This is fantastic. I was (dimly) aware of some of these discoveries and of the new technologies. It was fascinating to get the latest info in one concise summary. It provides a great snapshot of our ever-evolving learning about our ancestors.

It's also great to read this, having read "The Dawn of Everything." (I know the book is controversial. You don't have to agree with all its conclusions to find it revelatory.) Your piece on top of the book show the archaeological record continues to grow and to support the thesis they share. I enjoy seeing our "historical exceptionalism" dismantled step by step.

To be frivolously poetic, we learn more and more that 21st-century humans would find the ancient world surprisingly "modern" and sophisticated. It's all a matter of being able to resurrect the evidence. It feels like every year, we find we would be relatively "comfortable" living in an earlier millennium than we would have last year. It makes me proud of our species, that we were kicking ass in 10,000 BC.