The extraordinary story of how the human species, Homo sapiens, first emerged, where the discoveries of recent years are revolutionising the understanding of humanity's origin story. In Morocco, it's revealed that Homo sapiens are 100,000 years older than previously thought. The species was nearly wiped out by violent climate change but clung on against the odds. And in a cave in Botswana, evidence of complex rituals reveal how Homo sapiens culture was flourishing in ways that still shape humanity today.
# Episode 1 The extraordinary story of how the human species, Homo sapiens, first emerged, where the discoveries of recent years are revolutionising the understanding of humanity's origin story. In Morocco, it's revealed that Homo sapiens are 100,000 years older than previously thought.
HTML5 mp4 http://localhost/assets/iplayer/Human_Series_1_-_01._The_First_of_Us_m002fxm9_editorial.mp4 Human: Episode 1 - The First of Us, BBC Two, m002fxm9
The species was nearly wiped out by violent climate change but clung on against the odds. And in a cave in Botswana, evidence of complex rituals reveal how Homo sapiens culture was flourishing in ways that still shape humanity today.
# Episode 2 Following early Homo sapiens's ancestors as they step out of Africa and venture into the wider world, heading into areas inhabited by other human species.
HTML5 mp4 http://localhost/assets/iplayer/Human_Series_1_-_02._Into_the_Unknown_m002fxmc_original.mp4 Human: Episode 2 - Into the Unknown, BBC Two, m002fxmc
Around 60,000 years ago, a small group of Homo sapiens migrated into the Middle East. Recent DNA discoveries reveal that every human alive today whose origins are from outside Africa is a descendant of this group. In just a few thousand years, they spread across the globe.
Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi visits the rainforests of Sri Lanka and discovers how Homo sapiens became the only human species to make the unforgiving jungle its home, using innovative techniques like hunting monkeys with arrowheads made from monkey bones. On the Indonesian island of Flores, she finds out about another human species, the tiny Homo floresiensis, and asks how our ancestors became the first human species to make the 60,000 mile journey across open ocean to Australia.