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1
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(ancient drumming)
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Deep inside a remote cave system
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in northern Spain, a once-in-a-lifetime discovery
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has been made.
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Hundreds of ancient human remains have been uncovered.
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They are remarkably well preserved,
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but they are in pieces.
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Investigators must reach back in time to identify the dead
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and reconstruct their last days.
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(stone smashing)
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From the cliffs of Gibraltar
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to the depths of El Sidron Cave,
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scientists embark on an investigation
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into one of the world's oldest cold cases
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as they try to shed light on a moment
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lost in time.
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(mysterious music)
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(pleasant music)
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Time winds slowly through the quiet valleys of Pilona
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in the far north of Spain.
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People here take care the past is not forgotten.
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Below the valleys, another world beyond memory.
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Pre-history.
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(water drops echoing)
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In March 1994,
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cavers exploring El Sidron Cave system
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deviated from the main tunnel to climb up
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into a small side gallery.
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The cave is a favorite haunt for adventurers,
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but many locals are superstitious about El Sidron.
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What is about to be found may confirm their fears.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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Hey, I found something!
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Come up.
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Looks like human bones.
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The remains are reported to authorities.
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140 bones are exhumed, but they are all in pieces.
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Police and cavers note that the bones don't look very old,
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certainly no older than 60 or 70 years.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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After the Civil War, people hid out here
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and used the cave as a refuge.
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Their families brought food and left it at the entrance,
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so they were able to survive for a while
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until they felt safe or the fascists caught them.
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And they did catch Olvido Otero González.
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She was shot and bled to death right here.
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It became known as The Tomb's Entrance.
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Police believe they are removing the remains
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of other victims of the Civil War.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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What was clear was that the collection
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was very well preserved.
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But it was also evident that the excavation method
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used by the police to exhume the remains
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was not appropriate.
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They wouldn't be the first to touch these bones
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in the wrong way.
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In Madrid, investigators compared the bones
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to other human remains.
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They did not belong to Republicans or Nationalists.
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They came from another time,
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and they were another people.
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Neanderthal.
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(flute music)
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Below the ruins of Casa Del Sidron,
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the investigation continues into this prehistoric cold case.
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The location where the bones were found
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is now known as the ossuary gallery.
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Every year, more and more relics are exhumed,
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and the number of dead rises.
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Scientists from across Spain have joined forces.
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Human fossil expert, Antonio Rosas,
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from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid
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leads the investigation.
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Carles Lalueza-Fox, a world-renown geneticist
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from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona
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hunts for ancient DNA.
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And Archaeologist, Marco de la Rasilla is now on his way
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from Oviedo University to the annual dig.
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He is in charge of the excavation.
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(majestic music)
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His final destination, a hidden river valley
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in the beautiful principality of Asturias.
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(majestic music)
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Most of the young researchers who join the dig
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are Marco's students.
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They return year after year to spend
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up to a month working the site.
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Marco also enlists the skills and knowledge
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of a local man called Lalo.
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(generator running)
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The ossuary gallery is 220 meters from the main entrance.
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On this, the first day of the dig,
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all equipment and supplies have to be carried into the site.
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The entire tunnel stretches for nearly four kilometers
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through limestone and clay corridors.
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It's a karst system, shaped by the incessant flow of water.
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(water drops echoing)
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A subterranean river called The Pando has worn away
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the calciferous rock over tens of thousands of years.
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Rain above can flood The Pando,
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making it sometimes extremely dangerous to work here.
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A puddle can grow into a raging torrent.
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That's why work facilities have been built to stay.
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The ossuary gallery is slightly higher
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than the main gallery.
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It's safe from flooding but not from looters.
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In the first years of the dig, fossils were stolen.
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A steel cage now keeps the precious remains safe
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23 meters below the earth.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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Because we're used to working in caves,
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this one was just another cave,
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but it proved more interesting,
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because it was like a container of rather unusual remains.
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(ancient drumming)
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Now the tiny gallery once explored by cavers
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has become a chamber, hollowed out bit by bit
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using only brushes and spades.
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The researchers have shaped El Sidron
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with precision and care.
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The site is cramped and difficult to traverse,
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but in this confined space, over a thousand bone fragments
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and hundreds of stone tools have been found.
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Every bucket full of soil taken from around the fossils
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is also checked for small pieces of bone and stone.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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Once we had started
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the excavation in El Sidron,
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the big question was,
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"What were the human remains doing there?"
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We didn't know what it was used for.
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It could have been a home, a burial ground,
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or the remains could have come from somewhere else
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and were in a secondary position.
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We just didn't know.
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Even modern humans need electricity down here
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and plenty of warm clothes.
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The temperature never rises above 10 degrees Celsius.
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I have been in many Neanderthal sites,
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and nothing compares to that.
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Neanderthals usually are found in rock shelters
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facing south
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close to a river.
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Nice place to be if you are in a glacial period.
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Neanderthal occupation sites
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were open to fresh air but also protected.
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Neanderthal real estate ranged from humble rock shelter
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by a quiet stream
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to cathedral-like rock towers
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along the Mediterranean.
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(seagulls calling)
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Neanderthals lived throughout Eurasia,
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but who were these people?
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Jean-Jacques Hublin is the Director of Human Evolution
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at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig.
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He has led field operations in many Neanderthal strongholds
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and is an expert in their evolution.
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The Neanderthals were the real Europeans.
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They lived in Europe for maybe 300,000 or 400,000 years,
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and they have been a very successful
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group of archaic humans.
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They are close to us.
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They are also different.
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The danger, of course, and it's a danger
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in which we often fall,
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is to consider Neanderthals just like other humans,
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other modern humans
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and to put in their behavior
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or in their conception of the world
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our conception of the world,
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but we should not forget that we're talking
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about the species that separated from us
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almost a million years ago.
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Inside El Sidron, investigators work
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to uncover a time and its people we can scarcely comprehend.
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The truth behind what happened here can only be deduced
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from a thorough forensics investigation.
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Every specimen is logged, cleaned, and examined.
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The stone tools will be transported to Oviedo
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and the bones to Madrid for more rigorous studies.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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The abundance of the collection
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was sensational.
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However, the material was in pieces.
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Because of that, we needed a lot of patience.
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We had to wait from one excavation to the next
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so that new fossils could be incorporated
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into the collection.
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Only then was it possible to put
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the pieces of the puzzle together.
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And as the pieces in their exact location
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in the cave are excavated and plotted,
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they discover the bones and stone tools are all being found
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in the same layer of soil, made up of gravels and mud,
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a meter deep, six meters square.
