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[calm music]

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[narrator] In every corner
of the world today are humans.

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Seven billion of us.

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How did we come
to so dominate our planet?

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It's one of science's
greatest mysteries.

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Amazing new evidence suggests

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it began with a single
tiny group of people

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who left Africa
on an incredible journey.

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[lively music]

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[narrator] Using bones, stones, and genes,

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we'll uncover the trail
their descendants left

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across the world,

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and find out how their journeys
transformed our species

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into the people we are today.

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This time, the conquest
of the world's great land mass,

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Asia.

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It was the toughest challenge

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to the survival
of our ancestors,

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ferociously hostile conditions,
with unimaginable cold.

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How did they survive

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and start the most successful
civilization on Earth?

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And we investigate

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one of our story's
biggest mysteries,

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what happened on the journey

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to cause a change
in their appearance,

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from looking African

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to Chinese?

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[tranquil music]

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[wind howling]

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[narrator] Northern Siberia,

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inside the arctic circle.

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Temperatures here can drop
to nearly minus 70 in winter.

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It's hard to find a colder
inhabited place on earth.

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[howling continues]

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[indistinct dialogue]

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[action music]

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[narrator] This is Ulun Yok.

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This remote region is home
to the Evenki,

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an isolated people

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who live much
like their ancestors,

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the first Siberians.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[narrator] And they have
the distinctive features

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of East Asia,

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the mark of a lost past
they share with the Chinese.

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[crowd cheering]

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[narrator]
Today is a special day.

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The scattered nomads
of this area

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meet up once a year

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to celebrate something
that has been sacred

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for over 40,000 years,

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the reindeer.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[narrator] It seems incredible

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that early humans
could have survived

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in this harsh climate.

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As the archaeological record
is so sparse,

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perhaps the best evidence
for solving this mystery

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can be found in the way
their descendants,

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the Evenki, live now.

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[speaking native language]

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[narrator] Piers Vitebsky
has spent much of his life

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studying the culture
of small tribes,

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from India to Northern Siberia.

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[Piers] The way humans
were able to survive here

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was to make themselves as much
like animals as possible.

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So they saw that the animals
were in these furs

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and that they could move around
even in the depth of winter.

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So, we had to become
the animals,

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fill... pour ourselves

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into the shape of animals,
if you like.

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[Piers]
Each fur has its own property.

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For example, there are different
kinds of animals' furs

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that seal the cuffs and collars

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to stop ice crystals building up
in your face.

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But for the main part
of the body,

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reindeer fur is
by far the warmest.

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Because every hair
of a reindeer is hollow

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it has a different
internal structure

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from the fur
of any other animal.

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And so it actually retains
more heat than any other fur.

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[crowd cheering]

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[narrator] Learning to adapt
to this climate

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couldn't have been
more challenging

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for a species
which began its existence

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in the tropics.

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[tense music]

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[narrator]
The best evidence suggests

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that the first humans
left Africa

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around 70,000 years ago.

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Crossing the Middle East,

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it's likely they followed
the great rivers

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and mountain ranges
into Central Asia.

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It's incredibly hard to pick up
the echo of their footsteps,

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but they did leave a thin trail of tantalizing tools.

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Refined stone tools discovered
in Southern Siberia

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hint at a human presence here

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over 40,000 years ago.

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But this site is a long way from where the Evenki are today.

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What kept their ancestors
moving north?

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The answer is simple.

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Hunting.

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[snow crunches]

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[speaking native language]

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[narrator] Anatoly Alexseyev is a historian

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of his own people.

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For him, it's clear
how the Evenki came to be here.

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[translator 1] In the north,
our main wealth

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comes from the reindeer.

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And it's the deer,

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human beings,

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the landscape, and climate

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that make a nomadic life
possible.

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The Evenki are constantly
on the move.

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because of their annual
farming cycle.

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They have to follow
their migrating deer.

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[light music]

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[indistinct chatter]

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[Pier] In this region,
vegetation grows

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extremely slowly.

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It's very easy
to overgraze any pasture.

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So, the humans have
to move their tents

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in the summer every few days,

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in the winter
maybe every few weeks,

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to keep up with the deer.

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[narrator]
Today, these migrations

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take the Evenki huge distances.

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Every year,
they cover a territory

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of over 1,000 square kilometers.

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By unearthing the traces
of ancient fires,

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at sites throughout Siberia,

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we can tell
that early humans moved

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progressively north,

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following animals
across this vast wilderness.

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[snow crunching]

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[tranquil music]

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[whistling]

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[indistinct chatter]

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[narrator]To build their tents, or choum,

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they use larch poles
and reindeer skin,

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which would also
have been available

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to their ancestors
thousands of years ago.

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This new camp will be their home for a matter of days,

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somewhere to graze their deer
and to hunt from.

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[coughing]

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[narrator] The evidence shows
that this land

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offered the first Siberians,

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a much larger variety
of game to hunt than today.

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Archaeologists have found bones

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with signs of spear marks
and scraping

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at various sites in Siberia.

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These tell us that early humans
hunted woolly mammoths,

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wild horses, rhinos,
and tiny birds.

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But they also hunted reindeer,

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just like
their descendants today.

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[speaks native language]

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[narrator] Marina Nikolaeva
is the driving force

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behinds the camps in this area.

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As a hunter herself,

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she believes that it's vital
not to upset the hunting spirit

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known as Bayan Ai.

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[translator 2]
You must be good to nature,

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not leave any mess behind
after the hunt,

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or you won't be successful
next time.

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You should also always
share your catch

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with people close to you,

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or people who don't have much.

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Whoever does this
is guaranteed success.

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[translator 1]
And if the hunter boasts

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what a great hunter he is,

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and says, "We'll have
a very successful hunt today."

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Bayan Ai will hear that,

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and warn the deer,

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and the hunters will end up
in an empty spot.

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[narrator] But today it seems
someone has displeased

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the hunting spirit.

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The hunters return empty-handed.

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The wild deer
are already far off.

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For our ancestors,
this would have meant hunger.

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But as today's Evenki

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herd their own
domesticated deer,

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they have something
to fall back on,

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and they select one of these
for the slaughter.

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[rattles]

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[narrator] The skill of using
every part of the animal

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has been honed
over thousands of years.

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The hunters use the knives
with the blade facing outwards

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to avoid cutting
through the deep tissues.

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It's almost bloodless.

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The hide just peels away.

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[narrator]
The Evenki's ancestors

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would only have had stone tools
for the job of slaughtering,

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but they too could ill afford
to spill a drop of blood.

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[translator 1]Oh, that's good.

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It's very tasty.

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It's like French wine.

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[translator 2] Whoever likes
the blood can drink it.

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The liver is also good hot.

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And you can eat the eyes,

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which are delicious
and good for you.

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We always eat the raw brains.

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They're very tasty
and healthy too.

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There will be fresh
sprouting antlers soon.

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The old antlers fall off
and the new ones grow.

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They're very good for male
health.

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[narrator]
Food is not the only thing

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the reindeer provides.

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Its fur is the best protection
against the cold.

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But how did those first humans
in Siberia

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make the best use
of the hides they took

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from the animals around them?

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[bright music]

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[narrator]
The Evenki owe their survival

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to a very special implement
invented by their ancestors.

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A bone needle
was found in a cave

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in Southern Siberia.

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Russian scientists think

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it could be
over 40,000 years old.

