Encore of 100 Years Later: Role of Innovative Technologies and Archaeology in the Unraveling of the Titanic’s History
April 22, 2015
Hosted by Dr. Joseph Schuldenrein
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Guest Information
Episode Description
This week’s episode is dedicated to one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, which fascinates millions around the world to this day – 100th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking. Its maiden journey to the New World was designed as state-of-the-art technological seafaring vessel believed to be unsinkable. However, harsh reality and human arrogance not only took lives of thousands of passengers, but it casted doubt on the infallibility of technological progress, which gave us airplanes, motor cars, and mass communication. Our special guest, bestselling author and historian Hampton Sides, who contributed an article to National Geographic Magazine’s April issue, dedicated to the tragedy, will embark us on a journey of the emerging story of Titanic from the time of its discovery by Robert Ballard in 1985 through recent discoveries made by underwater archaeology and innovative remote sensing techniques, and examine how these discoveries revise the existing interpretations of the wreck.
Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality and 21st Century Archaeology
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
This show targets an audience interested in archaeology. It explores myths surrounding this exotic, often misunderstood field and acquaints listeners with the contemporary practice of unearthing the human past. Themes range from Dr. Schuldenrein’s own “Indiana Jones”-like adventures in the land of the Bible to his team’s archaeological forensics effort to unearth Kurdish mass graves in Iraq. That undertaking helped convict Saddam Hussein in 2006. Topical issues contribute to the evolution vs. creationism controversy based on updated fossil records and innovative DNA studies. An episode highlights the main funding source for archaeology in the U.S. (Hint: the oil and gas industry). Experts reveal the latest high-tech approaches to buried archaeological landscapes that provide clues to understanding climate change, past, present and future.
Dr. Joseph Schuldenrein
Joseph Schuldenrein is president and senior scientist of Geoarcheology Research Associates (GRA) in Yonkers, New York. He has been a Visiting Scholar at New York University since 1996. His professional expertise is in geoarchaeology, a sub-discipline that introduces earth science techniques to traditional archaeological excavation. Joe has worked extensively across North America and the Old World. He received his doctorate in 1983 at the University of Chicago. Recent research in North America has concentrated on the urban archaeology of New York City and Native American landscapes of the Atlantic Coast. Joe’s projects in South Asia have ranged from Human Origins investigations to the beginnings of civilization of the Indus Valley. During the Iraq war Dr. Schuldenrein’s team helped direct a forensic archaeological mission in support of the Saddam Hussein prosecution. His newest venture is an assessment of Cultural Heritage Sites in war-torn Afghanistan (2011). Dr. Schuldenrein publishes widely in numerous archaeological and geological journals. He is a reviewer for American Antiquity, Geoarchaeology, and Quaternary Science Reviews. He has acted as Principal Investigator or Consulting Scientist for grants awarded by the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory. Dr. Schuldenrein has been interviewed for PBS, as well as national and regional TV and radio outlets over the past 30 years.
