Sulawesi's historic cave art and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

Our guest is Dr. April Nowell, a paleolithic archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in Canada.

We start by hearing how in 2012, archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi made a discovery that changed our understanding of early human history.

Next, we're in the UK in 1957, as the final touches are made to what was then the largest radio telescope in the world: Jodrell Bank.

Plus, how the contraceptive pill was finally legalised in Japan in 1999, after decades of campaigning.

Then we go back to 1947 for what's been described as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century: the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And we hear one soldier's account of the siege of Ladysmith, a key moment in the Boer War in 1899.

Finally, we're in Kenya for the start of one athlete's historic journey to javelin gold at the World Athletics Championships in 2015.

Contributors:

Professor Maxime Aubert - archaeologist, Griffith University, Australia

Sir Bernard Lovell - British radio astronomer and physicist (archive)

Yoriko Madoka - Japanese politician

Gerald Lankester Harding - British archaeologist (archive)

James Dalton - British Army bandsman with the Gordon Highlanders (archive)

Julius Yego ('Mr YouTube Man') - Kenyan track and field athlete

(Photo: Cave painting, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Credit: Maxime Aubert)

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