The Secret Pleasures of Ancient Humans

"5,700 years ago, a young girl in Denmark spat out a piece of chewing gum. Scientists found it, and from her tooth marks and DNA they learned what she looked like and what she ate for lunch. Ancient humans didn't leave diaries, but they left small accidents that catch them in the middle of something they loved. In this video we look at 10,000-year-old gum chewed by teenagers in Sweden and the honey hunters of Spain's cave paintings. We meet the honeyguide bird and find kids' footprints splashing through puddles made by giant animals at White Sands. Then come the finger drawings made by toddlers on the ceiling of Rouffignac cave, and the Cave of Swimmers in the middle of the Sahara. The last one is a 14,000-year-old puppy that someone refused to give up on. It might break your heart. Chapters: 0:00 The girl who spat out her gum 1:11 Birch tar: the first chewing gum 2:15 Honey hunters 3:08 The honeyguide bird 3:50 White Sands: splashing in puddles 4:55 Rouffignac: toddlers on the ceiling 6:11 The Cave of Swimmers 7:21 The puppy nobody gave up on 8:43 The real secret 9:27 What comes next Which ancient pleasure would you try first? Tell us in the comments. Sources: Jensen et al., Nature Communications (2019), Syltholm gum; Kashuba et al., Communications Biology (2019), Huseby Klev; Roffet-Salque et al., Nature (2015), beeswax in pots; Bennett et al., Science (2021), White Sands footprints; Van Gelder, Rouffignac finger flutings; Janssens et al., Journal of Archaeological Science (2018), Bonn-Oberkassel dog. #AncientHumans #Prehistory #History #Archaeology"