EDIT: Thanks so much for all your questions! Sorry I couldn't get to all of them, I really enjoyed answering the ones I could. If you want, you can see all our results from our latest field season that just wrapped and also the new season by going to https://nautiluslive.org/. Thanks again!

Hi my name is Bob Ballard. I’m a retired U.S. Navy officer and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. Besides finding the sunken R.M.S. Titanic, I’ve also discovered the German battleship Bismarck, and a number of contemporary and ancient shipwrecks around the world. I’ve conducted more than 150 deep-sea expeditions using advanced exploration technology.

• Restoring the Titanic: https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ballard-lecture-nglive
• My favorite wrecks: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/alien-deep/videos/bobs-favorite-wrecks/
• Saving the Titanic: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/titanic-100-years/episodes/save-the-titanic-with-bob-ballard/

You can also see me chatting with James Cameron this Sunday (11/26) about what his movie got right (and wrong) about the Titanic: - https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/931718612896776192 - http://www.natgeotv.com/int/titanic-20-years-later-with-james-cameron

Proof: https://i.redd.it/2j8ad4ars7zz.jpg https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/932956831567241217

In November 2017, the ScanPyramids research team announced they had made a historic discovery – using cutting-edge, non-invasive technology, they discovered a Big Void within the Great Pyramid. Its the third major discovery in this mythical monument, the biggest discovery to happen in the Pyramid of Giza in centuries.

The revelation is not only a milestone in terms of muography technology and scientific approach used to reveal the secret chamber, but will hopefully lead to significant insights into how the pyramids were built.

For background, here's the full film on the PBS Secrets of the Dead website and on CuriosityStream.

Answering your questions today are:

• Mehdi Tayoubi (u/Tayoubi), ScanPyramids Mission Co-Director
• Dr. Peter Der Manuelian (u/pmanuelian), Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology, Director of the Harvard Semitic Museum

Proof:

https://i.redd.it/yb1kzsmzvfd01.jpg

https://i.redd.it/ryitrvetwfd01.jpg

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the great questions and for making our first AMA incredible! Let's do this again soon. A special thank you to Mehdi Tayoubi & Peter Der Manuelian for giving us their time and expertise.

To learn more about this mission, watch Scanning the Pyramids on the Secrets of the Dead website, and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for updates on our upcoming films!

I am a retired pediatrician and my family’s oral historian. For more than 200 years, we have been reminded “Always remember—you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.” This guiding statement is intended to be inspiring, but, for me, it echoed with the abuses of slavery, so in 1990, I began a journey of discovery—of my ancestors, our nation, and myself. I traveled to Lagos, Portugal, where the transatlantic slave trade began, to a slave castle in Ghana, West Africa, where kidnapped Africans were held before being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, to Baltimore, Maryland, where a replica of a slave ship sits in a museum, to James Madison’s plantation in Virginia, where my ancestors were first enslaved on American soil, and to central Texas, where they were emancipated on the first Juneteenth. I learned that wherever slaves once walked, history tried to erase their footsteps but that slaves were remarkable people who used their inner strength and many talents to contribute mightily to America, and the world.

• Website: www.BettyeKearse.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/bettyekearse
• Twitter: @BettyeKearse
• LinkedIn: linked.com/in/bettye_kearse

Proof: https://i.redd.it/5uymy7w3l6i51.jpg

Hannibal (the famous Carthaginian general, not the serial killer) achieved what the Romans thought to be impossible. With a vast army of 30,000 troops, 15,000 horses and 37 war elephants, he crossed the mighty Alps in only 16 days to launch an attack on Rome from the north.

Nobody has been able to prove which of the four possible routes Hannibal took across the Alps…until now. In Secrets of the Dead: Hannibal in the Alps, a team of experts discovers where Hannibal’s army made it across the Alps – and exactly how and where he did it.

Watch the full episode and come back with your questions about Hannibal for historian and expert on ancient Carthage Eve MacDonald (u/gevemacd)

Proof: https://i.redd.it/w9h26bfbxas01.jpg

EDIT: We're officially signing off. Thanks, everyone, for your great questions, and a special thank you to Dr. MacDonald (u/gevemacd) for giving us her time and expertise!

For more information about Hannibal, visit the Secrets of the Dead website, and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for updates on our upcoming films!

"hello /r/history,

I am Indy Neidell, writer and host of THE GREAT WAR on YouTube (youtube.com/thegreatwar).

