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[tense, mysterious music playing]
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[wind whistling, rustling]
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[Sir Patrick Stewart] Long ago,
the plains of East Africa
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were home to our distant ancestors.
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[tense music continues]
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[Stewart] For reasons lost to time,
some of these ancestors
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decided to leave and headed north
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to become the Neanderthals.
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Over time their numbers grew.
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Their territories stretching from Russia
to the Atlantic Coast.
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{\an8}Small clans roaming
across this vast wilderness.
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Surviving against the odds
for over 300,000 years
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until, suddenly,
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they disappeared.
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{\an8}Only in a few places,
have their remains survived,
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and one of the most significant
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is found in the Middle East,
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an archaeological treasure trove
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{\an8}hidden deep in the mountains of Kurdistan,
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{\an8}Shanidar Cave.
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[man in Kurdish] The Shanidar Cave
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is regarded as one
of the most revered caves in the world
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during the time of the Neanderthals
and Homo Sapiens.
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In a place where life
has been ever present,
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we might find answers to questions.
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Questions that are still mysterious.
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[Stewart] Who were the Neanderthals?
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What made them so successful for so long?
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And why, ultimately, did they disappear?
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[music fades]
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[woman] The Shanidar Cave's
in the foothills of the Bradost Mountains,
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but to call them foothills
doesn't conjure up the right image.
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It feels mountainous.
It's quite jagged and precipitous.
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Shanidar Cave makes an impression
just because of its size and its scale.
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You have to approach from below,
and it's incredibly impressive.
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It's very large.
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It has a very wide mouth,
so it's very light.
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You have the swifts
kind of flying in overhead,
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and eagles circling above,
and wolves howling at night.
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It's an amazing place.
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[birds chirping]
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{\an8}And to actually be the person
who's excavating that as well
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{\an8}is extremely extraordinary.
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[Stewart] Emma is part of a team
of British archaeologists
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invited by their Kurdish colleagues
to continue work in the cave.
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[Emma] Shanidar Cave is hugely iconic
in the history of Neanderthal studies,
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and played
a really pivotal role in us rethinking
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what we assumed Neanderthals did,
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and what they were like,
and what they were capable of.
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The aim of the new project is to use
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the whole range of archaeological science
now available to us,
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to shed new light on Neanderthal behavior.
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[Stewart] The trench
has not been excavated since the 1960s.
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And since that time,
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the way we think about our closest
human relatives has shifted considerably.
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We still use the word
Neanderthal to describe somebody
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that's kind of oafish, whatever.
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It's still used as a term of abuse
in common parlance,
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"He's a real Neanderthal."
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Archaeologically, they are more
and more similar to Homo Sapiens,
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{\an8}and much of that rethinking owes
its origins to the work
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{\an8}that Ralph Solecki did here
in Shanidar Cave.
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[evocative music playing]
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{\an8}Ralph Solecki was born in 1917.
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He died a few years ago at a great age.
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He was incredibly tough.
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He stood on a land mine
in the Second World War,
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and, miraculously, survived.
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He was clearly a very remarkable man.
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It's not clear to me precisely
how he heard of Shanidar,
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{\an8}but he came here, and he worked here
for five seasons between 1951 and 1960.
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He laid out a trench
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that went north-south
covering most of the floor of the cave.
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[evocative music playing]
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[Graeme] Why the site became so well-known
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is he found ten Neanderthal men,
women, and children.
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[upbeat electric guitar music playing]
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[music peaks, fades]
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[Barzani in Kurdish] At that time,
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we were young.
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I was approximately...
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seventeen, eighteen years old.
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The doctor taught us.
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Many stones came out of the cave,
large stones.
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They used explosives.
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[explosions]
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They found the Neanderthal skeletons.
It was a big deal.
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Their ribs and bones were thick.
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Their head was very large.
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Their hands,
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everything about them was striking.
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[Stewart] This was Solecki's
first major discovery.
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He labelled it Shanidar 1.
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A skeleton from a species
very different to our own.
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[pensive music playing]
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[Graeme] They've got
rather more robust features.
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Big brow ridges
and a rather differently shaped skull,
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and we have this very rounded skull.
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They're stocky.
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We assume
they must have some kind of language.
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The more we know about them,
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the more it's clear
that they were much more complicated
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than we thought 40, 50 years ago.
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[man in Kurdish] We call it
the tree of life.
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Each human and each animal
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becomes a branch on that tree of life.
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We are one of the branches,
and the Neanderthals were another.
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Somewhere along the line, we separated.
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[birds chirping]
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I truly feel
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that I am sitting on my cousin's remains.
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[clanking]
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[scraping]
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[Emma] At the moment,
we are about 4.5 meters
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from the surface of the cave.
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So this is about 45,000 years ago.
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This is the level at which we have
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the burial or deposition of Shanidar 1.
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[tense, dramatic music playing]
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[Emma] He'd had an injury
to the right side of his head.
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But also to the left eye,
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which might well have left him
blind in that eye,
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and might be linked
to some of his other injuries.
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[music continues]
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[Emma] He was also paralyzed
down his right arm,
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and had both broken
his right arm in more than one place,
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but also, it seems,
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that either had the lower part
intentionally or accidentally removed,
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so, basically, had no right arm
from just above the elbow.
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There were also other injuries.
He had quite severe arthritis in his knee.
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Fractures to bones in his foot.
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So perhaps in terms of, say, hunting,
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he might have not been able to hunt
in the typical way,
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but had survived to a relatively old age.
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[birds chirping]
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[music continues]
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[Stewart] The implication
of the new find was profound.
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[music fading]
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[Emma] The discovery of Shanidar 1
was potentially a huge shift
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because it did suggest that, perhaps,
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there was this element of caring
and compassion in Neanderthal society.
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[Stewart] Here was evidence
of a severely injured individual
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being supported by their clan.
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[tense, mysterious music playing]
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[Stewart] And soon,
Solecki unearthed another body
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with an equally remarkable story to tell.
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Shanidar 3 was another adult male,
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and he too, carried injuries,
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including what looked like
a serious wound to his ribs.
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A stark reminder
of the violent side of Neolithic life.
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Remarkably, elsewhere in the cave,
more relics have been found
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that offer a clue to Shanidar 3's fate.
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{\an8}These are some of the artifacts
recovered from Shanidar Cave.
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So, this larger piece is what we call
a "core." Now, a core is a cobble.
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Cobbles are, basically, rounded stones
that could be from the river.
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Neanderthal picked this up
with the intention of taking off pieces,
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either for this to become a tool itself,
or for the pieces that come off,
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which we call "flakes,"
to be used as a tool.
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All readily available in the Zab River,
which is about two miles that way.
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So, I'm attempting
to make something similar to a spearhead.
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What I basically do is
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go along the edge
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and take off smaller pieces.
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By doing that,
I'm essentially sharpening it.
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I've not removed that much,
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but already we can see
that it is quite sharp.
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So a spear point like that,
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has only taken me
about five or six minutes to produce.
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This is a very deadly weapon
used in the right hands,
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and someone who understands
what they're doing,
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and what they're holding.
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[music intensifies]
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[music fading]
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[Emma] One of the interesting things
with Shanidar 3
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is that they had a puncture wound.
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That suggests that this stone tip
to a spear, or whatever it was,
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went in some distance into the rib cage.
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It might well have punctured the lung
and caused a collapsed lung.
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[music peaks up]
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[panting]
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[grunting]
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[panting]
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[speaks Neanderthal]
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[panting]
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[music fades]
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[Emma] The wound to the ribs
is consistent with a projectile.
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You can imagine
sort of a spear being thrown.
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[grunting]
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[Emma] It could be a hunting accident.
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It could be violence between people.
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But what we can say is
that they did have this wound,
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and that they had survived for some time.
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And so that might suggest
that they had some support
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and help to make it through the injury.
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[Neanderthal grunting]
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[Stewart] Though severely injured,
it appears both Shanidar 3 and Shanidar 1
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had been cared for
by the people around them.
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This was a radical new view
of Neanderthal life.
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And elsewhere,
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more evidence of their behavior
had been found in a cave
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far to the northwest of Shanidar.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[woman] Every new evidence,
that you have about Neanderthals,
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is actually showing you
how human they are.
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But their behavior
was different from ours.
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They lived in a completely
different world to our world.
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This is part of the Krapina Collection.
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They are around 130,000 years old,
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and they are the biggest collection
of Neanderthals coming from a single site.
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We are estimating possibly up
to around 80 individual Neanderthals.
