Before Us

How do you test how people reached Okinawa more than 30,000 years ago? Build a log boat using only Paleolithic stone tools, then paddle it from Taiwan to the Ryukyu Islands. This week, we talk to Prof. Yousuke Kaifu about the extraordinary project he led to explore how prehistoric people could have made a voyage that, even today, seems improbable. It’s a fascinating discussion about their trials-and-errors to build a boat that could handle the open ocean and their journey to cross one of the world’s biggest ocean currents.

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Key People and Projects

Yousuke Kaifu

Holistic Reenactment Project Website

The University Museum, The University of Tokyo

Key Places

Taiwan

Yonaguni Island

Ryukyu Island Chain

Kuroshio Current

Further Reading

Chang, Y.L.K., Miyazawa, Y., Guo, X., Varlamov, S., Yang, H. and Kaifu, Y., 2025. Traversing the Kuroshio: Paleolithic migration across one of the world’s strongest ocean currents. Science Advances, 11(26), p.eadv5508.

Kaifu, Y., Lin, C.H., Ikeya, N., Yamada, M., Iwase, A., Chang, Y.L.K., Uchida, M., Hara, K., Amemiya, K., Sung, Y. and Suzuki, K. (2025) ‘Paleolithic seafaring in East Asia: An experimental test of the dugout canoe hypothesis’, Science Advances, 11(26), article eadv5507.

Kaifu, Y. (2022) ‘A synthetic model of Palaeolithic seafaring in the Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan’, World Archaeology, 54(2), pp. 187–206.

Kaifu, Y., Ishikawa, J., Muramatsu, M., Kokubugata, G. and Goto, A. (2022) ‘Establishing the efficacy of reed-bundle rafts in the paleolithic colonization of the Ryukyu Islands’, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 17(4), pp. 571–584.

Kaifu, Y., Kuo, T.H., Kubota, Y. and Jan, S. (2020) ‘Palaeolithic voyage for invisible islands beyond the horizon’, Scientific Reports, 10(1), article 19785.

Kaifu, Y., Lin, C.H., Goto, A., Ikeya, N., Yamada, M., Chiang, W.C., Fujita, M. et al. (2019) ‘Palaeolithic seafaring in East Asia: testing the bamboo raft hypothesis’, Antiquity, 93(372), pp. 1424–1441.

Kaifu, Y. and Fujita, M. (2012) ‘Fossil record of early modern humans in East Asia’, Quaternary International, 248, pp. 2–11.

Video Documentary

Don’t forget to also check out the video documentary of their journey: CLICK HERE.

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

We're taking a small detour this week to talk about the role of voyaging and the embodied knowledge of seafaring that has been collected and passed down for generations among modern communities all across the Pacific. It's a perspective that isn't so much about the past rather than how the past shapes the present and future.

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Key People

H. Larry Raigetal

Alson Kelen

Joseph Genz

Key Places

Piti Sea Festival

Guam

Lamotrek

Marshall Islands

Micronesia

Organizations

Waan Aelõñ in Majel (Canoes of the Marshall Island)

Waa’gey

Special thank you to Uriah Aguon and Jae James at the Pacific Daily News for permission to use their footage of the Piti Sea Festival

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

Have a question or comment?

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Or click “Send us a message!” to send us an SMS.

Before Us Kids!

If you or your kids want to learn more about Denisvans then check out "Our faceless ancestors no more." This fun-filled, kid-friendly episode explores the Denisovans and the discovery that finally put a face to the name. Click here for a direct link.

More information about Before Us Kids! From the creators of the Before Us podcast comes an exciting new adventure: Before Us Kids! This brand-new, fun, and engaging podcast is co-hosted by kids, for kids, and takes young listeners on a journey through deep time to discover the lives of the people who came before us. Each episode brings the past to life with fascinating stories, interesting facts, and lively--sometimes chaotic--conversations that spark curiosity and imagination. Whether it's exploring ancient civilizations, uncovering everyday life in the distant past, or diving into the big questions about human evolution, Before Us Kids! makes our past come alive in a way that's entertaining and easy to understand. Before Us Kids! is perfect for curious minds of all ages.