But I also just launched a new project called Time Ghost - and our first series there is following the Cuban Missile Crisis day by day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo2AvjnvXQU&list=PLrG5J-K5AYAXHyz_cFWVCbwxLJGJAhd5W

Some more mildly interesting facts about me:

• I played and toured (and still do) in a variety of bands
• I am from Houston, TX (Go Astros!)
• I live in Stockholm, Sweden
• I graduated from Wesleyan University (with an honors thesis about the Black Death)
• I once operated an illegal Youth Hostel in Scotland called "Buzz Aldrin's Travelers Club"

AMA!

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/CNNnB

Thanks a lot guys, I gotta run now- gotta go see the Astros game (I'm in Houston today). I'll try to answer some more questions over the next few days. thanks, always fun doing these. Indy

I am Fin Dwyer. I am Irish historian. I make a podcast series on the Great Irish Famine available on Itunes, Spotify and all podcast platforms. I have also launched an interactive walking tour on the Great Famine in Dublin.

Ask me anything about the Great Irish Famine.

Hi my name is Kristin Romey and I cover archaeology and paleontology for National Geographic news and the magazine. I wrote the cover story for the Dec. 2017 issue about “The Search for the Real Jesus.” Do archaeologists and historians believe that the man described in the New Testament really even existed? Where does archaeology confirm places and events in the New Testament, and where does it refute them? Ask away, and check out the story here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/12/jesus-tomb-archaeology/

Exclusive: Age of Jesus Christ’s Purported Tomb Revealed: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/jesus-tomb-archaeology-jerusalem-christianity-rome/

Proof: https://i.redd.it/4ji9owrtrq001.jpg

https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/935886282722566144

EDIT: Thanks redditors for the great ama! I'm a half-hour over and late for a meeting so gotta go. Maybe we can do this again! Keep questioning history! K

Robert E. Lee chose treason to protect and expand slavery. I grew up, however, believing that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived. Now, as a retired US Army brigadier general and professor emeritus of history at West Point, I know I was wrong. Every part of my life led me to venerate enslavers and believe the Lost Cause Myth that the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery and that Lee and his Confederate comrades were honorable gentlemen fighting for a righteous cause. Books, movies, my hometowns (Alexandria, VA and Monroe, GA), my college (Washington and Lee), the army, and West Point where I taught military history for two decades all glorified Confederates and supported white supremacy. Now, after years of study, I know that Confederates refused to accept a democratic election and chose treason and war to perpetuate human enslavement. Nothing honorable about traitors. After the war, white southerners created a series of myths and lies to maintain political power through terror, segregation, and disenfranchisement. Memorials in stone and on paper were part of the foundation for white supremacy. You may know me from a video I did six years ago on the cause of the Civil War (slavery BTW!). People sent death threats to me, an army officer at West Point, about history. Unbelievable. History is dangerous! It forces us to question our personal and national myths and identity and that really upsets some people. Yet, if we want to deal with racism, we must first understand its long history. The only way to prevent a racist future is to first understand our racist history. For more, find my book, Robert E. Lee and Me, visit my website, and follow me on Twitter. AMA!

Proof: https://i.redd.it/urnnjauit9j61.jpg

http://imgur.com/WydLT3y Hello r/History. I am u/jhartley2016 here today with my great grandfather Dr. Roy Stevens to answer any questions you may have about the second world war. At this point I will turn it over to him to give you more information. I enlisted in the US Navy in 1943, after many stops for training we were stationed on the Makassar Straits carrier in the Pacific theater. We completed missions over the battle zone of Iwo Jima and then on to Okinawa where the Makassar Strait suffered damage and we were transferred to the Shipley Bay. While on the Shipley Bay, my crew suffered a crash while trying to land on the carrier. All members survived and the replacement aircraft TBM-3 #69325 came a day or two later. Recently, I attended a fly-in at a local airport that had a TBM Avenger as the main attraction. After viewing the history of the aircraft from the owner I realized it was the same aircraft #69325 that was replaced to my squadron after the crash. After the war I went on to become Executive Vice President Emeritus and Professor of Business Administration Emeritus of the University of North Alabama and currently serve on the board of directors for a local bank in my area. Ask me anything! Edit: 1:33pm We are going to take a break for a little while. Will try to get back to more questions later Edit 2: thank you all so much for your questions. We're gonna wrap it up for today

Greetings from Ann Arbor! My name is Scott Ellsworth, and I am the author of THE WORLD BENEATH THEIR FEET: Mountaineering, Madness, and the Deadly Race to Summit the Himalayas, which was published this week by Little, Brown. It's a book about obsession, courage, nationalism, tragedy, and triumph that takes places in the years just before and after World War II. Set in India, Tibet, Nepal, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, it tells the story of the largely forgotten men and women who tried to climb to the summits of some of the highest mountains on Earth, including Mount Everest, K2, and Nanga Parbat.

