Episode 81: Firebringer (2016)

Today we’re reviewing the Adam Driver vehicle 65 (2023), a story about humans fighting dinosaurs, except the humans aren’t really humans and the dinosaurs aren’t really dinosaurs. We talk about Triassic archosaurs, shrink-wrapped dinosaurs, and “dinosauroids”, and try to figure out who this film was meant for.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The tongue-eating louse: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048718433/the-tongue-eating-louse-does-exactly-what-its-name-suggestsTyrannosaurs claw: https://www.theprehistoricstore.com/products/tyrannosaurus-rex-life-size-thumb-claw-replicaVelociraptor claw: https://www.fossilcrates.com/products/velociraptor-killing-claw-and-artworkDinopedia’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/65Screen Rant’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://screenrant.com/65-movie-dinosaurs-species-list/Shrink-wrapping dinosaurs: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/tetrapod-zoology/dinosaurs-and-the-anti-shrink-wrapping-revolution/The Sixth Extinction (2014) by Elizabeth Kolbert: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062185/thesixthextinctionTimes when you know the most about dinosaurs: https://i.imgur.com/8I6sTZW.png65 Pitch Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwjddnNMcMThe Dinosauroid: https://tetzoo.com/blog/2021/8/30/dinosauroid-at-nearly-40-years-oldQuicksand on Mythbusters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhV-WpY24nE

When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong (1971) is an Italian sex comedy in which cave women of two warring tribes stage a sex strike until their cave men make peace. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a stone-age adaptation of the Ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes. It’s all Greek to us, so we’ve invited Dr. Sara Hales-Brittain and Sam Siegel of the Greeced Lightning podcast to help us understand the erotic chicken cosplay, glory-hole fish emasculation, and petroleum-based conversion therapy. You heard me.Listen to Greeced Lightning wherever you get your podcasts.Follow Greeced Lightning on Social Media:https://x.com/Greecedlightpodhttps://www.instagram.com/greecedlightningpod/https://bsky.app/profile/greecedlightning.bsky.socialWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/when-men-carried-clubs-and-women-played-ding-dongRead Lysistrata by Aristophanes: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7700/7700-h/7700-h.htmChi-Raq on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chi-raq-lysistrata/id1667396859?i=1000623681450Il Primo Re on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/il-primo-re-the-founding-of-rome/id1667396859?i=1000641708307Attila on SotSA: https://pasc-scpa.ca/sotsa/sotsa-e60“Spare me your space-age techno-babble, Attila the Hun!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aid8hBOGePw“Chickens don’t clap!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaS_WXQ9QK0Circummingo: https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/verb/1700/Petronius’ werewolf story: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0027%3Atext%3DSatyricon%3Asection%3D62Lingurium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LynguriumCrannogs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog

Dr. Advait Jukar, our first ever guest, returns for another crack at the Ice Age franchise. In The Meltdown (2006), we catch up with the world’s most famous computer-animated megafauna as they flee climate change, and a snake-oil salesman, and vultures, and Mesozoic monsters, and in the end it turns out the stakes were never really that high. But if you like long lists of scientific names for animals, then you’re in for a treat!Advait’s links:Florida Museum of Natural History: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/The Montbrook fossil site: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/montbrook/Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The Channeled Scablands: http://www.sevenwondersofwashingtonstate.com/the-channeled-scablands.htmlThe fan list of species we’re using in this episode: https://parody.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Species_in_Ice_Age_2:_The_MeltdownSloths:Megalonyx:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalonyxNothrotheriops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NothrotheriopsEremotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EremotheriumParamylodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParamylodonArmadillos:Dasypus bellus, the beautiful armadillo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasypus_bellusPampatheres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PampatheriidaeHolmesina (a genus of Pampathere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HolmesinaGlyptodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlyptodonSea Creatures:Huphesuchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HupehsuchusMetriorhynchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetriorhynchusDakosaurus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DakosaurusBrachauchenius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrachaucheniusGlobidens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobidensPacus: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/pacu-fish.htmElephants:Platybelodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlatybelodonParacerotherium, the inspiration for Star Wars’ ATAT: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-did-a-mega-mammal-inspire-star-wars/Aphanobelodon: https://www.deviantart.com/cisiopurple/art/Aphanobelodon-zhaoi-939120720Other animals:Megaloceras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalocerosProtoceratideae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtoceratidaeMacrauchenia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacraucheniaSerranía de la Lindosa cave art: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0496 Chalicotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChalicotheriumTylocephalonyx (dome-headed chalicothere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TylocephalonyxMylagaulidae (horned rodents): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MylagaulidaeBootherium (extinct Muskox): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BootheriumDodo (Raphuscucullatus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DodoThe only painting of a dodo from life? https://www.reddit.com/r/Naturewasmetal/comments/ts256f/the_dodos_true_coloursa_dodo_that_was_painted/Other dodo sketches from life: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228371340_The_history_of_the_Dodo_Raphus_cucullatus_and_the_penguin_of_MauritiusThe White Dodo: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/anh.2004.31.1.57New woolly rhino mummy: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/siberian-gold-miners-accidentally-find-ancient-woolly-rhino-mummy-with-horn-and-soft-tissues-still-intact

