Every Beast of the Field

Available for over a year

What really happened when we ate from the Tree of Knowledge? Paul Howard-Jones, Professor of Neuroscience and Education at Bristol University, has had a lifelong fascination with the story of the Garden of Eden. He first heard it in the Herefordshire church where his father was the vicar. Now, he investigates how knowledge has changed us, and whether the Eden story contains within it a nostalgic longing for our simpler, hunter-gathering past. In episode two, Paul visits Chauvet cave in the Ardeche region of southern France, to get a sense of the relationship that hunter-gatherers had with nature. Fiona Coward from Bournemouth University discusses the shift to farming and the development of a material culture that helped larger societies bind together. And to experience material culture first hand, Paul dresses as a rabbit and hands out leaflets in Hereford city centre. Producer: Chris Ledgard.