Sound on! From conch shells to bone flutes, humans have been making musical instruments for tens of thousands of years. What did prehistoric music sound like? Follow us on a journey to find the oldest musical instruments and combine them into one big orchestra of human history.
For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard
Want More?
A ... Show More
Jul 2023
Trapped in the icy waters of the Northwest Passage
For centuries, the Northwest Passage, the long-sought sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through northern Canada, was a holy grail of Arctic exploration. Even now, sailing through it isn’t guaranteed. Mark Synnott, a National Geographic Explorer, writer, and adv ... Show More
34m 16s
Jul 2023
Playback: Modern Lives, Ancient Caves
There’s a lost continent waiting to be explored, and it’s right below our feet. We’ll dig into the deep human relationship to the underground—and why we understand it from an instinctive point of view, but not so much from a physical one. (Hint: We’re afraid of the dark.) In an e ... Show More
28m 39s
Jun 2023
Playback: This Indigenous Practice Fights Fire with Fire
For decades, the U.S. government evangelized fire suppression, most famously through Smokey Bear’s wildfire prevention campaign. But as climate change continues to exacerbate wildfire seasons and a growing body of scientific research supports using fire to fight fire, Indigenous ... Show More
29m 8s
Feb 2023
Music of Ancient Egypt (Re-Release)
Music was everywhere in ancient Egypt: in the fields, in the temple, on the parade ground, and in the home. Songs and compositions were a part of daily life, and abundant evidence survives for the art of musicianship in the ancient world. In this compilation, we explore some of t ... Show More
1h 58m
Oct 2019
8. The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities
In the dusts of Iraq, the ruins of the world's first civilization lie buried. This episode, we travel into the extremely distant past to look at the Sumerians. These ancient people invented writing and mathematics, and built some of the largest cities that the world had ever seen ... Show More
2h 29m
Sep 2023
188: The Osireion
Sety at Abydos (Part 3). The Osireion is an intriguing monument, one that attracts a huge amount of debate, discussion, and speculation. Its discovery was unexpected, its excavation was an enormous undertaking, and there are many uncertainties about its purpose, history, and over ... Show More
2h 34m
Feb 2024
Ice Age Britain: Finding the First Homo sapiens
Over 45,000 years ago, Ice Age Britain was undergoing a transformation.
The first modern humans, Homo sapiens, were arriving and beginning to settle in the British Isles. Their evolutionary predecessors, the Neanderthals, were on their way to extinction. Until now we have known ... Show More
32m 58s
Oct 2022
The Clarinet in Arabic Music | Kinan Azmeh
Kinan performed three musical pieces and spoke about his work as a composer.Originally from Damascus, Syria Kinan Azmeh is a soloist, composer, and improvisor. He has performed in places such as the Opera Bastille, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Damascus Opera House, and more. Kinan’ ... Show More
1 h
Oct 2020
Ep. 105 - Searching for ET: Marjorie Fish and the Hills
In 1961, New Hampshire couple Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted by aliens, and revealed a star map showing the home of their abductors. After several years of searching star guides, Ohio amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish announced she'd found the site. www.ohiomy ... Show More
44m 11s