History of the World podcast

Humans of the Fertile Crescent appear to have started mastering the ability to use metals during the Neolithic period.  We meet Ötzi, who was one of the first coppersmiths of Europe.

A look at some of the correspondence and other podcasts that have inspired the History of the World podcast.

A brief look at the history and the future of the History of the World podcast.

We talk about the emergence of sedentary lifestyles of the Mesolithic and early Neolithic with the interesting story of Tell Abu Hureyra, before tackling the hugely famous sites of Çatalhöyük and Jericho.

The big question to be answered, did farming spread or emerge?  We travel to Europe, the Indus Valley, the Far East and the Americas to find the answer.

We try to unravel the mystery of the human transition from the success of nomadic hunter-gathering, to the laborious risks of sedentary agriculture and farming.

We look at at the previous 13 episodes and explore some of the aspects as yet undiscussed including the changing cultures of Old Europe.

Red ochre, shark teeth, ostrich eggs, lion men, hand stencils, cannibalism, friendly wolves, ritual burials, animal masks and big buttocks.

A look back at our changing diet and the ways and means in which we had to evolve ourselves and our technologies to succeed in the ever changing and differing environments of the world.

Modern humans expand to Japan, America and Europe, but what happened when they met the neanderthals for the final time?

This podcast is heading for Australia, stopping at Israel, Denisova, Flores and Wallacea.  Please remember to pick up all of your belongings.

Social media indicates that we love talking about ourselves, so let's do it.  Let's talk about ourselves, the modern human, and how it all started from 300,000 years ago in Africa.

Find out about the geological science behind glaciation studies, the effect that ice ages have had on our ancestors and the story of Napi being chased across Canada by a sixteen thousand tonne quartzite rock.

The highly anticipated neanderthals, our rugged cousin who appeared to be quite brutish but was surprisingly intelligent.  Quite possibly someone who would be up for going to a pub quiz with you.

How is it that we can talk?  Why are we the only animal that can successfully produce audio podcasts that can be listened to and understood?  And who wants to get to know Washoe the chimpanzee?

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.

Homo erectus, as the name would suggest, is the first fully upright human and it was definitely a migratory species.  Find out more about the journeys and advancements of human evolution in this episode.

Homo habilis is thought to be the first species of human to have lived.  Find out who he was and who else lived around him.

They were alive from around 5 million to 2 million years ago, slowly evolving in East Africa and trying to become human.

Everything you know about the modern world began long before the first civilisation, the first city, or even the first human. It began with an asteroid, a handful of tiny survivors, and millions of years of extraordinary change. This is the story of how we became human—and how that journey shaped the entire history of our world.