The World Before Us: The New Science of Who We Are and Where We Came From

“…I’m probably not the only one who wondered whether any of my acquaintances or random strangers could be a little more Neanderthal than everyone else”—the Oxford archaeology professor Tom Higham jokes in his work. And then he gives a convincing scientific explanation for why that really is possible. Neanderthals, Denisovans, people from Luson—and even “hobbits”—what traces did they leave in each of us? How are they related to us and to one another? What contacts might have existed between them? The author illustrates the answers to these questions with astonishing stories, such as the plot about a genetic hybrid of two different kinds of people.

Higham had a direct connection to the study of this girl, born 90,000 years ago, with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. Modern archaeology makes it possible to obtain information even from tiny fragments of material, reconstructing—almost like a biography—what a person was like from partial remains. And literally one discovery can completely change our understanding of what happened in the past, so listeners will be especially interested to learn what has changed in genetics and archaeology over recent years and how revolutionary scientific breakthroughs are made.