Author Archives: prehistorypodcast

Over the last few weeks we have seen how humans and Neanderthals each lived in the Near East, how each was present in different areas, or in the same area at different times. This week humans move once again out of Africa and northwards across the Near East. Unlike in the Middle Palaeolithic, this timeContinue reading “Episode 6: Humans 2.0 and the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition”

After taking a look at Neanderthals last week, this week we take a look at how what we know about the lifestyles and habits of Middle Palaeolithic humans compares with what we know about Neanderthals. In comparison with Neanderthals, the evidence that humans buried their dead, that they may even have included grave goods inContinue reading “Episode 5: Middle Palaeolithic Humans in Arabia”

Today we have seen that much of what exists in the popular concept of Neanderthals – as dim, stooped, hairy and primitive – is largely down to a combination of Victorian period biases in how people viewed one another (and themselves) as well as an error made in the first reconstructions of Neanderthal skeletons. WhileContinue reading “Episode 4: Neanderthals”

About 215,000 years ago, Lower Palaeolithic of the Near East transitioned into the Middle Palaeolithic. The overall pattern of life which we saw in the Lower Palaeolithic – moving across the landscape hunting animals and gathering plants – has not changed as we move into the Middle Palaeolithic. However, enough has changed about people andContinue reading “Episode 3: Making the Middle Palaeolithic”

The archaeological record in the ancient Near East begins with the Lower Palaeolithic, when Homo erectus wandered out of Africa some time a little less than two million years ago and spread out across Europe and Asia. It is the evidence from the lives of these people which we have across the Near East thatContinue reading “Episode 2: the Lower Palaeolithic in the Near East”

The long road between our last common ancestor with apes and modern humans is a fascinating area of archaeological research. Many different species of ancient people have been found from the last seven million years, including both our ancestors as well as some more distant cousins. I hope that you enjoyed the short (ish) summaryContinue reading “Episode 1: People and humans, a family story”