Screens of the Stone Age

Josh Lindal, Dr. Kimberly Plomp, and Dr. Ross Barnett
  • 5.0 (6)
  • FILM REVIEWS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The podcast where scientists review movies about prehistoric people.

  1. 4D AGO

    Episode 122: Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past (2019)

    Today we’re exploring the world of the Boonie Bears, China’s biggest animation brand. In the sixth feature film, the bears Blast into the Past—30 thousand years, to be exact, to a time when dinosaur skeletons dotted the landscape and humans were at war with wolves... and giants pandas took their name literally, and rainbow terror birds defied the physics of flight, and cavemen punched lava bombs out of the air with their bare hands! Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this episode: Watch Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vwcaf6aj90 Eucladoceros (the bush-antlered deer): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucladoceros Homotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium Megacerops... or Brontops, or Brontotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacerops Phorusracids (terror birds): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae Kumar et al. (2017) The evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46487 Wu et al. (2022) High-precision U-series dating of the late Pleistocene – early Holocene rock paintings at Tiger Leaping Gorge, Jinsha River valley, southwestern China: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2021.105535 Fu et al. (2025) Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.040 Callaway (2021) Oldest DNA from a Homo sapiens reveals surprisingly recent Neanderthal ancestry: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00916-0

    52 min

  2. FEB 1

    Episode 121: Cavegirl (1985)

    Today we’re reviewing Cavegirl (1985), a movie which Wikipedia misleadingly describes as a “sex comedy”. It tells the story of a teenage nerd (i.e., incel) who is accidentally thrown back in time due to some magic crystal/military helicopter shenanigans and meets a charming manic pixie cavegirl who nonetheless fails to instill in him any growth or character development whatsoever. Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this episode: Watch Cavegirl (1985) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3PZdKCzFDc Watch Cavegirl: A Second Journey Back in Time (2013): https://vimeo.com/193203934 Play Caveman Movie Bingo: https://bingobaker.com#681e1d01d32b436e Altamira cave paintings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira Homo erectus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus Shirley Temple – Animal Crackers in my Soup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNwFXLcrsbc What is a “dude ranch”? https://www.clazyu.com/blog/working-dude-ranch/what-is-a-dude-ranch-a-brief-history/ Stacy Q – Two of Hearts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBdGT4dn4E Michelle Bauer in Dinosaur Island (1994): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000292/mediaviewer/rm3165827072/?ref_=nm_ov_ph

    46 min

  3. JAN 18

    Episode 120: Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974)

    Today we’re reviewing Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974), a children’s TV series about a Neanderthal family from Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and more. Unlike those series, however, this one is live-action! Who knew? Anyway, we talk about a lot of academic papers about Neanderthals, because nothing happens in the episode we watched. Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this episode: Watch Korg on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/korg-70-000-bc-s-1ep-01-the-blind-hunter-1974-low-480x-360/Korg+70%2C000+BC+-+S1ep01The+Blind+Hunter1974+%5BLow%2C+480x360%5D.mp4 Cave lions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_spelaea Caspian tigers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_tiger Paleoloxodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeoloxodon Phylogenetic trees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenetic_tree California woodpeckers: https://avibirds.com/woodpeckers-of-california/ UK woodpeckers: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how-identify/identify-uk-woodpeckers Shanidar 1: https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/paleoanthropology/shanidar-1-neanderthal-05355.html Trinkaus et al. (2019) External auditory exostoses among western Eurasian late Middle and Late Pleistocene humans: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220464 Buzi et al. (2025) The first preserved nasal cavity in the human fossil record: The Neanderthal from Altamura: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2426309122 Márquez (2008) The paranasal sinuses: The last frontier in craniofacial biology: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.20791 The Invention of Prehistory (2024) by Stefanos Geroulanos: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324091455

    49 min

  4. JAN 4

    Episode 119: The Rap Guide to Evolution (2009)

    To kick off the New Year, we’re reviewing The Rap Guide to Evolution, a music album by Baba Brinkman which is... pretty self-explanatory, really. So here’s an hour and 15 minutes of us explaining it! We get into evolutionary psychology, 2000s-era edgelord atheism, postmodernism, genital evolution, and much more! Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this Episode: Watch The Rap Guide to Evolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROgR3nK6ayk&list=PLuHbMGCLLUYZ0pq_mN093hqzn_28SvpVS Ambulocetus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus Gol’din and Radović (2018) A Middle Miocene baleen whale from Bele Vode in Belgrade, Serbia: https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/9751 Marković et al. (2025) First dinosaur remains from Serbia: Sauropod and theropod material from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Osmakovo: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106177 Recapitulation theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory Out of Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa Jebel Irhoud: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22335 Apidima: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z Social constructivism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism Tim Minchin - Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U Science communication and science denial: https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/busting-myths-a-practical-guide-to-countering-science-denial/ Grizzly bear attacks school children in Canada: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz68x1n5qd6o Evolutionary Psychology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo Pig domestication: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-domestication-of-pigs-170665 Ape testicle size: https://theconversation.com/why-did-humans-evolve-big-penises-but-small-testicles-71652 James Watson dead at 97: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/watson-james-obituary-9.6971457

