Before Us
Every living person can trace their ancestry back to Africa, where modern humans evolved some 300,000 years ago before expanding out of Africa and around the world. Those early humans lived lives filled with emotions and challenges much like people today and their journeys stand as a testament to human intelligence, ingenuity, creativity, and resilience. But, what does the archaeological record tell us about their lives, their successes, their failures, and who we are today? In this podcast, world-recognized experts in maritime and prehistoric archaeology, Dr. Helen Farr and Dr. Erich Fisher, reveal the people and the world that existed “Before Us.” This season, we take a deep dive into the origins and development of Maritime Adaptations, tracing humanity's journey from the earliest interests in aquatic resources to the global expansion of modern humans via oceans, coastlines, and waterways. As the old saying goes, “smooth seas make boring stories” and this season promises to be an auditory adventure around the world and across millennia as told through captivating interviews with leading scholars in fun and down-to-earth discussions. Tune in weekly for new episodes on your favorite podcast app.
Episodes
In this hair-larious episode, Dr. Erich chats with Jake and Colton all about red hair, genetics, and some super cool things we might’ve gotten from our ancient cousins—the Neanderthals!
Want to learn more? Check out the Before Us Kids Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/BeforeUsKids) where we have bonus episodes that discuss the science behind the stories and other exclusive content such as the 10-part series A To...
In this episode, Dr. Erich and Colton dive into a wild idea—bringing back the woolly mammoth! How are scientists doing it? Believe it or not…some scientists think it starts with woolly mice! Yep, you heard that right. WOOLLY MICE! Join us for a super fun and funny chat about some very fluffy science. You won’t want to miss this one!
Want to learn more? Check out the Before Us Kids Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/B...
There is unambiguous agreement that early humans had to cross open water when they traveled from Sundaland to Sahul before 40,000 years ago. How were they able to do this and would ocean winds and currents have helped or hindered their voyages? In this episode we talk to Kiki Kuijjer and Bob Marsh, both from the University of Southampton, about flow modeling that potentially reveals how humans may have been able to ma...
Sea levels rise and fall in response to complex planetary drivers, including shifts in polar ice caps, land masses, and other factors. Understanding these processes is crucial for studying prehistory in deep time, including human migration from Sundaland to Sahul and the movement of people around the globe. In this episode, Justin Dix breaks down what drives sea level change, how scientists reconstruct past sea levels...
In this episode, we speak with Before Us co-host Helen Farr about her European Research Council project, Australasian Colonisation Research: Origins of Seafaring to Sahul—or simply, ACROSS. This ambitious project dives into oceanographic, geoscience, archaeological, and archaeogenetic data to figure out when and how people first made the journey to Sahul, what routes they might’ve taken, and just how long they were st...
The rapid dispersal of modern humans across Wallacea to modern day Australia not only required boat technology for long-distance sea travel, but also knowledge about deep-sea fishing. In this episode, we talk to Sue O’Connor about the different routes that people may have taken across Wallacea in the Pleistocene and how the different kinds of islands on those routes may have influenced maritime resource use and the ea...
In this special bonus episode, Erich answers some of the fantastic questions that we've received from listeners around the world. If you want to send us your own questions about anything you've heard on Before Us, or just comment in general, please hit the "send us a text" button above every episode description. We would love to hear from you!
The discovery of Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis in SE Asia raises big questions about what happened to some early populations of migrants. Here, John McNabb, explains how these discoveries re-shape our understanding of human evolution and human migrations, but also what the world was like when modern humans began to expand out of Africa. It may have been much more crowded than previously thought!
Key Site
Why did humans migrate out of Africa? This question has long puzzled archaeologists. Were they driven by unknown pressures, drawn by opportunities, or was it something else entirely? Best-selling author and researcher Clive Gamble explores how curiosity may have fueled the human expansion out of Africa and how the development of the concept of 'containers' was crucial for technological innovations, such as b...
Sea levels have risen and fallen repeatedly over the last 2 million years. During low sea levels, large tracts of land were exposed along coastlines around the world, creating new habitats for plants, animals, and people to inhabit and new routes for people to move around the world. Now, many of these places are underwater, but evidence of these ancient landscapes, and the people who occupied them, still exists. In th...
Around 170,000 years ago people living in sea caves on South Africa’s south coast were repeatedly collecting and eating shellfish from the nearby coastline. It marked an important behavioral shift from the occasional collection of aquatic resources to systematic relying on aquatic resources for survival. In this episode, travel to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pinnacle Point in South Africa to talk with Curtis Mar...
Have you ever wondered how aquatic foods shaped human evolution? In this episode, we dive into the fascinating role of seafood in our development with world-renowned experts Michael Crawford and Stephen Cunnane. As leading researchers in brain-selective nutrition, they explore how iodine, fatty acids, and other essential nutrients have influenced modern human health—and their profound impact on our evolutionary journe...
Homo erectus is widely believed to be the first human species to leave Africa, expanding into parts of Europe and Asia. They were also the first to control and use fire. In this episode, we speak with Josephine Joordens and Irit Zohar to explore these early time periods, approximately 2 million years ago. We delve into when and how hominins first developed an interest in aquatic resources, the transformative impact of...
Archaeology tells the story of people, yet identifying individuals in the archaeological record remains notoriously challenging. In this episode, we speak with Rachel Bynoe, Charles Helm, and three Ju/’hoansi master trackers - /ui Kxunta, ≠oma Daqm, and /uce Nǂamce - from Nyae Nyae, Namibia, to explore ichnology—the study of tracks and traces. Together, we uncover evidence of individuals from deep time and gain insig...
Get read for a new podcast that digs deep into big issues in archaeology and human evolution. In this season, archaeologists Helen Farr and Erich Fisher take a deep dive into the origins and development of Maritime Adaptations, tracing humanity's journey from the earliest interests in aquatic resources to the global expansion of modern humans via oceans, coastlines, and waterways. Debuting January 2025.
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