All language subtitles for BBC - Ape-Man, Adventures In Human Evolution 4 - Love

It was called Homo erectus.

It thrived for a million years in the
tropics of Africa and Asia, but it had

never come north, into Europe.

Beneath a hillside in Italy, scientists
have found an extraordinary new link to

our prehistoric past.

A strange glimpse into an ancient world.

Paleoanthropologist Leslie Aiello is at
Altamira for the first time.

20 meters into the rock the tunnel opens
into a labyrinth of passageways carved

out over millions of years by
subterranean rivers Okay, so now we are

through this narrow passage

80

meters from the surface This last
passageway comes to a sudden end.

In front of you. Oh, my goodness.

Embedded in the rock wall, covered with
mineral deposits, is the unmistakable

shape of a primitive human skull.

The arrival of the first human ancestors
in Europe is a transforming moment in

our evolutionary story.

Here at Bilsingsleben in eastern
Germany, scientists have uncovered

human -like activity almost half a
million years old.

Along the banks of a prehistoric river,
they have found over five tons of

objects.

Made from stones and broken animal
bones, these remains lie scattered

ground.

But the most revealing discovery has
come not from the objects themselves,

from the positions they were found in.

The strange circular pattern they made
together.

Three of these circular groupings have
been found at the site, all surrounded

what looks like the debris of human
-like existence.

half -made tools, stones, and broken
bones.

Archaeologists believe that these
circles with bones scattered around

edges are the outlines of small round
huts. They have found a kind of camp.

For a million years, our distant
ancestors have stayed in the warmth of

tropics. But now, here was evidence that
human -like creatures had arrived in

the hostile north.

Over hundreds of thousands of years,
water dripping through the cave has

the Altamira skull with a thick layer of
limestone, disguising many of its

features.

But the skull was not all that was
found.

Yes, I can see the femur and then also
the tibia, the lower leg bone. Another

tibia, please, please.

Laid out in front of the skull were the
bones of an entire skeleton.

The other, another femur, the other
femur.

The complete pelvis, is that?

Yeah.

From the shape of the pelvis, they knew
that the creature was male.

And the leg bones are also quite big and
robust.

This was quite a big person when he was
alive.

The large, robust bones confirmed that
this was a primitive ancestor.

The skeleton could have been here for as
long as half a million years.

But no other clues were found in the
cave, and the face, thick with

hid its identity.

Was this... Homo erectus, finally at
large in Europe.

In the south of England, archaeologists
have found more evidence of hominid

activity, also dated to half a million
years ago.

Careful excavation has uncovered
thousands of fragments of flint

what was once prehistoric grassland.

In the laboratory they tried to make
sense of what they had found.

One by one they tested 20 ,000 fragments
of flint against each other.

By meticulously matching pieces of flint
found in the same location the

scientists discovered something
extraordinary.

The flint fragments began to fit
together.

From all over the field, the pieces of
flint connected together,

slowly reforming

into the original stones that the flint
had once been chipped from.

But inside each stone, a large piece of
flint was missing.

And only when the archaeologists cast
the shape of the missing piece did they

see what they had really found.

The shape of a hand axe.

The stone tool that a human creature had
once chipped from the rock.

Evidence like this shows us that all
these tens of thousands of pieces of

that we've recovered from the site all
come from tool manufacture and the

production of hair necks.

Hundreds of hair necks.

This prehistoric meadow was once a kind
of factory, a place where hundreds of

stone tools were manufactured.

The sheer number of these tools assigned
that the creatures who made them had

not only arrived in Europe, but were
thriving here.

Unable to remove Altamira Mann from the
cave, his identity could only be

discovered using detailed photographs.

A first clue was visible on the face
itself.

One of the most important things here is
the shape of the cheekbones. We can see

that they're very smooth, going from the
side of the face towards the front.

Now, this is a characteristic that you
wouldn't find in Homo erectus.

But Professor Aiello found another, more
conclusive detail.

It was on a photograph taken from
underneath the head of Altamira Mann, a

of the back of the skull.

This is the Homo erectus, and in Homo
erectus, the ridge runs from side to

across the back of the skull.

The occipital torus is where the neck
muscles attach to the skull.

On Altamira Man, this ridge was
different.

In Altamira Man, the important thing is
that it's broken.

