First Peoples (2015): Season 1, Episode 5 - Americas - full transcript
As early humans spread out across the world, their toughest challenge was colonizing the Americas because a huge ice sheet blocked the route. It has long been thought that the first ...
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NARRATOR: TODAY,
WE HAVE EUROPE TO OURSELVES.
WE ARE ALL MODERN HUMANS.
BUT WHEN WE FIRST
ARRIVED IN THIS LAND,
IT WAS ALREADY A HOME
FOR OUR COUSINS--
THE NEANDERTHALS.
WE USED TO THINK WE WERE
SO MUCH MORE ADVANCED
THAT WE KILLED THEM OFF,
BUT THAT MAY BE WRONG.
IN REALITY,
WE WERE SO SIMILAR,
WE COULD INTERBREED WITH THEM
AND SHARE OUR DNA.
MAN: THE OLD STORY
HAS COLLAPSED,
AND WE'VE GOT TO BEGIN
TO TELL A NEW STORY
ABOUT NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS.
DIFFERENT MAN:
THE POWER OF GENETICS
IS THAT THE DATA WILL
STARE YOU IN THE FACE
AND FORCE YOU TO
RETHINK YOUR IDEAS.
WOMAN: NEANDERTHALS
HAVE A BAD REPUTATION
OF BEING PERHAPS
SOMEHOW STUPID,
BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.
NARRATOR: SO WHY DID WE WIN OUT
WHILE THEY WENT EXTINCT?
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THIS IS THE STORY
OF OUR ANCESTORS
AS THEY SPREAD TO EVERY
CONTINENT OF THE WORLD.
WHAT WAS THE SECRET
TO THEIR SUCCESS?
THEIR STORY IS OUR STORY.
NARRATOR: EASTERN EUROPE,
40,000 YEARS AGO.
TWO YOUNG MEN OUT HUNTING.
THEY'RE AS SMART AS
ANY MODERN-DAY HUNTER...
BUT THEY'RE VULNERABLE--
NEWCOMERS IN
A COLD NORTHERN LAND.
THESE ARE THE FIRST
MODERN HUMANS WE KNOW OF
ANYWHERE IN EUROPE.
40,000 YEARS LATER,
THEIR REMAINS HAVE TURNED UP
IN THE FORESTS OF ROMANIA
AT PESTERA CU OASE--
THE CAVE OF BONES.
THEY WERE EXCAVATED BY
PORTUGUESE ARCHAEOLOGIST
JOAO ZILHAO.
IN 2002, ROMANIAN CAVERS
CHANCED UPON A NEW CHAMBER
DEEP INSIDE THE CAVE.
IT WAS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST'S DREAM,
BUT GETTING TO IT
WAS A NIGHTMARE.
MAN: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT
EXTREME ARCHAEOLOGY.
I OFTEN THINK TO MYSELF,
THERE'S TWO KINDS OF IT--
THERE'S THE HOLLYWOOD KIND,
AND THERE'S THE REAL THING.
AND THE REAL THING IS
RIGHT THERE.
NARRATOR: EVERY DAY,
ZILHAO AND HIS TEAM HAD TO DIVE
THROUGH AN UNDERWATER RIVER...
CLIMB DEEPER INTO THE CAVE...
AND SQUEEZE THROUGH
THE NARROWEST OF GAPS.
ZILHAO: YOUR BODY
FITS BUT BARELY.
AND AS YOU, YOU KNOW,
PULL YOURSELF OUT
AND START LOOKING
AROUND, IT'S--
IT'S FULL OF CAVE BEAR BONES
ALL OVER THE PLACE,
AND IT'S AMAZING.
NARRATOR:
THIS WAS CLEARLY A PLACE
WHERE PREHISTORIC BEARS
HAD HIBERNATED.
THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS
STARTED LOGGING EACH BONE.
ZILHAO: THE TEMPERATURE
IS ABOUT 12 DEGREES.
THERE'S 100% HUMIDITY,
AND IT'S DRIPPING
ON TOP OF YOU CONSTANTLY,
SO IT-- IT'S NOT PLEASANT.
ZILHAO: YOU SEE ALL
THESE BONES HERE?
NARRATOR: TWO WEEKS IN,
THEY FOUND SOMETHING
THAT WASN'T CAVE BEAR.
ZILHAO: THAT--
THAT LOOKS LIKE
HUMAN OVER THERE.
YEP.
YEAH. WHAT ELSE
CAN IT BE?
AND ONE DAY,
THERE YOU GO.
YOU KNOW,
IT'S THE OCCIPITAL--
THE BACK OF
THE SKULL.
YOU READ ABOUT
HUMAN EVOLUTION,
BUT IT'S ONE THING TO
READ ABOUT THIS STUFF.
IT'S A DIFFERENT THING
TO ACTUALLY HAVE THE
EVIDENCE IN YOUR HANDS.
NARRATOR: IT WAS THE SKULL
OF A TEENAGER
WHO LIVED 40,000 YEARS AGO.
NEARBY, THEY FOUND THE JAWBONE
OF ANOTHER YOUNG ADULT
FROM THE SAME PERIOD.
HOW HAD THESE BONES
GOTTEN INTO THE CAVE?
THERE WAS NO SIGN THE BODIES
HAD BEEN DRAGGED IN BY A BEAR,
BUT ALSO NO SIGN THE CAVE
HAD BEEN USED AS A HOME
BY PREHISTORIC PEOPLE.
WE FOUND NOTHING--
NO ARTIFACTS, NO CHARCOAL,
NO FEATURES--
SO WE CONCLUDE THAT PEOPLE
DID NOT LIVE IN THIS CAVE.
THE BODIES WERE NOT
BURIED IN THIS CAVE.
THEY MUST HAVE BEEN WASHED IN.
NARRATOR: ZILHAO HAS
AN INTRIGUING EXPLANATION
FOR WHAT HE THINKS HAPPENED.
ZILHAO: IMAGINE TWO HUNTERS--
YOUNG ADULT OR LATE ADOLESCENT.
THEY'RE GOING OUT INTO
THE MOUNTAINS TO HUNT.
ALL OF A SUDDEN,
THERE'S A PROBLEM.
COULD HAVE BEEN A STORM.
[THUNDER]
THEY HAVE AN ACCIDENT.
THEY FALL, AND THEY DIE.
THEN SNOW COVERS THE BODIES.
THEY GET FROZEN AND STAY THERE.
THEY'RE NOT EATEN BY SCAVENGERS.
THE BODIES ARE JUST
PRESERVED IN THE SNOW.
END OF WINTER, COMES SPRING,
WATER MELTS.
YOU HAVE THESE RUSHES OF
MELTWATER, VERY POWERFUL.
EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN THE SNOW
IS DRAGGED INTO THE SINKHOLES
THAT EXIST
ALL OVER THIS PLATEAU,
AND THAT'S HOW THE BODIES
END UP IN THE CAVE.
THEY JUST STAY THERE THOUSANDS
AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS
UNTIL WE COME AND DIG THEM UP.
NARRATOR: THESE UNFORTUNATE
HUNTERS DIED 40,000 YEARS AGO.
THEY ARE THE OLDEST
DEFINITIVELY MODERN HUMANS--
HOMO SAPIENS--
FOUND ANYWHERE IN EUROPE.
BUT THEY WERE NOT
THE FIRST HUMANS
TO CALL EUROPE THEIR HOME.
IN 1856,
AN UNUSUAL SKELETON WAS
DISCOVERED IN GERMANY
IN THE NEANDER VALLEY.
IT BECAME KNOWN
AS A NEANDERTHAL.
STOCKIER THAN MODERN HUMANS,
WITH A BARREL CHEST AND
SUPERSTRONG MUSCLE ATTACHMENTS,
NEANDERTHALS HAVE
FASCINATED US EVER SINCE.
AT FIRST, THEY WERE DISMISSED
AS WILD, SIMPLEMINDED CAVEMEN,
BUT NOW WE KNOW BETTER.
WOMAN: IF YOU LOOK AT
THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL,
YOU WILL NOTICE THAT IT'S
ACTUALLY RATHER LARGE.
IT'S A VERY PRONOUNCED
BROWRIDGE,
DOUBLY ARCHED ABOVE
THE EYE SOCKETS.
WE SEE A VERY PROJECTING NOSE
WITH A VERY BIG NASAL OPENING.
NOT ONLY THE FACE IS LARGE,
BUT ALSO THE BRAINCASE
IS LARGE,
AND THIS IS BECAUSE
NEANDERTHAL BRAINS
ARE LARGER THAN THE AVERAGE
MODERN HUMAN BRAIN.
AND THIS IS PERHAPS
SURPRISING
BECAUSE NEANDERTHALS
HAVE A BAD REPUTATION
OF BEING PERHAPS SOMEHOW STUPID,
BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.
THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT
THEY WOULD HAVE HAD
THE EXACT SAME COGNITIVE
PROPERTIES AS WE DO,
BUT CERTAINLY THEY WERE, UH,
VERY SIMILAR IN MANY RESPECTS.
NARRATOR: IN THE HUMAN
FAMILY TREE,
NEANDERTHALS ARE
OUR CLOSEST COUSINS.
HALF A MILLION YEARS AGO,
THEIR ANCESTORS WERE
THE SAME AS OURS.
BUT THEY MOVED OUT
OF AFRICA EARLIER,
INTO EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA.
THERE, THEY ADAPTED
TO A COLDER CLIMATE
AND EVOLVED INTO
A DIFFERENT SPECIES--
NOT HOMO SAPIENS LIKE US,
BUT HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS...
NEANDERTHALS.
THEY MADE ICE-AGE EUROPE
THEIR HOME,
LIVING IN SMALL GROUPS,
HUNTING BIG GAME.
SO WHAT HAPPENED
WHEN MODERN HUMANS TURNED UP
40,000 YEARS AGO?
WHAT DID WE MAKE OF
THE NEANDERTHALS?
IT'S LONG BEEN THOUGHT
WE WERE SO SUPERIOR,
WE SIMPLY WIPED THEM OUT.
ARCKA!
ARCKA!
[PEOPLE SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY]
NARRATOR:
BUT IS THIS REALLY TRUE?
THE REMAINS THAT JOAO ZILHAO
FOUND IN ROMANIA
TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.
THEY HAVE THE FEATURES
OF A MODERN HUMAN--
THE SMALL VERTICAL FACE
AND JUTTING CHIN
THAT FIRST APPEARED IN AFRICA
200,000 YEARS AGO--
BUT ALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS.
ZILHAO: WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS
SKULL, IT IS OBVIOUSLY MODERN.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
WHEN YOU LOOK MORE CLOSELY,
SOME THINGS ARE NOT QUITE RIGHT
FOR A MODERN HUMAN.
UH, FOR INSTANCE,
THE FRONTAL BONE SLOPES
BACKWARD VERY MARKEDLY.
THE DENTITION IN PARTICULAR
IS VERY STRANGE.
THE FIRST MOLAR IS SMALLER
THAN THE SECOND.
THE SECOND IS SMALLER
THAN THE THIRD.
THESE ARE FEATURES THAT YOU
WOULD NOT EXPECT TO FIND
IN A-- IN A MODERN HUMAN.
WHERE YOU DO FIND SUCH FEATURES
IS AMONG THE NEANDERTHALS.
NARRATOR: INSTEAD OF WIPING OUT
THE NEANDERTHALS,
ZILHAO BELIEVES
WE MATED WITH THEM,
AND THE TWO PEOPLES INTERBRED.
ZILHAO: WE CALL THESE PEOPLE
NEANDERTHAL AND MODERN HUMAN.
THEY WOULD NOT KNOW THEY WERE
NEANDERTHAL OR MODERN HUMAN.
WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IS
LOGICAL IN A CONTEST LIKE THIS.
PEOPLE HAVE SEX,
AND PEOPLE BREED.
IT'S JUST, UH--
THAT'S BASIC HUMAN NATURE.
NARRATOR: ACCORDING TO ZILHAO,
THE SKULL IS A HUMAN HYBRID--
PART MODERN, PART NEANDERTHAL.
UNTIL RECENTLY, THE IDEA
THAT TWO DISTINCT HUMAN SPECIES
COULD INTERBREED AND HYBRIDIZE
WAS THOUGHT TO BE IMPOSSIBLE--
A SCIENTIFIC HERESY.
THAT'S CHANGED, THANKS TO DNA.
THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE
IS A LEADER IN THE STUDY
OF ANCIENT DNA.
IN 2010, THEY WERE
THE FIRST PEOPLE
TO CRACK THE GENETIC CODE
OF A NEANDERTHAL.
THE FIRST CHALLENGE WAS
TO FIND THE RIGHT BONE
WHICH STILL CONTAINED
READABLE DNA
AFTER 38,000 YEARS IN A CAVE.
THEN THEY HAD TO
SEQUENCE THE DNA,
ANALYZING EVERY FRAGMENT.
IT WAS LIKE TRYING
TO READ A BOOK
THAT'S BEEN RIPPED INTO
MILLIONS OF PIECES.
