In this episode, the team begins by discussing the fossil skull of a million-year-old human ancestor discovered in China, which may rewrite the timeline of human origins. Next, they discuss a 5000-year-old Spanish tomb that reveals ancient southwestern Europe's trade and travel routes. The team is then joined by Olive Talley, the director, producer, and writer of the new documentary film The Stones Are Speaking, which chronicles the discoveries at the famous Gault Archaeological Site in Texas.

Olive Talley is an award-winning producer, writer, and journalist with a career that spans documentary filmmaking, network television, and news reporting for newspapers, an international wire service, and radio stations in Texas. Her first feature-length film, ALL RISE For the Good of the Children, premiered at the 2019 USA Film Festival in Dallas and was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy. Olive’s work in New York as a producer at Dateline NBC and ABC’s Prime Time Live! The news magazine shows won two Emmy nominations, a National Headliner Award for Outstanding Network Documentary, a DuPont Columbia Award for Hurricane Katrina team coverage, and a CINE Golden Eagle Award. Her investigative reporting in radio and newspapers earned dozens of state and national awards, most notably a citation as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a George Polk Award, and two Texas Headliner Awards. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Olive also attended Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship. She lives in Dallas.

News Link: Million-Year-Old Skull

News Link: 5000-Year-Old Spanish Tomb

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In this episode, the Seven Ages team begins the conversation with news concerning the discovery of the Petralona skull in a cave complex in Greece. The team is then joined by returning guest James Chatters to discuss the Hoyo Negro site in Quintana Roo, Mexico. This enigmatic submerged site not only holds the remains of several new species of ground sloth but also the remains of a young girl named "Naia", the oldest (13,000 BP) complete human remains in the western hemisphere.

Dr. James Chatters earned his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Washington in 1982. He is an archaeologist and paleontologist who has discovered and investigated many of North America’s earliest human skeletons. Best known for the 1996 discovery of Kennewick Man and ongoing work at the Hoyo Negro Site in the Yucatan of Mexico, he has also done extensive work in hunter-gatherer prehistory in the western US, macroevolutionary theory, palynology, and late Pleistocene mammals, most notably ground sloths.

Image Credit: Paul Nicklen / Hoyo Negro Project

News Link: Petralona Skull

Music in this Episode: Scott Buckley - Sanctum

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In this episode, Micah and Jason begin the conversation with news of a recent study published in Nature concerning the oldest and most complete sequenced Egyptian genome. Next, the conversation turns to the recent southeastern meteor strike over Georgia and South Carolina. The team is then joined by Megan A. of the Town Creek Mound in North Carolina to discuss this unique and well-preserved Mississippian site.

Town Creek Indian Mound is an unusual phenomenon in the history of North American archaeology. While most archaeological sites are investigated for a few years before archaeologists move on to new locations, Town Creek, situated on Little River (a tributary of the Great Pee Dee in central North Carolina), has been the focus of a consistent program of archaeological research for more than half a century. This research has contributed to scientific understanding of the original inhabitants of our continent and has provided educational opportunities for many graduate and undergraduate students in anthropology. Moreover, these contributions to science and higher education were made as the site contributed directly to public education.

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Town Creek Indian Mound