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Faced with the shocking cold
of their new home,

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the early humans in this area

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invented one
of the most important tools

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in our human story.

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It is hardly surprising
that this harsh region

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produced what is possibly one
of the oldest needles

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in the world.

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But it's not enough
just to have a needle.

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The Evenki even developed a way
of making thread

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from the reindeer too.

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[translator 3]
I'm using ligaments

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to make threads.

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We take it from the body
of the reindeer,

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we dry it,

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and we use it to make clothes.

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If you use this,

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it will be very sturdy.

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[Piers] I think in the whole
of human history,

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nobody has ever invented
a better insulator

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against the cold
than reindeer fur,

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stitched and molded
around the body.

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[narrator]
Using their new technology

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to defeat the cold,

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the early Siberians could now
conquer the frozen wastelands

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of the extreme north.

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[tense music]

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[bells tolling]

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[narrator] Finally, the reindeer's cooked,

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and the Evenkis sit down to eat.

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In this frozen landscape,
there is very little,

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apart from the precious
reindeer meat.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[narrator]
How do the Evenki cope

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with such a heavily
carnivorous diet?

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00:14:01,284 --> 00:14:04,008
It seems that, over time,
they've adapted.

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Having such a high proportion of their food as protein and fat

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helps to give them
a raised metabolism.

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But it seems evolution
has also played a part.

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Examination of the DNA

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of northern peoples
like the Evenki

259
00:14:22,801 --> 00:14:24,353
has shown that their body cells

260
00:14:24,491 --> 00:14:27,801
actually produce more heat
than those of other humans.

261
00:14:34,629 --> 00:14:35,870
During the meal,

262
00:14:36,008 --> 00:14:38,663
the conversation turns
to the big question,

263
00:14:38,801 --> 00:14:40,594
where we all come from.

264
00:14:43,939 --> 00:14:45,836
[translator 1] There is a Tungus Evenkian myth

265
00:14:45,974 --> 00:14:48,180
about the origin of the world.

266
00:14:48,318 --> 00:14:50,043
A bird called a loon

267
00:14:50,180 --> 00:14:53,525
dived three times
into the primordial water,

268
00:14:53,663 --> 00:14:55,215
and at the fifth time,

269
00:14:55,353 --> 00:14:58,767
it succeeded
in breaking up a bit of mud,

270
00:14:58,905 --> 00:15:01,836
and from that mud,
the earth arose

271
00:15:01,974 --> 00:15:03,870
and then the mammoth came along.

272
00:15:04,008 --> 00:15:07,422
And with its tusks raised the earth still further,

273
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,870
and formed the rivers
and mountains.

274
00:15:11,008 --> 00:15:15,180
This is our beautiful story about the creation of the earth.

275
00:15:17,594 --> 00:15:18,905
[narrator]
Despite a few trappings

276
00:15:19,043 --> 00:15:20,353
of modern life,

277
00:15:20,491 --> 00:15:22,387
looking at the Evenki
opens our eyes

278
00:15:22,525 --> 00:15:25,387
to how our ancestors
might have lived and survived

279
00:15:25,525 --> 00:15:27,629
in such tough conditions.

280
00:15:27,767 --> 00:15:29,491
And it makes sense
of the thin trail

281
00:15:29,629 --> 00:15:31,043
of ancient artefacts

282
00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:32,801
strewn across Siberia.

283
00:15:36,905 --> 00:15:38,905
[tense music]

284
00:15:43,801 --> 00:15:46,043
[narrator]
New archaeological finds

285
00:15:46,180 --> 00:15:48,767
reveal that by 30,000 years ago,

286
00:15:48,905 --> 00:15:51,939
the early humans had
covered thousands of miles

287
00:15:52,077 --> 00:15:54,318
across the freezing wastes
of Siberia

288
00:15:54,456 --> 00:15:55,974
to the arctic ocean,

289
00:15:56,111 --> 00:15:59,560
the furthest north they could go on the Asian continent.

290
00:16:00,215 --> 00:16:01,905
[wind howling]

291
00:16:02,043 --> 00:16:04,698
[narrator] But then,
a catastrophe occurred

292
00:16:04,836 --> 00:16:06,111
which would change the course

293
00:16:06,249 --> 00:16:08,698
of our ancestors' journey
through Asia.

294
00:16:10,008 --> 00:16:12,008
[howling continues]

295
00:16:15,629 --> 00:16:17,801
[light music]

296
00:16:19,767 --> 00:16:22,180
[narrator] Using computer
climate modelling,

297
00:16:22,318 --> 00:16:23,732
scientists can calculate

298
00:16:23,870 --> 00:16:27,077
what the prehistoric climate
was like.

299
00:16:27,215 --> 00:16:31,284
Over a few thousand years,
global temperatures plummeted.

300
00:16:31,422 --> 00:16:33,663
In Siberia, it got even colder.

301
00:16:37,146 --> 00:16:39,698
So what happened
to the people of Siberia?

302
00:16:41,146 --> 00:16:43,111
[grandiose music]

303
00:16:46,422 --> 00:16:47,629
[narrator] St. Petersburg,

304
00:16:47,767 --> 00:16:50,767
the former Imperial
Capital of Russia.

305
00:16:54,284 --> 00:16:57,732
The hermitage is one of the world's greatest museums,

306
00:16:57,870 --> 00:17:00,043
home to glittering works of art.

307
00:17:00,801 --> 00:17:02,974
[grandiose music]

308
00:17:12,008 --> 00:17:14,077
[narrator] But behind
these beautiful galleries

309
00:17:14,215 --> 00:17:18,043
are store rooms filled
with exquisite treasures.

310
00:17:18,180 --> 00:17:22,043
They could unlock the secrets
of the ancient Siberians.

311
00:17:22,974 --> 00:17:24,974
[suspenseful music]

312
00:17:26,146 --> 00:17:27,663
[narrator]What's most revealing

313
00:17:27,801 --> 00:17:30,594
is that these treasures
were found in just a few sites

314
00:17:30,732 --> 00:17:32,525
in the south of Siberia.

315
00:17:38,249 --> 00:17:40,560
This suggests
that the worsening climate

316
00:17:40,698 --> 00:17:44,077
forced these prehistoric people into the few refuges

317
00:17:44,215 --> 00:17:46,249
where it was still possible
to survive.

318
00:17:48,594 --> 00:17:50,732
[suspenseful music]

319
00:17:52,284 --> 00:17:54,594
[narrator] One of the places
they took refuge at,

320
00:17:54,732 --> 00:17:56,111
near Lake Baikal,

321
00:17:56,249 --> 00:17:58,043
is the site of Mal'ta.

322
00:18:00,905 --> 00:18:03,111
Some archaeologists think
humans lived here

323
00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:04,870
at the peak of the ice age.

324
00:18:08,318 --> 00:18:11,974
What do these objects reveal
about how our ancestors coped

325
00:18:12,111 --> 00:18:13,870
in their battle
against the elements?

326
00:18:20,043 --> 00:18:22,043
[tense music]

327
00:18:26,663 --> 00:18:28,249
[narrator]
Some archaeologists believe

328
00:18:28,387 --> 00:18:30,525
that even the size
of these blades

329
00:18:30,663 --> 00:18:32,974
is a result
of the appalling cold.

330
00:18:35,215 --> 00:18:36,422
With harsh conditions

331
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,525
making the quarries difficult
to reach,

332
00:18:38,663 --> 00:18:42,939
early humans made more,
smaller blades from each stone.