Today we’re joined by Seth Chagi of World of Paleoanthropology to review a stone age classic: Quest for Fire (1981) hits almost all the caveman movie tropes, but to be fair, it probably originated most of them. We talk about the origins of controlled use of fire, “conlangs”, and how this movie has become more scientifically accurate over time.Check out the World of Paleoanthropology:https://worldofpaleoanthropology.org/https://www.youtube.com/@worldofpaleoanthropologyWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Quest for Fire on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MV1H_bAt-ENonhuman ape sense of humour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJarjlRVZzYBonobos laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhlHx5ivGGkBonobo sex: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/Sabre-toothed cats’ coat patterns: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/laelaps/did-saber-cats-have-spotted-and-striped-coats/The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_ApeAnthony Burgess created the Ulam language: https://www.anthonyburgess.org/quest-for-fire/quest-for-language/Australian firehawks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zcJs16aZ5sWere there any human tribes who didn’t have the ability to start fire? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/872kfd/is_it_true_that_ther_arewere_isolated_peoples_who/

Today we’re reviewing the third movie in the Jurassic Park franchise with extra special returning guest and actual star of the film: Dr. Andrew Kinkella! He takes us behind the scenes of his breakout role as “Lecture Attendee #231” and reveals why he gave up his film aspirations to pursue a much more practical career in archaeology.Listen to Dr. Andrew Kinkella on the Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork... Kinkella Teaches Archaeology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaREZDSg-l3pOyu0AW3tfjAWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The strange saga of Spinosaurus: https://carnegiemnh.org/the-strange-saga-of-spinosaurus-the-semiaquatic-dinosaurian-superpredator/Spinosaurus, Baryonyx, and Suchomimus: https://www.sciencethatstuff.com/post/2018/03/01/spinosaurus-suchomimus-baryonyx-and-irritator-what-were-they-werent-they-all-just-the-samPteranodon means “Toothless Wing”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PteranodonVelociraptor had feathers: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/velociraptor-facts.htmlTyrannosaurus had lips: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t-rex-had-lips-that-concealed-its-teeth-study-says-180981914/The history of 3D printing: https://www.autodesk.com/design-make/articles/history-of-3d-printingEgyptian mummy voice reconstruction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Iok_QiE64Paleontologist Jack Horner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Horner_(paleontologist)

Ross is away today but undergrad student Zach Hoorman is filling in to help us review the first episode of It’s About Time (1966), a sitcom from the creator of Gilligan’s Island about two astronauts who accidentally “break the time barrier” and find themselves stranded one million years in the past. There’s not much real palaeoanthropology to talk about in this episode, so instead Josh does a poor job of explaining Einstein’s theory of special relativity.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch It’s About Time on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QguKIuhEiINeanderthal eyes and brains: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21759233Just-so stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_storyHair in the Palaeolithic: https://www.academia.edu/81780985/Bad_Hair_Days_in_the_Paleolithic_Modern_Re_Constructions_of_the_Cave_Man?f_ri=2403396Einstein’s theory of special relativity: https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.htmlThe speed of light on a train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVKFBaaL4uM1960s car crash songs: https://riffmagazine.com/mp3/rewind-20220122/

Firebringer (2016) is a musical play about the discovery of fire by a tribe of polyamourous, matriarchal ancient humans. They also invent stone tools, art, hunting—they pretty much hit all the classic caveman tropes, and even subvert some of them. The only problem is... it’s a musical.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Firebringer (2016) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVuNlu0LCkThe earliest controlled use of fire: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743299The oldest stone tools: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32804177Neanderthals hafted tools with birch tar: https://www.science.org/content/article/50000-year-old-tar-smeared-tool-shows-neanderthal-smartsThe oldest cave paintings: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap7778Divje Babe Neanderthal “flute”: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/holes-in-a-bone-flute-or-flukePalaeolithic Lithophones: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1985.tb00229.xHomo naledi: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.htmlEarly art at Blombos Cave: https://theconversation.com/south-africas-blombos-cave-is-home-to-the-earliest-drawing-by-a-human-103017Goog Enough on Twitter: https://x.com/goog_enoughSima de los Huesos: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-sima-hominins-an-ancient-human-cold-caseThe Mauer mandible: https://efossils.org/page/boneviewer/homo%20heidelbergensis/Mauer%201Bae et al. (2023) Moving away from “the Muddle in the Middle” toward solving the Chibanian puzzle: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.22011Roksandic et al. (2021) Resolving the “muddle in the middle”: The case for Homo bodoensis sp. nov. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21929The Middle Pleistocene was renamed to “Chibanian”: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chibanian-age-earths-newly-named-geological-period-180974224/

