How Brutish were our Ancestors?

How Brutish were our Ancestors?

Was life for our ancient ancestors brutish and short or did they exist as noble savages, free and living in harmony with nature and each other? Many of our assumptions about ancient societies stem from Renaissance theories about how society should be organised and what civilisation is. Dan is joined by David Wengrow, Professor of Comparative Archaeology at University College London and co-author of 'The Dawn of Everything' to challenge some of these assumptions and show that they were founded on critiques of European society. David shines a light on the great variety of ancient civilisations, the different models of society they offer and how that might influence us today.


Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more.


Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.


If you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email us at ds.hh@historyhit.com, we'd love to hear from you!


You can take part in our listener survey here.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(1491)

British Ship Building

British Ship Building

In this episode, Dan chats to British naval historian and maritime artist, Richard Endsor, about seventeenth century ship building. It was the developments of this period that would enable Britain to ...

14 Huhti 202020min

Apollo 13

Apollo 13

I was joined by Kevin Fong, who took me through one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of exploration. Apollo 13 was the seventh crewed mission on the Apollo space programme, and their t...

13 Huhti 202027min

The House of Byron

The House of Byron

Emily Brand has written a brilliant book about the Byrons. Not just the great romantic, poet and adventurer, George Gordon Byron, but his parents and grandparents who are equally as deserving of our a...

12 Huhti 202026min

The Prime Minister Hospitalised: Lloyd George's Influenza

The Prime Minister Hospitalised: Lloyd George's Influenza

In September 1918 David Lloyd George, the charismatic wartime Prime Minister, visited the city of Manchester, attended a vast public gathering and then collapsed. He spent the next week and a half con...

10 Huhti 202019min

How Pandemics Made the Modern World

How Pandemics Made the Modern World

Professor Frank Snowden is currently on lockdown in Rome, experiencing at first hand life in a pandemic. For years he has written about the great waves of disease that swept across the world in the pa...

9 Huhti 202034min

Loot? Spoils? Artefacts? What to Do with Our Museums

Loot? Spoils? Artefacts? What to Do with Our Museums

Our museums are full of stuff taken, bought, stolen and gifted from foreign countries. It feels like we face a reckoning. What shall we do with it?I talked to two authors of new books that wrestle wit...

8 Huhti 202026min

Death by Shakespeare

Death by Shakespeare

Poison, swordplay and bloodshed. Shakespeare’s characters met their ends in a plethora of gruesome ways. But how realistic were they? And did they even shock audiences who lived in a time of plague, p...

6 Huhti 202017min

The Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa

The last great battle of the Second World War was fought on the island of Okinawa. After 83 blood-soaked days, almost a quarter of a million people lost their lives. The death toll included thousands ...

3 Huhti 202027min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
konginkangas
totuus-vai-salaliitto
tsunami
rss-ikiuni
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rouva-diktaattori
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historiaa-suomeksi
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
rss-iltanuotiolla
historian-nurkkapoyta
rss-kuningashuone