Episode 81: Firebringer (2016)

Today we’re making a sacrifice to the gods of the algorithm and reviewing an episode of Graham Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas (2024). To help carry this burden, we’re joined by Dr. Andrew Kinkella, who helps us evaluate claims about the ancient Maya in this series’ sixth episode. How did ancient people learn to count? How did they find out that the sun exists? It’s a real mystery.Check out Andrew Kinkella’s shows:The Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/pseudoThe CRM Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/crmarchpodcastKinkella Teaches Archaeology: https://www.youtube.com/@KinkellaTeachesArchaeologyGet in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Fingerprints of the Gods (1995) by Graham Hancock: https://ia803100.us.archive.org/8/items/fingerprintsofthegodsbygrahamhancock/Fingerprints%20of%20the%20Gods%20by%20Graham%20Hancock.pdfAtlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) by Ignatius Donnelly: https://archive.org/details/atlantisantedilu00donnuoftKukulkan/Quetzalcoatl: https://www.worldhistory.org/Kukulcan/Palenque: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/411/Palaeolithic Calendars: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_115How to track the solstices and equinoxes yourself: https://johnmuirlaws.com/sun-shadows-exploring-the-solstice-and-equinox/Milky Way Mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way_(mythology)Ayahuasca: https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/ayahuasca/The Mayan Numeral System: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymakermath4libarts/chapter/the-mayan-numeral-system/Serra da Paituna: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5173343/The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825211000262Flint Dibble livestream with Ken Feder for #RealArchaeology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEimOPN_pO8Homer Simpson deceptively edited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEGFaOeUm2A

Today we’re getting spooky with As Above, So Below (2014), the story of yet another unethical archaeologist who has no qualms about breaking into sites, vandalizing artifacts, and never documenting anything. Unlike most archaeological heroes, however, she is forced to atone for these sins by passing through the nine levels of Hell, à la Dante’s Inferno.Discover new #RealArchaeology podcasts, YouTube channels, and more at https://real-archaeology.com/Get in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Visit the Paris Catacombs: https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/enThe movie was actually filmed in the catacombs: https://ew.com/article/2014/08/28/as-above-so-below-dowdle/The real Nicolas Flamel was not an alchemist: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/cobbling-together-legend-nicolas-flamelDante’s Nine Circles of Hell: https://www.thoughtco.com/dantes-9-circles-of-hell-741539You can’t get a PhD in “Symbology”: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/09/in-the-dan-brown-books-robert-langdon-is-a-professor-of-religious-symbology-is-there-really-any-such-thing.htmlSemiotics: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/courses/BIB/semio2.htmThe Sedlec Ossuary: https://sedlecossuary.com/We ArE lIvInG iN a SiMuLaTiOn – R/sUpErStOnK kNoWs ThE tRuTh! https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q0m68d/so_uh_anyone_read_manly_p_hall_lucifer_equals_741/Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teachings of All Ages: http://www.themasonictrowel.com/books/hall_the_secret-teachings_of_all_ages/files/chapter_29.htm“It’s the Trevi Fountain! There can be no question!”: https://comb.io/iPRAQX

It’s October so we’re reviewing scary movies! Tár (2022) is the story of a groundbreaking orchestra conductor who... wait, that doesn’t sound right... Oh, I see, we actually watched Tar (2020), the story of a greasy prehistoric demon who emerges from the La Brea tar pits to haunt a small computer repair store. Well, Josh and Ross did – Kim messed up and watched the wrong movie, but we decided to spare her the ordeal and record the podcast anyway.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Tar (2020) on YouTube (with Sinhala subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5SN57t9OAAcademy Award Nominee Graham Greene as explosives expert Edgar Montrose on The Red Green Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPjeeoVMU0Predator Traps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_trapPredator fossils from La Brea: https://tarpits.org/research-collections/tar-pits-collectionsLa Brea Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMKptjhffrMOther tar pits: https://tarpits.org/tar-pits-worldHorses in the Americas: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/native-americans-spread-horses-through-the-west-earlier-than-thought-180981912/Matchee Manitou: https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/Matchi%20Manitou

