamesh), 2900-2350 BCE (Gilgamesh vs Huwawa)

32: Early Sumerians in Ur, 2900-2600 BCE (Gilgamesh vs the Bull of Heaven)

33: The golden age of Kish, 2900-2600 BCE (Gilgamesh vs Aga of Kish)

34: The Lower Diyala & the foundation of Mari, 2900-2600 BCE (Ningishzida’s journey to the nether world)

(i would recommend starting with either episode 1, 17, or 31)

[antlerbone]

big sky country

[antlerbone]

Mostly my job is other museum stuff but sometimes my job gets to be bugs

[vintagewildlife]

Eurasian lynx By: Karl Soffel From: Lebensbilder aus der Tierwelt 1908

[familiarfew]

[warcrimesimulator]

Common arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus lagopus) Dovrefjell National Park, Norway

Photos © Andy Trowbridge

[uzs-deactivated20241016]

[willowcrowned]

if you're feeling powerless right now—and god knows I am—here's a reminder you can donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds, the Trans Law Center, Gaza Soup Kitchen, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and hundreds of other charities that will work to mitigate the damage that has been and will continue to be inflicted

life continues. we still have the capacity to do good, important work. that matters

[warcrimesimulator]

Mountain Weasel (Mustela altaica)

📸 lesbectrotters, CC-BY-NC

[cosmonautlesbian]

gem samples

[russiawave]

Игорь Метельский

Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

[vintagewildlife]

Mountain lions By: Stephen J. Krasemann From: Getting to Know Nature's Children: Cougars 1985

[organicmatter]

Southern sea otter by gapowell

[tsalala]

Just a little cub spending time with dad. Photographed by Norman Watson.

[sacred-portal]