Webpage | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Further Reading

Xing, S., Wu, Z., Shao, Q. et al. The proteome of Middle Pleistocene Xujiayao and common Denisovan morphology. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11132-z

Fieldhouse, R. This is what the mysterious Denisovans looked like: Archaeologists identified skull fragments from China as belonging to this group of ancient human relatives. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-03360-0

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

Fossil and genetic evidence shows that eastern Asia was a hotspot of diversity for the genus Homo during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Homo erectus, Denisovans (Homo longi and Homo juluensis) / Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, and Homo Luzonensis were all present at one point or another. But when did modern humans arrive from Africa?

In this episode, we talk to Fabrice Demeter about excavations at Tam Pa Ling cave in Laos, where his team has uncovered a rich fossil record documenting some of the earliest known modern humans in Southeast Asia. These discoveries place modern humans in the region as early as 86,000 years ago, with further evidence of their presence until around 54,000 years ago. Yet these early arrivals may have been part of a dispersal that ultimately failed, leaving little, if any, genetic trace in present-day populations.

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Key People

Dr. Fabrice Demeter

Key Places

Tam Pa Ling

Tam Hang

Tam Ngu Hao 2

Key Species

Homo sapiens

Homo erectus

Denisovans

• Homo juluensis
• Homo longi

Further Reading

Demeter, Fabrice, Clément Zanolli, Kira E. Westaway, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Philippe Duringer, Mike W. Morley, Frido Welker et al. "A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite chain of northern Laos." Nature communications 13, no. 1 (2022): 2557.

Demeter, Fabrice, Laura Shackelford, Kira Westaway, Lani Barnes, Philippe Duringer, Jean-Luc Ponche, Jean Dumoncel et al. "Early modern humans from Tam Pà Ling, Laos: fossil review and perspectives." Current Anthropology 58, no. S17 (2017): S527-S538.

Demeter, Fabrice, Laura Shackelford, Kira Westaway, Philippe Duringer, Anne-Marie Bacon, Jean-Luc Ponche, Xiujie Wu et al. "Early modern humans and morphological variation in Southeast Asia: fossil evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos." PLoS One 10, no. 4 (2015): e0121193.

Freidline, Sarah E., Kira E. Westaway, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Philippe Duringer, Jean-Luc Ponche, Mike W. Morley, Vito C. Hernandez et al. "Early presence of Homo sapiens in southeast Asia by 86–68 kyr at Tam Pà Ling, Northern Laos." Nature communications 14, no. 1 (2023): 3193.

Milano, Stefania, Fabrice Demeter, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Philippe Duringer, Elise Patole-Edoumba, Jean-Luc Ponche, Laura Shackelford et al. "Environmental conditions framing the first evidence of modern humans at Tam Pà Ling, Laos: A stable isotope record from terrestrial gastropod carbonates." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 511 (2018): 352-363.

Shackelford, Laura, Fabrice Demeter, Kira Westaway, Philippe Duringer, Jean-Luc Ponche, Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy, Jian-Xin Zhao et al. "Additional evidence for early modern human morphological diversity in Southeast Asia at Tam Pa Ling, Laos." Quaternary International 466 (2018): 93-106.

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

Have a question or comment?

Email: hello@worldsbeforedesign.com

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeforeUsMedia/

Or click “Send us a message!” at the top of this page.

Before Us Kids!

If you or your kids want to learn more about Denisvans then check out "Our faceless ancestors no more." This fun-filled, kid-friendly episode explores the Denisovans and the discovery that finally put a face to the name. Click here for a direct link.