THE PROJECT WAS LED BY
SWEDISH GENETICIST SVANTE PAABO.
MAN: IMAGINE THAT WHAT
WE HAVE IN THIS BAG
IS THE DNA WE HAVE EXTRACTED
FROM A NEANDERTHAL BONE--
AND WE ILLUSTRATED THIS
WITH AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY
THAT WE HAVE SHREDDED.
BUT IT'S NOT ONLY
THIS DICTIONARY HERE.
THERE ARE DICTIONARIES
OF OTHER LANGUAGES
THAT ILLUSTRATE THE GENOMES
OF BACTERIA AND FUNGI
THAT HAVE LIVED IN THE BONE
OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
AND OUR CHALLENGE IS NOW
TO TRY TO FIND THE PIECES
THAT COME FROM
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOMES
AMONG ALL THESE MILLIONS
AND MILLIONS OF OTHER PIECES
THAT WE'RE NOT
INTERESTED IN.
WHAT WE ARE FACED WITH
IS NOT ONLY
THAT WE HAVE A MIXTURE OF
DIFFERENT GENOMES HERE.
THE PIECES ARE ALSO VERY SMALL,
AND THEY GET SMALLER
AND SMALLER AS TIME PASSES.
AND NOT ONLY THAT,
THEY ARE IN ADDITION
CHEMICALLY MODIFIED,
WHICH WE CAN ILLUSTRATE
WITH THIS.
NARRATOR: IMAGINE HAVING TO
DECIPHER MILLIONS OF FRAGMENTS
THAT ARE SO DEGRADED
THEY'RE BARELY LEGIBLE
AND THEN USING THEM
TO RECONSTRUCT
AN ENTIRE DICTIONARY.
IT SEEMS AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK,
BUT THAT'S THE EQUIVALENT
OF WHAT PAABO AND HIS TEAM
HAD TO DO WITH
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME.
THEY HAD ONE THING
GOING FOR THEM.
BECAUSE NEANDERTHALS
ARE OUR COUSINS,
THEIR GENOME WAS BOUND TO BE
INCREDIBLY SIMILAR TO OURS--
WRITTEN IN MORE OR LESS
THE SAME LANGUAGE.
MAN: WHAT WE DO IS COMPARE
THESE TINY LITTLE DNA FRAGMENTS
FROM THE NEANDERTHAL BONE
TO THE GENOME OF
PRESENT-DAY HUMANS.
AND WE EXPECT TO SEE
JUST TINY DIFFERENCES,
BECAUSE THE NEANDERTHALS ARE,
OF COURSE, VERY CLOSELY RELATED,
AFTER ALL,
TO PRESENT-DAY PEOPLE--
AT LEAST 10 TIMES AS CLOSE
AS A CHIMPANZEE, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO IN THIS ANALOGY HERE,
ONE COULD SEE THIS
AS A DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND
BRITISH ENGLISH, FOR EXAMPLE--
WHICH IS VERY, VERY SIMILAR,
BUT HAVE TINY LITTLE DIFFERENCES
IN HOW YOU SPELL WORDS.
NARRATOR: IT'S THESE
SUBTLE DISCREPANCIES
THAT EMBODY
THE GENETIC DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS.
IT TOOK THE SEQUENCING
MACHINES 21/2 YEARS
TO SIFT AND SORT THROUGH
ALL THE FRAGMENTS
AND CONSTRUCT
A COMPLETE SEQUENCE...
BUT WHEN THE WORK WAS DONE,
THEY HAD BEFORE THEM THE FIRST
GENOME OF AN EXTINCT HUMAN.
MAN: ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS
WE WERE REALLY INTERESTED IN
WAS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN
MODERN HUMANS CAME OUT OF AFRICA
AND MET NEANDERTHALS.
DID OUR ANCESTORS THEN MIX
WITH NEANDERTHALS OR NOT?
NARRATOR: THEY COMPARED
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME
WITH THAT OF MODERN-DAY PEOPLE
FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
THEY DISCOVERED
A REMARKABLE PATTERN.
IN AFRICA, THEY FOUND
NO EVIDENCE OF INTERBREEDING...
BUT EVERYWHERE ELSE
IN THE WORLD,
THERE WAS A TRAIL
OF NEANDERTHAL GENES.
BETWEEN 1% AND 3% OF OUR DNA
HAS BEEN INHERITED
FROM NEANDERTHALS.
PAABO: I WAS FIRST
VERY SKEPTICAL
WHEN WE STARTED SEEING
THIS SIGNAL,
BUT THE POWER OF GENETICS
IS IN A WAY
THAT THE DATA WILL
STARE YOU IN THE FACE
AND FORCE YOU TO RETHINK
YOUR IDEAS IF YOU'RE WRONG.
NARRATOR:
ACCORDING TO THE GENETICS,
INTERBREEDING HAPPENED
IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
AROUND 55,000 YEARS AGO,
MODERN HUMANS WERE EXPANDING
NORTH OUT OF AFRICA.
AT THE SAME TIME,
THE NEANDERTHALS WERE
BEING PUSHED SOUTH
BY A COLD SPELL IN EUROPE.
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN
WERE DESTINED TO MEET.
AND HERE THEY MATED
AND INTERBRED.
THE GENETIC EVIDENCE
UNDERMINES THE TRADITIONAL VIEW
OF EUROPE'S FIRST PEOPLES.
IF THEY BRED WITH EACH OTHER,
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN CANNOT
HAVE BEEN SO VERY DIFFERENT.
MAN: FOR A CENTURY AND A HALF,
SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN PICKING
OVER THE EVIDENCE IN EUROPE,
TRYING TO UNDERSTAND
WHY NEANDERTHALS SEEM
SO SEPARATE FROM US.
THEY ASSUMED THAT
MODERN HUMANS ARE JUST
SUPERIOR TO NEANDERTHALS,
AND SO THERE'D BE NO CHANCE OF
THEM INTERACTING WITH EACH OTHER
IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY.
NOW GENETICS IS SHOWING US
THAT THAT'S WRONG--
THAT THESE TWO TYPES OF HUMANS
INTERBRED WITH EACH OTHER.
THAT MAY CHANGE EVERYTHING.
WE'VE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO FIT
NEANDERTHALS INTO THIS STORY.
THEY'RE LIKE CARDS
FROM A DIFFERENT PACK--
SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT.
THE PROBLEM IS, IF WE TRY TO
PUT THEM IN THIS STRUCTURE,
THE WHOLE THING
MAY COME TUMBLING DOWN.
TO ME, AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST,
THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
AT THE MOMENT.
THE OLD STORY HAS COLLAPSED,
AND WE'VE GOT TO BEGIN
TO TELL A NEW STORY
ABOUT NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS--
A STORY ABOUT INTERACTION.
NARRATOR: THE NEW STORY STARTS
HERE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE,
WITH A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
WHICH SUGGESTS MODERN HUMANS
WERE IN EUROPE
FAR EARLIER THAN
ANYONE THOUGHT.
[MAN SPEAKING
FRENCH]
NARRATOR:
THIS IS MANDRIN CAVE.
ARCHAEOLOGIST
LUDOVIC SLIMAK
HAS BEEN EXCAVATING HERE
FOR 10 YEARS.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: MANDRIN CAVE
WAS DISCOVERED RECENTLY
AND HAS EXCEPTIONAL
PRESERVATION.
MODERN ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS
DEVELOPED HERE
GIVE US A VERY PRECISE PICTURE
OF THE LIVES OF
THE DIFFERENT HUMAN GROUPS
WHO CAME TO MANDRIN CAVE.
NARRATOR:
AS HIS TEAM EXCAVATED,
THEY UNCOVERED
A MASS OF ARTIFACTS
IN SEDIMENT
THAT'S 50,000 YEARS OLD.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
BELOW THE GRAY LAYER,
IN THE MIDDLE THERE,
YOU CAN SEE
A KIND OF YELLOW SAND.
AND THIS LAYER HAS REVEALED
SOMETHING SURPRISING
WHICH WE'VE NEVER SEEN
IN EUROPE BEFORE.
NARRATOR:
IN THIS ONE LAYER
WERE MORE THAN 1,000
TINY SHARDS OF FLINT.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: THIS ONE
IS A PERFECT TRIANGLE.
IT'S JUST A CENTIMETER LONG.
AND THIS POINT
HAS A FRACTURE,
WHICH I THINK MUST HAVE BEEN
CAUSED BY ITS USE AS A WEAPON.
WE KNOW BLADES LIKE THIS EXIST
IN TRADITIONAL TRIBES TODAY,
BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS
PROPELLED BY A BOW,
WHICH WILL MEAN THAT
THESE ARE ARROWHEADS.
NARRATOR:
THE BOW AND ARROW
IS A WEAPON ASSOCIATED
ONLY WITH MODERN HUMANS.
DOES THIS MEAN THEY WERE
IN FRANCE 50,000 YEARS AGO--
10,000 YEARS BEFORE
WE FIND THEM IN ROMANIA?
SLIMAK HAS TO BE SURE
THE OBJECTS REALLY
ARE ARROWHEADS,
SO HE SETS ABOUT
REPLICATING THEM.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: THE SORT OF
POINT FOUND AT MANDRIN
REQUIRES A VERY
HIGH LEVEL OF SKILL
AND LOTS OF EXPERIENCE
TO MAKE.
IT'S NOT ABOUT HITTING
A ROCK AGAINST A ROCK.
IT'S ABOUT BECOMING
IN TUNE WITH THAT ROCK.
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN
ONLY A FEW GREAT CRAFTSMEN
WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN
ABLE TO MAKE THEM.
WE ARE GOING TO CHIP OFF
SOME SMALL PIECES
TO GIVE THE BLOCK
A PERFECT TRIANGULAR SHAPE.
WE CAN THEN MAKE IN ONE GO
A POINT THAT'S IDENTICAL TO
THE ONES FOUND IN MANDRIN CAVE.
NARRATOR:
TO COMPLETE THE TEST,
HE NEEDS TO FIRE
THE ARROWHEADS
AND SEE IF THEY FRACTURE
IN THE SAME WAY
AS THE POINTS FROM THE CAVE.
THAT REQUIRES AN EXPERT ARCHER
AND A SUITABLE PREY.
[PEOPLE SPEAKING FRENCH]
IT'S PERFECT.
[SPEAKING
FRENCH]
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
C'EST BIEN.
IT'S A GOOD ONE.
NARRATOR: SINCE MODERN HUMANS
WERE THE ONES MAKING ARROWHEADS,
SLIMAK BELIEVES THEY MUST HAVE
BEEN HERE 50,000 YEARS AGO.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: TODAY,
THE RHONE IS A MAJOR HIGHWAY.
BOATS, TRAINS,
AND CARS USE IT
TO GET FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN
TO THE NORTH.
THIS HIGHWAY MUST HAVE BEEN
THE SAME IN THE PAST.
YOU CAN IMAGINE SEEING
BIG HERDS OF HORSES AND BISON
COMING UP FROM
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
THEY MUST HAVE BEEN
A GREAT RESOURCE FOR THE HUNTERS
WHO WERE IN THIS POPULATION
50,000 YEARS AGO.
NARRATOR:
BUT MODERN HUMANS
WERE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE
USING THIS HUNTING GROUND.
WHAT'S INTRIGUING IS,
THE ARROWHEADS
WERE FOUND IN A LAYER
SANDWICHED BETWEEN
OTHER LAYERS OF ARTIFACTS
MADE BY NEANDERTHALS.
BASED ON FRAGMENTS OF SOOT
IN THE SAME SEDIMENT,
THE GAP BETWEEN THESE LAYERS
WAS INCREDIBLY SMALL.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: ANALYZING
WITH SOOT DEPOSIT,
WE CAN SEE THE TIME BETWEEN TWO
OCCUPATIONS AT MANDRIN CAVE,
AND THEREFORE WE KNOW
THAT BETWEEN THE PEOPLE WHO MADE
NEANDERTHAL TOOLS IN THIS CAVE
AND THE PEOPLE WHO MADE
THE BOW AND ARROWS,
IT WAS ONLY A VERY SHORT TIME--
MAYBE ONE SEASON, MAYBE TWO.
NARRATOR: THE PICTURE THAT
EMERGES IS OF MODERN HUMANS
IN THE RHONE VALLEY
50,000 YEARS AGO.
THEY SHOW UP HERE
BEFORE ANYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE.
THEY WERE USING BOW AND ARROWS
TO HUNT THEIR PREY.
BUT THEY DIDN'T STAY LONG.
FOR SOME REASON,
THEY MOVED ON,
NOT TO RETURN FOR
THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
AND WITHIN MONTHS,
OR JUST WEEKS,
THE NEANDERTHALS
MOVED BACK IN.
THERE'S NO SIGN
OF CONFRONTATION.
IT'S AS IF
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN
WERE MOVING IN AND OUT OF EACH
OTHER'S TERRITORY AS EQUALS.
