Unearthed: the Anthro Gossip Hour cover art

Unearthed: the Anthro Gossip Hour

Unearthed: the Anthro Gossip Hour

By: Tara and Claire
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Unearthed dishes the tea on the hidden drama of anthropological science. Join paleoanthropologist Claire and archaeologist Tara as they unravel the audacity of those who lie, steal, cheat, or otherwise scheme their way into some of history’s biggest discoveries. Along the way, they set the record straight, giving you the latest, most accurate insights on the scandalized stories that shaped our understanding of humanity.

Unearthed Anthro Pod 2025
Episodes
  • The German Scientist who Faked Fossils: Reiner Protsch

    The German Scientist who Faked Fossils: Reiner Protsch
    Nov 14 2025

    In our very first episode, we’re digging into one of anthropology’s wildest scandals – the rise and spectacular fall of Reiner Protsch, the German anthropologist who faked fossil dates, forged documents, and even tried to sell a university’s chimpanzee skull collection for cash. Protsch’s decades-long career unraveled after an embezzlement attempt exposed a tangled web of lies about his data, his credentials, and even his own identity.

    Join Tara (5th-year archaeology PhD student) and Claire (4th-year paleoanthropology PhD student) as they trace how Protsch’s fraudulent radiocarbon dates reshaped – and nearly rewrote – the story of Homo sapiens in Europe. Along the way, they unpack what this scandal reveals about data transparency in science, the lingering shadow of racialized archaeology in Germany, and how modern methods are setting the record straight on human evolution.

    💀 Fraud, fossils, and fake aristocracy – this one has it all.

    (Includes discussion of the Open Data Movement, early European H. sapiens finds, and the long-term consequences of scientific misconduct.)
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    53 mins
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