I first became aware of Algis Kuliukas on twitter. Twitter can be a place where you need to exercise a little caution when it comes to the understanding of prehistory it seems. So when I heard him discussing the wading hypothesis I wanted to know more, but must confess to being a bit sceptic. Was this Pseudoscience? Was I going to hear about how we were all mermaids? I'm no expert of course, but on reflection. I'm going to say no to both. In this episode, Algis explains the wading hypothesis and how perhaps a waterside lifestyle and adaptability led to the evolution of bipedality; his work and phD 'A wading component in the origin of hominid bipedality?' His journey as an academic in human evolution, including his quest to find out why so many of his peers were not giving 'The wading hypothesis' any validity. We also talked about his new book on one of his inspirations, Elaine Morgan, who sounds like an incredibly impressive person and Algis explained some of the counter-arguments to the wading hypothesis. I am of course, no expert in any of this. Yet I couldn't help finding myself convinced. At least that this idea was at least worth consideration and not something to be lumped in with Pseudo-science and Aliens building the pyramids. It did hurt that Algis was a engaging, fun and extremely knowledgeable guest. I do of course welcome any to a right of reply on the subject. You can find more on Algis and his work here http://www.riverapes.com/ And his new book 'Elaine Morgan ~ 100 Years Towards Origins' is available at on amazon and kindle. Please leave us nice reviews, like and share. It really helps and we want to hear from you with suggestions, feedback, links or contacts for guests. Email bunchofapes@gmail.com or find us on facebook and twiiter.

In this episode I was totally humbled to be able to talk to such a great guest in the form of Chris Stringer. Chris is the lead in Human Origins and the National History Museum here in the UK, has an extraordinarily comprehensive background in Prehistory and has published more books then I have done podcast episodes. Excitingly, as we were emailing back and forth to arrange a time to record, Chris let slip that a press embargo on some very current and ground breaking research was being lifted that day at 4pm. We recorded at 3, so technically....we had it first! Admittedly it has now been out for a few days now the podcast is being released....but still: A bunch of apes exclusive, revealing how the earliest Homo-sapiens in Europe were breeding with Neanderthals 45000 years ago AND, some strong hints that it may have been a simple case of interbreeding and absorbing the Neanderthal genome in certain areas of Europe that led to their mysterious demise. Before Chris got into this, I spoke to him about his role at the museum and some of the changes of perspective he has had in his vast career so far, as well as the trials and tribulations of sharing prehistory over twitter and being a social media presence. We discussed the out of Africa vs multi-regional hypothesis, and the origins of our closest cousins The Neanderthals. There was so much incredible info packed into this episode I have had to listen back twice to even begin to absorb it all. Hopefully you will do the same and enjoy listening to Chris as much as I did. You can find Chris on twitter @ChrisStringer65 where he regularly shares fascinating articles, news and his own perspectives. For any of his many publications, head to any good online book store.

The Prehistory guys are Rupert Soskin and Michael Bott. They are the filmakers behind the fantastic film hit 'Standing with stones,' a wonderfully perceptive, well researched and celebratory look around the megaliths of Britain which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4xM8TLWc0&t=2917s I was delighted to be able to chat with them about making the film, the podcast and British prehistory. In this episode, we got the dirt on Haribo and Marlboro binges during filming, some amazing moments at Calanais during a full moon and whether they would date another species of hominid. Turns out, they are both well up for it.......I may be paraphrasing.....a lot. I was also lucky enough to discuss Prehistory and how the deep dive often changes the overall picture, how certain pictures and ideas have been unfairly weighted in the past and lots more fascinating stuff from two guys who are now officially heroes and inspirations of mine. You can find out more about The Prehistory Guys here https://theprehistoryguys.uk/ Please like, share and subscribe and leave any positive reviews if you have the time. It really helps and I really appreciate it. You can contact me about the show with questions, ideas or if you want to be a guest at bunchofapes@gmail.com.

