The Pit and Pod is the weekly blog of the Archaeology Podcast Network full of updates, news and opinion. Written by co-founder Tristan Boyle and special guest writers.

The Archaeology Podcast Network (ArchPodNet or APN) is the largest collection of podcasts dedicated to talking about the past is marking its 5th year with extra content each day in December, in addition to normal releases. The network, which launched in 2014 has increased in size from three shows to eleven active shows and 100s of back episodes.

Tristan Boyle, one of the co-founders explained: “the network has gone from strength to strength over the past few years, expanding and creating content for a diverse range of audiences.” It is not just for experts, “even though some of our shows are geared towards professionals, we have shows like the Archaeology Show and ArchaeoAnimals which are for general audiences.”

The APN will be looking back at their first five years and showcasing behind-the-scenes stories about how individual shows got started and how the hosts feel about being on the network. The hosts come from a variety of backgrounds and areas of study including zooarchaeology, Indigenous heritage, community archaeology, and more. Additionally, the hosts will be talking about how they bring their stories and skills into the podcasts they are part of.

The APN began with The CRM Archaeology Podcast, The Struggling Archaeologist's Guide to Getting Dirty and The Anarchaeologist Podcast when Tristan Boyle and Chris Webster teamed up to create a platform for voices in archaeology. "No one had tried to bring all these shows together before," said Chris, "by sharing resources and engaging with each other, we have been able to build up our content and make it available for a larger audience.”

The network is primarily member-funded and has tiered subscriptions for those who want to support it. The anniversary content, as with the regularly scheduled content, will all be available on archpodnet.com and through all good podcast apps, on the All Shows Feed, and on individual podcasts feeds.

Follow it all on #APN5 on Twitter

Please contact tristan@archaeologypodcastnetwork.com for more information.