1 00:00:05,905 --> 00:00:07,905 [calm music] 2 00:00:10,111 --> 00:00:13,629 [narrator] In every corner of the world today are humans. 3 00:00:15,146 --> 00:00:17,767 Seven billion of us. 4 00:00:17,905 --> 00:00:21,215 How did we come to so dominate our planet? 5 00:00:21,353 --> 00:00:24,146 It's one of science's greatest mysteries. 6 00:00:25,629 --> 00:00:27,801 Amazing new evidence suggests 7 00:00:27,939 --> 00:00:30,870 it began with a single tiny group of people 8 00:00:31,008 --> 00:00:34,249 who left Africa on an incredible journey. 9 00:00:35,353 --> 00:00:37,491 [dramatic music] 10 00:00:38,629 --> 00:00:41,732 [narrator] Using bones, stones, and genes, 11 00:00:41,870 --> 00:00:44,456 we'll uncover the trails their descendants left 12 00:00:44,594 --> 00:00:45,836 across the world... 13 00:00:47,215 --> 00:00:51,077 and find out how their journeys transformed our species 14 00:00:51,215 --> 00:00:53,215 into the people we are today. 15 00:00:54,801 --> 00:00:56,318 This time, we'll explore 16 00:00:56,456 --> 00:00:59,732 one of the most intriguing mysteries of our human journey. 17 00:01:00,732 --> 00:01:03,215 Did we survive a super volcano, 18 00:01:03,353 --> 00:01:05,974 tackle hostile ancient humans, 19 00:01:06,111 --> 00:01:08,594 and risk it all on an ocean crossing? 20 00:01:09,767 --> 00:01:13,594 How on earth did we reach Australia? 21 00:01:15,629 --> 00:01:17,767 [ominous music] 22 00:01:24,836 --> 00:01:27,043 [narrator] How humans first reached Australia 23 00:01:27,180 --> 00:01:29,525 is a story that's shrouded in mystery. 24 00:01:30,732 --> 00:01:32,594 The only thing we can tell for sure 25 00:01:32,732 --> 00:01:35,077 is that the journey had an end. 26 00:01:35,215 --> 00:01:38,043 So that's where our investigation begins. 27 00:01:40,353 --> 00:01:43,491 Mungo National Park in Southern Australia. 28 00:01:43,629 --> 00:01:45,594 [upbeat music] 29 00:01:45,732 --> 00:01:48,594 [narrator] It's over 40 degrees Celsius, 30 00:01:48,732 --> 00:01:51,905 it only sees 30 centimeters of rain a year 31 00:01:52,043 --> 00:01:53,111 and its main inhabitants 32 00:01:53,249 --> 00:01:56,249 are millions upon millions of flies. 33 00:01:58,870 --> 00:02:00,318 [engine revving] 34 00:02:02,698 --> 00:02:04,387 [narrator] It may seem a strange place 35 00:02:04,525 --> 00:02:06,560 to start a quest for human life, 36 00:02:06,698 --> 00:02:09,008 but this barren wilderness holds crucial clues 37 00:02:09,146 --> 00:02:12,008 about our ancient Australia ancestors. 38 00:02:14,974 --> 00:02:19,422 The most poignant clue of all was unearthed here in 2004 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,111 by local Aboriginal people and scientists. 40 00:02:22,870 --> 00:02:25,284 What they found is so precious, 41 00:02:25,422 --> 00:02:27,560 its location is kept secret. 42 00:02:29,146 --> 00:02:32,974 One of those who guards the find is Aboriginal tribal leader, 43 00:02:33,111 --> 00:02:34,111 Warren Clark. 44 00:02:35,663 --> 00:02:37,215 [tires screeching] 45 00:02:38,594 --> 00:02:40,732 [ominous music] 46 00:02:46,905 --> 00:02:47,905 [flies buzzing] 47 00:03:04,111 --> 00:03:05,939 [narrator] The discovery was so delicate 48 00:03:06,077 --> 00:03:08,422 that almost as soon as it was revealed, 49 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,180 the site was buried again to protect it. 50 00:03:11,318 --> 00:03:12,939 [flies buzzing] 51 00:03:13,077 --> 00:03:15,663 [narrator]But today our cameras are being allowed in 52 00:03:15,801 --> 00:03:17,767 to film a unique event. 53 00:03:21,801 --> 00:03:24,594 For the first time since the site was re-buried, 54 00:03:24,732 --> 00:03:27,215 local Aboriginal people and scientists 55 00:03:27,353 --> 00:03:30,870 are gathering once more to examine what they found. 56 00:03:34,594 --> 00:03:36,732 [tense music] 57 00:03:39,732 --> 00:03:41,284 [narrator] They are gently uncovering 58 00:03:41,422 --> 00:03:44,008 the imprints of human feet. 59 00:03:58,594 --> 00:04:00,249 When these footprints were discovered, 60 00:04:00,387 --> 00:04:01,905 they provoked a debate 61 00:04:02,043 --> 00:04:04,249 because some people believed they'd been made recently. 62 00:04:05,491 --> 00:04:06,801 When they found the footprints, 63 00:04:06,939 --> 00:04:08,043 some of the archaeologists were a little bit skeptical 64 00:04:08,180 --> 00:04:09,525 because they thought, you know, 65 00:04:09,663 --> 00:04:11,318 that these may have been done just a few weeks ago, 66 00:04:11,456 --> 00:04:12,767 a few years ago. 67 00:04:12,905 --> 00:04:14,525 Some of the footprints looked that fresh. 68 00:04:15,974 --> 00:04:18,456 [narrator] But the Aboriginal people were convinced 69 00:04:18,594 --> 00:04:21,146 that what had been found weren't new footprints, 70 00:04:21,284 --> 00:04:24,043 but marks left by their ancient forefathers 71 00:04:24,180 --> 00:04:26,836 in what they call the "Dreamtime." 72 00:04:29,111 --> 00:04:32,043 Tanya Charles was here when the footprints were found. 73 00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:33,629 [Tanya] Other people that was with us, 74 00:04:33,767 --> 00:04:35,008 they were saying, uh, 75 00:04:35,146 --> 00:04:36,870 they belong to the farmers that were here 76 00:04:37,008 --> 00:04:38,974 and we're like, "No, they're ours." 77 00:04:39,111 --> 00:04:40,077 [chuckles] 78 00:04:40,215 --> 00:04:41,732 You fellows wear shoes, we don't. 79 00:04:41,870 --> 00:04:43,594 We didn't, back then. [chuckles] 80 00:04:45,215 --> 00:04:47,456 And we just needed the scientific mob to come in 81 00:04:47,594 --> 00:04:49,836 and tell the rest of the world that. 82 00:04:52,146 --> 00:04:55,249 [narrator]Samples were taken from around the prints and dated 83 00:04:55,387 --> 00:04:56,594 using a technique called 84 00:04:56,732 --> 00:04:58,767 optically stimulated luminescence, 85 00:04:58,905 --> 00:05:01,284 which measures how long soil has been buried. 86 00:05:03,284 --> 00:05:06,111 The results amazed the scientific world. 87 00:05:07,767 --> 00:05:12,767 The footprints were made between 19 and 23,000 years ago. 88 00:05:19,387 --> 00:05:21,801 For the Aboriginal custodians of the area, 89 00:05:21,939 --> 00:05:25,180 this was evidence of what they've traditionally believed, 90 00:05:25,318 --> 00:05:29,043 that they belong in this land and have always lived here. 91 00:05:38,111 --> 00:05:40,008 [narrator] The patterns in the footprints 92 00:05:40,146 --> 00:05:42,008 tell us stories. 93 00:05:42,146 --> 00:05:45,767 There are several footprints in a line extending along here, 94 00:05:45,905 --> 00:05:50,491 uh, and the curious thing about this particular trackway 95 00:05:50,629 --> 00:05:53,525 is it's represented by just one right foot. 96 00:05:53,663 --> 00:05:55,525 We don't have that corresponding left foot. 97 00:05:55,663 --> 00:05:58,353 We had some trackers come down from central Australia 98 00:05:58,491 --> 00:06:00,284 and they talked about the depth of this print, 99 00:06:00,422 --> 00:06:03,146 how there's a lot more weight bearing just on that one print, 100 00:06:03,284 --> 00:06:06,594 so it would appear that this was a one-legged man. 101 00:06:08,698 --> 00:06:12,077 This particular man here was on the hop really quickly, 102 00:06:12,215 --> 00:06:13,629 chasing a kangaroo, um, 103 00:06:13,767 --> 00:06:17,801 and on his first throw he, um, he missed the kangaroo 104 00:06:17,939 --> 00:06:21,043 and then on his second throw he, um, got the kangaroo 105 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:24,111 and he dropped it to one knee. 106 00:06:24,249 --> 00:06:26,284 There's some really personal signatures in the trackway 107 00:06:26,422 --> 00:06:29,077 which you really don't often see in archaeology, 108 00:06:29,215 --> 00:06:30,284 particularly in archaeology 109 00:06:30,422 --> 00:06:32,594 dating back as far as 20,000 years ago. 110 00:06:32,732 --> 00:06:34,663 So it's an extraordinary site. 111 00:06:35,663 --> 00:06:37,146 [narrator] The footprints are proof 112 00:06:37,284 --> 00:06:41,180 of the presence of humans in Australia 20,000 years ago. 113 00:06:43,939 --> 00:06:46,318 And, there, our first hint of the ancient people 114 00:06:46,456 --> 00:06:47,836 who once lived here, 115 00:06:47,974 --> 00:06:51,629 a moment from their lives frozen in time. 116 00:06:55,318 --> 00:06:56,663 It may seem strange 117 00:06:56,801 --> 00:07:00,180 these prints could last so long in such a dry landscape, 118 00:07:00,318 --> 00:07:03,111 but they weren't made in dust and sand. 119 00:07:03,249 --> 00:07:04,732 They were made in wet clay, 120 00:07:05,594 --> 00:07:07,491 because 20,000 years ago, 121 00:07:07,629 --> 00:07:10,939 Australia was much wetter than it is today 122 00:07:11,077 --> 00:07:13,836 and around Mungo, there was so much water 123 00:07:13,974 --> 00:07:17,043 that this low, flat land was the bottom of a lake. 124 00:07:20,663 --> 00:07:23,629 And that shimmer in the horizon was the lake shore. 