The Archaeology Iceberg Explained

I have returned from my four month long hiatus! I hope this 50 minute video makes up for it.
Today, we will explore some of the most bizarre and obscure stories and facts related to the field of archaeology. In this video, I talk about everything from mummies to Giant Aztec Snake statues to Sweet Potatoes to ancient Barbie dolls. I hope you enjoy and learn something new!

00:00 Introduction
00:44 Layer 1
05:28 Layer 2
09:36 Layer 3
15:39 Layer 4
23:17 Layer 5
30:36 The Schliemann Layer
33:49 Layer 7
41:24 Layer 8

Music licensed from Epidemic Sound

All copyrighted images belong to their respective owners. Most images were taken from the Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons licenses.

Special thanks to:
MajoraZ
Rome Wilson
Stefan Milosavljevich
Rafael Mena
Zotz
Dr. David S. Anderson

[notwhite]

I love how hilarious the “As per my previous tablet” entry is. You can just tell how mad the guy writing was. “The sesame is visibly dying” is fucking hilarious

[Fort]

Believing that Troy was real when nobody else did, seeing it as his life's mission, defying all odds to actually find it, only to single-handedly destroy it, ironically sounds like a Greek tragedy.

[phexchen]

My favorite archaeological factoid is the story of Ea Nasir. He was basically a babylonian con artist who sold shitty copper. We only know about him because - for some reason - he kept all the complaints people send him via stone tablets

[DeltaAsherHill]

Thanks for adding jazz instead of eerie music that usually get used for no reason.

[freeTeu]

Mesoamerican gigachad:
-invents the wheel
-only uses it in children's toys
-refuses to elaborate

[GustavoSory]

as a historian, one of the hardest things to cope in my profession was "so much has been lost". When I truly grasped how much was lost or just destroyed by the time I got depressed for a full week, 3 years later I still get depressed if I think too much about it

[legosaurg]

I like how Schliemann has his own layer, like none of the other topics want to be associated with him in any way.

[tinygrapes]

I recently took a class on Ancient Egyptian art and I knew that a lot of stuff would be lost, but what surprised me is how many new discoveries are still being found. Watching an archeologist tear up because she might have found evidence of Cleopatra's tomb made it hard for me to be too cynical about what hasn't survived, because there's still so much that did

[TheSlipperyNUwUdle]

The whole rich people eating mummies thing just fully solidifies my theory that rich people have always been weird.

[warriorboltz]

I think it’s weirdly wholesome to know that ancient people acted just like modern humans today. From cavemen making prehistoric animations to entertain themselves to people drawing dicks on things, placing (name) was here everywhere and the medieval boy doodling on his homework and drawing sketches of himself being scolded by his teacher. It’s super neat

[ryanbraud]

"So much has been lost."

This is the one thing ALL history nerds share and loathe regardless of what part of history we study.

[bendkok]

I have a story that is similar to the Caligula coffee table one. In the 90s/00s there was an effort by the Ibsen Museum in Oslo to recreate the last apartment that Henrik Ibsen lived in, and turn it into a museum. Most of the items there had been sold or given away, so a lot of effort was put into returning them. One thing in particular they struggled with was finding his bathtub. Eventually it was found on a random farm, where it was used as a water trough for the cows.

[edisonlima]

Some of those reminded me of Agatha Christie saying that royal artifacts are nice and all, but that the best archaeological findings are ordinary items from ordinary people, because they tell you how life at the time ACTUALLY was without the pomp and protocol, and you always ends up finding that, for the common folk, the day to day aspects of life are very often quite relatable.

[charlemagned]

As a classical art historian, just seeing the name Heinrich Schliemann coming up on the iceberg filled me with visceral rage. It's on sight in the afterlife

[xaviervasquez]

I work as a carpenter and I always write “xavier was here” somewhere where it can’t be seen when we’re framing I hope someone discovers them in 500 years

[stonebutch]

i remember i took an art history class in college that had schliemann’s “mask of Agamemnon” on the cover. when we learned about schliemann and the debated legitimacy of the mask, we were SHOCKED that it had somehow made it to the cover of our Art History Textbook 😭

[BPBegha]

I like how you can clearly hear Trey holding his laughter when he read the "as per my previous tablet" piece.
I love reading stuff like that, reminds us that even in ancient times people were still just regular people with regular issues.

[mamaharumi]

It's always bothered me how people think ancient humans were "primitive" and lacked intelligence. They were just as capable, no matter the time period. As one example - just take a look at the Mayan's zeolite water filtration and reservoir system in Tikal. It is impressive even by modern standards.

[corncockalot]

The worst part of archaeology is the more you learn the less you know, there will always be a plethora of information that is out of reach or lost during each era. So many questions that can never be answered.

[gwenchapman]

I saw something interesting about the painting of old statues. Somebody theorized that the recreations of their painting may not be fully accurate because the traces of paint that would survive would be from the base layer. They then showed how minifigures are painted and the base layers of paint often don’t show at all the complexity of the final product which is interesting