NEANDERTHALS MAY NOT
HAVE MADE ARROWHEADS,
BUT AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME,
THEY WERE MAKING TOOLS
JUST AS INGENIOUS
AS THOSE MADE
BY MODERN HUMANS.
300 MILES FROM THE RHONE,
AT ABRI PEYRONY ROCK SHELTER,
ARCHAEOLOGIST SHANNON McPHERRON
HAS EXCAVATED PART OF A BONE.
MAN: IT'S A SMALL
FRAGMENT OF RIB,
WITH THIS CURVED POLISHED TIP,
THAT I THINK IS THE BROKEN END
OF A BONE TOOL.
WHEN-- WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS
IN A MICROSCOPE,
WE SEE SMALL GROOVES,
SMALL STRIATIONS THAT SHOW
THE DIRECTION OF USE,
THAT SHOW THAT IT WAS GETTING
RUBBED UP AGAINST SOMETHING.
[HORSE NEIGHS]
NARRATOR: AS McPHERRON WONDERED
WHAT THESE BONE TOOLS WERE FOR,
HE REALIZED LEATHER WORKERS
TODAY USE SOMETHING SIMILAR.
DELPHINE VIAU IS A SADDLE MAKER
WORKING IN A TRADITIONAL WAY.
SHE IMMEDIATELY
RECOGNIZES THE TOOL.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
THEY ARE LISSOIRS.
THIS ONE IS SMALLER,
BUT IT'S THE SAME THING.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: SO YOU'RE USING
THE EDGES OF THE TOOL?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
YOU CLOSE ALL THE
PORES OF THE SKIN,
WHICH MAKES IT
WATERPROOF.
NOW IT'S CLOSED.
YOU CAN ALSO IMAGINE
IF YOU USE OIL ON IT,
IT WILL PENETRATE
REALLY DEEPLY.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: WHY USE
BONE AND NOT WOOD?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
IT CAN BE DONE
WITH WOOD OR METAL,
BUT METAL
SCRATCHES EASILY.
THERE IS A RISK
THAT SOMETHING COULD
DAMAGE THE LEATHER.
AND WOOD WEARS OUT,
UNLIKE BONE, WHICH
IS INDESTRUCTIBLE.
NARRATOR: 50,000 YEARS AGO,
THIS IS WHAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE DOING--
USING A RIB BONE AS A LISSOIR
TO MAKE THEIR SKINS WATERPROOF--
A CREATIVE RESPONSE
TO THE WET, COLD CONDITIONS
OF ICE-AGE EUROPE.
McPHERRON: IT DOES SHOW
ON THE PART OF THE NEANDERTHALS
AN ABILITY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
THAT LET THEM PREPARE
THEIR HIDES BETTER.
WHAT I FIND COOL IN THIS CASE
IS THAT WE HAVE SOMETHING
THAT BRIDGES THAT 50,000 YEARS
BETWEEN US AND THEM.
IN THIS CASE, IT'S THE SAME TOOL
BEING USED ACROSS ALL THAT TIME.
NARRATOR: JOAO ZILHAO THINKS
NEANDERTHALS HAD TALENTS
THAT WENT BEYOND TOOL MAKING.
THEY ALSO HAD
AN AESTHETIC SENSE.
THEY WERE CAPABLE OF
SYMBOLIC THOUGHT--
USING SHELLS TO MIX UP
NATURAL PIGMENTS.
ZILHAO: THERE ARE SEVERAL
POSSIBILITIES TO EXPLAIN THIS.
ONE IS THAT, UH,
THEY PAINTED THE SHELL.
THEY WANTED IT TO BE A DIFFERENT
COLOR FROM THE ORIGINAL.
THE OTHER IS THAT THEY WERE
USING THE SHELL AS A CONTAINER
FOR SOMETHING LIKE
BODY PAINTING OR MAKEUP.
IN SOCIETIES THAT LACK
IDENTITY CARDS OR PASSPORTS,
UM, BODY PAINTING
AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION, UH,
TRANSMIT INFORMATION
ABOUT WHO YOU ARE.
IT'S A WAY OF CONVEYING
A MESSAGE, UH, OF--
ABOUT THEMSELVES--
WHICH TRIBE YOU BELONG TO,
WHETHER YOU'RE OUT TO
PARTICIPATE IN HUNTING.
IN A WAY, YOU CAN SAY THAT
THIS IS MODERN BEHAVIOR,
AND SINCE WE HAVE DOCUMENTED IT
AMONG THE NEANDERTHALS,
THE CONCLUSION IS
THAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE MODERN, TOO.
THAT WOULD BE MY CONCLUSION.
[SHOUTS
INDISTINCTLY]
[SHOUTS
INDISTINCTLY]
NARRATOR: WHAT ELSE WERE
THE NEANDERTHALS CAPABLE OF?
JUST HOW SIMILAR
TO US WERE THEY?
JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN IS AN EXPERT
ON A LAYER OF ARTIFACTS--
KNOWN AS THE CHATELPERRONIAN--
FROM THE EARLY DAYS
OF CONTACT.
MAN: THIS IS A TOOTH OF FOX
THAT IS PIERCED HERE,
AND WE IMAGINE VERY EASILY
HOW THIS COULD BE A PART
OF A-- A NECKLACE
OR HOW IT COULD BE FIXED
ON A PIECE OF, UH,
CLOTHES, FOR EXAMPLE.
AND CLEARLY THIS SPEAKS TO US,
BECAUSE THIS IS EXACTLY
THE KIND OF TECHNIQUE
THAT HAS BEEN USED BY RECENT
HUNTER-GATHERERS AND EVEN TODAY.
NARRATOR: ARCHAEOLOGISTS
ALWAYS THOUGHT OF JEWELRY
AS THE WORK OF
MODERN HUMANS,
BUT WHEN THEY DISCOVERED
THE TEETH OF THE PEOPLE
WHO MADE THE ARTIFACTS...
THEY WERE NEANDERTHAL.
HUBLIN: THE TEETH FROM
THE CHATELPERRONIAN LAYERS
ARE TYPICAL FROM WHAT WE FIND
IN NEANDERTHAL, UH, DENTITION
EVERYWHERE ELSE.
YOU CAN SEE HERE
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A NEANDERTHAL UPPER INCISOR AND
A MODERN HUMAN UPPER INCISOR.
THERE'S A DIFFERENCE IN SIZE.
THERE'S ALSO
A DIFFERENCE IN-- IN SHAPE.
IN NEANDERTHALS,
YOU HAVE WHAT WE CALL A--
A SHOVEL SHAPE OF--
OF THIS TOOTH THAT
YOU DON'T HAVE AT ALL
IN MOST MODERN HUMANS.
NARRATOR: IF NEANDERTHALS
WERE MAKING
SOME OF THE FIRST
NECKLACES IN EUROPE,
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THEM
AND THEIR ABILITIES?
ZILHAO: FOR-- FOR DECADES,
SCIENCE HAS BEEN ASKING
ITSELF THE QUESTION
OF WHETHER NEANDERTHALS COULD
OR COULD NOT, UH,
MAKE THESE KINDS OF THINGS
AS A CLUE TO WHETHER THEIR
COGNITION WAS LIKE OUR OWN.
IT HAS BECOME CLEAR FROM
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
THAT THEY COULD DO
THESE THINGS.
WE KNOW THEY COULD,
BECAUSE THEY DID
DO THESE THINGS.
NARRATOR: IT SEEMS
NEANDERTHALS WERE NOT
THE DUMB BRUTES OF LEGEND.
ISOLATED IN EUROPE FOR
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
THEY HAD DEVELOPED
THEIR OWN CULTURE
ON A PAR WITH THAT
OF THEIR MODERN HUMAN COUSINS.
BUT ALL THE WHILE,
MODERN HUMANS CONTINUED
PUSHING OUT OF AFRICA,
THROUGH THE MIDDLE EAST,
AND INTO EUROPE.
CHANGE WAS COMING.
WITHIN THE
CHATELPERRONIAN LAYER,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND A TYPE OF
SPEAR POINT MADE BY NEANDERTHALS
WHICH LOOKS INCREDIBLY SIMILAR
TO POINTS MADE AT THE SAME TIME
BY MODERN HUMANS.
IT'S AS IF THE NEANDERTHALS
WERE COPYING THE DESIGN.
THEY MAY NEVER HAVE MET THE
PEOPLE WHO MADE THE ORIGINALS.
ALL THEY NEEDED WAS TO FIND
A DISCARDED SPEAR
AND WORK OUT FOR THEMSELVES
HOW TO MAKE IT.
HUBLIN: IT LOOKS LIKE
THEY HAVE PRODUCED
THE SAME KIND OF OBJECT,
BUT WITH THEIR OWN TECHNOLOGY.
SO THE FINAL PRODUCT
LOOKS VERY MUCH THE SAME,
BUT THE METHOD TO PRODUCE IT
IS DIFFERENT.
NARRATOR: TO COPY A TECHNOLOGY
WITHOUT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL
IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE,
BUT IT ALSO SPELLED
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
FOR THE NEANDERTHALS.
THEY WERE NOW PLAYING
CATCH-UP,
THEIR CULTURE TRANSFORMED BY
THE PRESENCE OF MODERN HUMANS.
HUBLIN: SOME HAVE ARGUED
THAT NEANDERTHALS INVENTED
THESE KIND OF OBJECTS
INDEPENDENTLY FROM
THE MODERN HUMANS,
BUT IT'S KIND OF PUZZLING
THAT THEY WOULD DO THAT
JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN
MODERN HUMANS MOVED INTO EUROPE.
NARRATOR: SOMETHING SIMILAR
HAPPENED 400 YEARS AGO
WHEN EUROPEANS BROUGHT
HORSES TO NORTH AMERICA.
THE NATIVE PEOPLE REALIZED
HOW USEFUL THESE ANIMALS WERE
AND LEARNED TO RIDE THEM WITHOUT
EVER BEING TAUGHT BY EUROPEANS.
THE IDEA SPREAD SO QUICKLY
AND SO EFFECTIVELY
THAT HORSES BECAME CENTRAL TO
THE CULTURE OF PLAINS INDIANS.
BUT NO MATTER HOW GOOD THEY WERE
AT ADAPTING TO A NEW CULTURE,
THEY COULDN'T KEEP UP--
OVERWHELMED BY
THE SHEER NUMBER OF EUROPEANS
MOVING ONTO THEIR LAND.
IN PREHISTORIC EUROPE,
NEANDERTHALS FACED
THE SAME SORT OF FATE--
OVERWHELMED BY THE SPREAD
OF MODERN HUMANS.
HAWKS: AT FIRST,
NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS
SEEM TO HAVE BEEN
EQUAL PARTNERS.
THEY WERE SHARING
THE LANDSCAPE,
THEY WERE SHARING TECHNOLOGY,
AND THEY WERE SHARING GENES.
IF YOU IMAGINE THAT THIS DECK
OF CARDS IS MODERN HUMANS
AND THIS DECK IS NEANDERTHALS,
THEY'RE BASICALLY THE SAME,
BUT THE NEANDERTHALS
HAVE BLUE FACE CARDS,
SO JUST A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.
IF WE MIX THEM TOGETHER,
THAT'S WHAT WAS HAPPENING
IN THE EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE.
AND YOU LOOK AT THE RESULTING
BLEND OF POPULATIONS,
YOU CAN SEE THAT
THERE'S A GOOD MIX.
YOU'VE GOT A LOT
OF ORDINARY CARDS
AND A FEW
OF THE BLUE CARDS.
BUT THEN, AT SOME POINT,
THE BALANCE OF POWER SHIFTS.
NEANDERTHALS
ARE STUCK IN EUROPE,
BUT MODERN HUMAN POPULATIONS
ARE GROWING IN AFRICA AND ASIA,
AND YOU GET WAVE AFTER WAVE
OF NEW POPULATIONS
COMING INTO EUROPE.
AS THEY DO,
IT'S LIKE MIXING IN MORE AND
MORE OF THESE DECKS OF CARDS.
SO WHAT YOU END UP SEEING
IS THAT THE POPULATION IS ALMOST
UNIFORMLY MODERN HUMANS
WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT
OF NEANDERTHAL.
THAT MEANS THAT
THE NEANDERTHALS WERE SWAMPED.
THEY WERE ABSORBED INTO
THE MODERN HUMAN POPULATION
GENETICALLY, PHYSIOLOGICALLY,
AND CULTURALLY.
NARRATOR: ONE OF
THE KEY ROUTES INTO EUROPE
WAS VIA THE DANUBE RIVER.
IT FLOWS FROM THE BLACK SEA
THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE
INTO MODERN-DAY GERMANY.
1,000 MILES UPRIVER,
IT PASSES THROUGH
THE REGION OF SWABIA.
IN MODERN TIMES,
THE RIVER HAS CHANGED COURSE,
BUT 40,000 YEARS AGO,
THIS WAS THE DANUBE VALLEY.