More information about Before Us Kids! From the creators of the Before Us podcast comes an exciting new adventure: Before Us Kids! This brand-new, fun, and engaging podcast is co-hosted by kids, for kids, and takes young listeners on a journey through deep time to discover the lives of the people who came before us. Each episode brings the past to life with fascinating stories, interesting facts, and lively--sometimes chaotic--conversations that spark curiosity and imagination. Whether it's exploring ancient civilizations, uncovering everyday life in the distant past, or diving into the big questions about human evolution, Before Us Kids! makes our past come alive in a way that's entertaining and easy to understand. Before Us Kids! is perfect for curious minds of all ages.

Webpage | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Further Reading

Bae, Christopher. The Paleoanthropology of Eastern Asia. (2024). University of Hawaii Press

Rao, H., Xing, S., Ruan, Q. et al. Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10976-9

Ruan, Q., Li, H., Xing, S. et al. Denisovans from southwestern China and their subsistence strategies. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10997-4

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

Asia plays a central role in the story of human evolution and recent cutting-edge research shows that eastern Asia was home to a variety of archaic human species that were still present by the time modern humans arrived during the late Pleistocene. In this episode, Prof. Christopher Bae leads us on a fascinating journey of the paleoanthropology and archaeology of eastern Asia to understand the complex biogeographic landscape that greeted those earliest modern humans.

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Key People

Prof. Christopher Bae

Key Places

Xujiayao

Xujiang

Harbin

Denisova Cave

Huanglong (Hualongdong) Cave

Key Species

Homo erectus

Denisovans

• Homo juluensis
• Homo longi

Further Reading

Bae, Christopher. The Paleoanthropology of Eastern Asia. (2024). University of Hawaii Press

Bae, Christopher J., and Xiujie Wu. "Making sense of eastern Asian Late Quaternary hominin variability." nature communications 15, no. 1 (2024): 9479.

Feng, Xiaobo, et al. "The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans." Science 389.6767 (2025): 1320-1324.

Fu, Qiaomei, Peng Cao, Qingyan Dai, E. Andrew Bennett, Xiaotian Feng, Melinda A. Yang, Wanjing Ping, Svante Pääbo, and Qiang Ji. "Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the> 146,000-year-old Harbin cranium." Cell 188, no. 15 (2025): 3919-3926.

Rao, H., Xing, S., Ruan, Q., Bai, F., Zhao, Y., Wu, Z., Tang, S., Andrew Bennett, E., Feng, X., Lin, S. and Shao, Q., 2026. Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China. Nature, pp.1-7

Tsutaya, Takumi, Rikai Sawafuji, Alberto J. Taurozzi, Zandra Fagernäs, Ioannis Patramanis, Gaudry Troché, Meaghan Mackie et al. "A male Denisovan mandible from Pleistocene Taiwan." Science 388, no. 6743 (2025): 176-180.

Yang, Shi-Xia, María Martinón-Torres, and Michael Petraglia. "Palaeoanthropological evidence from China is changing the picture of hominin evolutionary history." Nature Ecology & Evolution 10.4 (2026): 634-640.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

As modern humans spread across the world along coastlines and waterways during the Late Pleistocene, they encountered a remarkable variety of coastal environments, each with its own resources and challenges. In this episode, we explore one of the seemingly least hospitable coastal environments: maritime deserts. We discuss Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, off Australia’s northwest coast, with Tiina Manne from the University of Queensland to discover how people adapted their knowledge to this demanding environment and thrived there for tens of thousands of years.

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Key People

Tiina Manne

Key Places

Boodie Cave

Barrow Island

Further Reading

Ward, Ingrid, et al. "50,000 years of archaeological site stratigraphy and micromorphology in Boodie Cave, Barrow Island, Western Australia." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15 (2017): 344-369.

Skippington, Jane, Tiina Manne, and Peter Veth. "Isotopic indications of late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironmental changes at Boodie Cave archaeological site, Barrow Island, Western Australia." Molecules 26.9 (2021): 2582.

Veth, Peter, et al. "Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, North-West Australia." Quaternary Science Reviews 168 (2017): 19-29.

Veth, Peter, Ingrid Ward, and Tiina Manne. "Coastal feasts: a Pleistocene antiquity for resource abundance in the maritime deserts of north west Australia?." The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 12.1 (2017): 8-23.