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You don't have their whole bodies buried.
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You actually have just fragments
of each of those individuals.
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So that is very unusual.
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On the Krapina bones, both cranial,
so skull bones, and also postcranial,
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you see a lot of, uh,
human-made cut marks.
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What this is is a tibia,
and there is a possibility
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that it was broken on purpose,
that it was smashed.
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You can also see cut marks here
and even some other marks.
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One of the reasons
you would maybe smash a long bone
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is because it's like a container
of bone marrow.
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This is a fibula that has
another interesting kind of marking
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on the surface of the bone.
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They were probably made
when someone was scraping off
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the remaining flesh of the bone
or remaining muscle tissue of the bone.
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As you would do
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when you were just like doing the same
with your chicken bone at your lunch.
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[scraping]
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[Davorka] When you hear
they were eating each other,
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you're immediately, like, shocked.
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[scraping continues]
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[Davorka] But it's also the question,
"What kind of cannibalism?"
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What did it mean to them?
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[scraping]
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Look at this,
it cuts like a real kitchen knife.
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- [Davorka] It's almost effortless.
- [Ankica] Yes, so easy.
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Recreating the tools,
the ways to do stuff,
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we are trying to go into the head
of those people,
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and, you know, see the cognitive processes
that go behind.
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[Davorka] So, what is different is
that we're just getting cut marks
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close to the articulation sites.
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And what is weird
in the human remains in Krapina is
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that you are getting it
all along the long bones.
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So as if someone
is actually scraping it continuously.
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[Ankica] Yes.
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[Davorka] I cannot imagine, like,
doing this to someone I actually know.
246
00:21:00,403 --> 00:21:04,563
So, this is the famous Krapina 3 skull.
247
00:21:05,603 --> 00:21:11,483
It is the most complete cranial specimen
248
00:21:11,483 --> 00:21:16,203
in the whole collection,
and it's the only one that has a face.
249
00:21:21,243 --> 00:21:24,083
This person, we believe, was a female.
250
00:21:24,083 --> 00:21:27,283
A young Neanderthal in her 20s.
251
00:21:29,003 --> 00:21:31,723
What is very interesting
is that on the frontal bone,
252
00:21:31,723 --> 00:21:36,683
you have a series
of something like 40 cut marks.
253
00:21:40,403 --> 00:21:43,043
There is determination
254
00:21:43,043 --> 00:21:47,843
to do 40 cut marks
slowly and very close together.
255
00:21:49,003 --> 00:21:51,363
Even if they were consuming these bones,
256
00:21:51,363 --> 00:21:54,963
I don't think it was
because they were starving.
257
00:21:57,683 --> 00:22:00,643
It's actually deeply complex behavior.
258
00:22:03,763 --> 00:22:05,763
[tense, mysterious music playing]
259
00:22:09,883 --> 00:22:14,603
[Davorka] Maybe by consuming the flesh
of the person they knew,
260
00:22:15,483 --> 00:22:20,923
they want to get some kind of virtue,
something that they admired in this person
261
00:22:20,923 --> 00:22:23,843
that they shared their lives with.
262
00:22:26,763 --> 00:22:29,443
In the ethnographic examples
that we know of,
263
00:22:29,963 --> 00:22:33,683
until recently, people consumed
their loved ones
264
00:22:33,683 --> 00:22:38,683
because by consuming their flesh,
they're trying to take in something
265
00:22:38,683 --> 00:22:43,723
that can continue on to other generations,
you know, it's some kind of legacy.
266
00:22:47,603 --> 00:22:51,083
I cannot say that this was exactly
what was the driving force
267
00:22:51,083 --> 00:22:53,883
behind this kind
of behavior in Neanderthals,
268
00:22:53,883 --> 00:22:55,563
but it's another possibility.
269
00:23:01,803 --> 00:23:04,523
[Stewart] The way Neanderthals
treated their dead
270
00:23:04,523 --> 00:23:07,603
shows us the complexity of their thinking.
271
00:23:13,123 --> 00:23:15,603
And nowhere is this better understood
272
00:23:15,603 --> 00:23:19,043
than in Ralph Solecki's
most famous discovery,
273
00:23:20,003 --> 00:23:25,843
Shanidar 4, or what became known
as "The Flower Burial."
274
00:23:30,203 --> 00:23:32,003
[Ralph Solecki] Now in this cave,
275
00:23:33,523 --> 00:23:37,003
we have found nine Neanderthals,
276
00:23:37,003 --> 00:23:39,723
of which two are most important.
277
00:23:39,723 --> 00:23:44,163
{\an8}Number 1 found over there,
at the depth of about five meters,
278
00:23:44,163 --> 00:23:49,803
{\an8}and one here, Shanidar 4,
found at a depth of about seven meters.
279
00:23:50,883 --> 00:23:54,483
{\an8}Ralph Solecki was one
of the world's great archaeologists.
280
00:23:54,483 --> 00:23:57,243
{\an8}There's no doubt at all,
and he was a great storyteller.
281
00:23:57,243 --> 00:24:03,883
This seems to indicate, perhaps,
the first signs of spiritual evolution
282
00:24:04,403 --> 00:24:07,323
and maybe the first stirrings of religion.
283
00:24:07,323 --> 00:24:09,403
[tense music playing]
284
00:24:17,923 --> 00:24:22,763
{\an8}[Chris Hunt] The flower burial was one
of these seminal moments,
285
00:24:22,763 --> 00:24:25,843
{\an8}because it was pretty well
a complete Neanderthal,
286
00:24:25,843 --> 00:24:28,403
{\an8}which was an incredible rarity.
287
00:24:30,323 --> 00:24:33,563
And it was sampled for pollen,
288
00:24:33,563 --> 00:24:36,843
which at the time,
was quite a radical thing to do.
289
00:24:36,843 --> 00:24:41,043
We had found pollen
extracted from the soil,
290
00:24:41,043 --> 00:24:42,603
something like this,
291
00:24:43,243 --> 00:24:47,443
and this pollen
indicates the eight types of flowers,
292
00:24:47,443 --> 00:24:50,603
which we think
were interred with the individual.
293
00:24:54,283 --> 00:24:56,003
[Chris] He doesn't quite go
as far as saying,
294
00:24:56,003 --> 00:24:57,643
"They conducted a funeral service,"
295
00:24:57,643 --> 00:25:00,883
but that's sort of the way
that the prose takes you.
296
00:25:02,803 --> 00:25:05,483
{\an8}[John Solecki] "Someone
in the last ice age
297
00:25:05,483 --> 00:25:06,963
{\an8}had ranged the mountains
298
00:25:06,963 --> 00:25:09,883
{\an8}in the mournful task
of collecting flowers."
299
00:25:11,123 --> 00:25:13,123
[sad music playing]
300
00:25:14,443 --> 00:25:17,283
[Chris] The public perception
of the Neanderthals
301
00:25:17,283 --> 00:25:19,523
always was that they lived ugly lives.
302
00:25:19,523 --> 00:25:22,963
They were ugly people.
They had no finer feelings.
303
00:25:22,963 --> 00:25:24,883
They had no higher thought.
304
00:25:29,203 --> 00:25:32,723
And here were
sensitive caring individuals.
305
00:25:36,963 --> 00:25:38,923
And it made every front page,
306
00:25:40,203 --> 00:25:43,803
because here you have
weeping Neanderthals gathering plants,
307
00:25:43,803 --> 00:25:47,683
from the hillside around,
to honor their dead.
308
00:25:58,963 --> 00:26:01,403
[John Solecki] Here were
the first "Flower People,"
309
00:26:02,003 --> 00:26:05,923
a discovery wholly unprecedented
in archaeology.
310
00:26:10,323 --> 00:26:12,323
[sad music continues]
311
00:26:27,403 --> 00:26:28,763
[music fades]
312
00:26:31,523 --> 00:26:33,523
[birds chirping]
313
00:26:35,043 --> 00:26:36,603
[tense music playing]
314
00:26:44,643 --> 00:26:48,323
[Stewart] In the years
since the discovery of Shanidar 4,
315
00:26:49,443 --> 00:26:53,083
the Flower Burial theory
has come under fire.
316
00:27:01,163 --> 00:27:03,283
Somebody who's studying jirds,
317
00:27:03,283 --> 00:27:07,483
which are little burrowing mammals,
a little bit like a hamster with a tail,
318
00:27:08,163 --> 00:27:12,763
found that the jirds took
flowers into their burrows to eat them.
