Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections, and human adaptability.
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Sponsors and credits
This episode was generously sponsored by Leakey Foundation Fellow Eddie Kislinger in honor of his wife, jewelry designer Cathy Waterman. Her designs are inspired by nature and influenced by her study of and connection with ancient human history. We are grateful to them for making this episode possible.
Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and our listener-supporters.
Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
Bonus Episode: Short and Sweat
Episode 55: Monkeys Get Creative
Episode 54: The Obstetrical Dilemma
Sleep and the Moon
Episode 52: How to Study an Endangered Species
Episode 51: The Teeth Remember
Episode 50: Understanding Neanderthals
Episode 49: Exercise
Episode 48: Ancestor (rerelease)
Episode 47: Skin
Episode 46: Interview with María Martinón-Torres
Episode 45: Detective of the Dead
Episode 44: Custodian of the Ancestors
Episode 43: We Eat Bugs
Episode 42: The Cave Punan
Episode 41: Tribes Old and New
Episode 40: The Denisovans
Piltdown Man
Episode 38: From the Archive - Louis Leakey
Episode 37: From the Archive - Mary Leakey
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