Veth, Peter, et al. "The archaeology of Montebello Islands, north-west Australia: late Quaternary foragers on an arid coastline." (2007).

Veth, Peter, Kane Ditchfield, and Fiona Hook. "Maritime deserts of the Australian northwest." Australian Archaeology 79.1 (2014): 156-166.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

As modern humans spread across the world at the end of the Pleistocene, they learned to survive in a remarkable range of environments. How did those hunter-gatherers preserve their knowledge and pass it on from one generation to the next? In this episode, Helen and Erich speak with Patrick Nunn to explore the role of oral history, myths, and storytelling in the preservation of knowledge among preliterate societies. Welcome back to a new season of Before Us!

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Key People

Patrick Nunn

Key Places

Backstairs Passage

Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Further Reading

Nunn, Patrick. Whispers from Celtic seas: the true meanings of ancient stories from Northwest Europe. Reaktion Books, Limited, 2026.

Nunn, Patrick D., et al. "Calibrating Holocene human–environment interactions using ancient narratives: The example of Ngurunderi in South Australia." Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 20.3 (2025): 563-587.

Nunn, Patrick. Worlds in shadow: Submerged lands in science, memory and myth. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Nunn, Patrick. The edge of memory: ancient stories, oral tradition and the post-glacial world. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.

Walshe, Rory A., and Patrick D. Nunn. "Integration of indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction: A case study from Baie Martelli, Pentecost Island, Vanuatu." International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 3.4 (2012): 185-194.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

A new season of Before Us premieres Tuesday, September 29, 2026! Join us as we as we explore the remarkable human story behind the world we know today.

We are continuing to explore humanity’s enduring relationship with aquatic resources and how coastlines and waterways helped shape our remarkable expansion worldwide. This season, we follow the movement of modern humans through Southeast and East Asia, around the North Pacific Rim, and into North and South America, uncovering the epic story of the Peopling of the Americas.

This season will be bigger and more amazing than ever before. We've lined up leading scientists and communities from around the world to provide the most current insights on archaeology, genetics, linguistics, mythology, dog domestication, skin-boat technology, and so more.

If you enjoy this show then don’t forget to rate and review us! Have a question? Send us an email at hello@worldsbeforedesign.com

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

Imagine taking a walk with Columbian mammoths, giant sloths, lions, sabre-tooth tigers, camels and loads of other animals? Sounds crazy, right! Yet it actually happened 20,000 years ago and in this episode Dr. Erich talk to Noah and Colton about some seriously cool discoveries at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.

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 Totally Ridiculous, Mostly Serious, Always Awesome Guide to Surviving the Ice Age (but also Zombies and the Weirdness of Life in General). There’s even a place where kids can ask questions. It’s super cool.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 Totally Ridiculous, Mostly Serious, Always Awesome Guide to Surviving the Ice Age (but also Zombies and the Weirdness of Life in General). There’s even a place where kids can ask questions. It’s super cool.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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/BeforeUsKids) where we have bonus episodes that discuss the science behind the stories and other exclusive content such as the 10-part series A Totally Ridiculous, Mostly Serious, Always Awesome Guide to Surviving the Ice Age (but also Zombies and the Weirdness of Life in General). There’s even a place where kids can ask questions. It’s super cool.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 make their fantastical journeys.

Key People

Robert Marsh

Kiki Kuijjer

Further Reading

Kuijjer, E. Kiki, et al. "Changing Tidal Dynamics and the Role of the Marine Environment in the Maritime Migration to Sahul: Special Issue: The Impact of Upper Pleistocene Climatic and Environmental Change on Hominin Occupations and Landscape Use, Part 1." PaleoAnthropology 2022.1 (2022): 134-148.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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, and how these fluctuations have shaped human history.