IT WAS HOME TO A NEW WAVE
OF MODERN HUMANS
SPREADING THROUGH EUROPE.
THEY LIVED IN LIMESTONE CAVES
LIKE THIS ONE-- HOHLE FELS.
FOR 17 YEARS,
ARCHAEOLOGIST NICK CONARD
HAS BEEN WORKING HERE--
DIRECTING EXCAVATIONS,
EXPLORING THE HUMAN HISTORY
OF THIS CAVE.
MAN: SO, JANE,
MORE LITTLE TREASURES?
HAVE YOU BEEN
FINDING BIRD BONE
OR MAINLY, UM,
CHARCOAL?
JANE: UH, A FEW
VERY SMALL PIECES...
NARRATOR:
THEY FIND ARTIFACTS
MADE BY NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS,
BUT NEVER FROM
THE SAME DATE.
THERE'S A 2,000-YEAR GAP
BETWEEN THE LAST NEANDERTHAL
AND THE FIRST MODERN HUMAN.
A FASCINATING QUESTION IS,
WHAT HAPPENED
WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED?
WHAT WAS THE SITUATION?
WE WOULD EXPECT
MODERN HUMANS
AND NEANDERTHALS
TO HAVE MET HERE.
INTERESTINGLY,
THAT'S NOT THE CASE.
WHEN WE LOOK AT THE DEEP
DEPOSITS AT HOHLE FELS,
WE CAN SHOW THAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE LIVING HERE
FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
BUT WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED,
THE CAVE WAS EMPTY.
THAT RAISES A QUESTION OF,
WHY WAS THAT THE CASE?
WHY WEREN'T NEANDERTHALS
VISIBLY HERE ON THE LANDSCAPE
WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED?
NARRATOR: CONARD BELIEVES
THAT BY THE TIME
THEY WERE HERE IN SWABIA,
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN WERE ON
A DIFFERENT TRAJECTORY.
JUDGING BY THE ARTIFACTS
THEY MADE,
MODERN HUMANS HAD TAKEN
A QUANTUM LEAP FORWARD.
THE VENUS OF HOHLE FELS WAS MADE
35,000 TO 40,000 YEARS AGO.
IT'S THE OLDEST SCULPTURE
OF A HUMAN BODY
FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
CONARD: IT'S INTERESTING
TO LOOK AT WHAT IS DEPICTED
AND WHAT'S ABSENT.
WHAT IS MOST PROMINENTLY
ABSENT IS THE HEAD.
THERE'S NO HEAD AT ALL.
INSTEAD OF A HEAD,
THERE'S A RING,
SHOWING THAT IT WAS USED
PERHAPS AS AN ORNAMENT
OR WORN AROUND THE NECK.
WHAT IS PRESENT
ARE THE SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS.
THE PUBIC TRIANGLE AND THE VULVA
ARE VERY INTENSELY CUT OUT,
SHOWING THAT THE GENITALIA
OF REPRODUCTION WERE IMPORTANT.
THE BREASTS--
ENORMOUS BREASTS, OVERSIZED--
ALSO CONSISTENT WITH THE IDEA OF
FERTILITY AND, UH, REPRODUCTION.
YOU CAN IMAGINE AFTER SPENDING
MONTHS BEING HOLED UP
TRYING TO SURVIVE
THE LONG, COLD WINTER...
AND THEN THE SPRING COMES.
THE GRASS COMES UP.
THE ANIMALS START TO HAVE
SOMETHING TO EAT.
I MEAN, THE JOY WE HAVE
AT THE END OF THE WINTER,
IT WOULD BE NOTHING
COMPARED TO THESE PEOPLE
WHO'VE BEEN
HUNKERING DOWN IN A CAVE
JUST TRYING TO MANAGE
OVER THOSE LONG MONTHS.
THE WHOLE IDEA OF THE
CONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN PEOPLE,
HUMAN REPRODUCTION,
ANIMAL REPRODUCTION--
THAT ALL IS WHAT
THIS, UH, FIGURINE'S ABOUT.
NARRATOR:
IN NEIGHBORING CAVES,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND
OTHER FIGURINES
CARVED FROM MAMMOTH IVORY...
ANIMALS THAT POPULATED
THE ICE-AGE LANDSCAPE.
THEY ARE SOME OF
THE MOST EXQUISITE
ART OBJECTS EVER MADE--
THE CROWN JEWELS OF
EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
ONE OF THE MOST
INTRIGUING FIGURES
IS NEITHER ANIMAL NOR HUMAN...
BUT BOTH.
11 INCHES TALL,
THE LION MAN
OF HOHLENSTEIN STADEL
IS THOUGHT TO BE
SOME KIND OF RELIGIOUS ICON--
A SHAMANIC TOTEM.
BUT HE'S NOT ALONE.
A MINIATURE VERSION
OF THE SAME FIGURE
WAS FOUND AT HOHLE FELS
30 MILES AWAY.
CONARD: THE REMARKABLE THING
ABOUT THE LION MEN
IS THAT WE HAVE
TWO OBJECTS THAT,
ALTHOUGH THEY'RE
A VERY DIFFERENT SIZE,
ARE ACTUALLY THE SAME THING--
COMBINATIONS OF LIONS AND HUMANS
BEING DEPICTED
IN TWO DIFFERENT VALLEYS.
WHEN YOU FIND THE SECOND ONE,
IT MAKES IT VERY CLEAR THAT
THIS WAS PART OF THEIR IDEOLOGY,
THEIR SYSTEM OF BELIEFS,
SHOWING THAT
THERE WAS INTERACTION
BETWEEN THESE PEOPLE--
THAT THEY EXISTED IN
A SOCIAL NETWORK,
WERE FROM THE SAME CULTURE,
SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE,
PERHAPS EXCHANGING MATES,
ECONOMIC TIES.
THEY LIVED ADJACENT TO ANOTHER
BUT WERE IN FREQUENT CONTACT
WITH ONE ANOTHER.
NARRATOR: ARCHAEOLOGISTS
AT HOHLE FELS
HAVE ALSO FOUND A BONE FLUTE.
MADE 35,000 YEARS AGO,
IT'S ONE OF THE OLDEST MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS IN THE WORLD.
MAN: UH, THE BEST BONES
TO MAKE FLUTES OF
ARE WING BONES OF BIG BIRDS--
FOR EXAMPLE, VULTURES
OR EAGLES OR SWANS.
IT'S THE SAME
LIKE OUR LOWER ARM.
AND THE FIRST STEP
TO MAKE A FLUTE OUT OF IT
IS TO CUT OFF THE JOINT ENDS
WITH A FLINT TOOL.
NARRATOR: WULF HEIN IS AN EXPERT
IN PALEORECONSTRUCTIONS.
HE'S WORKED OUT IT WOULD HAVE
TAKEN PREHISTORIC PEOPLE
4 HOURS TO MAKE A BONE FLUTE.
HEIN: ONE MAY WONDER, "WHY DID
PEOPLE SPEND SO MUCH EFFORT
ON MAKING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
AT THAT TIME?"
AND FOR ME,
THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS.
MUSIC IS THE GLUE THAT KEEPS
A SOCIETY TOGETHER.
IF YOU LIVE FOR A LONG TIME
IN A SMALL SPACE
WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE,
THERE WILL BE AGGRESSION.
THERE WILL BE SOCIAL TENSION.
AND THE BEST THING TO KEEP THESE
TENSIONS AWAY IS MAKING MUSIC.
NARRATOR: THE QUESTION IS,
WHAT DID THE FLUTE SOUND LIKE?
[HEIN PLAYING
"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"]
JIMI HENDRIX
DID IT BETTER,
BUT THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION
OF "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"
JUST FOR YOU. THANK YOU.
NARRATOR: ONCE MODERN HUMANS
HAD OPENED A ROUTE
THROUGH THE DANUBE CORRIDOR,
THE POPULATION KEPT GROWING.
AFRICA WAS LIKE A PUMP
PUSHING MORE PEOPLE INTO EUROPE.
THE CENTRAL ZONE BETWEEN
THE ICE SHEETS AND MOUNTAINS
WAS PRIME REAL ESTATE.
IT BECAME ONE OF THE MOST
DENSELY POPULATED PARTS
OF THE PREHISTORIC WORLD--
A HUB OF SOCIAL CONNECTIONS.
ART WAS KEY TO THIS EXPANSION--
ALLOWING PEOPLE TO SHARE
A CULTURE OF BELIEFS,
TO FORGE THEIR OWN IDENTITY,
AND MARK THEMSELVES OUT
AS DIFFERENT.
BY CONTRAST, THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE FROM SWABIA
THAT NEANDERTHALS MADE
ANY COMPLEX ART OR MUSIC.
IS THAT BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T
CAPABLE OF SUCH THINGS,
OR DIDN'T NEED THEM?
THERE WERE FEWER
NEANDERTHALS
LIVING IN SMALLER GROUPS
THAT WERE LESS MOBILE.
THEY NEVER FORMED
THE SOCIAL NETWORKS
SO KEY TO MODERN HUMANS
IN EUROPE.
CONARD: THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE
A NEANDERTHAL INTERACTED WITH
OVER THE COURSE OF
HIS OR HER LIFE
WOULD BE PERHAPS DOZENS
OR SCORES OF PEOPLE.
MODERN HUMANS, IT COULD PERHAPS
BE MANY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE.
MODERN HUMANS HAD
AN ENORMOUS WEALTH OF OBJECTS--
FIGURATIVE OBJECTS,
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
ORNAMENTS THAT THEY NEEDED
TO IDENTIFY EACH OTHER,
TO COMMUNICATE
WITH EACH OTHER.
NEANDERTHALS
DIDN'T NEED THAT,
AND WHEN THEY
ENCOUNTERED IT,
IT WAS UNFAMILIAR TO THEM,
AND THEY STRUGGLED WITH IT.
NARRATOR: SINCE NEANDERTHALS
WERE DISCOVERED
OVER 150 YEARS AGO,
SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO
WORK OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM.
WHY DID THEY DISAPPEAR?
WE USED TO THINK THEY WERE
OUTSMARTED BY MODERN HUMANS,
BUT IT'S POSSIBLE
THEY WERE SIMPLY OUTNUMBERED.
[PEOPLE SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY]
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN
NO GREAT MOMENT OF EXTINCTION.
INSTEAD, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN
GRADUALLY ASSIMILATED BY US--
MODERN HUMANS.
HARVATI: NEANDERTHAL POPULATIONS
SEEMED TO BE EXTREMELY SMALL--
A FEW THOUSAND PEOPLE
ON A CONTINENTAL LEVEL.
MODERN HUMANS, FOR SOME REASON,
WERE ABLE TO REPRODUCE
FASTER AND MORE SUCCESSFULLY
THAN NEANDERTHALS,
PERHAPS ALSO RELYING ON--
ON CULTURE MORE.
UH, BUT THIS WOULD HAVE MADE,
IN FACT, ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
NEANDERTHALS DIDN'T REALLY
HAVE A CHANCE IN THE END.
[THUNDER]
NARRATOR:
WHEN NEANDERTHALS CEASED TO
EXIST AS A SEPARATE SPECIES,
TWO PEOPLES BECAME ONE,
BUT NEANDERTHAL GENES
LIVE ON IN OUR DNA.
HAWKS: ONCE WE LIVED
IN A WORLD INHABITED BY
ALL KINDS OF HUMANS--
NEANDERTHALS, DENISOVANS,
PROBABLY SEVERAL DIFFERENT
KINDS IN AFRICA.
AND NOW THEY'RE ALL GONE,
AND WE'RE THE ONLY ONES
THAT ARE LEFT.
WE WON THE GAME.
WE WERE BETTER AT CONNECTING,
BETTER AT CREATING NETWORKS,
BETTER AT LIVING
IN LARGER GROUPS,
AND THOSE THINGS
ALL FEED ON EACH OTHER.
ONCE YOU'RE LIVING
IN LARGER GROUPS,
YOU'RE MAKING
MORE CONNECTIONS.
YOU HAVE TO BECOME
MORE CREATIVE.
IT'S AN EXPONENTIAL PROCESS.
WHERE WE END UP IS-- IS HERE
IN OUR MODERN, COMPLEX WORLD.
THIS IS THE END RESULT
OF THOSE SEEDS SOWN
BY THE FIRST PEOPLES
AS THEY LEFT AFRICA
AND COLONIZED EVERY
CONTINENT OF THE WORLD.
NARRATOR: HOMO SAPIENS--
NOW THE ONLY HUMAN SPECIES
ON THE PLANET.
WE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SO MUCH
SMARTER THAN OTHER HUMANS,
BUT WE WERE MORE PLENTIFUL,
MORE SOCIAL, MORE CULTURED.
WE ABSORBED THEIR GENES
AND SHAPED OUR WORLD.
7 BILLION OF US TODAY
ARE LIVING PROOF.
WE ARE ALL CHILDREN
OF THE FIRST PEOPLES.
NEW WORLDS AND IDEAS.
