Episode 2: Encino Man (1992)

In our second episode we're reviewing Encino Man (aka California Man), the story of two unpopular teenagers from Encino, California, who dig up a frozen caveman and, naturally, take him to high school. Is this the best caveman movie of all time? Spoiler alert: yes it is.

In this episode:

• We fawn over Brendan Fraser and Pauly Shore. Sean Astin is in the movie too.

• Mousterian bowls

• Why don’t we call them “Cro-Magnon anymore?”

• Did Neanderthals use chemical methods to start fires?

• Discussions about the La Brea Tar Pits.

• It’s just called a “pull-down chart”

• Human taxonomy and species concepts are confusing.

Episode 1: William (2019)

We’ve started a podcast! Screens of the Stone Age: the podcast where scientists review movies about prehistoric people. Join me and my co-hosts, Dr. Kimberly Plomp and Dr. Ross Barnett, as we discuss everything from Iceman to Encino Man, from Year One to One Million Years B.C.!

To kick things off, we're reviewing William (2019), a story about a teenaged Neanderthal clone being raised by his ethically-dubious scientist parents in the 21st Century Pacific Northwest. Spoilers ahead!

In this episode:

• The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg

• Dolly the Sheep

• Scientist seeks 'adventurous woman' to have Neanderthal baby

• High-pitched Neanderthal voice

• 3-D Printing Gives Voice to a 3,000-Year-Old Mummy

• Green et al. (2010) A Draft sequence of the Neanderthal Genome