333
00:18:45,353 --> 00:18:47,491
[tense music]

334
00:18:52,180 --> 00:18:53,905
[narrator]These bone figurines

335
00:18:54,043 --> 00:18:56,215
are thought to be amongst the earliest depictions

336
00:18:56,353 --> 00:18:57,732
of people wearing fur

337
00:18:57,870 --> 00:19:00,698
as protection
against the extreme cold.

338
00:19:04,491 --> 00:19:06,077
Even these carved birds

339
00:19:06,215 --> 00:19:08,525
may have been a response
to the cold.

340
00:19:09,698 --> 00:19:11,215
The flight of the water birds

341
00:19:11,353 --> 00:19:15,663
coincided with the appearance of the first deer of the season.

342
00:19:15,801 --> 00:19:19,111
So some archaeologists
think these tiny carvings

343
00:19:19,249 --> 00:19:21,111
may be hunting charms.

344
00:19:21,249 --> 00:19:25,353
A cry to the spirits in a time
of stress and struggle.

345
00:19:25,491 --> 00:19:27,629
[wind howling]

346
00:19:31,939 --> 00:19:33,939
[tense music]

347
00:19:35,318 --> 00:19:37,215
[narrator] We've traced
how early humans first came

348
00:19:37,353 --> 00:19:40,801
to the frozen wilds
of Northern Siberia,

349
00:19:40,939 --> 00:19:43,560
and how they survived
the hostile conditions there

350
00:19:43,698 --> 00:19:46,180
before being driven south
by the cold.

351
00:19:48,043 --> 00:19:49,629
Our ancestors in Siberia

352
00:19:49,767 --> 00:19:52,111
endured the extremes
of the ice age,

353
00:19:53,249 --> 00:19:54,801
and around this period

354
00:19:54,939 --> 00:19:57,422
something dramatic happened

355
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,560
the appearance
of the people changed.

356
00:20:02,456 --> 00:20:04,594
[suspenseful music]

357
00:20:09,043 --> 00:20:10,905
[narrator] This is the closest
we can come

358
00:20:11,043 --> 00:20:14,111
to what our African ancestors
may have looked like.

359
00:20:14,249 --> 00:20:16,905
This head is based
on a woman's skull,

360
00:20:17,043 --> 00:20:20,215
dated to around
100 thousand years ago.

361
00:20:22,249 --> 00:20:24,870
According to
the Out of Africa Theory,

362
00:20:25,008 --> 00:20:28,180
a small band of people
like her left Africa,

363
00:20:28,318 --> 00:20:30,146
eventually,
some of their descendants

364
00:20:30,284 --> 00:20:31,594
making it to China.

365
00:20:32,905 --> 00:20:35,146
So, at some point
on the journey,

366
00:20:35,284 --> 00:20:36,594
is this what happened?

367
00:20:37,629 --> 00:20:39,801
[tense music]

368
00:20:46,249 --> 00:20:48,215
[upbeat music]

369
00:20:49,594 --> 00:20:51,180
[narrator]
From Siberia to China,

370
00:20:51,318 --> 00:20:54,698
we come face to face with the results of this change.

371
00:20:56,353 --> 00:20:58,491
[upbeat music]

372
00:21:01,043 --> 00:21:02,491
[narrator]
This altered appearance

373
00:21:02,629 --> 00:21:04,215
is a phenomenon that today

374
00:21:04,353 --> 00:21:07,111
is of huge interest
to the cosmetics industry.

375
00:21:09,008 --> 00:21:12,215
At L'Oréal's research center
in Shanghai,

376
00:21:12,353 --> 00:21:13,629
they're building up a database

377
00:21:13,767 --> 00:21:15,870
of the features
of the Chinese face,

378
00:21:16,008 --> 00:21:17,732
in the hope of tailoring
their products

379
00:21:17,870 --> 00:21:19,870
for a booming new market.

380
00:21:22,767 --> 00:21:26,491
These East Asian features
including the low profile nose,

381
00:21:26,629 --> 00:21:27,974
flat face,

382
00:21:28,111 --> 00:21:30,525
and an increased layer
of subcutaneous fat

383
00:21:30,663 --> 00:21:31,905
in the eyelid.

384
00:21:34,353 --> 00:21:36,215
[camera shutter clicking]

385
00:21:36,353 --> 00:21:38,594
[narrator] But the most iconic
of these features

386
00:21:38,732 --> 00:21:40,491
is the almond-shaped eye.

387
00:21:42,767 --> 00:21:45,043
Ironically,
this cosmetics company

388
00:21:45,180 --> 00:21:46,836
seems to believe
there is a market

389
00:21:46,974 --> 00:21:50,111
in minimizing this typically Chinese feature.

390
00:21:52,249 --> 00:21:57,043
[Liu] Crystal, she has
a very traditional Chinese eye.

391
00:21:57,180 --> 00:21:58,732
And what I want to do for her

392
00:21:58,870 --> 00:22:02,698
is to make her eye looks bigger
and more attractive.

393
00:22:05,525 --> 00:22:07,594
[lively music]

394
00:22:13,905 --> 00:22:16,663
[narrator] But the differences
maybe more than skin deep.

395
00:22:20,422 --> 00:22:23,698
L'Oréal's researchers
claim that not only do Chinese

396
00:22:23,836 --> 00:22:25,974
and European faces
look different,

397
00:22:26,111 --> 00:22:28,249
they actually
age differently, too.

398
00:22:29,456 --> 00:22:32,043
[playful music]

399
00:22:32,180 --> 00:22:33,974
[Chen] According to our study
on the wrinkles,

400
00:22:34,111 --> 00:22:37,284
we find that the appearance
of crow's feet...

401
00:22:37,422 --> 00:22:39,870
Uh, they begin ten years later

402
00:22:40,008 --> 00:22:43,077
for Chinese woman
than for the European woman.

403
00:22:43,215 --> 00:22:46,008
[Chen] After the appearance
of the crow's feet wrinkles,

404
00:22:46,146 --> 00:22:47,146
for Chinese women,

405
00:22:47,284 --> 00:22:49,491
they will catch
the European women.

406
00:22:50,249 --> 00:22:52,215
[suspenseful music]

407
00:22:54,456 --> 00:22:55,663
[narrator]
So what might have caused

408
00:22:55,801 --> 00:22:58,491
these East Asian features
to emerge?

409
00:23:03,974 --> 00:23:06,663
One theory, first developed
in the 1950s

410
00:23:06,801 --> 00:23:08,732
by American anthropologists,

411
00:23:08,870 --> 00:23:11,905
put their emergence down to the cold of the ice age.

412
00:23:16,939 --> 00:23:18,594
It was thought
that the almond-eye shape

413
00:23:18,732 --> 00:23:21,629
was a way of shutting out
the glare from the snow.

414
00:23:21,767 --> 00:23:23,491
That the subcutaneous fat layer

415
00:23:23,629 --> 00:23:25,594
could be vital
insulating tissue,

416
00:23:25,732 --> 00:23:26,836
and the flatter nose

417
00:23:26,974 --> 00:23:29,008
might reduce
the risk of frostbite.

418
00:23:33,180 --> 00:23:34,491
It's a neat idea,

419
00:23:34,629 --> 00:23:37,422
but many in China believe
that they look different

420
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,974
because they are
fundamentally different.

