National Geographic Video Mysteries of Mankind

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00:00:03 The earth does not easily yield
00:00:07 Yet around the world scientists
00:00:10 the compelling story
00:00:13 It is a saga that blends the rigors
00:00:16 with the romance of a detective story.
00:00:25 We have only traces that hint
00:00:27 and how they may have lived.
00:00:31 It is like a gigantic puzzle with
00:00:38 Today, biological scientists may
00:00:43 but they all agree that evolution
00:00:47 Animal studies now shed light
00:00:51 became an upright walker
00:00:54 and how it may have confronted
00:01:08 Once barely noticeable
00:01:10 humans would come to
00:01:14 The tool, mother of all inventions,
00:01:16 was a key to our success.
00:01:31 Tools chipped from stone helped
00:01:35 Now new tools help us
00:01:39 we may have traveled along the way.
00:01:43 Much of our current knowledge
00:01:44 our understanding of who we are
00:01:48 has come about only
00:01:56 Can we reconstruct the past?
00:01:59 Can long silent voices be summoned
00:02:04 Join us as we probe
00:02:52 By nature mammals are
00:02:56 We humans are the most curious of all.
00:02:59 And perhaps nothing arouses
00:03:02 more than the intriguing question
00:03:05 What about the cavemen?
00:03:07 Caveman?
00:03:10 A caveman.
00:03:11 At the close of the 16th century
00:03:14 All the world's a stage, and
00:03:19 no one had any concept of the
00:03:24 Today we yearn to know just
00:03:27 in this greatest of dramas.
00:03:29 When did they appear on the stage
00:03:41 The story is elusive at best,
00:03:44 like peering into mists that float
00:03:51 Here and there through a dusky veil
00:03:54 we think we catch a fleeting echo
00:03:58 feel primordial eyes watching us
00:04:04 A thread of kinship surges within us.
00:04:07 Then, just as we grasp at a clue,
00:04:11 the phantom voices melt away.
00:04:21 In the early 1900s the scientific
00:04:25 of mankind was in Asia.
00:04:29 Then, in 1924,
00:04:31 South African anatomist Raymond Dart
00:04:34 was brought a skull workmen had found
00:04:38 Dart outraged the scientific community
00:04:43 apelike child
00:04:44 was a hominid a member
00:04:48 And, he said,
00:04:53 Dart named the species
00:04:57 southern ape of Africa.
00:05:02 For more than a decade
00:05:06 was paleontologist Robert Broom.
00:05:09 Dart was finally vindicated
00:05:13 discovered an assortment of
00:05:22 Africa's Great Rift Valley has been
00:05:24 geologically active
00:05:28 an ideal setting for the burial
00:05:33 here, Olduvai Gorge would become known
00:05:38 because of two maverick scientists.
00:05:43 Coming here in the 1930s,
00:05:47 undertook one of
00:05:49 in the history of anthropology.
00:05:54 What particularly excited the Leakeys
00:05:57 was the presence
00:06:00 scattered across the eroded landscape
00:06:04 Their passionate dream:
00:06:08 who fashioned these tools to find
00:06:13 It would be nearly a quarter
00:06:15 before their single-minded
00:06:19 The year was 1959.
00:06:23 We appeared to have got
00:06:25 Here at last was a man or
00:06:29 apparently the earliest known man
00:06:33 It would turn out to be a
00:06:36 and not a true human,
00:06:40 an australopithecine.
00:06:43 And yet surely, like us,
00:06:48 wobbled his way onto two upright legs,
00:06:56 Then in the way of all flesh, he died.
00:07:03 The boy died near the edge
00:07:06 The skeleton is missing,
00:07:07 perhaps washed away or destroyed
00:07:11 Fortunately,
00:07:15 Over the centuries water
00:07:16 soluble minerals turned bone to stone
00:07:19 as layer upon layer of deposits buried
00:07:25 Some layers were volcanic ash laid down
00:07:30 Gradual geological uplift typical
00:07:34 and subsequent erosion brought
00:07:40 The odds of finding a hominid fossil
00:07:49 Because the Leakey's fossil was found
00:07:53 it could be accurately dated.
