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(grand, epic music)
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The earliest known hominids
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were born in Africa,
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and we homo sapiens were also born here.
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But the evolutionary path to our species
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was neither flat nor straight.
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Through the evolutionary process,
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the relatives of humanity split
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into roughly 20 species.
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Some of them coexisted and were fierce rivals
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in the struggle for survival .
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(hominid grunting and panting)
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(screams)
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(tiger growls)
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The species we descended from
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were not the physically strongest.
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In fact, they were among the weaker.
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(grunts)
(cracking)
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They survived periods of intense difficulty,
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staging a series of amazing comebacks.
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(epic, exciting music)
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Today, there are 7.6 billion homo sapiens on earth.
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We are the planet's dominant species.
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How have we achieved this success?
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We look for answers at the dawn of humanity.
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(bird chirping)
(percussive jungle music)
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(isolated ambient music)
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Africa, the cradle of the human race.
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The first hominids took their first steps
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on this terrain.
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(branch snaps)
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Deep in the jungles lies an animal
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that can help us imagine the origins of humanity.
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(chimps hooting)
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(chimps screeching)
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These are chimpanzees.
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Humanity's family tree diverged from chimpanzees
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about seven million years ago.
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Chimps are our oldest surviving relatives,
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so human evolution is often illustrated
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with a stereotyped expression
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of one single path,
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from bent over chimps to upright modern humans.
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But the story was not so simple.
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There used to be many other hominids
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besides we homo sapiens,
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and we continue to discover more.
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We currently know of roughly 20 different species.
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At times, multiple species are though to have coexisted.
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The path leading to homo sapiens looks like this.
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The other lineages became extinct
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without leaving evolutionary descendants.
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An important hominid that paved the way to our existence
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was ardipithecus ramidus.
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(bird chirping)
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A. ramidus is the oldest hominid species
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confirmed to be bipedal.
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It lived in forests
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but started walking on two legs.
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This was rare in the forest
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and seemingly a disadvantage,
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but A. ramidus won out against the quadrupeds.
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What was the secret to its success?
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A clue to answering this question
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was discovered in Ethiopia.
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(light, curious music)
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This is an archeological site called Middle Awash.
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(tools clinking)
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(man speaking in foreign language)
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You finished up here?
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For many years, Tim White
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has been leading an international team
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in excavating this site.
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Then we reach the fault.
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(low, intriguing music)
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Nice, baby monkey.
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This is a columbus monkey, leaf-eating monkey.
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Died 4.4 million years ago.
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Finds made here by White and his team
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have revealed that this landscape was once a vast forest
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and that it was home to an ancestral hominid species
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with some surprising features.
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Yes!
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Proximal hand phalanx, ardipithecus ramidus!
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Over a decade,
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they restored hundreds of hand collected bones
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and revealed the bodily features of an early hominid
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that lived 4.4 million years ago.
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Ramidus was approximately 120 centimeters tall.
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It had an unusual body,
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with a small head and long arms and legs.
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Its feet were shaped like a monkey's
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and were capable of grabbing things.
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This indicates that ramidus lived in trees.
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Its pelvis, however, is different from an ape's.
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Let's compare with a chimpanzee.
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(contemplative African music)
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A chimpanzee has a long and narrow pelvis.
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(chimp screeching)
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How about ours?
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The human pelvis is broader.
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It supports the organs that move down when we stand up.
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Ramidus has a rather wide pelvis
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that more closely resembles a modern human's
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more than a chimpanzee's.
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In short, ramidus was probably bipedal.
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It started walking on two legs
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while still living in the trees.
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This overturned the common theory
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that bipedalism started in the grasslands
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after hominids left the trees.
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And the evidence of ardipithecus
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has revolutionized the way people think
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about human evolution,
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because you can no longer think of something
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halfway between a chimp and a human.
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You have to think outside that box.
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You have to think something unique.
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And there are hundreds of individuals,
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of monkeys and birds,
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all of the mammals that lived here
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as well as fossilized vegetation.
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We have wood, we have seeds.
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We have an environment today that you need a hat in.
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In the days of Ardi, you wouldn't need the hat so much
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because it was not a desert.
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It was a woodland here
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with ardipithecus both able to move in the trees
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and to walk on the ground.
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Based on the latest evidence,
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this is what the surrounding environment
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probably looked like to ramidus.
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(bird chirping)
(tinkling piano music)
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(ramidus hooting)
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(snorts)
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(ramidus screeching and hooting)
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(grunts)
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When down on the ground,
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ramidus is vulnerable to predators.
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(birds calling)
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(flies buzzing)
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(careful, cautious music)
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Ramidus wasn't as good at climbing trees as a monkey
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and it couldn't run very fast.
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So how did it win out in the race for survival?
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That is today's first comeback story.
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The key to ramidus's success
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laid in the environment they lived in.
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The era ramidus walked the forest,
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there was a cataclysm in Africa.
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It turned out to be a lucky break for bipeds.
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The earth's mantle shot up and formed mountain ranges
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that tore Africa apart.
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(booming)
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These mountains blocked clouds.
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The eastern part of the continent
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became increasingly arid
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and the forest dwindled.
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A lush forest, a paradise for animals,
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became something else.
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Now, trees were sparse
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and fruit and other food was hard to come by.
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(imposing, contemplative music)
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The bipedal ramidus suddenly had a great advantage
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because it was good at carrying food long distances.
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A geological cataclysm proved to be
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a huge break for a humble forest walker.
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In the competition for survival,
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ramidus won and unexpected victory
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over other species better suited to the trees.
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(ramidus panting)
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Research has also uncovered a major development
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in ramidus's behavior that is still with us today.
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(birds chirping)
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(hooting)
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(thunks)
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Four million years ago,
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ramidus seems to have had a family
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much the same way as we do.
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(gentle music)
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Scientists are finding the proof to back this up.
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Owen Lovejoy is an expert in the analysis
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of A. ramidus fossils.
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One of the striking things that we find
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associated with Ardi
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and the appearance of upright walking
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is the fact that there was another, simultaneous,
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major change occurring,
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and that was in the dentition.
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In other words, in the teeth.
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In ramidus, the upper canine
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and the size of the crown is vastly reduced.
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These are the canines of a male ramidus.
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Compared to a chimpanzee,
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ramidus has very small canines.
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(chimps screeching)
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The canines of male chimpanzees are thought
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to have developed as weapons to fight over females.
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The relatively small canines of ramidus
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could be evidence that males did not fight over females.
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Dr. Lovejoy theorizes this would imply
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that ramidus practiced monogamy.
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In other words, it had only one mate at a time.
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This lifestyle would have been beneficial
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for successfully producing offspring
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in a dwindling forest.
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What you're doing is instead of wasting the male's energy
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in simply competing with other males
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for access to a female,
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you're instead using his energy
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to the reproductive vantage of the pair.
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So there's really a fundamental advantage of pair bonding
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in terms of the rate of reproduction,
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so we think that that would have increased
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the level of cooperation amongst the females and the males,
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and that would have been one of the reasons why
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early hominids were so demographically successful.
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A natural event proved to be
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a happy accident for an early hominid
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that walked on two legs.
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(gentle orchestrated music)
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And this new natural environment encouraged monogamy.
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Hominids became creatures with families.
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Ramidus shifted into family life
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and eventually gave rise to a few different species,
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but only one offspring lineage survived,
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from which australopithecus afarensis evolved.
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This hominid is the star of our next comeback story.
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Ramidus was about 120 centimeters tall.
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The male afarensis stood about 150 centimeters tall,
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a difference of 30 centimeters in height.
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Ramidus had feet like hands,
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adapted to grab tree branches.
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The feet of afarensis were probably not as dextrous.
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They were almost perfectly adapted for life on the ground.
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But afarensis was not notably fast,
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nor did it have sharp claws, fangs, or other defenses.
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How did this vulnerable being prove fit enough to survive?
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Africa, approximately 3.7 million years ago.
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The forest disappeared completely,
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replaced by grasslands.
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How did afarensis survive
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in this predator-filled environment?
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Scientists recently rediscovered a clue to this mystery
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as the Laetoli fossil site in northern Tanzania.
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(wildlife chattering)
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(door slams)
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Fidelis Masao, a Tanzanian paleoanthropologist,
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and his team made the find.
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Over here, I found the most ancient
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footprints of our earliest ancestors
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that have never been found anywhere else.
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The clue was the many footprints
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that afarensis left in the savanna
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approximately 3.7 million years ago.
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He analyzed the size and numbers
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of numerous fossil footprints found in the area.
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(isolated ambient music)
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Studies of these footprints revealed
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that afarensis traveled in groups,
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sometimes of over a dozen.
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This is believed to be the one way afarensis survived
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in the harsh conditions of the savanna.
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They did not have any spears,
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so they would depend on the number
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in order to defend themselves against predators.
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Perhaps being able to pick up
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branches of trees and rocks
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to sort of defend themselves.
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This is the savanna
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that afarensis called home.
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00:16:19,438 --> 00:16:23,018
(isolated harmonica music)
273
00:16:26,051 --> 00:16:29,131
(afarensis grunting)
274
00:16:45,651 --> 00:16:49,401
(curious, traditional music)
275
00:16:53,289 --> 00:16:54,629
(chomping)
276
00:16:54,630 --> 00:16:56,470
To make it through the dangerous savanna
277
00:16:56,470 --> 00:16:58,220
while searching for food,
278
00:16:58,220 --> 00:17:01,400
this early hominid species began to form groups.
279
00:17:06,190 --> 00:17:11,190
(elephant roaring)
(elephant trumpeting)
280
00:17:18,515 --> 00:17:19,985
(afarensis grunting)
281
00:17:19,986 --> 00:17:23,486
(quick footsteps padding)
282
00:17:24,465 --> 00:17:27,085
(afarensis screams)
283
00:17:27,086 --> 00:17:29,596
(cat growling)
284
00:17:29,596 --> 00:17:31,556
(wet squishing)
285
00:17:31,559 --> 00:17:34,549
(uneasy ambient music)
286
00:17:34,546 --> 00:17:37,126
(cat growling)
287
00:17:46,740 --> 00:17:49,810
Even in groups, afarensis was still very vulnerable.
288
00:17:58,655 --> 00:18:01,325
(flies buzzing)
289
00:18:05,650 --> 00:18:09,370
After this, this lineage splits into two major branches.
290
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,320
Genus homo, which had more slender bodies,
291
00:18:14,370 --> 00:18:17,900
and genus paranthropus, which had more solid builds.
292
00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:25,220
Among others, homo habilis and paranthropus boisei
293
00:18:25,220 --> 00:18:29,200
were rivals who coexisted for about 600,000 years.
294
00:18:31,130 --> 00:18:33,200
Hominids of genus paranthropus
295
00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,120
are also known as robust australopithecines.
296
00:18:38,742 --> 00:18:41,012
Their jaws were indeed powerful enough
297
00:18:41,010 --> 00:18:43,420
to feast on hard beans and roots.
298
00:18:44,710 --> 00:18:49,130
Here we have the skulls of paranthropus and habilis.
299
00:18:49,130 --> 00:18:52,150
The paranthropus had very thick temporal muscles
300
00:18:52,150 --> 00:18:54,420
that almost covered the entire head.
301
00:18:54,420 --> 00:18:57,280
He could probably chew three to six times stronger
302
00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,560
than homo habilis.
303
00:19:00,310 --> 00:19:02,720
But in the end, the paranthropus branch
304
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:04,620
of the family tree died out.
305
00:19:04,622 --> 00:19:08,202
(tinkling, hesitant music)
306
00:19:09,510 --> 00:19:11,920
How did the less robust homo habilis
307
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,320
win the battle for survival?
308
00:19:17,542 --> 00:19:20,212
(flies buzzing)
309
00:19:23,020 --> 00:19:26,550
Homo habilis lived 2.4 million years ago.
310
00:19:32,542 --> 00:19:35,212
(flies buzzing)
311
00:19:36,295 --> 00:19:39,685
(bird screeching)
312
00:19:39,681 --> 00:19:42,261
(wind howling)
313
00:19:46,825 --> 00:19:49,655
(habilis hooting)
314
00:19:51,095 --> 00:19:53,665
(panting)
315
00:19:53,668 --> 00:19:56,498
(animals calling)
316
00:19:59,420 --> 00:20:00,830
Hyenas.
317
00:20:00,830 --> 00:20:03,830
(hyenas vocalizing)
318
00:20:21,575 --> 00:20:22,405
(habilis grunting)
319
00:20:22,408 --> 00:20:23,948
(hyena whining)
320
00:20:23,951 --> 00:20:26,781
(habilis hooting)
321
00:20:28,578 --> 00:20:31,798
(hyenas barking)
322
00:20:31,796 --> 00:20:34,626
(habilis hooting)
323
00:20:46,028 --> 00:20:48,858
(habilis panting)
324
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,350
Homo habilis seems to have lived much like the hyenas,
325
00:20:54,350 --> 00:20:55,410
as scavengers.
326
00:20:57,010 --> 00:20:59,760
This lifestyle may have led to an accidental invention.
327
00:21:02,090 --> 00:21:03,350
It's thought to be the key
328
00:21:03,350 --> 00:21:05,120
to the survival of homo habilis.
329
00:21:07,097 --> 00:21:09,927
(habilis hooting)
330
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:20,180
Henry Bunn of University of Wisconsin found the evidence.
331
00:21:23,030 --> 00:21:25,200
So here are some bones that are
332
00:21:26,060 --> 00:21:27,840
almost two million years old.
333
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,240
Flat bone surface here, just on the sample,
334
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,720
you can see series of parallel cut marks.
335
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,010
This is a bone from a herbivorous animal
336
00:21:38,010 --> 00:21:41,930
excavated at a homo habilis fossil site in Tanzania,
337
00:21:41,930 --> 00:21:43,600
prepared with a gold coating
338
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,830
for scanning electron microscopy.
339
00:21:47,450 --> 00:21:50,360
It shows the many linear cuts on the bone.
340
00:21:51,710 --> 00:21:54,550
Dr. Bunn thinks these marks reveal the secret
341
00:21:54,550 --> 00:21:58,520
of how homo habilis survived to evolve into modern humans.
342
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:04,710
The Hadza are an African people
343
00:22:04,710 --> 00:22:07,070
who live as hunter gatherers.
344
00:22:07,070 --> 00:22:09,920
They helped Dr. Bunn understand his findings.
345
00:22:13,746 --> 00:22:14,576
(bow clacks)
346
00:22:14,579 --> 00:22:17,019
(murmuring in foreign language)
347
00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:18,120
When the Hasta eat meat,
348
00:22:18,123 --> 00:22:20,963
they leave the same type of cuts on the bone.
349
00:22:22,306 --> 00:22:23,816
(talking in foreign language)
350
00:22:23,811 --> 00:22:27,561
(bustling traditional music)
351
00:22:31,690 --> 00:22:33,610
There's a strong similarity
352
00:22:33,610 --> 00:22:36,430
between what was going on in the early Pleistocene
353
00:22:36,430 --> 00:22:38,040
nearly two million years ago
354
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,030
and what's going on under direct observation
355
00:22:41,030 --> 00:22:42,910
in the recent past among the Hadza.
356
00:22:43,950 --> 00:22:46,700
And so we know from these that hominids
357
00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:49,590
were making stone tools
358
00:22:49,590 --> 00:22:52,370
specifically to butcher animal carcass.
359
00:22:52,370 --> 00:22:53,940
The marks on the animal bones
360
00:22:53,940 --> 00:22:55,600
at the homo habilis site
361
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,960
would seem to be cuts from a stone tool.
362
00:23:00,430 --> 00:23:02,000
The marks match perfectly
363
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,860
with a stone blade like this.
364
00:23:03,855 --> 00:23:07,185
(light, clapping music)
365
00:23:08,570 --> 00:23:10,840
The linear markings are convincing evidence
366
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,740
that homo habilis already used stone tools.
367
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:23,040
Our ancestors invented the technique
368
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,210
of making flake stone tools.
369
00:23:26,570 --> 00:23:30,290
This was in response to a changing climate,
370
00:23:31,540 --> 00:23:33,990
changing resources,
371
00:23:33,990 --> 00:23:37,020
and their experiment in how
372
00:23:37,020 --> 00:23:40,360
to forage for food more efficiently.
373
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,710
Homo habilis was physically weak,
374
00:23:43,710 --> 00:23:45,720
but had stone tools.