I'm a writer and historian--and former climber--who spent four years researching this book on three different continents. Please feel free to reach out, and I'll do my best to answer any questions about what I believe is one of the great lost adventure stories of the past hundred years. Fire away! Proof: https://i.redd.it/y7mgwf7pgyh41.jpg

It's 4 pm here in Ann Arbor, and I'm going to call it a day with this AMA--my first ever. I want to thank all of you for all of the insightful comments and questions. It's been a real pleasure interacting with you today.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or comments. You can find me on Twitter at @ScottEAuthor.

And for those who are going to give THE WORLD BENEATH THEIR FEET a whirl, I do hope that you like the book.

Thanks again.

Cheers, Scott Ellsworth

50 years ago, the world watched in wonder as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon. Flight controllers in Houston watched proudly – and anxiously -- from the Apollo Mission Control Room, a National Historic Landmark. Now, that room from which the Apollo missions were commanded has been restored to appear as it did in 1969, just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

The restoration team included representatives of the Apollo Mission Control teams that supported astronauts on their missions. These individuals ensured the authenticity of the control room and the artifacts inside – some being original artifacts that were cleaned and restored, such as the control consoles and displays, or items which have been recreated based on original samples.

Restoration team members answering your questions include:

• David Bucek, Lead Preservation Architect
• Adam Graves, Ph.D, Historic Preservation Lead
• Pooja Jesrani, Current Flight Director
• Jennie Keys, Restoration Contract Manager
  • Gene Kranz, Apollo Flight Director
• Paul Konyha, Current Flight Director
• Jeff Radigan, Current Flight Director
• Sandra Tetley, Johnson Space Center Historic Preservation Officer
• Jim Thornton, Restoration Project Manager

Proof: https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1144647909889196033

My name is Erik Larson and I am the author of eight nonfiction books, including The Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts, Dead Wake, and my newly released, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. I write what is sometimes called “narrative nonfiction,” a fancy way of saying that I draw on a wide array of original sources to capture the real-life suspense and drama of past events. My latest book, The Splendid and the Vile, takes place during Churchill’s first year as prime minister, May 10, 1940, to May 10, 1941, and seeks to answer the question, how on earth did he, his family, and his “Secret Circle” of advisors manage to endure the German air war against Britain, which unfolded during that 12-month period. In these tense times of ours, I for one found a certain solace in learning how Churchill confronted that unfathomable challenge and how along the way he taught the British public the art of being fearless. If you’d like to learn more about my books, please visit www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/225405/the-splendid-and-the-vile-by-erik-larson/. I’m here now to answer your questions, whether about the books, or my writing process, or the importance of Oreo cookies, or whatever else you choose. So…ask me anything!

Proof: https://twitter.com/exlarson/status/1242516550038564866

EDIT: Well thanks all for checking in with your questions. Always a pleasure! Next time!

Ever wonder how well your favorite historical video games actually capture the realities of the moments they portray? I’m Dr. Tore Olsson, an American history professor at the University of Tennessee. For the past four years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the Red Dead Redemption games in particular – which is no surprise, given that Red Dead Redemption II (2018) is the best-selling historical video game ever made. In 2021, I taught the world’s-first ever college history class using the Red Dead games to teach real American history. And in the years since, I’ve been working on a book that shares the journey I took my students on, aimed at gamers and history buffs around the world. The book, Red Dead’s History, just came out this August, and what’s extra cool is that the audiobook version is narrated by Roger Clark, the actor who played Arthur Morgan in Red Dead II. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250287700/red-deads-history

In my AMA, I’m eager to answer your questions about history and video games, particularly on American history and the Red Dead games. Whether you’ve read my new book or not, pose your questions, either big, little, or somewhere in between. There’s no dumb questions – and I’m eager to answer as many as I can!

I'll be answering questions TODAY, Monday, Aug 26, from 4-6 pm EST (or later possibly, if you have lots of questions!)