SUPPORT YOUR PBS
STATION.
NARRATOR: TODAY,
WE HAVE EUROPE TO OURSELVES.
WE ARE ALL MODERN HUMANS.
BUT WHEN WE FIRST
ARRIVED IN THIS LAND,
IT WAS ALREADY A HOME
FOR OUR COUSINS--
THE NEANDERTHALS.
WE USED TO THINK WE WERE
SO MUCH MORE ADVANCED
THAT WE KILLED THEM OFF,
BUT THAT MAY BE WRONG.
IN REALITY,
WE WERE SO SIMILAR,
WE COULD INTERBREED WITH THEM
AND SHARE OUR DNA.
MAN: THE OLD STORY
HAS COLLAPSED,
AND WE'VE GOT TO BEGIN
TO TELL A NEW STORY
ABOUT NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS.
DIFFERENT MAN:
THE POWER OF GENETICS
IS THAT THE DATA WILL
STARE YOU IN THE FACE
AND FORCE YOU TO
RETHINK YOUR IDEAS.
WOMAN: NEANDERTHALS
HAVE A BAD REPUTATION
OF BEING PERHAPS
SOMEHOW STUPID,
BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.
NARRATOR: SO WHY DID WE WIN OUT
WHILE THEY WENT EXTINCT?
Download MyTotal.TV to watch your favorite TV
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THIS IS THE STORY
OF OUR ANCESTORS
AS THEY SPREAD TO EVERY
CONTINENT OF THE WORLD.
WHAT WAS THE SECRET
TO THEIR SUCCESS?
THEIR STORY IS OUR STORY.
NARRATOR: EASTERN EUROPE,
40,000 YEARS AGO.
TWO YOUNG MEN OUT HUNTING.
THEY'RE AS SMART AS
ANY MODERN-DAY HUNTER...
BUT THEY'RE VULNERABLE--
NEWCOMERS IN
A COLD NORTHERN LAND.
THESE ARE THE FIRST
MODERN HUMANS WE KNOW OF
ANYWHERE IN EUROPE.
40,000 YEARS LATER,
THEIR REMAINS HAVE TURNED UP
IN THE FORESTS OF ROMANIA
AT PESTERA CU OASE--
THE CAVE OF BONES.
THEY WERE EXCAVATED BY
PORTUGUESE ARCHAEOLOGIST
JOAO ZILHAO.
IN 2002, ROMANIAN CAVERS
CHANCED UPON A NEW CHAMBER
DEEP INSIDE THE CAVE.
IT WAS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST'S DREAM,
BUT GETTING TO IT
WAS A NIGHTMARE.
MAN: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT
EXTREME ARCHAEOLOGY.
I OFTEN THINK TO MYSELF,
THERE'S TWO KINDS OF IT--
THERE'S THE HOLLYWOOD KIND,
AND THERE'S THE REAL THING.
AND THE REAL THING IS
RIGHT THERE.
NARRATOR: EVERY DAY,
ZILHAO AND HIS TEAM HAD TO DIVE
THROUGH AN UNDERWATER RIVER...
CLIMB DEEPER INTO THE CAVE...
AND SQUEEZE THROUGH
THE NARROWEST OF GAPS.
ZILHAO: YOUR BODY
FITS BUT BARELY.
AND AS YOU, YOU KNOW,
PULL YOURSELF OUT
AND START LOOKING
AROUND, IT'S--
IT'S FULL OF CAVE BEAR BONES
ALL OVER THE PLACE,
AND IT'S AMAZING.
NARRATOR:
THIS WAS CLEARLY A PLACE
WHERE PREHISTORIC BEARS
HAD HIBERNATED.
THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS
STARTED LOGGING EACH BONE.
ZILHAO: THE TEMPERATURE
IS ABOUT 12 DEGREES.
THERE'S 100% HUMIDITY,
AND IT'S DRIPPING
ON TOP OF YOU CONSTANTLY,
SO IT-- IT'S NOT PLEASANT.
ZILHAO: YOU SEE ALL
THESE BONES HERE?
NARRATOR: TWO WEEKS IN,
THEY FOUND SOMETHING
THAT WASN'T CAVE BEAR.
ZILHAO: THAT--
THAT LOOKS LIKE
HUMAN OVER THERE.
YEP.
YEAH. WHAT ELSE
CAN IT BE?
AND ONE DAY,
THERE YOU GO.
YOU KNOW,
IT'S THE OCCIPITAL--
THE BACK OF
THE SKULL.
YOU READ ABOUT
HUMAN EVOLUTION,
BUT IT'S ONE THING TO
READ ABOUT THIS STUFF.
IT'S A DIFFERENT THING
TO ACTUALLY HAVE THE
EVIDENCE IN YOUR HANDS.
NARRATOR: IT WAS THE SKULL
OF A TEENAGER
WHO LIVED 40,000 YEARS AGO.
NEARBY, THEY FOUND THE JAWBONE
OF ANOTHER YOUNG ADULT
FROM THE SAME PERIOD.
HOW HAD THESE BONES
GOTTEN INTO THE CAVE?
THERE WAS NO SIGN THE BODIES
HAD BEEN DRAGGED IN BY A BEAR,
BUT ALSO NO SIGN THE CAVE
HAD BEEN USED AS A HOME
BY PREHISTORIC PEOPLE.
WE FOUND NOTHING--
NO ARTIFACTS, NO CHARCOAL,
NO FEATURES--
SO WE CONCLUDE THAT PEOPLE
DID NOT LIVE IN THIS CAVE.
THE BODIES WERE NOT
BURIED IN THIS CAVE.
THEY MUST HAVE BEEN WASHED IN.
NARRATOR: ZILHAO HAS
AN INTRIGUING EXPLANATION
FOR WHAT HE THINKS HAPPENED.
ZILHAO: IMAGINE TWO HUNTERS--
YOUNG ADULT OR LATE ADOLESCENT.
THEY'RE GOING OUT INTO
THE MOUNTAINS TO HUNT.
ALL OF A SUDDEN,
THERE'S A PROBLEM.
COULD HAVE BEEN A STORM.
[THUNDER]
THEY HAVE AN ACCIDENT.
THEY FALL, AND THEY DIE.
THEN SNOW COVERS THE BODIES.
THEY GET FROZEN AND STAY THERE.
THEY'RE NOT EATEN BY SCAVENGERS.
THE BODIES ARE JUST
PRESERVED IN THE SNOW.
END OF WINTER, COMES SPRING,
WATER MELTS.
YOU HAVE THESE RUSHES OF
MELTWATER, VERY POWERFUL.
EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN THE SNOW
IS DRAGGED INTO THE SINKHOLES
THAT EXIST
ALL OVER THIS PLATEAU,
AND THAT'S HOW THE BODIES
END UP IN THE CAVE.
THEY JUST STAY THERE THOUSANDS
AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS
UNTIL WE COME AND DIG THEM UP.
NARRATOR: THESE UNFORTUNATE
HUNTERS DIED 40,000 YEARS AGO.
THEY ARE THE OLDEST
DEFINITIVELY MODERN HUMANS--
HOMO SAPIENS--
FOUND ANYWHERE IN EUROPE.
BUT THEY WERE NOT
THE FIRST HUMANS
TO CALL EUROPE THEIR HOME.
IN 1856,
AN UNUSUAL SKELETON WAS
DISCOVERED IN GERMANY
IN THE NEANDER VALLEY.
IT BECAME KNOWN
AS A NEANDERTHAL.
STOCKIER THAN MODERN HUMANS,
WITH A BARREL CHEST AND
SUPERSTRONG MUSCLE ATTACHMENTS,
NEANDERTHALS HAVE
FASCINATED US EVER SINCE.
AT FIRST, THEY WERE DISMISSED
AS WILD, SIMPLEMINDED CAVEMEN,
BUT NOW WE KNOW BETTER.
WOMAN: IF YOU LOOK AT
THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL,
YOU WILL NOTICE THAT IT'S
ACTUALLY RATHER LARGE.
IT'S A VERY PRONOUNCED
BROWRIDGE,
DOUBLY ARCHED ABOVE
THE EYE SOCKETS.
WE SEE A VERY PROJECTING NOSE
WITH A VERY BIG NASAL OPENING.
NOT ONLY THE FACE IS LARGE,
BUT ALSO THE BRAINCASE
IS LARGE,
AND THIS IS BECAUSE
NEANDERTHAL BRAINS
ARE LARGER THAN THE AVERAGE
MODERN HUMAN BRAIN.
AND THIS IS PERHAPS
SURPRISING
BECAUSE NEANDERTHALS
HAVE A BAD REPUTATION
OF BEING PERHAPS SOMEHOW STUPID,
BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.
THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT
THEY WOULD HAVE HAD
THE EXACT SAME COGNITIVE
PROPERTIES AS WE DO,
BUT CERTAINLY THEY WERE, UH,
VERY SIMILAR IN MANY RESPECTS.
NARRATOR: IN THE HUMAN
FAMILY TREE,
NEANDERTHALS ARE
OUR CLOSEST COUSINS.
HALF A MILLION YEARS AGO,
THEIR ANCESTORS WERE
THE SAME AS OURS.
BUT THEY MOVED OUT
OF AFRICA EARLIER,
INTO EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA.
THERE, THEY ADAPTED
TO A COLDER CLIMATE
AND EVOLVED INTO
A DIFFERENT SPECIES--
NOT HOMO SAPIENS LIKE US,
BUT HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS...
NEANDERTHALS.
THEY MADE ICE-AGE EUROPE
THEIR HOME,
LIVING IN SMALL GROUPS,
HUNTING BIG GAME.
SO WHAT HAPPENED
WHEN MODERN HUMANS TURNED UP
40,000 YEARS AGO?
WHAT DID WE MAKE OF
THE NEANDERTHALS?
IT'S LONG BEEN THOUGHT
WE WERE SO SUPERIOR,
WE SIMPLY WIPED THEM OUT.
ARCKA!
ARCKA!
[PEOPLE SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY]
NARRATOR:
BUT IS THIS REALLY TRUE?
THE REMAINS THAT JOAO ZILHAO
FOUND IN ROMANIA
TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.
THEY HAVE THE FEATURES
OF A MODERN HUMAN--
THE SMALL VERTICAL FACE
AND JUTTING CHIN
THAT FIRST APPEARED IN AFRICA
200,000 YEARS AGO--
BUT ALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS.
ZILHAO: WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS
SKULL, IT IS OBVIOUSLY MODERN.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
WHEN YOU LOOK MORE CLOSELY,
SOME THINGS ARE NOT QUITE RIGHT
FOR A MODERN HUMAN.
UH, FOR INSTANCE,
THE FRONTAL BONE SLOPES
BACKWARD VERY MARKEDLY.
THE DENTITION IN PARTICULAR
IS VERY STRANGE.
THE FIRST MOLAR IS SMALLER
THAN THE SECOND.
THE SECOND IS SMALLER
THAN THE THIRD.
THESE ARE FEATURES THAT YOU
WOULD NOT EXPECT TO FIND
IN A-- IN A MODERN HUMAN.
WHERE YOU DO FIND SUCH FEATURES
IS AMONG THE NEANDERTHALS.
NARRATOR: INSTEAD OF WIPING OUT
THE NEANDERTHALS,
ZILHAO BELIEVES
WE MATED WITH THEM,
AND THE TWO PEOPLES INTERBRED.
ZILHAO: WE CALL THESE PEOPLE
NEANDERTHAL AND MODERN HUMAN.
THEY WOULD NOT KNOW THEY WERE
NEANDERTHAL OR MODERN HUMAN.
WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IS
LOGICAL IN A CONTEST LIKE THIS.
PEOPLE HAVE SEX,
AND PEOPLE BREED.
IT'S JUST, UH--
THAT'S BASIC HUMAN NATURE.
NARRATOR: ACCORDING TO ZILHAO,
THE SKULL IS A HUMAN HYBRID--
PART MODERN, PART NEANDERTHAL.
UNTIL RECENTLY, THE IDEA
THAT TWO DISTINCT HUMAN SPECIES
COULD INTERBREED AND HYBRIDIZE
WAS THOUGHT TO BE IMPOSSIBLE--
A SCIENTIFIC HERESY.
THAT'S CHANGED, THANKS TO DNA.
THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE
IS A LEADER IN THE STUDY
OF ANCIENT DNA.
IN 2010, THEY WERE
THE FIRST PEOPLE
TO CRACK THE GENETIC CODE
OF A NEANDERTHAL.
THE FIRST CHALLENGE WAS
TO FIND THE RIGHT BONE
WHICH STILL CONTAINED
READABLE DNA
AFTER 38,000 YEARS IN A CAVE.
THEN THEY HAD TO
SEQUENCE THE DNA,
ANALYZING EVERY FRAGMENT.
IT WAS LIKE TRYING
TO READ A BOOK
THAT'S BEEN RIPPED INTO
MILLIONS OF PIECES.
THE PROJECT WAS LED BY
SWEDISH GENETICIST SVANTE PAABO.
