No, Britain did not destroy a prosperous Mughal rule in India. When EIC took Bengal, India was deep in a century-long economic depression.
But this does not let the British off the hook — and the effects are still felt today.
🙏 Bishnupriya Gupta
Read or listen: substack.com/home/post/p-...
I love reading John's substack, but this one has me particularly chuffed since he is highlighting the part of this new paper that got me most excited (and was ignored in a lot of the coverage). He gives a great summary of identifying matrilineal kin networks/ -based migration in the human genome.
"The chimps at Ngogo and Taï are ingesting the equivalent of more than two drinks a day on average."
And they start young!
🙏 @katewong.bsky.social
Where did humans evolve? What was the scenery like? And what should we make of the "savanna hypothesis"?
What a pleasure to find so much clarity on these questions!
My brilliant guest was Denise Su at ASU's Institute of Human
Origins! @asuiho.bsky.social.
🎧 Enjoy!
Priceless interview for all anthropologists and fieldworkers. Thank you, @ilarimakela.bsky.social & RB Lee!!
Lee’s discussions on establishing new field sites closely parallel my experiences in the Omo in Ethiopia with the @omovalleyresearchproject.org
A new podcast interview by @ilarimakela.bsky.social with Richard B. Lee about Man the Hunter! Should be fascinating.
onhumans.substack.com/p/the-origin...
It's out: the first ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee! 🥁
We discuss the 60 year legacy of Man the Hunter conference, including:
The Original Affluent Society
The Dawn of Everything
The choice of the term "Man" in the conference name.
Enjoy!
What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind?
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
What a pleasure to do this swap with one of my favourite shows, Many Minds! Do check their work out if you haven't already.
And stay tuned for my turn in an hour or so ;)
The talk was superb, do check it ou!
"Rather than framing cooperation as a moral innovation or a product of stable communal life, [the] researchers propose that cooperation may actually flourish when the world is unstable."
www.anthropology.net/p/when-the-w...
by @anthropology.net
😂
The trilogy ends!
The final episodes of Decoding Our Story traces the last miles in the human journey out of Africa: South America in the west, Polynesia in the east, and ....
Can you guess?
🙏 @morestrada.bsky.social & @anthropogeny.org
Listen >> open.spotify.com/episode/16l1...
How cool!
"The long coexistence of humans and leopard cats is one of the most overlooked relationships in East Asian zooarchaeology. Yet it represents a case where a wild species began down a pathway toward domestication but never reached the final steps."
www.anthropology.net/p/strangers-...
The top artists amongst On Humans listeners in 2025 -- a surprising mix 😂 I guess this speaks about a diverse crowd. Glad if so 👏
Thanks to everyone who've been listening!
2/ This is episode two of Decoding Our Story -- a series of short live-episodes, recorded at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA.
onhumans.substack.com/p/dna
Yes, there are genetic differences between human populations. But how big are they?
Diyendo Massilani's lab has produced a fascinating analysis on this.
What a pleasure to have him on!
open.spotify.com/episode/043H...
2/ The first episode explores the differences between us and the Neanderthals.
For centuries, we could only understand Neanderthals through stones and bones. Now, genetics is offering a new tool.
David Gokhman's lab is decoding Neanderthal traits from their genetic echoes.
What have they found?
It’s live! 👏
Decoding Our Story is a three-part series on how genetics is rewriting the human story🏺
Recorded at the @salkinstitute.bsky.social's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA, these episodes take you behind the scenes of one of the most exciting frontiers in modern science.
Enjoy!
If David is right, you should check this out too 😉
onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel...
A telling graph about climate change and human origins.
onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel...
#PaleoSky
"Why did violence break out all across the LBK at the same time, and with such lasting consequences?"
Very interesting reminder of how early European farming was quite peaceful -- until it wasn't.
www.science.org/content/arti...
And many thanks to @dremmabird.bsky.social for help with this!
2/2 This grew out of years of conversations I've had with some of the most thoughtful scholars on the matter, including @chrisbstringer.bsky.social , @cecileduflot.bsky.social , @vivek123.bsky.social , @lukegldng.bsky.social + the Origins of Humankind with @anthropogeny.org
Grateful to all !🙏
Why do we exist?
The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? Or are we simply drowning in data?
I think we have a story--a story centered on calories, childhoods, cooperation, and climate.
Here is the story.
You decided to read this. But could you have chosen otherwise? Are we ever free to choose?
🧠 A short episode on a big topic!
Read or listen at onhumans.substack.com/p/is-the-bra....
🙏 Thanks to @timcoulson.bsky.social from @biology.ox.ac.uk!
"New research at Semiyarka is challenging long-held ideas about mobility, metallurgy, and the unexpected shape of early cities in Eurasia."
www.anthropology.net/p/city-of-th...
@anthropology.net
I guess I was thinking about the ease with which folks like me might use this to inflate the gap between us and Neanderthals. You have quite a thoughtful approach to this, hence thought of you.
Curious to hear if you think this work is illuminating or misleading? @lemoustier.bsky.social
"How is it that Brazil imported so many more enslaved people than the US, yet by the mid-19th century the US had 2.5 times more?"
aeon.co/essays/way-d...