About this episode
The episode explores the discovery of a tapir skull with bullet holes and the investigation that follows.
When a Smithsonian archaeology intern opened a dusty box of bones in a Panamanian warehouse, she didn't expect to find a mystery, let alone a potential crime scene. But Nina Hirai’s discovery of a tapir skull riddled with what appeared to be bullet holes sparked an investigation that would lead her several miles up the Panama Canal and nearly forty years into the past. Join us as we unspool the strange, unresolved story of a tapir named Alice, and ask what it means to live with uncertainty when the past refuses to explain itself. Guests: Nina Hirai, former archeology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Nicole Smith-Guzmán, archeology curator at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Ashley Sharpe , research archeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Aureliano Valencia (“Yeyo”), archeological research technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Phyllis (Lissy) Coley, professor emerita in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah and research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Monica Brenes Lynan , former veterinarian at Parque Municipal Summit in Panama Andres Ramos, lider de…
People in this episode
Guests: Nina Hirai, Nicole Smith-Guzmán, Ashley Sharpe, Aureliano Valencia, Phyllis (Lissy) Coley, Monica Brenes Lynan, Andres Ramos
Topics covered
- archaeology
- mystery
- crime scene
- tapir
- history
- uncertainty
Keywords
- tapir
- archaeology
- Panama
- mystery
- bullet holes
- Smithsonian
- history
- uncertainty
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Places: Panama, Panama Canal, Barro Colorado Island, Parque Municipal Summit
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