MAN: IMAGINE THAT WHAT
WE HAVE IN THIS BAG
IS THE DNA WE HAVE EXTRACTED
FROM A NEANDERTHAL BONE--
AND WE ILLUSTRATED THIS
WITH AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY
THAT WE HAVE SHREDDED.
BUT IT'S NOT ONLY
THIS DICTIONARY HERE.
THERE ARE DICTIONARIES
OF OTHER LANGUAGES
THAT ILLUSTRATE THE GENOMES
OF BACTERIA AND FUNGI
THAT HAVE LIVED IN THE BONE
OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
AND OUR CHALLENGE IS NOW
TO TRY TO FIND THE PIECES
THAT COME FROM
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOMES
AMONG ALL THESE MILLIONS
AND MILLIONS OF OTHER PIECES
THAT WE'RE NOT
INTERESTED IN.
WHAT WE ARE FACED WITH
IS NOT ONLY
THAT WE HAVE A MIXTURE OF
DIFFERENT GENOMES HERE.
THE PIECES ARE ALSO VERY SMALL,
AND THEY GET SMALLER
AND SMALLER AS TIME PASSES.
AND NOT ONLY THAT,
THEY ARE IN ADDITION
CHEMICALLY MODIFIED,
WHICH WE CAN ILLUSTRATE
WITH THIS.
NARRATOR: IMAGINE HAVING TO
DECIPHER MILLIONS OF FRAGMENTS
THAT ARE SO DEGRADED
THEY'RE BARELY LEGIBLE
AND THEN USING THEM
TO RECONSTRUCT
AN ENTIRE DICTIONARY.
IT SEEMS AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK,
BUT THAT'S THE EQUIVALENT
OF WHAT PAABO AND HIS TEAM
HAD TO DO WITH
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME.
THEY HAD ONE THING
GOING FOR THEM.
BECAUSE NEANDERTHALS
ARE OUR COUSINS,
THEIR GENOME WAS BOUND TO BE
INCREDIBLY SIMILAR TO OURS--
WRITTEN IN MORE OR LESS
THE SAME LANGUAGE.
MAN: WHAT WE DO IS COMPARE
THESE TINY LITTLE DNA FRAGMENTS
FROM THE NEANDERTHAL BONE
TO THE GENOME OF
PRESENT-DAY HUMANS.
AND WE EXPECT TO SEE
JUST TINY DIFFERENCES,
BECAUSE THE NEANDERTHALS ARE,
OF COURSE, VERY CLOSELY RELATED,
AFTER ALL,
TO PRESENT-DAY PEOPLE--
AT LEAST 10 TIMES AS CLOSE
AS A CHIMPANZEE, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO IN THIS ANALOGY HERE,
ONE COULD SEE THIS
AS A DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND
BRITISH ENGLISH, FOR EXAMPLE--
WHICH IS VERY, VERY SIMILAR,
BUT HAVE TINY LITTLE DIFFERENCES
IN HOW YOU SPELL WORDS.
NARRATOR: IT'S THESE
SUBTLE DISCREPANCIES
THAT EMBODY
THE GENETIC DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS.
IT TOOK THE SEQUENCING
MACHINES 21/2 YEARS
TO SIFT AND SORT THROUGH
ALL THE FRAGMENTS
AND CONSTRUCT
A COMPLETE SEQUENCE...
BUT WHEN THE WORK WAS DONE,
THEY HAD BEFORE THEM THE FIRST
GENOME OF AN EXTINCT HUMAN.
MAN: ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS
WE WERE REALLY INTERESTED IN
WAS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN
MODERN HUMANS CAME OUT OF AFRICA
AND MET NEANDERTHALS.
DID OUR ANCESTORS THEN MIX
WITH NEANDERTHALS OR NOT?
NARRATOR: THEY COMPARED
THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME
WITH THAT OF MODERN-DAY PEOPLE
FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
THEY DISCOVERED
A REMARKABLE PATTERN.
IN AFRICA, THEY FOUND
NO EVIDENCE OF INTERBREEDING...
BUT EVERYWHERE ELSE
IN THE WORLD,
THERE WAS A TRAIL
OF NEANDERTHAL GENES.
BETWEEN 1% AND 3% OF OUR DNA
HAS BEEN INHERITED
FROM NEANDERTHALS.
PAABO: I WAS FIRST
VERY SKEPTICAL
WHEN WE STARTED SEEING
THIS SIGNAL,
BUT THE POWER OF GENETICS
IS IN A WAY
THAT THE DATA WILL
STARE YOU IN THE FACE
AND FORCE YOU TO RETHINK
YOUR IDEAS IF YOU'RE WRONG.
NARRATOR:
ACCORDING TO THE GENETICS,
INTERBREEDING HAPPENED
IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
AROUND 55,000 YEARS AGO,
MODERN HUMANS WERE EXPANDING
NORTH OUT OF AFRICA.
AT THE SAME TIME,
THE NEANDERTHALS WERE
BEING PUSHED SOUTH
BY A COLD SPELL IN EUROPE.
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN
WERE DESTINED TO MEET.
AND HERE THEY MATED
AND INTERBRED.
THE GENETIC EVIDENCE
UNDERMINES THE TRADITIONAL VIEW
OF EUROPE'S FIRST PEOPLES.
IF THEY BRED WITH EACH OTHER,
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN CANNOT
HAVE BEEN SO VERY DIFFERENT.
MAN: FOR A CENTURY AND A HALF,
SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN PICKING
OVER THE EVIDENCE IN EUROPE,
TRYING TO UNDERSTAND
WHY NEANDERTHALS SEEM
SO SEPARATE FROM US.
THEY ASSUMED THAT
MODERN HUMANS ARE JUST
SUPERIOR TO NEANDERTHALS,
AND SO THERE'D BE NO CHANCE OF
THEM INTERACTING WITH EACH OTHER
IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY.
NOW GENETICS IS SHOWING US
THAT THAT'S WRONG--
THAT THESE TWO TYPES OF HUMANS
INTERBRED WITH EACH OTHER.
THAT MAY CHANGE EVERYTHING.
WE'VE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO FIT
NEANDERTHALS INTO THIS STORY.
THEY'RE LIKE CARDS
FROM A DIFFERENT PACK--
SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT.
THE PROBLEM IS, IF WE TRY TO
PUT THEM IN THIS STRUCTURE,
THE WHOLE THING
MAY COME TUMBLING DOWN.
TO ME, AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST,
THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
AT THE MOMENT.
THE OLD STORY HAS COLLAPSED,
AND WE'VE GOT TO BEGIN
TO TELL A NEW STORY
ABOUT NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS--
A STORY ABOUT INTERACTION.
NARRATOR: THE NEW STORY STARTS
HERE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE,
WITH A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
WHICH SUGGESTS MODERN HUMANS
WERE IN EUROPE
FAR EARLIER THAN
ANYONE THOUGHT.
[MAN SPEAKING
FRENCH]
NARRATOR:
THIS IS MANDRIN CAVE.
ARCHAEOLOGIST
LUDOVIC SLIMAK
HAS BEEN EXCAVATING HERE
FOR 10 YEARS.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: MANDRIN CAVE
WAS DISCOVERED RECENTLY
AND HAS EXCEPTIONAL
PRESERVATION.
MODERN ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS
DEVELOPED HERE
GIVE US A VERY PRECISE PICTURE
OF THE LIVES OF
THE DIFFERENT HUMAN GROUPS
WHO CAME TO MANDRIN CAVE.
NARRATOR:
AS HIS TEAM EXCAVATED,
THEY UNCOVERED
A MASS OF ARTIFACTS
IN SEDIMENT
THAT'S 50,000 YEARS OLD.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
BELOW THE GRAY LAYER,
IN THE MIDDLE THERE,
YOU CAN SEE
A KIND OF YELLOW SAND.
AND THIS LAYER HAS REVEALED
SOMETHING SURPRISING
WHICH WE'VE NEVER SEEN
IN EUROPE BEFORE.
NARRATOR:
IN THIS ONE LAYER
WERE MORE THAN 1,000
TINY SHARDS OF FLINT.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: THIS ONE
IS A PERFECT TRIANGLE.
IT'S JUST A CENTIMETER LONG.
AND THIS POINT
HAS A FRACTURE,
WHICH I THINK MUST HAVE BEEN
CAUSED BY ITS USE AS A WEAPON.
WE KNOW BLADES LIKE THIS EXIST
IN TRADITIONAL TRIBES TODAY,
BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS
PROPELLED BY A BOW,
WHICH WILL MEAN THAT
THESE ARE ARROWHEADS.
NARRATOR:
THE BOW AND ARROW
IS A WEAPON ASSOCIATED
ONLY WITH MODERN HUMANS.
DOES THIS MEAN THEY WERE
IN FRANCE 50,000 YEARS AGO--
10,000 YEARS BEFORE
WE FIND THEM IN ROMANIA?
SLIMAK HAS TO BE SURE
THE OBJECTS REALLY
ARE ARROWHEADS,
SO HE SETS ABOUT
REPLICATING THEM.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: THE SORT OF
POINT FOUND AT MANDRIN
REQUIRES A VERY
HIGH LEVEL OF SKILL
AND LOTS OF EXPERIENCE
TO MAKE.
IT'S NOT ABOUT HITTING
A ROCK AGAINST A ROCK.
IT'S ABOUT BECOMING
IN TUNE WITH THAT ROCK.
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN
ONLY A FEW GREAT CRAFTSMEN
WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN
ABLE TO MAKE THEM.
WE ARE GOING TO CHIP OFF
SOME SMALL PIECES
TO GIVE THE BLOCK
A PERFECT TRIANGULAR SHAPE.
WE CAN THEN MAKE IN ONE GO
A POINT THAT'S IDENTICAL TO
THE ONES FOUND IN MANDRIN CAVE.
NARRATOR:
TO COMPLETE THE TEST,
HE NEEDS TO FIRE
THE ARROWHEADS
AND SEE IF THEY FRACTURE
IN THE SAME WAY
AS THE POINTS FROM THE CAVE.
THAT REQUIRES AN EXPERT ARCHER
AND A SUITABLE PREY.
[PEOPLE SPEAKING FRENCH]
IT'S PERFECT.
[SPEAKING
FRENCH]
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
C'EST BIEN.
IT'S A GOOD ONE.
NARRATOR: SINCE MODERN HUMANS
WERE THE ONES MAKING ARROWHEADS,
SLIMAK BELIEVES THEY MUST HAVE
BEEN HERE 50,000 YEARS AGO.
[SLIMAK SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: TODAY,
THE RHONE IS A MAJOR HIGHWAY.
BOATS, TRAINS,
AND CARS USE IT
TO GET FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN
TO THE NORTH.
THIS HIGHWAY MUST HAVE BEEN
THE SAME IN THE PAST.
YOU CAN IMAGINE SEEING
BIG HERDS OF HORSES AND BISON
COMING UP FROM
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
THEY MUST HAVE BEEN
A GREAT RESOURCE FOR THE HUNTERS
WHO WERE IN THIS POPULATION
50,000 YEARS AGO.
NARRATOR:
BUT MODERN HUMANS
WERE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE
USING THIS HUNTING GROUND.
WHAT'S INTRIGUING IS,
THE ARROWHEADS
WERE FOUND IN A LAYER
SANDWICHED BETWEEN
OTHER LAYERS OF ARTIFACTS
MADE BY NEANDERTHALS.
BASED ON FRAGMENTS OF SOOT
IN THE SAME SEDIMENT,
THE GAP BETWEEN THESE LAYERS
WAS INCREDIBLY SMALL.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: ANALYZING
WITH SOOT DEPOSIT,
WE CAN SEE THE TIME BETWEEN TWO
OCCUPATIONS AT MANDRIN CAVE,
AND THEREFORE WE KNOW
THAT BETWEEN THE PEOPLE WHO MADE
NEANDERTHAL TOOLS IN THIS CAVE
AND THE PEOPLE WHO MADE
THE BOW AND ARROWS,
IT WAS ONLY A VERY SHORT TIME--
MAYBE ONE SEASON, MAYBE TWO.
NARRATOR: THE PICTURE THAT
EMERGES IS OF MODERN HUMANS
IN THE RHONE VALLEY
50,000 YEARS AGO.
THEY SHOW UP HERE
BEFORE ANYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE.
THEY WERE USING BOW AND ARROWS
TO HUNT THEIR PREY.
BUT THEY DIDN'T STAY LONG.
FOR SOME REASON,
THEY MOVED ON,
NOT TO RETURN FOR
THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
AND WITHIN MONTHS,
OR JUST WEEKS,
THE NEANDERTHALS
MOVED BACK IN.
THERE'S NO SIGN
OF CONFRONTATION.
IT'S AS IF
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN
WERE MOVING IN AND OUT OF EACH
OTHER'S TERRITORY AS EQUALS.