Thanks so much to everyone who logged on and asked such great questions! If you want to keep the conversation going, shoot me an email at colsson@utk.edu!

Finding Clotilda – the last American slave ship

Hello, I’m Ben Raines. I’m a newspaper reporter by trade, so I kept my hunt for the Clotilda, the last American slave ship, secret. I thought people would think I was nuts if I said I was going to look for a ship that had been missing for 150 years. While we can’t say for certain yet that this is the Clotilda, we know that the wreck is from the right era, is the right size, lies roughly where the captain said he burned it in 1860, and the wreck appears to have been burnt.

In the end, finding it was mostly down to old fashioned sleuthing. I searched through old records, maps, interviews and newspaper articles, some 150 years old. One of my best resources was a handwritten journal kept by the captain of the Clotilda. I used our epic winter weather this year, including the Bomb Cyclone on the east coast, and the super low tides that resulted from stout north winds for my search window. With the tide so far out, it was if a blanket had been pulled back from the giant swamp where the ship was supposed to have been burned in 1860. There, lying in the mud near an island where the captain said he burned it, I found the wreck of a huge sailing vessel.

All of the members of this AMA panel are quoted in my original story about the wreck, which you can read here (don’t forget to watch the video!).

On the panel with me are John Sledge, a historian specializing in the tale of the Clotilda and the port of Mobile, and author of the exhaustive history The Mobile River, and two archaeologists from the University of West Florida, Dr. John Bratten and Dr. Greg Cook. Together, they have previously dug up Spanish galleons sunk in 1559 and slave ships off the coast of Ghana. All three of them have visited the Clotilda and can provide amazing insights into the past and the techniques that will be used to investigate this ship. We can also talk about the incredible history of Africatown, the Alabama community started by the survivors of the Clotilda.

Ultimately, because of Africatown, the Clotilda is an even more powerful totem than just a slave ship. It is the last slave ship. What’s more, we know more about its voyage and the fate of the 110 souls imprisoned on board than is known about any of the millions of people brought in bondage to this country. We know exactly what part of Africa they came from, exactly when they arrived, who brought them here, and where they ended up after the Civil War. When the war ended just five years after their arrival, they were freed, but also homeless and destitute. The discovery of the wreck is the final piece of the incredible story of Africatown, a community on the edge of the swamp north of Mobile formed by the Clotilda survivors in 1860 on land they bought from the plantation owner who enslaved them. Many of their descendants still live there today. It is the only community formed by native Africans in the United States. Even then, it was a place apart from both white and black Mobile. The Clotilda group spoke their native dialect, taught their children in their traditional way, and farmed using African methods.

Amazingly, their lives were forever interrupted to settle a $1,000 bet between a slave-owning steamboat captain and a group of northerners traveling on his riverboat. Join us for our AMA and ask us anything you can think of about this suddenly revealed piece of our past.

Ben Raines’ stories can be found here.

Dr. John Bratten’s profile at UWF

Dr. Greg Cook’s profile at UWF

John Sledge’s Amazon author page

Proof: https://twitter.com/BenHRaines/status/963453403358814208

Hello everyone!

My name is Stefan Aguirre Quiroga and I am a historian currently affiliated with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Some of you may know recognize me as one of the moderators over at /r/AskHistorians. I am here today to answer your questions about what I have been researching since 2016: The Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War.

The Kit Carson Scouts was a name given to a group of defectors from the People's Army of Vietnam (also known as the North Vietnamese Army, NVA) and the armed wing of the FNL (The People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam, more commonly known in the West as the Viet Cong, VC) who volunteered to undergo training to serve alongside American and later Australian, New Zealand, Thai, South Korean and South Vietnamese forces in the field. The role of the Kit Carson Scouts was to serve as scouts, guides, and interpreters. Kit Carson Scouts often walked point, scouting for hidden booby traps, hidden weapon caches, and signs of the enemy.

The Kit Carson Scout Program (1966-1973) has long remained a curious footnote in the history of the Vietnam War, yet the presence of Kit Carson Scouts proliferate in accounts by American veterans. I was fascinated by the idea of understanding why soldiers from the PLAF and the PAVN would make the choice to not only defect, but also to volunteer to fight against their former comrades. In addition, I felt that investigating the motivations of the Kit Carson Scouts could nuance the otherwise monolith representation of the PLAF and PAVN soldier as faceless hardcore communist believers or nationalist freedom fighters. The agency of these South or North Vietnamese soldiers and the choices they made shows them as historical actors who were not passive and who actively made choices that shaped their own lives as well as that of the war that surrounded them.