125 00:07:24,870 --> 00:07:26,353 It was around these lakes 126 00:07:26,491 --> 00:07:27,870 that people lived. 127 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,180 And tens of thousands of years after the lake dried out, 128 00:07:33,318 --> 00:07:34,836 Mungo's shifting sands 129 00:07:34,974 --> 00:07:38,180 still reveal clues about the past, 130 00:07:38,318 --> 00:07:41,698 and about how long humans have lived here. 131 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,043 [crickets chirping] 132 00:07:46,180 --> 00:07:48,146 [zooming] 133 00:07:49,422 --> 00:07:50,870 [narrator] In 1974, 134 00:07:51,008 --> 00:07:54,284 a geologist called Jim Bowler was exploring the area, 135 00:07:54,422 --> 00:07:56,180 looking for evidence of Mungo's past. 136 00:07:57,905 --> 00:07:59,491 Unbeknown to him, he was about to discover 137 00:07:59,629 --> 00:08:03,836 one of the most important fossils in the world. 138 00:08:05,905 --> 00:08:07,767 [Jim] I was walking along this horizon 139 00:08:07,905 --> 00:08:11,698 and, uh, what I saw were one or two wombat bones 140 00:08:11,836 --> 00:08:13,215 just back there, 141 00:08:13,353 --> 00:08:16,387 and this white... bone 142 00:08:16,525 --> 00:08:19,594 was, uh, showing through the sand just ahead of us, 143 00:08:19,732 --> 00:08:22,387 which first I thought was perhaps wombat 144 00:08:22,525 --> 00:08:24,801 but obviously worth investigating 145 00:08:24,939 --> 00:08:27,077 and there he was. 146 00:08:27,215 --> 00:08:30,560 Even to my uninitiated eye, 147 00:08:30,698 --> 00:08:32,491 it was clearly human. 148 00:08:33,870 --> 00:08:35,663 [tense music] 149 00:08:35,801 --> 00:08:37,663 [narrator] He had found a piece of evidence 150 00:08:37,801 --> 00:08:41,077 so precious to Aboriginal Australians 151 00:08:41,215 --> 00:08:42,353 that we had to ask permission 152 00:08:42,491 --> 00:08:45,698 from the tribal elders to film it, 153 00:08:45,836 --> 00:08:50,560 the remains of an individual known as Mungo man. 154 00:08:52,215 --> 00:08:53,698 He's looked after by Alan Thorn, 155 00:08:53,836 --> 00:08:55,249 who helped uncover him. 156 00:09:01,698 --> 00:09:02,801 [Alan] I remember vividly, 157 00:09:02,939 --> 00:09:06,767 it was in February and it was blazing hot. 158 00:09:06,905 --> 00:09:11,456 There was a storm coming so we didn't have much time. 159 00:09:11,594 --> 00:09:14,387 [narrator] When Mungo man was brought back for analysis, 160 00:09:14,525 --> 00:09:18,249 there was one question everyone wanted to know the answer to. 161 00:09:19,353 --> 00:09:20,905 How old is he? 162 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:28,180 The answer is astonishing. 163 00:09:28,318 --> 00:09:32,767 Recent work puts Mungo man at 40,000 years old, 164 00:09:32,905 --> 00:09:35,974 while some believe he's as much as 60,000. 165 00:09:38,698 --> 00:09:41,249 He's the oldest man in Australia 166 00:09:41,387 --> 00:09:44,111 and possibly the oldest human in the world 167 00:09:44,249 --> 00:09:46,146 outside the African region. 168 00:09:49,249 --> 00:09:50,456 But such an early date 169 00:09:50,594 --> 00:09:53,215 would mean something almost unbelievable, 170 00:09:53,353 --> 00:09:57,215 that humans arrived in Australia before they reached Europe 171 00:09:57,353 --> 00:10:00,560 and only a few thousand years after leaving Africa. 172 00:10:02,767 --> 00:10:04,560 With the Indian ocean to cross, 173 00:10:04,698 --> 00:10:06,698 is this really possible? 174 00:10:06,836 --> 00:10:08,801 Not all scientists think so. 175 00:10:11,456 --> 00:10:15,043 Mungo man is just one of a number of ancient remains 176 00:10:15,180 --> 00:10:16,767 found across Australia. 177 00:10:17,698 --> 00:10:19,146 Looking at them together, 178 00:10:19,284 --> 00:10:22,249 it's clear there's a huge variety of shapes and sizes. 179 00:10:23,698 --> 00:10:29,008 [Alan] There are amongst these gracile, delicate remains, 180 00:10:29,146 --> 00:10:31,732 remains of a different kind, 181 00:10:31,870 --> 00:10:35,146 absolutely the opposite of the Mungo man. 182 00:10:35,284 --> 00:10:37,525 Big, long-headed, 183 00:10:37,663 --> 00:10:42,732 very thick skull... cranial bones, big brow ridges. 184 00:10:42,870 --> 00:10:46,560 These are the footballers of aboriginal pre-history. 185 00:10:46,698 --> 00:10:48,146 [narrator] Recent scientific work 186 00:10:48,284 --> 00:10:50,111 suggests that all non-Africans 187 00:10:50,249 --> 00:10:53,111 descend from a small group of people that left Africa 188 00:10:53,249 --> 00:10:55,974 around 70,000 years ago, 189 00:10:56,111 --> 00:10:59,008 but Alan thinks the early skulls found in Australia 190 00:10:59,146 --> 00:11:00,939 mean this cannot be true. 191 00:11:02,663 --> 00:11:07,111 Australia has a bewildering array of diversity, 192 00:11:07,249 --> 00:11:09,629 many different shapes, 193 00:11:09,767 --> 00:11:12,422 but in none of them do I see anything that I'd say, 194 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:14,043 "Oh, that's African." 195 00:11:14,870 --> 00:11:16,732 I don't see it. 196 00:11:16,870 --> 00:11:18,974 [narrator] Controversially, Alan believes 197 00:11:19,111 --> 00:11:20,663 that this is because the ancestors 198 00:11:20,801 --> 00:11:22,732 of the Aboriginal Australians 199 00:11:22,870 --> 00:11:26,698 came out of Africa not 70 odd thousand years ago, 200 00:11:26,836 --> 00:11:29,008 but much, much earlier, 201 00:11:29,146 --> 00:11:32,560 giving them time to develop a huge variety of skull shapes 202 00:11:32,698 --> 00:11:33,870 of their own. 203 00:11:36,836 --> 00:11:38,870 So where do the Aboriginal Australians 204 00:11:39,008 --> 00:11:40,146 come from? 205 00:11:40,284 --> 00:11:42,387 Were they part of the exodus from Africa 206 00:11:42,525 --> 00:11:44,801 70 odd thousand years ago 207 00:11:44,939 --> 00:11:48,111 or are they descendants of a much more ancient branch 208 00:11:48,249 --> 00:11:49,663 of the human family? 209 00:11:51,111 --> 00:11:54,456 An answer may come not from ancient remains, 210 00:11:54,594 --> 00:11:57,111 but from people alive today. 211 00:11:59,629 --> 00:12:01,870 [lively music] 212 00:12:02,594 --> 00:12:04,732 [seagulls squawking] 213 00:12:06,525 --> 00:12:10,146 [indistinct chatter] 214 00:12:10,284 --> 00:12:14,180 [narrator] All of us have DNA in every cell of our bodies, 215 00:12:14,318 --> 00:12:15,456 half from our father's 216 00:12:15,594 --> 00:12:17,560 jumbled up with half from our mother's. 217 00:12:19,215 --> 00:12:23,560 There's one type of DNA called mitochondrial DNA, 218 00:12:23,698 --> 00:12:26,870 which passes directly from mother to child, 219 00:12:27,008 --> 00:12:29,422 but once in a while something goes wrong, 220 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:31,594 producing a harmless mutation. 221 00:12:32,456 --> 00:12:34,043 It's these rare mutations 222 00:12:34,180 --> 00:12:36,939 that help us build our global family tree. 223 00:12:39,525 --> 00:12:41,525 The staggering thing this tree tells us 224 00:12:41,663 --> 00:12:43,629 is that everyone outside of Africa 225 00:12:43,767 --> 00:12:45,905 comes from this one branch, 226 00:12:46,043 --> 00:12:48,525 descendants of a tiny group of people 227 00:12:48,663 --> 00:12:52,594 who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. 