NEANDERTHALS MAY NOT
HAVE MADE ARROWHEADS,
BUT AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME,
THEY WERE MAKING TOOLS
JUST AS INGENIOUS
AS THOSE MADE
BY MODERN HUMANS.
300 MILES FROM THE RHONE,
AT ABRI PEYRONY ROCK SHELTER,
ARCHAEOLOGIST SHANNON McPHERRON
HAS EXCAVATED PART OF A BONE.
MAN: IT'S A SMALL
FRAGMENT OF RIB,
WITH THIS CURVED POLISHED TIP,
THAT I THINK IS THE BROKEN END
OF A BONE TOOL.
WHEN-- WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS
IN A MICROSCOPE,
WE SEE SMALL GROOVES,
SMALL STRIATIONS THAT SHOW
THE DIRECTION OF USE,
THAT SHOW THAT IT WAS GETTING
RUBBED UP AGAINST SOMETHING.
[HORSE NEIGHS]
NARRATOR: AS McPHERRON WONDERED
WHAT THESE BONE TOOLS WERE FOR,
HE REALIZED LEATHER WORKERS
TODAY USE SOMETHING SIMILAR.
DELPHINE VIAU IS A SADDLE MAKER
WORKING IN A TRADITIONAL WAY.
SHE IMMEDIATELY
RECOGNIZES THE TOOL.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
THEY ARE LISSOIRS.
THIS ONE IS SMALLER,
BUT IT'S THE SAME THING.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: SO YOU'RE USING
THE EDGES OF THE TOOL?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
YOU CLOSE ALL THE
PORES OF THE SKIN,
WHICH MAKES IT
WATERPROOF.
NOW IT'S CLOSED.
YOU CAN ALSO IMAGINE
IF YOU USE OIL ON IT,
IT WILL PENETRATE
REALLY DEEPLY.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR: WHY USE
BONE AND NOT WOOD?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
TRANSLATOR:
IT CAN BE DONE
WITH WOOD OR METAL,
BUT METAL
SCRATCHES EASILY.
THERE IS A RISK
THAT SOMETHING COULD
DAMAGE THE LEATHER.
AND WOOD WEARS OUT,
UNLIKE BONE, WHICH
IS INDESTRUCTIBLE.
NARRATOR: 50,000 YEARS AGO,
THIS IS WHAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE DOING--
USING A RIB BONE AS A LISSOIR
TO MAKE THEIR SKINS WATERPROOF--
A CREATIVE RESPONSE
TO THE WET, COLD CONDITIONS
OF ICE-AGE EUROPE.
McPHERRON: IT DOES SHOW
ON THE PART OF THE NEANDERTHALS
AN ABILITY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
THAT LET THEM PREPARE
THEIR HIDES BETTER.
WHAT I FIND COOL IN THIS CASE
IS THAT WE HAVE SOMETHING
THAT BRIDGES THAT 50,000 YEARS
BETWEEN US AND THEM.
IN THIS CASE, IT'S THE SAME TOOL
BEING USED ACROSS ALL THAT TIME.
NARRATOR: JOAO ZILHAO THINKS
NEANDERTHALS HAD TALENTS
THAT WENT BEYOND TOOL MAKING.
THEY ALSO HAD
AN AESTHETIC SENSE.
THEY WERE CAPABLE OF
SYMBOLIC THOUGHT--
USING SHELLS TO MIX UP
NATURAL PIGMENTS.
ZILHAO: THERE ARE SEVERAL
POSSIBILITIES TO EXPLAIN THIS.
ONE IS THAT, UH,
THEY PAINTED THE SHELL.
THEY WANTED IT TO BE A DIFFERENT
COLOR FROM THE ORIGINAL.
THE OTHER IS THAT THEY WERE
USING THE SHELL AS A CONTAINER
FOR SOMETHING LIKE
BODY PAINTING OR MAKEUP.
IN SOCIETIES THAT LACK
IDENTITY CARDS OR PASSPORTS,
UM, BODY PAINTING
AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION, UH,
TRANSMIT INFORMATION
ABOUT WHO YOU ARE.
IT'S A WAY OF CONVEYING
A MESSAGE, UH, OF--
ABOUT THEMSELVES--
WHICH TRIBE YOU BELONG TO,
WHETHER YOU'RE OUT TO
PARTICIPATE IN HUNTING.
IN A WAY, YOU CAN SAY THAT
THIS IS MODERN BEHAVIOR,
AND SINCE WE HAVE DOCUMENTED IT
AMONG THE NEANDERTHALS,
THE CONCLUSION IS
THAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE MODERN, TOO.
THAT WOULD BE MY CONCLUSION.
[SHOUTS
INDISTINCTLY]
[SHOUTS
INDISTINCTLY]
NARRATOR: WHAT ELSE WERE
THE NEANDERTHALS CAPABLE OF?
JUST HOW SIMILAR
TO US WERE THEY?
JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN IS AN EXPERT
ON A LAYER OF ARTIFACTS--
KNOWN AS THE CHATELPERRONIAN--
FROM THE EARLY DAYS
OF CONTACT.
MAN: THIS IS A TOOTH OF FOX
THAT IS PIERCED HERE,
AND WE IMAGINE VERY EASILY
HOW THIS COULD BE A PART
OF A-- A NECKLACE
OR HOW IT COULD BE FIXED
ON A PIECE OF, UH,
CLOTHES, FOR EXAMPLE.
AND CLEARLY THIS SPEAKS TO US,
BECAUSE THIS IS EXACTLY
THE KIND OF TECHNIQUE
THAT HAS BEEN USED BY RECENT
HUNTER-GATHERERS AND EVEN TODAY.
NARRATOR: ARCHAEOLOGISTS
ALWAYS THOUGHT OF JEWELRY
AS THE WORK OF
MODERN HUMANS,
BUT WHEN THEY DISCOVERED
THE TEETH OF THE PEOPLE
WHO MADE THE ARTIFACTS...
THEY WERE NEANDERTHAL.
HUBLIN: THE TEETH FROM
THE CHATELPERRONIAN LAYERS
ARE TYPICAL FROM WHAT WE FIND
IN NEANDERTHAL, UH, DENTITION
EVERYWHERE ELSE.
YOU CAN SEE HERE
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A NEANDERTHAL UPPER INCISOR AND
A MODERN HUMAN UPPER INCISOR.
THERE'S A DIFFERENCE IN SIZE.
THERE'S ALSO
A DIFFERENCE IN-- IN SHAPE.
IN NEANDERTHALS,
YOU HAVE WHAT WE CALL A--
A SHOVEL SHAPE OF--
OF THIS TOOTH THAT
YOU DON'T HAVE AT ALL
IN MOST MODERN HUMANS.
NARRATOR: IF NEANDERTHALS
WERE MAKING
SOME OF THE FIRST
NECKLACES IN EUROPE,
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THEM
AND THEIR ABILITIES?
ZILHAO: FOR-- FOR DECADES,
SCIENCE HAS BEEN ASKING
ITSELF THE QUESTION
OF WHETHER NEANDERTHALS COULD
OR COULD NOT, UH,
MAKE THESE KINDS OF THINGS
AS A CLUE TO WHETHER THEIR
COGNITION WAS LIKE OUR OWN.
IT HAS BECOME CLEAR FROM
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
THAT THEY COULD DO
THESE THINGS.
WE KNOW THEY COULD,
BECAUSE THEY DID
DO THESE THINGS.
NARRATOR: IT SEEMS
NEANDERTHALS WERE NOT
THE DUMB BRUTES OF LEGEND.
ISOLATED IN EUROPE FOR
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
THEY HAD DEVELOPED
THEIR OWN CULTURE
ON A PAR WITH THAT
OF THEIR MODERN HUMAN COUSINS.
BUT ALL THE WHILE,
MODERN HUMANS CONTINUED
PUSHING OUT OF AFRICA,
THROUGH THE MIDDLE EAST,
AND INTO EUROPE.
CHANGE WAS COMING.
WITHIN THE
CHATELPERRONIAN LAYER,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND A TYPE OF
SPEAR POINT MADE BY NEANDERTHALS
WHICH LOOKS INCREDIBLY SIMILAR
TO POINTS MADE AT THE SAME TIME
BY MODERN HUMANS.
IT'S AS IF THE NEANDERTHALS
WERE COPYING THE DESIGN.
THEY MAY NEVER HAVE MET THE
PEOPLE WHO MADE THE ORIGINALS.
ALL THEY NEEDED WAS TO FIND
A DISCARDED SPEAR
AND WORK OUT FOR THEMSELVES
HOW TO MAKE IT.
HUBLIN: IT LOOKS LIKE
THEY HAVE PRODUCED
THE SAME KIND OF OBJECT,
BUT WITH THEIR OWN TECHNOLOGY.
SO THE FINAL PRODUCT
LOOKS VERY MUCH THE SAME,
BUT THE METHOD TO PRODUCE IT
IS DIFFERENT.
NARRATOR: TO COPY A TECHNOLOGY
WITHOUT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL
IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE,
BUT IT ALSO SPELLED
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
FOR THE NEANDERTHALS.
THEY WERE NOW PLAYING
CATCH-UP,
THEIR CULTURE TRANSFORMED BY
THE PRESENCE OF MODERN HUMANS.
HUBLIN: SOME HAVE ARGUED
THAT NEANDERTHALS INVENTED
THESE KIND OF OBJECTS
INDEPENDENTLY FROM
THE MODERN HUMANS,
BUT IT'S KIND OF PUZZLING
THAT THEY WOULD DO THAT
JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN
MODERN HUMANS MOVED INTO EUROPE.
NARRATOR: SOMETHING SIMILAR
HAPPENED 400 YEARS AGO
WHEN EUROPEANS BROUGHT
HORSES TO NORTH AMERICA.
THE NATIVE PEOPLE REALIZED
HOW USEFUL THESE ANIMALS WERE
AND LEARNED TO RIDE THEM WITHOUT
EVER BEING TAUGHT BY EUROPEANS.
THE IDEA SPREAD SO QUICKLY
AND SO EFFECTIVELY
THAT HORSES BECAME CENTRAL TO
THE CULTURE OF PLAINS INDIANS.
BUT NO MATTER HOW GOOD THEY WERE
AT ADAPTING TO A NEW CULTURE,
THEY COULDN'T KEEP UP--
OVERWHELMED BY
THE SHEER NUMBER OF EUROPEANS
MOVING ONTO THEIR LAND.
IN PREHISTORIC EUROPE,
NEANDERTHALS FACED
THE SAME SORT OF FATE--
OVERWHELMED BY THE SPREAD
OF MODERN HUMANS.
HAWKS: AT FIRST,
NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS
SEEM TO HAVE BEEN
EQUAL PARTNERS.
THEY WERE SHARING
THE LANDSCAPE,
THEY WERE SHARING TECHNOLOGY,
AND THEY WERE SHARING GENES.
IF YOU IMAGINE THAT THIS DECK
OF CARDS IS MODERN HUMANS
AND THIS DECK IS NEANDERTHALS,
THEY'RE BASICALLY THE SAME,
BUT THE NEANDERTHALS
HAVE BLUE FACE CARDS,
SO JUST A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.
IF WE MIX THEM TOGETHER,
THAT'S WHAT WAS HAPPENING
IN THE EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE.
AND YOU LOOK AT THE RESULTING
BLEND OF POPULATIONS,
YOU CAN SEE THAT
THERE'S A GOOD MIX.
YOU'VE GOT A LOT
OF ORDINARY CARDS
AND A FEW
OF THE BLUE CARDS.
BUT THEN, AT SOME POINT,
THE BALANCE OF POWER SHIFTS.
NEANDERTHALS
ARE STUCK IN EUROPE,
BUT MODERN HUMAN POPULATIONS
ARE GROWING IN AFRICA AND ASIA,
AND YOU GET WAVE AFTER WAVE
OF NEW POPULATIONS
COMING INTO EUROPE.
AS THEY DO,
IT'S LIKE MIXING IN MORE AND
MORE OF THESE DECKS OF CARDS.
SO WHAT YOU END UP SEEING
IS THAT THE POPULATION IS ALMOST
UNIFORMLY MODERN HUMANS
WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT
OF NEANDERTHAL.
THAT MEANS THAT
THE NEANDERTHALS WERE SWAMPED.
THEY WERE ABSORBED INTO
THE MODERN HUMAN POPULATION
GENETICALLY, PHYSIOLOGICALLY,
AND CULTURALLY.
NARRATOR: ONE OF
THE KEY ROUTES INTO EUROPE
WAS VIA THE DANUBE RIVER.
IT FLOWS FROM THE BLACK SEA
THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE
INTO MODERN-DAY GERMANY.
1,000 MILES UPRIVER,
IT PASSES THROUGH
THE REGION OF SWABIA.
IN MODERN TIMES,
THE RIVER HAS CHANGED COURSE,
BUT 40,000 YEARS AGO,
THIS WAS THE DANUBE VALLEY.
IT WAS HOME TO A NEW WAVE
OF MODERN HUMANS
SPREADING THROUGH EUROPE.