319
00:27:16,163 --> 00:27:18,883
So, that was quite
a body blow in many ways,
320
00:27:18,883 --> 00:27:23,883
particularly because Solecki had noticed
what appeared to be animal burrows.
321
00:27:27,843 --> 00:27:30,603
[Stewart] But the team have
new evidence that suggests
322
00:27:30,603 --> 00:27:33,763
Solecki was partly right after all.
323
00:27:35,083 --> 00:27:38,163
[Chris] This is a landscape which has
things like hyenas and wolves in it,
324
00:27:38,163 --> 00:27:40,883
and leopards, even today.
325
00:27:40,883 --> 00:27:42,723
If they just left a body,
326
00:27:42,723 --> 00:27:46,083
almost certainly, something
would have come along and eaten it.
327
00:27:50,603 --> 00:27:52,603
[tense music continues]
328
00:28:00,323 --> 00:28:03,523
[Chris] These are
basically whole individuals
329
00:28:03,523 --> 00:28:05,443
that haven't had that done to them.
330
00:28:07,923 --> 00:28:10,763
In some way, these bodies were protected.
331
00:28:16,683 --> 00:28:22,883
My guesstimate is that,
probably, they were taking branches
332
00:28:24,283 --> 00:28:29,563
and producing a fairly
unpleasant barrier for wild animals.
333
00:28:32,363 --> 00:28:39,283
And bits of that vegetation and pollen
fell into the corpse's rib cage
334
00:28:39,283 --> 00:28:40,883
as it became a skeleton.
335
00:28:44,403 --> 00:28:49,083
The Solecki story, I think,
is a wonderful story.
336
00:28:52,003 --> 00:28:55,603
I think there's enough detail
now in our understanding
337
00:28:55,603 --> 00:28:58,123
to know that it isn't a correct story,
338
00:28:59,283 --> 00:29:00,483
by any means.
339
00:29:08,643 --> 00:29:15,163
But I think the idea of Neanderthals
caring for their dead,
340
00:29:15,163 --> 00:29:17,603
of perhaps protecting them...
341
00:29:21,563 --> 00:29:24,243
actually, that isn't that far,
342
00:29:25,003 --> 00:29:28,443
in some ways, from what he said.
343
00:29:33,563 --> 00:29:38,723
[Stewart] Ralph Solecki made
his Flower Burial discovery in 1960.
344
00:29:40,603 --> 00:29:42,963
He planned to return the following year,
345
00:29:43,683 --> 00:29:47,403
but he would never excavate
at Shanidar again.
346
00:29:48,723 --> 00:29:50,723
[music turns eerie]
347
00:29:52,843 --> 00:29:53,763
[shooting]
348
00:29:56,083 --> 00:29:59,003
[male reporter 1] The Kurds are
undisputed masters of the mountains,
349
00:29:59,003 --> 00:30:01,563
where the Iraqi tanks can't reach them.
350
00:30:02,203 --> 00:30:04,083
{\an8}[dramatic music playing]
351
00:30:04,083 --> 00:30:07,723
{\an8}[male reporter 2] This is not
the United States against Iraq.
352
00:30:08,403 --> 00:30:09,843
{\an8}[male soldier] Boom! There's a hit.
353
00:30:09,843 --> 00:30:12,003
{\an8}[male reporter 2] It's Iraq
against the world.
354
00:30:19,563 --> 00:30:22,363
[male reporter 3] This is what regime
change looks like.
355
00:30:22,363 --> 00:30:23,763
[crowd clamoring]
356
00:30:25,283 --> 00:30:26,803
[male reporter 4] Saddam has gone.
357
00:30:28,883 --> 00:30:30,723
{\an8}[male reporter 5] Pummeled
by modern weaponry,
358
00:30:30,723 --> 00:30:34,683
the cruel caliphate is now surrounded
by these troops.
359
00:30:40,203 --> 00:30:41,963
[Emma] In the early 2010s,
360
00:30:41,963 --> 00:30:46,043
because the situation
had substantially settled down...
361
00:30:46,043 --> 00:30:49,443
[male reporter 6] The Islamic State
is meeting its end.
362
00:30:49,443 --> 00:30:53,523
[Emma] ...the Kurdish regional government
approached Professor Graeme Barker
363
00:30:53,523 --> 00:30:56,963
to start new excavations at Shanidar Cave.
364
00:30:59,083 --> 00:31:01,803
We weren't expecting to find
any Neanderthal remains,
365
00:31:01,803 --> 00:31:06,003
and that wasn't the aim of the project,
it was to, kind of, enhance the work
366
00:31:06,003 --> 00:31:07,403
that Solecki had done.
367
00:31:09,843 --> 00:31:12,643
[Stewart] So, it came as a huge surprise
368
00:31:12,643 --> 00:31:18,243
when, in 2018, the team discovered
the first Neanderthal skeleton
369
00:31:18,243 --> 00:31:22,043
found anywhere
for over a quarter of a century.
370
00:31:24,963 --> 00:31:27,803
[Emma] The first thing that really came up
was part of the skull,
371
00:31:27,803 --> 00:31:32,043
which was incredibly exciting.
It was actually part of the eye socket.
372
00:31:34,843 --> 00:31:39,283
And it has
very clear Neanderthal characteristics,
373
00:31:39,283 --> 00:31:42,243
in that the brow ridge
in Neanderthals are much heavier.
374
00:31:45,843 --> 00:31:48,683
And directly under that, was the left arm,
375
00:31:50,003 --> 00:31:52,883
and the left arm was kind
of folded underneath,
376
00:31:52,883 --> 00:31:56,243
sort of across the body,
and tucked under the head.
377
00:31:59,163 --> 00:32:01,283
[Stewart] Modern dating placed it
378
00:32:01,283 --> 00:32:04,483
amongst the oldest
of Solecki's discoveries.
379
00:32:05,003 --> 00:32:07,003
[mysterious music playing]
380
00:32:10,123 --> 00:32:16,083
{\an8}[Emma] I think we find 75,000 years ago
quite hard to conceptualize.
381
00:32:17,163 --> 00:32:19,523
If you think about
what we know about written history
382
00:32:19,523 --> 00:32:20,923
can seem like a long time,
383
00:32:20,923 --> 00:32:24,683
and that's a drop in the ocean
in terms of the history of our species.
384
00:32:25,683 --> 00:32:27,683
[music intensifies]
385
00:32:34,083 --> 00:32:38,163
When you think what's gone on
in the world in that time period,
386
00:32:38,163 --> 00:32:40,243
Neanderthals have disappeared,
387
00:32:40,243 --> 00:32:43,123
modern humans have colonized
the globe for good or ill.
388
00:32:43,123 --> 00:32:44,523
[chuckles]
389
00:32:44,523 --> 00:32:48,443
[Graeme] Agriculture, cities, urbanism.
European colonialism.
390
00:32:49,843 --> 00:32:50,723
[exclaims]
391
00:32:50,723 --> 00:32:53,243
[Graeme] The awfulness
of the 20th century.
392
00:32:53,243 --> 00:32:54,523
[crowd clamoring]
393
00:32:55,883 --> 00:32:59,123
[dramatic music intensifies, fades]
394
00:33:02,043 --> 00:33:05,123
[muffled explosion]
395
00:33:12,723 --> 00:33:14,603
[Graeme] Throughout all these events,
396
00:33:16,723 --> 00:33:18,043
there he has sat...
397
00:33:18,803 --> 00:33:20,803
[sad, mysterious music playing]
398
00:33:23,283 --> 00:33:26,163
...or she, as flat as a pancake,
399
00:33:30,603 --> 00:33:32,523
under a great mass of rocks.
400
00:33:34,563 --> 00:33:38,243
And we come along,
against all odds, and find it.
401
00:33:45,123 --> 00:33:47,123
{\an8}[music continues]
402
00:33:50,763 --> 00:33:53,123
[Graeme] It's certainly
a generational find.
403
00:33:53,123 --> 00:33:54,683
Completely out of the blue.
404
00:33:59,243 --> 00:34:00,603
[music fades]
405
00:34:00,603 --> 00:34:02,803
The skull itself was very heavily crushed.
406
00:34:02,803 --> 00:34:05,923
So, actually, the entire skull
was crushed flat
407
00:34:05,923 --> 00:34:08,243
and was probably two,
three centimeters thick.
408
00:34:12,923 --> 00:34:14,363
Very fragmented.
409
00:34:15,963 --> 00:34:17,203
And very delicate.