375
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,810
That's how it pulled ahead of the stronger paranthropus.
376
00:23:53,150 --> 00:23:54,960
The weak-jawed homo habilis
377
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,420
accidentally invented stone tools
378
00:23:57,420 --> 00:23:59,520
and turned the tables on its rival.
379
00:24:01,246 --> 00:24:03,056
(bones rattling)
380
00:24:03,057 --> 00:24:05,887
(habilis hooting)
381
00:24:09,732 --> 00:24:12,652
(habilis grunting)
382
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,500
Marrow inside the bone is a valuable source of nutrients.
383
00:24:25,495 --> 00:24:28,495
(light piano music)
384
00:24:39,954 --> 00:24:44,874
(grunting)
(bone clacking)
385
00:24:49,208 --> 00:24:50,358
(hooting)
386
00:24:50,362 --> 00:24:52,612
(cracking)
387
00:24:54,071 --> 00:24:56,991
(gasps and whines)
388
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,090
The invention of flake stone tools
389
00:25:04,090 --> 00:25:07,300
put sharp edged knives in the hands
390
00:25:07,300 --> 00:25:09,240
of hominids for the first time,
391
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,000
where they could have a choice
392
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,710
between either continuing on their foraging day
393
00:25:14,710 --> 00:25:17,240
for predominantly plant foods
394
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,300
or they could use one of those sharp edge flakes
395
00:25:20,300 --> 00:25:24,770
to zip open the animal carcass through the thick skin
396
00:25:24,770 --> 00:25:27,020
and cut off all of the meat that they
397
00:25:27,020 --> 00:25:29,420
and their friends could possibly use
398
00:25:29,420 --> 00:25:30,570
in a matter of minutes.
399
00:25:31,968 --> 00:25:33,328
(grunts and gasps)
400
00:25:33,330 --> 00:25:34,920
Hominids of our lineage
401
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:36,940
had now begun to use tools.
402
00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:41,940
(exciting percussive music)
403
00:25:41,940 --> 00:25:44,420
Homo habilis created a huge revolution
404
00:25:44,420 --> 00:25:46,170
with the invention of stone tools.
405
00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:51,590
Afterwards, hominids took an evolutionary leap forward.
406
00:25:52,890 --> 00:25:54,920
By 1.8 million years ago,
407
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,810
homo erectus had arrived.
408
00:25:57,810 --> 00:26:01,020
It grew as tall as 180 centimeters
409
00:26:01,020 --> 00:26:04,950
with long, slender legs and very little body hair,
410
00:26:04,950 --> 00:26:06,590
not so different from us.
411
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,750
This allowed homo erectus to outlive other hominids,
412
00:26:10,750 --> 00:26:12,700
because its body was built for hunting.
413
00:26:15,470 --> 00:26:18,360
Recent findings from a fossil site in Georgia
414
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,340
shed light on this.
415
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,060
The Dmanisi fossil site is 100 kilometers south
416
00:26:25,060 --> 00:26:26,890
of Tibilisi, Georgia's capital.
417
00:26:29,090 --> 00:26:32,530
Dmanisi has fantastic preservation of bones.
418
00:26:33,670 --> 00:26:35,220
An excavation team,
419
00:26:35,220 --> 00:26:37,480
lead by David Lordkipanidze,
420
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,080
unearthed something here.
421
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,280
Alongside homo erectus bones,
422
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,130
there were thousands of animal bones.
423
00:26:47,260 --> 00:26:49,790
They belonged to large, plant-eating creatures.
424
00:26:51,851 --> 00:26:54,621
Lordkipanidze says this is evidence
425
00:26:54,620 --> 00:26:57,200
that homo erectus lived on animal meat.
426
00:27:01,540 --> 00:27:04,210
I'm sure they could hunt,
427
00:27:04,210 --> 00:27:06,760
and also they were scavenging.
428
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,330
They were meat eaters, they needed meat,
429
00:27:09,330 --> 00:27:11,480
so they had lot of meat here
430
00:27:11,475 --> 00:27:13,135
in this environment.
431
00:27:15,730 --> 00:27:18,720
Homo erectus had started hunting,
432
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,950
and its unique body seems to have been
433
00:27:20,950 --> 00:27:23,330
perfectly adapted to its hunting style.
434
00:27:23,331 --> 00:27:26,911
(curious orchestral music)
435
00:27:33,980 --> 00:27:35,640
This animal is injured.
436
00:27:36,730 --> 00:27:39,510
A group of homo erectus are following it.
437
00:27:39,506 --> 00:27:42,336
(hooves clomping)
438
00:27:52,086 --> 00:27:55,506
(rising, exciting music)
439
00:28:07,130 --> 00:28:09,750
Their hunting style was a waiting game.
440
00:28:09,750 --> 00:28:11,580
They patiently chased their prey
441
00:28:11,580 --> 00:28:13,510
until it became exhausted.
442
00:28:13,509 --> 00:28:16,179
(animal whines)
443
00:28:22,819 --> 00:28:25,819
(erectus vocalizes)
444
00:28:29,970 --> 00:28:33,350
Hominids were once the prey of carnivores.
445
00:28:33,350 --> 00:28:35,500
Now they had become the predator.
446
00:28:36,410 --> 00:28:37,810
What a huge reversal.
447
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:42,100
(fly buzzes)
448
00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:44,040
But how exactly do we know
449
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,720
that homo erectus was a good runner?
450
00:28:46,717 --> 00:28:49,387
(animal whines)
451
00:28:51,932 --> 00:28:54,062
(revertant singing)
452
00:28:54,060 --> 00:28:56,280
One scientist came up with the answer,
453
00:28:57,170 --> 00:28:59,680
Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University.
454
00:29:00,630 --> 00:29:03,350
He says it's clear from homo erectus bones
455
00:29:03,350 --> 00:29:04,600
that have been excavated.
456
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,260
Where as this, this isn't.
457
00:29:08,260 --> 00:29:10,150
This spine right here
458
00:29:10,150 --> 00:29:14,070
is the insertion for the gluteus maximus.
459
00:29:14,070 --> 00:29:16,070
It's the biggest muscle in the human body,
460
00:29:16,070 --> 00:29:20,030
and this muscle is important, especially when you run.
461
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,470
So if you met a homo erectus,
462
00:29:23,470 --> 00:29:25,270
he would probably be pretty good runner.
463
00:29:25,265 --> 00:29:27,375
(exciting, epic music)
464
00:29:27,370 --> 00:29:28,900
Lieberman also believes
465
00:29:28,900 --> 00:29:30,220
that the lack of body hair
466
00:29:30,220 --> 00:29:32,480
was beneficial for long distance running.
467
00:29:34,010 --> 00:29:36,210
Most mammals have too much body hair
468
00:29:36,210 --> 00:29:38,620
to effectively lower their body temperature,
469
00:29:40,210 --> 00:29:42,410
so they can't stay active for too long
470
00:29:42,410 --> 00:29:44,720
under such scorching African sun.
471
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,340
Running long distances,
472
00:29:47,340 --> 00:29:49,600
their body temperature will rise,
473
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,660
and they'll easily suffer heatstroke.
474
00:29:54,100 --> 00:29:57,040
But homo erectus had relatively little body hair.
475
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,420
When sweating, their body temperature will quickly drop.
476
00:30:08,810 --> 00:30:10,140
There are no other animals
477
00:30:10,140 --> 00:30:11,700
running the Tokyo marathon, right?
478
00:30:11,700 --> 00:30:13,010
It's just humans.
479
00:30:13,010 --> 00:30:15,490
If you took your dog, your dog wouldn't make it.
480
00:30:15,490 --> 00:30:16,850
And the reason for that is that
481
00:30:16,850 --> 00:30:18,740
when humans run long distances,
482
00:30:18,740 --> 00:30:21,460
we run at speeds that require other animals
483
00:30:21,460 --> 00:30:23,650
to have to pant to cool down.
484
00:30:23,650 --> 00:30:26,270
We use a combination of tracking and chasing,
485
00:30:27,110 --> 00:30:28,740
running and walking.
486
00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:30,970
Eventually, you can drive that animal
487
00:30:30,970 --> 00:30:32,750
into a state of heat stroke.
488
00:30:32,745 --> 00:30:35,415
(animal whines)
489
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:38,100
Around the same time
490
00:30:38,100 --> 00:30:40,340
homo erectus began to hunt,
491
00:30:40,340 --> 00:30:42,510
another astonishing change happened.
492
00:30:43,810 --> 00:30:45,870
This change happened on the inside.
493
00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:51,166
(tool clacking)
494
00:30:51,170 --> 00:30:53,470
We can see this from the skull excavated
495
00:30:53,470 --> 00:30:55,610
at the Dmanisi site.
496
00:30:55,610 --> 00:30:57,830
The skull has no teeth.
497
00:30:57,830 --> 00:31:00,550
It's believed that this one died at an old age.
498
00:31:01,690 --> 00:31:04,390
How did he survive after losing his teeth?
499
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,920
It means that this individual
500
00:31:09,860 --> 00:31:13,400
survived several years without teeth.
501
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,970
So explanation could be that
502
00:31:17,930 --> 00:31:20,450
this individual had help.
503
00:31:20,450 --> 00:31:25,320
So it may be first traces of solidarity, compassions.
504
00:31:26,780 --> 00:31:29,010
What triggered this change?
505
00:31:29,010 --> 00:31:30,620
Hominid brains have grown larger
506
00:31:30,620 --> 00:31:32,560
down through the ages.
507
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:34,560
With homo erectus, however,
508
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,220
the rate of enlargement suddenly accelerated.
509
00:31:38,750 --> 00:31:41,030
A major factor was a change in diet.
510
00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:45,600
When proto-humans were depending on fruits
511
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,610
and other food with high fiber content,
512
00:31:48,610 --> 00:31:50,980
they needed a longer digestive tract.
513
00:31:52,330 --> 00:31:55,360
They spent a lot of energy on digestion.
514
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,220
But when their staple food shifted
515
00:31:57,220 --> 00:31:59,520
to nutrient-rich digestible meat,
516
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,130
they came to have a shorter gut
517
00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:03,300
and spend less energy on digestion.
518
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,050
This allowed hominids to have larger brains
519
00:32:08,050 --> 00:32:09,580
and become more intelligent.
520
00:32:14,710 --> 00:32:17,960
We can guess that one of the first
521
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,760
steps of humanities were here in this time period.
522
00:32:23,090 --> 00:32:25,690
So we can guess that homo erectus
523
00:32:26,530 --> 00:32:29,030
had different human characters,
524
00:32:29,030 --> 00:32:33,150
including social relationship,
525
00:32:33,150 --> 00:32:37,220
and taking care in groups, helping each other.
526
00:32:40,130 --> 00:32:42,280
Dr. Lordkipanidze believes
527
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,100
compassion began to bloom in homo erectus.
528
00:32:46,290 --> 00:32:50,120
(serene, compassionate music)
529
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,760
Hominids turned to meat eating
530
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:54,320
when other food was scarce,
531
00:32:55,550 --> 00:32:57,430
and an unintended consequence
532
00:32:57,430 --> 00:33:01,060
was the development of human emotion and intelligence.
533
00:33:01,061 --> 00:33:03,731
(fire crackles)
534
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,860
Homo erectus left Africa
535
00:33:10,860 --> 00:33:13,560
and eventually spread to various parts of Asia.
536
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,740
The fossil hominids known as Peking Man and Java Man
537
00:33:18,740 --> 00:33:20,400
are both homo erectus.
538
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,400
In Africa, a new species called homo heidelbergensis
539
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:28,420
evolved from homo erectus.
540
00:33:29,370 --> 00:33:31,360
Some of them reached Europe
541
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,900
and evolved into homo neanderthalensis,
542
00:33:34,900 --> 00:33:36,850
or simply neanderthals.
543
00:33:37,860 --> 00:33:39,710
The ones that stayed in Africa
544
00:33:39,710 --> 00:33:41,700
evolved into homo sapiens.
545
00:33:43,330 --> 00:33:46,150
200,000 to 300,000 years ago,
546
00:33:46,150 --> 00:33:48,760
at least three hominid species lived on earth.
547
00:33:50,310 --> 00:33:54,250
Homo sapiens emerged in Africa later than others,
548
00:33:54,250 --> 00:33:55,450
at the wrong time.
549
00:33:56,500 --> 00:33:58,260
Very early in its existence,
550
00:33:58,260 --> 00:34:00,440
it faced the threat of extinction.
551
00:34:03,610 --> 00:34:07,170
The threat was climate change on a global scale.
552
00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:11,320
Around 190,000 years ago, Earth entered an ice age.
553
00:34:11,318 --> 00:34:14,188
(still, ambient music)
554
00:34:14,190 --> 00:34:17,860
It did not have a major effect on temperate Asia.
555
00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:20,660
Java Man, a group of homo erectus living there,
556
00:34:20,660 --> 00:34:21,720
was unscathed.
557
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,540
The neanderthals who had been in Europe a long time
558
00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:30,560
were already adapted to cold climates.
559
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,350
They were also able to survive with no difficulty.
560
00:34:33,351 --> 00:34:38,161
(wet stabbing)
(mammoth wails)
561
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,000
But homo sapiens, this new species in Africa,
562
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:42,990
was in trouble.
563
00:34:45,340 --> 00:34:48,600
During the ice age, areas around the equator
564
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,850
got drier and drier.
565
00:34:50,850 --> 00:34:53,910
Much of Africa's grassland turned into desert.
566
00:34:56,240 --> 00:34:58,700
With most of their habitats gone,
567
00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:01,540
homo sapiens were driven to the brink of extinction.
568
00:35:03,420 --> 00:35:06,100
One of the places they ended up was this cape,
569
00:35:07,530 --> 00:35:10,310
Pinnacle Point on the southern coast of South Africa.
570
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:14,880
Deep inside this cave,
571
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,730
we see the traces of that era.
572
00:35:16,727 --> 00:35:20,227
(isolated, howling music)
573
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,020
Each one of these is a little layer.
574
00:35:30,630 --> 00:35:31,460
And D.
575
00:35:31,463 --> 00:35:32,963
One research project here
576
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:34,510
is headed by Curtis Marean.
577
00:35:35,910 --> 00:35:39,080
That black material right there,
578
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,690
that is charcoal from ancient fireplaces.
579
00:35:42,690 --> 00:35:44,960
There's a lot of stone artifacts in here.
580
00:35:45,860 --> 00:35:48,240
This certainly is one of the highest resolution sites
581
00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:49,820
we have for that time period.
582
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,790
How did homo sapiens survive
583
00:35:52,790 --> 00:35:54,420
this imminent extinction?
584
00:35:56,420 --> 00:36:00,220
The most surprising discovery at this site was seashells.
585
00:36:01,810 --> 00:36:03,750
Earlier hominid species had lived
586
00:36:03,750 --> 00:36:05,370
in the forests and the savanna,
587
00:36:05,370 --> 00:36:07,770
so they had never eaten shellfish.
588
00:36:09,690 --> 00:36:11,960
And the brown mussel is the most abundant
589
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,280
shellfish that you see here today.
590
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,220
This is the one they were collecting
591
00:36:16,220 --> 00:36:17,840
in the oldest sediments,
592
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,050
at 160,000 years ago.
593
00:36:21,270 --> 00:36:23,840
Africa actually has extremely few
594
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,130
shellfish habitats.
595
00:36:25,134 --> 00:36:29,214
(rising orchestral music)
596
00:36:29,210 --> 00:36:32,050
To its great fortune, homo sapiens arrived
597
00:36:32,050 --> 00:36:34,890
at the rare place where shellfish were abundant.
598
00:36:38,500 --> 00:36:41,090
But who would try this new, unknown food?
599
00:36:42,090 --> 00:36:45,670
Perhaps only the most curious of our species survived.
600
00:36:48,870 --> 00:36:51,920
Around this time, the homo sapiens' population
601
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,160
dropped sharply to less than 10,000.
602
00:36:58,100 --> 00:37:00,870
Evidence of that is etched in our genomes.
603
00:37:00,869 --> 00:37:04,119
(light, pensive music)
604
00:37:05,890 --> 00:37:10,120
Today, there are seven billion people on earth,
605
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,470
but their genetic differences are very small.
606
00:37:13,470 --> 00:37:15,580
This suggests that the humans of today
607
00:37:15,580 --> 00:37:18,250
are descended from a very small population.
608
00:37:20,750 --> 00:37:22,310
(rattling)
609
00:37:22,310 --> 00:37:25,790
A sharp decrease, and then a sharp increase.
