Episode 14: Alpha (2018)

On today’s episode we are reviewing Alpha (2018), the story of a lost Solutrean boy who befriends and domesticates a wolf, with TWO special guests! Dr. April Nowell studies the origins of art and language and the archaeology of childhood. Dr. Grant Zazula is the palaeontologist for the Government of Yukon, and he was the palaeontology consultant on Alpha! He takes us behind the scenes as we dissect the real-life inspirations behind the language, artifacts, landscapes, and of course ice-age mammals in this beautiful movie.

Check out April’s new book, Growing Up in the Ice Age: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/growing-up-in-the-ice-age.html

April is giving a talk on Thursday January 13, 2022 at 9:00 PT / 17:00 GMT as part of the University of Liverpool Evolutionary Anthropology Webinar Series: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/archaeology-classics-and-egyptology/events/evo-anth/

Check out Grant’s work with the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre

https://www.beringia.com/

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In this episode:

Christine Schreyer on the construction of fictional languages in film: https://news.ubc.ca/2018/08/23/ubc-linguist-creates-language-for-hollywood-film-alpha/

CBC under fire for documentary promoting the Solutrean Hypothesis: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/cbc-under-fire-for-documentary-that-says-first-humans-to-colonize-new-world-sailed-from-europe

Archaeology of the Night: Life After Dark in the Ancient World, edited by Nancy Gonlin and April Nowell: https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3227-archaeology-of-the-night

Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump in Alberta: https://headsmashedin.ca/

Winnipeg professor teachers how to survive falling through the ice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gOW8ZaYqHA&list=PLqCtDryCZFOqhQ-05Nwy9tLrFMsZI3KPh

Mammoth bone houses: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/60-mammoths-house-russia-180974426/

Painted pebbles from Mas d’Azil, France: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azilian

Borneo hand stencil cave paintings: https://theconversation.com/borneo-cave-discovery-is-the-worlds-oldest-rock-art-in-southeast-asia-106252

The domestication of dogs: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264329-humans-may-have-domesticated-dogs-by-accident-by-sharing-excess-meat/

“Alpha wolves” don’t exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ti86veZBjU

Check out Ross’s book: The Missing Lynx: The Past and Future of Britain’s Lost mammals: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/missing-lynx-9781472957351/