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(tools scraping)
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There are many sites in Europe where Neanderthal remains
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have been found,
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but in general, these remains have been accumulated
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throughout a rather long period of time.
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Even if in one layer we find artifacts and bones
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or human remains that look like they have been left there
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at the same time, in fact,
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the same time may have lasted many, many years,
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sometimes centuries or even millennia.
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El Sidron will prove to be unique.
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A random selection of relics are dated.
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They are all the same age,
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49,000 years old.
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Did these people live at the same time?
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The evidence is in the scientists' hands.
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At the University of Oviedo, Marco and his team
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come across proof while examining the El Sidron stone tools.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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What we found here is exactly
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what one would find in a Neanderthal's toolbox,
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tools that would have been used by an individual
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for normal daily activities.
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We've also found evidence of the reduction
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of what we call lithic flakes.
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Lithic flakes are a byproduct.
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They are struck from a tough core of rock.
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Some of the flakes were discarded,
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others made into useful stone tools.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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With this tool, you can cut meat,
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make other tools and even crack bones.
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It's as sharp as a razor blade.
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By looking closely at the edges
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of lithic flakes and of what he suspects are cores,
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David Santamaria sees a pattern.
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He attempts to refit the pieces.
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Here is irrefutable evidence of a moment
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49,000 years ago when someone made stone tools.
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But these tools were not made inside the El Sidron Cave.
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If they were, some of the flakes would have been found
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close to each other when they were excavated.
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(rocks striking)
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Santamaria's pieces were scattered up to a meter
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away from one another.
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Between the time they were made and when they were found,
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they were moved by humans or nature.
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The answer comes from another pattern.
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The stones and bones fit within a cone shape.
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It's a debris flow cone, a well-known geological phenomenon
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resulting from a sudden collapse.
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In El Sidron, we have a cone of sediments.
250
00:19:26,084 --> 00:19:29,754
It's a pile of dirt that fell from the surface
251
00:19:29,752 --> 00:19:31,172
into this cavity.
252
00:19:33,233 --> 00:19:36,513
(speaking in foreign language)
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00:19:36,513 --> 00:19:39,373
When this geological phenomena occurred,
254
00:19:39,372 --> 00:19:42,572
everything moved inside, so logically,
255
00:19:42,572 --> 00:19:44,992
everything appeared together.
256
00:19:46,862 --> 00:19:49,342
(echoing drips)
257
00:19:49,341 --> 00:19:51,111
The El Sidron investigators
258
00:19:51,111 --> 00:19:53,191
find a logical point where the bones
259
00:19:53,191 --> 00:19:57,361
and stone tools entered, right above the ossuary gallery.
260
00:19:58,370 --> 00:20:01,200
It no longer opens to the surface.
261
00:20:04,650 --> 00:20:06,320
The real story of what happened
262
00:20:06,319 --> 00:20:09,489
to the people of El Sidron is outside.
263
00:20:19,559 --> 00:20:21,799
The karst landscape above the cave
264
00:20:21,801 --> 00:20:24,571
is constantly reshaping itself.
265
00:20:24,570 --> 00:20:27,240
Huge sinkholes appear when acidic rain
266
00:20:27,242 --> 00:20:29,242
dissolves the limestone.
267
00:20:31,910 --> 00:20:35,910
They will eventually crumble into caverns below.
268
00:20:45,261 --> 00:20:49,181
But the collapse in El Sidron was not a slow process.
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00:20:49,181 --> 00:20:53,191
If it was, the remains would have been scavenged.
270
00:20:53,190 --> 00:20:57,860
Wolves and other predators shared the Neanderthal's world.
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00:20:57,861 --> 00:20:59,651
(speaking in foreign language)
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00:20:59,650 --> 00:21:00,510
The fact that there were
273
00:21:00,511 --> 00:21:03,531
very few carnivore teeth marks shows us
274
00:21:03,529 --> 00:21:06,939
that the bones, the bodies, were only exposed to the air
275
00:21:06,941 --> 00:21:08,521
for a short period.
276
00:21:09,471 --> 00:21:12,221
The burial process was very fast.
277
00:21:17,810 --> 00:21:20,750
We really have something that has been deposited,
278
00:21:20,749 --> 00:21:24,419
not in millennia, but likely in a few hours.
279
00:21:26,759 --> 00:21:30,279
El Sidron is, in fact, the only case where we have
280
00:21:30,277 --> 00:21:35,247
solid evidence for having a real group of Neanderthals,
281
00:21:35,247 --> 00:21:38,597
a group of people who really lived together
282
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:40,429
during their lifetime.
283
00:21:43,989 --> 00:21:47,339
(fire crackling)
284
00:21:47,338 --> 00:21:50,588
But did they die together?
285
00:21:52,389 --> 00:21:56,559
It's difficult to know how many people were in El Sidron.
286
00:21:57,759 --> 00:22:00,879
The bones are in fragments, and they don't fit together
287
00:22:00,876 --> 00:22:03,376
to make even one whole person.
288
00:22:09,316 --> 00:22:13,586
In Madrid, Antonio Rosas struggles to connect the pieces,
289
00:22:13,588 --> 00:22:16,558
but he is certain he knows what happened to these people
290
00:22:16,554 --> 00:22:19,304
49,000 years ago.
291
00:22:26,956 --> 00:22:31,606
He's found cut marks in significant places on leg bones
292
00:22:31,605 --> 00:22:32,775
and jaw bones.
293
00:22:40,687 --> 00:22:42,397
(speaking in foreign language)
294
00:22:42,396 --> 00:22:44,566
This means that parts of the bodies
295
00:22:44,563 --> 00:22:48,733
were cut with the intention of ripping away the flesh.
296
00:22:51,524 --> 00:22:55,274
Some of the bones have been cracked by force.
297
00:23:03,184 --> 00:23:07,354
Here we can see an impact mark on this leg bone fragment.
298
00:23:09,436 --> 00:23:11,986
This means that the bone has been struck and broken
299
00:23:11,988 --> 00:23:15,618
with a stone in order to reach the bone marrow inside
300
00:23:15,617 --> 00:23:17,697
which is very nutritious.
301
00:23:22,308 --> 00:23:24,588
Evidence enough for Antonio Rosas
302
00:23:24,587 --> 00:23:26,587
to come to a conclusion.
303
00:23:29,257 --> 00:23:30,087
(speaking in foreign language)
304
00:23:30,090 --> 00:23:30,940
In El Sidron,
305
00:23:30,940 --> 00:23:33,640
there was an incident of cannibalism.