421
00:23:44,801 --> 00:23:46,629
Many Chinese claim
that they're descended

422
00:23:46,767 --> 00:23:48,387
from a completely
different branch

423
00:23:48,525 --> 00:23:49,836
of the human family,

424
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:53,318
from an ancient human creature

425
00:23:53,456 --> 00:23:56,870
which lived in China
over a million years ago.

426
00:23:58,077 --> 00:24:00,836
[calm music]

427
00:24:00,974 --> 00:24:03,698
[narrator] We know that
before modern humans existed,

428
00:24:03,836 --> 00:24:06,111
there were earlier species
of human.

429
00:24:06,249 --> 00:24:09,284
One of these was Homo erectus,

430
00:24:09,422 --> 00:24:10,974
a bit more ape like than us,

431
00:24:11,111 --> 00:24:13,870
with a heavy brow
and a smaller brain.

432
00:24:16,698 --> 00:24:19,732
Around one-point-eight
million years ago,

433
00:24:19,870 --> 00:24:22,249
some Homo erectus left Africa.

434
00:24:24,180 --> 00:24:26,905
And it is believed,
Homo erectus in Asia

435
00:24:27,043 --> 00:24:28,594
eventually died out.

436
00:24:31,594 --> 00:24:33,180
But over a million years later,

437
00:24:33,318 --> 00:24:36,939
Homo erectus in Africa evolved
into our own species,

438
00:24:37,077 --> 00:24:38,249
Homo sapiens.

439
00:24:39,146 --> 00:24:40,698
[clacking]

440
00:24:41,836 --> 00:24:43,525
[narrator]
The latest evidence suggests

441
00:24:43,663 --> 00:24:45,767
that around 70,000 years ago,

442
00:24:45,905 --> 00:24:49,111
a tiny group of our species
left the continent,

443
00:24:49,249 --> 00:24:52,491
their descendants spreading out across the world.

444
00:24:56,146 --> 00:24:59,008
But many Chinese scientists
disagree.

445
00:24:59,629 --> 00:25:01,870
[light music]

446
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,318
[narrator] They believe
they have evidence

447
00:25:11,456 --> 00:25:13,215
that instead of dying out,

448
00:25:13,353 --> 00:25:15,456
Homo erectus was their ancestor,

449
00:25:15,594 --> 00:25:17,836
not African Homo sapiens.

450
00:25:20,801 --> 00:25:23,974
Zhoukoudian,
just outside Beijing.

451
00:25:24,111 --> 00:25:27,180
It's one of China's most popular archaeological sites,

452
00:25:27,318 --> 00:25:30,422
where the largest collection
of Homo erectus remains

453
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,629
on Earth was found.

454
00:25:32,767 --> 00:25:34,732
[overlapping dialogue]

455
00:25:36,732 --> 00:25:38,525
[narrator]
Chinese schoolchildren learn

456
00:25:38,663 --> 00:25:41,043
that the Homo erectus bones
found here

457
00:25:41,180 --> 00:25:43,249
prove that they come
from a different branch

458
00:25:43,387 --> 00:25:44,939
of the human family.

459
00:25:45,077 --> 00:25:47,077
[light music]

460
00:25:47,215 --> 00:25:49,215
[indistinct chatter]

461
00:25:50,870 --> 00:25:54,698
[narrator] Excavations began here in 1921.

462
00:25:54,836 --> 00:25:57,284
An international team
of archaeologists

463
00:25:57,422 --> 00:25:59,215
dug deep into the limestone

464
00:25:59,353 --> 00:26:02,249
to peel back the layers
of human habitation.

465
00:26:04,077 --> 00:26:05,801
In 1929,

466
00:26:05,939 --> 00:26:10,043
an incredible find was unearthed from deep in a narrow pit,

467
00:26:10,180 --> 00:26:13,008
an ancient human skull cap.

468
00:26:13,146 --> 00:26:15,560
It is thought it could be
up to an astonishing

469
00:26:15,698 --> 00:26:18,905
500,000 years old.

470
00:26:21,767 --> 00:26:24,491
It would come to be known
as Peking man,

471
00:26:24,629 --> 00:26:26,387
and was one
of the first fragments

472
00:26:26,525 --> 00:26:29,249
of Homo erectus ever found.

473
00:26:29,387 --> 00:26:31,525
[light music]

474
00:26:33,111 --> 00:26:34,974
[narrator]
Over the next few years,

475
00:26:35,111 --> 00:26:36,698
more remains were found.

476
00:26:38,077 --> 00:26:40,732
And it turned out
that our own species,

477
00:26:40,870 --> 00:26:44,525
Homo sapiens,
had also inhabited this cave.

478
00:26:48,008 --> 00:26:50,249
For scientists
examining the remains,

479
00:26:50,387 --> 00:26:54,594
there seemed to be a strong link between Chinese Homo erectus

480
00:26:54,732 --> 00:26:56,180
and modern humans.

481
00:27:02,905 --> 00:27:07,732
Thirty-year old Wu Xinzhi
joined the excavations in 1958.

482
00:27:10,180 --> 00:27:11,629
Half a century later,

483
00:27:11,767 --> 00:27:15,560
he is still dedicated to proving that Chinese Homo erectus

484
00:27:15,698 --> 00:27:19,870
is the ancestor
to all Chinese living today.

485
00:27:20,008 --> 00:27:22,284
The idea that the ancestors
of the Chinese

486
00:27:22,422 --> 00:27:24,353
are so deeply rooted in China

487
00:27:24,491 --> 00:27:26,353
underpins their whole culture.

488
00:27:26,491 --> 00:27:28,629
-[crowd cheering]
-[drum beats]

489
00:27:28,767 --> 00:27:29,732
[narrator] As a philosophy,

490
00:27:29,870 --> 00:27:32,111
it was even embraced by Mao.

491
00:27:32,249 --> 00:27:35,008
His "Little Red Book"
declared human history

492
00:27:35,146 --> 00:27:37,043
to be a million years old.

493
00:27:38,456 --> 00:27:40,111
Today, Professor Wu

494
00:27:40,249 --> 00:27:43,525
is one of China's most
revered scientists.

495
00:27:45,353 --> 00:27:46,560
And he believes,

496
00:27:46,698 --> 00:27:48,836
he has identified
important similarities

497
00:27:48,974 --> 00:27:53,663
between modern human skulls
and this Homo erectus skull.

498
00:27:56,215 --> 00:27:58,180
[tense music]

499
00:28:04,318 --> 00:28:07,525
[Wu] This skull has some,
uh, common features

500
00:28:07,663 --> 00:28:10,801
with the other skulls in China.

501
00:28:10,939 --> 00:28:11,974
For example,

502
00:28:12,111 --> 00:28:14,111
uh, the face is flat,

503
00:28:14,249 --> 00:28:16,146
the, the nose is flat,

504
00:28:16,284 --> 00:28:18,180
not very protrude,

505
00:28:18,318 --> 00:28:20,801
not very protrude as in Europe.

506
00:28:21,629 --> 00:28:23,905
And, uh, this part...

507
00:28:24,491 --> 00:28:26,422
is also flat.

508
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,284
And the face is more forward.

509
00:28:29,422 --> 00:28:31,560
[narrator] And this is
the modern Chinese skull

510
00:28:31,698 --> 00:28:32,836
that was found,

511
00:28:32,974 --> 00:28:34,422
Homo sapiens.

512
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:35,801
[Wu] So...

513
00:28:35,939 --> 00:28:40,180
you see this skull
is 30,000 years old,

514
00:28:40,318 --> 00:28:41,629
but, uh...

