Sleep and ASMR by The French Whisperer

Tonight's episode is a compilation of topics that cover the cultural and technical development of humans:

- Part 1 is about the appearance of ""Behavioral Modernity"", the series of cognitive traits and behaviors displayed by Homo Sapiens since Prehistory;

- Part 2 is about the Neolithic Revolution, the invention of agriculture a few thousand years ago;

- Part 3 is about the history of machines, that since the invention of the first tools have become a way for humans to project their imaginary and their will;

- Part 4 is about ""uncontacted peoples"" of our time, which gives me an opportunity to talk about Anthropology and the various meanings of the word ""culture

My talk tonight is about ""uncontacted peoples"": tribes that maintain minimal or no contact at all with the rest of the world. Situations vary: in Amazonia, uncontacted peoples generally retreated to remote parts of the rainforest as a survival strategy, and we will see an example with the Nomole (also called Mashco Piro) from Peru. In other cases like the Shompen of Great Nicobar Island or the Yaifo from New Guinea, contact was established late in the 19th or 20th Century and these peoples decided to stay separated.

I will also tell you about Anthropology as a discipline: what does it actually study and what are the differences with Sociology? What is the history of this field? And finally I will tell you about exoticism, the myth of the noble savage, the definitions of culture and the difficulty to look past our own.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Uncontacted Peoples

2:25 Humanity in Amazonia

17:56 Nomole (Amazonia)

24:14 Shompen (Great Nicobar Island)

39:45 Anthropology, Noble Savage and Cultural Hierarchy

52:21 Yaifo (New Guinea)

1:00:00 What is Culture and Can We See Through It?

Here are four more stories of lost cities from the past, that will take us around the world and from Antiquity to our days:

- Dunwich (UK) was a thriving medieval city that grew during the Anglo-Saxon period on the North Sea coast, and peaked in the 14th century. But centuries of coastal erosion led to the disappearance of most of its buildings and houses.

- Heracleion was Egypt's most active port during the Late Period of Ancient Egypt. However, rising waters and soil liquefaction condemned it and its ruins remained forgotten and undisturbed for centuries, several miles off the coast and under 19 feet of water, until its recent rediscovery.

- Ciudad Perdida (Colombia) was a spectacular city built in the mountains of Colombia by the Tairona, with dozens of terraces connected by staircases and pathways.

- Nan Madol (Micronesia) was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty in Pohnpei. Sometimes called the ""Venice of the Pacific"", it consisted of more than 90 artificial islets and megalithic architecture.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Dunwich

21:41 Heracleion

43:22 Ciudad Perdida

52:44 Nan Madol

Forbidden Islands are places where visitors are strictly banned, for a variety of reasons. In tonight's episode, I tell you about four different examples:- North Sentinel, where one of the last uncontacted people in the world (the Sentinelese) keeps living in the neolithic;- Poveglia, an island that previously served as a lazaret (a quarantine site) in the Lagoon of Venice;- Surtsey, a volcanic island that appeared in the 1960's and has been closely watched by scientists since then;- Queimada Grande, a.k.a. "Snake Island", home to an endemic species of vipers.Timestamps:0:00 Forbidden Islands1:56 North Sentinel, India25:17 Poveglia, Italy41:40 Surtsey, Iceland53:59 Queimada Grande (Snake Island), Brazil