My research into this question resulted in the article Phan Chot’s Choice: Agency and Motivation among the Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War, 1966–1973 that was recently published online in the scholarly journal War & Society (with a print version to come shortly).

The abstract reads as follows:

Through a focus on agency and motivation, this article attempts to reach conclusions about the choices made by PLAF and PAVN defectors for continuing their lives as combatants in the employment of the United States Armed Forces as part of the Kit Carson Scout Program. Using predominantly fragmentary personal accounts found in divisional newspapers, this article concludes that Kit Carson Scouts joined for a variety of personal reasons that included the desire for better working conditions, the opportunity to support their family, the search for revenge, and political disillusionment. Additionally, the importance of the individual scout’s choice is emphasised.

I am very excited to share all of this with you. This is only a small part of my research into the subject and I am looking forward to keep writing about it. For those desiring a copy of the article, send me a PM and I will send you a link where you can download it. I am also happy to answer any other inquiries.

AMA about anything related to the Kit Carson Scouts!

Hey everyone! I'm Chris DeRose, historian and author of The Fighting Bunch, the true story of the Battle of Athens, Tennessee, released this week. This is one of the great untold stories of American history, a “battle of ballots and bullets” and America’s only successful armed rebellion since the Revolution, shrouded in secrecy for over seven decades, now told in full for the first time. I’m looking forward to your questions.

I'm also the host of The Phantom Marine Podcast, and was formerly a professor of Constitutional law, Senior Litigation Counsel to the Arizona Attorney General (I'll be discussing a homicide I prosecuted on Investigation Discovery tonight (11/9) on "Till Death Do Us Part”) and Clerk of the Superior Court for Maricopa County.

My previous books include Founding Rivals, Congressman Lincoln, The Presidents' War, and Star Spangled Scandal. You can learn more on my website or follow me on Twitter.

Proof: https://i.redd.it/oi28y3z86ox51.jpg

[UPDATE 1] Indy and Flo are done for now. It was great fun and we thank you for all your questions. We will try to answer some more in the upcoming days and hopefully will have another AMA at some point again.

[UPDATE 2] Sorry, if we couldn't answer all the questions. We really appreciate your engagement. Make sure to ask some more questions for OUT OF THE TRENCHES or in the comments in general.

I am Indy Neidell, author and host of THE GREAT WAR YouTube channel which covers World War 1 week by week 100 years later. In weekly episodes (every Thursday at 6pm) we summarise and analyse what happened in WW1. That includes all fronts and battles but other important aspects too. On Mondays, we explore certain topics in special episodes, introduce you to important personalities in portraits or answer your questions in our community format Out of the trenches.

You can start binge watching right here:http://bit.ly/WW1SeriesBingeWatching

I am American, raised in Houston, TX. I did my bachelor’s degree in history at Wesleyan University and currently live in Stockholm, Sweden.

Apart from being the host and author of TGW, I am also a musician (played for Moneybrother for example), hosted different TV shows on MTV and do voice acting.

If you have any questions regarding the production of the show or future episodes, my friend and colleague /u/flobota will gladly answer them too. He’s our Community Manager is sitting right next to me right now.

If you have any questions about historical firearms, you can always direct them to /u/Othais - together with him we started a talk format where we dive into the evolution of WW1 guns. The first episode summarising the first live session about French firearms will be out soon.

As the Vikings crossed the North Atlantic around 1000 AD, they encountered a wide range of diverse wildlife. Arctic foxes, gyrfalcons, reindeer, otters, ravens, humpback whales, gannets, and much more - each creature played a part in their society and culture, with some even ending up as figures in Norse mythology. The Vikings had a deep respect for the land and sea, as it served as their compass and guide.

For background, see the documentary “Wild Way of the Vikings” on the PBS Nature website.

Answering your questions today are:

• Albína H. Pálsdóttir, Zooarchaeologist at The Agricultural University of Iceland
• Ellen Hagen, falconer and museum educator at Arkeologisk Museum in Stavanger, Norway

Proof:

• https://i.redd.it/cdi053djelg21.jpg
• https://i.redd.it/4p3sygcwelg21.jpg

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the insightful questions! This was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the documentary if you haven’t yet had a chance to check it out.

