A group of hunter-gatherers encounter diverse habitats full of creatures they’ve never seen before. A land of opportunity, but also danger.Join host Tristan Hughes and expert Dr David Meltzer as they delve into the Ice Age in North America, over 10,000 years ago, a land of saber toothed tigers, direwolves, woolly mammoths, mastodons. They discuss how ancient DNA is revolutionising our understanding of human displacement and extinction events and how these explorers adapted to their new world.Presented by Tristan Hughes. The producer is Joseph Knight, audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6FFT7MK.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.
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A group of hunter-gatherers walk along the coast, with the boundless ocean to their right and towering mountains in the distance to their left. They have been walking south for some time now, but the rewards of their journey will be worth it. They are adventurers, some of the first humans to have ever walked that path. Out in front of them, the land will soon open up.
Unknown plants and trees await them. Diverse habitats full of creatures they've never seen before. A land of opportunity, but also of danger. These first Americans were populating a brand new world. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
And today, while we're heading to North America in the Ice Age more than 10,000 years ago, it was a land home to some of the world's most famous prehistoric mammals, including saber-toothed tigers, direwolves, woolly mammoths, mastodon, giant sloths, although, alas, probably not saber-toothed squirrels. Sorry, Scrat.
But the Ice Age was also when the first humans reached this continent and quickly spread all across the Americas. So what do we know about their arrival, the animals they coexisted with? Did early humans play a role in the extinction of woolly mammoths? And what can DNA tell us, not just about these first Americans, but also about these awesome now extinct beasts that they lived alongside?
Well, to answer all of this, our guest today is the wonderful Dr. David Meltzer, professor of prehistory at Southern Methodist University. David, he's an expert on the ever-evolving story of these first Americans and the perfect guest to give you a taster of Ice Age America. David, welcome back. It's been too long. It is great to have you back on the podcast. Hey, thanks so much.
I enjoyed it the last time and I'm sure I'll enjoy it this time. I mean, Ice Age America, this is an amazing time period in North American history. There are so many stories varying from the arrival of humans to saber-toothed cats and mammoths. It's so much to choose from.
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