515
00:28:41,767 --> 00:28:45,422
But it also have
the more flat face,

516
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,629
and the not
very protruding nose.

517
00:28:48,767 --> 00:28:52,111
So, similar to the Peking man.

518
00:28:53,801 --> 00:28:55,353
[narrator]So, for Professor Wu,

519
00:28:55,491 --> 00:28:57,111
these apparent similarities

520
00:28:57,249 --> 00:29:00,629
mean that the modern Chinese inherited some of their features

521
00:29:00,767 --> 00:29:02,525
from Homo erectus.

522
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:05,732
He believes that erectus

523
00:29:05,870 --> 00:29:08,284
was the forefather
of today's Chinese.

524
00:29:08,422 --> 00:29:10,560
And that the last ancestor
his people shared

525
00:29:10,698 --> 00:29:12,629
with the rest
of the world's population

526
00:29:12,767 --> 00:29:15,491
goes back one-point-eight
million years,

527
00:29:15,629 --> 00:29:17,870
not a mere 70,000.

528
00:29:19,215 --> 00:29:21,180
[tense music]

529
00:29:23,870 --> 00:29:26,387
[narrator] Many Western
scientists disagree.

530
00:29:26,525 --> 00:29:28,422
They don't see the similarities,

531
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,732
and argue that
this modern Chinese skull

532
00:29:30,870 --> 00:29:33,043
looks like an African
or European one

533
00:29:33,180 --> 00:29:34,318
from the same date,

534
00:29:34,456 --> 00:29:36,594
and nothing like Homo erectus.

535
00:29:39,318 --> 00:29:40,456
But in China,

536
00:29:40,594 --> 00:29:42,732
the argument is far from over.

537
00:29:43,387 --> 00:29:46,077
[tense music]

538
00:29:46,215 --> 00:29:47,284
[narrator] This is partly

539
00:29:47,422 --> 00:29:48,974
because of another piece
of evidence

540
00:29:49,111 --> 00:29:53,111
that Chinese scientists believe supports their case.

541
00:29:53,249 --> 00:29:55,905
And it comes
from stone age tools.

542
00:29:57,318 --> 00:29:59,077
[man chanting]

543
00:29:59,215 --> 00:30:01,215
[narrator]
In Europe and the Middle East,

544
00:30:01,353 --> 00:30:03,594
archaeologists have found
clear evidence

545
00:30:03,732 --> 00:30:06,905
of the arrival of modern humans from Africa,

546
00:30:07,043 --> 00:30:10,215
a dramatic improvement
in stone tools.

547
00:30:13,284 --> 00:30:14,422
But in China,

548
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,249
there's almost no sign
of the change

549
00:30:16,387 --> 00:30:18,008
scientists would expect.

550
00:30:18,594 --> 00:30:21,249
[tense music]

551
00:30:21,387 --> 00:30:24,008
[narrator]Some Chinese experts have seized on this

552
00:30:24,146 --> 00:30:26,663
as further evidence
that modern Chinese evolved

553
00:30:26,801 --> 00:30:28,456
from Homo erectus.

554
00:30:30,732 --> 00:30:34,111
And that they did so without updating their tool kit.

555
00:30:37,284 --> 00:30:39,215
But there could be
a simple explanation

556
00:30:39,353 --> 00:30:41,387
for the lack
of sophisticated stone tools

557
00:30:41,525 --> 00:30:42,663
in this area.

558
00:30:48,905 --> 00:30:51,870
[narrator] The bamboo forest
of Central China.

559
00:30:56,284 --> 00:30:58,215
[clucking]

560
00:30:58,353 --> 00:30:59,525
[narrator]
The villages here look

561
00:30:59,663 --> 00:31:01,732
as though they've been here
for centuries.

562
00:31:03,111 --> 00:31:05,077
[upbeat music]

563
00:31:11,111 --> 00:31:12,974
[narrator]
Experimental archaeologist,

564
00:31:13,111 --> 00:31:14,318
Jo Kamminga,

565
00:31:14,456 --> 00:31:16,939
spends much of his time
in Southeastern Asia

566
00:31:17,077 --> 00:31:19,525
trying to replicate
primitive tools.

567
00:31:21,284 --> 00:31:23,215
[upbeat music]

568
00:31:23,353 --> 00:31:24,870
[clinks]

569
00:31:25,008 --> 00:31:26,525
[narrator]
The stone tool he's making

570
00:31:26,663 --> 00:31:28,663
is similar
to a typical, ancient,

571
00:31:28,801 --> 00:31:31,215
and very basic Chinese chopper.

572
00:31:32,801 --> 00:31:36,077
So why does he think tools here remained this basic

573
00:31:36,215 --> 00:31:37,629
for so long?

574
00:31:37,767 --> 00:31:40,008
We're in a completely different
part of the world here.

575
00:31:40,146 --> 00:31:41,905
In Europe,
there are different resources,

576
00:31:42,043 --> 00:31:43,767
different plants,
different animals,

577
00:31:43,905 --> 00:31:45,456
and different kinds of stone.

578
00:31:45,594 --> 00:31:47,732
And you have very large cobbles
of flint in Europe.

579
00:31:47,870 --> 00:31:49,801
But you don't have very large
cobbles of flint here,

580
00:31:49,939 --> 00:31:52,767
in Southeast Asia
and South China.

581
00:31:52,905 --> 00:31:54,905
[narrator] They may not
have the right stone,

582
00:31:55,043 --> 00:31:56,215
but in bamboo,

583
00:31:56,353 --> 00:31:57,870
they do have
a very different material

584
00:31:58,008 --> 00:32:01,629
which is flexible
yet extremely strong.

585
00:32:01,767 --> 00:32:04,870
And in this region,
it grows everywhere.

586
00:32:06,939 --> 00:32:08,939
[Jo] It's a very
resilient material to use,

587
00:32:09,077 --> 00:32:10,215
and it's used for knives,

588
00:32:10,353 --> 00:32:12,111
and it's used for the sorts
of things that,

589
00:32:12,249 --> 00:32:13,905
uh, you would use stone for.

590
00:32:14,043 --> 00:32:16,836
So, uh, cutting implements
are made with bamboo,

591
00:32:16,974 --> 00:32:18,836
and why would you go
to so much trouble

592
00:32:18,974 --> 00:32:21,836
to make a sophisticated
stone tool, beautifully shaped,

593
00:32:21,974 --> 00:32:23,663
when you can
just take a piece of bamboo

594
00:32:23,801 --> 00:32:25,905
and use that and throw it away
when you've finished with it.

595
00:32:26,043 --> 00:32:28,249
Because it's everywhere,
you can always get it again

596
00:32:28,387 --> 00:32:30,043
next valley along.

597
00:32:32,043 --> 00:32:33,939
[narrator] So in China,
unlike Europe,

598
00:32:34,077 --> 00:32:36,456
basic stone tools
could have been used

599
00:32:36,594 --> 00:32:39,111
to make more sophisticated
bamboo tools.

600
00:32:42,353 --> 00:32:43,939
If the theory's right,

601
00:32:44,077 --> 00:32:46,974
the Chinese did have
sophisticated tools

602
00:32:47,111 --> 00:32:49,525
typical of Homo sapiens.

603
00:32:49,663 --> 00:32:52,663
It's just that they were made of a highly perishable material,

604
00:32:52,801 --> 00:32:54,111
long since decayed.