THEY LIVED IN LIMESTONE CAVES
LIKE THIS ONE-- HOHLE FELS.
FOR 17 YEARS,
ARCHAEOLOGIST NICK CONARD
HAS BEEN WORKING HERE--
DIRECTING EXCAVATIONS,
EXPLORING THE HUMAN HISTORY
OF THIS CAVE.
MAN: SO, JANE,
MORE LITTLE TREASURES?
HAVE YOU BEEN
FINDING BIRD BONE
OR MAINLY, UM,
CHARCOAL?
JANE: UH, A FEW
VERY SMALL PIECES...
NARRATOR:
THEY FIND ARTIFACTS
MADE BY NEANDERTHALS
AND MODERN HUMANS,
BUT NEVER FROM
THE SAME DATE.
THERE'S A 2,000-YEAR GAP
BETWEEN THE LAST NEANDERTHAL
AND THE FIRST MODERN HUMAN.
A FASCINATING QUESTION IS,
WHAT HAPPENED
WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED?
WHAT WAS THE SITUATION?
WE WOULD EXPECT
MODERN HUMANS
AND NEANDERTHALS
TO HAVE MET HERE.
INTERESTINGLY,
THAT'S NOT THE CASE.
WHEN WE LOOK AT THE DEEP
DEPOSITS AT HOHLE FELS,
WE CAN SHOW THAT NEANDERTHALS
WERE LIVING HERE
FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
BUT WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED,
THE CAVE WAS EMPTY.
THAT RAISES A QUESTION OF,
WHY WAS THAT THE CASE?
WHY WEREN'T NEANDERTHALS
VISIBLY HERE ON THE LANDSCAPE
WHEN MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED?
NARRATOR: CONARD BELIEVES
THAT BY THE TIME
THEY WERE HERE IN SWABIA,
THE TWO TYPES OF HUMAN WERE ON
A DIFFERENT TRAJECTORY.
JUDGING BY THE ARTIFACTS
THEY MADE,
MODERN HUMANS HAD TAKEN
A QUANTUM LEAP FORWARD.
THE VENUS OF HOHLE FELS WAS MADE
35,000 TO 40,000 YEARS AGO.
IT'S THE OLDEST SCULPTURE
OF A HUMAN BODY
FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
CONARD: IT'S INTERESTING
TO LOOK AT WHAT IS DEPICTED
AND WHAT'S ABSENT.
WHAT IS MOST PROMINENTLY
ABSENT IS THE HEAD.
THERE'S NO HEAD AT ALL.
INSTEAD OF A HEAD,
THERE'S A RING,
SHOWING THAT IT WAS USED
PERHAPS AS AN ORNAMENT
OR WORN AROUND THE NECK.
WHAT IS PRESENT
ARE THE SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS.
THE PUBIC TRIANGLE AND THE VULVA
ARE VERY INTENSELY CUT OUT,
SHOWING THAT THE GENITALIA
OF REPRODUCTION WERE IMPORTANT.
THE BREASTS--
ENORMOUS BREASTS, OVERSIZED--
ALSO CONSISTENT WITH THE IDEA OF
FERTILITY AND, UH, REPRODUCTION.
YOU CAN IMAGINE AFTER SPENDING
MONTHS BEING HOLED UP
TRYING TO SURVIVE
THE LONG, COLD WINTER...
AND THEN THE SPRING COMES.
THE GRASS COMES UP.
THE ANIMALS START TO HAVE
SOMETHING TO EAT.
I MEAN, THE JOY WE HAVE
AT THE END OF THE WINTER,
IT WOULD BE NOTHING
COMPARED TO THESE PEOPLE
WHO'VE BEEN
HUNKERING DOWN IN A CAVE
JUST TRYING TO MANAGE
OVER THOSE LONG MONTHS.
THE WHOLE IDEA OF THE
CONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN PEOPLE,
HUMAN REPRODUCTION,
ANIMAL REPRODUCTION--
THAT ALL IS WHAT
THIS, UH, FIGURINE'S ABOUT.
NARRATOR:
IN NEIGHBORING CAVES,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND
OTHER FIGURINES
CARVED FROM MAMMOTH IVORY...
ANIMALS THAT POPULATED
THE ICE-AGE LANDSCAPE.
THEY ARE SOME OF
THE MOST EXQUISITE
ART OBJECTS EVER MADE--
THE CROWN JEWELS OF
EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
ONE OF THE MOST
INTRIGUING FIGURES
IS NEITHER ANIMAL NOR HUMAN...
BUT BOTH.
11 INCHES TALL,
THE LION MAN
OF HOHLENSTEIN STADEL
IS THOUGHT TO BE
SOME KIND OF RELIGIOUS ICON--
A SHAMANIC TOTEM.
BUT HE'S NOT ALONE.
A MINIATURE VERSION
OF THE SAME FIGURE
WAS FOUND AT HOHLE FELS
30 MILES AWAY.
CONARD: THE REMARKABLE THING
ABOUT THE LION MEN
IS THAT WE HAVE
TWO OBJECTS THAT,
ALTHOUGH THEY'RE
A VERY DIFFERENT SIZE,
ARE ACTUALLY THE SAME THING--
COMBINATIONS OF LIONS AND HUMANS
BEING DEPICTED
IN TWO DIFFERENT VALLEYS.
WHEN YOU FIND THE SECOND ONE,
IT MAKES IT VERY CLEAR THAT
THIS WAS PART OF THEIR IDEOLOGY,
THEIR SYSTEM OF BELIEFS,
SHOWING THAT
THERE WAS INTERACTION
BETWEEN THESE PEOPLE--
THAT THEY EXISTED IN
A SOCIAL NETWORK,
WERE FROM THE SAME CULTURE,
SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE,
PERHAPS EXCHANGING MATES,
ECONOMIC TIES.
THEY LIVED ADJACENT TO ANOTHER
BUT WERE IN FREQUENT CONTACT
WITH ONE ANOTHER.
NARRATOR: ARCHAEOLOGISTS
AT HOHLE FELS
HAVE ALSO FOUND A BONE FLUTE.
MADE 35,000 YEARS AGO,
IT'S ONE OF THE OLDEST MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS IN THE WORLD.
MAN: UH, THE BEST BONES
TO MAKE FLUTES OF
ARE WING BONES OF BIG BIRDS--
FOR EXAMPLE, VULTURES
OR EAGLES OR SWANS.
IT'S THE SAME
LIKE OUR LOWER ARM.
AND THE FIRST STEP
TO MAKE A FLUTE OUT OF IT
IS TO CUT OFF THE JOINT ENDS
WITH A FLINT TOOL.
NARRATOR: WULF HEIN IS AN EXPERT
IN PALEORECONSTRUCTIONS.
HE'S WORKED OUT IT WOULD HAVE
TAKEN PREHISTORIC PEOPLE
4 HOURS TO MAKE A BONE FLUTE.
HEIN: ONE MAY WONDER, "WHY DID
PEOPLE SPEND SO MUCH EFFORT
ON MAKING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
AT THAT TIME?"
AND FOR ME,
THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS.
MUSIC IS THE GLUE THAT KEEPS
A SOCIETY TOGETHER.
IF YOU LIVE FOR A LONG TIME
IN A SMALL SPACE
WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE,
THERE WILL BE AGGRESSION.
THERE WILL BE SOCIAL TENSION.
AND THE BEST THING TO KEEP THESE
TENSIONS AWAY IS MAKING MUSIC.
NARRATOR: THE QUESTION IS,
WHAT DID THE FLUTE SOUND LIKE?
[HEIN PLAYING
"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"]
JIMI HENDRIX
DID IT BETTER,
BUT THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION
OF "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"
JUST FOR YOU. THANK YOU.
NARRATOR: ONCE MODERN HUMANS
HAD OPENED A ROUTE
THROUGH THE DANUBE CORRIDOR,
THE POPULATION KEPT GROWING.
AFRICA WAS LIKE A PUMP
PUSHING MORE PEOPLE INTO EUROPE.
THE CENTRAL ZONE BETWEEN
THE ICE SHEETS AND MOUNTAINS
WAS PRIME REAL ESTATE.
IT BECAME ONE OF THE MOST
DENSELY POPULATED PARTS
OF THE PREHISTORIC WORLD--
A HUB OF SOCIAL CONNECTIONS.
ART WAS KEY TO THIS EXPANSION--
ALLOWING PEOPLE TO SHARE
A CULTURE OF BELIEFS,
TO FORGE THEIR OWN IDENTITY,
AND MARK THEMSELVES OUT
AS DIFFERENT.
BY CONTRAST, THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE FROM SWABIA
THAT NEANDERTHALS MADE
ANY COMPLEX ART OR MUSIC.
IS THAT BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T
CAPABLE OF SUCH THINGS,
OR DIDN'T NEED THEM?
THERE WERE FEWER
NEANDERTHALS
LIVING IN SMALLER GROUPS
THAT WERE LESS MOBILE.
THEY NEVER FORMED
THE SOCIAL NETWORKS
SO KEY TO MODERN HUMANS
IN EUROPE.
CONARD: THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE
A NEANDERTHAL INTERACTED WITH
OVER THE COURSE OF
HIS OR HER LIFE
WOULD BE PERHAPS DOZENS
OR SCORES OF PEOPLE.
MODERN HUMANS, IT COULD PERHAPS
BE MANY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE.
MODERN HUMANS HAD
AN ENORMOUS WEALTH OF OBJECTS--
FIGURATIVE OBJECTS,
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
ORNAMENTS THAT THEY NEEDED
TO IDENTIFY EACH OTHER,
TO COMMUNICATE
WITH EACH OTHER.
NEANDERTHALS
DIDN'T NEED THAT,
AND WHEN THEY
ENCOUNTERED IT,
IT WAS UNFAMILIAR TO THEM,
AND THEY STRUGGLED WITH IT.
NARRATOR: SINCE NEANDERTHALS
WERE DISCOVERED
OVER 150 YEARS AGO,
SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO
WORK OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM.
WHY DID THEY DISAPPEAR?
WE USED TO THINK THEY WERE
OUTSMARTED BY MODERN HUMANS,
BUT IT'S POSSIBLE
THEY WERE SIMPLY OUTNUMBERED.
[PEOPLE SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY]
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN
NO GREAT MOMENT OF EXTINCTION.
INSTEAD, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN
GRADUALLY ASSIMILATED BY US--
MODERN HUMANS.
HARVATI: NEANDERTHAL POPULATIONS
SEEMED TO BE EXTREMELY SMALL--
A FEW THOUSAND PEOPLE
ON A CONTINENTAL LEVEL.
MODERN HUMANS, FOR SOME REASON,
WERE ABLE TO REPRODUCE
FASTER AND MORE SUCCESSFULLY
THAN NEANDERTHALS,
PERHAPS ALSO RELYING ON--
ON CULTURE MORE.
UH, BUT THIS WOULD HAVE MADE,
IN FACT, ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
NEANDERTHALS DIDN'T REALLY
HAVE A CHANCE IN THE END.
[THUNDER]
NARRATOR:
WHEN NEANDERTHALS CEASED TO
EXIST AS A SEPARATE SPECIES,
TWO PEOPLES BECAME ONE,
BUT NEANDERTHAL GENES
LIVE ON IN OUR DNA.
HAWKS: ONCE WE LIVED
IN A WORLD INHABITED BY
ALL KINDS OF HUMANS--
NEANDERTHALS, DENISOVANS,
PROBABLY SEVERAL DIFFERENT
KINDS IN AFRICA.
AND NOW THEY'RE ALL GONE,
AND WE'RE THE ONLY ONES
THAT ARE LEFT.
WE WON THE GAME.
WE WERE BETTER AT CONNECTING,
BETTER AT CREATING NETWORKS,
BETTER AT LIVING
IN LARGER GROUPS,
AND THOSE THINGS
ALL FEED ON EACH OTHER.
ONCE YOU'RE LIVING
IN LARGER GROUPS,
YOU'RE MAKING
MORE CONNECTIONS.
YOU HAVE TO BECOME
MORE CREATIVE.
IT'S AN EXPONENTIAL PROCESS.
WHERE WE END UP IS-- IS HERE
IN OUR MODERN, COMPLEX WORLD.
THIS IS THE END RESULT
OF THOSE SEEDS SOWN
BY THE FIRST PEOPLES
AS THEY LEFT AFRICA
AND COLONIZED EVERY
CONTINENT OF THE WORLD.
NARRATOR: HOMO SAPIENS--
NOW THE ONLY HUMAN SPECIES
ON THE PLANET.
WE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SO MUCH
SMARTER THAN OTHER HUMANS,
BUT WE WERE MORE PLENTIFUL,
MORE SOCIAL, MORE CULTURED.
WE ABSORBED THEIR GENES
AND SHAPED OUR WORLD.
7 BILLION OF US TODAY
ARE LIVING PROOF.
WE ARE ALL CHILDREN
OF THE FIRST PEOPLES.