610
00:37:25,790 --> 00:37:27,850
This bottleneck event resulted
611
00:37:27,850 --> 00:37:30,450
in lots of people with similar genes.
612
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,790
The coastlines that are rich for foragers
613
00:37:36,790 --> 00:37:40,100
would places where people would find refuge
614
00:37:40,100 --> 00:37:41,510
during glacial phases.
615
00:37:41,510 --> 00:37:44,060
The genetic evidence that we have suggests
616
00:37:44,060 --> 00:37:47,730
that it was during that glacial phase
617
00:37:47,730 --> 00:37:50,350
that the lineage that leads to all modern humans,
618
00:37:50,350 --> 00:37:53,320
everybody alive on the planet today, originated.
619
00:37:56,270 --> 00:37:57,720
What helped the survivors
620
00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,060
was their curiosity to try new foods.
621
00:38:01,470 --> 00:38:04,200
We are all descended from these survivors,
622
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,110
these people with curious minds.
623
00:38:07,111 --> 00:38:11,531
(woman speaking in foreign language)
624
00:38:12,380 --> 00:38:16,380
Our long journey through human evolution further continues.
625
00:38:16,380 --> 00:38:18,820
What dramatic events await our ancestors
626
00:38:18,820 --> 00:38:20,520
as they venture out of Africa
627
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,610
and come face to face with neanderthals?
628
00:38:27,410 --> 00:38:31,330
(traditional percussive music)
629
00:38:33,900 --> 00:38:37,350
Homo sapiens and the neanderthals,
630
00:38:37,350 --> 00:38:41,460
the two species lived side by side for 10,000 years
631
00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:43,130
and jockeyed for supremacy.
632
00:38:44,250 --> 00:38:48,280
Neanderthals were brawny, highly intelligent hunters,
633
00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,240
but they disappeared from this planet
634
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:52,190
while homo sapiens survived.
635
00:38:54,340 --> 00:38:56,380
This is one of the greatest mysteries
636
00:38:56,380 --> 00:38:57,680
of human evolution.
637
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,680
If a neanderthal and modern human
638
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,780
were to fight hand to hand,
639
00:39:04,780 --> 00:39:06,080
the neanderthal would win.
640
00:39:08,150 --> 00:39:10,750
There's another mystery that's been uncovered.
641
00:39:10,750 --> 00:39:14,290
Neanderthal DNA lives on in humans to this day.
642
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,100
I was very afraid that it was some error,
643
00:39:19,100 --> 00:39:21,320
but one mixed with neanderthals,
644
00:39:21,317 --> 00:39:25,807
and they contributed DNA to to people who live today.
645
00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:28,830
How exactly did this happen?
646
00:39:29,715 --> 00:39:31,705
(epic traditional music)
647
00:39:31,705 --> 00:39:34,035
(baby coos)
648
00:39:38,964 --> 00:39:41,054
(isolated, intriguing music)
649
00:39:41,050 --> 00:39:43,250
Jerusalem in the Middle East
650
00:39:43,250 --> 00:39:45,990
has long been the crossroads of civilization,
651
00:39:47,410 --> 00:39:49,750
and this region is likely where neanderthals
652
00:39:49,750 --> 00:39:51,710
and homo sapiens first met.
653
00:39:51,710 --> 00:39:56,710
(reverential chanting in foreign language)
654
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,890
The evidence is a discovery made in 2015
655
00:39:59,890 --> 00:40:02,310
at the Manot Cave in northern Israel.
656
00:40:02,305 --> 00:40:03,345
(murmuring)
Uh-huh.
657
00:40:03,341 --> 00:40:06,701
(man speaking in foreign language)
658
00:40:06,702 --> 00:40:10,832
(archeologists speaking simultaneously)
659
00:40:10,836 --> 00:40:11,686
I'm looking at a piece of bone,
660
00:40:11,690 --> 00:40:13,440
it's a finger bone, could be human.
661
00:40:15,650 --> 00:40:18,110
Paleontologist Israel Hershkovitz
662
00:40:18,110 --> 00:40:20,900
leads an international team excavating the site.
663
00:40:23,060 --> 00:40:24,550
Here, the place.
664
00:40:24,550 --> 00:40:26,240
Deep inside this cave,
665
00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:28,020
important fossils were found.
666
00:40:29,250 --> 00:40:31,840
These remains show that homo sapiens lived here
667
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:34,070
55,000 years ago.
668
00:40:35,890 --> 00:40:38,470
And a mere 40 kilometers away,
669
00:40:38,470 --> 00:40:41,390
traces of the neanderthals had also been found.
670
00:40:41,394 --> 00:40:44,774
(mysterious, tinkling music)
671
00:40:44,770 --> 00:40:48,740
Here, bones from 18 bodies were unearthed.
672
00:40:48,740 --> 00:40:51,860
It was previously believed that in this era,
673
00:40:51,860 --> 00:40:55,130
homo sapiens and the neanderthals lived far apart.
674
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:01,000
Actually, Manot is the only fossil yet discovered
675
00:41:01,550 --> 00:41:04,870
that represent this specific group
676
00:41:04,870 --> 00:41:07,400
that start migrating out of Africa.
677
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:12,400
So in a way, Manot give us the first evidence
678
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,210
of overlapping time and space
679
00:41:15,210 --> 00:41:17,060
between anatomically modern humans,
680
00:41:17,060 --> 00:41:19,860
or our own species, homo sapiens, and neanderthal.
681
00:41:21,610 --> 00:41:23,340
During the seven million years
682
00:41:23,340 --> 00:41:25,470
since the first hominids emerged,
683
00:41:25,470 --> 00:41:28,400
close to 20 species have lived and died.
684
00:41:30,750 --> 00:41:34,810
The last of these were neanderthals and homo sapiens.
685
00:41:34,812 --> 00:41:38,232
(low orchestrated music)
686
00:41:41,860 --> 00:41:44,930
The two branched off from a common relative.
687
00:41:44,928 --> 00:41:46,538
(rising orchestral music)
688
00:41:46,540 --> 00:41:49,710
Some of them left Africa and evolved into neanderthals
689
00:41:49,710 --> 00:41:51,230
on the Eurasian continent.
690
00:41:54,670 --> 00:41:59,030
100,000 years later, homo sapiens emerged in Africa.
691
00:42:01,830 --> 00:42:04,280
Homo sapiens then left Africa,
692
00:42:05,740 --> 00:42:09,480
and surprisingly soon, they encountered the neanderthals.
693
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:24,260
This group of homo sapiens
694
00:42:24,260 --> 00:42:27,600
migrated from Africa in pursuit of prey.
695
00:42:27,599 --> 00:42:30,429
(deer vocalizing)
696
00:42:40,469 --> 00:42:43,049
(wind blowing)
697
00:42:45,500 --> 00:42:48,750
(neanderthal shouting)
698
00:42:51,959 --> 00:42:53,419
(rapid footsteps padding)
699
00:42:53,422 --> 00:42:56,502
(neanderthal shouts)
700
00:43:07,561 --> 00:43:11,361
(speaking in imagined language)
701
00:43:11,364 --> 00:43:14,034
(ghostly music)
702
00:43:26,247 --> 00:43:30,777
Who were the neanderthals that homo sapiens first met?
703
00:43:30,780 --> 00:43:33,510
Paleontologists once thought something like this.
704
00:43:34,500 --> 00:43:37,020
Neanderthals were a kind of hairy ape man,
705
00:43:37,020 --> 00:43:39,360
dramatically inferior to homo sapiens.
706
00:43:40,250 --> 00:43:43,030
But now experts have a very different image
707
00:43:43,030 --> 00:43:44,560
of their capacities,
708
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,060
both anatomically and culturally.
709
00:43:48,370 --> 00:43:51,990
Neanderthal skulls reveal something quite surprising.
710
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:55,760
The neanderthal skull is much larger,
711
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,200
much bigger than a modern skull.
712
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,260
Neanderthals had big brains.
713
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:03,580
Modeling from the skulls
714
00:44:03,580 --> 00:44:05,700
shows that neanderthals had brains
715
00:44:05,700 --> 00:44:08,650
more than 10% bigger than homo sapiens.
716
00:44:13,170 --> 00:44:16,830
And a close examination of bones in their throat and ear
717
00:44:16,830 --> 00:44:19,000
indicate they could probably talk.
718
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,450
The evidence continues to mount
719
00:44:24,450 --> 00:44:26,630
that neanderthals had their own culture.
720
00:44:29,990 --> 00:44:33,780
This pendant found in Spain belonged to a neanderthal.
721
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:36,380
It was made from a scallop shell.
722
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,430
This object made from eagle talons
723
00:44:40,430 --> 00:44:42,530
is believed to be an arm bracelet.
724
00:44:42,530 --> 00:44:44,710
It was unearthed at a neanderthal site
725
00:44:44,710 --> 00:44:46,910
in Croatia in 2015.
726
00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:54,790
Neanderthals also treated animal hides
727
00:44:54,790 --> 00:44:56,110
and wore them as clothing.
728
00:44:59,420 --> 00:45:02,860
One piece of evidence of this is a tool found in France.
729
00:45:04,708 --> 00:45:06,958
(scraping)
730
00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:13,640
Marie Soressi is a paleontologist at Leiden University.
731
00:45:14,590 --> 00:45:17,680
She discovered a tool called a lissoir
732
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,940
at a Neanderthal site dated to 50,000 years ago.
733
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:26,000
This type of tool was often made from bison bones.
734
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,920
It's likely that neanderthals used this tool
735
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:31,030
to make animal hides smoother.
736
00:45:32,780 --> 00:45:34,910
We once thought they were strong
737
00:45:34,910 --> 00:45:38,570
but unintelligent and incapable of speech.
738
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:43,070
But we now believe that they had brains
739
00:45:43,070 --> 00:45:44,230
to go with their brawn.
740
00:45:46,130 --> 00:45:48,490
We now understand that, yes,
741
00:45:48,487 --> 00:45:52,407
neanderthals were much more smarter than what we thought,
742
00:45:52,410 --> 00:45:54,360
and actually were probably as smart
743
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:56,310
as were our direct ancestors.
744
00:45:59,090 --> 00:46:00,480
We are here today,
745
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,140
only one human species on the planet.
746
00:46:03,143 --> 00:46:05,603
(traffic honks)
747
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,180
But maybe it's not because we were the smarter ones,
748
00:46:09,180 --> 00:46:11,170
maybe it's because of other reasons.
749
00:46:11,168 --> 00:46:12,798
(exciting percussive music)
750
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:14,430
How were neanderthals living
751
00:46:14,430 --> 00:46:17,390
at the time they encountered homo sapiens?
752
00:46:17,390 --> 00:46:19,780
These are sort of next to cranio--
753
00:46:19,780 --> 00:46:22,360
This is paleontologist Stephen Churchill
754
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:23,700
of Duke University.
755
00:46:25,210 --> 00:46:27,750
He believes that neanderthals had well adapted
756
00:46:27,750 --> 00:46:29,890
to survive in extreme cold.
757
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,200
The neanderthals survived in glacial climates.
758
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:38,310
It was their body which was adapted to glacial Europe.
759
00:46:39,170 --> 00:46:41,570
It worked for them because it's what they inherited
760
00:46:41,570 --> 00:46:43,910
from their ancestors, and it worked.
761
00:46:43,913 --> 00:46:46,653
(light, thoughtful music)
762
00:46:46,650 --> 00:46:48,520
Neanderthals thrived in Europe
763
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:49,790
during an ice age.
764
00:46:52,590 --> 00:46:56,860
Winter temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees celsius.
765
00:46:56,860 --> 00:46:58,540
Food was hard to come by.
766
00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:04,480
Neanderthals developed unique traits
767
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,710
to survive in these harsh conditions.
768
00:47:15,150 --> 00:47:19,440
Stephen Churchill analyzed some 300 neanderthal fossils.
769
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:21,470
He discovered injuries and fractures
770
00:47:21,470 --> 00:47:22,880
in many of the bones.
771
00:47:26,770 --> 00:47:30,820
So this is a rib of a neanderthal from Iraq.
772
00:47:30,820 --> 00:47:34,030
He's got an injury here in the rib
773
00:47:34,030 --> 00:47:36,170
where something has penetrated the rib.
774
00:47:37,610 --> 00:47:39,680
Churchill thinks this is evidence
775
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,570
that neanderthals hunted their prey up close.
776
00:47:46,210 --> 00:47:48,530
The best evidence that we have about hunting
777
00:47:48,530 --> 00:47:52,350
suggests that neanderthals were very close range hunters.
778
00:47:52,350 --> 00:47:54,020
It's certainly the case that neanderthals
779
00:47:54,020 --> 00:47:55,860
were strong, and powerful,
780
00:47:55,860 --> 00:47:58,460
and able to exert a lot of force on the environment.
781
00:48:00,380 --> 00:48:04,050
The forests of Europe, 50,000 years ago.
782
00:48:04,050 --> 00:48:06,390
They probably looked something like this.
783
00:48:06,390 --> 00:48:09,470
(tense, still music)
784
00:48:15,500 --> 00:48:17,390
They're setting up an ambush.
785
00:48:22,991 --> 00:48:27,571
(neanderthal speaks in imagined language)
786
00:48:27,573 --> 00:48:29,753
(rhino snorting)
787
00:48:29,749 --> 00:48:32,749
Can they take down a beast that big?
788
00:48:33,951 --> 00:48:36,701
(rhino grunting)
789
00:48:44,104 --> 00:48:45,294
(tense, exciting music)
790
00:48:45,292 --> 00:48:47,262
(neanderthal grunting)
791
00:48:47,260 --> 00:48:50,010
(rhino grunting)
792
00:48:51,354 --> 00:48:56,354
(neanderthal speaks in imagined language)
793
00:48:56,386 --> 00:48:58,886
(rhino wails)
794
00:49:00,575 --> 00:49:01,705
(grunting)
795
00:49:01,700 --> 00:49:04,450
(rhino snorting)
796
00:49:11,667 --> 00:49:14,917
(neanderthal shouting)
797
00:49:19,700 --> 00:49:22,890
The fearless hunting of the neanderthals wins the day.
798
00:49:27,624 --> 00:49:29,014
(wet stabbing)
799
00:49:29,016 --> 00:49:32,006
(still, pensive music)
800
00:49:32,010 --> 00:49:33,790
What about homo sapiens?
801
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:36,420
They had slimmer bones,
802
00:49:36,420 --> 00:49:39,410
and thus were probably weaker than the neanderthals.
803
00:49:39,409 --> 00:49:41,969
(human speaks in imagined language)
804
00:49:41,970 --> 00:49:44,410
They had to employ a different hunting style.
805
00:49:44,414 --> 00:49:45,514
(human speaks in imagined language)
806
00:49:45,510 --> 00:49:47,120
After they moved to Europe,
807
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,850
their skin and hair color began to change.
808
00:49:49,848 --> 00:49:53,098
(cautious world music)
809
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:02,020
Lacking the physical strength to take down big game,
810
00:50:02,020 --> 00:50:04,680
they survived by capturing small animals.
811
00:50:17,470 --> 00:50:20,240
But in the end, the weaker homo sapiens
812
00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:23,240
displaced the stronger neanderthal.
813
00:50:23,240 --> 00:50:24,960
How, exactly?
814
00:50:24,955 --> 00:50:28,145
(reverent world music)
815
00:50:28,140 --> 00:50:30,400
Several thousand years after homo sapiens
816
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,440
were chasing rabbits,
817
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:34,990
their hunting style has changed radically.
818
00:50:38,170 --> 00:50:40,360
These hunters are working together
819
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:42,490
to herd a group of animals.
820
00:50:42,488 --> 00:50:45,318
(animals braying)
821
00:50:51,489 --> 00:50:54,319
(whistle blowing)
822
00:50:57,312 --> 00:51:00,142
(whistle blowing)
823
00:51:07,620 --> 00:51:11,310
What enabled this change was a revolution in toolmaking.
824
00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:15,930
The real game changer was this spear-thrower
825
00:51:15,930 --> 00:51:17,310
called an atlatl.
826
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:20,810
It transformed the lifestyle of homo sapiens.
827
00:51:22,370 --> 00:51:24,450
Many types of atlatl have been found
828
00:51:24,450 --> 00:51:26,740
at homo sapien sites from this period.