228 00:12:52,732 --> 00:12:55,111 But if the ancestors of the Aboriginal Australians 229 00:12:55,249 --> 00:12:56,801 left Africa much earlier, 230 00:12:56,939 --> 00:12:58,836 they won't fit on this tree at all. 231 00:13:01,594 --> 00:13:03,836 [upbeat music] 232 00:13:03,974 --> 00:13:05,629 [narrator] Advances in Genetic Science 233 00:13:05,767 --> 00:13:07,836 may help us resolve this mystery. 234 00:13:09,491 --> 00:13:11,594 For many Aboriginal Australians, 235 00:13:11,732 --> 00:13:13,767 the idea that they descend from Africa 236 00:13:13,905 --> 00:13:15,974 contradicts their creation stories. 237 00:13:16,767 --> 00:13:18,008 This is one of the reasons 238 00:13:18,146 --> 00:13:20,767 few have agreed to genetic investigation. 239 00:13:23,077 --> 00:13:26,077 Australian scientist Sheila van Holst Pellekaan 240 00:13:26,215 --> 00:13:27,525 is one of the few geneticists 241 00:13:27,663 --> 00:13:29,663 to have worked with Aboriginal people, 242 00:13:29,801 --> 00:13:32,698 talking with them about their ancestors. 243 00:13:32,836 --> 00:13:35,732 She is analyzing several samples of DNA 244 00:13:35,870 --> 00:13:37,698 from different population groups 245 00:13:37,836 --> 00:13:41,077 to discover whether they belong to the branch of a family tree 246 00:13:41,215 --> 00:13:42,974 which emerged out of Africa. 247 00:13:45,422 --> 00:13:49,043 She has three Aboriginal Australia samples, 248 00:13:49,180 --> 00:13:50,525 a European sample, 249 00:13:50,663 --> 00:13:53,043 and some that are only found in Africa. 250 00:13:55,215 --> 00:13:57,180 [tense music] 251 00:14:08,422 --> 00:14:11,146 [Sheila] So these are little sample labels across the bottom. 252 00:14:11,284 --> 00:14:13,077 These are the African samples 253 00:14:13,215 --> 00:14:16,836 and you can see each of those has two little bands. 254 00:14:16,974 --> 00:14:18,594 This is the European 255 00:14:18,732 --> 00:14:21,698 and this is samples from Aboriginal Australians 256 00:14:21,836 --> 00:14:23,146 from your area. 257 00:14:23,284 --> 00:14:25,456 [stutters] There's three of them. 258 00:14:25,594 --> 00:14:28,594 [narrator] If the Aboriginal Australians 259 00:14:28,732 --> 00:14:30,594 descended from Africa 70 odd thousand years ago, 260 00:14:30,732 --> 00:14:34,560 they should show the same genetic signal as the Europeans. 261 00:14:34,698 --> 00:14:36,663 What you can see is that the Africans 262 00:14:36,801 --> 00:14:39,284 all have these two little bands 263 00:14:39,422 --> 00:14:43,525 and the European and the three Aboriginal Australian samples 264 00:14:43,663 --> 00:14:44,870 all have the same one. 265 00:14:46,146 --> 00:14:47,422 [narrator] So in this test, 266 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,491 the Aboriginal Australian genes do show a marker 267 00:14:50,629 --> 00:14:54,594 which suggests a recent exodus from Africa, 268 00:14:54,732 --> 00:14:57,939 and this is where they sit on the family tree. 269 00:14:58,077 --> 00:15:00,387 They stem from the same out of Africa branch 270 00:15:00,525 --> 00:15:02,663 as Europeans. 271 00:15:02,801 --> 00:15:09,008 So even though Aboriginal people and European people 272 00:15:09,146 --> 00:15:12,663 were separated by time, like, for thousands of years 273 00:15:12,801 --> 00:15:15,249 -and also by geography... -Yes. 274 00:15:15,387 --> 00:15:18,215 ...it still points out that we've got 275 00:15:18,353 --> 00:15:21,525 a common family ancestor out of Africa. 276 00:15:21,663 --> 00:15:24,560 [Sheila] Yes, that's what the data says. 277 00:15:24,698 --> 00:15:26,905 Doesn't matter how many samples you look at 278 00:15:27,043 --> 00:15:29,043 that are out of Africa, 279 00:15:29,180 --> 00:15:31,663 you'd get a similar result as you see here. 280 00:15:33,387 --> 00:15:35,836 [narrator] So genetic evidence strongly suggests 281 00:15:35,974 --> 00:15:38,077 Aboriginal Australians are descended 282 00:15:38,215 --> 00:15:41,180 from that small group of people who left Africa. 283 00:15:45,387 --> 00:15:48,870 But how did early humans make it all the way to Australia? 284 00:15:50,801 --> 00:15:52,249 It's one of the greatest mysteries 285 00:15:52,387 --> 00:15:54,008 of our human journey, 286 00:15:54,146 --> 00:15:56,180 and to discover how it was possible, 287 00:15:56,318 --> 00:15:59,249 we have to go right back to the beginning. 288 00:16:02,353 --> 00:16:05,318 A new theory claims that after leaving Africa 289 00:16:05,456 --> 00:16:06,525 across the red sea, 290 00:16:06,663 --> 00:16:08,836 a small group of people pushed East, 291 00:16:08,974 --> 00:16:11,284 hugging the shores of Arabia. 292 00:16:11,422 --> 00:16:12,939 Continuing along the coast 293 00:16:13,077 --> 00:16:15,180 would have brought them to India. 294 00:16:15,318 --> 00:16:18,732 If that's the case, somewhere in this vast land mass 295 00:16:18,870 --> 00:16:21,249 there could still be traces of that migration. 296 00:16:25,077 --> 00:16:27,249 [indistinct chatter] 297 00:16:27,387 --> 00:16:28,698 [seagull squawks] 298 00:16:29,456 --> 00:16:31,629 [tranquil music] 299 00:16:33,698 --> 00:16:35,215 [narrator] Living along the coast 300 00:16:35,353 --> 00:16:36,318 would have been attractive. 301 00:16:36,456 --> 00:16:38,249 [people clamoring] 302 00:16:38,387 --> 00:16:39,801 [narrator]Food was plentiful, 303 00:16:39,939 --> 00:16:42,974 they could find fresh water where rivers met the sea 304 00:16:43,111 --> 00:16:44,870 and there was little need to spend time and energy 305 00:16:45,008 --> 00:16:46,836 adapting to new environments. 306 00:16:48,353 --> 00:16:49,525 But frustratingly, 307 00:16:49,663 --> 00:16:51,146 there's little archaeological evidence 308 00:16:51,284 --> 00:16:53,077 that this is what happened, 309 00:16:53,215 --> 00:16:56,043 possibly thanks to recent changes in climate. 310 00:16:58,318 --> 00:17:00,353 We've commissioned climate scientists 311 00:17:00,491 --> 00:17:01,801 to use super computers 312 00:17:01,939 --> 00:17:04,732 normally used to predict future climate change 313 00:17:04,870 --> 00:17:07,008 to look back into India's past. 314 00:17:09,491 --> 00:17:11,146 By turning time back from today, 315 00:17:11,284 --> 00:17:13,974 we can see that sea levels drop away 316 00:17:14,111 --> 00:17:15,629 and the land extends. 317 00:17:16,905 --> 00:17:18,905 Sixty thousand years ago, 318 00:17:19,043 --> 00:17:22,905 India was a much larger land mass than it is today, 319 00:17:23,043 --> 00:17:26,180 so as sea levels have risen, any evidence of a coastal life 320 00:17:26,318 --> 00:17:29,215 would now be 90 kilometers out to sea. 321 00:17:29,353 --> 00:17:31,801 [waves crashing] 322 00:17:32,974 --> 00:17:34,629 [narrator] But well away from the coast, 323 00:17:34,767 --> 00:17:36,663 near the village of Jwalapuram, 324 00:17:36,801 --> 00:17:39,146 one group of researchers has uncovered evidence 325 00:17:39,284 --> 00:17:42,491 suggesting early man didn't only live on the beach. 326 00:17:45,905 --> 00:17:49,043 The scientists were drawn here by an unlikely discovery, 327 00:17:50,249 --> 00:17:52,249 volcanic ash. 328 00:17:52,387 --> 00:17:54,215 Thousands of tonnes of it. 329 00:17:59,663 --> 00:18:02,043 Today, it's mined by the local villagers, 330 00:18:02,180 --> 00:18:04,353 who sell it to chemical manufacturers 331 00:18:04,491 --> 00:18:07,077 to use in household products, 332 00:18:07,215 --> 00:18:08,905 but what attracted the archaeologists 333 00:18:09,043 --> 00:18:11,491 is that the ash doesn't belong here. 334 00:18:11,629 --> 00:18:12,905 Its presence is evidence 335 00:18:13,043 --> 00:18:16,560 that this area witnessed a terrifying event. 336 00:18:19,905 --> 00:18:22,180 Seventy-four thousand years ago, 337 00:18:22,318 --> 00:18:25,905 Mount Toba on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia 338 00:18:26,043 --> 00:18:27,491 ripped itself apart. 339 00:18:27,974 --> 00:18:32,146 [explosions] 340 00:18:32,284 --> 00:18:35,594 [narrator]Over 100 times more powerful than Krakatoa, 341 00:18:35,732 --> 00:18:40,146 it dwarves all other volcanoes in human experience. 342 00:18:40,284 --> 00:18:44,249 It spewed out 2,800 cubic kilometers of ash. 343 00:18:46,008 --> 00:18:49,801 Wind blew the ash over 2,000 kilometers north west, 344 00:18:49,939 --> 00:18:52,249 where it rained down in India. 