306
00:23:33,641 --> 00:23:36,941
(stone crushing bone)
307
00:23:36,943 --> 00:23:39,693
(bone scrapings)
308
00:23:43,711 --> 00:23:46,581
And the weapons that inflicted the damage
309
00:23:46,585 --> 00:23:50,335
are still as sharp as the day they were made.
310
00:24:00,224 --> 00:24:02,724
(speaking in foreign language)
311
00:24:02,724 --> 00:24:04,884
The fact that everything appeared together
312
00:24:04,884 --> 00:24:08,184
inside the cave means there was a clear activity
313
00:24:08,185 --> 00:24:11,635
related to cannibalism, and the stone tools
314
00:24:11,633 --> 00:24:13,883
were used for that purpose.
315
00:24:19,050 --> 00:24:21,110
But how can the investigators prove
316
00:24:21,113 --> 00:24:24,313
that the perpetrators were Neanderthals
317
00:24:24,313 --> 00:24:26,143
and not our ancestors?
318
00:24:28,103 --> 00:24:31,453
In El Sidron, the most likely scenario
319
00:24:31,452 --> 00:24:33,832
is that these Neanderthals were butchered
320
00:24:33,833 --> 00:24:37,593
by other Neanderthals, because at the time they lived,
321
00:24:37,593 --> 00:24:39,483
there was nothing else but Neanderthals
322
00:24:39,482 --> 00:24:41,142
in this part of Europe.
323
00:24:41,139 --> 00:24:44,969
(crushing strikes with stone)
324
00:24:50,110 --> 00:24:53,190
(rock smashing bone)
325
00:24:55,180 --> 00:24:59,350
What is the reason why humans would butcher other humans?
326
00:25:01,049 --> 00:25:05,219
We can only compare our behavior with theirs.
327
00:25:08,757 --> 00:25:12,947
What we find is cannibalism that resulted from starvation
328
00:25:12,945 --> 00:25:14,565
and is an issue of survival,
329
00:25:14,565 --> 00:25:17,395
so basically they eat dead bodies.
330
00:25:21,511 --> 00:25:25,591
The most widespread kind of cannibalism is something
331
00:25:25,594 --> 00:25:29,514
which is more ritual, where people have been defleshing
332
00:25:29,512 --> 00:25:32,442
the remains of somebody dead in the group,
333
00:25:32,442 --> 00:25:35,012
sometime eating some parts of the body,
334
00:25:35,013 --> 00:25:36,423
but this has, I would say,
335
00:25:36,423 --> 00:25:38,843
almost a religious dimension.
336
00:25:39,693 --> 00:25:42,943
Sometimes this applies also to enemies.
337
00:25:47,892 --> 00:25:49,052
(speaking in foreign language)
338
00:25:49,050 --> 00:25:50,690
What is the real significance
339
00:25:50,693 --> 00:25:54,223
of this occurrence of cannibalism?
340
00:25:54,223 --> 00:25:57,803
Are there symbolic or cultural reasons?
341
00:25:57,802 --> 00:26:00,072
At the moment, we don't have any evidence to show
342
00:26:00,074 --> 00:26:02,404
that a ritual occurred here.
343
00:26:07,343 --> 00:26:09,713
Was the act of cannibalism in El Sidron
344
00:26:09,712 --> 00:26:12,792
a common part of Neanderthal culture?
345
00:26:19,642 --> 00:26:22,612
In the far south of the Iberian Peninsula
346
00:26:22,613 --> 00:26:26,243
is a rock that was a refuge where no evidence
347
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,160
of Neanderthal cannibalism has ever been found.
348
00:26:36,133 --> 00:26:39,653
Clive Finlayson is an evolutionary ecologist.
349
00:26:39,653 --> 00:26:43,763
He thinks he's found a Neanderthal Shangri-La.
350
00:26:43,762 --> 00:26:46,632
As you come around in a boat and look at this cliff face,
351
00:26:46,632 --> 00:26:49,222
you don't just see one cave, Gorham's Cave.
352
00:26:49,223 --> 00:26:51,403
You see another cave and another cave
353
00:26:51,399 --> 00:26:53,449
and others going underwater,
354
00:26:53,452 --> 00:26:57,032
and they were all occupied by Neanderthals.
355
00:27:00,383 --> 00:27:02,883
This was the Neanderthal city.
356
00:27:11,063 --> 00:27:13,723
El Sidron is dark and cool.
357
00:27:13,722 --> 00:27:17,392
The path to Gorham's Cave is bright and hot.
358
00:27:19,735 --> 00:27:23,405
(dramatic orchestral music)
359
00:27:56,597 --> 00:27:57,867
The Neanderthals had been living in Gibraltar
360
00:27:57,866 --> 00:28:01,896
for a long time, probably much longer than 60,000 years ago.
361
00:28:01,895 --> 00:28:04,505
The surprising thing here was not when they started,
362
00:28:04,506 --> 00:28:06,116
but when they finished.
363
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:10,339
We found half a campfire at the top of Gorham's Cave,
364
00:28:10,341 --> 00:28:12,041
which we excavated, and we took samples
365
00:28:12,042 --> 00:28:15,212
for radiocarbon dating, and the surprising result
366
00:28:15,211 --> 00:28:17,881
that came back was 28,000 years.
367
00:28:19,122 --> 00:28:22,022
That makes them the most recent population of Neanderthals
368
00:28:22,020 --> 00:28:25,850
to have survived anywhere on the planet today.
369
00:28:27,151 --> 00:28:31,651
El Sidron's story is of an instance in time.
370
00:28:31,653 --> 00:28:33,913
Inside Gorham's Cave, events that happened
371
00:28:33,911 --> 00:28:38,081
over tens of thousands of years are being pieced together.
372
00:28:40,652 --> 00:28:42,332
Clive's team have excavated
373
00:28:42,333 --> 00:28:45,893
hundreds of Mousterian stone tools.
374
00:28:45,893 --> 00:28:49,623
Mousterian technology is the technology
375
00:28:49,626 --> 00:28:51,296
of the Neanderthals.
376
00:28:55,250 --> 00:28:58,180
Underwater Archaeologist, Geraldine Finlayson,
377
00:28:58,181 --> 00:29:02,831
has been working the site with Clive since 1997.