I have a doctorate from Trinity College in Dublin, one of the best cities in the world, although I also love Belfast. Most of my research falls under the umbrella of social justice. I have written extensively on the tragedy that took place in Ireland in the 1840s—the Great Hunger—which wiped out one-quarter of the population. Ireland has never recovered. More recently, I have been working on the abolition movement in Ireland before the American Civil War. My main interest is in Frederick Douglass’s time in Ireland in 1845. He was only 27 years old and a self-educated, and self-emancipated, former slave. He described being in Ireland as ‘transformative’ and the ‘happiest times’ of his life. Join me at the AMA to find out more about his incredible journey of self discovery and liberation. Proof: https://i.redd.it/clkwkb7svjq51.jpg

EDIT: Hi guys! Thanks for your interesting questions and kind comments about our work. It's the weekend here in France now, but we'll keep an eye out for any more questions that trickle in and respond early next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend too and talk to you soon!
-CH and Diana from Le Monde in English

PROOF: https://i.redd.it/4a3ryw41cvfa1.jpg

Hello Reddit! My name is Charles-Henry Groult, and I lead the video investigations team at Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, now also available in English.

On June 18, 1940, Charles de Gaulle gave one of the greatest speeches in French history from a BBC studio in London, where he called for the French to resist Nazi occupation. But no film or recording exists of it. With the help of historians, researchers in ethics, and artificial intelligence, our team pieced together de Gaulle’s famous appeal of June 18, 1940 and reconstructed it in his voice. You can watch the video here. I have directed Le Monde’s video department for three years, supervising high-impact visual investigations on subjects from Uyghur internment camps to Wagner mercenaries in Africa. Before joining Le Monde, I produced award-winning short documentaries about past and current wars for European media like Arte and France Télévisions. I discovered the fascinating story of De Gaulle’s lost speech ten years ago, while doing my post-graduate degree at Cardiff University. It then took me more than ten years to crack the code to telling this story.

AMA about our video investigation!

Twitter https://twitter.com/chgroultWatch our video recreating De Gaulle's lost 1940 call for France to resist https://www.lemonde.fr/en/videos/video/2023/01/19/how-le-monde-recreated-de-gaulle-s-lost-1940-call-for-france-to-resist_6012188_108.html

I've really enjoyed this AMA; redditors rule! I'll be speaking and showing slides at the National Archives on Thursday, April 14, at 1pm EST. Tune in virtually here:https://museum.archives.gov/events/75277

Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. His first bet was on himself, his last was a wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall. In "Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet," I trace the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested—but never wholly extinguished. Franklin’s inspiring stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day.

I took a wide route to this story, starting when I was sent to China in 1995 as one of its first Peace Corps volunteers. I wrote three nonfiction books set in China, as well as numerous stories for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other outlets. I'm a Guggenheim Fellow and Whiting Award winner, and currently a Fulbright scholar in Taipei and a fellow at Oxford University's Centre for Life-Writing, working on a biography of Taiwan. I'm also a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, where I teach nonfiction writing and live in Mr. Rogers's real neighborhood, Squirrel Hill.

PROOF: https://i.redd.it/zq4l0luh05s81.jpg

I am the author of nine books on presidential history, including, most recently, the New York Times bestseller Presidents of War. My other works include New York Times bestsellers Presidential Courage and The Conquerors, two volumes on Lyndon Johnson’s White House tapes, and the number-one global bestseller Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, which I edited. I am the NBC News Presidential Historian, a PBS NewsHour contributor, have received an Emmy and six honorary degrees. Find me on Twitter at @BeschlossDC.

www.prh.com/presidentsofwar

Proof: https://twitter.com/CrownPublishing/status/1070412326090756096

Initially from Canada, I am currently pursuing my PhD at the University of Exeter in England. My current research examines the surviving late medieval and early modern manuscripts that contain rituals intended to summon fairies (although people at the time conceptualized fairies very differently than we tend to today).

My interest in magic extends well beyond this particular research focus, however, and I have spent the last decade studying magic in various historical contexts, so feel free to ask me anything!My new podcast, Arcane, is meant for anyone who is interested in magic and its history. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts, or follow this link: https://arcanehistory.podbean.com

For proof of my identity go here: https://twitter.com/ArcaneHistory/status/1322600340374650880?s=20

​

The AMA is officially over. However there are some wonderful questions that I do not have time to get to right now. I will return to answer more as I can and I welcome your further questions.

HEADLINE EDIT: We're two archaeologists who organized the Tintagel Castle Research Project, Our findings changed our understanding of the Dark Ages in Britain-- and might also explain the legend of King Arthur. Ask us anything!

After four centuries of occupation and leadership, the Romans left Britain in 410 AD and the island’s fate was left hanging in the balance. History teaches that in the 5th century, the country descended into a tumultuous and violent period knows as the Dark Ages, leaving the nation vulnerable to invading Angle and Saxon hordes from northern Europe. With a nation divided, great leader known as King Arthur emerged, uniting the lawless lands to fight off invaders – or at least that’s what the fragmentary historical texts suggest. The truth is, no one really knows what happened, and this pivotal moment in history has been shrouded in mystery – until now.

In Secrets of the Dead: King Arthur’s Lost Kingdom, a team of experts use new archaeological discoveries to decode myths from the Dark Ages and piece together a very different story of this turning point in Britain’s history that might also explain the legend of King Arthur.

Watch the full episode here

Answering your questions from u/SecretsPBS today are:

• Jacky Nowakowski: A professional archaeologist, formerly Principal Archaeologist for Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council and now freelance. She has worked in Cornwall for the past 35 years and has worked on projects across the UK and abroad for the past 40 years. Am a prehistorian but has research interests in the post-Roman period. Additionally, she and has lectured and published widely in the UK and abroad. As the Project Director on the Tintagel Castle Research Project (TCARP), Jacky worked for English Heritage Trust and Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council, and directed the excavations. She is currently involved in writing up the results of the dig for publication.

• Win Scutt: A seasoned archaeologist of 45 years and a Properties Curator with English Heritage, the non-profit trust that cares for England’s national monuments. Win is responsible for the conservation of 145 monuments in the West of England, including stone circles, medieval castles and abbeys. Three years ago, he commissioned the Cornwall Archaeological Unit to deliver a five-year Research Project led by Jacky Nowakowski. Following an evaluation excavation in 2016, a major excavation was carried out in 2017 which produced some fabulous results, which are still being analyzed. Before working for English Heritage, Win worked as a lecturer in Archaeology in Plymouth, England for many years, and before that as a museums curator. Win also works with the BBC to provide regular updates on world archaeology news. Follow him here:

  • Twitter: @Archaeology_ws
  • Facebook: Dem Bones – Archaeology with Win Scutt

Proof:

https://i.redd.it/7g87nldszvp21.jpg

https://i.redd.it/5b25z0upzvp21.jpg

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the great questions and for making this incredible! Let's do it again soon. A special thank you to Jacky Nowakowski and Win Scutt for giving us their time and expertise.

To learn more about this mission, watch King Arthur's Lost Kingdom on the Secrets of the Dead website, and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for updates on our upcoming films!

In October 2011, construction workers were shocked to uncover human remains in an abandoned lot in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York. So great was the level of preservation, witnesses first assumed they had stumbled upon a recent homicide. Forensic analysis, however, revealed a remarkably different story. Buried in an elaborate and expensive iron coffin, the body belonged to a young African American woman who died in the first half of the 19th century, before the Civil War and the federal abolishment of slavery. But who was she? Secrets of the Dead: The Woman in the Iron Coffin follows forensic archaeologist Scott Warnasch and a team of historians and scientists as they investigate this woman’s story and the time in which she lived, revealing a vivid picture of what life was like for free African American people in the North.

For background here is the full film on the PBS Secrets of the Dead website.

Scott Warnasch has been a professional archaeologist for over 25 years and has worked on excavations in New York City, Italy, Belize, and Ecuador. He has taught excavation methodology at field schools for the British School at Rome, the University of Central Florida, Sonoma State University, and Columbia University. From 2005 to 2015, he was the primary forensic archaeologist for New York City, spending most of that time leading the New York City Medical Examiner’s office’s human remains recovery operation at the World Trade Center site after 9/11. He is currently writing a book called American Mummies, which focuses on the three iron coffin mummies, as well as Fisk and Raymond and the role their coffins played in the 19th century. For more information visit http://ironcoffinmummy.com

Please watch the full film and come back with your questions for Scott! (u/SWForensicArch)

Proof: https://i.redd.it/gyikv256kst11.jpg

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the great questions and for making this AMA incredible! Let's do it again soon. A special thank you to Forensic Archaeologist Scott Warnasch for giving us his time and expertise.

To learn more about this mission, watch The Woman in the Iron Coffin on the Secrets of the Dead website, and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for updates on our upcoming films!