00:07:55 Volcanic ash contains radioactive
00:07:59 into argon gas
00:08:03 Human evolution was then believed
00:08:05 to begin no more
00:08:08 Yet here was
00:08:12 The scientific world was stunned.
00:08:17 Today, the addition of lasers
00:08:20 enables scientists to date minuscule
00:08:25 A single grain of ash,
00:08:27 seen magnified here many thousands
00:08:30 can produce a date much more
00:08:41 The name and age of
00:08:43 about how the creature actually lived.
00:08:45 But perhaps the behavior
00:08:50 Charles Darwin wrote that we are most
00:08:54 But at that time no one knew how
00:08:59 The answer would come from
00:09:02 the test tubes of molecular biologists.
00:09:08 Twenty years ago Dr. Vincent Sarich
00:09:11 and his colleagues at the University
00:09:14 were among a small group of scientists
00:09:18 and test tubes instead of fossils.
00:09:22 Sarich's group compared a blood
00:09:27 including humans,
00:09:30 from a common ancestor.
00:09:36 The dates differed radically
00:09:41 Among the great apes,
00:09:45 the line that led to orangutans
00:09:48 from a common ancestor.
00:09:50 The evidence suggests gorillas
00:09:54 According to Sarich,
00:09:57 may have diverged as recently as four
00:10:02 Such a recent divergence
00:10:05 for many scientists to accept.
00:10:07 Laymen were equally reluctant
00:10:11 There is still a very strong
00:10:16 at human beings in an evolutionary
00:10:21 Because we want to
00:10:24 We don't want to see ourselves
00:10:27 as having any non-human
00:10:32 There are significant differences
00:10:35 We are essentially hairless
00:10:37 Oh, he likes the beard.
00:10:40 We are habitually upright walkers,
00:10:42 we have a much larger brain,
00:10:44 and we have the gift
00:10:48 But genetically humans and
00:10:53 Chimps may even be more closely related
00:11:01 In 1960 Louis Leakey,
00:11:05 sent a young woman into the field
00:11:11 Jane Goodall's 27-year old study has
00:11:15 and confirms Leakey's conviction that
00:11:19 about the behavior of early humans.
00:11:26 Understanding of chimp behavior today
00:11:29 helps us to understand the way in which
00:11:35 Because I think it makes sense
00:11:38 by the modern chimpanzee
00:11:42 was probably present
00:11:45 And if it was present in the common
00:11:56 A mechanical leopard was instrumental
00:12:00 with chimpanzees conducted
00:12:02 from the University of Amsterdam.
00:12:05 Anthropologists have
00:12:08 our ancestors defended
00:12:12 How could such small creatures,
00:12:14 not yet intelligent enough to make
00:12:20 Leopards are natural predators
00:12:23 Here, as the chimps attack,
00:12:25 we catch a glimpse
00:12:27 having left the safety of the trees,
00:12:30 may have first met the challenges
00:12:55 Once the leopard is decapitated,
00:12:58 the chimp may not comprehend
00:13:01 but it clearly knows the enemy
00:13:10 If a chimpanzee has the intelligence
00:13:14 it seems likely our early ancestors
00:13:23 The chimpanzee has never
00:13:27 Why did we?
00:13:29 Upright walking is so fundamental
00:13:32 and yet it is one of the crucial ways
00:13:34 we are set apart
00:13:37 When did our ancestors take that first
00:13:42 to brave the vast African landscapes?
00:13:53 Important answers would be found in
00:13:59 Here, in 1974,
00:14:01 an international expedition
00:14:05 headed out to
00:14:15 Co leader of the team,
00:14:18 describes himself as superstitious.
