What We Did Before | Human Survival and Ancient Inventions
Before We Were The Last Human Species: When We Lived With Neanderthals
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Before We Were The Last Human Species: When We Lived With Neanderthals

OG Podcasts - Pre Modern Life and Human History

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Before We Were The Last Human Species: When We Lived With Neanderthals

1 Jun 2026

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Show notes

💬 For a big portion of human history, we shared the planet with other human species. What was that world like to be part of? How often did we interact with prehistoric humans - and would we have recognised the differences between them and us?

⚡ Michael Marshall is a science writer and expert voice on ancient human species. In this episode he paints a picture of this ancient world, where Neanderthals, Hobbits and Denisovans and other early humans walked alongside us.

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🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ The many species of the Homo genus that have existed - and those who lived with us

➡ Whether any other hominins attempted to reshape the landscape - and conquer it

➡ What the likes of Homo erectus and Homo naledi got up to in their spare time

➡ Just how similar looking Neanderthals were to modern humans

➡ The LRJ people - a group of Homo sapiens that tried to push into Europe and failed

➡ The types of tools, art and rituals other hominins demonstrated

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast exploring the history of everyday life, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou 

Email: hello@ogpodcasts.co.uk

Image Credits:

Tim Evanson, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cicero Moraes (Arc-Team) et alii, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cicero Moraes, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons