A Four Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

CAVEMAN

Program 10-05-16-A

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Urrrh. Urrrh. (grunt). Whoo. Whoo. Me Caveman. Ugh. Ugh. Is your knowledge Cavemen based on TV commercials? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Caveman. We'll discover how the Ice Age gave birth to the first modern humans. And, the real secret of evolution…cooking. Also, the founder of today's caveman movement. He grunts in a more modern way.

SEGMENT 1:

A recent study of DNA from Neanderthal bones changed everything we thought we knew. Paleo Anthropologist John Hawks tells Steve Paulson the new information reveals that modern humans are one to four percent Neanderthal. And Brian Fagan tells Jim Fleming the rest of us is something else - Cro-Magnon. In his book "Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans," he argues that they were just like us - anatomically modern humans.

SEGMENT 2:

Sir Ian McKellen is heard first, reading from the novel "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver. It's part of her "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" series, set 6000 years ago. She tells Anne Strainchamps how she got interested in the Stone Age.

SEGMENT 3:

Not all cavemen are in the past. The Modern Caveman Movement involves men in urban gyms, grunting and sprinting on all fours, lifting heavy stones, and running barefoot. They're eating a Paleolithic diet of meat, often raw, with no grains or beans or bread or dairy. 72 year-old Arthur De Vany is an economics professor whose physical accomplishments could awe a 20 year-old. He tells Anne Strainchamps it's all about mimicking what our cavemen ancestors would have done. Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham says the big question is WHEN did we become human? He tells Steve Paulson it's clearly when we started cooking. Otherwise we would never have survived.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-05-16-A.

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Books & CDs:

Richard Wrangham, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human (Basic Books)
Brian Fagan, Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans (Bloomsbury)
Michelle Paver, Wolf Brother: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1 (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1 of 5) (Katherine Tegen Books)

Websites:

• Michelle Paver
  http://www.michellepaver.com/
  For Michelle Paver very active fan club:
  http://www.torak.info/
• John Hawks, professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Here's his blog on the recent discovery that we are today one to four percent Neanderthal.
  http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal_dna/neandertals-live-genome-sequencing-2010.html

Music:

• “Theme to the Flintstones” off of Television’s Greatest Hits on TeeVee Tunes.
  
• “Xerxes’ Final Offer” by Tyler Bates off of the 300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Warner Brothers.
  
• “Opening” by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander off of the 10,000 BC Original Motional Picture Soundtrack on Decca USA.
  
• “The Frivol” by Doc Dabolu. A Doc Dabolu self-release.
  
• “Cave Man” by Billy Ward & The Dominoes off of Billy Ward & The Dominoes – 21 Greatest Hits, Vol. 4 on King Records.

Distribution dates: week of 05/16/2010 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

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