Tides of History

Latest Episodes:

Megalithic Europe Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

It didn't take long for the first pioneering farmers of Europe to establish mature and stable societies. The monuments of these societies are still with us today: enormous earthen tombs and standing stones, silent reminders of a lost civilization.

If you'd like to see some pictures of the monuments I talk about in today's episode, check out the accompanying post here.

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The Neolithic Revolution: Europe's First Farmers Oct 01, 2020

Show notes

Farming came into existence in the Fertile Crescent, but it didn't stay there. By 5000 BC, agriculture had spread east and west, reaching both Central Asia and the Atlantic Ocean. But how did this happen? Did indigenous hunter-gatherers adopt farming, or did the farmers themselves move and bring their way of life with them?

If you'd like to see some visuals of the things we talk about in this episode, check out the accompanying post on Substack.

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How Did People Domesticate Animals? An Interview with Professor Greger Larson Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

The domestication of animals has transformed the way that people eat, clothe themselves, and live over the past 10,000 or so years, but what in the world does "domestication" even mean? How did this happen, and why did people start doing this? I talk with Professor Greger Larson of Oxford University about the genetics of animal domestication and how cutting-edge science is helping us answer these age-old questions.

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The First Farmers Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

The domestication of plants and animals has remade the way that people feed themselves, organize their societies, and interact with the landscapes around them. But for most of the human past, this isn't how people subsisted. When, where, and how did people start farming? And most importantly, why?

If you'd like to see some visuals of the things we talk about in this episode, check out the accompanying post on Substack.

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After the Ice: The Younger Dryas, the Mesolithic, and the Birth of a New World Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

For most of Homo sapiens' time out of Africa, we lived in a world defined by ice. But by around 20,000 years ago, the ice had begun to melt, the glaciers retreating back toward the poles and mountain ranges. This left behind a new world, a whole different series of environments, opportunities, and perils for the people who had made it through the Ice Age.

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How Should We Understand the Deep Human Past? Interview with Professor John Hawks Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

Professor John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the world's best communicators on the deep human past and paleoanthropology, joins me to talk about archaic humans, genomics, and whether the concept of different human species even makes sense these days. Check out his blog, which is an amazing resource, and follow him on Twitter.

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New Insights on the First Americans: Interview with Professor Jennifer Raff Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

Our understanding of the past is constantly in flux, and there's no field where that's clearer than with the early settlement of the Americas. I'm joined by Professor Jennifer Raff of the University of Kansas, an anthropological geneticist, to discuss the game-changing (or not?) recent work pushing back the date of first settlement to 30,000 years ago or more.

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Who Were the First Americans? Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

The Americas were the last continents Homo sapiens reached. Why did it take so long for people to enter this vast and promising expanse of land? Who were they, and where had they come from? In today's episode, we explore the latest - just days old! - science of the First Americans, and discover the descendants they've left behind even today.

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Trapped in Ice: The Paleolithic World Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

Twenty thousand years ago, the world was locked in ice. The glaciers advanced from the poles and mountain ranges, swallowing huge portions of the planet's surface and making the rest colder and drier, a more difficult place to live. Yet people nevertheless thrived, spreading out across the continents and creating some of the most incredible art in human history.

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Ancient DNA and the Human Story: Interview with Geneticist Eske Willerslev Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

Ancient DNA is the key that's unlocking the deep history of humanity, allowing us to answer questions about our collective past that we never dreamed of addressing even 20 years ago. Eske Willerslev is a pioneer in the field of extracting, sequencing, and analyzing the preserved DNA of people who lived thousands upon thousands of years ago; on top of that, he's a fascinating person with unique perspectives on how to understand the human past.

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