Evolution (2001) is a star-studded soft-disclosure propaganda film masquerading as a shampoo commercial intended to prepare us for extraterrestrial butt stuff. I think? I mean it doesn’t seem to know what evolution is. In this episode we discuss organic chemistry, asexual reproduction, and Lamarckism, and also firetrucks for some reason.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Evolution (2001) production information: https://www.cinema.com/articles/458/evolution-production-information.phtmlTillers and Quillers (i.e. fire trucks): https://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/features/cantankerous-wisdom-tillers-quillers/Head and Shoulders “Intensive treatment”: https://reference.medscape.com/drug/selsun-blue-tersifoam-selenium-sulfide-topical-343485Lamarckism: https://evolution.berkeley.edu/the-history-of-evolutionary-thought/1800s/early-concepts-of-evolution-jean-baptiste-lamarck/Asexual reproduction in plants: https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Biology_(Kimball)/16%3A_The_Anatomy_and_Physiology_of_Plants/16.03%3A_Reproduction_in_Plants/16.3E%3A_Asexual_Reproduction_in_PlantsStephen J. Gould (1989) Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: https://archive.org/details/wonderfullifebur0000goul_r6i5/page/n7/mode/2upMultiple sexes in fungi: https://www.the-scientist.com/this-fungus-has-more-than-17-000-sexes-69930Starfish Regeneration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_regenerationHypothetical types of biochemistry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistryNatural Gas Odorizers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OdorizerEvolution wouldn’t follow the same path twice: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190709-would-humans-evolve-again-if-we-rewound-time

Adam and Eve (Bingo!) Meet the Cannibals (Bingo!) tells the story of two blond (Bingo!) early humans who are banished from their home (Bingo!) and go on a rambling journey (Bingo!) where they encounter dinosaurs (Bingo!) and several tribes of cave people. Of course, everyone will be familiar with the plot because it’s a loose adaptation of the famous story, The Quest for Fire. What’s that? “Bible”? “Genesis”? Never heard of it.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Where did Cain's wife come from? https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/department/biblical-views-who-did-cain-marry/Cannibalism in the bible: https://www.openbible.info/topics/cannibalismSimian and feline immunodeficiency viruses (SIV and FIV): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1659310/Disease transmission by cannibalism: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2189571/Can vampires get HIV? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/nwcs93/vampires_can_vampires_get_hiv_or_aids/How many holes does a human have? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egEraZP9yXQCan you run a string through your entire GI tract? https://www.straightdope.com/21341206/can-yogas-swallow-a-cloth-and-have-it-come-out-the-urk-other-endFamily Guy Seagulls are not cannibals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG0MxhkQ67wOrigin and diversification of birds: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.003Plants take up chronic wasting disease prions in the lab: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/chronic-wasting-disease/plants-can-take-cwd-causing-prions-soil-lab-what-happens-if-they-are-eatenKuru disease: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/kuruDid Adam and Eve have bellybuttons? https://www.doesgodexist.org/SepOct06/TheGreatBellyButtonDebate.htmlMen don’t have fewer ribs than women: https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/arguments-to-avoid/women-have-more-ribs-than-men/Was Eve made from Adam’s baculum? https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/ncbi-rofl-what-did-god-do-with-adams-penis-boneOs clitoridis (baubellum): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_clitoridis

If you were watching American TV in 2004, then you remember the Geico caveman commercials. What you might not remember is that they spun off a sitcom: Cavemen (2007), starring Nick Kroll, was cancelled after only six episodes and is considered one of the worst TV series of all time. But how does it hold up to scientific scrutiny? Find out on today’s episode, where we do the research the screenwriters didn’t!Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The Geico caveman commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8o_YqzMBooWatch the full Cavemen series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE9Q41jqFKU&list=PL81C5835E560AE6BEGreen et al. (2010) A draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188021Green et al. (2006) Analysis of one million base pairs of Neanderthal DNA: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05336Denny, the first generation Neanderthal/Denisovan hybrid: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/24/denisovan-neanderthal-hybrid-denny-dna-finder-projectInterbreeding between archaic humans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_between_archaic_and_modern_humans“Ghost lineages” in human ancestry: https://www.science.org/content/article/mysterious-ghost-populations-had-multiple-trysts-human-ancestorsOase 1 – a modern human with recent Neanderthal ancestry: https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature14558Bacho Kiro – modern humans with recent Neanderthal ancestry: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03335-3Nikolai Valuev (is not a Neanderthal): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_ValuevAllometry: https://www.britannica.com/science/allometry