00:14:21 After two frustrating months
00:14:25 he woke up one morning feeling lucky
00:14:31 Later that very day
00:14:32 the team discovered bones
00:14:39 at the time the oldest,
00:14:50 To anthropologists
00:14:53 lucky to recover a tooth
00:14:57 this 40% complete skeleton
00:15:01 Nicknamed Lucy,
00:15:02 she quickly became the object
00:15:07 What is most exceptional
00:15:11 as complete as Lucy
00:15:14 we as anthropologists can glean
00:15:17 For example, looking at
00:15:20 which is only about
00:15:22 we know that she was no taller
00:15:26 Now that brings up the question
00:15:30 If we look at the state of development
00:15:34 for example, of the third molar
00:15:37 it is fully erupted and
00:15:39 So that relative to modern humans,
00:15:41 she was an adult when she died.
00:15:44 We're able to tell from
00:15:47 of the hip socket, for example,
00:15:49 that she probably only weighed
00:15:53 From the size of the brain case,
00:15:56 there is enough
00:15:59 to suggest to us
00:16:02 about one fourth the size
00:16:08 Historically, large brains have been
00:16:13 In the 20s when Raymond Dart suggested
00:16:18 he had only a skull to work with.
00:16:20 Here was a significant portion
00:16:23 with some very ape like features
00:16:29 Lucy had an ape like brain,
00:16:34 and teeth both ape and human like
00:16:39 Yet clearly she was a hominid,
00:16:47 Returning to Hadar the following year,
00:16:49 the team combed the slopes hoping
00:16:54 They never dreamed they would find
00:16:58 But the Johanson luck proved even
00:17:04 We have the femur and
00:17:11 They had come across the
00:17:14 possibly members of the same band.
00:17:17 They may have all perished together
00:17:23 The fossils from Hadar
00:17:26 represent from 35 to 65 individuals.
00:17:30 Based on the abundant evidence,
00:17:32 Johanson and
00:17:35 in announcing an entirely new species.
00:17:40 They called it
00:17:44 and put forth
00:17:47 that it is the common ancestor
00:17:50 who eventually died out,
00:17:52 as well as the line
00:18:01 In the laboratory fragments
00:18:04 from several males were combined
00:18:09 by Johanson's colleague, Dr. Tim White.
00:18:13 After initial discovery and analysis
00:18:15 scientists rarely work
00:18:20 In fact,
00:18:20 the fossils are usually returned
00:18:24 But these durable casts
00:18:25 are exact replicas
00:18:35 In Alexandria, Virginia,
00:18:37 the composite skull begins
00:18:41 in the hands of anthropologist
00:18:49 Gurche has been fascinated with
00:18:53 Today he combines the talents
00:18:56 with those of a master sculptor.
00:18:59 His workroom is a cross
00:19:02 and a scientific laboratory.
00:19:11 Placing the eyes
00:19:14 I base the position of the eyes
00:19:18 but there's also often a mystical side
00:19:21 That is often the moment when I begin
00:19:25 by the thing I'm working on
00:19:29 of clay and plaster,
00:19:34 What I really want to do is get
00:19:37 and having the scientific data
00:19:41 makes it much more rewarding for me
00:19:43 because I can believe
00:19:45 I can believe that the face
00:19:46 in front of me is very much like
00:19:48 of the individual that it
00:19:57 The really fascinating thing
00:19:59 with Australopithecines is
00:20:02 on the line between being human
00:20:05 You have a lot of features
00:20:07 and yet it's in the process
00:20:15 The reconstruction will take
00:20:19 It is painstaking,
00:20:20 arduous work that often continues
00:20:30 I'd really like to be able
00:20:32 for this kind of
00:20:34 Unfortunately, it's not.
