45. Late Stone Age of Africa

45,000 to 30,000 years ago ... Signs of Late Stone Age culture start appearing across sub-saharan Africa, hinting at long-distance contact between once isolated peoples.Support the show 

12,800 to 11,700 years ago ... In the cold of the Younger Dryas, at the peak of megafauna extinction, the descendants of Clovis fragmented into a range of new cultures across North America.Support the show 

Around 13,000 years ago, a wide range of large animal species started disappearing. The circumstances strongly implicate humans.Support the show 

<p>For hundreds of thousands of years Neanderthals have roamed the lands of what is today Europe and western Asia. But how did they survive, and what caused their decline?</p><br><p>Tristan Hughes delves into the fate of the last Neanderthals and continues our Ice Age mini-series ... Show More

700 BCE - 1497 CE - Long before European contact, North America was home to vibrant civilisations. From the Ancestral Puebloans, Hohokam, and Mogollon in the Southwest to the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures of the Eastern Woodlands, these societies thrived. In the Arc ... Show More

The late 19th century was a period of imperialism for Europe, which resulted in a landgrab of epic proportions. The entire continent of Africa was sliced up, to be swallowed by five rival nations. In the blink of an eye, everything changed for the people of Africa, and within a d ... Show More

Africa's story has long been presented in western narratives as one that only 'began' with the arrival of non-Africans – yet modern science has revealed that the African continent was, in fact, the cradle of humanity itself. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Danny Bird about her new book t ... Show More

<p>A group of hunter-gatherers encounter diverse habitats full of creatures they’ve never seen before. A land of opportunity, but also danger.</p><br><p>Join host Tristan Hughes and expert Dr David Meltzer as they delve into the Ice Age in North America, over 10,000 years ago, a ... Show More

<p>Towering over 11 feet tall and weighing 6 tonnes, the Woolly Mammoth ruled the Ice Age. But how did these mighty beasts thrive for over 100,000 years—and why did they disappear?</p><br><p>In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes kicks off a brand-new Ice Age miniseries ... Show More

Maarten Couttenier's Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922) (Routledge, 2023) examines the history of Belgian physical anthropology in the long nineteenth century and discusses how the notion of 'race' structured Belgian pasts and presents as well as relations ... Show More

<p>Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones with tales of his hominid discoveries, many of which have rewritten the story of palaeoanthropology. (R)</p><p>National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Lee Berger, entered the field of palaeoan ... Show More

The Stone Age is the foundational period of human history, stretching from roughly 3 million to 5,000 years ago, and accounting for over 99% of humanity’s time on earth. It’s the era when modern humans evolved and migrated out of Africa to populate the globe, developed language a ... Show More

During the Last Ice Age, Europe was a cold, dry place teeming with mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, reindeer, bison, cave bears, cave hyenas, and cave lions. It was also the home of people physically indistinguishable from humans today, commonly known as the Cro-Magnons. Our knowle ... Show More