Confront the darkest chapter of Darwin's legacy as bioarchaeologist Dr. Kristina Killgrove examines his problematic views on civilization, intelligence, and race. When Darwin ranked human societies from "savage" to "civilized" with Europeans at the pinnacle, he reflected the Victorian prejudices of his era—but his words would echo through a century of scientific racism and eugenics.

This episode traces how Darwin's assumptions about cultural superiority and racial hierarchy crumbled under modern archaeological, genetic, and bioarchaeological evidence.

Discover how ancient civilizations from Great Zimbabwe to the Indus Valley reveal intelligence and innovation as universal human traits, not racial privileges. Through stable isotope analysis, DNA studies, and skeletal evidence, we'll explore how environment, social organization, and opportunity—never genetics—drive the rise of complex societies. A sobering but essential examination of how even brilliant scientists can be prisoners of their time, and why understanding this history matters for combating pseudoscience today.

Not just a critique of Darwin, but a celebration of how real science corrects its course through evidence and humility.

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