The Incredible Human Journey (2009) Part 1-3

Nov 042014

IMDb: 8.3 This series explains the evidence for the theory of early human migrations out of Africa and subsequently around the world, supporting the Out of Africa Theory.
Stars: Alice Roberts, Robert Bednarik, Sandford Bigplume

The Incredible Human Journey Part 1

Dr Alice Roberts travels the globe to discover the incredible story of how humans left Africa to colonise the world – overcoming hostile terrain, extreme weather and other species of human. She pieces together precious fragments of bone, stone and new DNA evidence and discovers how this journey changed these African ancestors into the people of today.
Alice travels to Africa in search of the birthplace of the first people. They were so few in number and so vulnerable that today they would probably be considered an endangered species. So what allowed them to survive at all? The Bushmen of the Kalahari have some answers – the unique design of the human body made them efficient hunters and the ancient click language of the Bushmen points to an early ability to organise and plan.

Out of Africa with English subtitles

The Incredible Human Journey Part 2

In this programme, the journey continues into Asia, the world’s greatest land mass, in a quest to discover how early hunter-gatherers managed to survive in one of the most inhospitable places on earth – the Arctic region of Northern Siberia. Alice meets the nomadic Evenki people, whose lives are dictated by reindeer, both wild and domesticated, and discovers that the survival techniques of this very ancient people have been passed down through generations. Alice also explores what may have occurred during human migration to produce Chinese physical characteristics, and considers a controversial claim about Chinese evolution: that the Chinese do not share the same African ancestry as other peoples.

Asia with English subtitles

The Incredible Human Journey Part 3

When our species first arrived in Europe, the peak of the Ice Age was approaching and the continent was already crawling with a rival: stronger, at home in the cold and even (contrary to the popular image) brainier than us. So how did the European pioneers survive first the Neanderthals and then the deep freeze as they pushed across the continent?