605
00:32:56,974 --> 00:32:58,974
[calm music]

606
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,870
[child speaks Chinese]

607
00:33:05,491 --> 00:33:07,732
[clucking]

608
00:33:08,456 --> 00:33:10,870
[rasping]

609
00:33:11,008 --> 00:33:12,939
[narrator] But the best way
to test this theory

610
00:33:13,077 --> 00:33:16,663
is to try to make a bamboo tool using a stone one.

611
00:33:20,387 --> 00:33:23,629
[narrator] We set Jo the task
of making a bamboo knife

612
00:33:23,767 --> 00:33:25,905
that could butcher
a fresh chicken.

613
00:33:30,939 --> 00:33:32,456
[rasping]

614
00:33:33,456 --> 00:33:34,491
[Jo] This is...

615
00:33:34,629 --> 00:33:36,111
a perfectly good knife.

616
00:33:37,111 --> 00:33:38,456
A much more preferable...

617
00:33:38,594 --> 00:33:41,215
uh, knife to one
that you invested a lot of time

618
00:33:41,353 --> 00:33:42,836
in making out of stone.

619
00:33:44,422 --> 00:33:46,043
[narrator]
The knife works very well.

620
00:33:47,008 --> 00:33:48,732
This is a possible explanation

621
00:33:48,870 --> 00:33:53,215
for why we see so few
advanced stone tools in China.

622
00:33:53,353 --> 00:33:55,043
[indistinct chatter]

623
00:33:55,180 --> 00:33:56,836
[narrator] But it doesn't prove either way

624
00:33:56,974 --> 00:33:58,836
where the Chinese came from.

625
00:34:00,146 --> 00:34:02,180
[light music]

626
00:34:04,974 --> 00:34:06,491
[narrator] In order
to resolve the question

627
00:34:06,629 --> 00:34:08,215
of the origins of the Chinese,

628
00:34:08,353 --> 00:34:11,525
we need to look at a completely
different strand of evidence.

629
00:34:11,663 --> 00:34:13,594
And that's genetics.

630
00:34:14,318 --> 00:34:16,456
[light music]

631
00:34:17,870 --> 00:34:19,215
[narrator] Professor Jin Li

632
00:34:19,353 --> 00:34:21,629
is head of the main
genetics laboratory

633
00:34:21,767 --> 00:34:24,111
at Shanghai's Fudan University.

634
00:34:26,525 --> 00:34:27,939
In 1997,

635
00:34:28,077 --> 00:34:31,836
he set up a project with the aim of demonstrating conclusively

636
00:34:31,974 --> 00:34:35,215
that the Chinese are descended
from Homo erectus.

637
00:34:36,422 --> 00:34:38,008
Before the, the project started,

638
00:34:38,146 --> 00:34:40,870
I was, uh, hoping
that I could identify

639
00:34:41,008 --> 00:34:43,180
or could be able
to find the evidence

640
00:34:43,318 --> 00:34:47,525
that supported independent
origin of Chinese in China.

641
00:34:47,663 --> 00:34:49,422
Because I am a Chinese,

642
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:51,215
and came from China.

643
00:34:51,353 --> 00:34:53,249
And through
the education process,

644
00:34:53,387 --> 00:34:54,870
I always believed that there...

645
00:34:55,008 --> 00:34:57,491
there is something special
about Chinese.

646
00:34:57,629 --> 00:35:00,249
[suspenseful music]

647
00:35:00,387 --> 00:35:01,698
[narrator]
In search of evidence,

648
00:35:01,836 --> 00:35:03,767
he singled out a genetic marker

649
00:35:03,905 --> 00:35:06,249
which came out of Africa
with modern humans

650
00:35:06,387 --> 00:35:08,560
around 70,000 years ago.

651
00:35:08,698 --> 00:35:10,456
[machine whirring]

652
00:35:11,801 --> 00:35:13,939
[narrator] It's a marker
which Homo erectus,

653
00:35:14,077 --> 00:35:16,594
arriving in China over
a million years before,

654
00:35:16,732 --> 00:35:17,974
could not have had...

655
00:35:19,767 --> 00:35:21,836
and neither
could their descendants.

656
00:35:22,629 --> 00:35:24,767
[suspenseful music]

657
00:35:28,043 --> 00:35:30,146
[narrator]
So, the critical question was,

658
00:35:30,284 --> 00:35:34,043
do today's Chinese have the "Out of Africa" marker

659
00:35:34,180 --> 00:35:37,560
like everyone else in the world,
buried in their genes?

660
00:35:42,974 --> 00:35:45,111
Jin Li searched blood samples

661
00:35:45,249 --> 00:35:46,732
from over 12,000 men

662
00:35:46,870 --> 00:35:51,043
from 162 different ethnic groups across Asia to find out.

663
00:35:55,698 --> 00:35:59,008
The results
were completely unexpected.

664
00:36:01,146 --> 00:36:03,491
[Jin] We did not see

665
00:36:03,629 --> 00:36:08,111
any, even one single individual
that could be considered

666
00:36:08,249 --> 00:36:12,353
as the descendants
of a local origin in China,

667
00:36:12,491 --> 00:36:15,663
rather everybody
was a descendant

668
00:36:15,801 --> 00:36:19,767
of our ancestors from Africa.

669
00:36:19,905 --> 00:36:22,767
[narrator] The results
were not what he expected.

670
00:36:24,594 --> 00:36:26,146
For Jin Li, at least,

671
00:36:26,284 --> 00:36:29,663
it is clear the Chinese trace
their ancestry back to Africa

672
00:36:29,801 --> 00:36:33,284
not through Homo erectus
but Homo sapiens,

673
00:36:33,422 --> 00:36:34,836
like everybody else.

674
00:36:38,422 --> 00:36:40,043
[static]

675
00:36:40,180 --> 00:36:42,525
[bright music]

676
00:36:42,663 --> 00:36:43,801
[narrator] But what effect

677
00:36:43,939 --> 00:36:46,560
did such a shattering revelation have on him?

678
00:36:47,353 --> 00:36:49,629
After I saw the evidence

679
00:36:49,767 --> 00:36:52,732
that we generate
in my laboratory,

680
00:36:52,870 --> 00:36:56,939
I think we should all be happy
with that because, after all,

681
00:36:57,077 --> 00:36:58,939
modern humans
from different part of the...

682
00:36:59,077 --> 00:37:00,629
part of the world
are not so different

683
00:37:00,767 --> 00:37:03,284
from each other and that
we are very close relatives.

684
00:37:05,111 --> 00:37:07,043
[bright music]

685
00:37:12,215 --> 00:37:14,353
[narrator]
Genetic research now shows

686
00:37:14,491 --> 00:37:16,422
that the ancestors
of the Chinese

687
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,318
arrived not just from Siberia,

688
00:37:18,456 --> 00:37:22,249
but also along the coast
of India and Southeast Asia.

689
00:37:27,767 --> 00:37:29,663
But if the features
of the modern Chinese

690
00:37:29,801 --> 00:37:31,836
don't come from Homo erectus,

691
00:37:31,974 --> 00:37:34,043
why did they change
in this part of the world

692
00:37:34,180 --> 00:37:36,629
around the time
of the last ice age?

693
00:37:38,387 --> 00:37:40,043
They may have come
about by chance.

694
00:37:41,077 --> 00:37:42,560
Random genetic mutations

695
00:37:42,698 --> 00:37:44,629
cause the appearance
of new features,

696
00:37:44,767 --> 00:37:47,008
like hair color or dimples.