345 00:18:54,491 --> 00:18:58,215 It poisoned the water and destroyed vegetation, 346 00:18:58,353 --> 00:19:00,284 killing countless animals. 347 00:19:01,318 --> 00:19:03,594 [suspenseful music] 348 00:19:03,732 --> 00:19:06,698 [narrator] So what did it do to us? 349 00:19:12,353 --> 00:19:13,767 [birds chirping] 350 00:19:13,905 --> 00:19:15,043 [narrator] It's the Toba ash 351 00:19:15,180 --> 00:19:17,870 that's still visible in India today. 352 00:19:21,456 --> 00:19:23,284 So here we have the ash representing 353 00:19:23,422 --> 00:19:25,801 the Toba super-eruption 354 00:19:27,043 --> 00:19:30,111 and the ash actually begins at this level here, 355 00:19:30,249 --> 00:19:33,456 where you see the contact zone between the brown sediment 356 00:19:33,594 --> 00:19:35,767 and the base of the ash, 357 00:19:35,905 --> 00:19:40,629 and it goes up for about 2 meters in height. 358 00:19:40,767 --> 00:19:44,249 This ash would have been falling down on the landscape 359 00:19:45,146 --> 00:19:47,111 and becoming settled in 360 00:19:48,146 --> 00:19:49,456 and this Toba super-eruption 361 00:19:49,594 --> 00:19:53,215 happened around 74,000 years ago. 362 00:19:53,353 --> 00:19:56,870 [narrator] Most estimates suggest that 74,000 years 363 00:19:57,008 --> 00:19:59,456 is before our species had left Africa, 364 00:19:59,594 --> 00:20:01,663 let alone arrived in India, 365 00:20:01,801 --> 00:20:04,905 so was anyone here to witness this ash fall 366 00:20:05,043 --> 00:20:07,594 and, if so, what happened to them? 367 00:20:08,732 --> 00:20:10,525 A team of archaeologists 368 00:20:10,663 --> 00:20:12,974 from Karnatak University in India 369 00:20:13,111 --> 00:20:14,663 and Cambridge in the UK 370 00:20:14,801 --> 00:20:17,249 are searching for signs of human life. 371 00:20:19,387 --> 00:20:20,939 This is the floor exposed 372 00:20:21,939 --> 00:20:23,491 and we have the palace wall here. 373 00:20:23,629 --> 00:20:25,284 [man 1] Yeah. 374 00:20:25,422 --> 00:20:26,939 And then the river of ash. 375 00:20:28,698 --> 00:20:30,870 [narrator] Looking below the ash should tell us 376 00:20:31,008 --> 00:20:33,836 if anyone was here in India when the volcano erupted. 377 00:20:33,974 --> 00:20:36,284 -[man 2] Okay. -[Michael speaks indistinctly] 378 00:20:36,422 --> 00:20:37,663 [Michael] It does look like a blade. 379 00:20:37,801 --> 00:20:39,732 -[man 2] Yes, sir. -[Michael] But most importantly, 380 00:20:39,870 --> 00:20:40,939 -there's retouch... -Yeah. 381 00:20:41,077 --> 00:20:41,905 -Retouch over here. -...all along here. 382 00:20:42,043 --> 00:20:43,111 -Yes, sir. -And it looks like 383 00:20:43,249 --> 00:20:44,318 an end scraper. 384 00:20:44,456 --> 00:20:46,387 -Oh. -Yeah. 385 00:20:46,525 --> 00:20:47,836 -[man 2] Here. -[Michael] Outstanding. 386 00:20:49,491 --> 00:20:52,663 [narrator] The most common clues are stone tools. 387 00:20:54,353 --> 00:20:56,077 This is a very special artifact 388 00:20:56,215 --> 00:20:57,560 because you see here, 389 00:20:57,698 --> 00:21:00,491 we have flaking all along the margin 390 00:21:00,629 --> 00:21:02,594 to produce this shoulder, 391 00:21:03,491 --> 00:21:06,974 and this... end of the flake 392 00:21:07,111 --> 00:21:11,353 was, then, perhaps hefted into a shaft 393 00:21:11,491 --> 00:21:13,491 and we think this is a projectile point, 394 00:21:13,629 --> 00:21:14,732 so a spear point, 395 00:21:14,870 --> 00:21:17,905 and if you also notice, the tip is broken 396 00:21:18,043 --> 00:21:20,111 and this is what's called an impact fracture, 397 00:21:20,249 --> 00:21:24,905 so we know that this spearhead was in fact launched 398 00:21:25,043 --> 00:21:26,629 and the tip broke off. 399 00:21:29,043 --> 00:21:31,767 [narrator] This discovery is incredibly new, 400 00:21:31,905 --> 00:21:35,215 but the team thinks it shows something remarkable. 401 00:21:35,353 --> 00:21:38,560 Because this spearhead was found below the ash, 402 00:21:38,698 --> 00:21:40,663 they believe that humans were in India 403 00:21:40,801 --> 00:21:42,801 before Toba erupted. 404 00:21:44,387 --> 00:21:46,353 Not everyone agrees with them, 405 00:21:46,491 --> 00:21:47,801 and even if they're right, 406 00:21:47,939 --> 00:21:50,111 surely a volcano the size of Toba 407 00:21:50,249 --> 00:21:52,870 would have wiped out everyone living here, 408 00:21:53,008 --> 00:21:56,456 ensuring they played no further part in the human journey. 409 00:21:58,111 --> 00:22:01,525 But amazingly, just above the ash, 410 00:22:01,663 --> 00:22:03,560 the team have discovered more tools 411 00:22:03,698 --> 00:22:05,836 of the same type as those below. 412 00:22:07,111 --> 00:22:08,629 The tools are so similar 413 00:22:08,767 --> 00:22:10,353 the team believe they're evidence 414 00:22:10,491 --> 00:22:14,560 people continued living here immediately after the eruption. 415 00:22:15,353 --> 00:22:17,525 [inaudible dialogue] 416 00:22:17,663 --> 00:22:19,215 [narrator] It's an amazing thought 417 00:22:19,353 --> 00:22:23,767 that our ancestors experienced a super volcano and survived. 418 00:22:23,905 --> 00:22:26,801 [explosion] 419 00:22:30,111 --> 00:22:32,043 [narrator] If there was a Toba super-eruption today, 420 00:22:32,180 --> 00:22:36,422 it would be far more devastating to modern populations 421 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,629 than they were on hunter gatherers 422 00:22:38,767 --> 00:22:40,767 78,000 years ago, 423 00:22:40,905 --> 00:22:43,215 but today, in a sense, we're trapped 424 00:22:43,353 --> 00:22:45,939 and that's because we are settled communities 425 00:22:46,077 --> 00:22:48,836 living in cities, and villages, and towns. 426 00:22:48,974 --> 00:22:51,594 It would just devastate populations 427 00:22:51,732 --> 00:22:54,939 and it would devastate our agricultural base. 428 00:22:55,077 --> 00:22:58,560 So these hunter gatherers were more adaptable than us 429 00:22:58,698 --> 00:23:00,318 and the tools they left behind 430 00:23:00,456 --> 00:23:04,043 give us our first hint of human presence in Asia. 431 00:23:05,594 --> 00:23:08,905 And their ability to survive where we would now fail 432 00:23:09,043 --> 00:23:12,043 may have helped the human journey to continue. 433 00:23:18,180 --> 00:23:20,422 But the long migration towards Australia 434 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:22,629 was no deliberate journey. 435 00:23:22,767 --> 00:23:24,215 Whilst some kept moving, 436 00:23:24,353 --> 00:23:27,318 driven by the need for food, drink, and shelter, 437 00:23:27,456 --> 00:23:30,146 others may never have travelled at all. 438 00:23:32,732 --> 00:23:35,698 Throughout Southeast Asia are isolated tribes 439 00:23:35,836 --> 00:23:38,180 who, like these in the Andaman Islands, 440 00:23:38,318 --> 00:23:41,525 seem to look more like Africans than Asians. 441 00:23:43,146 --> 00:23:44,974 It's as if they're echoes of the people 442 00:23:45,111 --> 00:23:47,491 who first arrived here from Africa 443 00:23:47,629 --> 00:23:50,043 tens of thousands of years ago. 444 00:23:51,318 --> 00:23:52,767 Could this be true? 445 00:23:52,905 --> 00:23:54,594 Can their presence tell us anything 446 00:23:54,732 --> 00:23:56,801 about that first journey? 447 00:23:59,146 --> 00:24:01,180 [ominous music] 448 00:24:09,870 --> 00:24:12,422 [narrator] Stephen Oppenheimer is a genetics expert 449 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,353 based in Oxford in the UK. 450 00:24:15,491 --> 00:24:20,387 His work has revolutionized the way we see our distant past. 451 00:24:20,525 --> 00:24:22,732 He's pioneered the use of genetics 452 00:24:22,870 --> 00:24:24,353 to trace the paths of the people 453 00:24:24,491 --> 00:24:28,698 he believes came out of Africa round the Indian ocean. 454 00:24:29,974 --> 00:24:31,663 [Stephen] It's something like a detective story 455 00:24:31,801 --> 00:24:34,077 where you've got a very specific trail 456 00:24:34,215 --> 00:24:35,525 which you can measure, 457 00:24:35,663 --> 00:24:38,318 just like traditional trackers where they'll follow a trail 458 00:24:38,456 --> 00:24:39,974 which nobody else could see. 459 00:24:42,801 --> 00:24:45,870 [narrator] What can we tell about these people's past 460 00:24:46,008 --> 00:24:49,008 and what do they show us about the human journey? 