Rethinking the peopling of the Americas, and the best ways to get groundwater back

About this episode

The episode discusses new findings on the peopling of the Americas and explores various approaches to improving groundwater supplies.

First up on the podcast, we discuss a finding that’s likely to reignite debate over how humans first spread through the Americas. In the late 1990s, a site in southern Chile called Monte Verde forced archaeologists to adjust their views of the peopling of South America because it dated to about 14,500 years before present, which challenged the prevailing idea of when human inhabitants appeared on the continent. Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss new results published in Science that suggest Monte Verde is nowhere near that old. See the paper and related commentary. Next on the show, we talk about groundwater, a vital source of water for both drinking and agriculture that’s often overused and depleted. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Scott Jasechko, a professor of water resources with the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, about the many different approaches to improving groundwater supplies and what has worked where, which he reviews in this week’s issue of Science. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Crespi

Guests: Lizzie Wade, Scott Jasechko

Topics covered

• peopling of the Americas
• archaeology
• groundwater
• water resources
• agriculture
• environmental science

Keywords

• peopling of the Americas
• Monte Verde
• groundwater
• archaeology
• water resources
• agriculture
• environmental science

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of California, Santa Barbara, Science

Places: Monte Verde, Chile

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