Chapters: Ch 1 · Ch 2 · Ch 3 · Ch 4 · Ch 5
Prehistoric & Ancient World
Stefan Milo (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ9jWH_8tJ-Nmaj8dSQdEYA
European prehistory and deep archaeology — the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age migrations examined through ancient DNA, stable isotope analysis, and archaeological finds. Particularly strong on Yamnaya steppe pastoralist expansion (c. 3000 BCE) — the population movement that brought Indo-European languages from the Pontic steppe into Europe and South Asia. Essential context for understanding the origins of Sanskrit and the Vedic tradition. [→ world-history; prehistory; genetics]
World of Antiquity (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64TYItcUS940vNWhQRnJWg
Ancient Mediterranean, Near Eastern, and South Asian history — Achaemenid Persia, Classical Greece, Republican and Imperial Rome, and their connections to the Indian subcontinent through Alexander’s campaigns and Maurya-era contacts. Strong on the Achaemenid empire’s administrative system and its influence on subsequent empires including the Maurya. [→ world-history; antiquity; india]
The Rise and Fall of Çatalhöyük: A Neolithic Matriarchy? (YouTube, Watch History) Documentary on Çatalhöyük in central Turkey (c. 7500–5700 BCE) — one of the world’s earliest proto-urban settlements with up to 8,000 inhabitants living in a dense, egalitarian layout with no streets, no public buildings, and entry through roof hatches. The “matriarchy” interpretation of the site’s female figurines is contested; the egalitarianism is not. Çatalhöyük predates Mesopotamian cities by 3,000 years. [→ world-history; neolithic; archaeology]
New Discovery of World’s Oldest Writing Rewrites Human History (YouTube, Watch History) Coverage of recent discoveries pushing back the earliest evidence of symbolic writing — including the Sulawesi cave art (51,200 BCE), Blombos Cave ochre engravings (75,000 BCE), and contested proto-writing finds. The question of when abstract symbolic representation began connects to the deeper question of when fully modern human cognition emerged. [→ world-history; archaeology; writing]
Deconstructing the Myth of the Dispilio Tablet and Early Writing (YouTube, Watch History) Critical analysis of fringe claims about the Dispilio Tablet (c. 5260 BCE, Greece) as evidence of pre-Sumerian writing in Europe — demonstrating how archaeological finds are misrepresented in popular media. A useful case study in archaeological skepticism and the difference between writing and proto-writing. [→ world-history; archaeology; linguistics]
History with Kayleigh (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwDeEoupy8QQpKKc8pzU_Q
Accessible world history covering ancient and medieval civilizations, women in history, and historiography — how we know what we know about the past. [→ world-history]
History with Cy (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzqG2zfeRKMoJwDwk1FTvQ
Historical analysis with a focus on comparative civilizations and long-arc patterns in human history — how different cultures solved common problems and why some paths led to modernity and others did not. [→ world-history]
Simply History (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9FW_l__QhoTKNq60x55Pog
Short-form world history content covering major events, figures, and turning points in an accessible format. [→ world-history]