829
00:51:26,743 --> 00:51:28,083
(ATV motor humming)
830
00:51:28,086 --> 00:51:31,416
(energetic world music)
831
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,530
With a tool like this, you can throw a spear twice as far,
832
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:43,320
and with more power.
833
00:51:44,355 --> 00:51:46,635
(spear thuds)
834
00:51:46,630 --> 00:51:49,000
The atlatl was an amazing breakthrough.
835
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:57,630
With an atlatl, you didn't need
836
00:51:57,630 --> 00:51:59,360
to get too close to your prey.
837
00:52:01,136 --> 00:52:02,806
(animal whines)
838
00:52:02,810 --> 00:52:05,530
Perhaps our ancestors' physical weaknesses
839
00:52:05,530 --> 00:52:08,450
spurred them to create these long distance weapons.
840
00:52:15,410 --> 00:52:18,130
Homo sapiens made other groundbreaking inventions
841
00:52:18,130 --> 00:52:19,940
besides the atlatl.
842
00:52:19,940 --> 00:52:22,460
They were geniuses at improving their technology.
843
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,260
If we compare their stone tools through the ages,
844
00:52:27,260 --> 00:52:30,600
we can see they became more and more refined over time.
845
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:35,780
Homo sapiens began making razor-sharp stone knives
846
00:52:35,780 --> 00:52:38,900
as well as complex tools like bone projectiles
847
00:52:38,900 --> 00:52:40,280
with stone blades.
848
00:52:43,410 --> 00:52:46,840
Meanwhile, neanderthal stone tools barely changed
849
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:48,880
for over a quarter million years.
850
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:53,070
They never developed sharp stone blades
851
00:52:53,070 --> 00:52:54,890
or other advanced items.
852
00:52:56,580 --> 00:52:58,490
What accounts for this difference?
853
00:53:00,580 --> 00:53:03,440
To find clues, let's compare some of the traces
854
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:05,250
left by the two species.
855
00:53:06,660 --> 00:53:09,430
Abri Castanet in western France
856
00:53:09,430 --> 00:53:11,860
was once inhabited by homo sapiens.
857
00:53:13,750 --> 00:53:16,330
At the foot of this cliff was a huge open space
858
00:53:16,330 --> 00:53:18,190
of 500 square meters.
859
00:53:19,850 --> 00:53:22,900
The number of tools and human remains unearthed
860
00:53:22,900 --> 00:53:26,560
suggest that as many as 150 individuals lived here.
861
00:53:26,563 --> 00:53:29,233
(ghostly music)
862
00:53:30,860 --> 00:53:33,040
What about the neanderthals?
863
00:53:33,038 --> 00:53:34,928
(footsteps crunching)
864
00:53:34,930 --> 00:53:38,170
This is El Sidron cave in northern Spain.
865
00:53:43,060 --> 00:53:45,910
It was home to neanderthals for a long time.
866
00:53:48,130 --> 00:53:51,990
The bones excavated indicate a much smaller population.
867
00:53:54,016 --> 00:53:57,936
(speaking in foreign language)
868
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:06,610
DNA analysis found
869
00:54:06,610 --> 00:54:08,920
that the inhabitants were all related.
870
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:12,440
This suggests that neanderthals
871
00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:14,780
lived in small family groups.
872
00:54:14,775 --> 00:54:18,355
(nostalgic, curious music)
873
00:54:21,476 --> 00:54:23,756
Why did the two species come to live in groups
874
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:25,950
of such different sizes?
875
00:54:25,950 --> 00:54:29,120
One possible answer has come from infants.
876
00:54:30,940 --> 00:54:33,560
Karen Wynn probes the traits of ancient hominids
877
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:35,700
by studying the behavior of infants.
878
00:54:36,698 --> 00:54:38,078
All right.
879
00:54:38,081 --> 00:54:39,671
(both women chuckling)
880
00:54:39,675 --> 00:54:40,615
Hi!
881
00:54:40,610 --> 00:54:42,070
How are you today?
882
00:54:42,069 --> 00:54:43,929
How are you today?
Say hi.
883
00:54:43,932 --> 00:54:44,822
Okay.
884
00:54:44,820 --> 00:54:46,300
Experiments with babies
885
00:54:46,300 --> 00:54:47,900
less than one year old
886
00:54:47,900 --> 00:54:50,220
reveal that homo sapiens has a trait
887
00:54:50,220 --> 00:54:52,160
which favors living in groups.
888
00:54:52,163 --> 00:54:54,173
Up goes the curtain.
889
00:54:54,173 --> 00:54:57,343
(stuffed toy squeaks)
890
00:54:59,240 --> 00:55:00,950
The gray doll in the center
891
00:55:00,950 --> 00:55:02,880
tries to open the box,
892
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:04,710
but the blue doll interferes.
893
00:55:08,170 --> 00:55:10,420
When the gray doll tries again,
894
00:55:10,420 --> 00:55:13,360
the yellow doll, in contrast, helps out.
895
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:19,570
Which one do you like?
896
00:55:19,570 --> 00:55:21,740
Which do babies prefer?
897
00:55:25,833 --> 00:55:27,143
(baby coos)
898
00:55:27,140 --> 00:55:28,170
The yellow doll.
899
00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:30,530
Okay.
900
00:55:30,526 --> 00:55:31,656
All right.
901
00:55:35,820 --> 00:55:37,510
And when the colors are switched.
902
00:55:37,513 --> 00:55:40,763
(reverent world music)
903
00:55:42,648 --> 00:55:44,258
Which one do you like?
904
00:55:44,260 --> 00:55:46,970
Now the blue doll is chosen.
905
00:55:46,969 --> 00:55:48,059
Okay.
906
00:55:48,060 --> 00:55:50,580
Wynn's experiment found that almost all babies
907
00:55:50,580 --> 00:55:52,250
prefer the doll that helps.
908
00:55:53,260 --> 00:55:56,830
Humans are such an incredibly social species,
909
00:55:56,830 --> 00:56:00,650
even very young children will spontaneously help others
910
00:56:00,650 --> 00:56:03,110
and wish to cooperate with them,
911
00:56:03,110 --> 00:56:05,780
and since we also know that babies
912
00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:10,680
have an understanding of what is helpful
913
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:14,410
and what is fundamentally cooperative,
914
00:56:14,410 --> 00:56:18,120
that gives them a sense of how to enjoin in that community.
915
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:22,690
And it may be that even though we are much less strong
916
00:56:22,690 --> 00:56:24,290
than many other species,
917
00:56:24,290 --> 00:56:27,540
that it was our cooperative group nature
918
00:56:27,540 --> 00:56:28,790
that gave us the edge.
919
00:56:30,330 --> 00:56:32,760
Even infants who have not yet learned to talk
920
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:35,030
are inclined toward cooperation.
921
00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:39,390
That would same to be why ancient homo sapiens
922
00:56:39,390 --> 00:56:41,890
lived in larger groups than the neanderthals.
923
00:56:45,590 --> 00:56:47,270
One researcher found an answer
924
00:56:47,270 --> 00:56:49,100
in a part of the human brain.
925
00:56:49,096 --> 00:56:51,326
(simmering, pensive music)
926
00:56:51,330 --> 00:56:53,160
My name's Robin Dunbar
927
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:55,650
and my research is all about the evolution
928
00:56:55,650 --> 00:56:57,460
of social communities
929
00:56:57,460 --> 00:57:00,440
and how that relates to the evolution of the brain.
930
00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:03,660
Robin Dunbar has investigated
931
00:57:03,660 --> 00:57:07,290
the link between social group size and brain dimensions.
932
00:57:08,390 --> 00:57:11,130
He compared homo spaiens with the neanderthals
933
00:57:11,130 --> 00:57:13,460
who lived in small family groups.
934
00:57:18,580 --> 00:57:20,950
Neanderthals had very big brains,
935
00:57:20,950 --> 00:57:23,270
very big back end to the brain.
936
00:57:23,270 --> 00:57:25,420
Now the back part of the brain does vision.
937
00:57:27,100 --> 00:57:28,450
They have bigger eyes,
938
00:57:29,330 --> 00:57:32,600
and a bigger computer to process
939
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:33,550
the information coming through.
940
00:57:33,550 --> 00:57:37,100
It's just to allow them to see better
941
00:57:37,100 --> 00:57:39,830
in these dark conditions.
942
00:57:39,830 --> 00:57:41,830
Homo sapiens, in contrast,
943
00:57:41,830 --> 00:57:45,400
lived in much larger groups of around 150 people,
944
00:57:46,490 --> 00:57:47,830
and a different part of their brain
945
00:57:47,830 --> 00:57:49,140
became more prominent.
946
00:57:50,390 --> 00:57:52,040
This is a human brain.
947
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:54,380
This part at the front is the bit
948
00:57:54,380 --> 00:57:56,890
that's important for our social relationships,
949
00:57:56,890 --> 00:58:01,610
and this bit is expanded much more
950
00:58:01,610 --> 00:58:03,630
than any of the other bits in the course
951
00:58:03,630 --> 00:58:06,040
of human evolution.
952
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:07,150
In our brains,
953
00:58:07,150 --> 00:58:09,750
it's the frontal lobe and parietal lobe
954
00:58:09,750 --> 00:58:11,850
that are highly developed.
955
00:58:11,850 --> 00:58:14,010
Dr. Dunbar points to this as proof
956
00:58:14,010 --> 00:58:16,010
that our homo sapiens ancestors
957
00:58:16,010 --> 00:58:18,840
made heavy use of communication,
958
00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:21,490
a skill required for life in large groups.
959
00:58:22,710 --> 00:58:25,030
Their highly social way of life allowed them
960
00:58:25,030 --> 00:58:27,710
to keep innovating and improving their tools.
961
00:58:28,890 --> 00:58:31,570
The neanderthals just were not so good
962
00:58:31,570 --> 00:58:34,550
at producing these kind of innovative tools
963
00:58:34,550 --> 00:58:39,150
or spreading them around their communities
964
00:58:39,150 --> 00:58:40,850
in the way that modern humans did.
965
00:58:43,030 --> 00:58:45,210
Even if some neanderthals did manage
966
00:58:45,210 --> 00:58:46,660
to invent a new tool,
967
00:58:46,660 --> 00:58:48,860
it would only be shared among a small group.
968
00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:52,930
Homo sapiens would share new inventions
969
00:58:52,930 --> 00:58:56,310
with lots of people who would continue to improve them.
970
00:58:58,650 --> 00:59:01,620
Homo sapiens were physically weaker
971
00:59:01,620 --> 00:59:04,310
but they derived power from technology.
972
00:59:05,300 --> 00:59:07,840
Information sharing within large communities
973
00:59:07,840 --> 00:59:09,790
gave rise to new inventions.
974
00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:22,610
200 kilometers east of Moscow
975
00:59:22,610 --> 00:59:26,300
we find the remains of a 35,000 year old settlement.
976
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:30,470
By that time, homo sapiens had come to live
977
00:59:30,470 --> 00:59:33,230
in even larger groups.
978
00:59:34,112 --> 00:59:38,032
(speaking in foreign language)
979
00:59:47,890 --> 00:59:52,430
400 people, many of them not related by blood.
980
00:59:52,430 --> 00:59:54,190
This is a true community.
981
00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:58,680
Why would homo sapiens gather in such large groups?
982
00:59:58,677 --> 01:00:02,177
(rising orchestral music)
983
01:00:06,540 --> 01:00:09,520
Unearthed ornaments provide a possible answer.
984
01:00:14,767 --> 01:00:18,687
(speaking in foreign language)
985
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:34,750
These surprisingly elaborate ornaments
986
01:00:34,750 --> 01:00:37,350
were all items found buried with the dead.
987
01:00:40,030 --> 01:00:41,990
We can infer that some early form
988
01:00:41,990 --> 01:00:44,030
of religion was coming into being.
989
01:00:44,031 --> 01:00:47,281
(gentle, somber music)
990
01:00:49,726 --> 01:00:53,646
(speaking in foreign language)
991
01:01:09,810 --> 01:01:11,410
Much evidence has been found
992
01:01:11,410 --> 01:01:14,500
of humanity's growing spirituality in the era.
993
01:01:16,030 --> 01:01:19,370
Cave paintings include depictions of mystical creatures.
994
01:01:28,817 --> 01:01:31,097
(awed woodwind music)
995
01:01:31,100 --> 01:01:33,810
For example, this strange being.
996
01:01:33,810 --> 01:01:36,960
It has an animal body, but human limbs.
997
01:01:38,890 --> 01:01:41,250
One theory is that it represents a shaman
998
01:01:41,250 --> 01:01:42,490
performing a ritual.
999
01:01:46,880 --> 01:01:49,610
The first primitive religions were springing up
1000
01:01:49,610 --> 01:01:51,110
among homo sapiens.
1001
01:02:02,010 --> 01:02:04,440
This may be what brought people together
1002
01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:06,510
in even larger communities.
1003
01:02:11,726 --> 01:02:13,386
What's interesting about religion, though,
1004
01:02:13,385 --> 01:02:18,385
is that you can use religion to create mega-communities.
1005
01:02:19,361 --> 01:02:20,961
(lonely, percussive music)
1006
01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:22,990
In these deep caves, which are dark,
1007
01:02:22,990 --> 01:02:24,680
it's a little magical.
1008
01:02:24,680 --> 01:02:29,160
This all helps to create the atmosphere for trance.
1009
01:02:29,160 --> 01:02:31,200
They had the religious beliefs come
1010
01:02:31,200 --> 01:02:33,370
from experiencing these trance states.
1011
01:02:34,220 --> 01:02:36,700
So I think being doing singing and dancing
1012
01:02:36,700 --> 01:02:39,990
for a very long time to create a bonded group.
1013
01:02:44,420 --> 01:02:47,070
A religious ritual had started.
1014
01:02:47,065 --> 01:02:52,065
(fire crackling)
(chanting)
1015
01:02:55,100 --> 01:02:56,920
Lit up by the fire,
1016
01:02:56,920 --> 01:02:58,850
the wall paintings look magical,
1017
01:03:00,050 --> 01:03:01,130
almost surreal.
1018
01:03:02,042 --> 01:03:06,042
(chanting in imagined language)
1019
01:03:09,965 --> 01:03:13,465
(reverent, ghostly music)
1020
01:03:22,225 --> 01:03:24,975
(hooves beating)
1021
01:03:25,883 --> 01:03:28,413
Sharing in these mystical experiences
1022
01:03:28,410 --> 01:03:30,720
would surely strengthen group ties,
1023
01:03:32,840 --> 01:03:35,810
ties that would help homo sapiens in the years to come.
1024
01:03:38,414 --> 01:03:39,714
(thumping)
1025
01:03:39,711 --> 01:03:43,291
(reverent, chanting music)
1026
01:03:54,315 --> 01:03:55,285
(ice rumbling)
1027
01:03:55,280 --> 01:03:57,100
During the last ice age,
1028
01:03:57,100 --> 01:04:00,550
Europe was buffeted by extreme shifts in climate
1029
01:04:00,550 --> 01:04:02,400
known as Heinrich events.
1030
01:04:03,300 --> 01:04:06,100
A colossal ice sheet covering much of North America
1031
01:04:06,100 --> 01:04:07,950
would collapse into the ocean.
1032
01:04:08,870 --> 01:04:12,360
This would cause sudden, drastic changes in ocean currents
1033
01:04:12,360 --> 01:04:15,790
and trigger violent temperature fluctuations across Europe.
1034
01:04:18,170 --> 01:04:21,020
Severe cold alternated with extreme heat
1035
01:04:21,020 --> 01:04:23,510
from one decade to the next.
1036
01:04:23,510 --> 01:04:26,710
Forests were destroyed, wildlife perished.
1037
01:04:26,706 --> 01:04:29,956
(simmering epic music)
1038
01:04:30,940 --> 01:04:33,210
Strong community ties were the key
1039
01:04:33,210 --> 01:04:34,910
to how homo sapiens survived
1040
01:04:34,910 --> 01:04:37,080
these catastrophic climate changes.
1041
01:04:39,170 --> 01:04:43,290
We have much bigger communities, even beyond the 150.
1042
01:04:43,290 --> 01:04:45,410
The fact that we can create these kind
1043
01:04:45,410 --> 01:04:48,610
of extended tribes, really,
1044
01:04:48,610 --> 01:04:51,570
of up to about 2000 people
1045
01:04:51,570 --> 01:04:54,210
who cover many thousands of square kilometers.
