Welcome back to the Dirt Diaries! I am raising this episode from the grave (2025) and relaunching it for you all as I continue healing. It's perfect for October, as we are talking about ancient curses from the heart of Athens. Who was cursed? What did they inflict? And what does this tell us about the people in ancient Athens?-Stay curiousTravel with me, my socials, and more!https://beacons.ai/dirtdiaries.tenn

Welcome back to the Dirt Diaries! Now that we are in October, it's time to talk about some graves the media has termed "vampire burials." Did the Greco-Romans have vampires?

What do these graves tell us about their communities, superstitions, and magical practices? And... should we call them deviant burials instead?

We're also talking about the restless dead: who they were, why they were restless, and who led them! Yes, we will chat briefly about Hekate herself!

Grab some nails, an iron sword, an offering, and crack open your books for this one!

- Stay curious.

Travel with me, my socials, and more!

https://beacons.ai/dirtdiaries.tenn

For more on the Sagalassos finds and the Polish "anti-vampire" burial, see:

Claeys J, Van de Vijver K, Marinova E, Cleymans S, Degryse P, Poblome J. Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos. Antiquity. 2023;97(391):158-175. doi:10.15184/aqy.2022.171

Poliński, D., Zagrodzka, M., Grzybowski, T., Borrini, M., Lynch, P. A., Cybulska, M., … Czyżewski, Ł. (2026). A unique, non-normative burial of a young adult female from a 17th-century cemetery in Pień, north-central Poland. A multidisciplinary approach. Journal of Archaeological Science, Reports, 74(105967), 105967. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105967

Welcome back to the Dirt Diaries! We are staying in Pompeii this week as we look at what may be the last offering left before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. And new studies also show that the eruption wasn't the only thing going on!

But while reports have always stated the eruption occurred on August 24, 79, is that true? Well, a charcoal finding may change that!For this, I'm bringing in the help of a professional, Dr. Caitie Barrett, an archaeologist whose focus highlights the everyday lives of people and the cross-cultural exchange between Egypt and the larger Greco-Roman world. She currently serves as co-director of the Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project, a joint Italian/American excavation project at the site of Pompeii. As a National Geographic Explorer, she hopes to capture the profound human aspects of Pompeii before the eruption, as seen in National Geographic's series Pompeii: Out of Time, streaming now.

For more from Dr. Barrett, follow her on Instagram: @caitie_barrett

Check out her National Geographic Explorer page: https://explorers.nationalgeographic.org/directory/caitie-barrett

For more on her project she is co-directing: https://blogs.cornell.edu/crcpompeii/

See her in action now on Pompeii: Out of Time, streaming now.

-Stay curious

Travel with me, my socials, and more!

https://beacons.ai/dirtdiaries.tenn