461 00:24:51,146 --> 00:24:53,974 The Semang tribes in the north of Malaysia 462 00:24:54,111 --> 00:24:57,456 are thought to have lived here for tens of thousands of years, 463 00:24:57,594 --> 00:25:00,043 until recently in isolation. 464 00:25:01,801 --> 00:25:03,422 Despite living in Asia, 465 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,836 some of their features look more akin to those of Africans 466 00:25:06,974 --> 00:25:09,836 and their way of life hints at ancient origins. 467 00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:15,767 But what story does their DNA tell? 468 00:25:18,698 --> 00:25:20,870 [crickets humming] 469 00:25:23,456 --> 00:25:25,663 [narrator] To find out, Stephen and his colleagues 470 00:25:25,801 --> 00:25:27,318 have been granted permission 471 00:25:27,456 --> 00:25:30,008 to take DNA samples from the tribe. 472 00:25:31,629 --> 00:25:32,560 [Stephen] Looking at Lanoh 473 00:25:32,698 --> 00:25:34,146 is a way of testing 474 00:25:34,284 --> 00:25:35,525 that they are descendants 475 00:25:35,663 --> 00:25:37,905 of the first settlers in this area 476 00:25:38,043 --> 00:25:39,146 and, therefore, the first settlers 477 00:25:39,284 --> 00:25:40,698 that came from Africa. 478 00:25:43,180 --> 00:25:45,629 [narrator] Taking DNA from cheek cells 479 00:25:45,767 --> 00:25:47,318 is the next stage in a process 480 00:25:47,456 --> 00:25:50,525 Stephen and his colleagues have already begun, 481 00:25:50,663 --> 00:25:53,491 tracing the Semang's mitochondrial DNA 482 00:25:53,629 --> 00:25:56,594 and placing them on the human family tree. 483 00:25:57,801 --> 00:25:59,146 [Stephen] What it showed was 484 00:25:59,284 --> 00:26:00,939 they all belong to that single line 485 00:26:01,077 --> 00:26:02,146 that came out of Africa 486 00:26:02,284 --> 00:26:04,456 that gave rise to all other non-Africans, 487 00:26:04,594 --> 00:26:09,836 Europeans, Chinese, Indians, Iraqis, whoever. 488 00:26:09,974 --> 00:26:12,594 These were part of a single exit from Africa, 489 00:26:12,732 --> 00:26:15,974 part of the... just one family that came out of Africa. 490 00:26:17,629 --> 00:26:18,560 [narrator] When you plug the Semang 491 00:26:18,698 --> 00:26:20,836 onto the human family tree, 492 00:26:21,422 --> 00:26:22,698 they sit here 493 00:26:23,215 --> 00:26:24,767 and here. 494 00:26:24,905 --> 00:26:26,836 They have genetic markers which develop 495 00:26:26,974 --> 00:26:29,560 from the first branches out of Africa, 496 00:26:29,698 --> 00:26:32,249 at least 60,000 years ago, 497 00:26:32,387 --> 00:26:34,284 suggesting the Semang are the descendants 498 00:26:34,422 --> 00:26:38,698 of some of the first people ever to enter Malaysia. 499 00:26:38,836 --> 00:26:40,318 But there's something else special 500 00:26:40,456 --> 00:26:42,491 about the Semang group's genes. 501 00:26:43,077 --> 00:26:44,353 They were unique. 502 00:26:44,491 --> 00:26:46,870 They were unique to this population. 503 00:26:47,008 --> 00:26:49,043 And they're not found anywhere else in the world. 504 00:26:49,180 --> 00:26:50,594 [giggling] 505 00:26:50,732 --> 00:26:52,008 [narrator] Because their genetic markers 506 00:26:52,146 --> 00:26:55,387 are only found here in Northern Malaysia, 507 00:26:55,525 --> 00:26:57,525 it suggests that since arriving, 508 00:26:57,663 --> 00:26:59,801 in the vanguard of that first migration, 509 00:26:59,939 --> 00:27:02,560 the Semang have never moved. 510 00:27:06,008 --> 00:27:07,767 They're one of a handful of tribes 511 00:27:07,905 --> 00:27:09,698 scattered around the Indian ocean 512 00:27:09,836 --> 00:27:12,318 who are thought to have arrived in the first migration 513 00:27:12,456 --> 00:27:14,732 and stayed ever since. 514 00:27:14,870 --> 00:27:18,077 As such, they give us a hint of the original migration, 515 00:27:18,215 --> 00:27:22,146 where people first spread east round the Indian ocean, 516 00:27:22,284 --> 00:27:25,456 but ahead the journey's less clear. 517 00:27:25,594 --> 00:27:29,146 At the end of Malaysia, the land runs out. 518 00:27:29,284 --> 00:27:32,077 How did people make the crossing from the peninsula 519 00:27:32,215 --> 00:27:34,594 to the islands of Southeast Asia? 520 00:27:35,663 --> 00:27:37,836 [wind howling] 521 00:27:39,111 --> 00:27:41,560 [narrator] Around 70,000 years ago, 522 00:27:41,698 --> 00:27:44,008 the world was in the middle of an ice age. 523 00:27:45,353 --> 00:27:46,663 During an ice age, 524 00:27:46,801 --> 00:27:48,870 the polar ice caps expand 525 00:27:50,629 --> 00:27:54,249 effectively sucking up water out of the seas. 526 00:28:03,939 --> 00:28:06,422 Running the climate simulation backwards, 527 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,801 we can see what happened. 528 00:28:08,939 --> 00:28:12,663 The water in between disappeared, 529 00:28:12,801 --> 00:28:16,939 meaning people could have walked between today's islands. 530 00:28:17,077 --> 00:28:20,111 But is there any evidence they took this route? 531 00:28:21,594 --> 00:28:23,732 [foreboding music] 532 00:28:26,008 --> 00:28:28,353 [narrator] The Borneo rainforest, 533 00:28:28,491 --> 00:28:30,974 impenetrable, dripping with heat, 534 00:28:31,111 --> 00:28:33,215 and home to creatures that bite. 535 00:28:35,801 --> 00:28:37,353 But one man was so certain 536 00:28:37,491 --> 00:28:39,870 this place would reveal secrets of our origins, 537 00:28:40,008 --> 00:28:45,422 he decided to brave the heat, the sweat and the wildlife. 538 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:47,146 He was rewarded by the best evidence 539 00:28:47,284 --> 00:28:51,767 of our first human journey in the whole of Southeast Asia. 540 00:28:53,663 --> 00:28:55,939 Major Tom Harrison, 541 00:28:56,077 --> 00:29:00,180 an anthropologist, adventurer, and eccentric. 542 00:29:00,318 --> 00:29:03,146 He parachuted into Borneo on a covert mission 543 00:29:03,284 --> 00:29:05,456 during the Second World War. 544 00:29:05,594 --> 00:29:06,767 His guerrilla campaign 545 00:29:06,905 --> 00:29:08,698 against the Japanese forces in the island 546 00:29:08,836 --> 00:29:11,767 won him a distinguished service order. 547 00:29:11,905 --> 00:29:15,146 Once the war ended, he returned. 548 00:29:15,284 --> 00:29:16,456 Having built a relationship 549 00:29:16,594 --> 00:29:18,353 with the tribal people of Borneo, 550 00:29:18,491 --> 00:29:21,146 he wanted to look into their past. 551 00:29:21,284 --> 00:29:24,801 First of all, let me put you in the big picture. 552 00:29:28,870 --> 00:29:31,043 Well now, here's Singapore, 553 00:29:31,180 --> 00:29:33,008 up here is China, 554 00:29:33,146 --> 00:29:34,111 and this is Borneo. 555 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,974 The trouble with anything in Borneo, as always, 556 00:29:40,111 --> 00:29:41,870 is knowing where to begin. 557 00:29:42,422 --> 00:29:45,353 [tranquil music] 558 00:29:45,491 --> 00:29:48,525 [narrator] His search brought him to Niah caves 559 00:29:48,663 --> 00:29:50,594 in the jungle of Sarawak. 560 00:29:57,215 --> 00:30:00,663 Undaunted by the spectacular size of the cave, 561 00:30:00,801 --> 00:30:02,629 Harrison enlisted locals 562 00:30:02,767 --> 00:30:04,594 to help begin one of the first ever 563 00:30:04,732 --> 00:30:07,560 archaeological digs in Borneo. 564 00:30:10,284 --> 00:30:12,043 In 1958, 565 00:30:12,180 --> 00:30:13,905 4 years after work began, 566 00:30:14,043 --> 00:30:16,387 a team were digging in the mouth of the cave 567 00:30:16,525 --> 00:30:18,249 when they came across something 568 00:30:18,387 --> 00:30:22,939 that was to make both the cave and Harrison legendary. 569 00:30:27,732 --> 00:30:30,663 [translator 1] This box contains pieces of a skeleton 570 00:30:30,801 --> 00:30:33,008 that was found in the Niah caves. 571 00:30:36,491 --> 00:30:39,456 It was found in pieces and has been put together 572 00:30:39,594 --> 00:30:44,146 to resemble the skull of a girl aged 18 to 25. 573 00:30:52,732 --> 00:30:55,284 [narrator]Convinced he'd found something extraordinary, 574 00:30:55,422 --> 00:30:58,146 Harrison arranged for the remains to be analyzed 575 00:30:58,284 --> 00:31:01,698 using the new method of radiocarbon dating. 