Our Prehistory

28,600 to 17,700 years ago ... Global cooling altered the ecosystems of Sahul and forced its human populations to adapt. 

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50,000 to 12,000 ... Prehistoric paintings and engravings provide insights into the rituals, technology, and worldviews of Australians, tens of thousands of years ago.

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50,000 to 30,000 years ago ... Isolated from people on other continents, the oldest traditions of Sahulians evolved along a unique cultural pathway.

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65,000 to 40,000 years ago ... By crossing the ocean between Asia and the coasts of New Guinea and Australia, Homo sapiens dispersed to and colonized a third continent.

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48,000 to 11,000 years ago ... Long term trends reveal dramatic changes in social complexity and the impact of climate, population size, and migration on cultural variation.

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12,850 to 11,670 years ago ... The last gasp of the Ice Age led people across northern Europe to adopt a different way of life, one that resembled the customs of long lost cultures. Cultures: Swiderian, Ahrensburgian, Desnenian, Bromme, Laborian.

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12,850 to 11,670 years ago ... In the Mediterranean Basin of Europe, the resilience of stone age societies was on display during the last gasp of the Ice Age. 

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14,700 to 12,800 years ago ... A dramatically warmer world and the proliferation of woodlands led people in Europe to a radically different way of life. Some groups thrived, other societies crumbled. Cultures: Azilian, Federmesser, Epimagdalenian, and Late Epigravettian.

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19,000 to 15,000 years ago ... Among the cultures of eastern and southern Europe that came after the Last Glacial Maximum, the Mezinian of the Dnieper River basin left behind the most diverse set of remains. Also, a new genetic lineage appeared in Italy.

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The final 2,000 years of the Magdalenian culture witnessed a major geographic expansion of hunter gatherer society in western and central Europe. Simultaneously, a new type of hunting weapon was invented and an old artistic theme made a reappearance. 

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The greatest heights of Upper Paleolithic cave paintings and engraved portable art were reached after the Last Glacial Maximum ended and human populations grew.

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As the hunter gatherers of southwestern Europe endured the Last Glacial Maximum, a unique culture arose, characterized by fine stone points and a rich artistic repertoire.

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The peak of the Last Ice Age drastically altered the course of European prehistory. Around 25,000 years ago, as the glaciers reached their maximum extent, the Gravettian ended and was replaced with a variety of local cultures. In central and eastern Europe this period is called the Epigravettian.

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The Gravettian saw a flourishing of hunter gatherer art.  Engravings of bison, Venus figurines, and rich burials hint at a shifting Ice Age ideology and social organization.

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The Aurignacian culture of Europe ended 33,000 years ago and was replaced by the Gravettian. Sometimes overlooked, this period of prehistory saw an intriguing peak in Ice Age culture and the precocious development of technologies not often associated with hunter gatherers.

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The oldest European sculptures, paintings, and musical instruments appeared around 40,000 years ago. What does Aurignacian art reveal about the worldview of ancient hunter gatherers?

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In the absence of Neanderthals, Homo sapiens developed the Aurignacian culture, which spanned Europe. These people continued the trend toward technological complexity that had begun during the out of Africa migrations.

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Our most detailed insight into a prehistoric encounter and coexistence of two intelligent hominin species comes from the 8,000 year period before the eradication of the Neanderthals, when Homo sapiens migrated into Europe.

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One branch of Homo sapiens expanding out of Africa migrated through southern Asia and adapted to tropical environments. Bows and arrows, microlithic tools, and seafaring were some of their technological innovations.

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The permanent expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa began about 60,000 years ago. After intimate encounters with Neanderthals in Southwest Asia, some of them moved into Europe and Northern Asia. How did these Eurasian migrants adapt to foreign climates and ecosystems?

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Eagle talons around their necks, painted faces, and stone-tipped spears in hand, Neanderthals were not dumb brutes. Join me on this crash course and learn about the species with whom we share the most in common.

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Footprints on lake margins, contact between hominin species, and changing fortunes in arid landscapes characterize the earliest attempts of Homo sapiens to leave Africa.

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Despite the relatively harsh and fluctuating environmental conditions of North Africa, Middle Stone Age people there developed aspects of modern human behavior earlier than anywhere else.

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The crossroads of human evolution, tropical Africa supported several different populations of Homo sapiens between 130,000 and 40,000 years ago. They expanded, contracted, migrated, and eventually revealed their growing capacity for innovation.

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Before our species left Africa for good, human creativity began to emerge along the southern tip of the continent in the form of new technology, symbolic objects, and greater social organization. Distinct cultures were finally appearing.

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The very first members of our species adopted innovative stone tools, hunted a variety of large animals, sat around campfires and used pigments. But were they as smart as we are today?

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The earliest members of our species appeared around 300,000 years ago in Africa. As they spread across the continent and split into different genetic lineages, they encountered other hominin species and weathered millennia of fluctuating climates.

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Welcome to Our Prehistory. Why is the earliest history of our species worth learning about? Find out in this introductory episode where I lay out the plan for this podcast.

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