697
00:37:47,146 --> 00:37:48,939
It is often
the more distinctive features

698
00:37:49,077 --> 00:37:51,077
that become
fashionable or desirable

699
00:37:51,215 --> 00:37:52,974
amongst a group of people.

700
00:37:53,111 --> 00:37:55,284
And if that group
goes on to flourish,

701
00:37:55,422 --> 00:37:57,767
those features
become widespread.

702
00:37:57,905 --> 00:37:59,939
So perhaps,
the almond-shaped eye

703
00:38:00,077 --> 00:38:01,560
and low profile nose

704
00:38:01,698 --> 00:38:04,594
came about as a result
of this evolutionary process,

705
00:38:04,732 --> 00:38:07,111
known as sexual selection.

706
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:11,698
[tense music]

707
00:38:13,974 --> 00:38:16,594
[narrator] Our species
had reached the Far East,

708
00:38:16,732 --> 00:38:18,249
survived the ice age,

709
00:38:18,387 --> 00:38:21,939
changed their appearance, and spread through the mainland.

710
00:38:24,043 --> 00:38:26,698
But this was not the end
of their journey.

711
00:38:29,663 --> 00:38:31,594
It was just the beginning,

712
00:38:31,732 --> 00:38:32,974
because the descendants

713
00:38:33,111 --> 00:38:35,180
of those small groups
of hunter gatherers

714
00:38:35,318 --> 00:38:36,801
would begin one of the earliest

715
00:38:36,939 --> 00:38:39,801
and most successful
civilizations on Earth.

716
00:38:43,905 --> 00:38:45,870
So what happened
on the great journey

717
00:38:46,008 --> 00:38:49,215
to transform the way
those early Chinese lived?

718
00:38:56,353 --> 00:38:58,491
[eerie music]

719
00:39:00,422 --> 00:39:03,663
[narrator]
Around 13,000 years ago,

720
00:39:03,801 --> 00:39:06,801
an event known
as the Younger Dryas occurred.

721
00:39:11,008 --> 00:39:13,732
[eerie music]

722
00:39:13,870 --> 00:39:15,525
[narrator]
Temperatures around the world

723
00:39:15,663 --> 00:39:17,043
rapidly plummeted.

724
00:39:25,974 --> 00:39:28,698
The winters in China
became colder again,

725
00:39:28,836 --> 00:39:30,732
and food became scarce.

726
00:39:32,043 --> 00:39:33,353
It's been suggested

727
00:39:33,491 --> 00:39:35,801
that the harsh climate
forced the hunter gatherers

728
00:39:35,939 --> 00:39:38,215
to find new sources
of nutrition.

729
00:39:41,387 --> 00:39:43,008
And it's around this time,

730
00:39:43,146 --> 00:39:44,698
the first evidence appears

731
00:39:44,836 --> 00:39:46,767
for a leap forward in technology

732
00:39:46,905 --> 00:39:49,180
that may have made
this possible.

733
00:39:52,801 --> 00:39:55,180
The clues are deep
in South China.

734
00:39:57,629 --> 00:39:59,801
[tense music]

735
00:40:01,111 --> 00:40:03,043
-[water trickling]
-[birds chirping]

736
00:40:12,491 --> 00:40:13,836
[narrator] Guilin.

737
00:40:13,974 --> 00:40:16,249
These exotic limestone hills

738
00:40:16,387 --> 00:40:19,180
are the result of millions
of years of erosion.

739
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,525
Today, this landscape is one
of China's centers for tourism.

740
00:40:30,663 --> 00:40:32,387
but 12,000 years ago,

741
00:40:32,525 --> 00:40:34,111
it produced the first signs

742
00:40:34,249 --> 00:40:38,111
of an important new development in human prehistory.

743
00:40:42,456 --> 00:40:44,594
[light music]

744
00:40:46,663 --> 00:40:48,836
[narrator] The Zengpiyan Cave.

745
00:40:48,974 --> 00:40:51,560
Excavations here revealed
that it was once inhabited

746
00:40:51,698 --> 00:40:53,008
by hunter gatherers.

747
00:40:54,525 --> 00:40:56,043
And in 2001,

748
00:40:56,180 --> 00:40:58,767
an incredible discovery
was made.

749
00:41:01,284 --> 00:41:03,249
[tense music]

750
00:41:10,215 --> 00:41:13,008
[translator 4] I remember,
it was raining very heavily,

751
00:41:13,146 --> 00:41:14,629
and it was muddy.

752
00:41:14,767 --> 00:41:18,491
About seven or eight
of us were digging.

753
00:41:18,629 --> 00:41:21,594
And then, we found
these little pieces.

754
00:41:21,732 --> 00:41:24,456
They were a different color
from the others,

755
00:41:25,077 --> 00:41:26,525
a bit paler.

756
00:41:26,663 --> 00:41:29,353
So, our team leader,
Professor Fung,

757
00:41:29,491 --> 00:41:31,146
asked us to stop.

758
00:41:31,284 --> 00:41:33,767
And after
examining them carefully,

759
00:41:33,905 --> 00:41:35,077
we realized that

760
00:41:35,215 --> 00:41:37,974
they were both very ancient bits of pottery.

761
00:41:42,491 --> 00:41:45,111
[narrator] Carbon dating
revealed these pot fragments

762
00:41:45,249 --> 00:41:48,146
to be an astonishing
12,000 years old.

763
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:54,525
[translator 5]
Judging by the shape

764
00:41:54,663 --> 00:41:56,146
and the tests we have run,

765
00:41:56,284 --> 00:41:59,560
we think they are the earliest
pottery pieces in China.

766
00:42:02,491 --> 00:42:03,801
In fact,

767
00:42:03,939 --> 00:42:05,629
they are probably some of the oldest pieces of pottery

768
00:42:05,767 --> 00:42:06,732
in the world.

769
00:42:06,870 --> 00:42:09,180
And of course, this is exciting.

770
00:42:12,525 --> 00:42:14,146
[narrator]
The significance of this pot

771
00:42:14,284 --> 00:42:15,387
was that it ushered in

772
00:42:15,525 --> 00:42:16,801
an advanced
new method of cooking

773
00:42:16,939 --> 00:42:18,491
for the hunter gatherers.

774
00:42:19,836 --> 00:42:21,767
[speaks Chinese]

775
00:42:21,905 --> 00:42:23,491
[narrator]
They could now boil food,

776
00:42:23,629 --> 00:42:25,870
rather than roasting it
or eating it raw.

777
00:42:28,146 --> 00:42:29,974
But what made
this technological step

778
00:42:30,111 --> 00:42:31,905
forward possible?

779
00:42:32,043 --> 00:42:34,663
The answer lies buried
in the landscape.

780
00:42:35,594 --> 00:42:37,974
[both speaking Chinese]

781
00:42:38,111 --> 00:42:40,905
[narrator] Wang Haotian
is China's leading expert

782
00:42:41,043 --> 00:42:43,801
on the technology
of ancient ceramics.

783
00:42:44,905 --> 00:42:46,422
Today, he and his assistant

784
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,284
are going to try
to make a prehistoric pot,

785
00:42:49,422 --> 00:42:50,732
using the same techniques

786
00:42:50,870 --> 00:42:52,939
as he thinks
his forefathers would have.