576 00:31:03,008 --> 00:31:05,491 News of the results quickly spread. 577 00:31:05,629 --> 00:31:09,249 The skull was apparently 40,000 years old. 578 00:31:10,491 --> 00:31:11,767 At the time, 579 00:31:11,905 --> 00:31:15,180 this made it the oldest modern human skull in the world. 580 00:31:16,974 --> 00:31:18,560 But this wasn't the moment of glory 581 00:31:18,698 --> 00:31:20,560 Harrison had hoped for. 582 00:31:20,698 --> 00:31:23,215 Knowing he wasn't trained as an archaeologist, 583 00:31:23,353 --> 00:31:25,111 other scientists were suspicious 584 00:31:25,249 --> 00:31:28,180 and even assumed he'd manipulated the results. 585 00:31:30,249 --> 00:31:31,732 So with its age in question, 586 00:31:31,870 --> 00:31:36,077 the Niah skull has remained an enigma for 50 years, 587 00:31:36,215 --> 00:31:37,767 but recent research has confirmed 588 00:31:37,905 --> 00:31:41,249 it is at least 35,000 years old, 589 00:31:42,870 --> 00:31:44,629 and animal remains that had been butchered 590 00:31:44,767 --> 00:31:46,629 at the site using stone tools 591 00:31:46,767 --> 00:31:49,456 are 10,000 years older than that. 592 00:31:51,284 --> 00:31:53,698 This suggests people were hunting in Borneo 593 00:31:53,836 --> 00:31:56,525 at least 45,000 years ago 594 00:31:56,663 --> 00:31:59,146 and gives us another mark of human presence 595 00:31:59,284 --> 00:32:01,077 on the journey through Asia. 596 00:32:05,353 --> 00:32:08,111 But if these people had explored further afield, 597 00:32:08,249 --> 00:32:11,801 they might have found they had unusual neighbors. 598 00:32:11,939 --> 00:32:13,939 [ominous music] 599 00:32:15,111 --> 00:32:17,077 [lively music] 600 00:32:19,111 --> 00:32:21,111 [narrator] It's a well-known story, 601 00:32:21,249 --> 00:32:23,111 how we evolved from primitive apes 602 00:32:23,249 --> 00:32:25,836 to become the supreme power on this planet, 603 00:32:26,905 --> 00:32:28,491 but when we look into the past, 604 00:32:28,629 --> 00:32:31,249 it's clear this is not the full picture. 605 00:32:33,491 --> 00:32:34,836 For instance, 606 00:32:34,974 --> 00:32:38,353 the first species of human to reach Asia wasn't us, 607 00:32:38,491 --> 00:32:41,836 but the stronger, bigger skulled Homo erectus, 608 00:32:41,974 --> 00:32:44,146 over a million years earlier. 609 00:32:47,353 --> 00:32:49,146 And in 2003, 610 00:32:49,284 --> 00:32:50,663 a discovery in Indonesia 611 00:32:50,801 --> 00:32:53,387 added another member to the human family 612 00:32:53,525 --> 00:32:55,767 who may have had a critical influence 613 00:32:55,905 --> 00:32:58,043 on our migration to Australia. 614 00:33:01,215 --> 00:33:04,525 [news theme playing] 615 00:33:05,974 --> 00:33:08,525 Scientists working on a remote island in Indonesia 616 00:33:08,663 --> 00:33:09,767 have made a discovery 617 00:33:09,905 --> 00:33:11,594 that changes the story of human evolution. 618 00:33:11,732 --> 00:33:14,284 [reporter] Could this skull change our entire view 619 00:33:14,422 --> 00:33:15,939 of millions of years of human evolution? 620 00:33:16,077 --> 00:33:18,594 It's been hailed as the single most important discovery 621 00:33:18,732 --> 00:33:21,629 about human evolution for nearly 100 years. 622 00:33:21,767 --> 00:33:23,180 Scientists on a remote... 623 00:33:23,318 --> 00:33:25,318 [narrator] Indonesian and Australian archaeologists 624 00:33:25,456 --> 00:33:29,456 working on the island of Flores made a peculiar discovery, 625 00:33:29,594 --> 00:33:31,525 a tiny skeleton. 626 00:33:33,732 --> 00:33:36,111 At first, they thought it was the body of a child, 627 00:33:36,249 --> 00:33:38,422 but wear and tear in the teeth convinced them 628 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:40,146 that this was an adult. 629 00:33:42,077 --> 00:33:44,594 An adult that stood just one meter high 630 00:33:44,732 --> 00:33:47,180 with a tiny brain the size of a grapefruit. 631 00:33:48,284 --> 00:33:49,870 Their discovery became known 632 00:33:50,008 --> 00:33:51,594 as the "Hobbit." 633 00:33:52,974 --> 00:33:54,974 [wind rumbling] 634 00:33:58,249 --> 00:34:01,836 [narrator] It tore the scientific world in two. 635 00:34:01,974 --> 00:34:03,836 The archaeologists who found the remains 636 00:34:03,974 --> 00:34:07,663 were convinced they'd discovered a new human species, 637 00:34:07,801 --> 00:34:08,974 but others claimed the skeleton 638 00:34:09,111 --> 00:34:10,939 had merely suffered from a disease 639 00:34:11,077 --> 00:34:12,560 affecting its growth. 640 00:34:13,939 --> 00:34:15,387 Still today, 641 00:34:15,525 --> 00:34:17,663 when at least eight more individuals have been found, 642 00:34:17,801 --> 00:34:19,732 the debate rages on. 643 00:34:23,353 --> 00:34:26,629 And the most intriguing question for the Human Journey 644 00:34:26,767 --> 00:34:29,491 is what impact did the Hobbit have on us 645 00:34:29,629 --> 00:34:31,732 as we move through the area? 646 00:34:34,525 --> 00:34:36,663 [tranquil music] 647 00:34:38,698 --> 00:34:41,939 [narrator]Today, not far from where the skeletons were found, 648 00:34:42,077 --> 00:34:45,732 villagers still tell stories of little hairy people 649 00:34:45,870 --> 00:34:48,353 who lived in a cave on the side of a ravine. 650 00:34:48,491 --> 00:34:50,111 [firewood crackling] 651 00:34:53,180 --> 00:34:55,456 [narrator] They're known as Ebu Gogo 652 00:34:55,594 --> 00:34:58,594 and sound remarkably similar to the Hobbit. 653 00:35:01,801 --> 00:35:03,215 [translator 1] Their distinctive features 654 00:35:03,353 --> 00:35:05,008 include long hair, 655 00:35:05,146 --> 00:35:07,905 particularly on the head and their chest. 656 00:35:08,043 --> 00:35:09,698 Their faces are almost like a monkey's 657 00:35:09,836 --> 00:35:12,284 but with smaller chins. 658 00:35:12,422 --> 00:35:15,594 They had a broad chest with a kangaroo style pocket, 659 00:35:15,732 --> 00:35:18,077 usually used to hold stolen goods. 660 00:35:18,215 --> 00:35:20,974 The female ones had big and long breasts, 661 00:35:21,111 --> 00:35:22,801 down to their knees. 662 00:35:22,939 --> 00:35:25,008 When they walked or wanted to steal things, 663 00:35:25,146 --> 00:35:27,732 they put their breasts on their shoulders. 664 00:35:27,870 --> 00:35:30,594 When they wanted to breast feed their babies, 665 00:35:30,732 --> 00:35:32,629 they grabbed it back to the front. 666 00:35:37,077 --> 00:35:39,905 They stole the crops belonging to the peasants, 667 00:35:40,043 --> 00:35:43,146 crops like cassava, fruit, and others 668 00:35:43,284 --> 00:35:45,698 were always stolen by Ebu Gogo. 669 00:35:50,698 --> 00:35:52,801 [narrator] They weren't just said to steal food. 670 00:35:52,939 --> 00:35:55,008 They stole children as well, 671 00:35:55,146 --> 00:35:57,111 which angered the villagers so much 672 00:35:57,249 --> 00:36:00,698 they set fire to Ebu Gogo's cave. 673 00:36:00,836 --> 00:36:04,008 So it this creature the same as the Hobbit? 674 00:36:04,146 --> 00:36:06,146 Did these one meter high hominids 675 00:36:06,284 --> 00:36:08,215 fight with our ancestors? 676 00:36:09,249 --> 00:36:11,732 Curiously, no human remains 677 00:36:11,870 --> 00:36:14,353 from the time of the first movement of people 678 00:36:14,491 --> 00:36:17,318 have been confirmed in Indonesia. 679 00:36:17,456 --> 00:36:19,905 Did the presence of other human species 680 00:36:20,043 --> 00:36:22,939 keep our ancestors away, 681 00:36:23,077 --> 00:36:26,284 or did these tiny, unexpected creatures 682 00:36:26,422 --> 00:36:29,043 drive us on towards Australia? 683 00:36:32,767 --> 00:36:36,008 Whichever route people took through Indonesia, 684 00:36:36,146 --> 00:36:37,698 the greatest challenge still lay 685 00:36:37,836 --> 00:36:40,491 between them and Australia, 686 00:36:40,629 --> 00:36:46,146 because at the Timor sea, the land completely runs out. 687 00:36:46,284 --> 00:36:47,732 [lightning crackles] 688 00:36:47,870 --> 00:36:49,732 [narrator] It's nearly 500 kilometers 689 00:36:49,870 --> 00:36:51,629 between here and Australia, 690 00:36:51,767 --> 00:36:54,974 and all that's visible on the horizon is sea. 691 00:36:55,836 --> 00:36:57,318 [waves crashing] 692 00:36:57,456 --> 00:37:00,215 [narrator] So were humans capable of making a crossing 693 00:37:00,353 --> 00:37:02,594 to a land they could not see? 694 00:37:02,732 --> 00:37:05,215 And if so, how did they do it? 695 00:37:06,284 --> 00:37:08,836 [wind howling] 696 00:37:12,043 --> 00:37:14,043 [waves crashing] 697 00:37:17,249 --> 00:37:21,801 [narrator] Robert Bednarik is fascinated by this question. 