00:20:37 It's as good as it can be
00:20:39 in time and coming face to face
00:21:00 The end result is often
00:21:03 I'm basing the restoration on
00:21:07 that I'm getting from the bony anatomy
00:21:09 and the cumulative effect
00:21:18 A face long lost to the tides of time
00:21:21 emerges out of plaster and clay.
00:21:25 We come face to face with one of
00:21:30 across a chasm of three million years.
00:21:45 More than half a million years
00:21:48 and more than a thousand miles away,
00:21:52 spewing ash across
00:21:56 Then a moment was frozen in time.
00:22:01 An amazing sequence of
00:22:05 in the pageant of prehistory.
00:22:08 Soon after the eruption the rain
00:22:13 Then three hominids,
00:22:14 perhaps of the same species as Lucy,
00:22:18 Their footprints left an impression
00:22:22 Only because the sun then came out did
00:22:27 And only because continued eruptions
00:22:32 were the traces entombed more than
00:22:39 Today this area,
00:22:40 not far from Olduvai Gorge in
00:22:47 Here, in 1978,
00:22:52 finds what is one of the most
00:22:55 of all time the very footprints
00:23:00 since the eruption of
00:23:05 Dr. Leakey and her team begin
00:23:08 of removing the cement hard rock.
00:23:17 To Dr. Leakey the prints
00:23:22 They tell a vivid story
00:23:26 The track of footprints that
00:23:30 was a truly remarkable find
00:23:34 It's a trail left by three people
00:23:37 who walked across a flat expanse
00:23:40 three and a half million years ago.
00:23:43 We can say they were relatively short.
00:23:47 We can estimate that their height was
00:23:53 We can say they had
00:23:58 One assumes they were
00:24:01 They are so evenly spaced, the tracks,
00:24:06 always left foot for left foot
00:24:10 that it may, for all we know,
00:24:15 The emotional impact of the footprints
00:24:19 but scientifically they arouse debate:
00:24:23 Were these creatures related to Lucy,
00:24:26 and could their upright walk so long
00:24:34 Tim White helped excavate
00:24:38 Now, to answer some of
00:24:41 he has devised an experiment.
00:24:44 With our closest living relative,
00:24:46 he walks across an expanse of wet sand.
00:24:49 Its consistency is roughly the same
00:24:59 Here we have my footprint
00:25:02 and the big toe in line with
00:25:06 The chimpanzee's footprint is here and
00:25:09 We see the chimpanzee's toe
00:25:13 whereas the human toe is
00:25:16 The human foot also has
00:25:20 The chimpanzee foot and
00:25:23 And at Laetoli we have evidence from
00:25:27 of a large toe in line with the rest
00:25:31 and a strong heel strike.
00:25:33 In other words,
00:25:34 the human pattern has been established
00:25:37 in Tanzania with these early hominids.
00:25:44 Some scientists feel that only by
00:25:48 can we know how Lucy and our
00:25:55 At the state University
00:25:58 a team led by anatomists Randall Susman
00:26:02 videotapes the movements
00:26:05 They have also extensively
00:26:08 Come on.
00:26:11 Electrodes implanted in the arm
00:26:14 send signals to monitoring equipment.
00:26:17 Clothing holds the transmitter
00:26:22 That's good bipedalism. Keep him going.
00:26:25 On their screen Susman and
00:26:30 of the electrical output
00:26:34 One intriguing finding:
00:26:36 The hip muscles used by apes
00:26:39 of the same ways as human hip muscles
00:26:43 So the transition from tree dweller
00:26:47 may have been relatively simple.
00:26:49 The pattern of muscle usage
00:26:54 Good boy.
00:26:59 But Susman and Stern, unlike Johanson,
00:27:03 believe that these ancestors
00:27:07 but more like an ape when it walks
00:27:11 They maintain that those creatures,
00:27:13 still spent much time in the trees
00:27:16 and had not yet fully adapted
00:27:22 In earlier days,
00:27:23 anthropologists compared and
00:27:27 but could only ponder questions
00:27:31 Today they can directly address
00:27:33 some of the fundamental issues
00:27:37 How did Lucy and the others live?
