Screens of the Stone Age

Today we’re exploring the world of the Boonie Bears, China’s biggest animation brand. In the sixth feature film, the bears Blast into the Past—30 thousand years, to be exact, to a time when dinosaur skeletons dotted the landscape and humans were at war with wolves... and giants pandas took their name literally, and rainbow terror birds defied the physics of flight, and cavemen punched lava bombs out of the air with their bare hands!

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Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

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Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

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In this episode:

Watch Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vwcaf6aj90

Eucladoceros (the bush-antlered deer): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucladoceros

Homotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium

Megacerops... or Brontops, or Brontotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacerops

Phorusracids (terror birds): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae

Kumar et al. (2017) The evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46487

Wu et al. (2022) High-precision U-series dating of the late Pleistocene – early Holocene rock paintings at Tiger Leaping Gorge, Jinsha River valley, southwestern China: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2021.105535

Fu et al. (2025) Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.040

Callaway (2021) Oldest DNA from a Homo sapiens reveals surprisingly recent Neanderthal ancestry: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00916-0

Today we’re reviewing Cavegirl (1985), a movie which Wikipedia misleadingly describes as a “sex comedy”. It tells the story of a teenage nerd (i.e., incel) who is accidentally thrown back in time due to some magic crystal/military helicopter shenanigans and meets a charming manic pixie cavegirl who nonetheless fails to instill in him any growth or character development whatsoever.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: [email protected]

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In this episode:

Watch Cavegirl (1985) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3PZdKCzFDc

Watch Cavegirl: A Second Journey Back in Time (2013): https://vimeo.com/193203934

Play Caveman Movie Bingo: https://bingobaker.com#681e1d01d32b436e

Altamira cave paintings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira

Homo erectus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus

Shirley Temple – Animal Crackers in my Soup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNwFXLcrsbc

What is a “dude ranch”? https://www.clazyu.com/blog/working-dude-ranch/what-is-a-dude-ranch-a-brief-history/

Stacy Q – Two of Hearts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBdGT4dn4E

Michelle Bauer in Dinosaur Island (1994): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000292/mediaviewer/rm3165827072/?ref_=nm_ov_ph

Today we’re reviewing Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974), a children’s TV series about a Neanderthal family from Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and more. Unlike those series, however, this one is live-action! Who knew? Anyway, we talk about a lot of academic papers about Neanderthals, because nothing happens in the episode we watched.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: [email protected]

ArchPodNet:

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In this episode:

Watch Korg on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/korg-70-000-bc-s-1ep-01-the-blind-hunter-1974-low-480x-360/Korg+70%2C000+BC+-+S1ep01The+Blind+Hunter1974+%5BLow%2C+480x360%5D.mp4

Cave lions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_spelaea

Caspian tigers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_tiger

Paleoloxodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeoloxodon

Phylogenetic trees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenetic_tree

California woodpeckers: https://avibirds.com/woodpeckers-of-california/

UK woodpeckers: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how-identify/identify-uk-woodpeckers

Shanidar 1: https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/paleoanthropology/shanidar-1-neanderthal-05355.html

Trinkaus et al. (2019) External auditory exostoses among western Eurasian late Middle and Late Pleistocene humans: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220464

Buzi et al. (2025) The first preserved nasal cavity in the human fossil record: The Neanderthal from Altamura: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2426309122

Márquez (2008) The paranasal sinuses: The last frontier in craniofacial biology: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.20791

The Invention of Prehistory (2024) by Stefanos Geroulanos: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324091455

To kick off the New Year, we’re reviewing The Rap Guide to Evolution, a music album by Baba Brinkman which is... pretty self-explanatory, really. So here’s an hour and 15 minutes of us explaining it! We get into evolutionary psychology, 2000s-era edgelord atheism, postmodernism, genital evolution, and much more!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: [email protected]

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In this Episode:

Watch The Rap Guide to Evolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROgR3nK6ayk&list=PLuHbMGCLLUYZ0pq_mN093hqzn_28SvpVS

Ambulocetus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus

Gol’din and Radović (2018) A Middle Miocene baleen whale from Bele Vode in Belgrade, Serbia: https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/9751

Marković et al. (2025) First dinosaur remains from Serbia: Sauropod and theropod material from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Osmakovo: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106177

Recapitulation theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory

Out of Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa

Jebel Irhoud: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22335

Apidima: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z

Social constructivism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism

Tim Minchin - Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U

Science communication and science denial: https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/busting-myths-a-practical-guide-to-countering-science-denial/

Grizzly bear attacks school children in Canada: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz68x1n5qd6o

Evolutionary Psychology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

Pig domestication: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-domestication-of-pigs-170665

Ape testicle size: https://theconversation.com/why-did-humans-evolve-big-penises-but-small-testicles-71652

James Watson dead at 97: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/watson-james-obituary-9.6971457

Happy Longnight! Today is the December Solstice, and to celebrate we’re reviewing a very special holiday episode of 2007 sitcom Cavemen, based on the popular Geico insurance commercials. Everyone is invited, whether we like them or not, so grab a slice of forager’s pie and a glass of Beef Fizz and settle in to listen to your favourite palaeo researchers trying to explain basic astronomy. To the cow!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: [email protected]

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In this Episode:

Watch Cavemen S01E09 Caveman Holiday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqtbPiIMQ2g&list=PL81C5835E560AE6BE&index=26

Listen to our review of Cavemen S01E01: https://screensofthestoneage.com/podcast/episode-78-cavemen-s01e01-her-embarrassed-of-caveman-2007/

Neanderthal diet: https://www.sapiens.org/biology/neanderthal-diet/

Weyrich et al. (2017). Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21674

Richards and Trinkaus (2009). Isotopic evidence for the diets of European Neanderthals and early modern humans: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903821106

Beasley et al. (2025). Neanderthals, hypercarnivores, and maggots: Insights from stable nitrogen isotopes: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt7466

Fellows Yates et al. (2021). The evolution and changing ecology of the African hominid oral microbiome: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021655118

Adler et al. (2017). Evolution of the Oral Microbiome and Dental Caries: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40496-017-0151-1

Phytoliths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytolith

Chinique de Armas et al. (2015). Starch analysis and isotopic evidence of consumption of cultigens among fisher–gatherers in Cuba: the archaeological site of Canímar Abajo, Matanzas: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.003

Solstice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

Analemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma

Crazy Ancient Greek planet math: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferent_and_epicycle

The Antikythera Mechanism – Pseudoarchaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/pseudo/96

Beef fizz: https://vinepair.com/articles/beef-fizz-drink-history/