410
00:34:21,443 --> 00:34:27,123
Even a brush stroke can make things
crumble and almost disappear.
411
00:34:27,123 --> 00:34:29,563
So you have to proceed so carefully.
412
00:34:29,563 --> 00:34:31,003
[man] What is that piece?
413
00:34:31,003 --> 00:34:33,323
[Emma] That's the front of the mandible,
414
00:34:34,083 --> 00:34:37,963
and most of the lower teeth,
but not quite all of them.
415
00:34:37,963 --> 00:34:41,243
We removed it in small sections
with all of the sediment
416
00:34:41,243 --> 00:34:42,803
to help keep it together.
417
00:34:45,243 --> 00:34:48,283
It is very painstaking,
and that's for good reason.
418
00:34:48,283 --> 00:34:49,723
You get one go.
419
00:34:50,443 --> 00:34:53,283
Archaeology is,
by its very nature, destructive.
420
00:34:53,923 --> 00:34:55,483
Once you've excavated it,
421
00:34:56,243 --> 00:34:57,603
you can't do it again.
422
00:35:02,963 --> 00:35:06,523
Those little packages
were then all brought back to the UK,
423
00:35:07,283 --> 00:35:09,443
so that we can put them back together.
424
00:35:09,443 --> 00:35:11,523
[church bells in distance]
425
00:35:24,523 --> 00:35:26,163
[tense music playing]
426
00:35:26,723 --> 00:35:29,283
[Emma] We have a small team,
but it's a great team.
427
00:35:29,803 --> 00:35:31,563
People come from all over the world.
428
00:35:35,163 --> 00:35:37,603
[woman] After cleaning
and strengthening the bones,
429
00:35:37,603 --> 00:35:39,323
then I had the pieces,
430
00:35:39,323 --> 00:35:43,843
and I could start to do the restoration,
which is a big jigsaw.
431
00:35:48,603 --> 00:35:51,803
So, the first fragment
is like the easy part.
432
00:35:54,083 --> 00:35:56,283
And then it gets more complicated.
433
00:36:01,243 --> 00:36:02,763
You need patience,
434
00:36:05,723 --> 00:36:09,803
because you have
a very unique specimen in your hands.
435
00:36:12,203 --> 00:36:14,403
It's a lot of responsibility.
436
00:36:16,203 --> 00:36:18,243
[Stewart] If the skull can be reassembled,
437
00:36:19,003 --> 00:36:23,003
then the team hope
to reconstruct the face of Shanidar Z.
438
00:36:25,523 --> 00:36:29,483
And another part of the skull
contains yet more clues.
439
00:36:31,763 --> 00:36:34,083
[woman] Today I've been collecting
the dental calculus
440
00:36:34,083 --> 00:36:37,683
that has formed on the teeth
of the Shanidar Z individual.
441
00:36:45,883 --> 00:36:49,803
Dental calculus is
an incrustation on your teeth.
442
00:36:49,803 --> 00:36:53,003
{\an8}It's what your dentist goes
to remove once a year.
443
00:36:55,403 --> 00:36:57,803
It forms naturally in your mouth,
444
00:36:57,803 --> 00:37:02,043
and as it forms, it traps everything
that ends up in your mouth.
445
00:37:03,283 --> 00:37:06,923
So, we're able to get a lot
of information out of this material.
446
00:37:10,483 --> 00:37:14,083
[mysterious, evocative music playing]
447
00:37:31,603 --> 00:37:34,603
[Amanda] There is sort
of this persistent narrative
448
00:37:34,603 --> 00:37:38,923
that Neanderthals were high-level hunters,
449
00:37:38,923 --> 00:37:41,883
who ate meat, meat, with meat on the side.
450
00:37:42,763 --> 00:37:44,763
[wildlife noises]
451
00:37:48,403 --> 00:37:54,243
[Amanda] It's only been in the last 10
to 20 years that we've come to recognize
452
00:37:54,243 --> 00:37:58,003
that Neanderthals
did actually also consume plants.
453
00:38:10,443 --> 00:38:13,363
Knowing how to turn something
that is poisonous when raw
454
00:38:13,363 --> 00:38:16,683
into something
that is nutritious and edible,
455
00:38:17,643 --> 00:38:20,563
it is something
that you have to learn over a lifetime.
456
00:38:24,563 --> 00:38:30,843
And if we take
modern foragers as our example,
457
00:38:30,843 --> 00:38:33,523
then the people who specialized
in gathering knowledge
458
00:38:33,523 --> 00:38:34,883
were probably women.
459
00:38:42,483 --> 00:38:47,243
By reconstructing
what kinds of plants Neanderthals ate,
460
00:38:51,763 --> 00:38:57,403
we might be getting a window
into the role of women in their society.
461
00:39:03,603 --> 00:39:06,643
We'll never know their whole story,
we'll never know their name,
462
00:39:07,163 --> 00:39:08,643
their hopes and dreams.
463
00:39:11,923 --> 00:39:15,123
But it's fascinating
to be involved in a project
464
00:39:15,123 --> 00:39:20,043
where you're bringing even just
a tiny sliver of their life visible again.
465
00:39:28,523 --> 00:39:31,163
And you do wonder, "Who is this person?"
466
00:39:31,163 --> 00:39:34,083
"What were they like?
What's their life story?"
467
00:39:34,083 --> 00:39:36,043
"How did they come to be here?"
468
00:39:40,123 --> 00:39:42,883
I find it very hard to translate
469
00:39:42,883 --> 00:39:47,003
from what a skull looks like to what
that person would have looked like.
470
00:39:49,283 --> 00:39:51,283
That's where the remarkable skills
471
00:39:51,283 --> 00:39:53,563
of people
like the Kennis brothers come in.
472
00:39:54,643 --> 00:39:56,603
[amusing music playing]
473
00:40:04,843 --> 00:40:08,083
Here we have the skull that Emma,
the data Emma, sent us.
474
00:40:08,083 --> 00:40:11,883
We've got an almost complete skull,
nice complete skull, and it's printed out.
475
00:40:11,883 --> 00:40:14,123
- So now we can see him.
- Wow.
476
00:40:14,123 --> 00:40:16,603
{\an8}Who are the Kennis brothers?
477
00:40:16,603 --> 00:40:21,003
{\an8}The Kennis brothers are two twins
who are fascinated by human evolution.
478
00:40:21,003 --> 00:40:22,563
Let's see, look at this nose.
479
00:40:22,563 --> 00:40:25,763
It looks a very Neanderthal-like nose,
but what we see is
480
00:40:25,763 --> 00:40:28,523
that the other side of the nose
is very narrow.
481
00:40:28,523 --> 00:40:31,123
[Adrie] We reconstruct
ancient extinct humans.
482
00:40:31,123 --> 00:40:33,003
We try to show people
483
00:40:33,003 --> 00:40:37,443
how maybe the early ancestors
would look like in real life.
484
00:40:37,443 --> 00:40:40,523
- Big eyes, tall face, small nose.
- Big eye, yeah.
485
00:40:40,523 --> 00:40:46,203
You know, like... spectacles, you know,
these enormous, big spectacles like...
486
00:40:46,203 --> 00:40:50,123
If you put the mandible below it,
it looks like... uh...
487
00:40:50,123 --> 00:40:52,043
[Adrie] We were very bad at school.
488
00:40:52,043 --> 00:40:53,683
We didn't read much.
489
00:40:53,683 --> 00:40:57,403
We went to the library, and we saw
some beautiful pictures of Neanderthals.
490
00:40:59,283 --> 00:41:01,803
We see immediately those worn-down teeth,
mamma mia!
491
00:41:01,803 --> 00:41:04,083
- [Alfons] Incredible teeth.
- [Adrie] Typical Neanderthal.
492
00:41:04,083 --> 00:41:07,643
- They use their teeth like a vice. Yeah.
- [Alfons] Vice. Like a tool.
493
00:41:07,643 --> 00:41:09,083
[Adrie] That, we find fascinating.
494
00:41:09,083 --> 00:41:13,603
How a face, an ape face,
could morph into a human face.
495
00:41:14,843 --> 00:41:16,843
[gentle uplifting music playing]
496
00:41:21,163 --> 00:41:23,603
[Adrie] For us, what's fascinating
about Neanderthals is,
497
00:41:23,603 --> 00:41:26,123
they've got an enormous, big nose,
498
00:41:27,243 --> 00:41:28,803
an enormous puffy face.
499
00:41:29,363 --> 00:41:34,043
Never in human evolution
did you see such a big, strange face.
