Prehistoric Greenland
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What can a frozen island reveal about the people who thrived there for thousands of years? Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Asta Mønsted to explore prehistoric Greenland through astonishing archaeology and living mythology, from permafrost-preserved homes, tools, and clothing to whale hunts, shamanic stories, and the world of the Thule Inuit. Along the way, they uncover how families survived the Arctic, honoured spirits, and built a rich culture in one of Earth’s harshest places.
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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Hannah Feodorov. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Tudorburg forest? |
| 0:04.0 | What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland? |
| 0:07.0 | Or what made Alexander truly great? |
| 0:10.0 | With a subscription to history hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. |
| 0:17.0 | You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week, |
| 0:22.9 | covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:26.5 | Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. |
| 0:30.0 | Hello and welcome to this special episode of The Ancients. |
| 0:34.9 | Now, as I'm sure you're aware, Greenland is and has been in the news quite a lot recently. |
| 0:42.3 | Now, on the ancients, we don't cover events of the modern day, but what we can do is shine a light on the incredible |
| 0:53.3 | histories and prehistories of these areas of the world, |
| 0:58.2 | and Greenland is a fantastic example of that. |
| 1:01.6 | We want to promote the archaeology, the prehistory of this massive island in the north of the |
| 1:07.8 | world, a prehistory that stretches back thousands of years, a rich tale of archaeology, |
| 1:14.6 | but also mythology. What I loved about this chat is the wealth of archaeology that survives because of the |
| 1:22.4 | cold conditions. Think of the snow and the cold conditions acting like a natural freezer, |
| 1:27.4 | so so many organic material survive |
| 1:29.9 | and then combining that with mythology to learn more about how these people lived and how they viewed the polar world around them. |
| 1:37.8 | Our guest for this episode is Dr Astor Munstool. She is an archaeologist from Greenland. |
| 1:43.1 | She also specializes in the mythology as well. She was so wonderful to talk to, so warm and lovely, and really shines a light on the people of Greenland and their long, long history. I really do hope you enjoy. Let's go. It's 800 years ago. |
| 2:01.6 | It's 800 years ago. |
| 2:13.6 | High up in the Arctic, a fire burns brightly, nurtured within a building made of stone and bone. |
... |
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