When I started out on this project, I didn't realise I would have role-models or heroes in the Prehistory podcast world , yet here they are! Rupert Soskin and Michael Bott of The Prehistory guys podcast are also fantastic film-makers and I cannot recommend highly enough 'Standing with Stones' as a must watch for anyone interested in British Megaliths and stone circles, or indeed many that won't know they are until they watch the film. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=standing+with+stones In this episode I was privileged to talk to them, learn from them and even see if I could blag myself a role as the third Prehistory guy......with limited success perhaps. We chatted about the film and starting the podcast, how a deep dive [deep enough to look at snails in the soil] can re-shape an entire idea about Prehistory and some of the fascinating things they have discussed on The Prehistory guys podcast, as well as some of their own very well-educated opinions on aspects of British Prehistory that may have been misrepresented over the years. Plus the usual mixture of laughs and light hearted chat along the way. You can find out more about The Prehistory guys at https://theprehistoryguys.uk/ and find the podcast in all good podcast providers, plus check out the youtube channel and patron for more great content. To help grow the show, please like, share, leave reviews and spread the word. It really helps and I really appreciate it.

It's the 150th anniversary of Darwin's descent of man and I was delighted to sit down with Jeremy DeSilva who has recently edited and written the preface for a book entitled 'A most interesting problem: what Darwin's descent of man got right and wrong about human evolution.' The book is a veritable whose who of eminent experts in human prehistory and evolution, with each contributor hand picked to tackle a chapter from The Descent of Man that fits their area of specialism. Jeremy is a Paleoanthropologist from specializing in the locomotion of the first apes (hominoids) and early human ancestors (hominins). He is also a great sport for putting up with many of my ridiculous questions! As always, it was a real pleasure and privilege to talk to and learn from someone with so much knowledge elements of the human story. We discussed the book and his contribution, as well as brief outline of some of the areas where Darwin was spookily on point and others where he let himself down quite a bit. We also spoke about his fascinating work on the evolution of the human foot hominin and hominid bi-pedalism and various other wonderful tangents such as prehistoric bunions and a healed Australopithecus bone that shows the level of social care and support they may have been capable of.

In a previous episode with Briana Pobiner, she recommended a book called The Creative Spark by Agustin Fuentes. It got it the next day on Audible. It was fantastic. I contacted Agustin and somehow convinced him to talk to me on the podcast. Agustín Fuentes is an American primatologist and biological anthropologist at Princeton University and formerly the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. He has written several books including the awesome Creative Spark and his most recent work [next on my list] Why we Believe. In this episode we spoke about his work as a primatologist, the incredible and often surprisingly sophisticated social skills of primates and Apes. This conversation escalated to me babbling on about memories of an orangutan fiddling with himself in front of me and my nan....... so we moved on. We discussed The Creative Spark and how it is the imagination, the ability to create something that didn't exist from things that do, that separates us from other species. Once again, the discussion moved towards the importance of Neuro-diversity in our species in what was a thoroughly enjoyable and fun conversation with someone with some really important and well studied ideas on our pre-historical journey. To follow Agustin and find out more about his work you can find him on twitter @anthrofuentes and his books are available at all good online retailers.

In this episode I chatted to James Trevor Jackson, lecturer at the university of technology and applied sciences in Salalah, in Oman. After rather ludicrously getting his name wrong.....not a great start for any podcast host.....and Trevor taking it very well....I had to know more about living and working in Oman. Trevor has lectrued in 7 countries across the world and is currently working on a book entitled 'Shame and Shaming in the Twenty-First Century,' of which the first two chapters are focused on the evolution of shame, with an eye towards how the adaptive trait of feeling shame, as well as shaming others, impacts us today. Trevor discussed his work with me and spoke in fantastic details and depth about the subject of shame related to human evolution. Drawing comparisons with primates and looking at exceptions, looking back into early hominins and the development of human social structures and how shame facilitated some of these developments. It was a really interesting and thought provoking conversation for me and I hope Trevor will come back again to talk more on the subject. To find out more about his work in this area head to www.shameandshaming.com To get in touch about episodes, ask questions, make suggestions and be a guest, get in touch at bunchofapes@gmail.com. To watch this on youtube head to https://youtu.be/CnQuy2_fwGU Please like, share, comment and subscribe. It really helps and I appreciate it.