500
00:41:34,923 --> 00:41:36,603
So that's fantastic to see.
501
00:41:39,043 --> 00:41:40,683
[music continues]
502
00:41:45,963 --> 00:41:50,163
[Alfons] So, mostly we get skulls.
Mostly the skulls are distorted.
503
00:41:51,603 --> 00:41:53,443
We're gonna correct the skulls.
504
00:41:53,443 --> 00:41:57,203
We're going to make them
complete with forensic methods.
505
00:42:04,003 --> 00:42:07,963
When the skull is complete,
then we apply the tissue thickness,
506
00:42:09,163 --> 00:42:11,123
the muscles on it and the flesh.
507
00:42:14,043 --> 00:42:16,883
We fill it up with a kind of skin layer.
508
00:42:20,123 --> 00:42:22,203
{\an8}I want to make them human-like,
509
00:42:22,203 --> 00:42:25,683
{\an8}not too brutish, human-like,
but not too cliché.
510
00:42:42,883 --> 00:42:44,283
[Adrie] Yeah, you can come.
511
00:42:46,843 --> 00:42:49,283
[Alfons] I hope that a lot of people
look at this face
512
00:42:49,283 --> 00:42:52,043
and maybe look at how strange it is.
513
00:42:53,563 --> 00:42:56,283
They had such peculiar features.
514
00:42:57,683 --> 00:43:01,163
And that's so striking
because the brain size is same as us.
515
00:43:01,163 --> 00:43:04,403
They are as human as us,
but still there are differences,
516
00:43:04,403 --> 00:43:06,883
and that's fascinating,
why are they different?
517
00:43:09,163 --> 00:43:12,043
It's such a kind
of parallel evolution with us.
518
00:43:13,563 --> 00:43:15,563
- [Alfons] All right.
- [Adrie] Yeah, all right. Okay.
519
00:43:15,563 --> 00:43:18,923
[Alfons] And why did one disappear,
and why is one still alive?
520
00:43:18,923 --> 00:43:22,043
That's fascinating. That's the other us.
521
00:43:22,043 --> 00:43:24,123
[mysterious music playing]
522
00:43:29,323 --> 00:43:32,403
[Stewart] Historically, these "other us"
523
00:43:32,403 --> 00:43:36,083
were thought to be
not as smart as our own species.
524
00:43:42,083 --> 00:43:48,723
Only Homo Sapiens are capable
of imagination, creativity, invention.
525
00:44:00,843 --> 00:44:03,043
But this prejudice has been shattered
526
00:44:03,043 --> 00:44:09,403
by what was found inside a secret
and truly extraordinary French cave.
527
00:44:15,083 --> 00:44:16,683
[adventurous music playing]
528
00:44:22,603 --> 00:44:26,883
[woman] First, we go
into this very narrow space.
529
00:44:29,643 --> 00:44:33,243
You have to be really careful
how you enter in it.
530
00:44:33,243 --> 00:44:35,603
Push your bag in front of you.
531
00:44:46,243 --> 00:44:48,243
[music peaks, fades]
532
00:44:56,443 --> 00:44:58,443
There you enter another world.
533
00:45:05,763 --> 00:45:07,683
[ethereal music playing]
534
00:45:14,483 --> 00:45:17,843
[man in French] It is really unnatural
to go into the caves.
535
00:45:23,483 --> 00:45:26,923
These are places that people fear.
536
00:45:35,403 --> 00:45:37,643
And especially
to the very bottom of the caves.
537
00:45:48,763 --> 00:45:50,363
[music fades]
538
00:45:50,923 --> 00:45:54,163
{\an8}The cave has been there
for a very long time.
539
00:45:55,363 --> 00:45:57,323
A million years, probably.
540
00:45:58,123 --> 00:46:01,563
So that's also something that you feel
when you enter there.
541
00:46:02,083 --> 00:46:06,283
A kind of environment
that knew already a very long history.
542
00:46:10,443 --> 00:46:14,923
When you go a bit further,
you have these nice very calm lakes.
543
00:46:20,163 --> 00:46:22,403
The cave is shaped by water
544
00:46:23,163 --> 00:46:28,523
dripping in and forming
these very nice stalagmites, stalactites.
545
00:46:34,123 --> 00:46:36,283
What's really interesting...
546
00:46:37,683 --> 00:46:40,603
you see that
there is really a kind of pattern.
547
00:46:41,843 --> 00:46:43,883
These are forming circles.
548
00:46:55,043 --> 00:46:58,203
This is not something
you would see in a natural cave.
549
00:47:06,923 --> 00:47:08,843
[man in French] It's very constructed.
550
00:47:11,843 --> 00:47:15,963
{\an8}We understood
that there were architectural tricks.
551
00:47:24,123 --> 00:47:28,683
Small elements to wedge
the large stalagmites.
552
00:47:32,003 --> 00:47:35,883
All of this is completely structured
and thought out.
553
00:47:46,523 --> 00:47:52,083
For an archaeologist, it's quite unique.
There is no other equivalent to it.
554
00:48:02,003 --> 00:48:04,763
[Sophie in English] In the biggest
circular structure there,
555
00:48:04,763 --> 00:48:09,203
we have really a very nice hearth
made by stalagmites.
556
00:48:12,243 --> 00:48:15,563
[in French] Here we have a thermal
alteration, but it's not the only one.
557
00:48:15,563 --> 00:48:17,723
We have quite a few...
558
00:48:17,723 --> 00:48:20,323
- Here we agree, that's the hearth.
- It's the hearth.
559
00:48:20,323 --> 00:48:21,723
[Sophie] It's the hearth.
560
00:48:24,763 --> 00:48:30,803
So we have several places here
where a fire was present at some point.
561
00:48:33,283 --> 00:48:34,283
Number 38,
562
00:48:34,283 --> 00:48:37,763
along the middle.
563
00:48:37,763 --> 00:48:40,603
[Sophie in English] It's a bit like
what we'd do when we camp,
564
00:48:40,603 --> 00:48:46,043
and we would take wood and make a hearth,
like, in a teepee form,
565
00:48:46,043 --> 00:48:47,963
like a point form.
566
00:48:47,963 --> 00:48:51,323
[in French] This is very exciting
because we can see traces of soot,
567
00:48:51,323 --> 00:48:53,483
thermal alterations.
568
00:48:53,483 --> 00:48:57,043
There is very black soot,
it's red, it's purple.
569
00:49:03,523 --> 00:49:07,803
Obviously, in all traditional
or prehistoric populations,
570
00:49:07,803 --> 00:49:10,243
we know that fire has a symbolic value.
571
00:49:12,883 --> 00:49:14,883
[mysterious music playing]
572
00:49:32,523 --> 00:49:38,403
[Sophie in English] We find on the ground
very small pieces of burnt wood.
573
00:49:41,083 --> 00:49:44,803
So probably,
they come in the cave with torches.
574
00:49:50,323 --> 00:49:53,443
If you are in the middle of the cave
without light,
575
00:49:53,443 --> 00:49:54,883
it's really dangerous.
576
00:49:56,483 --> 00:49:58,883
So, you need to communicate very well.
577
00:50:10,963 --> 00:50:13,883
You need to master very well the fire,
578
00:50:18,523 --> 00:50:19,563
the lighting.
579
00:50:27,003 --> 00:50:30,803
So, the first idea was
to date these structures.
580
00:50:43,323 --> 00:50:46,123
So, these are the cores
of the Bruniquel Cave,
581
00:50:46,123 --> 00:50:51,243
and these cores tell us
really the age of these structures.
582
00:50:54,723 --> 00:50:57,203
By studying six different cores,
583
00:50:57,203 --> 00:51:02,643
we could come to a very precise age
of 176,500 years,
584
00:51:03,243 --> 00:51:06,683
and this was really incredible, in fact.
585
00:51:12,043 --> 00:51:14,643
[in French] One hundred
seventy-five thousand years ago in Europe,
586
00:51:14,643 --> 00:51:16,403
there were only Neanderthals.
587
00:51:18,123 --> 00:51:22,563
Bruniquel is the oldest construction
in the world that you can see.
588
00:51:31,483 --> 00:51:34,403
[Sophie in English] It's very emotional
when you see these structures,
589
00:51:34,403 --> 00:51:38,083
and, especially, when you know
that they are so old.
590
00:51:51,203 --> 00:51:55,163
[Jacques in French] The recurring question
that keeps coming back is,
591
00:51:55,163 --> 00:51:56,643
"What are the structures for?"
