About

Uncover the mystery of our species' beginnings and how ensuing populations formed settlements and cultures, developed agriculture and herding, hunted, interacted, and populated the globe.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. Introducing Human Prehistory

31m

Get an introduction to the themes of the course, including emerging human biological and cultural diversity as well as our similarities, the importance of climatic and environmental change, and the importance of seeing prehistory as a tale of people and their beliefs, not just archaeological sites.

2. In the Beginning

29m

Evidence of human origins dates from between 6 million and 3 million years ago. What anatomical and behavioral changes occurred among hominids across this vast expanse of time? What fossil forms define the earliest stages of human evolution?

3. Our Earliest Ancestors

30m

The earliest tool-making hominids appeared between 3 million and 2 million years ago. Evidence from Louis and Mary Leakey's excavations at the famous Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania suggests that "Homo habilis," the first toolmaker, used these stone implements as aids in scavenging and foraging.

4. The First Human Diaspora

28m

Until about 730,000 years ago, world climate seems to have been fairly stable. Since then, climate shifts including Ice Ages have played a major role in human biological and cultural evolution, as we can see by considering theories of how humans first moved from Africa to Asia.

5. The First Europeans

30m

Europe seems to have been colonized only about 800,000 years ago-the dating is controversial. Archaeological research indicates people who lived a flexible and highly mobile life, but with cognitive and linguistic abilities that seem no match for those of modern humans.

6. The Neanderthals

30m

This lecture clears away many of the misleading stereotypes about these nimble, efficient hunters who used simple but versatile tools in order to adapt impressively to the harsh climate of late Ice Age Europe and Eurasia.

7. The Origins of Homo sapiens sapiens

30m

You learn the compelling evidence from molecular biology that shows the origins of "Homo sapiens sapiens," modern humans, lie in tropical Africa more than 100,000 years ago.

8. The Great Diaspora

30m

The spread of modern humans from Africa into other parts of the world is one of the great dramas of prehistory. Why did it occur, and how did the Sahara Desert play a critical role in it?

9. The World of the Cro-Magnons

30m

The modern humans whom we call Cro-Magnons began to settle Europe 45,000 years ago. What was their crucial advantage over Neanderthals and other more archaic people? How did the Cro-Magnons bring together the material and spiritual worlds in ways never before seen?

10. Artists and Mammoth Hunters

30m

What are the major features of Cro-Magnon mobile and cave art? How can we evaluate the various theories that have been put forward to explain what it means? How did the unique big-game hunting societies of the late Ice Age cope with their exceptionally harsh environment?

Extended Details

SeriesHuman Prehistory and the First Civilizations

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector

The Great CoursesProducer

Brian M. FaganActor

Similar Artists

Steven Tuck

Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations