Early Humans

How did the mammoths, such a specialised and unique beast, come to be in the first place, and how did it eventually die out? Just how important were the woolly mammoths to early groups of Homo sapiens living on the Mammoth Steppe, and how did they interact with them? How did the mammoths themselves live, in fact, and where could they be found?

The Paleolithic era is where palaeontology starts to blur the lines with archaeology, and where human innovations progressed spectacularly. In today's video we will cover as much of the world as we can, from the wide open plains of Africa, up to the cold Mammoth Steppe of Eurasia, the prairies of the Americas and the deserts of Oceania.

Today we explore human evolution as a whole, examining the deadly creatures of Earth's past - and even present - that would have opportunistically caused great harm to our ancestors. We will explore the giants of the Stone Age, those early threats in ancient Africa, as well as some more unexpected fears those who came before us had to tackle.

Today we will examine several of the most prominent sabre toothed cats who lived on the grasslands of the Pleistocene world our earliest ancestors were beginning to conquer. We will be looking at animals from across the world, exploring how they lived and hunted alongside our distant relatives.

When the conquistadors first arrived amongst the lands and peoples of the Aztec Empire, they found themselves encountering a huge empire, rich in both resources and population. Their intense rituals to the gods shocked the conquistadors, and their cities, attire and lands were unlike anything they had seen.

One of the major things that intrigues us all about prehistory so much is the fauna that lived throughout times long past. This can be applied to all prehistoric life, not just the life of the Late Cenozoic, but it is fascinating to think of the species that our ancestors encountered that we cannot.

Egypt has historically been closely associated with mystery - from its cryptic tombs, to its pantheon of old gods, there is much we still do not know about these ancient people. Historical records from Egypt are some of the oldest known to man, making this a civilisation that arose when much of the world was still beginning to develop the technologies that would permit such a lifestyle.