592
00:52:20,443 --> 00:52:23,763
[Sophie in English] The circle
seems to be the world.
593
00:52:23,763 --> 00:52:28,043
So, you are inside the world,
outside the world, these kind of concepts.
594
00:52:30,683 --> 00:52:35,123
With Native Americans,
where you have these circles,
595
00:52:35,123 --> 00:52:38,883
people are in connection
with higher spirits.
596
00:52:49,723 --> 00:52:51,963
Is it the start of the religion?
597
00:53:01,403 --> 00:53:05,763
This is a crucial question,
but which is really difficult to answer.
598
00:53:20,283 --> 00:53:25,483
[Jacques in French] So more and more,
we tend to see in Neanderthals
599
00:53:27,363 --> 00:53:30,243
a much older humanity,
600
00:53:32,643 --> 00:53:38,043
which shares with modern man
more and more things in common.
601
00:53:52,403 --> 00:53:54,283
And therefore with Bruniquel,
602
00:53:55,683 --> 00:54:02,683
we increased this relationship
we have with an ancestor who is very old.
603
00:54:11,923 --> 00:54:15,963
[Stewart in English] The enigmatic circles
at Bruniquel are a wonderful part
604
00:54:15,963 --> 00:54:19,963
of the ongoing reappraisal
of Neanderthal culture...
605
00:54:25,763 --> 00:54:28,163
that began at Shanidar,
606
00:54:28,803 --> 00:54:31,523
and which continues to this day.
607
00:54:44,843 --> 00:54:48,283
[Emma] This year,
we found a few isolated bits
608
00:54:48,283 --> 00:54:51,203
of what we think
could be a single skeleton.
609
00:54:53,243 --> 00:54:55,283
We might have found another individual.
610
00:54:57,283 --> 00:54:59,883
There's the left shoulder blades.
611
00:55:00,883 --> 00:55:03,763
There's also a reasonably
complete right hand.
612
00:55:07,763 --> 00:55:10,323
What we've actually found is four fingers,
613
00:55:10,323 --> 00:55:13,123
more or less, in the place
they'd be in the body.
614
00:55:13,123 --> 00:55:15,043
So, what we'd call articulated.
615
00:55:15,643 --> 00:55:19,083
[Stewart] The new remains
are amongst a cluster of bodies
616
00:55:19,083 --> 00:55:23,923
that include
both Shanidar 4 and Shanidar Z.
617
00:55:26,443 --> 00:55:27,763
[Emma] That's really exciting
618
00:55:27,763 --> 00:55:31,763
because what it is
is evidence of Neanderthals
619
00:55:31,763 --> 00:55:35,443
placing their dead
in this one particular spot.
620
00:55:39,203 --> 00:55:43,683
Are they perhaps coming back
to that same spot on multiple occasions,
621
00:55:43,683 --> 00:55:47,443
which could be decades
or maybe thousands of years apart?
622
00:55:48,843 --> 00:55:50,403
So you start to ask,
623
00:55:50,403 --> 00:55:56,443
"Is it just a coincidence, or is this
potentially something intentional?"
624
00:55:57,683 --> 00:56:01,283
And if so, then, why?
And what's bringing them back there?
625
00:56:01,283 --> 00:56:03,283
[mysterious, dramatic music playing]
626
00:56:10,043 --> 00:56:15,843
[Emma] When Shanidar Z was buried,
there was a stone behind the skull.
627
00:56:18,443 --> 00:56:22,323
And that is interesting
because it seems rather out of place.
628
00:56:24,803 --> 00:56:28,003
And so an idea
we've been thinking about is,
629
00:56:28,003 --> 00:56:30,963
could this be something
that's been put there intentionally?
630
00:56:37,923 --> 00:56:39,843
Another thing that's interesting is that,
631
00:56:39,843 --> 00:56:43,243
on the other side of the body,
you've got the big vertical slab.
632
00:56:52,723 --> 00:56:56,123
Clearly, if you've got big vertical
slabs sticking up out of the ground,
633
00:56:56,123 --> 00:56:59,683
there is a possibility that
that could act as some kind of marker.
634
00:57:04,443 --> 00:57:07,523
So, it seems that certain individuals
were buried here,
635
00:57:07,523 --> 00:57:09,963
and they're coming back
for that very reason,
636
00:57:11,043 --> 00:57:14,363
and to this one spot, that's marked
by this very distinctive stone,
637
00:57:14,363 --> 00:57:16,523
in what is a very distinctive cave.
638
00:57:24,803 --> 00:57:27,643
[Graeme] It looks more
and more as Ralph Solecki
639
00:57:27,643 --> 00:57:32,683
first found that Shanidar Cave
was a special place for Neanderthals.
640
00:57:38,923 --> 00:57:41,323
They are placing bodies.
641
00:57:41,323 --> 00:57:42,763
They're in a world,
642
00:57:42,763 --> 00:57:46,563
in which they are coming back here
regularly and living here.
643
00:57:50,443 --> 00:57:53,163
[Stewart] The cluster of remains
are perhaps evidence
644
00:57:53,163 --> 00:57:55,603
of a Neanderthal burial ground,
645
00:57:56,483 --> 00:57:59,603
a discovery with deep implications.
646
00:58:02,123 --> 00:58:05,043
[Emma] How people treat the dead
647
00:58:05,043 --> 00:58:11,163
can give us really important insights
into thinking, imagination, emotion.
648
00:58:13,803 --> 00:58:17,923
It perhaps also reflects
how we think about death itself,
649
00:58:18,883 --> 00:58:22,963
and whether, for example, we believe
that there might be an afterlife.
650
00:58:26,243 --> 00:58:32,523
[Graeme] It's part of a rising sense
of the complexity of Neanderthal culture.
651
00:58:34,123 --> 00:58:35,283
But they're not here now.
652
00:58:40,883 --> 00:58:45,483
[Stewart] The burials are just
the latest traces of Neanderthal behavior
653
00:58:45,483 --> 00:58:48,803
preserved inside this remarkable cave.
654
00:58:54,443 --> 00:58:59,123
Yet, perhaps, the biggest mystery remains.
655
00:59:04,443 --> 00:59:10,963
Why did a form of humanity,
that thrived for 300,000 years, disappear
656
00:59:12,363 --> 00:59:14,163
forty-thousand years ago?
657
00:59:20,803 --> 00:59:23,523
Perhaps the best place
to search for answers
658
00:59:23,523 --> 00:59:26,763
lies on the shores
of the Mediterranean Sea
659
00:59:26,763 --> 00:59:30,563
at one of the final strongholds
of the Neanderthals.
660
00:59:38,283 --> 00:59:40,803
[man] Well, we're sitting
on the edge of a cliff.
661
00:59:42,763 --> 00:59:45,443
{\an8}Very close to, what a friend called,
Neanderthal City...
662
00:59:47,683 --> 00:59:50,963
because it's a whole row of caves
on the waterfront,
663
00:59:50,963 --> 00:59:52,963
on the east side of the Rock of Gibraltar.
664
00:59:58,083 --> 01:00:01,243
The Gorham's Cave complex
is a series of caves,
665
01:00:01,883 --> 01:00:04,643
and all these caves show
very clear evidence
666
01:00:04,643 --> 01:00:08,643
of Neanderthal presence
and occupation over a long period of time.
667
01:00:18,643 --> 01:00:23,203
We have evidence going back
to at least 125,000 years ago.
668
01:00:28,803 --> 01:00:30,883
[Stewart] The team have unearthed evidence
669
01:00:30,883 --> 01:00:36,723
that Neanderthals were using the caves
as recently as 40,000 years ago.
670
01:00:43,243 --> 01:00:46,243
[Clive] Over the last 100,000 years
of their existence,
671
01:00:46,243 --> 01:00:49,483
the world of the Neanderthals
was constantly changing.
672
01:00:52,043 --> 01:00:54,043
[thunder rumbling]
673
01:01:07,083 --> 01:01:09,243
[Clive] The climatic changes were brutal.
674
01:01:09,243 --> 01:01:11,443
They had been earlier ice ages,
675
01:01:11,443 --> 01:01:15,163
but the last one, arguably,
was the worst one in terms of impact.
676
01:01:15,163 --> 01:01:17,803
The Scandinavian ice sheet
really spread south.
677
01:01:18,923 --> 01:01:22,163
France and Central Europe
were little more than steppe-tundra.
678
01:01:23,323 --> 01:01:25,283
It really was a very harsh world.