00:27:39 Where did they sleep?
00:27:41 What did they eat?
00:27:48 In the line of other Australopithecines
00:27:53 there were smaller creatures
00:27:56 and robust ones
00:28:02 The fossil teeth themselves hold clues
00:28:08 Thousands or millions of years later,
00:28:15 Let's see if
00:28:17 Dr. Fred Grine, also at Stony Brook,
00:28:19 studies diet, using a scanning electron
00:28:25 Different foods leave distinctively
00:28:29 Comparing the two patterns
00:28:32 and robust australopithecine side
00:28:34 it becomes quite evident
00:28:36 that the wear patterns
00:28:38 and that, therefore,
00:28:40 the foods they would have eaten would
00:28:42 The scratches and
00:28:45 on a gracile Australopithecine molar
00:28:49 by soft foods such as soft fruits
00:28:52 whereas the pitting which characterizes
00:28:55 a robust Australopithecine molar
00:28:58 by hard food objects such as seeds
00:29:04 Shrouded in myth since their discovery
00:29:07 Australopithecines were
00:29:10 as blood thirsty killer apes.
00:29:14 It now seems far more
00:29:17 who should be seen
00:29:20 in the human evolutionary drama.
00:29:23 Robust Australopithecines flourished
00:29:28 then disappeared an apparent
00:29:35 It is possible they lost out
00:29:38 more intelligent species
00:29:43 a line that would eventually lead
00:29:52 Like the remains of their predecessors
00:29:54 the fossil bones of the tool users are
00:29:58 in deposits formed along lake shores
00:30:04 The areas around Lake Turkana
00:30:06 in northern Kenya have a record
00:30:08 and animal life that is
00:30:21 Every week during the field season,
00:30:23 a light plane from Nairobi brings
00:30:27 son of Louis and Mark Leakey.
00:30:32 Despite an early decision not to
00:30:36 Richard's passion for
00:30:39 For two decades he has been
00:30:45 Over the years since 1968 the Turkana
00:30:50 to fifteen thousand fossil remains.
00:30:53 Most are animal, but amazingly
00:30:59 Leakey has been called the "organizing
00:31:04 He heads a team that scours
00:31:07 for several months at a time.
00:31:09 They cover every foot of
00:31:15 Looking for new evidence in any
00:31:18 In our field it's
00:31:20 because every year there
00:31:22 These vast areas of desert
00:31:26 and every time it rains,
00:31:28 there's a chance that something new
00:31:29 will be exposed something new
00:31:32 to tell us something that
00:31:33 It's going to expose
00:31:35 in our understanding of human origins.
00:31:37 And it's really great fun
00:31:39 on the desert realizing that although
00:31:42 this year it will be different
00:31:45 and something new must have
00:31:48 It's simply a question of finding it.
00:31:52 In 1984 a small piece
00:31:55 It was immediately recognized as human
00:32:02 With anatomist Alan Walker
00:32:05 he went on to unearth a seemingly
00:32:10 The rest of the skull
00:32:13 and painstakingly glued together
00:32:20 The bones were clearly those
00:32:24 a species on the path
00:32:30 The skeleton, a boy of about 12,
00:32:33 was dated at more than a million
00:32:36 Far more complete than even Lucy,
00:32:39 it is one of the most remarkable finds
00:32:44 The boy differs little
00:32:46 in stature and body proportions.
00:32:50 An artist imagines
00:32:54 Richard Leakey reconstructs
00:32:59 The area that he was living
00:33:02 swampy ground near the lake edge.
00:33:05 There was grassland;
00:33:07 there were permanent rivers running
00:33:10 Probably an enormous amount of
00:33:13 carnivores, scavengers.
00:33:15 I suppose one could visualize an area
00:33:18 in East Africa today,
00:33:19 teeming with wildlife ideal conditions
00:33:23 I think it's remarkable
00:33:26 But perhaps another aspect that is
00:33:30 is that many people
00:33:32 of human evolution have been able to
00:33:35 On the basis that it was built
00:33:39 just little bits and pieces.
00:33:40 And who knows.
00:33:42 Those little bits of
00:33:44 To confront some of these people
00:33:45 with a complete skeleton that is
00:33:48 and is so obviously related to us.
00:33:51 In a context where it's definitely one
00:33:52 and a half million years or a little
00:33:57 And I think many of the people who
00:34:01 about creationism versus evolution are
00:34:04 in the light of this discovery.
00:34:11 A Homo erectus head would have
00:34:15 It had a heavy brow ridge,
00:34:21 It is very likely their skin was dark
00:34:24 nature's protection against
00:34:28 Some scientists believe Homo erectus
00:34:33 In earlier times our ancestors,
00:34:37 were probably accepted without fear
00:34:41 But when they began to hunt,
00:34:43 the other animals would sense them
00:34:50 Exactly when hunting began may never
00:34:54 But it is clear that the tools made
00:34:56 by erectus were far more sophisticated
00:35:06 Even the earliest and
00:35:09 a momentous advance for humankind
00:35:11 the first evidence of culture.
00:35:15 And, as intelligence grew over time,
00:35:17 tools became ever more refined
00:35:38 Learning how tools
00:35:41 provides a window into the behavior
00:35:44 Dr. Nicholas Toth of Indiana University
00:35:52 Many scientists had believed
00:35:54 of the earliest toolmakers was to
00:35:59 and that the chipped off flakes
00:36:02 Toth's experimentation led him
00:36:07 The razor sharp flakes, he believes,
00:36:09 were often the tools our
00:36:17 If you take a hard look
00:36:19 we're very poor carnivores.
00:36:21 We have small canines;
00:36:24 we're not very strong;
00:36:26 we don't look anything like
00:36:28 And I think with
00:36:31 you can butcher an animal
00:36:34 to the size of an elephant
00:36:52 Even hyenas will not tackle
00:36:56 But with the simplest tools used
00:37:00 an early hominid could get
00:37:06 Almost completely fat,
00:37:10 essential to a hominid roaming
00:37:17 When an animal bone is butchered,
00:37:18 the edge of the tool leaves cutmarks.
00:37:23 Often ignored in the past,
00:37:25 cutmarks are now recognized as vital
00:37:31 They can tell us, for instance,
00:37:36 which parts of these animals
00:37:39 and ultimately they may reveal when
00:37:46 In the past scientists often
00:37:51 if tools were found nearby.
00:37:54 Today they know many factors from the
00:38:03 One factor not often considered came to
00:38:08 by Dr. Kay Behrensmeyer.
00:38:11 In Asia she had been puzzled
00:38:14 on bones eight to
00:38:17 long before hominids existed.
00:38:19 Later, in Africa,
00:38:21 she saw how bones frequently
00:38:26 Could random trampling, she wondered,
00:38:28 leave marks that could be confused
00:38:35 Dr. Pat Shipman of
00:38:38 has been experimenting
00:38:42 She believes that
00:38:45 and examining them microscopically,
00:38:47 she and other can better define
00:38:56 Into a scanning electron microscope,
00:39:00 she inserts a gold coated cast
00:39:07 Compared with regular microscopes,
00:39:08 the SEM offers greater depth
00:39:11 at three-dimensional structures.
00:39:15 It seems likely that marks
00:39:17 in sandy soil may remain open
00:39:22 But for others,
00:39:23 Shipman has found that
00:39:26 are the fine lines within a groove.
00:39:32 is the best way
00:39:34 to a bone thousands or millions
00:39:39 The problem for us today
00:39:41 is to tease out of the past,
00:39:46 the specialness of early hominids.