378
00:29:02,831 --> 00:29:05,281
For a long time, Neanderthals were thought to have
379
00:29:05,282 --> 00:29:07,962
mainly been eating meat,
380
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,560
but we find it certainly in this part of the world
381
00:29:10,562 --> 00:29:12,612
that they eat a lot of shellfish,
382
00:29:12,610 --> 00:29:16,020
and here behind me we've got different layers
383
00:29:16,020 --> 00:29:19,610
like layers in a cake, and scattered among the layers,
384
00:29:19,610 --> 00:29:22,440
you can still see the remains of the shells
385
00:29:22,442 --> 00:29:24,522
that they have collected.
386
00:29:26,410 --> 00:29:30,510
We also find fish bones and fish scales inside the cave.
387
00:29:30,511 --> 00:29:31,871
It's very easy to collect fish.
388
00:29:31,871 --> 00:29:34,251
You don't need a rod or a line to catch a fish.
389
00:29:34,250 --> 00:29:37,470
If you just toss a stone at them, you can knock them out,
390
00:29:37,471 --> 00:29:40,391
so they can be quite easy to catch.
391
00:29:41,450 --> 00:29:44,200
(waves crashing)
392
00:29:46,230 --> 00:29:49,310
(gentle piano music)
393
00:29:53,528 --> 00:29:56,318
They ate all kinds of things, whatever was out there.
394
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,920
If you put it together, all that's missing
395
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:03,650
to make a good Mousterian Neanderthal paella is rice.
396
00:30:03,649 --> 00:30:06,929
(waves crashing)
397
00:30:06,930 --> 00:30:09,510
(gentle music)
398
00:30:15,581 --> 00:30:17,471
Outside the cave, the view is not the one
399
00:30:17,469 --> 00:30:19,159
the Neanderthals would have had.
400
00:30:19,162 --> 00:30:21,832
For most of the time, the sea level was much lower,
401
00:30:21,830 --> 00:30:25,080
because global climate was much cooler.
402
00:30:26,099 --> 00:30:29,599
The coast was four to five kilometers out.
403
00:30:30,690 --> 00:30:32,960
The seabed, which is well submerged now,
404
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,860
would have been the landscape where they went out,
405
00:30:34,861 --> 00:30:38,441
hunted and gathered, and then they came back into this cave
406
00:30:38,442 --> 00:30:40,692
for shelter and protection.
407
00:30:54,709 --> 00:30:56,449
Geraldine and her dive buddy,
408
00:30:56,450 --> 00:30:59,550
Archaeologist, Darren Fa, are about to dive
409
00:30:59,549 --> 00:31:04,069
on the landscape that existed when Neanderthals lived here
410
00:31:04,071 --> 00:31:06,821
and the sea level was much lower.
411
00:31:08,259 --> 00:31:11,009
(diver splashes)
412
00:31:12,001 --> 00:31:15,421
It's a unique and very new investigation.
413
00:31:17,008 --> 00:31:20,718
Large pinnacles rise up from the seabed,
414
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:22,090
and at their base,
415
00:31:22,091 --> 00:31:25,011
freshwater springs have been found.
416
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:28,890
We can see valleys.
417
00:31:28,891 --> 00:31:30,541
We can see river gullies,
418
00:31:30,539 --> 00:31:33,309
and we've actually found up-wellings of fresh water,
419
00:31:33,310 --> 00:31:36,240
so they would have had a lagoon-type system
420
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:37,810
in front of the cave, so you can imagine,
421
00:31:37,808 --> 00:31:39,528
that would have attracted water birds,
422
00:31:39,529 --> 00:31:41,969
a whole bunch of other things.
423
00:31:41,968 --> 00:31:45,098
It was actually quite an idyllic landscape
424
00:31:45,099 --> 00:31:47,359
for them to survive in, possibly explaining
425
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,300
why they lasted here so long.
426
00:31:50,299 --> 00:31:51,729
Collecting rock from the pinnacles
427
00:31:51,727 --> 00:31:55,077
to compare with stone tools found in the cave
428
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,050
will connect the sites,
429
00:31:57,048 --> 00:32:00,128
but the real work ahead involves undertaking
430
00:32:00,128 --> 00:32:03,068
land-based archaeology at depth,
431
00:32:03,065 --> 00:32:04,855
setting up grid lines,
432
00:32:04,855 --> 00:32:08,605
digging and recording with meticulous method.
433
00:32:09,445 --> 00:32:13,155
If this was the landscape of the Neanderthals,
434
00:32:13,157 --> 00:32:16,077
perhaps their bones are still here,
435
00:32:17,026 --> 00:32:20,256
but because it is now 30 meters down,
436
00:32:20,253 --> 00:32:22,263
after only 20 minutes,
437
00:32:22,264 --> 00:32:25,264
they have to leave the site.
438
00:32:25,264 --> 00:32:29,134
Finding evidence here will be a slow process.
439
00:32:29,132 --> 00:32:32,212
(instrumental music)
440
00:32:45,413 --> 00:32:49,773
In Madrid, Antonio Rosas and his team have spent a a decade
441
00:32:49,773 --> 00:32:53,943
trying to get to know the victims of El Sidron better.
442
00:32:56,370 --> 00:32:59,350
He has led a meticulous forensics investigation
443
00:32:59,354 --> 00:33:03,444
to find the age, sex, and health of the victims.
444
00:33:03,442 --> 00:33:06,322
Each year more evidence is exhumed
445
00:33:06,322 --> 00:33:08,592
and the death toll alters.
446
00:33:08,594 --> 00:33:10,614
It started at four.
447
00:33:10,613 --> 00:33:14,193
It is now much, much higher.
448
00:33:24,513 --> 00:33:28,433
The reconstructions have to be done with teeth.
449
00:33:29,982 --> 00:33:34,152
Scientist, Almudena Estalrrich knows every one of them.
450
00:33:36,010 --> 00:33:39,100
(speaking in foreign language)
451
00:33:39,102 --> 00:33:40,472
We know that the teeth belong to
452
00:33:40,473 --> 00:33:44,043
a certain kind of individual for many reasons.
453
00:33:44,041 --> 00:33:46,901
In the first place, the wear is the same.
454
00:33:46,902 --> 00:33:50,392
In other words, all the teeth are in the same state,
455
00:33:50,393 --> 00:33:52,143
eroded or not eroded,
456
00:33:54,672 --> 00:33:57,802
and mainly because of the marks on the sides of the teeth
457
00:33:57,801 --> 00:33:59,881
caused by friction.
458
00:33:59,881 --> 00:34:02,751
They serve as a kind of fingerprint.
