The Ancients

Human Origins: Did We Begin in Africa?

The Ancients

Show Notes

The story of human origins is often imagined as a simple journey from Africa, but is the truth actually much messier? Tristan Hughes and leading palaeoanthropologist Prof. Chris Stringer dismantle the traditional narrative, discussing how recent breakthroughs in fossils and ancient DNA reveal a complex, shifting history of multiple migrations and cross-breeding to uncover where we truly come from.

MORE The First Britons with Prof. Chris Stringer Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify

Rise of Humans Listen on Apple LIsten on Spotify

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. The studio manager is Hanif Hussain. The producers are Joseph Knight and McKenna Fernandez. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds The Ancients is a History Hit podcast. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

The Ancients is now on YouTube! Watch HERE

Want even MORE Ancients? Sign up to History Hit for early access ad-free, plus exclusive subscriber-only episodes. PLUS with a History Hit subscription you can watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

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

More from The Ancients

Oct 22, 2026

Why did Emperor Constantine abandon Rome to build a spectacular new capital from scratch? In the year 312 a bloody civil war and a miraculous heavenly vision changed the Roman world forever.

Oct 18, 2026

It's one of history’s most compelling cold cases. What happened to the Ninth Legion, a crack unit of 5,000 Roman soldiers who vanished from the historical record without a trace?

Oct 15, 2026

Two thousand years ago, centuries before the Vikings, there was another Scandinavia. An Iron Age world.

Oct 11, 2026

Before Boudicca, another British leader brought the Roman war machine to a grinding halt. Meet Caratacus; the cunning King of the Britons who spent seven years outmaneuvering the empire. Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Miles Russell to uncover the forgotten story of this charismatic guerrilla fighter. From leading fierce resistance in Wales to his betrayal, capture, and a life-saving speech in Rome, Caratacus was Britain’s ultimate escape artist.

Oct 8, 2026

The frozen continent of Antarctica was once a land of forests, rivers and thriving ecosystems. And millions of years before humans ever existed it was home to a whole host of ancient creatures, from the first sharks to the earliest marsupials.

See all episodes →