00:39:50 And once we know where we started
00:39:52 and what was important then,
00:39:54 we may have a very different idea
00:39:59 Homo erectus was the
00:40:04 Sometime after a million years ago,
00:40:07 and those of a number
00:40:10 first appear in other tropical regions
00:40:14 Some scientists believe that
00:40:16 by then meat had become an
00:40:20 With the addition
00:40:22 this intelligent and curious creature
00:40:26 to expand out to unknown lands.
00:40:31 We know from preserved remains and
00:40:36 Java and southern Europe.
00:40:43 On the Sussex coast of England,
00:40:45 quarry workers were the first
00:40:50 It may hold answers to the life style
00:40:53 after Homo erectus.
00:40:58 About 350,000 years old,
00:41:00 Boxgrove is
00:41:04 It covers a hundred acres,
00:41:05 and it contains vast numbers of tools
00:41:08 and animal bones that
00:41:14 Erectus probably never reached
00:41:18 but his descendants did.
00:41:20 They were the earliest form
00:41:25 Here flags mark the locations
00:41:28 or fragments have been found.
00:41:32 Animal bones abound.
00:41:34 Deer teeth.
00:41:39 Part of the lower jaw of
00:41:45 A large pelvic bone with cutmarks
00:41:50 Yet strangely,
00:41:57 So untouched is the site that if one
00:42:02 here would sit an ancestor
00:42:10 Nearby, what may have been that very
00:42:16 for the first time in 350,000 years.
00:42:20 Perhaps it was used to scrape wood,
00:42:22 prepare a hide, or dig for roots
00:42:26 It may have helped kill the deer
00:42:30 But where is the maker of the tool?
00:42:41 Once Boxgrove was a beach front,
00:42:46 Why no people have been found remains
00:42:50 in the human puzzle.
00:42:56 These pre modern Homo sapiens
00:43:01 but their exact relationship
00:43:04 as well as to the more modern humans
00:43:12 One of the most puzzling of these pre
00:43:17 Some scientists think they were a short
00:43:23 Indeed, the longest ongoing controversy
00:43:26 in paleoanthropology has been
00:43:31 But there are more questions
00:43:34 We do know the Neanderthals
00:43:37 so often portrayed by cartoonists.
00:43:40 But one characteristic attributed
00:43:44 They were cave people.
00:43:51 At Kebara Cave in Israel,
00:43:53 a Neanderthal excavation in run jointly
00:44:01 When carefully studied,
00:44:02 layers in a cave can tell a rich story.
00:44:06 Too often in the past they were dug
00:44:10 Thirty years ago Kebara was attacked
00:44:14 Today, dental probes and fine brushes
00:44:23 Each pail of dirt is screened for even
00:44:29 Each piece will then be washed,
00:44:36 By far the greatest number
00:44:38 have been these well fashioned tools.
00:44:42 Literally hundreds of thousands
00:44:49 The leader of the Israeli team
00:44:54 He has clear evidence that over
00:44:57 Neanderthals repeatedly occupied
00:45:02 What we can see here
00:45:05 by the people around
00:45:11 And this is one of
00:45:14 that we can see these fireplaces
00:45:16 which are built one on top
00:45:18 and always at the same place
00:45:23 They were either heating the area
00:45:24 of the cave during wintertime
00:45:29 And then when you still have
00:45:31 spreading them
00:45:34 One problem that we should always keep
00:45:38 and we should not perhaps excavate
00:45:43 because we have to preserve part of
00:45:46 who will probably use better techniques
00:45:51 And, therefore, we'll never know
00:45:54 of what really happened everywhere.
00:45:58 We do know Neanderthals camped
00:46:02 or at least came here with food,
00:46:04 perhaps huddling in groups around
00:46:08 We also know some of them died here.
00:46:15 Neanderthals were the first people
00:46:19 This skeleton,
00:46:20 except for the missing skull which
00:46:24 is among the most
00:46:31 What the meaning of burials was in the
00:46:36 cannot be known for certain.
