Homo Sapiens Rediscovered

The Scientific Revolution Rewriting Our Origins

By: Paul Pettitt

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Who are we? How do scientists define Homo sapiens, and how does our species differ from the extinct hominins that came before us? In this accessible account palaeoarchaeologist Paul Pettitt shows how the latest scientific advances, especially in genetics, are revolutionizing our understanding of human evolution. Pettitt reveals the extraordinary story of how our ancestors adapted to unforgiving and relentlessly changing climates, leading to remarkable innovations in art, technology, and society that we are only now beginning to comprehend.

Drawing on twenty-five years of experience in the field, Pettitt takes listeners from the caves and rock-shelters that provide evidence of our African origins to the far reaches of Eurasia, Australasia, and ultimately the Americas. Popular accounts of the evolution of Homo sapiens emphasize biomolecular research, notably genetics, but this volume also draws from the wealth of information from specific excavations and artifacts, including the author's own investigations into the origins of art and how it evolved over its first 25,000 years.

Drawn from cutting edge research in this field, with a unique perspective from Pettitt's own studies focusing on human behavior, this immersive and surprising book paints the clearest picture we have ever had of our own evolution.

©2022 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (P)2023 Tantor

Current and Relevant

Finally, a book that includes the most recent examples of Neanderthal, Denisovan, and Homosapian development and migrations.

Informative and Even Entertaining

I really enjoyed learning about recent scientific findings concerning our ancestors. The narration was excellent and the information written in a way I as a layman could understand. The tone is light and at times humorous. My only regret was that a chronological approach was not taken. Jumping around among human types, locations and time periods was confusing. But then again this might just have been a limitation of the audio book format. Regardless, listening was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Good current overview of understanding Eurasian and American first peoples.

While I would have liked more information about African and Arabian early human activities, to frame the importance of toolmaking and coastal exploration, this book covers a wealth of topics focused a bit more on Europe, Siberia and the opening of the Americas. After outlining previous events, the European transition from Neanderthal to more artistic people is discussed at length. I learned a lot about the importance of ice age traditions, and the pivotal importance of survivors of the last glacial maximum outside Africa and the tropics. Most important for me were the discussions of dogs, and the key role our relationship with dogs had in making us so successful as a species.

The narration was pleasing and clear. The only problem was occasionally losing the thread while walking, chewing gum, crossing the street, and listening at the same time. That could have been easily improved by more frequent restatements of the timeframes and locations being discussed.

Excellent

The author has the gift of economy of language while clearly making full thoughts and concepts clear. I thoroughly enjoyed this listen and highly recommend it to anyone interested in our human past. It also respectfully addresses and impeaches some pop science notions, without being dismissive.

A Good Overview

Homo Sapiens Rediscovered is a good overview of Paleolithic humans with a focus on Homo Sapiens while also covering some of our evolutionary history in Africa and the other archaic humans who were our contemporaries as we began to spread across the the planet. Julian Elfer does a good job delivering the material so I have no complaints about the narration. The overall production value was good although an accompanying PDF would have been nice because there were a few times where it seemed like the book was referencing a figure that wasn't available. If you are looking for a decent book covering some of the current theories of early human behavior and the science being used to better understand who we are as a spices delivered in an easy to understand way than this book is probably worth your credit.