Episode 74: Star Trek: TNG S06E20 The Chase (1993)

Today we’re travelling to the 24th century to discover humans’ earliest ancestors in The Chase, a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Captain Picard gets a chance to follow the road not taken and fulfill his dream of being an archaeologist. We talk pottery, ancient DNA, and linear progressive evolution.

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In this episode:

Pottery by Aurora: https://www.instagram.com/potterybyaurora/

Archaeological laws and ethics: https://www.saa.org/about-archaeology/archaeology-law-ethics

Naiskos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiskos

Polychrome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychrome

Seth Rogen’s Sidecar Ashtray: https://www.houseplant.com/products/sidecar-ashtray

Xenoarchaeology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoarchaeology

Animals with archaeological records: https://www.livescience.com/which-animals-use-stone-tools

Ancient DNA (aDNA): https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frstb.2013.0371

Environmental DNA (eDNA): https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/environmental-dna-edna

Marine sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA): https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1185435