00:46:39 But the fact that they buried
00:46:41 to us in deep and meaningful ways.
00:46:47 From Neanderthal excavations throughout
00:46:51 a picture of how they lived
00:46:54 Theirs was a non-settled existence.
00:46:57 A socially organized people,
00:47:00 as they moved from place to place
00:47:04 Hardy and robust, they were probably
00:47:10 They survived even in
00:47:14 Whether they had language
00:47:17 But surely, in some sophisticated way,
00:47:20 they communicated with their own.
00:47:26 Then about 30 to 40,000 years ago
00:47:31 well-adapted people
00:47:34 They may or may not have evolved
00:47:39 If modern Homo sapiens evolved
00:47:43 Neanderthals may have simply
00:47:48 Anatomically much like us,
00:47:50 these early modern humans stood
00:47:53 everything we usually define as human.
00:47:57 Farming and the rise of
00:48:01 But these early modern humans were
00:48:07 This rich record of the past
00:48:08 ranks among the greatest artistic
00:48:39 We know these people spread to every
00:48:44 but where had they come from?
00:48:50 One scientist at the British Museum
00:48:54 thinks the answer has been found.
00:48:57 Physical anthropologist
00:49:01 The research on the origin of
00:49:06 because it deals with the origins
00:49:10 And my idea of an African origin
00:49:14 I feel that modern people
00:49:17 and then later on in other parts
00:49:20 But there is also genetic data,
00:49:22 and the genetic data also support
00:49:26 of an African origin of modern people.
00:49:29 At the University of Hawaii one of
00:49:33 in this field investigates
00:49:39 Dr. Becky Cann believes her research
00:49:43 to the theory of an African origin.
00:49:48 All humans who are alive today
00:49:52 in their genes back to a single female
00:49:55 who, we think, lived in Africa
00:49:58 sometime perhaps
00:50:03 Dr. Cann bases her theory on studies
00:50:09 She traces backward in time one part
00:50:11 of the DNA molecule that
00:50:17 The genetic work is supplemented
00:50:20 with interviews about
00:50:24 Could I ask you about your maternal
00:50:28 My grandmother was born
00:50:33 Macau is the coast of China.
00:50:36 Dr. Cann has studied Americans
00:50:39 African, and Asian descent,
00:50:42 as well as Australian Aborigines.
00:50:46 By comparing small segments of DNA
00:50:50 Dr. Cann assesses the similarities
00:50:54 The more alike the DNA,
00:50:56 the more closely related
00:50:59 With a computer,
00:51:00 Cann suggests different migration
00:51:05 If she is right, modern humans,
00:51:07 like earlier hominids,
00:51:13 In Africa it seems that the evolution
00:51:17 and from there
00:51:20 So we're all very closely related.
00:51:23 And that goes for
00:51:26 Australian Aborigines, Eskimos,
00:51:28 Europeans we all trace our origin
00:51:30 and under the skin we are all Africans.
00:51:33 Old concepts of
00:51:37 But certainly we must consider
00:51:41 is a fact of our evolution
00:51:46 We are all time travelers together,
00:51:49 the most recent players
00:51:52 at least four million years ago.
00:52:00 In the detective story
00:52:02 we know in a broad sense
00:52:05 But we know very little about
00:52:09 There are too many fossils
00:52:13 and too many gaps in time
00:52:18 The science of anthropology is
00:52:22 But as it moves forward,
00:52:26 poses greater riddles.
00:52:29 To begin filling
00:52:31 the discovery
00:52:35 New technologies will add other pieces
00:52:40 But that is all we can expect
00:52:44 Never can the entire picture be known.
00:52:50 For scientists the excitement
00:52:59 And as the rains come again next year
00:53:02 they know that somewhere
00:53:06 with a bit of luck,
00:53:08 they will find new and
00:53:12 to the ongoing drama of our human past.