In this episode I got to chat with James Dilley, Dr of Archaeology, experimental archaeologist, life long flintknapper, prehistorical tool expert and creator of AncientCraft. Ancient craft provides replica prehistoric artefacts, living history demonstrations, workshops and consultation for museums and media. I have about half the items they sell on my Christmas list! Since I last spoke to him, James has completed his Doctorate in archaeology and we discuss his research into the use of antler as a spear tip by Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals in North west Europe during the late Paleolithic 40000 to 30000 years ago, to prevent breaking spear shafts, at the in Europe when the climate would have made tree's scare and wood precious. I ask him about his journey into flintknapping and the reasons he stuck with, which were not as mystically inciting and grounding as I thought! This lead onto the story of developing AnceintCraft and how he got to now being one of the go to people whenever TV and museums are needing some prehistoric demonstrations. Always a pleasure to talk to him, fascinating and I learnt loads. Plus left wanting more and more replicas from him. To find out more about what James does, or to buy some fantastic prehistoric tool replicas and other great ornamental items, head to www.ancientcraft.co.uk Or to catch his channel on youtube head click here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYm9MSTbHiF7P_hjElRoWQ To watch this podcast as a video on youtube and see early human [although James isn't in his prehistoric gear unfortunately] and Neanderthal man interacting , click here! https://youtu.be/sf81DMoM_Ws Please like, share subscribe. Catch us on itunes and best of all leave a great review. Perhaps write the bad one's on paper to refer back to at a later date... although love to hear from people with ideas, guests or stories to tell in the world of Prehistory. Email is bunchofapes@gmail.com

In this episode I am joined by Naturalist and Thought Leader Bernie Taylor, author of Before Orion: Finding the face of the hero. Bernie talks to me about his work researching the Altamira caves in Spain, where some of the earliest Homo-sapien cave art has been found. He explains the idea that the stories told in ancient history by the Sumerians and Ancient Greeks, where taken from stories being told tens of thousands of years ago and recorded in places such as Altamira. We discuss the evolution of abstract thought and art in Humans, how this may have impacted our species and the role art or more specifically, Artistic thinkers played in our prehistoric story. Then the conversations takes an intriguing tangent into a discussion on the value of Neuro-diversity in our species. An area that ties in with my full time job supporting Neuro-diverse children and young people and their families. We then tied this into Bernie's work and some ideas around Neuro-types in the past and how today's productivity driven society has perhaps left less room for visual thinkers with what are now considered 'Disorder's such as Dyslexia. Bernie has some big ideas, which I love! There are some connections that are admittedly a bit of a leap from my perspective and I did try to challenge these, but he clearly has tons of expertise, experience and knowledge to back his ideas up. I really enjoyed the conversation and I hope you do to. To check out his work head to https://beforeorion.com/ To watch this conversation check out the youtube channel https://youtu.be/ArEnkTpjqpc

In this first episode of the relaunch, I am joined by Briana Pobiner, research Scientist and Museum Educator at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Briana studied Evolutionary Anthropology and has researched into meat eating developments in early Hominins such as Homo Erectus. She has been on the podcast before and for more information from her regarding her work on the early human diet and meat eating, take a listen to this episode from back in 2018. https://soundcloud.com/bunchofapes/the-evolution-of-the-human-diet-with-briana-pobiner In this new episode, we chatted about how she is finding lockdown and how she keeps busy with remote projects. We took a stroll out of Africa with Homo-erectus and asked did they hunt, store food, where they more like Humans or apes? I found out about Isotopes and how they help us understand early human diets far better then archaeological finds that are difficult to find and analyse from so far back in the past. We clear up some myths that the Human diet is 'supposed to be' all meat and no carb, as some diet influencers unfortunately may try to lead you to believe. Briana talked about cross species cultural exchange possibilities and then saw for herself, some cross species genetic transfer possiblities....in my bloody brow ridge. So I got revenge by asking her some hard hitting questions like could the human race adapt to a diet of just Doritos and would she go inter-species with a Neanderthal if she was single! Lots of fun and I, as always learnt loads. Briana is a real expert with a skill and passion for making her filed understandable and accessible to all. You can find out more about the Human Oranges [Origins] programme here: https://humanorigins.si.edu/ and you can watch the episode on youtube here: https://youtu.be/2JnlJy-4tKw Please like, comment, share and subscribe. It all really helps! If you like to reach me to give feedback or be a guest, email me at bunchofapes@gmail.com