How Climate Crafted Humanity (Or Did It?) ~ Jessica Thompson

On Humans is back from the break!

To mark the summer heat, here is a two-part series on how climate has shaped the human story. In next week's episodes, we will explore the role of water and weather in the origins of European colonialism. But today, we start by crawling deeper into the past: to the origins of humanity itself.

In this episode, Yale professor Jessica Thompson helps us navigate one of the most influential ideas in human evolution: that an ancient climate change pushed our ancestors out of the jungle, onto the savanna, and eventually toward big brains, meat-eating, and tool use.

This is a captivating story. It has been mentioned many times on the show. But do the details hold up?

What follows is a sweeping account of human origins, which nuances — but does not reject — the grand arc explored in The Origins of Humankind series. This is a story about a climate that has never remained steady. It serves as a poignant reminder of the weather's power to shape human destiny. But it’s also a story about human resilience and our capacity, from the very beginning, to defy the iron laws of ecology. Enjoy!

Thoughts about the episode? Share them at OnHumans.Substack.com⁠. You'll also find a bunch of links to dig deeper.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

You can pledge your support at Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠

MENTIONED SCHOLARS

Richard Wrangham (guest in summer 2023)

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (guest in Spring 2024)

KEYWORDS 

Human evolution | Human origins | Paleoanthropology | Human biology | Climate change | Miocene | Pleistocene | Brain evolution | Brain energetics | Deep history | Anthropology | Archaeology | Austrolopithecins | Genus homo | Bipedalism | Evolution of apes | Missing link | Tsetse flies |