It's separated into two parts, and this
is never found in the erectus.

He's not homo erectus. The question is,
what is he?

Many features of his anatomy would
suggest that he would likely belong to a

of early human called Homo
heidelbergensis.

And Homo heidelbergensis is really quite
rare.

And what's exciting about Aldo Moro Man
is we have a complete skeleton.

Altamira man belongs to a mysterious
species, Homo heidelbergensis.

Scientists know very little about this
creature, only that it arose in Africa

and must have migrated north into
Europe.

Half a million years ago, a remarkable
evolutionary advance had taken place

Altamira man and his kind... were still
alive.

Heidelbergensis was not alone in Europe.
There were other unfamiliar creatures

at large.

Europe half a million years ago was a
very different place from Europe today.

It had a range of large carnival
species, which today we would think of

entirely African in distribution.

Things like the lion, the leopard,
spotted hyena.

There were two lineages of elephant.

And they were accompanied by animals
like the wolf and the brown bear and the

-called cave bear, an extinct form of
very large bear.

Formidable creatures like the cave bear
confronted Heidelbergensis in this

hostile world.

You've got a range of predators and
prey, a whole structure of the

larger mammal fauna, very different from
anything occurring on the Earth today.

and very different from anything that
occurs in Europe.

On the high plateau of central Spain,
there is still evidence of this

prehistoric Europe to be found.

Traces of the time when the land was
populated with large predatory

A quarter million years ago, it was a
lake all over here.

The lake that was once here has gone,
but the sediments from it have been left

undisturbed by erosion, preserving
evidence of animals half a million years

We excavated here more than 100 animal
bodies of different species. They

were big elephants, aurochs, horses, and
red deer.

Over 100 animal carcasses were buried in
the sediments, but that was not all.

It looked as though Heidelbergensis had
been here too.

we found stone tools, big stone tools.

So there is no doubt that Homo
heidelbergensis also came here just to

from those animals.

The valley appeared to be a place where
heidelbergensis had once scavenged meat.

At Boxgrove, a hoard of animal bones has
begun to reveal what Heidelbergensis

was actually doing on the prehistoric
plains of Europe.

Among the stone tools left behind,
archaeologists have also found the

extinct kinds of rhinoceros, elephant
and horse.

Under the microscope, they found the
bones were covered with strange marks.

And there's one coming into view now.

These are long linear features that run
across this pelvis.

The lines are cut marks made half a
million years ago by flint tools.

They're defleshing the meat off the
pelvis.

But there were other marks on the bones
This

is a tooth puncture mark from the tooth

of a carnivore, in this case a wolf

But

then they found a cut mark and a tooth
mark together

There's the cut mark made by a stone
tool.

There's the tooth puncture mark.

And the critical thing is that the cut
mark has been broken through

by the gnawing mark.

And this suggests that hominids got to
the carcass before the carnivores.

These tiny marks have a huge
significance in the mystery of how our

survived in prehistoric Europe. It
implies that the hominid made the kill.

For two million years, our ancestors had
been scavengers.

But here was evidence that this species
was not feeding off carcasses left by

other animals.

Something new had turned Heidelbergensis
into a killer.

The internal volume of a skull can be
measured by a simple technique using

beads.

It's a method used to estimate brain
size.

The brain size of modern humans is over
30 % larger than the brain size of Homo

erectus.

To measure the brain size of Homo
heidelbergensis, scientists used a skull

in Greece.

Although they expected to see a larger
brain than erectus, what they actually

found was beyond all expectations.

Half a million years ago,
Heidelbergensis had a brain almost the

own.

The prehistoric camp at Bilfinkleben has
begun to give an insight into the day

-to -day lives of these large -brained
early humans.

The outlines of three huts had already
been found, marked out by circles of

bones and stones.

But the objects were grouped so
precisely around each hut that

began to wonder if there might be more
to these clusters of objects.

And as they looked closer, it was clear
that they could begin to reconstruct the

daily life of the camp.

The bones and the stones are organized
and arranged to clearly show us where

specific activities took place.

And we get a wonderful impression of a
moment in time, just a few minutes.

of activity happening several hundred
thousand years ago.

There are rocks which appear to have
been used as anvils to smash open the

leg bones of elephant and rhinoceros to
get at the marrow inside.

Pieces of bone were adapted to make
tools.

Long blades were chipped and polished.

to make scrapers for cleaning the animal
hides.

Here the antlers of red deer have been
deliberately broken.

The shape would have made a useful
digging tool.

And there are areas where flint was
chipped into tiny tools, some with fine

cutting blades, and others that may have
been used to pierce holes in animal

skins.

From this evidence of camp life,
archaeologists

can picture a group that was thriving in
this hostile world by working as a

community.

Earlier human ancestors in Africa and
Asia had scavenged meat, feeding off

left by other predators.

But meat was only a part of their diet.

The tropical climate provided a year
-round supply of plant food.

But by half a million years ago, groups
of Heidelbergensis were surviving right

across Europe.

a continent of freezing winters and wild
predators.

When we think of the first humans coming
into Europe, it's clear that they were

coming into a Europe which presented
them with very harsh conditions and made

life very difficult for them.

They came into a Europe where plant
foods were not available in the form

humans would want them for six months or
so of the year.

And so it's pretty obvious, I think,
that meat would be of primary importance

them.

Only meat would guarantee survival in
the long winters without plant food.

To get the meat, there's really only two
possible ways, either scavenging or

hunting.

Scavenging brings them into competition
with all the large carnivores that are

around, the lion, the leopard, the wolf,
the hyenas.

Hunting, of course... means that they
have to deal with the large animals

themselves in order to hunt them. Things
like the rhino, things like the

elephant, or something like this, which
is the ancestor of the modern cattle.

Standing about two meters at the
shoulder, a large aggressive animal.

And it's very hard to imagine them
hunting something like this.

The fighting bulls of Spain still
possess the aggressive instincts of

prehistoric ancestors.

In front of beasts like these, it's
clear that humans did not evolve as

predators. They lacked the speed and
strength to face animals in the wild.

Yet it was animals like these that
Heidelbergensis had to confront to

prehistoric Europe.

Scientists looked for hard evidence of
how Heidelbergensis might have tackled

Europe's violent animals.

Stephen Mython has studied collections
of tools buried in the vaults of museums

across the continent.

As he looked, he began to notice that
the hand axes made by earlier types of

ancestor were all extremely similar.

This one's from South Africa, near Cape
Town.

It shows the basic principle very well.

Very frequently they're a pear -shaped
artefact and they are worked alternately

from both sides of the nodule. One flake
coming off one side, another off the

other. the other side.

Now, there's sounds throughout the old
world. This example here comes from

India. You can see it's near identical.

But when he examined hand axes made by
Heidelbergensis in Europe, he found that

a million years of identical tools had
come to an end.

This is a, what's known as a ficrol.

Remarkable type of hand axe. Large,
elegant, it's beautiful.

The axe has been worked far more than
was needed for something purely

functional.

That tools were no longer just for
cutting meat was confirmed by an

extraordinary discovery.

It's the largest hand axe that's ever
been found.

It's quite an enormous piece, and in
Flint it would be extremely heavy,

impossible to manipulate for any
utilitarian, useful function.

There's no way this is intentionally
made just for butchering animals or

chopping up plants.

There's something new going on here.

Scientists believe that this was an
object made for others to look at,

vital clue into the mind of Homo
heidelbergensis.

Not only does the species know its own
mind, it also knows the minds of the

other people in the group, because it's
trying to change those minds.

A tool that was no longer a tool, but a
beautiful object made to influence the

minds of others.

Evidence of a complex human -like
ability to communicate.

Complexity suggesting Heidelbergensis
had an early form of language.

We don't know how complex the language
was. It could have been very simple,

more simple than our own.

It would have allowed them to be
actually successful in exploiting this

environment, primarily because they
could talk about past experiences and on

basis of those, plan for the future.

On the high plateau of central Spain,
evidence for language and planning by

Heidelbergensis is buried in the ground.

Hundreds of animal bodies were found by
the shores of the prehistoric lake, and

there are now signs for human
involvement in their deaths.

The methodic excavations by squares
showed us that

there is a peculiar distribution of
findings.

The bones of different species of
animals were found grouped together.

And in two particular points, there were
a concentration of different species.

Species that Professor Aguirre believes
would not normally be found together.

We were convinced.

that this distribution was not natural.