679
01:01:28,563 --> 01:01:30,883
The tundra didn't reach this far south,
680
01:01:31,723 --> 01:01:33,923
but there were still obvious changes.
681
01:01:34,443 --> 01:01:38,403
When conditions get very cold,
a lot of water is trapped as ice,
682
01:01:38,403 --> 01:01:41,483
in ice sheets, in glaciers,
and the sea level drops.
683
01:01:45,243 --> 01:01:47,723
[woman] When the sea level was lower
than it is today,
684
01:01:47,723 --> 01:01:50,203
that would have exposed a large plain
685
01:01:50,203 --> 01:01:53,243
where all these herbivores
would have been living,
686
01:01:53,243 --> 01:01:55,123
where the birds would have been living,
687
01:01:55,123 --> 01:01:58,283
where there would have been
shallow lakes with fresh water.
688
01:02:01,523 --> 01:02:05,323
They would have known exactly
which species they could consume,
689
01:02:05,323 --> 01:02:09,283
where to find them,
and how to best use them.
690
01:02:11,563 --> 01:02:14,243
These are just
a very small sample of all the bones,
691
01:02:14,243 --> 01:02:16,763
and all the remains
that we've found in the caves.
692
01:02:16,763 --> 01:02:21,883
We've got tens of thousands of artifacts
that we found in the last 30 years.
693
01:02:24,203 --> 01:02:26,763
They're eating animals
that are not expected,
694
01:02:26,763 --> 01:02:29,363
{\an8}and not normally associated,
with Neanderthals.
695
01:02:31,923 --> 01:02:35,923
We have evidence that they were going down
to the rocky shoreline
696
01:02:35,923 --> 01:02:37,323
and picking limpets.
697
01:02:37,323 --> 01:02:39,683
And, in fact, I've got a limpet here,
698
01:02:39,683 --> 01:02:44,163
which has still got a flint tool
stuck on to it.
699
01:02:44,163 --> 01:02:46,963
So, it's where the Neanderthal left it.
700
01:02:49,483 --> 01:02:54,083
But then we get this particular bone,
which comes from a common dolphin,
701
01:02:55,243 --> 01:02:57,043
and it's got cut marks on it.
702
01:02:58,803 --> 01:03:03,323
Maybe the dolphin was dead already
on the shore, but they defleshed it.
703
01:03:03,963 --> 01:03:05,883
They removed the flesh to consume it.
704
01:03:10,763 --> 01:03:15,203
The Neanderthals thrived in Europe
for longer than we have been around.
705
01:03:15,203 --> 01:03:16,243
That's for sure.
706
01:03:24,003 --> 01:03:26,803
To me, that says that they're intelligent,
707
01:03:26,803 --> 01:03:29,123
and that they understand
their environment.
708
01:03:31,883 --> 01:03:32,803
[stabs]
709
01:03:34,283 --> 01:03:36,963
In that sense,
they were extremely successful.
710
01:03:42,883 --> 01:03:46,763
[Clive] The Neanderthals were human.
They were resilient.
711
01:03:46,763 --> 01:03:48,563
They were very much like us.
712
01:03:49,203 --> 01:03:51,763
But, one day, it all came to an end.
713
01:03:55,163 --> 01:03:58,083
[Stewart] Which deepens the mystery
of their disappearance.
714
01:03:58,923 --> 01:04:04,403
After all, if the Gibraltar Neanderthals
were so resilient for so long,
715
01:04:05,243 --> 01:04:06,843
what on earth went wrong?
716
01:04:07,723 --> 01:04:12,003
[Clive] People associate the Ice Age
with getting cold, which of course it did,
717
01:04:12,003 --> 01:04:13,923
but it also got dryer.
718
01:04:15,563 --> 01:04:18,923
The change that hit
these Neanderthals in Gibraltar,
719
01:04:18,923 --> 01:04:24,763
in my view, was one
of a world of trees disappearing.
720
01:04:30,083 --> 01:04:32,243
You have trees,
and why are those significant?
721
01:04:32,243 --> 01:04:36,323
Because they allow you
to ambush hunt large prey.
722
01:04:41,363 --> 01:04:44,323
Through time, their whole physique
723
01:04:44,323 --> 01:04:48,403
had become that
of a wrestler-type build, if you like,
724
01:04:48,403 --> 01:04:51,723
capable of jumping on top
of these animals with spears,
725
01:04:51,723 --> 01:04:54,363
thrusting spears
and killing those animals.
726
01:04:58,803 --> 01:05:02,083
Suddenly, that world becomes
an open landscape.
727
01:05:02,083 --> 01:05:05,643
The animals see you coming
a mile away. You can't get near them.
728
01:05:10,203 --> 01:05:11,763
When the change came,
729
01:05:11,763 --> 01:05:15,283
it was so rapid that their biology
couldn't change at that speed.
730
01:05:29,723 --> 01:05:31,363
And that's what hit them.
731
01:05:42,363 --> 01:05:45,803
We think that we are
the pinnacle of evolution,
732
01:05:45,803 --> 01:05:48,203
that's the way
we've always painted ourselves.
733
01:05:48,203 --> 01:05:51,563
Even with respect to the Neanderthals,
we're here, and they're not,
734
01:05:51,563 --> 01:05:54,243
because we were better than they were. Um...
735
01:05:54,243 --> 01:06:00,883
But you can be very highly adapted,
you can do very well on a planet,
736
01:06:00,883 --> 01:06:03,563
like, we'd argue,
perhaps we're doing today.
737
01:06:04,323 --> 01:06:08,243
And yet, the story tells us
that there are other ways of being human,
738
01:06:08,243 --> 01:06:11,003
and those ways can sometimes fail.
739
01:06:15,883 --> 01:06:18,483
We might think we're doing
very well on this planet,
740
01:06:18,483 --> 01:06:19,683
but just be aware.
741
01:06:26,803 --> 01:06:32,403
[Stewart] By around 40,000 years ago,
Neanderthal numbers were in free fall.
742
01:06:33,323 --> 01:06:38,603
Not just in Gibraltar,
but across their entire world.
743
01:06:42,563 --> 01:06:45,843
Climate change
was a factor in their decline.
744
01:06:48,603 --> 01:06:54,563
But so too, was increasing competition
from another species.
745
01:06:59,523 --> 01:07:05,403
To this day, all of us carry
a tiny bit of Neanderthal DNA.
746
01:07:09,363 --> 01:07:12,803
A legacy of our long-lost ancestors.
747
01:07:16,883 --> 01:07:21,323
For at least 100,000 years,
waves of Homo Sapiens
748
01:07:21,323 --> 01:07:25,803
had spread from Africa
into Europe and Asia,
749
01:07:29,403 --> 01:07:32,923
encountering Neanderthals
as they traveled.
750
01:07:33,443 --> 01:07:35,443
[wildlife noises]
751
01:07:35,443 --> 01:07:37,683
[tense music playing]
752
01:08:03,323 --> 01:08:06,683
[Stewart] Some of these encounters
may have been violent.
753
01:08:15,923 --> 01:08:17,083
[speaks Neanderthal]
754
01:08:18,723 --> 01:08:19,883
[panting]
755
01:08:31,563 --> 01:08:33,083
[music peaks, fades]
756
01:08:35,283 --> 01:08:37,643
[panting gently]
757
01:08:44,723 --> 01:08:49,723
[Stewart] But some, presumably,
were more peaceful.
758
01:08:54,123 --> 01:08:59,203
One group of people recognizing
the humanity of the other.
759
01:09:08,883 --> 01:09:11,003
The path of these epic journeys
760
01:09:11,003 --> 01:09:14,563
would have taken
Homo Sapiens through the Middle East.
761
01:09:17,523 --> 01:09:23,923
Close to the ancestral burial ground
of the Shanidar Neanderthals.
762
01:09:27,403 --> 01:09:30,323
[evocative music playing]
763
01:09:38,563 --> 01:09:42,963
[Abdulwahab in Kurdish] Neanderthal genes
are present inside many Homo Sapiens.
764
01:09:46,283 --> 01:09:51,203
And I do really believe
that we are cousins.
765
01:09:51,203 --> 01:09:53,963
We are of the same blood.
766
01:09:53,963 --> 01:09:56,123
We have the same ancestors.
767
01:10:04,843 --> 01:10:07,883
[Emma] One of the things that I find
so fascinating about archaeology
768
01:10:07,883 --> 01:10:10,483
is that diversity of ways of being human.
769
01:10:12,643 --> 01:10:16,243
Looking at how people's skeletons are,
770
01:10:16,243 --> 01:10:20,043
can tell us about their lives
and their experience of the world.