459
00:34:02,747 --> 00:34:06,917
They're the same now as when the teeth were together.
460
00:34:08,113 --> 00:34:09,173
In this way,
461
00:34:09,171 --> 00:34:13,341
they discover a much higher death toll than ever expected.
462
00:34:20,091 --> 00:34:22,811
(speaking in foreign language)
463
00:34:22,811 --> 00:34:25,711
There are 12 individuals represented,
464
00:34:25,713 --> 00:34:28,043
six adults and six children.
465
00:34:31,382 --> 00:34:33,632
Among the children, there are three teenagers
466
00:34:33,633 --> 00:34:35,133
close to maturity.
467
00:34:36,971 --> 00:34:39,991
There is one child around five years of age,
468
00:34:39,993 --> 00:34:43,073
another approximately eight years old
469
00:34:44,822 --> 00:34:48,822
and a very young one of around two years of age.
470
00:34:54,393 --> 00:34:55,743
The investigators know
471
00:34:55,742 --> 00:34:59,032
the Neanderthals' age and sex.
472
00:34:59,033 --> 00:35:01,003
They know they were cannibalized
473
00:35:01,003 --> 00:35:03,963
and how they came to be inside the cave,
474
00:35:03,963 --> 00:35:07,343
but there is one thing more they hope to find.
475
00:35:07,342 --> 00:35:10,612
Something that may help offer the ghosts of El Sidron
476
00:35:10,611 --> 00:35:13,441
a type of immortality;
477
00:35:14,469 --> 00:35:16,969
their ancient DNA.
478
00:35:23,069 --> 00:35:24,569
Genetics.
479
00:35:24,571 --> 00:35:28,061
The new wave of Neanderthal research is about to take
480
00:35:28,059 --> 00:35:31,139
the investigation into another realm.
481
00:35:34,669 --> 00:35:37,689
In Barcelona, Carles Lalueza-Fox
482
00:35:37,691 --> 00:35:40,861
wants to give ancient people identity.
483
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,230
I wanted to try to provide an image
484
00:35:45,228 --> 00:35:46,718
of the Neanderthals that could be
485
00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:49,160
not just genetic Neanderthals,
486
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,330
but persons with their own traits like in modern humans.
487
00:35:58,349 --> 00:36:01,249
At the Institute of Evolutionary Biology,
488
00:36:01,251 --> 00:36:05,321
Lalueza-Fox specializes in the extraction and analysis
489
00:36:05,318 --> 00:36:06,568
of ancient DNA.
490
00:36:07,497 --> 00:36:10,017
Because we are along, and we know for sure
491
00:36:10,019 --> 00:36:11,119
that we have been along
492
00:36:11,117 --> 00:36:13,457
for thousands of years on this planet,
493
00:36:13,455 --> 00:36:16,065
we don't have the concept of what
494
00:36:16,066 --> 00:36:18,686
a different human species would be.
495
00:36:18,687 --> 00:36:20,987
For us, it's a bit difficult to imagine someone
496
00:36:20,984 --> 00:36:24,344
who would be at the same time very similar to us,
497
00:36:24,345 --> 00:36:28,745
but also at the same time fundamentally different to us.
498
00:36:28,741 --> 00:36:31,741
That is what a Neanderthal would be.
499
00:36:40,278 --> 00:36:42,948
(drips echoing)
500
00:36:46,009 --> 00:36:48,489
Going into the cave, I discovered that was
501
00:36:48,488 --> 00:36:51,368
a very special site, probably a unique site,
502
00:36:51,368 --> 00:36:55,058
because the temperature was so stable all along the year,
503
00:36:55,060 --> 00:36:58,840
and it has been stable during at least 50,000 years.
504
00:36:58,837 --> 00:37:01,347
I thought we are going to find DNA
505
00:37:01,347 --> 00:37:03,457
preserved in Neanderthals.
506
00:37:03,460 --> 00:37:05,380
It's going to be there.
507
00:37:11,839 --> 00:37:15,069
I was given a tour first to check
508
00:37:15,067 --> 00:37:18,427
if there was Neanderthal DNA in it.
509
00:37:18,431 --> 00:37:22,191
After several weeks, I was able to retrieve Neanderthal DNA
510
00:37:22,191 --> 00:37:26,171
from that particular tooth, but also discovered
511
00:37:26,166 --> 00:37:30,246
that the tooth was plagued with Homo sapiens DNA.
512
00:37:33,259 --> 00:37:37,629
Our DNA is very similar to Neanderthal DNA.
513
00:37:37,630 --> 00:37:41,160
Right from the very beginning of the El Sidron discovery,
514
00:37:41,161 --> 00:37:44,481
cavers, police, and even the scientists
515
00:37:44,481 --> 00:37:48,571
were contaminating the remnants of the Neanderthals' DNA
516
00:37:48,569 --> 00:37:49,819
with their own.
517
00:37:54,681 --> 00:37:55,891
It's difficult to believe,
518
00:37:55,889 --> 00:37:59,939
but if you breathe over the bones or you touch
519
00:37:59,936 --> 00:38:02,566
a particular bone fragment
520
00:38:02,563 --> 00:38:04,883
or a Neanderthal tooth,
521
00:38:04,883 --> 00:38:07,773
your DNA can go from the outside
522
00:38:07,774 --> 00:38:10,444
into the inside of the specimen.
523
00:38:12,825 --> 00:38:14,445
Carles knew he could not waste
524
00:38:14,443 --> 00:38:17,023
this extraordinary opportunity.
525
00:38:17,894 --> 00:38:22,614
I decided to implement an anti-contamination protocol
526
00:38:22,614 --> 00:38:24,364
at excavation itself.
527
00:38:25,602 --> 00:38:28,352
I put my lab into the excavation.
528
00:38:32,752 --> 00:38:35,032
A bone being tested for ancient DNA
529
00:38:35,032 --> 00:38:38,352
is not exposed to air until the dig is stopped.
530
00:38:38,352 --> 00:38:40,152
The site is locked down.
531
00:38:40,152 --> 00:38:43,652
The excavator suits up and then extracts the remains
532
00:38:43,649 --> 00:38:45,729
with sterilized utensils.
533
00:38:52,771 --> 00:38:56,411
Carles also insured that the DNA of everyone who comes close
534
00:38:56,411 --> 00:38:59,341
to the bones and teeth is recorded
535
00:38:59,341 --> 00:39:03,511
so he can discount their DNA signature from his results.
536
00:39:04,918 --> 00:39:06,928
We are able to know exactly
537
00:39:06,924 --> 00:39:09,954
who was contaminating the remains,
538
00:39:09,957 --> 00:39:14,027
and we were also able to compare the Neanderthal sequences
539
00:39:14,029 --> 00:39:17,039
with all the sequences of the people that had been
540
00:39:17,036 --> 00:39:20,236
not just touching the remains but close to the remains
541
00:39:20,237 --> 00:39:22,487
into the excavation itself.
542
00:39:28,042 --> 00:39:30,532
The El Sidron protocol will change the way
543
00:39:30,533 --> 00:39:33,953
that ancient DNA is collected and tested.
544
00:39:38,564 --> 00:39:42,414
In his hands, Carles may hold clues to the identity
545
00:39:42,413 --> 00:39:45,163
of some of the El Sidron victims.
546
00:39:54,292 --> 00:39:57,302
The bone powder drilled from inside the sample
547
00:39:57,303 --> 00:40:00,853
will need to go through many processes before Carles knows
548
00:40:00,850 --> 00:40:03,890
if his protocol has been successful.
549
00:40:03,885 --> 00:40:07,705
And if DNA is found, it will be in fragments
550
00:40:07,705 --> 00:40:10,635
that will have to be magnified, replicated,
551
00:40:10,639 --> 00:40:12,649
and reconstructed.
552
00:40:12,649 --> 00:40:15,619
He's looking for nuclear DNA,
553
00:40:15,614 --> 00:40:18,114
passed down from both parents,
554
00:40:18,114 --> 00:40:22,464
the DNA responsible for an individual's traits.
555
00:40:22,465 --> 00:40:25,545
(instrumental music)
556
00:40:43,265 --> 00:40:45,565
The El Sidron bones will help create
557
00:40:45,566 --> 00:40:47,986
a new vision of Neanderthals.
558
00:41:01,915 --> 00:41:05,325
We had an image of what Neanderthals could look like
559
00:41:05,326 --> 00:41:07,626
and what we could say is that Neanderthals
560
00:41:07,625 --> 00:41:09,375
had lightly red hair.
561
00:41:10,803 --> 00:41:12,803
They were O blood group.
562
00:41:13,833 --> 00:41:18,183
They were able to had bitter taste perception,
563
00:41:18,184 --> 00:41:22,264
and they probably had language abilities like us.
564
00:41:23,784 --> 00:41:25,964
This is the first model of a Neanderthal
565
00:41:25,963 --> 00:41:28,483
based on genetic evidence.
566
00:41:28,483 --> 00:41:32,513
Carles has given physical traits to an El Sidron person,
567
00:41:32,513 --> 00:41:35,153
but in this prehistoric cold case,
568
00:41:35,153 --> 00:41:37,813
he has one step further to go;
569
00:41:37,812 --> 00:41:41,282
to find out if members of her group were related.
570
00:41:41,281 --> 00:41:45,361
To do that, he must look for another type of DNA.
571
00:41:48,390 --> 00:41:50,830
Mitochondrial DNA is passed down
572
00:41:50,830 --> 00:41:52,920
from mothers to their children.
573
00:41:52,922 --> 00:41:55,252
Because it changes in a very predictable rate
574
00:41:55,252 --> 00:41:59,192
over generations, it can trace lineage back to ancestors
575
00:41:59,191 --> 00:42:02,941
who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago.
576
00:42:03,799 --> 00:42:05,879
The results will soon establish
577
00:42:05,878 --> 00:42:09,038
if this group of 12 are related.
578
00:42:09,042 --> 00:42:12,122
(instrumental music)
579
00:42:14,579 --> 00:42:17,619
The people of El Sidron were family related.
580
00:42:17,621 --> 00:42:20,951
We don't know exactly which were the relationships,
581
00:42:20,951 --> 00:42:24,031
but we know they were family related.
582
00:42:26,830 --> 00:42:28,470
All the three other males
583
00:42:28,471 --> 00:42:31,441
had exactly the same mitochondrial DNA
584
00:42:31,441 --> 00:42:34,321
while the three other females
585
00:42:34,321 --> 00:42:37,161
had different mitochondrial DNA,
586
00:42:37,161 --> 00:42:41,361
which is shown in modern hunter-gather groups,
587
00:42:41,361 --> 00:42:44,981
where the females moved from one group to another
588
00:42:44,978 --> 00:42:46,948
while the males stay
589
00:42:46,947 --> 00:42:50,607
in their paternal family group.
590
00:42:50,609 --> 00:42:52,719
Two of the women were directly related
591
00:42:52,718 --> 00:42:54,838
to children from the group.
592
00:42:54,838 --> 00:42:57,078
They could have been their mothers.
593
00:42:57,077 --> 00:42:59,237
This is the first real proof
594
00:42:59,237 --> 00:43:02,067
of a Neanderthal social structure.
595
00:43:04,135 --> 00:43:07,815
El Sidron is certainly the first family of Neanderthals
596
00:43:07,817 --> 00:43:09,897
that has been ever found.
597
00:43:11,689 --> 00:43:15,149
The women's DNA shows that they came from elsewhere,
598
00:43:15,147 --> 00:43:17,797
from three different groups.
599
00:43:17,798 --> 00:43:19,758
Finding a mate outside of the group
600
00:43:19,759 --> 00:43:22,259
would have stopped inbreeding.
601
00:43:24,573 --> 00:43:28,493
Marco de la Rasilla has found proof that groups did exist
602
00:43:28,493 --> 00:43:32,763
in the area and that they were on the move.
603
00:43:32,758 --> 00:43:34,698
(speaking in foreign language)
604
00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:36,690
The silex we have discovered here
605
00:43:36,692 --> 00:43:38,212
was used by these groups,
606
00:43:38,212 --> 00:43:41,792
but it can also be found in other areas near and far.
607
00:43:41,794 --> 00:43:44,494
Therefore, we can conclude that they've moved around
608
00:43:44,492 --> 00:43:48,132
and took raw materials from one place to another
609
00:43:48,132 --> 00:43:49,882
for hunting or for work,
610
00:43:49,884 --> 00:43:54,054
for what they needed on their journeys to different places.
611
00:43:56,484 --> 00:43:58,194
All Neanderthals may have lived
612
00:43:58,194 --> 00:44:00,684
in these small family groups.
613
00:44:00,684 --> 00:44:02,294
A whole family could be lost
614
00:44:02,292 --> 00:44:05,292
through any number of circumstances.
615
00:44:07,663 --> 00:44:11,103
What we suspect is that the interaction with other groups
616
00:44:11,102 --> 00:44:15,602
was not always friendly and especially in the context
617
00:44:15,604 --> 00:44:18,454
of exploiting a territory
618
00:44:18,454 --> 00:44:20,744
to extract food and energy
619
00:44:20,743 --> 00:44:23,783
for the group may lead to some conflicts,
620
00:44:23,783 --> 00:44:28,263
and maybe this is what happened to these El Sidron people
621
00:44:28,261 --> 00:44:32,181
and how they ended being butchered by somebody.
622
00:44:35,732 --> 00:44:38,312
The death of a family could lead surrounding groups
623
00:44:38,314 --> 00:44:39,564
into isolation.
624
00:44:40,543 --> 00:44:43,703
The distance that they had to travel to exchange females
625
00:44:43,706 --> 00:44:45,626
would become too great.
626
00:44:46,767 --> 00:44:50,697
Eventually, inbreeding would halt the vital flow of genes
627
00:44:50,696 --> 00:44:52,696
that leads to evolution.
628
00:44:53,706 --> 00:44:57,686
Why did populations of Neanderthals begin to shrink?
629
00:44:57,686 --> 00:45:00,666
Some say our arrival in Eurasia
630
00:45:00,666 --> 00:45:03,736
was the beginning of the end.
631
00:45:03,737 --> 00:45:07,357
Clive Finlayson believes climate was the killer.
632
00:45:07,355 --> 00:45:10,275
Climate change affected the environments
633
00:45:10,275 --> 00:45:13,645
that these people occupied across central parts of Europe
634
00:45:13,644 --> 00:45:16,864
and even central parts of Asia and even northern Europe.
635
00:45:16,865 --> 00:45:19,145
Ice core data from Greenland shows
636
00:45:19,142 --> 00:45:22,722
that between 50 and 30,000 years ago,
637
00:45:22,726 --> 00:45:25,846
the climate see-sawed between warm wet periods
638
00:45:25,846 --> 00:45:28,136
and cold dry periods.
639
00:45:28,132 --> 00:45:31,472
The El Sidron act of cannibalism coincides with
640
00:45:31,476 --> 00:45:34,866
the very beginning of this time.
641
00:45:34,865 --> 00:45:37,695
As that climate changed their landscape, their environment,
642
00:45:37,694 --> 00:45:38,974
which was a wooded environment
643
00:45:38,974 --> 00:45:43,144
where they would ambush-hunt animals, began to shrink.
644
00:45:44,457 --> 00:45:47,787
Gradually, the population was being pushed back
645
00:45:47,788 --> 00:45:51,868
into these strongholds like the one we find here.
646
00:45:54,194 --> 00:45:56,484
They were becoming like pandas or tigers.
647
00:45:56,486 --> 00:45:59,276
The populations were isolated from each other,
648
00:45:59,275 --> 00:46:01,755
and there was very little gene flow between them.
649
00:46:01,755 --> 00:46:04,125
Therefore, they were suffering from inbreeding
650
00:46:04,126 --> 00:46:08,426
and all the kinds of effects that small populations have.
651
00:46:08,425 --> 00:46:11,575
They were there, but their days were numbered.
652
00:46:11,571 --> 00:46:14,571
Those Neanderthals were living dead.
653
00:46:16,632 --> 00:46:19,402
So far there is no evidence to point to climate
654
00:46:19,403 --> 00:46:22,023
as the killer in El Sidron,
655
00:46:22,022 --> 00:46:24,682
but these Neanderthals would have needed to consume
656
00:46:24,683 --> 00:46:27,053
a huge amount of food.
657
00:46:27,052 --> 00:46:30,592
Getting enough energy to survive even an ordinary winter
658
00:46:30,590 --> 00:46:33,280
would have been a challenge.
659
00:46:33,283 --> 00:46:35,863
(speaking in foreign language)
660
00:46:35,859 --> 00:46:37,549
It is thought that the composition
661
00:46:37,552 --> 00:46:41,262
of the Neanderthal body, not only because of its size,
662
00:46:41,261 --> 00:46:43,151
but also due to the muscular thickness
663
00:46:43,152 --> 00:46:45,382
of the limbs and its torso,
664
00:46:45,381 --> 00:46:49,551
needed a large amount of daily energy for its metabolism.
665
00:46:52,466 --> 00:46:55,466
This means that an individual's daily consumption
666
00:46:55,469 --> 00:46:58,569
of calories, proteins and other nutrients
667
00:46:58,566 --> 00:47:00,646
must have been very high.
668
00:47:07,931 --> 00:47:11,951
Thus, certain unfavorable environmental conditions
669
00:47:11,952 --> 00:47:14,842
could have led to physiological stress
670
00:47:14,843 --> 00:47:17,263
brought on by food shortages.
671
00:47:19,237 --> 00:47:23,407
(fire crackling)
(rock pounding)
672
00:47:24,597 --> 00:47:27,877
A family was wiped out in El Sidron,
673
00:47:27,877 --> 00:47:30,457
eaten by their own kind,
674
00:47:30,456 --> 00:47:34,536
perhaps because of something as simple as hunger.
675
00:47:38,205 --> 00:47:41,365
Genetic evidence shows the population of Neanderthals
676
00:47:41,365 --> 00:47:45,535
reached only 10,000 across a huge geographical range.
677
00:47:47,237 --> 00:47:51,407
Eventually, that population was whittled down to one person.
678
00:47:53,299 --> 00:47:55,879
That last Neanderthal may have lived in a place
679
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,550
where food was always plentiful.
680
00:47:59,949 --> 00:48:01,709
At the time of the people living in El Sidron,
681
00:48:01,709 --> 00:48:03,799
in that more cold northern climate,
682
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,470
they're really having it hard to the point
683
00:48:05,468 --> 00:48:06,698
that they're eating each other.
684
00:48:06,694 --> 00:48:08,094
The Neanderthals down here carry on doing
685
00:48:08,097 --> 00:48:10,177
what they've always done.
686
00:48:12,607 --> 00:48:15,697
For a quarter of a million years, there's very little change
687
00:48:15,694 --> 00:48:16,934
in this part of the world.
688
00:48:16,929 --> 00:48:18,479
The climate's fairly mild.
689
00:48:18,481 --> 00:48:21,091
It gets slightly drier, slightly wetter.
690
00:48:21,089 --> 00:48:22,479
Then at 28,000 years,
691
00:48:22,483 --> 00:48:26,653
the cores tell us there were a series of droughts.
692
00:48:28,363 --> 00:48:31,013
There was a period which got really harsh,
693
00:48:31,010 --> 00:48:33,030
not cold, but dry,
694
00:48:33,033 --> 00:48:36,013
and not only did the Neanderthals disappear from here,
695
00:48:36,010 --> 00:48:38,150
but nobody else lived in here.
696
00:48:38,153 --> 00:48:39,553
That is quite telling, I think,
697
00:48:39,553 --> 00:48:42,003
that Neanderthals survived for a quarter of a million years,
698
00:48:42,003 --> 00:48:44,213
and we suddenly lose a signal
699
00:48:44,211 --> 00:48:47,151
when we get the worst climatic conditions
700
00:48:47,150 --> 00:48:51,230
registered by the marine cores outside this cave.
701
00:49:06,469 --> 00:49:08,329
It must have been really very sad
702
00:49:08,331 --> 00:49:10,461
for the last few people to stay here
703
00:49:10,461 --> 00:49:13,461
and maybe realize that they didn't come into contact
704
00:49:13,461 --> 00:49:16,011
with other groups like they had been used to.
705
00:49:16,006 --> 00:49:18,746
(fire crackling)
706
00:49:18,748 --> 00:49:19,858
They must have been the last one,
707
00:49:19,857 --> 00:49:23,517
and I always feel quite emotional when I think about them.
708
00:49:23,516 --> 00:49:26,596
(instrumental music)
709
00:49:36,356 --> 00:49:40,276
Close by El Sidron is La Cabanina.
710
00:49:41,977 --> 00:49:44,987
The investigators believe a shelter like this one
711
00:49:44,988 --> 00:49:48,208
could have been directly above the ossuary gallery
712
00:49:48,207 --> 00:49:51,287
49,000 years ago.
713
00:49:54,759 --> 00:49:58,179
In ancient times, there was a stream nearby,
714
00:49:58,177 --> 00:50:02,357
similar to the one that runs near La Cabanina today.
715
00:50:02,359 --> 00:50:05,739
They suspect that a huge storm caused flash flooding
716
00:50:05,737 --> 00:50:08,537
across the fragile karst areas,
717
00:50:08,540 --> 00:50:10,210
resulting in the sudden collapse
718
00:50:10,209 --> 00:50:14,089
that brought the remains into El Sidron.
719
00:50:14,088 --> 00:50:15,938
(speaking in foreign language)
720
00:50:15,940 --> 00:50:17,020
The cave must have been
721
00:50:17,020 --> 00:50:18,890
practically like it is now.
722
00:50:18,889 --> 00:50:21,029
And in the same way we could live here,
723
00:50:21,031 --> 00:50:23,731
they could have done so in the past.
724
00:50:23,729 --> 00:50:25,359
There is a roof, water,
725
00:50:25,359 --> 00:50:28,009
the basic conditions that they would have needed.
726
00:50:28,009 --> 00:50:31,509
There is also silex, the material they used for their tools.
727
00:50:31,511 --> 00:50:34,841
They would have lived here very happily.
728
00:50:36,439 --> 00:50:38,689
But there was death,
729
00:50:38,689 --> 00:50:41,459
an ancient cold case that the investigators
730
00:50:41,460 --> 00:50:45,380
of El Sidron have reached across time to solve.
731
00:50:49,780 --> 00:50:50,610
It started
732
00:50:50,613 --> 00:50:51,443
(howling wind)
733
00:50:51,446 --> 00:50:52,616
with a storm.
734
00:50:52,619 --> 00:50:55,569
(thunder crashing)
735
00:50:55,565 --> 00:50:58,235
(rushing water)
736
00:51:03,550 --> 00:51:06,470
(thunder crashing)
737
00:51:20,559 --> 00:51:21,879
(heavy rains)
738
00:51:21,883 --> 00:51:24,553
(rushing water)
739
00:51:27,666 --> 00:51:30,336
(rushing water)
740
00:51:36,050 --> 00:51:38,630
(howling wind)
741
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:51,909
1,800 bones and 400 stone relics
742
00:51:52,850 --> 00:51:55,160
have been recovered,
743
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,340
but this is not the end of the story.
744
00:51:58,339 --> 00:52:01,089
There may be more bodies in here.
745
00:52:08,348 --> 00:52:11,878
Antonio Rosas and Marco de la Rasilla
746
00:52:11,879 --> 00:52:13,549
will soon take this year's finds
747
00:52:13,548 --> 00:52:16,878
back to their laboratories for analysis.
748
00:52:18,828 --> 00:52:22,748
(speaking in foreign language)
749
00:52:24,642 --> 00:52:25,962
[Antonio's Translator] Until now, there has been
750
00:52:25,963 --> 00:52:29,373
no archaeological site in the world that has produced
751
00:52:29,375 --> 00:52:33,325
a greater number of bones than in El Sidron.
752
00:52:33,326 --> 00:52:36,656
It is an exceptional site on all counts.
753
00:52:38,937 --> 00:52:41,877
Finding a hundred well-preserved Neanderthal remains
754
00:52:41,878 --> 00:52:45,708
at the same site every year is highly unusual.
755
00:52:47,457 --> 00:52:50,567
The extraordinary level of fossil preservation
756
00:52:50,569 --> 00:52:53,899
also makes this place absolutely unique.
757
00:52:55,596 --> 00:52:57,146
[Marco's Translator] There is nothing to add.
758
00:52:57,150 --> 00:52:58,570
It's just unique.
759
00:53:02,958 --> 00:53:04,078
Little by little,
760
00:53:04,076 --> 00:53:08,126
the clues to this oldest of cold cases have been recovered
761
00:53:08,129 --> 00:53:11,029
to reveal a simple truth.
762
00:53:11,029 --> 00:53:15,549
An extended family group were cannibalized at El Sidron
763
00:53:15,549 --> 00:53:19,039
49,000 years ago.
764
00:53:19,038 --> 00:53:23,328
This is the first and likely the last Neanderthal family
765
00:53:23,329 --> 00:53:25,589
ever to be found.
766
00:53:25,588 --> 00:53:27,858
Their appearance in our time
767
00:53:27,855 --> 00:53:30,855
offers an extraordinary opportunity.
768
00:53:41,438 --> 00:53:45,608
They have been in the dark for 49,000 years,
769
00:53:47,638 --> 00:53:51,808
but they have only just begun to tell their secrets.
770
00:53:56,101 --> 00:53:59,771
(dramatic orchestral music)
56586
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