Tristan Hughes

That's how quickly things are changing.

Neanderthals have had such a bad rep for so long.

And yet you can't help with all this information coming out and all this promotion, like your new series and so on.

You can't help but love them.

You can't feel that actually they're not too different from us.

I don't know if you're feeling that as well I am and also on the Ancients podcast we've done a few episodes on Neanderthals and their stories and people love like the story of the last Neanderthals as well but yeah Have you had Ludwig on?

No for that we had Chris Stringer on Amazing and that was learning about DNA and the lack of genetic diversity variation we'll get into I'm sure but like learning from that the interest in it

Yes, we still had a comment just like, no, the ancestors aren't extinct.

I saw one down the pub last week.

But yes, there is just a real fascination actually wanting to learn more about who these people are because we now have the information to give like a detailed 40, 50, 60 minute podcast episode about it.

I think absolutely.

And as you say, it does make the story of Homo sapiens, us today.

It's all for our own purpose.

Just an ego boost for us and everyone on the planet.

All right.

Well, let's start with the background of Neanderthals and then Homo sapiens and then how they interact, which is very interesting.

So Neanderthals, how far back in time are we going?

Where in the world are we going with the Neanderthals before they meet our ancestors?

We're going to his shrine right after this, right?

Yes, yes, yes.