Priceless interview for all anthropologists and fieldworkers. Thank you, @ilarimakela.bsky.social & RB Lee!!
Lee’s discussions on establishing new field sites closely parallel my experiences in the Omo in Ethiopia with the @omovalleyresearchproject.org
A new podcast interview by @ilarimakela.bsky.social with Richard B. Lee about Man the Hunter! Should be fascinating.
onhumans.substack.com/p/the-origin...
It's out: the first ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee! 🥁
We discuss the 60 year legacy of Man the Hunter conference, including:
The Original Affluent Society
The Dawn of Everything
The choice of the term "Man" in the conference name.
Enjoy!
What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind?
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
What a pleasure to do this swap with one of my favourite shows, Many Minds! Do check their work out if you haven't already.
And stay tuned for my turn in an hour or so ;)
The talk was superb, do check it ou!
11.12.2025 14:46 — 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"Rather than framing cooperation as a moral innovation or a product of stable communal life, [the] researchers propose that cooperation may actually flourish when the world is unstable."
www.anthropology.net/p/when-the-w...
by @anthropology.net
😂
05.12.2025 17:11 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The trilogy ends!
The final episodes of Decoding Our Story traces the last miles in the human journey out of Africa: South America in the west, Polynesia in the east, and ....
Can you guess?
🙏 @morestrada.bsky.social & @anthropogeny.org
Listen >> open.spotify.com/episode/16l1...
How cool!
"The long coexistence of humans and leopard cats is one of the most overlooked relationships in East Asian zooarchaeology. Yet it represents a case where a wild species began down a pathway toward domestication but never reached the final steps."
www.anthropology.net/p/strangers-...
The top artists amongst On Humans listeners in 2025 -- a surprising mix 😂 I guess this speaks about a diverse crowd. Glad if so 👏
Thanks to everyone who've been listening!
2/ This is episode two of Decoding Our Story -- a series of short live-episodes, recorded at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA.
onhumans.substack.com/p/dna
Yes, there are genetic differences between human populations. But how big are they?
Diyendo Massilani's lab has produced a fascinating analysis on this.
What a pleasure to have him on!
open.spotify.com/episode/043H...
2/ The first episode explores the differences between us and the Neanderthals.
For centuries, we could only understand Neanderthals through stones and bones. Now, genetics is offering a new tool.
David Gokhman's lab is decoding Neanderthal traits from their genetic echoes.
What have they found?
It’s live! 👏
Decoding Our Story is a three-part series on how genetics is rewriting the human story🏺
Recorded at the @salkinstitute.bsky.social's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA, these episodes take you behind the scenes of one of the most exciting frontiers in modern science.
Enjoy!
If David is right, you should check this out too 😉
onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel...
A telling graph about climate change and human origins.
onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel...
#PaleoSky
"Why did violence break out all across the LBK at the same time, and with such lasting consequences?"
Very interesting reminder of how early European farming was quite peaceful -- until it wasn't.
www.science.org/content/arti...
And many thanks to @dremmabird.bsky.social for help with this!
19.11.2025 15:20 — 👍 14 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
2/2 This grew out of years of conversations I've had with some of the most thoughtful scholars on the matter, including @chrisbstringer.bsky.social , @cecileduflot.bsky.social , @vivek123.bsky.social , @lukegldng.bsky.social + the Origins of Humankind with @anthropogeny.org
Grateful to all !🙏
Why do we exist?
The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? Or are we simply drowning in data?
I think we have a story--a story centered on calories, childhoods, cooperation, and climate.
Here is the story.
You decided to read this. But could you have chosen otherwise? Are we ever free to choose?
🧠 A short episode on a big topic!
Read or listen at onhumans.substack.com/p/is-the-bra....
🙏 Thanks to @timcoulson.bsky.social from @biology.ox.ac.uk!
"New research at Semiyarka is challenging long-held ideas about mobility, metallurgy, and the unexpected shape of early cities in Eurasia."
www.anthropology.net/p/city-of-th...
@anthropology.net
I guess I was thinking about the ease with which folks like me might use this to inflate the gap between us and Neanderthals. You have quite a thoughtful approach to this, hence thought of you.
20.11.2025 11:24 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Curious to hear if you think this work is illuminating or misleading? @lemoustier.bsky.social
19.11.2025 16:59 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
"How is it that Brazil imported so many more enslaved people than the US, yet by the mid-19th century the US had 2.5 times more?"
aeon.co/essays/way-d...
A classic challenge: human brain is only ~2% of our body mass but takes about ~20% of our base metabolism.
A bigger challenge: during early childhood, the number climbs over 50%!
How to afford that?
So much of human evolution wrapped in one puzzle
www.nature.com/articles/npr...
🏺 #paleosky
Diving with Sea Lions in San Diego 🦭
Turn on the sound to hear their vocalisations!
Not a bad start to a Wednesday. I could get used to this...
#animal
Did Neanderthals speak? We don't know. But DNA evidence shows our ancestors experienced speedier evolution in the vocal tract.
This is highly suggestive of a more important role for speech amongst Homo sapiens.
By the way, the methods are insane 🤯 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32132541/
🏺 #paleosky
Okay. It's over. What an incredible weekend!
Thank you to all the wonderful folks who made this possible!
BONUS: I managed to record short live episodes with three speakers... Stay tuned 👀
@anthropogeny.org @salkinstitute.bsky.social