698 00:37:21,939 --> 00:37:24,939 On a mission to find out whether prehistoric humans 699 00:37:25,077 --> 00:37:28,594 could have successfully crossed huge expanses of sea, 700 00:37:28,732 --> 00:37:32,801 he has so far carried out seven sea voyages. 701 00:37:32,939 --> 00:37:35,111 He constructs vessels using materials 702 00:37:35,249 --> 00:37:38,215 he believes could have been available to stone age man. 703 00:37:39,215 --> 00:37:40,456 Giant bamboo, 704 00:37:40,594 --> 00:37:42,629 readily available across the area, 705 00:37:42,767 --> 00:37:44,663 may have been an obvious choice, 706 00:37:44,801 --> 00:37:46,249 as it's a natural float. 707 00:37:48,594 --> 00:37:51,111 Lengths of it can be cut with stone tools 708 00:37:51,249 --> 00:37:54,111 and lashed together with vines from the forest. 709 00:37:55,387 --> 00:37:58,077 Tomorrow, Robert and a crew of local fishermen 710 00:37:58,215 --> 00:38:00,629 are going to attempt another crossing, 711 00:38:00,767 --> 00:38:02,801 his eighth, their first, 712 00:38:02,939 --> 00:38:04,491 from the island of Lombok 713 00:38:04,629 --> 00:38:07,594 to the next land mass, Sumbawa, 714 00:38:07,732 --> 00:38:09,939 just visible on the horizon. 715 00:38:12,663 --> 00:38:15,767 The crossing may not be as far as Australia, 716 00:38:15,905 --> 00:38:17,974 but if it can be achieved successfully, 717 00:38:18,111 --> 00:38:20,905 it will be an indication of whether the longer voyage 718 00:38:21,043 --> 00:38:23,284 was possible. 719 00:38:23,422 --> 00:38:27,318 Tomorrow's journey is estimate to be a day's paddling 720 00:38:27,456 --> 00:38:29,870 in treacherous waters. 721 00:38:30,008 --> 00:38:32,077 Well, the currents in any sea strait 722 00:38:32,215 --> 00:38:35,974 anywhere in the world are unpredictable, 723 00:38:36,111 --> 00:38:37,456 so a little treacherous. 724 00:38:37,594 --> 00:38:40,146 Those... those kinds can be four, five, six knots, 725 00:38:40,284 --> 00:38:41,939 it can be quite strong currents. 726 00:38:43,111 --> 00:38:45,698 And they change frequently and sometimes 727 00:38:45,836 --> 00:38:47,560 you have two different currents 728 00:38:47,698 --> 00:38:50,387 in the same, uh, in the same strait. 729 00:38:50,525 --> 00:38:52,560 The northern entrance is fairly well protected 730 00:38:52,698 --> 00:38:55,180 but at the southern end, I do have a problem. 731 00:38:55,318 --> 00:38:57,146 If we can... If we go too far south, 732 00:38:57,284 --> 00:38:59,043 we are going to be in trouble. 733 00:38:59,180 --> 00:39:01,974 [narrator]The crew of fishermen all know this water well 734 00:39:02,111 --> 00:39:04,422 but don't know if a few pieces of bamboo 735 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,560 can cope with the challenges they know they'll face. 736 00:39:08,525 --> 00:39:11,215 For me, I worry about, uh... 737 00:39:12,215 --> 00:39:15,008 the sun, yes, if hot sun... 738 00:39:16,387 --> 00:39:17,698 or rain. 739 00:39:21,974 --> 00:39:24,077 [fisherman 1] He worry about the wind for tomorrow. 740 00:39:24,215 --> 00:39:29,801 Or if come from the east and he worry about the... 741 00:39:29,939 --> 00:39:31,008 current coming. 742 00:39:31,146 --> 00:39:33,663 and we cannot get there. 743 00:39:34,836 --> 00:39:37,870 But we will do the best we can do. 744 00:39:38,870 --> 00:39:41,043 We will find it some power. 745 00:39:44,008 --> 00:39:45,594 [narrator] To protect themselves, 746 00:39:45,732 --> 00:39:47,111 they enlist a local shaman 747 00:39:47,249 --> 00:39:49,905 to ask the blessing of the spirit of the sea. 748 00:39:53,836 --> 00:39:57,560 She marks them with crushed rice mixed with salt water 749 00:39:57,698 --> 00:40:00,180 and makes an offering of gifts to the ocean. 750 00:40:02,491 --> 00:40:04,043 Then the crew returns home 751 00:40:04,180 --> 00:40:06,491 to prepare for the challenge ahead. 752 00:40:10,594 --> 00:40:12,249 [birds chirping] 753 00:40:14,629 --> 00:40:15,732 [narrator] The following morning, 754 00:40:15,870 --> 00:40:17,767 the conditions are perfect. 755 00:40:17,905 --> 00:40:21,801 The wind is low and the sea is calm, 756 00:40:21,939 --> 00:40:25,767 but even in these conditions, launching the raft is risky. 757 00:40:25,905 --> 00:40:27,870 [speaking in native language] 758 00:40:31,077 --> 00:40:32,801 [narrator] It weighs over a tonne 759 00:40:32,939 --> 00:40:35,525 and could smash the sailors against the shore, 760 00:40:36,698 --> 00:40:38,663 but they are full of optimism. 761 00:40:39,698 --> 00:40:40,939 [speaking in native language] 762 00:40:44,180 --> 00:40:47,456 [men clamoring] 763 00:40:47,594 --> 00:40:49,629 [waves crashing] 764 00:40:52,249 --> 00:40:54,525 [narrator] Now that the first challenge is over, 765 00:40:54,663 --> 00:40:57,801 the long, hard slog begins. 766 00:40:57,939 --> 00:41:00,008 Given the scale of what they're attempting, 767 00:41:00,146 --> 00:41:03,146 Robert believes people must have had a very good reason 768 00:41:05,284 --> 00:41:06,663 [Robert] Let's remember that all of these people 769 00:41:06,801 --> 00:41:07,905 are hunters and gatherers, 770 00:41:08,043 --> 00:41:10,043 they are all very attached to the land. 771 00:41:10,180 --> 00:41:12,870 If you have been living here for generations and generations, 772 00:41:13,008 --> 00:41:14,801 it would be foolish to leave. 773 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:16,594 [narrator] Even today, 774 00:41:16,732 --> 00:41:19,560 Indonesia is alive with volcanoes. 775 00:41:19,698 --> 00:41:20,836 Perhaps it was one of these 776 00:41:20,974 --> 00:41:23,387 which made people leave their land. 777 00:41:23,525 --> 00:41:25,146 [Robert] To me, a volcanic eruption 778 00:41:25,284 --> 00:41:27,111 is an obvious reason. 779 00:41:27,249 --> 00:41:29,180 I mean, if you look at the volcano up there, 780 00:41:29,318 --> 00:41:31,318 you know, that huge thing. 781 00:41:31,456 --> 00:41:35,180 Imagine when that exploded, that must have been incredible. 782 00:41:36,939 --> 00:41:40,491 [water sloshing] 783 00:41:40,629 --> 00:41:42,629 [narrator] After five hours paddling, 784 00:41:42,767 --> 00:41:44,939 the crew are only halfway in, 785 00:41:45,077 --> 00:41:47,732 but Robert's pleased with their craft. 786 00:41:47,870 --> 00:41:49,077 [Robert] Well, it's working extremely well, 787 00:41:49,215 --> 00:41:50,422 it's very well balanced. 788 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:54,215 It performs exactly as we expected it to. 789 00:41:55,043 --> 00:41:57,215 We have almost no wind, 790 00:41:57,353 --> 00:41:58,456 so there are no waves. 791 00:41:59,698 --> 00:42:04,353 We have a maximum speed of around about three knots. 792 00:42:04,491 --> 00:42:06,732 Our main obstacle really are the currents. 793 00:42:07,767 --> 00:42:14,939 [singing in native language] 794 00:42:15,077 --> 00:42:16,629 It's all going according to plan. 795 00:42:16,767 --> 00:42:18,525 We are not really off course. 796 00:42:19,525 --> 00:42:21,077 [narrator] So far, so good. 797 00:42:23,456 --> 00:42:27,491 But suddenly, the weather begins to take a turn for the worse. 798 00:42:27,629 --> 00:42:29,939 A storm is closing in on the paddlers, 799 00:42:30,077 --> 00:42:32,905 sitting between them and their destination. 800 00:42:35,456 --> 00:42:37,594 [foreboding music] 801 00:42:48,146 --> 00:42:50,974 [narrator]Tantalizingly within sight of land, 802 00:42:51,111 --> 00:42:52,663 the crew get caught in a current 803 00:42:52,801 --> 00:42:56,836 pulling them away towards the open sea. 804 00:42:56,974 --> 00:42:59,456 [Robert] It took an enormous amount of courage 805 00:42:59,594 --> 00:43:02,732 to take a one-way trip to a land mass 806 00:43:02,870 --> 00:43:04,732 that they had never seen. 807 00:43:04,870 --> 00:43:06,353 They didn't know what was over there. 808 00:43:06,491 --> 00:43:07,939 There could have been the monsters 809 00:43:08,077 --> 00:43:10,146 and in the said stories there probably were monsters. 