The First Toolmakers

WARNING: graphic descriptions of violence and warfareMeet Diades, Alexander the Great’s overlooked military engineer, the man who made the impossible siege of Tyre happen.Tristan Hughes and Professor Edmund Richardson retell the thrilling, brutal, brilliant story of invention, am ...  Show more

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film Odyssey brings Homer’s epic roaring back to life and Tristan Hughes and Dr. Emily Hauser are here to unpack every storm, monster and star-making turn. From the brilliance of the adaptation to the ancient story beneath it, Tristan and Emily bri ...  Show more

Let us put some flesh on the bones of our prehistoric hominin story, and discover what our ancestors created to get carved flesh from the bones of animals. We investigate the technological advances from over three million years ago up to the last million years. 

The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum. In this programme, Neil goes back two million years to the Rift Valley in Tanzania, where a simple ...  Show more

HUMAN ANCESTORS (1) - In this episode we will be going right back to the very beginning, looking into the first upright walkers, then the australopithecines, homo habilis, homo erectus, hand tool construction, fire production and homo heidelbergensis.

The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells two million years of history of human development through the objects it has produced. This programme follows early humans as they slowly begin to move beyond their African homeland taking with them one essential item - ...  Show more