1046
01:04:54,210 --> 01:04:58,110
So members of our tribe will be a very long way away,
1047
01:04:58,110 --> 01:05:01,010
and we can always go there and live with them for a while.
1048
01:05:03,530 --> 01:05:06,820
Common beliefs bonded far flung groups
1049
01:05:06,820 --> 01:05:10,430
and helped them survive violent changes in climate.
1050
01:05:10,430 --> 01:05:13,600
Homo sapiens rapidly extended its territory
1051
01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:15,400
while the neanderthals dwindled.
1052
01:05:18,440 --> 01:05:22,530
Neanderthals continued to live in small family units.
1053
01:05:22,530 --> 01:05:25,470
They never developed large, cooperative networks.
1054
01:05:27,384 --> 01:05:28,754
(neanderthal shouts)
1055
01:05:28,750 --> 01:05:32,420
All they could do was stalk the forests that remained,
1056
01:05:32,420 --> 01:05:34,760
hunting ever smaller numbers of prey.
1057
01:05:40,960 --> 01:05:42,810
And they continued their risky method
1058
01:05:42,810 --> 01:05:44,660
of close combat hunting.
1059
01:05:45,580 --> 01:05:48,430
Many neanderthals seem to have been killed while hunting.
1060
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:51,930
It is thought that few lived beyond their 30s.
1061
01:05:53,160 --> 01:05:56,150
Eventually, they became unable to find enough prey
1062
01:05:56,150 --> 01:05:58,050
to sustain their large bodies.
1063
01:05:58,046 --> 01:06:00,796
(mournful music)
1064
01:06:01,757 --> 01:06:03,357
(labored breathing)
1065
01:06:03,360 --> 01:06:06,540
You might wonder how is it that these weaker,
1066
01:06:06,540 --> 01:06:09,960
sort of scrawnier humans were able
1067
01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:13,200
to replace the neanderthals,
1068
01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:15,490
but I think really the strength, and the power,
1069
01:06:15,490 --> 01:06:18,870
and the physicality of the neanderthals worked against them.
1070
01:06:18,870 --> 01:06:21,760
Neanderthal life was very, very expensive
1071
01:06:21,760 --> 01:06:24,320
from a caloric perspective.
1072
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:26,580
They had these big bodies that they had to feed,
1073
01:06:26,580 --> 01:06:29,420
but it was a costly adaptation.
1074
01:06:31,940 --> 01:06:34,220
The British territory of Gibraltar
1075
01:06:34,220 --> 01:06:35,890
at the southern tip of Europe.
1076
01:06:36,820 --> 01:06:39,100
This is where the last groups of neanderthals
1077
01:06:39,100 --> 01:06:40,450
are believed to have lived,
1078
01:06:41,340 --> 01:06:42,720
facing their end.
1079
01:06:47,820 --> 01:06:49,620
On the verge of extinction,
1080
01:06:49,620 --> 01:06:52,310
the neanderthals left one last mystery here.
1081
01:06:53,310 --> 01:06:55,290
It was discovered in 2014.
1082
01:06:57,840 --> 01:06:59,970
So this is the special place
1083
01:06:59,970 --> 01:07:01,810
that we found a few years ago.
1084
01:07:01,810 --> 01:07:03,830
So we were actually excavating,
1085
01:07:03,830 --> 01:07:08,130
and here, where you hit the bare rock, no sediment,
1086
01:07:08,130 --> 01:07:09,860
we found some marks.
1087
01:07:12,090 --> 01:07:15,800
Curious engravings in shapes called hashtags.
1088
01:07:16,960 --> 01:07:19,600
They were made by repeatedly cutting into the rock
1089
01:07:19,600 --> 01:07:20,680
with stone tools.
1090
01:07:21,630 --> 01:07:25,120
Many suggestions have been made as to what this means.
1091
01:07:26,350 --> 01:07:29,670
One is maybe a map of the stars or the constellations,
1092
01:07:29,670 --> 01:07:31,150
some other, like a map.
1093
01:07:31,150 --> 01:07:33,400
But another has been suggested that it could be
1094
01:07:33,400 --> 01:07:34,910
a symbol of the clan.
1095
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:39,660
The neanderthals, our closest relatives,
1096
01:07:39,660 --> 01:07:41,870
left these markings here.
1097
01:07:41,870 --> 01:07:44,170
Proof of their existence.
1098
01:07:44,170 --> 01:07:46,410
And then they vanished.
1099
01:07:47,990 --> 01:07:49,470
It's obviously very difficult to even
1100
01:07:49,470 --> 01:07:51,140
put ourselves in the situation
1101
01:07:51,140 --> 01:07:52,750
of that last group of neanderthals,
1102
01:07:52,748 --> 01:07:54,848
and how they saw the world,
1103
01:07:54,851 --> 01:07:57,751
and how they felt in those last days.
1104
01:07:57,750 --> 01:07:58,640
It's very difficult.
1105
01:07:58,640 --> 01:08:00,770
That they shared emotions like we do
1106
01:08:00,770 --> 01:08:03,970
of sadness, happiness and stress, I have no doubt of that.
1107
01:08:03,970 --> 01:08:07,290
So I think it's a combination of loneliness and fear
1108
01:08:07,290 --> 01:08:10,910
that would have prevailed, predominated, if you like,
1109
01:08:10,910 --> 01:08:12,320
in that last individual.
1110
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:13,490
Very sad as well.
1111
01:08:13,490 --> 01:08:16,570
(gentle piano music)
1112
01:08:19,160 --> 01:08:21,960
Homo sapiens was now the only hominid species
1113
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:23,610
left on earth.
1114
01:08:23,610 --> 01:08:25,390
There were no rivals anymore.
1115
01:08:26,681 --> 01:08:28,611
(sudden, mysterious music)
1116
01:08:28,610 --> 01:08:32,160
Curiously, however, that is when our ancestors
1117
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:35,900
began engaging in a completely new type of behavior.
1118
01:08:35,900 --> 01:08:37,870
It could have been warfare.
1119
01:08:37,871 --> 01:08:41,021
(water drops plunking)
1120
01:08:41,020 --> 01:08:44,510
The evidence comes from skulls found in a German cave.
1121
01:08:44,514 --> 01:08:47,844
(curious, hushed music)
1122
01:08:49,481 --> 01:08:53,031
[German Scientist] Easy to see.
1123
01:08:53,030 --> 01:08:55,980
You see some marks in the frontal bone,
1124
01:08:55,980 --> 01:08:57,430
here and here.
1125
01:08:57,430 --> 01:08:59,020
This is clearly a trauma.
1126
01:09:01,530 --> 01:09:03,090
Most of the skulls here
1127
01:09:03,090 --> 01:09:05,880
were damaged by some kind of blow.
1128
01:09:07,090 --> 01:09:12,090
So just the impression that this was a massacre.
1129
01:09:13,240 --> 01:09:17,190
Looks like a conflict, otherwise we wouldn't
1130
01:09:17,190 --> 01:09:20,480
see such trauma,
1131
01:09:20,480 --> 01:09:22,760
because this must be a kind of murder,
1132
01:09:22,760 --> 01:09:26,220
or conflict between some groups.
1133
01:09:28,780 --> 01:09:31,060
This site may reveal the earliest known
1134
01:09:31,060 --> 01:09:33,810
instants of clashes among homo sapiens.
1135
01:09:35,150 --> 01:09:37,330
Ironically, the strong social ties
1136
01:09:37,330 --> 01:09:40,760
among groups of homo sapiens may have caused hatred
1137
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:43,310
and even assault against other groups.
1138
01:09:46,080 --> 01:09:49,890
Unfortunately, the whole mechanism
1139
01:09:49,890 --> 01:09:52,590
we have for bonding communities
1140
01:09:52,590 --> 01:09:56,880
has built into it the negative consequence
1141
01:09:56,880 --> 01:10:00,860
that we treat members of different communities then
1142
01:10:00,860 --> 01:10:02,130
as outsiders.
1143
01:10:02,130 --> 01:10:04,660
So you have kind of built into that, naturally,
1144
01:10:04,660 --> 01:10:08,410
the risk that fighting between communities,
1145
01:10:08,410 --> 01:10:11,880
viewing other communities as us versus them.
1146
01:10:13,030 --> 01:10:15,610
Tribal and territorial violence was evident
1147
01:10:15,610 --> 01:10:17,900
in human on human conflicts.
1148
01:10:17,900 --> 01:10:20,670
If so, the violence may have been more intense
1149
01:10:20,670 --> 01:10:24,050
against our last hominid competitors, the neanderthals.
1150
01:10:25,010 --> 01:10:26,300
Or perhaps not.
1151
01:10:29,090 --> 01:10:31,180
The history of humanity seems to be more
1152
01:10:31,180 --> 01:10:33,770
than just conflict alone.
1153
01:10:33,770 --> 01:10:36,190
The proof lies in our very genes.
1154
01:10:37,170 --> 01:10:38,860
The astonishing discovery was made
1155
01:10:38,860 --> 01:10:43,030
at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
1156
01:10:43,030 --> 01:10:44,950
They have the world's best technology
1157
01:10:44,950 --> 01:10:47,830
for analyzing prehistoric human DNA.
1158
01:10:49,948 --> 01:10:52,928
And we have Mezmaiskaya cave in Russia,
1159
01:10:52,930 --> 01:10:55,160
which is also a neanderthal.
1160
01:10:56,086 --> 01:11:00,286
Vindija cave from Croatia is exceptional,
1161
01:11:00,290 --> 01:11:02,920
and it's a female neanderthal
1162
01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:06,450
which is around 50,000 years old.
1163
01:11:06,450 --> 01:11:08,060
It took 14 yeas,
1164
01:11:08,060 --> 01:11:10,330
but researchers succeeded in reconstructing
1165
01:11:10,330 --> 01:11:11,710
the neanderthal genome.
1166
01:11:14,180 --> 01:11:17,790
The project was led by geneticist Svante Pääbo.
1167
01:11:19,920 --> 01:11:22,390
He may well win the Nobel Prize someday.
1168
01:11:23,650 --> 01:11:26,310
Dr. Pääbo compared the neanderthal genome
1169
01:11:26,310 --> 01:11:29,180
with modern humans from different regions of the world.
1170
01:11:30,970 --> 01:11:33,690
He found the peoples of Asia, Europe,
1171
01:11:33,690 --> 01:11:35,540
and most other parts of the world,
1172
01:11:35,540 --> 01:11:39,520
have about 2% neanderthal DNA on average.
1173
01:11:43,510 --> 01:11:46,620
The group of homo sapiens that originally left Africa
1174
01:11:46,620 --> 01:11:47,700
was very small.
1175
01:11:50,500 --> 01:11:54,660
They soon encountered and interbred with neanderthals.
1176
01:11:54,664 --> 01:11:58,164
(epic orchestrated music)
1177
01:12:04,530 --> 01:12:06,820
So these early modern humans,
1178
01:12:06,820 --> 01:12:11,770
quite early after they left Africa, mixed with neanderthals,
1179
01:12:11,770 --> 01:12:14,960
and became the ancestors of everybody outside Africa.
1180
01:12:17,400 --> 01:12:19,930
And those babies became integrated
1181
01:12:19,930 --> 01:12:21,980
in the modern human populations,
1182
01:12:21,980 --> 01:12:25,710
and were successful enough there to have babies in turn
1183
01:12:25,710 --> 01:12:27,880
and contribute to people today.
1184
01:12:28,950 --> 01:12:32,450
(gentle orchestral music)
1185
01:12:34,510 --> 01:12:36,320
The neanderthal parts of our DNA
1186
01:12:36,320 --> 01:12:38,290
seem to play important roles.
1187
01:12:39,562 --> 01:12:41,542
(exciting percussive music)
1188
01:12:41,540 --> 01:12:43,820
Neanderthal genes helped our ancestors
1189
01:12:43,820 --> 01:12:46,130
survive in a new environment.
1190
01:12:46,130 --> 01:12:48,210
With neanderthal genes, they could cope
1191
01:12:48,210 --> 01:12:53,020
with the new local diseases and weaker sunshine of Europe.
1192
01:12:53,020 --> 01:12:55,140
This genetic support played a key role
1193
01:12:55,140 --> 01:12:57,020
in the success of homo sapiens
1194
01:12:57,020 --> 01:12:58,780
all the way up to the present day.
1195
01:13:00,160 --> 01:13:02,270
This interbreeding happened.
1196
01:13:02,270 --> 01:13:04,410
Humans have always mixed,
1197
01:13:04,410 --> 01:13:08,570
so of course our origins is sort of a mixture,
1198
01:13:08,570 --> 01:13:09,990
it's a mosaic if you like.
1199
01:13:14,764 --> 01:13:16,814
The neanderthals may be gone,
1200
01:13:16,810 --> 01:13:20,670
but their legacy continues to live on in us.
1201
01:13:20,674 --> 01:13:23,594
(awed world music)
1202
01:13:24,840 --> 01:13:28,410
7.6 billion people live across planet earth.
1203
01:13:29,430 --> 01:13:33,520
How did we homo sapiens achieve this astonishing expansion?
1204
01:13:34,830 --> 01:13:36,720
(epic world music)
1205
01:13:36,720 --> 01:13:40,350
When homo sapiens emerged 200,000 years ago,
1206
01:13:40,350 --> 01:13:42,390
they quickly spread across the globe.
1207
01:13:44,910 --> 01:13:47,370
The latest research and experiments reveal
1208
01:13:47,370 --> 01:13:50,390
how only homo sapiens crossed the seas
1209
01:13:50,390 --> 01:13:51,840
in ancient prehistory.
1210
01:13:51,841 --> 01:13:54,091
(cheering)
1211
01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:04,960
(hushed world music)
1212
01:14:08,240 --> 01:14:11,690
How did prehistoric man cross the dangerous oceans?
1213
01:14:12,810 --> 01:14:14,870
An important clue to the answer
1214
01:14:14,870 --> 01:14:17,070
was found at a dig site in Japan.
1215
01:14:21,100 --> 01:14:24,830
Ishigaki island lies at the southern end of Japan.
1216
01:14:24,826 --> 01:14:27,666
(rising, exciting music)
1217
01:14:27,670 --> 01:14:30,400
Here, ancient fossil remains were found
1218
01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:32,360
during the construction of an airport.
1219
01:14:35,180 --> 01:14:38,550
(man speaking in foreign language)
1220
01:14:38,546 --> 01:14:40,306
(woman speaking in foreign language)
1221
01:14:40,301 --> 01:14:44,551
(man speaking in foreign language)
1222
01:14:48,286 --> 01:14:50,496
There were 19 human skeletons
1223
01:14:50,500 --> 01:14:53,790
from 20,000 to 27,000 years ago.
1224
01:14:58,177 --> 01:15:00,367
(speaking in foreign language)
Ah!
1225
01:15:00,362 --> 01:15:03,032
(man speaking in foreign language)
1226
01:15:03,034 --> 01:15:04,314
(woman speaking in foreign language)
1227
01:15:04,318 --> 01:15:05,148
(man speaking in foreign language)
1228
01:15:05,151 --> 01:15:06,451
(woman laughing)
1229
01:15:06,450 --> 01:15:08,480
(speaks in foreign language)
1230
01:15:08,480 --> 01:15:10,000
The number of bodies
1231
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:12,480
suggests this was a grave.
1232
01:15:12,482 --> 01:15:14,442
(bones rattling)
1233
01:15:14,440 --> 01:15:17,660
From this site, Japan's oldest complete skeleton
1234
01:15:17,660 --> 01:15:18,680
was also found.
1235
01:15:19,660 --> 01:15:23,150
It is rare worldwide that so many skeletons from this era
1236
01:15:23,150 --> 01:15:25,220
were unearthed at one site.
1237
01:15:26,502 --> 01:15:30,422
(speaking in foreign language)
1238
01:15:44,591 --> 01:15:48,271
Dr. Naomi Doi scans all of the bones.
1239
01:15:48,274 --> 01:15:50,684
(machine beeping)
1240
01:15:50,685 --> 01:15:53,935
(still, pensive music)
1241
01:15:55,820 --> 01:15:58,320
Using a 3D modeling software,
1242
01:15:58,320 --> 01:16:01,080
she attempts to piece the skull back together
1243
01:16:01,080 --> 01:16:02,860
to recreate its face.
1244
01:16:06,766 --> 01:16:10,686
(speaking in foreign language)
1245
01:16:12,166 --> 01:16:15,056
(speaks in foreign language)
Mm.