    1h 15m

  5. 12/21/2025

    Episode 118: Cavemen S01E09 Caveman Holiday (2007)

    Happy Longnight! Today is the December Solstice, and to celebrate we’re reviewing a very special holiday episode of 2007 sitcom Cavemen, based on the popular Geico insurance commercials. Everyone is invited, whether we like them or not, so grab a slice of forager’s pie and a glass of Beef Fizz and settle in to listen to your favourite palaeo researchers trying to explain basic astronomy. To the cow! Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this Episode: Watch Cavemen S01E09 Caveman Holiday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqtbPiIMQ2g&list=PL81C5835E560AE6BE&index=26 Listen to our review of Cavemen S01E01: https://screensofthestoneage.com/podcast/episode-78-cavemen-s01e01-her-embarrassed-of-caveman-2007/ Neanderthal diet: https://www.sapiens.org/biology/neanderthal-diet/ Weyrich et al. (2017). Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21674 Richards and Trinkaus (2009). Isotopic evidence for the diets of European Neanderthals and early modern humans: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903821106 Beasley et al. (2025). Neanderthals, hypercarnivores, and maggots: Insights from stable nitrogen isotopes: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt7466 Fellows Yates et al. (2021). The evolution and changing ecology of the African hominid oral microbiome: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021655118 Adler et al. (2017). Evolution of the Oral Microbiome and Dental Caries: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40496-017-0151-1 Phytoliths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytolith Chinique de Armas et al. (2015). Starch analysis and isotopic evidence of consumption of cultigens among fisher–gatherers in Cuba: the archaeological site of Canímar Abajo, Matanzas: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.003 Solstice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice Analemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma Crazy Ancient Greek planet math: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferent_and_epicycle The Antikythera Mechanism – Pseudoarchaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/pseudo/96 Beef fizz: https://vinepair.com/articles/beef-fizz-drink-history/

    54 min

  6. 12/07/2025

    Episode 117: Teenage Cave Man (1958)

    Today we’re reviewing the paradoxically and yet aptly named Teenage Cave Man (1958), the story of a 30-something teenage rebel who dares to break the rules and explore beyond his Stone Age tribe’s borders – and discovers a shocking twist!! In this episode we talk about [REDACTED: SPOILERS], [REDACTED: SPOILERS], and how much Josh hates Game of Thrones. Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this Episode: Watch Teenage Cave Man (1958) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0lRWQfQx0c Watch Teenage Cave Man (1958) on MST3K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XG0zAjYMvE The mutant wolves of Chernobyl: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a46799706/mutant-wolves-of-chernobyl/ One Million B.C. (1940) lizard fight (TW: animal cruelty): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utmDH1iwTpw Game of Thrones Ikea rug fur capes: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/08/166757/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-fur-secret-ikea-rugs Game of Thrones Starbucks cup: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2019/05/232192/game-of-thrones-starbucks-coffee-cup-memes-season-8 The Man from UNCLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM5gbwUrIgw Long-term nuclear waste warning messages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_nuclear_waste_warning_messages 99 Percent Invisible: Ten Thousand Years: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/ten-thousand-years/ The Twilight Zone – The Old Man in the Cave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_in_the_Cave Pidgins, creoles, and the language instinct: https://www.discovermagazine.com/kids-creoles-and-the-coconuts-40017 Genie the feral child: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/14/genie-feral-child-los-angeles-researchers Critical period hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis Atkinson (2011) Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1199295

    50 min

  7. 11/23/2025

    Episode 116: Prey (2022) with Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover

    This week, by popular request, we are reviewing Prey (2022), a prequel to the Predator franchise in which the eponymous alien hunter meets his match on the American Great Plains of 1719. We’re joined by archaeologist Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover, who helps us navigate the movie’s medicinal plants, upside-down archery draws, and inadvisable sharpening techniques, and reminds us why we should never whistle at night. Listen to the Great Plains Archaeology Podcast on APN: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/great-plains-archaeology Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this episode: Fatal cougar attacks in North America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America Cougar stalks hiker – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pg2CDCm34w Cougars in Boulder, Colorado, during Covid lockdown: https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/04/18/mountain-lions-sighted-during-snowy-week-for-boulder/ Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie by Kelly Kindscher: https://prairieedge.com/all-products/medicinal-wild-plants-of-the-prairie-an-ethnobotanical-guide-book/ Breadroot/Biscuitroot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pediomelum_esculentum Calendula: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendula Carolina dog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Dog No rats in Alberta: https://www.alberta.ca/albertas-rat-control-program Native American Gender Roles: https://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.gen.026.html Chert and Flint: https://www.britannica.com/science/chert Knife River Flint: https://albertashistoricplaces.com/2019/07/24/knife-river-flint-quarries-and-the-alberta-connection/ Archery bow draws: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_draw Devin Pettigrew and Justin Garnett: https://basketmakeratlatl.com/ Comanche bow and arrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1Vo9GV2H8 Taylor et al. (2023) Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adc9691 Pia Mupitzi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche#Children Legends of the Northern Lights: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/legends-of-the-northern-lights/ Never Alone: https://store.steampowered.com/app/295790/Never_Alone_Kisima_Ingitchuna/ Playlist of songs featuring Cougar/Jaguar screams: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzzOAyef3DyqWudpeqU1BckUBAotcsuCP

    1h 9m

  8. 11/09/2025

    Episode 115: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) with Joe Wood

    We’ve dug too far! We overshot the Stone Age and hit the Dinosaur Age again! Today we’re joined by palaeontologist Joe Wood to review The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the second movie in the Jurassic franchise (and the last good one). We talk about lumpers, splitters, slappers, clappers, and everything you ever wanted to know about our fine feathered friends. Joe’s links: An Hour of Our Time podcast:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-hour-of-our-time/id1357779625  and  https://open.spotify.com/show/0Mc5nXRa8XEn1UJJvhySXY?si=5EtqTooBRCqW4ccaNYoRnw The Shifting Realms Dungeons and Dragons actual play: https://youtube.com/@quasirealpublishing?si=XakeSxGg8CrFO_Xa Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/ Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com ArchPodNet: APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Merch Store: https://archpodnet.com/shop In this episode: List of Dinosaurs Compsognathus (“Compies”): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compsognathus Sinosauropteryx (preserved feathers!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinosauropteryx Stegosaurus (not tail-draggers!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus Tyrannosaurus (Ty-what? Never heard of it): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus Edmontosaurus (Cretaceous cows): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmontosaurus Pachycephalosaurus (boneheads): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachycephalosaurus Parasaurolophus (“The one with the pompadour! Elvis!”): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasaurolophus Mamenchisaurus (OK, that neck is actually too long): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamenchisaurus Pinacosaurus (the one with the syrinx): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinacosaurus Velociraptor (slapper vs. clapper): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor Citipati (Big Mama): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citipati Palaeontologists David Hone: https://www.davehone.co.uk/ Robert Bakker: https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Bakker Jack Horner: https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Jack_Horner Books Michael Crichton – Dragon Teeth: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31287693-dragon-teeth Mark Jaffe – The Gilded Dinosaur: https://archive.org/details/gildeddinosaur00mark Edward Dolnick – Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199798305-dinosaurs-at-the-dinner-party Other talking points Holotype: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holotype Huxley proposed that birds evolved from dinosaurs: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/thomas-henry-huxley-and-the-dinobirds-88519294/ The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Oxford_evolution_debate Which dinosaurs had feathers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaur Phylogenetic bracketing: https://fossil.fandom.com/wiki/Phylogenetic_bracketing Dinosaur syrinx: https://www.livescience.com/extremely-rare-fossilized-dinosaur-voice-box-suggests-they-sounded-birdlike Crocodile heart shunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrfrtGzazKI Stegosaurus gular armour: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/gular-armour/ Lumpers vs splitters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpers_and_splitters Enchodus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchodus Ben Shapiro doesn’t understand lions (Behind the Bastards podcast): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdm6bFMoqh4 Do palaeontologists really call it a “thagomizer”? https://www.reddit.com/r/Dinosaurs/comments/1axr07u/the_thagomizer/ Terrible Lizards podcast: https://terriblelizards.libsyn.com/

    1h 24m
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About

The podcast where scientists review movies about prehistoric people.

Information

  • Creator
    Josh Lindal, Dr. Kimberly Plomp, and Dr. Ross Barnett
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    126
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Joshua Lindal
  • Show Website
    Screens of the Stone Age