810 00:43:12,077 --> 00:43:15,732 [waves crashing] 811 00:43:27,215 --> 00:43:29,180 [tense music] 812 00:43:37,767 --> 00:43:40,525 [narrator]Ten and a half hours after they began, 813 00:43:40,663 --> 00:43:43,111 the crew finally make it ashore. 814 00:43:44,284 --> 00:43:46,836 [man cheering] 815 00:43:46,974 --> 00:43:48,974 [narrator] Robert's success shows it is possible 816 00:43:49,111 --> 00:43:52,698 to cross the sea on a vessel made with stone age tools. 817 00:43:55,043 --> 00:43:58,594 And using our climate computers to look back in time 818 00:43:58,732 --> 00:44:00,663 might give us an idea of when 819 00:44:00,801 --> 00:44:02,767 a voyage could have been possible. 820 00:44:04,801 --> 00:44:06,974 As we move into the last ice age, 821 00:44:07,111 --> 00:44:09,974 we can see something interesting. 822 00:44:10,111 --> 00:44:14,629 Water levels fall away and at about 65,000 years ago, 823 00:44:14,767 --> 00:44:17,870 the sea reaches its lowest point. 824 00:44:18,008 --> 00:44:20,146 The distance between the two land masses 825 00:44:20,284 --> 00:44:24,629 drops to 160 kilometers, a third of its current width. 826 00:44:26,387 --> 00:44:30,043 Maybe this gave people the chance to make a crossing. 827 00:44:32,525 --> 00:44:34,663 [calm music] 828 00:44:35,836 --> 00:44:37,594 [narrator] If so, it was most likely 829 00:44:37,732 --> 00:44:39,146 somewhere in Northern Australia 830 00:44:39,284 --> 00:44:40,836 that the first people landed, 831 00:44:40,974 --> 00:44:44,077 in a territory now known as Arnhem land. 832 00:44:46,594 --> 00:44:48,870 Today, it's remote and inaccessible 833 00:44:49,008 --> 00:44:51,077 and you need a permit to enter it. 834 00:44:52,698 --> 00:44:55,146 But hidden beneath rocks in the area, 835 00:44:55,284 --> 00:44:56,387 archaeologists have found 836 00:44:56,525 --> 00:45:00,249 artifacts nearly 60,000 years old. 837 00:45:00,387 --> 00:45:04,318 It's a final piece of evidence of human presence. 838 00:45:04,456 --> 00:45:07,422 The date fits in with the time of the lowest sea level 839 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:09,525 and gives us our last clue 840 00:45:09,663 --> 00:45:12,698 to when humans set foot in Australia. 841 00:45:13,663 --> 00:45:15,836 [upbeat music] 842 00:45:20,111 --> 00:45:21,939 [narrator] Today, Arnhem land is home 843 00:45:22,077 --> 00:45:25,456 to the Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya. 844 00:45:25,594 --> 00:45:27,698 Following the arrival of white settlers, 845 00:45:27,836 --> 00:45:29,663 they no longer live in rock shelters, 846 00:45:29,801 --> 00:45:31,594 as their grandfathers did, 847 00:45:31,732 --> 00:45:34,629 but they keep their ancient culture alive. 848 00:45:36,663 --> 00:45:38,663 So far, we've relied on modern science 849 00:45:38,801 --> 00:45:41,387 to retrace the human journey. 850 00:45:41,525 --> 00:45:43,525 But is there anything in their culture 851 00:45:43,663 --> 00:45:45,215 that can give us a final insight 852 00:45:45,353 --> 00:45:48,146 into the path of the first Australians? 853 00:45:51,732 --> 00:45:53,698 One of the ways that Aboriginal people 854 00:45:53,836 --> 00:45:56,801 pass down their culture is through art. 855 00:45:58,456 --> 00:46:02,008 Like a survival guide, their pictures contain knowledge 856 00:46:02,146 --> 00:46:03,560 which has enabled them to survive 857 00:46:03,698 --> 00:46:06,146 in the hostile environment of the outback 858 00:46:06,284 --> 00:46:07,836 for thousands of years. 859 00:46:15,284 --> 00:46:17,974 Gary Jollom and fellow artist, Wilfred, 860 00:46:18,111 --> 00:46:20,594 are respected in Gunbalanya for their knowledge. 861 00:46:21,422 --> 00:46:22,732 Today, 862 00:46:22,870 --> 00:46:25,111 they're visiting somewhere that's special to them, 863 00:46:25,249 --> 00:46:29,146 the site of some precious and important Aboriginal art. 864 00:46:31,594 --> 00:46:34,180 [water splashing] 865 00:46:39,215 --> 00:46:41,974 [narrator] Their finely tuned understanding of the bush 866 00:46:42,111 --> 00:46:44,870 allows them to make use of everything they find. 867 00:46:57,560 --> 00:46:59,043 [bird chirping] 868 00:47:00,698 --> 00:47:02,525 [narrator] An instant paintbrush. 869 00:47:05,905 --> 00:47:09,146 The Australia Outback can be a deadly place. 870 00:47:09,284 --> 00:47:11,456 Without knowledge of how to live within it, 871 00:47:11,594 --> 00:47:13,249 you'd quickly die, 872 00:47:13,387 --> 00:47:16,077 but it seems possible Aboriginal Australians 873 00:47:16,215 --> 00:47:18,801 might have advantages over everyone else. 874 00:47:19,698 --> 00:47:20,836 Some research suggests 875 00:47:20,974 --> 00:47:23,387 they have an especially good spatial memory 876 00:47:23,525 --> 00:47:26,905 which might help them find their way through the landscape, 877 00:47:27,043 --> 00:47:29,353 and they're also thought to have exceptionally good 878 00:47:29,491 --> 00:47:31,008 long distance vision. 879 00:47:32,318 --> 00:47:33,767 Amongst the rocky outcrops, 880 00:47:33,905 --> 00:47:36,767 they see sources of food in every corner. 881 00:48:12,870 --> 00:48:14,663 [birds chirping] 882 00:48:14,801 --> 00:48:16,732 [narrator] The first piece of art they come to 883 00:48:16,870 --> 00:48:19,043 contains knowledge about food. 884 00:48:45,387 --> 00:48:48,974 But deep in the recesses of this extraordinary place 885 00:48:49,111 --> 00:48:50,387 is a piece of knowledge 886 00:48:50,525 --> 00:48:52,939 that's fundamental to our quest. 887 00:49:05,318 --> 00:49:07,043 [narrator] In Gary and Wilfred's culture, 888 00:49:07,180 --> 00:49:10,525 this lady arrived during the time of the creation. 889 00:49:10,663 --> 00:49:13,146 She carried bags, each holding a baby 890 00:49:13,284 --> 00:49:15,629 which she planted down in the ground. 891 00:49:15,767 --> 00:49:19,491 These babies are Gary and Wilfred's first ancestors. 892 00:49:36,249 --> 00:49:38,180 [narrator] But what's special about this story 893 00:49:38,318 --> 00:49:41,767 is where it says the creation mother came from. 894 00:49:41,905 --> 00:49:44,525 She came from across the sea. 895 00:49:46,284 --> 00:49:48,146 It's a fascinating parallel 896 00:49:48,284 --> 00:49:51,732 that here, in the land where the first Aboriginal Australians 897 00:49:51,870 --> 00:49:53,836 most likely set foot, 898 00:49:53,974 --> 00:49:55,939 these people's creation story 899 00:49:56,077 --> 00:49:59,974 seems to echo what the bones, stones, and genes 900 00:50:00,111 --> 00:50:04,180 tell us of the journey from Africa to Australia. 901 00:50:08,491 --> 00:50:10,525 The evidence, however faint, 902 00:50:10,663 --> 00:50:12,111 lets us look back through time 903 00:50:12,249 --> 00:50:15,732 at one of our ancestor's most amazing journeys. 904 00:50:17,249 --> 00:50:19,008 Over 12,000 kilometers, 905 00:50:19,146 --> 00:50:21,663 it stretched human kind to the limit. 906 00:50:23,698 --> 00:50:25,905 But perhaps it's here at the end 907 00:50:26,043 --> 00:50:27,870 that we find the clearest insight 908 00:50:28,008 --> 00:50:30,594 into the people who made this journey. 909 00:50:30,732 --> 00:50:33,629 [firewood crackles] 910 00:50:33,767 --> 00:50:36,008 [speaking in native language] 911 00:50:36,146 --> 00:50:37,905 [narrator] The Aboriginal Australians 912 00:50:38,043 --> 00:50:39,939 give us a picture of the characteristics 913 00:50:40,077 --> 00:50:43,525 which made our human journey so successful, 914 00:50:43,663 --> 00:50:48,422 Ingenuity, resourcefulness, and courage. 915 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,560 It's these qualities that allowed people 916 00:50:50,698 --> 00:50:53,387 to make their way out of Africa, 917 00:50:53,525 --> 00:50:55,525 perhaps survive a super volcano... 918 00:50:55,663 --> 00:50:57,491 [lightning cracks] 919 00:50:57,629 --> 00:51:00,249 [narrator] ...outward enemies in the jungle, 920 00:51:00,387 --> 00:51:04,801 and overcome the elements to reach Australia, 921 00:51:04,939 --> 00:51:07,146 and it's these qualities which are at the heart 922 00:51:07,284 --> 00:51:09,939 of what it means to be human. 923 00:51:12,008 --> 00:51:14,008 [closing theme music]