Season 6 Episode 10
(Episode 100)
We celebrate the 100th episode of The Folklore Podcast with special guest Mary-Ann Ochota who joins us to discuss the theme of folklore in the landscape. We cover archaeology, anthropology, the importance of communal spaces and much more.
Click here to visit Mary-Ann's website.
To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and The Folklore Library and Archive, please visit our Patreon page.
(Episode 100)
We celebrate the 100th episode of The Folklore Podcast with special guest Mary-Ann Ochota who joins us to discuss the theme of folklore in the landscape. We cover archaeology, anthropology, the importance of communal spaces and much more.
Click here to visit Mary-Ann's website.
To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and The Folklore Library and Archive, please visit our Patreon page.
Guest Biography
Mary-Ann Ochota is a broadcaster and author specialising in anthropology and archaeology.
Her television and radio credits include the Channel 4 cult series Time Team, BBC2’s Britain Afloat celebrating historic boats, and Mystic Britain, currently running on Smithsonian Channel, where she and Clive Anderson hunt down mysterious aspects of British archaeology, from prehistoric hill figures to Iron Age head cults and medieval witch marks.
Mary-Ann’s most recent book was published last year, Secret Britain: Unearthing Our Mysterious Past. It reveals 75 of Britain’s most intriguing sites and artefacts, from the famous – like Stonehenge or the Sutton Hoo ship burial – to the less well-known, like the prehistoric rock art of Ilkley Moor and sites revealing evidence of ancient mummification in the Outer Hebrides.
Mary-Ann’s previous book Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape, explores the historical features you can spot in the countryside around you, if you know what to look for – from Bronze Age burial mounds to medieval strip lynchets, holloways, ancient hedgerows and hall houses. It was shortlisted for Current Archaeology’s Book of the Year Award, and was selected by historian Tom Holland as a New Statesman Book of the Year.
Mary-Ann also performs archaeological storytelling shows with storyteller Jason Buck. They’ve developed a series of shows called ‘Secret Histories’, which take real-life artefacts and sites and then build stories that did – or could – have happened. They describe the shows as a meeting of art and science, drawing on famous tales, folklore and archaeological science to bring the past to life.
Mary-Ann is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a lifetime member of the Open Spaces Society, and a hiking ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council. She holds an MA from Cambridge University in Archaeology and Anthropology.
Mary-Ann Ochota is a broadcaster and author specialising in anthropology and archaeology.
Her television and radio credits include the Channel 4 cult series Time Team, BBC2’s Britain Afloat celebrating historic boats, and Mystic Britain, currently running on Smithsonian Channel, where she and Clive Anderson hunt down mysterious aspects of British archaeology, from prehistoric hill figures to Iron Age head cults and medieval witch marks.
Mary-Ann’s most recent book was published last year, Secret Britain: Unearthing Our Mysterious Past. It reveals 75 of Britain’s most intriguing sites and artefacts, from the famous – like Stonehenge or the Sutton Hoo ship burial – to the less well-known, like the prehistoric rock art of Ilkley Moor and sites revealing evidence of ancient mummification in the Outer Hebrides.
Mary-Ann’s previous book Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape, explores the historical features you can spot in the countryside around you, if you know what to look for – from Bronze Age burial mounds to medieval strip lynchets, holloways, ancient hedgerows and hall houses. It was shortlisted for Current Archaeology’s Book of the Year Award, and was selected by historian Tom Holland as a New Statesman Book of the Year.
Mary-Ann also performs archaeological storytelling shows with storyteller Jason Buck. They’ve developed a series of shows called ‘Secret Histories’, which take real-life artefacts and sites and then build stories that did – or could – have happened. They describe the shows as a meeting of art and science, drawing on famous tales, folklore and archaeological science to bring the past to life.
Mary-Ann is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a lifetime member of the Open Spaces Society, and a hiking ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council. She holds an MA from Cambridge University in Archaeology and Anthropology.