Today we’re reviewing the Adam Driver vehicle 65 (2023), a story about humans fighting dinosaurs, except the humans aren’t really humans and the dinosaurs aren’t really dinosaurs. We talk about Triassic archosaurs, shrink-wrapped dinosaurs, and “dinosauroids”, and try to figure out who this film was meant for.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The tongue-eating louse: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048718433/the-tongue-eating-louse-does-exactly-what-its-name-suggestsTyrannosaurs claw: https://www.theprehistoricstore.com/products/tyrannosaurus-rex-life-size-thumb-claw-replicaVelociraptor claw: https://www.fossilcrates.com/products/velociraptor-killing-claw-and-artworkDinopedia’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/65Screen Rant’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://screenrant.com/65-movie-dinosaurs-species-list/Shrink-wrapping dinosaurs: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/tetrapod-zoology/dinosaurs-and-the-anti-shrink-wrapping-revolution/The Sixth Extinction (2014) by Elizabeth Kolbert: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062185/thesixthextinctionTimes when you know the most about dinosaurs: https://i.imgur.com/8I6sTZW.png65 Pitch Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwjddnNMcMThe Dinosauroid: https://tetzoo.com/blog/2021/8/30/dinosauroid-at-nearly-40-years-oldQuicksand on Mythbusters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhV-WpY24nE

When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong (1971) is an Italian sex comedy in which cave women of two warring tribes stage a sex strike until their cave men make peace. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a stone-age adaptation of the Ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes. It’s all Greek to us, so we’ve invited Dr. Sara Hales-Brittain and Sam Siegel of the Greeced Lightning podcast to help us understand the erotic chicken cosplay, glory-hole fish emasculation, and petroleum-based conversion therapy. You heard me.Listen to Greeced Lightning wherever you get your podcasts.Follow Greeced Lightning on Social Media:https://x.com/Greecedlightpodhttps://www.instagram.com/greecedlightningpod/https://bsky.app/profile/greecedlightning.bsky.socialWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/when-men-carried-clubs-and-women-played-ding-dongRead Lysistrata by Aristophanes: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7700/7700-h/7700-h.htmChi-Raq on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chi-raq-lysistrata/id1667396859?i=1000623681450Il Primo Re on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/il-primo-re-the-founding-of-rome/id1667396859?i=1000641708307Attila on SotSA: https://pasc-scpa.ca/sotsa/sotsa-e60“Spare me your space-age techno-babble, Attila the Hun!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aid8hBOGePw“Chickens don’t clap!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaS_WXQ9QK0Circummingo: https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/verb/1700/Petronius’ werewolf story: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0027%3Atext%3DSatyricon%3Asection%3D62Lingurium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LynguriumCrannogs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog

Dr. Advait Jukar, our first ever guest, returns for another crack at the Ice Age franchise. In The Meltdown (2006), we catch up with the world’s most famous computer-animated megafauna as they flee climate change, and a snake-oil salesman, and vultures, and Mesozoic monsters, and in the end it turns out the stakes were never really that high. But if you like long lists of scientific names for animals, then you’re in for a treat!Advait’s links:Florida Museum of Natural History: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/The Montbrook fossil site: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/montbrook/Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The Channeled Scablands: http://www.sevenwondersofwashingtonstate.com/the-channeled-scablands.htmlThe fan list of species we’re using in this episode: https://parody.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Species_in_Ice_Age_2:_The_MeltdownSloths:Megalonyx:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalonyxNothrotheriops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NothrotheriopsEremotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EremotheriumParamylodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParamylodonArmadillos:Dasypus bellus, the beautiful armadillo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasypus_bellusPampatheres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PampatheriidaeHolmesina (a genus of Pampathere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HolmesinaGlyptodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlyptodonSea Creatures:Huphesuchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HupehsuchusMetriorhynchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetriorhynchusDakosaurus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DakosaurusBrachauchenius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrachaucheniusGlobidens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobidensPacus: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/pacu-fish.htmElephants:Platybelodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlatybelodonParacerotherium, the inspiration for Star Wars’ ATAT: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-did-a-mega-mammal-inspire-star-wars/Aphanobelodon: https://www.deviantart.com/cisiopurple/art/Aphanobelodon-zhaoi-939120720Other animals:Megaloceras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalocerosProtoceratideae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtoceratidaeMacrauchenia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacraucheniaSerranía de la Lindosa cave art: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0496 Chalicotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChalicotheriumTylocephalonyx (dome-headed chalicothere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TylocephalonyxMylagaulidae (horned rodents): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MylagaulidaeBootherium (extinct Muskox): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BootheriumDodo (Raphuscucullatus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DodoThe only painting of a dodo from life? https://www.reddit.com/r/Naturewasmetal/comments/ts256f/the_dodos_true_coloursa_dodo_that_was_painted/Other dodo sketches from life: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228371340_The_history_of_the_Dodo_Raphus_cucullatus_and_the_penguin_of_MauritiusThe White Dodo: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/anh.2004.31.1.57New woolly rhino mummy: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/siberian-gold-miners-accidentally-find-ancient-woolly-rhino-mummy-with-horn-and-soft-tissues-still-intact

