New Podcast Explores the Epic Human Story
Scientists have discovered more about our origins in the past two decades than in the previous two millennia.
Our unique characteristics, standing upright, language, the use of fire have led us, Homo sapiens, to dominate the world and influence its direction more than any other species.
Ours is a long and interesting tale and with this year marking the 50th anniversary of the discovery of ‘Lucy’, the 3.2 million-year-old skeleton which provided a crucial missing link in our evolutionary tree, some of our leading researchers have created Blazing the Trail, a five-episode podcast series about our rise as a species.
Chief Scientist and Director, Australian Museum Research Institute, Professor Kris Helgen said the Blazing the Trail series is a timely reminder of our evolutionary story.
“This podcast series explores and provides a deeper understanding of Homo sapiens history. Our ability to both adapt to, and change the environment, proved successful and it will be the key to us surviving and thriving into the future.”
Focusing on what makes us the people we are today, Blazing the Trail highlights key milestones in our human journey such as the development of tools, mastering fire, the creation of language, and our capacity for adaptation and migration.
Australian Museum archaeologist and lecturer, University of Sydney, Dr Amy Way, a stone artefact specialist who studies the richness of behaviour in deep time said Blazing the Trail reveals how and why Homo sapiens became so successful.
“For over a million years, humans have been blazing trails across our world. Investigating our shared story of human evolution. Distilling decades of scientific research from the leading anthropologists of our time, this podcast series provides listeners with a greater understanding of where we come from and why we’re the last humans standing,” Dr Way said.
Dr Way, together with Madeline Robinson, PhD candidate, University of Sydney, wrote the scripts for the first five episodes with leading and emerging scientists in this field including Professor Christopher Stringer, Natural History Museum, London, UK; Professor Emma Mbua, National Museum of Kenya; Assistant Professor Kathryn Ranhorn, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University; Dr Keneiloe Molopyane, Centre of the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of Witwatersrand; South Africa and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, among others.
Developed by Breakthru Productions, Australian Museum and University of Sydney, Blazing the Trail is out now on streaming platforms including Spotify, Youtube, Audible. Listen here
Image by Djamel Ramjani