787
00:42:55,801 --> 00:42:57,491
[laughs]

788
00:42:57,629 --> 00:42:58,905
[narrator] The ingenious step

789
00:42:59,043 --> 00:43:02,043
was to combine locally
abundant calcite rock

790
00:43:02,180 --> 00:43:03,318
with clay.

791
00:43:03,456 --> 00:43:04,974
[rasping]

792
00:43:10,043 --> 00:43:11,594
[translator 6]
In this part of China,

793
00:43:11,732 --> 00:43:14,870
the natural resources
are quite rich.

794
00:43:15,008 --> 00:43:18,180
and you can find calcites
all over the hills.

795
00:43:19,525 --> 00:43:21,491
[clacking]

796
00:43:22,629 --> 00:43:24,870
[speaks Chinese]

797
00:43:26,111 --> 00:43:28,077
[narrator] Adding calcite chips is crucial

798
00:43:28,215 --> 00:43:30,974
because it means the pots
can withstand firing.

799
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:33,870
[rustles]

800
00:43:37,387 --> 00:43:39,767
[translator 6] If you put in
too little calcite,

801
00:43:39,905 --> 00:43:40,870
it might crack.

802
00:43:41,629 --> 00:43:43,249
If you put in too much,

803
00:43:43,387 --> 00:43:45,318
it won't be sticky enough.

804
00:43:45,456 --> 00:43:47,974
So you've got to get it
just right.

805
00:43:48,111 --> 00:43:49,905
[both speaking Chinese]

806
00:43:53,629 --> 00:43:54,732
[narrator] For the firing,

807
00:43:54,870 --> 00:43:58,318
Wang Haotian has engaged
some experts.

808
00:43:58,456 --> 00:44:00,180
Two brothers
from a potters' village

809
00:44:00,318 --> 00:44:01,801
on the Vietnamese border,

810
00:44:01,939 --> 00:44:03,318
where they used
a method of firing

811
00:44:03,456 --> 00:44:05,146
that is thousands of years old.

812
00:44:06,111 --> 00:44:07,698
[fire crackles]

813
00:44:12,767 --> 00:44:14,387
[translator 6]
We are preheating it now.

814
00:44:14,525 --> 00:44:16,836
You mustn't let the temperature
go up suddenly.

815
00:44:16,974 --> 00:44:19,008
it will make the pots explode.

816
00:44:19,629 --> 00:44:20,905
[fire hissing]

817
00:44:21,043 --> 00:44:22,629
[narrator] Once the pots
have been preheated

818
00:44:22,767 --> 00:44:24,939
it's time to increase
the temperature.

819
00:44:30,456 --> 00:44:31,836
Modern kilns produce heat

820
00:44:31,974 --> 00:44:34,801
of more than
1,000 degrees Celsius.

821
00:44:34,939 --> 00:44:37,594
This one barely reaches 250.

822
00:44:38,284 --> 00:44:40,249
[suspenseful music]

823
00:44:41,387 --> 00:44:43,146
[speaking Chinese]

824
00:44:44,629 --> 00:44:46,698
[narrator] Will it be enough
to fire the pot?

825
00:44:49,077 --> 00:44:51,043
[fire hissing, crackling]

826
00:44:52,043 --> 00:44:53,560
[speaking Chinese]

827
00:44:59,422 --> 00:45:01,629
[suspenseful music]

828
00:45:16,008 --> 00:45:17,387
[narrator]
While the heat is too much

829
00:45:17,525 --> 00:45:18,767
for some of the pots,

830
00:45:18,905 --> 00:45:22,077
it looks like Wang Haotian's
is still intact.

831
00:45:28,525 --> 00:45:29,663
[translator 6]
Today, about ten percent

832
00:45:29,801 --> 00:45:31,663
of the pots exploded

833
00:45:31,801 --> 00:45:33,560
because of the weather.

834
00:45:33,698 --> 00:45:37,284
It is very windy, and the temperature is not even.

835
00:45:37,422 --> 00:45:40,456
Without the wind,
they wouldn't have exploded.

836
00:45:47,870 --> 00:45:49,594
That one is the best.

837
00:45:51,180 --> 00:45:53,284
[indistinct chatter]

838
00:45:53,422 --> 00:45:55,836
[narrator] The experiment
has been a success.

839
00:45:57,180 --> 00:45:59,146
[calm music]

840
00:46:12,732 --> 00:46:14,422
[narrator]
With this new technology,

841
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:15,974
it became easier to cook food

842
00:46:16,111 --> 00:46:19,111
such as vegetables
and these river snails.

843
00:46:19,249 --> 00:46:21,836
And boiling introduced
a whole new type of food

844
00:46:21,974 --> 00:46:23,836
to the hunter gatherer's diet.

845
00:46:23,974 --> 00:46:27,146
Cereals, including wild rice.

846
00:46:28,180 --> 00:46:30,043
[indistinct chatter]

847
00:46:32,422 --> 00:46:34,560
[calm music]

848
00:46:44,043 --> 00:46:46,146
[narrator] It was their skill
at cultivating rice

849
00:46:46,284 --> 00:46:47,422
that helped the Chinese

850
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:50,043
build such
a successful civilisation.

851
00:46:51,974 --> 00:46:53,111
But working out

852
00:46:53,249 --> 00:46:55,560
how to harness
this obscure wild grass,

853
00:46:55,698 --> 00:46:58,870
would require
one more piece of inspiration.

854
00:47:00,077 --> 00:47:02,111
[peaceful music]

855
00:47:08,905 --> 00:47:11,215
-[both speaks Chinese]
-[water sloshing]

856
00:47:13,111 --> 00:47:15,732
[narrator] Rice grows
in a marshy environment.

857
00:47:15,870 --> 00:47:18,594
But, strangely,
when it's deprived of water,

858
00:47:18,732 --> 00:47:21,767
it starts to produce seeds
in large quantities.

859
00:47:24,077 --> 00:47:26,905
The hunter gatherers
must have realized this.

860
00:47:27,043 --> 00:47:28,974
They discovered
they could artificially

861
00:47:29,111 --> 00:47:30,594
create the conditions of drought

862
00:47:30,732 --> 00:47:32,629
by flooding the fields
with water,

863
00:47:32,767 --> 00:47:34,870
and leaving it to evaporate.

864
00:47:35,008 --> 00:47:37,732
This tricked the rice
into overproducing.

865
00:47:42,870 --> 00:47:44,560
[narrator]
And with a surplus of food

866
00:47:44,698 --> 00:47:46,422
those early Chinese

867
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:49,525
could start to trade
and create wealth,

868
00:47:49,663 --> 00:47:52,491
the fundamentals
of civilization.

869
00:47:53,422 --> 00:47:55,560
[peaceful music]

870
00:47:57,215 --> 00:48:00,318
[narrator] So rice represents
the end of the journey

871
00:48:00,456 --> 00:48:02,525
for the Chinese
hunter gatherers,

872
00:48:02,663 --> 00:48:04,767
and the beginning
of something new.

873
00:48:04,905 --> 00:48:07,008
Farming and civilization.

874
00:48:08,043 --> 00:48:09,353
It's no exaggeration

875
00:48:09,491 --> 00:48:11,215
to say that this development

876
00:48:11,353 --> 00:48:15,215
was the foundation of the most
successful group of humans

877
00:48:15,353 --> 00:48:16,594
living today.

878
00:48:17,077 --> 00:48:19,043
[peaceful music]

879
00:48:38,077 --> 00:48:40,043
[peaceful music continues]