Today we’re joined by Seth Chagi of World of Paleoanthropology to review a stone age classic: Quest for Fire (1981) hits almost all the caveman movie tropes, but to be fair, it probably originated most of them. We talk about the origins of controlled use of fire, “conlangs”, and how this movie has become more scientifically accurate over time.Check out the World of Paleoanthropology:https://worldofpaleoanthropology.org/https://www.youtube.com/@worldofpaleoanthropologyWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Quest for Fire on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MV1H_bAt-ENonhuman ape sense of humour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJarjlRVZzYBonobos laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhlHx5ivGGkBonobo sex: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/Sabre-toothed cats’ coat patterns: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/laelaps/did-saber-cats-have-spotted-and-striped-coats/The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_ApeAnthony Burgess created the Ulam language: https://www.anthonyburgess.org/quest-for-fire/quest-for-language/Australian firehawks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zcJs16aZ5sWere there any human tribes who didn’t have the ability to start fire? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/872kfd/is_it_true_that_ther_arewere_isolated_peoples_who/

Today we’re reviewing the third movie in the Jurassic Park franchise with extra special returning guest and actual star of the film: Dr. Andrew Kinkella! He takes us behind the scenes of his breakout role as “Lecture Attendee #231” and reveals why he gave up his film aspirations to pursue a much more practical career in archaeology.Listen to Dr. Andrew Kinkella on the Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork... Kinkella Teaches Archaeology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaREZDSg-l3pOyu0AW3tfjAWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The strange saga of Spinosaurus: https://carnegiemnh.org/the-strange-saga-of-spinosaurus-the-semiaquatic-dinosaurian-superpredator/Spinosaurus, Baryonyx, and Suchomimus: https://www.sciencethatstuff.com/post/2018/03/01/spinosaurus-suchomimus-baryonyx-and-irritator-what-were-they-werent-they-all-just-the-samPteranodon means “Toothless Wing”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PteranodonVelociraptor had feathers: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/velociraptor-facts.htmlTyrannosaurus had lips: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t-rex-had-lips-that-concealed-its-teeth-study-says-180981914/The history of 3D printing: https://www.autodesk.com/design-make/articles/history-of-3d-printingEgyptian mummy voice reconstruction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Iok_QiE64Paleontologist Jack Horner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Horner_(paleontologist)

Ross is away today but undergrad student Zach Hoorman is filling in to help us review the first episode of It’s About Time (1966), a sitcom from the creator of Gilligan’s Island about two astronauts who accidentally “break the time barrier” and find themselves stranded one million years in the past. There’s not much real palaeoanthropology to talk about in this episode, so instead Josh does a poor job of explaining Einstein’s theory of special relativity.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch It’s About Time on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QguKIuhEiINeanderthal eyes and brains: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21759233Just-so stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_storyHair in the Palaeolithic: https://www.academia.edu/81780985/Bad_Hair_Days_in_the_Paleolithic_Modern_Re_Constructions_of_the_Cave_Man?f_ri=2403396Einstein’s theory of special relativity: https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.htmlThe speed of light on a train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVKFBaaL4uM1960s car crash songs: https://riffmagazine.com/mp3/rewind-20220122/

Firebringer (2016) is a musical play about the discovery of fire by a tribe of polyamourous, matriarchal ancient humans. They also invent stone tools, art, hunting—they pretty much hit all the classic caveman tropes, and even subvert some of them. The only problem is... it’s a musical.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Firebringer (2016) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVuNlu0LCkThe earliest controlled use of fire: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743299The oldest stone tools: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32804177Neanderthals hafted tools with birch tar: https://www.science.org/content/article/50000-year-old-tar-smeared-tool-shows-neanderthal-smartsThe oldest cave paintings: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap7778Divje Babe Neanderthal “flute”: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/holes-in-a-bone-flute-or-flukePalaeolithic Lithophones: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1985.tb00229.xHomo naledi: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.htmlEarly art at Blombos Cave: https://theconversation.com/south-africas-blombos-cave-is-home-to-the-earliest-drawing-by-a-human-103017Goog Enough on Twitter: https://x.com/goog_enoughSima de los Huesos: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-sima-hominins-an-ancient-human-cold-caseThe Mauer mandible: https://efossils.org/page/boneviewer/homo%20heidelbergensis/Mauer%201Bae et al. (2023) Moving away from “the Muddle in the Middle” toward solving the Chibanian puzzle: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.22011Roksandic et al. (2021) Resolving the “muddle in the middle”: The case for Homo bodoensis sp. nov. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21929The Middle Pleistocene was renamed to “Chibanian”: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chibanian-age-earths-newly-named-geological-period-180974224/