logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
43m 10s

The First Toolmakers

History Hit
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Oct 29
Easter Island
How do you make a giant stone statue walk? On one of the most isolated islands on Earth, the people of Rapa Nui carved AND moved the extraordinary Moai, colossal faces hewn from soft volcanic rock that still inspire wonder today.Today, Tristan Hughes is joined by Prof. Terry Hunt ... Show More
1h 4m
Oct 25
Bronze Age Syria: Cradle of Cities
Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hittites usually dominate the story of the Bronze Age. But Syria was home to some of the region's most powerful cities and kingdoms and helped forge the ancient Mediterranean world.Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Amanda Podany to uncover this lost cradle ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 22
Origins of Constantinople
Why did Emperor Constantine abandon Rome to build a spectacular new capital from scratch? In the year 312 a bloody civil war and a miraculous heavenly vision changed the Roman world forever.Tristan Hughes and Professor Judith Herrin uncover the epic origins of Constantinople. Dis ... Show More
58m 56s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2018
Vol 1 Ep 5 - Lower paleolithic stone tools ( Olduvai Gorge )
Let us put some flesh on the bones of our prehistoric hominin story, and discover what our ancestors created to get carved flesh from the bones of animals. We investigate the technological advances from over three million years ago up to the last million years. 
32m 13s
Jan 2010
Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool
The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum. In this programme, Neil goes back two million years to the Rift Valley in Tanzania, where a simple ... Show More
14m 2s
Dec 2023
The History of the World podcast Magazine - 25th December 2023
<p>HUMAN ANCESTORS (1) - In this episode we will be going right back to the very beginning, looking into the first upright walkers, then the australopithecines, homo habilis, homo erectus, hand tool construction, fire production and homo heidelbergensis.</p> 
31m 27s
Jan 2010
Olduvai Handaxe
The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells two million years of history of human development through the objects it has produced. This programme follows early humans as they slowly begin to move beyond their African homeland taking with them one essential item - ... Show More
13m 58s
Nov 2019
From the Vault; Stone Age Technology with Dietrich Stout
Paleolithic tools inform not just our understanding of prehistoric lives, but also the evolution and nature of the human mind. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe chat with Emory University’s Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Dietrich Stout about the ... Show More
1h 3m
Jan 2024
A Brief History of Bling
Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections, and ... Show More
26m 38s
Jan 2025
Learning from what others leave behind
For millennia, humans have created artifacts of their lives — from art, to books, to music. This hour, we explore ideas about capturing the ephemeral human experience for future generations to find. Guests include paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, museum curator Ariana ... Show More
50m 4s
Oct 2023
Time-Slip Artifacts: Modern Objects in the Ancient World - Volume 1
The story of the human race is a story of technology. One of our ancestors created fire and passed that knowledge along to the next generation. Then the invention of the wheel. Then agriculture, a writing system, mathematics, space travel. Within our story, empires rise and fall. ... Show More
43m 4s
Jan 2010
Bird-shaped Pestle
Neil MacGregor continues his retelling of human history using 100 selected objects from the British Museum. This week he explores the profound changes that humans experienced at the end of the Ice Age. By this period, humanity is reconsidering its place in the world and turning i ... Show More
13m 53s
Dec 2020
The Fascinating Origins of Everyday Things (Part 4)
In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we are start out with an appetizer looking at how chopsticks came to be and why they became so popular in certain parts of the world vs things like spoons and forks. Next up we have a brief message from our sponsor… Ourselves! Go check out ... Show More
57m 49s