1246
01:16:15,055 --> 01:16:17,915
(Naomi speaking in foreign language)
1247
01:16:17,911 --> 01:16:20,581
(mysterious music)
1248
01:16:20,580 --> 01:16:22,820
Here is the facial recreation,
1249
01:16:23,900 --> 01:16:25,720
a face you might see today.
1250
01:16:27,463 --> 01:16:28,863
(pondering, percussive music)
1251
01:16:28,860 --> 01:16:32,280
Analyzing the bones also reveals lifestyle markers.
1252
01:16:33,440 --> 01:16:35,630
This hollow is an ear hole.
1253
01:16:38,270 --> 01:16:40,540
See the bony spikes inside?
1254
01:16:40,540 --> 01:16:42,790
They're known as surfer's ear,
1255
01:16:42,790 --> 01:16:44,360
found in the ear canal of those
1256
01:16:44,360 --> 01:16:46,280
who regularly swim in the sea.
1257
01:16:47,500 --> 01:16:49,210
This indicates that these people
1258
01:16:49,210 --> 01:16:51,650
spent a lot of time by the sea,
1259
01:16:51,650 --> 01:16:54,070
but there is a big mystery of anthropology.
1260
01:16:56,270 --> 01:16:58,410
Where on earth did they come from?
1261
01:17:00,130 --> 01:17:02,300
DNA tests could provide answers.
1262
01:17:06,680 --> 01:17:09,950
And the results showed their genes have similarities
1263
01:17:09,950 --> 01:17:12,110
to southwest Asians of today.
1264
01:17:13,740 --> 01:17:16,190
The ancient Okinawans in Japan
1265
01:17:16,190 --> 01:17:17,590
seem to have crossed the seas
1266
01:17:17,590 --> 01:17:19,700
from somewhere in southeast Asia.
1267
01:17:22,060 --> 01:17:25,160
Back then, about 30,000 years ago,
1268
01:17:25,160 --> 01:17:27,880
southeast Asia looked like this.
1269
01:17:27,880 --> 01:17:30,890
The ice age lowered the sea by 80 meters.
1270
01:17:32,240 --> 01:17:36,070
A huge landmass called Sundaland was exposed.
1271
01:17:36,067 --> 01:17:38,567
(energetic world music)
1272
01:17:38,570 --> 01:17:40,380
A series of paleolithic sites
1273
01:17:40,380 --> 01:17:42,750
have been discovered across this area.
1274
01:17:42,750 --> 01:17:44,620
The evidence shows that an extensive
1275
01:17:44,620 --> 01:17:46,760
cultural sphere had developed here.
1276
01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:50,750
An international research team began work
1277
01:17:50,750 --> 01:17:53,630
at this site in Indonesia in 2016.
1278
01:17:55,270 --> 01:17:57,170
It's lead by Dr. Adam Brumm
1279
01:17:57,170 --> 01:17:59,400
of Australia's Griffith University.
1280
01:18:02,020 --> 01:18:04,910
They found an elaborate piece of jewelry,
1281
01:18:04,910 --> 01:18:07,270
a rare find in Asia so far.
1282
01:18:09,500 --> 01:18:12,130
It's a finger bone from a type of marsupial,
1283
01:18:12,130 --> 01:18:16,750
necklace, or it may well have been attached to a bracelet
1284
01:18:16,750 --> 01:18:18,680
or an earring possibly.
1285
01:18:18,680 --> 01:18:19,830
We really don't know,
1286
01:18:19,830 --> 01:18:24,330
but it's clear evidence for modern human symbolism.
1287
01:18:25,580 --> 01:18:27,980
Another astonishing find was made
1288
01:18:27,980 --> 01:18:31,250
in the Tempasing caves a few kilometers away.
1289
01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:36,000
This is possibly the oldest cave art in the world.
1290
01:18:36,000 --> 01:18:39,090
Some images are stencils, like this hand print.
1291
01:18:40,490 --> 01:18:43,230
This depicts a local wild boar.
1292
01:18:44,490 --> 01:18:48,110
Nearby caves contain images of fish and squid.
1293
01:18:49,183 --> 01:18:53,103
(speaking in foreign language)
1294
01:18:57,360 --> 01:18:59,180
These discoveries overturned
1295
01:18:59,180 --> 01:19:01,030
current theories of human history.
1296
01:19:01,960 --> 01:19:04,470
It was thought the earliest human culture
1297
01:19:04,470 --> 01:19:06,560
began in Europe during this period,
1298
01:19:07,400 --> 01:19:10,630
as seen in the Chauvet and Lascaux caves.
1299
01:19:10,634 --> 01:19:13,924
(serene, pensive music)
1300
01:19:13,919 --> 01:19:17,529
But this Asian art is over 2000 years older
1301
01:19:17,530 --> 01:19:19,920
than that of the Chauvet cave.
1302
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:22,290
A culture comparable to that of Europe
1303
01:19:22,290 --> 01:19:23,910
already existed in Asia.
1304
01:19:24,990 --> 01:19:28,440
Hopes are high for even more amazing discoveries.
1305
01:19:28,440 --> 01:19:30,750
This is becoming one of the real hotspots
1306
01:19:30,750 --> 01:19:33,200
of prehistoric human archeology,
1307
01:19:33,200 --> 01:19:36,370
not only in Indonesia, but in the world.
1308
01:19:36,370 --> 01:19:39,400
Historically, most of the scientists
1309
01:19:39,400 --> 01:19:41,720
who have investigated their early human past
1310
01:19:41,720 --> 01:19:43,010
have been based in Europe.
1311
01:19:43,010 --> 01:19:45,310
Now we're starting to see the same levels
1312
01:19:45,310 --> 01:19:48,790
of intensive investigation in parts of southeast Asia
1313
01:19:48,790 --> 01:19:50,320
and elsewhere in this region.
1314
01:19:50,320 --> 01:19:52,160
So it's only now that we're really starting
1315
01:19:52,160 --> 01:19:54,110
to see these discoveries come to light.
1316
01:19:56,290 --> 01:19:58,450
Southeast asia was also inhabited
1317
01:19:58,450 --> 01:20:00,090
by many early humans,
1318
01:20:01,200 --> 01:20:04,600
and those closest to Japan lived in Taiwan,
1319
01:20:04,600 --> 01:20:07,110
which was still part of the Eurasian continent.
1320
01:20:09,070 --> 01:20:12,090
The Baxian Cave archeological site
1321
01:20:12,090 --> 01:20:14,620
is located on the eastern coast of Taiwan.
1322
01:20:16,210 --> 01:20:19,170
Many stone tools from about 30,000 years ago
1323
01:20:19,170 --> 01:20:21,180
have been found here.
1324
01:20:21,180 --> 01:20:23,620
The date is close to that of fossils
1325
01:20:23,620 --> 01:20:27,220
discovered from the Ishigashi Island in Okinawa, Japan.
1326
01:20:29,560 --> 01:20:31,890
Early humans seem to have first traveled
1327
01:20:31,890 --> 01:20:34,110
from the Japanese island from Taiwan,
1328
01:20:35,020 --> 01:20:36,580
but one barrier remained.
1329
01:20:37,800 --> 01:20:41,660
Over 100 kilometers of ocean separates Taiwan and Japan,
1330
01:20:44,950 --> 01:20:47,560
and it's home to a very fast current
1331
01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:49,170
known as the Black Stream.
1332
01:20:50,240 --> 01:20:53,020
How they crossed this perilous sea is a mystery.
1333
01:20:54,310 --> 01:20:58,110
To solve it, researchers used drifting buoys
1334
01:20:58,110 --> 01:20:59,640
to map the current.
1335
01:20:59,644 --> 01:21:02,894
(low, pondering music)
1336
01:21:06,670 --> 01:21:09,570
All of the buoys are swept away by the current.
1337
01:21:09,570 --> 01:21:12,300
Not one reaches Okinawa in Japan.
1338
01:21:15,600 --> 01:21:17,480
So simply drifting on the sea
1339
01:21:17,480 --> 01:21:19,680
would not lead you to the islands.
1340
01:21:22,690 --> 01:21:24,850
Then how did the prehistoric inhabitants
1341
01:21:24,850 --> 01:21:26,710
cross this challenging tide?
1342
01:21:28,550 --> 01:21:33,550
One clue was found in East Timor, 3000 miles to the south,
1343
01:21:33,620 --> 01:21:35,310
on the edge of Indonesia.
1344
01:21:36,590 --> 01:21:40,470
The Jerimalai Cave site contains many unusual items
1345
01:21:40,470 --> 01:21:43,000
left behind by its ancient inhabitants.
1346
01:21:43,840 --> 01:21:46,150
Here, Dr. Sue O'Connor discovered
1347
01:21:46,150 --> 01:21:50,330
very important evidence of early seafaring abilities.
1348
01:21:50,330 --> 01:21:52,070
Even though, yeah, it'll definitely save time.
1349
01:21:52,070 --> 01:21:53,950
(men talking simultaneously)
1350
01:21:53,945 --> 01:21:55,625
This is some of the fish bone
1351
01:21:55,620 --> 01:21:57,890
that we've found this time,
1352
01:21:57,890 --> 01:21:59,560
are something like tuna.
1353
01:22:01,410 --> 01:22:04,170
The inhabitants ate a lot of fish,
1354
01:22:04,170 --> 01:22:07,540
and the important discovery was about the types of the fish.
1355
01:22:08,880 --> 01:22:11,290
It's the first place in the world
1356
01:22:11,290 --> 01:22:14,070
where we've found evidence of pelagic fishing,
1357
01:22:14,070 --> 01:22:17,070
which is fishing for fish like tuna.
1358
01:22:18,120 --> 01:22:19,990
Many of their catch were relative
1359
01:22:19,990 --> 01:22:24,160
to tuna and bonito, living in open water.
1360
01:22:24,160 --> 01:22:26,070
They couldn't be caught from the shore.
1361
01:22:26,069 --> 01:22:29,769
(thoughtful piano music)
1362
01:22:29,770 --> 01:22:33,430
This has led Dr. O'Connor to a clear conclusion.
1363
01:22:35,120 --> 01:22:38,930
They must have had complex maritime technology like boats.
1364
01:22:38,930 --> 01:22:42,510
I think we can definitely say that 40,000 years ago,
1365
01:22:42,510 --> 01:22:44,170
people were using boats.
1366
01:22:45,690 --> 01:22:47,930
But these travelers had only simple tools
1367
01:22:47,930 --> 01:22:49,300
made of broken stone.
1368
01:22:50,690 --> 01:22:53,200
We still don't know what kind of boats they built
1369
01:22:53,200 --> 01:22:55,070
to reach deep water regions.
1370
01:22:59,464 --> 01:23:00,994
(rattling, exciting music)
1371
01:23:00,990 --> 01:23:03,790
One researcher took a unique approach to he mystery
1372
01:23:03,790 --> 01:23:07,060
by recreating the ancient voyage across the Black Stream.
1373
01:23:08,310 --> 01:23:11,500
Dr. Yosuke Kaifu, an anthropologist
1374
01:23:11,500 --> 01:23:15,420
at Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science.
1375
01:23:15,420 --> 01:23:17,070
He wants to learn how people people traveled
1376
01:23:17,070 --> 01:23:19,630
from Taiwan to Okinawa's islands.
1377
01:23:19,628 --> 01:23:22,908
(exciting, orchestrated music)
1378
01:23:22,903 --> 01:23:26,823
(speaking in foreign language)
1379
01:23:47,380 --> 01:23:50,440
A huge experiment was held in 2016.
1380
01:23:50,444 --> 01:23:53,244
(awed world music)
1381
01:23:53,242 --> 01:23:55,992
(waves crashing)
1382
01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:04,140
Dr. Kaifu formed a team of 60 researchers and volunteers.
1383
01:24:05,818 --> 01:24:07,028
(epic, seafaring music)
1384
01:24:07,024 --> 01:24:10,884
(speaking in foreign language)
1385
01:24:10,880 --> 01:24:13,700
The project aims at a full recreation
1386
01:24:13,700 --> 01:24:16,200
of a 30,000-year-old voyage.
1387
01:24:18,740 --> 01:24:20,470
The team will use ancient tools
1388
01:24:20,470 --> 01:24:23,770
to build a boat and cross the sea.
1389
01:24:23,770 --> 01:24:27,020
This approach is called experimental archeology.
1390
01:24:31,350 --> 01:24:33,240
The group has found a type of reed
1391
01:24:33,240 --> 01:24:34,590
that grows in the region.
1392
01:24:38,250 --> 01:24:41,170
Bundled together, the reeds could form a simple canoe.
1393
01:24:48,638 --> 01:24:50,968
(splashing)
1394
01:24:53,614 --> 01:24:58,114
(man speaking in foreign language)
1395
01:24:58,110 --> 01:25:00,830
The group uses shells to cut reeds.
1396
01:25:02,000 --> 01:25:03,700
They were a common tool back then.
1397
01:25:13,012 --> 01:25:15,312
(man speaks in foreign language)
1398
01:25:15,307 --> 01:25:17,977
(bird chirping)
1399
01:25:19,320 --> 01:25:22,280
Vast numbers of reeds are needed to make a boat.
1400
01:25:24,560 --> 01:25:26,700
It takes 10 people over a week
1401
01:25:26,700 --> 01:25:28,340
just to gather the material.
1402
01:25:33,876 --> 01:25:38,376
(Yosuke speaking in foreign language)
1403
01:25:44,780 --> 01:25:46,430
Now that the reeds are cut,
1404
01:25:46,430 --> 01:25:48,020
it's time to build a boat.
1405
01:25:49,610 --> 01:25:51,570
But how do you do that with reeds?
1406
01:25:53,567 --> 01:25:57,817
(man speaking in foreign language)
1407
01:25:59,439 --> 01:26:01,809
(man speaks in foreign language)
1408
01:26:01,810 --> 01:26:05,210
The reeds must form dense bundles,
1409
01:26:05,210 --> 01:26:07,650
so they break into teams.
1410
01:26:07,650 --> 01:26:10,000
Some tie them with vines,
1411
01:26:10,000 --> 01:26:12,150
others hammer the reeds to make the bundles
1412
01:26:12,150 --> 01:26:13,820
more tightly together.
1413
01:26:13,815 --> 01:26:15,325
(stones whacking)
1414
01:26:15,320 --> 01:26:17,250
Reed boats look simple,
1415
01:26:17,250 --> 01:26:21,200
but require close cooperation among large numbers of people.
1416
01:26:21,199 --> 01:26:23,949
(stone whacking)
1417
01:26:30,100 --> 01:26:32,630
And a single reed boat is not enough.
1418
01:26:35,650 --> 01:26:38,520
Establishing a population in a new land,
1419
01:26:38,520 --> 01:26:40,830
the number of new inhabitants is critical.
1420
01:26:42,100 --> 01:26:44,440
The team calculated the least necessary
1421
01:26:44,440 --> 01:26:45,820
number of travelers.
1422
01:26:48,990 --> 01:26:52,380
A single traveler couldn't reproduce, of course.
1423
01:26:54,810 --> 01:26:58,420
Children from one set of parents would eventually die out.
1424
01:26:59,660 --> 01:27:01,350
The research group used estimates
1425
01:27:01,350 --> 01:27:03,940
about birth and death rates at the time,
1426
01:27:03,940 --> 01:27:06,110
and they concluded that at least 10 people
1427
01:27:06,110 --> 01:27:08,030
would have been needed.
1428
01:27:08,030 --> 01:27:11,110
It means five pairs of young men and women.
1429
01:27:12,890 --> 01:27:15,630
The project decides to make two reed boats,
1430
01:27:15,630 --> 01:27:17,050
each carrying five people.
1431
01:27:22,060 --> 01:27:24,380
The boats are completed in two months.
1432
01:27:33,800 --> 01:27:36,630
In this experiment, the team tries to travel
1433
01:27:36,630 --> 01:27:39,770
the 75 kilometers to Iriomote.
1434
01:27:39,770 --> 01:27:42,390
The starting point is Yonaguni,
1435
01:27:42,390 --> 01:27:45,030
an Okinawa island nearest to Taiwan.
1436
01:27:45,026 --> 01:27:46,816
(people talking simultaneously)
1437
01:27:46,811 --> 01:27:47,971
I'm okay.
Okay, okay!
1438
01:27:47,969 --> 01:27:49,379
(man laughing)
1439
01:27:49,379 --> 01:27:51,949
(shouting in foreign language)
1440
01:27:51,952 --> 01:27:54,952
(rhythmic clapping)
1441
01:27:56,154 --> 01:27:58,904
(waves crashing)
1442
01:28:02,903 --> 01:28:07,153
(man shouting in foreign language)
1443
01:28:08,680 --> 01:28:10,330
The rowers spent two weeks
1444
01:28:10,330 --> 01:28:12,140
practicing for today,
1445
01:28:12,140 --> 01:28:14,630
but just overcoming the waves is tough.
1446
01:28:24,972 --> 01:28:28,892
(chanting in foreign language)
1447
01:28:32,120 --> 01:28:35,220
Sight lines are bad from the bobbling boat.
1448
01:28:35,220 --> 01:28:37,620
The target island is invisible.
1449
01:28:40,850 --> 01:28:44,120
To recreate a 30,000-year-old voyage,
1450
01:28:44,120 --> 01:28:47,170
the crew do not use modern tools like compasses.
1451
01:28:48,340 --> 01:28:50,490
They must rely on the sun's position.
1452
01:28:51,460 --> 01:28:55,400
30,000 years ago, people did know how to navigate this way.
1453
01:28:58,920 --> 01:29:00,170
(chanting in foreign language)
1454
01:29:00,170 --> 01:29:04,160
In five fours, the boats should travel eastward,
1455
01:29:04,160 --> 01:29:06,520
that is, toward the right,
1456
01:29:06,520 --> 01:29:08,550
but keep drifting left.
1457
01:29:08,545 --> 01:29:11,965
(isolated ambient music)
1458
01:29:12,870 --> 01:29:15,140
The boats drag against the water.
1459
01:29:15,140 --> 01:29:18,510
As their speed drops, the current takes them off course.
1460
01:29:25,591 --> 01:29:29,841
(man speaking in foreign language)
1461
01:29:34,180 --> 01:29:36,980
In the end, the voyage had to be abandoned.
1462
01:29:37,830 --> 01:29:40,480
An additional ship towed the reed boats home.
1463
01:29:48,010 --> 01:29:50,330
The team couldn't reach Iriomote Island
1464
01:29:50,330 --> 01:29:51,700
with their handmade boats.
1465
01:29:55,846 --> 01:30:00,096
(man speaking in foreign language)
1466
01:30:12,195 --> 01:30:15,895
(speaking in foreign language)
1467
01:30:15,890 --> 01:30:17,850
(laughing)
1468
01:30:17,849 --> 01:30:20,269
(idle music)
1469
01:30:28,420 --> 01:30:29,530
In the attempt to reveal
1470
01:30:29,530 --> 01:30:32,060
how ancient humans crossed the seas,
1471
01:30:32,060 --> 01:30:35,870
Dr. Kaifu, the project leader, tries another approach.
1472
01:30:38,720 --> 01:30:41,240
Now the team builds a different type of boat.
1473
01:30:42,403 --> 01:30:46,323
(speaking in foreign language)
1474
01:30:48,454 --> 01:30:49,464
(stone cracks)
1475
01:30:49,468 --> 01:30:52,718
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1476
01:30:52,720 --> 01:30:54,790
They make stone tools.
1477
01:30:54,789 --> 01:30:56,899
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1478
01:30:56,900 --> 01:31:00,180
(saw grinding)
1479
01:31:00,180 --> 01:31:01,730
These stone tools are used
1480
01:31:01,730 --> 01:31:03,610
to cut down bamboo for the boat.
1481
01:31:05,632 --> 01:31:08,382
(stone whacking)
1482
01:31:10,956 --> 01:31:14,186
(men speaking in foreign language)
1483
01:31:14,182 --> 01:31:15,702
(bamboo creaks)
1484
01:31:15,700 --> 01:31:18,390
(bamboo snaps)
(people exclaiming)
1485
01:31:18,389 --> 01:31:22,719
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1486
01:31:23,574 --> 01:31:25,554
(men speaking in foreign language)
1487
01:31:25,550 --> 01:31:27,360
An indigenous group on Taiwan
1488
01:31:27,360 --> 01:31:29,980
called the Amis still make bamboo boats.
1489
01:31:29,980 --> 01:31:31,590
(hammer whacking)
1490
01:31:31,590 --> 01:31:33,220
They help the team build one.
1491
01:31:34,854 --> 01:31:36,584
(hammer whacking)
1492
01:31:36,584 --> 01:31:39,624
(people talking simultaneously)
1493
01:31:39,622 --> 01:31:41,902
(speaking in foreign language)
1494
01:31:41,900 --> 01:31:43,610
Dr. Kaifu doesn't want them
1495
01:31:43,610 --> 01:31:45,660
to use modern hammers.
1496
01:31:45,660 --> 01:31:47,740
He asks them use stones.
1497
01:31:50,699 --> 01:31:55,029
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1498
01:31:57,026 --> 01:32:00,016
(stone whacking)
1499
01:32:00,019 --> 01:32:01,049
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1500
01:32:01,044 --> 01:32:01,874
(man speaks in foreign language)
1501
01:32:01,877 --> 01:32:03,047
(Yosuke chuckles)
1502
01:32:03,044 --> 01:32:06,124
(man speaks in foreign language)
1503
01:32:06,125 --> 01:32:07,695
(Yosuke chuckles)
1504
01:32:07,693 --> 01:32:10,133
(stones whacking)
1505
01:32:10,134 --> 01:32:11,284
(men speaking in foreign language)
1506
01:32:11,286 --> 01:32:12,726
(woman speaks in foreign language)
1507
01:32:12,725 --> 01:32:17,155
(speaks in foreign language)
1508
01:32:17,150 --> 01:32:21,050
A fast, dynamic bamboo boat is completed.
1509
01:32:21,050 --> 01:32:23,950
(tense world music)
1510
01:32:23,950 --> 01:32:26,920
This time, they'll travel 40 kilometers,
1511
01:32:26,920 --> 01:32:31,920
from Taiwan's eastern coast to Ludao, or Green Island.
1512
01:32:32,141 --> 01:32:34,941
(speaking in foreign language)
1513
01:32:34,944 --> 01:32:37,454
(waves lapping)
1514
01:32:37,458 --> 01:32:40,958
(hushed percussive music)
1515
01:32:44,153 --> 01:32:45,533
(man shouting in foreign language)
1516
01:32:45,529 --> 01:32:47,859
(men shout)
1517
01:32:50,830 --> 01:32:52,930
The bamboo boat is definitely faster
1518
01:32:52,930 --> 01:32:53,980
than the reed canoes.
1519
01:33:01,822 --> 01:33:06,152
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1520
01:33:09,112 --> 01:33:13,782
But they're caught in a sudden rain shower.
1521
01:33:16,320 --> 01:33:19,130
The sun and the island vanish.
1522
01:33:19,130 --> 01:33:21,130
There's no way to check their direction.
1523
01:33:26,927 --> 01:33:31,367
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1524
01:33:31,370 --> 01:33:33,320
As they flounder on the sea,
1525
01:33:33,320 --> 01:33:35,400
the ocean current sweeps them off course.
1526
01:33:35,399 --> 01:33:37,979
(somber music)
1527
01:33:46,560 --> 01:33:49,690
Unable to maintain speed against the current,
1528
01:33:49,690 --> 01:33:51,450
the boat has been carried away.
1529
01:33:52,633 --> 01:33:56,303
(swelling, emotional music)
1530
01:34:02,801 --> 01:34:05,471
The experiment has failed again.
1531
01:34:10,775 --> 01:34:14,695
(speaking in foreign language)
1532
01:34:16,839 --> 01:34:20,159
(man chuckles)
1533
01:34:20,160 --> 01:34:21,760
The second attempt to recreate
1534
01:34:21,760 --> 01:34:23,810
part of humanity's global travels
1535
01:34:23,810 --> 01:34:25,940
has just intensified the mystery.
1536
01:34:30,010 --> 01:34:33,940
Dr. Kaifu has one more idea to solve the mystery.
1537
01:34:33,940 --> 01:34:36,090
How did the prehistoric voyagers cross
1538
01:34:36,090 --> 01:34:38,400
the powerful ocean current,
1539
01:34:38,400 --> 01:34:40,860
especially when the closest Okinawan island
1540
01:34:40,860 --> 01:34:43,100
can't be seen from Taiwan?
1541
01:34:43,100 --> 01:34:46,640
Some locals say they haven't seen it in their lifetimes.
1542
01:34:46,641 --> 01:34:50,561
(speaking in foreign language)
1543
01:34:53,470 --> 01:34:55,830
Under some atmospheric conditions,
1544
01:34:55,830 --> 01:34:58,430
it is possible to see the island off shore,
1545
01:34:58,430 --> 01:34:59,970
100 miles away.
1546
01:35:02,383 --> 01:35:03,963
30,000 years ago,
1547
01:35:03,960 --> 01:35:05,750
people may have seen the island
1548
01:35:05,750 --> 01:35:07,250
and decided to travel there.
1549
01:35:08,890 --> 01:35:11,190
Once they knew there was a new territory,
1550
01:35:11,190 --> 01:35:13,240
a burning desire to explore
1551
01:35:13,240 --> 01:35:16,520
perhaps inevitably drove them to voyage across seas.
1552
01:35:16,516 --> 01:35:18,766
(cheering)
1553
01:35:22,100 --> 01:35:23,560
Reed boats failed,
1554
01:35:23,560 --> 01:35:26,280
so did the more buoyant bamboo boats.
1555
01:35:26,280 --> 01:35:28,470
Kaifu suspects that innovative tools
1556
01:35:28,470 --> 01:35:31,380
would be required for his next plan.
1557
01:35:31,380 --> 01:35:33,070
Evidence of such tools have been found
1558
01:35:33,070 --> 01:35:35,090
in northern territory Australia.
1559
01:35:36,600 --> 01:35:38,590
The Madjedbebe Rock Shelter
1560
01:35:38,590 --> 01:35:42,000
is the oldest human occupation site in Australia
1561
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:43,980
at 65,000 years old.
1562
01:35:43,977 --> 01:35:47,897
(mysterious traditional music)
1563
01:35:51,620 --> 01:35:54,470
So these are the oldest axes in the world.
1564
01:35:56,000 --> 01:35:57,540
The other wonderful thing about this ax
1565
01:35:57,540 --> 01:35:59,810
is it has a very distinctive groove
1566
01:35:59,810 --> 01:36:01,820
running all the way around.
1567
01:36:01,820 --> 01:36:03,130
You can see it here as well,
1568
01:36:03,130 --> 01:36:05,040
this groove running down this side.
1569
01:36:05,040 --> 01:36:08,190
We just had no idea that people were making axes so early.
1570
01:36:10,430 --> 01:36:12,260
Stone axes are the product
1571
01:36:12,260 --> 01:36:15,800
of the full ingenuity of early humanity.
1572
01:36:15,800 --> 01:36:19,330
The sharp edge is proof this was a well made tool.
1573
01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:25,260
Axes have also been found
1574
01:36:25,260 --> 01:36:27,980
in the Jerimalai caves of East Timor.
1575
01:36:30,210 --> 01:36:32,990
This one also has a sharp edge.
1576
01:36:32,990 --> 01:36:34,940
It was made from a seashell.
1577
01:36:36,160 --> 01:36:38,120
Made of different materials,
1578
01:36:38,120 --> 01:36:41,020
but both axes had traces of handles.
1579
01:36:41,020 --> 01:36:42,650
This is an important point.
1580
01:36:43,770 --> 01:36:45,680
Previously we were wondering, yeah,
1581
01:36:45,680 --> 01:36:47,280
how did they make the boats?
1582
01:36:47,280 --> 01:36:49,960
They would have used this for chopping wood.
1583
01:36:49,960 --> 01:36:51,030
Definitely, for sure.
1584
01:36:53,750 --> 01:36:57,060
An ax with a handle is far more powerful.
1585
01:36:57,060 --> 01:36:59,790
It can cut and shape hard woods.
1586
01:37:01,410 --> 01:37:05,400
A handle will increase the smashing power nearly tenfold.
1587
01:37:06,680 --> 01:37:11,680
An ax can fell trees, and hollow them to make log canoes.
1588
01:37:13,740 --> 01:37:17,780
Maybe the people who traveled to Okinawa 30,000 years ago
1589
01:37:17,780 --> 01:37:20,240
used wood canoes.
1590
01:37:20,240 --> 01:37:22,330
It's a new possibility to consider.
1591
01:37:26,590 --> 01:37:30,370
Kaifu's project to recreate the prehistoric voyage
1592
01:37:30,370 --> 01:37:32,710
quickly began studying his new idea.
1593
01:37:35,300 --> 01:37:38,400
Can a stone ax truly bring down a tree?
1594
01:37:39,315 --> 01:37:40,315
Hmm.
1595
01:37:43,340 --> 01:37:45,820
The trunk must be a meter across
1596
01:37:45,820 --> 01:37:48,110
to fit a person inside it.
1597
01:37:48,110 --> 01:37:51,360
(light, pensive music)
1598
01:37:53,720 --> 01:37:55,270
Time to experiment.
1599
01:37:55,269 --> 01:38:00,019
(ax whacking)
(grunting)
1600
01:38:01,940 --> 01:38:03,520
Six days later.
1601
01:38:04,900 --> 01:38:09,560
After the chop number 36,225.
1602
01:38:09,562 --> 01:38:12,062
(ax chopping)
1603
01:38:13,707 --> 01:38:16,377
(whistle blows)
1604
01:38:18,188 --> 01:38:20,498
(man speaking in foreign language)
1605
01:38:20,502 --> 01:38:22,702
(younger man speaking in foreign language)
1606
01:38:22,704 --> 01:38:25,374
(tree cracking)
1607
01:38:30,369 --> 01:38:35,369
(thumps)
(leaves rustle)
1608
01:38:35,644 --> 01:38:39,564
(speaking in foreign language)
1609
01:38:55,570 --> 01:38:59,290
(gentle piano music)
1610
01:38:59,286 --> 01:39:03,786
(people speaking in foreign language)
1611
01:39:10,800 --> 01:39:12,840
They test their dug-out canoe.
1612
01:39:20,725 --> 01:39:25,055
(Yosuke speaks in foreign language)
1613
01:39:30,080 --> 01:39:32,370
Time to see if the canoe can outpace
1614
01:39:32,370 --> 01:39:33,360
the Kuroshio Current.
1615
01:39:39,066 --> 01:39:42,986
(speaking in foreign language)
1616
01:39:47,530 --> 01:39:49,330
The test was a success.
1617
01:39:53,470 --> 01:39:57,760
Next year, they hope to travel from Taiwan to Yonaguni,
1618
01:39:57,760 --> 01:40:00,410
one of the Okinawa's southernmost islands,
1619
01:40:00,410 --> 01:40:01,590
using this boat.
1620
01:40:03,280 --> 01:40:05,980
The secret of a perilous ancient sea voyage
1621
01:40:05,980 --> 01:40:07,650
is now being revealed.
1622
01:40:08,706 --> 01:40:11,286
(low, simmering music)
1623
01:40:11,290 --> 01:40:15,010
The experiments suggest the voyage 30,000 years ago
1624
01:40:15,010 --> 01:40:16,900
may have looked like this.
1625
01:40:19,936 --> 01:40:21,396
(man shouting in foreign language)
1626
01:40:21,395 --> 01:40:23,005
(men shouting in foreign language)
1627
01:40:23,001 --> 01:40:23,941
(man shouting in foreign language)
1628
01:40:23,939 --> 01:40:27,259
(men shouting in foreign language)
1629
01:40:27,260 --> 01:40:30,170
A group is transporting a log canoe.
1630
01:40:30,173 --> 01:40:33,253
(gentle, awed music)
1631
01:40:35,560 --> 01:40:37,480
Many people have to work together
1632
01:40:37,480 --> 01:40:39,070
to prepare the canoes.
1633
01:40:39,067 --> 01:40:43,317
(men shouting in foreign language)
1634
01:41:07,520 --> 01:41:11,000
A chosen number of young people stand ready to go.
1635
01:41:12,900 --> 01:41:15,740
At least five pairs of men and women
1636
01:41:15,740 --> 01:41:18,590
are needed to ensure survival of offspring.
1637
01:41:29,970 --> 01:41:32,550
(men shouting)
1638
01:41:34,025 --> 01:41:37,355
(shouting and cheering)
1639
01:41:38,380 --> 01:41:41,630
(epic, exciting music)
1640
01:42:10,100 --> 01:42:12,230
They set off for unknown lands,
1641
01:42:12,230 --> 01:42:14,270
ready to forge a new future.
1642
01:42:20,301 --> 01:42:24,721
(voyagers chant in foreign language)
1643
01:42:37,522 --> 01:42:41,592
(speaks in foreign language)
1644
01:42:41,588 --> 01:42:43,838
(shouting)
1645
01:43:03,183 --> 01:43:06,433
(gentle, serene music)
1646
01:43:13,777 --> 01:43:17,017
And so humans arrived in Okinawa.
1647
01:43:17,020 --> 01:43:19,270
(cheering)
1648
01:43:33,000 --> 01:43:35,100
They traveled between the islands.
1649
01:43:36,660 --> 01:43:39,030
Many sites on Japan's southern islands
1650
01:43:39,030 --> 01:43:41,540
reveal humanity's earliest presence.
1651
01:43:48,920 --> 01:43:50,310
Throughout the world,
1652
01:43:50,310 --> 01:43:53,820
homo sapiens learned to voyage across the seas,
1653
01:43:53,820 --> 01:43:56,830
and also to survive in bitter, cold land crossings
1654
01:43:56,830 --> 01:43:58,480
in the Arctic.
1655
01:43:58,480 --> 01:44:00,950
We made it to the southern tip of South America.
1656
01:44:02,180 --> 01:44:04,720
Humanity flourished in every corner of the globe.
1657
01:44:07,870 --> 01:44:09,470
They also faced another challenge
1658
01:44:09,470 --> 01:44:11,430
in their travels across the planet.
1659
01:44:13,660 --> 01:44:15,570
It was extreme cold.
1660
01:44:16,961 --> 01:44:19,631
(ice crackling)
1661
01:44:23,056 --> 01:44:26,046
(frozen fish whacking)
1662
01:44:26,050 --> 01:44:30,330
Today, it's 25 degrees celsius below zero.
1663
01:44:30,330 --> 01:44:33,650
It can go as low as 60 degrees below zero here.
1664
01:44:34,590 --> 01:44:37,100
This is one of the coldest places on earth.
1665
01:44:38,620 --> 01:44:40,170
There's evidence that human beings
1666
01:44:40,170 --> 01:44:45,170
already lived in the furthest north 30,000 years ago.
1667
01:44:45,240 --> 01:44:47,110
Their footsteps have been found
1668
01:44:47,110 --> 01:44:49,520
in the Sakha republic of Russia.
1669
01:44:51,890 --> 01:44:55,020
The Yana RHS site lies at a latitude
1670
01:44:55,020 --> 01:44:57,090
of 71 degrees north.
1671
01:44:59,700 --> 01:45:03,590
It was discovered by Dr. Vladimir Pitulko.
1672
01:45:03,590 --> 01:45:05,990
Today, he shows us footage of the site
1673
01:45:05,990 --> 01:45:08,020
that has never been released before.
1674
01:45:10,497 --> 01:45:11,327
(machine buzzing)
1675
01:45:11,330 --> 01:45:14,540
The ongoing dig began in 2003.
1676
01:45:18,319 --> 01:45:21,149
(shovel scraping)
1677
01:45:23,170 --> 01:45:25,690
The permafrost is melted with water
1678
01:45:25,690 --> 01:45:27,400
and dug away during summer.
1679
01:45:31,770 --> 01:45:35,050
This is a mammoth bone suspended in ice.
1680
01:45:36,490 --> 01:45:38,400
An extraordinary number of mammoth
1681
01:45:38,400 --> 01:45:40,720
and buffalo bones have been found here,
1682
01:45:43,770 --> 01:45:47,020
along with over 100,000 manmade items.
1683
01:45:48,300 --> 01:45:51,000
They include stone tools, accessories,
1684
01:45:51,000 --> 01:45:52,870
and other valuable materials.
1685
01:45:55,075 --> 01:45:58,995
(speaking in foreign language)
1686
01:46:08,560 --> 01:46:10,820
But why did homo sapiens travel
1687
01:46:10,820 --> 01:46:13,260
to this extremely cold region?
1688
01:46:13,263 --> 01:46:16,513
(light, pensive music)
1689
01:46:18,451 --> 01:46:22,451
(speaking in imagined language)
1690
01:46:24,192 --> 01:46:26,422
(mammoth grunts)
1691
01:46:26,420 --> 01:46:27,400
A mammoth.
1692
01:46:28,470 --> 01:46:29,920
This is what they were after.
1693
01:46:31,820 --> 01:46:34,590
The extreme north at the time was abound
1694
01:46:34,590 --> 01:46:36,880
with many large animals to catch.
1695
01:46:37,720 --> 01:46:41,250
Unexpectedly, a large amount of food was available there.
1696
01:46:43,950 --> 01:46:47,000
The snowy ground made it easier to spot prey.
1697
01:46:50,241 --> 01:46:53,821
(snow crunching underfoot)
1698
01:46:57,030 --> 01:46:59,160
There was another point in their favor.
1699
01:47:02,230 --> 01:47:05,000
The snow left easy trails to follow.
1700
01:47:07,420 --> 01:47:08,910
It's easy to spot prey.
1701
01:47:11,633 --> 01:47:12,853
(reverent world music)
1702
01:47:12,850 --> 01:47:15,800
Yet, however abundant food may have been available,
1703
01:47:15,800 --> 01:47:18,230
the cold here was truly extreme.
1704
01:47:20,270 --> 01:47:24,100
So how did homo sapiens overcome the extreme cold?
1705
01:47:28,220 --> 01:47:32,500
Among many items unearthed at the site of Yana RHS,
1706
01:47:32,500 --> 01:47:34,940
Dr. Pitulko found an important one.
1707
01:47:36,770 --> 01:47:40,190
It's a tool that helped humans survive in the far north.
1708
01:47:42,780 --> 01:47:47,220
Carefully stored inside a casket made from animal bone
1709
01:47:47,220 --> 01:47:50,720
are sewing needles made from bones of mammoth
1710
01:47:50,720 --> 01:47:52,050
and other animals.
1711
01:47:52,046 --> 01:47:55,376
(ghostly ambient music)
1712
01:47:58,400 --> 01:48:02,050
A total of 103 needles have been found,
1713
01:48:02,050 --> 01:48:04,250
each five to 10 centimeters long.
1714
01:48:05,300 --> 01:48:07,280
Nowhere else have so many old needles
1715
01:48:07,280 --> 01:48:09,100
been found in one place.
1716
01:48:10,574 --> 01:48:14,494
(speaking in foreign language)
1717
01:48:31,960 --> 01:48:34,880
Even today, traditional reindeer coats
1718
01:48:34,880 --> 01:48:35,950
are made by hand.
1719
01:48:35,948 --> 01:48:38,368
(awed music)
1720
01:48:41,733 --> 01:48:45,983
(woman speaks in foreign language)
1721
01:48:50,410 --> 01:48:53,290
To keep out the chill and retain body heat,
1722
01:48:53,290 --> 01:48:56,280
the clothes must completely cover you from head to toe.
1723
01:48:57,210 --> 01:49:00,550
To make such clothes, sewing needles are very important.
1724
01:49:00,550 --> 01:49:03,080
(singing in foreign language)
1725
01:49:03,080 --> 01:49:04,910
This may look simple to make,
1726
01:49:06,010 --> 01:49:09,300
but in fact, a needle is extremely difficult to construct.
1727
01:49:09,295 --> 01:49:11,965
(file grinding)
1728
01:49:16,000 --> 01:49:19,220
First, a groove is carved into an animal bone.
1729
01:49:26,260 --> 01:49:29,260
And a second groove is made here.
1730
01:49:31,279 --> 01:49:34,379
(stone whacking)
1731
01:49:34,380 --> 01:49:37,940
Then the bone is hammered to create a thin shard.
1732
01:49:41,200 --> 01:49:43,890
This must be scraped into the correct shape.
1733
01:49:48,830 --> 01:49:51,810
And the next step is to make a hole for the thread.
1734
01:49:53,060 --> 01:49:55,130
It's painstaking, delicate work.
1735
01:49:56,440 --> 01:49:59,580
If the bone breaks, you must start from scratch.
1736
01:50:04,690 --> 01:50:06,900
At last, it's complete.
1737
01:50:06,898 --> 01:50:10,728
(impressive orchestral music)
1738
01:50:12,020 --> 01:50:14,440
Creating a single needle from bone
1739
01:50:14,440 --> 01:50:17,100
requires complex pre-visualization.
1740
01:50:19,010 --> 01:50:22,170
Research is underway to reveal the parts of our brain
1741
01:50:22,170 --> 01:50:24,350
involved in this toolmaking ability.
1742
01:50:24,348 --> 01:50:26,568
(stone clinking)
1743
01:50:26,571 --> 01:50:29,331
(awed world music)
1744
01:50:29,330 --> 01:50:31,040
Volunteers' brains are scanned
1745
01:50:31,040 --> 01:50:33,360
as they watch how to make a stone tool.
1746
01:50:34,280 --> 01:50:36,580
They get a virtual experience of toolmaking.
1747
01:50:36,582 --> 01:50:39,332
(stone clinking)
1748
01:50:43,830 --> 01:50:48,390
In their brain, an unexpected part has been activated.
1749
01:50:49,520 --> 01:50:53,290
It's Broca's area, which controls language skills.
1750
01:50:56,280 --> 01:50:58,010
I think in the modern world,
1751
01:50:58,010 --> 01:51:00,750
most people would think of toolmaking,
1752
01:51:00,750 --> 01:51:02,250
tool use, and language
1753
01:51:02,250 --> 01:51:05,060
as completely separate spheres of human activity.
1754
01:51:05,060 --> 01:51:08,290
And yet they both have a similar structure,
1755
01:51:08,290 --> 01:51:10,250
a kind of a hierarchical structure to them
1756
01:51:10,250 --> 01:51:13,400
in terms of the goals that we have,
1757
01:51:13,400 --> 01:51:17,030
so finding that in fact is powerful support
1758
01:51:17,030 --> 01:51:18,830
for that evolutionary hypothesis
1759
01:51:18,830 --> 01:51:22,120
about a shared origin between toolmaking and language.
1760
01:51:24,060 --> 01:51:27,770
Dr. Stout thinks in terms of brain activity,
1761
01:51:27,770 --> 01:51:30,580
speech and toolmaking has much in common.
1762
01:51:31,810 --> 01:51:34,120
Words or steps in a process
1763
01:51:34,120 --> 01:51:36,660
both require a meaningful arrangement.
1764
01:51:40,240 --> 01:51:42,150
Recent research suggests
1765
01:51:42,150 --> 01:51:45,430
that neanderthals also used language,
1766
01:51:45,430 --> 01:51:49,440
yet their language may have been simpler than human speech.
1767
01:51:49,440 --> 01:51:50,720
So were their tools.
1768
01:51:53,790 --> 01:51:55,990
Homo sapiens had both language
1769
01:51:55,990 --> 01:51:58,270
and tools of high sophistication.
1770
01:51:59,360 --> 01:52:01,760
Their advanced tools, like sewing needles,
1771
01:52:01,760 --> 01:52:04,560
helped them even survive the extreme cold.
1772
01:52:08,970 --> 01:52:11,930
Homo sapiens invented all kinds of new tools
1773
01:52:11,930 --> 01:52:14,660
to suit different environments.
1774
01:52:22,060 --> 01:52:23,850
(mysterious ambient music)
1775
01:52:23,850 --> 01:52:26,260
But as we mastered the natural world,
1776
01:52:26,260 --> 01:52:28,300
we also had negative impacts.
1777
01:52:30,540 --> 01:52:34,810
Dr. Gavin Prideaux of Flinders University in Australia
1778
01:52:34,810 --> 01:52:36,750
points out that Australia
1779
01:52:36,750 --> 01:52:39,370
was once a paradise of giant animals,
1780
01:52:40,380 --> 01:52:42,680
extremely diverse,
1781
01:52:42,680 --> 01:52:45,880
unique species that used to thrive here.
1782
01:52:48,430 --> 01:52:50,270
And all of these megafauna species
1783
01:52:50,267 --> 01:52:51,957
are now gone from Australia.
1784
01:52:53,380 --> 01:52:55,750
Dr. Prideaux's group has analyzed
1785
01:52:55,750 --> 01:52:58,700
when these megafauna, such as marsupial lions
1786
01:52:58,700 --> 01:53:00,950
and giant wombats, died out.
1787
01:53:03,320 --> 01:53:05,040
They discovered extinctions happened
1788
01:53:05,040 --> 01:53:07,760
not long after the arrival of human beings.
1789
01:53:11,960 --> 01:53:16,010
We think that between about time humans arrived,
1790
01:53:16,010 --> 01:53:18,660
maybe 65 or so thousand years ago
1791
01:53:18,660 --> 01:53:20,500
and about 40,000 years ago,
1792
01:53:21,730 --> 01:53:25,750
approximately 90% of the megafauna species in Australia
1793
01:53:25,750 --> 01:53:26,720
became extinct.
1794
01:53:27,920 --> 01:53:32,710
So humans were the decisive factor in Australia.
1795
01:53:32,710 --> 01:53:35,180
The most likely reason is hunting.
1796
01:53:35,180 --> 01:53:37,730
Another is that humans burned down trees
1797
01:53:37,730 --> 01:53:39,810
to broaden their habitat.
1798
01:53:39,810 --> 01:53:42,450
Animals couldn't survive in the new environment.
1799
01:53:43,430 --> 01:53:45,430
Humans became a huge presence,
1800
01:53:45,430 --> 01:53:48,580
changing the environment around them.
1801
01:53:48,580 --> 01:53:52,520
We have an amazing ability
1802
01:53:52,520 --> 01:53:56,210
to not only modify our environment
1803
01:53:56,210 --> 01:53:57,700
to better suit our needs,
1804
01:53:59,150 --> 01:54:02,850
but we have the ability more importantly
1805
01:54:02,850 --> 01:54:06,300
to perceive that we're modifying our environment.
1806
01:54:07,230 --> 01:54:10,400
We now have to go beyond just recognizing
1807
01:54:10,400 --> 01:54:11,850
that we are having an impact,
1808
01:54:12,800 --> 01:54:14,620
but actually doing something
1809
01:54:14,620 --> 01:54:18,790
about ameliorating that impact,
1810
01:54:18,790 --> 01:54:23,570
and living much more consciously
1811
01:54:23,570 --> 01:54:28,570
within the limits of the natural environment.
1812
01:54:29,514 --> 01:54:31,654
(leaves rustling)
1813
01:54:31,650 --> 01:54:34,040
Long ago, a peculiar type of animal
1814
01:54:34,040 --> 01:54:36,360
began walking on two legs in the forest.
1815
01:54:38,400 --> 01:54:42,190
They survived a geological cataclysm and lived in families.
1816
01:54:42,192 --> 01:54:45,522
(inspiring world music)
1817
01:54:46,447 --> 01:54:49,267
Hominids were prey of carnivores in Africa.
1818
01:54:51,024 --> 01:54:53,014
(hominid shouting)
1819
01:54:53,010 --> 01:54:54,600
On the same continent,
1820
01:54:54,600 --> 01:54:58,130
the last hominid, homo sapiens appeared,
1821
01:54:58,130 --> 01:55:01,150
and narrowly survived harsh conditions
1822
01:55:01,150 --> 01:55:03,910
thanks to a series of fortuitous events.
1823
01:55:05,535 --> 01:55:06,545
(light primitive music)
1824
01:55:06,540 --> 01:55:08,500
They are our ancestors.
1825
01:55:08,500 --> 01:55:10,320
They formed community bonds,
1826
01:55:12,430 --> 01:55:15,600
won a survival race against rivals,
1827
01:55:15,600 --> 01:55:17,480
and expanded their dominion.
1828
01:55:19,900 --> 01:55:21,750
They continued to invent new tools,
1829
01:55:22,600 --> 01:55:26,270
and at last, we've been thriving over the globe.
1830
01:55:27,460 --> 01:55:29,040
But at the same time,
1831
01:55:29,040 --> 01:55:31,570
we've also been making big changes to it.
1832
01:55:31,569 --> 01:55:34,989
(impressive world music)
1833
01:55:37,130 --> 01:55:40,560
We are the only surviving hominid species on the planet,
1834
01:55:41,490 --> 01:55:44,430
and our future rests on the choices we make now.
1835
01:55:49,952 --> 01:55:53,202
(epic, exciting music)
128929
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