Key People

Justin Dix

Key Places

Bonaparte Gulf

Key Concepts

Gravity Earth Model (aka the lumpy potato)

Further Reading

Anthony Fogg, Justin Dix, Helen Farr. Late Pleistocene Palaeo Environment Reconstruction from 3D Seismic data, NW Australia.The ACROSS project - Australasian Research: Origins of Seafaring to Sahul. Authorea. January 06, 2020.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 stuck in a boat. Spoiler: it wasn’t a weekend trip. These early voyages don’t just tell us about getting to Sahul—they also help us understand the bigger picture of how modern humans spread around the world. Think of it as the original travel blog...but with fewer selfies and more science.

Key People

Helen Farr

Key Places

Bonaparte Gulf

Key Projects

ACROSS Project

Further Reading

Anthony Fogg, Justin Dix, Helen Farr. Late Pleistocene Palaeo Environment Reconstruction from 3D Seismic data, NW Australia.The ACROSS project - Australasian Research: Origins of Seafaring to Sahul. Authorea. January 06, 2020.

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 earliest evidence of pelagic fishing.

Key People

Susan O'Connor - Australian National University

Key Sites / Concepts

Asitau Kuru / Jerimalai

O'Connor, Sue, Ono, Rintaro, and Clarkson, Chris. Pelagic Fishing at 42,000 Years Before the Present and the Maritime Skills of Modern Humans.Science334,1117-1121(2011).DOI:10.1126/science.1207703

Kisar

O’Connor, S., Mahirta, Kealy, S., Boulanger, C., Maloney, T., Hawkins, S., … Louys, J. (2018). Kisar and the Archaeology of Small Islands in the Wallacean Archipelago. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 14(2), 198–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2018.1443171

Laili

O’Connor, Sue, Ceri Shipton, and Shimona Kealy. "The southern route to Sahul: modern human dispersal and adaptation in the pleistocene." The Prehistory of Human Migration-Human Expansion, Resource Use, and Mortuary Practice in Maritime Asia. IntechOpen, 2023.

Shipton, C., Morley, M.W., Kealy, S. et al. Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul. Nat Commun 15, 4193 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x

Maritime Networks

O’Connor, S., Kealy, S., Reepmeyer, C., Samper Carro, S. C., & Shipton, C. (2022). Terminal Pleistocene emergence of maritime interaction networks across Wallacea. World Archaeology, 54(2), 244–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2023.2172072

Pleistocene female burial with fish hooks

O’Connor S, Mahirta, Samper Carro SC, et al. Fishing in life and death: Pleistocene fish-hooks from a burial context on Alor Island, Indonesia. Antiquity. 2017;91(360):1451-1468. doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.186

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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!

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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

Liang Bua

Mata menge

Dmanisi

Key People

John McNabb (Mac)

Mike Morewood

Key Hominids

Homo floresiensis

Homo luzonensis

Homo erectus

Denisovan

More Reading

Brumm, A., van den Bergh, G., Storey, M. et al. Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores. Nature 534, 249–253 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17663

Baab, K. L. (2012) Homo floresiensis: Making Sense of the Small-Bodied Hominin Fossils from Flores . Nature Education Knowledge 3(9):4

Détroit, F., Mijares, A.S., Corny, J. et al. A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines. Nature 568, 181–186 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 boats.

Key People

Clive Gamble

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Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.

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 this episode we chat with Geoff Bailey and Hayley Cawthra about the challenges of working in coastal environments and reconstructing their submerged stories.

Key People

Geoff Bailey

Hayley Cawthra

Additional resources

2021. Bailey G, Cawthra HC. The significance of sea-level change and ancient submerged landscapes in human dispersal and development: A geoarchaeological perspective. Oceanologia

2020 Cawthra, Hayley C., et al. "Migration of Pleistocene shorelines across the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain: Evidence from dated sub-bottom profiles and archaeological shellfish assemblages." Quaternary Science Reviews 235: 106107.

2022. Hill J, et al. Sea-level change, palaeotidal modelling and hominin dispersals: The case of the southern Red Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews

Click here to send us a message!

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurencecomposed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.