What Did Ancient Egyptian Bread Taste Like? with Sam Kean

Part-Time Genius

iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Experimental archaeology is the science (and art!) of discovering what ancient worlds smelled, tasted, sounded, and felt like… a process that often involves going to some truly incredible lengths. Author Sam Kean stops by to recount his adventures researching his new book, Dinner with King Tut—from hurling stones with a 30’ tall catapult to modern mummification to an unfortunate incident involving a piece of urine-soaked salmon skin.

Buy Sam’s books: samkean.com

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Photo of the Coffin of Nesykhonsu by the Cleveland Museum of Art, via Unsplash. Thanks, CMA!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:04.4	The Stuff You Should Know guys have made their own summer playlist of their must listen podcasts on movies.
0:10.2	It's me, Josh, and I'd like to welcome you to the Stuff You Should Know summer movie playlist.
0:15.1	What Screams Summer?
0:16.1	More than a nice, darkened, air-conditioned theater, and a great movie playing right in front of you.
0:20.8	Episodes on James Bond, special effects, stunt men and women, disaster films. darkened air-conditioned theater and a great movie playing right in front of you.
0:27.5	Episodes on James Bond, special effects, stunt men and women, disaster films, even movies that change filmmaking, and many more.
0:34.3	Listen to the stuff you should know summer movie playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:39.7	Hey guys, it's Jeney, aka Cheekies from Cheekies and Chill Podcasts. And I'm bringing you an all new mini podcast series called Sincerely Jeanne.
0:44.2	Sure, I'm a singer, author, businesswoman, and podcaster, but at the end of the day, I am human.
0:50.0	And that's why I'm sharing my ups and downs with you in real time and on the go.
0:55.1	Listen to Jikis and Chill on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:02.9	Your entire identity has been fabricated.
1:06.2	Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace.
1:09.2	You discover the depths of your mother's illness. I'm Danny Shapiro,
1:12.8	and these are just a few of the powerful stories I'll be mining on our upcoming 12th season of
1:19.3	Family Secrets. We continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories.
1:26.8	Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:33.9	Summer's here, and with the kids home and off to camp, it's easy for moms to get lost in the shuffle.
1:38.4	On Good Mom's Bad Choices, we're making space to center ourselves with joy, rest, and pleasure.
1:43.5	Take the kids to camp.
1:44.9	You know what?
	...

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