Uncut, extra long: this episode covers the spread of humankind through the lens of culture, going from Altera's centres of origin to transoceanic contact. We use the Confluences of Human Culture adornment piece on the Chorographical Depictions world map as a talking piece, ranging from the overstated "cradles of civilization" to more understudied areas of independent crop domestication in the far corners of the world. Other topics covered: the Norse discovery of Vinland, the sweet potato theory of trans-Pacific contact, and other pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories, as well as the connection of pirogues and caravels, the Bantu ironworking tradition, Austronesian expansion across two oceans, domestications of the Sahel, the Eastern Woodlands agricultural complex, Australian bush tucker and potential food domestications, the Ainu as oceangoing sailors, Papua as a cradle of civilization, and deltas and river bifurcation!

Tired of learning geography and history in an uninspired world? Atlas Altera is a creative exercise that repaints the world while going hardcore on real geography, anthropology, linguistics, and history.

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