771
01:10:22,963 --> 01:10:26,203
While excavating Shanidar Z,
we could see certain characteristics
772
01:10:26,203 --> 01:10:28,843
that suggested that they're an adult,
773
01:10:28,843 --> 01:10:32,203
but we didn't know
how old they were when they died,
774
01:10:32,203 --> 01:10:34,483
we didn't know
whether they were male or female,
775
01:10:34,483 --> 01:10:37,643
and we didn't know
a great deal either about their life.
776
01:10:40,723 --> 01:10:44,763
So a lot of those kinds of questions
of what we are working on answering now.
777
01:10:46,443 --> 01:10:51,243
What we've got here is the left radius.
So, this is one of the forearm bones.
778
01:10:52,523 --> 01:10:56,083
We can tell already that this was
a relatively small individual,
779
01:10:56,683 --> 01:11:02,443
between about one and a half,
or 1.55 meter to 1.60 meter tall.
780
01:11:03,403 --> 01:11:05,963
That's just over five foot essentially.
781
01:11:08,443 --> 01:11:12,683
Here we've got part of the lower jaw,
the mandible, with some of the teeth.
782
01:11:12,683 --> 01:11:16,003
An important thing to notice,
is that actually many of these teeth,
783
01:11:16,003 --> 01:11:19,803
especially the front teeth here,
are all extremely worn down.
784
01:11:20,803 --> 01:11:21,883
That's the enamel,
785
01:11:22,403 --> 01:11:25,803
that's completely worn off,
all of these teeth.
786
01:11:27,083 --> 01:11:30,683
Certainly, we know that
for a Neanderthal with teeth this worn,
787
01:11:30,683 --> 01:11:32,643
they had to be an older individual,
788
01:11:33,443 --> 01:11:36,523
probably somewhere
between about 40 and 50.
789
01:11:42,323 --> 01:11:46,323
There are ways that we can tell the sex
of the individual from the skeleton.
790
01:11:47,763 --> 01:11:50,923
What we did was use a technique
called proteomics,
791
01:11:50,923 --> 01:11:53,483
which is where you analyze
some of the proteins
792
01:11:53,483 --> 01:11:55,083
in the enamel of the tooth,
793
01:11:55,083 --> 01:11:59,443
because we know that there's
a particular protein that's produced,
794
01:11:59,443 --> 01:12:01,363
while that enamel's forming,
795
01:12:01,363 --> 01:12:05,603
that has a different version
that's encoded by
796
01:12:05,603 --> 01:12:08,763
what's on the X chromosome
compared to what's on the Y chromosome.
797
01:12:11,243 --> 01:12:15,403
So, that indicates very strongly to us
that this is a female individual.
798
01:12:21,683 --> 01:12:25,803
Quite often,
we think of Neanderthals as males,
799
01:12:25,803 --> 01:12:30,603
or we tend to focus on aspects
of male behavior.
800
01:12:32,843 --> 01:12:37,163
This is a really exciting opportunity
to understand Neanderthal society
801
01:12:37,163 --> 01:12:38,483
more completely.
802
01:12:45,163 --> 01:12:47,883
I think to have an actual reconstruction
803
01:12:47,883 --> 01:12:52,483
of what this Neanderthal woman
might have looked like
804
01:12:52,483 --> 01:12:55,323
during life will be incredibly exciting.
805
01:12:57,083 --> 01:13:00,563
- Well, Doctor Pomeroy.
- Let's find out. [chuckles]
806
01:13:01,963 --> 01:13:04,283
- We have one already prepared.
- Hmm.
807
01:13:04,923 --> 01:13:05,763
Yep.
808
01:13:13,483 --> 01:13:14,803
I'm gonna start from this.
809
01:13:21,763 --> 01:13:23,363
- [Emma] Oh, wow.
- [Graeme] Wow.
810
01:13:26,643 --> 01:13:28,243
- Well.
- [Graeme] Well.
811
01:13:28,243 --> 01:13:31,923
[chuckles] Amazing, we should turn
her round, so that everyone else can see.
812
01:13:33,083 --> 01:13:34,723
Wow. [chuckles]
813
01:13:36,483 --> 01:13:37,643
She's looking at me.
814
01:13:37,643 --> 01:13:42,083
[Emma] Yeah, she is. You've probably spent
the most time with her, so... [chuckles]
815
01:13:42,083 --> 01:13:44,763
- Also, you remember the nose and...
- Yeah.
816
01:13:45,603 --> 01:13:47,123
- It's amazing.
- [Emma] Yeah.
817
01:13:47,123 --> 01:13:49,603
It's interesting
how they've done her expression,
818
01:13:49,603 --> 01:13:52,403
I mean the emotions
that are wrapped into it.
819
01:13:52,403 --> 01:13:56,043
I think that's the beauty
of these kinds of reconstructions,
820
01:13:56,043 --> 01:13:59,643
is that some people are somewhat critical,
821
01:13:59,643 --> 01:14:02,243
and say, "We can never know
what people looked like."
822
01:14:02,243 --> 01:14:06,003
There's various assumptions
we have to make, and that's very true,
823
01:14:06,003 --> 01:14:12,283
but... I think it does give you
a sense of her as a person.
824
01:14:12,283 --> 01:14:13,323
[Lucía] Hmm.
825
01:14:17,883 --> 01:14:21,603
[Graeme] She gets to the heart,
doesn't she, of what it means to be human.
826
01:14:21,603 --> 01:14:24,803
What it might have meant
to be human Neanderthal.
827
01:14:24,803 --> 01:14:27,123
Somehow, you do get something of the...
828
01:14:27,883 --> 01:14:31,163
I don't know,
of a deep life history to this person.
829
01:14:39,323 --> 01:14:44,163
{\an8}[Chris] It's the older people,
with their knowledge, their experience,
830
01:14:45,003 --> 01:14:48,483
{\an8}who would have known
where the good places were.
831
01:14:51,923 --> 01:14:55,123
That memory, whether it was
only within her head,
832
01:14:55,123 --> 01:14:58,123
or whether it was something
that was in her head,
833
01:14:58,123 --> 01:15:01,323
that she was sharing
through songs and stories
834
01:15:01,323 --> 01:15:03,883
with children and grandchildren,
835
01:15:03,883 --> 01:15:06,723
would have been
absolutely vital to the group.
836
01:15:08,323 --> 01:15:14,323
In many ways, that was the beginning
of civilization in a much more real sense
837
01:15:14,323 --> 01:15:16,843
than the first time
somebody built a building,
838
01:15:16,843 --> 01:15:18,243
or anything like that.
839
01:15:23,483 --> 01:15:27,563
[Emma] She likely had that, kind of,
role of a repository of knowledge
840
01:15:27,563 --> 01:15:31,723
and had a major role in passing on
that knowledge to the next generation.
841
01:15:31,723 --> 01:15:35,643
And here we are, 75,000 years later,
842
01:15:36,923 --> 01:15:39,723
learning from her, still.
843
01:15:40,883 --> 01:15:42,883
[dramatic, evocative music playing]
844
01:15:55,363 --> 01:15:59,603
[Emma] Shanidar Cave has taught us
a huge amount about Neanderthals,
845
01:16:00,283 --> 01:16:02,083
and it still is teaching us.
846
01:16:07,203 --> 01:16:11,843
But also, it's made us reflect on
what does it mean to be human?
847
01:16:14,603 --> 01:16:16,003
[birds chirping]
848
01:16:16,003 --> 01:16:19,363
Things like, having compassion
for one another.
849
01:16:22,443 --> 01:16:24,443
How we deal with death.
850
01:16:27,323 --> 01:16:30,323
And what's inevitably going to happen
to all of us.
851
01:16:35,443 --> 01:16:37,443
[music continues]
852
01:16:38,763 --> 01:16:41,323
[Emma] Right now,
we're getting a snapshot,
853
01:16:41,323 --> 01:16:43,963
and it's amazing and rich,
854
01:16:43,963 --> 01:16:46,163
but we certainly don't have
the whole picture,
855
01:16:46,163 --> 01:16:49,443
and there's much more there
to be discovered
856
01:16:52,283 --> 01:16:57,003
about what we understand
"being human" and "humanity" to be.
857
01:16:59,243 --> 01:17:00,203
[music peaks]
858
01:17:11,203 --> 01:17:13,203
[music fades]
859
01:17:19,923 --> 01:17:23,043
[gentle, ethereal music playing]