Around the shores of the prehistoric
lake were muddy swamps, the perfect

to set a trap.

Humans brought the animals, pushing them
to the natural traps

into the mud of those swamps.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago,
bands of Heidelbergensis left the safety

their camps, to come here and hunt.

Then in the north of Germany, scientists
found a unique trace of that violent

ancestral world.

It was dug from an open strip coal mine
near Hannover.

Ground conditions have made possible a
miraculous act of preservation.

What the scientists found here is
exactly as it once was.

half a million years ago

it's

so incredible to hold part of a pier in
your hand which is

about 400 000 years old and it looked so
fresh that

you could have Find it five minutes
before in your garden.

Nine of these spears have been found.

Each was cut from the trunk of a small
spruce tree.

The point sharpened at the base where
the wood is hardest.

They're over two meters long and
balanced to fly through the air like a

javelin.

These spears are evidence of a new kind
of intelligence that could control the

violence of nature.

For these beautiful weapons were made
with a single, simple objective.

To kill.

They're completely defleshing the
carcass. They're going for

every sort of facet that's a meat
-bearing bone.

At Boxgrove, further examination of cut
marks on the bones revealed that

Heidelbergensis was no longer crudely
butchering the animals they killed.

This is the top of a deer's backbone,
and this is very interesting because

you can see we've got these very clear
cut marks running

down the side where they're removing
what are effectively the neck fillets.

And it's likely with this that this is
the last vertebra before the head, so

they've probably taken the head off.

and then they're removing these neck
fillets.

In fact, all the bones they had
excavated showed the same signs of

systematic butchery.

And the result of this butchery is
enormous amounts of meat.

But the meat wasn't just for the hunters
themselves.

for scientists had found evidence that
there were now others who depended on

hunters to provide food.

This is the jaw of a young chimp, and
it's about three years of age.

And what's interesting about it is the
first permanent tooth here, the first

molar, has just erupted.

The reason this is important is this
really marks the end of infant

The little chimp is equipped now to eat
an adult diet.

and it can begin to forage and survive
on its own.

There is a precise relationship between
the brain size of a species and the year

the first adult teeth erupt.

In the chimpanzee, these teeth erupt at
three years and the infant's dependency

on its parents ends.

In modern humans, the much larger brain
size delays tooth eruption until six.

We know that Heidelbergensis had a much
larger brain size than the chimpanzees.

And in fact, the brain size was close to
humans.

So if we follow the line across for
Heidelbergensis, we would expect that

first molar tooth would erupt somewhere
between five and six years of age.

Now this extended period of infant
dependency would have been a real

them.

With their large brains, Heidelbergensis
would have had to care for their

children for longer than any previous
species of human ancestor.

scientists believe that meat was
butchered at the kill site and brought

others who were looking after the young
the meat was taken away taken away to

hominids that weren't at the kill but
part of the same social group

Altamira Mann would have had dependents,
others who needed him to bring back

meat from the kill.

Altamira Mann's most important
relationship was undoubtedly with his

female, perhaps their joint children,
individuals that he felt very close to.

Altamira man's species came to Europe
from Africa half a million years ago.

They were hunters, confronting danger
with cunning and invention, and sharing

the meat they won with their own kind,
creating the ties of family life that we

still feel today.

There was a bond.

Perhaps this bond involved trust, a
feeling of loyalty, empathy.

Maybe it even could have been love.

These feelings had to originate
somewhere in the fossil record.

And here with Altamira Man, we have all
the ingredients.

We have him here where he died.

It looks like he just simply fell into
the hole.

We can't really see enough of the bones
to know whether he broke a leg or

otherwise was disabled by the fall.

He basically just couldn't get back out
of the cave.

As he lay dying in the cave, Many
thoughts could have been going through

mind.

He may have been feeling very strong
emotions.

He may have been feeling a sense of
loss.

He very likely could have been feeling
love for these individuals who were

to miss him, be in serious circumstances
without him.

On the plains of Europe, human evolution
had entered a new phase.

Half a million years ago, our ancestors
became human -like in mind as well as

body. And in these emerging minds lay
the future power of the human line.

In the next program, we discover a
species which emerged 150 ,000 years

small beach -living population who are
the direct ancestors of every person

alive today.