Paul Pettitt

Palaeoarchaeologist Professor Paul Pettitt explains how the understanding of our origins has been transformed by the latest discoveries and technological advances.

Pettitt says advances in genetics are helping us to understand our origins in Africa as Homo sapiens. And he draws on his own 25 years of research and focus on behaviour to show how our ancestors adapted to changing climate and developed innovations in art, technology and society that we are only now beginning to understand.

‘An astonishing tale of art and science that goes right to the root of what it means to be human’ Alice Roberts

Pettitt is professor of palaeolithic archaeology at Durham University. He has excavated at sites around the world including in Spain, France, Italy, Romania and Borneo.