00:00 This episode is a grab bag of topics on prehistory that the host is revisiting, starting with how we know what we know and the different types of evidence, including genetics and standard archaeological findings.

04:43 Stable isotope analysis can provide information about diet and movement patterns of individuals, while dendrochronology uses tree rings for precise dating and to understand climatic conditions, and radiocarbon dating measures isotope ratios of carbon in organic materials to determine dates.

09:20 Radiocarbon dating provides a range of dates rather than a specific date, and by obtaining multiple samples from different sites, a more precise date range can be determined, allowing for more detailed stories to be told about the past.

13:54 The more samples and different forms of evidence that archaeologists have, such as paleoclimat samples, animal bones, genetic studies, and settlements, the more precise and detailed story they can tell about the past.

18:21 Archaeologists classify the past based on the evidence they have, but this process is artificial and there are limitations to what can be seen archaeologically, such as deep cultural differences that may not show up in material culture, like language differences.

23:11 Language likely existed among Neanderthals and Denisovans, and proto language may have existed even further back, with language being a prerequisite for advanced hunting strategies and social complexity, but linguistic fragmentation among hunter-gatherer groups with limited contact makes it difficult to trace language relationships beyond a certain time depth.

28:11 The emergence of agriculture in different parts of the world at the same time was likely influenced by climatic changes, specifically a warmer and wetter Holocene climate that made sedentism and intensive resource exploitation more viable.

33:04 The intentional use of fire has been a long-standing practice among Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens, and it has cultural, physiological, and landscape management implications, allowing for longer waking cycles, easier digestion of cooked food, and the ability to shape landscapes to suit their needs, which has been happening long before intentional domestication of plants and animals.

37:31 Early farmers had unhealthy diets, with lots of starchy carbohydrates, which led to dental issues, short stature, and the spread of diseases from animals; however, individual foods from these diets could still be consumed without negative effects, and oral traditions in certain indigenous communities, such as those in Australia, may preserve distant memories of early communities.

42:19 The ethnographic record of modern indigenous people can provide insights into the range of possibilities for understanding the lives and behaviors of people in the deep past, expanding our interpretations of archaeological evidence.

47:20 Early farmers experienced population growth and expansion due to Demik expansions, where farming spread as populations expanded and filled up new regions, and this pattern is seen in the spread of major language families associated with agricultural cultivation; however, despite the population growth, the physical remains of early farmers suggest that their quality of life was worse than that of hunter-gatherers, with shorter stature, poorer health, higher infant mortality rates, and fewer elderly individuals, although sedentism and the agricultural lifestyle with softer foods and milk production may have allowed for higher birth rates and reduced the gap between childbirths for women.

52:24 Despite the physical hardships and shorter lifespans, farming allowed for higher birth rates and larger population sizes compared to hunter-gatherers, leading to the spread of farming populations and major language families associated with agriculture.

57:06 The host recommends several books for further reading on archaeology, including the Cambridge World Archaeology series, James C. Scott's "Against the Grain," Stephen Mithin's "After the Ice," Craig Child's "Atlas of a Lost World," and Charles Mann's "1491 New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus."