Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2023
Origin Stories
Meredith Johnson
4.8 • 554 Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
2023 was another exciting year in human origins research! Fossil discoveries and long-term primate studies expanded our understanding of what makes us human. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.
Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched!
>>>> Please click here to make a one-time or monthly donation.
Guests
Links to learn more
- Top 13 Discoveries in Human Evolution, 2023 Edition
- Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125,000 years ago: Implications for Neanderthal behavior (open-access research paper)
- Neanderthals lived in groups big enough to eat giant elephants
- Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago (open-access research paper
- Early Homo erectus lived at high altitudes and produced both Oldowan and Acheulean tools (open-access research paper)
- The surprising toolbox of the early Homo erectus
- Demographic and hormonal evidence for menopause in wild chimpanzees (open-access research paper)
- Wild chimpanzees experience menopause
- Chimpanzee menopause revealed ft. Melissa Emery Thompson (Lunch Break Science on YouTube)
Sponsors and credits
Origin Stories is sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.
Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Before we dig into today's episode, I want to thank you for listening to our show this year, |
| 0:05.9 | and I'm coming to ask for your support to help us make more episodes in 2024. |
| 0:12.2 | Right now, two generous sponsors are quadruple matching every donation, one time or monthly, |
| 0:18.5 | to support Origin Stories. |
| 0:23.8 | Every donation will make four times the difference, so please go right now to LeakyFoundation.org slash Origin Stories |
| 0:28.1 | or click the link in your show notes. This is Origin Stories, the Leaky Foundation podcast. |
| 0:41.6 | I'm Meredith Johnson. |
| 0:43.8 | And I'm producer Ray Pang. |
| 0:46.0 | It's that time of year again. |
| 0:48.2 | 2023 is almost over, and we're here to bring you some of the most exciting discoveries in human origins research. |
| 0:55.6 | For 2023, Ray talked to four Leaky Foundation grantees, and he's going to share with us |
| 1:01.1 | what they thought were the most exciting and important discoveries of the year. And I'm excited to |
| 1:06.1 | hear what they are. And you don't know what they are yet. I don't. |
| 1:11.4 | For the past two months, our editor, Audrey, and I have been having these incognito meetings |
| 1:16.5 | where we talk about super cool discoveries without you. |
| 1:20.0 | It's been kind of exciting, and it also feels a little bit wrong, and I can't wait to |
| 1:24.4 | share them with you. |
| 1:25.4 | Should we just get started? |
| 1:26.9 | Yeah, let's do it. |
| 1:28.3 | What are you got for me? |
| 1:29.3 | First up, we have a discovery about a site where Neanderthals, |
| 1:33.3 | butchered mammals, bigger than any on land today. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Meredith Johnson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Meredith Johnson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.