The Neanderthals

In Our Time: Science

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2010

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Neanderthals.In 1856, quarry workers in Germany found bones in a cave which seemed to belong to a bear or other large mammal. They were later identified as being from a previously unknown species of hominid similar to a human. The specimen was named Homo neanderthalis after the valley in which the bones were found.This was the first identified remains of a Neanderthal, a species which inhabited parts of Europe and Central Asia from around 400,000 years ago. Often depicted as little more advanced than apes, Neanderthals were in fact sophisticated, highly-evolved hunters capable of making tools and even jewellery.Scholarship has established much about how and where the Neanderthals lived - but the reasons for their disappearance from the planet around 28,000 years ago remain unclear.With: Simon Conway MorrisProfessor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of CambridgeChris Stringer Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum and Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway, University of LondonDanielle SchreveReader in Physical Geography at Royal Holloway, University of LondonProducer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.0	Hello, in 1856 in the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf, workers quaring limestone
0:16.9	stumbled across some old bones which they assumed to be the remains of a bear.
0:21.8	They were handed over to a local naturalist who realized that he was looking at something far more intriguing.
0:26.4	The remains which included part of a skull as well as a leg, arm and rib bones
0:30.9	appeared to be ancient in origin and to come from an animal similar in appearance to humans.
0:36.0	But this was an animal previously unknown to science, possibly even an ancestor of modern humans.
0:41.0	The following year, the discovery was announced to the world's
0:43.8	a new species namely Homo Neanderthalis in honour of the place where it was
0:48.3	discovered. Today we know Homo Neanderthalis as the Neanderthal's, a relative
0:53.0	from modern humans that flourished several hundred thousand years ago.
0:56.0	Modern scholarship has established much about their lives and
0:59.0	behavior, although the reason for their extinction remains unclear. With me to discuss the Neanderthals
1:04.7	are Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Paleobiology at the University of
1:09.2	Cambridge, Chris Stringer, research leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum,
1:14.5	and visiting professor at Royal Holloway University of London, and Daniel Shreve,
1:18.7	reader in physical geography also at Royal Holloway University of London.
1:23.0	Simon Con Memorial Morris, before we talk about the Neanderthals themselves,
1:26.0	can you set the scene for us?
1:28.0	What was the Earth like about 400,000 years ago
1:31.0	just before the emergence or they're said to emerge these land at
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.